#besides the whole wanting to go to hell thing being counter to their own beliefs and morals | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

moontheoretist · 3 years

Quote

When she and Tony Stark meet it is very clear that he was not expecting her there, “Jesus Christ, who the hell are you?” he asks, hand pressed to the space over his heart. His right arm is in a sling and that does not look good. “Is there something wrong with your arm?” she asks. It did not appear to be in a cast and she saw no bruising. His breathing was restricted though and that did not bode well either. She narrows her eyes at the thought of someone harming her King’s soul mate but she blinks, letting the anger go. Now was not the time or place. “None of your business, and you are?” he snaps, glaring at her suspiciously. “Dora Milaje,” she responds vaguely, “and I am here on the behalf of King T’Challa.” “T’Challa can fuck off,” Tony snarls viciously and her eyebrows shoot up. “Excuse me,” she says in a dangerous tone. Soul mate or not she would not allow him to insult her King. “Anyone who is involved with Steve Rogers is no use to me,” he snaps. Her eyebrows remain raised, “I understand that Steve Rogers has caused you pain, but I do not understand how that extends to King T’Challa,” she says calmly. Perhaps too calmly but Stark either does not understand the danger or he does not care. Stark rolls his eyes, “I’ve spent the last five years dealing with people who blindly follow Steve Rogers around like a bunch of fucking lap dogs, I don’t need to have one more person tell me that I can never compare. I know that. No need to have anyone else remind me,” he says bitterly, his lip curling up in disgust. That changed things. “I here because the King is not sure what to believe about you. He and the Dora Milaje agree that the information about you is too conflicting to draw a reasonable conclusion. So I am here to try and find the truth, to see what you’re really like. I must admit that I do not like you,” she says honestly. Perhaps the man would take the honesty well. He does not, instead he flinches hard but the expression is gone very quickly. “Great, then you’re just like everyone else. Go report back to your king, tell him I’m as worthless as everyone says I am,” Tony says, turning and walking towards his kitchen. “I do not like many people, that does not mean that you are not a good person. And my personal opinion of you means little when you are not meant for me,” she says. Tony’s shoulders tense at that but he turns slowly to face her. “What do you want to know?” He looks exhausted, like he hasn’t slept in days and she supposes that it is very likely that he has not. The man had chronic insomnia and she suspected it made his very obvious PTSD worse. The dismissals from everyone else around him, including his closest friends, probably did not help the situation. “Why did you support the Accords?” she asks bluntly. Cutting to the heart of the issue was what she was good at, and it saved her time and effort beating around the bush. “Steve told me that I needed to trust people, to listen to them. He was right, so when the opportunity came to listen I did, or at least I tired but apparently that wasn’t right either,” he snaps bitterly, that disgusted look back on his face. “You feel guilty for Ultron,” she says and it is not a question. He flinches at the bot’s name, he certainly felt guilty for being the creator of such chaos. “Of course I do, who the fuck wouldn’t? I nearly ended the world when I ran that program and I should have said something to someone,” he says. She finds that curious, his anger at Steve and his acceptance that Steve was right in his conclusions about his communication skills or lack thereof. “But you did talk to someone, Dr. Banner. I know that he is currently missing but surely you count your communication with him as something,” she says. Banner appeared to be the only Avenger who was not adverse to Tony. The two bonded over science and Tony’s lack of fear of him. “Lot of good that did,” Tony mumbles. “But you spoke to him and he agreed that it was a good enough idea to try,” she says. “So what if I did? Everyone blamed me for it anyways, might as well take the blame. Bruce said it could go wrong and I didn’t listen, I should have.” He leans against the counter and sighs heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Just because your team blamed only you does not mean it was fair. It is not like they are lacking in recklessness and stupidity themselves. What kind of moron releases a brainwashed assassin onto the world? Steve Rogers is very lucky that seems to have had no consequences. And his taking the word of Bucky Barnes as proof of five other Winter Soldiers was not wise either, the man hardly knows what is real and what is not, he is still partially under the control of HYDRA conditioning. Only a fool would take the man’s word at face value. I believe that your holding off until you found real proof of the Winter Soldiers’ existence made you the most intelligent and clear headed of the group, at least in that moment. The rest of the team has far too much faith in a man who is living in nostalgia. Bucky Barnes does not, nor will he ever, exist again as Rogers knew him. He should accept that,” she says bluntly. It was a harsh truth, yes, but a man would never be the same after a trauma like that. Rogers himself was more than likely not the same man he used to be so he should not expect Bucky to be. He should also accept the reality of that trauma on his friend because living in his memories was not going to help Bucky Barnes. Accepting reality, no matter how harsh, was the only way to help Barnes heal from his wounds. It would not be easy for anyone but it was the most beneficial. “You… think I’m the smartest and most clear headed of the group?” Tony asks, looking beyond shocked. “In that moment, yes. You are not without your mistakes but that was not one of them. Tell me more about why you chose to support the Accords,” she says. This time Tony pauses for a long time and she lets him gather himself. It was important to make an accurate judgment. Finally Tony looks up, “Steve was right about listening to people. Sometimes I go too fast and I don’t think things through right, I’ve done it time and time again, even when I was supporting the Accords. I’ll make a snap decision that looks good at the time but I don’t talk to the people I’m supposed to be helping, I just make a decision and assume it’s for the best when it isn’t. I had one hundred and seventeen countries telling me to slow down and stop and I didn’t think that was something I should ignore. They weren’t making unreasonable requests, they just wanted a say in how we ran things and you can’t help people if you aren’t willing to listen to what they need you to do. I’ve learned that now,” he says. “Rogers thinks the best hands are still your own, you do not agree?” she asks, curious. Tony rolls his eyes, “no, he thinks the best hands are still his own, not our own regardless of what he says. You saw what happened when someone said no, it didn’t line up with his beliefs and instead of reaching out and asking to change things, or asking why things looked the way thy did he threw the whole damn thing out. Besides, if we’re talking histories here I have a near one hundred percent fail rate. The best hands aren’t my own so I thought maybe if I had someone else vetting my decisions they might be better but if that person isn’t Steve Rogers Steve doesn’t think it’s good enough.” Harsh words, but they were mostly true. She, too, found the Captain too rigid in his values. “And the agendas he spoke of?” she asks. He was not wrong for being suspicious of the government. They were corrupt, as near all systems were outside of Wakanda and even there they had their issues. At this Tony looks down, “I put too much faith in a system I know doesn’t really work that well. But we aren’t apolitical people, we know what the UN’s agendas were, they were clearly written on paper and we could have worked with that, used it to our advantage. But the fuck if I know what their agendas are. Natasha flip-flops more than a fucking fish out of water, so does Clint, I have no idea what Wanda’s thinking, you already know what I think of Steve, and Sam… well he’s an alright guy. I think he’s an idiot for following Steve around like a lost bird but he’s a good man. I know I made mistakes but that bullshit letter Steve sent me proves he doesn’t care.” She did not read the letter so she is unsure what he is talking about, “would you care to explain?” she asks, trying to be gentle. The man was raw, in pain, and it was bound to end badly for him. She was sure she had her answers but she was curious about the letter and more information would not hurt. “Oh he’s glad I’m back on the compound, obviously I moved back out, but he doesn’t like to think of me being alone because the Avengers were more mine than his. Pretty sure the fact that they’ve all always hated me minus maybe Bruce indicates that that’s a bunch of shit but whatever. And he has faith in people, in individuals? Really? Because I didn’t see any of that faith when people, individuals, were reaching out to us to talk to them and he slapped them down because what they wanted wasn’t what he wanted. And he’s never had faith in me. Never. I find it really hard to accept that he gives a damn about hurting my feelings, especially when he’s always assumed that I didn’t have any. And his stupid ‘I wish we agreed on the Accords but we didn’t so fuck you’ at the end was a real nice touch. He might as well have wrote ‘lol everything before this was a joke because I don’t really care what you think was right, it wasn’t what I think is right so you’re wrong’. At least we can both agree that he was a selfish prick keeping my parents’ deaths to himself,” he mumbles. So Tony Stark fell somewhere in between his public image and someone she did not know. He was clearly emotional, in pain, and that was not going to go well for him but he was not a bad person. He was not what the Avengers thought he was either. “You’re parents’ deaths?” she asks. “Yeah, I mean I can’t keep secrets or so he reminded me about a million times with that Ultron bullshit, but he can keep the fact that Barnes killed my parents to himself. Guess all the shit I do is totally fine if he does the same damn thing. I don’t listen and accidentally create Ultron I’m a problem, and that’s fair, but he can ignore the whole fucking world and that’s totally A-Okay with him. I can’t keep secrets, but it’s fine if he does. I can’t be suspicious of government structures without being labeled ‘insubordinate’ and ‘arrogant’ but when he does it it’s fine!”

The Truth Never Set Me Free (I Did It Myself) by TenSpencerRiedPlease

#mcu fanfiction #oh my if that doesn't ring true #whenever I do something it's bad #but when someone else does it it's ok #tony stark #steve rogers critical #mcu steve rogers critical #tony stark critical #?#he critiqued himself here so

35 notes · View notes

headcans-oneshots-and-stuff · 4 years

Text

Stubborn

Warning: TW: Dark themes, Yandere, kidnapping, slight abuse (if you squint) Word count: 2,5k Summary: Bakugo had always thought he needed someone stubborn by his side, so why isn’t he happy when he finds just that in his new girlfriend? It doesn’t take long until he realizes that stubborn is never what he wanted. No. It’s obidient. And as destiny will have it, you, his best childhood friend, tend to be just that Pairing: Yandere!Bakugo x Batfam

A/N: So I have no reason to write this, but I had this small scene in my head and BAM! this existed. And why not share it, amiright? I’ll also post a request later today or tomorrow, but I just wanted to get this out there. Hope you enjoy

Bakugo had always thought he needed someone stubborn by his side. Someone who stood up for themselves and wouldn’t just take his shit as some other extras would. In his mind, it was a logical assumption. He was well aware that he was a (quite literal) hot-head. He tended to let his aggression get the best of him and, even though that calmed down the older he got, it was still an established fact in his life as a pro-hero. That was why he agreed to go out with her. She was, admittedly, attractive. She wouldn’t really be called pretty, but definitely hot. A slender body with curves in all the right places and long, flawless pink hair that ended just over her waist, lashes that when battered could get her just about everywhere and everything. It also very much helped that she was well aware of her good looks. She never wore anything borderline inappropriate or skimpy, but she took care of the fact that her clothes were bringing out her features and would give her other advantages, like the hells she wore that made her already rather tall form stand even taller at about 5’6 feet. Even though that still wasn’t exceptionally high, she still liked to tower over everyone she could tower over. She and Bakugo were both masters of intimidating, even if they used very different methods. Trat wasn’t the only thing that made them alike, she also had quite the temper, something that had to be reckoned with when meeting with her, but she wasn’t as much aggressive as she was stubborn and headstrong. She was just what Bakugo needed. So, when he had tried to save her from getting robbed while he was on patrol and she just scoffed and kicked the robber so hard in a place that the sun won’t shine at, calmly taking her purse back and acting as if nothing happened, he was somewhat impressed. And when she touched his arm and invited him inside he didn’t say no. After that she was a part of his life, quickly filling the empty spot of his girlfriend. And a month or two everything was nice, he enjoyed the romantic and sexual attention that she gave him and he found himself entranced by the way she would talk back to him when she didn’t like something. He even liked her enough to introduce her to the most important people that he had in his life. His best friends. After graduating and finally fulfilling his dream of being a pro-hero he had managed to keep in more-or-less close contact with his old classmates, but he and his squad were almost as close as ever, if not more. They met up about twice a month in the complete group and individual pairs whenever they felt like it, but it was safe to say that the group of friends had stayed the same way they always have been, just with the difference that they were now of legal age to drink. So - of course - the next time they met up, this time with the additional plus one on Bakugo’s side, they met at a bar that was conveniently placed between all of their homes. Because he was somewhat nervous, even though he wouldn’t admit it if you held a gun to his head, Bakugo decided to come ten minutes earlier than the time they had agreed to meet up and ordered drinks for him and his girlfriend. After that, the others slowly joined, first was Sero, then Kirishima, Ashido and Kaminari, but one person stayed missing from the group. Bakugo wanted to ask where you were staying and why you took so long, but when all the attention turned on him and his new relationship the question was lost in the void of his mind. Especially considering that only ten minutes after, the original excitement about meeting Bakugos girlfriend gone for the group, even though they were still milking her with questions, you came in with a small smile on your face like you weren’t even realizing you were late and joined them. Your hot-headed best friend asked you what had taken you so long after you had introduced yourself to the new person in the group and congratulated them on getting together, but you had just shrugged it off as no big deal. Bakugo forgot about it.

Bakugo had always thought he needed someone stubborn by his side, but Bakugo soon realized that that assumption was wrong. All the things he thought would be great about someone as headstrong as he was turned out to be annoyances. The things that he liked about her in the first months soon turned into things he hated with a burning passion. Just once he wanted her to shut up and actually listen to him. It started with small things. Like when he told her that he didn’t want to go out after a particularly rough day at work and she just whined and complained until he had enough and went along, or that one time when the two of them had a normal conversation about a type of food and she completely refused to accept a fact that he told her (and even, later on, found references for) - it wasn’t even like it was something that was against her or her believes, just something she had assumed wrong and still refused to back down about. Just so that she could come out of the fight as the winning party. And it just continued and got more and more, every little thing became a full-blown fight and she seemingly made it her personal mission to disobey and work against him as much as she could. He quickly figured out that you can’t fight fire with fire, that having a stubborn person like himself constantly clash with someone so similar was bound to fail and he hadn’t thought his original belief through. He even talked about it with you and Kirishima, debatably the closest of friends he had, and while you were as shy and quiet as you had been ever since going to school with him and Midoriya, both you and Kirishima agreed that it would be the best for everyone involved if you’d just break things off with her. With that the decision was basically set in stone, the only thing left was actually acting on the words so Bakugo spent the whole way home thinking about how he’d say it, what he’d do. But his mind wasn’t completely on track. Because besides the possible breaking-offs that he went through he also found himself thinking about who would fit better to him and while walking home surrounded by the lights of the city it was like he had an Enlightenment. He never needed someone stubborn, no, he needed someone obedient. Someone who wouldn’t fight him on his every word and would let him protect and care for them. That thought was the beginning of the end. When he finally comes home he’s lucky that he hadn’t yet asked her or had been asked by her if they could move together, but that happiness was quickly ruined by the load of missed calls and messages that she had left him. Exhausted and longing for someone he wasn’t even sure existed he went to bed and decided he’d deal with his little problem the day after. When he left work the next day during his break to catch some air and meet up with you, who worked not too far away in you own little pro-hero themed bakery, the thoughts of the before standing evening were still heavy in his mind, especially his newfound clearance on just what qualities his partner actually had to have. The smell of baked bread and sweets, the smell that somehow had surrounded you ever since you had been a child who played with him and Midoryia on the playground, greeted him in a wave of warm air when she opened the door and the familiar ring of the small bell hanging over it filled his ears. A sense of content filled him that he only had with you. The same content was the reason that you were still friends in the first place. Back when it was still him, Izuku and you, he always felt a bit jealous about how much more you were like Izuku, even though you weren’t quite as curious or cheery as he was, you were still a happy, calm kid with a tendency to stay on the more quiet side. So naturally, people would assume that after Bakugo developed his quirk - and Izuku didn’t, starting a long cycle of bullying and maybe even abuse from the blond hot-head - you would’ve stayed with the little green bean, and so did Bakugo. But he didn’t want that. He liked the feeling he had when he hung out with you and he was different with you, less angry and more tolerable. So he became almost possessive and incredibly jealous when it concerned you. He made sure that you stayed his friend, but - to come to his defence a little bit - he still “let” you be friends with Izuku, just as long as he still got the majority of your attention and love. As you grew up he lost most of that behaviour and exchanged it for a normal level of friendly protectiveness, enough that he made sure that you were okay and texted you almost every day while he was at school, but not as much that you couldn’t have other friends or your own life. Bakugo was especially happy when he introduced you to his other friends the first time and, even though your and their personalities practically crashed against each other, you bonded incredibly fast and became a member of his little squad. Something about these memories made his mind a little bit fuzzy, but everything came to a sudden halt when he heard an all too familiar - at this point almost dreaded - laugh. He felt like he had whiplash at the speed at which his head snapped to the side and he caught sight of his hopefully soon ex-girlfriend standing at the counter in front of a very-clearly confused looking you. His wish to have his peace from her at least until the evening burst into a thousand little bubbles and he found himself confronted by the inevitable. Bakugo planned to take her out of the bakery as to not cause a scene and explain to her that it was over, but everything changed when he heard a comment she made directed towards you before she even knew he was there. It was said in a nice voice, but with a venomous undertone, a comment about how weird it was that a Pro-Hero like Bakugo, someone so great and influential, was spending any time with a push-over like you. Something inside him snapped and he had to admit that his now definitely ex-girlfriends shoulder most likely didn’t stay unharmed at how hard he tugged at it to turn her around, not to mention the added pops of explosions that he couldn’t - and just maybe didn’t want to - hold back. He ended things right there and then, leaving her running out of the bakery crying and you looking at him shocked. Bakugo almost expected you to have a go at him about how horrible he behaved and about how mean he was, but you said nothing. Well, not nothing, no, you did say something. You thanked him - in a rather timid voice - for defending you. It was at this moment Bakugo realized what had always been before him.

