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robinofgothamcity · 3 years

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♡ prompt: "don’t leave me. don’t you dare leave me.”

♡ pairing: jason todd (redhood) x fem reader

♡ lyric inspiration: "everybody loves somebody sometime. everybody falls in love somehow."

♡ note: not checked for grammar or spelling mistakes / i wanna note that this doesn’t follow TITANS Jason Todd. you can use whatever version you want. the reason i say this is because the lack of gifs for Jason that Tumblr provides is w a c k.

“don’t bullshit me Jason, I really don’t need you coming up with any kind of excuse on the spot,” you told Jason. he could tell you were being completely serious. you weren’t feigning anything as you looked him straight in the eyes, “i’m done with the excuse and i’m personally done with waiting for someone who doesn’t make time for me.”

Jason tried grabbing your hand but you immediately took it back. not caring if you were making a scene or not.

Dick and Tim were in the unfortunate situation of being present for you argument and although they felt kind of awkward being around, they low key wanted to hear the rest of the argument. they felt awful for you but Jason had it coming.

“don’t leave me. don’t you dare leave me!” Jason screamed. you shook your head, “you did this to yourself, Todd. you don’t get to play the victim in this situation,” you stated before grabbing your bag and exiting Jason’s apartment.

Tim as well as Dick stood in awkward silence. not knowing whether to comfort Jason or leave. this was the first time in what felt like ages that they have seen Jason so vulnerable.

you were Jason’s version of normal. although you weren’t a hero or any kind of sidekick, you did help out any of the teams that needed an extra hand at their respective lairs. you had a flair for working computers and knew your way around them when Tim wasn’t available.

a few weeks had passed since your ‘break up’ with Jason. you had helped out the Bat’s a few times within the weeks but you made sure to keep your distance with Jason. whenever he appeared, you went to another section of the Batcave or moved completely to the second level so you wouldn’t even have to run into him.

today, however; you were hanging around Tim’s team. you were in the mood to bug Connor as you were helping Jon with some of his schoolwork and decided to stick around. you weren’t particularly close with Connor but he did have a soft side with you so you messing with him didn’t necessarily upset him.

“Tim or Connor, how much would it cost for you to bring me food from the chicken place around the corner?” you asked the two boys. “Connor could probably take you. I don’t think Tim’s moving from his computer anytime soon but I don’t mind piggybacking you there,” Wally said from the other side of the table.

you huffed, smacking Tim on the side of the head and getting up.

“well if that’s the case, come on West, you’re taking me,” you said grabbing his shoulder. Tim from the corner of his eye examined your interaction with Wally. you were getting a bit closer to the redhead and he found it a bit weird considering you weren’t close with him while you were with Jason, “hold on,” Wally smirked as he hauled you over onto his back.

you laughed, holding on tightly as he zoomed out the door. Tim knew it wasn’t any of his business to get involved in relationship drama. he wanted nothing to do with it personally but seeing you close with Wally rubbed him the wrong way for some reason. maybe it was the idea that he still had hope for you to that made him text his adoptive brother.

“your girl is going out with Wally. they’re going to be at the restaurant by my place if you’re wondering.”

Jason had been moping around when he wasn’t going on any missions so when he saw Tim texting him, he found it weird within itself. he hardly messaged any of his brothers so receiving one from Tim no less was pretty odd.

his heart dropped a bit reading the text. he had no idea you were even close with the speedster so to be going on a date with him put him on edge. Jason immediately ran out of his door and booking it on his motorcycle to the restaurant.

had any police been on the streets, Jason would’ve received copious amount of tickets by the way he was speeding but he could have cared less. he arrived to the restaurant in due time. he saw you sitting down, eating with Wally as the two of you were basically scarfing down the food in front of you.

Jason felt a pang to his chest as he watched you talk with Wally like nothing was wrong. he had never seen you so care free before. even when the two of you went out for a date or something, he felt so on edge thinking that something could happen to you.

Jason didn’t want to sound more problematic than he already was but he felt a feeling of possessiveness hit him seeing you with Wally. like he didn’t want you going out with anyone that wasn’t him. his eye twitched every time Wally made you laugh or whenever you reached over to smack or touch him.

eventually, he saw you and Wally getting up from the table. he quickly hopped on his motorcycle and drove back to his place, more upset than he thought he would be.

he shot Tim a text back, thanking him for letting him knowing.

Jason had heard a few days ago that you were planning on going out with a few of your friends with a club in Gotham and that happened to be today. he knew that following you to whatever club you were going too would be wrong but with the way he was feeling, he didn’t care. he was coming along..even if he had to hide in the crowd.

he inched his way back to your place a few hours later to see you already getting dressed. you were wearing one of Jason’s favorite outfits and that alone made him want to go over to you and remind you that you were his. (WHY DID THIS GO SO YANDERE ALL OF A SUDDEN PFT).

the funny thing in all of this was that he saw you slip in some crocs into your bag. he knew you hated wearing shoes let alone heels so to see you probably change into them through the night made him chuckle.

once you got into your car and made your way into Gotham to the club you were meeting your friends at, he walked in through the side and stood in the corner as he watched you get ID’d and walk inside. all of you were sitting at a table and ordering your first round of drinks. you downed a shot of whatever you had ordered before grabbing your friends hand taking her out into the dance floor.

Jason walked in a bit closer but making sure to stay hidden. he saw you just dancing with your friend and couldn’t help but gulp. the way you were dancing and grinding up against your friend would have had him dragging you to the nearest bathroom for getting him riled up. (insert gif above)

he remained watching you until he noticed a guy approaching you. the guy was on the taller side, greasy hair flopping to the side of his face, and his clothes looked like he hadn’t changed out of it in days.

“really, I’m fine. I don’t dance with people I don’t know,” you stated as you friend pulling you away. the guy quickly grabbed your other hand, “c’mon, one dance?” you shook him off, stating once again that you weren’t interested before walking back to the table.

Jason, although the interaction was minor, was seeing red. he waited until the guy left to catch him in the single bathroom, leaving him bloody and bruised. he looked down to the guy before chuckling, “you should really learn what no means,” he spat before leaving.

by the time he entered the floor again, you were already back on the floor dancing. you were dancing with another friend as you sipped on a drink and minded your business. it took a few internal screams to remind himself that he couldn’t just walk over to you and take you by the hand but almost after that, he heard commotion coming from the other end of the bar.

closer to where you were.

Jason walked slowly to make sure shit didn’t get out of hand. you didn’t even realize that an entire fight had broken out by you as you were too busy singing to the song that was playing. it wasn’t until you heard gunshots that made you flinch and realize that shit was going down.

you grabbed your friend, screaming at them to forget their things as you took everything the Bats had told you about situations like this and basically run for your life. you ran to the nearest exit before hearing gunshots going off again. this time, you tried ducking but it was far too late. you felt an impact against your left shoulder blade.

the gunshot immediately made you fall onto the ground as Jason practically sprinted to you. you weren’t even conscious enough to realize what was going on anymore but as you tried to get up to run once again, you felt yourself get pistol whipped on the nose as you fell again.

Jason finally made it towards you after he signaled the Outlaws and even the some of the Bats to make their way to the club. you were trying your best to keep your eyes open but they were slowly starting to fall shut.

“hey! hey! don’t fall asleep on me,” you heard Jason’s panicked voice. you laughed, leaning against him, “of course you would’ve followed me here but Jay, I’m kinda tired,” you whispered as your eyes fell completely shut. Jason shook you again as he tried to make sure you stayed awake, “don’t leave me. don’t you fucking leave me!” he screamed.

it took a few minutes but eventually, the paramedics came in and got you onto a stretcher as Tim, Roy, and for some odd reason, Damian walked inside. they saw your state of being and looked to Jason.

“a fight broke out and one of them shot off with gunshots. she got shot on the shoulder and hit with the gun to the nose,” he explained as he watched the ambulance put you inside. he knew...he hoped that you would make it out okay because he had some business to take care of before he went to visit you in the hospital, “I’ll be back,” he growled, getting up and running out the door.

Roy, Tim, and Damian looked at each other realizing what he was about to do. they quickly followed him out the door but by the time they reached him, he was already running down the darkened ally, trailing what they assumed were the people that hurt you.

Jason managed to tackle them to the floor, getting the ring leader as he stepped on the guys throat. he made sure not to make him pass out as he wanted the guy to feel his punches. Jason was big. size comparison to Superman so the punches to the face felt unearthly.

“JASON STOP!” Tim screamed as Roy grabbed his best friend along with Damian, “if you get caught up in all this, you won’t be able to visit her. stop!” he yelled as he asked Roy to keep him calm, “go to the hospital. Roy can even take you but Robin and I have this,” he continued.

he wanted to argue but for the first time in his life, Jason actually listened. he knew that he would get nothing by spending the night in a jail cell. Roy let him go when he realized that Jason was calm enough and let him to his motorcycle to follow you to the hospital.

Jason got to the hospital about a half hour later. he immediately ran to the front desk, screaming your name to the receptionist who flinched back in fear. she walked him slowly to the room where you were at and informed him that you weren’t severely injured and most of the damage was on the nose. the blood you had lost was already getting pumped back into you.

he saw you asleep on the bed as he pulled the chair up to your bed. Jason had never saw you this way before and frankly, it scared the shit outta him. he never wanted to see you this way again.

without realizing, Jason had fallen asleep on the chair with his hand holding yours. it wasn’t until you actually woke up to see Jason asleep that you slowly shook him awake. Jason jumped up in fright and when he saw that you were awake, a sigh of relief was released.

“how are you feeling? do you need anything?” he asked as you shook your head, “why did I know you would follow me to the club tonight?” you said with a tired smile. Jason shrugged, “you know how hard it is for me to quit you,” he confessed.

while you did want to keep up your anger towards him, you weren’t even in the mood to start arguing with him. “Jason, seriously?” you said, not knowing what to say. Jason checked the door to make sure it was closed before basically hovering over you, “I can’t lose you. I just can’t. you’re the only thing that makes me feel normal. I know I wasn’t prioritizing you but I just can’t see you with anyone else. seeing you with Wally earlier almost made me want to kill him. I swear, I’ll start being better. I’ll make sure to make time for you but please, don’t leave me,” he yelled but softly.

you had never heard Jason so vulnerable before, “wait, how did you know I was with Wally earlier?” you asked. Jason smiled sheepishly, knowing he was about to rat Tim out, “Tim might’ve told me,” he said. you squinted your eyes, “that asshole,” you said.

“Jay, it’s hard to believe that when this isn’t the first time its happened. I just, I can’t be put in third or fourth place anymore. I see the way Dick and his girlfriend are and he still makes time for her and I always question why can’t you do the same!” you replied. Jason nodded understandingly, “I know but please, please trust me. one more chance and if I screw this up, you have every right to leave me for good,” he said almost immediately.

you sighed, thinking for a few moments, “fine. one more chance and if you ruin it, it’s over. I won’t care what you say or do to try and get me back,” you threatened as Jason sighed in relief.

he bent down for a kiss that had went longer than usual. it was getting steamier by the second but before you could continue, you heard a knock on the door indicating that the nurse or a doctor realized you were awake, “later, I promise. you’ll have enough time for this when you nurse me back to health,” you whispered making Jason laugh, “good because the way you were dancing with your friend might’ve turned me on more than I want to admit,” he said.

you rolled your eyes as Jason sat back down on the chair as the doctor walked in.

#DC comics #DC imagines #dc imagine #dc #dc x reader #jason todd #jason todd imagine #jason todd x y/n #jason todd x reader #red hood #red hood imagine #red hood x reader #red hood x y/n

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heyheyloki · 4 years

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24/7

Summary: Oikawa thinks you have a thing for someone else.

Oikawa x M!Reader

Requested.

Word Count: 3731

You met Oikawa during your first year at Aobi Johsai. You didn’t have many friends and you didn’t mind that. In fact, you had no intention to even make friends. Though, some god decided to take pity on your poor soul and match you up with Oikawa during a class project one day. After that, a friendship bloomed.

It took you a while to understand Oikawa’s complex personality, but that was a two way streak. You, who came off as quiet and reserved, was actually more flirtatious and cocky when you got close to someone. Let’s just say that made you get along well with Iwa.

You didn’t join any sports. Oikawa did try to get you to join Volleyball since you were around his height and if you sucked, he would teach you himself before and after practice. You appreciated the offer, but you weren’t into playing sports and just enjoyed watching from afar. It took Oikawa a while before giving up on you, and he only did because you said that not being on the team would make it easier for you to cheer him on during matches. Plus, you promised to bring him some food and water after practices from time to time.

“[Name]!” Oikawa yelled throughout the halls, his call making you stop in your tracks and turn to him. He had this smile on his face that made you stop and think for a moment.

“Oh, hey, Oikawa.” You said kindly. “How are you? I heard you sprained your ankle.

He gave you an okay sign with his hands as the two of you walked together down the halls. “All better now! I actually have a question for you.”

“Hm?” You hummed. “What’s up?”

“We have a practice match after school today with Karasuno, and I was wondering if you’d come?” He asked. “My little protege Kageyama, the one from my middle school I told you about, gonna be the setter in the game. I want you to watch me crush him.”

You gave Oikawa a deadpan stare before a creepy and coy smirk surfaced on your lips before saying, “You really are a sadist, aren’t you?”

“What?” He flinched. “You really need to cut that out! That weird look on your face is creeping me out!”

The smirk died before you shrugged. It wasn’t until you leaned towards Oikawa, your shoulder bumping with his before moving back towards your original position. “I’ll be there.”

You showed up to the gym after school right on time, though, you noticed Oikawa was no where to be found. If you had to guess, he got held up by his fan-club. It was an everyday thing, and sometimes those girls would even interrupt your alone time with him. It bothered you to a certain degree, but you knew Oikawa’s popularity was going to warrant this kind of attention.

“Iwaizumi.” You called out to the short, black haired player who was currently warming up.

As soon as he saw you, he dropped what he was doing and jogged up to your figure. “Hey, I’m guessing Oikawa invited you?”

You nodded. “Yeah, he wanted me to watch him beat Kageyama or something. But, anyway, can I do anything to help you guys out before he comes?”

“Sure, thank you,” Iwa said, grabbing a few orange water bottles. “Can you fill up these water bottles?”

“Yeah.” You said with a soft smile. You dropped your bag at the door before heading out to the nearest water fountain. The quiet noise that surrounded you put you a bit at ease. You knew you were up for another challenge today when it came to Oikawa’s fan club. At least a few girls in the club would come to any game, whether it be practice or official.

They would say things that irked you all the time. Sometimes it would just be simple about his good-looks, but other times you felt it went a bit to far when they commented on his body. You knew that at times it was jealousy, but at other times it was simple and unwavering disgust.

A deep sigh escaped your lips as you finished filling up the last bottle Iwaizumi gave you. As your body spun around on the heel on your feet, as soon as you did, you froze. Your feet almost nailed to the floor as you aimlessly at the person in front of you. He was defiantly from Karasuno, or at least a different school. He had straight black locks and the same color eyes. He was a bit taller than you, but not by much. He had this stern look on his face, but his eyes seemed more curious than he was leading on.

“Are you Aoba Johsai’s manager or something?” He suddenly asked.

“Huh?” You questioned, popping out of your own head. “What makes you say that?”

His hand came out from his pocket, his finger pointing at the bottles cluttered in your arms. “You’re getting them water.”

“Oh, I’m not the manager.” You insisted. “I just help out once in a while when Oikawa is running late.”

It almost as if you set something off in the unknown guy in front of you. His eyes darkened with something that you didn’t quite understand. It wasn’t like you did anything to set him off, did you?

“Oikawa?” He questioned lowly, his voice deeper in pitch than it was before. “Do you know were that bastard is?”

You blinked aimlessly at the kid before you. It was obvious he was younger than you, maybe even a first-year. Something about this kid, he seemed almost familiar. You haven’t met him before, no, but you felt like you knew someone who did.

“Huh? Why the hell do you wanna know?” You growled out, your weight shifting over to one of your legs. Your head leaning back to look down on the guy in front of you.

“He was supposed to play as Aobi Johsai’s setter for our practice game.” He explained. “He has the nerve to force me to be the setter on my team and can’t even show up on time for his own damn game. It pisses me off.”

You blinked a few times. In that moment, everything hit you like a bus. Between the stories Oikawa as told you all of your years together in high school to his words from this morning. You understood who stood before you.

Tobio Kageyama. Oikawa’s protege.

The cold look in your eyes instantly thawed out. You leaned too quickly for Kageyama’s taste to the point were he actually took a step back.

“You’re Tobio Kageyama, am I right?” You asked with pure curiosity.

“Um, uh, yeah.” He mumbled out. “How do you know me?”

“Oh, sorry,” you stated as you moved back before introducing yourself. “I’m [Name], a third year. I just happened to hear about you from Oikawa from time to time.”

“You’re friends with that guy?” He questioned, his brows raising with suspicion.

You gave a coy smirk. “Friend might be a bit much.”

You watched as the ends of Kageyama’s lips twitched upward before the both of you burst into laughter. A sense of peace taking over you both, one that allowed you to forget about Oikawa for even a single second. It was nice.

“I gotta get back and warm up, um, I’ll see ya later.” Kageyama said before walking off back into the gym.

You stood still for a minute to look back on what had just happened. You wondered why Oikawa hated Kageyama so much. To you, he didn’t seem like such a bad guy, and if he was, he was hiding it pretty well. You knew it was none of your business, but still, you hoped this hateful feeling he had for Kageyama didn’t mess up his game. But, if you knew anything about Oikawa, you knew it would only push him to play even harder to the point where he would even break not only Kageyama, but Karasuno’s spirits.

As time went on, you started to wonder if Oikawa would ever show up. You were enjoying the game and all, but you were only here cause Oikawa promised to beat Kageyama in a game were they both play the setter. In truth, it kinda ticked you off that those fan-girls of his actually were making him this late to a game.

A small yawn escaped past your lips. Your head held up in the palm of your hand, your elbow perched on your thigh as you watched. It wasn’t like you didn’t mind cheering on for Iwa, but the second set was starting to look like it belonged to Karasuno. With a soft yet exhausted sigh you stood up and slung your bag over your shoulder, your legs ready to move your body out the door before your name was called out to you from down below.

A questioning hum escaped your chest as your eyes locked onto Oikawa. He had a soft frown on his features for a second that left a heavy weight of guilt in your chest, though that disappeared fast when he gave one of his famous setter smiles and said, “Come down here and help me stretch!”

It wasn’t long after that the sounds of those fan-girls of his came pounding into your ears. It looked as if they almost followed him here, and when he said those words to you, it was like he set them off on purpose. You could see their red with anger faces from the corner of your eyes, their own eyes almost shooting daggers straight into the back of your head. To you, you had two choices here. Either help Oikawa, or deal with them. You picked the first option.

“So, your fangirls held you up?” You questioned as you watched Oikawa sit down on the ground.

He nodded, his legs moving apart before having an apologetic look move across his face. “I’m sorry, [Name]! It won’t happen again, promise!”

You sighed as you walked over behind Oikawa, the stares of his club members already having deadly affects on your mind. It wasn’t like they got to you all the time, but when he promised you things and they had to waste his time that could have been spent with you, that’s when you became bothered by them.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Oikawa.” You said as you pressed your hands firmly on his upper back, right under his shoulders. This wasn’t the first time he asked you to help him stretch. He always said he just thought you helped get all the kinks out of his muscles better than he ever could. “As long as you show up in the end, I don’t mind.”

Oikawa smiled softly to himself, his mind lining up the words he would use in his apology to you. When he finally pieced it together like a puzzle, he turned his head to look at you and as his words almost escaped the edge of his tongue, they didn’t. Because when he looked at you, your eyes were already aimed away from him at another, the soft smile on your lips giving it away in an instant.

Curiosity completely took over Oikawa, almost consuming him. It whispered in his ear, telling him to look at who had caught your eye. In the back of his head, he didn’t want to. In a way, he tortured himself with deciding on a simple choice, and yet, in the end, the devil on his shoulder won. Slowly, his eyes met moved from one side of the court to the other. He scanned over every Karasuno member one by one until, finally, his eyes locked on a target that was staring in his direction.

Tobio Kageyama, the one who Oikawa spoke of crushing in front of [Name] in this very game.

The captain narrowed his eyes on the first year with pure, unwavering annoyance. It was one thing if it was someone else, it could have been anyone else and Oikawa wouldn’t even blink an eye. However, Kageyama was not one he was allowed to even blink, because he knows if he does, he will lose. Then again, Toru Oikawa would never dream of losing to someone like him.

Without thinking, Oikawa shifted. He moved his body in a way that he knew your hands would slip, and they did. He heard a small grunt that made an electrical jolt run up and down his spine, your chest press against his back, and not to mention your breath against his neck that made his hair stand on end.

“Really?” You asked in pure annoyance. “What have I ever done to deserve this?”

Oikawa chuckled, it made him happy that your attention was solely back on him. “Don’t be shy now, I’m sure you enjoy this as much as I do.”

“Do I?” You questioned, it seemed like you were really trying to decide if you did or not.

“Do you?” He asked lowly. In truth, his breath was shaky and written with nerves. He may be confident, but you were the only one who was ever able to make him trip over his own two feet.

You sighed, Oikawa’s heart beat suddenly pattering in his own ears when he heard you say, “Maybe, but I rather not get eaten alive by your fangirls so, not right now.”

When you separated from Oikawa, he felt cold. It was a feeling he had once before with you, but that was something the two of you don’t talk about. Unknown to you, however, he plays it in his mind whenever he can. You were sick, and Oikawa wanted to drop some stuff off at your apartment since your parents work overseas. You were definitely in and out of it, honestly, you can’t remember a lot about that day. However, Oikawa could.

He gave you soup, tried to break your fever. He tried his best and was ready to leave before you grabbed his hand. You were warm, like a sun and yet cold. You were a sunset that shined in so many different colors and burned extreme heats before going ice old. When he looked down at you, you were fast asleep. Your grip was weak and he could easily slip out of it. He was going to, but in that moment, something took over his body. Whether it be a demon or angel, the next thing he knew he was on the floor of your room. His eyes locked on your sleeping figure as he rubbed his thumb softly against your smooth skin.

That was a few months ago, and it hasn’t left his mind since. You told him to never bring it up again when he told you of that night since he did stay until you woke up. He’s listened and respected what you requested of him, but he never said he’d never think about it to himself.

As Oikawa stood up from his stretches, he didn’t waste anytime to turn to you. Although, when he did, you were gone. If he believed in magic he would have thought you would have turned invisible. Sadly, the reality was worse. When he turned his back and forth, he paused, frozen even upon the sight of you. You were only a few feet in the distance, and yet he felt like he was across the sea from you as you casually chatted it up with Kageyama.

Normally, Oikawa had no problem with you talking with others. He truly didn’t. However, Kageyama was someone who he swore to defeat. Kageyama was the only person that he felt even remotely threatened with. First, it was with volleyball, and Oikawa was fine with that. He was fine with the fact that he had such a rival like him. However, you were off the table. Now, the only thing Oikawa could even feel in that moment was pure, unwavering and burning jealousy. That, he couldn’t deny.

During the game, you sat on the bench with the couch of your school’s volleyball team. The two of you had some talks here and there, but they usually are either about helping out the team or Oikawa. It was already late into the second set when Oikawa ended up coming in, and, it definitely was looking like Karasuno was going to win anyway. Even so, you noticed your third-year friend trying way harder than you’ve ever seen before. It was amazing to see his skill up-close, but at the same time you couldn’t help but wonder if something was wrong.

When the game ended, it was Karasuno taking victory. You knew that Oikawa’s team gave them a hard time, sure, but without him you knew it would be hard to win. After all, he brings the entire team together.

You stood on the sidelines as you watched the two teams thank each other for the game. Your sight was glued on Oikawa without mercy, but you couldn’t help the stares of others. For a moment, you released Oikawa from your grasp and moved your eyes towards Karasuno. It was easy to see how bad they were at gossiping. Some eyes were side-eyeing you, and a guy with a shaved head was even trying to hide his stares while making an idiotic face. You were confused if he was trying to scare you or make you laugh.

Either way, when they were released from their volleyball duties, a couple of them came up to you. You knew Kageyama, who was next to a spunky redhead, but you only knew him. The redhead, who was amazing on the court, the shaved head guy, and a sweet looking third-year were a mystery to you.

