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#taking huge risk here five minutes before I go to work

am-i-the-asshole-official · 1 year

Note

UPDATE What's up, it's the proposal guy. You said you wanted to know how this turned out, so I figured I'd tell you. First some context though, because I'm mean and I wanna keep you in suspense longer.

1- I don't wanna doxx us so I'm not telling you where we live, but suffice to say, neither of us are American, and gay marriage has been legal here for less than five years. For both of us, this is the first relationship we've had where marriage was even an OPTION, and I think that's where we've been getting some of that whole 'this has to be a REAL proposal with EVERYTHING' idea.

2- I gotta figure out how to explain this properly. So, I'm pretty used to being the GUY guy in relationships? I was always the one who did the nice gestures, not the one they got done for. Before I met my dream guy, I didn't really notice or care that it was such a thing, I just assumed that's how shit worked. Also, I promised I wouldn't talk a lot about his stuff here, but his last boyfriend before me SUCKED. Anyway point here is, it turns out we both REALLY like feeling swept off our feet sometimes, and a big part of finding each other has been getting to feel special for once? That's a stupid sappy way of putting it the point here is I think all that's what morphed into "I need to be the one getting proposed to, also it has to be completely perfect", and then our Petty & Extra genes got involved.

So I'm sitting in bed thinking about all that up there, and watching all the comments coming in basically being like "Dude, you are BLOWING this" on repeat, and telling me to compromise, and I look up and see him flossing in the bathroom and making all these doofy faces at the mirror, and it's like a switch just flips in my brain, and I'm like "Oh, I'd rather he gets to have his perfect proposal than we both have an okay one". I'm gonna do it.

Morning rolls around, and while I'm 'out for my jog like normal' I hit up a pawn shop for a temp ring (the ring pop thing is cute but NOT HIM). I found one I was at least confident wouldn't get ruined the first time he got his hands greasy (he fixes old machines as a hobby it's hot as hell), got back home, and hid the box in the toe of my nasty ass workout shoes in the bedroom closet, since I figured he'd check there last.

He was still asleep, because he stays up late no matter what and then is SHOCKED he's tired the next day, so I called and booked a table at our usual anniversary spot. (Side note about the 'he picks bad restaurants' thing. This isn't an 'I like Greek, you like Chinese' situation, dude's just BAD at finding places. He either assumes pricey is tasty and I get to eat some overrated gourmet bullshit, or he'll try and find something hip and underground and risk giving us food poisoning again, and he REFUSES to give up and pick somewhere we've been before when it's his turn to plan date night. I'm obsessed with him <3.) Date was set, I'd propose on the 21st.

Some of you might have noticed this, but fun fact! It's currently the 16th.

Last night I'm doing dishes and he's been sent to our room for mug collection duty, and he's taking FOREVER, so I go check just in case he found the ring, because the man's a gift tracking BLOODHOUND. Turns out he hasn't, he's found my Angry Box.

I assume other people have an Angry Box? Basically, we had this huge messy fight right when we first moved in together, and I never wanna let it get that bad again, so I have this shoebox where I keep a bunch of our stuff I can look at if we're fighting and hopefully cool off. There's one of those photo booth roll things, letters we wrote when he moved back with his parents for COVID, the wine cork from our first date, shit like that. Anyway, he's just sitting on the floor staring at it, and I explain about the Angry Box, and then he! Proposes!!! Kind of.

He definitely didn't have anything prepared, because by 'propose' I mean 'ugly cried & rambled at me for several minutes before I figured out it WAS a proposal', but once I got on the same page it was amazing. I said yes, and he had to admit he didn't have a ring for me because he was CONVINCED he'd win and I'd do it, so I grabbed mine because, yeah, he was right. He was like "this is the ugliest ring I've ever seen" and I was like yeah well the plan is to replace it later and he went "No. You can pry this off my cold dead fingers. After I'm buried with it." So I guess it's not a temporary ring anymore.

I'm just gonna go ahead and skip to this morning. I pointed out we still have the reservation, and he said I should propose there anyway because "We can get a free dessert. They have those creme brulee shot glasses you like. And for love, or something" and I said ok deal, but that means you gotta get me a ring to keep it fair, and his eyes LIT UP. When I swung by his work for lunch he was still on the phone with a jeweler and he had a whole page of notes on three other ones. Pray for me.

OH PS: I was RIGHT that he'd been the one behind the cat biting me, but it wasn't about the proposal stuff, it's because I paid my baby sister three dollars to shout 'fuck you' every single time he enters a room she's in for (if you ask me, he should be madder at my sister for charging so little), and he did it by giving her a bunch of treats for biting his hands too, so now neither of us can pet our baby girl without oven mitts on. HOLY SHIT I love this man.

Oh my goddddddd I love everything about this <333 I awwww'd out loud on a voice call, like, six times while reading. You two are friggin perfect for each other and so obviously smitten with each other and I wish y'all all the happiness in the world

PS Are y'all planning to have a big wedding? If so oh boy I can't WAIT to get that one in the inbox

Original post

#aita #am i the asshole #aita update #the saga of proposal anon

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jazeswhbhaven · 1 month

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the sleepover juno(ppyong)xreader(gendernu/1stpov) rating: explicit/18+ (makeout session, semi-silent sex, oral fingering, riding on top, semi-rough including biting, scratching, deep penetration, creampie/cockwarming, sneaky/semi-public)

The air is so chilly...but I can't stop now. Right?

Of course I couldn't stop, here I was sitting on the lap of a large, snow white, red-tipped haired demon with glowing crimson irises and black sclera's that bore into me as I looked down at him.

Normally, this pale face whose fangs peeked at me would be about the size of a stuffed animal with wings and a tail speaking to me in that familiar happy-go-lucky voice I knew so well.

"Hey...are you gonna stare at me all night, aye?"

His new voice ran through my eardrums and coated my senses like the feel of crushed velvet as the hair on my skin rose with anticipation.

If I told you, this was the small red lump devil that followed me around...you'd think I was lying. Nothing about the man whose bulge rubbed against my left inner thigh resembled him, not physically. His chest is exposed, each scar raised yet smooth to the touch against my fingers as I trace them. I bite my lip, trying to hold back any obvious signs of my arousal, but it's hard to ignore.

How did we get here?

That's right. I was staying a night on Earth. There was a huge phenomenon going on during the first day of April in Hell, and Satan found it necessary for Ppyong to take me to Minhyeok despite his disdain for it.

But it wasn't the friendly yet lewd little red lump that escorted me. It was "Juno" this five-foot-eleven, slim but athletic toned devil who accompanied me to Minhyeok's. He changed into this form after the strange events began to happen, and while others got more ridiculous results, Ppyong got the best possible outcome. At least for himself.

Of course, Minhyeok freaked out thinking I had brought a random new boyfriend home. After a full thirty minutes of convincing the man next to me was Ppyong, everything settled down and the rest of the night went as normal.

Right. Normal.

After a few drinks, and a couple of bad attempts of telling jokes and stories from our childhood to entertain Juno, suddenly Minhyeok felt like putting on the newest K-pop hits and dancing about the living room in a tipsy-fueled stupor.

Jubilant, the devil grabbed my hand and got me to join, and before I knew it, I was sandwiched between the two who found it appropriate to grind on me and make flirty passes at each other before a noise complaint was even made.

We were supposed to be in bed, well we were. Minhyeok, Juno, and me in the middle trying my best to close my eyes and drift off to sleep knowing that I was safe for another night. There was only one thing wrong.

I was unbelievably worked up.

The dance session from earlier had two cocks brushing up on me even with the barrier of fabric between us. Seeing how Juno caressed Minhyeok's reddened face with a teasing grin and gave him a small peck on the lips.

It was enough to make my mind swim with unclean thoughts.

But he knew. Juno wrapped his massive, toned arm around me and whispered in my ear.

Can't sleep, aye?

He knew what was happening to me, and he was encouraging it. But rather than risk waking up the other man in the room who snored peacefully, I opted to pull Juno out of bed quietly and out onto the balcony, where I sat him down on the plush outdoor chair that happened to be sat near the window of Minhyeok's room.

That's how we got here.

I don't think any further, my lips brushing against Juno's bare fangs as he grins. He keeps whispering my name, and how much he's been holding back since hours before.

"You don't know, how much I wanted you to touch me, aye. I wanted to beg, I wanted to be angry at Minhyeok for being in the way, aye."

I silence him with a kiss, my tongue daring forth in a desperate frenzy to overtake his. The soft, yet wet and tantalizing texture that greets me causes me to go wild and squeeze his chest. He moans, following it with a grunt, and thrusts forward, grinding on me once more but this time with full intent on showing how hard he was under the confinement of his pants.

I need him. I crave him. This intense feeling of sensuous desire. My lips are swollen from him sucking and keeping me close to his face, but I keep embracing his mouth so roughly I'm sure the metallic taste on my tongue is from colliding with a sharp fang.

He pulls away, short of breath but doesn't stop moving. His hips pumping steadily against me, as two of his dark painted nails slip into my mouth as he stares at me.

"Yeah...just like that, aye. Explore me with your tongue..."

I did so without complaints, swirling around the digits to taste him. Chocolate, cinnamon, and some kind of muted spice linger on his fingertips but I'm certain this may be my mind playing tricks.

I don't care. I continue to bob my head and drink him in as if his fingers are his clothed cock that I seriously wanted in my throat.

The air around us was at first cumbersome, the early spring air having me shiver and regret only coming out in a thin top and shorts. But the amount of heat generated from Juno makes it feel like a hot summer night.

I call out to Juno, trying to speak around his slender fingers to fuck me. I can no longer wait, and I feel like an animal having to plead with him like this. In Hell, this was normal to ask of, but my childhood best friend was sleeping in the room we sat right in front of. I was back home on Earth where neighbors could possibly see us and spread rumors.

Fuck it.

Juno hears me, grinning and taking out his fingers to replace them with his tongue again. Those same, spit-covered claws find their way into my shorts, coating my already slick sensitive areas with more.

I pull myself away from Juno to groan out loud before realizing the volume could nearly wake the neighborhood. The devil chuckles and kisses my jaw as his fingers keep rubbing and teasing me. Once he hits my entrance, I keen thrusting against his touch for more.

Wait...I have to touch him. I need to.

My hands fumble and reach his twitching cock, bulging so tightly against his black jeans that the seams hold for dear life. I free him, my palms getting smacked with the thick, heavy shaft that's dripping in pre-cum. "Do it...please..."

Juno pleads with bated breath, continuing to plaster small kisses and nipping at my shoulders and collarbone. I grab his cock, pumping it with a steady rhythm as he gets lost in the crook of my neck. I feel myself reaching a point of no return, I wouldn't be satisfied with just touching him...

As if reading my mind, he lifts my hips and pulls down my shorts and underwear at the same time.

"Breathe in, aye..."

I follow his instruction but gasp when I feel his leaking, swollen tip push past my hole, automatically gripping around him so that makes it difficult for him to thrust.

"Relax aye, you're too tight...ahh..."

He growls and twists his claws into my shirt. I can't help but squirm and tremble, he's so thick, and bigger than I imagined he'd be. But if I wanted more...I had to relax. I breathe in and feel my walls allow some give, the copious amount of pre-cum coating his shaft serving the purpose of allowing him to thrust upward until he bottoms out.

I bit my lip and rode against him immediately for stimulation, wrapping my arms around his neck as the sloppy sounds of our juices squelched louder than our quiet moans.

I knew it was hard for Juno to hold back, I felt his heartbeat pounding, his breath heavy, and his fingers gripped around my hips so hard I could already tell they'd leave bruises.

I had trouble myself, he felt so damn good. The danger of Minhyeok waking up and catching us was in the back of my mind, but if I were honest with myself, I'd say it made the sex that much more thrilling.

"Juno...I'm...I'm about to-"

"Aye? You wanna come for me? Be good and do it, aye..."

His voice was right next to my ear, thick with desire, his pierced tongue rolling against my neck as a throaty growl followed. It was too much, I couldn't handle how sexy he sounded just now. With one more deep thrust, he hits the exact spot I need.

My toes curl and I dig into his back with my nails. I had to bite his shoulder to not cry out as my orgasm hit me in small waves. I feel him swell inside me and he shudders as hot liquid fills me not long after. I can feel it dribble out, most likely seeping into the chair we sat on.

Fuck, how will I explain that stain later?

Juno kisses me gently on my cheek, nuzzling and grinning as if he'd won a prize. With a smile like that, I could deal with worrying about explaining who soiled the chair later. But for now, I just wanted to fall asleep...with Juno's cock still hard and deep inside my body.

#whb #what in hell is bad #whb juno #whb ppyong #jwhbfics📃#character x reader #oope will Minhyeok find out?#whb minhyeok #minors dni

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specialagentlokitty · 3 months

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Bobby Nash x reader - our own family

Heyyy, if you ever find the time could you please make a hurt/comfort bobby nash x platonic!reader who is a fighter based off of the prompt “ I’m not your dad” “I know…do you know that”. I’d love some more bobby as a parental figure material please and thank you. 😊 - @purplecrayola 💜

You had woken up in the hospital, you didn’t have much recollection on how you ended up there or why.

Everything was still really hazy, and but the pain you could feel radiating from your abdomen was definitely real, you could feel it.

It wasn’t bad, maybe the IV in your arm had something to do with that, you had no clue.

You laid there taking small breaths, just staring up at the ceiling, and you heard the door open.

“Hello…?” You asked softly.

You didn’t want to risk sitting up, so you waited for the nurse to come over, and she smiled warmly at you.

“Well hey you, you’re awake again.”

You furrowed your brows a little bit in confusion.

“A..again…?”

“Yes, you woke up a week ago, not for long, only a few minutes. Can you sit up for me?”

You nodded, and the nurse helped you in slowly sitting up.

She checked your vitals, took some blood and checked your injury sight.

“Do you.. do you know what happened to me?”

“You came in about two weeks ago, you had major trauma to your abdomen. Do you not remember?”

You thought for a moment, forcing the memories to come to light.

You remembered the flames, you had been called out to a huge fire at a construction site, where a couple of people were said to still be inside the building.

You had gone in to try and find them, you were with Eddie and Hen.

You heard a loud creaking noise, and you barely had time to react when scaffolding fell, and then you remembered the pain.

People screaming your name.

Rain hitting your face.

You furrowed your brows a little bit.

Was it rain?

You felt a tap on your shoulder, and you snapped out of your head to look at the nurse.

“Are you alright? Are you in pain?”

“No I uh.. I remember what happened…”

She nodded her head.

“We need to keep you in for another few days, but after that you can go home, would you have anybody you can stay with?”

“I uh.. my chief, Bobby Nash. Has he been here?”

“Oh yes, comes by every day after work.”

“Can you ask him if he can take me? I live closer to him so it’ll be easier.”

She smiled, nodding her head and you went back to think.

While you were thinking, you went back to the last thing you remembered.

You were sure it wasn’t rain, it wasn’t supposed to rain that night, maybe it was water from the trucks? But that didn’t make sense.

Why would they keep you so close to the trucks if you had been hurt?

You shook your head, taking a sip of the water that was put next to you.

You shuffled back down, deciding to get some more sleep.

You spent a lot of the time sleeping, up until the point where Bobby came to take you home, and you still sat in your own head.

He helped you to your apartment, slowly sitting you down on the couch.

“I’ve been given a strict list of what medications you’re supposed to take and when, how to look after your wound and signs of infection.”

You slowly nodded your head.

“Right now you need some food that isn’t hospital food.” He smiled.

This made you laughed a little bit.

“Can we order Chinese?”

“Oh no, you’ve got to stay away from takeout right now. So, we’re going to do some simple chicken and rice and see how that goes.”

You grumbled a little bit but said nothing.

Bobby walked to your kitchen.

“I did some shopping before coming to get you.”

“I have food.”

“You have meals you throw in the microwave, we’ve been through this (Y/N) that’s not healthy.” He scoffed.

“But cooking is effort.”

“You live five minutes away from me, you could just come over you know.”

You shrugged a little bit, shuffling down so you could lay down and you placed a hand over your stomach.

You closed your eyes, the pain medicine taking hold, letting you fall asleep again.

You weren’t sure how long you had been asleep for, but somebody was gently shaking your shoulder.

“Hey kiddo, hey.., come on..” Bobby whispered.

You opened your eyes, and you stared at him.

“It was you…”

“What was?”

Bobby helped you sit up, placing your dinner in your lap.

“I.. I thought it was raining, but it was you, crying. I.. I said something but I can’t remember what. I’m trying to remember the accident.”

“Don’t rush yourself (Y/N), you went through a lot. Just let it come back naturally.”

Bobby sat down with his own dinner, and you looked at him.

“What did I say bobby?”

He sighed.

“You called me your dad.”

You glanced back down at your plate, that part of the accident rushing back to you.

You were begging and pleading about how you didn’t want to die, about how much it hurt, begging Bobby not to leave you.

You kept calling him dad.

Bobby cleared his throat, and you looked up at him.

“I’m not your dad”

You nodded your head a little.

“I know…do you know that?”

He looked at you confused.

“You’ve been sleeping in my hospital room, the nurse told me. That’s not something a chief does for his fighters.”

“You don’t like being alone. That’s why you’ve got a cat, who by the way will be returned in the morning by Chim.”

“That doesn’t change what I said…”

“We’re not talking about this.”

You nodded your head, setting your plate down, not having touched a single thing on it.

“I’m really tired…”

You pushed yourself up with a great deal of pain, hand over your stomach.

You slowly padded away, making your way to your room and you laid down on your back, placing an arm over your eyes.

You didn’t mean to get annoyed at him, but on the medication and the pain you weren’t thinking right now.

Bobby stayed in your living room, truth be told you were like a kid to him, but right now that was a conversation for later.

His main thought was making sure you got better

#911 fandom #911 imagine #911 fic #911 fanfic #911 x reader #911 x you #Bobby Nash #Bobby Nash x reader #Bobby Nash x you #Bobby Nash imagine

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mountttmase · 1 year

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A Mountain To Climb - Part Four

Note - Happy Wednesday, thank you all for your kind comments on the last chapter I hope you all like this one too 💙 and as always feedback is appreciated 😉

Pairing - Mason Mount x Reader

Word count - 4k

Warnings - series will contain fluff, smut & angst

Master List

Mason sent through the address within the hour and you had a quick nosey at where it was. The house was huge, on a private road surrounded by other huge houses, and it was a far cry from you little one bed flat.

You’d told yourself you weren’t going, but it didn’t stop you from thinking about what you might have to wear if you did go, remembering you’d bought a cute lacey corset top to wear when you went to Leeds but you’d ended up taking something else.

You carried on with life, not hearing from Mason again until Friday lunchtime when you felt your phone buzz as a text came through.

You read the text over a few times, guilt washing over you at the fact he wanted to see you and you weren’t planning on being there. Every interaction with this boy seemed to chip away at you and you were soon texting your best friend Freya to help you.

No more than three minutes later and your phone was ringing, a cute picture of the pair of you filling your screen and you smiled as you picked up.

‘Hey frey’

‘Who have I got to kill?’ She said sternly and you burst out laughing at her protectiveness.

‘No one yet, I just need to rant at you about something and no matter what you feel, I need you to tell me I’m right okay? cause that’s what friends do’

‘Hit me with it’ she quipped and you started on your long rant about how you’d ended up here. You hadn’t mentioned to her when you’d made it back to her flat about getting stuck in a lift with Mason so she was shocked when you gave her the low down of what happened that night but she let you rant how you hadn’t managed to shake him off and now you were contemplating seeing him again that night.

Freya knew you like the back of her hand. You’d been best friends since you were five and she knew what you were thinking before you’d even thought it, so to hear you now taking like this about a boy shocked her. But she was secretly happy for you, not having heard you speak this way in a long time.

‘Well, I’m gonna have to go against girl code here, babe’ she told you and you huffed in annoyance.

‘No no no, you promised to tell me I was right’

‘And any other time I would, but come on, y/n. When was the last time you took a bit of a risk and let someone in?’

‘That’s the point, I don’t. But he’s getting under my skin and I barely know him’

‘When was the last time you saw him?’

‘At the weekend. I don’t know Frey I just feel safer texting him cause then I can convince myself he’s not real’

‘So you don’t want to see him again?’ She asked and you took a second before you answered even though you knew the answer straight away.

‘No, I do’ you breathed and you could hear her chuckle down the line.

‘So do it. Doll yourself up and go see your man’

‘He’s not my man’ you groaned before you both burst into a fit of giggles.

The rest of the day was spent finishing up work before ordering yourself some food. You were in two minds about tonight and Masons message still sat unanswered in you phone but there was no way you were responding now. You’d just hopped out of the shower when something inside you snapped, then and there deciding you were going to go. It’s not everyday you get invited to a fancy house party with gorgeous footballers, so why not make the most of it.

You quickly got dressed in a pair of baggy jeans before throwing on some heels and the corset top to show off your figure. You didn’t spend too long on your hair and make up but by the time you’d made it to Masons friends house it was around 10:45pm.

As soon as you got out of the Uber you wanted to crawl back inside and go home but he drove off pretty quickly, leaving you on your own to walk up the drive to the door. No one was outside but you could tell there was something going on from where you were and you hoped the doorbell was loud enough for someone to hear.

In the end it didn’t matter though, the front door opening and a guy around your age walking out looking down at his phone, doing a double take as he heard your shoes on the gravel path. You gave him a friendly smile and you noticed him give you a once over before smiling back.

‘You okay?’ He questioned and you nodded shyly at him. ‘Do I know you?’

‘Uh no, my names y/n. Mason invited me’ you told him and his face instantly changed to a knowing look as he smiled wider at you.

‘Ah, I was beginning to think he’d made you up’ the man laughed as you hugged your arms around yourself. ‘I’m Kai, by the way. Come on let’s get you inside, I can take you to him’ he offered and you smiled before following him in.

He guided you through the impressive house with his hands on your shoulders, weaving you in between a sea of gorgeous looking people until you got to the kitchen where Mason stood with his back to you, slightly off to the side of a group of guys who all looked at you as you walked in but Mason was too focused on filling his cup up to notice you come in.

‘Hey Mount, I’ve got a delivery for you’ Kai shouted over to him and he turned his head slowly before he realised it was you, a look of relief washing over his features as he smiled over at you. His drink was quickly forgotten about as he made his way over almost instantly, ignoring the giggles and jibes from the boys behind him as he came closer.

‘Y/n? I didn’t think you were coming’ he told you as he approached, Kai now having moved from behind you to stand with the other boys and you gulped down a nervous lump as you looked up at Mason.

You hated the fact he looked so handsome, even dressed in a simple plain black T-shirt and jeans but you’d noticed he’d had his hair cut since the last time you’d seen him last week and you willed your cheeks not to flush. His dimples were on full show as his eyes creased at the sides of his face, letting you know he was giving you a real smile with his eyes rather than one just out of politeness.

‘I wasn’t planning on it but, here I am I guess’ you smiled and he laughed lightly at you.

‘Well I’m glad you’re here’ he beamed before a chorus of oooing and ahhing came from the boys, teasing Mason but he was quick to give them the finger. ‘Shut up dickheads, come on let’s get you a drink’ he told you before leading you out into the utility room. ‘What can I get you?’

‘Surprise me’ you told him and he laughed before turning away from you to grab a cup and a bottle. ‘So is this Kai’s house?’

‘No, Ben’s. I’ll introduce you later’ he murmured whilst passing you a red cup. You gave him a small thank you before taking a sip, unsure of what it was he gave you but it was sweet and alcoholic so you didn’t care. ‘I mean it though, I’m really glad you’re here’

‘Yeah?’

‘Definitely’ he confirmed as he walked closer, stopping just in front of you with your chests almost touching. You noticed what looked like to be a spec of fluff on his top by his neck and you reached out to remove it causing him to hold his breath and even though he was quiet, you were so close that you heard him. Your eyes wondered up to meet his and you noticed how close the pair of you were, lips only a few inches apart as his breath fanned your face.

You broke eye contact with him before taking a nervous sip, not feeling like your usual confident self around him once again as you took a step away from him.

‘So where are these cute boys you promised me’ you asked with a smile as you turned and made your way out, laughing to yourself as you heard him scoff behind you.

‘I never promised you that. Plus there’s only one and he’s right here’

‘Oh yeah? Can you point him out to me? I can’t quite see him’ You teased, turning to glance at him and you could tell he was getting a bit flustered.

‘Ah there you are’ you heard suddenly from a familiar voice and you turned to see Kai was now standing in-front of you with a pretty brunette on his arm. You felt Mason stop right behind you, his body heat almost making you shiver and you were wondering if he was going to reach out and hold you in some way but he seemed to be keeping his hands to himself. ‘Y/n, this is my girlfriend, Sophia’ he told you and she smiled warmly at you. ‘I thought it might be nice for you to hang out with another girl rather than be stuck with him all night’ he joked and you laughed as you felt Mason shake his head behind you.

The usual uneasy feeling you got around other girls at parties didn’t seem to be present as she smiled at you and held her hand out which you took almost instantly, thankful you could get away from Mason for a bit and focus again but you knew he’d be lurking so you couldn’t miss him too much.

‘Come on, let’s leave the boys. I need you to tell me where you got this outfit from’ she asked you as she pulled you away. You chanced a look back at Mason who was pouting a little bit as Kai dragged him back into the kitchen so you sent him a wink before disappearing.

Sophia was a lot of fun, so fun in fact you seemed to be forgetting your rule of not having anymore friends than you already have. You both seemed to be bad influences on each other, encouraging the other to drink more than they could handle until you were dancing on Bens coffee table with a couple of the other girls.

Mason managed to keep an eye on you at all times, whenever you looked in his direction he was already looking at you and at first he seemed embarrassed but as the night wore on the shyness left him and he held your eye contact a bit longer. Sending you a cheeky smile or a wink.

Seeing him around all these people he knew made you notice was how touchy he seemed to be with everyone. No matter who he was with he would put his hands on their shoulders or lean into them as he laughed and you were brought back to the thoughts you had the other day where you wondered why he kept his hands to himself around you when he seemed comfortable enough to lounge over everyone else. You weren’t sure why it was bothering you so much but when he eventually came over to join your group you noticed it even more.

He sat next to you, his arm around the back of the sofa behind you but his skin never touched yours. You subconsciously leaned back into him after a while and he took this to mean he could put his arm around you properly. You only realised when he lent his cheek on the top of you head as he was laughing at someone’s joke what position you were in and you felt yourself tense up. He must of felt something too, slowly rubbing his thumb over your skin and you were surprised about how much it relaxed you. The pair of you sat and laughed at Kai and Sophia bickering but still no words were shared between you. You were racking your brain to think of something when he placed his lips to you ear.

