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bukojuiice · 3 years

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What happens when the bakusquad babysits Katsuki’s daughter? (Dad! Katsuki Bakugo x Mom! Reader) Headcanons + One-shot

ೃ pairing: (dad! katsuki bakugo x mom! reader)

ೃ warnings: none

ೃ genre: fluff overload, parent fic/hcs

ೃ word count: 5,141 words

ೃ 1/4 of @bukojuiice’s 800 followers special!

ೃ my nav → my mha writing masterlist → my katsuki bakugo x reader smau

ೃ A sequel in the form of headcanons + one-shot to my dad! Bakugo fic “like the soul of honey” I recommend reading that first before going through this! Don’t worry if you don’t want to though! Both are standalone and not really connected with each other.

ೃ This was originally just going to be headcanons, but I didn’t want to keep writing it in hcs style halfway through so be treated to both headcanons + a one-shot instead! as you can tell already, this was so so much fun to write and i felt so soft after writing this uwu

ೃ shoutout to two of my loves @sparkykatsuki for coming up with this idea! I just knew i had to do it bc i love bakusquad sm!! they give me such a serotonin boost and I find it really fun writing about them!! Thank you for having such big brain energy and for conspiring this concept franz! And to @chibishae34 bc i know she loves baby fics as much as I do HSHSHSH

ೃ your daughter’s name is hikari which means light. bakugo thought of that name because light is essentially a part of his quirk and hikari is a part of him.

ೃ please do reblog if you enjoyed!! (feel free to add tags too because i love reading them and my heart swells with happiness when people love my work!) ♡

— Hikari is blessed with the best uncles and aunts she could ever ask for!!

— Both Bakusquad and Dekusquad take turns in helping you and Katsuki get your well deserved rest and relaxation at least once a month ever since Hikari turned 6 as... she became quite the feisty girl. Too feisty to handle actually.

— She was energetic and playful 24/7. And so, it was hard to keep up with her energy most of the time.

— She still remained kind and obedient yet she was also an absolute bundle of joy who would just run around the house, play with her toys, and go on roleplaying adventures with you and Katsuki. She had absolutely no idea how much she would tire you and Katsuki, however, and sometimes she would go on for hours and hours just running around the house and interacting with everything she sees.

— She had an inquisitive mind, and although you always encourage her to be smart and be intrigued with everything, she tends to question almost everything she lays her eyes on and you end up having to come up with a witty and a very childlike answer for her to understand.

— A good example of this is when she asked you ever so innocently about where babies come from and your husband was ABOUT TO TAKE HER QUESTION LITERALLY and give her the science talk about sexual reproduction. When the two of you agreed to only give her that talk when she turns 8 as she might not even entirely understand it in the first place.

— “Mommy, Daddy, where do babies come from?”

— “I guess it’s time for the talk.” Bakugo shrugs, remarking sternly. He takes his daughter’s little hand in his and bringing her to the living room. “You see, Hikari, babies come from the wo-”

— “Storks!” You cut Bakugo off before he could say another word, nudging him on the elbow. “Hikari-chan, the babies are brought down to this world by the white and strong birds in the sky!” You whisper the last bits of information to her ear. “The storks told me that once you get older, they’ll tell you the secret of where they actually pick up the babies.”

— “Really!?” She says in disbelief, her eyes gleaming in excitement. “YAY! YAY! YAY! I can’t wait!” She goes back to running around the house looking for even more things to ask about and you breathe a sigh of relief as soon as she leaves.

— Although it was nice that you are able to bond as a family, it does get pretty tiring sometimes. Of course your weariness is worth the risk if it’s just to see Hikari smile.

— Especially since you and Bakugo were both pro-heroes (although you mostly do stand by pro hero work meaning you work from home almost all the time.) You found it much more enriching if both you and bakugo are guiding her and working together to create a loving and supportive family for Hikari.

— Both of your respective friend groups, whomst you remained close to ever since high school, noticed how the both of you looked tremendously exhausted and looked like you were in dire need to have 9 cups of coffee every time you would meet up with each other in between your pro hero duties.

— And so both squads came into an agreement, that they would help the two of you out by giving you a 48 hour day off every month to do whatever the heck married couples do as they would babysit Hikari and have fun.

— This was also a great way to get closer with their niece even if they dote on her so much already. As you and Bakugo are the first persons in your friend groups who got married and have a child together.

— This month, the Bakusquad is in charge of taking care of Hikari and just from the fact that Kirishima, Kaminari, Mina and Sero are going to babysit your daughter alone, you know it’s going to be chaotic.

— Things didn’t go swimmingly last time (literally), as only Kirisihima and Kaminari were the only ones available the last time they came to babysit. They took Hikari to a community pool, and she came back with a missing tooth and some scratches on her legs from playing too much. Katsuki was NOT pleased and you had to restrain your husband from trying to obliterate his best friends even if Hikari had little to no injuries and it was normal for kids her age to have these things happens to them at least once in their childhood.

— With your assurance and the look that was on Hikari’s face and how she would not shut up about how she loved spending time with Uncle Eijiro and Uncle Denki, Katsuki eventually let it slide and just gave his friends the usual “Katsuki Bakugo treatment” where he acts cold and angry at them, paired with his easily irritated and idgaf attitude.

— This month however, was going to be different because Mina and Sero are finally joining along and making sure that Hikari has the best weekend since they weren’t able to babysit last time.

— Hikari loved her Aunt Mina because she would braid her hair and style her with different cute outfits that only Mina, with her love for fashion and all things girly and pink could attempt to do and end up doing perfectly. She also taught Hikari all the dances to disney songs and nursery rhymes she knows how to do so far. Hikari affectionately refers to her Aunt Pinkie whenever Mina isn’t around.

— Kirishima, who was the most frequent to visit the 3 of you, out of all of the Bakusquad, considers Hikari as his new #1 best friend. Dethroning and kicking her very own father from that spot. Hikari is a much more gentle and sweet version of her explosive father, and so Eijiro is able to interact and play with Hikari because he already knows Bakugo and his mannerisms very well. Hikari calls him Uncle Sharkie and she always asks her dad about how he and Kirishima became such good friends. To which Katsuki would reply with, “It’s a long story princess.”

— Kaminari was the fun uncle. He always gave off those vibes ever since high school anyway. Giving Hikari candy behind Katsuki’s back (although you made sure Kaminari didn’t give her any that were tooth rotting sweet ones) Buying her ice cream whenever he came to drop by, and bringing her to the nearby playground amongst many other things. He spoils her a lot (in a good way) and Hikari calls her the fun “sparkie” uncle.

— Then, there was Sero. He retained his love for Spiderman since he was a kid, and he was able to pass that on to Hikari. His way of playing with her was cute since Sero is super tall, he would let Hikari ride on his shoulders, trying to imitate airplane noises as they would “fly” around the house. He gifted Hikari some child-friendly comic books for you and Katsuki to read to her before. bed. Although she never fails to say that the best heroes are her mommy and daddy. She calls Sero her Uncle Spidey.

— Uncle Sharkie, Uncle Sparkie, Aunt Pinkie, and Uncle Spidey. The Holy Quaternity.

(One-shot starts below this!)

“AUNT MINA! UNCLE EIJIRO! UNCLE DENKI! UNCLE SEROOO!” Hikari rushes to the door as soon as she hears the doorbell ring, she jumps into Eijiro’s arms and the red-haired pro hero twirls her around. The rest of the Bakusquad forms a circle around her, and can’t help but look at her adoringly.

“How’s my little ball of sunshine!?” Mina squeezes Hikari’s cheekies, earning giggles from the little girl. “I’m fine Aunt Mina! I mished chu!” She begins to talk in a cute accent as she just can’t contain her excitement.

“Hikari-chan! Do you still remember our little handshake?” Sero kneels down to the little girl’s height, offering her his hand. The little girl nods, shakes it and their thumbs twiddle together, as if they were thumb wrestling. They do a few more quirky hand shakes and then end it with a bang by saying “BOOM!” Sparks suddenly fly out from Hikari’s hands, her aunt and uncles coo since noticing how much her quirk has developed ever since they started babysitting.

“Okay you two!” Mina turns to you and Katsuki, as she had noticed you had some distinct luggage packed for a quick hot spring getaway, she practically pushes the two of you out of the door when Katsuki stops in his tracks, turning to his friends.

He glares at them and points his fingers to his eyes in a “I’m watching you” type of gesture. “Not one single scratch on her or all of you are dead to me.”

Kaminari laughs, patting his friend on the back, “We gotchu buddy. Your little ball of sunshine is safe in our hands. She’ll have the best time with us!”

Hikari quickly runs to you and Katsuki, giving you both a tight hug. “We love you Hikari. We’ll just be gone for two days oki? Your uncles and your aunt here will keep you safe this weekend alright? We love you!” You peck her lightly on the cheek, a pout forming on your daughter’s face.

“I’ll miss you Mommy. Daddy.” She doesn’t let go, hugging the two of you even tighter. “I loaf you! See you soon!”

“Be a good girl okay Hikari?” Katsuki kneels down to meet his daughter’s eyes, orbs that were as passionate as his, planting a kiss on her forehead. “We’ll miss you kiddo.”

You could hear Kaminari and Sero silently snicker in the background since they still can’t wrap their head around the fact that their friend could become so soft when in front of his child as opposed to his usual rough demeanor he shows to everyone else.

Katsuki wraps his arm around your waist, holding you tightly, with you dragging along the luggage that the two of you were going to bring on this trip. You bid your final goodbyes with ease and relief, knowing that your daughter will be in “safe hands” the entire weekend.

“We’re going to have so much fun!” Mina squeezes Hikari and the rest of the Bakusquad into a hug. “What do you want to do first Hikari-chan?”

“Oh! Um! I don’t know if I should ask this b-but..” The blonde little girl hides her hands in her pockets, her feet tapping the floor. “I actually want to know how Mommy and Daddy met! Not the marry or the lovey thing! Just how they met and fell in love!”

“Hikari-chan!! You’re so cuteeeeeeee!” Kaminari begins to weep crocodile tears, pulling Hikari into another hug. “If that’s what you want to do for today, then we’ll gladly tell the story of how your mom and dad met!”

The Bakusquad formed and sat in a circle on the floor. Hikari was sitting on Mina’s lap as the latter braided her hair into what was called a Fishtail braid. Kirishima, with the help of Sato, baked some chocolate chip cookies a few days ago for all of them to snack on while they babysit Hikari.

Sero clears his voice and begins the story. “Your mom and your dad met each other in High School. Along with all of us and your Uncle Izuku, Uncle Tenya, Uncle Shoto, Aunt Ochaco, Aunt Tsuyu-” He continues to recall the names of all the other people Hikari know and love. “They were total opposites actually.”

“O-opposithes?” Hikari tilts her head, a puzzled look on her face as she tries to process what her Uncle Sero had just said. “D-does that mean that Daddy didn’t like Mommy?”

“It’s not like that Hikari-chan. Don’t worry.” Kirishima saves Sero from making the little girl misinterpret what he had just said, nudging his raven-haired friend in the arm. “It’s just that your dad was hot-headed and angry all the time, but he fell in love with your mom because she was sweet, patient and understanding!” Kirishima reiterates, a soft look on his face, looking back on the sweet sentimental memories of high school. “They were perfect for each other!”

“Oh! So daddy was angy all the time? Since mommy is really nice she told Daddy to be nice and they fell in love!?”

Mina giggles, continuing to style Hikari’s hair. “Yes Hikari-chan. That’s exactly what happened! You’re so good!”

“I am!?” Yay!” She claps her hands together, a wide smile present on her face, she was becoming more and more intrigued. “Tell me more please!”

“Well...” Kaminari continued where Kirishima had left off, “Your mom and dad got closer because they got teamed up to fight our pro hero teacher for our exam! They fought and they had a hard time talking to each other but they passed the exam in the end! It was hard at first. Your dad kept on telling us that he didn’t like your mom in a lovey way but we kept on pushing him until he accidentally said that he liked her! Your mommy heard what he said and then she told him that she liked him too!”

“F-fight? I thought Daddy only fights bad guys...” Her voice begins to crack as if she was about to cry. The Bakusquad were about to speak up and explain but failed to because as soon as Mina was done braiding her hair, Hikari immediately stands up and bows politely to the four adults. “I’m going to play with Mr. Rilakkuma for a while. See you later!” She grabs a cookie from the plate and rushes into her room, locking the door behind her.

“See you later Hikari-chan!” Kaminari waves cluelessly, not realizing what he had just said that prompted Hikari to leave the room in the first place. Mina stands up on her knees, shooting him a glare and flicking his forehead, “Did you not realize what you just did!?”

“Ahh what did I do!?” He rubs the spot on his forehead that Mina had just hit, and looks at his two other friends for a clue as to why they were ganging up with him.

“I guess Chargedolt will always be Chargedolt.” Sero shrugs, shaking his head in disappointment.. “Hikari misinterpreted what you said. She thinks that Bakubro used to fight (Y/N) like she’s a villain or something back when we were in High School.”

“WAIT! OBJECTION! SHE MISINTERPRETED YOUR STORY FIRST-”

“Guys. Guys. There’s nothing we can do about it. Both of you slipped, so let’s give Hikari-chan some space first then talk to her later.” Kirishima cuts Kaminari off before he and Sero would start an argument, which would prompt Hikari to further think more negative thoughts.

“(Y/N) said that Hikari-chan’s been liking Tonkotsu Ramen recently, so I think it’s best if all of us help out in cooking her favorite comfort food to cheer her up.” Mina sighs deeply, crossing her arms. She heads straight to the kitchen without uttering another word, the three other guys follow suit.

After several hours, it was finally night time and time for dinner! At the orders of Mina, Sero and Kaminari came to pick up Hikari from her room.

Sero knocked softly. “Hikari-chan? It’s time for dinner!”

“We cooked your favoriteee Tonkatsu Ramen!” Kaminari added in a playful voice.

No reply.

“Hikari-chan?” Sero knocks again, a bit louder this time. He then turns to Denki and whispers, “Maybe she’s asleep?”

Before the two men were to retreat and go back to the living room, the door to the little girl’s room was unlocked with a long click, as if there was hesitance..

Denki quickly turns the knob to be surprised at the sight of Hikari... packing her clothes into a cute backpack?

“Hikari-chan! W-what are you doing?” Kaminari runs to her, trying to stop her from folding her clothes.

“I’m going to go see Mommy and Daddy! I’ll go take a bus and find them!” She wipes the tears streaking down her cheeks, sniffing her nose while attempting to stuff her teddy bear inside her backpack. “Daddy took Mommy so that they’re going to fight aren’t they!? I don’t want that!”

“No no no no no Hikari. It’s not like that!” Kaminari wipes the little girl’s tears with a handkerchief, he gestures Sero to call Kirishima and Mina whilst he tries to comfort the girl. “Your dad took your mom out because today is their lovey anniversary! It wasn’t because they were going to fight!”

“Ah! Owkay!” Hikari suddenly raises her head, taking the handkerchief from Denki and wiping her tears. “Can I visit Daddy and Mommy then!?”

“O-oh well...”

“Of course we can go Hikari-chan!” Kirishima barges in, Sero and Mina close behind him. “Let’s surprise them!”

“Yay! Surprising them! I love surprises!” The little girl jumps up and down in her place. “What time do we go!? What time do we goooo!?”

“After dinner you little cutie.” Mina smiles at the younger Bakugo’s sudden shift in mood. “We cooked your favorite Tonkotsu Ramen!”

“AH! TONKOTSU RAMEN TONKOTSU RAMEN!” Hikari wiggles her arms, slightly pushing the adults out of the way and runs out of her room, Sero catches up to her, only to find her sitting properly on the dining table. “I’m ready to eat now! Just waiting for all of you!” She shouts from outside.

“She’s absolutely fricking adorable.” Kaminari remarks. “But Kiri.. are you serious? We’re actually going all the way to a prefecture and bring her to her parents? Isn’t our job supposed to be keeping her here while they rest and relax in the onsen?”

“W-well... It’s not like we can do anything about it right?” Eijiro shrugs off Denki’s concern, holding on to a stress ball that Hikari had in her room. “She’ll be moping around and going back to overthinking about what her parents are doing right now. We’ll take her there and besides, once we do get there, (Y/N) and Bakugo already had a day’s worth of rest. And I think it’s time for us to take Hikari on a road trip and have fun with her!”

“Uncle Eijiro.. Aunt Mina... Uncle Denki... what’s taking you so long?” Hikari yawns and rubs her eyes, still holding on to her chopsticks. “The ramen is going to get cold...”

“Oh no! It is!?” Mina reacts quickly, taking Hikari’s hand and leading her to the table. “Let’s get there before Elsa makes it even colder!”

“NOOOOOO!! Elsa’s going to do that!? Whyyyyyy!?”

“Let’s just hope that this isn’t a repeat of what happened when we took her to the community pool.” Kaminari shakes his head, recalling the past event. “Bakugo almost killed us if it weren’t for (Y/N).”

“I don’t think it will. Besides, Sero and Mina will be with us, so the more the merrier!”

Oh and the merrier it was.

“HAKUNA MATATA! WHAT A WONDERFUL PHRASE!” Bakusquad along with Hikari, sing in unison. Bopping along to the iconic song from Lion King.

“IT MEANS NO WORRIES! FOR THE REST OF YOUR DAYS!” Hikari belts out, the others clapping along to her singing, doing their best to hype her up

Kirishima was singing Timone’s lines, Kaminari was singing Pumba’s, Sero and Mina were the background vocals and and Hikari was singing Simba’s lines.

It was 6 am in the morning and they were finally on the road and on the way to a Hot Springs Resort in Chiba Prefecture, where you and Bakugo were staying in for the weekend.

Kirishima was driving the SUV that he immediately bought when he got his first Pro Hero paycheck, Denki was riding shotgun, and Hikari was seated at the middle squeezed in by both Mina and Sero.

Disney Songs were set to be played for the entire morning to tire out Hikari and so that she can sleep peacefully and rid Bakusquad of the slight annoyance they will receive when she asks “Are we there yet?” every 2 minutes.

Denki had unfortunately messed up the spotify playlist that Jiro had given him, and the piano opening of A Thousand Miles begins to play.

“OMG IT’S OUR SQUAD SONG!” Mina’s eyes lit up as soon as the well-known piano keys blared out from the speakers. “MAKING MY WAY DOWNTOWN, WALKING FAST, FACES PASS AND I’M HOMEBOUND!”

The iconic part before the chorus begins to play and the boys sing along, “AND I NEED YOU! AND I MISS YOUUU!” They shake their shoulders to the beat, and Hikari giggles along.

“CAUSE YOU KNOW I’D WALK A THOUSAND MILES IF I CAN JUST SEE YOU TONIGHTTTTT.” Bakusquad sings dramatically in unison, raising their hands up high and just vibing to the beat.

“Hikari-chan! You should totally hear your dad sing this! He loves this song!” Mina turns to the little girl who continued to laugh at how chaotic her aunt and uncles were being. “Really!? I want to learn it then so that Mommy and Daddy would know that I can be a singer too!”

The song ends and yet everyone else was still vibing. After the current song, the hype and the energy has died down and Hikari is fast asleep on Mina’s lap and her feet were lying on a pillow that was placed on Sero’s lap.

“She really is a spitting image of both (Y/N) and Bakugo. They’re really great parents.” said Sero, who wanted to break the silence and keep the atmosphere lively.

“My mind is still shook over the fact that Bakubro would turn so soft every time he’s in the same room as his daughter. It’s a complete 180 on his personality, and I really wanna tease him about it when we finally get the chance.” Kaminari interjects. “Do you think Bakugo would get mad when we arrive there?”

“Trust me on this guys.” Kirishima says casually, stepping on the gas pedal, as they go up the highway. “Bakugo won’t. In fact, I think both he and (Y/N) would be delighted to see their daughter travel for 180 miles just because of a misunderstanding.”

♡

“Suki-kun... do you think I should call up Mina to ask how Hikari’s doing?” You reach for your phone on the bedside table. “It’s 6 AM maybe Hikari forgot to drink her gummmy vitamins-”

“She’s going to be fine.” Katsuki murmurs in his bedhead voice, turning to your side of the bed to spoon you and nestle his head on your neck. “I trust Kirishima and the others.”

“This is surprising. You’re very casual about this now. What happened to your skepticism? Weren’t you too worried about how they were going to babysit Hikari after the pool incident?”

“To hell with that. If Hikari loves them, and they love her back just as much, might as well just roll with it. They’re my friends anyway and it’s better than Ilda scolding her for eating 4 M&Ms at 9 in the evening.”

You chuckle, holding his hands that were wrapped around your waist. “That’s harsh but you got a point. Although Hikari loves my friends and yours equally, they do think of Hikari as a little Bakugo so, they’re able to connect with her more.”

“What time do the private mixed gender hot springs open up again?” He grumbles suggestively and you giggle. “They open at 9 am. Should I reserve that time slot?”

“You should.” He growls but before you could even reply, he falls back to sleep.

♡

“WE’RE HERE!” Kirishima announces, waking Kaminari, Mina and Sero up from their sleep.

“W-what if this isn’t the right onsen?” Denki yawns, looking around to take in the view.

“I asked (Y/N) last night where they were staying. This is the place! She even gave me their room number for some reason.” Mina stretches her arms then pats Hikari on the forehead lightly. “Hikari we’re here...”

The little girl slowly opens her eyes, sitting up, then looks out the window.

“HOT SPRINGS! ONSEN!” She hastily tidies up her backpack and gets down the car as soon as Sero opens the door.

“Hikari-chan! Wait for us first!” Sero runs after her, making sure she doesn’t get too far.

“It’s 9 AM... I wonder if those two lovebirds are awake already.” Kaminari looks at the watch on his wrist, as he brings down their stuff from the trunk of the car.

“I looked this place up last night. It’s a family friendly hot springs resort, but it’s famed for it’s private mixed gender onsen. I wonder why though...” Mina mused, helping Denki out with bringing their stuff down.

Kirishima gets out of the car and bobs his head up as soon as he heard what Mina had said. He looks at Kaminari trying to tell him something through his stare. The mustard-haired man’s eyes widened when he realized why Kirishima was looking at him, then he turns to Mina who finally realizes what the mixed gender onsen meant.

“Oh.”

They enter the beautiful and lush resort, spotting Sero and Hikari who were sitting near the reception area, waiting for their reservation and for the rooms to be confirmed.

“Can’t believe we had to pay double the price for a standard room.” Kaminari pouts, whispering to Kirishima as the red-haired man hands him over the credit cards of each of his friends and then he hands it over to the concierge. He notices how excited Hikari looked and couldn’t help but smile.

As soon as the reservation was confirmed, Bakusquad and Hikari were able to check in immediately. Mina takes Hikari to her room while the three other boys were sharing their room with each other.

“Hikari before you can surprise your parents, you have to wear this Yukata first okay?” Mina helps fasten the bath robe on Hikari, but the little girl can’t help but be energetic and start dancing in her place. “Have you memorized the A Thousand Miles chorus already to sing to your mommy and daddy?”

“I have!”

Mina takes Hikari outside, the other boys were already out too and were wearing their bath robes.

“I saw (Y/N) enter this onsen. Maybe that’s where she and Bakugo are in? Should we take Hikari there?�� Kaminari asks his three other friends, sipping on a fruit-flavored ramune, and handing one to Hikari.

“Yes please! I want to see Mommy and Daddy as soon as possible and then surprise them!” She sips on her ramune, looking at her aunt and uncles pleadingly, begging them to bring her there.

♡

“I could have sworn I heard Kaminari-kun’s voice outside.” You tell Katsuki, closing the screen door to the open air bath. You were holding a plate full of sliced Watermelon. Your robe was still on and you wanted to eat something first before getting in.

“Tch. Probably just your imagination.” Bakugo breathes a sigh of relief, slipping in further in the hot water. “I could get used to something like this every month.”

“Oh really?” You raise your eyebrow, and lick your lips. “Could you get used to-”

“If I could fall into the sky, do you think time would pass us ByYYY?”

You jolt up at the sweet and all too familiar voice that was echoing from the outside. Before you could even react properly, someone knocks on the door to reveal...

“Mommy! Daddy!”

“Hikari!?”

She jumps to you and pulls you into a tight hug. “I missed you so much! I thought you and Daddy were fighting that’s why you left!”

“Fighting!?” You look back and forth to Bakusquad then to your daughter. “Of course not! Why would we-”

“Uncle Sewo and Uncle Denki told me that you guys would always fight when you were in school! That’s why I thought that-”

“They did... what?” Bakugo’s tone becomes slightly irritated at the mention of Kaminari and Hanta’s name. The Bakusquad were about to face death and the consequences until...

“Oh! But! They also taught me a song today! It’s called A Thousand Miles! They said it was Daddy’s favorite!” She then turns to her father with such admiration in her eyes as she begins to sing the chorus. “Cause you know I’d walk a thousand miles just to see youuu~”

“Nice one sunshine. Did you learn that for me?” He gestures Hikari to approach him, ruffling her hair as she kneels down to peck him on the cheek. “I did!”

“It’s your favorite song! So, I also traveled a thousand miles to see you and Mommy!”

“Not necessarily a thousand miles, dear. But you’re close enough! You still traveled to see us! Yay!” You clap at the genius remark your daughter had made. You turn to the Bakusquad, nodding your head at them and smile. “Thank you for taking care of Hikari and bringing her here just because she wanted to. We’ll see you later at lunch?”

“Of course! Of course!” Mina waves goodbye, a tired but loving smile formed on her face. “We had a fun time with Hikari and we just couldn’t help but bring her here. But, you have Kiri to thank for all of this though!”

“No, I shouldn’t get all of the credit. This is a Bakusquad group effort, if Kaminari and Sero didn’t slip and if Hikari didn’t misunderstand their words, then we wouldn’t be here in the first place.” Kirishima cuts Mina off in a respectful way. He claps his hands together and pulls your other friends out of the room. “See ya guys later!”

“Thanks guys.” Bakugo nods generously to his friends. It was something he didn’t always do, but when he does, well, it’s worth seeing.

“Bye Uncle Sharkie, Aunt Pinkie, Uncle Sparkie and Uncle Spidey!” Hikari waves goodbye jovially, not realizing that she just called them the affectionate nicknames that she’s too embarrassed to say in front of them.

The four laugh at the little girl’s slip-up and they leave the hot springs in good spirits.

After that wonderful weekend, you explained to Hikari about why you’re taking a rest every month in the first place. She didn’t quite get the concept at first but after a little bit more of explaining, she came up with the idea that the two of you get four rest days in a month. One weekend just for you and Katsuki then the other weekend is for the three of you and if any of the Bakusquad or Dekusquad would want to come along.

It was the perfect agreement and if Hikari was going to grow up in an environment where she had the best aunts and uncles in the universe, then she’s going to grow up to be a great kid. Just like the adults in her life once were.

The End.

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mysmemissme · 3 years

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Up the Rabbit Hole

Summary: You have a problem- you can't stop thinking about how good Barbatos looked in that bunny costume. It's interfering with your studies, duties, and even your friendship with him. With no clue what to do, you begin to avoid him.

Barbatos, however, is not fond of this fix, and when his patience runs thin, he offers you a more unorthodox solution.

Pairing: Barbatos/ Reader

Rating: Explicit

CW: Prostate massage, anal fingering, collars, slight master/pet

Read below the cut or on AO3

A gift for my friend for Barbatos’ birthday! Enjoy!

It was all that bunny suit’s fault.

Ever since everyone was forced to don those dumb bunny costumes, you had been an utter wreck. You couldn’t focus on your studies, earning you an earful from Lucifer. You couldn’t focus when you were cooking, earning complaints about the pitiful state of dinner from everyone but Lucifer. You couldn’t focus on Mammon’s schemes, or Levi’s games, or Satan’s recommended books, or Asmo’s fashion advice, or Lucifer’s lectures, or Beel’s workouts, or even something as simple as napping with Belphie. You couldn’t focus on anything.

Except for the mental image of Barbatos in that bunny outfit.

Why it had enchanted you so much was a mystery. Maybe it was the change in wardrobe; the way the vest highlighted his slender waist and broad shoulders, the lime green tie bringing out the same shade in his eyes. Maybe it was the ears themselves and the charming tail that accompanied them; the ears revealing a cutesier side to the ever-serious butler, and the fluffy tail drawing attention to his rounded behind. Maybe it was watching him work in the suit, catering to guests as serious, as dedicated, as always, despite the circumstances. Maybe it was the way he wore it all with no shame, not embarrassed in the slightest at the large ears, rounded tail, and odd situation, retaining his confidence through it all…

Maybe it wasn’t a mystery why you liked it so much after all.

Either way, your thoughts and preoccupation with the memories of Bunny Barbatos were providing you with issues- the biggest of which being that you couldn’t even talk with Barbatos anymore. You couldn’t make eye contact with him without thinking about floppy ears and a firm build. You couldn’t listen to him speak without the deep timbre of his voice igniting fantasies mid-conversation that left you a stuttering mess. Even simply being near him caused your brain to derail, hands to sweat, and heart to pound.

In one moment of weakness, you bought a dark green collar you saw while browsing the web, one you knew would look amazing on Barbatos, especially paired with the cursed ears and tail. You hid it in your bedside table, refusing to acknowledge just how far gone you were, refusing to acknowledge the new images, fantasies, and dreams it sparked.

You, in embarrassment and for your sanity, started to avoid him.

You weren’t dumb enough to think this would solve the problem, especially with how sharp Barbatos was. What you had hoped was that Barbatos would tolerate your finicky behavior without prying just long enough for you to get this problem under wraps.

For a while, it worked- Barbatos allowed you to make your escape, sending any messages he needed to tell you through the brothers. He left sweets wrapped with notes attached on them for you to enjoy on your bed. If you ended up in the same hallway, he kindly ducked into a nearby corridor in order for you to pass unhindered.

This game continued for two weeks- you avoiding him, and Barbatos letting you. His patience was commendable, and it was just another thing you admired about him. He let you go, again and again, in an unusual game of cat and mouse.

But everyone’s patience runs out eventually.

It was on the fifteenth day of this arrangement that Lucifer handed you a note. It read:

Dear,

Meet me in your bedroom tonight at eight ‘o’clock sharp. There is something we must discuss. No more running from me.

Sincerely,

Your faithful servant, Barbatos

You read over the note again with trepidation and glanced at the time on your D.D.D.- 4:01. You had four hours to prepare yourself for the inevitable conversation you knew was to come. Four hours to get yourself under control. Your stomach tied itself in knots.

Stupid bunny outfit.

-----

Time flew, and before you knew it, eight was upon you.