Bakugo had always thought he needed someone stubborn by his side, but he found himself proven wrong when he suddenly saw that the person he needed was you. His quiet, shy, obedient best friend. No, you were always more than that and he had just never realized it. You were his soulmate. Yes, why else did you fit together to perfection in his mind? Not to mention that you definitely needed him. Your quirk wasn’t anything that could be used in a fight - not that he wanted you anywhere near a fight anyways - and you tended to let people walk and talk over you (which admittedly is somewhat his fault too, since he tended to walk and talk over you quite a lot in your life) so you needed someone to protect and care for you, right? Someone like him. When he looked at you from then on he felt something he had never, ever, felt before. Desperation, almost a need, to have you with him, no, even more: To have you. At first, he realized that what he was thinking wasn’t completely right, that all these thoughts about scooping you up and bringing you away, somewhere no-one else could get to, weren’t normal. But even as he fell back into a similar behaviour pattern of possessiveness, jealousness and obsessiveness that he had already shown in his childhood you never complained, never drew back from him. So clearly, you must love him too right? You must want him to be with you, to take you away. After that it’s only a question of time until kidnapping you - or saving you as he sees it - becomes a completely rational thing for Bakugo to do. He’ll buy a house not too far away from the city so that he could still be at work on time, but in a neighbourhood where you weren’t in any danger and he made it completely escape-proof. He told himself that it was to keep any intruders out, but really even he knew that it was to keep you in. He couldn’t even bear the thought of not seeing you for a day at this point. He’ll take you when you least expect it and he’ll make sure that no-one ever finds out that he was the one who took you. He’ll even lead the investigations and join the search parties that he and his friends would surely organise, but nothing would ever come from it. At least not until you finally realized that he hadn’t lost his mind, that you were meant for him, and accepted your spot at his side. Then he’d miraculously find a long-forgotten hint that would lead him right to were you were being kept and he’d accept you into his house after your apartment and bakery have long been sold to someone else and it wouldn’t be too unbelievable that you just happened to fall in love with him then, right? Of course, he knew it would take a while until that could happen, he knew that it must be hard for you to come to terms with just how much the two of you loved each other and - even though he’d rather have you already back to your calm, happy, obedient self - he was willing to live through your little tantrums and moods until you finally settled down with him. It was bound to happen sooner or later…

Bakugo had never needed someone stubborn by his side, he now knows, he had needed you.

206 notes · View notes

too-gay-for-marvel · 4 years

Text

it started slow

a/n: im alive! for now! im getting my shit together again so i SHOULD be a little more regular with my writing inshallah. also, i think at this point yall should know that if you send a request, theres a 90% chance itll turn into a oneshot and,,,,,, im not sorry 🤷🏻‍♀️

Request: Bonjour, love I was wondering if you can do a Natasha X reader, where they get into a big fight because Nat has been spending more time with Carol, And after their fight the reader leaves, and Natasha's mad but Carol tells her that she has been spending way to much time with her. But can it have a good ending. Thank you

Word Count: 2231

Warnings: none

Pairing: Natasha x Reader

It started off with training.

Everyone trained with each other, it was nothing new. Sometimes you would train with Nat and sometimes you wouldn’t, it was just the luck of the draw. It wouldn’t hurt your feelings because at the end of the day, you were still a professional. Maybe you preferred training with Nat, but you weren’t unreasonable.

But the amount of times Nat “happened” to get paired with Carol for training was suspicious.

You had brought it up to her one night at dinner. Just a simple “you’ve been training with Carol a lot lately.” You weren’t trying to stir shit, but maybe you had sounded a little too accusing. But Nat just brushed it off, said it was on Fury’s orders. And who were you to argue against Fury? So what if Nat was training with Carol every morning, maybe it was for the best.

Then it carried on into the afternoons.

You would never tell Nat not to hang out with other people. Past experience had led you down that rabbit hole and there was no way on hell you would do that to someone else. Besides, you were ecstatic that Nat had other people to hang out with because she needed some fun in her life.

So Nat would end up going to lunch with Carol almost every other day, and you would send Nat a quick smile and tell her to have fun. Maybe those lunches went long sometimes and you wouldn’t see Nat again until the evenings. It was fine. It just meant she was having fun, right? Sure, it was taking away some of the only free time you two had, but it was fine.

But then it continued into the evenings and that was the last straw.

Sometimes Nat wouldn’t come back until ungodly hours of the night, or she wouldn’t even come back at all. You weren’t going to accuse her of cheating because, first and foremost, you trusted her with everything in your being. But it still hurt that she was spending her rare free time with someone that wasn’t you.

Now, you didn’t think yourself an unreasonable person. You didn’t think yourself a controlling person either. All of you had jobs to do, and if you weren’t a cohesive unit then things were going to go wrong. That was how the job had always been, and it wouldn’t change. That being said, you didn’t think it was such an awful thing to miss your girlfriend.

So when Nat came home at 3:34am (because you were both supposed to have a night in), you weren’t in the mood to compromise.

“It’s late,” Nat had said when she noticed you sitting at the kitchen table, four empty coffee cups scattered around you and another in your hands.

“Wasn’t sure you’d noticed,” you said, barely louder than a whisper.

“Why are you still up?” Nat asked as she took her boots off and hung up her coat. Like she hadn’t been gone all day and missed another date night.

“I was supposed to have a movie night with my girlfriend,” you said a little louder, “maybe you know where she was.”

Nat froze for the smallest fraction of a moment. If you hadn’t known her for as long as you had, you wouldn’t have even noticed it. Maybe you shouldn’t have noticed it. You should have just ignored it and let Nat lie her way out of whatever was going on because it would be easier. And just as quickly as it had happened, it ended.

“She was with Carol,” she said simply before leaning against the counter that she had moved to.

“What a surprise.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re always with Carol.”

“I am not,” Nat defended, and you could see the defiance in her eyes. The belief that she was right and there was no possibility of her being wrong. A look you absolutely adored when it wasn’t directed at you.

You didn’t want to get mad. Your whole life had consisted of keeping your cool in these tense moments. It should have been easy to stay calm under pressure. But the way Nat stood with her arms crossed defensively over her chest and the way she tried to appear nonchalant in her stance pissed you off. How could she not see it?

Did she think you were blind?

“When was the last time we had a lunch date?” You asked with a raised brow.

“Last week,” Nat shrugged.

“Two months ago,” you corrected.

“Then I’ll take you tomorrow.”

“I’m going on a mission tomorrow,” you shot back, your voice raised just enough to send a message. “You would know if you weren’t always with Carol.”

“What do you have against her?”

“Nothing!” You finally shouted as you shoved your chair back and stood up. “I have nothing against Carol! You deserve friends and people that love to spend time with you! But I have everything against you treating me like your second choice.”

Nat opened her mouth to argue, but you shot her a look that shut her up.

“I don’t care how often you hang out with friends, because it’s important,” you reiterated, “but I will not be second best in my own goddamn relationship.”

Nat continued to stare with that unreadable expression that you still had yet to understand. And it didn’t make you mad like you thought it would, no. No, actually, it made you sad. Sad because after telling your girlfriend that you felt like second best, she had nothing to say. She didn’t bat an eye.

And you couldn’t argue with that, could you?

No, you couldn’t. So you walked past Nat, grabbed your coat and keys, and left.

----------

Natasha didn’t move from her spot for almost 10 minutes after you left the Compound apartment. She hadn’t considered it “storming out,” but you had certainly left in a hurry. And right after you had shut the door the gears in her brain had started turning. You were wrong, she hadn’t treated you as second best.

Right?

No, of course she hadn’t.

Had she?

With a frustrated sigh, Natasha turned and grabbed her coat and left, making her way to the gym. If the past had taught her anything, Carol would still be there. Which would be great because then they could work out some anger and maybe even get a bit of advice. Not that Carol was good with relationship advice, but who else could Natasha ask?

I don’t treat you as second best, we do things all the time, Natasha thought as she walked down the sidewalk, hands shoved into the pockets of her coat.

I always come home to you, isn’t that enough? She crossed the street without looking, knowing that the cars would screech to a halt if need be.

There’s no way it’s been two months since our last lunch date. The coffee shop you both frequented passed by without so much as a glance from Natasha.

If I really treated you so bad, why didn’t you tell me sooner?

The doors to the gym posed no obstacle as Natasha shouldered them open and trudged inside. She had started the walk with a mission, a dedication to work out her frustration, but now that she had made it to her destination… now her chest felt constricted.

“Didn’t you go home?”

Natasha looked up from the hole she had subconsciously been staring into the floor and saw Carol wiping the nonexistent sweat from her neck. She had been training with Danvers long enough to know it was almost impossible for her to sweat. Damn enhancements.

“Had too much energy,” Natasha said as she shrugged her coat off and dropped it onto a bench.

“You sure?” Carol asked, an uncharacteristic uncertainty in her voice. But Natasha still didn’t turn around and instead worked on wrapping her wrists.

“Absolutely. On the mat, Danvers.”

She didn’t look up, knowing that Carol would meet her on the mat even if she wasn’t really sure about it. But they both met in the middle and Natasha finally looked up to see a look in Carol’s eyes. A look that Natasha knew meant Carol was not happy with her. But she knew there was no chance she would actually be called out on it.

With that being said, the both of them started sparring.

Something was off with the way Carol was fighting though, and no matter how much Natasha goaded her, it didn’t change. All she wanted was to get hit so hard that she could try to make sense of what you had said to her earlier. Maybe if Carol knocked her senseless then your argument would be logical.

“Nat,” Carol said after a lull, “go home.”

“A few more rounds,” Natasha shrugged before going at Carol again.

Only Carol took it seriously this time.

Now, Natasha was a master at hand-to-hand combat, there was no question about it. But when compared to the power of an infinity stone? It wasn’t fair; still surprising though. So when Natasha was slammed down onto the mat with Carol’s knee pressing against her chest, she was shocked.

And pissed.

“The fuck, Danvers?”

“You’re never home anymore,” Carol accused as she leaned down to be closer to Natasha’s face. “Go home.”

“It’s fine,” she shot back before trying to push Carol’s knee off. But she wasn’t kidding around and was using all her power to force Natasha to listen.

“When was the last time you took Y/N on a date?”

“None of your business,” Natasha said, but her heart started racing at the question.

“You’re always with me,” Carol accused again. “You need to go home.”

“Y/N’s not even at home,” Natasha admitted, shocking the both of them. “So what’s the point?”

The look Carol gave her was almost insulting. But she removed her knee nonetheless and helped her up to her feet. And the look she continued to receive forced Natasha to face things she didn’t want to because if Carol was giving her that look, then the odds of Natasha being wrong were… pretty high.

“Go home and wait,” Carol said with a pitied smile. “Trust me.”

And with that, Carol left. Didn’t even wait for Natasha to give confirmation that she would listen to the advice, but she didn’t need to. They both knew Natasha would listen because, if she were being honest with herself, Carol had managed to stay with Maria for years.

Maybe the air force had been good for something.

----------

It was weird to come home after so long apart. You and Nat would separate because of missions, obviously, but this… this was different. You hadn’t parted with a kiss and a warning to be careful. It was silence and fear and frustration all balled up in your stomach, and the distance had only made it worse.

You shouldn’t have been gone for so long, but you were too upset. Right after you had left and gotten back from your mission, you had called Fury to tell him you would be gone for a few weeks and that you needed space. Of course he had listened, but part of you had wished he would have made you stay. If you had stayed, you would have been able to force Nat to talk to you.

Because she was wrong and she needed to know, her pride be damned.

But after five weeks of a mission and cooling off, no one had called and instead of giving you time to calm down, it just made you more upset. So that was what led to you putting your key in the lock to your apartment once again. Part of you hoped Nat was in there.

The other part hoped she wasn’t.

“Oh thank god.”

A pair of arms wrapped around your waist the moment you opened the apartment door. The force of the collision was almost enough to knock you off your feet, but you managed to keep your footing. And just like that, with those familiar arms wrapped around you, your heart felt like it was home again.

“You were right,” Nat said quickly once you wrapped your arms around her shoulders in return. “You were right and I’m sorry.”

You pulled back just enough to be able to look her in the eyes. After so long together, you would know if she was telling the truth based on the look in her eyes. There was nothing but regret, sorrow, maybe a bit of fear. But most importantly, you saw truth.

“How long did it take you to admit that to yourself?” You asked her with a raised brow.

“I-,” she paused, her eyes flickering between yours. “A few hours.”

“That quickly?”

“Carol beat it into me,” Nat admitted, and your facade finally broke.

“You’re an idiot,” you chuckled before leaning down and leaving a light kiss on her lips.

“Your idiot,” she mumbled against your lips before moving forward for another kiss, this one deeper than the first.

You know you both needed to talk about it. A kiss and an “I’m sorry” wouldn’t be all it took, especially if there wasn’t a real understanding of what had gone wrong. But you could talk about it in the morning.

Right now, you needed to feel home again.

#requests #natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha x reader #black widow #black widow x reader #black widow imagine #natasha romanoff imagine #marvel #marvel x reader #marvel imagine #my writing

400 notes · View notes

ontowanderlust · 3 years

Note

i absolutely love all your writing! especially the dictionary prompts it kinda inspired me to write a few of my own (although that involved me opening the dictionary to a random page 😆) may i request kiro the bday boy + anything about the moon/stars + fluff? most descriptions i see about him are always bright and sunshiney and i love him but i've also always just loved the moon. thank you!

Moon., n.

“Can I open my eyes now, Miss Chips?”

She took one final glance at the scenery she had prepared for the two of them before nodding her head, satisfied. Looking back to her companion, she called out his name, giving him the permission to take off his blindfold that was clumsily tied around his head.

His eyes blinked, allowing them to adjust to the dimly lit surroundings, his gaze seeking her familiar figure before anything else.

Throwing her arms, she gestured for him to look at the scenery laid before him. “Ta-da,” she softly whispered as if she’s afraid that if her voice were to raise, she might break the mood she’s trying so hard to set.

A lone blanket were spread over the grassy field, a picnic basket was placed on one corner of the blanket, a little stereo placed beside it and pillows were neatly placed on the other corner. In the distance, the moon and the stars shone as if they were watching over them.

She could feel her heart hammering through her chest as she watched him fight- and fail- the grin that was spreading across his lips while his eyes darted from the scenery to her- as if he couldn’t decide which should he first pay his attention to.

Ultimately, his gaze fell back to her- who was now sporting the same grin- oh how contagious his smile is!- striding quickly towards her, picking her up easily as he spun her around, her giggles echoing the empty field.

“What’s all this for?” He asked as he placed her back to the ground, his arms wrapped around her waist as he tucked his chin over her shoulder. “Have I missed something?”

She hummed, wrapping her arms around his neck, one hand reaching up, threading her fingers through his hair. “Just missed you, s’all.” She murmured as he tightened his hold, purposely trying to keep her answers as vague as possible to keep herself from blurting out the surprise she’s been keeping from him.

“So you decided to kidnap me for the night and bring me to the middle of nowhere with a basket full of food and a promise of stargazing as means of bribery?” His voice laced with amusement as he started swaying both of them to some made up beat.

“Ah gosh darn it! You saw through my plans!” She pouted, earning a chuckle from him.

She’s got the entire night planned out- lure him out to the countryside, eat out with the food she painstakingly made during the afternoon, stargaze a little bit, and then- then she would go over the speech she had planned out.