‘Are you okay? Can I get you anything?’ He whispered so only you could hear and you turned to face him, again surprised about how close your faces were. You gulped as you averted your eyes down and shook your head, nervous again and you shut your eyes to make it go away. He avoided your eyes for the next half an hour and when everyone dispersed, he gently slid out from behind you and made a beeline for the stairs.

Kai and Sophia left soon after, and once you’d said your goodbyes you wondered around trying to find Mason again but he’d seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth. You wondered if he’d seen you tonight realised he didn’t want you around anymore after your constantly changing attitude but you willed yourself not to think about it as you wondered around upstairs looking for a bathroom.

When you left, you almost immediately ran into someone, apologising as they held you steady and you looked up into a pair of bright blue eyes.

‘I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going’ you explained but he just shook his head as he laughed.

‘It’s fine, honestly’ he told you as he straightened himself up. ‘You’re y/n right?’

‘Depends on who’s asking’

‘I’m Ben’ he laughed and your eyes went wide as you realised this was his house.

‘Oh right, sorry about standing on your coffee table’ you joked and he just shrugged.

‘Don’t worry about it. Are you alright? You feel a bit cold’

‘I’m fine, don’t worry I should of dressed a bit more appropriately’ you laughed and he quickly disappeared behind a door before coming back with a black hoodie and offering it to you. ‘Oh no, I’ll be fine honestly’

‘Please, I insist. Can’t have my guests being cold’ he told you and you eventually took it from him. ‘If you’re looking for Mason, he’s just in there’ he winked, nodding to a door just up the hall before he made his way back downstairs. You quickly pulled the hoodie over your head before adjusting your hair and making your way over to the door Ben said Mason was behind. You gave it light knock and you heard him softly tell you to come in so you opened the door and popped your head round the side.

The bedroom he was in was dimly lit, and he was sat on the edge of the bed, phone in hand as it was plugged in to charge. A small smile spread across his lips as he realised it was you and he nodded for you to come in. You stepped inside but lent your back up against the door and he gave you a funny look at your sudden change of clothing.

‘What are you wearing?’

‘Oh this?’ You questioned, pulling at the strings. ‘Ben gave it to me. Said I felt cold’

‘Why was he feeling you?’ He probed, his eyebrow’s drawing together in what you assumed was jealousy and you let out a breath before stumbling over to sit next to him on the bed.

‘I bumped into him when I came out the loo. What are you doing in here?’ You inquired and his face relaxed slightly as he put his phone down.

‘I’m staying here tonight, was just putting my phone on charge and having a break for a few minutes’ he told you and you nodded as you looked around the room. ‘Are you having a good night?’

‘Yeah, Sophia seems nice. Are you?’

‘Yeah, but I was hoping to speak to you more than I have’ he told you, bumping his shoulder with yours lightly and you let out a little giggle.

‘The nights still young’ you told him, checking the time on your phone to see it was nearing 2am and you grimaced slightly. ‘Or not. I didn’t realise it was that late. I’ll have to head off soon’

‘Wait, don’t go’ he pleaded ‘I’ve barely seen you’

‘It’s late, Mason. Plus we sat together downstairs for over an hour and you didn’t hardly say a word to me’ you pouted and he gulped as he’d realised you’d noticed. ‘Why haven’t you? Have I done something wrong? I know I can be difficult but I’m trying’ You told him softly, the alcohol seeming to make you a bit vulnerable and honest and you watched his face drop as he realised you were a bit upset about it.

‘No of course not, I’m so sorry. I don’t know I guess I was just a bit nervous’ he confessed and your eyes dropped to your lap. ‘Why don’t you stay here? With me? Ben won’t care. I’ll sleep on the floor or something just please don’t go’ he pleaded and you were stunned at how quickly he was able to wear you down. ‘I promise I’ll get you home tomorrow early-‘

‘Mason-‘

‘Please, I’m not letting you go home alone this time of night. I’ll even go bunk with Ben if I have to or sleep on the sofa but I’m not letting you leave’

‘Fine I’ll stay’ you cut him off with a quiet laugh and he relaxed instantly, half wanting to keep him happy and the other half wanting to get your head down as the alcohol was wearing off and you were tired.

‘Thank you’ he smiled and you were about to reply when a white paper bag with your name on it on-top of the chest of drawers caught your attention.

‘What’s that?’ You asked he he followed your line of sight, blushing and stuttering as he caught onto what you were looking at. ‘Is that for me?’

‘Well it’s got your name on it’ he laughed as he nodded over to it. ‘Open it’

You walked over to find a long pink box inside and once it was out of the bag you opened it to find the poshest looking chocolate chip cookies you’d ever seen. You turned to face him with a confused expression and he was blushing furiously now.

‘You said the other week when I got you the brownie you would of preferred a cookie’ he explained, walking up to you, and your breath got caught int your throat.

Without thinking about it, you threw your arms around his shoulders and buried your face into his neck. He seemed shocked at first, but after a second he wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you into his body even further.

‘That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me’ you whispered and you felt his body shake as he let out a little chuckle at your words.

‘It’s just some cookies, Y/n’

‘I know’ you uttered and Mason squeezed you a tiny bit harder. ‘Thank you. Why did you bring them here though? I wasn’t even sure I was coming’

‘I know, I just hoped you would I guess’ he spoke into your shoulder and you felt yourself melt before you slowly pulled away from each other. He kept his hands planted on your hips as he tried to catch your eyes but you keep them down, not wanting him to see how vulnerable you felt right now. ‘I think most people are gone, we can get ready for bed if you want’ he told you and you nodded shyly. ‘Just wait here, I’ll go grab you some bits’

He was soon back with his arms full of supplies. Bottles of water and painkillers plus some wipes and a toothbrush from Bens box of spares that apparently he kept at his house in case of emergencies and you we’re pretty sure you knew what that meant.

‘You can borrow something of mine to sleep in’ Mason told you and he was quick you take his shirt off and hand it over once you’d agreed. You tried as hard as possible not to look at his naked torso but you were only human, however Mason seemed to be sculpted by gods. Your eyes automatically landed on the little mole on his tummy and you got the overwhelming urge to kiss it.

You shook yourself out of your thoughts, not wanting him to catch you looking so you took yourself off to the bathroom to get changed. Mason shirt was longer on you than you thought, coming down to about mid thigh and you felt yourself come over all warm as his smell consumed you.

You quickly wiped your makeup off before stealing some toothpaste from the wash bag on the side that you presumed was Masons before joining him back in the room.

He was now changed, dressed in a white T-shirt and a pair of joggers and your heart sunk as you watched him make himself a bed up on the floor.

‘Mason?’ You called quietly and he whipped his head round to look at you. You watched the way his eyes widened as he gave you a once over, slyly licking his lips before his eyes met yours. ‘You don’t have to sleep on the floor, I’d feel awful if you hurt your back or something. There’s enough room for the both of us’ you told him, nodding to the bed but he shook his head almost instantly.

‘I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable’ he started but you shook your head straight away.

‘Please? It’s honestly fine I’ll feel more uncomfortable with you on the floor’ you argued and he huffed before nodding.

‘I’ll be back in a sec’ he told you, disappearing into the bathroom and you placed your stuff on a chair in the corner before sliding under the covers. True to his word, he wasn’t that long and soon enough he was gently climbing in besides you.

‘Are you not gonna get hot in all that?’ You asked, noticing he was fully dressed but he just shrugged and he settled down, making sure you keep his distance from you. ‘We’ll don’t overheat on my account’ You whispered, turning to face him. You shuffled a little closer to him, never crossing the imaginary middle line, but he smiled and moved himself a little closer to you.

‘Sorry if I made you feel like you’d done something wrong. You haven’t at all I just… Come on, let’s get some sleep, you’ll feel better in the morning’

‘I know I’m confusing’ you whispered and you felt him reach over to give your hand a squeeze. ‘I know I blow cold a lot but I’ve just got some stuff going on’

‘It’s okay, you don’t have to explain’ he whispered and even though you wanted to argue with him you thought now wasn’t the best time. ‘Y/n?’

‘Yeah?’

‘You looked beautiful tonight’ he whispered and you felt your whole body prickle with goosebumps, opening your eyes to try and find his in the dark but it was pitch black and no use. ‘I mean you always do but… yeah I’ll stop now’ he laughed

‘Have a good sleep, Mason’ you whispered, hoping your voice didn’t sound a shaky as you felt.

‘Night, Y/n’

Tagged: @alwaysclassyeagle @ricsaigaslec @cinderellawithashoe @vip-access @majx00

#mason mount #mason mount blurb #mason mount smut #mason mount imagine #mason mount fanfic #mason mount series #mason mount fic #mason mount fluff #mason mount angst #mason mount concept #mason mount x y/n #mason mount x reader #footballer x reader #footballer x y/n #a mountain to climb series

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kess-in-the-perthchimzone · 7 months

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Mini fic: Wind & windmill tattoos

For @naomi-obsessions — I so deeply appreciate that you love the Critical Obsession podcast as much as I do and have shared your feedback with them! And based on this absolutely phenomenal post by @srnileforme (who also gets the credit for the image immediately below)

The week of a major conference at the university, Sailom walks away from his shifts at the coffee shop with hundreds of baht in tips from international visitors looking to get rid of their banknotes. The money burns a hole in his pocket during his rainy walk home. Even years later, even with his debts fully paid, he can’t turn off the voice in his head that tells him to save it for the end of the month. He has to argue with himself for a few minutes until the thought subsides — he doesn’t need to save it. Between his scholarship and his part time jobs, he has plenty stashed away.

What he really wants to do with it is use it for something nice for Kang. Their fourth anniversary is coming up and he knows from experience that Kang is going to go all out. It’s one of two days a year — his birthday being the second — that Kang has negotiated to be able to spoil him without protest. At an absolute minimum, Sailom can expect some expensive dinner, at least one new outfit, and a night in a five-star hotel. All of which he genuinely appreciates — and he knows Kang loves the time together.

But Sailom wants to … “beat” is probably not a good word to use when thinking about the person you love. He wants to win this year. He wants to do something so romantic Kang can’t possibly top it. It’s his turn.

As he passes under a tree, fat drops of water hit against the umbrella and the splattering sound makes him glance up. He stares at the windmill motif emblazoned overhead. In a brilliant flash, the idea comes to him. He smiles the entire rest of the way.

It takes some real finagling to avoid Kang seeing him shirtless for a week. Given Kang’s complete disregard for privacy, Sailom can’t risk showering around him. Or changing. Or just wearing a particularly nice shirt that Kang might want to take off him.

To be safe, Sailom invents a major test the morning of their of anniversary plans. He’s out the door every single day before sunrise and home late enough that Kang is usually asleep by the time he climbs into the bed. By the end of the week, Sailom is a month ahead in his work, so tired he can barely keep his eyes open, and desperately wanting to take a nap with Kang’s hand splayed across his chest.

All of that fades into the background at the way Kang looks at the tattoo like it’s the most precious thing he’s ever seen in his life. He has a huge smile on his face but his eyes have been brimming with tears since he first recognized the design now permanently marked below Sailom’s collarbone. Water threatens to spill over at any minute.

“I — you — that—“ Every time Kang tries to speak, he has to break off on a hitching breath.

Sailom starts laughing then, although he feels suddenly like crying too. He takes Kang’s hand and pulls it until his palm rests over Sailom’s heart, completely covering the windmill.

“If you ever doubt my love for you, just look here,” he begins. As he continues, his voice drops, losing all traces of amusement. It’s the most serious promise he’s ever made. “And know you have my entire heart.”

Kang starts crying in full then, the hardest Sailom has seen in a very long time. Sailom pulls him forward, wrapping him in a tight hug. He feels Kang’s wet nose brush against his collarbone.

“Can I get one too?” Kang finally asks, some long time later in a muffled, choked voice.

They don’t make it out to dinner that night. Kang spends what feels like hours kissing the skin around the ink until the skin is as pink and tingling as it was in the immediate aftermath of the appointment. Then, when Sailom is flushed and swearing at him, barely able to stand it anymore, he keeps going downwards.

((A few weeks later, catching glimpses of the inked lines of the wind above Kang’s heart when the deep vee of Kang’s shirt parts tantalizingly further, Sailom fully understands the feeling.))

((Want your own mini fic? Show me proof that you submitted a question or feedback to the Dangerous Romance Celebration hosted by @criticallyobs before midnight your time on this Thursday and I’ll tackle the Kang/Sailom prompt of your choosing))

#dangerous romance #kanghansailom #kess sometimes writes fic not meta

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dreamcatcher92 · 7 months

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Coercion Chapter Three

So this is my second smut story that I have been working on. I am hoping you all enjoy!

It is a bit dark. Yes, Billy Russo is of course our main character aside from a girl named Cassidy. Who is completely made up and meant to be played by the reader. The other characters that are mentioned in this story are made up as well and not based on anyone in particular. I did this one differently than my first story, but I wanted to switch up my writing style a bit. So you may see more differences in other stories to come. Things that are bold and italicized are thoughts.

Now for some warnings for the entire story but necessarily in the current chapter you read: dark Billy for sure, non-con, dub-con, kidnapping, NSFW, 18+, smut, sex, rape, attempted rape, physical violence, abusive behavior, language. I think that covers it, but sorry if I missed something.

Read at your own risk.

The next morning, as Cassidy slowly opens her eyes, she is met with Billy’s piercing black stare. She lets out a small gasp, not expecting to wake up with him directly in her face. She instantly felt a lump form in her throat and nerves began to take over.

“Good morning.” she whispered shakily.

Billy leans up on his elbow and looks down at Cassidy, “Look, as long as you obey me and do exactly what I tell you to do, I have no intentions of hurting you. In fact, if you’re a good girl for me, I’ll treat you to rewards when you deserve them.”

He was running the back of his hand on Cassidy’s cheek this entire time, feeling almost feather-like with how gently he was touching her. She never broke eye contact and nodded in agreement after he finished speaking. Just as she began to feel the slightest bit of calmness, Billy began to speak once more and took his hand away. Only this time, his tone has become a bit harsh to get his point across to her that he isn’t fucking around here.

“However, if you disobey me in any way, you will be punished. Do you understand me?”

“Y-yes, I understand Billy.”

“Just because I said that I have no intentions of hurting you, does not mean that I won’t if I need to. Got it?”

Cassidy’s heart was pounding, “Got it.”

Billy rolled out of bed and pulled on a pair of gray sweatpants. He turned to face Cassidy and reached out a hand. She grabbed hold of his hand, and he pulled her up out of the bed. She stood still as instructed in one of Billy’s t-shirts while Billy went to get the luggage.

Moments later, he came back through the door with all three suitcases. He sat them down just inside the walk-in closet.

He stepped into the doorway, “C’mon. I’ll show you where things need to go.”

They both stood inside the closet and Billy told her where to put everything. At first, it seemed a bit overwhelming because of the huge amount of space and the amount of items in each piece of luggage. However, once Cassidy began folding clothes, putting shirts on hangers, and organizing Billy’s socks and boxers into drawers, things just began to flow easily.

About forty-five minutes had passed, and Cassidy was almost done with everything. After placing the last hanger with a jet black suit on it onto the bar, she took a step back and marveled in her accomplishment. She decided to do a walk through to make sure everything was perfect and in its place before she would go get Billy from his office to show him the good job that she had done.

Hanging up, Billy’s t-shirts were color coordinated from lights to darks. Next to them came his dress shirts that he would wear under his suit jackets. Then, finally his abundant amount of expensive suits that each had its own clear suit bag to ensure that the suits stay in tip top shape.

Looking inside the drawers that were built into the walls of the closet, were countless pairs of name brand jeans, sweatpants, and basketball type shorts. On the other side of the room in more drawers were his boxers and socks. Above these drawers was a smaller cubby space for more clothes to be hung. This is where Cassidy’s clothes are.

She didn’t have much, only a few dresses ranging from lengths and styles. Some were flowy and more of a summer dress, and others were form fitting and looked very sexy and elegant. Just below the dangling dresses was a shelf where three pairs of panties and a silky nighty lay.

Cassidy went to Billy’s office and knocked lightly on the closed door. She was on edge because she hoped that he would be pleased with the job that she had done. She stood anxiously awaiting for the door to open with her eyes focused on the floor. Moments later, the door began to open.

Billy fully opened his office door, and walked to stand in the doorway. He leaned on one shoulder on the wooden frame and crossed his arms. He gave her a very serious stare. She felt as though he was staring straight into her soul.

Finally the silence broke, “Well? You come to tell me somethin’ or are you just going to stand there?”

She slowly lifted her head and locked eyes with Billy, “I…I just wanted to tell you that I’m finished.”

“Alright, let’s go check out what you’ve done.” Billy said as he stepped out of the doorway and placed his hand on the small of Cassidy’s back.

He guided her down the hallway. She couldn’t help but to be nervous. All she wanted was to please him and not make him angry with her. Billy could feel her body vibrating from nerves, but he said nothing.

Once they reach the closet, they step inside and Billy begins his inspection. He runs his hand along the hanging clothes and opens each drawer to see that every one of them was in pristine shape and to his liking. After several minutes, he turned to look at Cassidy.

He smiled, “Looks good sweetheart.”

Cassidy’s eyes closed and she let out a long sigh of relief, “Thank you, I’m glad you like it.”

He let out a small laugh, “Did you think I wouldn’t? Did I miss something?”

“No! You didn’t miss anything! I’m just really happy that you like it. I wanted to…” she trailed off as she looked to the ground while fidgeting with her hands and biting her lower lip.

“Wanted to what?” he said as he took a step towards her.

She cleared her throat, but kept her eyes on the ground, “I - I wanted to show you that…I can be a good girl for you.”

This pleased Billy tremendously and brought a big grin to his face. He walked up to her and placed his hands gently on her shoulders. He slowly ran his hands down the length of her arms to her hands. He grabbed her hands with his and pulled them up to his lips. She followed their hands with her eyes watching his every move.

He placed a soft kiss on her hands, “How about a small reward then for my good girl?”

She felt her heart flutter and nodded her head, “Okay.”

He led her back into the bedroom where he sat down on the edge of the bed and patted the spot beside him for her to sit as well. Oh God. Breathe Cass. She sat down, and tried to relax, but her mind was racing.

“What’s your favorite kind of food? Billy asked.

Completely surprised by this question, Cassidy grinned, “Um, I like a lot of things, but I really love pizza.”

Billy couldn’t help but chuckle at the answer she gave, “Pizza?! Out of everything you can think of, pizza is your favorite?”

She giggled, “Yes! I could never have it growing up. So once I moved to the city, that was the first thing that I wanted to try. I was hooked from there. Thin crust pepperoni and Brooklyn style with extra cheese are the best.”

“Okay, pizza it is then!”

“For what?”

“Dinner silly. What? Pizza and a movie not sound like a good reward to you?”

Her heart skipped. Shit! Don’t piss him off now!

She grabbed his hands, “No, it’s not that! I - I just wasn’t expecting it. I’m sorry Billy, I didn’t…”

He stopped her and placed a hand on her face cupping her cheek, “Relax sweetheart. I’m messing with you.”

She huffed out a sigh of relief, “Oh!”

“Alright, let’s go order some pizza and find a movie to watch.” he said as he stood and held out a hand to her.

She grabbed his hand and stood up, “Okay Billy.”

Moments later they were in the kitchen. Billy swiftly lifted Cassidy up and onto the island that was in the center of the kitchen. She gasped at the sudden feeling of the cold marble on the back of her thighs. He stood in front of her and pulled his cellphone from his pocket.

Billy called and ordered two large pizzas. One thin crust pepperoni and one Brooklyn style pizza with extra cheese. Cassidy couldn’t help the wide grin on her face as she listened to Billy order the food.

Once he hung up, he laid the phone facedown on the counter beside her. He parted her legs which made her let out another gasp. After he positioned himself to stand between her thighs, he placed a hand on each of her cheeks and stared into her eyes. He looked a bit more serious right now, and she began to get a bit anxious.

“When the pizza delivery guy comes, you better not try anything.” he said to her in a deep tone.

“I won’t, I promise.” she whimpered.

He took his hands off her cheeks and quickly placed one on her neck, gripping slightly tight, “I’m serious.”

She grabbed his arm as soon as he gripped her neck, “Please Billy, I won’t try anything.”

He loosened his grip on her and took a step back, “Let’s go find a movie to watch.”

He helped her off the kitchen island and they went into the living room. Billy sat at the end of the couch with one arm draped over Cassidy. She sat beside him, and after a few minutes of being tensed up, she finally relaxed against Billy’s side.

As Billy was scrolling through the movies on Netflix, the keypad by the door began to ring. He got up and before walking over to the door, he gave Cassidy a serious look of warning. She knew that she better behave, because she was terrified of what he might do.

Billy typed the code to the gate in and let the delivery guy drive up to the house. He grabbed some cash from his wallet and met the man just outside the door. She could hear the two have a bit of small talk during the exchange, but she didn’t dare make a sound.

He came back inside, pizzas in hand and looked at Cassidy. She was sitting like a statue in the center of the couch with her hands on her knees waiting. Billy cleared his throat causing her to jump a bit and look at him.

“Come here. Help me get some plates and napkins.” he said, motioning her over with his head.

A couple hours passed, and both Billy and Cassidy were stuffed from the pizza. The credits to the action movie were rolling on the television. Cassidy looked at Billy and gave him a big smile.

“Thank you for tonight.”

He smiled back at her, “You’re welcome sweetheart.”

Billy cupped Cassidy’s chin and leaned into her. He gently pressed his soft lips against Cassidy’s. After only a few seconds, he pulled back and opened his eyes to see a tear fall from her eye. She was petrified and had no idea how to react. She looked at him like a deer in headlights. She didn’t know what to do. She’d never been kissed before. In fact, she’s never done anything before.

“What’s wrong?” he said as he brushed the tear from her cheek.

“I’m sorry. I…That’s never happened to me before.” she sniffled.

Billy was dumbfounded, “What?”

“I’ve never kissed anyone before.” she looked down and started fidgeting with her hands again.

“Hey, look at me.” he said softly.

She looked back up to meet his dark eyes, “I’m sorry.”

“Shh, there’s nothing to apologize for. It’s okay. It’s just something that we will have to work on, okay?”

“O - okay.”

“Come on, let’s go get some sleep huh?” Billy said standing up.

She nodded and stood up from her seat, “That sounds nice.”

They left everything sitting in the living room on the coffee table to be cleaned up tomorrow. Billy turned off the T.V. and held Cassidy’s hand as they walked to the bedroom. After changing into her silk nighty, she came out from the bathroom to see Billy laying in bed waiting for her.

Cassidy climbed into bed beside Billy and snuggled under the covers. Billy rolled onto his side facing her and pulled her close to him. Her back was now pressed firmly against his bare chest.

“Listen, you are going to have to get used to me touching you and kissing you, but we’ll go slow with everything. There’s no need to worry alright? Like I said before Cass, I have no intentions in hurting you, especially that way.” he whispered into her ear.

She felt her body untense at his words, “Okay.”

He kissed her head and whispered into her ear once more, “Get some sleep sweetheart.”

Tag list:

@ladyblacky @pat-sirius @bxtchopolis

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honeybrowne · 1 year

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Day 1: First Date

AARON HOTCHNER X READER [1.4k]

Content: Sooo much fluff (obvi); first kiss :)

Summary: After numerous failed attempts at finding the right time for a first date, Aaron decides an impromptu one is better than none.

Author's Note: Fluffy February has officially begun! Twirling my hair and kicking my feet i've never wanted to be reader so bad :,(

Masterlist || FF Masterlist

For the last couple of months, you and Aaron have been trying to make plans for a first date, but it always falls through.

His work schedule is hectic and unpredictable, and he's a single father, which means he doesn't have a lot of time for a social life.

You had met at a coffee shop one morning, only because he bumped into you while being distracted by a phone call, spilling your iced coffee all over your white sweater. He had apologized profusely, and his face turned so red you felt guilty for something that wasn't even your fault.

Of course, it wasn't a big deal because it was an accident, and the next time he had seen you at the same coffee shop, he paid for your drink and you gave him your phone number.

You didn't anticipate him to ever use it. Truthfully, you don't even know why you gave it to him in the first place. Sure, he was attractive and polite, but he never made any advances towards you. He had hardly held a conversation as you stood together, waiting for your respective orders to be made.

You hadn't even known his name.

Surprisingly, his text came as you were getting home from work that same day—short, sweet, and to the point: How much do I owe you for the sweater?

Since then, you've been constantly messaging back and forth, talking late into the night when neither of you can sleep, and sometimes falling asleep on the phone together because neither of you want to be the one to hang up. It feels like you're in high school all over again, and there's something about that that makes you smile almost as uncontrollably as he does.

Despite all of that, you haven't spent more than ten minutes with each other in person.

Maybe you're crazy, but you've been okay with that, for the most part. While you'd love to see him for longer and actually have that first date you've desperately been trying to plan, you know where his priorities lie and you'd never want him to change them for someone who just entered his life.

You have no idea where this is headed, but you know for certain that you like him. A lot.

He's funnier than you imagined and has only become sweeter the more you get to know him. He likes to cook even though he doesn't think he's very good at it, loves baking with his son even more, he's a huge fan of The Beatles, and prefers staying in rather than going out.

Everything about him gives you butterflies, and you can't remember the last time someone has made you feel the way he does.

You're currently checking your phone what feels like every five seconds—probably because it is—aware that now is usually the time he gets a break while working. Part of you feels a bit disappointed when thirty minutes passes, but you've known this would always be a possibility. Things happen and he's important. You can handle waiting a bit longer.

The text or call never does come, but a knock at your door does.

It's not an unreasonable hour, however, it is late enough that you're confused by someone being at your door. You aren't expecting any company, and you certainly aren't dressed for any considering you're wearing pajamas and fluffy socks.

The man you have coffee with when you happen to run into each other and spend the majority of your day thinking about is standing right in front of you.

With flowers.

Never in your life have you been so thrilled for unexpected company.

"Aaron," you gasp. "What are you doing here?"

He smiles, something you've wished you could see more often. "I was hoping for more of a hello, or maybe even a hug?"

You take the flowers from him before hugging him tight, not wanting to risk crushing the beautiful bouquet in the process.

He smells delightful, the scent warm and spicy. You take a deep breath, already adoring the way his arms feel wrapped securely around your waist.

"Hi," you whisper, reluctantly pulling away. "Thank you for these, they're beautiful."

"Of course. I'm sorry I'm showing up unannounced; I wanted to surprise you."