You paced outside your door, fidgeting with your hands and hair. Your nerves were getting the best of you. What if he rejected you? What if he no longer even wanted to be friends with you? What if he called you a kinky freak and exposed you? What if he convinced Diavolo to send you back to the human world?

‘What if’ upon ‘what if’ piled up in your mind, each one more ridiculous and implausible than the last. It was agonizing, not knowing what was going to happen when you stepped through the door and faced Barbatos. You felt the seconds tick away, each pressing down on you more and more.

Finally, you couldn’t stand the pressure and anxiety anymore. You flung the door open and stepped into the dimly lit room. There, on your bed he sat with-

With bunny ears on and the suit to match. Suddenly, you felt like passing out.

When he saw you enter, he moved to stand, and a flash of light from his neck caught your eye. The bunny ears had distracted you from the rich, dark green velvet adorning his slender neck, the gold chain attached matching the golden detailing and swirls on the green.

It was the collar you had bought. He was wearing the collar you had bought and hid.

“That- that’s the- But I- How’d you- Why’re you-,” you stuttered. Your thoughts were a jumbled mess, and they all came rushing out in an incomprehensible mess you continued to stumble through, even as Barbatos glided towards you. He raised a gloved hand and caressed your face when he was near enough to. He shushed you.

“A few days ago, I came in here to drop off a slice of Devil food cake, and I intended to leave a note. However, I seemed to have forgotten a pen. I didn’t mean to pry, but I figured that one such as yourself would keep a pen near your bed, so I looked in your bedside table. While I certainly did find a pen to write with, I also found this charming collar hidden away. It seemed to match perfectly with a certain outfit I wore not too long ago. Care to explain?”

His facial expression never changed, but his eyes shown with a mischievous sheen, his voice filled with amusement, and there was a slight self-satisfied quirk to his smile. You could try and lie your way out of this one, but it was clear he had figured you out long ago. You sighed.

“I think you already know everything, jerk,” you grumbled, before continuing louder. “Fine. You were really hot in that bunny outfit, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I bought that collar because I thought it would look good on you, and I was right. I’ve been having inappropriate fantasies about you, which is why I’ve been avoiding you. There, happy?”

He chuckled. “Quite. Hearing such flattering words come from you is always welcomed. Since you were so honest with me, I believe you deserve a special treat.”

“What do you mean by ‘special treat?’ Like dessert?” He hummed, obviously amused.

“No, I believe something else is in order. You mentioned certain… fantasies pertaining to me, did you not?” You nodded dumbly. His lips twitched, and he reached for his tie, slowly loosening it. “Well then, since you were honest about having them, as a reward I’ll allow you to fulfill them.”

Your brain was running a mile a minute but still couldn’t seem to catch up. “Fulfill my fantasies?” you questioned.

He fully removed his tie, moving to lay it on the bed. He then began to undo the buttons on his vest and shirt, revealing inch-by-inch more of his pale skin. “Yes, fulfill your wishes. Touch me as you wish, direct me as you want. Command me, your humble servant.”

It was like his words had cast a spell on you, because suddenly all the desire and lust you had been repressing for the past weeks welled to the surface. Your hands itched to touch, your tongue to taste, and your eyes to look upon him below you.

“Lay down on the bed.”

He did as told, and you closed the distance in a second, straddling his body. His dark hair fanned out against the pillows, bunny ears tapping the headboard. His eyes practically glowed with a mix of satisfaction and interest. His shirt and vest were completely undone, hanging open. You swallowed.

You pushed the shirt and vest down his arms, and with his help, you removed them completely. Now that his upper body was completely visible, you couldn’t stop your hands from dancing along his shoulders, collarbones, and chest with frantic energy.

“You know,” you started, voice thick, “In my fantasies, I like to spoil the always-composed butler with attention and pleasure till he so overwhelmed that his mask breaks, and I get to see him beg. Spoiling someone who always works so hard, like they are my pet who did a good job, and this is their reward.”

“Then by all means, Master, reward me, your humble bunny.”

You didn’t need to be told twice. You leaned down, pressing kisses along his flawless skin from his partially exposed neck, to his collarbones, to his nipples. Your lips latched onto one, sucking and tugging lightly with your teeth, while the other one was pinched with your eager hand. You heard him sigh, but that wasn’t enough- you wanted to hear him lose his composure completely.

You move to the other nipple, laving it with attention as well, till both nipples were hard and perky. Once you were satisfied with that, you continued your path downwards. You alternated dotting his skin with kisses and light nips, stopping to suck here and there. When you passed his belly button, getting ever so close to the waistband of his pants, you felt his stomach tighten in anticipation.

You reached for the button on his pants, undoing it and shoving them down to his ankles, stopping to admire the bulge in his boxer briefs before shoving those down, too. His cock now free and hard, it stood proudly towards his stomach, leaking precum.

You wrapped your hands around it, looking up at Barbatos’ face for any sign of change, but his expression was as placid as always. Using the precum dripping from the tip, you wet your hands, before setting a steady pace of jerking him off, slowing at the tip to rub your thumb against it.

You looked up at his face, yet his expression had not changed despite the pleasure.

You were going to have to up your game if you wanted him to melt beneath you.

You stopped your ministrations, leaning over Barbatos to reach into your beside table. You pulled out the lube you had stashed there, closing the drawer, and moving back down Barbatos’ body. You spread his legs and settled between them, popping the lube open. You poured a sizable amount onto your palm, then began rubbing your hands together to warm the liquid.

“This okay?” you asked, circling your middle finger around his tight hole, but not entering.

“Touch me as much as you want, wherever you want,” he said, voice husky. You rolled your eyes.

“Is that a yes? I need a clear one.”

“Then, yes.” He spread his legs even wider, giving you ample access.

Now that that was out of the way, you tentatively pushed your finger into his tight hole. With your free hand, you grabbed his cock once more, stroking it to make sure he felt good even while you stretched him.

You began to thrust your finger in and out, letting Barbatos adjust to the sensation. When you felt him relax and loosen slightly around you, you added a second finger. He hissed at the additional digit, and when you checked to make sure he was okay, his eyes were closed, eyebrows raised and furrowed.

You stopped moving. “Is this-,”

“Yes, it’s okay. Keep going,” he grunted out, wiggling his hips. You started thrusting your fingers again, and he sighed.

Oh, okay.

So, he was feeling it, but you still wanted more.

You replaced your random thrusting with rubbing against his inner walls, searching for what you knew would cause him to crumble. It took a few moments, but you knew the second you felt the bump that that was what you had been looking for.

You began to circle the small bump, applying steady pressure, causing Barbatos to arch off the bed. Proud that you had gotten such an obvious reaction out of him, you doubled down, circling faster and tightening your grip on his cock as you continued to jerk him off.

You then alternated between circling, tapping the bump, and rubbing it in a ‘come hither’ motion. Barbatos’ legs began to quiver, and when you glanced up, you saw he had become a mess- panting with his mouth open, sweat beading on his brow, and cheeks flushed pink. You stared in wonder, adoring his reactions.

And yet, it still wasn’t enough- he still hadn’t made any noise.

Desperate for him to moan or gasp or anything, you replaced your hand on his leaking cock with your lips, circling the tip with your tongue and licking the underside, before taking him in your mouth.

“Ah!” he gasped, bucking his hips, pushing his cock further into your mouth, the taste of his salty precum and his smell overwhelming your senses. As you took him deeper, you applied more pressure on his prostate, all while keeping your motions random.

It was then that Barbatos’ poise began to collapse completely. He started wiggling his hips, thrusting forward and backward like he was chasing both the warm heat of your mouth and the shocks of pleasure your hand was providing with his prostate. One of his gloved hands came down to rest on the back of your head, fingers wrapping your hair and holding you in place as he used your mouth. He moaned as he fucked your mouth roughly, cock touching the back of your throat.

Then, a loud moan he released caused you to look up once more, only to meet his hazy gaze as he stared down on you pleasuring him. Your eye contact seemed to add fuel to the fire as the grip on your hair tightened, and his thrusts became faster. From how he was biting his lips and arching his back, you could tell he was close, so you ground your fingers against his prostate, harder than before, right as his cock was fully sheathed in your mouth.

With the simultaneous overpowering sensations, he came, sighing long and low as he filled your throat with his cum. You managed to swallow most of it, though some slid down your chin. After a few seconds, when he was done basking in the afterglow of his orgasm, he pulled his softening cock from your mouth, and you moved back from between his legs so he could pull his pants up.

Once he was tucked back in and pants buttoned, you figured you were done and went to stand, only to end up flat on your back on the bed, Barbatos straddling you in a surprising role reversal of earlier. You gaped up at him. His face was already back to normalcy, but his lips were shiny with spit and his hair tousled.

He reached up, taking off his bunny ears and putting them on you. He leaned down, licking the cum off your chin before whispering against your ear.

“Now, it’s my turn.”

#barbatos #barbatos x reader #obey me #shall we date barbatos #shall we date obey me #writing #hope you like it!#remember my requests are open!#comments likes and reblogs appreciated!!#happy birthday barbatos #bunny barbatos

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ficforce · 3 years

Text

Joker/52 Relationship Alphabet

Two types of F!Reader

A- Activity (What is their favourite activity to do with Y/N.) Quiet Reader: Joker used to think it was funny when Y/N asked him to teach her card games, he didn’t know many himself as he liked to play around with the cards rather than use them for games but he knew at least one. She had been a quick learner and had trounced him from the start. Each time they met they would teach the other a new card game and now they played to pass a quiet night. Loud Reader: She was curious about the world and about The Nether. That’s where the Joker had found her - she had been wandering around the abandoned spaces beneath the city. Y/N had kicked him in the balls and hit him with a metal pipe after he had snuck up behind her, she had already been scared and his appearance had sent her into a violent panic. She still liked to explore The Nether, with a pole in her hand, but now he would hold her other hand. B- Beginnings (How do they act in the beginning of a relationship) Quiet Reader: He had been fooling around with the explosive dust Licht had made when he heard a scream come from the building he had been using as a target practice. Joker had found Y/N huddled up in the corner of the wrecked building and had approached her carefully, offering her his hand and trying not to grin too widely at her - he could see she was frightened. From her clothing he could see she was most likely homeless and he felt bad for disturbing her hiding place. She hadn’t trusted him at first and it took some doing for Joker to have her follow him down into The Nether so that he could offer her somewhere to wash and change her clothes. She ran back to the surface as soon as she could but Joker always found her to give her food. Eventually she stopped running away and stayed with him. Loud Reader: After beating him with a metal pole, Y/N had helped him up, not too disturbed by his manic giggles at her over reaction. She didn’t sense any malicious intent from him, he didn’t wear all white and he hadn’t been on fire at the time. Joker knew she was weird from the moment she grinned at him. He liked that she was curious and she had a million questions, she had a million answers for him too - both had been so excited to find someone so similar. They were two sides of the same coin.

C- Communication (Are they good communicators? How do they normally talk about their problems or solve issues)

Quiet Reader: She didn’t speak much to him at first, too nervous and unsure of him at first. Joker had done most of the talking, sometimes it was as simple as telling her what he had done that morning or how he turned his hideout into a functioning home with running water. When she had finally started to trust him Y/N told him anything he wanted to know. Now that they’re a couple she doesn’t hide anything from him, he’s a great listener and although he doesn’t always come up with conventional advice he always makes her feel better. Joker doesn’t like to burden her with his problems so he’s not a great communicator, he worries that if she knows too much then he could put her in danger. Y/N doesn’t probe him but she knows when he’s sitting on a problem. Loud Reader: Y/N tells him everything, even when she literally catches him trying to sneak away to catch a break she follows him. She likes that he will offer to help even when he thinks she’s over reacting. Sometimes he offers murder as a solution and she got really into it. Again, he doesn’t like to share too much for her own safety but she’ll encourage massacres to fix his issues… Joker doesn’t think that’s bad advice. D- Drunk (What are they like when they’re drunk) Quiet Reader: Joker had given her a glass of whisky to warm her up, her health wasn’t good to start with and her third generation ability was so weak she hadn’t been able to retain heat well. He hadn’t thought a double would affect her so much but he was pleasantly surprised. Y/N becomes very affectionate when she’s drunk, she wants to cuddle into Joker and he enjoys it immensely. Loud Reader: He had to persuade her not to fight everyone who looked at her for more than two seconds. Y/N got loud when she was drunk and Joker wondered how she hadn’t died yet. He’s all for fun and mischief but his girlfriend is nuts. E- Emergency (How are they in emergency situations? Y/N gets hurt, they get hurt, someone is dying etc..) Quiet Reader: Y/N is really good in an emergency, she once found Joker badly hurt after getting in a fight and sat him down whilst locating his first aid kit. She bandaged his broken ribs and made sure he rested. People didn’t think of Joker as much more than a misunderstood weirdo, he was a self proclaimed anti-hero but he had plenty of experience with blood and guts, he knew a mentally screwed up person when he saw one. He always knew what to do when Y/N would become anxious or frightened, he sat up with her many times when she was recovering from being left out in the streets for years. Loud Reader: She panics. Y/N is useless in an emergency and has proved it over and over again. Joker couldn’t count the times he had saved her from falling down a tunnel or running straight into danger whilst exploring the dark. Her first instinct was always to swing at the problem rather than think about it. He cut his finger once and she bandaged his entire arm… F- Free Spot (I’ll give you any headcanon I come up with) Quiet Reader: Joker is a pretty good cook, he’s mostly into making pastries and was really happy when Y/N taught him how to make a chocolate twist pastry - she had worked in a bakery before losing her home and ending up on the streets. Loud Reader:

Y/N and Joker like to try on clothes they find in abandoned malls underground, they have mini fashion shows and sometimes they dress up the mannequins for giggles. G- Gifts (What kind of gifts do they give? What kind of gifts do they get?) Quiet Reader: She’s really self conscious about not having any money or even a job, Y/N is always grateful when Joker brings her gifts, he’s a bit of a magpie and brings her pretty, shiny things he finds, but all she can offer him is food… made with ingredients he brings home. Y/N mends his clothing and bakes him treats, she likes to help him brush out his hair too. Joker enjoys the attention. Loud Reader: Joker knows what she likes from her habit of talking and talking. He goes out of his way to get very specific gifts for her, mainly things she mentions more than five times. He loves how excited she gets when he gives her a messily wrapped gift. Y/N buys Joker personalised accessories, pins, cufflinks, cute sweaters and decks of cards that are unusual. H- Hugs (How do they show affection/cuddle) Quiet Reader: It took a long time for her to allow physical comfort, when she finally approached him and timidly wrapped her arms around his waist he felt his heart melt. She likes to be held and if Joker is sat playing with his cards she will cuddle into his sides. Loud Reader: There’s always laughter and play fights between them, Joker is much stronger and Y/N usually gets exhausted trying to win. When she gives up he pulls her into his arms and nuzzles her neck. They’re not shy with each other and she always feels safer with his hand in hers. I- Irritation (What is something that irritates them? How do they show their irritation?) Quiet Reader: She finds entitled people irritating, she hates how they think they can look down on people and sometimes she’ll get angry when she sees them bullying someone. Y/N gets rather tearful when she’s frustrated, then she gets angry with herself for being so weak Loud Reader: She hates repetitive noises, tapping fingers or feet, a song with an annoying beat, the sound of card edges being flipped endlessly. Y/N will usually be verbal about things annoying her and if it’s something she can stop - like snatching the cards out of his damn hands because he knows he’s driving her mad - she will. J- Jackpot (How would they spend their winnings if they won the lottery?) Quiet Reader: She would buy herself a little house and live modestly, she knows how easily money can disappear and how fast the debt collectors come. She would be frightened to spend it on luxuries but Joker would force her to go on at least one selfish trip. He’s not bothered about money, he has all he needs to get by comfortably. Loud Reader: Y/N is going on a spending spree, she’s going to buy more things to explore the dark in and then she’s going to travel across the sea to visit the other countries. When she runs out of money she hopes she’ll be rich in knowledge. Joker is allowed to come but only to carry her bags. K- Kryptonite (What is their ultimate weakness?) Quiet Reader: Y/N is anxious of new people and isn’t any good in a crowd. She’ll help someone in need though, this can leave her open to danger. Loud Reader: She’s petrified of spiders. She’s also weak against being tickled. L- Laughter (What makes them laugh?) Quiet Reader: Joker makes her laugh quite a lot, not when he tries to though, it’s the little things he does. He’s funny by accident. Sometimes it’s something like him mumbling to himself under his breath or making faces when he’s trying to think of a plan. Joker thinks her sarcasm is hilarious when she’s in a bad mood. Loud Reader: She the kind of person who laughs when someone falls down. Y/N laughs at her own jokes and never misses an opportunity for a pun. Joker gets a little scared when he’ll be sat quietly and then he’ll hear her cackling to herself for no reason, she’s giggling so much she can’t even tell him the joke and then she’ll forget. That drives him mad… M- Morning ( How do they wake up in the morning? Are

they a morning person or a morning grouch?) Quiet Reader: Y/N is very good in the mornings, she ready for the day and happy that she gets to make breakfast for herself and for Joker. He likes to sleep in and when he does come to eat he’s dazed and likes to cuddle. She usually wakes up around seven in the morning, it’s hard to tell the time in the Nether but she’s getting used to it. Loud Reader: Ten in the morning is still too early and Y/N rolls out of bed, puts on whatever she finds and heads to the train for work. Her days off are used exploring and hanging out with Joker but when she works she doesn’t expect to see a tall, well dressed man on the train. A coffee and breakfast roll in his hands just for her. It’s not everyday but it makes her mornings worth it when Joker comes to feed her. N- Needy (When do they feel particularly needy? How do they show it?) Quiet Reader: When it’s cold and the rain is so heavy it vibrates through the tunnels of The Nether, Y/N can’t help but need reassurance. If Joker knows the weather will be bad he leaves his coat for her to wear - it offers her a little comfort until he can come back to her. Seeing her so insecure reminds him of his time on the streets and he wants the comfort of another too. Loud Reader: Y/N isn’t good when she’s feeling ill, she behaves as if she only has hours to live and tells Joker how she wants her body disposed of. He tells her he’ll cut her up and put her all over the Empire like a jigsaw. She didn’t think it was funny and would whine until he got her food and agreed to sit with her. O- Oasis (Where is their happy place? Where would they go if they didn’t have anything holding them back?) Quiet Reader: Joker takes her on rooftop dates, the higher the better. It’s far from other people and he knows how much she enjoys the stars, The Nether isn’t a place for her and he likes to take her out of there whenever it’s safe to do so. He’d love to find her a home with a garden and plenty of sun. Maybe if he can shake off his past then he could join her. Loud Reader: Her favourite place is by the sea, she can spend hours looking out at the ocean and imagining what’s on the other side. The Empire says there’s nothing but she also knows the Empire lies. There’s a small area where she can take off her shoes and paddle in the water, it’s cold and the stones beneath are sharp - it’s where she feels her most content. Joker watches her sometimes but never makes his presence known. P- Pain (How do they handle pain? How do they handle when Y/N are in pain?) Quiet Reader: Joker hates when she’s hurting, since the moment he met her she was in pain, he had seen it in her eyes and all he had wanted was to make it stop. She was so stubborn at first, refusing his help and running away. She never tells him when she’s hurting but he knows and he’ll do what he can to help - including sneaking pain meds into her drinks. Loud Reader: Y/N whines about little injuries, she makes a big fuss and demands the man’s attention. Joker snorts at her and rolls his eye. The injuries that cause real pain put her into a kind of shock and she tell herself over and over that it’s okay, that it’ll go away. That’s when he knows it’s serious and he’ll get her whatever help she needs. Q- Quote (What’s a quote that fits them and your relationship) Quiet Reader: Lovers are patient and know that the moon needs time to become full. - Rumi Loud Reader: To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. - Oscar Wilde

R- Reunion (How do they celebrate seeing Y/N after a long time of being apart) Quiet Reader: Y/N can’t let go of him, she throws herself into his arms and holds him tight like he might vanish if she doesn’t. She didn’t know if he would come back or if he had abandoned her. Joker holds onto her and makes sure she knows he’s with her.

Loud Reader: He likes to hide in her apartment and scare the shit out of her when she comes in - their reunion sometimes involves his bloody nose. Once the initial shock has worn off she’s happy to see him and even happier that he brought wine with him. S- Stress (What stresses them out? How do deal with stress and how do they relieve it?) Quiet Reader: Crowds of people stress her out, she feels very small and hugs the sides of buildings so she doesn’t get pushed around. It she gets too stressed it will escalate into a panic attack and she’ll huddle up out of the way. Joker has always calmed her down since meeting her, before him she would just wait until the crowds were gone and stagger away to hide. Loud Reader: Work stresses her out, she’s stuck in one place for 8 hours a day, being nice to all sorts of terrible people and feeling like she’s trapped. It’s busy where she works and her breaks are never long enough. In bad days she heads to the bar before getting the train home. Before she met Joker she would go home and dread the next day. He reminds her that she needs to make the best of her free time and getting out is better than staying in T- Terror (What are they afraid of?) Quiet Reader: There’s a particular person she’s scared of, she’s never told Joker and can’t even bear to think of that person. Loud Reader: Spiders, not the small ones but the large ones that run too fast and fall off the ceilings of the tunnels she likes to explore. U- Unique (What is a quirk that is unique to them?) Quiet Reader: Y/N can learn things very quickly, especially languages and games Loud Reader: She’s double jointed and oddly flexible. V- Violence (Do they fight a lot? Are they a good fighter? What is their fighting style?) Quiet Reader: Violence frightens her, she would be too petrified to fight back and Joker still doesn’t know what happened in her past to make her feel that way. Loud Reader: She fights a lot, especially after her drink. She’s not very well trained and in a real fight with someone who knew what they were doing - she would be destroyed W- Wow (What does Y/N do that really surprises them? What do they do that Y/N really likes?) Quiet Reader: When Y/N got strong enough to use her ability again, Joker was very excited, he asked her to show him again and again. It’s not a very useful power but he thinks it’s the prettiest ability he’s ever seen Loud Reader: Her ability to get herself in trouble amazes him every time. Also the metal pole she tried to beat him to death with was an interesting conversation piece. X- (Explicit headcanon. For all you degenerates) Quiet Reader: When they first slept together Joker was careful, he was slow and sweet with her. She was nervous of letting him become that close with her and a few times he told her they could stop but she didn’t want to. After the first time she would sometimes climb on top of him and kiss him until he got the hint. Loud Reader: Y/N had never thought she’d be into sex in public. She was very wrong. Joker surprises her at work or when she’s trying on clothes in changing rooms - he’s very good at sneaking into places. Keeping quiet is difficult when he picks her up and fucks her into the nearest wall. Y- Yucky (Is there something that grosses them out so badly that they can’t deal with it?) Quiet Reader: Y/N becomes physically ill when she sees extreme violence. She’s seen people get beat up and horribly injured before and it makes her sick. Joker hopes she never has to see him in action - he’d hate for her to be afraid of him again. Loud Reader: If it’s slimy or smells bad then she doesn’t like it, unfortunately there’s always slime or sludge in the places she explores and Joker isn’t above chasing her around with it. Z- ZZZ’s (What are their sleeping habits? Both with and without Y/N)

Quiet Reader: Joker both hates and adores the way Y/N curls up into a ball in bed, the blankets wrapped around her so tightly it’s hard to get to her. He knows she used to sleep out in the cold and that she was likely frightened, the ball probably felt safe. It looked cute. Joker is tall so he spoons her either from the front or behind, encasing her with his arms and legs so that she feels safe enough to uncurl just a little. Loud Reader: He’s her favourite pillow, she lays across his chest with her fingers wound in his long hair. Y/N doesn’t move much in her sleep but she has the cutest little snore and Joker finds it hilarious - especially when she denies it in the morning… he even recorded her once. She gets mad when he steals all of the covers.

#joker/52 #reader #alphabet #fire force #enen no shouboutai #enn enn no shouboutai #garth ennis

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nursemasten · 3 years

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FAYE EVERWOOD MASTEN is a mutant with the ability of REPLICATION. they’ve been in new york for TWENTY-ONE YEARS where they spend most of their time as A NURSE FOR THE XAVIER INSTITUTE. when i think of them, i think of RED LIPSTICK, LEARNING HOW TO DO HER OWN MANICURES, THROWING HER HAIR INTO A MESSY BUN WHILE RUNNING LATE, ALWAYS TRYING TO SAVE THE BEES, MEDICAL GLOVES, TOO SWEET TO EVER BE MEAN.

「 𝙿𝙸𝙽𝚃𝙴𝚁𝙴𝚂𝚃 」

「 𝚃𝙰𝚂𝙺 𝙾𝙽𝙴 」

𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙱𝙰𝚂𝙸𝙲𝚂 —

NAME: Faye Everwood Masten ALIAS: Multitask NICKNAMES: Nurse Masten AFFILIATION: Xavier’s Institute BIRTHDAY: March 6th ZODIAC: Pisces AGE: Twenty-one SPECIES: Mutant POWER: Replication CLASSIFICATION: Alpha SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bisexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Biromantic OCCUPATION: Nurse LANGUAGES KNOWN: English, ASL, Filipino RESIDENCE: Xavier’s Institute

HEIGHT: 5’3” BODY TYPE: Slender, Toned EYE COLOR: Brown HAIR COLOR: Brunette POSITIVE TRAITS: Kind-hearted, gentle, resilient, hard-working, honest, reliable, loyal, patient, intelligent, polite, trustworthy, warm, punctual, adventurous, imaginative, fashionable, ambitious NEGATIVE TRAITS: Oversensitive, curious, anxious, naive, indecisive, spoiled, superstitious, perfectionist, verbose, gullible, passive, tense, timid, profligate BAD HABITS: Duplicating spontaneously when stressed

𝙱𝙰𝙲𝙺𝚂𝚃𝙾𝚁𝚈 —

Isolation hasn’t always been the norm. Faye was born into a wealthy family — the only daughter and also the youngest child to a politician and an accountant. Curiosity always let itself be known after she learned to walk. This often meant chasing after one of her older brothers around the house, but usually it would be River since they were closer in age to each other. She would plop down next to him, wanting to be included in whatever it was that he was doing. Maybe this was the beginning of their close relationship. Never saw one without the other, did you?

Her childhood would become filled with stories of princesses being guarded in castles and knights fighting off dragons. Often you could see Faye dragging blankets and pillows to bring those kingdoms to life. Hours are spent playing with the grand creations until dinner time. The mess left behind to be visited again later.

Lessons were taught at home, never attending public school like the other children. Which never impacted her work ethic, always striving to study just as much — some might argue that she spends too much time with her books. Whether it was part of her homework or just leisure, getting lost in a sea of words is a perfect time to spend an evening. Maybe in another life being a writer could have been in the cards but destiny has something else in mind. The fun and whimsical nature that surrounded these younger years don’t last, no matter how much you wish for them to.

THIRTEEN YEARS OLD — Everything changes so suddenly. The oldest Masten child turned out to be human. Faye sometimes refers to him as the ‘golden one’ since it felt like there was a standard in place to try living up to his accomplishments. Meanwhile, River grew a pair of beautiful wings, revealing himself to be a Mutant. The tension could easily be felt within these four wall and the spaces were starting to get smaller with each day. Eyes always looking at Faye, whispering in wonder about if she’ll be normal or not. It hardly seemed fair to judge those who are different. She decided to love everyone and not allow herself to be influenced by anything her father preaches.

The sun begins to set — another day winding down. However, the night would be a long one. There was an important exam tomorrow, and doing well in school has always been important for Faye. She was perhaps too studious. She has an eidetic memory or what people might refer to as photographic memory instead. She was the kid reading every page of her lessons more than once and writing her notes with care. The pressure to keep getting good grades could be felt, not wanting to feel the disappointment in the room if she were to fail. Faye is smart but the worries are always there. Expectations. Expectations. Expectations.

All the stress caused her Mutant abilities to manifest for the first time, not realizing it happened at all until turning around to see a perfect duplicate of herself standing before her. It was like looking into a mirror.

“How about I quiz you on the information that might be on the test?” The voice is her own, offering to help her study. It was the weirdest situation and the confusion settling in started to overwhelm the poor girl. The duplicate was only trying to help, frowning while looking at the original who’s clearly in distress. Neither of them knew what to do so Faye just screamed. She screamed so loud it woke up almost everyone. Her parents came racing down the hallway, swinging the door open with a force that echoed into the room. The notebook is dropped from the copy’s hands.

“What —“ Her father doesn’t finish the thought, staring at his his daughter as if he were mortified. Another one of his children turned out to be a Mutant and he hoped this wouldn’t have happened. “Make it go away.” It was an order, not a question, but Faye started tearing up because she doesn’t know how.

“I can’t, daddy!” She tried to argue softly, shifting her gaze to look at the duplicate standing at her side — appearing to look just as upset.

Life can change in just an instant. Her father pinches the bridge of his nose and moves to leave the bedroom. “Get rid of it by morning and then we’ll talk about this.” Coldness filled the room, already feeling the impact of how their relationship will never be the same. Her mother stays behind, trying to comfort her daughter and the copy before going to try talking some sense into Christopher.

Studying is forgotten, going to sleep instead — hoping that everything would be different in the morning. The clone is still there, reorganizing the closet as a means of remaining busy. Faye isn’t afraid of this newfound ability, no, the fear resides in what will change after she goes downstairs. It’s not a welcomed sight when the duplicate is still there, Faye failing to deliver on what was asked of her. This is the first real moment the disappointment is felt, pulled into her father’s office before making it to the dining room. Breakfast would certainly wait.

“I told you to get rid of it.”

“I don’t know how!”

“You’ll stay indoors until it’s gone. Nobody can find out about this. Do you understand?”

The following days were spent secluded, only the company of her duplicate until finally beginning to dissipate. Faye didn’t know how she created one in the first place but maybe everything would go back to normal again?

It doesn’t.

Faye accompanies her family to a political dinner, never her favorite kind of gatherings, but faking a smile could do wonders. It was only a few hours and then she could go home — this is what she kept reminding herself the whole evening. However, someone brought Mutant affairs up into conversation and Faye had to excuse herself to the bathroom. This feeling can’t be explained, as if her body was telling her that another duplicate would be created right there if she didn’t get out.

The replication occurs when highly stressed spontaneously or at will when she learns to control the ability. However, at such an early point in her life, there wasn’t any experience of mastering the replication process yet. She decided to hide out in here but her absence was noted from her parents and Christopher eventually came looking.

“This can’t keep happening. What if someone saw you?”

Faye is sent to Xavier’s shortly after, wanting to protect his public image. This hurt more than anything but despite everything that happened? She’ll always have River.