She’s got everything mapped out. But right here... she couldn’t help but feel like this is the right moment.

“Hey hey... did you know?”

“Know what?” He hadn’t ceased their swaying, lulling her into a sense of comfort- something she needed ever since the night started out.

“People refer to you as the sun.”

“Oh?” She could almost hear the laughter in his voice. “I think it’s the hair, Miss Chips. You know, cause it’s so yellow.”

“I think it’s the personality.” She countered, shifting their position so she could bury her head to his chest. “While I agree with them, I think you’re more suited to be the moon.” She whispered as if she’s sharing a big secret, his eyebrow raising at her.

Taking this a sign to continue, she then went on her usual ramblings, explaining to him why.

“You’re...gentle and cool, like the moonbeam. Not too bright but not too dim- just enough to give light to the darkness around us.” She continued. “You’re steadfast- always standing your ground on your beliefs, you don’t get swayed by others’ opinions that easily, always choosing for yourself-even if your management always tries to control everything you do.”

By now, she could almost feel his burning gaze upon the crown of her head, a silent question resting at the tip of his tongue, wondering what could be the reason why she’s telling him all this.

“And you know what, most people don’t know this but the Kiro I’ve known is always there whenever I needed him the most. He may not be vocal but he had always stood near, offering me his silent protection and unwavering support. Just like how the moon silently watches over us right now,” she looked up, her breath hitching as her eyes gaze over his tear-filled eyes, her hands automatically reaching over to wipe the stray tears cascading over his cheeks.

“Why-“ his voice cracked, too overwhelmed with emotions. Before he could say more, he found her finger placed over his lips, silently asking him for her to continue.

“I- See, I’ve got this question occupying my thoughts for a while now and only you can answer it. So you see, this whole thing is just me buttering you up, hoping you’d give me the answer I want. But like, no pressure! Okay?”

He let out a small laugh. “As if I could deny you, Miss Chips.” Placing a fleeting kiss over her forehead, he gave her an encouraging smile as he let her continue. “Ask away and this moon might give you the answer you wanted.”

She heaved out a deep breath, her eyes meeting him. “You’ve always watched me silently, ready to protect me from anything. You’ve given me everything you have and I wanted to give it back to you a hundred times more. So I’ve thought about it and I’ve always got one solution for it.”

Gently, she extracted herself from his hold as she fished her pocket for a small velvet box. “Can you... please continue to watch over me, protect me, and love me preferably for the rest of our lives?”

Whoop. There it is. Okay okay... so firstly, I totally see MC being the one who’d propose first. 🤭 Secondly, I only thought of the idea of turning this to a proposal fic just in the middle of writing it and maaaaan the grin I was sporting was enough to look as if I’m plotting a murder. Lastly, this was hard to write! Dammit. It’s freaking hard to write too much fluff! I think I’ve been consumed by too much angst so thanks for pulling me out of it, anon.

I actually want to immortalize this particular ask in my inbox because it’s just too sweet and when I first read this I’m like- HELL YEAH! Do your own spin of Dictionary prompts! And loool, when I was first starting out with this prompt game- back in what, 2015? There’s literal question marks looming over my head as I read definitions in the dictionary. So hey, you’re not alone in that, anon!

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your kind words. This means a lot to me and I hope you know that. I hope I also delivered with your prompt and gave you what you deserved and more!

Send in some prompts!

MLQC Dictionary; Masterlist

#mlqc #mlqc dictionary #koi to producer #love x evol #mr love dream date #love and producer #mldd #mr. love dream date #mr love queen’s choice #mr. love queen's choice #evol x love #mlqc kiro #mlqc zhou qiluo #mlqc kira #kiro's birthmonth prompt

18 notes · View notes

themilky-way · 4 years

Text

as the hours pass {loki odinson}

gif credit: littlemisssyreid

pairing: loki odinson x fem!reader (might be considered gender neutral, though)

summary: he afraid of what he feels, so he does the only the thing he knows how to do: lie. based on this ask.

warnings: super shitty angst lol cuz it was 9 pm and my brain cells were FRIED. i think that’s it?? fluff at the end tho so we good

author’s note: this took me a whole mf week to write which isn’t that bad but i have no time now and it’s kinda scary. yolo tho lol

----------

when tony had initially proposed a weekly movie night for the entire team, not a single person would’ve imagined anything like this. a large projector had taken the place of the regular flatscreen television, consequently lining up in all the four corners of the penthouse windows. couches and reclining chairs compiled in a large circle instead of being adequately spread out amongst the common room, and they’d all been filled by at least one avenger. to those wishing to participate, jobs and duties had been assigned the week prior, the list ranging from making popcorn to dimming the lights. it was organized-sophisticated, in a way-how it had all been brought about, and to say the majority of the residents living in tony’s multi billionaire penthouse were surprised was quite the understatement.

over the course of a few weeks, everything began falling into place. reminders didn’t need to be set anymore, and the designated tasks weren’t viewed as chores. natasha made sure to pop three full bags of delicious kernels- ensuring thor’s bowl had just enough butter to lick his fingers clean when he finished-while steve arranged a variety of pillows and blankets around the seating space. soon enough, fading shades of purple would ignite the obscurity of the living room-all due to the led lights binded to the borders of its ceiling-and either a horror or comedy film would commence.

in such a manner, your spot could always be found on the same peculiar couch, next to the same peculiar individual. god, at that. to literally go to hell and back, to get placed in a home that wasn’t his home with people who wanted his head wasn’t particularly an easy life to lead. he wasn’t a man of sentiment, either, nor one who engaged in communal activities, so you took your part as a good samaritan and kept him company. the seat next to loki had been unreserved, with not even thor to take its place, and you shuffled away from a very frightened wanda to settle beside him. he'd been neutral, annoyed perhaps. if a stranger came to sit next to you out of the blue, wouldn’t you be, too?

“mind if i sit here?” a mild pause signaled a response, and the shrug of his shoulders gave it away. “i’m not really enjoying the movie, and the space looked kinda cozy,” you added.

after you had thoroughly felt the soft cushion of the seat and all its comfort, it was rather difficult to stray away from it. every friday evening, the striped bedding of the couch awaited your presence, and a pillow of an identical design lay by the armrest. loki always got there first, a bowl of ice containing two ice cream bars in his grasp, and if the belief that he had ever been remotely inconsiderate damaged your reasoning, the chocolate chip cookie he gifted you at the start of every night proved you wrong.

if loki truly had to be honest with himself-his father, if he was peering down from above-the companionship you bestowed upon him didn’t upset him as he presumed it would. he half-expected his cold and antisocial nature to speak for itself, to grab hold of the kindness of your heart, crush it, and scatter its pieces so your blind hands would have to search aimlessly for them. for him, the opportunity would’ve been so effortless, so relieving in its own wicked sense, but you had already known that from the minute the tips of your sock-clad toes had walked right up to his. your words had been honey to him, simple yet profoundly eloquent that had dripped away every vowel on his tongue. the warmth that encircled you caromed over to him, and then his icy fingers became regular fingers, and his wintry complexion no longer overpowered the person he strived to be.

the thought alone of developing a kinship alarmed the presumably mischievous man, and when time, the most rewarding elements of his beloved universe, presented him with such a miraculous creature, he went into a comatose. the object of his interest was no longer an object, it was a person, an individual that appeared to envelop his nonexistent grace as if they depended on it. so his beautiful, virulent mind, as plentiful of wisdom as it was, conceived what it regarded to be the only correct answer.

the seconds of long anticipated hours grew legs, and urged fragments of minutes to run off. solitude embraced the area loki used to adore being in, and his absence planted a seed of confusion within the person always seated beside him. the following nights were mindless for you, even when wanda had selected your favorite films to view, your headspace drifting off to the god who wasn’t watching it with you. interactions between your team lessened. refusing a handful of thor’s popcorn became a habit, and although he questioned you about it, he never brought it up again. then, a month flew by before you could cognitively process it. loki’s eyes hardly ever witnessed daylight now, or you for that matter. more often than not, his ear perked up at the soft squeaks of sneakers before their shadow halted in front of his door. the air in his lungs would almost escape from him entirely, lips pursed so tightly he felt them turn white, before mere seconds later distorted voices trailed your feet away from the barrier that separated him from you. foolish, he’d been foolish to deceive you so childishly. what could he possibly tell you now, that wouldn’t lead you to scurry away from him?

tonight, the best remedy to get some rest was to fix some tea. a good read seemed suitable enough, too, so a copy of The Scarlet Letter decorated your pillow. you trusted your weary legs to navigate you to the kitchen while your brain busied in forming unrealistic scenarios, as silly as it sounds, and you were doing fine and dandy until a conversation reeled you back in. an all too familiar voice-one you hadn’t heard in so long-was speaking, ranting, about things that bothered him? yeah, that was it.

it was wrong to what you did at that moment, your dear mother had taught you better than this, but the never ending words spewing from loki’s mouth had glued the soles of your feet to the chilling tiles.

a heartbeat shriveled to nothing, a weighty ache engulfing it in all its mighty glory, and everything you ever came to know became deception. “...ridiculous! i’ll tell you one thing, brother, and that is that they’re absurd for thinking i’m better.”

a booming retort-thor’s-defended you. “you’re ridiculous. they’re good to you and you’re going to throw it away because you’re afraid?” he neatly placed his mug on the counter before his firm hand landed on his brother’s shoulder and squeezed in reassurance. “if you keep pushing people away, you’ll outlive centuries-worth of joy.” loki flicked it away. “do they truly matter to you? enough for you to stop hurting them?”

the wall pressing into your shoulder obscured the visual of loki nodding his head. the tea you craved for now sounded disgusting, and no matter how hard you blinked your eyes, a puddle threatened to hover over them. you began toying with the sleeves of your sweater, hating the emerald shade you chose for it, and your head drooped down to focus on its marbled designs. odd shapes helped center your emotions, too much that you missed a figure passing by the entry.

did you jump? yes. did loki jump? also yes.

“what-why are you-why are you standing there?” his voice was shaky, concerned. he looked at your figure over once, his nervous glare lingering a little too closely at the pigment of your shirt, before he focused on you. it was hard for him to miss your anguish. the question his brother had previously asked him looped in his head, and by odin yes-yes, you mattered to him.

“did you hear what i said?” he gulped. “all of it?”

your pupils were fully dilated, mouth inconceivably dry, so you muttered a tiny “yeah.”

“it’s alright, though. i’m not-i’m not mad, or sad, or whatever. i get it.” with enough strength, you pushed your body away from where you’d been cornered and started your leave. a tightening on your wrist stopped you.

“please don’t go.” loki never begged, and he always trusted his ego to prevent him from doing it, but he’d inflicted grief on his most treasured midgardian, and he’d have to remedy that. “please.”

“loki, hey it’s alright. i’ll leave you alone if that’s what you need.” he held you tighter before pulling your palm up to meet his chest. “what are you-look, i’m sorry-”

“you’re sorry?” he cut you off. “i’m sorry, don’t you see what you do to me?” the pad of one of his own hands moved to cover the back of yours to push it further onto his covered heart. it was beating faster than godly possible. if he were anyone else, maybe he was nearing a heart attack. “i do believe you’re the first one to do that.”

you ceased touching him before beginning to speak, but he knew your apologies, your questions, before they even escaped your lips. he fumbled on his words for some time, thorough confessions of his feelings never came as easily as he hoped, but he managed to get the point across. his obsidian, curly locks drizzling over his tiresome face distracted you, and his enticing features, his slurred attempts to achieve your forgiveness forced a tiny grin onto your mouth.

“it’s okay, honey,” you extended a hand outward in greeting. “let’s just start over, yeah?”

he choked on a breath at the name, and then two clammy hands melded into one, and everything was alright for once. “i’m loki, and the pleasure’s all mine, darling.”

#loki x reader #loki angst #loki fluff #loki odinson x reader #loki fanfiction #loki odinson fanfiction #loki laufeyson x reader #loki laufeyson fanfiction #loki odinson #loki laufeyson #my writing!

77 notes · View notes

flightrules · 3 years

Text

Which Kind Do You Want to Be?

Chapter 4: Wanting

Either you're in completely over your head, or you're exactly where you need to be.

Summary: This is a story about trust and kindness, loneliness and loss, belief and transgression. And two people crossing paths just long enough to find each other.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Read on AO3

Relationships and characters: Din/female reader (both similar age to Din in canon), Grogu, and a cameo from Peli.

Rating: Mature? Explicit? Anyhow, grown-up sexy stuff in later chapters. Please be old enough to be reading this kind of thing.

Tags and warnings: Moments of angst, domesticity, kindness, explicit consent, and Din doing his best to be a conscientious parent in the midst of everything. Heads up for descriptions of canon-typical violence, mention of past dubious consent, and a moment of (unintentional) violence between our protagonists. Ending is bittersweet.

You finish the food in your ration tray while he carries the child to his sleeping quarters. You can hear him responding patiently to the child's babbles.

"We can play after your nap."

"Yes I know I promised. Sleep first."

And finally, "See, I knew you were tired." He pats the child's head and tucks the blanket in around him.

The door to the sleeping compartment slides closed.

"He'll be ok alone in there?" you ask.

"He knows how to open the door."

“I didn’t realize how deep that all went," you say as he sits back down across from you. "I never knew the history."

He's sitting with elbows and forearms resting on the table, and it would look casual if you hadn't started to notice how straight he sits when he's uncomfortable. You wonder if he’s practiced this pose, for negotiations maybe. Look like you're off your guard, even when you're not.

“It’s not your responsibility to know," he says. "It's my responsibility to remember.”

“It’s a little like the people from Alderaan, isn’t it?" You're trying to show him you want to understand. "Not very many of them, now. Only the ones who were off-planet."

There's an edge in his voice when he replies. “Alderaan was a place, not a way of life.”

"I guess that's true. And they live out in the open,” you add, acknowledging the difference.

“People don’t hunt Alderaanians for sport." The last word comes out sharp, sounding bitter.

Now you’re not sure what to say.

He shakes his head, looking down now at his gloveless hands. "It's not the same."

You could remind him, A lot of people have lost a lot. You could say, I have, too. You could say, You're lucky. You still have people who would know you. You can tell an old story and they'll recognize the words.

This is not a contest, though. He doesn't need to carry your history along with his.

"Everyone calls you ‘Mando.’ Do you mind that?”

“Names would let them count us. Find us," he says, still looking at his hands. "It's better this way.” He reaches across the table to stack your empty ration tray on top of the child's and then both of them atop his own. "I'll get these cleaned up."

He carries the trays to the little galley, flipping open the panel that hides the narrow counter and small sink.

Even through his shirt, you can see how the muscles in his back move as he turns on a trickle of water to wet a cloth, then begins cleaning the trays by hand.

You could get up and go over there, rest your head against the back of his neck and put your arms around him. He's used to having his hands covered in cloth and leather, but your hands were trained to give comfort. Learning to fight was a necessity, never a matter of pride. Except… over the years it has been. Being good at your job has been something to hold onto, when there wasn’t anything left.

You could stay where you are. You can smash down desire. Consent is sacred: You learned how to respect that even before you understood what those feelings were about. You could get through the next couple days of ship’s time, walk down the ramp at Pavotha, and leave this whole thing behind. Leave behind his complicated story and your part in it.

You’ve gone a while without having anyone to get naked with. You can go a little longer.

That would be the simple choice.

It’s harder to ignore how much you miss just trusting someone. Or how much that’s tied up, in your head, with everything else you’ve been through.

You can let him lead, here, but that only works if he’s telling you where to follow. "I need to know what you want."

He turns to look at you, moving his head and shoulders as if he still had a helmet on and was looking through the visor.

"I need to find the child's people," he says before turning to face the little sink again, and that's not what you meant at all.

"I need to know what you want from me."

"I don't…" He doesn't finish the sentence.

"I'm not expecting you to go through with anything," you say to his back. "I just want to know if you'd rather I keep my distance."

He finishes rinsing the trays and sets them on the narrow counter. "You don't have to."

"Do you want me to?"

He closes the panel and leans against the wall beside it, instead of coming back to sit. "No."

"Can I ask you a question?"

He laughs that short laugh. "You're doing fine so far."

Are you, though? Or are you wading again into depths you don't understand? Your culture’s directness doesn’t always fly in other parts of the galaxy, and you’ve learned to tone it down. But so far it’s gone over fine with him. "What does your Creed say about sex?"