It's then that you remember what you're wearing and immediately feel your body warm with embarrassment. "No, it's okay. I'm happy you're here, but I feel bad I'm not more presentable."

"I think you're more presentable now than I've ever seen you," he teases.

"Shut up," you laugh. "Come in, please."

Aaron follows you inside, and you set the flowers up in a vase. Your heart can't help but swell seeing the pink carnations sitting on the middle of the kitchen table.

No one's ever gotten you flowers before.

You had been so distracted by them that you hadn't even noticed the bag of takeout in his hand. It's from the place you told him you liked, and you have a feeling he even remembered which dish was your favorite.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"Water is fine, but I want to talk to you a bit before we eat—if you're even hungry… I should've asked first."

You've already eaten, but he doesn't need to know that.

"That would've ruined the surprise," you smile, "but that sounds perfect."

You feel your pulse quicken as he sets the takeout down and steps closer to you, pausing when he doesn't know whether to keep his hands to himself or pull you to him.

Considering you haven't seen each other in person very much, neither of you has had the chance to be physically affectionate. You've flirted back and forth a few times, and a pet name has slipped from him once, but that's as far as anything has gotten. You know you both enjoy the other's company in any way you can have it, but this is all new.

Very new.

It doesn't help that Aaron hasn't been in a relationship in a long time, and you're somewhat inexperienced. Neither of you are the type to date around and prefer things that are more serious rather than casual.

You both want exclusivity and commitment.

"How was your trip?" you ask, taking the initiative and wrapping your arms around him.

He sighs, and it almost sounds like one of relief. "It wasn't bad but it wasn't necessarily good either," he shrugs.

"What made you decide to come here?"

"Well, as much as I enjoy our phone calls, I really wanted to see you tonight instead," he confesses. "I was thinking we could watch a movie if you're in the mood for it."

"Absolutely I am," you promise, holding him tighter.

His body feels so warm, and he looks unbelievably handsome with his hair slightly disheveled. You want to kiss him—you have for a while, but you've never had the chance to. He seems to feel the same way, his eyes flicking back and forth between yours and your lips.

"Good. I promise I'll take you on a real first date one day." He leans in as he speaks, his hands rubbing your lower back.

"I don't know about you, but takeout and a movie with you sounds like the perfect first date to me."

Aaron smiles, cupping your cheek gently. "I'm glad you think so."

You start to stand on your toes to make up for the height difference, and he meets you halfway by leaning even further, his mouth so close to yours you can feel his breath. He's the one who bridges the gap, touching his lips to yours so delicately you think he hasn't completely made up his mind about kissing you yet.

He backs away ever so slightly, just enough to look at your face, and he can see your pout.

"What?"

There's a bit of nervousness hidden behind the playfulness in his voice, and you have every intention of letting him know exactly what you want.

You bring him in for another kiss, fingers curling into his hair at the back of his head. The arm he has around you brings you impossibly closer to him, his thumb rubbing along your cheekbone. It's perfect, and you feel like you could explode as he kisses you harder, his nose pressing into your cheek.

Neither of you wants to pull away, but breathing takes precedence. You almost feel lightheaded, completely in a daze as you look at him.

"Didn't know you were the type to kiss on the first date."

You laugh, feeling euphoric in every sense of the word. "I didn't think you were either."

He chuckles softly and leans in again. "I guess we're both each other's exception."

Taglist: @spacecowboyhotch

#doctorstethsfluffyfeb #aaron hotchner fluff #aaron hotchner scenario #aaron hotchner imagine #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner x gn!reader #aaron hotchner x you #aaron hotchner fanfiction #criminal minds fanfiction #.writing

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ciaraswritings · 1 year

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Anxiety

Disclaimer: I do not own DC or their characters, or their settings. This is certainly not canon.

Warnings & Topics: Social anxiety disorder. 18+, if you please.

Word Count: 1.7K words

Summary: fem!Reader is struggling with social anxiety while attending Bruce Wayne's birthday party, but then she meets a woman named Barbara who helps her escape. Very happy ending. Just fluff & stuff.

Author's note: Thank you all so much for reading. I hope you enjoy.

How the hell did I end up here, I asked myself.

I pressed my back to the mahogany wall as colors and watched the pastel colors swirl past me. I should have never come to this event, this celebration. I'm not even sure how I got invited to this. I had barely ever crossed paths with Bruce Wayne. Sure, I'd edited news stories covering his spotlight before sending them off to be published on the internet, but I could never bring myself to meet with him face to face. I'd talked with him over the phone, fact checking a wild take that a journalist had submitted, but in the two minutes and five seconds that we had chatted, he had obviously decided I was suitable to be invited to his birthday reception.

That's what I absolutely love about my job. I can sit in a dark office all day, I don't have to see anyone face to face, all submissions and communications are sent via email. I'm trying to make arrangements to work from home, so the stress of being so close to the other offices won't be on my mind. My job only requires a computer and phone, after all.

My boss was overjoyed when he heard I had been invited to the big event. Any more excitement, and he would have started a fire with how fast words were spilling out of his mouth. His thrill, however, did not match my own by a long shot. I thought back to when I was sitting in my comfy, swiveling office chair, staring up at the balding, sprightly man who was positively demanding I accept the invitation and attend the event. I don't think I even verbally responded to him at the time. My plagued mind overtook my body, and still had ahold of it even then as I tried to blend into Bruce Wayne's wall.

Social anxiety disorder, my constant companion. My nemesis, my excuse, my greatest hurdle. The only reason I stood there in my old prom dress is because my boss has been on such edge lately, and like my coworkers, I wasn't ready to risk the consequences of saying no to him right then. My anxiety was to blame for that too, coincidentally enough.

As the sea of long dresses and black suits moved past, I tried my hardest to remember my therapist's favorite phrases. Be aware of your body. Be aware of your surroundings. How is your body reacting to this situation? I could answer the last question easily enough. My heart was beating out of my chest, my stomach was churning, sweat was appearing on my trembling hands. Fear was wrapped around my throat, my breathing labored. An older gentleman in a very nice suit gave me a concerned look before his glamorous college-student wife pulled him towards the dance floor. Yes, please go, stop looking at me. I wonder how many people are looking at me right now.

Be aware of your surroundings. I tried, I really tried. I tried to take in the luxury of the room. The velvet curtains, the gold trim, the expensive art, the... was that a tapestry? Be aware of your body. I attempted to become aware of my physical senses. Deep breaths, eyes closed, trying to relax my tense muscles.

"Ma'am, are you alright?"

My eyes flew open. A young waiter with a tray was quizzically observing me from a couple feet away.

I can't do this anymore. "Yes! Yes, yes, I'm alright." Fight or flight mode had been activated. Not bothering to thank him, I slipped past the waiter and made a not-so-graceful getaway to the hall. Lush ivy and large chairs decorated the long room, along with a huge mirror that I planted myself in front of, my entire brain trying to retake control. But no, the sickening, uninvited fear had ahold of my entire body.

Looking up into the mirror, I was not exactly pleased by what I saw. My eyes were full of adrenaline and my mascara was running slightly. My dress was wrinkled by where I clutched it at the hip. My hair was the only thing that didn't look frazzled (thanks to an hour of straightening before I had left for the party). Using the tip of my finger, I tried to clean up the mascara around my eyes.

"Did you get bored too?"

My finger nearly went into my eye, startled by the unexpected and unwelcome voice. I wanted to run like a deer being threatened by a panther. I turned nervously to the owner of the voice, and my fear alleviated if only for a moment by the spectacularism of the person I saw. A red haired young woman in a black velvet dress had approached me, a single party-goer from the roar of festivities behind her. I could see the door swinging closed from when she had entered. My anxiety lurched and I could feel liquid coming up in my throat. A hard swallow later, and I assumed my most casual pose. "You could say that."

The redhaired woman turned, pulled her lipstick from her clutch, and repainted her red lips in the mirror. "I'm not even sure why I'm here, my father is the one who actually knows Mr. Wayne."

"I don't know him at all. Bruce, I mean. Not your father." Oh, that sounded so rude. "Sorry... about that."

She turned back around and gave me a shiny smile. "Are you okay?"

Hell no, I'm not okay. "Yes, of course." My hands were still trembling and my cheeks were flushed. Breathing hurt. The radiant woman in front of me could obviously see through the lie. Her head cocked, her beautiful, wavy red hair swayed.

"You don't seem okay," her concern was evident, but I wasn't in the mood for people being concerned and trying to make me talk about it.

"I'm okay, I just haven't eaten today. So... I should probably go do that," that wasn't even a lie. I had only had coffee today so I wouldn't throw up from nervousness tonight.

"What's your name?" asked the woman who was freshening her eyeliner in the mirror.

"(Y/N) (L/N)."

"I'm Barbara Gordon. It's good to meet you. And funny enough, I'm hungry too," the stranger straightened and shook my still shaking hand. "Want to go get something? I can't fill up on shrimp and caviar."

"Neither can I, seafood isn't my favorite." I was shocked at my own boldness. My fear had released its painful grip slightly, but it was far from gone.

"Me neither. I could go for Chinese," Barbara smiled at me. "Want to join? My treat."

Now this was an unexpected decision. She seems nice enough... I want to so badly. It'd definitely be a way out of here, and with a nice person. But what if she's not nice? What if she's not who she seems? What if I mess up in front of her? What if she invites more people? "I'm not sure..."

"Hey, it's okay. I'm chill, I need a way out of this place too. I mostly came for my dad, he loves Bruce. I'm just... not in the right place to party like this."

How about this, my brain bargained with itself. If it turns out bad, we never have to see her again. If it goes good, then we... still never have to see her again. "What the heck. Got a place in mind?"

"Of course, come on! I can't think of a better time than two well dressed girls getting the best Chinese in town. We can take my dad's car."

My hands had slowly stopped trembling. I think it's going to be okay.

...

My escape with Barbara was a needed lifesaver. She made the car ride pleasant, complimenting my dress, asking me about my job, commenting on my hair. I think she sensed that I wasn't as comfortable talking about myself, so she told me about her own life. She was a college student, she was multilingual, she lived with her dad at the moment, but was looking into getting her own place. Listening to her talk was relaxing, knowing I didn't have to talk about myself, no risks of stumbling over my words like I did earlier.

We arrived at what looked to be a family-owned place, it wasn't a chain restaurant, which I sort of admired Barbara for. The best Chinese food came from small restaurants, and she seemed to acknowledge that. The woman assured me she knew exactly what I would like, telling me she'd order then come join me.

I slid into one of the empty booths. Actually, all of them were empty. Too late at night for most people to get takeout, but Barbara and I were evidently not the same as those people. She joined me at the table with trays that smelled much tastier than the takeout Chinese that my boss had delivered at the office every day for lunch. "This looks amazing, thank you so much."

"No, thank you for coming with. It's nice that I found a friend to do this with." Barbara smiled before picking up one of the cartons.

Friend. The word felt so new. "It's been a really long time since I've had a friend." Anxiety brewed and steamed in my throat, but I forgot all about it when she slid her phone across the table to me, a new contact form ready to fill out on the screen.

"Well, now you have one," the redhaired woman said with a smile, before taking another bite of the food.

...

That was four years ago to this day. It's Bruce Wayne's birthday again, but neither of us are on the guest list. That's perfectly okay, we have our own party going on for us. Empty Chinese takeout cartons lay on the coffee table, an actress on the television screen dramatically screams in fear, and I am laying on Barbara's chest, my finger becoming accustomed to the new diamond ring.

I look up at her, admiring how her fiery hair glows in the pale light of the television screen. Anxiety? Hah, not around Barbara, not anymore. Finally finding a person I can experience only joy around... that feels good. Her hand rests on my head, holding me close. Her eyes are focused on the television, but by her smile, I know her mind is somewhere else. She notices I'm no longer interested in the film, turns off the TV, and smiles down at me. Butterflies, not anxiety, fill my stomach.

"Did you get bored too?"

"You could say that."

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intertexts · 2 months

Note

SEASON FINALE TRIVIA !!!!!! this includes 23 and 24. i hope youre having fun :)

- yakko does the intro and says "welcome to just rolled with it the show after the show where we talk about how awesome i am :)" and hes right for that

- JUST GENERALLY PRAISING YAKKO FOR HIS PERFORMANCE AS ASHE. grizzly goes "i honestly forgot you were a guest player i just want you to stay here forever now"

- bizly and yakko the night before they recorded this episode were up late thinking about just . goofy scary things for the trickster to do. like what if the floor is lava but REAL. what if his ARMS GOT LONG. shit like that

- BIZLY WAS GETTING EMOTIONAL DURING THE SCENE RIGHT BEFORE ASHE FULLY TURNS INTO THE TRICKSTER. which is HUGE because its a running joke in riptide that bizly never gets emotional during character moments and grizzly is like. the big crybaby about it. polar opposites of the getting emotionally immersed in roleplay spectrum

- grizzly: "i know out of character we had to leave ashe here because it works for the story and also youre a guest and cant stay forever but in character, dakota would NEVER do that willingly. if circumstances were just a little different i think william and vyncent wouldve had to physically drag him out of there" :(

- OVERLORD WAS NOT ORIGINALLY AN ALLIGATOR. HE WAS NOT AN ALLIGATOR FIVE MINUTES BEFORE HE WAS REVEALED . OVERLORD BECAME AN ALLIGATOR THE MOMENT BIZLY SAID ".... i gotta do it"

- yakko: i kinda feel bad that i just one punch deleted the big supervillain thats been hyped up for the whole season

grizzly: no, look. we've been joking for like 5 episodes now about how our characters could never beat an alligator. and we were right!

- "it took a god to beat a gator" "i feel like youd see that on the front of a church in florida" "whats a king to a god. whats a god to a gator"

- condi: "hey! so the beginning of the episode! pretty wacky! remember when we fought whirlwind?"

charlie: "no. no i dont."

- grizzly: "i almost find myself sympathizing with the villains sometimes because we're just so annoying"

yakko: "every villain we've gone up against is just thinking 'man, these kids are LOSERS'"

- grizzly: "i genuinely never want to speak to mark again"

charlie: "if he breaks out of prison i will go to every length to put him back in. i hate him. i hate him so much" THIS WAS LITERALLT UNPROMPTED?!?!?!?!! WHY DO THEY HATE HIM SO MUCH. FREE MY MAN !!!!!!!!!

- when they first got into the room, charlie condi and yakko thought thetubes were gonna open and 4 regular gators were gonna come out to fight them. grizzly thought it was gonna be wavelength betraying them with the other lieutenants (AGAIN. WHY ALL THE MARK WINTERS HATE. I DONT UNDERSTAND)

- QUICK BACKSTORY RECAP BY GRIZZLY. basically verbatim to how hes saying it.

vyncent: is from another world. looked up to an adventuring party. (condi: the important part was the whole "monsters that dont look like monsters" thing)

william: theres a bunch of ghosts spirits monsters in deadwood and he and his friends were investigating them until one day he followed a wisp into a forest and fell down a hole and died and came back as a wisp and now all the monsters and ghouls are out to get him so he had to leave deadwood so his friends and family wouldnt be in danger (charlie: well when you put it like that it sounds so much lamer)

ashe: had a trickster book and the trickster killed his mom. idk why he thought that was a good idea. actually, when you got possessed by the trickster the first time, howd you get him back in the book? (bizly: theres more to that story you guys havent learned yet so im not gonna just tell you. you have to figure that stuff out in character)

- dakota: (from charlie this time) uhh your parents died and you take risks and jump off things and then one day a girl jumped off a thing with you and you grabbed her but then also died like william wisp because we like falling off of things and getting superpowers apparently so you fell off something and got superpowers and then you left the hospital before they coukd tell you anything and you ran into the woods where you met a strange old man that taught you how to fight stuff i guess (grizzly: i never actually wrote what happened to the girl in my backstory. bizly: because you wouldnt KNOW)

- dakota adrenaline junkie........ (grizzly: its worse now because he has powers and he can do all the things he used to and MORE. and SURVIVE)

- they all believe tide was mind controlled from the time he went to talk to whirlwind by himself after they beat him. bizly says he misspoke and described some things wrong, tide wasnt actually mind controlled until they were actually in the building. he kept rolling saves for him and every time he just rolled like garbage so he never broke out of it

- its a 2/3 split on how theyre planning to react to the heroes. vyncent and william are bitter about it because neither of them are used to living in a place with a lot of heroes so they dont know how all of this is supposed to work. theyre angry that the heroes never showed up when they needed them and the one time they actually do come its just MINUTES too late after their friend had to basically sacrifice himself to save them instead. dakota, who grew up in and around the city basically worshipping superheroes, doesnt understand why theyd be so angry.

- the reason overlord knew they were coming is because the gunman from the whirlwind fight got away. he instantly came back to overlord and told him to expect pd soon because they beat whirlwind

AWESOME TRIVIA FOR THESE!!!!! holy shit... trickster the floor is lava but real ^_^ horrifying thanks!!

ALSO REAL. THIS IS YAKKOS WORLD WERE JUST LIVING IN IT!!! genuinely probably i would have figured out the setup in 24 so much quicker if i hadn't just. Forgot ashe was a guest. i was like yeah man four of them. he just lives here now. i wonder what theyre setting up for because i dont think some big setup for one of the main pcs 2 have an insane sacrificial moment would happen!! ^_^;

I LOVE THE WIWI STUFF. fucked up x files gravity falls ass hybrid. head in hands. ALL of the backstory stuff actually esp. vyncents which is still the vaguest shit ever. shaking himmmmmm why is there an adventuring party in ur brain !!!!! head in hands.

#THE FUCKING ALLIGATOR SHIT. OH MY GOD. im stiilll not fucking over it man. god.#god. please tell me these kids get like. ONE NIGHT. ONE NIGHT in umm. probably a fucking hotel or something because the hall of elementals #is still not really livable & umm. well they wont be staying at marks! please for the love of god i need them all to have a really long hot #shower & a cry & cuddle pile. head in hands. i need to like open google docs about this or something.#anyway... aughghgh. have been thinkin bout this shit all day dude. fuck. also feeling insane about dakota + their reaction 2 the heroes #specifically. i think thats most of it. OK. DAMN i need 2 get this classwork done ok i think ummm. maybe ill start s2 to motivate me.#catkiss.gif!!#mac tag!#pd lb

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queen-of-writing-bad-things · 3 months

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Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 5

Episode 2: Whistlin' Susie

~The Man Cave~

Internet trends. Love 'em, hate 'em, they're all the rage. Challenges especially, people love those and as a general rule, the crazier they are, the more views they get, which is part of the problem.

The more danger, the more discomfort, the higher the probability of death and people are all over the video like a rash, which is why every teenager in Swellview wanted in on the action. A chance for five minutes of fame just for doing something stupid, they were all doing them to see if they could get their video to go viral on Twitflash. That would lead to followers, fame, record deals, interviews and having the world at their feet, they just knew it.

Now, the Man Cave just so happened to have three teens of its own and like all kids their age, Henry, Charlotte and Jasper were partial to the odd cat video or meme. However, when it came to being the starring actors in these crazy challenges, two out of three took a step back.

Charlotte, being the wisest shared (y/n)'s perspective on the matter; they were dumb, she didn't understand them and she had better things to do with her time. Henry, being not so wise but still quite responsible, preferred to do his job and kick back and relax when he wasn't out fighting crime--adding to his injuries just wasn't it for him.

And then, there was Jasper. Dear, sweet yet...stupid Jasper. Being the most naive of the three and bored half the time, he jumped on any opportunity to try his hand at making it big, which was why he, (y/n) and Charlotte were currently waiting to start a "food challenge video" something or other. Seriously, they didn't understand what he was trying to achieve, they were just there to film it.

"Hey, what's up? It's Jasper, the friendly host!" The boy smiled into the camera as Charlotte recorded his "adventure" on her phone whilst (y/n) and Schwoz tested the voltage on several gadgets from around the Man Cave. Honestly, they had no idea why he was doing this now or why it had to be in his place of work because it wasn't like anyone would see it. That video was banned from ever being shared since it was a huge security risk, but Jasper kept going anyway.

"...here in the Man Cave and I'm about to take the five-second banana challenge!" He went on, making everyone roll their eyes at how stupid it was. Seriously, was this what amounted to fame these days? At least Ray and Henry didn't have to hear this drivel; they'd popped out on a small errand and said they'd be back later, which left (y/n) pining for her doofus and Jasper free to do whatever he wanted. When the cat is away, the mice will play--or shoot dumb videos.

"It cannot be done, Jasper," Schwoz mentioned in his goofy accent as he went to sit at the supercomputer. He was a man of science, he knew biology, chemistry, and physics as well as something called common sense, which most teenagers in Swellview seemed to lack, so he knew that the kid was gonna choke and die rather than go viral.

"Anything is possible!"

"That's not true at all." Charlotte rejected the boy's protests, siding with Schwoz on this one because it was just one of those Jasper things; dumb, unrealistic and far-fetched. So, it was a good thing that the tubes dropped just before the kid could start ramming the fruit into his mouth. Ray and Henry would make him see sense, or at least, Ray would ban it. He hated food challenge videos, well, unless he was the one reaching for fame and glory.

"All right, one more time. Hey, what's up? It's Jasper and I'm about to take--" The second take was quickly cut short when a laser beam to the banana burnt the thing right out of Jasper's hand and everyone knew who fired it. Ray, duh, the moment his tube had lifted, he viewed the scene with disdain and knew how to end it there and then. There would be no such frivolous activities in his Man Cave, thank you.

"What did I say about food challenge videos in the Man Cave?" The handsome man asked as he and Henry walked over to the group, his sights set on his sweet girl, who he swore looked prettier than she did that morning if that was possible. It was that skirt, it suited her so well, and made her look so cute and innocent; he couldn't help but want to keep her snuggled against him--and it had only been an hour since they'd gone out.

"That only you can make them." Jasper pouted, feeling like all the fun had been extinguished. Damn, now he'd have to wait until Ray went out again and that could take ages, y'know, since he had separation problems from his future wife, especially when she wore the clothes he'd bought her when she dragged him to the mall.

"That's right!" Ray snapped before turning to his sweet girl since that video had safely been shut down. No one was gonna steal his thunder, not under his roof. "Hey, baby. I missed you while I was gone..."

"Missed you too, doofus..." (y/n) smiled and pulled him into a short but sweet kiss as they reunited after a whole hour apart, far too long when he was looking so damn hot today, too hot for his own good.

She'd worn the skirt in hopes of tempting him to return to what they'd started that morning at the crack of dawn and if her instincts were correct, it was working. His arms stayed around her waist for a few seconds as they enjoyed the reunion before someone, namely Henry, rudely coughed to break them apart. Spoilsport.

"Oh, and by the way, I noticed none of you commented on the food challenge video that I posted the other day," Ray said haughtily as they pulled away, although (y/n) didn't remove her arms from around his neck. Rather, she giggled into his chest at how moody he sounded over a ridiculous challenge and his hands clenched on her hips when her nose brushed against his neck. Or was it because he loved that video before it turned into a flop? The former, unquestionably.

"That's because it was dumb, sweetheart," she smiled, reaching to stroke at the tufts of hair that brushed against his nape as she recalled that video in particular. Yeah, dumb was one word, crap was another, but it certainly hadn't been Captain Man's finest moment...

~Flashback~

"Hey, what's up, guys? It's Captain Man, cooling in the Man Cave and I'm about to take the six-second sauerkraut challenge." Ray, all dressed up in his Captain Man uniform, declared to the camera, behind which Henry and (y/n) were holding their noses.

Ray didn't even like sauerkraut, it was sour and fermented and just not his thing, but no. He was right and they were wrong, so he was gonna do this and get lots of likes and follows from his fans for how wacky and brave he was--or for how stupid he was.

"That smells disgusting." Henry gagged as Ray stirred his spoon through the cabbage and silently, he agreed. It did smell quite strong and he was starting to regret his life choices but the camera was now rolling, and he'd come this far. This was a national dish for many countries, thousands of people ate this stuff every day. How hard can it be?

"Yeah, doofus, are you sure you want to do this? It's fermented cabbage, you do know that right?" (y/n) asked tentatively, watching as her lover lifted an enormous mound of mush onto his spoon, far more than she'd wish to eat in one bite. Oh god, she didn't want to have to nurse a poorly tummy all night, why did people do this to themselves just for a few clicks?

"I'll be fine, sweet girl," Ray reassured her with his famous last words before glancing back up at the camera, "and go!" And he was off.

Ray scooped several mouthfuls of sauerkraut into his mouth, shovelling in as much as he could since the challenge was all about defying was what humanly possibly. But that was the problem, his mouth could only hold so much and mouthfuls and mouthfuls meant a lot of cabbage filling his face, which was a problem when he felt a slight tickle in his nostrils.

"Oh, hwold on, hwold on...I gwotta schneeze!" Ray exclaimed, feeling the urge suddenly rear its head as his cheeks were puffed out from the unswallowed sauerkraut. Oh god, this wasn't gonna end well.

"No, don't sneeze!" Henry cried, knowing that his boss was a human sauerkraut cannon right now, primed and ready to fire the moment his snot rockets went off. And guess who was standing right in front of him, waiting to get hit? He, the unfortunate cameraman and (y/n) was by his side. She'd also recognised the danger and with lightning reflexes, she jumped to the side, not wishing to be...sauerkrauted.

"Hit the deck!" The woman shouted as her doofus ejected the contents of his mouth all over the camera with quite a bit landing on Henry too and the odd strand flicking onto her sweater. Ah, jeez, it was down his front, on the floor, on them, on Henry's phone, everywhere. Who had said this was a good idea?

~End of flashback~

"Remember, doofus?" (y/n) grinned at her fiancé, who certainly recalled how bad that day had been and why no one, only the most loyal of fans, had bothered to like, share and comment on his video.

"That was nasty, dude. No one likes food challenge videos." Henry stated as the memories came flooding back--the terrible flashbacks of plucking pieces of slimy cabbage from his hair and helping (y/n) clean the floor.

"Yeah, you're right. Kids shouldn't watch any videos online. They should only watch TV." Ray replied, knowing deep down that his food challenge video had been a complete and utter failure, so it was probably best that kids stick to properly produced shows. That way, the drivel wouldn't confuse their minds into thinking acting daft on the internet was a good thing. And for once, everyone agreed with him.

"Yeah, for sure."

"That's true."

"Or read books. Books are good, especially the ones you can read online." (y/n) added and smiled up at her doofus as he looked down at her. She made an excellent point too; there's nothing wrong with supporting authors and expanding your literary knowledge by spending an hour or all day reading a book. Y'know, leave a comment, share it, tell a friend, it all makes everyone's day a bit better. Wink-wink.