She’ll quickly grow tired of hiding but it’s nice not having to worry about it at the institute. She quickly learns to embrace her abilities, and how useful having duplicates of yourself can be. Make a copy, of a copy, of a copy, of a copy. Each one reading a different medical book. What else is a thirteen-year-old going to do when you’re not allowed to venture outside? She re-asborbs them to retain all the information they memorized. It’s how she quickly became a nurse for the institute at such a young age, essentially skipping many grades by having her duplicates share the studying. There’s no one better or more knowledgable, really. The work distracts Faye from all the pain that comes from the torn relationship with her father. She also genuinely enjoys taking care of others so there’s no better role for her at Xavier’s.

#c23intro #faye ✰ introduction #also not mentioned: she cares a lot about saving the bees

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rheawritessometimes · 3 years

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Albedo SFW Alphabet

{ Albedo x GN!Reader }

{ Summary } The entire SFW alphabet for Albedo.

{ Warnings } Physical Affection

{ Notes } I saw a post asking for the alphabets for Albedo and decided to write for it. I didn't get to the NSFW alphabet. This was a while ago and I couldn't find the post. Masterlist

{ Word Count } 1,303

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Albedo can be affectionate, but he’s not usually the one to initiate affection. As long as it doesn’t get in the way of his work, he’ll accept any affection that you give him. But one thing he always does is kiss you on the forehead before going off to work.

B = Beauty (What do they admire about their s/o? What do they think is beautiful about them?)

The mind of his s/o is what Albedo cares about the most. He’d like a partner who he could bounce ideas off of, not even necessarily ideas relating directly to alchemy. If they have an inquisitive nature, even better.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

As long as he’s not busy, Albedo doesn’t mind cuddling. Lay on him while he’s reading and he’ll start gently stroking your hair.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

Albedo is definitely the type to settle down with someone, he’s not looking for a relationship if it’s not going to be long-term. He likes to keep everything tidy and he cleans quite regularly. Albedo doesn’t let things really pile up and become a mess, he does the dishes right after eating, dirty clothes go in the laundry basket instead of the floor, etc. As for cooking, Albedo can keep himself alive with his cooking. It’s not the best, but it’s very edible! He doesn’t cook anything very complicated, though.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

Albedo wouldn’t end things screaming and yelling, he would just say things aren’t working out, whether it be falling out of love or your lives simply going in different directions.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

Albedo won’t enter a relationship if he doesn’t think it could last long term. He probably doesn’t care much about marriage, he could stay with someone his whole life and never marry, but love them just the same. But he’s not opposed to marriage, if you want to get married. It would probably take him a few years with a person to be certain that things would work out well enough to get married.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Albedo is a gentle soul, he’d never want to harm his partner. He’s very honest but tries to be kind in the way he words things if he thinks it could hurt you.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

Albedo doesn’t mind hugs, they can be very comforting. He’s not often one to initiate them, but as long as he’s not doing anything he doesn’t refuse them. Even though he rarely initiates hugs, he holds his partner tighter than one would expect and sometimes he doesn’t want to let go.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

Probably before the relationship even starts. Albedo would most likely wait until he’s certain he’s in love with someone and a confession from him could be him casually saying, “I’m in love with you.”

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Albedo has trust in his partner but, on occasion, he can get a bit jealous. For some reason, it irritates him the most if Kaeya flirts with his partner. But all he does is glare at the offending party.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

Soft, slow, and sweet. Albedo wants to take the time to feel and cherish the moment. Albedo gives lots of forehead kisses, but he’s also fond of brushing a kiss against his partner’s knuckles. Give him a casual kiss on the cheek and watch him turn a little pink, and of course, everyone knows Albedo’s absolute favorite place to be kissed is the little star on his throat.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

If Albedo can handle Klee, he can handle any child. A very good babysitter who is especially good at keeping kids safe.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Albedo usually wakes up early. If his partner isn’t an early riser then he might be gone before they’re awake. He still kisses your forehead before he leaves. If you wake up with him, then he’d like to have breakfast with you. Breakfast for Albedo usually consists of two pieces of toast and orange juice, he does have to be at work at a certain time. On days Albedo doesn’t have to work, he sleeps in. He’s so reluctant to get out of bed and these are the times he just wants to cuddle with you.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Albedo is in the habit of eating dinner quite late, so if his partner doesn’t mind eating late they might find themself eating or making dinner with him. He’ll often spend the time before bed sketching or reading, he likes to be productive most of the time. He’s in the habit of going to bed late, so he’ll tell you to go to bed without him. But if you refuse he might be willing to go to bed with you. Refuse to sleep without him so he comes to bed early and gets a healthy amount of sleep at night.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

Albedo isn’t secretive, but he tends to reveal things slowly. It’s mostly just a matter of whether it comes up in conversation.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

A very patient man. Albedo tries not to let his emotions rule him and he’s very good at staying level-headed. Most likely, one would have to be intentionally trying to anger him to make him angry. He can get a little heated over serious lab safety violations.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing or do they kind of forget everything?)

Albedo is excellent at retaining information, he may not remember everything but it would be pretty close.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

Albedo’s most fond memory would probably be the confession. Whether it was from you or him. The moment he knew his feelings were reciprocated he was euphoric. Thinking about it makes his heart flutter.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Albedo isn’t particularly protective. Of course, he’ll step in if you’re in danger but he’s not the type to be with you at all times to be your bodyguard. If you’re afraid of bugs, he’ll protect you by capturing them and moving them outside. Albedo doesn’t really need any protection, but maybe sometimes you can protect him from himself by reminding him to sleep and not overwork himself.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

Albedo cares a lot more than one might expect from him. A lot of people make the assumption that he wouldn’t care so much about anniversaries and little things in a relationship, assuming he doesn’t understand the point of them. In reality, Albedo is very thoughtful and makes a point of showing how much he cares. Every date he plans caters to his partner, he wants you to enjoy your time with him. In terms of gift-giving, he never wants to disappoint you. Especially for more special occasions, if he can’t find the perfect gift, he’ll invent it. In terms of the everyday effort he puts into the relationship, he does his best to make you feel loved. He worries his actions won’t be enough and I can imagine him keeping a checklist of affectionate gestures he should do daily early on in a relationship. 1. A good morning kiss. 2. Make breakfast. 3. Bring flowers home after work… It becomes easier and more natural as he gets used to giving you affection and gauging how much affection you want on a daily basis.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

Albedo is very committed to his work, to the point where he may neglect his partner. Of course, he never means to but he doesn’t always realize just how much time he spends working.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

Albedo isn’t terribly concerned with his looks, but he does like to dress nicely. Not bothered with the latest fashion trends or anything, usually just wants to look professional.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

No. Albedo is not dependent on a romantic partner, he does fine on his own. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t appreciate you, though.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

Albedo will use alchemy very casually to help with everyday tasks. Some of the things he does are really impressive and he’s so nonchalant about it. Honestly doesn’t see how special he is.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

Anyone who dislikes Klee is seen as an enemy. How could anyone not like Klee? Someone who dislikes Klee may not exist, but if they do they’re Public Enemy No. 1.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs?)

Not sleeping. Albedo stays up late into the night working on experiments, looking over notes, analyzing data, reading journals, etc. He runs on four hours of sleep most of the time.

#.rhea writes #genshin impact #genshin #gi #genshin impact albedo #albedo #kreideprinz #albedo x reader #gender neutral reader #gn reader #sfw alphabet #headcanons #albedo headcanons

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lovelyirony · 4 years

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strawberries & cigarettes by troye whatshisface but it's winteriron (idk if this is a prompt or just a statement you can take it as either)

Bucky doesn’t like the fact that he’s going to a stupid fucking private school. He doesn’t like that this is his mother’s sacrifice, that she stays up late with the bills and works another job so that he can go there and make a living.

He doesn’t even know what he wants to do in life, that’s the thing. Mom thinks that he’s going to be a really good businessman and she doesn’t know that he smokes outside his window and sometimes just doesn’t retain any sort of information at school because he has to be good.

“I sacrifice so much for you,” she tells him one night. “You need to make a good living for yourself. Promise me.”

And he does. Hell if he knows how he’s going to keep it, but that’s the promise.

The one kid that he absolutely hates at school is Tony Stark. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth and a whole silverware drawer at the ready in case he doesn’t like the spoon.

Tony’s kind of wealth is the kind that is so astronomically high that at some point you have to wonder what it means to him. Because it doesn’t seem to mean anything.

He shows up in the shittiest sneakers he’s ever seen, held together with tape and drawn on by someone else. His hair is never styled, his uniform is never washed, and yet he just exudes that kind of confidence that comes with knowing that your life is better than anyone else’s, kind of.

He’s also an ass in class. Correcting teachers, derailing the topic, and acting like it all is beneath him.

They say he’s a genius, going to take over his father’s company. He has his future set in stone, and so there’s nothing else for him to learn. Bucky’s not really sure if he’s a genius or not, because he’s pretty sure a genius could figure out when to leave shit alone.

Everyone at St. Anthony’s knows that Bucky is an individual who does well on his own. At most, you say hello and move on. He doesn’t talk to anyone, he makes sure he doesn’t look like he talks to anyone, and he’s said multiple times that he doesn’t want to talk to anyone.

Tony Stark, however, talks. Doesn’t matter what the subject is, he talks.

Bucky gets nicknames. Because of his...frigid demeanor, this means that Tony calls him shit like “Ice Pop,” “Icicle,” “Mr. Freeze,” and any other nickname that’s applicable to cold.

“Hey Snowball,” Tony says in class. “You finished with your presentation for English class? Mine still sucks, although I’m sure it’ll be better than Hammer’s.”

“That’s not saying a lot,” Bucky mutters. “At all. Now shut up. It’s class.”

“We all know it’s going to be boring,” Tony says. “Sitwell has the personality of a tumbleweed, and you’re so much more interesting to talk to.”

Bucky doesn’t respond to that.

“Ah, so we’re at the no-talking stage, darling. I’ll make it up to you. Ice cream? Dinner? Elaborate cruise trip in summer?”

Bucky rolls his eyes, and Tony quiets for roll call, but says one last comment.

“I think I’m going to do the presentation in Comic Sans. Thoughts?”

“I wish you didn’t have thoughts, then maybe you’d leave me alone.”

Tony laughs.

“You’re cute, Barnes. Cute. You know I don’t leave anyone alone.”

There’s a bad day. Bucky gets those sometimes. Every day of his life is a bad day, almost, but this one? The absolute worst.

He had nightmares, barely got any sleep, and found out that his little sister used up the last of his shampoo, so he had to use his mom’s and now he smells like “Strawberry Paradise.”

He hates the day, and it’s not even eight o’clock yet.

Tony Stark, of course, makes it worse. He talks incessantly about something related to robotics or the weather or music or whatever, and Bucky just sees red.

"Can you shut up for one fucking second of your life?” he hisses at him. “Oh my fucking god, it doesn’t matter. Nothing you say matters at all to me.”

Tony’s heard a lot of shit like that. Like, a lot. Probably worse.

But for some reason, it’s hurting more coming from Bucky Barnes.

Tony doesn’t shut up. He knows that. Everyone knows that. He has legitimately given people headaches. His dad has timed his talking and limited him to about two minutes. It would’ve been even less, but at family therapy they’re trying to work on “empathy for others.”

(A crock of bullshit, because Tony’s fairly sure his dad doesn’t know what that is.)

Bucky’s...he’s different. Sure, he hates Tony. Everyone does, and to be completely frank, Tony likes it that way. You know where you stand, how you can be interpreted if people only feel one thing about you.

But Bucky is perhaps the only interesting person Tony knows at this hellhole of a school. He works really hard on his assignments, has more to work on than other kids. He looks frustrated at math equations, but stays and pores over textbooks after school.

He brings a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every single day. Tony thinks the last time he had one was at a birthday party when he was twelve, and even then it wasn’t really a sandwich but more of a deconstructed concept thing that probably cost two hundred bucks a plate.

Now that Tony’s ruminating on it, it’s probably because no one has exactly told him that what he says doesn’t matter. They just say they don’t wanna hear about it. The two concepts are honestly very different. Tony has a sneaking suspicion that he is going to go into a tailspin about this on a Thursday night at two in the morning.

Ha. On a Thursday night at two in the morning. What odd phrasing that is, why is that so weird? It’s night, but it’s morning and you’re supposed to be asleep but morning is a wake-up time, so--

Oh, there’s the meaning.

Why would you discuss a night and a morning? Why does it matter? On a Thursday?

Tony wonders how much shit he’s said that just ultimately doesn’t matter.

This gets him thinking about how much nothing in his life matters. Don’t get him wrong, he knew it.

Knew it in the way everyone tells him he’ll be the next Howard Stark.

Knows it in the way that his own father isn’t exactly all too fond of him and Tony has a problem looking at anything with dear old Captain America because of comparisons that his father makes and honestly he probably almost named Tony “Steve.”

Could you imagine him having the name of Steve? God, he’d barf.

For some reason, this is the worst he’s ever felt. Sure his father hates him and his mother could be considered an absentee at best, but what gets him to cry into his pillow and rethink his entire existence is a guy who has eye circles darker than anyone else’s and thinks that wearing any bright color is “branching out into alternative fashion.”

God, he wishes he had a break.

Nothing you say matters to me.

This is the phrase that gets him. Tony is pretty sure it’s because it’s what everyone thinks.

Ever since then, Tony doesn’t talk to Bucky. Ever.

And that’s...that’s weird to Bucky. It was routine. Tony annoys him, he snaps a bit, and then it starts all over.

Tony looks at him, sometimes. As if he’s some sort of impossible problem he can’t figure out.

When Bucky actually thinks about it, Tony hasn’t really talked to anyone. He’s still himself, which is irritating, but he’s not talking about anything and everything and filling up space.

It’s...odd.

He feels a little bit bad because what he said was super shitty and he shouldn’t have said it, but now it’s too late to just kind of awkwardly apologize, and Bucky’s already shit at apologizing anyway.

Summer arrives with a bang. School is let out ,and in comes the ninety-degree-days that melt your damn head off. Bucky’s apartment doesn’t have AC, so their windows are permanently open and fans are blasting as they swear they’re melting.

Bucky needs a job. Preferably one with air conditioning.

He finds one as a driver. Rich people hate taxis, it’s a huge health hazard or whatever they wanna say. He’s not gonna ask. But a nice man named Edwin hands him keys to a damn Cadillac and tells him not to drive too close to the other cars and be careful, because he wasn’t supposed to start the job quite yet, but “something came up.”

Tony fucking Stark. That’s who he’s fucking driving.

“Oh my god,” Bucky groans. He sees Tony get into the car.

“Hey, Jarvis told me I had a new driver, it’s really nice to--oh my fucking god.”

“Where are you driving to.”

“Queens.”

“Queens, seriously?”

Queens isn’t the type of place for someone like Stark to go to. He’s supposed to say Saks Fifth Avenue or Gucci or wherever the hell rich people go when they’re not vacationing in Europe or elsewhere. Not Queens. Especially not Queens.

“It doesn’t matter where I’m going so long as you know where to drive,” Tony says.

“Sheesh. Okay.”

The rest of the drive is silent. It’s not like Bucky can do small-talk. Jesus, he’d rather take his other arm off than do that.

And Tony, obviously, is not going to say anything. Not after hearing that stellar set of remarks from school.

It’s a school. There are kids out front, who practically swarm the vehicle.

“Should I be concerned?”

“No, they do this every week. If you drive the car back home, Jarvis will explain more. You were kind of an ‘on the spot’ hire for us.”

“Got it.”

Jarvis is a kindly old man who Bucky would trust with his Social Security number.

He is also extremely loyal to Tony, at least.

“He helps out with some after-school program at one of the local schools,” Jarvis says, smiling softly. “Has a spot in his heart for the children.”

“What’s he do?”

“Oh, helps them with schoolwork. I think he does some improvement type jobs around there, but he won’t let us know. Secretive, that one.”

Bucky sips his tea and doesn’t say anything about how Tony once told everyone in the class that he was wearing neon yellow boxers and they were the comfiest damn boxers he had. It’s just not pertinent to this conversation.

“You know him, Mr. Barnes?”

“Um, yeah. We go to school together. I’ve seen him around.”

“He’s a good student. Always getting straight A’s. Doesn’t always seem like it, but he listens well. Just has a different method.”

“That’s for sure.”

For the next two weeks, it’s silence. Always. Bucky will turn on the radio and that’s it. The only thing that Tony has said is to “please change the channel to literally anything” when Belinda Carlisle’s infamously terrible “Heaven is a Place on Earth” came on.

And that’s it. Seriously.

When it is two weeks and four days, Bucky can’t take it anymore.

“Look. I have this job for at least two more months. I’m talking to you. So tell me what you’re doing today.”

“Teaching.”

“Wow, way to be descriptive,” Bucky says sarcastically.

Tony knows he shouldn’t throw it back in his face. But honestly, truly, this is pissing him off.

“Oh I’m sorry, does what I say matter to you now? Is that what this is?”

“Oh come on. That was months ago.”

"Not the point!” Tony says. “I’m getting out now. Feel free to pick me up or not. I don’t give a fuck. But don’t you pretend for a damn minute that you give a shit about my reaction since you’ve already made your point.”

The car door is slammed.

Bucky is in somewhat of a pickle.

Sam tells him that he’s, quote, “the stupidest motherfucker on the planet.”

And then hangs up.

thank you for being such a good friend sam. really appreciate it.

aw look at the little bitch boy mad because i called him stupid. shut up i’m on a date and don’t care once about you. at all.

i think what i really like about our friendship is how open and empathetic you are to my feelings

do you know how unattractive you are? on a scale of one to ten? prussia.

you can’t count now?

no i can count i’m just saying you shouldn’t exist.

god i hate you. i’ll talk to you next month

(Yes, they have a time limit to texts. Once a month. And Bucky used his to try to get advice like an idiot. He should’ve just asked Steve. Steve probably would’ve sent him money for a milkshake.)

Sharon, upon reading his text, sends him back one message:

so i read this but i’m not emotionally invested. can u make a playlist and send it to me?

oh my god. you have got to be kidding me.

i’m not. i told you that u need to b more creative in life. b spontaneous!!!

He leaves her on read after that.

Bucky has to figure out how to apologize. Genuinely. Because nothing’s worse than having an apology made but knowing that the person isn’t really meaning it, they’re only saying it to make people more comfortable.

(He wonders how many times someone’s apologized to Tony because of this reason.)

He’s not exactly sure how to go about apologizing.

But he figures it’s sooner rather than later, so he takes the subway to Manhattan and then gets a bike (that’s not exactly his, but he’s bringing it back) and starts the trek to the mansion. It’s a good and solid thirty minute bike ride.

Tony is having a rather uncomfortable family birthday dinner. Howard’s, to be specific. He’s not sure why they didn’t just go out, but maybe his father is tired of acting like a happy family in public. God knows Tony is.

(“What’s your favorite thing about your son?” An interviewer had asked cheerily, blush lipstick stretching widely as she smiled.

“Well, it’s certainly not his sense of style,” Howard had joked.

He didn’t know what his favorite thing about his son was. He couldn’t answer the fucking question.)

Jarvis mentions that “Sir Anthony” has a visitor at the door.

“Are you serious, kid?” Howard says, hissing. “You told someone to come over? During a family event?”

"No, of course not,” Tony says hurriedly. He doesn’t have anyone over to the house period. Too much risk, not enough payoff. There was also the fact that the house is basically like a mausoleum because both of his parents would rather be caught dead than spend time in one another’s company anymore.

“I’ll go...I’ll go check who it is.”

Bucky. Fucking. Barnes.

“What are you doing here?” Tony hisses.

“I came to apologize.”

“For what?”

“For telling you that your words don’t matter?” Bucky says, more of a question. “I don’t know what else I would apologize for. Maybe for mean-mugging you. I don’t know.”

“Why?” Tony asks, tiredly. “Why would you apologize for that?”

“Because it’s obviously affecting you and also I know I was in the wrong? That’s why people apologize?” Bucky answers. “What I did was shitty. What you say matters, I was just having a shitty day and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. It obviously stuck with you a lot longer than I thought it would. So now I’m apologizing.”

No one besides Jarvis has ever apologized to Tony. Ever. Not in a genuine way.

“Did you...did you bike here? You have a bike?”

“What? No.”

“You walked here?” Tony asks, incredulous.

“Of course not, then I’d be arriving, like, an hour later. No, the bike isn’t mine.”

“Who’s is it?”

“I don’t know, some hipster’s from Brooklyn.”

“You stole a bike?”

“The circumstances weren’t ideal, but I don’t have a car to drive to your freakishly large house,” Bucky said bluntly.

Tony grins.

“Well then, Buckster, welcome. Let me give you a ride home.”

He pokes his head into the dining room, where the plates are already being cleared.

“Hey, I gotta give my friend a ride home. Car broke down a couple miles from here.”

“Why don’t you just fix it?” Howard asks. “You’re a Stark.”

“A Stark who would need to order a part for a 1980 Ford Crown Victoria.”

“Tell him to get a better car.”

“Sure, pops.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Alright, Dear Father of Mine.”

“Just go, damn it!”

Bucky is led to a garage full of luxury cars that probably cost more than his whole block put together.

“Which one you wanna go in?”

“Am I allowed in one of these? Holy fuck these are nice.”

Tony grins.

“Best part about having a car is driving it. Choose one.”

Bucky chooses a bright red car, a smooth Cadillac.

“Holy hell, this is cool.”

Tony drives.

He’s a good driver once you get past the fact that you will fear for your life for at least twenty minutes. He is also notoriously terrible in the city traffic, yelling at drivers and pedestrians alike.

“How are you still alive with the way you drive?” Bucky asks.

“We made it, didn’t we?” Tony asks, grinning. “Now go return your bike and don’t try to walk to my house again.”

“See you tomorrow?”

“Naturally.”

Tony talks a lot. But Bucky finds himself listening. It still takes a while, but he talks.

Tony really is smart. His mind just works quickly, and that’s why at school he never really seems to absorb anything.

Bucky tells him about his neighborhood and how much he hates his neighbor because she keeps blasting music at one in the morning.

“So? Blast it in the morning,” Tony says. “That’s what I’d do.”

“Ma would say no.”

“Then don’t tell her!”

When it all changes, it’s when Bucky picks him up from a gala. He gets the following text:

pls come pick me up!! please! i’m begging!

It’s eleven at night, but Bucky sighs and goes to get the car and goes to pick him up.

Tony’s swaying outside. Bucky gets out, getting a pack of Marlboro out of his jacket.

“Shouldn’t smoke,” Tony says.

“You drunk?”

“No, can’t risk it when Howard and Maria aren’t here--mom and dad.”

He almost never calls his parents mom and dad. Ever. Only in public settings.

Bucky lights up anyway. Tony stares at the orange embers flaring up.

“Why did you need a ride?”

“Kind of avoiding an old...enemy. Slash ex-boyfriend.”

“The worst kind of enemy to have. He trying to talk to you?”

“It’s been an all-night event, so--”

The doors burst open.

Out walks the sleaziest guy that Bucky’s ever seen. His suit is garishly designer, the kind that borders on being confused for a tacky suit that you find in a thrift store for two dollars total.

“Tony, baby! Where have you been? I wanted to discuss things with you...in private.”

He gives Bucky a once-over.

“And who are you, catering?”

Bucky immediately wants to clock this guy in the damn mouth.

“Actually this is James, my boyfriend,” Tony says, snaking his arm around Bucky’s waist.

At this point, he’ll just have to go with it. It’s not the worst thing that’s happened.

“And who are you?” Bucky asks. “Sweetheart, you never mentioned you knew someone with such a...unique take on style.”

“I’m Ty, an old and close friend,” he says. He sticks his hand out. Bucky makes him switch hands by holding out his metal hand.

“Nice to see you,” he says. “But unfortunately, I have to take my guy back home. Plans and all that, you know how it is.”

“Bye Ty!” Tony says.

Bucky throws an arm around Tony’s shoulders, bringing him close. A ghost of a kiss to the forehead completes the lie, and Bucky looks back towards Ty, who has his eyes narrowed.

He flips him off with his right hand. (It’s satisfying.)

“Thank you so much for going along with that,” Tony says, looking up.

The cigarette is still in his mouth. He takes a drag, letting embers fall down and disintegrate into the pavement.

“He seemed like a shitty kind of person.”

“Not the best of people, that’s for sure,” Tony mutters. “You wanna go get ice cream?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that.”

Getting late night ice cream is like going into a different dimension. Bucky’s not sure if it’s the overbearing, fluorescent white light that gets to him, but Tony seems tired. At ease, but tired.

He gets strawberry ice cream, and Bucky gets chocolate.

They sit and eat for a moment.

“Why do you go to St. Anthony’s?” Tony asks. “It’s clear you hate it.”

“You don’t?”

“Not the worst school I’ve been sent to.”

“You don’t want to be there either?”

“There are a lot of places I don’t want to be, but this isn’t about me, I’m asking about you. You wanna share with the class or get a hall pass?”

Bucky snorts.

“Geez, okay. My mom really wants a good education for me.”

"She know that you don’t know what to do?”

“And how do you figure that?” Bucky asks, eyebrow raised.

“You wouldn’t be working as a chauffeur for the rich kid if you knew what you were working towards,” Tony says with a shrug. “Seen it happen before. Usually I don’t know who they are, but you figure out commonalities pretty quickly.”

That makes too much sense.

“I have no fucking clue how I’m living my life and my mom wants me to become a businessman.”

“You wanna do that?”

“Do I look like the kind of guy that wants to wear a suit?”

“You look like you’d look good in a suit, not that you’d wear one.”

Bucky laughs. Takes a bite of ice cream, and readjusts the pack of cigarettes in his pocket.

Over the summer, he and Tony get closer. They take walks in the park and Tony drags him into overpriced shops to look at clothes that are the ugliest goddamn things they’ve ever seen.

At some point, they hold hands and discuss secrets of the world of theirs that is unique to them.

Bucky kisses him one night while they’re just leaving perhaps the worst restaurant in the entire state of New York and god Tony didn’t think he’d ever not mind being wrapped up in fake-strawberry scented hair and cigarette smoke clinging to clothing, but he doesn’t mind it.

The whole summer, they’re inseparable. Tony chatters in the front seat of the car, now, and Bucky smiles a little bit more.

They walk in parks together and show each other funny little jokes and make inside understandings and look at sunsets and sunrises and get coffee and look at each other across the room.

It’s love, honest and true. But it’s not love like the never-ending kind. The thing about love is that it is not included in any toolbox, physical or mental. There is one thing that everyone knows regardless of whether it is admitted or not:

Love does not solve everything. It does not fix everything. And one should never rely on it to do anything but exist and work through your person to the best of its ability.

Howard comes back from a business trip. Sees Tony kiss Bucky goodbye, and that is that.

You can’t something like that as a son. It just...it won’t work for business.

Tony is sent to a boarding school upstate. Stricter guidelines, more controlling.

Bucky only hears one thing from Tony:

I’m sorry.

And he doesn’t believe it.

When you’re young, you think love is invincible. You think it survives through everything if you really want it to.

Love doesn’t do that.

Bucky writes letters, calls Jarvis, and mourns the loss of young love. He smokes a little bit more, leaves it clinging to his skin as a reminder that Tony would always wrinkle his nose in that adorable way, but it served to show Bucky that he had a bad habit.

He was in the middle of quitting.

His mother notices it.

Tells him that he needs to get his own shampoo.

“You can’t just use mine all the time,” she says playfully.

He remembers Tony’s hands gently threading through his hair in disbelief as Bucky kissed the living hell out of him.

Now there’s barely any trace.

He stops in his tracks when he sees an old coffee cup of Tony’s in his kitchen cabinet.

“When did you get this one?” Becca asks. She’s drinking out of it. He remembers Tony smiling over it at their little coffee shop that was hidden away. “I love it. It’s so cute.”

“From a thrift store,” Bucky says. “You can have it.”

“Really? Thanks!”

Tony pauses at the smell of cigarette smoke. Remembers blue eyes blazing along with orange embers, smoke curling around long hair and long summer nights.

His roommate at this new school asks if he smokes, if he can get him a pack.

“Uh, no. Just used to know someone who did.”

“You think they could get me a pack?”

“They don’t go here.”

“You can’t call them?”

Tony doesn’t respond.

You can’t call them?

He’s almost texted him about twenty times. Called him about thirty.

He knows the number by heart.

But he knows that Howard made him get a new phone, and now the memories are fading. He wishes he still had the pictures.

Love does not always last. Sometimes it is not meant to. Tony tries to tell himself that as he wakes up with tears streaming down his cheeks.

You always wish it would.

#i am sorry if this doesn't show up with a read more link on my dash but i'm too lazy to fix and i have work in uhhhhhh now #lovelyirony writes #this is sad i know #buckytony #winteriron #tony stark #bucky barnes #mention of sam wilson and sharon carter because i love them #i think i love this a lot #it gives me very specific vibes but also eh #ALSO YEAH DID YOU KNOW IF YOU WALK FROM BROOKLYN TO QUEENS OR WHATEVER IT'S THREE HOURS #IDK WHY I LOOKED THAT UP #anyways i know nothing about new yrok #i thought queens nad brooklyn were not far apart #anyways i don't exactly care about that but oh well #bucky is tough and tony is not and together they are soft and good #anyways yeah the last couple lines. yeah. that's my mindset right now

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robbyrobinson · 3 years

Photo

OWL HOUSE x CTHULHU MYTHOS: THE GODS AWAKEN: PT. II: BOSCHA’S ANGER

Boscha threw her brush against her mirror, smashing it. Shards of glass rained down to the floor, but the three-eyed girl was too enraged to take note of it. Her dark pink hair was in disarray from Boscha savagely tearing her bow from her hair.

“That blasted half-a-witch...” she groaned.

She collapsed on her bed with a thud. Why, why does her thoughts always go back to that glasses-wearing nerd? Even though she and her team the Banshees won the Grudgby match between Luz and her friends, Boscha’s victory felt hollow. Sure, she may have won, but her real intention was to make Willow and her friends new target practice. With that goal in mind, she hoped that it would dissuade people like Willow for even dreaming of climbing up the social ladder set into place by the Boiling Isles. And yet, Willow was becoming even more liked by the students. To rub more salt on that wound, Boscha’s teammates had gone out of their way to compliment Luz and the others on their teamwork.

It all started with Amity who, for a long-time passively encouraged Boscha to torment her former friend, suddenly changing her tune and actively opposing her. That by itself was on the three-eyed girl’s mind the longest: they both wanted to be the most powerful witches in the Isles ever since they were children, and yet Amity was now saying that she no longer had those aspirations? What preposterous nonsense undoubtably the result of that human girl’s influence.