He answers you just as directly. "Be respectful,” he says. “Don't make a child you can't care for."

"But as long as you’re careful, it’s not forbidden?"

He looks puzzled. "No."

"So, you have been with someone. People. Before."

"Yes."

“A lot?”

“Why does this matter?”

“We said, trust,” you remind him, suddenly nervous about whether or not he’ll answer.

He sighs. “If you put a bunch of teenagers together, things are going to happen.”

You’re still guessing you’re around the same age, or he’s maybe a little older. You haven’t been a teenager in over 20 years. “When you were in training?”

He nods, a brief movement. “The fighting corps lived together and fought together. Sometimes people would--” He finishes that with a shrug.

“And what was that like?”

That laugh again. It’s hard to tell if he’s actually amused, or just looking to diffuse the moment. “Mostly it was fast.”

When you were in your teens, you were surrounded by adults who taught you about respect and consent and contraception, and then left you space to be alone with yourself or anyone you invited to join you. You had plenty of partners to learn alongside you, and plenty of time.

“Didn’t they give you any privacy? Couldn’t you spend time with someone if you wanted to?”

“Yes. There was time. They were kind to us.” He seems to think about that. “Some people did.”

Your memories of learning about sex are sweet. Memories of clumsiness and laughter, of first touches and physical highs you’ve never quite recaptured, even in all these years. “Fast,” you say back to him. “Do you want to try something slow?”

The look on his face is hard to read. It’s been interesting to see how sometimes you’re looking at unguarded emotion and sometimes he may as well still have the helmet on.

Eventually he nods.

“Is that yes?” you ask, to be sure.

“Yes.”

He doesn’t make a move toward you, though, so instead you get up and go to him. He’s still leaning against the wall as you step up close. You stand there waiting to see if he’ll stop you. He doesn’t move, just watches you. But when you go to slide a hand slowly down the side of his face, he moves his head away.

“Can we not do this here?”

Here, in the hold? In this spot? On this ship?

“Not like this,” he says. He sidesteps you to move away from the wall. “Anywhere else.”

It’s his ship, his space, but it seems he’s going to wait for you to decide. There aren't a lot of choices. There's the little room where he sleeps, but the child's tucked up in there and you're not going to bother him. You've rolled up your makeshift bed, and anyway although it's been comfortable enough it's not exactly cozy.

Making out in the carbon freeze unit would certainly be kinky, but hell no.

“What was wrong with--” you nod toward the wall where he’d been standing.

He reaches for your hand, pausing just before he touches you to wait until reach back. Then he leads you away from the table, over to the space where the two of you sat last night, leaning against the cupboards with drinks in your hands. “Sit with me?”

You do, and he carefully takes your hand again, his palm against yours and fingers intertwined. “I never had much say in it.” He shrugs. “When you’re seventeen and someone gets you up against a wall and reaches for you. I never knew how to say no.”

That’s... “Is that what you meant by fast?”

He sighs. “There wasn’t anything wrong about it. People needed to work off their energy after a fight. I could have said no. I never did.”

“So the other day when I asked you to--” Stars. “I’m surprised you didn’t throw me off your ship.”

“I’m a little older now. I know how to say what I want.”

“Do you?”

“I know how to say no.” He leans his head back against the wall and closes his eyes. “I know how to provide for a covert. I know I need to protect the child. Besides that? I have no idea what I actually want.” A few seconds later he adds, “How do you know what choices are right, if you don’t have rules to follow?”

You open your mouth to answer and then stop. You haven’t had rules to follow since the early days of the Empire, when your village refused to tithe. Since your people learned to fire blasters, to fight hand-to-hand, to hurt instead of comfort. Since you’d all set aside everything you believed in, to be ready to say no to troops who would come to take your crops, your young people, all that you had.

The Empire had simply flattened your village from the air.

You’d been off-world on a supply run, gathering the few things your people couldn’t grow or make. You came home to ashes and bones.

You separate your hand from his and hold it up between you. Pre-Empire, you’d never even seen bruises like that. “My people would be horrified if they knew. That I make a living with my fists.”

“Your people sound kind,” he says. “Can’t you go back?”

Why haven’t you told him yet? I don’t want to think about it. I don’t want to talk about it. I want to think that they’re still there. “There’s nothing to go back to.”

“Ah,” he says, and it’s the softest sound.

“I know what I want,” you say. “I just don’t get to have it.”

“What,” he says, echoing your own question from earlier, “do you want from me?”

What you want is to spend a few hours back in a time when your muscles would hurt from digging up ground-fruit, not from hand-to-hand combat and dodging blaster fire. When you could catch a man’s eye, share a smile, share a few hours in bed together and know you would part again as friends. When trust was as natural as breathing.

What I want is to pretend that I am home.

“I still want what I offered,” you tell him. “Which was to get naked with an attractive man and celebrate the fact that we’re alive. That was you,” you add, “in case you had any doubt. But what I also want is for you to want it. If you don’t then… It wouldn’t be any fun.”

“You said slow,” he says.

You find yourself smiling at him, and when his eyes meet yours he’s smiling back. “The word for stop is still stop?” you say.

“I’ll remember.”

But then, you’re not sure what to do next. If all he’s known is what he’s told you--You’re picturing him at seventeen, letting someone touch him and not even being sure he wants what’s happening. “Who goes first?”

“Show me.” he says.

You shift up onto your knees to face him, so that you’re kneeling beside him with your own thigh touching his. The first thing you do is brush those curls back from his forehead. He’s watching you as you slide your fingers through his hair, over the back of his head and down, around to his collarbone, then out to his shoulders. You lean in to kiss the side of his neck where your fingers just traced, and the sound he makes is going to make slow a bit of a challenge.

When you sit back, he’s already reaching toward you to echo your movements. For someone with so little experience, his hands are sure as he traces over your scalp and along your neck. But then he pauses. “I don’t know how,” he says, and you remember what he told you before this all started.

You take his hand and lift it to your mouth. “Like this.” The first kiss you place against his knuckles is feather-light. You follow it with lips just slightly parted, just the slightest bit of suction against his skin. He makes that sound again and you set his hand down quickly, before the thinking part of your brain cedes control.

He drags his fingers along your neck again, from the soft place behind your ear down to your collarbone, then uses his other hand on the back of your neck to draw you toward him as he leans forward. His mouth against your skin is clumsy, the feel of it bringing you back to your own first tries, so many years ago.

It makes your nerves light up anyway, a line of warmth running down your whole right side. You find yourself tilting your head to the side so it’s easier for him to kiss you there again.

But he’s already pulling back. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“I’m going to ask you a favor,” you say. “I’m going to ask you to stop worrying about that.”

"I’m taking advantage of your kindness.”

At first you’re not even sure what to say. You’re here with him like this because you want to be. You can’t help noticing that he’s gorgeous, but even more than that-- He’s been kind to you.

You’ve seen how precise he is with a blaster, and how quick to use it. Your people would be worried, to see you with a man like this. To see you here.

The tears start before you even realize you’re about to cry.

“Oh. No, no…” He sounds stricken, but his arms go around you without hesitation, pulling you onto his lap and holding you close. He’s resting his head against yours, murmuring against your hair. “No,” he says again, and then words you don’t understand, but they sound so gentle. “Burc'ya… ner burc'ya… ne naari trikar'la...”

You turn your face in against his shoulder, letting the warmth of his body sink into your own.

For a long while, his hands simply rest against your back, palms flat and fingers splayed, and you’re surprised how safe it makes you feel. Like his arms are your own armor, and nothing bad could happen to you here. Eventually though he’s shifting his hands down to tug at your shirt where it’s tucked into your trousers, and you find your body tensing up. It’s not that you don’t still want to feel his skin against yours, to get him out of his own shirt and find out what happens when you drag your teeth over his ribs. But in these recent years… It wouldn’t be the first time a man took what he wanted when you were feeling vulnerable. When a man suddenly seemed to forget the word for stop.

But this man, he just draws his hands up along your back again, palms against your bare skin now, and settles you back against him. All this time, he’s stayed away from the burn on your shoulder blade, as if he’s never forgotten it’s there.

Between the warmth of being so close to him and the soft rumble of the ship's engines, there's a deep tiredness stealing in on you. You're trying to muster the energy to move again, maybe to slip your own hands beneath his shirt, when he speaks above your head. "I should take care of the armor." The sound is a vibration through his chest.

"Right now?"

His hands move down to your hips, and then strong arms are moving your body so you're no longer tightly pressed together. But it's only so he can kiss the place between your shoulder and your neck, much more confident this time. "It can wait."

You're contemplating trying to get his shirt over his head when there's a sound from the sleeping compartment and then a little face with big, dark eyes looking curiously at the two of you.

You immediately drop your hands. "Hi, little one."

He's already moving your body from his lap, but it's careful, not a shove. "Did you have a good nap?"

The little creature tilts his head at the both of you, and then turns and scurries away.

"Did we scare him?"

But the man is smiling, looking where the child went. "He wants to play chase." He turns to you and you smile helplessly back, already smoothing down your clothes and getting ready to stand

He raises his voice a bit, for the child's benefit. "I don't know if I can catch him."

"Go on," you say. "I'll catch up." It's a completely silly thing to say in this cramped ship's hold, but it seems to make sense in the moment.

He nods at you and climbs to his feet, a brief groan betraying how stiff his muscles must be after all this time sitting on the floor. He's off after the child in a slow-motion run, giving him plenty of time to stay ahead.

You spend a little while watching them, the child dodging behind crates, the man pretending not to know where he's gone.

Then, you go join in the fun.

Translation (pardon my awful Mando’a): Burc'ya… ner burc'ya… ne naari trikar'la. Friend... my friend... Don't be sad.

#the mandalorian #fanfic #din djarin x reader #touch-starved din djarin #din djarin needs a hug #reader character also needs a hug

18 notes · View notes

httpfandxms · 4 years

Text

Exploring a New World (1/30)

Pairing: James T. Kirk x Reader

A/N: This is my very first fanfiction writing. I would really appreciate it if you would not plagiarize any of my work! Please give me your thoughts on this. I accept any suggestions or altercations for this series. If I’ve made mistakes or if something doesn’t make sense please let me know.

Important: The reader is Pike’s daughter, but I did NOT specify if they are biologically related or not (step daughter or adopted). I don’t ever intend to specify because I want poc!readers to be comfortable while reading

This series is based off the Star Trek: Alternate Original Series with actual scenes from the films.

You pushed open the doors to the club which allowed you to hear the full extent of the blaring music. You walked in making your way towards the very back looking for your friends.

As you made your way over to your group of friends you asked, “have any of you seen Uhura?” One nodded and pointed towards the bar. She was talking to a man, but with someone between them seemingly trying to ignore their conversation.

You walked through a small crowd, bumped into a few people on your way to Nyota. You placed a hand over her shoulder as you said, “hey, I figured I’d help you bring everything over.”

She smiled and responded, “thank you,” as she gave you a quick yet comforting hug.

“And who might you be, gorgeous,” the man she was speaking with said just before he pushed himself off the counter. He made his way towards you, but stopped once you were inches apart. You smelled the alcohol coming off his breath as he said, “I’m Jim Kirk.”

You glanced up to Jim realized that the man was actually blond and had the most alluring blue eyes. You along with anyone could get lost in those eyes. Your thoughts were interrupted as Nyota said, “she happens to be way out of your league.” She placed a hand on his chest to add some distance between you two.

“Oh, so that makes you in mine,” he teased as he turned to face Nyota.

“Please you are not her type. You seem more the kind to have sex with farm animals,” you scoffed.

“Well, not only,” he joked which resulted in you and Uhura to whole heartedly laugh. He took a step towards you and leaned forward as he whispered into your ear, “you definitely look like my type and I think I might be yours.”

Your eyes met his and you opened you’re mouth, but no words came out. Four officers approached you. The bald man in the middle ask, “this townie isn’t bothering you right?

“Beyond belief,” Nyota said then finished her drink.

“But its nothing we can’t handle,” you added whilst you waved them off.

“You both could handle me. That’s an invitation,” the blond quipped.

The bald officer barked, “hey, you better mind your manners. Do you have any idea who you’re trying to get with?”

“Relax, cupcake. It was a joke,” Kirk said as he patted man’s chest. He turned back towards you.

The man grabbed Kirk, spun him around to face him and snapped, “hey, farm boy. Maybe you can’t count, but there are four of us and one of you.”

“So get some more guys, and then it’ll be an even fight,” Kirk replied then tapped the man’s face.

The officer grabbed Kirk again and punched his across the face. He fell onto the bar groaning.

“Stop it,” Nyota growled.

Before the officer could hit Kirk in the face again, the blond kicked him in the stomach making him fall over a table. Another man came at Kirk, but he blocked his punches. Kirk got the upper hand and knocked the man out.

“That’s enough,” you pleaded.

A different officer came in and hit Kirk in the face making in spin onto Nyota with his hands on her breast. She pushed him off, but you stepped in and punched him in the face to wipe off that cocky smirk.

The men slammed the blond onto a table and beat him with one punch after the other.

“Guys, he’s had enough,” you yelled.

The man punching Kirk finally dropped him once a whistle was heard. Your eyes widened as you turned to the source of the noise only to see your father, Captain Christopher Pike.

“Outside, all of you. Now” he announced.

A chorus of “yes, sir” was heard as everyone made their way out of the bar. Your father saw you and shook his head as you gave him a shy shrug. Nyota wrapped her arm around yours and you walked out together.

The two men were sitting around a small table. “You know, I couldn’t believe it when the bartender told me who you are,” Pike chortled.

“Who the hell am I, Captain Pike,” Kirk mocked.

“You father’s son.”

Kirk ignored his statement and announced, “can I get another one,” to the bartender behind him.

“For my dissertation I was assigned to the U.S.S. Kelvin. Something I admired about your dad, he didn’t believe in no-win scenarios.”

Kirk took out the tissues out of nose and grumbled, “sure learned his lesson.”

Pike continued, “well that depends on how you define winning. You’re here, aren’t you? You know that instinct to leap without looking that was his nature too. And in my opinion, it something Starfleet’s lost.”

“Why are you talking to me man,” Kirk shook his head as he laughed.

“Because I looked up your file while you were drooling on the floor. Your aptitude tests are off the charts, so what is it? You like being the only genius-level repeat-offender in the Midwest?”

“Maybe I love it.”

“So your dad dies, you can settle for a less-than-ordinary life. Or do you feel like you were meant for something better? Something special? Enlist in Starfleet.”

“Enlist,” Kirk chuckled in disbelief. “You guys must be way down on your recruiting quarter for the month.”

Pike eyed Kirk for a moment the said, “you know, you remind me of my daughter. Always has a knack for trouble… and stubborn.”

“Then why aren’t you talking to her right now” Kirk answered back

“Because she actually got up and did something for herself. Rather than waste good potential,” Pike retorted. “Starfleet could use you. You can be an officer in four years, you can have your own ship in eight. You understand what the Federation is, don’t you? It’s important. It’s a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada.”

“We done?”

“I’m done,” Pike responded then stood up. “Riverside shipyard. Shuttle for new recruits leaves tomorrow at 0800.” Pike gave a tight-lipped smile then continued, “your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved 800 lives, including your mother’s and yours. I dare you to do better.”

Kirk arrived on his bike and stopped near you and your father. He tossed his keys to a passing worker after they complimented his ride. He walked to your father and said, “four years? I’ll do it in three.” He then looked at you and beamed, “hello again, beautiful,” then turned around to enter the shuttle.

Your father tilted his head towards you, “you’ve met Kirk,” he asked with a raised brow.

You cringed as you responded, “yes, I did.” After a moment of silence of waiting for his response you chimed, “ok! I’m going to go and take my seat.” Then you went on the tip of your toes as you gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you in a bit!” He slowly nodded making a face as though he was deep in thought.

On your way up the steps to the shuttle your father stammered, “it wasn’t like a date or anything, right?”

You laughed and shook your head, “I punched him” you reassured. He slowly let out a long breath and gave you a thumbs up.

You giggled slightly and turned on your heels and entered the shuttle. You saw Nyota and went towards her, only to notice that there weren’t any seats available beside her. She gave you an apologetic look and mouthed, “sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” you waved her off.

The only visible seats available were near Kirk. You sat beside him though leaving a seat between each other. “How’s your face,” you turned to smile at him. You watched as he opened his mouth only to be interrupted by a female officer and a man who were arguing as they entered the shuttle.