"All right, what's on the schedule today? Any bad people need punching? Any good people need saving?" Henry moved on as he left Ray to slowly eat (y/n)'s face and went to sit on the edge of the computer's console. There had to be some work to do, after all, the police in this town did nothing and it was always the job of Captain man and Co to come to the rescue, so he expected to have a busy day at work. But Charlotte had other news...

"Uhhhh, not really." She shrugged after scrolling down the list of things they had yet to do, which ranged from your average misdemeanour to situations where it was go-go-go, time to kick some ass! But there was nothing like that, just a few minor events going down that weren't worth the heroes' time of day. And that could only mean one thing.

"Wait, are you saying we have nothing to do? No citizens to save? No criminals to lock up? Sweet..." (y/n) grinned after pulling her lips away from her doofus after hearing the great news. Jeez, it felt like ages since they'd had an afternoon off, normally there was some calamity that meant they all had to rush off to wherever the disaster was going down. Had there ever been a Saturday where they were all together with no responsibilities?

"Then, that can only mean one thing," Ray said huskily, glancing down to see the excited grin growing on his sweet girl's face because it had been so damn long since they could hang out like normal friends or a normal family, "Movie day!"

"Yeah! Movie day!" And the effect was instantaneous. The group began cheering and shouting and leaping into the air with joy because holy shit, they had a day off! They could eat candy, lay around, watch crappy movies and just relax because for the first time in forever, they weren't needed by anyone.

Jasper threw stuff. Charlotte skidded across the floor on her knees. Ray and (y/n) shared a passionate, thrill of the moment kiss. Henry then started dancing with the man. And Schwoz went to get the TV, this day was shaping up to be awesome; great friends, great snacks, great viewing and not an ounce of work to be seen. Well, until Charlotte spotted something peculiar hiding in the corner of the Man Cave.

"Uh, hey-hey, guys. Hey-hey-hey!" She yelled above the noise they were making as Schwoz wheeled in one of those blocky, classic TVs that seem to make movies even better. The boys and (y/n) turned to see what she was talking about and it was weird because, for such a large thing, no one had noticed it. "There's a---anyone know what this big box is?"

"No, never seen it before. Lemme look." (y/n) mumbled and strolled over to the wooden crate, which Ray wasn't very happy about since it meant she pulled away from his body and dropped his hand. It was a strange thing, to say the least. The box was plain with nothing much about it, just a piece of paper, the shipping label and a peculiar logo printed on the side, so there weren't any clues as to how it got into the Man Cave or where it came from since there was no return address. Huh, and right under her nose...

"Uhhh, don't ask about that and don't look at it, (y/n/n). It's probably got work inside." Henry warned the woman as she came to stand beside Charlotte and trailed her fingers down the splintering wood. Whatever it was, wherever it came from, it looked like a problem, which didn't fit in with the aesthetic of their day off. So, couldn't they just let it be for the time being?

"Yeah, but there's a note from the vice mayor that says, please open this box right away," Charlotte argued, gesturing to the sheet stapled to the wood that had City Hall's crest printed in the corner.

Ah yes, Vice Mayor Willard, that aggravating politician who always called Miss Danger "ma'am" because he always forgot that she existed as if she hadn't been Captain Man's second sidekick for over two years or something. Trust him to ruin their perfect day.

"Ah, that could mean anything! Come on, sweet girl, come back over here...I'll give you a kiss..." Ray fluttered his eyelashes and stuck out a pouty bottom lip to try and coax his precious girl back to his side so they could carry on with the no work thing but (y/n) just had a funny feeling. Her tummy was talking to her and everyone knew what that meant--this box had something to hide...in more ways than one.

"As tempting as that sounds, doofus, I think we should just open it up and see what's inside." (y/n) replied and ignored his attempts to win her over by luring her heart. It had been working too, a kiss was something she'd never turn down after dreaming about it for so many years but come on, her tummy. It was telling her to have a quick peep inside just to see if something was wrong.

"Oh, come on, (y/n)! Charlotte!" Jasper shouted as the other boys groaned. Here came the work. With the help of Charlotte, they rocked and pulled at the box's sides, trying to prise the wood from the nails holding it together, which wasn't easy but they had determination. And all the while, the boys were praying for a miracle.

"Please, be popcorn...Please, be popcorn...Please, be popcorn..."

"Please, be popcorn...Please, be popcorn...Please, be popcorn..." They chanted as the box's lid loosened and finally gave way, causing the sides to fall and splay out. Well, it wasn't popcorn, that was for sure. It was...it was a goddamn bomb.

"Huh. Well, I was not expecting that." (y/n) looked at the thing with a perplexed yet curious expression because there was a bomb in front of her.

Now, most people would run for the hills and take cover in a fallout shelter or something, which is what she expected the others to do when they found out what it was but she knew better. It wasn't one of those bombs you'd see in Mission Impossible or Men in Black, no countdown or beep-beep-beep was telling them to run. It was really old, ancient even, and from the looks of things, she guessed that it would need an impact or an intervening event to make it blow. Kind of like a knife compared to a chainsaw but from an engineer's point of view; still bad but not the worst scenario.

"Definitely not popcorn," Charlotte told the boys and they all deflated with disappointment. Did they really think there'd be a sweet or salty, fluffy snack in there? Come on...

"What is it?" Jasper asked as he looked the thing up and down. Oh, (y/n) wouldn't tell them, that would spoil the fun, no, she'd let someone else do that and for now, she was happy to examine it herself just to make sure it was safe, and to hear their wild theories.

"I'll tell you what it is. It's a big, steaming pile of work!" Ray snapped. Of course, he wasn't a mechanic either so he couldn't get technical but he knew a problem when he saw one and there was a massive predicament taking up space in his Man Cave. All he wanted to do was sit on the couch, turn on a good movie, grab a cold drink and get all snuggly with his sweet girl. Was that too much to ask?

Apparently, yes. Rolling her eyes, Charlotte ignored her boss and picked up the small, cheap PearPad that had been inside the box too. No doubt it was just a burner to show them a message because lord knows that sending an email or a simple letter was so much harder than buying a device to give instructions. Stupid mayor, stupid city officials. Anyway...

"Hello, Captain Man, Kid Danger...uh, ma'am." The mayor's message started predictably and (y/n) found herself rolling her eyes too at how he'd only just managed to remember that she was a superhero too. Seriously, Captain Man, Kid Danger, Miss Danger, was it so hard? And his attempt at passing off his blunder as respect was pathetic too.

"Hate to drop a bomb on you like this but the crate that you just opened contains a bomb!" The mayor carried on and the moment he said the B-word, everything descended into chaos. Charlotte scrambled away from the explosive with terror in her eyes and even these rough, tough boys gulped and took a step back. They couldn't believe how calm Schwoz and (y/n) were being, they just stood next to it with uncaring expressions. God, Ray wanted to pull her back and cradle her to his chest so he could shield her from the danger.

"Her name's Whistlin' Susie and she's a World War Two atomic weapon." Yeah, atomic just made it worse. Think of an explosion that melts your face off or y'know, leaves you with a tan that'll slowly kill you. Jasper and Charlotte didn't need telling twice; the boy dived onto the couch, hoping that the curved, padded cushions had radiation shielding or something whilst the girl hid behind it. Oh yeah, that would save them.

"She showed up in the basement of City Hall last week. Now, I'm the vice mayor, not the roll the dice mayor. So, I don't wanna take any chances with this thing, that's why I sent it to the Man Cave. I think it's probably safe there. And now, I'm done thinking about this." Probably being the keyword in that utterance. The vice mayor's face disappeared from the screen and Schwoz discarded the thing as everyone else stayed well back.

Well, it was lovely that he thought they could handle it but seriously?! A bomb? Oh no, it's not like the city had a bomb squad or scientists that could've handled it, it had to be sent to Captain Man and his team, they could be blown up instead. Speaking of being blown up, Ray, Jasper, Henry and Charlotte gawped in horror as (y/n) and Schwoz did the opposite. The pair took a step forward and curiously started poking and prodding the bomb like it wasn't a deadly explosive.

"Hey, Schwoz, (y/n), what are you doing?! Get away from that!" Henry gasped as they got closer, a little too close for him and Ray. Speaking of the man, he was bricking it, his breath hitched at how his sweet girl, the love of his life, the one who carried his heart, was kicking and running her hands over it like it wasn't extremely dangerous.

"Sw--sweet girl, get back here! It's dangerous!" Ray cried and reached out to take her into his arms. Did she not realise that she was toying with his love and therefore his sanity? If something happened to her, super-regeneration be damned, he'd...he'd not be able to go on. She was so precious to him, losing her was incomprehensible, and yet she was playing with death so casually. Huh?

"Relax, it's not that dangerous." Schwoz scoffed with (y/n), who gave them a teasing smile as she wrapped an arm around the bomb like it was an old friend. And just to prove their point, Schwoz gave it some soft kicks for good measure, showing that they could do what they like with it and it wouldn't go off. Something complicated that they wouldn't go on about but they wouldn't be near it if it wasn't safe.

"Guys, atomic bombs don't just explode by themselves. You have to activate them first." (y/n) explained, gesturing to the thing, complete with its rusty casing and painted-on whistling woman, which just emphasised its age and simplicity. She'd seen a more complicated toaster, honestly, this thing wasn't that dangerous as long as it didn't start ticking.

"So, as long as we don't start the timing sequence, this thing is basically one big rock. Look!" She giggled and whacked the bomb with Schwoz, enjoying how empty it was inside and how thrilling it was to smack something that could incinerate everything in a fifty-mile radius. Living life on the edge was exciting. "Not active! Totally safe!"

And cautiously, the others heeded her words, creeping closer and closer until Henry was within touching distance. As (y/n) and Schwoz watched with amused smirks, the kid rapped his knuckles against the metal casing, just to test if it wasn't as dangerous as it seemed. His jumpy friends recoiled just in case it was gonna blow but when the bomb did nothing, Henry giggled. Yeah, he was starting to understand the thrill too.

"Ha, it's actually kind of fun...smacking a bomb." He smiled at the others, who relaxed when they saw how he wasn't dead or fried or incinerated, he was just standing there, all amused from playing with a weapon of mass destruction. Perhaps it wasn't as dangerous as they had first thought, perhaps if they slapped it, things would be okay...

"Lemme try, lemme try, lemme try." Jasper stuttered and pushed his best friend out of the way so he could tap the top of the bomb like it was a drum. And to his surprise and entertainment, all he could feel was the hollow cavity inside that stored all of that nuclear detonator stuff.

Oh yeah, he could get used to that and slowly but surely, everyone else started to join in, whacking the bomb. It probably wasn't the best idea to poke the proverbial bear as it were, and Ray was still quite unsure but when his sweet girl turned around to give him a gleaming smile, he just couldn't help it. He wanted in.

And so, they beat that bomb with happy grins on their faces, which would probably look quite moronic to anyone watching but for them, it was five seconds of fun knowing that the mayor had sent Susie to them believing that she was gonna kill the entire city when really, you could do whatever you want with her. That timing sequence wasn't gonna start. Well, that was fun while it lasted...

"Movie day!" Ray cheered once the slapping had finished and they all joyfully rushed to the couch, leaving Susie where she stood. Just because Willard had said that it was now their problem didn't mean they had to work. The bomb could sit there for a few hours whilst they relaxed instead, why should their fun have to be spoiled? After all, it's not like Susie was gonna blow...

~Half an hour later~

Oh, yeah, this was nice. This was good. This was heaven. A random movie on the rock of a TV Schwoz had brought in, a comfy couch, the odd snack and just some quality time hanging out together with no worries. That's what a movie day was about.

On one side of the couch, there was Henry; he was in charge of changing the film, altering the volume, that kind of thing. Then, there was Charlotte next to him, and Jasper next to her, nibbling away at a chocolate mold of someone's head, which was an odd choice of snack but still, he seemed to like it.

Wedged next to him was Schwoz, who just to mildly irritate everyone had a dish of chips and salsa, which he just had to dip with chopsticks--yeah, they had no idea why, they didn't question it either. And then, the lovey-dovey couple, who would argue that they were the most comfortable out of all of them.

Ray was free to spread out along the left curve of the couch with Susie tucked under one arm because why the hell not? She wasn't hurting anybody and it was kinda thrilling to have irradiating material just chilling next to you. Plus, it made a great bottle opener.

Anyway, the real comfort came on his other side, where (y/n) and her bowl of ice cream were snuggling up to him, one leg over his, her cheek pressed against his pec and his arm curled around her waist to pull her even closer.

Oh, the others could tease them all they liked but nothing could beat this, not when they could sneak kisses during the distracting action scenes and share spoonfuls of creamy, strawberry goodness. Maybe Ray's huge body took up one-quarter of the couch and left them all huddled up, elbow-to-elbow, but no one would complain. Not when those two looked so happy and carefree.

"But Shake-Up, our catcher's still lost at sea. Now, we'll have to forfeit the game!" (y/n) couldn't care less what was being said in the movie since it wasn't a romcom and therefore wasn't her genre but that was okay, she had a much better distraction. She giggled into Ray's shirt as his arm came over her head to crack the bottle top off of his soda, using Susie, of course. Oh, he looked so damn handsome from this angle, his jaw could slice anything and his hair had those little floppy bits poking out that never seemed to stay gelled back. How was it possible for one man to be so perfect?

"Precious girl..." Ray muttered almost silently as she stretched her neck to meet his lips after he took a swig of soda because it wasn't fair that the glass bottle could have that luxury and not her. The spoon laden with ice cream would have to wait, the entire world would have to; his lips were moving against hers so slowly, so perfectly, everything else faded and became blurry.

And that included the oncoming cataclysm. It was like the domino effect of a disaster, one bad thing after another until it peaked with the worst catastrophe of all. First, Henry sneezed, y'know, the most natural thing in the world, but he didn't cover his mouth and nose like a nice, normal person.

No, he snotted all over Charlotte, who understandably recoiled and flailed her elbows, which meant she accidentally nudged Jasper. Then, Jasper lost his grip on his chocolate head, which then landed in Schwoz's salsa. And to top it all off, the salsa then splattered all over (y/n), some of it going into her eye and burning for a brief second as her super-healing body blinked it away.

It didn't sound like a problem but it was; upon feeling the searing pain of the spicy dip on sensitive skin, her arms went up to protect her face...and one of her hands just so happened to be holding a spoon...with ice cream...lots of it.

Predictably, the peace was shattered as a massive ice cream glob landed on Ray's cheek, the chilliness of the dessert spooking him into sloshing his soda all over the place and that included all over Susie. Oh god, old circuits don't mix well with liquid and the old bomb was no exception, so without their knowledge, shit started sparking and smoking as they focused on their small, inconsequential problems.

"Ah, my face! Sweet girl! You--you flicked ice cream on my face!" Ray yelped and wiped the stickiness from his cheek as they pulled apart, the kiss suddenly over all too soon. No more cuddling for them, not when he was giving her an incredulous, almost offended look like he'd been attacked by his most trusted ally. What gives? They were two minutes away from descending into a makeout session...

"It's not my fault! Schwoz splashed sauce in my eye!" (y/n) replied in a whiny voice, not liking how he was pinning the blame on her.

"That's because Jasper's chocolate head landed in my salsa!" Schwoz retorted, passing the blame along the row. Everything had been going fine on their end until the boy ruined his food; he'd been eating his chips, (y/n) had been eating her ice cream and Ray's face, it was just another typical movie day.

"That's 'cause Charlotte bumped into me!" Jasper complained too, making everyone look at the girl, who also felt like none of this was her fault. Any normal person would be disgusted at being sneezed on, it was only because of that disgust that any of this had happened. So, in her mind, it was technically Henry's fault. "That's 'cause Henry sneezed on me!"

"Shhhh! Listen!" The boy's reaction was unusual and unprecedented because he didn't seem bothered by the accusation. Instead, he seemed to be focused on something else, something that they couldn't hear over the sound of the baseball charge music from the movie. So, he turned the whole thing off, which annoyed them all for a brief second before they heard it too. Oh, shit.

It wasn't much, it was barely a tick-click-tick-click thrumming through the air, but it was enough and it was obvious where the noise was coming from. It was Susie.

"Oh, sweet cheese..." (y/n) breathed out as they all gulped and looked at the bomb, which in the time they had been arguing had started counting down, getting closer and closer to zero when all of their lives would be over. Were those lights flashing before? No, they weren't, this was bad, this was very very bad, she knew it, Schwoz knew it, and the others were getting the message from how the clever ones had put down their snacks and were looking quite queasy.

"Schwoz?"

"Where're you going, dude?" Ray and Henry, everyone, looked at the genius with livid expressions as he crept away slowly and left them all on the couch. It wasn't that he was a coward, it was just that...he was a coward. Come on, it was his coconut instinct--that thing was gonna blow, he wanted to run, it was only because she refused to leave her doofus and friends that (y/n) wasn't doing the same. Honestly, there's a fine line between bravery and stupidity.

"Okay, uh, remember when (y/n) and I said Whistlin' Susie can't explode unless she's active?" Schwoz asked tentatively because he didn't want to worry them but there was still a live bomb one metre in front of him. It was impossible not to be nervous, especially after acting so chill earlier on.

"Yeah..." All of the non-science ones mumbled, having that memory clear in their minds. It was the only reason why they trusted the bomb, the only reason why they'd allowed Ray to bring it over to sit with them and the only reason why they'd propped it up against the couch. They, the smart ones who knew about all this nuclear physics and chemistry, engineering stuff, had assured them it was safe. It was safe, right?

"Yeah, well, now she's active!" (y/n) whimpered, looking at the bomb, the one her doofus had his hand on, with terror in her eyes.

Screaming in horror, Henry, Jasper, Charlotte and Ray scrambled to get as far away from that thing as they could, the latter grabbing his sweet girl's hand and dragging her to safety. Sure, he'd survive but his family wouldn't--could her super-regeneration overcome a nuclear blast? It was a bit more heavy-duty than a gunshot or stab wound.

They cleared the couch in a matter of seconds, with the only hiccup being that Ray very nearly tipped the thing over. Dear lord, they couldn't let it fall over, for all they knew the impact might make the timer hit zero prematurely and then it would be all over.

No, for now, they were cowering on the floor, huddling together with Ray cradling his sweet girl to his chest like he had done that time when Schwoz gave them all a deadly disease. He couldn't let her get hurt, he just couldn't, he'd vowed to keep her safe. So, what were they gonna do?

Okay, panic. That was step one. It had taken them all a while to calm down after hearing the terrible, dreadful, fucking horrific news that the bomb was minutes, hours or days away from exploding, but like most shitstorms, there was calm afterwards.

(y/n) had made a very good point; if they were gonna die, then they'd go out fighting to...not die. There was something they could do, there had to be, they couldn't just sit around and wait to die, not when they had two very experienced engineers in the room whose steady hands could see if there was a solution. All was not lost, at least that was her perspective and after wrenching herself from Ray's deadlocked embrace and calming the teens down from their hyperventilative states, she and Schwoz got to work.

Okay, prising the door to the circuit board and inner mechanisms wasn't too hard, the bomb wasn't very sophisticated in that way, so that wasn't the problem. However, what was a bit concerning was how unnecessarily complicated it seemed to be on the inside.

So, as they started poking around the cable and buttons and observing the pressure dials, they realised that this wasn't gonna be as easy as they had thought. Stuff everywhere, way too many components and extra wires that could trip the system at any time and kill them all instantly. In other words, they were playing Russian roulette.

"You said this thing wasn't active! You said it was like a big rock!" Henry exclaimed breathlessly as he and Ray paced around whilst they did their best to disarm the bomb.

Jasper and Charlotte were content to huddle together by the supercomputer but the heroes couldn't sit still. Henry was just plain nervous and Ray was scared for himself, his team, his home, his goddamn rabbit in the other room and his sweet girl, who currently had her fingers wedged into a bomb. No wonder he was on the verge of a heart attack--he could see the ring on her finger next to the flashing lights. Would he even get to marry her?

"It was like a big rock! Until Ray, being the doofus he is, spilt soda on the timer and then, the carbon from his soda reacted with the degraded copper wires and oh, science-science-science and stuff you guys won't understand---now, it's active!" (y/n) snapped, not wanting to point the blame or get too technical but the stress was getting to her. The lives of everyone in the city were counting on her and Schwoz to fix this, what if they failed?

"And now, everyone in Swellview's gonna be vapourised?" Charlotte asked in a worried tone. That's what happened in the movies, that's what she'd learnt in history class, one bomb and everyone dies, that's generally what happened. A flash of searing pain and it was all over, well, some lucky so-and-so's might survive, Ray and maybe (y/n) included, but there'd be nothing left for them. No buildings, no safe food and water, everything would be lost.

"Oh, no, no, no..." Schwoz shook his head because that wasn't strictly accurate, so they all breathed a sigh of relief. Well, if they were destined to die at least they weren't gonna take everyone with them, that was a good thing. "First, we will all catch fire and then, we will slowly, painfully--"

"That is bad news!

"No, no, no, no!"

"Really, Schwoz?"

"Hey, knock it off you're scaring them! Anyway, we're the closest to the bomb, we'll be dead from the blast before we even realise it. Well, most of you will be anyway." (y/n) whacked Schwoz on the shoulder as the others shuddered from the description of their demise. Great, well, it was all right for her and Ray; he was sure to survive and her chances were better than theirs, and either way, dying like that didn't sound good.

"Just tell us how long we have until this thing explodes," Henry stated, swallowing his fear so they could focus on working out a solution. They always sorted things, they always cheated death, it was what they did and as superheroes, they were the only ones who could save the day. The mayor had dropped this on them, a bit of a dick move, but now, it was their responsibility. They could do something, right?

"Uh...about six hours." Schwoz estimated after glancing at the steadily rising pressure gauges. They weren't too high yet, the bomb wasn't ready to blow and they could do a lot in six hours, have a shower, get married, play a game of football, have lunch, sing a song or deactivate or dump the bomb. Any of those would be nice and Ray had his ideas about how they could spend their final hours, which predictably, weren't very helpful.

"Oh, great. We can finish the movie!" he grinned, which earnt him a few dry looks from his friends because that was so not helpful. Sure, they had time to play with but that time was for doing something useful, not watching some dumb teen movie.

"No, Raymond, we are not watching the movie!" (y/n) warned him, making the man's giddy smile drop. Aw, he wanted to return the peace and comfort they'd had when they were snuggling earlier before the disaster had happened. It wasn't his fault that she looked so hot in that cute little skirt and dress, it was difficult to not want to have her all to himself but he understood where she was coming from. It had been a long stretch from the beginning.

"Wait, (y/n), Schwoz, can't you guys just cut the wires and turn off the timer?" Charlotte asked, thinking that it should've been simple because without a timer, the bomb wouldn't tick down and ergo, it wouldn't explode. If only it was as simple as it was in the movies.

"I don't know. These wires are old and unstable. Cutting the wires might work or it might cause an explosion. " Schwoz shrugged and looked at the cables and circuits inside. They were taking a risk as it was, poking around with such outdated equipment was dangerous and even he, the greatest inventor in Swellview, possibly one of the greatest in the world, couldn't say what would happen if he started snipping stuff.

"Enough talk! Either this works or it doesn't. Give me the wire cutters!" Ray just couldn't take it. What he was willing to take was his chances because this way, he could say that he'd tried his best and given it a go when no one else would. He had guts, everyone would give him that, but he was also stupid and reckless, and they weren't ready to be blown up yet.

"What? No, no, no, no!"

"Ray! Ray!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"No, no, no, no!"

"Doofus, no!" They all screamed, making him pull away from the bomb before he could do any snipping. Jeez, talk about giving them all heart attacks, he had no coordination, no expertise and no clue which wire to cut and no, he couldn't cut all of them. They had to think about this carefully if they were gonna cut the wire, that is.

"What? What?"

"Or you could just load it up into the Man Truck, drive it out into the desert and cut the wires there. That way if Whistlin' Susie explodes, nobody in Swellview gets burnt to a crisp," Charlotte suggested and everyone thought that her idea sounded a hell of a lot better.

"Ummmm, it's kinda a far drive," Ray, however, wasn't too keen, "I've already got the wire cutters right here and I'm feeling lucky." He grinned and twirled the small cutter in between his fingers. Right well, if he was feeling lucky, then they were feeling sneaky because there was one way to get Ray to change his mind and then had no problem shoving her forward to use those eyelashes against him. The skirt helped too...

"Ray...please..." Oh, (y/n) was good, she was so good. Her hand was hooked underneath his arm and grasping his bicep before he could step towards the bomb and when he turned to look at her, she turned up the charm. Her palm rested against his chest and she looked up at him through her eyelashes so her eyes seemed large and sorrowful, so when her bottom lip trembled, it was all over for the hero. How could he go against her when she was practically begging on her knees and penetrating his soul like that?

"Fine, I'll do it! Schwoz, will you please show me what to do when I get out to the desert?" Ray conceded haughtily, although everyone knew that he wasn't pissed at all, he never was when it came to his sweet girl. He could try to make it seem like he'd been pushed into the decision, but it was clear that he'd gladly taken her hand to be guided into the light. And that was the magic of (y/n).

"Hold my flashlight..." Schwoz was beyond relieved that his boss was taking the sensible route because now all he needed to do was give him a don't-blow-yourself-up-course in bomb disarmament,

"It's simple. First, you hold the orange wire with one hand. Then, with the other hand, you cut the yellow wire."

"Easy." Well, that seemed straightforward enough. Even for a bozo like Ray, who'd never attended a science class in his life because his girl's late-night ramblings on the workings of life didn't count.

"Then, with your third hand," or not, "you press the reset button. Then, with your fourth hand, you hold the white wire. Then, with your fifth hand, you cut the green wire. And finally, you press the reset button again--"

"That's not a plan!"

"I don't have a fourth hand!"

"That's not gonna work!" They complained to the genius, who gave them all a blank stare. Well, he could do it on his own, what were they grumbling about? It was just simple physics contained in a deadly explosive, nothing too fruity.

"You need six hands to diffuse this thing?" Jasper asked as Ray frowned. Well, that meant he couldn't go on his own, or rather, he wouldn't let anyone come with him, so they'd have to think of another plan. And yet that got (y/n) and Henry thinking; well, if Captain Man needed help, it was obvious who'd go with him. There were two people employed specifically to lend a hand.

"One, two...Okay! New plan! I figure out a way to grow Ray four more arms--" Oh, Schwoz. Dear, sweet, clever and yet so stupid, Schwoz.