“What does that round-eared girl have that I don’t?”

Boscha was so enraptured in her thoughts, she nearly failed to her a knock on her door. It was a soft pitter patter one that was nigh-untraceable. Boscha rolled her three eyes in annoyance.

“D-dear,” the voice began, “you’re almost going to be late for school.”

The door slowly droned itself open enough for Boscha to see who it was. It was a woman with the same hair and set of eyes that she had. She was a notably timid woman who appeared to realize at the last minute that disturbing her daughter would be similar to trying to awaken a sleeping lion if not worse.

“Yeah, yeah, I heard you loud and clear,” Boscha replied in a snarking fashion.

“What’s the matter, dear?” her mother asked, “I thought you would be happy to have won that match yesterday with that human girl and her friends.”

Before she could speak again, Boscha tossed one of her pillows at her. Her mother’s instincts kicked in and she slammed the door shut before the pillow could strike her. Boscha groaned in defeat before pulling herself off her bed.

Willow, much like last time, was again being crowded by a flock of classmates. Much like Willow, there were a select few who were also in the plant coven. They all had flowerpots containing otherworldly plants. She was bringing the plants to life and those plants took on the visage of their owners.

Skara and the rest of Amity’s clique were by their lockers waiting for Boscha to arrive. Skara casually browsed Penstagram for any hot subject to catch her eye. After looking for a few minutes, she waved her finger causing her purple scroll to disappear.

“Where is that girl?”

The other girls of the clique shrugged. They too turned their attention to their purple scrolls. Skara tapped her finger on her chin. Sure, she did recall that Boscha was pretty steamed when her victory proved to be fruitless, but it was, after all, a game. There was little reason for Boscha to be enraged at Willow or Luz for that matter. As she contemplated further, she saw Amity walking with Luz. Like always, she had one of her books plastered against her face. Her movements were more fidgety than usual as well; once she even carelessly walked into one of the lockers when she was around Luz. Skara rolled her eyes at the sad sight.

“It’s so obvious.”

One of the girls perked up. “What is?”

“It’s pretty obvious that Amity is crushing hard on that human girl over there,” Skara said. She pointed her finger towards the two.

“Well, she had been hanging around with Luz an awful lot lately,” the girl noted, “do you think that Luz will figure it out?”

Luz and Amity finished their chat when they got closer to Willow. Willow was working on a Venus flytrap for a student with a large mouth full of teeth when she noticed her friends coming over.

“Oh, hey, guys!” she said.

Luz goes in for a hug and Willow reciprocated it. “So, you’ve been practicing on your magic, Willow?”

Willow chuckles and rubs the back of her head. “I hadn’t completely mastered it yet; it only really lasts for about 24 seconds.”

Luz smiled at her friend reassuringly. “Oh, don’t worry about that; I am just happy that you’re not being bullied anymore!”

Willow shook her head in agreement. “You should thank Amity for that.”

Amity yelped when Luz directed her glance at her. “I-It’s just me...keeping my promise.”

Luz laughed at how bashful Amity was behaving. For some reason, Amity looked cute in her position, but she could not fathom why. Willow giggled lightly at her best friend’s ignorance. She was very well aware of how her childhood friend felt about the human girl, but it amused her to watch Amity have a mental breakdown over her crush. Call it being sadistic, but she nevertheless desired that she would confess.

“Hey, Luz,” Willow started, “there’s something I need to tell you.”

Luz was speaking to Amity again, but she turned back to listen to Willow.

“Yes, Willow, what is-”

The doors to the front of the school were kicked open alerting everyone. From the pure hatred radiating from her three eyes, everyone knew who it was that disturbed the peace. It was Boscha. Her hair was still in disrepair, but most alarmingly, her school uniform was improperly put on. Her hood was upside down and compressing her neck. The belt around her waist was missing; she even came to school without her shoes.

“B-Boscha?” Skara said.

She ran up to her out of concern. However, Boscha quickly swiped her hand away. Skara groaned and rubbed her sore hand. Before she could say anything else, Boscha darted towards Willow.

“Willow!” Luz screamed.

She tackled the three-eyed girl to the ground holding her in a headlock. Boscha yelped underneath Luz’s grasp but kicked repeatedly to loosen her grip. Luz looked up at Amity who was frozen in place out of shock. When her gaze met her crush’s, she blushed a deep red again, but she was able to knock herself out of it seeing that she needed to act quickly.

“Abomination, shield!” she said.

Her large, gelatinous abomination arose from the ground and lifted its massive arms to completely obscure Boscha from getting to Willow. Amity ran in from of the abomination and did the same gesture. She looked deep into Boscha’s beady little eyes disgusted at what she was trying to accomplish.

“Boscha, what is the meaning of this?!”

Boscha’s struggles subsided, but Luz still retained her hold on Boscha. Boscha’s eyes pierced into Willow like a pair of daggers. “It is all her fault,” she finally said after panting from the shortness of breath.

“Willow’s fault?” Amity repeated “don’t be ridiculous; you are to blame for your own mistakes.”

Boscha slammed her hands to the ground in defiance. “My fault? You are the one that ruined your social life by deciding to hang out with half-a-witch and that round-eared human who’s not letting me go!”

Amity bent down. “That human has a name, and I think her ears are really cute!”

Luz nodded with approval. “Yeah, what she said! Wait, what was that last part?”

Amity fidgeted her fingers at the realization of what she allowed to slip out of her mouth. “I mean...gross..no, no, wait, that isn’t what I...”

Boscha opened her mouth and bit down on Luz’s arm. Luz screeched for a split second unwittingly releasing Boscha from her grasp. Boscha resumed her rampage and went past Amity and prepared to pounce on Willow. Luz rubbed her arm to ease the pain enough so she could to make a charge for the three-eyed girl. “Willow!”

Willow stood firmly frozen in place not knowing what to do. She looked over and heard a whistle. Looking over, she saw that it was the student with the Venus flytrap. Holding the pot in his hands, he tosses the plant at Willow. Willow saw what he had in mind and used her powers to conjure a large vine from the potted plant that wrapped around Boscha’s left leg.

“Gah!”

Boscha clasped the vine in an attempt of prying it from her leg to no avail. Before she knew it, Willow moved her hands propelling the vine to smash Boscha against the lockers. Boscha screamed in pain from the collision and dropped to the ground once the vine was sent back and retained its normal size. A crowd of students surrounded Boscha curious about what she was going to do.

Boscha saw that the crowd was expecting her to react, so she started to struggle to get back onto her feet. However, a shot of pain pulsated up her leg making her keel over. She sucked in her breath and rolled over on her bottom. Tears were trickling down from the eye at the top of her forehead. She was wincing in an immeasurable wave of pain.

“You...you half-a-witch broke my leg!!!”

Willow backed up at the sudden shouting. “Bo-Boscha, I didn’t mean to...”

Boscha bent her arms behind her back as far as they could go and pushes herself forward. With her leg broken, she had to balance herself on her right foot. Wobbling, she pointed her finger at her in an accusing fashion. “I don’t care about your excuses; I am going to kill you!!”

She lunges again at Willow, but some larger force was firmly holding her arm back. She turned around to see the Abomination Teacher looking at her disapprovingly. His personal abomination was holding her arm in a slightly less-gentle fashion.

“Boscha, please report to the principal’s office.”

Boscha jolted. Report to the principal’s office? Her? Never once was she ever ordered to do that; namely because she always used her status as the star player in her favor. She could very much get away with anything her heart desired and she would never be held accountable for any of it. Boscha’s three eyes widened in astonishment.

“But I am the star player of the Banshees for Titan’s sake! I never get in trouble with-”

The Abomination Teacher was having none of it quietly ordering his abomination to carry the rebelling girl to the principal’s office. Boscha squirmed and beat at the monster but the abomination only tightened its grip in response. Boscha turned to look at her hated rival and pointed at her.

“This isn’t over!”

The halls became silent again so much so one could drop a pin. Willow ran over to Luz and helped her back to her feet. “Are you okay?”

Luz shook her hand. “Yeah, yeah; she bit me real good there, but it was worth it to keep you safe.”

Gus ran up as well. “You think that Boscha will keep her word?”

“Psh,” Luz said rather in an underestimating tone. “What is the worse that she could do?”

“That wretched half-a-witch and that human pet of hers!!”

Boscha was leaving the school now having to wear a cast and propping herself on crutches. She couldn’t help but take note of the irony: she had injured Amity’s leg during her match in the Grudgby game, and now she also sustained an injury. She was walking through the woods alone not really concerned about where her direction would lead her, but it would at least help her blow off some steam.

“How can Amity choose those losers over me? I have known her since we were both getting started...we both promised each other that we would be the most powerful witches on the Isles, and yet that glasses-wearing nerd stole my Amity away from me...”

She threw one of her crutches down in blind fury. It slid a good length away from her that she almost fell over due to her inability to maintain her balance. “Oh, great.”

“My, are you rather clumsy, my dear?”

Boscha tensed up. She rapidly scanned her surroundings for the source of that voice. “Who said that?”

From the corner of her eye, she saw something manifest from behind a tree. She rubbed her eyes doubting what she was seeing. It was a hunched man slowly trekking his way towards her. Boscha grabbed her crutch and held it out defensively.

“Stan-stand back, I’m warning you, old man!”

The hunched man stopped in his tracks, but he was close enough for Boscha to make out what she was seeing. He had long, curled horns protruding from his head. He was a walking mass of darkness blacker than night, and yet his eyes glowed a dim orange. He had a grey, spindly beard reaching down towards what should be his feet, but instead of seeing the five digits of his toes, he had hooves. The hooves of a goat. That would very well explain his strange walking that was not like a pitter patter but more of a galloping. On his head was a top hat accompanied with ancient scraps of what used to be a robe. He smiled at Boscha presumably to ease her tensions, but instead it was an artificial smile that only further disturbed her.

“Listen, freak, whatever you have to offer me, I do not want,” Boscha said.

The goat man placed a hand on his chest. “Oh, you pained me, young lady.” He said it in a way that was blatantly over-acting at its most sarcastic. “All of you people on the Isles are simply ungrateful for the gifts I have bestowed on you.”

“Gifts? What are you blabbering about?”

The goat man smirked again. “Ah, I see; things have changed quite a bit since the last time I have reigned over this land; forgive me for being an old man and reminiscing on how your history books likely smeared me out of your history.”

Boscha didn’t know what to think on what he had just said. “Are you saying that you know Belos personally?”

The long-bearded man laughed once more. “So that’s what his name is; but no, my child, I have lived long, long before you were even conceived. Even before the world as you know it was formed; everything you have thought you have experienced, I have seen it and felt it all for eons.”

Boscha was slowly inching herself away from the creepy, raving man. “Well, I have to get going now...”

The tone in the man’s voice changed its tone. “You are upset that you are not getting what you think you deserve I assume?”

Boscha stopped in her tracks and her ears peaked up. “I’m listening.”

The goat man was now in front of her and despite hunching over, something indicated to the three-eyed girl that this wasn’t his true height. He felt more massive and cosmic in ways her primitive mind could never hope to understand. He grinned again revealing that he had rotting yellow teeth with nightcrawlers burrowing inside them. They plopped on the ground every time he spoke. His breath was also ungodly. It smelled of rotten eggs and a hint of sulfur.

“You were the leader of a ball team, but you feel second-rate to someone who is lower than you in the order of things.” He extended his skeletal arm towards Boscha and pat her shoulder in assuring fashion. “But fret not, for I can help you learn your true potential.”

Boscha squinted her eyes together in disgust from feeling the strange man’s hand rub her shoulder. She quickly smacked his hand away. “You will help me?”

“Yes, of course; I have helped the Boiling Isles a thousand years ago back when the first witches had no clue what magic even was before I showed them the way. I will assist you...but you would have to do something for me as well.”

Boscha thought deeply on it. If she were to allow this man she just met to help her, she could easily have her revenge on all those who wronged her. But she also was hardly what one could register as stupid seeing that the goat man was undeniably shady.

“I don’t know...I feel like this is wrong...”

The bearded man tilted his head in amusement. “I could tear out your conscious mind and fling it into the furthest depths of space towards the center of Ultimate Chaos itself. As much as I would love to reveal one of my thousands of forms to you and drive you to mind-numbing madness, I earnestly need your assistance in accomplishing my goal. Think of this as a mutual partnership.”

More pressure was tossed in Boscha’s direction. She was now more than convinced that the man she is talking to is criminally insane and if she tried to make a run for it now, he could maul her to death with those large ram horns of his. Her mind thought back to what brought her to that point: Willow. It was always Willow. That girl that she relentlessly tormented for years and never once felt intimidated by, but ever since she was slowly breaking out of her shell, she could may as well be even better than she is at being a witch. And then she would be hurled towards the bottom, lower than the worms or any other spineless creature.

The man spoke again breaking her concentration. “Tick, tock, Boscha. Tick, tock.”

Boscha clenched her fists in dejection. “Titan, please give me strength.”

Boscha extended her hand towards the goat man. “I accept the deal.”

The goat man grinned and grabbed ahold of Boscha’s finger. This rejuvenated immense concern from her.

“Buddy, what are you doing?”

He withdrew an ancient book wrapped tightly in an alien texture. “I need you to sign your name in this book.”

He opened the book before her seeing that a slot was vacant for her name. He withdrew a pen fashioned from bone and placed it in Boscha’s other hand. On the tip of the pen was a thin scrap of the same bone material.

“So, how do I?”

“You need to write with your blood,” the goat man clarified.

Boscha’s eyes lit up. “What? No, no, I am not doing that.”

“But, my dear, think of what you are saying; if you refuse my offer, you will return to being second-rate.” He held out his hand and rubbed Boscha’s head. “You know that you deserve better, do you not?”

Boscha nodded in agreement. “Yes, yes, I do deserve the best, don’t I?”

With no further reservations, Boscha pricked her finger on the sharpened end of the bone and applied her finger on the page of the ancient book. The page became wet with the three-eyed witch’s blood. The man watched patiently until she finished signing her signature and he held out a finger and waved it making the book disappear before her eyes.

“Excellent work, Boscha, the contract has been divined. Now, let us begin.”

#the owl house #owl house #owlhouse #cthulhu #nyarlathotep #black man #cthulhu mythos #cthulhumythos #fanfiction #crossover fanfiction #boscha

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bananapie99 · 4 years

Text

Back in Time

Bucky Barnes x Reader (other Avenger appearances)

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You had been planning Bucky’s birthday party for the past six months. That might sound excessive, but there was a lot that needed to go into the planning. You wanted this one to be his best birthday yet. Finally, the horrors of his past were mostly subsided, and you thought a celebration all for him with his closest friends might do some good.

The biggest problem with planning his party for six months…keeping it a secret from him. Bucky and you were attached at the hip whenever he was not off on a mission to save the world. Peeling yourself away from your boyfriend to make arrangements hurt your heart, so you tried your best to get most of the planning and organizing done while he was already gone. The only downside to that was how much you needed Steve’s help, and normally if Bucky was gone, so was he. Even so, Steve did his best to help while he was around, sometimes even keeping himself home from missions. Bucky was his best friend after all, and he knew this party had to be perfect. As soon as you had approached Steve with the idea, he knew it was going to be great.

Planning a party was time consuming enough, but adding a theme made it that much harder. While the party was for Bucky, you knew Steve was excited too. After all, they both missed their opportunity to enjoy most of what the 1940s had to offer (not to mention every decade after). While there were plenty of missed decades you could expose Bucky to, you really just wanted to bring him back to the familiar, his life before the war spiraled his life out of control.

As much as you could research what life was like right before Bucky and Steve joined the war, having the first-hand tales from Steve was immensely helpful. You even got some information out of Bucky. You had to be careful to not be too obvious when questioning Bucky, searching for natural ways to slip it into the conversation. Bucky enjoyed talking about his life pre-war.

This party needed to be as authentic as possible, down to the outfits. Every one of Bucky’s friends in the Avengers agreed to dress the part. A major part of the party planning task for you was sewing your own outfit. You decided to sew an outfit for Bucky as well, which he could change into after being surprised with the party. When you brought the outfit idea up to Steve his eyes lit up with so much excitement for Bucky, you decided you would sew him an outfit as well. These outfits for the boys would be exact (or as close as you could get) replicas of their uniforms. Sure, the war ruined their lives in certain ways, but both men were still proud to have worn that uniform and defended their country. Steve’s reassurance made you more confident it was a good idea. For women, 1940’s fashion had too many options, but also not enough. Every time you would research the fashion trends, the information would be slightly different. The boys also left so early into the 40’s that you could make an argument to follow more 1930’s fashion even. You decided to stick with the 40’s, but also not worry too much about if the trend was from 1941 or 1948. If you were off by a couple years within the decade, you were just helping Bucky experience a taste of his time that he had missed. Steve consulted on your dress as well. You couldn’t decide on a style. Did you want a swing dress? A classic shirred dress? A more pinup style to tease Bucky a little bit? Together, Steve and you decided to aim for a classic, elegant look, much like what a young, new bride would have worn at the time.

On top of planning the outfits, just for fun Steve tutored you in the slang of the 1940’s. Some of it you already knew just from being around the two men, but there were plenty of other terms you were giggling about as you learned.

“Alright you eager beaver,” Steve said, “you’ll be talking like an old dame in no time.”

You rolled your eyes at his joke, but your ears were open, ready to retain as much as possible. Turns out you’re pretty good at using the lingo, but it feels a little weird coming out of your mouth. Steve was practically rolling on the floor any time you put a sentence together.

“Sweetheart you’re solid. He’s already in love with you but by the end of this party, he will be tied to your apron string.”

Steve hadn’t taught you that phrase, but you could guess the meaning.

Finally, the day of the party arrives. Bucky left your room early to get in a training session, after you showered him with hugs and kisses, wishing him a happy birthday. Once Bucky leaves, Steve comes to your room and you hand him two garment bags, one labeled Steve and the other labeled Bucky. Steve unzips his bag a little to look at the outfit and his face lights up.

“This is snazzy, sweetheart, Bucky is going to love this. These are on the beam.”

“I know what that means!” You exclaimed through your giggles.

Steve laughed, shaking his head.

“So, I’ll keep the geezer distracted all day and have him back here at exactly 6:30 tonight.” “That’s perfect Steve, thank you.”

You kissed his cheek then he turned to leave. Soon it would be time to transform pieces of the compound back in time.

You twiddled your thumbs in your room, waiting for Bucky to come shower from his training session and leave with Steve. As much as you wanted to spend the whole day with your boyfriend, you knew seeing everything put together for tonight will make it worth it.

As soon as the two men left, you were what Steve would say, “cooking with gas.” You were running around the compound like a crazy person. Luckily some of Bucky’s teammates volunteered their assistance to party decorating. Nat and Tony left to handle picking up balloons. You got to work stringing up some lights around the bar and living room. Your favorite decoration addition you found was the patriotic bunting. Tony suggested you hang up an Uncle Sam recruitment poster, but you felt that might be taking it a step too far. You didn’t want Bucky to feel like he was being sent back into battle.

By 4:00 the decorations were set, and everything else was almost ready. Bucky’s teammates insisted you go relax and get yourself ready.

“You’ve been working so hard on this,” Nat said. “You deserve to enjoy this party as much as Bucky. We can handle the rest of the minor details, go start on your transformation.”

With a hug you left for your room. To get in the 1940’s spirit, you put one of Bucky’s favorite vinyl records, an album by Glenn Miller, on the turn table. Sitting in front of your vanity, you began on your makeup. Luckily in this department the decade was fairly simple. You decided for the sake of the celebration to do it up a little more, but not much. You went for the neutral shades, adding a little black and gold to make it a bit more of an evening look. You swiped on your mascara, followed by the dusting on of some blush. You decided to wait to put on your lipstick until you were getting ready to head down to the party. Next came your outfit. You pulled your garment bag out from the back of your closet. You’ve wanted to show Bucky this dress many times but kept reminding yourself the surprise would be worth the wait. Laying the bag on your bed, you unzip the front and reveal the navy-blue fabric. Seeing the dress in front of you makes you grin, eager for Bucky to see you. The only person to see your outfit put together so far is Steve.

His response had been along the lines of “sweetheart, you look dynamite.”

Now to hope Bucky will feel the same. First you grabbed your stockings, nude with a black seam going straight up the backs of your legs. Next, the dress. It was a beautiful dress. You were proud of the sewing. Hopefully you’ll be able to wear this dress more often, it would be a waste to only see tonight. Pulling the dress on and getting it situated, you look in the mirror. The A line skirt ended right at your knee; the waist cinched in with the matching navy belt, sleeves resting just above your elbow. The neckline of the dress had been what you struggled with the most, too many options. Looking at it now, you know you made the right choice. You decided on a round neck, a slightly larger dip, to show off a little bit of your collar bones. Learning that had been a fashion trend of the pretty conservative decade made Bucky’s love of your collar bones make a little more sense. Your shoes would go on right before your lipstick. It was time to take out those pin curls. You had hurried to set your hair in them as soon as Bucky and Steve left the compound. After six hours you hoped they had enough time to set. Carefully pulling out the pins you watched the curls settle. You breathed a sigh of relief when they seemed to turn out perfectly. The soft curls fell delicately around your face and down your shoulders. Looking at the clock you realize it is 6:10. Steve would be back with Bucky soon. Giddy and a little nervous, you grab your navy peep toe heels and slide them on. For your final touch, you pick up your victory red lipstick and swipe it across your lips.

Standing with Bucky’s friends you take a moment to admire the room. It looks absolutely beautiful. Not that you have any experience with living in the 40’s, but it at least looks like it could be a scene from a movie about the decade. All of his friends look fantastic, in outfits reminiscent of the decade. Big band music played softly in the background, warming your heart. 6:28. Your heart is about to beat out of your chest. You don’t have too long to worry, as you hear keys jingling in the door. You hear muffled voices, then the door opens.

“Surprise!” you and all of Bucky’s friends shout.

Bucky looks absolutely shocked, eyes scanning the whole scene before landing on you. Speechless. He opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. You walk towards him, placing a hand on his chest and stretching up to kiss his cheek.

“Happy birthday, James.”

He stares at you, mouth slightly open. You giggle and blush under such an intense scan. Finally, he finds his words.

“Baby doll, you look…” His eyes kept wandering your form. “…you’re a bombshell.”

Your blush deepened at his words. Now it was your turn to find your voice again.

“Before you get too settled, there’s one more part to the surprise. Go on up with Steve for a minute but try to come back in a jiffy.”

You could see the smile in his eyes.

Only a few minutes later, Bucky and Steve are walking down the stairs freshly dressed in their outfits you sewed. You gasp, taken aback by the beauty of this man in front of you. Sure, you’d seen some photographs of Bucky pre-war and some even during, but he’d never looked more handsome than right now. Bucky’s eyes immediately find you and makes a beeline your way. His metal hand finds its way to the small of your back, sending a tingle straight up your spine. The love in his eyes is impossible to miss as he stares into your own.

“Doll, this is…killer diller.”

You can’t help but giggle as you watch the man you love travel back in time, his dialect shifting and Brooklyn accent becoming more pronounced.

“You’re not looking too bad yourself, dreamboat.” Bucky’s grin grows as you try to assimilate yourself into his past. His ears perk up when the song changes to “In the Mood” by Glenn Miller. The up-tempo swing always makes him even happier.

“Come cut a rug with me doll,” he asks you.

How can you say no to him on his birthday? Even if dancing really isn’t your thing.

“Bucky, you know I’m a dead hooper.”

“Don’t worry about it sweetheart, I’ll lead you.”

Caving in, you take his outstretched hand and follow him to the center of the floor where some people are swaying. Once you got going, you had to admit you were having fun dancing with Bucky to this song. The music faded to the next song, another Glenn Miller classic, “Tuxedo Junction.” This one was one of your favorites. The song wasn’t too slow, but Bucky didn’t care. He took the opportunity to pull you impossibly close to his chest, wrapping his right arm around your waist and taking your right hand in his left. In his arms is where you felt safest.

“You really do look absolutely stunning, (Y/N),” Bucky whispered into your ear.

Smiling, you rested your head against his chest and focused on his heartbeat.

“I hope this party is okay,” you say to him.

Still swaying together, Bucky takes his hand from yours to put his fingers under your chin, pushing your head up to meet his gaze.

“Doll, it is absolutely perfect. Thank you.”

He brushes his lips against yours and smiles. His hand doesn’t go back to yours, instead finding your slightly exposed collar bone. His fingers dance softly across the spot a few times and you melt into his touch. This time his lips meet your neck, right behind your ear.

When his lips separate from you he says “I wouldn’t protest seeing you in this dress more often.”

No matter how many compliments or flirtatious sayings fall from his lips, each one sends butterflies to your stomach as if it were the first time hearing them. His words are always sweet as honey.

As the song hits its last note, Bucky takes you by the hand and spins you away from him before pulling you back in, hands finding your waist. He cranes his head down, kissing you with all the love he has for you, stealing the breath out of your lungs.

“Best birthday ever, baby doll.”

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Taglist: @belladonnabarnes

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tiramisiyu · 3 years

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【未定事件簿】Tears of Themis: Main Story 6-13 Translation

Translation Masterlist | Video

Chapter 6 – Tiger’s Accomplice Ghost (Parts 1, 2): 6-1 / 6-3 / 6-5 / 6-7 / 6-9 / 6-11 / 6-13 / 6-15 ♦️ ♦️ 6-16 / 6-18 / 6-20 / 6-22 / 6-24 / 6-26 / 6-27 / 6-28 / 6-29

Fu Qiao’s House

Tuesday night 8:00PM, we arrived at Fu Qiao’s house. Fu Qiao and Zhou Nan co-rented a place, so it sounded like they were somewhat richer than other university students, but the area of the place they lived in was actually very small.

MC: This house is just about 30 square meters, right.

On the left of the entrance was the washroom, and on the right, there was a very simple kitchen. There was a washing machine right under the induction stove. Deeper inside, there was a bed and book table. You could see everything in one look – the room was small enough that there wasn’t space for excess seating.

Fu Qiao: More or less. Rent in the middle of the city is expensive, and we can’t afford any larger.

Zuo Ran: Campus housing has cheap rent. You and Zhou Nan were both students, so why not rent a place there?

Fu Qiao: Nannan… didn’t go to school often. She spent more time going to the bar.

Fu Qiao: The transit here is convenient. You can take the subway to directly get to the bar or school.

MC: How many transit lines do you have to take to get from here to Xunye?

Fu Qiao: You take Line 7 to Changzhou Station, then switch to Line 3 to Jinyang Street to get there.

Zuo Ran: Isn’t it alright to take Line 7 straight to the bar? Having to switch rides must be troublesome.

Fu Qiao: Xunye Bar is on the other side of the road. If you get off the stop on the bar’s street, you’ll have to walk quite a distance over. Taking Jinyang Street is relatively closer.

Fu Qiao: From C exit, Xunye is a few steps east.

>Fu Qiao is lying!

MC: (Fu Qiao is lying. If he never knew where Xunye was, then how could he be so familiar with switching rides on the subway to get there!)

I pretended to casually shoot Zuo Ran a glance, and our eyes met. It was obvious that we were thinking the same thing.

MC: After Zhou Nan’s accident, you didn’t move back to live around on campus? You can save on costs like this.

Fu Qiao: No. I’m already in my fourth year of university, and I’m mostly focusing on internships and looking for work, so I don’t really go back to school.

Fu Qiao: Plus, we rented this place early on – we rented in first year. Rent was cheap back then, and it hasn’t risen these past few years.

Fu Qiao: It’s now really hard to find a place nearby at this price, so I didn’t back out of renting this place for future work convenience.

MC: That’s true. Real estate prices have grown fast in these past few years.

Fu Qiao: Ah, look at me, I forgot that I don’t have extra chairs at home, letting you two stand while talking.

Fu Qiao: In the past when Nannan and I were at home, it would always be one person sitting on the bed while the other sat on the chair. If we placed more around, they wouldn’t see any use.

Fu Qiao: Please wait for a bit, I’ll go borrow some from a neighbour.

Zuo Ran: Thank you for your trouble.

As Fu Qiao was gone, Zuo Ran and I could take this opportunity to observe if there were any clues in Fu Qiao’s house.

MC: Lawyer Zuo, have you noticed where things aren’t quite right in this house?

Zuo Ran: Mm, there are several places.

>Select: Closet

MC: Lawyer Zuo, look at that transparent closet.

The doors of the closet in Fu Qiao’s place were transparent – it could be considered as a sort of simplistic, industrial style.

MC: It seems like it’s all male clothing in there. I don’t see any female clothing in there at all.

Zuo Ran: There are few clothes hung in there – it’s clear that there’s still lots of space.

Zuo Ran: But we can’t exclude the possibility that Fu Qiao placed Zhou Nan’s items in a box to keep them.

Zuo Ran: Look at the bottom shelf – there are storage boxes.

MC: But based on my experience in putting away clothes, storage boxes typically contain clothes for other seasons.

MC: The weather’s not cold these days, and the clothes Fu Qiao hung are all unlayered clothes…

MC: Thick clothes like down clothing are probably inside the storage boxes.

Zuo Ran: If we consider that, there are only two storage boxes, so there isn’t space to put Zhou Nan’s clothes.

Zuo Ran: Because even if they were compressed, with the addition of winter bed linings, he would only be able to stuff it inside the closet.

MC: The topmost shelf of the closet is also empty…

MC: Is it possible that Fu Qiao threw away Zhou Nan’s clothes?

MC: But didn’t Zhao Fei say that they were all left for Fu Qiao as mementos? Since they’re mementos, why would he throw them?

This was very contradictory – I had somewhat of a hard time figuring it out.

Zuo Ran: We’ll indirectly ask him later.

>Select: Closet (2)

MC: This kind of simplistic, industrial-style closet seems to be really popular these days – it’s fashionable.

Zuo Ran: I favour wooden furniture more – they have more of a sense of reality, and they look stable.

Zuo Ran: What about you?

MC: For me…

MC: Seems like there’s nothing I prefer in particular – fashionable or retro, I’m fine with it all.

Zuo Ran: Is that so… I understand.

>Select: Bookshelf

Zuo Ran: “Basic Applications of Chemistry”, “Calculus”…

Zuo Ran: They should be Fu Qiao’s books.

MC: There isn’t a single book on photography, and there aren’t any pictures in the room like at Zhao Fei’s house…

MC: Even if Zhou Nan didn’t like studying, didn’t go to classes, and didn’t get teaching materials, she should still have photography equipment.

MC: She even went to a bar to work for photography, so she probably truly liked it.