“Hello.” You said in a flat tone as you stared at them.

“Hi,” Kageyama nodded, his body looking way more stiff than you remember. It truly didn’t bug you, after all he just got done with the game. Although, the redhead by his side looked like he was about to explode. Sure enough, he did.

“You wouldn’t happen to be [Name] would you?” He asked, his voice louder then life and catching everyone’s attention in a heartbeat. His next sentence that he strung together though, it really did a number on the Aoba Johsai team, especially Oikawa. “You should totally go out with Kageyama here, he think you’re cool and he doesn’t think that of anyone, trust me. So, would you?”

You blinked aimlessly for a moment as a cold chill ran up your spine. The air around everyone became tense and so thick that it felt suffocating just to be there. You don’t know why, but in that moment your eyes couldn’t help but land on Oikawa. If you didn’t feel nervous before, by the gods were you now. The look in his chestnut orbs were something to cower in fear over. It made you feel the need to go over to him on your knees and beg for forgiveness, even when you knew you didn’t do anything wrong. You felt something in your chest break, and when that happened the answer flew out of your mouth without your consent.

“No.”

When you heard yourself, you flinched. It was colder than normal, and way more harsh than you would have liked. So, in an effort to make it up to Kageyama, you cleared your throat and said, “I’m sorry, but I have to decline.”

You saw the redhead pout. “Bummer.”

The kind looking third-year let a gentle and comforting smile inch on his lips as he patted Kageyama on the back. “It’s okay, don’t let it get to you.”

“Yeah, it’s not like he was in your league anyway!” The shaved head guy said as he slapped his hand so hard against Kageyama’s back that his body lunged forward. You knew he’d have a hand imprinted on his back.

You smiled softly at the first year before saying, “I wouldn’t mind being friends though, sometimes I need a break from this school.”

“Yeah.” He said with a expressionless face, but you knew he was happy to hear that when you looked in his eyes.

When the time for them to hop on the bus back to their school, you waved them off with Oikawa by your side. It was a little weird to you, especially since he never does this and he even blew off his fan girls. You weren’t complaining, but the mocking face he was making at Kageyama was irritating. His finger was slightly pulling down his bottom right eyelid while sticking out his tongue and giving a mocking wave his way.

“Stop it, you’re making a fool out of yourself.” You whispered under your breath as you jabbed in him the side with your elbow.

He quickly doubled over before turning to you with his normal, handsome face that make you focus only on him. “Why’d you turn him down? Kageyama, I mean.”

“Huh?” You hummed out, your heart suddenly beating a bit faster than before. It sucked at how much Oikawa weaseled his way into your heart, and before you could notice, he made you feel alive. Though, he still annoyed you. That sadly did not change. You turned your head to the side and down, your eyes never meeting his as you said, “I just wasn’t interested in him, after all, I, uh, I got you to worry about.”

It went silent. The only noise was the fading sound of the bus engine as it drove into the sunset sky. When you finally had enough, you turned your head to Oikawa, your brows furrowed as you tried to look stern before he completely broke you. Your mask quickly shattered into a million tiny pieces, your true, flustered self on full display for Oikawa to see.

The only reason it fell was because of him. Normally you would be able to recover without him noticing, but this time was different. His smile, the way the ends of his eyes crinkled in pure joy was new. It wasn’t something that his fan girls got to see, that’s for sure. In a way, your pride exploded just at the fact that you were the only one getting to see this part of him. Not to mention the was the setting sun kissed his skin as if telling you to do the same was making your face feel hotter than before.

“What’s that look for?” You uttered out as you tried your hardest to keep you voice steady.

“For you.” He chuckled. “I didn’t know you had such a soft spot for me.”

“Shut up,” you growled.

#haikyuu oikawa #oikawa toru x reader #oikawa x reader #oikawa x male reader #haikyuu x male reader #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu hcs #oikawa toru x male reader #haikyuu

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bigballofstress · 4 years

Text

Pickpocket (Avengers x Child!Reader)

Description: You have been living on the streets for years, and over these years, you have become incredibly good at pickpocketing. Unfortunately for you, though, you picked the wrong target one too many times.

Part 2 if you guys want it, just let me know!

Chin up, shoulders back, even steps. My heart is calm, my breaths slow and measured, and every muscle in my body is relaxed. In other words, every last inch of me screams that I am a confident, kind young lady without a care in the world.

No matter what anybody says, looks really are everything. Every time you meet someone new or even just pass by them on the street, your mind makes a snap judgement about them. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that everyone you meet is prejudiced or anything of the sort. Those snap judgements can easily be changed with an open-minded person, sometimes without even needing a whole conversation. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that when you see a well-groomed person in a suit, your mind automatically thinks they are successful, and when you see someone coming at you with a hoodie covering their face and their hands in their pockets, you automatically tense up. None of that is your fault, and actually it’s probably a good thing that you would be wary of people who are acting rather suspicious. Really, the only issue with these immediate ideas of every person you see is the fact that it makes people like me -- people who understand how these momentary impressions work -- able to take advantage of them.

It didn’t take long to realize I had a talent for it. I already looked the part, -- a helpless, adorable little girl -- I had a surprising knack for staying calm under pressure, and as much as I hated the old bitch, my caretaker had given me all the tools I needed. She was a stickler for proper manners, so I learned how to speak, sit, and walk like a “proper young lady.” Plus, her insane rules about tiny meal portions and too-early curfews taught me to be light on my feet as I often sneaked downstairs to grab a roll of bread at night. Yes, I had everything I needed. The only real hurdle was actually deciding to do it. I never really wanted to be a bad person. But the world is a heartless place, the city even more so, and by the end of my first week, I knew what I had to do if I was ever going to survive.

So, I started working -- oh, and by the way, no matter what you think, it is still a job. I put my time and effort into a certain task, and I obtain money because of it. I don’t know about you, but that certainly sounds like a job to me. And it was easier than I thought it would be. Within about a day, I realized that people saw me as sweet, innocent, and harmless -- no, more than that, they wanted to see me as harmless. Because if I wasn’t harmless, then that meant their world was even more screwed up than they thought. I learned quick, and by the end of the year, I had perfected my technique. It was simple: avoid all conversation if possible, and if absolutely necessary, smile and point out the farthest adult man within reason as my dad before weaving through the small gaps in the crowd, preferably around taller people, so they couldn’t see or follow me. I only got caught once or twice, but I’m grateful that I did. It forced me to learn perspective, that I needed to know more than just how to talk well. So, I learned how to run through a city. And now, I’m practically unstoppable.

As I take my even, not-too-fast-but-not-too-slow stroll down the sidewalk, a small, ambiguous smile decorating my lips, I can see it in each person’s eyes as they walk past that I have completely embodied my character. My arms swung with a practiced nonchalance as my eyes flickered from one person to the next, each time going through a mental list as I weighed the chances I had of succeeding on them versus how likely they were to catch on and calculated the amount of time that both of these events would likely take to happen. Finally, after a few minutes of this practice, one of them caught my eye.

He was larger, more muscular. Guys like him were a gamble. Often, a man of his appearance simply cared a bit too much about his appearance. Still, every now and then, they look like that because they been trained, and while past training usually meant they had no practice running in a city, it also meant that he would be much more jumpy and alert to his surroundings. However, his deep, loose pockets with the corner of his wallet just barely sticking out and the thoughtful gaze as he surveyed the buildings tipped the scales further and further in my favor. The wonder in his eyes just screamed tourist.

I gazed forward with an absentminded look in my eye that I’d spent months perfecting in the mirror while keeping him clearly in my periphery before bumping into him. As I hit him, two of my fingers simultaneously dipped into his pocket, where my knee bumped against his leg to jolt his wallet up and out. The moment the warm leather was in my grasp, I forced myself to fall backwards. Before I could hit the ground, though, I felt one of those strong, muscular arms had wrapped itself around my waist and was helping me back up.

My jaw clenched for half a second. This wasn’t good. His reflexes were too quick to have just worked out at some random gym, which meant my hunch was right: he had been trained. And that meant that I needed to get out of there fast. I wouldn’t be able to slip the wallet back in his pocket without bumping into him again, and that would only make me look even more suspicious, so I quickly emptied it of all of the cash behind his back and slipped the bills into my sleeve before tossing the piece of leather on the ground a few feet away.

“Are you alright?” he asked, concern evident in his eyes, and immediately I decided on my personality for the day -- bright and bubbly but proper. Gently, he released his arm from its position on my waist once he knew I had regained my footing.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” I quickly apologized, my left hand shooting up to cover my mouth in fake shock while my right hand carefully dropped the money in one of my own pockets, all the while watching every last one of his movements for any sign of suspicion. “It was all my fault. I wasn’t paying attention where I was going.”

“It’s ok, really.” He scratched the back of his neck. “I wasn’t really looking where I was going either, so it was partially my fault, too.”

“Well, thank you for catching me, sir, but I really have to go,” I smiled at him apologetically. “I’m supposed to meet back up with my dad in about five minutes.”

“Oh, no worries,” he responded kindly before sneaking a glance at my old, slightly ripped clothes, the concern still dancing in his eyes. “You’re sure you’re alright, though?”

“Absolutely!” I dismissed. “Thank you again!”

“Um, yeah, no problem.” We both started to walk away.

I waited patiently as I listened to his retreating steps. 1... 2... 3... 4... and then-- “Hey, mister!” I called, bending down and grabbing the piece of leather from where I had tossed it earlier. “I think you might’ve dropped your wallet!”

The man turned back, shocked, before jogging back towards me. “I didn’t even notice,” he mumbled to himself. “Hey, thanks, kid.”

“My pleasure!” I chirped. “Now, sorry, but I really have to get going. See you around, sir!” I quickly jogged off, allowing myself to get lost in the crowd before he could even have a minute to fully understand what happened.

-- 3rd Person POV --

“I told you guys the world wasn’t such a bad place!” Steve called as he entered the living room of Stark Tower. The rest of the Avengers looked up in surprise. They had been having this argument for the past three days, with Steve insisting that there were still people who put others first living in New York while the entire rest of the team tried to convince him otherwise.

“Alright, show your work,” Tony leaned back against the wall, watching the captain with curiosity.

“I met a kid today who couldn’t have been older than 16. I was trying to remember what the city looked like before I went in the ice, and I accidentally bumped into her. She then spent the next few minutes constantly apologizing and saying it was all her fault. And the best part is, after we’d already walked away, she found and returned my wallet. I hadn’t even realized I had dropped it!” The 96-year-old man finished with a triumphant grin, leaving the rest of the team silent for a moment. That is, until Tony busted out laughing. Steve frowned. “...What?”

“Steve, honey, check inside of your wallet,” Natasha sighed as she turned back to the tv to watch whatever was on.

Steve frowned, reached into his pocket, and pulled out his wallet. “I don’t understand; why do you want me to....” He trailed off as he stared at the now empty pocket that only just earlier that day held around 65 dollars in cash. “She... but how did she...”

Tony slapped a heavy hand on Steve’s shoulder, wiping away a tear from the corner of his eye. “She scammed you, bro. And you fell for it hook, line, and sinker,” he grinned before walking back to his room, still chuckling softly to himself at his friend’s misfortune.

------- Time Skip -------

About two weeks had passed since that godsend of a man and I crossed paths. I can’t remember the last time I had managed to lift 65 dollars off anyone. That kind of cash can last someone like me a really long time. But sadly, all good things must come to an end, and after buying myself the first decent meal I’d had in weeks plus a ton of canned foods and non-perishables that I dropped off at the nearest homeless shelter, that good thing ended ended all too quickly. Which meant it was time I went back to work.

I stepped into the public library, that same ambiguous smile painted ever so gently across my face. There weren’t a whole lot of people here and there were almost never any big scores, but working here was a lot less guess-work, and more often than not, the target was too engrossed in their book to even notice what I was doing, so there was also much less risk of being caught.

After a quick scan of the quiet room, my eyes landed on the man sitting at one of the long tables, his bag haphazardly laying next to him on the table. It should be easy enough to grab something from in there, and he seemed invested enough to have his guard down. He should make for a good target.

I walked into the science section and grabbed a few scientific papers, most of which were generally about to nuclear physics, before walking back to his table and sitting down right across from him. Scientific papers are the best way to make sure no one has the confidence to talk to you. I opened the paper that I had read a hundred times and started pretending to read it once more, my left hand resting on my cheek as my right hand slowly made its way towards the bag.

“Excuse me.” I glanced up, pausing my movement towards his back but still being careful not to react too quickly and retract my hand. I didn’t want to draw his attention to what I was doing, and if at all possible, I would still like to come out of this with something to show for it. As I met the glasses-clad, clearly intelligent eyes of the man in front of me, it was easy to figure out what my personality should be -- shy, smart, and above all else, kind. “Is that Schippers’s work?”

I blinked in surprise and allowed a soft smile to spread across my lips. “You know Stefan Schippers?”

“Yeah, his work in antimatter is amazing,” he grinned fully now, his eyes lighting up and making him almost look like a completely different person. “Particularly regarding his research in collisions.”

I grinned back, taking note of how his eyes were now trained on mine, instead of glancing around like before. Maybe I should’ve started a conversation before -- clearly it was a good distraction for him. Well, either way, it’s going to be easier to lift something off of him now, so I guess I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. “I completely agree. His work is amazing,” I giggled softly, glancing down at the table before looking back up at him, a slight red hue now painting the apples of my cheeks as my hand slipped inside of his bag.

“I was honestly surprised to see you reading that paper, actually,” he chuckled nervously. “I’ve read it at least 20 times, but I figured I was the only one.” I laughed lightly, slipping what felt like a wallet out of the bag and tucking it under my arm.

“Trust me, I’ve read this so many times, I’m afraid the library is going to have to replace it because I’ve worn it out so much. You know, if you’re interested in Schippers, you should read some of Dr. Banner’s papers,” I laid my left hand on his arm gently while my right arm swung back over to me, pushing the wallet into my lap. “As much as I love Schippers, Dr. Banner’s work is unparalleled.”

The man chuckled nervously again, ducking his head a bit. “You really think so, huh? How old are you anyways? I don’t see a whole lot of kids brushing up on nuclear physics.”

“I’m older than I look,” I casually brushed off the question. I was not about to give up any personal information, fellow science geek or not. “Oh, by the way, do you have the time?”

The man glanced at his watch. “About 6:00.”

My eyes widened in shock. “You’re kidding, it got that late?! My dad’s gonna kill me!” I gasped and quickly stood up, catching the wallet in my left hand and slipping it into my pocket. “It was really nice meeting you, sir, but I have to go home. I really liked talking to you, though! I hope we can meet again!” I hurriedly gathered the papers and rushed off, waving with a broad smile.

“Oh, uh nice meeting you... too...” he tried to respond, but she was already well out of sight.

-- 3rd Person POV --

“What the hell?” Bruce mumbled, digging through his bag. The pizza had just arrived, and he needed to pay his share.

“What’s wrong?” Natasha glanced at him, an eyebrow raised.

“I could’ve sworn I put my wallet in here, but now I can’t find it,” he frowned, continuing to search every last nook and cranny of the old bag.

“Don’t worry about it, buddy, I can cover you if you’re short,” Tony shrugged.

“That’s not the issue,” Bruce frowned, finally giving up and tossing his bag to the side in frustration. “That had my credit card, my driver’s license, and my ID for Stark Tower. If it’s lost somewhere, it could be a real problem.”

“When was the last time you remember having it?” Clint mumbled through a full mouth of the piece of pizza that he’d already shoved in his face. Natasha rolled her eyes and wiped off the bit of spit he’d gotten on her in disgust.

“I was at the library. I used my library card to check out some books,” he responded confidently.

“Again?” Clint asked, once again through a mouthful of cheese and marinara sauce. “What, do you live there or something?”

“Ok, now walk us through exactly what happened after you checked out those books,” Natasha suggested, doing her best to ignore her best friend.

Bruce sighed and nodded, sitting down. “I checked out my books, then walked over to one of the tables to start reading. Then I talked to that teenager for a little while about some of Schippers’s theories before she ran off--”

“You talked to a teenager about Schippers? And she actually understood?” Tony asked, lifting a brow in surprise.

“Yeah, she even recommended I read Dr. Banner’s work in the same field,” Bruce chuckled. “I thought it better not to tell her who I was, but according to her, Banner’s work is ‘unparalleled’.”

“Damn, the kid knows her stuff,” Tony nodded, impressed. “Did she say anything about--”

“Boys,” Natasha cut in. “The wallet.”

“Ah, right,” Bruce mumbled apologetically. “Anyways, after she ran off, I kept reading for a few minutes before leaving, too. Then I came back to the tower and got up here just in time to decide on ordering pizza with you guys.”

“Did you use the subway?” Natasha asked.

Bruce shook his head. “No. I figured since it was such a nice day out, I would just walk home.”

“How did you enter the building?”

“I ran into Steve downstairs, and we came in together.”

Steve, who had been silent up until this point, finally spoke up. “This teenager... Was she about 16? With (H/C) hair?”

“What, you think it’s the same girl who totally scammed you the other--” Tony started, getting ready to take part in his favorite pastime of making fun of Steve.

“Actually, yeah, she was,” Bruce answered, his eyes wide in realization.

Before anyone could say anything, Tony’s incredibly loud laughter filled the room. “Holy shit, you guys both got scammed by the same teenager! How does that even happen?!” He wheezed, laughing so hard he could hardly breath.

“Hey she seemed like a nice girl!” Bruce defended. “How was I supposed to know she was robbing me?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be a genius or something?” Tony asked, tears streaming down his face now. Bruce opened his mouth, trying to come up with something but came up blank. A heavy hand landing on his shoulder knocked him out of his stupor.

“Just let it happen,” Steve sighed, his eyes cast down as he shook his head in sympathy.

------- Time Skip -------

It had been a week since I had spoken to that science nerd in the library, and I was still pissed. Seriously, what kind of grown man only carries around 4 dollars and 36 cents? Well, apparently, that weirdo did. I had thrown out all the cards and IDs to at least sell the what looked to be leather wallet to a pawn shop, but apparently the thing wasn’t even leather! All of that time, wasted for a measly 12 bucks. I’ll say it again: I was pissed.

So, now I was back out working again, because the money I’d made was barely enough to buy a few snacks that I had to portion out over the course of the past week.

As I walked down the sidewalk, still grumbling softly to myself about what had happened, I saw him.

Tony freaking Stark.

I grinned. Maybe my luck was getting better after all. I mean, a billionaire who’s famous for having, shall we say, questionable morals? After all, it’s not exactly nice to sleep with as many women as humanly possible before tossing them away like they’re nothing. I mean, sure there’s the whole iron man thing, but he’s still kind of a dick, let’s be honest. And while I usually tried to refrain from taking anything major in case my target doesn’t have a whole lot of money or the object is sentimental, billionaire jerks are fair game. And the best part was, I didn’t even have to read him to know the part I was going to play. Tony Stark would only ever fall for one personality: sarcastic, quick-witted, and strong.

His head was down, buried in his phone, so I casually walked towards him, picking up an old cup of coffee from one of a nearby cafe’s outdoor tables, before smacking into him head-first, spilling the coffee everywhere.

“What the hell?!”

“Oh my god!” We both yelled at the same time.

“Oh c’mon, kid, this is silk!” Tony continued to shout, staring down at the coffee covering his chest.

“Hey, I’m not the one with my head buried in my phone while walking through one of the busiest cities in the world,” I snapped back. “And you’re not the only one whose clothes got ruined. This is cashmere!” I lied through my teeth. It was a ratty old sweater that I’d bought for about 3 dollars at a thrift store.

Stark scoffed. “Do you have any idea who I am?”

“Yeah, you’re Tony Stark. That doesn’t change the fact that my parents are gonna be pissed about me ruining a hundred dollar sweater,” I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms defiantly.

That was when he finally glanced at me and my coffee-stained outfit. Stark sighed and put his fingers to the bridge of his nose. “Alright, I’m sorry.” Wait, what? Since when does the great Tony Stark ever apologize for anything? “I’ll pay for the dry-cleaning, ok? Just give me your parents’ numbers.”

Shit, that’s not how this is supposed to go. Ok, new strategy. A sassy front but a kind interior.

I sighed and shook my head. “No, it’s not entirely your fault. I guess I could’ve tried to avoid you better. Anyways, you got a pen and paper?”

Stark nodded slightly and reached into his inner pocket, pulling out a tiny pad and a fancy looking pen. I quickly jotted down the phone number and handed it back to him. Shoot, he looked like he was about to walk away. I had to act quick or lose my chance. Time to add one more very important characteristic to my identity: pitiable. “Hey, I really am sorry. I kind of overreacted. It wasn’t cool. I guess I just got a little nervous. My dad likes things to be clean, and he can get pretty mad when I don’t follow that rule...” I trailed off a bit, glancing down at my feet. I shook my head quickly and met the billionaire’s gaze, now filled with concern, again. “Sorry, didn’t mean to dump that on you. I just wanted to say thanks.” I held out my right hand, praying that I’d guessed which hand to use correctly. As Stark grabbed my hand, I had to hold back a sigh of relief when I saw the watch casually placed on his wrist.

“It was really nice meeting you, Mr. Stark,” I smiled a bit, with my left hand closing over his wrist while three of my fingers on my right hand undid the clasp on his watch. Then I pressed down one the buttons on either side of the clasp with my middle finger on my right hand and my thumb on my left hand, making sure to hold the watch in place. “If you’d like, I’d be happy to buy you a coffee to make up for it. There’s a really nice café right over there.” I squeezed the watch tightly with my left hand and jerked my chin towards the store just behind him. He turned his head and looked, pulling his hand back slightly as he did so, which allowed me to slip the watch off his wrist. Immediately, I dropped it in my pocket before he had a chance to turn back around.

“Thanks, kid, but I’m good. I’ll give your parents a call when I get home, ok?” He said before awkwardly giving me a pat on the shoulder. “Now go run off and play with some dolls or whatever.”

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks, but my collection can’t be nearly as big as yours,” I bit back with a slight, good-natured smirk. “Anyways, I gotta go home and get yelled at by my parents. Nice meeting you, Mr. Stark,” I called, waving to him as I was already leaving.

Stark shook his head with a small smile. “Yeah, you too, kid.”

-- 3rd Person POV --

“What, no watch today?” Tony furrowed his brows at Bruce’s question.

“Of course I have a watch today. I have a watch for every day of the week,” he scoffed, lifting his wrist to show off the rather expensive Rolex.

“Umm dude...?” Clint started.

“Yeah, I know it’s awesome, and no, you cannot try it on,” Tony smirked. “I have a very strict look don’t touch policy. These bad boys cost quite the pretty penny, and I wouldn’t want any of you trying to take it from me.” Clint just shrugged in defeat and unpaused his video game -- it wasn’t his fault his friend interrupted him trying to help.

“Tony, look at your wrist,” Steve rolled his eyes at the pompous man’s antics.

“What, just so I can admire it--” he cut himself off as his eyes landed on the bare skin of his wrist. “...Where the hell is my watch?”

“Maybe you forgot to put one on today?” Bruce shrugged, going back to his computer as he continued to work.

“No, I didn’t forget; I never forget,” Tony snapped. “It was there this morning, and now it’s gone.” He yanked up his sleeve to search in vain for the incredibly expensive missing item.

“Hey, maybe Tony was pick-pocketed, too,” Clint joked absentmindedly before cursing at some ‘dumbass little camping noob’ who kept killing him.

Tony’s eyes widened in realization. “Holy shit, it was the kid.”

“What?” Steve frowned.

“The kid! The kid who spilled coffee on me today!” He shouted. “I had my watch, then she shook my hand, and now the watch is gone. She totally took it!”

Clint paused the game again. “Wait, so basically some kid took your custom watch, which is worth thousands of dollars, right off your wrist, and you didn’t even notice?” Tony bobbed his head up and down frantically. “Hold on... You don’t think...” Clint glanced between the three other men in the room.

“(H/C) hair?” Steve asked.

“(E/C) eyes?” Bruce called, suddenly no longer able to focus on his work.

Tony nodded slowly with wide eyes. Reality crashed down on all three of them.