“I told you I don’t need a doctor. I am a doctor,” the man yelled.

“You need to get back to your seat.”

“I had one in the bathroom with no windows.

They kept at it until she said, “sir, for your own safely, sit down, or else I’ll make you sit down!”

That got him to keep quiet and sat down between you and Kirk. The man leaned over to Kirk and stated, “I may throw up on you. I’m choosing you over the beautiful girl beside me.” He motioned to you with his head. You looked down with a small smile as you pretended to not overhear the comment.

“Fair enough, but I think these things are pretty safe,” Kirk remarked.

“Don’t pander to me, kid. One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in 13 seconds. A solar flare might crop up, cook us in our seats. And wait till you’re sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles. See if you’re still so relaxed when your eyeballs are bleeding. Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence.”

“Well, I hate to break this to you, but Starfleet operates in space,” you chimed in.

“Yeah, well, I got nowhere else to go. The ex wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I’ve got left is my bones,” the man said as he took out a flask and took a sip. He offered to Kirk who accepted.

“Jim Kirk,” he introduced himself as he raised the flask then took a sip.

“McCoy. Leonard McCoy,” the man said as Kirk passed it back.

Leonard offered you the flask which you took, “pleasure to meet you Leonard.” You took a sip and placed it into his awaiting hand.

“You going to tell me, us, your name or should we just keep calling you beautiful,” Kirk smiled.

“It’s Pike, Y/n Pike.”

#star trek #star trek imagine #james t kirk #james t kirk imagine #james t kirk x reader #jim kirk #jim kirk imagine #jim kirk x reader #captain kirk #captain kirk imagine #captain kirk x reader

95 notes · View notes

ravens-words · 4 years

Text

Tell me how all this (and love, too) will ruin us

For @bamfalexmanes ❤ Elle, I hope you like it

The one in which Michael and Alex have a talk, some truths are revealed and a new hope is born.

This is a sequel of a sort to we burned down our paper house.

Happy Reading!!

"Are you okay?"

Michael looked up quickly, too quickly if the way his vision blurred for a second was an indication, and found Alex looking down at him with a frown of concern.

Michael hated it. He also wanted to put his lips to those three lines that resided in between his brows and kiss it away.

"I'm fine," he mumbled pathetically, looking away before his thoughts became too hard to conceal and showed up on his face. Neither of them would be ready for that.

Alex crouched beside him and Michael's eyes flickered up to meet his. He smiled, and Michael's treacherous heart beat a hard rhythm against his chest. "You're not fine," he told him casually.

Michael laughed bitterly. Of course he wasn't alright. There was an ancient, psychotic alien who looked like his brother's twin living in his bunker. Max wasn't getting any better, seemed to be even more manic now that that they'd found Jones. And Michael had to live everyday with a regret that threatened to choke him alive every single time he saw Alex and Forrest together. When he'd walked away in the middle of Alex's song, he hadn't been thinking clearly. He'd been so sure that it wasn't their time, that they would have time later, that they weren't ready in that moment. He'd known, in his bones, that he and Alex were meant for each other. They'd loved each other through the worst of times, and still do after almost twelve years. Whatever thing he had with Forrest wouldn't last, Michael had convinced himself, but- Alex needed it. Alex needed something light and good and happy and fleeting, just like what he'd had with Maria.

After he had tried with Maria, Michael's belief that Alex was the only one for him had been cemented. Selfleshly, he'd wanted the same to happen for Alex. Michael had desperately needed that reassurance.

It had backfired on him, because of all the things he'd accounted for in the minute it took to make the decision to walk away, he hadn't accounted for the most important one; having to watch the love of his life be with someone else. Having to watch him kiss someone else, laugh with someone else and wishing that it was him.

Jealousy wasn't a new thing to Michael. He'd spent his whole life, it felt like, being jealous. Jealous of Max and Isobel for getting the family while he got bounced around from home to home. Jealous of Max and Isobel when they literally killed people, and yet his life turne out to be the worst out of the three of them. Jealous of Isobel for getting married to the person she loved and building herself a home (before Noah turned out to be a serial killer). And now, jealous of Forrest Long, of all people, for getting to be with Alex in a way Michael had not been in all the years they'd been in love.

"This is about me and Forrest, isn't it?" Even though it was phrased as one, Michael knew it wasn't a question.

He didn't answer. Ashamed and guilty and relieved that Alex got it without him having to say it.

Alex sighed. "I watched you be with Maria for a lot longer, you know," he told him mildly, tone almost teasing.

Michael found himself silent again, because yeah, Alex had watched him be with Maria for nearly a year and had been gracious about it. He had been supportive, even, according to Maria. Michael wanted to do the same, had been trying for a little less than a month with varying degrees of success.

He didn't know how Alex could stand it.

"It's not about you and Forrest." One last ditch effort to be the friend and not the helpless fool in love.

It didn't work. Of course it didn't work.

Alex raised his eyebrows. "Did you really think that would work?"

Michael shrugged. "Figured I had to try."

Alex shifted from his crouch to sit beside Michael, and their shoulders brushed. The touch sent shivers down his spine and he had to fight the instinct to lean closer. Damn, but he missed the closeness, the comfort of it. "Well, now that you have, are you ready to tell me why you're here on your own instead of being inside with all of us?"

"Is it me?" He found himself asking. He sounded like a small child and found himself looking down to avoid looking at Alex.

He felt Alex stiffen beside him And immediately wanted to take it back. He didn't, though. After a few seconds of silence, Alex relaxed and let out a slow breath. "Something that you never managed to understand, Michael, was that at no point in the past eleven years was I ever ashamed of you. It was never about you. It was my father, it was the military, it was me. But it was never you. That is, until you chose to do something illegal on our first date."

Michael looked up at the sky and shook his head as they both laughed softly. He marveled at how far they had come, that they could laugh about something that had torn them apart two years ago.

Once their laughter died down, Alex spoke again. "You have to understand that my father made me live in fear for a really, really long time. He- I was thirteen when I figured out I was gay, and twelve when he did. From that moment on, I lived in constant fear of being myself. The only time I wasn't aftlraid was with you. And we both know how that turned out."

It hurt to hear, because Alex didn't deserve any of it, but knowing that he had somehow helped, that Alex wasn't ashamed of him, was a balm on a gaping wound that had been bleeding for a long time.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Alex smiled, reassuring. "Now get up, suck it up and come inside." Though outwardly his demeanor was light, Michael could tell this was a test. He'd never failed a test in his life and he was damned if he was going to start now.

He got up, followed Alex inside and sucked it up.

.................

"Guerin!"

Michael grinned automatically and spun around to greet Alex. To his surprise, he wasn't alone. The man with him was just a little shorter, but was built like a tank. Alex clapped him on the shoulder and smiled at him. "Hey."

"Hi."

Alex gestured at the man. "This is Bradley Williams, a buddy of mine."

"Hey, man," Michael took over the introduction. "Michael Guerin. Nice-" he trailed off as the man's eyes widened and his head spun around to look at Alex with a speed that had him wondering how his head was still attached. "-to meet you?" He looked between the two men. The man was grinning ear to ear now, while Alex was glaring daggers at him. "Am I missing something here?"

"Yes," Bradley said.

"No," Alex countered, in a way that left no room for argument.

Michael was surprised to see the man back off immediately and wondered exactly how the two had met. It must have been the air force, but it wouldn't explain the evident closeness. The two seemed like brothers.

"Listen, his car is a mess. But h's stubborn and won't admit he can't fix it. Can you take a look at it and tell him he needs to have a professional fix it?" The last part, though addressed to him, was said pointedly in Bradley's direction.

"Sure thing."

The car was a mess. Alex took too much pleasure in being right and processed to give Bradley shit the second Michael confirmed it. Seeing Alex like this, happy and carefree, never failed to make Michael's heart swell with fondness for him. It was seriously a problem.

About fifteen minutes later, Alex got a call and stepped away from them. "You know, this is gonna take a while, so you can just go and I'll give you or Alex a call when it's ready."

"Nah," he said with forced casualness. "I'm good here. Plus, he's probably gonna go back to the base- yup, there's that look." When Bradley pointed the bottle in Alex's direction, Michael's eyes followed and noticed the serious look on his face.

"I gotta go back to the base," he told them, putting the phone in his back pocket. "Let me drive you to the house?"

Bradley leaned back in his chair. "I'm good here, cap; you go ahead."

They locked eyes and after a few seconds, Alex nodded, giving him a wry smile. Michael felt like an outsider as they seemed to have an entire conversation without saying a thing.

Once Alex was gone, the other man turned to him. "Forgive my bluntness, but why the hell aren't you two together?"

Michael's head whipped around and he stared at the man, pissed off and in awe in equal measures. Had he managed to figure out Michael was in love with Alex from spending twenty minutes with them? "What?" He spluttered.

Bradley shook his head. "He told me about you. The way-"

Michael's whole world did a somersault around its axis. "He- he talked about me?"

The older man's forehead crinkled in a frown, but then his features softened and he let out a huff of a breath that could have been a laugh. "Yes, he talked about you. Not much, mind you. He kept a lot of things close to the vest back then, still does, but- everyone in our unit kinda knew there was someone special for him back home, way before he told me."

Someone special. At a time where he'd thought of himself as an afterthought, a dirty secret, in Alex's life, the people closest to him at the time had thought he was someone special.

"Every time he talked to you on the phone, he'd be settled, more- alive, I guess- for the next couple of days. Sometimes, I'd even catch him on the phone with you and he'd have this look on his face and I just knew."

"Knew what?" Michael managed to say, heart in his throat.

"That he loved you. And from what I've seen, that hasn't changed, has it?"

A part of Michael wanted to snap at him and tell him to mind his own business. Another part wanted to get down on his knees and beg him to tell him more.

"What did he say about me?" He found himself asking, voice barely above a whisper.

"That you're smart. Kind. That he- he was bleeding out in my arms and all he could talk about was you." Bradley sucked in a harsh breath, and Michael envied his ability to do that, because couldn't draw a single breath. "He was dying, and all he wanted was for you to know; practically begged me to be the one to tell you."

"That he loved me?" Michael's voice cracked, but he ignored it, eyes on the other man.

"That he'd died, Michael. He didn't want you to keep guessing, I think." Bradley looked him straight in the eye and Michael saw the tears that had gathered there. It made Michael feel better about the tears in his own eyes.

"If something does happen to you, half the town will know before I do and that's because no one would even think to tell me." He remembered saying on the last phone call they'd had, nearly four years ago.

He'd been angry when he'd said that; angry and afraid. The idea that his words had stayed with Alex, that he'd been thinking about him when he'd been bleeding, dying, broke his heart and mended it in the same breath. Not for the first time, he ached for him, for them, for everything they could have been and everything they could have had.

Michael stopped working on the car and sat down heavily in the chair next to him, and Bradley kindly offered him the rest of his beer, eyes forward, probably to give Michael the opportunity to breakdown in peace. But Michael didn't fall apart, he just drank the beer and then stood up to finish the work, not saying a word even when Bradley stood up and walked closer.

"I met Forrest yesterday. Between you and me? I'm rooting for you," he told him with a smirk, patting his shoulder twice before he left, leaving a stunned Michael in his wake.

......

It took two days for Michael to gather up the courage to talk to Alex. When he reached his house, he found him on a lawn chair, headphones in and his head bopping to the beat of a song only he knew. Michael stopped to stare at him, and really, it was ridiculous how far he was gone for the man that he was staring at the back of his head like a lovesick fool.

He took a few steps closer, until he was beside him and when Alex looked up and smiled at him, Michael smiled back automatically. "Writing another song about me?" He asked, teasing.

"No," Alex told him with a laugh. "I think that was a one time thing."

His disappointment must have showed on his face because Alex shook his head. "Not many people have a song written about them, you know, you shouldn't get greedy," he chided and stood up.

He didn't know what made him do it; maybe it was Bradley's words ringing in his ears- he was bleeding out in my arms and all he cared about was you. He wanted you to know; that he'd died.- but the second he was on his feet, Michael pulled him into his arms. When Alex didn't push him away; when he pulled him in tighter instead, Michael buried his nose in the juncture between his neck and his shoulder and took in a lungful of air.

"Are you okay?"

Michael nodded against his neck and Alex's arms tightened around him. He tried desperately to think of something to say, tried to pull away, but found that he couldn't.

"Is this about your talk with Bradley?"

Michael nodded again and buried himself further in Alex's arms.

Alex didn't seem to mind.

They stood like that for longer than they should have, but neither of them seemed to want to let go, so they didn't. Until, eventually, they had to.

"Want to come inside for a beer?" He asked him gently.

Michael wanted more than that. Michael Wanted to hold him until the image of him, bleeding out in Bradley's arms while Michael was blissfully unaware, stopped haunting him in his dreams. He wanted to ask him to sing him the song again, just to hear the rest of it, to be able to appreciate it, to have a reminder that Alex hadn't forgotten about him. Michael wanted to talk to him about the mistakes they'd made and the future they could still have together. But, like he had a month ago, he knew it still wasn't their time.

So he settled for accepting the beer. And being Alex's friend. He owed it to the both of them to try. And he owed it to Alex to back off and let him be happy with someone else since that was what he wanted.

"Yeah." He smiled. "Yeah, I'd love a beer."

#alex manes #michael guerin #malex #malex fic #EJ Writes

55 notes · View notes

artificial-daydream · 4 years

Text

reach the zenith

Rating: T Fandom: Bleach (Ichigo x Rukia) Summary: They both had a fight and for the whole week, Rukia decided to avoid him like the plague. Ichigo would have tried to approach her faster if only she didn’t have different alpha’s scent marks covering her every day. Pissed was putting it mildly. (ABO Verse)

Notes: Participation of IchiRuki month, day 3 and 12. Also posted this on my ao3. Majorly inspired by @everything-withered ‘s work, “Push My Luck”.

Big thanks to @hesesols because halfway through this fic, I was on major block but their participation pushed me to struggle through it.

Today sucks. No, scratch that- this whole week sucks.

Right at the corner of the hallway, Ichigo can see the person he has been looking for these past days. He can recognize those pair of violet eyes anywhere in the crowds. However, before he could actually approach her, she had fled from his sight- again.

He sniffed the spot Rukia had been. The stink of another alpha was thick enough to overlap her own scent. Ichigo snarled- That’s it. He didn’t care if Rukia was still mad. He had to talk to her.

To live up to his determination, he stormed out to the places Rukia usually went to the university. However, the omega in her was so fast to figure out how near he was, he didn’t even catch anything besides her leftover smell.

A vein popped on his forehead. She thinks she can get away avoiding him like this? Oh no, today she won’t. Ichigo could barely hold his anger for a second, let alone another 24 hours.

Ichigo sighed. He was about to go crazy with all these pent-up frustrations. They both had a fight and for the whole week, Rukia decided to avoid him like the plague. Ichigo would have tried to approach her faster if only she didn’t have different alpha’s scent marks covering her every day. Pissed was putting it mildly.

This was all Rukia’s fault. Usually, he would let her cool off a bit before actually chasing her down, but his patience was running thin. She really had the nerve to let another alpha marked their scent on her just to drive him off. Contrary to her belief, the scent of another alpha taunts him. If he knew who the alpha was, he definitely would have ripped their head off.

He almost fist-bumped himself when he discovered her figure from the distance- near enough for him to recognize her, but far enough for Rukia to not discover him. This was it. His chance was handed to him on a silver plate; he just had to figure out the best approach so she could never squirm her way out.

The best course of action was the last thing expected. Ichigo decided to face Rukia upfront, and once she was caught off guard, he had his grip locked on her wrist; firm enough to keep her movements in bay.

His eyes glowered, his teeth gritted. “Where do you think you’re going?” He knew the woman in front of him would not be fazed by his intimidation; or even if she was, she would never show it. Yet there was something inside him roaring to be shown- to be acknowledged by his partner and needing attention.

The stink of another alpha was thicker once they met. He noted that she didn’t even try to conceal with blockers. The actuality nerved him. He felt her slight shudder when he instinctively growled. “Where I’m going is none of your business.” Violet eyes glared back unwaveringly at his strong stare.

“Look, Rukia,” Ichigo began, “the least you can do is tell me what went wrong.”

“Nothing went wrong.” Rukia replied in matter-of-fact tone.

“Then what the fuck are you so pissed off about?!”

“I am not pissed.”

Ichigo glares, “Don’t lie. You are mad because of what happened with Senna.”