Zuo Ran: There also isn’t any photography equipment in anywhere visible…

Zuo Ran: Photography equipment are expensive items, and they must have been things that Zhou Nan valued, so where could they be kept…?

>Select: Bookshelf (2)

MC: Lawyer Zuo, you have a lot of collected books in your house, right – are they all law-related books?

Zuo Ran: Half of the second floor at my house is a movies and music room, and half is book room – the books I’ve collected could be considered to be many.

Zuo Ran: Aside from law, there are also movies, philosophy, science fiction, and some original German books.

MC: If there’s a chance, could I borrow some to read?

Zuo Ran: Of course. You’re welcome anytime.

>Select: Dresser

MC: A guy’s dresser sure is simple…

Zuo Ran: Will a lady have many things on her dresser?

Zuo Ran: Things like skincare products and jewelry?

MC: That’s right! Aside from the skincare products everyone knows about, I’ve even got several kinds of combs.

MC: Such as hairbrushes, toothed combs, round brushes, bristle brushes, et cetera…

Zuo Ran: Is it to deal with different hairstyles?

MC: Of course.

MC: But the toughest part of every day is seeing all the hair that I’ll never be able to fully clear off from the combs…

Just as I’d spoken, I heard Zuo Ran laugh quietly.

MC: If I already got the high-level lawyer qualification, I probably wouldn’t be troubled by this.

Zuo Ran: No, you’ve misunderstood, I didn’t intend to laugh at you.

Zuo Ran: I just feel like you… are very lively like this.

MC: Eh?

Zuo Ran: I don’t see you like this often.

MC: …

Zuo Ran: I’ve learned it from you now. When I go home, I’ll research the different types of combs – usually, I really don’t use this many.

MC: But, Lawyer Zuo, what are you studying up on this for…

Smiling, Zuo Ran shook his head without replying to me.

>Select: Dresser (2)

Zuo Ran: Most of the things on the dresser are things that males use. There is no indication that a woman lived here.

MC: (Where did Fu Qiao store Zhou Nan’s things?)

>Select: Bed

Zuo Ran: There is only one pillow on the bed, and the bedsheets are also the dark-coloured style preferred by men…

MC: Yeah. Typically, though the fabrics on often get washed, it’s rare for them to be thrown away, unless if they’re damaged.

MC: For the blankets, quilts, and so on that I’ve bought, I’ll use them for several years.

MC: This is even more so for pillows – I’m reluctant to switch them out after getting used to them…

MC: But Fu Qiao… though it’s a two-person bed, it’s obvious that only one person used the fabrics on the bed.

MC: And it’s the kind that guys prefer…

Zuo Ran: After Zhou Nan’s death, he threw all the things they originally had, and changed to a new set.

Zuo Ran: We can’t exclude this possibility.

MC: Anyway, if it were me, I probably wouldn’t buy fabrics of this style.

MC: Looking at Fu Qiao’s house furnishings, it looks just like he’s completely erased all the indications of Zhou Nan living here.

Zuo Ran: Someone who loved deeply, who couldn’t retain in time the indications of his partner’s life after she passed…

Zuo Ran: He must be hiding something if he’s cleared everything out so cleanly.

Fu Qiao was taking a bit of a long time borrowing chairs, so Zuo Ran and I waited for quite a while before he came back.

Fu Qiao: My apologies, the neighbours around all get off work late, so most of them aren’t home.

MC: No need to worry, we were the ones to trouble you.

Fu Qiao: You can’t say that…

Fu Qiao: After Nannan passed, very few people still thought of her. Thank you for worrying and running around for her.

Zuo Ran: We were also entrusted to this by someone.

Fu Qiao: Uh, was it Nannan’s big brother? I’ve seen him a few times, though we’re not very familiar.

Fu Qiao: As for Nannan’s mother… she’s already emigrated to another country with her new family. After Nannan died, she only gave a call.

MC: …

Fu Qiao: You two said before that Nannan was murdered, so you mean… she didn’t use illegal drugs herself?

Zuo Ran: Yes, we suspect that Zhou Nan was deliberately murdered, so we wanted to get an understanding of the situation from you.

Zuo Ran: You should be the person who is the most familiar with her in this world.

Fu Qiao: How could that be… how could she have been murdered…

MC: Mr. Fu, do you mean that it’s not possible for someone to have murdered Zhou Nan?

Fu Qiao: Though Nannan worked as a bar waitress, which is kind of… you know, but she probably never started a feud with anyone.

>He didn’t approve of Zhou Nan!

MC: (With Fu Qiao’s tone, it’s clear that he doesn’t approve of bar waitressing!)

Fu Qiao: Ugh, I don’t know where to start, so ask as you please.

INTERROGATION START

Relations with Zhou Nan

MC: Mr. Fu, we just saw you burn the paper cranes – the relationship between you and Zhou Nan must have been excellent.

Fu Qiao: Mhmm, Nannan was my first love, as well as the only person I’ve ever liked up to now.

Fu Qiao: If not for Nannan’s incident, I had already prepared to marry her after graduating from fourth year, which would be next year.

Zuo Ran: Mr. Fu, I presume you aren’t a native to Stellis City and did not attend the same school as Zhou Nan. How did you two meet?

Fu Qiao: I’m not a Stellis City citizen – my family lives outside of the city.

Fu Qiao: I don’t really like to interact with people in real life. Instead, I chat with friends online more.

Fu Qiao: Nannan and I met online. I first liked the scenic pictures she took, then got to know her.

MC: Scenic pictures? Were they posted on social media?

Fu Qiao: Yes. We were both in high school back then, and there was lots of pressure to study, so I liked to look at her pictures to relive pressure.

Fu Qiao: During then, I vaguely felt like I liked Nannan, and I wrote in the Gaokao* that I aspired to go to Stellis City.

Fu Qiao: After we met offline when first year started, we officially started dating.

Zuo Ran: Looks like Zhou Nan’s photography skills are excellent.

Fu Qiao: Mhmm. To me, the pictures she took were the most beautiful.

TL Note:

*Gaokao are China’s standardized tests for university admissions.

Locations of Zhou Nan’s Works

MC: Have you still kept Zhou Nan’s works?

MC: I don’t seem to see any in your house.

Fu Qiao: About this…

Fu Qiao: I… I burned all the photos…

MC: Burned them? Why?

Fu Qiao: Missing someone after seeing related things will only make me sadder.

Fu Qiao: Not just her works – I either donated all her things or burned them.

Fu Qiao: I feel like I won’t be able to walk free all my life if I leave those things at home.

Talisman

MC: If I may be so bold, is the thing on your neck… an talisman?

MC: If you keep it so close on you, was it something left by Zhou Nan?

Fu Qiao: Ah, this…

Fu Qiao: This is an talisman, but it wasn’t left by Nannan. It’s a symbol of peace that I prayed for at Yunxia Temple.

Zuo Ran: Could you take it out for a look? I’m just purely curious.

Zuo Ran: I’ve always wanted to go to Yunxia Temple to pray for one, but work is too busy, and I never have time.

Fu Qiao clutched at his collar, looking somewhat agitated.

Fu Qiao: Sorry, the master said that it’s best to not show it to anyone aside from family – otherwise, it won’t work.

Zuo Ran: I’m sorry, I acted impolitely.

The moment Fu Qiao put down his hand, I noticed that the bottom of his index finger seemed to be a bit thinner than the upper part…

MC: (Is this… the mark left by a ring?)

MC: (If one wears a ring for a long time without taking it off, day or night, then it’ll leave this kind of mark.)

MC: (A lot of people who wear wedding rings are like this.)

MC: (Ring…)

Bar Waitressing

Zuo Ran: A hobby like photography is very costly – after all, the equipment is very expensive.

Zuo Ran: Was Zhou Nan’s financial situation alright? Did she have any financial conflicts with anyone?

Fu Qiao: Nannan’s costs were indeed large, but she was a girl that strove for self-improvement and always relied on herself to work for money. She never took on any loans.

Fu Qiao: If she didn’t have to deal with these costs, she wouldn’t have worked as a bar waitress.

MC: Mr. Fu… you must not have been willing for Zhou Nan to be a bar waitress?

Fu Qiao: Of course I wasn’t willing. This job is both tough and dangerous. Aside from drinking every day and damaging her body, those guests…

As he spoke, Fu Qiao clenched his fist.

Fu Qiao: Those guests became handsy with her quite a few times.

Fu Qiao: Though Nannan wouldn’t stay out for the night, but…

Zuo Ran: When did you find out that Zhou Nan was a bar waitress?

Zuo Ran: You considered Zhou Nan’s convenience of transit when you first rented the house, so she must have worked as a bar waitress for a while.

Fu Qiao: At the beginning, I only knew that she worked in the north area. I didn’t know she was a bar waitress.

Fu Qiao: After, she told me that she worked at Xunye, and only said that she was a singer.

Fu Qiao: Nannan’s singing was very good.

Fu Qiao never directly answered the question “When did he find out about Zhou Nan being a bar waitress”. But based on how Fu Qiao described this job, he didn’t seem like he only knew of Zhou Nan bar waitressing after her death – instead, it was like he went to get an understanding of it beforehand.

He didn’t tell the truth, and Zuo Ran and I didn’t persist in these questions, to avoid raising his alert accidentally.

Interpersonal Relationships

MC: Theoretically, if Zhou Nan was murdered by someone, can you think of any suspects?

Fu Qiao: Uh… as of now, I can’t come up with anything.

Fu Qiao: Aside from exams at the end of term, Nannan very rarely went to school. Most of her friends were ones she knew from the bar.

Fu Qiao: If I really had to say, I think that the bar guests are more probable.

Fu Qiao: Those people weren’t good people to begin with, and they could have gotten in contact with illegal drugs.

Zuo Ran: But what reason would they have to murder Zhou Nan?

Fu Qiao: Maybe it was love-related jealousy?

Fu Qiao: They’re too far away from my life, so I don’t really know much about it.

Proof He Wasn’t on the Scene

MC: What were you doing on the night of Zhou Nan’s incident?

To avoid making this question seem too offensive, I added a question to it.

MC: When did the police contact you about Zhou Nan’s incident?

Fu Qiao: That night, I was doing experiments at school. Because I was very tired, I headed straight home after the experiment finished.

Fu Qiao: When the police contacted me, it was early morning. I was asleep, and didn’t get to pick up.

Fu Qiao: I only knew of Nannan’s incident after waking at 8AM and looking at my phone.

MC: Didn’t you say that Zhou Nan has never stayed out for the night? Didn’t you get in touch with her when she didn’t get back at night?

Fu Qiao: …

A flash of panic passed over Fu Qiao’s face, and he recovered his calm very quickly.

Fu Qiao: She had keys. If she got back late, she would open the door herself.

Fu Qiao: I originally thought that she would return at 2-3-o’clock – this was also a frequent occurrence.

MC: Is that so…

MC: Did you usually pick her up after she got off work?

Partners will typically do this, right?

Fu Qiao: I’ve brought it up before, but it’s too far to go back and forth. As a non-local, I’m not familiar with the north area, and the public safety there is bad, so Nannan didn’t let me go.

Fu Qiao: She said that she had a friend that lived near us. If she couldn’t make it to the last train, then she’d come back with her friend.

MC: If so… you’ve never gone to Xunye Bar?

Fu Qiao: I’ve never gone. I’ve also only heard Nannan casually bring up Xunye’s address.

Chen Hanzhang

MC: Mr. Fu, do you know this person?

I handed Chen Hanzhang’s photo to Fu Qiao. He just hastily swept his gaze over it.

Fu Qiao: I don’t know her. Who is she?

Zuo Ran: She’s called Chen Hanzhang. She went to Xunye that night, and she is also suspected of illegal drug trafficking.

Fu Qiao: Do you suspect that it was her who killed Nannan?

Zuo Ran: We only suspect her. We have no evidence, and we also can’t find a motive for her to kill Zhou Nan.

Fu Qiao: She doesn’t look like a good person, but I’ve never met her.

Fu Qiao kept his head lowered the whole time he was speaking, and he never looked at Chen Hanzhang’s photo again.

Zuo Ran: …

Drug History

MC: Do you know about how Zhou Nan has history with drugs?

Fu Qiao: Mhmm, I know about it. But it was very slight, and she went on withdrawal a long time ago.

Zuo Ran: After this matter, didn’t you try to convince Zhou Nan to change jobs?

Fu Qiao: I did… but her income would decrease if she changed jobs, and she wouldn’t be able to make enough.

Fu Qiao: It was me that was useless – I couldn’t help her split the responsibility…

INTERROGATION END

After flipping through the analysis record I made before, it seemed like we’d basically asked Fu Qiao all that we needed to ask.

MC: Mr. Fu, we’ve troubled you today…

MC: Eh? Mr. Fu, you grow out your nails? I believe that it’s rare for guys to grow out their nails.

Both of Fu Qiao’s pinky nails had been grown out. The other fingers all had their nails cut neatly.

Fu Qiao: Oh, for convenience.

Fu Qiao: Either for experiments or for daily life, there are always places to use one’s nails.

Fu Qiao: It’s not quite the same as when women grow out their nails.

MC: That’s true.

Fu Qiao: That… if there are new developments about Nannan’s cause of death, could you let me know?

MC: Sure. Then we’ll bid farewell.

#tears of themis translations #tears of themis #未定事件簿 #weiding shijian bu #zuo ran #tot translation

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punkpoemprose · 4 years

Text

The Love Talker- Chapter 10

Universe: Gancanagh/ Fae AU Rating: M (Finally bumping it up because this is where things start getting dub-con-esque, and includes more dark preoccupations) take care of yourself dear reader) Length: 4753

A/N: Long chapter. Heed the warnings & tags. This one gets a little more heavy handed with the suicide by sex talk, but I promise there's no graphic violence or death in this chapter. And there isn't going to be. For Anna at least. No promises Hans (you all know he’s been slated for the chopping block since the start, but it won't be graphic either, promise!). Shit is going to hit the fan in this chapter. Sorry <3

TW: dubcon (not much here, but a little more in the chapters to follow, think along the lines of sex pollen but for kissing), suicidal thoughts, self loathing, addiction

Hans had barricaded himself in the Arendelle Family House. Some in town were saying he’d gone mad with grief. No one had seen Anna in a few days, and many thought that maybe she’d gone off into the woods and wound up dead. Others thought more charitably that she’d left the man to go with her sister to the city. In either respect, no one was going near the house. There were sounds of screaming inside, the ravings of a mad man.

Folks were keeping their kids indoors. Rumor had it that someone had sent for a wagon from the asylum to come and take him away, but that had to come from the city. It would undoubtedly take a couple days, and in the meantime the town was gripped with terror. No one knew what the man might be capable of.

Kristoff grinned to himself in the shadows. He knew that he shouldn’t be taking so much pleasure in the fact that by the time a wagon from the asylum arrived, Hans would be dead. Yet, knowing this, he did take pleasure in it. He thought that even if he wasn’t the creature he’d become, he’d still enjoy the knowledge. Killing a killer wasn’t really making a right of a wrong, but it was keeping Hans from murdering more women.

Most importantly it was keeping Anna safe.

He lit his pipe and leaned against a tree in the wooded shadows behind the house. The smoke swirled around him as he puffed on it, sweet on his tongue and in the air. It was a comfort and ritual that calmed his nerves.

He wasn’t nervous about-facing Hans of course as there was nothing that he could do to him that Kristoff couldn’t stop. The perks of having someone addicted was that they couldn’t strike against you, or while they could try, it wouldn’t really do them any good, halting just before landing a punch, falling over themselves making an attempt at what old magic wouldn’t allow them. He was safe from Hans, but still nervous, mostly about traipsing through Anna’s home.

After a short time he extinguished the pipe and shoved it back into the pocket from whence he’d drawn it out. Because there really never was any real fire involved, just the illusion of it, he didn’t need to worry about burning himself. Recalling life before he’d become a monster was difficult, but he always retained the feeling that as a man, he would’ve liked the trick as much as he did now. No holes in your jacket, no need to carry matches, and no need to ever buy or grow your own tobacco. If there was a silver lining to his curse that was it.

The air around him was still. The screaming and raving had ended, but he knew that the man was skill alive. He could sense it. He’d know when he was dead. Or at least he thought he would. He was a bit worse than rusty.

It hadn’t been quiet for very long, but he’d take it as a good sign on any level. Perhaps the man had exhausted himself, or gone to the basement where his screams couldn’t be heard. Kristoff would apologize to Anna later for the fact that the man was tearing her home apart instead of his own, but he had a feeling that she wouldn’t be too upset. She wasn’t the sort of person, from what he could gather, who had much of an interest in things. However, he could tell from the grandeur of her home compared to the others in the village that she’d been raised with plenty of them.

She hadn’t even seemed too worried about her ruined dress, or what was less a dress and more a dressing gown.

The ruined gown was why he’d come to her home. He hadn’t expected for Hans to be there, he’d just come to get Anna some clothes.

She hadn’t asked. He just thought that after she’d agreed to trust him he should give her some kind of good faith gesture in appreciation. He wasn’t sure that he’d trust himself if he were her, so procuring some things to bring her some greater comfort seemed prudent. He also couldn’t deny that his interest in her, although he knew nothing could come of it, stretched to wanting to know where she’d come from before she’d made the mistake of stumbling across him in the wood.

He walked through the back door, not particularly caring if he ran into the mad man or not.

It had been a long time since he’d been in a home other than the cabin he kept, but when the back door opened up into the kitchen, he knew to keep walking into the space. Past the stove and pantry was a dining area with finely carved chairs and a table longer than he thought Anna might ever need herself. He let his hand rest upon the top of one, trying to imagine her sitting in it, carefree, eating her dinner in quiet solitude. Maybe, he imagined, she played host to others at times. She seemed the generous sort.

Adjoined to the dining room, through an entry way painted white with rosemaling that felt familiar to him, was a common area and no sign of Hans. He found instead, through the doorway of that room, an open front hall with a staircase leading up to where he assumed her bedroom would be.

He didn’t pass the mad man in the upstairs hall where he found bedrooms and a study, all with the doors open. There were broken bits of furniture here and there, papers strewn about and clothes and other personal effects intermingled. He wasn’t sure of what was Annas and what belonged to the rest of her family, but when he saw a hairbrush, he picked it up and stuffed it into the satchel he’d brought with him. He smiled to himself thinking about Anna’s messy braids and the mussed waves they’d revealed.

He’d like to brush them out for her. He could imagine her back resting against his chest lightly as he brushed and fussed with her hair, wrapping it around his fingers, humming a tune in her ear. He liked to work with his hands, something he thought may be a leftover from his life before, and to replait her hair seemed a simple task. It was an impossible dream, too much contact, just one slip would damn them both, and yet he thought of it fondly.

In another life, perhaps.

He walked from room to room, without any sign of the man he’d cursed. He didn’t know what to make of it. Everyone he’d heard talking had said that he was there. He’d heard him screaming and crashing just shortly before entering.

Perhaps, he thought, he was in a room he hadn’t found yet. Maybe he’d gone to the basement or entered a room after he’d left it. It didn’t really matter. He couldn’t hurt him.

When he passed by one of the bedrooms, he stopped. It was Anna’s room. He wasn’t sure why he was certain of this, but he was.

It was the biggest mess of all. It had thoroughly tossed, and there were clothes and bits of this and that scattered about the floor. A mirror had been smashed, and Kristoff did his best to shove the bits of glass into a small pile with his foot on the wooden floor as he walked through the space. There was a rosemalled armoire with its doors wide open where the mirror glass was concentrated. There was a frame within still hanging on to a few pieces of jagged glass. He saw himself in the fragments, frowning. He hadn’t looked at himself in anything but water in many years, and he found himself unchanged as he’d ever been. He wasn’t wearing his jacket. That and a bit of mussing to his hair was all that differentiated him from any other day. He combed his fingers through his hair and hoped that Anna wouldn’t be too upset about what had happened to her mirror. It looked as though it might have been an heirloom.

A few items of clothing were still within the cabinet, and while it felt odd to snoop through her things, he searched for anything that seemed sufficiently warm for the cool autumn weather in the area of the mountains she currently resided in. He wouldn’t make her stay inside alone. That would be torture for Anna, that much he could tell simply from the spirit she had about her. She hadn’t been built to be cooped up, she was animated and adventurous and full of life, so he chose clothes he thought might be warm enough for her to walk about in.

He knew extremely little about women’s clothing, more proof that he was terrible at being a gancanagh. The last time he’d… partaken… fashions had been different. He tried not to think about it too terribly much as he lifted up some garments from the floor. Still in the armoire there was a heavy cotton skirt, and one sprawled nearby on the floor that seemed less full, but that was made of wool. He crammed them into the bag and added a few blouses. He thought maybe she’d laugh at the assortment he brought to her, as he imagined that none of the items matched.

He found that the drawers beneath the main portion of the cabinet, had been mostly untouched and upon the revelation that they contained underthings, he flushed and nevertheless added them to the bag with the rest.

He took a look around the room and imagined what Anna had been like there. A writing desk had been razed, ink wells broken, and papers strewn about, but he found a book covered in dried ink and opened it to find the mess contained to the cover and a bit to the page edges. Written in neat hand upon the pages were dates and short entries of daily events. He wanted to read it but thought better of it and tucked it into the bag. She deserved her privacy, and he supposed she’d like to have the book with her if she’d spent so much time writing in it.

Her supplies for writing were destroyed, littering the floor around him. He thought maybe he’d find some way to procure more for her, but shook his head at the thought. She’d return soon enough and perhaps it would be better for her to not chronicle her time with him. Better that she think of it like a and dream after she returned.

Surveying the room again and finding nothing that he thought she’d require, and nothing that jumped out to him as particularly important, he lingered a short while longer and exited. There was no evidence that Hans had returned to the upper floor. Kristoff heard nothing, saw no change in the ruined environment, and could not imagine where the man might have gone. Perhaps, he thought, he’d already expired without his notice. He’d never intentionally done something like this before, so he wasn’t exactly certain about how long someone could last away from the gancanagh that touched them. He wasn’t certain about much of his own nature, and it was no accident on his part.

He’d never wanted to be gancanagh.

He huffed and strapped the satchel closed, deciding it best to at least locate a body if there was one to be found. Maybe, he thought, his sense of life and death in those afflicted by his curse wasn’t as acute as he’d always believed. If there was a body, he’d tip off someone in the village to take care of it.

Another of the “benefits” of being a gancanagh was that so long as no one knew his name, so long that they weren’t prepared for him, they couldn’t do anything to hurt him. Another was that he was quite persuasive, so it would be no trouble to talk someone into investigating the home. Perhaps, he thought, he might even be able to plant the evidence of his plan to kill Anna to ensure that when she returned to the village, she’d have little to explain. He didn’t want her to have to worry about such things.

He didn’t want her to have to worry about anything for as long as she lived.

Which is why she needs to get away from me as quickly as possible.

Quickly walking through each room he found no trace of the man, and after delving through the downstairs rooms and basement, he found no evidence that Hans was still in the building, dead or alive.

He thought, walking through the detritus that had once been Anna’s life, that he should have just told the man to walk off a cliff or something, take care of business and save himself the annoyance of needing to locate him. But no, he’d seen the names in the book Anna brought him, the women who he’d killed for money. He needed him to suffer for that.

He imagined there were many that would hold the same opinion of him.

He sometimes, in his darkest moments, thought that maybe he should hold himself to the same standard.

He could still remember the way they looked, all the women he’d spent time with before. He hadn’t been the one to ensnare any of them, but it hadn’t meant that what he’d done to them was right. He’d been young, so new to a life that he now couldn’t imagine ever being without, and he’d spent time with his own kind. The trolls had warned him against it, but it had seemed logical, surrounding himself with the only others who could teach him about what he was.

They’d ensnared so many women. And he’d thought it was necessary because he was told that it was. He’d not known about what happened to them at first.

They, the other gancanagh, would bring them out of bars, out of towns, and he’d been foolish about the consequences. He thought they’d come for a night of debauchery in the forest, maybe to stay a week or two, but always to return to their homes after. To be charmed and kissed and then to return to less doting husbands with an excuse and nothing more.

“Their youth feeds us, keeps us well,” they’d said, “they like the interruption, to have someone’s interest, you can give them your affection and they’ll take it insatiably.”

He’d never been with women before, and he never truly was with them either. He’d touch them and hold them and kiss them because they begged for it, and they’d dance so lithely around. It was only much later that he saw what became of the addicted mortals they left behind.

Half mad women burning down their homes while still inside, waifish shapes wandering the woods, empty eyes and gaunt cheeks, so addicted to their “merry band” that they cared neither for food nor water, only for the touch of the fae that addicted them.

He hadn’t addicted them, but he fed into the addiction. He hadn’t known that they weren’t in their right minds, that they couldn’t say no, but he should have. He’d kissed them and danced and had seen right past the spell they were under because he didn’t want to see it. Then when he did see it, he thought he could help. He raged when the others took women when he didn’t himself. He would find the women they left in the woods, try to satiate them while they dwindled away, but he could only prolong the inevitable for so long. They all died eventually, whether from madness or malnourishment or from their bodies giving out from the magic surging and waning in their veins.

He’d left the other gancanagh after a time, unable to stop them, but still human enough to know that he didn’t want to do what they did. He saw so much gancanagh in Hans. He’d taken women and used them up, leaving bodies in his wake. That he could use his curse to return the favor was the best use of it he’d found in a long time.

Finding the man gone, Kristoff did his best to shake off his thoughts. He needed to collect himself because he needed to know where Hans had gone and whether it was safe for Anna to return.

He did his best to pick up what he could on his way out and then slipped out the back door and walked through the woods until he found a path into town. He supposed it would be best to simply ask a townsperson whether or not they’d seen Hans of late, as he’d be happy enough to learn that the man had died in the streets, or had been taken away, or was, at least locked back in his own home.

He needed to know if it was safe for Anna to return.

She needed to go home, because while she wasn’t safe with Hans, she wasn’t safe with him either. Every moment he was with Anna, every moment he wanted to reach out and touch her, reach out and give her the sort of gentle intimacy he saw she craved. It was the sort of affection he’d love to give her if he was anything but what he was because as it stood he knew that he would be the death of her. He couldn’t justify killing her would-be-killer if he turned around and addicted her.

He walked into town as confidently as he could, holding his head high, and generally exuding as much of the attractive air his being would allow. When he chanced upon a young lady, a bit older than Anna, and yet still a maid, she was instantly enraptured. That he felt no need or interest in reaching out to touch her was unsurprising. He’d never had much trouble in fighting his nature before Anna, and now when the only woman he wanted was her, the young lady was no temptation. Still though, the charm was easy enough to turn on despite his general disinterest in her, and people in general.

“Hello Miss! Might I inquire as to where I might find a man by the name of Hans?”

***

The water was cold, and she shivered as she submerged herself in it. What she wouldn’t do for a tub and some warm water, and yet, she was simply happy to wash away some of the dirt and grime from her skin. She supposed that it was a good idea to do so given the time she’d spent in the woods, and with Kristoff off for the day, a dip into the river hadn’t seemed like the worst idea she’d ever had.

Sven was ashore with her clothes and a blanket. The creature brought her infinite comfort despite the fact that she hadn’t wandered far from the cabin. At least she had the comfort of not being lost, and as far as she could tell, she might still be on the land that she presumed to be protected by her gancanagh.

She flushed at the thought and not from the cold. To call him her gancanagh as if anyone could have a gancanagh as their own. It was a foolish thought, she was much more his than he was hers, though she did like the idea of it in either respect. It was proof that she might be going a bit mad.

Damn yourself Anna.

She splashed cold water on her face and gasped. There was time before winter was to arrive, but she may as well be bathing in ice. She leaned back best she could into the water, soaking her hair and running her fingers through it in an attempt to at least knock away most of the dust and dirt.

She recalled the look in his eye when he’d asked her to trust him the night before, the way they’d been so dark and intently focused on her own. She let her fingers slip to her wrist, where he’d first touched her through the fabric of her shirt cuff. The skin there felt hot as she focused on it, despite the chill of the water. She’d almost shown him then and there how prepared she was to trust him, how willing she was to curl her fingers forward and touch him.

How willing she was to addict herself to him.

Asking him to touch her had been unwise enough.

She was a damn fool. She always had been.

As a child she’d believed in fairy tales, and as she’d aged she’d never let herself grow out of it. That was why she’d accepted Hans’s proposal so easily, because she’d longed for a happily ever after so strongly, she’d been unable to see through the façade it had all been. And now, so acutely aware of the danger she was in, she was still willing to believe in the ending she’d wanted since she was a child.

Of course she knew that getting herself addicted to a gancanagh could allow nothing but a swift death, but it would be one in which she’d feel good the whole time, and she thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

It had been years since she felt wanted, and even if it killed her, she thought that being wanted by Kristoff might be the best way she could go. Particularly because at least it would be her choice to addict herself, and it was a choice with an ending she could choose. It was a way to fade away, and she felt the tears pooling in her eyes as she had to shake herself from the thought. It wasn’t an option.

She focused herself again on washing the dirt from her skin, letting the icy water shake her from her dark fantasies. She didn’t want to die. She wouldn’t leave her sister like that, even if she’d left her almost as surely.

She pulled herself from the water when she began to lose feeling in her toes, the cool air feeling much icier than the water as she removed herself from it and moved to the place she’d left a blanket at Sven’s side.

The deer quickly moved, surprising her as it took off behind her and toward something that surprised and terrified her in equal measure.

A man with torn clothing, mud and sticks in his hair such that it was almost impossible to identify him at first.

Hans.

***

Kristoff, once again, found himself running through the woods, shouting “Kjekk!” at the top of his lungs. He wouldn’t endanger her by calling her true name, even if he was still on the safety of his protected lands. She’d left the cabin again, and while it was in her rights to do so, he was terrified to see her gone. He’d sent himself to the building as soon as the young woman in town had told him that Hans had set off into the woods like a mad beast over an hour before.

Kristoff hadn’t thought that he’d been in her home nearly as long as he had, but he’d evidently entered the back of the house not long after Hans had left through the front. He’d hoped, upon realizing that the man had entered the wood, that he’d gone anywhere but towards the mountains where Anna resided, but he had no faith in his luck. He knew that the most desperate of the addicted were sometimes able to feel their way to the home of the gancanagh that addicted them if they didn’t travel far enough away, but he hadn’t even thought it was a possibility with Hans.

“Kjekk!” he screamed, running through the wood, only to hear a shriek coming from the direction of the river, causing his heart, or what was left of it, to race.

He sprinted in the direction of her voice, hearing with it the sound of laughter that was anything but sane.

He’d done it. He’d managed to undo everything he was hoping to accomplish by taking her to his home and addicting Hans.