A wide smile slowly took over Clint’s face. “So you mean to tell me that three of the Avengers, the Earth’s greatest defenders, got scammed by the same teenage girl in less than a month?” The three men were silent, each of them staring at the ground as they started to question how smart they actually were.

About 30 seconds later, the silence was broken. “Nat, you’ll never believe what just happened. I can’t believe you weren’t home for this,” Clint talked excitedly into the phone while his teammates all slowly left the room to sulk alone.

------- Time Skip -------

It had been a whole month since I had gotten the watch off Tony Stark. I almost couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the amount of zeros on the offer the pawn shop had given me. It was probably one of the best days of my life. Immediately, I had gone out and bought myself a meal at an actual restaurant, and let me tell you, they weren’t kidding when they said restaurant food is delicious. Every protein bar and bag of chips in the world couldn’t live up to the food I ate that day. And with that kind of money, I could be eating like that for maybe even a year! Still, I knew what I had to do.

It was almost Christmas. With the money I’d just gotten, I could afford to buy each and every kid at the orphanage actual brand new presents that year, instead of the crummy second-hand stuff that had to be shared between three or four kids that I usually brought. So, I went out and blew a good three quarters of my new budget on toys, and not the kind from thrift shops or even the ones from the big department stores. I could finally get them toys from one of the fancy stores that had display windows. And it was worth it, too, seeing the pure amazement that lit up those kids’ eyes when they saw there was enough for all of them. I then spent another quarter of the money on nonperishable foods that I donated to the homeless shelter plus one massive turkey for their Christmas feast.

After all of that, I was left with around 20 dollars for myself. Usually I can make money like that last with just a few extra marks, but as the month dragged on and less and less people were out on the streets at night, my budget ran thin. Eventually, I reached my breaking point. I’d gone I think four days now without any food. My stomach growled loudly, begging me to give it something, anything. I just sighed and receded further into the fabric of my thin, worn down coat that I’d found a few days back by a dumpster -- the coat I used to wear long traded in for a couple spare dollars. Sure, the wind cut through it like a knife, but hell, it was better than nothing.

I glanced up as I heard the crunching of footsteps in the snow, my heard immediately leaping into my throat at the prospect of there being people out. I frowned when I saw who they were. A couple walking together, chatting away about something or another. Normally, I would never choose a couple to target -- it was too easy for one of them to spot what I was doing to the other -- but I had gotten desperate. I was freezing cold, and I needed food now.

So, I walked directly towards them and crashed my shoulder into the guy’s, my hand slipping into his pocket. I thanked whatever higher power was watching over me when my hand came into contact with a money clip.

“Sorry,” I mumbled and slipped my hand back out before continuing to walk at a casual pace away from the two, tucking the clip into my pocket.

-- 3rd Person POV --

“Well that was rude,” Clint huffed, dusting himself off.

Natasha stared at the back of the young girl who continued to walk away like nothing had happened. “Hey, Clint,” she muttered.

“Yeah?”

“Where’s your wallet?”

“I put it back in my... pocket....” Clint froze when he realized he couldn’t feel the familiar clip in his jacket pocket. He whirled around to look at the girl, who was already a ways away. “Hey! Get back here!” He screamed, breaking into a run, Natasha quickly following suit.

-- Your POV --

“Hey! Get back here!” I glanced back with wide eyes, my heart leaping into my throat before immediately sprinting.

I ran through the snow, turning right and left through back alleys and narrow shortcuts, thanking my past self for never eating well, as my skinny form was able to stay on top of the snow for the most part. Still, somehow I hadn’t lost the two adults chasing me yet. They had barely fallen a foot or two behind over the last eight blocks. My stamina was quickly running out, the malnourishment over the past week finally catching up to me. I felt dizzy, and my chest burned as I focused on continuing to put one foot in front of the other. I turned down an alleyway with a brick wall at the end.

“Ha! We’ve finally caught you!” The man behind me panted. I completely ignored him, not pausing a single step as I sprinted towards the wall.

“Uhh, hey, kid? Rock beats teenager...” He called warily. I continued to ignore him. I was only five feet away. “Stop, you’re gonna hurt yourself!” he shouted just before I jumped, pressing my feet into the bricks to launch my further and further up. I reached as high as I could and just barely caught the edge of the wall with my fingertips. I swung my other arm up and forced my arms to pull myself to the top.

I panted as I gazed down from the top of the wall, the couple staring back up at me. “Holy shit,” the man muttered, to which the woman immediately smacked him in the arm.

“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “I was hungry.” I wasn’t really sure why I was apologizing. Granted, I knew what I was doing wasn’t very nice, but I don’t recall ever apologizing before. Maybe it’s because they reminded me of my parents -- or, at least, what I imagined my parents to be like. Maybe it’s because I was so dizzy that I couldn’t really think straight. I nodded slightly to the two before turning around, preparing myself to jump down the other side.

Suddenly, a massive wave of dizziness and nausea smacked me in the face. I groaned slightly and put my hand to my forehead, trying to get a hold of myself. Evidently, that didn’t work, because the next thing I knew, I was falling.

Time seemed to slow as I fell through the air. I probably shouldn’t pass out right now, the surprisingly calm thought entered my mind. If I do, I’ll most likely just freeze to death. Then again, passing out would save me a lot of pain from falling. Alright, I guess that’s it then. I’ll pass out now and hope I wake up in time to not die. My eyes fluttered closed just before I hit the ground, the fog in my brain thickening as I finally allowed myself to just give in to it.

-- 3rd Person POV --

Clint grunted as he caught the girl. He was expecting to fall to the ground with her, only really serving to break her fall, but was surprised to find that she wasn’t even heavy enough to knock him down. Natasha made her way over to his side, looking down at the little thief in her friend’s arms.

“She’s light as a feather,” Clint murmured with a frown on his face, “and freezing to the touch.”

“She said she was hungry,” Natasha muttered thoughtfully.

Clint grit his teeth and nodded, determined. “Alright, that settles it. We’re taking her back to the tower.”

Natasha glanced at him warily. “You sure? The others might not be so accepting.”

“They’re gonna have to be,” he stated, already walking back, holding the girl as close as he could in an attempt to warm her up.

#Avengers #avengers one shot #avengers imagine #avengers reader insert #avengers x reader #avengers x you #avengers x y/n

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dreamteamspace · 4 years

Text

MCYT subway au Part 3 because I’m a sucker for attention and the 2 ppl who made part 1 and 2 noticed me

Holiday Shift

- Everybody who works on the holiday gets double. Those that can’t work have to put their name on a list. Lowest entries and those that don’t enter need to work the shift. It’s Phil’s idea don’t ask

- George is the first to put his name there but Sapnap skribbles it out and makes sure everybody else gets their name in first. It’s his punishment for leaving Dream and him alone for rush hour when Karl was sick. Dream wasn’t all that mad but Sapnap Will Not let that shit slide

- Tommy gladly takes the oppertunity to not have to spend the entire day awkwardly hugging relatives and being told to keep their elbows off the table. Convinces Tubbo to join them, supposedly for the Money

- Dream: “So Karl did you put your name on the list yet?” Karl: “What list??”

- Shift staffing: George, Tubbo, Tommy and Karl

- George becomes the reluctant babysitter of what feels like three kids

- “Karl stop WASTING the bread we NEED THAT.”

- Tommy is told to go pull what they need for monday out of the freezer. Tubbo offers to come with him and holds his hand the entire time. They’re best friends your honor. Tommy promises Tubbo to make it up to him

- George does about 60% of the work on a four person shift. Swears to murder Sapnap on sight. Probably slaps a pastry in his face later

Promotion pt. 4: Taking Over

- Tommy begs Techno to join in support of Wilbur. Techno reluctantly agrees because he can’t really say no to Tommy and because he doesn’t really want to become manager anyway (too much paperwork and he’s fixating on the origins of vedgetables)

- Tommy now adds #WilburForManager to his pogway stickers. Wilbur is also reluctantly Growing Soft in face of Tommy’s undying support

- Nobody knows why, but Quackity has the unspoken ability to make Schlatt give him sick leave or remove him from shift?? All Quackity has to do is point to his phone and give Schlatt a smug Look.

- Ppl are suspicious but really Quackity just has a video of Schlatt kissing a baby kitten in the face and talking to it in a high pitched soft voice

- Wilbur needs to visit extended family and leaves for 2 weeks. The day before he leaves is surprisingly light-hearted and Wilbur admits that Schlatt isn’t the worst manager imaginable. He lets them waste things sometimes and has yet to give anybody a cut for not showing up to a shift

- Dream can’t openly go against Schlatt, silently wishing he’d just put the milk in The Right Spot before his shift. But no. It never is. It’s always somewhere else. Always.

- Schlatt continues to place things in slightly different places than they belong and following his whim more than the rules. One time he didn’t order the dark chocolate cakes they sell because “Who likes those anyway”

- Phil is there more often to make sure Wilbur’s work is covered. The war continues to rage in stolen glares and misplaced ingredients.

- Bad and Skeppy are slowly genuinely growing concerned, watching the whole thing go down like a movie.

Promotion pt. 5: Adopted On Sight

- Schlatt tells Tubbo he’s doing great One Time because he literally saved Schlatt’s ass from being fired for the whole cakes thing by biking it to the nearest store that sells them and getting some

- Tubbo will now follow Schlatt around to ask him how he’s doing, if he did everything right, if he needs any help, how his morning went so far

- Schlatt does Not Know how to handle Tubbo and suddenly wishes for Wilbur to just Come Back and Take His Kid. Tubbo wishes him a good morning and good night every single day. How is he supposed to keep up his tough old man appearance like this

- Tommy is still on Wilbur’s side and purposefully makes Schlatt’s life just a little more difficult. Small pranks. Stickers on the cakes, wasting them. Writing #TommySupremacy on the sandwhich wraps with markers while nobody is looking. Taking 4 chairs to the back to stack them on top of eachother and stand on them to reach the ceiling. Being the teenager he is.

- Tubbo think it’s funny and that’s the main thing keeping him going really

- Schlatt confronts Tommy but with no results. He turns to Phil to ask him what to do and Phil is like, you don’t do anything. That’s just Tommy for you. Usually Wilbur keeps him occupied with the Dreamon hunting and now he has too much free time

- Quackity is using the blackmail more and more. Does he even work here anymore? When was the last time anybody saw him apart from looting the expired sodas? He’s the only one who can order avocados on a spanish site online that don’t cost their weight in gold

- But as it tends to be with good friends, Schlatt knows the amount of blackmail he has is enough to fill everybody’s need for drama here for the rest of the year. Also he can’t say no to Quackity

- Fundy recieves yet another apology card from Wilbur from Ireland, a whole postcard with a picture attached and a little doodle of a fox. He finally caves and forgives him, now refusing to do Schlatt’s work anymore.

- Dream is Popping Off. Nobody can stop him from working once he starts. He’s 2 months ahead on Literally Everything. Somebody help him

Promotion pt. 6: The Finale I promise

- Wilbur returns! Schlatt is THIS close to throwing in the towel

- Tubbo says he wants another sleepover, wanting to de-escalate the whole manager war. Tommy has to stay true to his promise in the freezer and they convince Wilbur together. Techno was on board before they even asked

- Unbeknowedst to them, the Dream Team + Karl wanted to stay in that night as well to sabotage Schlatt

- Both groups stare at eachother in confusion at first

-They combine their resources to figure out a way to sabotage Schlatt. Dream is growing increasingly quiet and unsure while Tommy stares at The Adults with dissapointment. Tubbo tries to get a word in about how Schlatt isn’t That Bad but they all yell over him. “The milk, Tubbo! Why can’t he put the milk back like a normal person!”

- Eventually Tommy pulls out his bravery and tells everyone to Shut Up

- Everyone stares at eachother

-Tommy: “How come you guys yelling over bullying somebody out of their work sounds less mature than when my literal nephews are screaming at eachother over 10 year old pokemon cards??“

- The adults stare at eachother even harder

- Dream shyly clears his throat. “From an outsider perspective, you know, uh, I should probably be fired for plotting against a fellow manager-“

- Wilbur finally finds his tongue. “Maybe this wasn’t the most... mature idea.”

- Everybody carefully agrees to apologize to schlatt and never speak of this again. Tommy has unknowingly gotten a lot more pranking rights

- They spend the rest of the night organizing the storage, hunting Dreamon, Dream telling them about that one time he ate a living frog, and taking turns playing some free racing game on Karl’s switch

- Lots of laughter, return to their shifts the next day

- They wait for Schlatt to come in to work and pull him to the back. Only Bad and Skeppy are already allowed inside while they keep the doors locked for anybody else

- Dream issues a formal apology to him and tells him everything, and Wilbur jockingly mentions they were really close to pouring food coloring into his rubber gloves as they try to laugh it off

- Schlatt stares at them

- “You know what? I quit. I don’t want to be the manager anymore. I feel like the dad of lord knows how many kids. Phil is some kind of angel. Wilbur please adopt Tubbo and Tommy again, as long as our store isn’t on fire I’m never going to complain about them ever again. Dream you might wanna phone Quackity.”

Insiders

- After a good, short era of peace within the establishment, the Drama Bois are getting bored and latching onto new things

- The bets on whether Skeppy and Bad are a couple or not are getting ever higher, especially as they’ve started letting them behind the counter. They figured out pretty quickly that they’re officially not together, but that just makes the betting all the more exciting. Do they like eachother? Are they hiding it? Are they just really good friends? Are they THAT oblivious or just really good at covering it up??

- Bad especially becomes good friends with Dream, George and Sapnap, and yet they’re all just as split as everyone else on whether he likes Skeppy or not

- Bad pretends to be but is in fact not oblivious to this at all

- Dream especially will often tell them they’re being VERY close to eachother or how cute they are next to eachother, revelling in teasing his friend, especially as Bad will sometimes start to get flustered while Skeppy manages to somehow stay 100% cool

- One day when a middle aged white woman is extremely unhappy with her order she starts talking down on George about being uneducated, and too clumsy for being useful at all, and how they should fire him. George asks her if he should just get the manager and she gladly agrees, only for Dream to swoop out of a back room, a good head taller than her, and sternly tell her if she can’t treat employees like human beings then he will ban her from the establishment immedietly. The woman stutters, takes her order and leaves, cursing something as she goes.

- Bad and Skeppy were sitting at a table nearby quietly the entire time, and Bad has this a-little-too-wide smile on his face.

- Dream murmurs something about having to go, but the seeds are planted. The idea has bloomed. Bad is ready to get his teasing revenge.

- Just as they’re closing, George puts away the milk that Dream left on the counter, telling Dream that he’s putting it away. Bad: “Wow George, that’s so thoughtful of you!” George: “???”

- Dream, softly telling George he can go home earlier and he’ll take the rest of the shift so George can catch up on sleep: “It’s okay, just go. I’ve got this.”

- Bad, just as George left, slurping his milkshake innocently while Wilbur and Sapnap are in earshot: “Awww, Dream! That was SO nice of you!”

- Dream, knowing exactly what this is for: “I’m just... nice to my friends!“

- Bad: “Really?! How many times do you let Sapnap go home earlier?” Sapnap: “You let George go earlier AGAIN?” Wilbur, having waited his entire life for someone to finally notice this: “George is getting so much favored treatment, Dream. But you’re really just good friends, right?“

- If looks could kill they’d all be dead at that point. Especially Bad, who continues slurping his milkshake as the chaos unfolds and Dream knows there’s no escape

@labbyyyyy @karlljacobs

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babypandawrites · 3 years

Text

Allies, Pt. 1

A New Companion

Pairing: Sokka x F Reader Warnings: None Word Count: 3,102 Summary: You meet Team Avatar in the forest on a rainy night, and offer a helping hand.

Note: So, while I’m unable to write new pieces, I’ve decided to start posting this fic that I’ve been working on for a while- since a good part of it is already written. This is the first of many parts, it’s a pretty long slow burn. I’m also posting this on my Ao3, but figured I might as well bring it over here as well! Also apologies if my characterization is a bit off here, this was the first ATLA piece I wrote.

-Navigation- | -Allies Masterlist- | -Atla Masterlist-

Raindrops gently hit the leaves of the trees, slowly rolling off the foliage and hitting against the ground. Despite the fact it had been raining, Y/n found herself walking about the familiar forest, pausing her steps to crouch in front of a berry bush. She untied a small pouch from the piece of rope around her waist, and started to fill it with berries. Hearing voices in the distance, her movements ceased, and her head snapped in the direction they come from. Not only was it raining, but it was getting pretty late, yet it appeared others were in the forest as well. Strange. She tied the pouch back in place, and was quick to climb up the nearest tree. She perched herself on a sturdy branch, and grabbed onto her bow which rested over her shoulder. “-ot for your stupid water magic we wouldn’t have to be stuck in the rain right now, so yes, this is your fault!” “Even if we had our supplies, we would still be in the rain Sokka, we don’t have anywhere to set up camp!” She drew an arrow from her quiver as the voices got closer. “Guys! Can you please stop arguing? I’m sure there’s another way we can solve this.” Aligning the arrow with the bow, she pulled it back and aimed at the ground in front of the group of three. The arrow zipped through the air, lodging itself in the ground in front of the taller boy of the group. The sudden appearance caused him to jump back with a yelp, before he frantically looked around. “Where did THAT come from!?” The other two members of the group took on a fighting stance, looking around the area in front of them for the source of the arrow. Y/n settled her bow back over her shoulder, and jumped off the branch, to one that was a bit closer to the group. The rustling of the leaves caught the group's attention, and they looked up to the trees. They couldn’t see her seeing as she was shielded by the leaves, but they at least had an idea. Readying her bow again, she aimed another arrow at the group. This time, she waited to shoot it. “Who are you.” Her tone was harsh, threatening. The taller of the two boys looked around the trees, reaching for a boomerang. “Why should we tell you that?!” Eyes squinted, the aim of her arrow moved to him. Still she didn’t shoot it. “I’ll shoot again.” The shorter boy didn’t drop his guard, but took a step closer to where he guessed this mystery person was at. It quickly made her aim change to him. “Let’s not do that please. I’m Aang. This is Katara and Sokka, then these guys are Appa and Momo. We aren’t looking for any trouble, just a place to camp for the night.” Silence fell among them for a few moments, as the group waited to see what she would do. Dropping down from the tree branch, she rested her bow over her shoulder again, and slid the arrow back into it’s quiver. All three of them looked ready to attack when she revealed herself. “I see, sorry about that then. You can never be too careful.” The two boys seemed to relax, but didn’t lower their weapons. “I’ll just take my arrow and be on my way.” She took a step closer to them, but stopped when Katara held up a hand. The girl reached down and pulled the arrow from the dirt, and tossed it in her direction. Y/n caught it, wiped it clean on her shorts, then tucked it away in the quiver with the rest of her arrows. Turning on her heel, she started to walk away. “Hey, wait!” Turning her head to look back at the group, she raised an eyebrow at Aang who had asked her to wait. The others didn’t look very pleased by his actions. “Would you happen to know anywhere we could set up camp for the night?” “There’s a clearing nearby, I could show you the way.” She paused for a short moment, debating her words. “Though, if you’d like to get out of the rain you could stay at my base.” Y/n never trusted people easily, especially strangers. A lot of dangerous people came through this forest. But they didn’t seem like a bad group of kids, and she was ninety percent sure that Aang kid was the Avatar. Her knowledge of the Air Nomads was limited, but she knew enough to recognize the blue arrows tattooed on him were a thing only they did- and it was pretty common knowledge at this point that the Avatar was an Air Nomad. His expression brightened at her offer. “Really? That would be great!” Sokka glared at his friend, and leaned closer to him, whispering something she wasn’t able to catch. The two had a quick back and forth, before getting Katara’s opinion on the matter. The three paused, and looked at her, before all standing up straight. Aang offered her a bright smile, while Sokka looked mildly upset, and Katara looked like she had mixed feelings. “We would really appreciate that! Thank you.” “Sure thing.” She started walking, motioning for them to follow her. They did so, albeit a little hesitantly. “I even have room for your… For Appa to get out of the rain.” She wasn’t too sure what the large animal was if she was being honest.

The group arrived to a clearing after not too long. Several tarps had been strung together and tied around the trees a good ways off the ground, keeping the area dry. In the center of the tarped off clearing was an unlit campfire, next to it sat a long log. A few feet away from the campfire a tarp way laid on the ground, several rocks sitting at the corners to hold it down. A sleeping bag was on top of the tarp, as well as a crate. Y/n walked into the tarped off area, immediately going to light the campfire. The rest entered the area as well. Appa found a place to lay down, Momo sat atop his head. Katara and Sokka moved to sit by the campfire once it was lit to warm up, while Aang approached Y/n. He offered her a small bow. “Thank you again for allowing us to stay here for the night. Sokka might be… a little sour about it but he’s just being cautious. I know he appreciates it as well.” She let out a nervous laugh, and rubbed at the back of her neck. “It’s no problem.” The siblings were having a quiet conversion that died off when Aang and Y/n joined them by the fire. They all sat in an awkward silence, before Sokka cleared his throat. “So, do you just attack anyone who walks around this place?” Katara gave her brother a glare, elbowing him in the side. “It was a warning, not an attack.” He mumbled under his breath. “A warning that almost stabbed my foot…” “Sokka…” There was warning in his sister's tone, he didn’t seem to pay mind to it. Y/n glanced off to the side. “If it was an attack I would have done worse than stab your foot.” Aang and Katara glanced at each other, as Sokka’s expression twisted to anger. “Wow, what a great way of greeting people.” His voice dripped with sarcasm. “Actually, when most of the people you come into contact with are willing to kill you to get what they want, it is a great way of greeting people.” Before the conversation could escalate any further, Aang inserted himself in the conversation. “You know what, I just realized we never got your name!” She took in a deep breath to compose herself. “Y/n.” Standing up from his spot nervously, he grabbed into Sokka’s arm to pull him up. “It’s great to formally meet you Y/n. Hey Sokka, can I talk to you for a second?” Before Sokka could give an answer, he was dragged off by his friend. Far enough that they shouldn’t be heard, but to where they were still underneath the tarps that shielded them from the rain. The two girls sat in silence for a moment, until Katara spoke up. “I’m sorry about my brother, he’s an idiot sometimes.” “Being idiots is what brothers do best..” She trailed off with a tense laugh. The other offered her own quiet laugh, rubbing her hands together before placing them closer to the fire. “Do you have a brother too?” Offering a small nod to the question, she pulled a knee up to her chest. Katara took a quick glance around the camp Y/n had set up, raising an eyebrow when she noticed it was only set up for one person. “Is he not with you?” “Oh, um no. He’s fighting in the war, so I haven’t seen him for a while.” “Must be nice.” They both laughed. “I understand what it’s like though, our father is fighting in the war too.” Katara had mixed feelings on the matter, when Aang suggested that they accept the offer for a dry place to stay. On one hand, she didn’t want to sleep in the rain, but on the other this girl had shot an arrow at them. Seeing and hearing a bit about the conditions Y/n had seemed to be living in though, made her agree more with Aang than her brother on the passed manner. This girl had just been acting in a way of self defense, making it known she wasn’t afraid to attack if they tried anything. Now hearing about her brother, she could feel herself sympathizing for the girl. “Sorry to hear about your dad.” Katara offered her a small smile. “And I’m sorry to hear about your brother.” Don’t be. When the boys returned to the campfire, Sokka took a seat next to his sister again, arms crossed over his chest, as Aang returned to his spot next to Y/n. Aang looked between the two girls. “What are you guys talking about?” Katara offered him a small shrug. “Not much.” Silence made its way into the group again, the four of them looking about awkwardly. Y/n found her gaze landing on Appa, the large animal who laid himself in the grass. She observed him and Momo- a small lemur who sat on his head -for a few moments before turning to look at Aang. “So um, what exactly is Appa?” “He’s a flying bison!” Sokka watched the two carefully as they conversed. Her eyes widened slightly. “Flying?” Aang offered her a nod. “Yeah! He’s been our ride for our adventure.” “What is your guys’ adventure?” Sokka cut into the conversation. “It’s none of your business.” He spoke harshly, earning a glare from Y/n. “Interesting. I don’t recall asking you, boomerang boy.” “Why you-” Katara intervened this time, clapping a hand over her brother's mouth to silence him. “We’re heading to the North Pole.” Y/n held back a laugh at Sokka being silenced. “The North Pole? You guys have some ambition, that’s on the other side of the world.” Aang laughed nervously rubbing at the back of his neck. “Yeah.” When silence fell over them for the third time, Y/n stood up from her seat. “Are you guys hungry?” When Katara and Aang answered that yes they were, she grabbed her bow and pulled a small basket out of the crate she had. Sokka clasped his hands behind his neck. “I mean, I could eat.” She shot him a glare. “I wasn’t asking you.” “What- Are you just going to give food to Aang and Katara?” “Yup.” His expression twisted into one of offense. She snickered. “You’re free to come with and get your own food, boomerang boy.” “Would you stop- you know what, whatever.” Sokka stood up, and hooked his machete onto his belt. “I could probably catch better food than you anyways.” Y/n turned on her heel, and headed to the forest. “Hope you don’t mind the rain.” Slumping forward, his expression fell flat. Right, it was raining still. Great. Still, he followed after her. Katara watched with worry as the pair walked off. “Aang, do you think we should go with them?” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Huh, why?” “They might kill each other.” Aang looked at the direction they went off to, before looking back at Katara. “I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

Sokka followed closely behind Y/n as she led him through the forest. He had no idea where she was going, and he really didn’t like that. At the very least, she seemed to know where she was going, so they shouldn’t get lost. But that didn’t make him like the situation any more. After a while of walking through the increasingly growing rain, they ended up at a river. It was wide, and pretty deep as well. The tide rolled through it at a slow pace. It looked like a good place to fish. He assumed that’s what they were there for. Unhooking his machete from his belt, Sokka pushed past Y/n and approached the river. “I’m sure you’ll need a demonstration on how to fish properly, so let me show you how it’s done.” She raised her eyebrows in amusement, and took a step back. “Oh yeah, totally. Why don’t you show me how it’s done.” Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she spoke with heavy sarcasm. He ignored her sarcasm, and used his machete to stab into the water in an attempt to catch a fish. When he pulled the blade from the water, there was nothing on the other end. “Wow! An invisible fish, that’s really impressive, those are so hard to catch!” He shot her a glare. “I’m just warming up.” “Mhhm.” She crossed her arms over her chest, watching as he stood still, doing nothing. “That’s a whole lot of nothing you're doing over there.” “Fishing is a waiting game, it’s all about being-” Pausing, he stabbed the machete into the river again. “Patient!” When he failed to catch a fish for the second time, Sokka let out a groan, and started rapidly stabbing his machete into the river. “Oh, yes, because you’re being very patient.” He paused mid stab, and took in a deep breath. “Rapid fire fishing is a Southern Water Tribe specific tactic, you wouldn’t understand.” Y/n raised an eyebrow at him. “My grandma is from the Southern Water Tribe actually, and she taught me how to fish.” She brought up a hand to her chin. “I don’t remember her ever bringing that up.” He turned his head to look at her with wide eyes. “Wait- You’re from the tribe? Why are you out her-” “Maybe I should show you how it’s done.” Cutting him off, Y/n readied her bow and pulled an arrow from her quiver. Aiming the arrow at the water, she waited for a few moments, before releasing it. The arrow zipped through the air, and lodged into the river bed. Sokka watched as she went to retrieve the arrow from the water. “Psh, I bet you didn’t even catch anything.” He quickly ate those words, seeing as there was a fish impaled on the arrow when she pulled it out. She gave him a look, as she threw the fish into the small woven basket she brought. “Oh. Well-” He just decided to shut his mouth, and turned back to the river to continue his fishing venture.