“What happened? Oh, how you were on top of Senna that night when you knew she had been pining on you since the first semester?” Rukia fumed. “That has nothing to do with me.”

“You say that,” Ichigo began, “but you doused yourself with another alpha’s scent right the very next day.”

“That is an entirely different matter,” Rukia justified, “and you have no right to inquire about this subject.”

Ichigo scowls, “You don’t understand-”

“You’re right, I don’t,” Rukia cut off sharply, “and I don’t want to so just fuck off.”

You know Rukia was intensely furious once she emphasized swearing words in public. This time, he didn’t try to resist when she tried to break off his grip and walked away.

-----

It came close on blowing out of proportion.

The moment he interrupted, he wasn’t even trying to. Ichigo didn’t even plan on bothering her tonight, he only wanted to take a look of her from afar. He assumed he should wait for Rukia to calm down by the weekend and maybe the next Monday, they could talk. The plan was thrown out of the window, however, once he saw Rukia on the barstool with someone next to her.

At first he was only watching, his eyes attentively trying to make out their dialogue. The insistent alpha was coming close- too close to actual cross personal boundaries. At first it was palpable how much Rukia constrained herself. The crossing line was the moment that alpha actually tried to cop a feel.

It didn’t take long until Rukia decided to kick the alpha in the shin. Ichigo restrained himself on butting in because he knew Rukia could handle herself and for the love of Chappy, everyone knows how much she needed to blow off her steam. His plan went well until he saw Rukia getting hurt; the alpha actually dared to attack back and land a punch on her.

He just, snapped.

Everything went red. He didn’t think when he furiously launched. Ichigo didn’t even realize what happened after- his thoughts were filled with unyielding killing intent. He tried to calm himself but he was downright enraged. His shoulders were rigid, his throat felt tight. His whole muscles were tense and his eyes flared with full animosity.

A tug was felt on his sleeve. The familiar sweet scent reaches out slowly, crippling his senses and altered his attention. The alpha he just attacked fled in such hurry at the chance, lost in the crowds and forgotten by the more important presence across.

Once his head was starting to get clear, the first thing he felt was pair of soothing palms cupping his cheeks. His sights were still blurry and his knuckles felt sore.

“Ichigo, focus.”

And he did.

Once his sight was centered into one point, the blurry lines slowly came into apparent picture. The first thing he noticed was pair of violet eyes staring intensely towards him, locking him with the gaze that pierced something within him. He was heaving, gasping for air as sweats trickled his facial features- his whole body was trembling.

“Rukia,” he instinctively called out, flinching at his weakened voice as he frantically scanned her whole body. He searched for any possible bruises or scratches, but his roaming hands were halted before he could finish his attempt.

“You fool,” she barked, “you are more hurt than I am.”

He didn’t even realize until she stated so. Now that his attention averted to his own self, he noticed his sore knuckles were dripping with a mixture of his wound and the opponent’s blood. The sight was enough to make an eleven-year-old to grimace but-

“This is nothing,” Ichigo replied, “you’ve seen me ten times worse.”

Rukia frowned. She opened her mouth as if she was ready to counter back but then paused with no words coming out of the syllables. She decided to settle with a sigh, eyes still glaring as she tugged his shirt to follow her- so he did.

She led him to the parking lot, telling him to get his ass inside the car before drove it herself. The whole journey was filled with silence, then Rukia decided to drag him inside her flat so she can tend to his wound. Again, Ichigo complies- most of his intention was to make sure her flat wasn’t raided with the stink of another alpha.

He was ecstatic to learn it wasn’t. The living room was filled with the usual scent, no leftover of another person’s sleepover which meant Rukia did not actually sleep with anybody else. Once Rukia left to retrieve her first aid kit, Ichigo sat on the couch- the usual spot he trademarked inside Rukia’s flat.

Rukia came back with a box of kits with her. Once she began to treat his hands, Ichigo decided to break the silence.

“So,” he began, “you didn’t bring anyone here after all.”

“Bold of you to assume we weren’t doing it in his flat instead.” Rukia countered, head not looking up as she still concentrated on the task at hand.

Ichigo growls, “did you?”

“No.”

It was to be expected. No matter how angry Rukia was, she would still have common senses. There was no way she would actually bring herself to another alpha’s flat just to piss him off. Still, Ichigo needed to ask for confirmation anyway.

Once Rukia finished her treatment, she was about to head to the kitchen and return the kit. Before she could, her wrist was locked by Ichigo, his amber eyes now filled with certainty as he speaks, “We need to talk.”

The tone was final; without room for Rukia to argue. He was tired as hell and he was sure Rukia knew that. Probably being most of the reason why Rukia actually relented despite a full week of stubbornness.

“I don’t think there is anything we actually need to discuss.”

“Rukia,” Ichigo groaned in frustration, “tell me. What was the actual reason you have been avoiding me?”

There was the silence. It was always that pause of silence whenever Ichigo guessed something right. Something was bothering her but he didn’t know what.

Rukia sighs, finally relenting. “I know what you want to say.”

Ichigo furrows his eyebrows in confusion, “What do I want to say?”

“Don’t do this, Ichigo. Senna already reached out to me.” She said. “I just- I just needed time to prepare-”

“Hold on,” Ichigo cut her off, “Prepare for what?”

“For bracing myself to actually listen to you,” She inhaled, eyes averting his stare as she proceeds to say the next word, “because you want to say that Senna is your true mate.”

Ichigo blanked out, thinking he had actually heard that wrong. “I’m sorry, you were saying?”

“… That you and Senna are true mates.”

“And how the hell did you come up with that conclusion?”

Rukia frowns, “what do you mean? That night at the party proved everything.”

“You mean by me falling on top of Senna, either of us fully clothed, with no single strand of hair misplaced?”

“Wha- Fine, I was there before you two started, so what?” Rukia huffed. “Not changing the fact you two actually did the deed.”

“Oh my God,” Ichigo gaped, “you can’t be this stupid. I never did anything with Senna, there was nothing going on between me and her.”

“What?” Her brain trying to register the sudden take of information, “that can’t be, Inoue testified and everything…”

“I can’t believe you actually believed in Inoue.”

She glares, “Inoue likes you, Ichigo. Why would she actually said that about you and Senna if she wanted people to believe you like her?”

“Because,” Ichigo breathed, “she wanted us to grow apart,” then he actually delved deeper, “because I love you.”

Her eyes glisten in the soft flickering light, “you drank too much.”

“I didn’t drink. I was at the bar because I wanted to watch over you.”

Her train of thoughts stopped its tracks. Love was a heavy thing to weigh on, especially for Ichigo. He did not confess with a ‘like’, it was as if he was so sure about the way he was feeling- about where this was heading. Rukia couldn’t help but wonder how long had he known and controlled it by himself. Alphas were known to be adversely possessive.

Rukia did not immediately reply because this was not what she prepared herself for. There was Ichigo, her best friend in this lifetime professing his actual feeling they both had never bring up in their relationship.

“You can’t say that out of the blue,” Rukia muttered, “we never talked about any of this.”

There were many things to consider between them. What was the becoming of their relationship? What will go differently? What if they decided things were not working out- will they still be friends then? Even if they were, will things ever go the same?

“I’ve got to get it off my chest,” Ichigo admitted, “you keep speculating each time and I know this might ruin everything, but we can’t keep pushing it down- I can’t keep pushing it down because it’s driving me crazy. And,” he took a deep breath, “and if you don’t feel the same then-”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down your horses,” Rukia quickly cut him off, “and you say I’m the one who keeps speculating.”

Ichigo arches an eyebrow, “so does that mean you feel the same?”

“It’s funny, isn’t it.” Rukia considered with a glint of amusement. “That we both knew, but never said anything.”

“Never felt like it needed saying.” Ichigo’s gaze was intent, a finger teased over her lip as he leaned closer in half-whisper, “would you like me to say it now?”

Rukia hummed, slightly parting her lips in complement as she decided to reduce the distance between them. Once they were mere few centimeters apart, she swore her stomach did a flip.

“Maybe after,”

Then their lips met.

#ichiruki #Ichigo X Rukia #ichiruki fanfiction #ichiruki fanfic #ichiruki month #bleach #prompts #OTP Prompts #abo verse #ichiruki month 2020

28 notes · View notes

give-me-back-my-rhodey · 3 years

Text

You Jam My Gears

Link: Link to AO3

Title: You Jam my Gears

Creator: Purple_ducky00

For: @TolkienGurl for the @black-characters-matter-fest

Warnings: N/A

Rating: Gen

Pairing: SamRhodey

Summary: Based on the following prompt: Rhodey notices Sam among the new recruits of Avengers that Steve is training. He starts coming to Avengers' trainings to "watch", but he's secretly pining. Sam mistakes Rhodey's stares for critique/dislike and develops an attitude towards Rhodey. Whenever Rhodey and Sam have an opportunity to talk, Rhodey gets awkward and clams up which only reinforces Sam's belief that Rhodey doesn't like him. Rhodey doesn't understand why Sam is so standoffish and is a sad puppy. Eventually they pull their heads out of their asses and get together.

++ READ BELOW THE CUT ++

yOu shOULD gO hElP stEVe. Rhodey mocked Tony in his head. “It will be fun, he said.” He muttered. Today was not fun. He had come to the Avengers facility happy and cheerful; nothing could ruin his day… well, until he walked into the training room and saw the most beautiful man he has ever seen.

Sam Wilson, codename Falcon, was standing in the room talking to Romanov. Seeing him first, she waved at him. “Hey Rhodey! Come here; I want you to meet Sam. Sam, this is…”

“Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, I know.” Sam smiled. “He’s one of my heroes.”

Flustered, and totally not ready for this conversation, Rhodey just nodded and stared. After an awkward moment of silence for Rhodey’s dignity, he mumbled something about needing to find Steve and walked away as quickly as he could. Once out of earshot, he grumbled to himself. “Come on Rhodes, you’re smoother than this!”

+++++++++++++

Sam Wilson watched as Rhodes walked off. “Well, that was weird.” He commented.

“I agree.” Natasha eyed Rhodes’ retreating back. “That was extremely odd.”

“I guess I just figured he’d be glad to see me here. Does he want to be the only black guy on the team? Too bad for him because I’m sure as hell not going anywhere.”

Natasha just grinned that stupid sneaky smirk. “No, I don’t think that’s the case.”

“Whatever. It doesn’t matter either way. I’m here, and I’ve got more important things to worry about. Ready to start training?”

“Follow me, Sergeant Wilson.” Nat inclined her head to the training room.

Sam felt Rhodes’ eyes on him the entire time he trained. Rhodes and Steve were up on the balcony watching the training room below. He didn’t say a single word as Steve yelled orders; he just stared. Sam thought grimly that Rhodes was just waiting for him to mess up. Too bad because I’m gonna run this simulation perfectly.

“Sam! That was amazing! Great job!” Steve praised him once training was over. Rhodes was still just watching.

Natasha hip checked him. “Soooo, had to show off today, didn’t you?”

“I’m just showing him that I am damn good at my job. He won’t be able to find a reason to kick me off.”

“I… don’t think you’re seeing what I’m seeing, but think what you must. Now go shower, you stink.”

++++++++++++++++++++

“It’s not funny.” Rhodey grumbled.

Tony wiped tears off his face as he giggled. “Yes, it is! James Rhodes, the smoothest motherfucker in all of the science club in MIT, the man who met Whitney Houston and kept his cool, theee War Machine, theeeee Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, just froze up like Hammertech when he met Sam Wilson. I find this ridiculously funny.”

“You better watch it, or I’m going to tell Clint what happened the night of August 19th, 1994.”

“Ok, whoa, you don’t have to go that far.” Tony quickly sobered. “So, what are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know. Try to talk to him? Maybe it will get better each time?”

“Good luck.”

Rhodey didn’t appreciate Tony’s skepticism, but he understood why he would be . Every single time he saw Wilson, he would clam up and look for an escape route if needed.

“Hey, Rhodes. Steve asked me to ask you if you have any tips for flying in these formations? He said you created these systems, and I could use a little help.” Wilson approached him yesterday.

Rhodey had been caught unaware, but he was still able to go through the whole formation with Sam. Fiercely proud and defensive of his formations, Rhodey admitted that he was a bit touchy about improving. The conversation ended with him feeling more frustrated than before. This really was hopeless. Maybe he should quit and go back to being a lone peacekeeper.

++++++++++++++

Sam threw down his jacket as he stormed into his room. “That’s it, I’m done. If he doesn’t respect me, why the hell do I have to respect him?” Then he saw Natasha sitting on his windowsill, filing her nails. “Gah! How did you get in here? Why are you in here?”

“Sounds like Rhodes is getting under your skin.” Natasha mused. “I wonder why.”

“Because he’s treating me like I’m not worthy to be here! I feel like I’m more worthy than he is! Tony Stark basically gave him his suit, and everyone just accepted him! I had to work to be a part of the Falcon program.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“No, I don’t.” Sam wilted. “I still am so amazed with him, like he’s a frickin badass. Like maybe I have a tiny crush on him.” Natasha raised an eyebrow; he amended. “Ok more than a tiny crush, but he acts like I’m beneath him! Like I’m… I just think that if he’s not going to treat me like an equal, I don’t have to hang onto every word he says. I’m going to stand up for myself.”

“Ok.”

“Ok? That’s all you’ve got?”

“That’s all I’ve got.” Natasha grinned evilly. As she walked out, she called over her shoulder. “Now hurry up and shower. We have a loooong night ahead of us. Oh, hi Rhodey. Was gonna get some dinner, want to join?”

Sam didn’t hear Rhodes’ response. He was too busy stripping so he would seem busy if Rhodes decided to knock on his door. Thankfully the other man must have gone with Natasha, so Sam hopped in the shower. After a long, warm, steamy scrubbing, he dried off and dressed… only to find Natasha sitting on his couch. “You’re a piece of shit.” He told her.

“Come on. Let’s watch some Lord of the Rings.” She patted the couch beside her.

“I’m serious. Now he probably thinks we’re fucking or something.”

“I’m a lesbian, Samuel. And Rhodey knows that. “

“Still.”

Nat chose to ignore him as she turned on the TV. As this was his twenty-sixth time watching these movies, Sam could basically see them with his eyes closed. He kept facing the screen even as he thought about why Rhodes wouldn’t like him. What had he done?

++++++++++++++++++

“You gotta help me, man.” Rhodey flopped on Tony’s couch as soon as he walked in the lab.

“More man problems?”

“He yelled at me today! I was trying to talk to him about certain maneuvers, and he asked me why I didn’t think he knew that already. He was like ‘I was in the Air Force too, you know. What is it about me that makes you think I’m inferior?’ Tony, he thinks I don’t like him! And you know, I couldn’t be like ‘Um, actually, I just don’t know how to talk to you because you’re beautiful.’ Like, do you know how lame that sounds? And don’t you laugh, Tony! Don’t you laugh!”

Tony lifted his hands in the air. “Not laughing. See? What do you want me to do about it?”

“I don’t know. Can you talk to him for me?”

“Have you ever done that for me?”

“No.”

“A part of me wants me to tell you to grow up and solve your own problems, but also, I have never been around him, so I don’t know what he’s like. I’ll think about it.” Tony leaned on the side of the counter.

“It’s just so dumb, because I can talk to everyone. I looked a crazy dude with a gun straight in the eyes and talked him out of shooting everyone in the vicinity before shooting himself. I’ve gotten laid before using only my tongue as foreplay. I’ve delivered speeches in front of millions of people. But talking to Sam Wilson? No can do.”

“Men do become fools when they fall in love.” Tony side-eyed him laughingly. “Now, come here. I need your help on this. Do you see this piece of code? It’s not working right…”

“Yeah, I can take a look at that.” The two spent the rest of the night figuring out code for Tony’s new program.

++++++++++++++++++++

“What did you do to Rhodes?” Natasha swung Sam’s door open.

“Nothing. What are you talking about?”

“Tony wants you to visit him in the Tower today. Sounds like you’re in hot water.”

Sam groaned. “Are you serious? Rhodes can’t take a little backtalk , so he needs Iron Man to step in?” Shaking his head, he tacked on. “Man, I’ll go, but geez.”

A few hours later, Sam landed on the landing deck of Stark Tower. FRIDAY greeted him at the door. Hello, Sergeant Wilson. Boss is in his lab. Take the elevator to the 19th floor.

“Thanks FRIDAY.” Sam was trying to figure out what he’d say when Tony Stark confronted him about Rhodes.