He’d found her, and there was nothing he could do about it.

***

Anna watched in terror as Sven ran straight for the madman who she’d once imagined herself marrying. The beast ducked his head down, charging him with his antlers, clearly ready to gore the man to defend Anna.

She screamed out, terrified for everyone involved, herself included. She knew Hans probably deserved to be killed as violently as he’d lived, but in the moment she wanted anything but for Sven to do it. The beast was kind and gentle and deserved better than to have to attack to defend her. She didn’t want anyone to have to defend her. She wanted to go back in time and refuse Hans and to run off to the city with her sister or join a nunnery, or to be in any situation other than the one she’d managed to get herself into.

Frozen on the spot, she stared numbly as the scene played out in front of her. She felt as if ice were flowing through her veins, and then, she warmed, hearing Kristoff’s voice from behind her.

She didn’t decide to run to him so much as she operated on instinct to do so. Being with him meant being safe, it meant that Sven might not need to kill the man that was fully trying to kill her.

His eyes went wide as he broke though the copse of small trees along the bank she was running down, and by the time she thought about what she was doing, it was too late. She threw herself, bare as she was, into him, his forearm grazing her side in the process.

He’d promised her that he wouldn’t touch her, and it was a promise he’d kept.

She’d touched him. She’d damned them both.

***

He felt it instantly. The sensation of her chill, bare skin against his. He’d barely registered the fact that she was naked as he exited the woods and took in what was going on. Sven was charging Hans, Hans had the good sense to run away, returning to the wood from whence he’d come, cursing up a storm and looking every bit like the mad man he was.

“No,” he breathed, “Anna…”

But it was too late, it was already done.

He looked down to see her eyes, her beautiful expressive blue eyes, glazing over with a vacant unknowing that he’d seen too many times before. It was the first step, the beginning, what happened before victims starved or went mad. It was the pretty stage, the bit where they went all soft and pleading and wanting.

He stumbled back, as if he could move away from her and undo what he’d done to her so simply. But there was nothing simple about what was going on, layers upon layers of curses and fae law meant that there was no easy out for either of them.

Sven, in Kristoff’s periphery, had stopped charging, and Hans had managed to take off far enough in the woods quickly enough that he was no longer their problem at the time being.

Anna clung to him, even as he tried to move away from her. She was bare and shaking and holding him around the chest.

She’d been bathing in the river, he realized. None of this was her fault. She hadn’t asked for Hans to interrupt her bath, she’d taken Sven with her, followed his every instruction to not move far from the cabin, and still she’d run into trouble because of him. He should have killed Hans when he had the chance. He should have sent her home.

Her hands were wandering across his back, little icy fingers that he could feel through his shirt. They might as well be stabbing him.

He’d wanted her, but not like this.

Carefully, trying his best not to look down at her, he wrapped his arms around her in return. He knew that she needed this, needed his touch, but it made him want to vomit.

“Come on Anna,” he whispered, pleading gently, “Lets get you covered up. It’s very cold.”

She complied. She had no choice.

#the love talker #tw dark themes #kristanna #gancanagh au #fae au

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guessimjoiningthespidermanfandom · 3 years

Text

Rebirth and Rewrites

Peter Parker x bisexual!reader

Peter Parker x fem!reader

Peter Parker x black!reader

Peter Parker x villain!reader

Warning: Language, mentions of self harm, antidepressants, mentions of injuries, violence, anxiety attacks, depressing thoughts, mentions of parental neglect, self destructive behavior, mentions of weapons, mentions of bounty hunters, allusions of sex.

Word Count: 8.5k

Songs: dRuGz- Willow Smith, Money- Leikeli47, Only You (And You Alone)- The Platters, and Moonsickness- Penelope Scott.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve felt this. Feeling like you’re disconnected from your body that is. Like in the Edge of Seventeen when Nadine says she gets this feeling like she’s looking down on herself from outside her body and she hates what she sees. That’s sort of how it felt. But this? This felt entirely different like I was in the wrong body but retained my soul, it couldn't be explained. It requires no explanation really if you understand it then great and if you don’t you don’t. ”

A/N: Sorry this took so long school got too be a bit much things are kinda slow but now they’re starting to get interesting.

Series Masterlist Previous Part Next Part

The shampoo bottles flew wildly around the bathroom along with everything else that wasn’t bolted down. I tried my best to put everything back in place but the second I’d put one thing down another thing was moving back up towards the ceiling.

“No, no. No stop!” I spoke as if the inanimate objects would listen to me and stop moving.

Fuck. No stop. Please.

Everything was swirling in a tornado like fashion above my head. I ducked down into the bathtub and just waited because it had to stop at some point. Right?

“Y/N?” I heard Carmen call. I couldn’t bring myself to answer. I don’t think I’d have been able to speak if I tried.

“Y/N open the door please” She asked softly followed by the sound of the doorknob rattling.

I didn’t hear anything else for who knows how long could’ve been a second, 30 minutes, an hour I couldn’t tell. The door was slammed open. Startling me. Everything froze in the air for a few seconds before falling.

“Are you okay?” Carmen grabbing my shoulders.

I nodded and shrugged her arms off me. Pushing myself up to stand on my legs. It was then and only then did I realize I was shaking.

I opened my mouth to speak when there was a chime almost like the sound of a microwave. It felt like my eyes had zoomed out above my body. An aerial camera view.

What I was experiencing was an out of body experience in the past. Like some Ebeneezer Scrooge type shit or a Raven Simone moment but backwards.

I was shaking my hands flexing at my sides. Except for it wasn’t me me, it was another version of me passing off as another person that I could see full body.

“Oh are you going to cry?” Heaven taunted.

I watched as I blinked tears out my eyes. Anyone else would see this as a moment of weakness. However, I know I cried when I got really angry. And I mean really angry. Like rip your heart out, chew it up and spit it out angry.

“Shut. Up.” I breathed looking down at my feet.

“And what if I don’t you wanna snitch on me? Cry?”

I knew the jist of what happened next. I was there when it actually happened. I beat her ass and got suspended. I just didn’t remember exactly how it happened or what exactly I did.

The girl was still running her mouth but I wasn’t paying attention to that. I was watching her hands and her stance. That was something Wade taught me to watch someone’s body language, that way you could know when or if they were about to swing at you.

I threw a sharp right hook knocking Precious’s head into the locker. Right as Precious was about to go for my hair I was falling.

The floor fell right from my feet and the scene that was once in front of me faded away. I wasn’t falling for long, my back slammed into the cold cement beneath me.

“I thought you were supposed to be a good guy,” I laughed “Now you’re kicking me around for no reason at all?” Wait. I remember this. Why was it happening again? Why wasn’t it in the third person like the last? This was a core memory for me. My first encounter with Spidey.

“You were stealing. It’s my job to stop crime,”

I knew exactly what to do and say. I’d have to run over this like a practiced script. I pushed myself backwards with my hands.

Oh yeah and who’s paying you to do that?

“No one, is I’m just a good person,”

“Am I not a good person?”

A cold sticky wet feeling engulfed my wrist.

“You are a criminal and deserved to face the proper punishment,”

I rolled my eyes and grunted as I tried to pull my wrist out of whatever it was holding me to the ground. I used to think the webs actually came out of him which is disgusting.

“Yeah, yeah sure can you hand me my bag so I can leave?” I teased.

“Y/N!” A random voice called out. That wasn’t supposed to happen.

“What was that?” Spiderman or Peter asked. I looked around trying to locate the voice. I heard my name called again before the only thing I could hear was a loud crack.

I looked underneath me and the ground beneath my feet was split down the middle. I tried to pull my arm out of the webbing harder this time. The floor continued to split like a crack in a windshield before eventually consuming me and I was falling again.

As I was falling everything looked so beautiful. There were glowing orbs of light all around me. It was completely black except for the stars and orbs.

It was then that realized I wasn’t falling anymore. It was the opposite. I was floating or stiled in place.

I wanted to touch one of those bright spherical orbs I probably shouldn’t but I was going to do it anyway. I reached out towards it and my hand glided smoothly through the air. Or not air? This is space right? There’s no oxygen in space. Then how was I breathing?

My hands went straight through the orb leaving behind the same fire like ribbons from a few days ago and earlier today. The waves were fluid. They felt like nothing. Like a breeze maybe. Something that could possibly tickle if you endured enough of it.

A large energy surge shot out the orb knocking me back. At least 100 feet once my arm was all the way through. It didn’t hurt though it was just strong.

When I started moving back towards nothing in particular it felt like I was swimming. I began to laugh, I felt so free.

Multiple rings opened around me. I was circled with gold rings shooting off sparks. They looked like portals. To where I don’t know. There were some that looked like fiery pits of hell. Others were very colorful like a rave or rocky terrain.

There was one that was calling me for some reason. Something told me to stop resisting the pull to stay where I was but I knew I couldn't. I pushed through the air. Well I guess I pulled myself towards it instead of pushed. I slid through like a knife through butter.

The first thing I felt was the coolness of the porcelain bathtub on my back. My head felt as if it was expanding inside my skull.

I stepped in between all the shampoo bottles and hygiene products on the floor making my way out of the bathroom. I entered the living room not prepared to see Tony and Peter sitting there on the couch with some person I’d never seen. Who looked straight out of a Men in Black movie.

“Oh shit.” I turned to Carmen grabbing her arm and dragging her down the hal l“What the fuck did you do?”

“Where were you?” She answered my question with her own. Well two can play that game. And I believe I asked first.

“What’d you do? Why'd you call them? Or if you didn't, why are they here? It was just a few bottles, I had it under control,”

“I was freaking out that’s why! Where the hell were you?”

“What are you talking about? I was in the bathroom. You saw me,”

“You’ve been gone for 7 hours Y/N!”

“What?” I shook my head. “No. What are you talking about?”

“You’ve been gone for 7 hours and your eyes are glowing. What the hell is going on with you?”

I pulled out my phone opening it to the camera app and my eyes were in fact glowing. I blinked very hard multiple times. Shaking my head until it cleared. What the fuck is happening.

I sent Peter, Tony, and the Agent J wannabe on their way with a few lies to clear the air. I’m sure Tony would want to play more of his mad scientist game on me but that’s a problem for another day. I was just going to read my book until I fell asleep. Last interaction I had with another human that day was Carmen patting my shoulder and saying “Welcome to the world of mutants, girl. Buckle up it’s a bumpy ride.” before walking away.

I swear to whatever’s out there that I’m losing my mind. Like full on shave your head and move to New Mexico crazy. I’d open that can of worms later.

“I don’t think I can love myself without sexualizing myself is that bad?” I asked, applying my lipgloss.

“I don’t necessarily think so, it’s common but if it gets out of hand, it can create lots of other problems,” MJ gave her input.

“Oh I definitely know all about the problems it can cause I just can’t stop, ”

Carmen strolled into the bathroom.

“Where’s the thing?”

“What thing?”

“You know the,” She did a hand movement that I somehow understood. It wasn’t even remotely connected to what she was trying to convey either.

“Oh! The face paint. It’s under the cabinet by Salem’s food bowls,”

“What?” MJ questioned. “How did you get face paint from that?”

I just shrugged.

“I don’t know. We’re like connected or some shit,”

I sat on the couch, Halloween playing on the TV but no one was paying attention. We were all on our phones.

“Alright,” I sighed, pushing up from the couch. “I should be done at like 9 so that gives us like 11 to get there,”

I promised my sisters I’d take them trick-or-treating. It’s been like this forever and I wasn’t going to back out now. Sapphire was actually dressed as Spiderman and for some reason I couldn’t tell if that made me wanna laugh or cry. Didn’t even know they made costumes for that guess that whole being sponsored by Tony thing was coming in clutch.

I don’t know how it works anywhere else but in New York you gotta go trick-or-treating on the street. Everything is private property and you can’t just get buzzed in just for candy so you go in publicly owned places.

“This is the last store for tonight, I gotta get back” I informed them.

Sapphire whined and I wrapped my arm around her pulling her into my side.

“Cmon’ little superhero,”

I stepped off to the side towards Aaliyah.

“For your sake I would not let her eat much candy if any tonight,”

An half hour later and I was back at Carmen’s house. I really need to find somewhere else to stay. It's been too long here.

After what felt like a million hours Harry finally showed up.

“I’m driving,” I claimed moving towards the apartment door.

“No you're not,” He stated.

“Oh really? Then why do I have the keys.” I lifted the keyring rattling it around.

He let out an aspirated sigh. I could tell he wasn’t going to fight me on this. I'm sure he was just confused on how I even got them.

Now there were two reasons I was driving. One because I had to make a detour and two I didn’t want to sit in Harry’s backseat because God knows what has happened back there.

Back to the detour. It was Peter’s apartment complex. I'm surprised he agreed to come. had just brought it up to be polite. It was well known that parties weren’t really his scene.

Harry held his hand out, palm facing up. There lied about seven bars. I’m honestly surprised he was sharing willingly. That was new.

Bri and Carmen as well as myself had no qualms about popping the xans. MJ didn't take any, just shook her head when offered, which I’m glad she’s too smart for drugs. So is Peter which is exactly why I pushed Harry’s hand away. Giving him a look daring him to even think about offering anything to him.

Everyone had split up Carmen with MJ. Bri to honestly I don’t know where and Harry to I don’t think I want to know where. And Peter? He’s with me of course, couldn’t leave him by himself.

“Where’s Ned I haven’t seen him in a while,” I decided to speak because I couldn’t stand the awkward silence in this bedroom I’d somehow backed myself into.

“He said he’s been to one party this and that fits his quota for the year,”

“Well I would’ve thought Liz’s thing met your quota too but here we are,” I could feel my brain slowing down and smiled slightly. Then I noticed how far away Peter was on the bed.

“You can get closer, I won’t bite,” I hummed. “Unless you want me to of course,”

“What!?” He almost shouted.

“I’m kidding dude, calm down,” I laughed. The room fell into silence again save for the sound of the music vibrating throughout the house. I miss real house parties. But oh well this party where I wasn’t actually doing anything would have to do.

“Just realized I never asked. What are you dressed as?”

“Han Solo,” He replied as if I was supposed to know who that was.

“Who?” I scrunched up my eyebrows.

“You don’t know Han Solo?”

I shook my head. I’m sure it looked a lot sloppier than I meant for it to be I just couldn’t really move my head

“From Star Wars?” He tried again.

“The only people I know from Star Wars are Princess Lelia, Luke Skywalker and that one robot motherfucker.”

It was hard not to smile as Peter rambled on about the Saga. I wasn’t really paying attention but he looked adorable. I was just staring at him and I’m sure if Harry or Carmen were here they’d tell me I looked like the embodiment of the heart eye emoji. It’s not like I liked him or anything he was just cute.

That was until my burner vibrated against my lower leg. I used my arms to push myself up, excusing myself to take the call.

“What’s up?” I asked.

Wade’s voice boomed from the phone.

“I know a guy that knows a guy who knows-“ He cut himself for the reason I could only assume was because of the crashing noise coming from inside the house.

“Are you at a party?”

“No,” I lied for no reason he wouldn’t care if I was.

“I’m not stupid just call me back when you’re not flirting with some fuckboy or high,” He choose to emphasize the last word.

“I’m not high,” I’m not sure who exactly I was trying to convince.

“You’re literally slurring right now. Don’t drink and drive kid,”

“What?” I laughed at his attempt at a lecture or a safety tip whatever that was.

“Don’t laugh, I'm trying to be a responsible adult. I think it’s about time.”

I couldn’t remember when or how I got back inside but here I was surrounded by people with music bouncing off the wall fading in and out of consciousness and I had never felt more alone. It was kinda pathetic.

“I’ve never understood that calling people daddy shit it’s fucking weird-“ I cut my rambling off pushing my face against the car window enjoying its coolness. “English is the most unattractive language, like it’s so tame and dull and…” I trailed off letting my head fall back down as I lost control over my neck muscles for a second.

“It’s just like- I just wanna be able to say-“ I sighed before starting up again “Vous avez l'air très attirant ce soir. Les choses que je te laisserais me faire,”

I looked away and everyone besides MJ was looking at me with wide eyes. I couldn’t tell if it was because she was driving or the fact I knew she spoke French.

I realized it was definitely the latter when she spoke back in the same language.

“Was that directed as a general thing or at Peter?”

Thank God no one else understood us. I mean it wouldn’t have been that big of a deal I’d just have to endure a bit of teasing but it’s better to avoid the headache.

“So are you going to let us in on your conversation or…” Harry questioned.

“Shut up,” I spoke to both Harry and MJ. “Drop Peter off first,” That was the last thing I muttered before falling deep into the vast clusterfuck of a land that is my subconscious.

When I woke up I was on Carmen’s couch with a blanket draped over my waist. I clumsily reached for my phone just texting the last person I texted. To stimulate my mind.

you: hi are you awake

I couldn’t help but laugh at how much this seemed like a u up? text but this was in a completely different context.

It took a minute but he responded.

p😜🤚: yeah are you okay?

you: im fine just bored

p😜🤚: oh

p 😜🤚: well we can talk if you want too

I couldn’t help but smile. Ugh what’s wrong with me. I knew better than to ask this because I wasn’t trying to catch feelings anytime soon but my dumbass did it anyway.

you: can we ft

p: sure

He apparently did see the cuts on my leg that one time because he just asked me about it. To which I denied, denied, denied. Salem did it and that’s final. I only did it once anyway so who gives a fuck I’d gotten the urge to do it under control. Like I’d heard somewhere before there’s a difference between thinking about hurting yourself and wanting to hurt yourself.

“You’re sure you’re okay though?” He asked one last time and I nodded my head. “Okay because I know all these changes in your body can be-“

“Changes?” I interrupted “Why are you making it sound like puberty,” l laughed. I wish I could convince myself whatever these mutations were are just puberty.

“You know what I mean!” He let out a small laugh.

“Okay but puberty is really weird, why do humans need so much sweat,” I attempted to shift the conversation onto something that wasn’t my physical and mental wellbeing.

Either Peter could tell I wasn’t going to give him shit or I really was just the master of getting out of things but it worked. I eventually fell asleep and when I woke up he was still on the phone.

“So you’re sending me to bounty hunt a bounty hunter who’s bounty hunting Mr. America?”

“Exactly,”

“That’s the dumbest shit I’ve heard all day,”

“Hey you asked me to help you be grateful you little asshole,” Wade teased.

“Fuck you,” I laughed. “How long do I have?”

“Two weeks top.”

I hummed before hanging up.

Now the question was to do this alone or to bring someone else. I definitely haven’t been in the most stable of headspaces lately. There could be up to 4 Avengers and 1 bounty hunter. I’d have to be smart about this. I can’t believe that I’m about to say this but I need a plan.

-Step one: Find Carmen and make her make a plan.-

Step one: Convince Tony to let me go on a solo mission. Giving me a reason to dip while having a whole buncha cool technological weapons at my disposal.

Step two: Disable the tracking in the weapons provided.

Step three: Get a car.

Step four: Follow bounty guy to wherever they’re going.

Step five: Take out the bounty guy.

Step six: Talk to Captain America.

Step seven: Find Thor from Captain America.

First I’d have to get out of detention. I would’ve been fine with detention if I had my phone. I don’t even know why I’m in here actually. I hadn’t gotten in trouble in a while. I was confused until Tony strolled into the room. Why couldn’t he meet anyone in a normal location just once. He always had to fucking abmush people.

I had to hold back from rolling my eyes.

“Yes?” I asked.

“You said you were up for a solo op right?”

I nodded skeptically.

“Well I have one for you next Friday,”

“Go on,” I moved my arms under my torso to rest under my chin.

It was just a simple drug bust in and out. He must’ve been really bored to go out of his way to try and stop something as miniscule as this. Probably didn’t think it through when he signed those accords. Now he literally can’t do anything without the whole world jumping his dick. For now he’s living vicariously through Peter and I’m assuming.

A simple drug bust isn’t something you really need to get ready for. Trying to find and possibly have to fight one Avenger let alone possibly 4 is something you have to be more than ready for. In every way possible. Including mentally.

“I think I want to go back on antidepressants,” I blurted, plopping back down on the couch with a bag of chips.

“You’re being serious?” Carmen asked, pausing the TV.

“Yeah I mean what’s so surprising about that?” I unpaused it.

She paused it again turning towards me.

“Why? What happened you said you hated all the side effects and would never take them again,”

“Guess I changed my mind,” I shrugged “I just told you cause I know you know how to get them ‘s all,”

“Okay.” She nodded and I could almost see her brain working behind her eyes.

One thing about long term friends is they know when you don’t want to talk about something and they also know when they need to drop it. In the click of a few buttons on a keyboard I had an appointment with a psychiatrist. The fact she knew my insurance information is kinda scary though. Apparently I passed the test to get crazy people's medicine with flying colors.

I was in Queens for many reasons, one of them being I wanted to spar with Felicia. She is not a sparring person she likes to fight but only when she has to, but I was able to convince her. It didn’t take much actually. She owes me after all 3:1.

She was sorta similar to Black Widow in fight styles and she was hard to beat. With Captain America it’s easy, his fighting style is easy to evade, if I just avoid the shield and go for his legs I’d be good. Spiderman doesnt shield his left side when he goes to hit you and relies on his webs too much. Wanda she- I don’t know what she does actually but if I can get her to physically fight me instead of using powers I could easily take her down. That Falcon guy uses his legs a lot so aim for the wings.

But Black Widow was agile. The strongest of them all because she doesn’t use strength you can tell from the videos I’d been analyzing she movies like a ballerina. Her fighting style is to not have one at all.

I mean it was scary how similar she and Felicia were; they even both have Black in their name and suits. Despite neither of them being back which is funny.

I was laid out on the panting. I rolled over onto my stomach grunting as I reached for my knife. I wasn’t done at least not yet.

I slung my arm towards her and this time she didn’t catch it. I barely grazed her but it was enough to catch her off guard. I was able to get her pinned to the ground for like 15 seconds.

“Remind me to never get on your bad side,” I laughed.

“You could never,” Honestly I’m starting to believe that. Even when Olivia and I broke up she never got hostile towards me or anything. And her being hostile towards me is not something I’d enjoy.

I’d have to be the clumsiest “agile” person I’d ever met. I fell walking down the steps to get back outside. I rolled and landed on my ankle but I’m sure it’d be fine. It only caused a slight discomfort when I put pressure on it. I’m just glad I could walk like this without having Felicia on my ass about it.

I was already in the area so I decided to stop by Peters house just to see if he was home. Okay in all honesty, I wasn’t really in the area Felicia lives in an entirely different part of Queens. But he said I could stop by whenever and I’d like to say I’m a literal person.

I winced when I put my foot all the way back down on the ground but I didn’t want to be interrogated. Peter does not know when to drop things.

“Hey,” I spoke once he opened the door.

“Hey?” He asked more than said as if he was surprised I was here.

He just stood there staring for a few seconds too long.

“So can I come in? Or...” I tilted my head.

“Oh,” He shook his head slightly as if shaking out his thoughts.

“Oh, yeah come in,” He stepped out of the way.

We both sat with our legs facing each other on his bottom bunk. Suddenly I became aware.

Aware of the way I could feel all the fibers in the polyester blanket I sat on.

Aware of each sound around me, the slight wind just outside the window, the faint TV show I could hear from the apartment on the floor above, the air conditioning rattling.

Aware of how I didn’t remember who I’d been or how where or why.

Aware of how I had a purpose, how I should look to the sky for answers and when I could not look to the light I must look into our heart. The one collective heart we share. But I could not remember who we were. I wasn’t meant to remember who we were or what we were.

I wasn’t supposed to remember not yet. Not now. But soon or maybe never. They'll never take my power, even if I didn’t understand it yet. It was mine and mine to keep.

Aware of the faint whisper of my name rang through the air.

I didn’t appreciate the headache and tightness in my chest this awareness or insanity brought me. I needed a distraction. Not sure why this was the first thing that popped into my head but it was.

“Your suit can record things right?”

“Yeah why?”

“Does it record everything it’s around?”

The whispering only got closer and closer. My name being called out with a sense of urgency and grief. I couldn’t see. There was a difference between adrenaline and anxiety and this wasn’t the later. Something was seriously wrong and I had no idea what to do about it. Finally the voice got so loud it could not be ignored.

“Y/N!” I snapped my eyes up and tried to calm my breathing.

“What?” I asked with more hostility than I intended.

“It’s just you zoned out and started muttering something. It freaked me out,”

I had to hold back from showing my confusion on my face.

“Sorry,” I murmured sheepishly. I don’t know why I felt the need to apologize. It's like I was a walking ball of grief, guilt, and shame but it wasn’t my own.

I’m not sure how long we sat there in silence before I felt the impending urge to escape but as soon as I put pressure on my foot the shock of the pain shooting to my leg wasn’t able to be concealed. I winced quietly but I know he heard me.

In two seconds flat he was pestering me trying to figure out what was wrong. I ignored him and suddenly the fraying on the shoelaces of my combat boots was extremely interesting to me.

“It’s nothing Peter, drop it,” I walked towards his closet.

“It’s not nothing,” He sighed moving towards me. “Why can’t you just tell me what’s wrong?”

Because if I told you then you’d tell Tony and I’d get taken off the solo op.

I just looked up at the ceiling and decided to change the topic with something I knew would get the target off of my back.

“Why’d you never get me arrested?”

“Huh?” He raised his eyebrows scrunching up his face.

“All the times you came after me as Thorn. You always let me get away, why?”

“I don’t know. I just couldn’t see you get arrested I guess.”

I hummed to his answer letting my hands roam through his closet. I picked up a pair of Hello Kitty pajama pants.

“When’d you get these?” I asked.

He snatched them from my hands.

“Haha go ahead and make fun of me for them. Mr. Stark gave them to me.”

I simply smiled.

”I was just going to say they were very cute actually ’m sure you looked adorable, but okay,”

I glanced back at him and his face had a light pink glow.

“You’re blushing!” I pointed out laughing.

“Am not,” He lied.

“Are too. I can tell you aren’t used to getting compliments,” I smiled. “That’s too bad though you deserve plenty of compliments,” I looked back up at the ceiling and noticed an attic or trap door. I hopped up a bit and his suit fell down as I hit the door.

“How does everyone keep finding that?” I heard him ask.

“It’s a very you place to put it that’s why,” I mindlessly answered back.

“You heard me?”

That’s snapped me out of whatever trance I was in.

“What? Was I not supposed to?” As soon as the sentence left my mouth I heard a scream.

“Somethings wrong,” Peter announced. So he heard it too?

I felt drawn to it. Like I knew them or something.

“Uh…” I stalled “I have to go. Sorry,”

“Okay text me when you get back home,” He rushed out since I’d moved away so quickly.

I was sure I was limping but the pain wasn’t as prevalent in my mind as the screaming was. I followed it as if it was a compass. I followed it to the middle of nowhere. It was just dry grass and about three trees caged by chain link fences and abandoned buildings.

Whatever came over me faded as soon stepped off the sidewalk. The screaming subsided into nothing and it was like a tight grip around my chest slipping away. I’m really losing my mind oh my god.

I couldn’t sleep. I sat in the bathtub all night focusing. I found when I focused hard enough I could move some of the things. It isn’t so much about imagining where you want something to go it was about believing it was already there. It hurt my head to do it though. I only moved about three things 4 inches.

It was a possibility that I was going through a psychotic break or I could’ve really been moving things with my mind because of whatever radiation was in my body. A few days ago I apparently disappeared after there was a tornado of shampoo bottles flying around. Maybe I did that subconsciously somehow.

I mean gamma rays literally invented the Hulk wherever he was. Who knows what they were doing to me.

I eventually fell asleep halfway on and halfway off the couch. How I even got there in the first place I wasn’t sure. I upped the times I needed to go to the gym a day to 3 times. That would’ve been fine. I didn’t have like 50 missing assignments to turn in before the end of the semester. Which is in 2 weeks.

It didn’t help that I felt like something bad was about to happen. Don’t know what but I feel it coming. I hummed to myself. Okay now back on track. It comes in handy to have smart friends, especially ones willing to help you get your work done.

“Why are we at the park?” Peter asked as I tucked my legs back to swing even higher.

“Because if you do work in an unusual place you get it done faster.”

“I’m not sure that’s tr-“

“It is true don’t question me,”

“We're not even doing any work right now,” He pointed out.

“If you swing higher than me we can start.” I knew he wasn’t one to back down from a challenge.

“Oh, you’re on,” He replied, putting both his hands on the swing’s chains.

He didn’t beat me. I let him win because I got tired.

“Yeah right,” He laughed.

“I did! You wouldn’t of won if I didn’t stop, I let you win out of pity”

I actually managed to get 3 whole assignments done. School can be kinda fun when you have a teacher who doesn’t try to make you feel stupid. It’s way easier when you have the energy to try at all.

You never realize how much walking you do in a day or how excruciating exercising is until your leg hurts. I was going to let it stop me though. There’s a reason people say walk it off to injuries.

The entire structure of my plan had failed. Somehow, someone probably Peter, told Tony that I got hurt and I got taken off the solo op.

After 30 minutes of me being annoying as fuck I got put back on. Only problem now was Peter was coming as a safety precaution.

Step 8: Figure out how to ditch Peter.

Fuck my life. Although everything else was falling apart I’d manage to get 40% of my assignment turned in.

Friday came in a blink of an eye. I’d be the bait and Peter would just be the lookout. I wasn’t planning on going through with whatever I was supposed to be doing here. I just needed to disable the tracker in my communicator. I guess I was thinking straight because I didn’t hear or even see the guy move behind Peter. Not until I heard him call out.

“It’s a set up!”

There was one thing I didn’t have to think about and that was running. It was my expert tactic. I knew it wouldn’t be fair to leave Peter. He might think he can take care of himself but he was too naive for his own good.

“Wait!” He called out and I stopped behind an empty building.

“Do you trust me?” I asked.

“Yeah but why-“

I interrupted him.

“I need to do something really important and Tony can’t know about it,”

“Now you can go back but you can’t say a single thing about this to him. Just say the mission went wrong and I decided it was safer to ditch or something.”

I could see the conflict in his eyes.

“No,”

Fuck. I felt my burner vibrate in my pocket. It was probably Carmen asking where I was.

“No?”

“Yeah cause I’m coming with you,”

“I can’t ask you do to that,”

“I know but I’m coming or I’ll tell Mr. Stark,”

I knew he probably wouldn’t but I couldn’t risk the slim chance that he would.

“Fine…” I breathed out. I didn’t have anytime to argue I’d just ditch him somewhere.

I saw him quietly cheer. Clearly not understanding the severity of the situation. This wasn't some Vulture thing, this was very highly trained individuals.

I dialed Carmen again.