Once they’d both caught a handful of fish, they started to head back in the direction of the camp. Sokka carried the basket that was brought with them, agreeing to do so in exchange of him putting the fish he caught in it as well. He cleared his throat. “Um, Y/n?” Glancing over at him, Y/n raised an eyebrow. “Yes?” “Well uh, I wanted to apologize for earlier- It was unnecessarily harsh of me to attack you like that. It’s just not the most pleasant thing to get an arrow shot at you out of nowhere, y’know?” “Yeah, that’s kind of the point, it’s supposed to be threatening.” “It definitely is.” Silence fell over the two, as they continued walking back. Once the camp was in their view, however, Y/n spoke up. “Your apology is accepted, by the way.” Sokka smiled softly, as they rushed to get back under the tarps and out of the rain. Katara’s head perked up when she saw the two. “You guys are back.” She was honestly a little surprised they both came back in one piece. “Yup, and we brought dinner.” Sokka sat the basket down, before quickly going back to his spot by the fire to warm up. Y/n was also quick to get by the fire to warm up, not bothering to put her bow down until she was near it. Katara looked between the two, before getting up from her spot. “I can cook, since you two went through the effort of getting this in the rain.” Y/n offered the girl a smile. “Thank you, Katara.”

By the next morning, the rain had cleared up. Y/n had helped the group pack up the few things they had up onto Appa. Getting her attention, Aang bowed to her much like the night before. “I wanted to say thank you again. We really appreciated your help last night.” She offered him a smile, giving a small bow in return. “It was no problem. I wish you all luck with your travels.” “Actually,” He rubbed at the back of his neck, glancing to the side for a moment. “Katara, Sokka and I we’re talking earlier and we were wondering if you’d maybe like to come with us? We could use your help on the team, and I honestly feel kind of bad leaving you out here alone.” “Well, I sort of live out here, alone, so.” She laughed quietly. “I mean, I guess I don’t really have a reason not to join you guys.” Sokka poked into the conversation. “So, is that a yes?” “I guess so.” Deciding to join them on their journey, Y/n got to packing up her own things. It would probably be best for her to get out of this forest anyways, the Fire Nation came through it a little too often for her liking. Once all her stuff was packed up, Katara and Sokka helped her get up onto Appa, and they took off. Joining the Avatar on his adventure wasn’t what Y/n expected to get out of this encounter, but, she wasn’t mad at the outcome.

#avatar the last airbender #atla #avatar the last airbender x reader #atla x reader #reader insert #sokka x reader #sokka x y/n #sokka x you #team avatar #slowburn #book one allies

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willowbird · 3 years

Note

For the prompt game — could you do AU 1, trope 8, location 2 for Andreil? I always love reading these, thanks for sharing!

Grad School, return of the childhood best friend, inside Andrew's closet!!! Thank you so much for sending in the ask I'm glad you're enjoying the little ficlets and I hope you like this one too!

-----

Tall people were a curse. A blight on all of society. Civilization would undoubtedly crumble under the obnoxious stomping of their huge feet and the polar ice caps would melt at least in part due to the heat from their big fat heads.

Also, all the tall fuckers in Andrew's cohort were constantly putting things in places Andrew couldn't reach, especially when it came to the supply closet off of the office the group of them communally used. It had gotten to the point that Andrew had taken full command of the ordering and organization of all their supplies. Last month he had even gone so far as to print out and laminate a full-color sign for the closet that read: NO ONE ABOVE 5'3 PERMITTED. SEE ANDREW J MINYARD FOR ALL SUPPLY RETRIEVAL.

The only reason he'd given the extra few inches at all was because Robin, the undergrad TA that assisted in one of his classes, sometimes helped him out and she was a whole three inches taller than him. It was enough of a restriction that it barred the rest of his cohort from intruding, though, as even Renee was a solid 5'8.

Or at least, it should have been an effective restriction. Andrew had thought the rest of his team could read well enough to get the goddamn message. Then he showed up this morning and the fucking closet door was open and where was the box of printer ink he'd ordered last week?

That's right, on the top fucking shelf.

When Andrew figured out which idiotic fucking beanpole had decided to pull this shit with him there was going to be hell to pay. He would raid his cat's litter box for ammunition if he had to.

For the moment, though, he needed to replace the ink in both printers. Which was why he was balancing precariously on the arms of the only non-rolly chair on the goddamn floor, straining to reach the box of ink and quietly promising to take an extra dose of revenge out of each and every person over 5'3 if he fell.

Which he almost did when a sharp knock suddenly echoed a bit too loud from directly behind him.

"Jesus fuck what is wrong with y--" Andrew cut off abruptly as he looked over his shoulder to see who had dared come up behind him at a time like this. He blinked, then he fully closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. When the man before him was still fucking there, Andrew twisted slightly and jumped down, letting his ass hit the seat as he overbalanced on the landing.

"Um... hi."

It had been almost ten years since Andrew had heard that voice. Ten years. In that time Neil had gone from being a scrawny, anxious kid to... well...

Vivid blue eyes stared at him steadily, winged with eyeliner that only made them brighter. His dark russet-auburn hair was shaved close to his head on the sides but long enough on the top that he'd gathered it back in a loose bun, which only emphasized the perfect angles of his face and the soft give of his mouth, the way his chin carved down to a point as if to frame it, drawing the eye.

"Andrew? I didn't mean to surprise you. Well, I did, that's why I didn't tell you I was coming. I didn't mean to almost make you fall off a chair though..."

Neil clicked a tongue-piercing against his teeth. It flashed silver for a moment, matching the two bars that bisected his left eyebrow. Purple studs and a line of tiny hoops trailed up each ear.

Andrew stared, then he did the only rational thing and reached forward, grabbing the doorknob and slamming it shut with himself inside the closet.

His heart was fucking pounding, and he knew his face was flushed because, look. Look. Neil Josten at fourteen years old had been a scrawny kid with big ears and a chipped tooth that was always covered in bruises and Andrew had been so fucking in love with him. All he ever wanted to do as a baby gay was kiss Neil Josten. Thought about it all the time. But that had been off the table because Neil was his best friend and probably asexual and also literally trying to survive. When Neil moved to the other side of the fucking planet to be with his uncle, Andrew had told himself that this was a good thing because 1) Neil would be safe and 2) if there was distance between them then Andrew could finally get over him.

Over the last ten years they'd exchanged regular letters, but because Neil was a fucking technophobe and there may or may not have been an actual hit from actual hitmen and gangsters and shit on him over here in the states - they hadn't spoken on the phone and no pictures had been shared.

And now here was Neil. Almost twenty-four and... so so fucking hot.

There was a soft knock on the door, followed by a quiet, anxious, "Andrew..?" that sounded a lot more like the Neil Andrew remembered.

"Um... should I go? I'm sorry... I thought... I guess I was wrong. I'm sorry. I'll go..."

"No!" The word escaped him before he had time to really think about it. He was pretty sure his voice cracked a little in his desperation too. Shit. Andrew cleared his throat and tried again. "Just... wait. I.. need to get ink."

"Okay."

Andrew did his best not to read into the mystery in Neil's tone. Instead, he thanked the closet gods and carefully climbed back up onto the chair. Another couple of minutes later he had the ink he needed and was facing a coming out he really never anticipated having to go through. Coming out of the closet to your best friend was one thing. Coming out of the literal, actual closet you have shut yourself in to reunite with your super hot best friend that you've been in love with for over a decade at this point was quite another.

Ripping the band-aid off was really the only way to go, so Andrew took a deep breath, put his free hand on the knob, and opened the door.

Neil had repositioned himself and was now leaning against the nearest desk. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to his elbows exposing strong forearms decorated with swirls of dark ink. Three fingers on each hand bore rings (not the ring fingers, not that Andrew was specifically looking) and his nails were painted a dark, glossy gray. Around one wrist was a frayed bracelet that perfectly matched the one Andrew also wore on the same wrist.

As soon as Neil saw him, he lit up. A smile on his face that shined in his eyes, even if there was a slight hesitance to it - understandable considering Andrew had just.. you know... shut himself in a closet after seeing him.

"Hey... Sorry again, about that. I know you don't like to be startled. I just... I got excited."

Andrew swallowed, a tough feat with a throat so dry. Somehow, he managed a snort. "Like a puppy. Should I be worried about my floors, Josten?"

"I dunno, you gonna scratch me behind the ears?" Neil shot back, and the smirk that accompanied it was fucking devastating. That's is, Andrew gave up. He lost. Dead, he was dead. There was no way he was getting out of this one.

Andrew did the only thing he could do to keep himself from grabbing the little bastard and kissing him senseless, which was ask the big question hanging in the room between them.

"How are you here, Neil? I thought you'd never be able to come back to American soil."

Neil rubbed the back of his neck, like he was thinking of the best way to explain it. After a moment he said, "Uncle Stuart still doesn't think it's a great idea - but there's no price on my head anymore. As of last month we cleared out the last of... well, let's just call them the old bad guys. There are new bad guys, but they don't really care about me."

It took a moment for that to fully sink in. Andrew set down the ink on the desk and moved to stand directly in front of Neil. When Neil stood up straight, they were almost exactly the same height - Neil only really had a few inches on him. At least he hadn't been lying to make him feel better when he'd told him in a letter a few years back that he'd topped out at 5'3.

"So? Don't you have a whole new life over in jolly old England now? Friends and family who don't regularly try to kill you? Why come back at all?"

He knew why, but he wanted - he needed - to hear him say it.

"Yeah, but... they aren't you."

"Me."

"Yeah, Andrew. You."

Their eyes met. Something in Andrew's chest snapped like an overworked rubber band stretched too taut and all the carefully sequestered feelings it had been keeping at bay suddenly sprang forth like a tidal wave. They rushed through him, filling him up, buoying him until he probably could have reached the top shelf of that goddamn closet without the chair.

"I hate you," Andrew ground out. And Neil smiled, because he knew it wasn't true.

"I missed you, Andrew. I missed you so fucking much."

"Shut up, stupid." Andrew forced himself to take a deep breath, then he snatched up Neil's hand and started dragging him out of the office. "Come on. We're getting ice cream."

Neil laughed and squeezed his hand. "Some things never change."

No, Andrew thought, some things never do.

#asks #AFTG prompts #aftg fanfic #andrew minyard #neil josten #reunion fic #i will never pass up the chance to make an 'in the closet' joke #they are so in love #andrew minyard x neil josten #andreil

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tomikashii · 3 years

Text

Nohebi Boyfriend Headcanons

literally made this because i don't see alot of nohebi boyfriend headcanons lol

warning ; nsfw , mentions of sex and kinks (like exhibitionism , choking , blindfold , toys , scratch marks )

honestly , if you are gonna have a problem with my headcanons , please leave 🚪👈🏻

i love nohebi and let me talk about them , give them the boyfriend headcanon that they deserve because literally one of them is in a canon relationship 🙄 (but mika is non-existent in this headcanon , im sorry)

🐍 Daisho Suguru 🐍

as we can see from the way he treats mika , probably a very good guy to you but an asshole to the others

well , other than the nohebi members lmao

anyways , i picture him that he is the type who would hold your hand wherever you guys go

locking pinkies with one another when you both are standing next to each other

when you are on your period , he is scared of you (learned it the hard way from his older sister i suppose) but he knows how to handle it because his sister taught him (in a way)

helps you out with your homework because he is in a higher class than you and YOU JUST KNOW HE MAKES FUN OF YOU XISBSIWHWIWHW LIKE OKAY ALBERT EINSTEIN 🙄✋🏻

sexy times with daisho includes having sex in the fucking gym closet because you both have no shame (mostly him)

or probably catching hiroo and his girlfriend at the corner 👁👅👁

FOURSOME ?? (woah sya no pls)

anyways , please go to his games to support him :( you will see the most biggest smile across his face but immediately hides it when you catch him smiling.

and yes , you scold him for teasing or taunting nekoma because you need your boyfriend to B E H A V E

🐍 Hiroo Koji 🐍

emo boyfriend ™️

im just kidding but he really looks that emo boyfriend with his edgy kuroo haircut

anyways , he is probably the clingiest boyfriend among the nohebi team because he doesn't like anyone except you

like deadass , his confession was like :

" i like you because i can tolerate you "

LIKE OKAY BITCH ? I CAN TOLERATE YOU TOO ? 😭✋🏻

would prefer to cuddle you than going out of the house with you . but if you ask him nicely , he would probably bring you to like the nearest convenience store from your house and buy snacks to cuddle you longer in your house .

his parents doesn't really mind you around and his younger siblings loves you more than him (expect alot of hiroo and them fighting for your attention)

sexy times with hiroo : GIRL HE FUCKS YOUR EYEBROWS OFF (LIKE SAYONARA EYEBROWS)

probably would fuck you in the gym closet when he is locking up the gym . (once was caught by daisho and his girlfriend *hint hint* and they both ZOOMED) he doesn't really mind though 👁👄👁

you didn't walk for a week after that so you know that its super beneficial for him because he likes staying home with you and not going anywhere other than school and volleyball practices

honestly , he gives very warm hugs and you would stay cuddled up on him for many hours .

🐍 Sakishima Isumi 🐍

someone add him into the pretty setter squad please or im going to R I O T

anyways , he is a very shy tsundere kind of boyfriend but actually worships you like a goddess

really loves you but shows it by flicking your forehead or constant teasing with either your grades or height

first time holding hands , made him so cocky like he was FLEXING to the entire team that he held your hand to school today (and akama was like : good job 👍🏻)

when you both walk pass each other during passing period , he would playfully nudge your shoulder or of course , flick your forehead

this bitch is the type who would insult your forehead

" damn , your forehead could fit the entire world map in there . " LIKE BITCH

the type who will put your head on his shoulder in the bus when you are fast asleep , after telling you to not sleep on his shoulder 🌚

really shy when you both slept together for the first time (not even sex lmao)

but when you guys had sex , he was so dense , it was so cute but he is trying his best . but after like 20 minutes , he loosen up abit .

OH MY GOD HIS SETTER FINGERS LIKE GOD DAMN AWOOGA AWOOGA it will reach spots your little fingers can't reach .

his aftercare is not the best but he is trying and learning slowly .

super insecure of his freckles but you are madly in love with them , would kiss them when he is 'fast asleep' next to you (but little did you know that he wasn't asleep next to you)

🐍 Takachiho Yoshiya 🐍

STOP SLEEPING ON TAKACHIHO HE IS MY SON AND I LOVE HIM SO MUCH STOP SLEEPING ON HIM

as we can see from haikyuu bu! , he is like the father/mother figure of the team so expect him to care for you alot in the relationship

would give you good piggy back rides because he is so nice to you

calls you one million nicknames (i know right) but he does have his favourites like 'pretty girl' or 'angel' .

has a pet dog and the dog loves you more than him (he isn't upset about it but more of touched that his dog loves his love of his life 🥺)

he has this boyfriend sense that even if you didn't text him that you are sick , he is already at your doorstep , with medicine , snacks and like eight different hoodies for you to choose from .

like literally half of your closet is his hoodies and he doesn't mind because he wants you to have them 🥺

very into PDA and would want you to get along with his team because he loves the team but never tells them that except you .

but please don't be fooled , this man is a fucking crackhead at like 4am . he would send you a random meme , making you laugh hysterically for the next 2 hours before school starts .

sexy times with takachiho is the most heartwarming but the most eye rolling pleasurable experience .

LIKE THIS MAN CAN HIT THE SPOTS LIKE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH and plus , he has like that deep ass morning voice .

wouldn't mind if you leave scratches on his back . the other teammates will pester him about it and he would just say , " i went too hard . "

🐍 Numai Kazuma 🐍

OWNS THE BOYFRIEND ™️ HANDS DOWN

honestly , he will give you like the best damn hugs in the whole wide world like you will feel so protected in his bara bara arms .

and the thing is, he is taller than you so like he will lift you up as he hugs you , signaling you to wrap around his torso as he holds you close to his chest .

GOD IM JUST ASKING FOR A BOYFRIEND LIKE NUMAI KAZUMA PLEASE 🥺🤲🏻

he literally worships you like a goddess , always be in awe on whatever you do (even when you just woke up with the most ugliest hair and ugliest facial expressions *he thinks its cute*)

yes , he has a picture of you sleeping on his chest as his wallpaper because he can't get enough of your face

PDA PDA PDA PDA this man live off PDA like hugging you when you pass him in the hallways to kissing your forehead randomly when you are just standing in the train next to him .

gives you a ton of his hoodies and would only want you to wear them because you are his precious PRECIOUS girlfriend .

soft dom numai ;) like he is so soft with you in and out of bed , his aftercare is OUT OF THIS WORLD (like takachiho and numai can have a aftercare battle tbh)

WILL NEVER DEGRADE YOU EVEN IF YOU ASK (maybe a little of degradation + praise) BUT PURE DEGRADATION IS A NO NO

he rather punish you by tying you up against the headboard and sliding in vibrators while you beg him to fuck you .

EYE CONTACT WITH HIM PLS- YOU CAN ACTUALLY DIE FROM HIS SOFT EYES STARING INTO YOURS !!!!!!

🐍 Kuguri Naoyasu 🐍

soft boy and very shy boy + he is very aloof so please don't think that he doesn't love you (he does , he just doesn't know how to show it)

not into PDA but will hold hands with you in private or lay on your shoulder (because he doesn't want his older teammates to make you uncomfortable)

probably the first person he would introduce you to is Numai because he trust Numai than the rest .

sleeps on your shoulder in the bus (unintentionally) , but sometimes you feel he does it on purpose . (because he said that he doesn't like PDA)

he is a very shy boy , so please be patient with him !! he is trying his best :>

says 'i love you' so rarely , everytime you hear him say it , your tears wouldn't stop falling from your eyes .

actually really happy that you go to his games and would blush the moment he sees you in the bleachers .

believe or not , he wants to kiss you more often but people keep getting in the way so that lead him to not do it often .

you first kiss was really magical , like those shojo manga scenes ; on top of the mountain , under the cherry blossom tree .

sexy time with kuguri : the first time you both had sex was in the later part of your relationship . i mean , you guys do make out and stuff , but like- never went the next level .

he is really gentle , always asking if you are okay because your face will scrunch up in pain , taking him in (because he is big)

after having sex with him , he begins to be more confident and actually tries to grab your ass from time to time

hint hint : remember that he is a wing spiker , yeah , let your imagination run wild on that 🌚

i know i didn't add the second years but i really don't know how to write for them :(

and definitely not because i love third years + because kuguri is always on my mind (bcuz of numai 🤗)

leave me a message , reblog or whatsoever if you like this headcanon ! please do let me know if you would like to use it too , NOHEBI STANS RISE !!!! 💕

#nohebi academy #nohebi #haikyuu #haikyuu bu #daishou suguru #numai kazuma #sakishima isumi #takachiho yoshiya #hiroo kouji #hiroo koji #nohebi headcanons #nohebi boyfriend #i love nohebi #kuguri x reader

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endeavorsonlyfans · 3 years

Text

Posting because who's going to stop me! Myself- Anyway

Just an old fic of Post baby's first time not matching with his normal circle of peeps. Kinda his first round of matches

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

"Oh, dear..."

The soft echoing voice of the Postman rang in his head as he heard Mrs.Nightingale announced that he would be team up with some 'old friends' of hers.

She smiled at the survivors, watching as they gathered around to hear what teams they were placed on.

"Team five.."

"1.The Postman

2. The Prophet

3. The Mercenary

4. The Perfumer"

"You will be on your way to your match in two minutes. I will now go check up on your Hunter. Please note that time is precious and don't waste it.."

Her voice lowers in the last part. She looks at her Scroll and shakes her head, leaving the survivors' wing

With her gone, the survivors finally breathe again and discuss their team formation and plan.

"So I have to play with them..."

Victor's voice is quieter than he thought in his head. Did Mrs.Nightingale scare him too?

He hadn't known those names on the list for long. His golden eyes search the room for the needed teammates. Did he have to find them?

The postman bites his lip, looking at how the other survivors got along very well. Could he really fit in this way?

"No"

The postman peeked down at blank papers in his mailbag and slowly reached inside of it, retrieving three sheets of clean copy paper. He wasn't very good with line paper because he wrote tiny so he needed better sheets..but it made his handwriting a bit not neat? Untidy?

He shrugs in response to his own thoughts and writes the first Survivor name down.

The Prophet...

Who's that?

The postman taps on the nearest person's shoulder, hoping for some help. Instantly he regrets it when sharp green eyes fall on him, looking him up and down.

"Yeah?"

That voice was definitely not a friendly one. The postman tears his dry lips open to speak just for no words to come out. Oh great. He struggles for a bit and feels warmth fill his eyes as he tries again to clear his throat.

"Did you... change your mind?" The male was growing more impatient. His clean steel toe boots tapping the expensive tiles of the Manor floor.