"Schwoz, first of all, that's never gonna work and you're gonna spend years trying. Second of all, you're not turning my fiancé into a mutant freak. And third of all, that means there's only one thing left to do." (y/n) pinched the bridge of her nose before turning to her lover, who seemed to dread what she was about to suggest as if he could read her mind. Okay, it wasn't ideal because even with her, the danger was still very real, but what choice did they have?

"We've gotta go with you, doofus."

"Huh, no!" And Ray just flat out refused. No way, not a chance, he was never gonna allow his darling, precious fiancé and vulnerable, young sidekick along on a trip that could so very easily end in them being blown to bits. It was too dangerous and if anything happened to them, he'd never forgive himself, not when the burden had only been his to bear at the beginning.

"You heard Schwoz, dude, you need six hands to turn this thing off!" Henry protested, siding with (y/n) on this one because whilst he was squishy and in danger of being killed, he had a duty to the city just as much as his boss did. He wasn't scared of death, not if it meant he was saving thousands of people in the process.

"Yeah, but you and (y/n)--I gotta keep you--I gotta keep her safe--"

"And we took an oath to help you protect the people of Swellview, so we're going doofus, whether you like it or not." (y/n) butted in. She understood what was running through his mind, she wasn't overly thrilled about him going or Henry being put in danger too, but they had to do this, no matter how terrifying it was or what they could lose. Who would do it if not them?

"It's too dangerous, sweetheart. You know---you know I can't lose you," Ray lowered his voice and looked off to stare at the floor as he tenderly cupped her cheek and imagine his worst nightmare becoming a reality.

No more sleeping, he couldn't do that without her next to him. No more eating, he wouldn't want to if she wasn't there to steal tidbits. No more watching movies, if she wasn't there to snuggle into his side and makeout with him then there was no point. Life would become meaningless and dark, it was better that she stayed safe and he took the hit on this one.

"I know doofus, but you're the guy who was about to cut the wires on an atomic bomb because he was, feeling lucky." (y/n) pointed out. It was all well and good saying that he was concerned about her and the kid, and yes, that protectiveness made her tummy flutter, but moments before, he'd been willing to just go off luck and take a chance. He was lucky he was so adorable...

"Okay, that was a lie. I didn't feel lucky at all!" Very lucky that he was so adorable. Sometimes, it was like there was a subtext telling them to just punch him in his stupid teeth. Whatever, whilst they were debating whether to kill him or not, Charlotte had been brainstorming and she was fairly sure that there was a way for Henry to go and stand some chance of surviving the nuclear blast.

"Wait, Schwoz, remember when you used to be convinced that there was gonna be a war between humans and bears?" She turned to the small man, who instantly became serious and passionate about the change of topic. Yeah, that had been a weird time in the Man Cave and there had been plenty of debates about how ridiculous and unrealistic his theory was but there had been one good thing to come out of Schwoz's conspiracy.

"Used to be? You just wait until Bear War One, it's coming! Believe me! It's coming!"

"No need to get overexcited, Schwoz. It's just a load of old shit..." (y/n) muttered as the genius went off on one about how he thought the bears were gonna rise and kill humanity. Honestly, he called himself a man of science, but they let him have his wild theories, all (y/n) did was merely relax back into Ray's chest when he leisurely wrapped his arms around her waist and dropped a kiss to her temple. He could tolerate the crap if he had her as a distraction.

"Anyway...you still have that bear-proof suit that you made, right?"

"Yeah...that bear-proof suit. That thing ever work?" Henry could see what Charlotte was driving at and Schwoz chuckled and chuckled and chuckled at the memory. That had been a fun day for him, Ray and (y/n). You know, just a normal day until he'd brought an actual, man-eating bear into the Man Cave to test out the survival suit he'd made, which Ray had loved, but his sweet girl had hated.

It had been petrifying from the moment the thing had walked out of the elevator. Whilst Ray had excitedly observed from the tube pads with (y/n) cowering behind his back, the huge beast padded its way into the main room and headed for Schwoz. The genius had taunted and lured it towards him and before he knew it, the beast had given him a strong swipe with its paw, and that sent him flying. Surprisingly though, in the suit, he couldn't feel a thing, not even when its jaws locked onto his arm and started to maul him. All it did was leave him chuckling, much like he's now at the oh-so hilarious memory.

"Well, does that answer your question?" Schwoz asked as he broke out of his little daydream. Oh, fun memories--not only had his suit been a great success but he'd had a lovely little play session with a fucking huge animal. It was great, even if (y/n) begged to differ. To her, the place still smelled of bear...

"No."

"You've just been standing there, laughing for about twenty-five seconds." Henry and Jasper stared at him blankly because all the time he'd been imagining how great his suit had been, the others had been left to just watch as he spaced out. Well, Ray was a little preoccupied running his nose from behind his girl's ear and down her neck to her shoulder, enjoying how she shivered and stretched to bare her throat even more. He'd kinda lost himself in the moment too...

"Oh, well, the suit works." And that's all Henry needed to know, much to Ray's annoyance since he now had to stop enjoying the scent of his fiancée's perfume and break out of their happy little bubble to return to the problem of her and Henry tagging along on his deadly mission.

"Good enough for me. Ray, I'm going with you." Henry announced and slapped his boss on the back as the man rubbed his eyes tiredly. Oh god, the kid wasn't taking no for an answer and he could hear his sweet girl giggling at how frustrated he was by it. Did he have to? Sure, that suit was epic but still, he was so worried.

"Me too, doof. Count me in." (y/n) smiled and squished his cheeks together just to annoy him even down. She wasn't about to watch him drive off and get himself blown up, she was gonna be there too, for better or worse. And if he thought he could get rid of her or Henry that easily, not when they were as heroic and courageous as he was. He would just have to put up with it.

"Dah, fine! But if either of you dies, I'm gonna kill you!" Ray warned them snappily, which made his lover chuckle at how silly and weirdly cute his threat was. Yeah, that was her doofus, ridiculous yet fiercely loyal, loving and caring; it was just his way of saying he was gonna go with it but at the first sign of danger, they'd be the ones retreating whilst he stayed behind. He cared, so damn much...as if he'd ever kill them.

"Sure you would, sweetheart..." The woman grinned and stood on her tiptoes to give him a gentle kiss, her thumb rubbing at the space between his eyebrows to smoothen the crease there caused by stress. It would be fine, they would be fine and as long as they were together, death wouldn't be so bad. A bit of an inconvenience, sort of.

"Let's do this!" Henry exclaimed, feeling pumped up and ready to go since he felt quite safe. The suit would protect him and let's be honest, Ray would never let anything threaten (y/n), so the fact that he was letting her come along told him that it wasn't that dangerous. Seriously, Ray could be quite firm when he was concerned about her and as such, the kid was feeling quite calm and unbothered, so he just gave Susie a small smack--which made her tip over. Idiot.

The bomb landed with a clank and a click, which caused them all to jump back in fear and alarm. Ray instinctively tugged (y/n) behind his back and felt Jasper curl into his shoulder too, although he was much more concerned with how his sweet girl trembled with fright. What had Henry been thinking?

"Let's do this..." The teen rephrased with slightly more humility because everyone was glaring daggers at him. Not his best moment, maybe he'd smack something else next time because Charlotte was breathing like a bullmastiff, Schwoz had gone pale, Jasper had to be wrenched from Ray's shoulder and speaking of Ray, he'd gone into super-protective fiancée mode.

(y/n)'s arms were securely around his waist, her face buried in between his shoulder blades and her hot breath settling into his shirt as she caught her breath. Ray dropped his hands down to his belt to gently grab hers and ran his thumb over her knuckles as he death-stared at his sidekick. His sweet girl had been scared, even if it was just for a moment--not Henry Hart's best idea he'd ever had.

~In the Man Truck~

Well, the drive hadn't been so bad. It had been agonisingly long and to be fair, the heroes had had a slow start after transforming into their super-suits--just Ray having one of his pre-journey fits as usual.

However, once they'd hit the open road, things had gone rather smoothly. The traffic had soon been left behind in the city as they reached the hour mark but it wasn't particularly boring, not when Ray could rest one elbow on the door and keep the other on (y/n)'s inner thigh--the only position they knew when it came to cruising in Ray's beat-up old truck.

It truly was a banger; rusty and rickety after a couple of decades of service to the man, who loved it like it was his baby. There were so many memories attached to it, passing his driving test, picking up girls as a spotty teenager, wooing women as a handsome adult, blasting music with (y/n) when they were "just friends" and now, driving his future wife to late-night dates for star-gazing. This truck had seen it all and even if it was showing its age, he'd never get rid of it. No, (y/n) would forever be working her magic to keep it running, he just adored the stupid hunk of junk.

Still, it was good enough for a discreet mission like this where they needed space in the back and a vehicle that wouldn't draw suspicion. All of the other vehicles he owned wouldn't do; they were too small and too flashy to carry a bomb around and the last thing wanted to do was pull over for a selfie when the cargo in the back go blow at any minute. No, the Man Truck would do just fine, great even because after a while, ignoring the smell of burning oil, it was quite a sweet ride.

There was enough space for all three of them in the front with Henry taking the passenger side, Ray at the wheel and (y/n) squished into the middle. And that truly was the best set-up because the kid could have his own space as they got all cosy--well, as cosy as they could with the man driving. The atmosphere was rather relaxing as they finally broke out into the desert and trekked along a desolate, endlessly straight road, and with Ray being suspiciously silent yet striking with his hot sunglasses, there was ample opportunity for a good, old-fashioned heart-to-heart.

"...It's just like, I don't know, man. I'm just--I'm having trouble balancing my normal life with my sidekick life." Henry sighed as he ranted to (y/n), who honestly didn't mind because she was a good listener and in a way, she kind of related to how he was feeling. Well, not exactly, but she understood what he was feeling.

It was one of Henry's bitter problems, the struggle of being a normal kid and a superhero at the same time because everyone needed Henry Hart to be the perfect student, the perfect, son, the perfect brother and the perfect friend, but everyone also needed Kid Danger to be the perfect hero. There was just so much pressure and so many expectations, he sometimes wondered if his thirteen-year-old self had bitten off more than he could chew.

Sure, it had been fun at first but now, a few years down the line and he found himself struggling to stay afloat. What had been plain and simple, black and white before was now blurring into one, the lines he'd drawn were disappearing and he was losing his perspective on what his priorities were. Should he stay at home with his family or go out and save someone? Should he study to make sure he passes that class or run off to go and stop Doctor Minyak or The Toddler?

"It's like, where does Henry Hart end and Kid Danger begin?" That was the burning question. Who did he want to be? Because from what he'd learnt so far, he couldn't be both. He was both Henry and Kid Danger but they were two different people constantly fighting to be on the surface and be the dominant personality. How could he fight bad guys and live a normal life when he was fighting himself?

"It's just...it's been a tough couple of years..." He sniffed and (y/n) couldn't take it anymore. Her hand crossed the gap between them and landed on his knee, making him look over at her with sad, puffy eyes. Poor baby, she knew it was a struggle, she knew how much he'd sacrificed for the city and she knew that it sucked that for Kid Danger to be the great sidekick he was, Henry Hart had to take a beating. Their lives weren't easy, she knew that better than anyone.

"I know, kid," she swallowed and squeezed his knee before carrying on, "I totally get what you're saying. I mean, one minute I was boring old (y/n) (y/l/n), the mouse in the Man Cave and the next minute, I had a superpower and I was out fighting crime." It was curious how fate played its hand. When she'd taken the job as his helper or mechanic or cleaner or whatever, (y/n) had never expected to become Ray's sidekick, especially not after Henry had arrived but that's just how things played out.

"We had to become different people very quickly and we'll never be thanked for what we do. We have to suffer for Miss Danger and Kid Danger to thrive and it's hard to just sit back and take it. But it's what we do." She said wistfully. Of course, her job was rewarding and she never tired of seeing people reunite with their families or villains get their comeuppance but sometimes she couldn't help but wonder too.

If she and Ray retired, what would life be like for them? No more stress, no more constant peril, no more sleepless nights, no more disrupted days, no more secrets. They'd be a normal couple and they could live in a normal house with boring jobs and boring neighbours, which didn't sound fun until she dreamed of the family they longed for. Children and a dog, messes to clean up and drawings on the fridge, spilt breakfast in bed and long nights soothing poorly tummies. That sounded like heaven but she knew that the dream was a long way off.

"Do you ever wish you hadn't taken the job?" Henry asked, which made the woman pause. He'd taken it because he was just a kid in need of money and adventure but she had a job, a great job that she loved and lord knows that naturally if danger came her way, she ran in the other direction. What would've happened if she'd stayed in her comfort zone and not gone out on the odd mission that turned into a full-time habit?

"...No. I...I don't like to think like that," she replied, choosing her words carefully because her feelings were complex but the truth was simple, "there's no point wishing that I'd done something differently. And anyway, who knows? If I'd never become Miss Danger, I might have never got with Ray and you two would undoubtedly be stuck in a hole or a trap right now."

"Yeah, that's true," Henry giggled, knowing that M-D had certainly gotten him and Ray out of a few scrapes over the years, "...thanks for listening to me."

"No problem, kid. I know how much you struggle to make us happy and everyone else. We're both very grateful and if you ever need a break or advice or anything, you can come to us. Ain't that right, doofus? Doofus? Ray! Raymond!" (y/n) drifted her smile away from the thankful boy and across to her lover, who had been suspiciously quiet during the time she and Henry had been chatting.

Not even one word had fallen from his lips, which wasn't like him and now that she thought about it, his hand had been suspiciously still and limp on her thigh too. Was he--was he asleep?

Oh, yeah he was, Henry reached across to grab the sunglasses and confirmed it, his eyes were shut, his mouth was open and his breathing was slow. Well, now she was glad she shouted at him because he'd sneakily put on his shades to hide the fact that he was dozing during their conversation, which was rude, dangerous and just a little bit mean when Henry was having a tender moment.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"Oh my god, you--you doofus!" The sidekicks screeched as they saw how they were just cruising along with a driver who'd fallen asleep behind the wheel and on instinct, (y/n) grabbed it to correct their course. She'd wondered why they'd been drifting from one side of the road to the other for the last few miles but she'd just written it off as Ray being bored. Now, she knew the truth.

"Whooooaaa-I'm awake!" The hero's eyes flew open with a start and he blinked at his horrified fiancée and best friend with an innocent expression. He'd only closed his eyes for a minute because they'd been talking about boring stuff and the drive was so lame. What was the big deal?

"Raymond! Were you asleep the entire time?" (y/n) questioned harshly, her mouth dropped open as she was just...speechless. Totally and utterly baffled at how he could be so protective, loving and nurturing one minute and a completely careless buffoon the next. The man who rocked her so lovingly after she was so frightened by Susie falling over and kissed her until she'd forgotten about it had driven a car senselessly. God, he made her question his mind sometimes...

"It's fine, sweet girl! The road's straight, Henry's in a bear-proof suit, you've got super-regeneration and I'm indestructible, pffffffhh!" Ray merely brushed off her concerns with his signature charming smirk and a squeeze to her thigh, on which his hand had moved up another inch or so, just to add extra smoothness to his excuse. He had everything under control, he'd never let them get hurt.

"There's a World War Two atomic warhead in the back of the truck!" Henry exclaimed. Honestly, if they had crashed, what did he think would happen? They'd all be blown to bits, thank you and good night. How could he be so reckless with his life, the life of his future wife and the life of his sidekick who hadn't even reached adulthood yet?

"Oh, yeah...I will stay awake!" Ray grinned breezily as if he'd forgotten about Whistlin' Susie in the back. How could he forget? Did he not have nerves shooting around his belly as they did? It wasn't the sort of thing you could forget but this was Ray, the guy who forgot birthdays, anniversaries and things that happened that morning, so they begrudgingly let it slide as he shifted position to wrap an arm around (y/n)'s shoulders and pulled her into his side. Well, this was nice, at least.

"This truck's a beater, how long you had it?" Henry asked as he watched the couple get all cosy. He could see it now; them driving all night long to get to one of those secluded cabins that they booked for a weekend away, stopping to "have a break" at the side of the road, arguing at some points and laughing during others, and just making the most of every moment they had together because sooner or later, they'd return to work and the domesticity would be shattered. The life of a superhero tended to get in the way of normal romantic breaks...

"Uh...since I was sixteen, so...twenty--uh, ten--t-ten years." Ray stammered as he quickly changed his answer. Twenty-odd years seemed an awfully long time, and as always, his need to appear youthful and trendy overcame the truth.

It was a blatant lie but it seemed better than admitting his true age, especially when he remembered the gap between him and everyone else. With Henry, it wasn't so bad, they had a brother thing going on, but with his sweet girl, sometimes he had some different thoughts. Six years separated them, she was ten when this truck was brand new and sometimes, he just wanted to be closer to her age, even if she had never thought twice about how old he was.

"Ummm, seems a lot older than that," Henry replied, not realising that he was rubbing salt into some very, very sore wounds that Ray preferred to ignore.

"Well, I'm not old, okay? I'm not! The--the truck is not old! All right? The truck is a boy! A young boy, who will never grow old and never die and will always be mommy's favourite!" Yeah, there were some unresolved issues here that any psychologist would love to have a crack at. Poor doofus, his childhood was traumatic what with the densitisation and estrangement from his parents and honestly, he could be a little...leaky when proved and his leaks or outbursts were a little scary for those unused to them.

"Okay, sweetheart, just breathe. No one is saying the truck is old. The truck is perfect and sweet and kind and I love him--it very much." (y/n) was quickly on top of the leak, soothing her upset doofus with a gentle metaphor, soft words and an even softer tone. Her poor love; he appeared fine but some things had left their scars and it was hard to let them fade when the pain was still there. All she could do was stroke his bicep or hold him when his terrors kept him awake at night until the day came when everything came to pass.

"...We've been driving for almost three hours. My phone's about to die." Henry stated, quickly moving the conversation on before the awkwardness became too much. It was fine, Ray had (y/n), and it was all fine. However, what was not fine was that he'd been scrolling through TwitFlash and playing too many games for so long that his battery was drained and in desperate need of a charger. So, it was a good thing that Ray had calmed down and had a solution.

"Oh, well, plug it in and charge it."

"Oh my god, I told you to get rid of that thing..." (y/n) gasped in horror and perhaps some admiration because, holy Jesus. Ray's idea of a portable charger wasn't a power bank or anything sensible like that, oh no, it was a mechanical engineer's or a firefighter's worst nightmare.

Bundle after bundle of wires and cables snaked into a mess of corded spaghetti that eventually connected to an extension lead, which fed off of the car's battery--a fire hazard waiting to spark. (y/n) hated it with a burning passion too; her doofus had been doing it for years, saying that he knew about electricity more than she did and that overloaded sockets were just a myth, so he plugged everything into the damn thing. Phones, satellite navigation, fans and other assorted gadgets, you name it, the tangled wires powered it and all she could do is sulk.

"That can't possibly work," Henry stated, seeing that (y/n)'s face was like thunder and for good reason. The frayed wires had been patched up with tape and there was so much going on he couldn't see where it even started. Surely, the car battery would make everything explode from the high voltage and how much resistance was channelling through so much copper; how had his phone not melted yet?

"It works for my phone and the heating pad I'm sitting on and the portable AC unit under the seats," Ray smirked and just ruffled his girl's hair when he caught a glimpse of her expression. He'd been using this thing for years and she'd been complaining about it for years, but in all that time, nothing had ever gone wrong, much like the truck it fed off, the not-so-portable charging station was still going strong.

"Yeah, and it's also stupidly inefficient, dangerous and--stop holding it near my face, Raymond!" (y/n) shrieked when the messy bunch was shoved up into her face so Henry could grab the free charging cable. The idea of being zapped in the eye made her shriek and Ray chuckled because nothing was gonna go wrong. She was just so cute when she tried to be stern and his reaction as her hands covered her face swayed her decision.

"Okay..." The boy didn't need any more convincing. If it worked for all of that stuff, it should work for his phone, right? That's how physics worked, all of that malarkey about electricity causing fires was just a load of shit. And so, he plugged his phone in, smiling when the little lightning symbol appeared on the screen. Huh, maybe Ray was a genius...or not.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Henry gasped and recoiled from the wire bundle when as (y/n) had predicted, the circuit just couldn't take the extra strain. The surge of power overloaded the shitty, old cables and they began to spark and smoulder and pop in Ray's hand as his sweet girl freaked out in tandem. It was in her face, she had every right to panic, especially when Ray instinctively dropped it when it burned his fingers. And where did it land? Right on her lap.

"Ow! Oh my god, it burns! It's burning me! Get it off! I'm gonna kill both of you for this!" She shrieked when her poor thighs and knees were given a bit of a belt from the electricity and she'd never been more grateful for her healing abilities when the burn marks vanished instantly. Still, the torture was never-ending, especially since car batteries are known for being very long-lasting and rather powerful.

"Aw, come on! My heating pad!" Ray groaned when he felt his pad fizzle out, which earned him a murderous look from his fiancé. Seriously? That's what he was focusing on? His stupid ass warmer? Her legs, her beautiful legs, which he just happened to be so fond of because it was one of her top one hundred best qualities, were being scorched and fried and he cared about that? Well, that was the last time he'd see her in the hot skirt...

"Fuck the heating pad, it's burning me, your future--ow, shit!--wife!" She gasped as the sparks licked at her skin but then...nothing. The multi-coloured wires suddenly cooled into a smoulder as the electricity gave out, which was a good thing because the horrific burns had stopped but also, it was bad. Very bad--the electricity had stopped because the battery had burnt itself out and in doing so, it overheated the radiator and before they knew it, steam was rising from the bonnet. Oh, shit.

Pulling up to the side of the road, the heroes choked for air as fuel-smelling radiator steam filled the car as they stepped out onto the sandy track. God, they were in the ass-end of nowhere, nothing and no one around for miles and miles, just coyotes and cacti as far as the eye could see until they hit the mountains in the distance. The perfect place to ditch a nuclear bomb, not so perfect for breaking down without any tools or a method to call for help.

"Oh god, without the battery, we're never gonna get this thing started again." (y/n) gasped as sweet, clean air filled her lungs again but the relief didn't last. The car couldn't start without a spark to light the fuel and with no jump cables or an ignition source, they had no hope of hotwiring it, which was a lovely thing to realise when you're miles away from help.

"Way to go! Your phone broke the Man Truck!" Ray snapped at Henry as he soothingly rubbed his sweet girl's back as she spluttered, but the kid didn't deserve the blame. He could be gentle and tender all he wanted, they all knew who was at fault; the guy who'd brought half a gadget shop with him to charge his numerous, unnecessary devices.

"What are you talking about?"

"Everything was going fine until you plugged your weird phone into the truck's electrical system." The hero snapped at his bewildered sidekick, and that got him a scowl from his lover. Electrical system? That was rich; an electrical system hinted that it had been made by the car company and installed professionally, not mish-mashed together by a guy who had a very basic grip on how electricity worked. The truck was too old for an electrical system anyway, it was grungy, dirty and dusty, the exact opposite of the best environment for super-fine, super-delicate fibreoptics.

"Okay, the Man Truck's electrical system is made out of duct tape and denial." Henry quipped, making (y/n) snort because he'd hit the nail on the head. Ray wasn't laughing, though, he loved that truck and being the stubborn ass that he was, he refused to believe that his invention had been hanging on by a thread for the last few months, so as usual, he got all moody.

"I refuse to believe that." And that was that for him.

"Well, whether you believe it or not, Ray, we're in the middle of nowhere because that so-called electrical system killed the truck." (y/n) patted him on the back and ignored how he pouted. He probably wanted her to kiss him into a better mood or something but they had other things to focus on and he could wait.

"Think we're far enough out of town?" Henry asked the couple. It certainly seemed far enough away to him and (y/n) would agree. They'd hadn't passed another car in ages and there were no villages or towns between Swellview and the next city so it should've been okay, had Ray been listening.

"To do what?" Oh god, had he really forgotten? No, no one was that stupid, not even Ray. He couldn't have forgotten already, not when the sole purpose of the trip was to deliver the bomb to the desert so no one would die.

"To diffuse Whistlin' Susie, the World War Two atomic warhead that we have in the back of the truck? Remember that, doofus?" (y/n) asked her fiancé with raised eyebrows. There was a reason she ould him her doofus and this was it. He truly was a huge doofus at times but when he remembered something and that goofy smile lit up his face, it was so hard for her to stay too mad. Damn him for being so adorable.

"Oh, yeah, sweet girl! I totally forgot! That was weird..." Ray chuckled at his silly forgetfulness. Henry wasn't particularly impressed but with him brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes, (y/n) was willing to just smile with the hero as he pulled the tarp off the back of the truck. "Anyray..."

"Please, you know I hate that..." That, however, really got on her nerves. Not in a bad way, but it was quite annoying, and the more she disliked it, the more he said it. Ray loved the way her face screwed up cutely when her words grated against her, so he did it over and over and over again with the hope that she'd kissed him to shut him up. After the bomb was disposed of anyway, he could wait just a bit longer if it meant he got to see her in that skirt again.

"Where'd you put Susie?" Ray asked his sidekicks as the tarp hit the sandy road and revealed that the back of the truck was empty, save for a spare tire and whatever other random junk Ray carried around on his adventures. It was bombless, Susie was nowhere in sight and it was such a shock to hear that he couldn't find the literal ticking time bomb that (y/n)'s words dried up in her mouth and Henry was sure he'd misheard his boss.

"Hmm?" "Where'd you put Susie?" The hero reiterated and that's when Henry's face went pale. Okay, he'd not misheard him, he genuinely couldn't find the damn bomb. Panic time.

"Uh, I didn't put Susie anywhere. You said you were gonna put her in the back of the truck." Henry told his boss. That's what had happened, he and (y/n) just knew it as they shared a horrified, serious look of dread. Ray had said that he was all over the situation and that they didn't need to worry about anything because he could handle everything while they relaxed. Oh, god...

"Uh, no, I didn't!" (y/n) felt the world crumbling around her as she growled and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palm. Well, those two could argue for ages but this was shaping up to mean one thing; they'd forgotten the bomb and now, they had a serious problem.

It had taken them three hours to get here and it would take another three hours to get back, so they'd never get Susie out of town in time. This was the mother of all fuck-ups and she knew that if Ray hadn't been so focused on other things like his stupid heating pad, they wouldn't be in this situation.