“Hey… So we’ve got a plus one,”

“What?”

“You’ll see,”

We were in the car for 12 fucking hours and we still weren’t there. I never realized how much Peter talked until now. We had no form of entertainment besides the radio. Carmen pulled over at a gas station so we could switch off and partially because Peter said he had to use the bathroom.

While he was still inside Carmen spoke up for the first time in what felt like weeks.

“Why’d you bring Golden boy along?”

“Cause I didn't want him to get shot,”

“Yeah I understand that part. Why didn’t you just like knock him out and dip,”

“What why the fuck would I do that,”

“You would’ve done it to anyone else. You’re getting all soft,” She poked my side and I flipped her off.

“How’s that for soft?” As soon as the sentence came out of my mouth I heard the click of the door opening and it startled me a lot more than it should’ve.

The rest of the ride was silent save from Peter asking home much longer we had to go before falling asleep. It was about 12 pm by the time we got there. After shaking both Carmen and Peter awake I headed up to knock on the door.

A girl who looked about Aaliya’s age answered the door.

I smiled at her.

“Is your dad here I have to ask him something,”

Now I knew for a fact he was here he was on house arrest. I was looking through the videos Peter’s suit had recorded and I found this giant guy at some airport in Germany who I was able to trace back to Scott Lang.

That one guy who transferred all that money out of Vistacorp back to its consumers. It was pretty badass as far as nonviolent crimes go.

I could see her playing my question over in her head deciding if she’d have to lie or not. I’m assuming she saw something somewhat trustworthy in me because I was sitting in his house on his couch. Trying to convince him to help me.

“So let me get this straight. You have telekinetic and fire powers and had a dream that you believe is prophetic and you need me to tell you where Captain America is?”

“Pretty much yeah,”

“Okay uh wow,” He claimed standing up. I could tell he believed me. There wasn't a hint of distrust in his eyes. Which is good because I wasn’t lying.

“I want to help you, I do. But-“

“You don’t know where he is do you?”

“No not exactly. I do have something though.” He replied standing up off the couch “Hold on let me get it,” He went rummaging around his house because coming back about a minute later.

“No luck?” Carmen asked as she read my facial expression.

I shook my head.

“All he gave me was this,” I held up the plastic plaque.

“What are we even looking for anyway,” Peter asked.

I could see Carmen shaking her head signaling me not to tell him. I didn’t. He’d find out sooner or later. I think we were too far from home to ditch him now.

“So are we paying or are we saving the cash?” Carmen asked.

“We can just save it probably let me go check,”

The hotel was empty for the most part. Multiple rooms to choose from. It was always easier to make a get away if needed from the bottom floor and I chose to break into the one closest to the exit.

“I call showering first,” Carmen spoke.

I just waved her off plopping onto one of the Queen beds placed next to the air conditioner. Peter was just standing in the corner like he was nervous or something.

“First “road trip” or something?” I teased.

“Kinda…” He trailed off as something caught his attention. “Are you ever going to tell me where we’re going,”

Might as well.

“To find Captain America,”

He looked like a deer caught in headlights.

“Wait you’re being serious?”

“As a heart attack,”

“I don’t think he likes me,” He looked down as he fidgeted with his hands. “I kinda stole his shield,”

“So I’ve heard,” I giggled.

I checked the communicator and the bounty hunter we were supposed to be hunting down was still in the same place. This could mean 1 of many things, either the tracker on them is broken or has been found, they found him already, or the whole communicator was broken.

“Alright I’m done,” Carmen emerged from the bathroom.

Peter being nice like he always is let me go next. Sometimes it concerns me how nice he is. Like he was planning something just like Canadians they all seem so nice but they’re just as racist as everyone else. But now I’m starting to believe he's just genuinely that good of a person.

Which is refreshing. You don’t see too many good people nowadays. However the better of a person you are the more room you have to taint. And I knew for a fact I wouldn’t allow myself to be one of those people who did it.

You know when you’re dreaming and there’s something or someone chasing you and you try to run but you never can. I would say that’s me, my entire essence. I’d been trying to out run my demons for so long never realizing that my only demon was myself. And no matter how bad I wanted to, I couldn’t outrun myself. Trust me I’ve tried.

I couldn’t outrun the sudden ache moving throughout my body. I could always feel an anxiety attack right before it happened but remained powerless to stop it most of the time.

Streams of water ran over my body mixing with the warm tears that ran down my face. I’m sure the water pressure overpowered my sobs from outside of the room but that didn’t mean I couldn’t hear the pathetic sounds.

After my breathing went back to normal I stood in the mirror detangling my hair staring at each mark on my body. Whether it be a tattoo or scar or a mole I looked. I reminisced about the stories behind them, some a lot sadder than the rest. But somehow the marks I couldn’t remember were the saddest of them all.

It hurt to want to go back to life before everything went… just wrong, when you couldn’t even remember what it was like before then.

It’s like I was numb before and crying felt good. Well it didn’t feel good but you know what I mean. It just felt good to know I could still feel.

I heard a knock at the door shaking myself out of my spiraling thoughts. I sniffled, wiping my nose, before tightening my towel around my waist and opening the door.

The first thing that hit me was the cool breeze of the hotel air conditioning contrasting against my warm skin. The second was Peter looking confused as ever holding some form of cloth in his hands.

“Oh I’m sorry, was I taking too long?” I looked back towards my clothes sitting on the counter grabbing them as if I was about to exit but in reality I still had no clothes on underneath this towel. “You can go hold on,”

“No! Uh…”

“No what?” I smiled.

“I came to bring...” He waved around what I could now see was a shirt.

I simply raised my eyebrows at him suspiciously.

“Here,” He thrusted the shirt into my hands.

I looked down at the article of clothing in confusion.

“Thanks?”

“I know you left it out here so…” He awkwardly clamped his hands together.

“Thank you,” I replied, slowly shutting the door so he knew he could back off. For some reason I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my face.

Smiles never lasted long for me. Something weird just always manages to happen every time I’m even remotely happy.

I was in some form of a prison or detainment facility. There was thick glass everywhere so I’m assuming it was high security. I had the plaque from earlier today in my hand except it wasn’t my hand. Unless I have magically turned white, it was someone else.

This isn’t the first time I’ve felt this. Feeling like you’re disconnected from your body that is. Like in the Edge of Seventeen when Nadine says she gets this feeling like she’s looking down on herself from outside her body and she hates what she sees. That’s sort of how it felt.

But this? This felt entirely different like I was in the wrong body but retained my soul, it couldn't be explained. It requires no explanation really if you understand it then great and if you don’t you don’t.

The plaque had a seam that I hadn’t noticed before and it was hollow inside. I clutched in my right hand and kept walking.

As soon as I entered a large room extending from the hall. That all too familiar siren sound played through my ears as a bright light stunted my vision.

I was brought back to my body. Well I guess I just woke up because now I was all sweaty and sitting straight up on the bed like an idiot.

I made my way to the bathroom and the light made me realize my eyes were glowing and so were my veins. I just blinked it out like I was trying to put contacts in and washed my face.

Seriously what was happening to me I don’t want to end up like Hulk or Wanda and have everyone scared of me. But whatever this is couldn’t be controlled or understood.

I woke the others up, as I was trying to figure out how to open the plaque I heard Carmen hiss loudly.

“Why’s the doorknob so hot?” She turned to me “Did you do this?”

“No? How would I do that?” Maybe I did do it. I did lose my train of thought when I went to open the door.

Still doesn’t explain the heat part, maybe it had something to do with the fire thing from Staten Island but I hadn’t done that again since that night. I was honestly starting to believe I made it up.

I reached for a napkin to wipe the syrup off my hands. It was Carmen’s brilliant idea to stop at a Waffle House. All the time we spent here could’ve been used doing something actually productive.

“So why are you trying to open that?” Peter asked, sliding closer to where I had the plaque laid out on the table. He asks too many questions. I didn’t wanna respond but I didn’t wanna be mean.

“Because,” I grunted as I struggled to pull apart the top and bottom. “I had a dream that there was something inside and now I wanna see if that’s true,”

“A dream?” He questioned.

“Yeah a dream,”

“Who was in it?”

“No one was in it,” I started to get annoyed for absolutely no reason. “Just finished your food,” I pointed at his plate.

“Fine…” He slid back over.

I hit the seam of the plaque against the edge of the table and the bottom popped up. I let out a silent cheer and caught the attention of Carmen.

“What?”

I flipped the opening over my palm and a rolled up piece of paper came out.

“Look what I found,”

“A clue,” Peter spoke.

“It’s not a clue this isn’t some TV adventure it’s just evidence,” Carmen spat.

I unraveled it revealing a bunch of numbers. I think it’s either a phone number or coordinates. It wasn’t a phone number. I called it and some random Canadian person picked up. So the next option was coordinates.

“Are we sure this is the right place?” Carmen asked. Looking at the stranded house sitting some way down the street.

“If it’s not then oh well,” I shrugged, unhooking my seat belt.

I leaned down to the slightly cracked passenger window.

“Do not get out of this car.” I spat through my teeth. Neither of them knew how to listen and I had to let them know I meant business.

I started towards the house, the gravel crunching under my feet before I turned back again.

“I mean it!” I called out before sprinting back into the house.

The door creaked open as I pushed it open and I turned back to keep it from closing. The second I did it I knew it was the wrong decision to make. Literally anyone who knew anything about anything knew to not turn their back on unknown territory.

I was being restrained by some invisible force that wasn’t invisible for long. There were scarlet or crimson waves making my tingle.

It was more of a tickling feeling than a burning one. That feeling faded into another soon. I clamped my eyes shut, it felt like someone was using my head as a bowl using a spoon to try to scrape my brains out.

I ended up overpowering whatever force was holding down my arms to hold my head. It was excruciating putting my hand there only made it worse. As soon as I made contact with the skin that loud siren noise like nails on a chalkboard racking through my brain caused me to double over in pain. I saw two legs above me and I heard someone’s voice saying.

“Wanda? What’s going on out there?”

My vision blurred as I tried to swat at who was allegedly Wanda Maximoff the telekinetic girls legs. The one person I didn’t want to run into was over here melting my brain. I pushed myself up. I think I couldn’t really feel my muscles. I know for a fact my back hit something or maybe something hit my back.

I heard more footsteps nearby and hushed whispers followed by a who are you and what do you want. I probably would’ve answered if I could but I don’t think I had the current ability to form a coherent sentence.

“She doesn’t look like one of theirs. How do we know she’s here to hurt us?” I heard someone say.

“I don’t know I can’t read her,” A voice I hadn’t heard before spoke.

“What’s that mean?”

I was stuck in place again. I couldn’t really see and I could feel anything but the tearing of my brain in half and the presence of another body in the room. My eyes were closed but I felt them get closer to me. Too close for my liking. My eyes shot open as soon as I heard.

“Y/N?”

I tried my best to lift my head to meet the redhead's eyes.

“You know her Romanoff?” I heard the first guy from before speak.

“Sort off?” She shrugged and reached out to pull me up to a sitting position. I let her.

Romanoff. This was Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow. She was here with Wanda along with who was most likely Captain America and she knew my name.

“How-“ I swallowed some of my spit because of how dry my throat is. “How do you know my name?”

She answered my question with a question of her own.

“How’d you find this place? Most importantly why?”

“I asked you first,” I narrowed my eyes.

She had the audacity to chuckle at my statement.

I glared at her which turned into some sort of staring contest until it was interrupted by some wannabe comedian.

“Are we interrupting some family reunion here or…”

I flipped off the general direction of the voice off on instinct.

Taglist:

@tomdiddlyumptious

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hanaasbananas · 3 years

Text

A Little Love Part Two

Part One, Part Three

AO3

Four years later

“Hello?” There was a knock on the counter above him and Adrien paused at the familiar voice. “Is anyone in? The sign said open so...”

Emerging from where he’d been putting things away behind the counter, Adrien grabbed a cup, beginning the motions of preparing an order. “Hi, what can I get you today?”

“Actually, can I meet Adrien?”

Inwardly, he sighed at the question. Really, it had been a year already, hadn’t the novelty worn off yet? But when he met the girl's gaze, he was surprised to realise that he knew the girl standing across from him. Just as surprising was the way she looked around the place as though she was searching for someone else.

Huh.

“Yeah, one second-” he ducked back below the counter to grab his apron, ignoring her perplexed look until he pulled it over his head, gesturing to the name emblazoned across the front. “Adrien, that’s me.”

“Oh!” she clapped a hand to her mouth “Oh, shit, that’s embarrassing, um, hi, I’m Marinette,” she held out a hand for him to shake. “I’m writing an article on the best up and coming bakeries and cafes in the city and I’d really like it if I could write about your cafe. I’ve heard amazing reviews about this place. Especially about all your cheese desserts.”

Adrien blinked. An article...well it was bound to be better than any of the other things that had been written about him. The documentaries and exposes, and twitter threads ripping into father and Nathalie, even speculating about what Adrien himself might be capable of. But an article about the cafe ...

She was staring at him expectantly and he nodded quickly. “I’d love that!”

“Perfect!” Marinette grinned, turning to go. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning then!”

***

Marinette wasn’t stupid.

She knew exactly why Alya had gotten her to take charge of this project and it wasn’t because you know so much more about pastries than I do!

Please. As if something like lack of knowledge had ever stopped Alya before.

Still, with Hawkmoth defeated for good, and the heroes of Paris gone, the Ladyblog was no longer active and Marinette supposed it couldn’t hurt to help Alya as she experimented with different endeavours.

Getting Alya off her back about her abysmal social life was just a bonus. Not to mention that Adrien’s Cafe was certainly...intriguing.

Former model and son of the disgraced fashion designer Gabriel Agreste- Hawkmoth , returns to Paris after two years and...opens a cafe? The headline wrote itself!

And a successful cafe, at that, Marinette thought to herself as she walked in. The place was already packed full of customers and it was only nine in the morning.

She hadn’t had a chance to properly look around the day before and she scanned the place from where she stood at the entrance, taking in the large bookcase in the back corner, with several plush chairs and a low coffee table; the rustic table booths and dim lighting that lent the place a homely air.

But by far, the most appealing thing about the place stood behind the counter. Looking up at her entrance, Adrien’s green eyes met hers across the crowded room, his face splitting in a wide grin as he weaved his way around tables and customers to greet her.

Which was another reason why she didn’t mind doing this article-the subject was super easy on the eyes. He almost reminded her of another blonde haired, green eyed boy she used to know, but Marinette quickly dispelled that thought, focusing instead on Adrien in front of her.

She was definitely going to enjoy this job.

***

“-a clean break, you know? I just needed to get away from everything here and start fresh somewhere new where nobody really knew me.” Adrien took a sip of his coffee, avoiding Marinette’s gaze as she scribbled down notes.

Somehow, even though Adrien knew Marinette was writing an article about him, he found it easy to open up to her. He glanced down at his hand, at his empty finger, remembering the ring that had once sat there. It had been easy to talk to her before , as well, when he had been Chat Noir.

In the last two weeks, the small crush on Marinette that he’d nursed all those years ago, had returned full force. It didn’t help that she was at the cafe every day, sampling all their wares, taking photos of everything as though every square inch of the place needed to be documented. Most times he struggled to retain his cool, sending over his new hire instead to take her orders and serve them as well. Despite that, he couldn’t help but follow her every movement as he worked, watching for her reactions as she tried his cakes and pastries, and he couldn’t resist at all when she asked him to sit with her.

Soon, maybe when her article was done, he even planned on asking her out on a proper date.

“And then...what made you decide to come back?” Marinette prompted, breaking him from his thoughts and he sighed.

“Don’t get me wrong, it was nice, living in another country, with my aunt and cousin, and even just getting to go to culinary school instead of following the path my father had set out for me by having me do a business degree, but, well…” Adrien shrugged uncomfortably “Paris is home, and I wanted to come back. My father took so much from me, I didn’t want him to take this as well.”

“That’s...wow.” Marinette straightened, sending a winning smile in his direction, seemingly unaware of the way she dazzled him. “Well I, for one, am very glad you came back to the city, because where else would I get all these amazing pastries?”

“Uh, from your parents?” Adrien raised an eyebrow, laughing and throwing his hands up in surrender when she threw her pen at him.

“You know what I meant!”

***

Adrien’s Cafe was shut on the anniversary.

Of course it would be , Marinette thought to herself crossly. It had been stupid to even come out today.

Adrien had more of a claim to sadness on this day than she did, and yet, for the first time in four years, Marinette had found herself wanting to spend the day with someone instead of wallowing in her own misery and regret, without even Tikki to keep her company.

Swallowing her disappointment, she turned away, hiking her back up on her shoulder when she heard Adrien call her name.

“Marinette?” He stood in the open doorway, regarding her with a curious tilt to his head. “What are you doing here?”

“Uh..” she smiled awkwardly “I didn’t realise you were closed today, so I’ll just…” she made to leave “I’ll just go then.”

“Wait!” Adrien grabbed something from behind the door and stepped out to meet her. “I was gonna go on a supply run,” he said, holding up two large canvas bags, he said “do you wanna come with me?”

***

On the first anniversary of defeating father, Adrien had gone to visit him. He hadn’t stayed long, had simply pulled out the box that held Plagg’s ring and showed it to him, watching as realisation dawned on father’s face and left before anything could be said. He’d had a train to catch, after all.

The next two years, while he’d lived with Aunt Amelie and Felix, Adrien simply locked himself in his room for the day. For once, his cousin never had a snarky remark for him. He almost wished that he did. At least that would be normal.

Even the year before, Adrien had hidden himself away, overwhelmed by the memories of being back in Paris, of seeing people celebrate the day. It was the only time he’d seriously considered putting his miraculous back on to see Plagg again instead of simply staring at the ring, turning it over and over in his hands, but never wearing it.

But this year... this year Adrien had almost forgotten about the date entirely. He’d planned on going shopping anyway, to try and break his habit of locking himself away on the anniversary. His resolve had practically dissolved until he saw Marinette standing just outside the cafe, and suddenly, leaving the house hadn’t felt like such a terrible idea.

It was meant to be a quick supply run, but the two of them had turned it into a fully fledged day out; driving around the city and even stopping for lunch in the park.

Adrien might even have called it a date. He was pretty sure that Marinette felt the same way-if the pretty blush that coloured her cheeks whenever he flirted was any indication.

It was dark when they returned, laden down with heavy bags as Adrien-loathe to let the good day end- let them into the empty cafe, “What’ll you have then? Tea? Coffee? Hot chocolate? And you’ve gotta have some cake too. On the house!”

Marinette shook her head, smiling softly at him and his heart skipped a beat in his chest. “You’re spoiling me, Adrien. I don’t need anything.”

“Come on,” he wheedled playfully, “just one slice? and you have to have coffee with it”— sensing her wavering resolve, he rummaged in the bags until he found what he was looking for. “I’ll even use the fresh beans…” he shook the bag enticingly, grinning when Marinette conceded with a groan.

“Oh, fine . Go on then.”

“Alright!” Adrien gestured to a table, pulling out a chair for her. “Take a seat, and I’ll be right back out.”

Adrien hummed cheerfully to himself as he worked, meticulously slicing the banana and walnut cake-it was a new recipe that he wanted Marinette’s opinion on. He smiled to himself, laughing under his breath at his thoughts.

It was strange how in such a short amount of time, she’d come to mean so much to him. Only a month ago he’d been determined to be a loner, to content himself with running the cafe and that was it. He got all the social interaction he needed from serving customers and what else could he need?

And yet...Marinette had managed to worm her way into his life so easily he wondered at how strong his defences had been in the first place.

Setting everything onto a tray, Adrien made his way to Marinette. “So this was the first time I made”— he stopped short, his blood freezing in his veins at the sight of the red…

...the red kwami that squeaked and zipped back into Marinette’s purse at the sight of him.

“A-adrien!” Marinette exclaimed, her voice unnaturally shrill, though he hardly noticed, eyes trained on where he’d seen the kwami disappear. “That was uh...that was-”

“You’re Ladybug.” It wasn’t a question, simply a statement of fact and she hesitated for a moment before nodding.

“Yes. I mean...I was. I’m so sorry, I didn’t tell you, but I was worried-” she half rose out of her seat as though to come up to him and he took a step back, setting the tray down heavily on another table.

After all this time…

Marinette’s voice was hesitant. “Adrien?”

“Get out.” Adrien said, turning his back on her, his mind racing, putting the pieces together, seeing everything in a new light. “Get out.” He repeated “leave. Before I say something that I regret.”

“I-okay.”

It wasn’t until the door slammed shut behind her that he let himself turn around to watch her retreating back, feeling as he had four years ago.

The emotions washed over him like a tidal wave and Adrien grabbed hold of the table as his legs buckled underneath him, the blood rushing in his ears.

It seemed that this year was just as bad as all the rest.

#mwg feb event #this part is the one most inspired by the music video Thoda Thoda Pyaar lol #can't believe this fic was supposed to be a coffee shop/cafe au it rEALLY went OFF THE RAILS #i love it tho #miraculous ladybug #adrinette #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng

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gloves94 · 4 years

Text

Sunburn [Prince Zuko] 9

Warnings: None Rating: PG-13 Pairings: Zuko/OC Summary: “You have everything you’ve ever wanted.” “No.” He said softly. “Not everything…” His golden eyes looked at her with a melting intensity she had never witnessed before. “I guess not.” She responded with glassy eyes as tears welled up threatening to break the dam of her eyes.

My fanfiction: M A S T E R L I S T

Later that evening Tsai had returned to where the Avatar gang were spending their nights in. Katara had been tossing around in her sleeping bag complaining about not wanting to be in the healing class because she would've gathered be learning how to fight instead.

"All knowledge is power Katara,"Tsai uttered wisely as her grandfather would've said. She lightly played with her choker necklace at the memory of the man. "You never know, the healing techniques that you learn might actually come in handy in the future." She nodded.

"A difference?" Katara questioned popping her head on her palm with curiosity. "What do you mean?"

"Yeah," Aang suddenly commented. "I'm also very curious- how was it that you managed to get past all of those Fire Nation guards at the Pohuai stronghold? He asked.

Tsai lowered her head in an attempt to hide the smirk that slowly inched across her face. She tugged in her arms deeper into her sleeves mischievously.

"I'll keep my secrets," she said with a ghostly smile before turning away from them preparing to sleep. "I'll tell," she said. "But first I have a question," she turned to look at both Aang and Katara once again.

"Why does everybody here hate me?" She asked bluntly.

Aang and Katara exchanged a look of pure confusion.

"In the Water Tribe, I mean." She clarified.

"Tsai," Katara began to explain. "You're Fire Nation. You're their enemy. You're our enemy."

"But why?" She retorted leaning forward as she sat with her legs crossed. "The Fire Nation is and has always been the greatest nation!" She spoke with a sudden bold sense of nationalism. "We bringing our culture and goods to new lands because we want to share our greatness with the world. It would be selfish not to."

"WHAT?" Katara roared furious. Tsai flinched slightly at her explosive reaction. She was not expecting her to react in this way.

"That's what you think the Fire Nation is doing?" She snapped. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted you!" She exited her sleeping back and rose to her feet aggravated. Tsai did the same.

"The Fire Nation took everything away from me! My family, my mother!" She roared. Aang held her back. "Starting this war is just as great of a sacrifice for my nation! It's for the greater good."

"You killed my mother!" She screeched heaving.

Tsai dropped the argument at the accusation. Katara's eyes were wide. Her nostrils were swollen with hatred as her eyes zeroed on the aghast teen before her.

"Can't you see? The Fire Nation has done nothing for the world! Everywhere you go you spread war, hatred, fear, famine, death and pain! You tear families apart. Leave orphan children, widowed wives, wounded soldiers and for what? For greatness?" She spat.

"Katara!" Aang pleaded.

Tsai wasn't going to sit here and take this. She turned away with her jaw clenched and stormed out of the room.

"Tsai! Wait!" Aang called after her. "Where are you going?"

Katara huffed and exhaled a sharp breath before snuggling inside of her sleeping back once again. She punched her pillow angrily a handful of times.

"Tsai means well Katara," Aang said after a moment. "I know it. She's just-" He paused for a moment trying to find the proper words. "The daughter of a Fire Nation governor?"

Aang was quiet at Katara's silent response.

"She's Fire Nation Aang. She's evil. They are all the same. Don't forget."

Xxx

"Is your friend toying with me?" Sokka snapped as he walked back to where they were staying.

"What are you talking about?" Tsai asked confused not in the mood to be dealing with these types of situations.

"I don't understand her. I thought she liked me and now she's telling me to get lost. I don't get it!" He threw his hands up in the air confused. "That's odd," Tsai said. "She told me she really liked you earlier today."

"Is she playing games with me or something like that?"

Yue didn't seem like the type to play these games. And from what she had told Tsai earlier she seemed to genuinely like the Southern Water Tribe boy. She thought for a moment scratching her chin.

"I don't think so," She said not really wanting to engage in conversation in her foul mood after her fight with Katara.

"So what should I do?" He deadpanned.

Was he really asking her for advice?

"I don't know," she shrugged. "Just talk to her. Ask her how she really feels about you."

"Why do I have the feeling you think talking is the solution to everything," he sighed in defeat. "It's probably what my grandpa would've said," she smiled fondly at the memory of the man.

"That is- completely unhelpful," he grumbled and hid his face in his arm.

"Sometimes some things are lost in translation." She says wisely. He looked at her oddly, she suddenly get a sad look on her face. She looked at Sokka one last time before continuing on her trek to nowhere in particular.

Katara was wrong.

The Fire Nation was the greatest nation. The war was well intended. Together all united under one nation the world would thrive. All under the rule of fire.

She thought about her home, Yu Dao. It's history serving as testament of the Fire Nation's greatness. Under Fire Lord Azulon the Fire Nation had made a mecca of industry and commerce out of a nowhere town in the edges of the Earth Kingdom. The city had drowned and blossomed to be one of the most important in the world. That would've never happened without them. So if they were so great...

She looked at a couple who whispered and shied away from her scarring away.

A man walking spit at her feet.

Arnook did not welcome her like a hero would've been welcomed.

If they were so great- why were they so hated?

xxx

"Yue, I need to ask for a favor." Tsai asked the following morning. She hadn't slept in the same room as the Avatar and his friends. Instead she had found comfort outside the doors of the palace simply leaning against the snowy wall and barely sleeping through the cold night. She really hated the weather here.

"Anything," Yue smiled taking her hands in hers. Tsai didn't have time to ask about what had happened with Sokka. It's not like she cared either. She wasn't the nosy type. "I need you to get me an audience with your father."

Moments later Tsai had her audience.

She walked into the meeting room. One which like the entire tribe was made of snow falls which reached the skies. The ceiling was gone allowing for the clear weather and shinning sun to witness their meeting.

"Arnook," she bowed before him in respectful Fire Nation fashion which irked the leader to no end. "You're persistent," he barked.

"What do you want?" He asked impatiently.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tsai of Yu Dao. Yu Dao is-" he interrupted her. "I know what Yu Dao is!"

She paused for a moment. Knowing he would be difficult.

"I've come to you with a challenging question." She scrapped everything she had reserved. "Do you think.." She says slowly. "Do you think the Fire Nation and the Water Tribes will ever be able to work together as one?" She pondered.

"If you have come here to sheathe blood and bring darkness and war to my land I'm afraid that you've come to the wrong place," he threatened approaching her. The soldiers and other officials surrounding him raised their hands and weapons menacingly. A bead of sweat formed in her temple as she look at them. They were at least a dozen of them.

"Listen!" She snapped frustrated. "I did not choose where I was born. My mother is of Earth Kingdom descent, my father Fire Nation. Which makes me half of both. I cannot bend fire or earth-" once again he interrupted her.

"That only makes you a mutt." He said bitterly.

It was then that his eyes darted up in the sky. All of them did. She turned after a moment only to see what looked like black snow snowing above them. The girl had never seen snow before, let alone black one. It took her a moment to realize that it was ash raining above them. Which could only mean one thing.

"You have lead them to us!" Arnook pointed accusingly. "Arrest her!"

"No. I have no idea how they found us!" She denied the dangerous accusation.

Tsai tried running. She tried fighting but before she could move an inch was frozen still to the ground in ice.

xxx

The girl was thrown into jail. She didn't know how long she had been in there. It must've been more than a day. Unbeknown to her Yue pleaded with her father. Pleaded with all of her wish and power to let her out. She tried explaining it was a coincidence and that she believed in the Fire Nation girl's honesty, but Arnook would not see to it.

The cell was cold as ice which had her shivering in the corner alone hugging herself in an attempt to retain some of her body's warmth. In her time in jail she felt a terrible headache. One which she felt could've split her forehead in half. Looking out the window she noted that an ominous light as red as her hair crept in. Holding on to her temples in pain she looked out and saw that the full moon had been tinted a color of crimson red blood. She starred eyes wide when she suddenly heard a sudden crash nearby.

Shocked she took cover before a market stall was thrown at the wall making it collapse. Setting her free.

"Well.. That was lucky," she mused as she carefully snuck out of the gaping hole that had been made by the crash. Creeping on her toes she slid down a hill of snow to the streets of the Northern Water tribe with only one objective in her mind. Escaping. She didn't realize where she was falling to and fell into a freezing stream of water. The icy North Pole water felt like a thousand knives nipping at her body from all over.

She had to get out of here fast. As she ran the moon shifted color as the air became colder, the air darker as all color seemed to be drained from the world. She hadn't stopped to wonder just what thing could've thrown such a heavy cart at such a distance when a monstrous creature in the figure of a glowing fish rose from the depth of the waters. It attacked all Fire Nation as it stormed through the village.

She cursed as she avoided it. Noting it was mainly attacking the invading Fire Nation troops that had descended on the Water Tribe's village. If she got near it, it would probably lead to her demise.

Whatever that thing was- She saw fire balls being aimed and fired at the creature which advanced unaffected - whatever was going on - it was not good. There was no time to say goodbye to her friend Yue. To converse with the Avatar. She had to get out.

Tsai continued on her dash towards the docks when she slid around a corner and looking over her shoulder teeth chattering she turned and crashed into something hard. She reached for her head as she tripped over her feet and fell to the ground on her bottom. She looked up and saw a pair of angry eyes glaring daggers at her. Oh, she had crashed into somebody.

"You," the man growled dangerously.

It was that son of a bitch Zhao.

She staggered to her feet but wasn't fast enough. Zhao was fast and his meaty hand claws around her neck with a deathly grip. He had obviously taken the night of the Blue Spirit at the Pohuai Fortress a little too personally.

She coughed struggling to gasp for breath when a third party stumbled upon the scene. Zuko walked into what seemed like the worst surprise of his life. Zhao turned to look at him maliciously.