The postman is quick to nod. Just to shake his head seconds after. He was already making a bad impression on his teammates.....

He quickly wipes his tears away, hearing a kinder voice fill his ears.

"Naib."

He looks up from the one called Naib to a much taller male. He's a bit familiar to the postman seeing his Owl and soft brown hair was a clear sign of that.

"I think you are scaring our teammate."

Naib lowers his eyes from the cloaked man and faces him. The poor postman couldn't tell if he was sorry or upset that he was stopped.

"I apologize for my behavior, You didn't say anything, so I assumed it was a childish trick being held. I'm not a fan of fooling around... Anyway, I'm Naib. The mercenary."

He said his title as if he weren't proud of it. Sure it was filled with pride and experience, but something bothered the postman about his words. Maybe he would have to get to know this Naib some other time.

Viktor smiled a bit at Naib's apology and waves his hand as if brushing it off as nothing, which was exactly what it was. Nothing Still, he accepts the apology.

Naib nods at this and glances upward at the grandfather clock. "What's your name?"

The small postman bent down to pet his dog, seeing Wik noticed his change in behavior. The dog was brushing against his leg, whining. He smiles at his companion and reaches into his pocket, bringing out Wik's toy. "You want to play?"

Naib raises a brow at the sound of Viktor's voice and somewhat smiles. "So you're more of an animal person, huh? My friend here also has a connection to them."

The postman nodded, peeking at the cloaked man. He opened his mouth and spoke clearly for once "My name is Viktor...Viktor Grantz." He offered a hand out to him before thinking about what he'd think of it. "..Does he even want to get to know you?" He questioned inner Viktor's voice with a small Hum.

The postman moved to bring his hand back when he noticed a gloved hand sneak from the dark abyss of the cloaks. It was much smaller than The Postman had thought. Delicate too..the fingers were slimmed perfectly and long.

Once the hand was closer to the light, he saw something else he didn't think of. A purple gem rested on a gold ring hugging his finger. Could he be married?

His thin lips tugged into a smile. It seemed Naib didn't like that. He had turned away as if he didn't want his friend to meet the postman. That explains why he hadn't given him a name...

"Eli Clark."

He took the postman's hands in his own, intertwining them with a pleasant hum. "

It's nice to meet you Viktor and Wik."

The postman swallowed his voice and Eli's lips sealed. This caught the attention of Naib. He grabbed the taller man by the waist, looking up at him.

"Eli...Eli.."

The taller male was silent for some now, probably seeing right through the postman. With the way his chin pointed, he could be looked beyond him.

"I'm sorry."

The postman shook his head, receiving warm laughter from the taller male.

"I'll see you in today's match, yes?"

The postman wasn't sure how to respond to the question, so he just nodded. That's when they heard the grandfather clock at its loudest. Was it time already?

The room only contained those needed for the match. Everyone was gone except Eli, Vera, Naib, and the postman. He took a deep breath before he was consumed by darkness.

At the sound of shattering glass, he wakes up on the floor of the White insane asylum. Boy, did he hate it here. He always got lost in the hallways and forgot where the exit gate would be.

He stands to his feet and searches for a cipher to decode. He takes a while to find an empty room to decode in. His teammates would sometimes run the hunter past him, sending him to a flying panic.

"This would never happen if I were with Lucca." He lay his head against the Cipher machine in sadness.

"Viktor!"

The Postman jerked up a bit too late. A Slave had brought her club down on the postman.

"Oh no."

He pulls away from the cipher and runs with the girl trailing after him. "Um.." He fumbles through a stack of letters he wrote for this match and sent it out to the nearest teammate. Hopefully, Wik would return soon.

The postman struggled through the darkness of the Insane asylum with the slave as he tossed down pallets and made loops. He was burning out, Vaulting over a pallet. Just as Wik came running back. A hissing sound caught his ears.

"Flying feathers!"

A sharp hoot following by the gong of the bell filled his ears. He was positive he should have been incapacitated by now.

"Viktor, are you alright?!"

The Postman jumps at the sight of the seer peeking around the corner. He was really good at sneaking about. Eli looks at his injuries and fishes out a medical kit.

"This shouldn't take too long."

The Postman struggles to speak, so he just nods and sits still as he is taken care of. From the outside of the Electric therapy, room was a Mercenary dragging a poor slave around the walls.

"How did you guys know I was here?"

He mumbled softly to the seer

Eli didn't respond

He just smiled and chased after the shouting Naib

"..If those two have the hunter, then where's the fourth player?!"

Viktor looked around the place for someone else

Instead, he got something much worse

Vera was dancing on the dungeon and screaming thank you

The postman was this close to smacking her with a letter--

"Focus on decoding!"

Viktor tiptoed away and prayed a cipher was far away from her.

His prayer was answered, and he quickly ran over to the cipher typing in the code

The last cipher had busted and Viktor stared at it with wide eyes

"Thank you!" Vera screamed for the hundredth time, running past a waving Eli being dragged by Naib

"Get out of here!" Naib fumed, dragging the taller male after him as he collected rage

"Hue Hue nice try" Eli smiled sending his Phoenix forward to protect the postman who just barely made it out in time

#identity v game #identity v #identity v eli clark #identity v Viktor grantz #identity v naib subedar #identity v seer #identity v postman #identity v mercenary #identity v perfumer #identity v vera nair #Hhh not a story based on mini experience during a random quick match and boredom-#word limit!#oof #i guess that's it #flying feathers was Post bby swearing not Eli calling his Starling btw lel

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petri808 · 5 years

Text

Chemistry Hell

@bmarvels the story idea you helped me come up with :)

“I’m sorry Ms. Heartfilia,” the teacher hands her back her latest practice exam results, “I know you try really hard in this class, but maybe Chemistry is just not your subject. Most students struggle with a subject or two, that’s normal.”

“But it’s going to pull my GPA down if I can’t boost my grade in this class.” Lucy slumps back into her seat, “and if that happens my dad might make me quit the cheer squad.”

Professor Warren crosses his arms in a relaxed manner, leaning back against a near by desk. After a couple minutes he taps his chin, “maybe one of my AP chemistry students could tutor you…. yeah,” he sits up straighter, “I’ll just ask my top kid, I’m sure he’ll agree to it. Does Thursday after school work for you? You two can just use my classroom for an hour or so then figure out a schedule of your own from there.”

“That would be great! Thank you, Mr. Warren!”

Lucy was a bit nervous all through her Thursday classes, wondering who this tutor was going to be, and praying that they’d be able to help her with her problem. It wasn’t that the grade was horrible, for many kids, C’s still got you a degree. But for her, well mainly her father, it wasn’t good enough. B’s or higher, that was the deal and she’d had to beg and plead just for that. To him anything lower than an A was a disgrace.

She adjusts the strap of her backpack and picks up the pace. It would be horrible to make a bad impression on the first meeting. Lucy envisioned a shy or introverted guy, probably the typical nerdy type with glasses the whole nine yards and she wanted to do her best to put him at ease. Everyone assumed because she was a popular cheerleader that she’d be extroverted or even ditzy when in reality Lucy was top of their class in English, top 10 percent in history and loved nothing more than to curl up with a good book to read at home or in some tiny coffee shop. The giggly, bubbly blonde routine was all for show on the field, but it wasn’t exactly who she was.

As Lucy entered the room, professor Warren was speaking with a young man near his desk and she presumed it was her tutor. Pink hair, I think I’ve seen that kid around. Sometimes hunched over a book in the library or quickly weaving through the crowded hallways, she’d never gotten a good look at his face before. But now standing still, Lucy noted he was possibly a foot taller than her, in decent shape. She cocks an eyebrow, he fills out the polo uniform nicely. Even the glasses were becoming of him.

Seeing her enter, the teacher ends his conversation and waves Lucy over. “This,” placing a hand on the young man’s shoulder, “Ms. Heartfilia is Natsu Dragneel. He’s the President of the Chemistry Club and probably the smartest student we have here when it comes to science. I’m sure he’ll be able to help you out, oh and I already went over with him what I think you could work on so he could tailor the tutoring sessions. With that I’ll leave you two.”

By the time the teacher left the room, an awkward silence had slowly begun to bloom. Assuming her suspicions were accurate, Lucy takes it upon herself to break the ice. She sticks out her hand, “Hi! It’s nice to meet you Natsu!”

Natsu cups the back of his neck with a slightly heated flush. It’s not often, okay well maybe more on the rare side that he’s ever this close to a female and let alone one this pretty. He shakes her hand, “yeah, nice to meet you too,” but quickly withdraws it. “Shall we get started? I assume you have better things you’d rather be doing.”

Well that was a little rude. But Lucy ignores the snide comment, simply smiling again and nods, following Natsu to a set of tables where he’s already got some papers set up. Maybe he’s just socially graceless, she shrugs to herself and takes a seat opposite him.

As Natsu shuffles through what looks like practice sheets, Lucy folds her arms and lays them on the table, leaning over a bit to watch. She’s gotten used to her own body and how her boobs tend to squish up from this position, but while most guys at least glance, Natsu doesn’t even batt and eye. Weird. Oh, well, it’s not like she wanted that to happen, frankly Lucy hated guys who thought she was one of those, ‘do anything to be popular,’girls. “Say, I wanna thank you for helping me Natsu. I really need to get my grade up to at least a B in this class, so the tutoring is gonna be a real help.”

“Don’t worry, and I won’t tell anyone you’re getting extra help.”

“Why would I care?”

“I assumed you have an image to keep up, being one of the popular kids and all.”

Lucy’s eyebrow twitches, but she keeps her calm, “thanks for the concern, but no it’s not a problem if anyone knows.”

“Alright,” Natsu places a piece of paper in front of her, “let’s get started then.”

For the first 20 minutes or so, the problems were fairly easy for Lucy, she understood them, but as they grew progressively more difficult so did Natsu’s attitude towards her. At first, she brushed it off, reasoning in any way to justify the rude attitude. She needed this help and if he was the best, she would try her hardest to endure some discomfort….

He runs his hand down his face with a groan, “for the third time, calorimetry is about measuring the amount of heat released or absorbed during a chemical reaction because that tells you if the reaction is exothermic or endothermic. So, that still means whether its bomb calorimetry or constant pressure calorimetry, heat flows are always measured the same way, through temperature changes. See,” he stabs at the problem listed on the paper with his finger, “E, the answer is E!”

“Oh…. I-I’m sorry, I’ll get it the next time.”

“Sure,” scratching out the answer and grabbing a new sheet, mumbling, “that’s what you said last time.”

The tears Lucy had been holding back burst free. She couldn’t take it anymore. “Look I’m sorry! I’m trying my best here and…”

“Maybe if you put as much effort into this as you probably do with cheer, you’d get it.”

That was it. Without another word, Lucy grabs her things, shoves it haphazardly into her backpack and runs out of the room desperately trying to wipe away the tears that cloud her vision. He is such an asshole! She had enough people judging her just because she did cheer, and she didn’t need the guy who was supposed to be helping her doing it too! Cheer was a great way to get some exercise and yeah, while some of the other members were looking at it as a means of popularity, she wasn’t one of them. He’s just like my father!

Natsu had brushed off the girl’s reaction. Sure, he could have been nicer but what for? He had meant what he said and maybe if she focused more on her studies she wouldn’t be struggling. Oh well, they ran in different crowds anyways and while Professor Warren might give him hell for it, what was that old man going to do? They needed him to win the Decathlon.

Back at school the next day in the library, Natsu was focused on his Pokemon Go! when suddenly, another firecracker slaps him in the back of the head…. The thwomp sound that echoed in the room was loud enough to gain the librarians attention, but before Natsu could really respond or protest, said feisty girl had started to pack up his belongings. “Levy? What the hell?!”

“You’re coming with me!” she shoves the bag in his chest and through gritted teeth, “somewhere I can scream at you as loud as I want to!”

“I’m not…” Levy raises her book to hit him again. “Okay, Okay!” putting up his hands in defeat. “Just don’t hit me again!”

“No guarantees,” she grabs his shirt sleeve and drags him from the room. Every door she passes, Levy scans it and finally, almost to the end of the hall, she finds an empty classroom and pushes Natsu inside. “Sit,” she points at the nearest desk while she closes the door to muffle her shouting from the hallway.

“I still don’t know what your problem is,” Natsu drops his backpack next to the chair. “Why the hell did you hit me so hard too?” he rubs at the slow forming tender spot where she’d smacked him, “it friggen hurts!”

“Well you deserve it!” Levy finally takes a stance in front of him, leaning against another desk. “How can you be in such a good mood, knowing you made a poor girl cry yesterday?!”

“How’d you know about that?”

“Lucy is one my closest friends and she called me in tears last night! Why the hell were you so mean to her? I’ve never known you to be such an asshole Natsu. I mean,” throwing her hands up, “was she rude, did she do something, say something to piss you off? Lucy’s always been a sweet person too so what the hell happened?”

Natsu sits back in his chair, crossing his arms with a furrowed brow. “I didn’t know she would be friends with someone like us. I assumed she was, you know, one of those people.”

“What is that supposed to mean?! Those people?”

“Like the popular girls, the stuck up, spoiled kids that thumb their noses at us, plus I know she’s rich. I bet she was only getting tutoring cause they need to maintain a certain GPA to be on a team.”

Levy’s demeanor switches and if he thought she was angry before, Natsu swore steam was starting to rise from her head. “Natsu,” she pinches the bridge of her nose in disgust, “Lucy is on the cheer team because she enjoys it, and she’s certainly not even close to what you think.” Looking back up, “for starters her English and History scores are higher than mine and yours. Chemistry is really the only class she struggles in. And lastly, yeah, she might come from money, but she’s one of the most down to Earth people I know!”

Standing up and slamming a closed fist on the desk and setting Natsu into a straightened sitting position, “you hate it when others stereotype us and that’s exactly what you did to her!” All the blood drains from the young man’s face. But his stunned silence does not go unnoticed. “Natsu,” Levy leans back against the other desk with a long exhale, “you need to make this right and I won’t take no for an answer.”

“Alright,” he holds up his hands in defeat before slumping in his chair. “But… W-What am I supposed to do? I can’t, I mean I wouldn’t know what to even say besides I’m sorry.” Natsu grabs his bag from the floor and places it in his lap.

“Well you better figure it out by tomorrow…”

“Wait! T-Tomorrow?!”

Nodding, “tomorrow, 1 pm and don’t you dare be late, meet us at Fae’s Diner understood?”

“But…”

“Excuse me?” her eyebrow twitches.

“Never… Never mind,” he mumbles and clutches the bag tighter like a shield, “I’ll be there…”

Around 9pm that evening, there’s a knock at Natsu’s bedroom door, just seconds before his mother is walking in with 2 cups of steaming hot chocolate.

“Mom?” he sits up on his bed. “What are you doing here?”

She hands a mug to him and sits on his computer chair facing him. “Think I don’t know my son well enough? You barely touched your dinner and for a boy that usually gets second or third helpings…” taking a sip of her drink, “something is wrong.”

“I’m fine,” looking anywhere but his mom and sipping at the chocolatey drink, “maybe I’m just coming down with a cold or something.”

“Oh, I see…. Should I make an appointment with the doctor so he can poke and prod at you?” Placing the mug on the desk, she clasps her hands together in contemplation, “hmm, or better yet force you to drink that nasty medicine you love so much? Yeah…. I know I still have half a bottle left…”

“I give, I give! No gross meds!” Natsu closes his eyes with a sigh, “I made a girl cry on Thursday and now I need to figure out how to apologize.”

“Forget the meds, you deserve a slap instead! I didn’t raise my son to be mean to girls!”

“Please don’t,” he cringes, “Levy already cracked me a good one,” rubbing the back of his head, “it still throbs.”

“I knew I liked that girl for a reason.” Settling back in her chair and picking up her mug, “Alright son, tell me what happened.”

“It all started when Professor Warren asked me to tutor a girl…”

For the next 30 or so minutes, Natsu went through the entire story from start to finish leaving nothing for the imagination. It was tough, admitting to all the rude comments and watching his mother’s reactions. He could tell she was deeply ashamed of how he had behaved but still she sat there not saying a word until the very end.

“… so that’s everything,” his head hung in shame, voice quieted. “Levy was right, I judged her before getting to know her first. Mom, I’m such an idiot,” he settles the empty mug on his bed with a groan, “she’s so pretty too,” a slight flush alighting his cheeks, “and smart. I checked around and what Levy said about her kicking my butt in English is totally true.”

His mother could see the pain behind her son’s expression, feel the weight being shouldered through a shaky voice. There was no reason to admonish him any more than he was already beating himself up over. Her drink now cold and long forgotten, she stands up and sits on the edge of the bed next to him, placing a reassuring hand on his knee.

“Natsu, the important thing is you realize what you did was wrong. Yes, it took Levy knocking some sense into you, but at least you have the opportunity to fix things and start over with this Lucy girl.” Giving his knee a gentle squeeze, “now, you say you think she’s pretty?” She giggles and he nods lightly while the blush re-erupts upon his cheeks. “My son’s first little crush!”

“Mom, so not funny!” He harrumphs, crossing his arms in a dramatic manner.

“I know, I know,” she chuckles, “I’m sorry forgive an old woman for her amusements. So, do you have a picture of her?”

“Um,” looking over at his bookshelf, “yeah she should be in a yearbook.” Natsu stands up and grabs it from the shelf, flipping through the pages as he walks back. “Here,” he hands his mom the open book, pointing towards a photo. “That’s her, Lucy Heartfilia.”

She looks closely at the high-quality black and white photo, noting the fresh-faced young girl indeed was pretty, despite not being in color. “Heartfilia…. As in Heartfilia Enterprises? Boy son, you sure know how to pick ‘um.”

“Why, what’s so special about it? I know she’s got some money.”

“Her family was one of the wealthiest in our city, I mean Jude Heartfilia is still rich but after his wife passed away about 10 years ago, he lost some of that fortune because of all the medical expenses her illness left behind.”

“Oh man,” Natsu plops back onto his bad, “you’re telling me the girl I made cry’s mother is dead? Great, that makes me feel even worse now.”

“You said you have to meet them tomorrow, right? That’s your chance to apologize and make it up to her. So, what are you planning to say or do?”

“I have no idea! Ugh, I’m not good at talking with girls…”

“Tell ya what Natsu, tomorrow morning I’ll take you to the store and we’ll go look for a small gift, flowers, or something. Do you think you can find out what she might like, maybe stuffed animals, anything?”

“I can text Levy, she’ll probably give me some pointers.”

“That’s a start. As for what you’ll say, just show her the same emotions you showed me tonight, about how sorry you are for hurting her like that. If you are genuine, I’m sure she will accept your apology. It sounds like she’s a sweet girl, so hopefully she’ll forgive you, or at least won’t be mad at you anymore.”

“Okay… I’ll text Levy too.”

“Good,” standing up, his mom grabs the two mugs ready to leave, “get some rest, we’ll leave after breakfast.”

“Thanks mom.”