"Uh, yeah, you did, doofus! Before we left, you went back to Man Cave to get your heating pad and I said to you, very specifically, on your way back, get Whistlin' Susie and put her in the back of the truck." (y/n) recalled, giving her lover a very stern look that had him prickling defensively. He didn't like being in trouble with her, he preferred to appear as the innocent, perfect fiancé in her eyes, the one who did nothing but love and care and provide for her. Doing things wrong just tarnished that rose-tinted image.

"And what did I say?" Ray asked haughtily, and the iciness in his voice was a little uncharacteristic since it was her who he was speaking to and usually, he was all soft and sweet and caring. But even still, Henry had no trouble remembering how his boss had jogged off to fetch the bomb like a lovesick puppy--that was probably why he'd forgotten it.

"You said, on it like a bonnet, sweet girl." The boy retold with a hint of disgust in his voice from the sappiness, making Ray's face crack into his normal grin. Yeah, he did say that, he remembered how his tummy fluttered when he'd shared a kiss with his precious girl through the open car window and then after that, it had just been a blur to get back to her side.

"Oh, yeah! I do remember saying that. That was funny..."

"So...if Whistlin' Susie's not here, where is she, doofus?" (y/n) asked with a sugary sweet voice, making the boys grow silent. That was an excellent question and after Ray bent his body to look under the truck, they came to the obvious conclusion. It was in the back, it wasn't underneath, it hadn't fallen onto the road...it was back at the Man Cave.

And cue the screaming. It was involuntary and before she knew what was happening, (y/n) was swept into a Ray-(y/n)-Henry sandwich. Yeah, 'cause hugging would make it all better. They shrieked for a good few seconds as the horror of what had happened caught up with them; Susie was still with Charlotte, Schwoz and Jasper and who knows, by the time they got back there, they might have all been blown up. It was a terrifying prospect and Ray couldn't help but hyperventilate into his sweet girl's neck because this was all his fault, he was to blame, no one else.

Still, they had to be strong and refocus. No point in screaming, they were wasting precious seconds. What they needed to do was calm down and form a plan to dig themselves out of the massive hole they'd dug for themselves.

"All right, man. We gotta stop screaming, you gotta let (y/n) go and we gotta figure out a plan." Henry said as his heart rate dropped and his training kicked in. Sure, this was a crisis but he dealt with them every week and yes, this was a bit bigger than a petty criminal or a cat stuck in a tree but he knew they'd think of something when they were calm. And by all means, if (y/n) calmed Ray down then he could hold her hand, just not squeeze the life out of the poor girl--they needed her brains.

"Okay, you're right..." Ray took in a deep breath and released his girl from his ironlike embrace, although, he did still clasp her hand tightly as predicted. Right, plan, plan, plan, he could think of a plan, he was Captain Man and he could think of a plan, easy. "Okay, first things first, we use our phones and we need to call the Man Cave and let them know what's going on--

"Doofus, doofus--doofus!"

"What?" Ray looked down at his pretty girl as she butted in on his great yet obvious plan. That was too easy; as if they'd be able to ring one of their colleagues and tell them the sitch, no, no, no, fate liked things to be a little more complicated. He should've known that.

"Yours and Henry's phones burned in the truck and I...I forgot mine in the Man Cave." (y/n) sighed, almost ashamed to admit it because she should've had all of her equipment at all times. They'd been on the road, stuck in traffic by the time she'd realised and it wasn't like she knew that they were gonna need to phone anyone so she'd assumed it would be fine. Oh, how wrong she was...

"Gahhh!..."Ray swallowed the frustrated rage that rose within him and instead of lashing out at his embarrassed lover, he just worked around it, sort of. "Okay, new plan. Uh, we move to a different town." Not his best plan ever.

"What?" His sidekicks spluttered, not believing that he was gonna give up so readily but little did anyone know, Ray Manchester thought about a domestic life more often than expected.

"We start new lives! We never look back! I could be like a handsome bus driver or a hot brain surgeon... I could live with my hot wife--(y/n/n), we could buy a cute, little house somewhere quiet, get married, have kids, get a dog, a cat, a hamster, whatever you want! We could...be happy." Ray fantasised and gazed at his fiancée with soft eyes because damn, he wanted that scenario--he always had. Sure, life was good, but that didn't mean it couldn't be better. He could give her safety, normality and tranquillity, which was rare for them now.

"Sounds nice, doofus," (y/n) whispered, picturing exactly what he was describing. Somewhere away from the city's hustle and bustle, somewhere with woodland for adventures and rivers to paddle in, somewhere with enough space to expand their little bubble and live out their days in the sunshine, not half a mile underground. It did sound nice, but that was for the future.

"We're happy right now. I think we'll get to that one day, but for now, we can't just start over." She squeezed his hand and trailed her fingers down his cheek, sighing softly when his lips brushed against hers. She was right, running away wasn't an option; it would just leave a dark cloud over their sunshine-filled fantasy and the memories of those they didn't save would haunt them forever. No, he'd have to wait for that reward, right now, he had to pay his dues to reach that serenity.

"Yeah. We're happy..." He mumbled against her cheek as his lips drifted to the right for a brief moment before finding their way back. She smiled into the kiss as Henry ignored them with a roll of his eyes and instead looked around. Jeez, talk about being uncaring during a crisis, but whatever, maybe it was their way of coping and he just so happened to have an idea.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Stop kissing!" The kid hissed to the couple, making them break apart with grumpy expressions but duh, they were happy and sharing in that happiness, but they were also willing to listen--quickly, "Remember that payphone, like, a mile back?"

"Vaguely, why?"

"I don't know, I think I was sleeping." They answered. (y/n) sort of remembered seeing something cuboid-shaped and manmade. Yeah, come to think of it, there had been something because her brain registered that in the entirety of the desert, the payphone had been the only seen that somewhere, civilisation existed. Ray, on the other hand, had no clue about his surroundings, he'd been too busy dreaming about matching gold rings, a boy, a girl and a Golden Retriever.

"Well, there was one. So, we should go back to it, call the Man Cave and tell them to bring Whistlin' Susie to us!" Henry theorised and it sounded pretty good. He doubted that his friends would be annoyed by the long journey, after all, it was either that or being blown up and he knew what he'd choose. And they'd be cutting it close with the time but it was just about doable--in theory.

"Why don't we just use our phones and text them--and yes, sweet girl, as I'm saying that, I realise why it won't work--Let's go!" Oh, Ray, something wasn't wired correctly but still, his synapses connected at the last second and they began the long jog to the payphone. Jeez, a mile run? This day couldn't get any worse.

~One mile later~

To stay they were superheroes, the way they were panting was quite embarrassing. Fitness, who? Okay, maybe with (y/n) it wasn't so bad after doing so much cardio during her workout regime and the super-regeneration pushing her muscles to keep working helped too but Henry and Ray? They were trailing behind.

In the heat of the desert, in full uniform and in the kid's case, a bear-proof suit too, the journey to the phone wasn't a fun one, it was long, sweaty and arduous. The dust kept flying into their eyes and Ray had stumbled on several tumbleweeds and potholes, swearing under his breath the whole way there.

And the only bonus was the view in front of him, not their destination as it drew ever near, no, the sit of his sweet girl bouncing along, one of her best...assets motivating him to keep ploughing until finally, thank god, they made it to the shitty payphone. It was flimsy, it was rusty, it had been put there like forty years ago but it would connect them to home and that was good enough for them.

"I should've taken off this suit, dude," Henry grumbled as Ray collided with the booth, panting to get his breath back as (y/n) leaned against his arm. Yeah, she needed more cardio, whatever she was doing right now was not enough. And as for Henry, well, he had sweat and sand in places that he previously didn't know he had.

"Hey, sweetheart, we need fifty cents for the phone call. Do you--do you have it?" (y/n) asked Ray breathlessly as she patted down her skirt for the money she clearly didn't have. She'd noticed that annoyingly, this wasn't one of those free phones. No, they needed an irritatingly small amount of change for it to work and the company credit card wouldn't cut it. Who even carried coins on them nowadays? Certainly not them, they had guns and grenades to carry instead.

"Uh, Captain Man emergency!" Ray awkwardly announced to the cacti, coyotes and whichever hermits might be within earshot before he used his legendary brute strength to punch the phone and rattle the chamber where the money was locked up. Okay, it wasn't a very superhero thing to do, stealing the coins but as he said, this was a life or death situation and no one was around to witness it except (y/n) and Henry.

"Good work, dude."

"Okay, that was hot." Ray turned around to smirk at his sidekicks, well, one in particular, as he collected a handful of fifty-cent pieces from the phone. Well, if she found acts of strength hot then he'd have to do them more regularly, if they survived this, that is. One coin was entered into the machine and Ray offered the phone to either one, expecting them to ake the call since one of them had created this idea and the other one was pretty and smart and--they'd know what to do.

"Okay, call the Man Cave."

What's the number?" Henry asked the couple. Sure, he'd do it but he had no idea what the number was and as such, he expected them to know it. Come on, they lived there, Ray was the boss, he invented the whole place, (y/n) had been like his PA for god knows how long, why did it fall to him? They knew it...right?

"I--I never call the Man Cave!"

"I don't either! Like, who calls themselves?" Ray and (y/n) spluttered, suddenly feeling rather...trapped. It had never seemed important; if they'd ever had a problem, they'd call each other or Schwoz or one of the teens, not the Man Cave itself. It was just one of those things they ignored, took for granted and never really thought about before, which was seeming a bit stupid around about now.

"Well, neither do I!"

"Okay, well, call Charlotte then! She'll know what to do!" (y/n) suggested and Ray enthusiastically held the phone out to Henry. He was her best friend, surely he knew her number, just like Ray knew (y/n)'s number off by heart and vice versa. Of course, he could ring her cell, which wouldn't be a bad idea, but now that she thought about it, she'd...left in their bedroom. No one ever went in there, they'd never hear it ring...not such a clever girl.

"Oh, yeah... What's her number?" Ah, jeez.

"You don't know Charlotte's number?!" Ray exclaimed exasperatedly, looking at his sidekick with a bewildered expression. Oh, come on, what did teens do today? Maybe it wasn't the same situation but when he'd first received (y/n)'s number all those years ago, he'd sat in the Man Cave and stared at those numbers over and over to get them into that dense head of his--anything for the enchanting girl he'd met at that cafe. Okay, that had been driven by a newfound fluttering in his tummy but still, didn't best friends know each other's numbers anymore?

"Okay, when I call Charlotte, I tap her name on my phone. I don't actually dial the number!" Henry replied defensively, not liking how everything was being pinned on him. Why would he remember something when his phone remembered it for him? Not everyone was in love and desperate to memorise every little detail about their crush like these two did--he was a normal human being.

"That makes me sick!" Okay, a bit extreme but Ray was quite disappointed. Now, they were back at square one.

"What numbers do you know?" Henry demanded to know. He swore to god if he said (y/n)'s name, he was gonna flip because that wasn't helpful right now.

"(y/n)'s!" Ray replied instantly, making Henry groan at how his guess had been correct. Any phone number but that one and whilst it was sweet that they'd memorised those digits so that no matter where they were, they were connected for late-night chats, they were still in deep shit. The woman had said it herself, her phone was on her vanity unit, probably on silent mode and as useful as a potato to them.

"Apart from (y/n)'s?!"

"I don't know anyone else's number, okay?! She's the only one I want to call!" Ray exclaimed with tears springing in the corners of his eyes from how frustrated he was and (y/n) soothingly rubbed his back as he slammed the phone back down.

Well, at least she was flattered; she knew his number off by heart too, a result of staring at her phone with mesmerised eyes when he first entered it into her phone with his real name to boot. She was good with numbers, she remembered his easily because having them made her feel special--what a pity no one else's did.

"These things are worthless!" And yet no matter how gentle her touch was, Ray still threw a tantrum. In a rather counter-productive move, he threw his handful of fifty cents out into the desert, watching as some of the silver disappeared into the desert while others rolled onto the road. Well, at least they'd already put one in the machine, ready to go if they remembered a number.

"Okay, let's not panic, boys. New plan--

"Wait, wait, wait!"

"But--"

"I need absolute silence." (y/n) had been about to think on her feet and finally put that supposedly big brain of hers to use as they all crowed into that tiny phonebox, but then, Henry had a brainwave. He didn't have many of those, so she fell silent to allow him to think since she could see that it was one of those moments where you just needed to scan the deeper layers of the muscle memories to find something really important. Whatever it was, he was so serious about it, so silence was probably key, however, Ray wasn't very good at silence, not when he wanted action and not boring old thinking.

"We need to come up with a--"

"I need absolute silence, thank you!" Henry stated. No matter what Ray said, Henry was determined to recall the memory that was just out of his reach and very, very dusty. It was a number, he was sure of it, fuzzy and dull but his brain could vaguely make it out. It was floating nearer and near, he could almost say it as if it was on the tip of his tongue--

"We need--sweet girl, tell him--"

"I need absolute silence." He said again, and this time, (y/n) put her hand over Ray's mouth to shut him up. Oh, he did not mind being quiet if it meant he could trail kisses on her fingertips and with the man distracted by his pretty girl, Henry could focus on his task. He was in his childhood, he was young, his mom was kneeling in front of him, he was about to go camping for the first time, and he was worried about something going wrong and not being able to contact home--illumination.

"Five, five, five, six, three, one, two. Call us and we'll come get you."

"What are you doing? Stop that! Why are you singing lullabies?" Ray snapped as Henry did his little ditty with a dopey smile on his face, flicking the man's nose with every note before finishing by booping (y/n)'s. That was it, he remembered it, the easiest and oldest phone number he knew by heart and whilst it wasn't much, it was better than anything else they had.

"That's my home phone number! My mom made me memorise that when I was little so that in case I got lost, I could remember the number." Henry explained. Oh, it was like it had been yesterday, he sang that rhyme everywhere and whilst he'd never needed it before, he was so grateful that his mom had taught him it. She would never know how useful it was but dear god, it was a lifesaver, literally.

"Look, Hen, I know that your mother is the loveliest, most perfect woman that has ever graced this Earth, but calling your house right now does not help us. Your parents can't defuse a bomb." (y/n) stated tiredly, sighing at the thought of stupid Mrs Hart. Ray never told her how nice the woman had been to Ray at the kid's birthday party. She had no idea that she wasn't a wolf in sheep's clothing and that she wasn't being threatened. All (y/n) knew was that Henry's mom was hot and even if they were happy, hot moms were still Ray's type--a bitter pill to swallow.

"Yes, it does, (y/n/n)! My sister has a driving license. Remember?" Henry's eyes sparkled as he reminded her of that very useful if a little confusing fact. He glossed over the sadness and resentment that washed over her face when she thought about his mom and in the corner of his eye, he saw Ray tense from her subtle insecurity, but still, he said nothing. Perhaps the jealous despair would never fade, but that was a problem for another time and place.

"What? Isn't she like twelve?" Ray questioned incredulously as they moved on, although he did consciously wrap an arm around his girl's shoulders--a subtle move but one they both needed. Anyway, back to Piper; it would never stick in his head that the girl had unofficially gained her license at nine years old due to a computer error, no matter how many times people mentioned it.

"No, doofus. They sent her a license by mistake, we've established this many times." (y/n) told him quickly, knowing that he very rarely paid attention to something he wasn't interested in. There were so many other things that were much more intriguing like food or his face or his future wife. Why would he care about Piper when he could lavish his attention on her instead?

"Okay, so, we call your sister..." Ray started, trying to see if he was understanding this plan correctly.

"Who loves Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger..." Oh, now it all became clear. Right, she was one of their biggest fans--she ran their fan club--it was only right that they call her for help. No doubt, she'd be ecstatic to lend a hand with no questions asked.

"Oh, and we tell her to come pick us up..."

"And bring us back to Swellview..."

"And we can finally finish movie day!" Well, it was clear to (y/n), but Ray still had some catching up to do. Honestly, what a doofus; all he wanted to do was see the end of that movie, or rather, ignore the end of that movie because he would be too busy pressing his lips to every available patch of skin on his sweet girl's neck and face. That sounded like bliss and he wanted it back so much that Whistlin' Susie seemed like a mere inconvenience in comparison.

"What? No! Dude, the bomb, Whistlin' Susie--we have to deactivate it. Henry reminded him as (y/n) facepalmed from how he'd been distracted--again. Come on, what else had they been talking about? That bomb was primed to blow up the entire city and he wasn't worried about that? Jeez, they wanted whatever he was on.

"Oh, right, got it! What is wrong with me today?" Ray chuckled wheezily as he turned to punch that lullaby number into the machine. His brain really wasn't working today, maybe he hadn't gotten enough sleep last night, after all, he had been rather preoccupied until the early hours, or perhaps it was the perfume from his sweet girl sending him dopey since she'd added an extra squirt to her neck that morning. Whatever it was, he was out of it, not that it bothered him.

"Your doofus is showing, doofus..." (y/n) sighed and rested her forehead against his shoulder as they heard the coin clunk into the phonebox and the beeps with each press of the numbers. Okay, next came the dialling tone and some annoyingly monotone pre-recorded voice telling them to hold as the rusty line connected across the desert and into the city. Would Piper even pick up?

"When was the last time you used the landline in your house?" The woman asked Henry as Ray impatiently bounced up and down as they waited. It was dialling, which meant the phone was still connected to the telephone wires but now, it was a case of relying on Piper to understand how retro phones worked. There was no screen, no digital buttons, just a classic telephone with a rotary dial, and whilst that was nothing new to adults, for a millennial, it was like a fossil. Since when were phones so blocky?

"Uhhhhh...Don't know. Years maybe?" Well, that answered that question. Years were accurate, no one used a fixed phone now, cellular mobiles and the internet took care of that problem and it was a miracle that the Harts had even kept theirs tucked into a random kitchen cupboard somewhere just in case a dinosaur rang. Suddenly, they heard it; it wasn't much, a clattering and fumbling on the line as the beeps fell silent and then--

"What is this?" They heard softly, and (y/n) groaned as the boys squashed her into the middle so they could press their ears to the speaker. Piper's voice was faint as if she was far away from the phone but they could just about hear her, which meant they'd done it. They'd actually done something right for once.

"Uh, hi, Piper Hart?" Henry started, wanting to distance himself from his sister since it would be a disaster if she discovered his identity but luckily, she would never be able to guess anyway. The idea of her dumb brother being Kid Danger was damn near impossible in Piper's eyes, so when she heard the commanding voice through her vintage phone, nothing clicked in her mind.

"Uh, yeah?" Okay, good, she sounded confused--very confused--but it was definitely her, so Ray turned up the superhero charm. Captain Man's voice was easily recognisable, especially when he emphasised that "more important than thou" note it always had, so it made sense that he talked to Piper first, just so she wouldn't think that she was talking to some illegitimate weirdo.

"Uh, this is Captain Man..."

"And Miss Danger..."

"And Kid Danger..."

"Oh, hi! Is this a secret Captain Man phone line?" Piper asked gleefully as she instantly recognised the voices of her favourite heroes. She knew those powerful tones anywhere and whilst it made no sense that they'd been able to ring the phone that slept in her kitchen, she didn't let that fact dull her happiness. She felt special that she was speaking to them because no one else had ever reported being privileged enough to have a direct line to the city's crimefighters, so she didn't want to disappoint--and that played right into their hands.

"Uh, yeah, yeah! This is a direct line to the president of the Man Fans." Ray lied. Anything to get her to help them was gonna be said and what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her. Sure, they were never gonna phone Henry's house again but for now, they could let her believe otherwise.

"Uh, listen--"

"I'll do it." Okay, they were grateful for the enthusiasm but that was a little too keen from the girl. Yes, they wanted her to agree to drive out to the middle of nowhere and then another three hours back into town but they could barely get a word in edgewise, just like she could barely keep her lip buttoned.

"Uh, well, we haven't exactly told you what we need you to do, sweetheart." (y/n) said slowly, kindly, almost hesitantly because god forgive if she stamped on the joy of a young girl who was only trying to help her idols. It was quite endearing to hear that happy, giddy lilt in her voice, it reminded her of when (y/n), not Miss Danger, got to spend time with the girl as her friend and hear her relax into a sweet, normal teenager who was just misunderstood by most. Still, they did need to explain themselves and it would be nice to get a chance to in between her ramblings.

"Don't even care!"

"We need you to drive out--"

"Say no more!" Piper screeched before Henry could finish the sentence and the heroes bit their lips' as the rough static of the phone being dropped assaulted their ears, evidence that Piper had once again gotten carried away. She'd run off to get to the car as fast as possible without even knowing where she was meant to be headed, so now, they had to awkwardly wait for her return as the seconds ticked by. Of course, she'd be back, she wanted to help--four, three, two...

"Actually, you need to say a little bit more..." And she was back. Again, A for enthusiasm, they loved to see that but if they could just finish a sentence that would be great. After all, the clock was ticking and this time, there was no second chance to save the day if they failed

~A while later, in the car~

Well, this was cosy. Piper had arrived eventually after a very long, very frustrating phone call that had taken another ten minutes to get through since the girl kept squealing. Anyway, that had all been fine in the end and their directions had been good enough to guide her out to the phonebox to pick them up.

It had been an arduous wait in the heat and sand with no water and for Henry, the pain of being stuck with a handsy, lovey-dovey couple for two hours with nothing to do but watch them kiss and whisper revolting things into each other's ears. And that wasn't even the worst part. No, the worst bit was how moody Ray got when he had to say goodbye to his beloved truck, which was still abandoned at the side of the road.

Of course, they weren't gonna leave it there; Schwoz would come to pick it up in a few hours once the explosion had been adverted but still. It felt like leaving a piece of him behind, so by the time Piper rolled up in her dad's car, he was unbelievable grumpy as he took the front seat and his sidekicks got in the back. And that was yet another problem out of a hundred.

He had to sit in the front with the brat, which wasn't too bad for most, but to him, it was awful. He liked sitting next to his sweet girl in a car, he liked putting his hand on her thigh and watching the wind tussle her hair as they scanned the scenery. Now, she was stuck in the back with Henry, too far away to kiss or cuddle and it's not like he could wait it out. No, Piper drove like a pensioner; carefully, considerately and way too fucking slowly for a rush to rescue thousands of people from incineration.

"Excuse me, Piper?" Ray started in a tight tone. His patience had reached its peak as they cruised along the desert track like they were on a fun, lighthearted road trip and he knew that if he was behind the wheel, his foot would be pressing the pedal to the metal and they'd be breaking a few dozen laws to make it back to Swellview on time. He was Captain Man, he was allowed to speed for god's sake, and it's not like the cops ever cared anyway.

"Yes?" Piper asked in a sugary tone, her eyes diligently staying on the road even when the hero asked her a question. No one could say she was a bad driver, in all of her years driving as a child, she'd picked up some mad skills, not that she was showing any of them now.

"Is there any way that you could drive a little faster?"

"Yeah, just a tiny bit--"

"You need to drive faster." Henry wasn't as nice to his little sister as Ray or (y/n) was. Ugh, he'd been playing rock, paper, scissors with (y/n) for hours now and they'd still not arrived home. Couldn't they go just a smidge faster? At this rate, they'd get back to the Man Cave and find nothing but a big hole in the ground and all because his sister was being a goody-two-shoes; he knew what she was like, he knew that she was just trying to be a good citizen in front of Captain Man. But secretly, Piper was a rulebreaker, and Henry was certain that her foot was itching to hit the accelerator.

"But that would be speeding and I can't break the law." Oh, Piper. Her halo shone so brightly sometimes, but that's not what they wanted right now. They wanted speed and power, the only things that could get them to Whistlin' Susie before she blew. Now was not the time for being

"Little girl, we are the law!" Ray growled, causing (y/n) to silently whimper at his dark, commanding tone. Okay, that was hot but she could tell him that later when they were snuggled up on the couch, because with a small nudge from Henry, Piper was about to use every ounce of horsepower that her dad's minivan had.

"You need to drive faster."

Oh, they would regret saying that. Piper wasn't about to argue with superheroes, not when they were entrusting her with their mission, so she threw caution to the wind and went into hardcore mode. The radio changed from gentle, relaxing background music to a brutal, heavy-metal rock anthem as she crushed the accelerator into the footwell, causing the car to lurch forward with so many g-forces that their faces hurt from the resulting contortion.

Dear God, the smiley, go-lucky girl was gone and in her place was a maniac who swerved and swore at any unfortunate soul who happened to be heading her way and Ray, Henry and (y/n) were just along for the ride. Even with their superhero training, it was hard not to be terrified by her erratic manoeuvres and insane speed, so just as a precaution, Ray clung to the grab handle on the roof of the car and Henry donned his suit's mask.

"Get out of the way!" And with Piper screeching like that and honking the horn, their precautions weren't overkill, and neither was the way the sidekicks in the back clung to each other like they were about to die.

They were gonna make it back to the Man Cave in record time but they were also gonna be puking their guts up by the time they finally touched the sweet, non-moving ground again.

~The Man Cave~

Okay, so things weren't exactly going well in the secret hideout. Basically, sort of, maybe, in a way, shit had hit the fan. By the time Ray, (y/n) and Henry had finally made it back to the Man Cave, dizzy and blurry-eyed from Piper's extreme driving ( although (y/n) did ensure that she endlessly thanked the delighted girl for her service), they were confronted by a scene of absolute chaos. Literally, things had gone from very bad to dire.

To cut a very long, frustrating, tragic and slightly comical story short, Schwoz had encountered a small hiccup when trying to find a way to deactivate the bomb that had been left in their care. What else was he supposed to do? He'd already tried running away, only to be dragged back kicking and screaming by the teens so he just had to fiddle about with the wiring to see if there was something he could do. And you know what, there was.

For a brief, glorious moment, there had been a ray of hope amid the shitstorm generated by the impending explosion and Schwoz had set to work with Charlotte and Jasper to stop Susie before she could kill them. However, he had forgotten the age-old rule; never work with children, especially when one of those children is Jasper. So, in true Jasper-fashion, there had been an almighty cock-up; something about the boy cutting a wire prematurely and now, Susie was hurtling towards disaster even faster. Just their luck.

The tubes dropped and Henry came down with Ray holding (y/n) to his chest as expected but they didn't get the usual fanfare. No, they returned home with pounding hearts and nerve-riddle tummies to find their colleagues arguing and shouting about who was at fault, who could be blamed and how they were gonna fix the problem--not something you want to hear after racing back to avert a catastrophe.

"Ayyyyyy!"

"Schwoz!" Oh god, this was getting too much for the genius as the half an hour he'd had to play with was slashed to a few minutes, not enough time to think let alone do something amazing. And with the heroes back to join the confusion, the frayed tempers soon turned on them, causing the trio to look upon the scene with dazed expressions at how everything had fallen apart because of one small mistake.

"Where you guys been? Huh?"