As he walked out of the elevator, Stark’s door whooshed open. No one came out, so Sam took it as an invitation to enter. He stood there awkwardly until Tony looked up from his project due to FRIDAY’s prompting. “Oh, hey Wilson. Sorry, didn’t hear you come in. Come here, take a look at this. Was wondering if it’s something you’d like to have.”

The thing which Tony was talking about, was a small drone, bearing the colors of the Falcon suit. Sam eyed it critically, wondering if it was a bribe. “If I take it, what do you want from me?”

“Steve didn’t tell you?” Tony looked surprised. “I make most of the Avengers armor and outfits, and I like to tech them up. This drone will fit right on your jetpack. He's a learning AI so you can train him how you want.”

“And that’s all you wanted me to come for?”

“…Yeah, pretty much? Was there something else you needed that I forgot? I do that often.”

Sam felt foolish. “No, I just thought you were going to tell me to be nice to Rhodes or something.”

“Oh, well, you’re allowed to have your own opinion about people. I personally don’t see why anyone would be angry with him, but I’m not going to judge you for disliking my Honeybear.”

“Are you two dating?”

“Oh no. Can you imagine? I’d probably love it, but he needs someone more down to earth than me.” Tony laughed. “He’s the best. I love him so much – platonically, you know – and he’s always there for me. You get what I mean, right?"

At that moment, who should walk through the door but Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes? “Tones.” He said in a strangled voice. “Why is he here?”

“Oh, yeah, he’s the greatest.” Sam turned to Tony dryly. “If you’re still offering the drone, I’ll gladly accept but I don’t want to be here anymore.”

“Wait. I think I see what’s happening here. Both of you, sit down now.” Both men stood still where they were. Tony snapped his fingers. “Sit. Now.” When they complied, he resumed. “First, let this disclaimer be that I am not a licensed therapist, and secondly, you may not use this same method against me at a later time. Now, Sam, why don’t you tell Rhodey how you feel about him?”

Sam muttered. “This is stupid." He took a breath, looked at Rhodes and started "Ok. Rhodes, when I heard you were coming to watch training that first day, I was so excited. You were a big hero of mine, and you piloted an Iron Man suit. You can’t get much cooler than that. Then I meet you, and you basically dismiss me. I brushed it off, thinking you might have been late or something that day. But then time passes, I see that you’re good friends with everyone else at the Compound… except me. And you’re overly critical about every single damn thing I do.”

“Because I’m not halfway in love with anyone else in the Compound!” Rhodes blurted. “Oh shit. See, this is what happens, Tony! Why are you making me talk to him?”

“Wait. You’re… Hold up! There is too much happening all at once. Tony, did you set this up?”

“I plead not guilty. I had no idea Platypus would be coming here. Besides, why would I talk him up when I know he’s in earshot. That’s not something best friends do.”

That earned Tony a bit of a suspicious stare from Sam. “Okayyyy… and Rhodes – Jim – did you just say you are halfway in love with me?”

“Well, I mean. You’re really attractive and like, super badass.” Rhodes stumbled on his words. “And-and you’re so outgoing and friendly, and…”

“Let me step in and save his life and dignity. Rhodey is usually so calm, cool, and collected, no matter the circumstances. The fact that he can barely make a full sentence around you speaks volumes about your effect on him.” Tony interrupted Rhodes’ rant.

Rhodes deflated. “Yeah, what he said.”

“Ok, well then, I’ll make the first move. James Rhodes, would you like to get dinner and a movie with me tomorrow night?” Sam invited.

“I’d like that.”

“Then it’s a date. Thank you, Stark, for helping us figure this all out. Let me know when that bad boy is finished.” He pointed to the drone. “I’m gonna name him Redwing.”

#marvel black characters matter 2021 #samrhodey #misunderstandings #dumbasses #rhodeytony friendship #samnat friendship

3 notes · View notes

kpopfromtheblock · 5 years

Text

a/n ⇾ so this ends pretty abruptly bc i’m not good at ending stories so boop… sorry! i hope that you guys enjoy it nonetheless. i might do a part two but it’s not set in stone as i have other stories i want to get out first. thank you guys so much for reading and for all your love and support! ✨

LIFE WITH BANGTAN | ot7

007

ALSO HOW F*CKING GOOD DO THEY LOOK IN THIS GIF?!!!!! I’M-

genre ⇾ fluff, comedy, implied smut, bts crack?

pairing ⇾ bts x fem reader

summary ⇾ leave it to your seven boyfriends to have a full ass debate about who is the better kisser and leave it to them to make you decide.

warning ⇾ there is a lot of headass behavior going on in this. if you squint, there some dirty talk (talks of hard-ons, wetness, horniness) — usual warnings: cringy-ness and swearing.

words ⇾ 4,297

. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . * ⁺ ⁺

“What is so important that you had to wake me up from a nap? An amazing one, might I add.” You say as you stroll into the living room with Jimin’s arm linked with your own.

Jin, Taehyung and Jungkook are scattered around the room when the pair of you step in.

You were peacefully asleep in Yoongi’s room, trying to catch up on the rest you missed the night before. Things were going well until Jimin came waltzing in the room, frantically shaking you awake. “I told you we have something to ask you.” He reminds, moving from beside you to join his members.

“What is it?” You ask, sleepily rubbing your eyes as you stand behind the couch, waiting for an explanation. “Come sit Princess.” Jin says sweetly whilst patting on his lap.

You don’t hesitate to walk over to him. You lazily drag your feet across the floor, making your way over to the oldest member. You sit in his lap and he instantly wraps his arms around your waist, pulling your closer to him and resting his cheek on your arm. You smile at the close contact and place your arm around his shoulder before bring your hand up to stroke your fingers through the hair at the back of his head. “Whats going on?” You question with a curious brow raised.

“They want you to pick who the better kisser is.” Jungkook who is immersed in a video game (like always), blurts out for the first time since you entered the room.

“I’m going back to sleep.” You say immediately after he finishes his sentence. You stand up to make your way back to Yoongi’s room, not wanting any part in the foolishness you know is about to take place but Jin isn’t having it.

The oldest member pulls you back down on his lap almost as fast as you stood up to exit.

“Not so fast.” He says.

“You guys can’t be serious.” You say in disbelief as you look at each of your boyfriends. They haven’t moved a muscle and are as calm as ever, making it seem as though what they are asking you is the most normal thing in the world... Truthfully, it isn't the the craziest thing you’ve heard them debate about but it sure as hell isn’t the most common either.

“We are very serious.” Taehyung brings you out of your thoughts, He hasn’t glanced at you since you entered the room. Much like Jungkook he is far too occupied by the dark colors of whatever violent, intense video is on the TV screen.

“Baby, all you have to do is tell them that I’m the best kisser in the house and you can go right back to sleep.” Jimin is sitting on the couch, now giving you his undivided attention. The pout on his lips is hard to resist but you do your best. You will not entertain their fuckery… Not tonight anyway. Not when you are exhausted beyond belief and Jin should know… He’s the one who kept you up all night…

He probably would’ve woken up this morning wanting more of you, if you hadn’t snuck away to cuddle with Yoongi at the crack of dawn.

“Why would you ask her to lie like that when we all know the truth.” Taehyung says.

“Which is that I give the best kisses.” Jin rebuttals.

“Let me go Jin.” Jin ignores your words and instead decides to grip your waist tighter, holding you in place so you are practically glued to his lap. You roll your eyes and sigh in frustration.

“This is ridiculous.” You groan.

Leave it to your boyfriends to have a full ass debate about something so utterly dumb and leave it to them to put you right in the middle of said debate.

“I know, which is why you need to let these inexperienced fools know that I am in fact the champion of kissing. My lips were made for it. No one can ever deny me when their lips touch mine and that is a fact.” Jin says proudly. There is confidence dripping from his words and as much as you don’t want to giggle, you really can’t help it.

Jin is hilarious, especially when he isn’t trying to be.

“What did I just walk into?” Namjoon says as he walks back into the dorm with a few boxes of pizza in hand. Yoongi not far behind with a case of soju and a two liter bottle of cola.

You assume that Namjoon has heard the last bit of Jin’s sentence, the look of confusion on his face tells you so.

“Joon please save me.” You whine, reaching your hands out for him like a child would if they wanted to be picked up. “The guys are forcing me to choose who the better kisser is amongst the seven of you. Isn’t that ridiculous?” You ask, hoping he will validate what you know is true which is that, this whole conversation is indeed ridiculous.

“Seriously?” Yoongi says before shaking his head. With a sigh falling from his lips, he walks around Namjoon to put the drinks on the counter. He then walks over to the cabinet to pull out a shot glass. ‘Same Yoongs, same.’ You think to yourself, also feeling like you need a shot of soju after dealing with the other men around you.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous, especially when everyone knows that I have the best lips in the house.” Namjoon states, walking further into the kitchen to put the pizza boxes down.

Your mouth falls open slightly in shock.

Is Namjoon really engaging in this nonsense? You must be hearing things.

“I BEG YOUR PARDON!” Jin shouts, almost blowing your ear off in the process. You squeal and hold your hand over your ear. The pain in your eardrum is evident. “Sorry Princess.” He says sweetly whilst rubbing your back to sooth you. “BUT I BEG YOUR PARDON!” He shouts again, just as loud as before.

“Hello?” You say out loud, more to yourself than to anyone else in the room... You just want to make sure you can still hear after having Jin yell in your ear not once, but twice in the span of two seconds…

You think your voice sounds a bit different, almost muffled but you don’t have time to dwell on the fact that you might, probably be deaf in one ear now.

“You heard me. Best. Lips. In. The. House.” Namjoon repeats and you sit there, on Jin lap, completely flabbergasted by what you are kind of hearing.

“He’s not lying.” Jimin responses, sending a wink in Namjoon’s direction. The older boy becomes fluster instantly. His ears turning a pretty shade of red.

Namjoon averts his gaze from Jimin to focus on the box of pizza in front of him. His dimples make an appearance when a shy smirk forms on his lips. It’s cute… ‘Namjoon is so cute.’ You think.

You look over at Jimin, to see a shit-eating grin plastered on his face as he watches Namjoon’s boyish behaviors make an appearance…

Jimin knows exactly what he’s doing and it amazes you… It amazes you how he has the ability to make anyone, literally anyone, flustered. He’s that charming.

“Ok but best lips doesn’t mean best kisser and I personally think Hobi Hyung has the best lips, just saying.” Jungkook mentions. You shake your head… As much as you try to fight it, there is a small smile starting to form on your lips. The conversation that is taking place in front of you is so incredibly stupid that all you can do smile and shake your head... This your life now... Arguing about who kisses the best.

The thought makes you roll your eyes for the thousand time tonight.

“Are you guys aware of how dumb this conversation is?” You finally say what you’ve been thinking.

“I know Princess so please tell them that this is pointless because I am actually the better kisser. Science has proven this already.” Jungkook scoffs at this before shaking his head in disapproval. “I’ve kissed you before Hyung…” Jungkook says. “And you’re not the good.” He blurts out. Jin gasps, placing his hand over his chest dramatically. “I’m devestated.” Jin starts, his voice is laced with disappointment. “I can’t believe that you can sit here and lie to my face like this.” He adds and you can’t hold your laughter in any longer.

You burst into fits of giggles and it is so infectious that Jin, Tae and Jimin can’t help but laugh along with you despite not knowing what is so funny.

“Why are you laughing?” Jin questions but before you can answer, you hear Hoseok’s voice come from around the corner.

You are just now realizing that he hasn’t been in the room the whole time. You were so shocked by the idiots around you, that you hadn’t noticed he was missing.

“Ok so the store didn’t have any strawberry milk left...” Hobi begins as he walks into the living with two plastic bags in his hand. You assume he went to get a bunch of snacks from the convenient store that was conveniently placed just a block away from the dorm.

“What did I miss?” He asks after looking up to find everyone gathered in the living room/kitchen. “Finally, an intellectual.” You say in relief. “Babe, please tell your brothers that this…” You decide that you will no longer call it a debate as it is not serious enough (or at all for that matter) to be considered one. “This foolishness about who the better kiss is, is stupid.” You groan out. Hoseok chuckles. “Are you guys seriously arguing about that? How old are we? Ten?” He says mockingly, dropping the bag of snacks on the counter.

“Thank you!” You say, removing yourself from Jin’s laugh to make your way over to Hobi.

You wrap your arms around his waist, embracing him in a warm back hug. You press your cheek against his back and breathe him in, admiring the smell of his cologne mixed with the fresh air from outside.

Being in Hoseok’s presence is like a breath of fresh air after sitting in a room with six guys who are apparently sharing one brain cell. You love them to death of course, but sometimes they can be quite the handful.

Hoseok chuckles and turns around in yours arms so that he can wrap his around you. “You guys are stressing my Angel out with your stupidity.” He says, placing a sweet kiss on the top of your head whilst stroking your back softly. You nuzzle further into him and close your eyes. You could easily fall back asleep in his arms right now…

“She wouldn’t be stressed if she would just tell everyone that I am the better kisser.” Sassy Jin is in full effect and if you weren’t so nicely wrapped up in Hobi’s arms, you would’ve shot him a death glare but you are too pre-occupied with the warmth and comfort of the main dancer, to care.

“But thats not true.” Jungkook speaks up again. You sigh, having had enough of the idiocy happening around you. “Fine. You guys really want me to pick who I think the best kisser is?” You say, finally deciding to give in.

“Yes.” Jin, Jungkook and Taehyung say in unison. You remove your arms from around Hobi to walk back into the living room. You take a quick glance down the hallway… ‘I could just make a run for it and lock the door.’ You think but you know you wouldn’t make it very far.

You’re fast but the guys are much faster.

“It’s Joonie.” You admit. Namjoon nearly chokes on his pizza, his eyes bulging out of his head at the sound of his name falling from your lips. “nAmJoOn?” Jungkook and Jin speak at the same time once again. You nod your head in response. “SERIOUSLY?” The look on Jin’s face is a mixture of confusion and bewilderment. “Yeah seriously?” Namjoon is in disbelief as well.

“Why do you sound so surprised Joonie? Didn’t you say you had the ‘Best. Lips. In. The House.’?” You question, mocking his tone from earlier.

“I was kidding…” He confesses.

“Well I think you’re an excellent kisser.” You inform him and once again he blushes.

“I would’ve understood, if you picked Suga Hyung but Namjoon Hyung?” Tae says as he puts down his game controller. He gets up from the couch and walks into the kitchen to grab himself a slice of pizza. “Me too!” Jungkook says, wanting Taehyung to also bring him a slice.

“What’s that supposed mean?” Joon says defensively, referring to Tae’s statement. “What does Suga Hyung have that I don’t?” He adds.

Meanwhile Yoongi is sitting on a bar stool, pouring himself another shot of soju, looking completely unbothered, as always. “Please don’t involve me.” He says before throwing back the shot.

It seems that he’s gotten halfway through the bottle in the short amount of time it has taken him to sit down on a stool and open the drink.

“He does that thing with his tongue.” Tae says smirking. You can tell by the look on his face that he is currently having a flashback of That Tongue Thing™ that Yoongi does.

A thing with which you happen to be very familiar with. “Oh yea..” You say, voice dream as you have a little flashback of your own of the last time you and Yoongi had a some alone time. The smirk on your face lets Taehyung know that you know exactly what he’s referring to. “You know what I’m talking about, don’t you Darling?” He asks you. Theres a mischievous glint in his eyes and for some reason it makes your face heat up. You nod your head in response, afraid your voice will embarrass you. You clear your throat before speaking again. “Yes… But I still choose Namjoon.” You stand by your decision.

“Why though? What is so special about Joon’s kisses?” Jin ask curiously…

“If I didn’t know any better Hyung, I’d say that you were jealous...” Jimin teases.

“I am not. I just want to know what makes his kisses so much better than mine.” Jin admits. You can hear the bitterness in his voice but you won't call him out on it.

“Joonie’s lips are just really soft... And he’s always gentle...” You praise Namjoon and he smiles brightly at you, showcasing his beautiful dimples again. “I thought you liked my kisses…” Jin says solemnly. “I do… Just not all the time. Sometimes you’re a bit rough and you bite a little hard.” You say truthfully.

You didn’t want to hurt Jin’s feelings but you did want to honest. This isn’t to say that Jin is a terrible kiss because he isn’t but, he could be a little softer.