“You’re welcome Natsu.”

~~~xx~~~

He didn’t know how long he had been pacing in the alley next to Fae’s diner. An hour or was it only 30 minutes? Checking, rechecking the time on his phone as the minutes ticked down closer and closer to 1 pm. Should he be early? Right on time? Definitely not late. Yes, certainly that would be bad. Natsu removes his glasses and wipes at the sweat building upon his brow, why’d it have to be so hot today? As if his nervousness wasn’t bad enough, going in there looking like he’d just left the gym was sureto make such a wonderful impression!

The pink and white flowers he’d chosen based on Levy’s recommendation were holding up nicely despite the humidity, and the blue stuffed cat doll he’d bought, Natsu hoped Lucy would like it. He thought it was adorable, a blue cat with these big round eyes and a silly grin…. It was so goofy, it just had to gain him some kind of smile out of the girl!

12:50pm.

Ten more minutes. Natsu gulps down the scant amount of saliva quickly drying up in his throat. All morning his mother had helped him rehearse what he could say to the girl without looking like a complete and utter dork…. But dang it to hell, this is the most nervous he’s even been in his life! Give him a battle of chemical formulas against his nemesis at Saber High any day compared to this! Throw him off a cliff and tell him to swim, even that might be preferable. He was ready to give his apology once coming to terms and accepting how wrong he’d been, but now it reverted back to talking to a girl and Lucy was a very pretty, intelligent one. AHHHHHHHH! There’s a reason Natsu’s never had a girlfriend before.

12:55pm.

A low groan slash whine leaches from his throat as he tucks the phone back in his pocket and walks to the front of the restaurant. This was the moment of truth, suck it up Natsu! Dig deep and just get this over with! He grabs onto the door handle and walks on in, his gifts tucked close like a shield.

It takes his eyes a moment to scan before landing upon the blonde and blue-headed girls sitting in a booth near the back of the restaurant. Whatever Levy was saying to her friend must have been interesting if the adorable laughter erupting from the girl was any indication. Were Lucy’s brown eyes always that bright? Probably would’a seen it last time if you’d made the girl laugh instead of cry. Ouch, stabbed in the heart by his own subconscious. Natsu’s feet carry him slowly towards the girls with stuttered advancements despite the flight mode dancing in his mind.

As he reaches within a few feet of the table, it’s Levy who first turns, and Lucy, curious as to why her friend had suddenly stopped talking, shifts in her seat…. The once beautiful shine slowly receding into a look of horror. “What are you doing here! I-I don’t wanna see you ever again!”

But it wasn’t Natsu, instead Levy who speaks up and places a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Lu, I invited him here cause he wanted to apologize. I’ve known you both for a long time, and I promise he really is sorry for acting like that, it’s not how he normally behaves.”

“I don’t know…” Lucy crosses her arms and cringes back, “that… that really hurt.”

“Please,” a quiet male voice interjects, bringing both girls attentions to him, “I just wanna apologize, a-and if after that you never wanna see me again I promise I will stay away.”

“Lu, remember what I told you that night? Just give him a chance please, for me?”

She honestly didn’t remember a lot from that telephone conversation because she was too upset to think clearly. Lucy takes a moment to reflect and the only thing she could think of was an incident that happened to Natsu freshman year with another girl on the squad. That girl was graduated now but Levy thinks it still bothers him and that’s why he treated her the way he did. Not that it made it okay, but that at least she could understand it wasn’t just how he acted normally.

“Alright… I’ll hear him out.”

“Good,” Levy slides out of the booth, “I’ll go grab us refills, Natsu would you like something?” He shakes his head. Motioning for him to sit, “Okay, then I’ll be back.”

Natsu moves to take the spot opposite of Lucy but pauses and juts out the flowers and cat, “H-Here, I got these for you.”

“Oh,” she tentatively accepts, “thank you Natsu, you really didn’t need to…”

“I wanted to do something,” cupping the back of his neck, crimson rushing along his cheeks as he takes a seat and sinks into the faux leather. “Talking with girls unless its school stuff, isn’t something… we-well the little experience I’ve had didn’t end so well and, I mean I get so nervous about what to say you know…” Taking a large gulp of air, “I’m really, really, really sorry I behaved like a total asshole to you! I shouldn’t have just assumed you’d be like the others…” Natsu hangs his head and covers his face the moment he feels the tears welling up, “Mom was right, she didn’t raise a son to be mean to girls and yet look at what I did….” Little trails of liquid slipping along his cheeks, his voice quieting the longer he rambles. “You were so nice, never made me feel like the weird geek…. Fuck I’m such an idiot that I don’t deserve being forgiven…”

Part of her wanted to stay mad at him at least for a little longer, turn the screws so to speak. But the longer she watched him unravel…. He’s crying….this guy is crying… in public…. Since when do guys cry in public?! Lucy had set her gifts to the side as her own heart slowly bled for the young man. Natsu really wasn’t such a bad guy after all in fact, his melt down made her drift back to the moments before he’d first opened his mouth in that classroom. Adorably handsome, glasses and all and now showing he has a sensitive side too... Lucy picks up the stuffed animal to scrutinize it. What a silly looking blue cat! Like a character in one of her favorite fantasy novels, it was so cute! Smiling to herself, he did well, picking this for me. Muffled light sobs tear her away from fawning over the toy and back to the situation. Her heart dropping at the sight.

With his head propped on his elbows and face buried in his hands, Natsu was too ashamed or afraidto look up and see Lucy’s reactions. He hadn’t noticed when she’d slipped from her seat until a warm set of arms and sweet vanilla fragrance wrapped itself around and startled him. Expecting maybe Levy had returned, he straightens out quickly, turning, only to see the beautiful blonde smiling at him. “Lucy?”

“I forgive you Natsu.” Lucy takes his glasses off and sets them on the table, wiping away at the streaks along his cheeks, “so please stop crying and let’s start over again.”

His gleaming onyx eyes flecked with green practically danced, “D-Do you really mean it? I mean yeah, I’d really like that!”

“Great!” Lucy beams back. “I’m glad you apologized, cause now I got to see the real you… and it’s really sweet. I hope we can be friends from now on.”

“Wait, I thought you just meant tutoring, y-you actually wanna be friends with me?”

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I wanna get to know someone like you!” Giggling,“it’s so rare to find a guy who is smart, sweet and cute.”

Natsu deadpans and if his face now matched his hair color he wouldn’t be surprised, “n-no way.”

“Well of course,” her voice coquette, looking up shyly, “that’s only if you wanna be friends.”

“I’d really like that…”

#nalu #nalu fanfiction #high school au #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #fan fic #fairytail #mostly fluff #minor teen angst playing on stereotyping issues #petri808 #petrischronicles

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maverickprime · 5 years

Text

Gun Viper #2

Homecoming

He kissed her, hesitation and the world around them being tossed clear out the window. He didn't care. Her warmth was so magnetizing, her smell so enthralling. Her lips on his lips, his tongue and her tongue, that taste as it mixed together...

It was all coming back to him.

Their kiss stopped for a few moments, but he didn't bother to open his eyes. He just took a much needed breath, before moving in to kiss her some more. She kissed back with as much fervent need and hunger for him, her tongue slicking along his tongue in such a sordid display. His arm wrapped around her neck, pulling her in to deepen the kiss. She did likewise, placing a hand on the back of his head to help.

But – once again – they stopped. They needed to breath, less one of them pass out from how hungry they were. Knowing her physiology, he knew he'd be the one to go out first. Nevertheless...

“Cassava...” he whispered, panting slightly for breath.

“Ethan...” she answered, sounding just as breathless.

His eyes opened up, leering into the face of his beautiful wife. Those green eyes of hers shined back, almost in a teary-eyed manner. He wasn't looking at her through a screen or some filter, no, she was right here in this terminal with her. He pulled his hand back gently and slowly, laying it on her cheek in a clutching manner. She seemed to giggle lowly from the action, so lowly in fact only he heard it.

And then his eyes grew wide.

Slowly, Ethan turned to his right, eyes landing on a tall, burly Kremian with spiky jet-black hair. His appearance caused the scientist to tense up, but he soon after relaxed. But only because his face had become as red as a tomato.

They just... watched him tongue down his wife, didn't they?

“If you didn't look over,” said this tall Kremian, “Were you just going to fuck Cassava here in the terminal.”

“Heh heh, I wouldn't have stopped him,” said his wife as she looked over to Ethan with a playful smile.

“D-don't say that!” Ethan remarked, obviously flustered by the implications of such a statement.

Nevertheless, he stood up from the chair he sat on, looking this tall Kremian, face-to-face... or more like, face-to-chest. This Kremian easily had a foot or two on Ethan in terms of height. but he didn't seem too bothered by this. Closing his eyes to calm his nerves, the scientist put on a more calm and cool expression as he extended his hand towards this towering man.

“It's good to see you again too, Siris,” Ethan said to him, making the tall Kremian roll his eyes.

“Impressive, you remembered my name,” he replied as he crossed his arms, denying Ethan a handshake.

“Hey, play nice, Siris,” Cassava snapped as she stood up besides them, shooting her friend an annoyed glare.

“No, it's alright; I expected as much,” her husband stated as he pushed his glasses up on his face.

He may have been socially indifferent, but he wasn't stupid. Ethan knew Siris had a... low opinion of him. Being a human who couldn't hold his own in battle, the Kremian male probably thought he was worthless. Was it worrying? Of course it was, but Ethan was nothing if not brave. Siris may not like him, may even hate him, but that didn't mean the scientist was scared or even too bothered by it. Disappointed, yes, but honestly, not that surprised.

Regardless of this, Ethan put on a friendly and kind smile. Siris only scoffed at it and looked away whilst shaking his head. He wasn't going to entertain anything the human did, let alone attempts to befriend him. Ethan didn't make another attempt to talk to him, and honestly, why would he? Why would he talk to Siris of all people when...

“Cassava...”

His wife was right beside him. She looked as if she hadn't aged a day since she left two years ago. He raised his hand, laying it on her cheek and framing her face. Funny how now that they were together again, he was reminded of the size difference. She was taller than him, being five foot ten to his five foot six. Were her lips always so nice as well? They weren't coarse or split, like one would think of a hardened mercenary. Was this creepy? Ya'know, just casually analyzing your wife's face as if the world around doesn't matter? Perhaps it is a tad bit creepy, but Cassava didn't seem to mind.

She was smiling, looking down to her husband with the same observant glare he had. They may talk to one another and see one another daily via a screen, but to be here in person was just so much... better. She felt like she was drifting back to the past, when it was just them in their small apartment. Ethan looked a fair bit more mature now than those days. Even his old glasses which were round, had been replaced with rectangular-rimmed glasses which gave him a more noble and intelligent appearance.

Her fingers pinched softly upon the glasses he wore, pulling them from his face. He gasped as she did so, watching as she put it his glasses upon her nose. Cassava giggled playfully, said giggles growing more hardy as time went on. Without another word, she swiped and pulled her husband in close. His face was smashed against her bosom, but he didn't really mine.

Seriously... who would?

His arms reached around her back, holding her to increase the embrace. Not like he couldn't do much; she was far stronger than him anyway. But as he rubbed up against Cassava's bosom, the scent of his wife triggered memories of the past.

She was sweaty. Sweaty like... well, yeah... sweaty like that. He remembered warm Sunday mornings, slender blankets dripping off her body, her green eyes locking onto him, that cocky yet beautiful smile, and--

“You fucking moron, you're still in the terminal!” Siris snapped, making Ethan's eyes grow wide.

He pulled himself from Cassava's breasts, his wife laughing. All around them were many other members of the Steel Orochi, including Cici and yes, even Winchester. Many of the members had stopped, just to surround them, making Ethan feel like he had been placed under the scope. He scratched the back of his head in a sheepish manner, before steeling himself up as best he could. Hey, staring down a group of battle-hardened Kremians is difficult, especially when the majority of them already don't like you. Nevertheless...

“Hey...” he said as he looked at them.

“Haaa... no need to act so formal,” Winchester snidely remarked as he gestured towards the exit with his mighty hands, “We're all kin here...”

“Tsk... I wouldn't say that,” Cici said in an offhanded manner, her eyes rolling as she crossed her arms, “Can we go and get wasted at the nearest bar already?”

“No one's stopping you,” Winchester answered as he cut his hand through the air, “Get outta here, the lot of you.”

With a mere wave of his hand, he sent his men flowing through the terminal. They all began to file out through the doors, well, save for Cassava, Siris, and Winchester. Honestly, the world had gone back to not mattering to the couple, as they peered longingly into each other's eyes. It was sickening to Siris, who finally got it in his mind to leave, scoffing into the air as he walked for the door. Winchester would follow soon after, chuckling softly to himself.

So there they were, left alone again, Ethan and Cassava. It's funny how they spent hours thinking about this moment, but now that it was here, neither of them new what to do. What was the proper protocol for bringing one's wife back home? Should he give her time to properly say goodbye to her team? Or should they just immediately make way for home and spend sometime, ahem, getting reacquainted with one another? Knowing Cassava, the last one was most likely.

Ethan pondered these thoughts and more, but didn't say anything as he once again got lost in Cassava's green eyes. She looked so beautiful.

“Ethan...” she whispered, breaking him from his thoughts.

“Hm? Hmmm? Sorry...” he blushed and looked down, but his smile was no less genuine, “I'm just... it's just... you're here again and... I've forgotten what it is I wanted to do...” he shook his head, a few faint tears forming at the rim of his eyes, “I love you Cassava.”

“Jeeze, saying such things like that, and out loud no less,” she replied, blushing a bit herself as her fingers curled beneath her lips, “Heh heh... umm...” she looked around briefly, just to make sure her team was gone, “Say it again.”

Despite being mighty and power, she could be so cute some times.

“I love you, Cassava,” he repeated, “I love you! And... I'm happy, so very happy, that you're home again,” he offered her his hand, “Come on. Let's go get wasted.”

“Right! Right! Wasted!” she said as she laughed hardily, “The beer on the Steel Orochi is some of the worse shit in the universe! Hah ha! I could use some good lager! Just, uh...” she looked over a few feet, “Let me grab my things.”

Yes, Cassava's things. Looking over, Ethan's eyes fell on a bulky metal suitcase. His wife walked over to grab it, but Ethan stopped her.

“Let me,” he said as he offered to take the suitcase for her.

Cassava gave a soft chuckle as she watched her husband walk to the luggage, his hands reaching down to grab it's handle. He gave it one tug, only for her suitcase to go nowhere. His expression appeared shocked, before he reattempted to pick up the suitcase. Once again, the same outcome; it was barely budged an inch.

It was heavy. Insanely heavy. Almost to the point that Ethan was convinced the suitcase was magnetized to the floor. He may not have been the strongest person in all of Aurous, but he sure as hell wasn't weak either. The fact that he couldn't lift his wife's suitcase appeared to say otherwise, as it just wasn't moving. In fact...

“Haa... ow...” he had to wheel his arm around, as all that budging didn't do a damn thing. Turning to face Cassava, he had one question to ask, “What's in here, Cassava?”

“Well... everything,” she replied as she walked over to him, “My other bodysuits, my chain guns, my MAG 60, my assault rifle – split up into pieces of course to make the travel easier – a bunch of bullets for them, my weapon belt, my three knives, my extra gloves, my extra boots, my scouter. And... uh... that's it!”

Damn. That's a lot of stuff. And yet at the same time, it was all so very... sparse. Cassava didn't have much to her name other than her weapons. Her clothes was made up of bodysuits, her shoes made up of boots. The only article of clothing she was known to wear in her 'civilian' life, was a blue jean jacket.

She wore it right now in fact. It was a blue jean jacket that had its years of wear and tear strewn proudly upon every stitch. It had two breast pockets, and on the back, it bore the image of a serpent as it slithered through a sea of bullets. Written above this snake upon a golden plaque with emboldened black words was Cassava's nickname.

GUN VIPER.

“Here, darling,” Cassava said as she picked up her suitcase with ease, as if it weighted nary more than a few pounds, “I'll carry my things to our car. You just point the way...”

“Uh... heh heh... yeah...”

Ethan smiled as he looked at Cassava, watching as she proudly lifted her suitcase in the air whilst looking at him. It wouldn't be Cassava without her feeling the need to flaunt her strength in front of him; she just loved doing such a thing. He didn't mind, because honestly, he wouldn't have her any other way.

“Calm down, dear,” he said in a teasing manner, making her cock her head as he turned to face the terminal's exit, “Your tail's wagging.”

“What no it's... oh...”

She blushed, now showing even a bit of annoyance as her husband pointed out the excitement she was trying to hold in. It was just like him to point out things she was attempting to hide, just to tease her. She quickly wrapped her tail around her waist, her annoyed face becoming a silly grin as she extended her hand.

He grabbed it softly.

Hand in hand Ethan lead Cassava out of the terminal and towards the parking lot. His wife was so bubbly, giggling with excitement the closer they got to his car. She had yet to see this vehicle, as when they were together, they were still using the metro to get around. To have a car all to themselves would free them up to go wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted.

And yet, what she saw was still so... impressive. The sleek vehicle that was colored black looked so top of the line, so cutting edge, even though in reality it was already two years old now. Comparing Ethan's hovercar to the other cars in this parking lot, it was clear his was the most expensive. It lacked any sort of blemish, any sort of scar, and looked like he just drove it off the car lot only a few hours ago.

Cassava approached the car slowly, at an utter lost of words to describe it. Pulling out his phone, Ethan decided to surprise his wife a bit more as he activated his vehicle. It buzzed to life suddenly, making Cassava hop back as if the car would snap up and bite her. Instead, its front and hind lights beamed to life, and the repulsion system which allowed the vehicle to hover was activated. As it floated into the air, it's hood was pulled back, further amazing Cassava who could only say,

“Wow...” she turned to face her husband, eyes appearing a bit concerned, “This... is ours?”

“Yeah,” Ethan answered whilst nodding, his hand lifted to present the passenger's seat to her, “Here's your chariot, my lady.”

Showing a lack of understanding and clout when it came to this vehicle, Cassava climbed over the passenger door as oppose to opening it up like any normal person would. And it wasn't like she flipped over the door in some sort of cool, spectacular manner. She sheepishly and gingerly climbed her way over it as if the car was irradiated. It was cute, in a childishly ignorant sort of way.

But when she sat in the car proper, she found the leather seat to be so incredibly soft. Cassava sank back a few inches as she clutched close her suitcase, sighing blissfully as she looked up to the night sky. Ships were still drifting about up above, and soon after, Ethan's face came into view as well. He was smiling so sweetly.

“Enjoying it, Cassava?” he asked, making her nod.

“Yeah...” she answered, her tone airy as if she were in some dream-like state.

And, to Cassava, this might as well have been a dream. Never had she sat in a car like this before. Where was the overbearing smell of tobacco, or alcohol, or gunpowder? None of that was here. Instead, all Cassava could smell was the city one way, and Ethan's scent. It was thick and heavy within this car, even with the hood rolled up. She could even smell... the faint scent of coffee. It was the cheep crap kind of coffee, the one you'd buy at a fast food restaurant. Those types of coffees also happened to be Ethan's favorite, if memory served well.

He looked down at his wife, eyebrow raised, watching as she sniffed at the car as if it were truly alien to her. Smirking, he walked around the car towards the driver's seat, getting into it and grabbing the steering wheel. He was just about to put his foot to the gas, when Cassava suddenly clung to his shoulder. He tensed up, looked over to his wife, and her nose met his neck.

“You... smell nice...” she said, before licking her lips, “You smell just like I remember you smelling. But...” she pulled away, grinning at him as her green eyes shined, “You're scared, aren't you? I can smell it on you, darling... hmph...” she clutched her suitcase closer, “Why are you scared?”

“Why wouldn't I be scared?” he replied, deciding not to deny the truth, “My wife's back with me and... heh... it's been a while...” his foot pressed to the gas, “I just... don't want to mess things up.”

“Oh, Ethan!” Cassava said as she slapped his back, actually pushing him forward and making his glasses slide a bit off of his face. She didn't seem to notice however, as she was busy laughing in a hardy manner, “You worry too much! Things are going to be amazing between us!”

“You really think so?” he asked as he fixed his glasses on his face, to which his wife nodded.

“Of course I think so,” she said cockily, even grinning at him in a wry manner, “C'mon, Ethan, you worry too much! You should really learn to not sweat the small stuff, darling...”

It was pretty hard of him to do, considering his job was filled with ironing out tiny, finite details. Little problems can result in someone being blown across the room, quite literally when it came to his concussive cannon. Yet Cassava's words were inspiring, and to hear them come from right beside him as oppose to hearing her voice through a video screen seemingly enhanced the affect. Perhaps he was merely sweating over the small stuff, as Cassava so eloquently put it. Considering how happy they both were now, he didn't want to ruin it.

Little did he know his wife felt the same way.

“Now then, let's get going! Get me drunk here! I'm home and I wanna party!” Cassava announced, and rather giddily at that.

“Okay, okay,” Ethan said as he shook his head, his foot pressing to the gas of his hovercar, “Just don't drink too much. I don't wanna drag you passed out into our new home on our first night.”

“Yeah, well, we'll see... we'll see.”

…

“You should've saw it, Ethan boy! Your wife leaps clean atop the head of a tank as it's pointing it's barrel directly at her, pulls the pin out of her grenade, then tosses it right into the barrel like a madwoman! After, she leaped from the tank's top to a nearby traffic-light, just in time to clear out the explosion she made! The tank must have gone up... ten, twenty feet in the air! Everyone saw it!”

His name was Bardarak, and he was a rather lively fellow when it came to the Steel Orochis. Like most of the men, he was tall and burly, though with more age in comparison to others. Easily being in his late thirties, early forties, he recanted a battle he and Cassava went through on planet Iatno. All the while, his thick and powerful arm was wrapped around Ethan's neck, pulling the poor man along with his righteous gestures.

“It sounds – ack! – amazing, Bardarak!” Ethan replied as he attempted to keep his wits about him as he was jerked one way and then the other.

The bar was rather loud, the sounds of many partying Kremians echoing all around him. Here were the Steel Orochi, and about three other Kremian mercenary teams, all of whom filled the chairs of the bar from wall to wall. Ethan was among them, resting in the center of the Steel Orochi as Bardarak still had his arm wrapped around his neck.

Air supply was getting low.

“Dammit Bardarak, let go!” Cici suddenly said as she tapped his shoulder, her heterochromatic eyes glaring at him, “Stop before you break, his neck. The last thing you'd want is Cassava kicking your ass because you killed her husband.”

“Huh? Oh right!” said the cheerful giant, as he released Ethan's neck.

He gasped for breath, now realizing how close he was to passing out there. Bardarak's cheerful temperament may be different from most Kremians, but his strength sure as hell wasn't. With arms as big as his, Ethan was sure he'd be able to punch through solid steel.

For now, he fixed his glasses on his face and realigned his disheveled collar. Silently he thanked Cici who sat right beside him, but she merely rolled her eyes. It was clear to Ethan that the feelings Siris felt towards him was shared among many of the Steel Orochi. It was a general dislike for taking away one of their most beloved members.

Ethan frowned a bit, but it was only for a moment. Resetting his glasses on his face, he sucked in air through his nose as he relaxed himself. Eyes opening up, he looked at everyone with his usual indifferent gaze.

He wished he could say something to help placate them, to help make them... feel better towards him. But he didn't know what words to say, if any. Fortunately, he didn't need to.

CLANG!

The sound of a cup slamming on a table alerted everyone's attentions over to Cassava. Her fists were on her hips, her green eyes like knives as she glared at the members of her team.

“You jackasses, stop making Ethan feel bad,” she snarled at them, “If you have to know, he tried to convince me to stay with you guys. He knows how much the team means to me, but I decided otherwise...” she shook her head, “It was my decision to leave. Damn, what the hell did I tell you all about trying to guilt-trip shit? Do you want me to kick all of your asses!?” grabbing her mug of beer which was filled to the brim, she quickly downed the entire cup with seconds to spare, “Now then, who wants to get their horns whet?”

Cassava glared at her team, green eyes ghosting over the heads of them. She was an ever taunting woman, as if begging someone to take her up on her offer of fighting. Of course, none would. She opened her mouth to say another word, but a heavy hand fell on her shoulder. Turning and looking at the person who touched her, she saw it was Winchester.

Her captain was carrying a big mug of beer himself, though his singular eye was filled with disdain. Shaking his head towards her, he said,

“Calm down on the team, Cass. They're just... emotional...”

“Hey! Who said I was emotional!” one of them shouted, making the captain chuckle.

“Anyway, why don't you go fill your cup again?” Winchester said as he looked over to Ethan, who tensed up under his intense gaze, “Do you mind if I speak with your husband? Alone?”

“I don't mind,” said Ethan as he stood up from where he sat, answering for Cassava before she could speak, “Bars... aren't really my kind of place anyway.”

“Heh heh heh... good man...” said Winchester as he nodded.

“Hey! Hey! Don't kill my husband!” Cassava snapped as she slammed her hand on his chest, “I wouldn't forgive you if you did!”

“I know, I know...” he replied with a teasing chuckle.

Cassava gave a scoff into the wind, eyes even rolling in an annoyed manner as she made way back to the bar's counter. Ethan walked his way through the many droves of armed Kremians to stand at Winchester's side, who merely nodded as he did so. Gesturing for the the exit, the captain led Ethan out of the bar and into the cool, cool night.

The scientist leered up towards the stars briefly, before feeling Winchester's weighty hand drop on his shoulder. Turning to face the burly and old Kremian, he found his one aged eye peering straight into his soul. It sent shivers down Ethan's spine, but he didn't look away. He knew looking away would only make things worse.

“You're an interesting man, Ethan,” Winchester remarked as he gave his shoulder a tender squeeze, “Know that the love you hold for Cassava is not ignorant to me. Tell me, do you remember the last time we spoke?”