"You guys forgot to take Whistlin' Susie with you!" Jasper and Charlotte snapped as the three rushed over to help or just add to the panic, anything really in the last few moments before the bomb went off. Okay, they did not mean to abandon ship and neither did they mean for Jasper to fuck up the disarmament process. Technically, it was only half their fault, the other half was on them.

"We know!" Jeez, they didn't need to rub it in. They'd been there, done that, said something and all at the side of a dusty road in the middle of nowhere.

"Uh...what's going on with her?" Henry asked worriedly as he peered inside the open cavity that was Susie and saw that all of her exposed wires and circuits seemed different to before. It was like she was a patient on the operating table and her condition was deteriorating because even though he was no surgeon or engineer, the kid knew that whatever those flashing lights and warning alarms were, they weren't a good sign.

"You see those little yellow things pulsating?" Schwoz pointed to the bomb's core that he'd extracted and his face morphed into a contorted screw of agony at how the radioactive material was ready to detonate. Sure he could remove it from the bomb but he couldn't stop the countdown, not now that Jasper had cut the wrong wire. Oh god, he didn't want to go out like this.

"Yeah, what about them?"

"Well, I'm no nuclear physicist but I'd say that the highly radioactive, highly dangerous core of the bomb is about to explode and most of us are about to die." (y/n) gulped, clutching her doofus' arm to her chest tightly.

Her dear, sweet doofus, she'd come this close to finally being able to say that she'd won the lottery and her prize was having his last name replace hers. (y/n) Manchester...sounded nice, yet another fragment from a future that would never exist after this. Surely, super-regeneration wouldn't save her from being turned into jelly all over the walls--and what would become of her sweetheart once their family was gone?

"Uh..." And for once in his life, said sweetheart was speechless. No plans, no ideas, no smart ways to save his skin this time, so it was no wonder that his eyes lingered on his sweet girl with a heartbreaking gaze.

He would become a shadow without her, a soulless husk of everything he used to be and he'd haunt the place where he and his family used to create such warm memories--the happier times he'd have to cling to just to bear his lonely existence. No one and nothing could ever what he had now and he felt the urge to just declare his stupid sentiments before it was too late until--

"Wait, wait, wait, so you're saying that those three little balls are the only part of the bomb that actually explodes?" Henry asked as he had the best, brightest idea of his life in their darkest moment. It was a stroke of genius born from pure desperation and if his theory was true, then he might have just found a way for them to stay as one happy family.

"Yes! Think of them as glowing, Swedish meatballs of mass destruction!" Schwoz exclaimed, although, no one would want to eat these meatballs, well, maybe one person would if Henry was right. He really hoped that he was right.

"...Dude, you gotta eat them!"

"What?!" Ray looked at Henry and then the core and then Henry again like he couldn't believe his ears. Eat them? Was he crazy? He couldn't eat them, they were about to explode and they were highly dangerous and---oh. (y/n) got it. Oh. Oh, shit. Oh, shit, oh, shit, oh shit. Smart kid. Smart fucking kid, how had she and Schwoz not thought of that? They were the smart ones and that was just brilliant, of course! Her doofus could stomach anything except sauerkraut--amazing.

"You gotta eat them! You gotta eat those tiny, little meatballs!"

"No!" Ray flat out refused, though. First of all, they didn't look very tasty and he only ate tasty things. Second of all, they looked quite hard to swallow and he didn't like choking, no matter how indestructible he was. And third of all, he might be dumb but he wasn't insane; there was no way he was gonna eat a bomb set to explode, that was just madness. However, Henry had a method in his madness, which was starting to become clear to everyone else.

"No, he's right! You're indestructible!" Charlotte exclaimed, figuring it out in her mind. The bombs would go off in there and everyone else would be safe because Ray's indestructible stomach would contain the bomb and the nuclear fallout. Sure, it would suck for him but he'd been doing the city the biggest favour ever and obviously, there was no greater service than saving your family from doom. God, Henry was smart.

"Oh my god, yes, yes, yes! That's perfect! The core will explode in your indestructible tummy!" (y/n) squealed and excitedly rubbed Ray's stomach just to prove that nothing could penetrate those indestructible abs of his and therefore, nothing could escape either. And whilst it would kill her to see him...implode, as long as she still got to see that godlike body afterwards with no mutations or anything, she was up for it. What else could they do?

"Sweet girl! I'm not gonna eat a bomb, okay? Forget it!" Ray snapped petulantly and pushed her hand away even though having it so close to his Adonis belt was...nice. But no, no, no, he was not gonna swallow three exploding meatball things, that sounded painful, stupid and dangerous, and for once in his life, Ray was gonna take the sensible option, even though for once in their lives, his friends wanted him to be reckless and foolish. Very well, if he was gonna say no, they would just have to deploy the big guns.

"Raymond..." (y/n) said in a sing-song voice as she carefully watched Ray stroll over to the abandoned TV so no one could see the fear in his eyes. It was okay to be scared, they were asking a lot of him and even if it was mean, they had a system to spur him into action, which started with egging him on. And with that, (y/n) nodded to Jasper, signalling his cue to start phase one, reeling him in with a small amount of peer pressure.

"Eat the bomb!" He chanted, putting a beat into each word so it was punchier because it was common knowledge that Ray Manchester loved a chant. Chants put pressure on him and they nearly always made him cave because it was a dare, a challenge to do something and he couldn't not do a challenge, that was cowardly. (y/n) used them to her advantage a lot, just like how he bribed her with ice cream and cuddles as motivation for five more situps.

"Don't do that..."

"Eat the bomb!" Sure, Jasper was just one voice, but soon, despite his protests, they were all at it., no matter how many glares he sent them or how many times his eyes connected with his fiancé's in a silent plea.

"Stop that!"

"Eat the bomb!" "Eat the bomb!" "Eat the bomb!" "Eat the bomb!" Soon, Jasper was joined by Henry, causing Ray to fully turn around to see his friends ganging upon him, his sweet girl edging closer, although she would stay silent. She had her own mission to fulfil, one that allowed her to go in for the kill once her friends left him open for an attack in a satin skirt.

"Don't do that! No, come on!"

"Eat the bomb!" "Eat the bomb!" "Eat the bomb!" Soon, Charlotte was chanting too, her smile wide as (y/n) took another step forward. Ray couldn't help but feel like prey, especially when her smile turned into a devious smirk that pinned him in place. A temptress, a vixen, a seductress maybe and she was headed straight for him as the teens and then Schwoz mounted the pressure. He couldn't do this, but he also couldn't say no.

"Come on! You know I can't resist a chant!"

"Eat the bomb!"

"It's gonna feel really bad when it explodes inside my tummy! NO!" He whined, screwing his eyes shut and practically stamping his foot at how he was trapped with nowhere to go--literally.

(y/n) had finally made it to her doofus and he gulped when her fingers trailed up his tunic, skimming along the silken fabric with a gentle curiosity that contrasted the crescendo of the chant. Her eyes were unreadable and he hated not knowing what she was thinking, particularly when he already felt so vulnerable to what his friends expected from him.

"Eat the bomb!" "Eat the bomb!"

"Sweet girl! Come on!" He whimpered into her ear as she languidly stretched up to release a wave of hot air over his neck and run her lips over the shell of his ear. Phase two, make it worth his while. He couldn't be expected to go through the strain of having a bomb explode inside of him and not get a reward for it--something a bit more substantial than a crappy movie and a few pecks in between popcorn pieces. No, this had to be good, which was why (y/n) was the expert on-hand.

"Do this for me, baby, and later, I'll blow--" Her words were lost to the others as their chanting grew louder and louder, enough to drown out whatever she said for their ears, but Ray heard it. Oh, he definitely heard it and his tune quickly changed as he process the words. His eyes lit up and his moody frown turned into a smug smirk at the thought of his reward, which wouldn't just be undying admiration from his team, oh no.

"Eat the bomb!"

"Come on---okay!" Yeah, that was more like it. How could he say no to their request when what was on offer was so much better than swallowing a few explosives. Piece of piss, no problem, easy for a guy like him, especially when all he could feel was his hot fiancée curling into his side, smirking up at him through her lashes. Could he get the reward first and do the bomb thing later? No, no, no, no pain, no gain.

"You wanna see me eat this bomb? You really wanna see me eat it?! 'Cause I'll eat it! I'll eat that bomb right now!" He boasted as they screamed in his ears, their hearts pounding as he extracted the chain of glowing balls from the capsule. Just three, that's all he needed to eat and as long as they kept goading him and (y/n) kept fluttering her eyelashes, everything was gonna be fine.

"Eat the bomb!"

"Maybe if you chant a little louder!? What? This bomb? You want me to eat this bomb?! Okay! Here we go!" Ray plucked the first sphere from the rack and egged on by his friends with one sultry look from his precious girl, he plonked it onto his tongue. Huh, kinda spicy yet sweet, interesting and surprisingly easy to swallow since they were kinda slimy in a way. Well, one down, two to go and after a brief cheer, Henry, (y/n), Jasper, Charlotte and Schwoz had plenty more chanting to go around.

"Come on!"

"Another one? Going for two! Numero dos!" Ray exclaimed and rammed the second orb into his mouth, swishing it around his cheeks before swallowing it whole. Still spicy, but perhaps that was just the chemicals or energy trying to burn his invulnerable palate. Well, the crowd certainly loved that once, judging by their screams and Ray had never felt more alive or loved as he grabbed the third and final ball from the core.

"Eat the bomb!"

"Here we go! Going for the turkey, baby! Down the gullet!" He cried and last but not least, the final explosive was shoved into his mouth, leaving them relieved, Ray victorious and (y/n) unbelievably proud of her selfless, courageous doofus. Oh, people could say what they'd liked about him but to her, he was nothing short of a hero. A big-headed, big-hearted hero who she would have the honour of calling her husband one day soon.

"Woo!" Ray grinned as the countdown reached zero and no sooner than it did, things started to heat up--literally. (y/n), stuck in her daydream of admiring her doofus in all his adorable glory, found herself being tugged back to a safe distance by Henry as a mysterious whistling noise filled the room, replacing the extinct chant. Oh yeah, 'cause the shitty, empty shell from the bomb was gonna protect them if something went wrong, not that it would because Ray was ready to blow.

"Oh, I get it. Whistlin' Susie. It whistles right before it's about to--gah!" The group jumped back as Ray's body was rocked by an explosion deep in his gut and instantly, they could feel the heat terminating from his body. It was like there was a volcano going off inside of him and they hated to think about the pain he was enduring as the atomic blobs fizzed and crackled in his abdomen--so much that his belly glowed like dying embers.

The hero clutched the TV as he endured the agony, causing his friends to grimace as they watched; well, (y/n) was practically in tears, held back by only Henry's arms around her waist and Jasper's firm hand on her shoulder, a wise precaution since it was in her instincts to run to her lover as he suffered to save them all.

Finally, however, the rumbling heatwave ceased and the glow dissipated, rising gently to Ray's throat where the remnants of the bomb's fissile byproducts left his body in the form of a puff of smoke. And after that--nothing. The excruciating pain disappeared like it was nothing and as always, Ray came out the other side feeling like a champ. "I'm okay!"

"Yeah!"

"You did it!"

"You saved us all!" His little family erupted into a series of screams of delight, cheers and growls at how it was over, everything was fine and their plan had worked so damn well. Ray was good, they were good and they all had a deep, newfound respect for the man because it took some balls to be able to do that; not many men could say they'd endured an internal nuclear blast, but he could. It was hard for (y/n) not to shed a tear...

"Oh, doofus, I love you so much!" She squealed and with Henry and Jasper releasing her from the grip, she shuffled forward to bring him into a loving embrace. Oh, good idea, yeah, the guy deserved a hug after all of that and whilst it was clearly a couple moment, Jasper saw no problem in celebrating together first. They could have their moment in a bit.

"Group hug!" He shouted, making (y/n) pause for just a fraction of a second because Schwoz, the little spoilsport, wasn't so big on the hugging thing and for a very good reason.

"Hugging would be a bad idea right now!" He exclaimed, making their feet stick to the floor as he shoved them all away from Ray. Who did he think he was? That was (y/n)'s doofus, he'd just saved their asses by doing the ballsiest move in the history of mankind and he was trying to say he didn't deserve a hug. Well, he'd have to get through her first; don't try to separate a (y/n) from her Ray, it doesn't end well.

"Why?" Ray asked innocently as he longed to feel his girl's embrace, well anyone's really, he wanted to enjoy the fact that he still had a family to love and be loved by. So, when they all started looking at him as if he'd grown a second head, he took it as rejection, and that broke his heart. But it really wasn't a good idea, not if they valued their hair, immune systems and life in general.

"Well...you're radioactive..." Schwoz replied nervously, gesturing to Ray's tummy, which wasn't having a good day. Thanks to the highly radioactive material that had exploded in his stomach, Ray's entire tummy was now faintly glowing green as the energy ionised the air around it, so much that it was still visible under the Man Cave's bright lights.

Hugging him would surely be like having one hundred X-rays at once--bad news for anyone who got close enough without a metre of lead between them. Still, faint heart never won fair doofus'--or something to that effect.

"Oh..." He sounded so sad, and that broke their hearts to see him standing there, not knowing what to do with his arms since no one could go near him without the risk of getting radiation sickness. Well, there was one person, who was weighing up her options and she decided that her superpower was going to have meaning. (y/n) didn't need convincing, that was her fiancé, physics be damned, she would hold him close if she wanted to.

"Yeah, well, I'm full of bad ideas, so...come here, doofus. Hug me." The woman smiled warmly at Ray, whose sad eyes crinkled with happiness as she skipped towards him, fearless in the face of the green glimmers. Radiation came under the super-regeneration tick list, right? Yeah, whatever, either way, she encircled her arms around his waist and happily snuggled her face into his chest as he held her tightly. Death or not, this was worth it, feeling him curl over her and bury his nose into her hair was worth it, hearing him whisper was worth it.

"I love you too, sweet girl. So much." He mumbled, echoing what she'd said minutes before as they enjoyed the moment. The others would have to watch on and roll their eyes with mirth, they'd be fried the moment they came too close, but nothing could separate them, not even strange, invisible forces from weapons of mass destruction.

And it could only get better.

~An hour later~

Oh, yeah, this was better. True to his word, Ray had decided that despite everything that had happened, the team were gonna sit down together and finally do some relaxing together and see the end of whatever this high school saga was about. The day was done, their mission was over, the city was safe--for now--and they should have been able to kick back and enjoy what little time they had together. Should being the operative word.

However, relaxing was nigh-on impossible for four out of six of the group, mainly because no one dared to talk about the proverbial elephant in the room. Oh yeah, one small couch, six people all shoved together with one of those six housing a mini-Chornobyl in his tummy like it was nothing. Seriously, this was a terrible idea.

Sure, they had to hand it to Ray, he had some balls, they'd never forget how he swallowed Susie's explosives and they'd be eternally grateful, just not when it came to being forced to sit next to him on the couch, their elbows coming so damn close to grazing his still illuminated abs.

In the dimmed lights of the main room, the reacting particles still hadn't stopped despite Schwoz saying it would go away eventually and they couldn't focus on anything but how dangerous it was, let alone be able to relax and enjoy the movie. No one could stop thinking about how it would be so much better if they just went home, but they couldn't disturb Ray's little paradise, not when he finally had what he'd craved all day.

A movie in the background. His friends watching it, sort of. And, the final piece in the puzzle, his sweet girl cuddled into his side so he could press long, slow kisses to his lips whenever the plot was stalling.

Oh, yeah, (y/n) felt fine despite how she was caked in gamma rays and god knows what else, and as such, had no trouble getting all cosy with his doofus, rather, she was making up the deficit of her friends' blatant fear that they'd be irradiated. She cuddled, snuggled, kissed, pecked and dozed in soft satisfaction that she had her doofus in one piece next to her, if only the coconut and teens were so brave...

Occasionally, Ray felt his tummy rumble from the scientific melting pot that was going on down there. Therefore, he was prone to the odd burp or hiccup that was a little too worrying for Henry, who just so happened to be next to (y/n), who also just so happened to be half-sat on Ray. And that meant that the kid was just a little too close for comfort and so was Jasper, Schwoz and Charlotte, in fact, they just couldn't help but shuffle along the couch until they were hanging off of the edge. Anything to avoid Ray and his...problem.

"Cowards..." The hero muttered as he and his fiancé watched them move out of the corners of their eyes and whilst he was a little salty about that, he could tolerate it. He wouldn't be like this forever, after all, what goes in must come out and all that, and he already had everything he need in his lap right now. His darling, precious, girl, wearing that fucking gorgeous skirt and edging her way closer and closer to his body without any fear of what might happen. That's his girl, sleepily smiling up at him as she pressed kisses to his neck.

"When do you want your reward, doof?" (y/n) muttered into his skin as she trailed her fingers up and down his arm. This movie was pointless, obsolete, and not worthy of her attention when she had a hero to admire instead. Those teens on the screen could have their petty school squabbles about who was taking who to the prom, she much preferred to feel him shiver and tense underneath her--unbreakable steel that bent for her touch only.

"I'm ready when you are, sweet girl," he replied softly, feeling her lips ghost up and over his jaw, gliding across his chin until they grazed his, an empty kiss that left him unsure of what he wanted. Should he kiss her now or wait until he suddenly dragged her through the sprocket?---a welcome departure for the rest on the couch.

"Then allow me to lead the way, my love." And oh...he'd follow her anywhere, especially in that skirt.

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straightfacedstrangeness · 10 months

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Broly movie semi-liveblog because of reasons

I only ever watched the original Broly movie once or twice cus of the suuuper long fight scene ending (and I think it came out, or we borrowed it from Blockbuster, around the time I was losing interest in DBZ)…which is great cus watching it now after the reboot movie has me going in almost totally fresh

Krillin’s puppy song (and how he just pauses then keeps singing after the ship lands X’D so you just hear him wailing in the background during Paragus’ big speech)

Paragus: I’m starting a new planet and I want you to be king Vegeta: :/ Paragus: Uhh…there’s also this big strong bad guy and only YOU can stop him! Vegeta: :/ Trunks: Dad, don’t go with him Vegeta: DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO! *goes out of spite*

Vegeta gets to the planet, gets his ear talked off by Paragus, sees Paragus’ whole army, doesn’t react to anything, but takes one look at the big buff shirtless dude covered in jewelry and decides “I want to be alone with that guy for a while” (Trunks: “DAD NO” Vegeta: “DON’T KINKSHAME ME”)

Son “cat trying to convince you it didn’t just eat five minutes ago” Goku

“Golly, who could the Legendary Super Saiyan be?” *shows a whole flashback of Broly being the Legendary Super Saiyan and names the movie “Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan”*

Still gets me that the fan-favorite His Power Is Maximum villain’s weakness is that he flips out at the sight of the guy who cried in the crib next to him when they were babies

I’d still fight Master Roshi if I could risk getting within ten feet of him but thanks man for deflating the tension every time it gets serious here. And more importantly, giving my boy Oolong an actual reason to be here (designated driver). Which kinky freak on staff came up with that sequence of the two of them in bed together though?? XD

Realizing I haven’t seen the old DBZ movies since before my dad got his giant TV, and watching this thing in HD on a huge screen with surround sound blasting the doofy 2000s grunge rock songs shoehorned into the soundtrack just feels so wrong X’D

With Paragus’ whole thing being about trapping Vegeta on this planet so a comet can smush him, how much funnier would it have been if Goku had just shown up and immediately IT’d everyone back to Earth

This version of Broly is SO annoying, OMFG. Hulked-out glowing guy cackling about how he was gonna kill a child, “What do you expect from a true freak?! Wahaha~” Like 100% one of those guys who saw The Dark Knight and went “the Joker’s so dark and edgy, I wanna be just like him” Shut up already

Actually Broly’s fixation on hurting Gohan to upset Goku plus the Trunks-Vegeta dynamic could’ve made for an interesting subplot about father-son relationships, but nope I guess. Gohan and Trunks aren’t even in the reboot movie where they really dig into Paragus’ abuse of Broly (just a brief scene of Goten and Trunks calling Bulma for two seconds to tell her plot stuff)

Piccolo dragging Vegeta to the battle by his hair

I also actually love sad scared Vegeta because it makes him so much more interesting. Goku’s an excitable child whose relationship with martial arts is basically like a good work ethic, so he hears about someone stronger than him and gets all excited cus he wants to test his strength by fighting them. Vegeta’s an arrogant jerk generally used to getting his own way, so he hears about someone stronger than him and his first instinct is to go “pff, no way,” then when it’s clear the person IS much stronger he just shuts down. Probably a remnant of being terrorized and probably physically beaten by Frieza or his minions as a kid, cus you KNOW he wasn’t gonna just start taking orders from some guy who isn’t even his king dad

The classic DBZ squeaky foot noise when Broly walks...bless

“I’m the prince of all Saiyans, even you, Broly” “Then please try your best to make me kneel before you” Get a ROOM

“Did he really think I would die just because this planet is about to explode?”

*gives you my power, but in a tsundere way*

I’d been wanting to watch the first bunch of movies for a while since they use clips from em in the Ocean dub opening, but wound up with the 2nd movie set cus I found a good deal and the Broly reboot made me curious to revisit the original…now I’m torn between going on to Return Of Cooler & Super Android 13 my dumb funny beloveds, or going back to the 1st movie set and working my way up to truly Earn them XD

#dragon ball #rambling #goku #vegeta

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solesommerso · 2 years

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☆-September Project 30-☆

day 30~ dead

∘ ༺ ☆༻ ∘

jim street x chris alonso

angst, hurt/comfort

read on ao3 here

a/n: guys we don’t need to get into the logic of this fic or how it’d never actually happen or whatever, I don’t care, just take it and be happy (also me posting stris twice in a month?? what’s happening???)

warnings: swearing, graphic depictions of violence, kidnapping, torture, character thought of to be dead (not actually dead), guns, knives, blood & gore

"Just tell us where the money is and you'll be let go." Davis taunts as he drags his bloodied knife along the side of Streets face. Street just clench's his jaw and stares straight ahead.

His feet are bound with rope and wrists behind his back with zip ties. His gun and vest have been stripped off his uniform long ago, at least three hours based off the clock on the wall.

The room is huge and probably some type of warehouse that's abandoned. There's nothing in here but a few tables in the corner and the men walking around with large guns held tightly to their sides, they circle Street and Davis like sharks. Waiting. Probably for Street to try and get away or attack but even Street knows he can't take down eight gunned men and Davis all by himself.

"Just tell me where you put the money!" Streets jaw is gripped in Davis's fat fingers with a squeeze on his bone.

The money that Davis so desperately wants isn't even somewhere he could get it. It's already at Swat HQ. It has been for the past two days but apparently Davis still thinks it's somewhere in one of the victims houses.

This whole thing started with two family's getting murdered, all shot point blank range, all dead within minutes of each other, dragged into their pools and left while the house got overturned looking for money. Both family's were wealthy and knew each other so there's a connection but Streets still yet to figure out what Davis needs the money for.

It's only ten million and while that's obviously a lot of money, there's people who have more to take. Maybe it's because the second family had ten million in cash for no apparent reason sitting under their mattress in the master bedroom, which is weird, there's many questions that arise form that, the main one being what the hell are you people doing with that much cash when you're real estate agents?

Not to mention how the hell Davis even became aware of this cash? He definitely doesn't know the people as he was living in a shitty one bedroom apartment with barely a thousand dollars for rent each month. And where did Davis get all these people? Has he promised them the money? Why are they so willing to risk themselves for him? The eight men aren't even the only people Davis has working for him, there's at least three other that Street knows of.

"Tell me!" The back of Davis's hand is slapped hard against Streets cheek as he spits some blood onto the concrete floor in response.

Streets already been tortured for hours now and he's honestly just tired of it. It all goes back to when Davis and two of his 'muscle men' as Street likes to refer to them, they slammed him pretty hard on the back of the head with a shovel, it had actually caused his helmet to fall right off before they hit him again, while that didn't knock Street out, the hits following definitely did and then he woke up here. His body is bruised to a gross point and ribs aching from the baseball bat Davis has swung into his side around ten too many times.

Streets head throbs as he stares up to Davis, he looks annoyed, kind of like a pig when Street really looks at his stupid nose scrunch, Street would laugh at this if it wouldn't cause immense pain. He's really hoping the team figure out where the hell he is soon. Luca was supposed to be right behind him but got caught up fighting with another suspect so Street was all on his own as he walked through the third victims house.

Street knows practically nothing about the third victims, he was maybe five feet into the raid when a shovel was thrown into his head so he's giving himself a pass. The team will know about the third victims for him.

They didn't even think there was going to be a third victim but, of course, Davis had to prove them wrong. The asshole. Twenty squad was pretty sure he was going to hit up different places the other two victims worked at, the unfinished property's and stuff, places with no people but then Hicks was screaming to roll out because the crew was spotted breaking into a house. Looks like all those patrol men are wasting their time sitting on each property.

"Damnit speak! You fucking cop, speak to me!" Streets said zero words this whole time and that's obviously struck up a nerve on Davis's part. Street rolls his shoulders back just trying to get some of this aching to stop. Seriously they could ease up on the bat and knife usage.

He has a few cuts around his stomach and arms, nothing that even needs stitches, just an annoying amount of hot searing pain. Then the metal bat Davis seems to love has been swung into almost every part of Streets body, including his face that he knows is bruised up pretty badly.

"Where is the money! I swear to god I will kill you if you don't answer me!" Davis has Streets t shirt clutched into a ball so he can drag Street halfway off the ground and make their faces almost touch.

"What money?" Streets voice is gruff but he manages a small smirk as Davis's eyes go wide and he drops Street down to his knees again. Street knows that was probably a stupid decision on his part but hey, he's just done at this point, even if he did tell Davis where the money was, it wouldn't matter, he wouldn't be able to get it.

"You are lucky I don't put a bullet through your fucking skull!" The cold tip of a glock is pressed to Streets forehead as he stares up around the gun to Davis. He's not too scared, he knows Davis is only going to kill him once he's served his purpose. And let's face it, Street knows this is his death bed, while it's not ideal, it's something he has to deal with.

"If killing you didn't mean I have to go get one of your little friends, I would skin your alive." Davis snaps and Street just blinks. He almost feels like he's in an action movie as he listens to this very villain sounding story Davis is going off about.

Streets pretty sure the fact that it's hitting the six hour mark is a sign that he has to get himself out of here. He was really betting on someone from the team busting through the door but that doesn't seem to be that probable at this point.