"One step and I'll make sure your pretty girlfriend has a scar to match yours." He threatened.

Zuko's jaw clenched, he gritted his back molars in anger and frustration. He saw Tsai struggling to breath coughing for breath as her face slowly turned blue. He had to do something. Anything.

"So- tell me, what was your plan? You went in and distracted me and the Blue Spirit did all the dirty work?" He chuckled as he squeezed his grip on the girl's neck. He was holding her up above her feet so that they saw eye to eye. He suddenly dropped her and she gasped and coughed for air the color returning to her face. He turned her and kept a firm grip around her as he slowly retreated out of the scene.

His terrible breath pricked at her skin as he kept his arm wrapped around her body holding her in place.

"It's going to be interesting to find out what could've happened between us that night-" He whispered that and other filth into her ear.

"You're sick!" She growled out at the older man as she struggled against his deathly grip still shivering as she was soaked to the bone.

Zuko was ready to fire. He aimed his hand twitching slightly. His heart was pounding in his rib cage. One wrong move and it was over. He only had one shot before things went South. Zhao continued advancing over a snow bridge. He was going to get away! The girl struggled, her breathing loud as it became harder and harder to breath with every step the admiral gave. It was then that her eyes met his and he saw something familiar in them.

He understood and lowered his hand. Her body was trembling from the cold. Zuko lowered his guard and it was then that he saw offensive. Two silver blades crept our from her long sleeves and in one swift fluid motion she punctured Zhao's arm and Zuko swore he saw the blade go through his hand. The man screamed in pain. She twisted her torso and managed to guide the burning flame in his other arm to the sky missing her by mere inches. She took a sharp breath and ducked with skilled training. She used all the strength in her legs to push away from him. Her body collapsing to the snowy ground. Zhao held his arm put again ready to attack. However lost his footing when she twisted kicking him off his feet smoothly. Without hesitation Zuko stepped in and blasted Zhao away in a fiery dance.

Wounded and miserable the man collapsed to the ground in the middle of the snow bridge.

Massively monstrous blue hands suddenly struck out from the water and clawed at the top surrounding the admiral in a deathly capture. Zuko and Tsai managed to roll away from the monster claws as to their horror witnessed the admiral being dragged away to a watery grave. Tsai glared with eyes narrowed. Zuko was the better person and stretched out his hand in aid. For a second it looked like Zhao was going to take it but the prideful man turned away.

And just like that he was gone. Color returned to the world and it seemed like a glance had returned to the world. Zuko stepped back and saw the red-head shivering a couple of feet away from him. Her teeth chattering. He looked at her and her at him and she couldn't believe how happy she was to see him. To see somebody from home, someone familiar.

"Zuko!" She spoke in a low voice through violent shakes. Now having her she got a good look at his face and noticed the many new scars and wounds that decorated his face. She was about to ask what had happened during her short absence.

"What-" She was left with the words in her mouth when he wrapped his arms around her hugging her in a tight embrace. He almost sighed. Relieved that she was okay. That they had found each other again.

She stood before him sharp hidden blades unsheathed, shocked, shivering, soaked to the coldest bone. It took her a moment of hesitation before hugging him back just as tightly.

"I'm so happy to see you," the words left her mouth before she could process them. She hadn't even realized that she had started to cry. She buried her face on his shoulder. He was warm. He was the piece of home she had been missing. Right now, he was comfort.

"You're freezing," he said taking her hands in his as she retracted her hidden blades. He said nothing. Simply held her icy hands in his and brought them close to his lips breathing a hot air into them slowly warming her back.

She didn't even know why she was crying at this point. She smiled at him endearingly and wiped a stray tear from her. Everything was just too much to handle right now. Way too overwhelming.

"Let's get out of here." He said to her.

She wiped her tears as they escaped the icy tundra.

xxx

They met up with Iroh and Tsai sprinted hard running into his arms hugging him tightly. He hugged her back almost like a missing child and she repeatedly apologized for leaving without saying goodbye. He simply cupped her face with a hand and told her she did the right thing.

"I feel like you're at the crossroads once again Tsai, " Iroh said wisely tucking in both of his hands inside of his sleeves. "I wonder what road you'll take." He said ominously.

She raised an eyebrow confused at his riddle and shook his head.

"Let's just go home," she sighed. "I want to go back to Yu Dao. I think I'm going to be sick." She shivered not wanting to linger in this icy Neverland for another minute.

"Very well." Iroh said understandably. The man insisted on leaving on a makeshift raft boar which the girl refused to get on endlessly. Having been lost at sea for so many dies and almost dying from starvation she refused to put herself through the whole thing again. So instead they stole a slightly larger boat. One from a Water Tribe fisherman.

"They owe me," she grumbled. "That's for throwing me in that cold pit." She said bitterly as she remembered her brief stay in the icy prison cell. She hadn't even done anything!

And so they sailed away. Iroh explained to Tsai everything that had happened. Zhao killing the moon spirit. Yue becoming the moon spirit. The attack. The Avatar becoming one with the same spirit and taking down the fire nation. It had been a loaded day. He reasoned that it was probably the best that she had spent the day in jail for her own safety.

"You're really sure about returning back home?" Iroh asked.

Tsai snapped back into the conversation feeling distraught by her friend Yue's demise into the spirit world. "Sure," She mumbled. "Why not? I don't want to keep on 'getting in the way.'" She glared at a certain scarred prince who looked like he had the worst headache of his life.

"I'm concerned as your status as a traitor to the Fire Nation," Iroh stroked his beard wisely. "But that's a problem for when we arrive back to the mainland," he smiled at her warmly.

"You shouldn't have done that!" Zuko suddenly snapped in a scolding tone. "That stunt at the Pohuai Fortress? What were you thinking!" He sounded almost worried. Tsai misses the slight smirk that is growing on Iroh's face as he looks at them from the side.

"Hey! I freed the Avatar for you! Do you should be thanking me!" She shot back. "If I hadn't done that you'd be sitting in your room right now sulking with your arms crossed over your chest angrily meditating like an idiot."

"I don't sulk!" The other shot back slightly embarrassed and reached for her arm

"Also- may I remind you that Admiral Zhao is disgusting company. Interacting with him was definitely not pleasant," she raised both of her eyebrows eyes holding a little horror in them at the awful memory. It was then that he realized that he was holding on to her lower arm. He raised it up and her sleeves rolled back which exposed her secret weapon. He scrutinized over it looking at the arm braces she wore with the hidden blade mechanism.

Zuko would've never admit it outlaid but this was way more simple than what he had expected. Mind reading, secret bending, being a blood thirsty vampire demon, and super natural powers all came to him in his theories of how Tsai had gotten in an out of the stronghold with such ease.

"I'm glad to see your grandfather's hidden blades are in good hands," Iroh commented with a knowing smile.

"You knew about this Uncle?"

Iroh simply smiled a mischievous glint on his amber eyes.

"My grandfather taught me how to fight," she admitted reaching to touch the sunstone necklace she wore. "But I refuse to unless it's necessary. You see it can be quite deadly."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Zuko asked.

"I guess I didn't want you to think I was... weird." She said looking away slightly embarrassed.

"I....think it's cool," he said sharing the same tone after a moment. "Really?" She turned to look at him beaming. This only caused his cheeks to redden even more.

Iroh chuckled.

Zuko sighed and threw his hands up in the air not wanting to further have this conversation. "I'm tired." He declared.

"Youre not going to chase the Avatar?" Iroh asked.

"No- I'm tired." he repeated as he collapsed on the ship.

"A man needs his rest. Besides, Tsai and I have some much needed catching up to do." Iroh winked in her direction and she winked back.

They certainly did.

xxxx

AN: Your lovely thoughts? Phew and that's the end of Book 1, now onto what's next. Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 were originally one really long chapter so I decided to split them into 2. Also I have the story written until chapter 26 but as I keep editing and rewriting for posting I have made so many changes and I am loving how the story is unfolding.

Much love - G

xxx

FIRST https://gloves94.tumblr.com/post/621142853126602752/sunburn-prince-zuko-1

NEXT https://gloves94.tumblr.com/post/621293121020608512/sunburn-prince-zuko-10

PREV https://gloves94.tumblr.com/post/621256367939993600/sunburn-prince-zuko-8

CHAPTER MASTERLIST

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prolestariwrites · 4 years

Photo

Ten Years On [1]

Fandom: Nanatsu no Taizai/Seven Deadly Sins Characters: Escanor, Merlin Warning: Major character death, Angst Rating: T Part: 1 of 3

My first entry of three for @escalin-week Escalin Weekend 2020. Part 2 and 3 will be published this weekend.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Ten years on, Liones is healed from the Second Holy War. The kingdom is thriving as it welcomes its new king and queen, the losses mourned but not forgotten, the people finding new hope and life in the peace that has settled over all of Britannia. Even Camelot, to the south, is rebuilding and renewing itself, Edinburgh now open and cleaned of death, the Fairy King’s Forest thriving with magic.

Escanor lives a very ordinary life, and for that he is glad. His days had never been ordinary: rather extraordinary, in fact, but he is a simple man who wants simple things and this new life, his third or fourth depending on one’s count, suits him just fine. He has an ordinary wife and an ordinary job and their ordinary home sits in an ordinary town. They are booksellers now, with their own store and everything, paid for by the pensions Meliodas had insisted to give to them for being Holy Knights one or two lifetimes ago.

It had been Merlin’s idea to buy a printing press, and now they publish writings as well. It was a way for her to push him to publish his poems, but she claimed it as selfish so she could put her own work into books. Soon they were well-known publishers of fine fiction and nonfiction, giving them an ordinary but comfortable life in their not-too-big not-too-small town where they raise their daughter.

This life is the easiest so far, his favorite, more so than prince or monster or bartender or knight. It is fitting, he assumes, considering this life was the most painful to create. He had stood on the battlefield, dying, giving his last words to Merlin. She was his sun and his moon, his stars, and he had to tell her, she had to know before he was gone from the world that she was loved. It was all he ever wanted, to love her, to look at her and see that she knew she was loved.

But Merlin had other ideas. It had pained him for quite a while to know she had given up Infinity to save him; after all, what is Merlin without magic? But she waves him away when he opines on the loss she must suffer to this day, telling him that she too always wanted ordinary. They gave up extraordinary together, on that day when she took the power of the gods and used it to sew muscle and skin and bone and breathe into his organs, making him whole.

Whole, and human. Both of them, completely ordinary humans.

They did what humans do: they married. Perhaps the day was just like any other, the ceremony the same, the dress and the cake and the hugs from their friends. Perhaps that night was the same, when they joined the way humans had done since the dawn of time. Perhaps their life is the same, mending socks and buying bread and arguing over whose turn it is to shut the windows. It is an ordinary life, but in its simplicity is something more, more than Escanor could have ever dreamed.

Perhaps there is nothing more ordinary than finding a baby in your arms nine months later. Escanor had cringed a bit at the bright orange hair and brown eyes, having hoped beyond hope that their child would be the image of Merlin; but she had been so pleased, and the moment the baby was laid in his arms he was shocked at the way it stirred something so wonderfully ordinary inside him as love. He had written his best-selling book that very night, hours upon hours of poetry describing the joys of the ordinary.

They had named her Avalon, and the three lived their lives in happiness. Fatherhood was a surprising talent of Escanor’s; he had retained some of the height and strength of the day yet the gentleness of the night, thanks to Merlin’s cleverness with magic. He was the perfect combination of both, a blend of prince and knight and friend. And like any other ordinary human, he thought that it would never end.

Human lives are fragile. Human lives are finite. Unlike the goddesses and demons and fairies and giants who enjoy years unimagined on the earth, whose powers work constantly by soaking up the energy of Briannia and healing all wounds great and small, humans work differently. Their strength is in their mortality, Merlin had told him once; for knowing it all could be gone makes them work harder, care more, invest all. Humans have inherited the earth because they are the only ones who could lose it. Escanor had chuckled at that, only partly understanding, because humans are mortal yet they win over the gods? It was extraordinary.

Today is not ordinary at all. It starts out the same: Escanor rises from the bed, alone, as Merlin often is up with the sun to write or check on an experiment or fill any orders before opening the shop. He washes his face and teeth before checking the kitchen, finding the bread he had left to warm on a little shelf over the hearth and the tea things laid out, his ritual every night so Merlin will have them waiting and ready in the morning.

He stares for a long time at the bread that has grown a bit crusty and the spoon that sits perfectly untouched next to the cup. He does not know how many minutes go by until he shakes himself, deciding to let the little tableau stay for now.

Escanor moves back into the bedroom, his feet quiet on the floor, and begins to dress. Usually he wears a pair of brown breeches and a comfortable linen shirt and a vest over all. Merlin teases him for his plain sense of style, but he reminds her if she wanted to be married to a man who could wear the latest fashions then she ought to have made him a bit shorter and less broad when she rebuilt his body. Of course, Merlin would not change an inch on him, so they leave the bold fashion choices to her.

Today is not ordinary. Today he wears black. Today he does not put on a vest, but a coat, and he does not fumble for the reading glasses he needs now that he is human. Today he must wear a hat.

The shop will not open today, so Escanor sits on his chair, looking out the window. He had spent many days and nights just like this with Avalon in his arms, ignoring Merlin’s warnings he would spoil the child if he did not let the baby sleep. But Escanor didn’t mind, thinking he would carry her forever if needed.

Where is Avalon now? He frowns for a moment, but remembers she is with Elaine. Yes, Ban and Elaine have the girl, staying with them at the Boar Hat. Ban is the proprietor there now, and even though he would not ordinarily approve of a girl of ten staying at a tavern, it is for the best, for now.

He watches the morning slowly unfold, wondering why the world is so quiet today. Do they know? Perhaps it’s his hearing, and he thinks he ought to see the doctor to check. He is getting on in years, after all.

A knock on the door breaks him from his thoughts. To his surprise, the Grand Master steps inside, but then Escanor remembers. It is a huge honor to be escorted by the Great Holy Knight, and as Howzer’s face turns to him with a sad kindness, Escanor remembers many things.

“Sir Escanor. I am so very sorry.” He strides forward, surety looking well on him. Escanor stands quickly as Howzer takes his hand. “This is a loss unbearable.”

“It’s fine,” he answers.

“Are you ready to go?”

Escanor nods. He lets the knight lead him out, thinking that Howzer will want to take care of him. They ride in the carriage in silence, until it becomes too heavy and Howzer begins to talk of things he remembers, the war they had shared. He is speaking of Istar when they arrive.

“Thank you,” Escanor says.

Howzer nods. “The others are waiting.”

Afterwards, it’s not so bad. Escanor sits at a table in the Great Hall and looks at his teacup. It is not unlike the one back at the house, the one untouched. Only this one has a fine mist rising from inside, and he watches it swirl with some curiosity.

The chair next to him moves and he looks over to see Ban folding himself into it. “You all right?” he asks.

There is a bit of whisky on his breath. Escanor nods. “I suppose I ought to—”

“You ought to do nothing but sit right there,” Ban interrupts. “You don’t do a thing until you’re ready, you hear?”

Escanor nods. “Good,” Ban continues. “I was sent over here to see if you’re hungry, but of course that’s nonsense. So let’s just pretend we are talking to keep the others off our backs, all right? Otherwise you’ll have Elaine and Elizabeth and Diane on top of you, and that’s a punishment you don’t need right now.”

“Of course,” Escanor replies.

Ban nods. He pours himself some tea, and Escanor spies the flask he pulls from his coat. A generous portion goes into the cup before he tops off Escanor’s as well. “There we are. That will help the bite.”

“Thank you.”

Ban drains his cup, but Escanor’s remains untouched. “It’s difficult, isn’t it?” he asks. Escanor glances over as Ban stares downwards. “Being human again, I mean. You and I, we were supposed to live forever. Merlin too, even though whether she was human or not to begin with I never really understood, if I’m being honest.”

It is startling to hear her name, but even more startling is Ban’s honesty. “Yes, it’s strange,” he agrees, not sure what to say.

“Our choices have been made long ago, and I would not take my power back for an instant, because it saved Elaine.” He watches as Ban pours another cup of tea, spiking it again generously before taking a sip. “You must remember that, Escanor. I would never, ever take that power back, even though it made me human. I would give up that immortality a hundred times a hundred to save Elaine.”

The words are registering, but they feel too distant to understand. “I’ll remember,” he says.

“Good.” Ban looks at him now. “We’ll keep Avalon for a while. She and Lancelot get along well, and it’s good for her to be around people. Elaine needs something to do anyway, seeing how the boy can’t stand to be mothered anymore.” He tilts his head a bit. “That all right with you?”

“Yes, yes it’s fine. Good. Avalon… she needs to be around people.”

Ban nods. He pushes to his feet and pats him on the shoulder. “That should keep the vultures at bay a while longer. Sit and stare at your tea, and let Howzer take you home. I’ll send him in a half hour.”

Escanor nods again, thinking in thirty minutes’ time, he’ll need to go home. He’ll go home and retrieve the bread and wash the cup and sweep the kitchen floor in case there are crumbs. He’ll remove his coat and store it away again, and then review the manuscripts waiting on the desk that he has neglected the past week. He will have an ordinary evening at home.

#nnt #nanatsu no taizai #escalin #esclainweekend2020 #escanor #merlin #ban #howzer #fan fiction #sorry

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bunnyswriting · 4 years

Text

A Bright Future

Paring: Leon x Reader

Content: some sweet fluff

Hey, I really love your writing! Could you do a Leon x Reader where Leon and the reader go way back? Like he helped them catch their first Pokémon cause they were struggling. Eventually the reader moves away for a while and then comes back. Just some good ol' fashioned fluff. Hope it makes sense >.>' - anon

Notes: Oooo this one was fun to write, childhood crushes becoming romances is one of the my favorite tropes lol

Masterlist

“It’s going to take a little bit of damage, and once it does you’ll throw that pokeball and catch it!”

“Leon are you sure? I don’t wanna hurt it, I just really want a pokemon,” you reply nervously, peeking around the tree to make sure that the Rookidee you’d been keeping an eye on was still there.

“(Nickname), it’ll be fine, we’ll just catch it and I can give you a potion to heal it,” Leon assures you, handing you a newly purchased pokeball, it’s red top gleaming in the sunlight.

You purse your lips a bit, before nodding and taking the ball, grasping it in your small hands.

“Okay, when I give you the signal you’ll hop in and throw the pokeball, okay? Make sure it’s a good, mighty throw!” Leon says with a grin, before pulling his own pokeball out of the pocket of his shorts and dashing around the tree to encounter the little bird pokemon.

As soon as the pokemon sees Leon it chirps loudly and flaps its wings, attempting to look intimidating despite being mere inches tall.

With an excited yell Leon swings his arm back before launching his pokeball and after a brief flash of light a Charmander is in the grass alongside the Rookidee. The fire type lizard hops around before seeing his opponent, and obediently waits for Leon’s first instruction.

The Charmander had been in Leon’s care for a few months now, it was his starter pokemon that Professor Magnolia had gifted him upon learning of his interest in Galar’s gym challenge. He seemingly spent all of his free time bonding with and training the fire type, and their friendship was apparent to all who saw them work together.

“Charmander use ember!” Leon calls out, and his pokemon is quick to oblige, spitting out a small ball of flame and launching it at the Rookidee.

The flying type make an attempt at evading the attack but is far too slow, taking noticeable damage once the fire hits it. In retaliation it runs up to the Charmander and pecks it with its beak before scurrying back to avoid being attacked again.

Leon turns to look back at you with a little grin, and you can see just how much he loves the thrill of the battle. “(Name), c’mon, I’m sure you’ll be able to catch it now!”

Nervously you step around the tree, pokeball clutched tight in your hands. You glance over at Leon and see him beckoning you closer while his Charmander keeps its gaze on the Rookidee to make sure it doesn’t escape.

You take in a sharp breath before reeling your arm back and chucking the ball, watching as it hit the flying type atop the head and sucked it inside of the catching contraption.

One shake.

You cross your fingers on both your hands, hoping that it’ll stay caught.

A second shake.

“C’mon… c’mon,” you hear Leon whisper under his breath.

A third shake.

Both of you have your eyes focused on the ball, unable to tear your gazes away.

The sound of a lock clicking rings through the air.

“Yes!!” Leon exclaims, grabbing your hands and pulling you close, “we caught it!!”

You laugh and squeal when he managed to lift you off of the ground, swinging you around in a celebratory hug. All the while Leon’s Charmander danced around in the grass, just as happy as the two of you.

Leon sets you down, his hazel eyes bright as he looks down at you (despite the two of you being ten he was still taller than you). “Go on, go get your new pokemon,” he urges you, nudging his head in the direction of the lone pokeball on the ground.

You nod and step away from him, gentle as you lean down and pick up the ball. It jiggles around in your hand momentarily, and you bite your lip nervously as you press your finger to the button that unlocks it.

There’s a flash of light and that Rookidee you’d caught is flapping its wings excitedly, gliding in place in front of you. “Hello there,” you murmur gently, not wanting to scare your new pokemon. You hold your hands out and let it land in your palms, and it quickly makes itself at home by fluffing up its feathers and snuggling against you.

“I think it likes you,” Leon says happily, calling back his Charmander before walking next to you, “are you going to name it?”

“I dunno, I think I’ve got to get to know it better before giving it a proper name,” you hum, petting the top of it’s head gingerly before calling it back into its pokeball. “Well what now?” you ask, turning to look at Leon, “are you going to keep training?”

Leon nods excitedly, making his purple hair bounce up and down, “yea!! The gym challenge starts in a month, and I’ve got to be ready for it,” he explains, stretching his arms up, “I’m going to catch a few more pokemon and train them all up. Professor Magnolia’s already given me an endorsement to join the challenge, I just have to go and get registered. Raihan’s going to do the challenge too! I think the Hammerlocke gym leader gave him an endorsement.”

“That’s exciting,” you reply with a smile, “battling’s never really been my thing, but you’re so good at it- Raihan too. I bet you’ll be able to get to the semifinals, and when you do I’ll be watching from home!”

Leon grins hearing this, “you think so? Then I guess I’ll have to beat the champion too if you’re watching, can’t let you down after all.”

“You think you can beat the champion?”

“As soon as I this Charmander of mine is fully evolved I have no doubt I can take the champion down!”

You laugh and listen and he explains his battle strategy, but before he can give you a full presentation you hear Leon’s mother calling out from further up the road.

“Leon, it’s dinnertime! And (Name)’s family already called, it’s time to go home now!”

Leon pouts a little before turning back to look at you, “I guess I’ll have to continue this lesson another time.”

“Whatever you say, future champion,” you say with a grin, grabbing the brim of his sports cap and tugging it down, “last one at the house is a lazy Skwovet!”

“Hey!!” Leon exclaims, but you’re already gone, booking it down the road with your new pokeball in hand.

---

A smile graces your lips as you watch the gym challenge finale, the ‘Unbeatable Champion’ Leon claiming yet another victory and retaining his champion status.

The hustle and bustle of the airport around you doesn’t manage to distract you and you can’t seem to tear your eyes away from the man on the screen, wondering how he’d managed to become so handsome in the years you’d been gone.

A voice comes over the intercom, saying that boarding for your flight to Wyndon from the Galar region had begun. With a sigh you pocket your phone and stand up, grabbing your bags and boarding pass and walking towards the terminal.

You’d moved to Unova about eight years ago, roughly a year after Leon had won the Galar gym challenge and become champion. Both your parents worked for the same company and they’d gotten a job in the region, with housing covered and a phenomenal pay rate they would’ve never received in Galar.

You knew moving at the time was good for your family, but you couldn’t help being torn up when the move came. Packing up and leaving everything you’d ever known wasn’t easy- especially your best friend Leon. He’d gotten busy being champion but when you told him the news about the move he was devastated and begged you to stay. You explained to him why you couldn’t and he seemed to understand, but wanted to remain in touch.

You each promised you’d keep contact but as the years went on he became a busy champion and you moved on to focus on your own interests.

Now though, you’d gotten a job offer back in Galar. You’d studied under Professor Juniper in Unova and now Professor Magnolia had reached out to ask for your help researching a phenomenon called ‘Dynamax’; you’d even be able to live in your hometown Postwick again.

You accepted the offer without a second thought, ecstatic to go back. You mailed all your belongings ahead of time and they should’ve already arrived in Postwick, all you had to do after that was buy your plane ticket and get there.

You couldn’t be happier as you found your plane seat and got settled in, thinking about all the people you’d get to see again… thinking about Leon.

You would’ve been stupid to say you didn’t have a little crush on him as a kid, but it seems that even know as an adult that crush only persisted.

The shaking Pokeball on your belt pulls you out of your thoughts and you pat it gently, “shh, it’s okay Fe, I’ll let you out as soon as we touch down,” you murmur, attempting to calm your Corviknight before the long flight.

As soon as the plane takes off you aimlessly scroll through the channels for the inflight television, pausing when you see Leon giving a live interview after the championship match, looking as happy and vibrant as ever.

You turn on the captions to try and read what he’s saying, and as soon as you do so he says something about the future looking bright, and you can’t help but smile and wholeheartedly agree.

---

“It’s a bit stupid that they don’t allow bigger pokemon to be loose when riding the train, I’m sure there’d be enough room for you,” you mutter as you step out of the Wedgehurst station, breathing in the fresh countryside air.

You grab the pokeball on your belt and click the button, letting a very restless Corviknight out to stretch its wings. There’s a loud caw in your ears as Fe sniffs the air and looks around, before getting a rather excited look in its eyes as it shakes its tail.

“You recognize you’re home, buddy? C’mon, if we walk up that way I can show you the route I caught you on,” you say with a grin, putting the empty pokeball on your belt and grabbing your luggage.

Your Corviknight follows behind you, and people easily part to let you walk by when the see the giant metal bird you call your partner. As you head towards the road that’ll take you right to Postwick, you overhear a group of people talking outside one of the shops:

“Did you watch Leon’s battle earlier?” “I sure did, that was amazing! How his Charizard managed to take down that Gyrados, I’ll never understand. He’s here isn’t he?”

“Yea, visiting his family after the match, I saw him leaving the train stop about an hour ago.”

You feel a smile tug at your lips upon hearing this and suddenly you’re walking at a faster pace, and the only reason you’re not sprinting is because you’re carrying two luggage bags.

Within minutes you find the house you’ll be staying in, it’s just down the road from your childhood home as well. You leave your bags behind and without really thinking you’re running up the dirt road, Fe having to fly to keep up with you as you head straight to Leon’s house.

Once you get to the door you’re panting, and Fe caws impatiently, wondering what the hell you’re up to.

Catching your breath, you fix your composure before raising a hand, knocking on the door three times.

You hear some voices inside, muffled so you can’t hear who’s saying what. You step back as a lock gets fiddled with, and you feel your heart stop when you find yourself staring into a pair of hazel eyes.

Leon, who’s just as taken aback as you are, struggles to find words as a grin starts to appear on his face. “... (Nickname)?”

You’re not able to stop yourself when you jump up into his arms, wrapping your arms around his neck and giving him the tightest hug you were capable of. Tears pricked your eyes when he wrapped his arms around your torso, hugging you back just a tight.

“... hey Lee, who’s that?”

The two of you separate and you glance behind Lee to see a young boy at the bottom of a staircase, head tilted in slight confusion as he stared at you.

It takes a moment to click in your mind, but you gasp when you realize who it is. “Hop??” you ask with a grin, stepping away from Leon to get a better look at his younger brother, “the last time I saw you you’d just starting learning how to read and write, but look at you now!”

Hop seems to piece together the puzzle in his head as well, since he jumps back and his eyes go wide, “(Name)? Oh it’s been ages! I thought you’d never come back, especially with how Lee always talked about wishing you were still around-”

He claps a hand over his mouth, realizing he’d said something he shouldn’t have. You look back over at Leon to see a red blush on his cheeks and he quickly tries to change the subject. “H-hey, (Name), who’s this?”

He points outside towards Fe and you smile, stepping back outside and wrapping your arms around the bird pokemon, who still seems a bit annoyed by the detour. “Oh, c’mon Leon, don’t tell me you can’t recognize my first pokemon,” you say with a grin, making the champion gasp.

“This is that Rookidee?” he asks, gingerly lifting a hand to pet Fe’s beak. You’re almost surprised when Fe doesn’t jut back, normally nobody except you is allowed to touch them.

You nod, “oh yes, this is that same Rookidee, just fully evolved, and peeved because I’m here chatting instead of getting food for the two of us.”

“Oh! Mum’s cooking, you should stay for dinner! I’m sure she wouldn’t mind the company, and Leon probably has tons he wants to tell you,” Hop suggests, and you snicker a little upon seeing Leon bury his face in his hands in embarrassment.

---

The radio on the counter top plays some tunes as you go around your new house, sweeping the floor and moving furniture around, trying to find a place for all the items you’d brought. The windows are open letting in a cool breeze and above the music you could hear the distant chitters and chirps of various pokemon.

A Skwovet hops in through the window in search of food, but Fe merely has to stare it down and caw aggressively once to send it running out again. You laugh at the scene, but a knock at the door distracts you.

You set down your broom and head towards the front door, unlocking it. You’re not too surprised when you see Leon standing there, the two of you had been spending quite a lot of time together when you weren’t busy moving in and he wasn’t busy with champion duties.

What did surprise you, however, was the small bouquet of flowers in his hands.

“(Name), you and I are childhood friends, we’ve known each other for as long as I can remember. You’re one of the most fascinating people I know and I am so lucky to have the honor of knowing your personally. You’re talented and smart and a joy to be around, but I find that my feelings have become more than just friendly ones. Would you… possibly like to go on a date with me?”

He says all of this carefully, as though cautiously picking out his words. His typical confident demeanor was subdued and you could tell that this was something he was taking incredibly seriously.

You smile softly as you reach forward, taking the flowers from his hands. “Leon, I’d absolutely love to… on one condition.”

He lights up at this, but gives you a confused look, “condition?”

“Do something about that awful cape you wear as part of your uniform.”

He’s taken aback and laughs, but shakes his head, “oh no, that is the one thing that is off the table, the cape stays. And it is not awful, mind you.”

You giggle as you shrug your shoulders, “alright alright, you drive a hard bargain, but I suppose I’ll still agree to go on this one date.”

“Will it only be one?” he asks with a bit of sly smile.

“No, probably not. I think there will probably be many many more after this one,” you muse, giving him a wink.

“So I suppose I was right when I said the future looked bright in that interview last week.”

“Yes, yes you were,” you grin, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek sweetly.

#leon x reader #leon imagine #leon #pokemon leon #pokemon #pokemon imagines #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon swsh #x reader #reader insert

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