“You mean back on our wedding day? Yeah, how couldn't I?” Ethan replied as he smiled in a sheepish manner, “I want you to know that your words... they affected me. I couldn't be a good husband if I just remained an understudy. I started working harder at work to climb through the ranks. I wanted... I wanted... I wanted to give Cassava the life she deserved. Being a mercenary...” he shook his head, “I just... I just wanted her to be... happy.”

“Happy, huh?” Winchester replied as he took a sip of his beer, “Fuaaah... yeah... that's one hell of a word... happy. Tell me, you think any of the riches you got now will make Cassava happy?”

“Honestly? I don't know,” Ethan answered, before smiling, “But it can't hurt, can it?”

CRASH!

In this part of Avalon, the sound of glass shattering may as well be the sound of cars driving. Glass breaking was a natural occurrence when most of the Kremian population is around. What was so alerting was the fact that the shattering glass occurred at the bar they were standing near. Ethan actually a flinched a bit, Winchester, not so much.

“Are you okay?” asked the captain, making Ethan nod.

“Yeah, yeah, I'm fine,” he said, though concern was in his voice, “I just hope Cassava is...”

Without another word, he ran back into the bar to make sure everything was okay, at least where Cassava was concerned. Winchester lingered about outside, his fingers rubbing against his chin in a curious manner. Chuckling to himself, he pulled his mug of beer up to his lips and took a swig.

“You're gonna need aaaallll the help in the world, Ethan,” he whispered to himself, “I wish it to you.”

…

The silent night winds blew along her hair. So this was what it felt like to be in a hovercar, drifting along the roads at a steady and cool 90 miles per hour. It was seamless, without a bump in a road or shake to ruin the otherwise pleasant feeling. Her arms crossed beneath her chin, she leaned on the hovercar's doorway to watch all the buildings pass by.

She recognized this place, because she lived here for a year. That apartment right over there in fact was the apartment they called home when they lived together. It was the third apartment in a square of four, which had a small center between them all where she often spent time in when there was nothing for her to do.

And they were just... leaving it by, without another word.

Cassava pulled back from the car's door, her arms stretched out as she felt a few bones pop into place. Looking over, her green eyes fell on her husband, who's eyes did not leave the roads ahead. He was calm and collected as he casually drove through the night-drenched streets of Avalon, unaware of the nostalgic feelings of sadness Cassava was going through.

Or so she believed.

“You're looking a bit miffed, dear,” he said in a teasing manner, which caused her to pout.

“The hell's that supposed to mean?” she asked back, which caused Ethan to chuckle.

“You don't have to act so tough,” Ethan remarked as he continued driving, though his cheeky grin did not fade away, “I am your husband after all; if there's anyone in the universe you can talk to, it's me.”

“Hey! I'm not actin' tough, I am tough!” she remarked, her fingers curled into a fist, “But...” she relaxed her hand, “But... haaa...” she closed her eyes and crossed her arms, before leaning back into her chair to gaze opposite of him, “I'm just... trying to get used to everything. I'm not going back to the Steel Orochi to sleep in my cot... I'm going back to our... home.”

“Wow, so you can feel more emotions other than rage,” Ethan commented, which caused Cassava to fume.

“The hell's that supposed to mean!?” she snapped, teeth bore out in full as she glared at him, “You may be drivin', but I'm not afraid to die, Ethan!”

“Hah hah hah! I'm just teasing you dear,” he said as he looked at her with such a cheery face on, though his eyes held a few faint tears within them, “I'm still... getting used to having you here with me,” he looked back to the road, “I think... no... no... I know you'll love it,” he nodded in an affirmative manner, “Our apartment is so big, hell, our bed is so big and soft and Sector 7 is such a beautiful sector. All the neon lights glow at night and... yeah...” he chuckled some more, “And things will be better with you there.”

“You're just tryin' to butter me up,” Cassava said as she gave him a knowing grin, “You don't have to play sly with me, Ethan. I know what you're hinting at,” she placed her hand gently on his chest, writing little circles in it, “Hmm...! Kissing you back in the terminal... felt good. I didn't know how much I missed kissing you until then...” she licked her lips, “I kinda wanna kiss you again right now.”

“C-Cassava! We're driving now!” he replied, a slightly embarrassed blush appearing on his face.

She laughed at his flustered appearance, watching as he pushed up his glasses and swallowed his spit. If there was one thing Cassava loved to do, it was making her husband embarrassed. He looked so cute when he was all flustered and sheepish; how couldn't she enjoy pushing his buttons?

But for now, she looked out over the edge of their hovercar. Now they were in the business district, flying pass all of its factories and complexes. So far, nothing looked too out of the ordinary. Was it sad to say that this was as far into Avalon she had ever been before? She had never gone beyond the business district before, but in the past she never had a need to do so.

Now they were flying towards the tunnel which led to the upper-class district. Did it even have a name? Sector 7 was what Ethan said, so she assumed it was that; Sector 7. Or was... Sector 7 just the name of this entire half of the city?

Jeeze, the more she thought about it, the more she realized how very little she knew of the metropolis she now lived in.

She didn't even have enough time to think about it until everything changed. They drove through yet another tunnel, the dark and yellow lights of the business district fading away. What replaced it was damn near blinding.

Cassava's eyes grew wide as neon lights blared into her face. Looking around her in a full 360, she saw grand buildings with such new and amazing designs, the likes of which she had never experienced before. The roads were filled with stylish cars whose lights streaked behind them as they snaked along the highways. In the distance, Cassava could see hovering crafts float through the air with great ease like blimps. Holographic images sat tall in the sky, advertising... something; Cassava had no idea.

“Wow...” she said aloud, unaware her husband heard it.

He didn't say a word, instead chuckling softly to himself. Well... he couldn't help but to tease her a tiny bit.

“Your tail is wagging, dear,” Ethan said, making Cassava – and her tail – tense up.

“What!?” she practically screamed, now being the flustered one as her husband laughed.

She glared at him, teeth gnashing into one another as she gave a growl. All the while, her tail wrapped around her waist in an attempt to gain some modesty. Seeing this, Ethan's coy chuckles became further laughing, especially when he saw Cassava pout at him.

“Do you want me to kill us?” she asked.

“Two threats in one car ride? Oh, I wonder if I can get to three,” he answered, making her roll her eyes.

“Just take us home,” Cassava remarked as she crossed her arms, her green eyes cutting away to the city.

“We're almost there, Cassava,” Ethan said as he pushed his glasses up on his face, “Just bare with me a bit...” he smirked at her, “Look ahead. See that?”

Rolling her eyes, Cassava eventually did as her husband asked. They were turning in the highway, and were now pointing straight towards the center of Avalon as a whole. What she saw astonished her.

Bright lights as far as the eye could see, with even more impressive buildings standing tall. Avalon was a virtual sea of buildings and structures that just went on and on, but not in a bad way. There were many buildings of different shapes and sizes, such as ones with straight lines and edges, and buildings with more spherical domes.

And in the center of this grand city was yet another dome. But this one was smaller, and raised on a platform that seemingly overlooked every inch of Avalon for itself. Within this distant dome was a building of mysterious origin. It was illuminated by its own special set of lights which cascaded it in a glorious, radiant, rainbow light.

“What's that...?” Cassava asked as she pointed towards the building in the distance, “I've never seen it before.”

“Heh, I see it every day,” Ethan replied, “You can only see it when you're high up, otherwise it gets surrounded in so many buildings. The highways can get a good look at it every now and then, but even then if it's a busy day, you can barely see it. Uh...” he chuckled, “I just thought it was a pretty place. That's where the city's president lives.”

“City's president, huh?” Cassava replied as she rubbed her chin, “Must be hella rich to run all of this. And that house he owns ain't much to shake a dime at either.”

“She owns,” Ethan replied, “Madame President Guinevere lives there, her and her family. She runs every bit of Avalon through her Governors. Each Sector – all nine of them – has a governor attached to it. But uh...” he shook his head, “I'm sure you don't care about any of that. I just thought you'd find her palace to be cool.”

“Have you ever been to it?” she asked, to which Ethan shook his head.

“Me? No... I'd have no reason to bump shoulders with politicians. Not my style,” her husband replied, “I've only seen her on TV. I don't even think I've ever been in the same sector as her. Sector 7 is the smallest sector so... there's really not a lot of reasons to come here.”

“This... is the smallest sector?” Cassava replied as she looked around again, scoffing at his statement, “This place is bigger than some capital cities I've been too on other planets,” she looked down before whispering lowly, “We... live here...?”

“Yeah...” Ethan said as he smiled at her, “This is our home.”

“It's... so different from what I'm used too...” she whispered again before closing her eyes.

Ethan frowned a bit, his heart shaking. This... was what he was afraid of happening; of Cassava not mending well with this new life she was thrust in. The flashing neon lights, the expansive buildings that went on forever, the grand space from one end of the sector to the other, and – of course – the relative peace of it all...

Cassava was a tough, hard as nails woman, and that's something he always loved about his wife. But right now, she looked so... vulnerable, so unsure of herself. He only hoped he'd be able to help her see the brighter side of things.

“Ah, we're almost home,” he said as he drove along the lanes, a smile appearing on his lips, “Let me show you our home, you'll love it! Promise.”

Cassava nodded as she looked at him, before watching as the car drifted for an off-ramp. They slipped into the forest of neon lights and steel buildings, making her gasp as she was now up close with it all. There were so many stores on the streets, selling items mostly of the clothing variety, and even then, they were all so extravagant and expensive looking. Compare these golden and white dresses to the body suit Cassava wore, and it was night and day. Hell, even her wedding dress was downright diminutive in comparison.

The mercenary was feeling like a fish out of water.

Parking into a nearby parking garage, Cassava looked over towards all of the amazing cars in this area. She gasped audibly at the sight of them, and how stylish they were. It further helped cement the different world she was in, as cars were not bulky and large, but instead stylish and lean, meant for more visual spectacle than practicality in battle.

“We're here, Cassava,” Ethan said as he looked over to his wife, taking her aback.

“W-we are?” she said, to which he coyly chuckled again.

“Come on,” he said as he turned their car off.

Getting out of the vehicle together, Cassava was sure to bring her metal briefcase with her. When she did so, she watched as Ethan caused the hovercar's hood to close in over itself, sealing their car off from the world.

Cassava appeared cool and calm in her surroundings, but her body language said otherwise. Her grip on her suitcase was tight, and her tail was twitching neverously, something she'd do when she was unsure of her surroundings. Ethan – noticing this – reached out and grabbed her hand. She flinched at first, taken aback by how sudden and silent the gesture was. But when she looked up into her husband's calming face and lovely smile, she relaxed herself.

“You'll love it. I promise,” he said as he smiled at her.

Hand in hand, Cassava followed her husband into the main lobby of the luxury condominium she now lived in. Her green eyes took in the luxurious design of the lobby, stunned to see such gold and white colors mix together to create something so... amazing. Compare it to the gun metal gray of the business district, or the dirty brown walls of her barracks; this was like night and day! This was like the scene in one of her romance novels where the poor main character was whisked away into a palace by a charming prince.

“We... sleep here...?” Cassava asked, unaware that this lobby was only that; just a lobby. To her, even a place as mundane as a lobby was impressive.

“No, dear, we're only in the lobby,” he said as he pointed ahead towards the open-view elevators in the back of said lobby, “We'll ride the elevators up to our room. Room number 119. We own that floor.”

“We... own that... floor...?” Cassava repeated, confused by it, “Like... the entire floor?”

“Yes, dear, the entire floor,” Ethan replied as he chuckled in a soft manner, “You'll see when we get there.”

“Good evening, Mr. Pheros.”

“What!? Who's that!?”

Cassava took a step back, as right in front of her eyes a woman appeared from out of a blue light. She was a young thing, with black hair and somewhat Asian features, who also wore a uniform befitting a police officer. She lacked much emotion, and appeared to gaze at the two with an unflinching 100 yard stare.

“Ethan! Who is that?” Cassava asked, alerted by this hologram of a woman.

“Oh, her? This is Rebecca, our condo's receptionist. She's a hologram.”

“Hologram...?” Cassava repeated as she looked at this translucent blue woman, “Right... right... I... I knew that, of course.”

“Heh heh, just think of her as one of those hardlight holograms you used to train against when you were younger,” Ethan remarked as he smiled towards his wife.

“Uh... right...” Cassava said as she rubbed her chin, before dropping her hands to her side as she walked towards the hologram, “Nice to meet you... uh... Rebecca. I'm Cassava; Ethan's wife. Make sure to remember that.”

To Cassava's surprise, the 'woman's' eyes suddenly flashed a bright white light. The Kremian was naturally taken aback by this, as Rebecca even emitted a slight buzzing noise. Somewhat fretfully, Cassava worried that she may have accidentally broken the hologram, but it didn't take long for Rebecca's eyes to suddenly return to normal.

“Information saved,” said the hologram, “Cassava Pheros, wife of Ethan Pheros,” she bowed gently, “It is my pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Pheros.”

“Rebecca here is programmed into the condo,” Ethan further explained, “There's a little panel near the exit of our room which we can use to call for assistance... or even just to talk,” he chuckled softly, “I don't talk to her often but... she may help you get accustomed to living here.”

“She's... programmed into every room in the condo?” Cassava murmured as she rubbed her chin, “That's... a bit impersonal. I hope no one is recording conversations.”

“Under law, it is illegal for me to record your conversations without your expressed consent,” said Rebecca with a smile, “Do not worry, Mrs. Pheros; I am not recording your conversations!”

“Yeah... I don't believe that...” Cassava answered as she crossed her arms beneath her chest.

“Come on, dear,” Ethan said as he began to usher his wife towards the elevators, “Let me show you our home.”

He was excited, like a child who was about to go to the fare. It showed unabashedly on his face, as he didn't even attempt to hide it. Cassava – seeing how excited her husband was – smiled a bit in a sheepish manner herself, her heart picking up in speed.

She was about to enter her new home. She had seen it through the filter of a screen, but this... this was going to be a whole new experience.

Getting into the open-view elevator, she gazed out over the city of Avalon as they began to ride up and up and up. Her tail was shaking in a jagged, unpredictable manner, her anticipation and apprehension building. Ethan noticed this, but did not tease his wife. No, he gently grabbed her hand, clenching it softly.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

19.

The doors of the elevator opened, revealing a long, flat hallway. It was a somewhat impractical and unnecessary hallway, as immediately in front of them was a door, though two stairwells sat on both ends of the hall in case of an emergency. It's strange how this entire floor was theirs to own. Heh, in their old apartment, they owned one tiny room on a floor with about ten others.

And now... now...

Ethan moved forward whilst pulling his home's keycard from out of his overcoat. Sliding it into the keypad beside his door, he watched as it emitted a green light, followed by a high-pitch beeping noise.

Click!

And the door slid open.

Big. That's the first thing Cassava noticed. Her home was big.

Slowly she walked inside, her green eyes wide, her mouth in a permanent gape of wonder. Her tail – usually a window into her inner emotions – was immobile, remaining still in the air while she walked into her home. The largely minimalist design of white and gold was like sensory overload to Cassava, who was used to browns and steels due to being in the Steel Orochi for years now.

And was that a chandelier!? They owned a chandelier!?

“Wow...” she whispered, looking up toward the glowing chandelier as its many different lights sparkled and glowed before her.

THUMP!!!

Dropping her suitcase to the ground, Cassava continued to walk deeper into the luxurious condominium that was her home. They had two floors with doors that lead... somewhere, and halls that lead... somewhere. A balcony that overlooked the city, a kitchen filled with all sorts of high-tech gizmos, and a TV.

Heh, that's saying something when having a flat-screen TV wasn't impressive enough to make her flinch.

Ethan said nothing as he leaned back against the sliding door, watching a Cassava tepidly explored her surroundings. She looked so cute, like a newly adopted pet being placed in a new home for the first time. He watched her touch along the rugs of the floor, sink her hands into their couch, leer up to the chandelier overhead, and spin around and around and around.

“It's like... a palace...” Cassava said, at a loss of words.

And then suddenly her tail sprang up, alerting Ethan. He knew that sign; it meant Cassava was attracted to something. But what? Before he even got the chance to ask her, she suddenly leaped upon the top of their couch, and from the top of the couch she leaped to the chandelier overhead. Giving a shocked expression, Ethan was stunned to see her perform something so brazen so suddenly.

And then he remembered that this was his wife, so, yeah, of course she'd do something so brazen so suddenly. Thankfully, the chandelier did not come crashing down in the middle of their home. Instead, it easily supported the 150 pound woman.

From her vantage point, she looked over every inch of their condo's living room; from the second floor to the kitchen and back again. Eventually she noticed Ethan was walking towards her, his hand waving up to his wife in an attempt to get her attention.

“Cassava, get down from there,” he said in a playful manner, “I don't want you to take down the roof.”

“This... is ours...?” she asked instead, making him nod his head.

“Yes, dear, this is ours,” he answered as he smiled in a sincere manner, “This is all ours... uh...” he beckoned to her with his hand, “Why don't you come down and sit with me on the couch, hm?”

She nodded, her grip on the chandelier loosening as she began to climb down its side. Easily she slipped off of it and fell on the couch, landing safely on her butt as she looked up to him. She still appeared to be unsure of this, as if she couldn't believe that this luxurious condominium belonged to them. Ethan could see it on her face, so as he sat down beside her, he gripped her hand softly into his.

“I worked my ass off for this,” he said as he moved closer to his wife, their shoulders bumping along one another, “I... I wanted you to come back home to something better than our old apartment.”

“I never... asked for better,” she replied.

“I know you didn't but... that didn't mean I wasn't going to provide better,” he retorted, “Besides, I was never pleased with the apartment we used to own. I always wanted better. Always...”

There was more to it than that. He wanted to tell Cassava about the conversation he had with Winchester all those years ago during their wedding. That conversation helped set his path straight on this road, but he just couldn't bring himself to say it. Instead he swallowed his spit.

So far... things were going about as well as he thought they would; with Cassava suffering a bout of culture shock. He wasn't sure what to do in a situation like this; did they write a book about how to deal with such things?

Looking at Cassava's face, he could see how uncomfortable everything made her. Her green eyes lacked that coy and brash glare they always had, her mouth was agape as she coiled some of her hair around her finger. Even though she drank a good amount of alcohol earlier, no part of her senses had been dulled. She felt everything, and what she felt she didn't like.

Fortunately, he knew exactly what to do in this situation.

“I uh... have beer in the fridge,” he said as he gestured over towards their kitchen.

“Oh... thank Clout!” Cassava answered as she suddenly sprang up.

Without hesitation, she leaped over the couch and made way for the cooking area, her speeds making her into a blur. Ethan gave a soft smile as he heard his wife rummage through their kitchen before making it to the refrigerator, opening it up to reveal a six pack of beer. For the first time in his life, Ethan had to mentally thank his friend Jonathan for leaving beer over at his place. He may not drink the stuff, but Cassava sure did.

POP!

And boy did she not muck around.

Slowly walking up towards the kitchen, he watched as his wife began to down not one bottle of beer, but three, all at once. The alcohol one gets in this area of the sector wasn't as strong as the alcohol she was used to drinking. And being a powerful Kremian woman, she needed something with a hell of a good punch. Ethan crossed his arms as he watched her drink, clearing out those three bottles in no time.

“Better?” he asked.

“Urrrrrrph!!! Mmph... better...” she answered as she smiled at him.

“Here, I have a few more thing I want to show you,” he said as he performed a hooking gesture with his finger, “This place has a lot of rooms, a lot of which I don't use. I think a brief little tour is necessary.”

“Okay, but I'm bringing this six pack with me... uh... three pack...”

“Heh, I wouldn't have it any other way.”

Just as Cassava said, she began to follow her husband whilst carrying around the remaining three bottles of beer. While she didn't need their inebriating prowess at the moment, she wanted it just in case she saw something that required a drink.

Ethan was a bit more composed, or at least he hid his anxieties better than she did. He was no psychologist; was there anything he could do to help Cassava ease into this position? He hoped a nice slow tour of their new home would be good enough, and he led her to the area she may find the most enjoyable.

Slipping through a door, they entered a wide and spacious room, one filled with Ethan's machines here and there. The signs of her husband's toils was blatant everywhere, and of all the rooms in this place, this was the one she was most familiar with. Why? She had seen it through a screen many times, for it wasn't uncommon for them to talk to one another when Ethan was in the midst of working on whatever machine he had at the moment. This was his personal lab.

“It's... bigger than I thought it would be,” said Cassava as she looked from one end of the area to the other, “Really... really bigger.”

“'Really really bigger'?” Ethan repeated in a teasing manner, “You have such a profound way with words, dear.”

“Oh shut it you!” Cassava snapped.

“Isn't... isn't Winchester a warrior poet?” he continued to tease, chuckling aloud, “I wonder what he'd say if you described a situation as 'really really bigger',” he began to laugh more, “I wonder if he's ever described a tank as being 'really really bigger'!”

“Shows what you know!” Cassava replied as she pointed her finger back at him, “I've heard the captain say some really off the wall crap in my day!” he watched as she furiously began to remove the tops of those beer bottles, “And it's great to see you – GUH! – haven't loss your sense of humor, darling!”

Removing those tops from those three remaining beer bottles, she began to guzzle them down just as quickly. Perhaps Ethan's teasing went too far, but he just couldn't help himself. He wanted Cassava to relax and enjoy herself; the home wasn't about to swallow her. It was just more luxurious, more comfortable in comparison to what she was used too.

He watched as she guzzled down those bottles of beer until there was nothing remaining. In doing so, he could see Cassava's footsteps become a bit more jelly like. She wobbled on her feet for a few moments, before dropping those bottles of beer too the table. As she relaxed from the furious guzzling of her beer, Ethan laid his hand on her shoulder.

“Cassava... calm down,” he said as he gently stroked her chin, “The home isn't going to attack you.”

“Tch! I'm no child! I know that!” she replied, before crossing her arms, “It's just... so different and big and... well...” she shook her head before looking away, her green eyes gazing out over the room, “This place is pretty big. What's it doing here?”

“Huh? Oh, right, these condos are pretty famous for people who love sports,” Ethan answered, “It's because they have wide spacious rooms like these people can use for things like gyms or courts of some sort. I know the people downstairs use their as a tennis court, but I use it for a laboratory, as you can obviously tell,” he chuckled as he pushed his glasses up on his face, “But that's not all; check this out.”

Walking over to a concealed panel on the wall, he flipped it open to reveal a series a buttons. He pressed one, causing the wall to suddenly began to slide and part open. Cassava hopped back as the already spacious lab grew even larger. The lab grew twice as big, with one side – this side – being filled with Ethan's junk, and the other side being clean and empty.

Cassava slowly entered this other half of their home, her tail sprung up like, well, like a spring. Ethan smiled, happy to see such reserved excitement within his wife as she spun around in circles.

“You can use it for whatever you like,” Ethan stated, “Training or otherwise. The walls are made of solid titanium; they can withstand the force of an explosion and no one will here a thing. Trust me, I know.”

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Those sudden gun shots shook Ethan, whose eyes grew as wide as lights. Looking at Cassava, he watched as his wife fired several shots into the wall for... some reason. He opened his mouth to ask why, but instead watched as she put her weapon away.

Slowly Cassava walked over to the wall she shot, her fingers running along it. There wasn't a single mark, a single sign that she had shot it. Her flattened bullet tips laid on the floor in fact, having done virtually nothing to the wall. About the only sign that she had shot the wall came from a bit of paint which had chipped off from the impacts. Other than that... nothing.

“Wow...” Cassava said as she smiled from cheek to cheek, her green eyes aglow, “Wow, wow, wow! Amazing!” tail wagging excitedly as she hopped up and down, even her hands were clapping together, “Dummies! Dummies!” she looked at Ethan, still smiling so vibrantly, “Do you have any dummies I could shoot!?”

“Well, yes, but, uh... l-let's save it for later, dear,” Ethan said as he gestured for the door, “There's still a big house for you to see. All the rooms, and... uh... our bedroom,” he smiled, “But uh... you can move all your weapons in here if you'd like. I know you brought more with you than you said you did.”

“Well...”

She chuckled in a coy manner before nodding, her hand extending to take Ethan's hand into her own. He led her out of his laboratory/new training room, and back out to the living room. She followed him up the stairs to the second floor of their home, her green eyes looking out over the expansive room from the balcony.

It was still so strange how they owned all of this. Even in her dreams, she had never imagined owning such a big place. Heh, in her dreams, she often imagined her barracks or their old apartment, the only difference being the fact that Ethan was always there.

“This place... must cost so much,” Cassava stated as she looked at Ethan who continued to lead her.

“Well... I suppose it does,” her husband replied as he shrugged his shoulders, “I couldn't imagine affording this place with my pension as an Understudy, that's for sure. But with you out there in space fighting all those battles, I knew I had to work hard and do my part. Being Senior Laser Developer at the Garand Institute has it's fare share of perks, one of them being a much higher paycheck. It's probably not much compared to the money the Steel Orochi made, but I don't have to pay a bunch of soldiers like Winchester does. Ah! Speaking of which.”

The second floor of the condo had about five rooms; four of which were bedrooms, one of them a bathroom. The last of these rooms was the master bedroom, but that's not where they were going. Not yet, anyway. Instead, he brought Cassava to one of the extra bedrooms they had.