And shit, now he has to get out of here without getting himself shot or just falling over from the sheer amount of bruises he has. Davis has left and come back a few times, adding new injuries to Street each time he returns, asking the same questions that Street won't answer, and Davis is getting more and more angry with the situation.

"So officer, I have a little surprise for you." Street is instantly on high alert at the grin spread across Davis's face. He’s yet to look anything but enraged.

"We got your little girlfriend." Girlfriend? He's not dating anyone? He hasn't dated anyone since Molly but that was almost a year ago.

"What's her name? Ah yes, Alonso." Streets stomach drops. Not Chris, anyone but Chris.

"Miss Cristina Alonso. Works Swat with you, you guys get pizza on Friday's, you've ridden to work together, quite a lovely little relationship you have going on Jim." How the fuck does he know all that? That's not even relevant to anything Davis should be worried about.

"So what we're gonna do since you won't talk is play some games with your girlfriend while you answer my questions, sound good?" Street could throw up if he wanted.

"Say hello Chris." There's a flip phone held up by Streets face as he hears a muffle hum of words he can only assume is Chris with something blocking her mouth.

"Every time you lie, they fire a shot at your precious girl, the gun isn't fully loaded but there are bullets in there so don't be dumb." Davis places the phone flat out in his palm as he crouch's down to Street level and clears his throat.

"Number one, where is the money?" Street feels his chin tremble.

"I don't know." A blank sound of a gun clicking on the other side of the phone makes tears well up in Streets eyes.

"I'll ask again, where is the money?" Davis is growing more angry as he narrows his eyes at Street.

"I don't know where they put it." Another shot but again not real bullet, Streets heart rate is picking up as his hands shake behind him. He needs Chris to be alright, he won't be able to live with himself if something was to happen to her.

"I know you know, tell me where it is!" Davis spits the words out to Streets face. Streets head shakes back and forth. The money is locked away, the only person with the key is Hicks or Hondo and he's not even sure they still have it.

"Last chance Street, tell me." Davis takes his free hand to hold Streets hair and tilt's his head down to stare at the phone. Tears slowly spread over Streets cheeks as he looks at it knowing Chris is being hurt on the other line.

"It's locked away, you won't be able to get it." Davis shakes his head.

"Where is it locked up?" Street genuinely doesn't know this part, he just knows it's in Swat HQ somewhere.

"I don't know, I swear I don't know-!" A shot rings out over the call, a bullet in this one, he can hear the thud of Chris's body hit the ground and a sob erupts out of Streets throat.

"Chris! No! No! Chris!" Davis let's Streets body drop down into a ball as he lets out high pitch noises of pain and curls into himself. Streets head bows forward into his chest with the tears flooding down his cheeks and into the cuts across his face.

They sting when the salt hits the gashes but Street can't even get himself to breathe in a proper breath. Chris is dead. She's gone, she's never coming back and- and his fault! Street let's out a scream he's been stifling since he woke up tied down and it echos in the large building.

"Jesus Christ man, what'd he say to you?" One of the muscle men asks once Davis walks away with a smile, leaving Street curled into himself with sobs.

"H-he killed her- he killed her and it's all my fault-." The man's eyes go wide at Streets blubbering words.

"Shit- uh- well I mean, you'll be dead soon too." The guy winces a bit before walking away.

Great. Now Street really knows he's gonna die, fucking hell. Does he even care? Chris is gone. She is- was- the love of his life wether or not she knew it. He'd give up everything for her, he was about to, if she was to ask him to quit swat so they could be together, he wouldn't have hesitated.

Maybe that's a little crazy to quit your dream job just to be with a girl but Chris is more than just a girl to Street. She is and always will be more than that, she's everything to him, hell he wouldn't have even still been in Swat if it wasn't for her and her drivenness. Anything she ever did had Street in complete Awe, every little quirk, any time she even just smiled at him- it felt like Cupid was shoving arrow after fucking arrow down his throat.

Though Street never really had the guts to actually do anything about it after that kiss in the backyard with alcohol lacing across their lips, he just allowed Chris to make the call that it was too complicated. But then she kissed him in the locker room and it was like everything in his world stopped spinning because Chris kissed him. Streets pretty sure he's never been so in love with someone, no matter how many times he tries not to be.

That kiss in the locker room only lead to a bunch of weird energy and never really figuring things out but Street still holds onto it. He knows it might be stupid that one kiss means so much to him but there's nothing he can do to make his brain let go of it, it clings to that moment like a life line, praying they'll figure something out soon- or- that they would've figured something out.

Street guesses it's his time to try and get rid of that dream considering he failed Chris on all fronts. Couldn't be her boyfriend, couldn't be her best friend, couldn't be her teammate- couldn't even save her life when she needed him to. So maybe it is time to try and move on from the dream of him and Chris being together.

He should really be focusing on getting out of here first. Streets eyes scan around the room and take note that instead of eight men, there's only six remaining, most of them stopped circling around to instead talk by the door across the room.

Is it still extremely risky to try and get out of here with six people waiting to kill him? Yeah.

Does he have another option? Nope.

It's not hard to break the zip ties behind his back, he honestly could've done that hours ago but that would've caused some issues. Next is reaching down to un tie the ropes around his ankles that are tied pretty tight.

"What are you doing?" Street shoves his hands back to where they were with the zip ties as he looks up to a black haired man.

"I have to pee." The guy rolls his eyes.

"Then piss yourself, you ain't getting out of here." Hm that's what he thinks.

"Seriously? Fine. Might wanna stand a few more feet away." The guy has a brief face of disgust before backing up a few steps and turning his back to Street. Everyone else is still over by the door so now's really the only chance Street has.

He gets the ropes undone after a moment and stands quickly, maybe a little too quickly as he goes light headed but pauses with an inhale for balance. Okay now he has to move.

"Don't move." His hand is clasped over the guys face as he whispers in his ear while tugging the gun strap off. He prays to god this works how he wants it to.

Thankfully the black haired guy puts up zero fight and just lets Street take the gun then get him down to his knees. Street takes no time to get the rope wrapped around the man's wrists while glancing over at the group of five people that have yet to notice anything.

"Let me go and I won't shoot." Street barks out once he can point the AR-15 pointed at the group of men. They all turn to him with a raised brow but make no move to actually grab their own guns.

"Just let me walk out of that door and nobody gets hurt." Street's probably not nearly as intimidating as he wants to be since his face is bloodied and shirt ripped apart to show the slice marks he has littered around. Not to mention the slight sway in his feet from the no doubt concussion he has.

"You just gonna walk out the door?" One of the blonde men looks very unimpressed.

"I just wanna get out of here, I have nothing to give you." Although he would appreciate his gun and vest back from wherever they stashed it.

"Yeah we kinda got that covered as it's been seven hours. Y'know for Swat you look a bit pathetic holding that gun." Okay ouch, that kinda hurt.

"You already killed the one person I care about so just let me go and plan her damn funeral." Street swallows back the spit in the back of his throat, the taste of copper reminding him just how bruised up he is.

"Good luck finding her body." He shoots the blonde man's foot. Street kind of expected that it would set the others off to shoot him but they're just staring in horror as the man falls to the ground screaming.

"Let me go." He sighs pointing the gun back at the man on the floor. There's tears streaming down his face as he holds the hole in his foot.

"You shot me! You fucking shot me!" He gaps like Street doesn't fucking know that.

"You deserved it, now let me go!" He just needs to make it back to HQ where he can collapse in the locker room and probably sob over the sweater Chris has in his locker from that one day she forgot to take it back from him.

"Alright alright, just don't shoot any of us." The black haired man from before opens the door and Street breathes the biggest sigh of relief but it gets cut short as-

-Davis walks in. Mother fucker! He really thought he'd be getting out of here.

"What the hells going on?!" Street fires two shots into each of Davis's shoulders before he can reach for the glock on his hip. Two of the men that walked in with Davis go to fire but they catch bullets to the chest.

"Fucking shoot him don't just stand there!" The guy with the foot wound yells to the other five that are still just standing there.

"Hey, you don't gotta shoot me, just let me go. I bet you won't even be paid for this job since you still haven't found the money and Davis is gonna die and-." Street stops his ramble when the black haired guy just opens the door again.

"Give me the gun and get out of here." Street can't comply faster as he runs as fast as he can, which isn’t that fast, out of that building and to the road it's on.

Looking around Streets pretty sure he knows where he is, scratch that, he is absolutely sure he knows where he is, he's maybe a ten minute walk from HQ! This is some bullshit. That's basically all Street thinks as he trudges his way up the road and tries not to wince with every step that sends shocking pain through his body.

"Street?!" Hondo and Luca are right there when Street stumbles his way into the briefing room at HQ. Maybe he should've tried to call for help or even an ambulance but all he can think about is that sweater in his locker.

"Christ kid?! Where the fuck have you been?!" Deacon and Tan appear quickly as Luca holds Street more upright.

"I'm sorry- I'm so sorry- guys I'm sorry- I'm sorry-." They all look shocked to see the tears running down Streets face as Hondo shakes his head.

"What are you sorry about? You didn't do anything, you made it out of there." Street pushes out of the hand Hondo puts on his shoulder.

"It's my fault- I'm sorry- I should've just said something- it's my fault-." How can they not know Chris dying is all on him? He should've fucking lied or done something to make them stop.

"What's your fault? What happened? Street talk to us." Do they not know Chris is dead? Oh god have they not figured it out. Street breath hitches as he leans into Lucas side with a cry.

"Chris- she- Chris-." He tries to explain but they all furrow their brows and-

- and Chris is appearing in front of him.

"What about me?" Street basically collapses as he reaches his arms out to her and sobs. He's not even sure if this is real or just some hallucination his concussion is causing but he's going to hold onto it for as long as he can.

"I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I failed you, I'm sorry, oh god Chris, Chris I'm so sorry, it's all my fault." His head is stuffed into the crook of Chris's neck as he clings on for dear life, her hand holds the back of his head carefully.

"Street, Shh, its okay, I'm right here. I'm okay." She assures but Street shakes his head against her.

"You're not- you're not okay. Chris I'm such a horrible person, how could I let them do that to you, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry-." Streets face is pulled back to be held gently in Chris's hands as she looks at him with confusion and concern mixed together that have her brows knitted tightly together.

"Street I am right here, I am okay, we're both okay." He's shaking as he reaches his hands to hold her wrists and she keeps her hands cupping Streets face.

"You're not, I heard it- you're not okay Chris- please, I'm sorry." The tears are heavy against Streets face as they drip down enough to fall onto what's left of his shirt.

"Heard what? What happened?" Street gasps a moment but Chris keeps holding him steady.

"I heard it- I heard him shoot you- you're dead! Chris you aren't real- I heard you die and I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I should've tried harder to save you." Chris's face is one of pure horror as she drops her hands and Street lets out a strangled noise form the back of his throat.

"Don't leave yet- please- just give me five more minutes- please just let me have five more minutes, I can't let you go yet." Street cries high pitched when Chris takes a step away but his hands are tugging her shoulders into him again.

"Just five minutes- I don't want you to go, I can't let you go yet- just hold on for five more minutes." Chris's arms wrap around Streets back tightly as he sags into her.

"Street I'm okay, I'm alive, I didn't get shot." Chris says into Streets gross hair that has blood and sweat coating it.

"I heard it Chris, I heard you hit the ground." He shakes the words out but Chris is pulling away again with her eyes teary when Street looks into them.

"It wasn't me, I'm okay. Street I'm perfectly okay and alive, look at me, I'm okay." She takes Streets shaking hand to press it over her chest where he can feel the bumping of her heart beat.

"Feel that? I'm okay. Street please, I'm okay." Streets brain really isn't comprehending this all too quickly as he stares at her a moment. She looks so real and so healthy. She looks normal, he's not sure if he was hallucinating he would get such a clear view of her.

"But- but you died and I- I couldn't save you." Chris shakes her head firmly.

"I didn't, it was somebody else, it wasn't real. You got out of wherever you were and that's all that matters because we are both okay." She states it with a caring tone and her hands holding Streets shoulders, making his weight balance out as his legs aren’t nearly steady enough to hold himself up, but also to try and ground him.

"The- the warehouse down the road- I was at the warehouse." Street can hear shuffling behind him but he's just focused on having Chris standing in front of him. Alive.

"We thought you were a few towns over, I don't know how we missed the mark so bad." Chris gives half a smile.

"Please- please don't leave. I know you're okay but I just really need you close right now and I'm in a lot of pain and you always know how to fix things and- and- I love you. I love you and I need you somewhere safe where I can see you." Chris and Street keep their eyes on each other's as Street talks in almost a frantic tone.

"I love you too, I'm not going anywhere. I promise I'm not going anywhere." Chris assures, pulling him in close again and holding on for just five more minutes.

#writing #js #jim street #ca #chris alonso #street x chris #stris #september 22 fics

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muchalucha-art · 2 years

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Right Place, Right Time - SoCal Indie Wrestling

About those T Shirts Mr. Profesional wore in 'Los Campeones de La Lucha Libre'…

Relocating to Los Angeles in 2003 for season 2 of Mucha Lucha! had a lot of pluses, one being that we were closer to Mexico and actual lucha libre! And we took advantage of that, seeing some great matches in Tijuana and Mexico City. Plus the big Mexican stars would also wrestle in LA for local promotions such as FMLL.

But there was also an amazing home-grown indie wrestling scene in Southern California that took elements of lucha libre and blended them into something equally exciting. Raw and no frills, you couldn't help getting caught up in the excitement.

Revolution Pro was the first of these indie companies that we experienced. The matches were usually WAY east at a swap meet in the City Of Industry. We'd trundle out there every other Saturday and see some great events.

This Mask Vs Mask match was off the charts. We actually dragged our director, Ken Kessel (and his family!) out there for it. If you were only ever going to see one match live in your life, this was it! Super Dragon (remember that name) ended up winning and unmasking his former partner, Taro. I remember Ken taking lots of pictures with his decidedly pro-fesh-un-al camera, but unfortunately never got to see any :(

Rev Pro used to alternate with AWS at the same venue, who used a lot of the same wrestlers, but AWS would also fly luchadores in from Mexico sometimes. Pretty soon, Rev Pro phased out and AWS ran most of the shows there.

But some of the mainstays from Rev Pro were soon to debut a new promotion, Pro Wrestling Guerilla, or PWG. And PWG was just awesome.

Holding events at the Jewish Community Centre in Los Feliz may sound a bit hokey on paper, but this little venue was perfect. It was, hot, sweaty and always packed. Plus it was a five minute walk from where we lived! We were fortunate to see some amazing talent before they became huge stars. Kevin Steen and El Generico - who were to become WWE Superstars Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn respectively, AJ Styles later of WWE, The Human Tornado, Samoa Joe...and to us the most interesting of all, Super Dragon, who worked a fast, stiff, brutal style with high risk lucha-stye moves thrown in. This clip captures some of the mayhem from the match on the flyer above...

PWG became hugely successful. So big that it left its little venue in Los Feliz and went onto bigger things. This was a jumping off point for me personally: Mucha Lucha! had finished, and with the intensity that came with it gone, I needed a break. I still went to lucha libre events, but there was a shift in SoCal indie wrestling as the wrestlers and promotions either folded, or moved on to bigger things.

But for a time Revolution Pro, AWS and PWG put on one great show after another, and I feel very fortunate I got to be there first hand. Our little tribute was Mr. Profesional's shirts, which also had the purpose of identifying the character's backstory with that indie scene.

Postscript: As talented as anyone in lucha libre/prowrestling, no one knows what happened to Super Dragon, More about this enigma can be found here:

#socal wrestling #revolution pro #pro wrestling guerrilla #pwg #mucha lucha!#el generico #super dragon

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penelopehui · 2 years

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Mental health myth: A complete wellness overhaul is the best way to improve your mental health

This month’s myth is an important one to debunk — contrary to popular opinion, it’s not always a good idea to make huge life-altering changes. While there may be times and situations where big and major changes are necessary, most mental health experts agree that smaller changes are better.

Why? Because for change to stick, it has to be sustainable.

Anyone who has ever tried to make a drastic dietary change such as cutting out all sugar or going vegan can tell you that it is hard to sustain that kind of shift. Often, the people who have the most success in sustaining dietary changes find that they did it by taking smaller steps, one at a time. Maybe they started toward a meat-free diet by making one day a week vegetarian or vegan (or even one meal a week). Once they were able to get used to that, they could increase it to 2 or 3 days a week, or every other day. After doing that for a bit, they may be ready to make the change to every day.

The same principle can be applied in many other areas of your life. We talk about self-care all of the time, but many people feel they just can’t fit it in. It takes too much time; it’s too expensive; it’s not realistic when you have a job, kids, night classes, etc. Taking better care of yourself can just feel immensely overwhelming when you try to do it all at once.

In order to make it work, we need to look at small steps that are sustainable. Can’t get to the gym five days a week? That’s OK, maybe you could try something smaller. Could you take a five-minute walk right before you head into the office in the morning? Or maybe at the very end of your day before you go pick up family members? Maybe you could try a 10-minute workout video on YouTube while dinner is in the oven? However you make it work, that’s OK – just try to make a plan and see if it’s sustainable for you.

Once you have made that change and you are sustaining it, you might be able to make another small change and work your way up to something larger.

Here is the other key part of this equation — what is sustainable for you?

I know some people my age who can do Cross Fit three days a week and run marathons. I have a long history of back pain that makes that sort of fitness schedule impossible for me. I can’t sustain that much activity without injuring myself. I have had to come to terms with the fact that I don’t have to do the same things other people do. I can still work out in different ways and keep my body and mind healthy without having to risk injury.

It’s not just diet and exercise that we are talking about. There are many other aspects of wellness that you may need to address in your life. What about something like social activities? Some people thrive on nights out with friends, while others dread going out. Yes, time with friends can be good for your mental health, but how often feels sustainable for you? Maybe going out with friends is cost-prohibitive for you, so it actually feels more stressful than fun. Or maybe you are too tired to be out multiple times a week when you really just want to go to bed early and get some sleep. Take your own feelings into consideration and do what makes you feel good.

Visit PP bag homepage for more details.

Our local mental health expert, Kristen Martin, Executive Director of Thrive, stresses that getting professional help for your mental health also needs to be sustainable. If you decide to start seeing a therapist to seek help when you are symptomatic, you have to make the situation work for you. Forcing yourself to drive an hour each way to a therapist’s office may not be sustainable. You may need to find someone closer to home or consider trying telehealth appointments so that it won’t add to the stress you are already feeling.

Martin wants to remind people that even if the steps you are taking seem very small, you are still doing the work to move toward sustainability.

For more information about the mental health services available at Thrive, visit the website at www.thrive4health.org, or call the office at 828-697-1581.

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messers-moony · 3 years

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Accepted | F.H

Paring: Five Hargreeves X Wife!Reader

Summary: Five craves nothing more than to be accepted and loved by his siblings. That doesn’t appear to happen when he time travels back to 2019 after disappearing for seventeen years.

Five had never seen anyone so beautiful before. Even in the apocalypse, she was gorgeous. He knew it wasn’t because they were the only ones left either. She had his heart from the moment they accidentally ended up in the apocalypse together.

Y/n was a normal girl, an ordinary girl. She had no powers, completely powerless. It just so happens she was walking down the sidewalk and brushed shoulders with Five, which brought her with him.

He couldn’t be mad at her. It wasn’t her fault that they had brushed shoulders. He should’ve been more careful. Y/n was a shy and skittish girl. Not very talkative. It took her a week to use her voice after being thrown into the end of the world.

Despite Five’s commonly inpatient nature, he was extremely patient with her. She was all he had now, and he felt completely comfortable with her. It took a year for her to open up to him, to trust him finally.

She told him all about school and what it was like while Five listened intently. He loved listening to her talk about normal kid activities, things he never got to participate in. Y/n promised him once they got back to save the world, no matter how old, they’d do those things together.

The girl had a certain aura around her that just made him smile. After five years, they were inseparable. Five couldn’t imagine life without her. He couldn’t fathom how he lived without her. He could tell her anything and didn’t fear of being judged.

He had been strong for so long, but not he didn’t have to be anymore. He could let loose and be himself, whether it was being playful, cheerful, upset, or angry. He could be him, and that’s all that mattered to him.

At the age of twenty, they decided to date, knowing it’d be a risk but a risk well taken because Five proposed at the age of twenty-five. Obviously, getting married wasn’t really an option. Nevertheless, he always thought of her as Y/n Hargreeves. His pride and joy.

At the age of forty-one, they were both taken into the commission– a job they both loathed. However, in order to get back to their time, it had to be done. Every night after a mission or a long day, Five would snuggle up Y/n’s chest and sob.

It became a daily routine for the next four and a half years. Every night Five would cry. He missed everything and hated everything. He regretted not listening. He hated the killing. He missed his siblings. Y/n would sit and listen while rubbing his back.

She thought for sure that his siblings missed him. Oh, how wrong she was. She found that out when they returned back to their timeline. Both lovers had fallen to the ground back in their thirteen-year-old bodies.

“ Does anyone else see Little Number Five and a little girl, or is that just me? “ A male queried as five people peered at the two.

Y/n and Five both got up from the ground looking down at their attire. Their clothes were ten times too big for them now. Five appeared to look just as young as he did forty-five years ago, and so did Y/n. Five couldn’t help but smile at her gorgeous appearance that he hadn’t seen in years. She was beautiful at all ages, but he was particularly fond of her teenage form, as was she of him.

“ Shit. “ Five muttered as he walked past them, and Y/n followed.

Five led her into the Hargreeves manor. It was a huge house, one that consisted of too many bedrooms and bathrooms for one person. He held her hand tight, and he stood at the end of the table. At the same time, his siblings piled around the table.

“ What’s the date? The exact date. “ Five’s voice was stern as he began making food, “ The 24th. “ A brunette female responded.

“ Of what? “ Five asked, annoyed, “ March. “ She replied again.

“ Good. “ Five said, opening the loaf of bread.

“ Are you gonna introduce us to your lady friend? “ The male from earlier questioned, and Y/n took refuge behind Five.

Five sighed as he pulled her next to him, letting his arm rest upon her waist, “ This, is Y/n Hargreeves. “

“ Hargreeves? Is she dad’s biological child, or was there another child we didn’t know about? “ The big male quizzed, and Five smirked, looking up at his siblings, “ Or perhaps the most obvious conclusion, but you guys aren’t smart enough to see what’s right in front of you. “ Five insulted, which made Y/n lightly hit him.

“ She’s my wife. “ The boy summarized, kissing her cheek, “ Wife?! You guys are thirteen. “ A woman in a blue shirt interjected.

“ Ignore that. What just happened outside? “ A large male queried as Five continued to make his food, “ It’s been 17 years. “

Five scoffed, “ It’s been a lot longer than that. “

Gently Five removed his arm from Y/n’s waist, and spatial jumped behind Luther to grab something. Y/n was hesitant but took a seat on the counter as her husband's siblings stared her down

“ I haven’t missed that. “ The big male murmured, “ Where’d you go? “ Questioned a male in all black.

“ The future. It’s shit, by the way. “ Five replied as he spatial jumped from getting his marshmallows and back to the front of the table, “ Called it! “ The skinny male exclaimed

“ I should’ve listened to the old man. You know, jumping through space is one thing. “ The teen began as he looks through the fridge, “ Jumping through time is a toss of the dice. “

The boy looked up from what he was doing and took his sibling's appearances in, the ones he missed dearly but saw all dead. If you were Y/n, you could see his green eyes glass over. But if you were the Hargreeves siblings, you saw a heartless and cold teenage boy.

“ Nice dress. “ He complimented, “ Oh, well, danke! “ The skinny male exclaimed.

“ Wait, how did you get back? “ Asked the anxious brunette, “ In the end, I had to project our consciousnesses forward into a suspended quantum state version of ourselves that exists across every possible instance of time. “ Five answered.

“ That makes no sense. “ Blurted the black-wearing male, “ Well, it would if you were smarter. “ Five smirked.

“ Five, stop. They’re trying to understand. You probably sound insane. “ Y/n spoke up for the first time since coming back, “ Oh, I like her. “ The skinny male chuckled.

“ I’m Klaus. “ He introduced, “ Pleasure. “ Y/n greeted with a smile.

The strong male looked baffled, “ How long were you two there? “

Y/n sighed, “ Forty-Five years. Give or take. “ Five answered, “ So what are you saying? That you two are 58? “ He questioned again.

“ Our consciences are 58, apparently our bodies are 13 again. “ The teen boy answered, “ Wait, how does that even work? “ Questioned the brunette again.

“ He got the equations wrong. Meaning his math was off, bringing us back into the same bodies we left in. “ Y/n softly explained as Five ate his food.

“ Guess I missed the funeral. “ Five said as he picked up a newspaper on the table, “ How’d you even know about that? “ Asked the large male.

“ What part of the future do you not understand? “ Five barked, “ Heart failure, huh? “

“ Yeah/No. “ Contradicting answers.

“ Nice to see nothings changed. “ Five said, clicking his tongue, walking away.

“ Uh, that’s it? That’s all you have to say? “ Questioned the curly-haired woman asked the boy who was walking away.

“ What else is there to say? It’s the circle of life. “ Five said now out of the room and into the rest of the mansion.

“ Well, that was interesting. “ The big male concluded.

Y/n sighed, “ I’m sorry for him. The past few years for him haven’t been the greatest. Just know he cares about you guys. “

“ I’m Vanya. “ Smiled the anxious brunette, “ And that’s Allison, Luther, and Diego. Klaus interjected earlier. “ Vanya introduced, pointing at each member.

“ Nice to meet you all. I’m going to go find Five. “ Y/n smiled as she walked away.

It took a couple of minutes, but she eventually found what seemed to be like their bedrooms. Only one door was shut, so she knocked hesitantly on it. Sniffles were heard on the other side.

“ Five, it’s me. “ Her voice was serene and quiet, “ Come in. “ His voice was muffled through the door.

Her hand turned the door handle, and she walked inside. Gently she shut the bedroom door and locked it, knowing he hated people seeing him vulnerable. Y/n turned to see him sitting on his bed with his elbows resting on his knees, hands on his face crying.

She knelt in front of him, taking his hands into her own, “ They don’t care. “ Were the first words muttered from his mouth, “ They do care. They’re just confused. “ Y/n replied.

He shook his head and sat on the floor in her embrace, sobbing, “ It’s going to be okay, Five. I’m right here. I’ll always be right here. “ Y/n reassured as she ran her hands through his hair.

She felt a gentle kiss being laid on her shoulder, knowing it was his way of acknowledging what she said. After minutes passed, he had stopped crying and instead fell asleep, right in his lover's arms where he was always accepted.

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