Opening the door, she would find many of her things. Clothes she hadn't worn in years laid on the bed, folded nicely and neatly. Hanging up on the wall even was her wedding dress. Befitting for a wedding dress, it was opulent and white. It owned an umbrella skirt that was long and layered, its bodice being rather cleavage showing. It bore her shoulders, but had disconnected sleeves which flared out over her wrists like a flower.

Hmm, she remembered the hours she spent searching for the perfect wedding dress. Those days spent reading her romance novels hadn't prepared her for it, doubly so considering the fact that marriage was a still relatively alien term to Kremians. None of her fellow soldiers knew what to look for when it came to wedding dresses, with about the most knowledgeable one being Cici. Thankfully, Ethan's mother was there to lend a helping hand in such matters.

Cassava... Cassava remembered it being difficult to choose which was the one she wanted the most. She wanted something she could breath in, move around in and – of course – have space for her tail. Cici reminded her that it was just a dress; she wasn't wearing it to battle. Cassava felt otherwise.

Touching her dress, Cassava tracked some dust upon her digit. In fact, all of her clothes in this room were covered in a layer of dust. She rubbed her fingers together before turning to face Ethan, who was smiling towards her.

“I... put your things in this room after I moved here,” he said, “I didn't know what to do with them. I don't think there was anything I could do with them, honestly,” he pushed his glasses up on his face, “Sorry if they're a bit dusty.”

But Cassava didn't say a word, instead smiling ever so warmly towards her husband. Said smile didn't last long, until she gained a more cheeky grin; now it was her turn to tease him.

“Good thing you don't come in here often,” she said as she walked up to her husband, her chest pressing up to his chest, “It would be pretty creepy of you to just lay about in all my clothes like that! That would be fucking perverted!”

“Cassava...”

“Oh, what, you don't wanna be teased this time!?” she replied as she grinned wryly at him, pushing him back and out of the room, “Jeeze, you can be so insufferable sometimes!” she wrapped her arm around his neck, pulling him, “But I love you for that. Mmmph...”

She kissed him, lips meeting lips as her eyes closed. Maybe it was the buzz she was undergoing, but she just felt the need to kiss her husband. They were alone now, alone in their home without Cici or Siris or Winchester or anyone there to stop them.

She needed this.

“Cassava,” Ethan said, panting slightly for breath as their lips parted.

“Mmmph... you talk too much...” she whispered as she kissed him again.

“Mmmfuaaa... but... the other rooms...” he replied, “You, haaa, haven't even seen the bathroom yet.”

“That can wait...” she replied, not caring much for it as she kissed him again.

“Well, a-at least let's get into the bedroom,” he said, “Why kiss in the hall when we can kiss there?”

“Well... you got me there,” she replied whilst grinning, her wily tail dancing along her back, “Show me the way, darling.”

Perhaps giving Cassava all that beer was a bad idea; she was incredibly frisky. Was... that a bad thing? Oh, right, no, no it wasn't. He'd been waiting two years for this; he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a bit 'frisky' in his own right. Cassava just had no qualms with getting too the fun stuff first; that's just her ways.

“Mmmph...”

“Mmmfuaaaa...”

Cassava was such a sloppy kisser, doubly so when the taste of booze was still blatant on her tongue and in her breath. He wasn't a big fan of beer anymore, but damn did his wife make him feel otherwise. She had this musky, sweaty scent to her, probably because she didn't shower after her nightly training session. She rarely did; his wife loved working up a sweat before she went to sleep.

When the door opened to their bedroom, Cassava finally had to step back just to look at it all. It was so... big. The bed, the room, the balcony overlooking the city; all of it. Her nose quivered, the scent of her husband being thick in this room. It caused her to licked her lips, as if sizing up a slab of meat.

Ethan was always so much smaller than she was, shorter, weaker too. Was it wrong to say she kinda sorta got off on that? Heh heh, probably, but she didn't care. She continued to kiss against him, rub against him, feeling his leg part through her legs until...

“Fuah?”

The bed was so... soft. Laying in it, she felt herself sink down inch by inch by inch by inch. Cassava pulled back, green eyes wide as she looked around her. She could feel Ethan's hands moved on her shoulders as she got used to the world around her.

“Haaa... you're slipping, dear,” he whispered.

“Tch... what are you talking abou-- YAWH!?”

She tensed up, her eyes suddenly shooting wide open as Ethan gripped and pulled on her tail. She felt a surge of energy run through her all at once, before leaving her just as quickly. The tables had been turned; Ethan easily flipped her over upon her back, allowing her to sink more into the bed beneath them.

Ethan was over top her, his brown eyes leering into her face with such a cocky grin. She both hated and loved that damned grin of his.

“Got you,” he said as he clenched at the air with his fist, making her pout.

“You cheated...” she replied, her green eyes locking on him.

“All's fair in love in war, dear,” he replied, “Besides, you have no idea how long I've waited to do that...” he closed his eyes as his head drifted forward a bit, “That being said... haaa... you feel so nice...”

Their noses bumped against another, before their lips met again in a kiss. Cassava's arm wrapped around Ethan's neck to pull him in closer, deepening the kiss as he kept one had beside her head. His other hand moved up, sliding to her chest to squeeze and clench upon one of her breasts.

“Haaaa...”

To match his movement, she reached one of her hands down, trailing it along his back. Her fingers slipped beneath the waist band of his slacks, her wily tongue curling about in their mouths as she felt his body. The hand she slipped upon his shoulder moved down, now fiddling with the buttons on his shirt.

Should she just rip them off? One by one? That's what she wanted to do; rip Ethan's clothes to shreds and get right down to the bottom of it. He'd be mad at her, but honestly, making him angrier during it always made it better.

Okay, maybe she wanted this a bit more than she let on. Every kiss he gave her and every kiss she gave back only helped further her lust and need for him. Two years she had been denied this pleasure; two years they both had been denied this. Feeling his hand on her bosom, giving it such a tight squeeze--

“Nnngh!”

Felt so good as her body was sensitive, even through her bodysuit. Despite all the fighting she had done, all the battling, she was still rather weak to her husband's ministrations.

She loved that feeling.

Cassava's grip on Ethan was growing looser and looser, as she just wanted him to touch her more. He was glad to oblige, slipping his hand along her athletic form. It danced along her sides, smoothed along her toned stomach, then slipped back around to fall upon her back.

“Let's get you out of that suit...” he whispered, to which she nodded in reply.

“Feh heh heh, of course,” she replied with a cheeky grin, “And I'll tear those clothes off of you! But... first...” her green eyes cut out towards the massive window doors which led to their bedroom's balcony, “Can you... close the blinds?”

Ethan was taken aback by this statement, an eyebrow raised. Looking over to the windows, he saw nothing but Avalon's grand neon lights gazing back at him. His fingers rubbed along his chin, a smile appearing on his lips as he nodded. Yeah, all those lights would be detrimental to her, wouldn't it? Like... sensory overload.

“Of course, dear,” he said as he pulled away from his wife, “I'll deal with that in no time...”

Getting up from their bed, he leered out over the sea of buildings and lights which hung right outside their window. Gripping upon the window's curtains, he slid them shut to blot out the city beyond.

…

The smell of sand and heat was all encompassing. How hot was it out here? 90 degrees? 100 degrees? 110? It was known to get even hotter out here, and even colder at nights. How does one cool off in a place like this? Bring an electric fan? Perhaps bring an umbrella to keep the shade out? Regardless, one definitely doesn't light a cigarette; that would only make things hotter, wouldn't it?

“Fuaaaah... I needed this...”

Silver-white hair flowed through the cruel desert winds, as a man with blue eyes pulled his cigarette from his lips. Blowing out a puff of gray smoke, this tall man leered over to the large and looming highway which sat miles away. Perhaps if he had a car, he could have driven into the bustling metropolis which was just a few more miles off. Ah, who was he kidding; Kremians can't drive for shit.

Another puff of his cigarette, another stream of smoke from his lips and nose. It helped calm his nerves, though that was his last cigarette. How many more hours would it be until he made it to town? Another hour, at the very least. Was smoking his last cigarette a bad idea?

“Fuuuuuhaaaa...”

Nope. Totally worth it.

One hand on the strap of his duffle bag, the other hand on his hip, the tall mountain of a man locked blue green eyes on the buildings in the far distance. Within that duffle bag slung over her shoulder was everything; his entire life. He only had three sets of clothes counting the tank top and jean pants he was currently wearing. Hey, he was in a desert, cut him some slack. His boots crunched rock and sediment beneath him, as he continued along his singular trek towards the grand monolith of a city in the distance.

Its walls were grand and black, and could be seen from miles around. They even said the city was so large, it could be seen from space itself. Four towers stretching from the ground further surrounded the city, with thick wires flowing from them to the city proper. Of course, ships could be seen visibly flying into the city, from large blimp-like structures to lither, speedier crafts. The glass dome of the structure was reflective and bright, but one that kept the harshness of the surrounding desert out of it. Or, well, so he had heard, for he had never been to the city proper.

The pristine metropolis Avalon. He had been walking along this path for days now, stopping only to eat and rest at any gas station or motel he had been lucky enough to come across. Of course, the last motel he came pass was two days ago now... jeeze, he must smell horrendous.

Alright, smoke break over. Tossing his finished cigarette butt to the ground, he crushed it beneath his boot. Blue eyes returning to the walls of Avalon, the man once again continued on her trek.

He could feel it, pulsating, throbbing, calling out to him. That which belonged too him shall be returned in due time.

In due time.

xXx

Okay, it’s a little late where I’m posting it, but hey, it’s still Sunday on the west coast, so I technically made it, right? Right? Ugh...

Anyway, the second episode of Gun Viper. I was actually planning on this being shorter, or well, it was shorter in my head. But when I actually began to write it all out, it ended up being way, way longer. Some ideas I had for this ‘episode’ have been pushed to episode three. The ending scene actually was something I had to whip up a bit quick. A little hinting at the overarching story, if you will. Heh heh, we’ll learn more about him in the future.

Oh yes... the future.

Anyway, Maverick out!

#sci-fi #romance #adventure #action #MaverickKayPrime #story

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ck90 · 5 years

Text

I Fell into a rabbit hole...

The Kastle rabbit hole. And of course, decided to do some follows because - pretties! I even made a playlist! Then I saw the post about #kastleweek2k19 and saw that day 2 was au-palooza. I knew it had probably been done (haven’t found it yet tho - lots of great fics to read) but wouldn’t it be cute if Karen was the bodyguard protecting Frank. I saw the post last Thursday and thought, sure I can make a “quick’ fluff fic. It was supposed to be 5K. Then plot happened.

I See Heroes

AO3

Chapter 1: Bad News and Worse News

Click. Click. Click.

Very Special Agent, Karen Page, Level 6, but off the books a Level 8, took a long sip of her second cortado in an hour and willed the caffeine to refuel her empty tanks. It had been a flat white, macchiato, cold brew, cold brew, latte, cortado times two type of day. It wasn’t a bad day, per se. At least it wasn’t the flat white, espresso, double espresso, triple espresso and keep it coming, chocolate covered espresso beans all day, “I said triple espresso!”, “That was a triple!”, “I need more coffee!”, “Behold, Black Insomnia,” and she didn’t sleep for the next 73-hours, type of day.

“You’re thinking about Black Insomnia, aren’t you?”

Karen glanced at the pretty - no, that was too small of a word, too nice - stunning, yeah, that was better, the stunning woman beside her. Special Agent Crystalia Amaquelin, also officially a Level 6 but in reality a Level 8, was out of this world. Literally.

“Never,” Karen’s eyes narrowed, “demon-spewing portal of a hell dimension or not, give me that again.” She shuddered. “I still get the jitters.”

“That was six months ago, you drama-llama.”

They looked at each other and smiled. Good times.

“Okay.” Karen brought the cortado to her mouth again, absently rubbing the ten-inch scar on her thigh. “Maybe only for demon-spewing portals.”

Talia snorted, kicking her size ten tactical boots onto the table and leaning so far back that Karen was sure she was going to tip backward, but didn’t, and clicked on the mouse nearest to her.

Click. Click. Click.

Karen glanced at her own size tens on the other end of the table, it was why she knew Talia’s size. They’d worn each other shoes more times than she could count. It had doubled her shoe collection overnight. She now had Guccis and Louboutins, and Talia had Miu-Mius and Manolos. They'd ended up sharing a house for that reason alone. The fabulous shoes. Except they’ve been practically living in their tactical boots for the last month.

Karen bit off a sigh and ignored the various screens that surrounded them, focusing solely on the one in front of her. They were in a sub-sub-basement of one of S.T.A.K.E.’s subsidiary offices watching the world unfold in front of them. She swiped at the tablet on her lap, and the image changed.

Click. Click. Click.

Who names an organization STAKE anyway?

“Stark.” Another image flashed in front of Karen. “Special Threat Assessment for Known Extranormalities. Howard Stark’s idea of a joke because he stumbled onto Vlad, himself.”

Talia turned to Karen. “Was I thinking too loud?”

“What? Oh.” Karen blinked and shook her head. “No. Sometimes we are just on the same vibe. Versus the times you purposely shout images of your latest conquest.”

“One of us has to have fun.”

Click. Click. Cli—

Talia pushed the mouse away and eyed the other tablet near Karen’s foot. In the blink of an eye, the tablet was in Talia’s hands. Karen was jealous of that little skill.

“Sorry. You should have said something.”

“I would have. Sooner rather than later.” She grabbed the coffee again, sipped, then extended the cup towards Talia. “Would you mind?”

Talia touched the cup. “Hot, scalding or volcano?”

“More than hot but not quite scalding.” In half a breath, the steam swirled up and out of the container. Karen brought it to her lips and savored the fiery jolt of caffeine. She looked at her coffee. “Is 32oz still considered a cup?”

Talia picked up her own vat of caffeine. “It is in my book.”

“It’s perfect, thank you.”

“We all have our lots in life,” Talia said. “Mine is to heat up your coffee and share my shoes.”

“They are really nice shoes.”

“They are, aren’t they?” They shared fond memories of their shoe collection. “What are we trying next?”

Karen worried her lip for one long breath, tapped on her tablet and then pointed at one of the screens now showing a variety of shoes. “Prada?”

“That’s so last year. How about stilettos?”

“You would need seven inches to be taller than Thor and four to go eye to eye with Rumlow. And the last time you went higher than three, you nearly broke your ankle.”

“I still think I can lift Mew-Mew, given half a chance.”

“Me-awl-nir.” Karen’s hands enunciated each syllable like a conductor. There was a wicked sparkle in Talia’s eyes. “You do that on purpose, don’t you?”

“Mew-Mew.”

Karen chewed the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. It would only encourage the incorrigible woman. “And Rumlow? Reeaally?”

Talia’s eyes grew unfocused. Lost in a thought or a memory. Karen geared up for more salacious imagery to burst out of her partner. But none came.

“Talia?” Karen reached out of habit. She was a hugger. Always had been even as a child. A comforting touch. A gentle squeeze. Always tactile. It was part of her skill set. Who she was. In her nature to console and reassure. To soothe. Her fingers brushed against the bunched sleeve on Talia’s elbow.

The problem was that Karen’s power was dangerously out of kilter. She couldn’t control it or replicate the circumstances. It had happened under stress - her nails had dug into a meaty forearm of a hellspawn who grabbed her neck with the intention of separating it from her body - and in perfect calm - her hand had bumped against Mac’s when they were getting coffee.

It had happened six months ago when some idiot opened a hell-portal in Kandahar. And it had happened yesterday morning in New York. The hellspawn had dropped dead. As had any of its brethren that came into contact with her skin. Mac had only been knocked out cold. Luckily.

She got the hellspawn. It could've just been a surge of adrenalin. Fight or die. It wasn’t uncommon for some of the higher powered operatives to develop extra skills in the heat of a battle. But yesterday, there’d been no danger. She had just felt a sense of determination. Of right and wrong. Of honor and dishonor. Of exhaustion.

Weird.

Talia blinked and eyed the long fingers on her elbow. Karen flinched her hand back, but Talia grabbed it and put it on her bare forearm.

“Talia!” Karen tried to pull her hand back, but the other woman was having none of it and held on tight.

“We’re going to figure this out, Kare.”

Karen yanked her hand back. “I’m not taking any chances. Don’t do that again.” She couldn't control the fear in her voice. She couldn’t bear if something happened to her best friend or any of their team just because they touched her by accident. She couldn’t go through that terror again. The picture of a crumbling Mac would forever be forged into her memory.

She was not going through that again. Even if she never touched another friend for the rest of her life.

Karen grabbed the full-length gloves that had been discarded because of the ridiculous warmth of the sub-sub-basement. Shaking fingers buried themselves into the unique fabric that Simmons had initially designed for Daisy. It had been meant as a temporary fix, but had become a permanent fixture on her body after Kandahar. Except for yesterday morning. Except for now.

“You're lucky I didn’t put you in a coma. Or worse.” Her fists clenched to stem the shaking. She refused to look at Talia. The wave of sympathy and love hit her like a comforting blanket. For someone who tried to personify a chaotic neutral personality, Talia Amaquelin was too consistent when it came to the people closest to her. She’d go through hell and back for her teammates. And she’d risk death to comfort a friend that was slowly dying inside from being so touch-starved.

Gloved fingers covered her lips in an attempt to quelch a strangled sob. Her hand fisted against her mouth.

I’m not lonely, Karen.

It was a fleeting thought. A will-o’-wisp. A hushed whisper from far away. So much emotion. So much left unspoken. But she heard it.

Again.

“Kare.”

Her whole body turned towards Talia. Blue eyes met green eyes like the old friends they were. Words were unnecessary. They’ve known each other for over five years. Worked together for over four and lived under the same roof for almost as long. A look was worth a thousand words. Talia grabbed a gloved hand and squeezed.

Yeah. They'd figure it out. But in the meantime, Karen wasn’t taking any chances. Gloves or not. She pulled her hand away.

“As for Rumlow,” Talia shrugged, “it’s complicated.”

Karen bit back a smile. Talia’s default distraction topic: Sex. “Complicated?”

“What can I say,” Talia turned her attention to one of the screens, tilted her head to the side, then moved on to the next screen, “I like living on the edge.”

Karen snorted. “That’s one hell of an edge.”

“I know right?” Talia rested the tablet on her lap and put her hands behind her head. “Sometimes I scare myself.”

Karen did not want to know the details. Of all of the dangerous men and women at SHIELD, Brock Rumlow was scary with a capital D for deadly. She was not going to ask. It was none of her business, and she didn't want to know the particulars that would make her blush anytime she was in the same room as that man.

Besides, Talia was a talker, and she’d spill it anyway. Any minute now. She tended to brag. Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. It was almost charming. And one of them should have some fun. Especially now.

Except there was nothing but silence. Other than the low white noise hum of the computers. Talia was just looking at the screens in front of her.

Karen was not going to ask. Nope. Not gonna happen. She was just going to work. Her index finger tapped absently against her thigh.

Goddammit.

Karen dropped the tablet on the table and turned to Talia. “Spill. Details. Say it now so I can school my reaction next time I see the man. Rather than just having you spring it on me before a meeting.” Karen counted to three. “Wipe that self-satisfied grin off your face or so help me I’ll tell Coulson it was you who scratched Lola.”

Talia laughed. “We can’t talk about Rumlow, we’d fail the Bechdel Test.”

“Do you even know that is?”

“Of course I do,” Talia said. “I’ve lived with your nerdgasm for five years. It was bound to rub off.”

“Well, we can’t talk about work.” Karen gestured at the screens. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“What is Fury trying to find here?” Talia tapped on her tablet, and the screens changed. “I get that this is the new hub for vigilantes, but there’s no way that he doesn’t know the identity of the Devil. And that private investigator sure isn’t hiding. Neither is that big smoking hot dude in Harlem.”

The screens showed pictures of Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and the glowing fist boy. But the images of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen were all dark and blurry. Only fleeting captures by surveillance cameras. No way to tell anything other than his suit was red, and it had horns. Ha. What’s next? Yellow spandex and gold armor? But Fury was Fury and Karen wouldn't put it past him that he knew exactly who it was under those horns.

“Maybe he’s looking for Spider-Ham.”

Silence. Even the computers stopped humming.

“Spider. Ham.”

It was the tone. Karen always looked at Talia when she pulled out that tone. “You know, the man-child dressed in red and blue who always hams it up for CCTV then realizes he probably shouldn't and throws that spider gunk at it as if it would magically erase the feed.”

Talia bit her lip. “Spider. Ham.” She tasted the words slowly. “I’m totally putting it on the next report.” She pulled out her phone and typed into it.

“Hello? Is this thing on?” A curly blond-brownish haired man tapped on a screen. “Oh, there you are. Can you hear me now? Can you see me?” He looked down, and suddenly all of the screens now had a real close up his face on them. “Is that better?”

“Not really,” Talia said.

“You’re on all of our screens, Fitz.” Karen bit off a smile.

“Oh,” Leo Fitz looked down again. “Is that better?” The image panned out to show more of the lab, but now only covered four screens.

“Not re—”

“It’s fine, Fitz.” Karen glared at Talia. “What’s up?”

“I have good news,” he said.

Karen straightened. Fitz and Simmons had been working on what the hell was going on with Karen’s power. Simmons from a biochemist angle and Fitz from the ‘engineering can’t hurt’ angle.

“Not really,” a disembodied voice pointed out.

Oh. Karen tried to hide her disappointment.

“Oh,” Fitz rubbed his head, “yeah.” He looked at Karen and deflated. “Sorry, Karen. It’s not about the—” he wiggled his hand, “sorry.”

Talia grabbed Karen’s hand and lifted it in a victory pose. “The gloves are totally working though. Not dead. Not even a little nap.”

Karen snatched her hand away.

“That’s great!”

“Fitz,” Karen said calmly, “What news?”

“Maybe it’s more bad news and worse news?” He looked at them worriedly.

“What’s the bad news, Fitz?” Karen had to wonder if it was bad news from Fitz’s perspective or hers. After all, what could possibly be worse than being stuck in a sub-sub-basement watching the world go by and not being able to touch another person because you’re afraid to kill them?

“Hi guys,” Jemma Simmons appeared on the screen and waved. “Don’t forget to bring some samples of that Hell’s Kitchen water.”

“We’re bringing it in us,” Talia answered.

Jemma smiled, then her eyes widened. “NO! Don’t drink it! You don’t know what’s in it.”

Karen bit the inside of her cheek.

“Nice one Jem,” Fitz said.

“It sounded normal in my head.” Jemma’s face contorted in embarrassment. Sorry, she mouthed.

“Why don’t you tell them Jemma?”

Simmons’ head snapped towards Fitz’s direction. “Noooo,” her head moved side to side until the last extended vowel. “He told you to do it.”

“But why would he tell me to do it?”

Jemma thought for a moment. “Because you were the closest to the door.”

“Oh.”

Karen loved them. Would stand in front of any hex or curse for them, face a horde of demons or gaggle of ghouls for either one without hesitation. They were an integral part of their team. Invaluable. But sometimes they drove her bonkers.

“Fitz. Simmons. Spill it.”

They both jumped.

“They are afraid to tell you that you’re still on Fury’s Shit List.” Daisy Johnson came into view.

“Still?” Talia made a face.

“If you know,” Fitz said, turning to Daisy, “then why don’t you tell them?”

“Nooooo.” Daisy held up her hands and took a half-step backward.

“It was an accident.” Four heads turned at the same to look at Karen who shrugged. “It was.”

“The two of you were playing keep the Tesseract away from the Flerken.” Karen resented the lack of understating in Daisy’s tone. It hadn’t been ‘keep away’ as much as how many tentacles does a Flerken really have.

“And he swallowed it,” Fitz said. “Again.” It’s not like it was the first time that “cat” had swallowed something he probably shouldn’t have.

“And we’d just gotten it back!” That sounded like an accusation coming from Jemma. As if it had been their fault SHIELD has lost the Tesseract in the first place. Again. For the fifth time?

Karen turned to Talia, who’s head disappeared between her shoulders as she dipped lower in her chair. “He gave it back.”

“Hurled, Talia,” Daisy said. “Hurled is not the same as give.”

“On the Director’s desk,” Fitz said. “Again.”

“And on his chair. And the floor. And that rug Fury brought back from Istanbul.”

It hadn’t been pretty.

Daisy turned to Jemma. “I think he had to burn it.”

“The smell.” They all said at the same time.

Yeah. That had been surprising. In a toxic dump, even the hazmat suits had come out of the room looking green in the gill, sorta way. You could smell it down the hall.

“He…also returned…some other stuff.”

It was surprising how much stuff could fit into such a little body.

“Hurled, Karen,” Daisy said. “Hurled is not the same as returned.”

“I think that huge mass of goo was a Chitauri,” Jemma said. “Or what was left of one.”

“Jemma, that’s not possible. The Chi—”

Karen tuned out the arguing scientists. She knew they’d figure it out. Her problem that is. If anyone could, it would be them. She just hoped it wouldn’t be another six months. Or longer.

“We knew this, though,” Talia’s voice was low and conversational. “It’s why we’ve been banished to Purgatory.” She waved at the screens. “To contemplate our misdeeds.”

Right. Karen nodded. “If Fury was really angry, he’d send us back to San Francisco.” Bad news and worse news. “Fitz. Fitz! What’s the worse news?”

Fitz picked up a tablet and started typing. One of the screens went black, then two pictures came up, side by side. Two men in Marine officers uniform. It must have been their file portraits. More images came up. The same men, but this time in fatigues, sitting and standing, but always together.

“He’s hot,” Daisy said.

Jemma nodded. “It’s the classic bone structure. The visual cortex recognizes that near-perfect symmetry. Rather pretty actually.”

Karen wouldn’t call him pretty. Not by a long shot. Not with a nose that looked like it had been broken more times that he could possibly remember. Not pretty, but there was something striking about those dark eyes, even in a photograph, that felt like they could see right through her. She couldn’t stop staring.

You were never in any danger …I wanted you to know that.

“Shh! Neither of you wanted to tell them so…shh. Perfect symmetry,” he mumbled under his breath.

“Are we assassinating United States Marine officers, now?”

Karen stiffened.

“What?” Fritz looked down at his notes, then back to Talia. “No. Not at all. Quite the opposite, actually.”

This guy is a war hero.

Karen started to relax. It would be a shame - a crime against mother nature - to have to destroy such a fine specimen of the male species.

“No. Nononononono!”

It was the repetition that unraveled whatever connection that was trying to materialize into this reality. Karen blinked and looked at Talia, whose face was now buried in her hands. She made herself replay the conversation she’d tuned out because of those devastating eyes she was now purposely avoiding. Then it clicked. Her eyes widened.

“NO!”

“Yes.” There was sympathy from Jemma.

“Yeah. Sorry.” And Fitz.

“You’re on babysitting duty.” Not from Daisy. Not even a little bit.

#kastledaily #kastleweek2k19 #kastleau #karen page #frank castle #amwriting #kastle

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