Jungkook snorts and Jin rolls his eyes at the younger member before bringing his attention back to you. “Remind me to never bless your lips with mine again.” Jin threatens and you pout. “C’mon Jinnie, don’t be like this.” You coo, walking back over to him to sit back in his lap. “Just be a little gentler.” You say, placing a sweet kiss on his cheek.

“I’ll try.” He says, unable to stay mad at you.

“Thats all I’m asking for.”

He smiles at you whilst wrapping his arms back around your waist. “Now what is this Tongue Thing™ Yoongi does, that you and Tae seem to be so smitten with… He’s never done with it me.” Jin’s complains.

“Thats because I don’t like kissing you.” Yoongi tone is flat and uninterested.

“I don’t like kissing you either! You’re inexperienced and it shows!”

“A few people in this room would beg to differ.”

“Ok you two, no fighting.” You giggle. “The tongue thing… It’s hard to explain.” You say bringing the topic back up. You furrow your brows in confusion trying to figure out the best way to explain the way Yoongi kisses you when you hear Jin say “Show me then.” Your eyes widen in shock at his suddenness. “I’m eating.” Yoongi says from across the room before taking another huge bite of his pizza. “I wasn’t talking to you.” Jin says sharply, shooting a glare over at Yoongi before bringing his attention back to you. “Show me Princess. I must see what all the hype is about… What makes Yoongi such a great kisser?” Jin tone is a lot more serious than when the conversation first started but it’s serious in a way that sends a delicious shiver down your spine.

You look up at him to fine that his eyes are trained on you. You take a second to glance at his lips. They look extremely soft today and are so beautifully plump.

Usually when Jin demands a kiss from you, you have no problem fulfilling his request but right now… You feel like a shy school girl, being put in front of the class to present a school project that is worth half your grade… You’re nervous.

When Jin catches your staring at his lips, he smirks and places his hand on your thigh, your body tenses slight and your face heats up even more. “Come on Princess. I’m waiting.” Jin impatiently taps his fingers against your thigh.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to do it as good as Yoongs does.” You confess, looking down at Jin’s hand on your thigh, desperately avoiding his gaze. “You can do it Baby.” Jimin encourages you. You look over to see a smug look plastered on his face. He wiggles his eye brows at you and you smile. “Show him what I taught you Kitten.” You hear Yoongi’s voice from across the room. You turn back to look at him and he sends a wink your way.

Namjoon is watching you intently as well… Come to think of it, all the guys seem to have their eyes focused on you and Jin. “Are you all just gonna stare?” You mumble, loud enough for only Jin to hear you. He chuckles at you and puts his hand under your chin, turning your head towards him so that you can meet his eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re shy about kissing me in front of the guys right now…” He says, raising a curious brow at you.

“Baby,” Jimin calls out. “We’ve seen you in much more… Risqué situations…” He reminds you.

“Kissing should be a breeze.”

“I’m not shy… I was just kinda put on the spot.” You lie. “I don’t want to disappoint.” You add some what jokingly, causing your boyfriends to chuckle. “I’ll be the judge.” Is the last thing your hear from Jin before his lips are being pressed against yours. Your eyes instantly flutter closed as the pillowy softness of his lips engulf you.

Jin moves the hand from under your chin and guides it down past your shoulder, finally deciding to rest it on your waist. He pulls you closer, pressing you further into him.

The kiss starts out soft, the two of you sweetly press your lips against each other for a few seconds before you decide to show Jin what Yoongi has taught you.

You push your tongue out and run it across Jin's bottom lip, asking for permission. The older boy grants you access immediately parting his lips for you. You slip your tongue into his mouth and are greeted by warmth and the subtle taste of coffee. You smile against his mouth, content with the taste of him. You tilt your head to deepen the kiss as you begin to swirl your wet muscle around his softly, this action causes Jin to groan against your mouth. He wants more but he remembers what you said about being too rough so he is holding back for your sake.

The sound of Jin's groan encourages you to keep going. You use your tongue to massage the top of Jin's, rolling the muscle around the top of his own. Jin slide his hand down to grip your thigh and you take the initiative to turn your body around and straddle his lap, feeling a lot more confident and comfortable about what you're doing since Jin's reaction is good.

The whole time you and Jin are making out, there is an audience gathered behind you.

Jungkook has abandon his third slice a pizza, the sight of you making out with his Hyung is way more intriguing.

Tae is sitting on his knees, watching intently with his mouth slightly agape. He can only see your back and the way your head slowly moves from side to side but that alone is enough to rile him up.

Jimin lays on the couch with a knee bent, as well as his elbow so he can rest his head on his palm. The smugness from before ever present on his face now as he watches the two of you.

Namjoon is watching with his arms crossed against his chest, wanting so badly to snatch you away from Jin but he isn't a selfish man so he will let Jin have you first.

Hoseok leans up against the counter, a small smirk on his lips as he drinks his soju straight from the bottle.

Yoongi is still seated on the bar stool with a proud smile on his face.

You and Jin are lost in your own little world. A whimper falls from your lips as Jin sucks your bottom lip between his own. Your arms are wrapped around his neck and your fingers threading through the soft brown locks at the back of his head. You tug on them softly and the grunt that slips from his throat shoots right to your core.

Of course kissing Jin is enough to make you wet all on it's own but when you add in the fact that you can also feel six pairs of eyes on you, the tingly feeling in your crotch only intensifies. You never thought yourself to be someone who enjoys being watched during intimate situations but being in relationship with seven men all at once… It definitely brought the… Adventurous side out of you and your totally okay with that.

You flick your tongue back and forth against Jin's and he wraps his arms tightly around your middle, pulling you even closer to him than before. Your chest is pressed against his. You're sure he can feel the way your heart his pounding with excitement. You can feel the bulge in his pants pressed firmly against your thigh. You fix your body to position yourself directly on top of it causing another grunt to slip past Jin's lips. If you're being quite honest, it is one of the sexiest sound you've ever heard and you are eager to hear more.

You begin to grind your hips against Jin. He sucks in a breath and you smirk, loving the effect you have on him. "This is so hot." You can hear a voice from somewhere behind you. You can't make out which guy it is at the moment but you can definitely tell they are enjoying the show.

"I bet she's so wet right now." You know for sure, that it's Jungkook's voice your hear this time.

"I bet she is." Jimin agrees, you can hear the lust dripping from his words.

"Isn't he hogging her?" By the whiny tone, you know for fact that it's Tae who speaks.

After a few more minutes of making out with Jin, you decide it's time pull away. You realize that the two of you have barely come up for air since you started kissing and although you wouldn't mind dying from being smother by Jin's mouth, you know the both of you should catch a breath.

As you pull away, Jin greedily chases after your lips. He opts for kissing your neck and shoulder softly when you turn your head around to see the younger boys eyes are on you.

It's hard to miss the tent that has grown in Jimin's pants as his legs are spread widely on the couch. "Hello Beautiful." Jimin says teasingly and you blush. "I thought you two would never come up for air." You hear Namjoon say from the other side of you.

You try to come up with a response but the lips on your neck, the large hands on your thighs with long fingers pressed into your skin are distracting you.

"Jinnie." You breath out and he hums in response against you, loving how needy you sound. "Hyung…" Tae whines for the second time tonight. "You're hogging her." He complains. The other members laugh at the cute pout forming on his lips.

Jin finally comes up from your neck, his lips even plumper now and tinted so prettily. "I'm sorry…" He sighs. "I couldn't help it… That Tongue™" He says. His voice is hazy, almost like he’s coming down from a high.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Tae enquires and Jin simply nods in response, keeping his hold on your thighs. "I'm glad you enjoyed it because thats all you'll get. I won't be sharing any more of my tricks." Yoongi informs you all.

"Then it's only fair that the three of you show the rest of us that tongue thing, don't you think?" Jimin suggest. You can always count on him to make things a little bit more fun…

"I think that's a brilliant idea Jiminie." Tae says enthusiastically.

"I mean it's not fair that only the three of you and now Jin know Yoongi’s trick..." Hoseok points out, falling into Jimin’s trap.

“What are we waiting for then?” You say with a smirk on your face, shamelessly falling into Jimin’s trap as well.

Jimin is quick to get up from his spot on the couch. He walks over to you and Jin and doesn't think twice about pulling you off of the older guy’s lap.

“I want you.” Jimin says to you. “Hey!” Jin whine in protest and you giggle. “You’ve had your turn Hyung.” Jimin reminds him before walking back over to the couch with your hand in his.

He pulls you on his lap, making you straddle him in the same way you did Jin.

You know for sure your lips will be swollen and your body will be sore by the end of the night and you’re more than okay with that.

941 notes · View notes

mercurymetals · 5 years

Text

the lights we always see

Always here for the beloved beefy boi content. I chose to write this in a modern setting, because that's fun. Thanks for requesting and enjoying my stuff! Hope this is to your liking @meltic-daze.

Warnings: Appropriately, none, besides the fact we’ve made Jonathan a yandere.

"Jojo, this is ridiculous. I can't keep missing class like this."

Your friend - your supposed best friend - smiles at you like you're the one who's being ridiculous right now. "But I told you, I've already asked Chris to bring the notes over. It's not a problem!"

Chris is a classmate of yours. The two of you are on the same university course, and you had gotten along well since your very first meeting. Once you two had started to hang out regularly outside of class, it was only natural you introduced him to Jonathan. They seemed to get along fine in front of you, but you always had a suspicion they weren't fond of each other under the surface.

Things only got worse after the accident. While on your way out of class, you tripped on the stairs and ended up breaking your leg. Thankfully it wasn't a severe injury, and after a brief stay at the hospital, you were discharged home with the advice to rest for a week or two before returning to classes.

That was a month ago. You haven't been to class since, and it's not because you actively want to skip.

Something changed in Jonathan since that day, though you've been hesitant to admit you noticed, even to yourself. He'd always been especially caring towards you, but you know that's just in his nature. Jonathan is a good, charitable young man. And sure, he might treat you a little extra nicely, might constantly go out of his way to spend time with you, but isn't that normal between best friends?

The problem is, ever since you've broken your leg, Jonathan insisted you stay home. All day, every day. Each morning he comes over and stays with you, claiming he’s helping to look after you. At first you were thankful to have someone prepare your meals and do your chores when it was still difficult to stand, but you've recovered more than enough to do these things yourself by now.

And you are supposed to exercise your leg. When you brought that up before, Jonathan said walking around inside your apartment is more than enough (and he sticks by your side like a clingy puppy any time you try). He’s even skipped his own classes, just to stay home with you.

And that is ridiculous. You're not the one who’s in the wrong here. He is. You know that. You know it, but it's so difficult to admit a person you've been friends with for this long, a person you've trusted with everything for your whole life, is being...

No, not abusive. Just... protective. Overly so. That's what this is.

"It's been a month. I can't catch up on everything by myself," you try, hoping he'll see reason. "If this keeps up, I run a real risk of failing, Jojo."

You are currently standing in your kitchen, and Jonathan is glancing at you from by the stove, where he's making the two of you some lunch. He stirs something in the pan, and you try to ignore the pleasant aroma that fills the kitchen.

"I'll help you out!" Jonathan offers with an easy-going smile. "We can study together."

"We're doing different courses," you point out in exasperation.

"Sure, but I can still help," Jonathan claims with a shrug, switching the stove top off and reaching into one of your cupboards for some plates. "Besides, you've always been top of the class! You'll be fine. For now, you need to keep resting."

You have been top of the class. But something tells you taking that spot back after such a long break is going to be very difficult, if not flat out impossible.

"Look, at least let's have Chris stay with me today. Maybe if I go over the materials with him--" Your words are cut short when Jonathan slams the cupboard shut with enough force to make everything on the wall shake. You yourself are so surprised you almost slip on your crutches.

Jonathan is over by your side in an instant. "Oh no, are you okay?" he asks, and you wince as he reaches for you. But he is incredibly gentle as he holds you by the arm, and helps you into one of the stools by the counter.

Once you're safely seated, he sighs. "See? You're not ready to go anywhere yet. What would you have done if I hadn't been here?"

You probably wouldn't have slipped in the first place, but you don't say that.

Instead, you say: "Jojo... I am glad you're with me. But I mean it, I might seriously fail my course if I skip all my classes. What the hell am I gonna do then?"

Jonathan turns away from you, his attention back on the stove. "You'll be fine," he repeats, and you bite your lip in frustration. "And even if you do fail, you'll still be fine. I can look after you."

You know Jonathan comes from a rich family. You know if it really came down to it, he probably could afford to look after you and not even have to worry about getting a proper job himself. You know his words have a ring of truth to them.

But that doesn’t matter. I don't want anybody to look after me. I want to be independent! Of course, you don't say that either.

Jonathan starts putting the food on the plates. It's some kind of stir-fry, and your mouth waters a little at the scent. When he places your plate in front of you with that big goofy smile of his, you automatically find yourself returning it. You then watch silently as he takes off the apron he had been sporting (it's your own, so it was comically tight on him, though you've long since stopped finding it funny). He then sits by your side, and makes light conversation as the two of you start eating.

It's all so... domestic. Your attentive friend, cooking you a meal in your kitchen, and then you sharing it as you talk about careless things. Just the two of you, alone at your place together.

But your hands are stiff as you eat, and you can only bring yourself to hum non-committal acknowledgements as he talks. Just make it to the evening, and then Jonathan will go home. Sure, he'll be back first thing in the morning, but at least you'll have those precious few hours to yourself. And maybe you'll call Chris and let him know about your... concerns. It's not something you had wanted to do, but it seems like you've no other choice.

These thoughts are your one last little comfort as you force the food down in uncomfortable gulps.

* *

That evening, you and Jonathan are sitting on your couch watching one of your favourite Netflix shows, when there's a knock on the door. You spring to life, excited beyond belief to finally see your friend again - finally see someone other than Jonathan, really. You grab a hold of your crutches, but before you can properly get up, Jonathan stops you.

"Woah, there's no need for you to be getting up!" he says with a laugh. "I'll get it."

You stare at him. When it sinks in he's being serious, you splutter out: "But Jojo, that's my friend. And he's bringing me my notes! And besides--"

Jonathan's large hand feels heavy on your shoulder, and you fall silent at his touch. There's a flash of something in his eyes, something unfamiliar and dark and disconcerting, but it's gone before you can place what it is. "Really, it's okay," he says softly, and slowly reaches for your crutches.

You want to hold on tight and not let go, but you watch as he easily sweeps them in his grasp and your hands release them without a fight. He smiles again. "You just wait here."

Jonathan rests your crutches against the wall, out of your reach, and then walks to the door. You sit without moving a muscle, your eyes staring at the screen as the bright reflections flash across your face. You think you hear some kind of an argument go down, but you just block it out.

When Jonathan comes back, you hear him place some papers on the table, and then he sits down next to you.

"I'm not so sure about that friend of yours any more," he says uncertainly. You don't look at him, keeping your eyes on the TV, but you’re sure he's pulling that sad pouty face right now. "He's acting really strange... I think it might be best if I stay the night with you, just in case. For your own safety."

Jonathan is sitting closer to you than he was before. Your sides brush against each other any time either of you inhale. You shudder at that hint of a touch. It's not a shudder of pleasure.

He notices, and you feel his worried gaze on you. "Oh, are you cold? Hold on." He wraps his massive arm around your shoulders, bringing you closer to him. You let it happen. Not like you'd be able to stop it even if you tried.

Still unsatisfied, Jonathan presses you even closer, so that your head is tucked in the crook of his neck. He rests his cheek against your hair, holding you as affectionately as though you were lovers. His body feels strong and warm and completely invulnerable.

But you should feel safe in his arms. You know he'd never hurt you, after all.

"Jojo," you whisper, your eyes still trained on the screen.

"Hmm?"

"Is this really okay?"

His hold on you tightens, his fingers digging into your arm with just a little too much force. You don’t say anything. You just wait.

"It's okay," he says, and you feel him place a kiss on the top of your head. "I'll never let anything bad happen to you again. I promise."

You close your eyes. Maybe he's right. Maybe this really is okay. He would never hurt you. Jonathan would never hurt you. Jonathan has never hurt you. Jonathan has never done anything to hurt you.

...Has he?

#yandere #yandere x reader #yandere jjba #yandere jonathan joestar #neutral reader #we have a pattern so far on this blog of vague cuteness #followed by horrific gore #and then back to vague cuteness #funnily though this has the potential to be darker than my dio scene LOL #song recommendation of the day:#great days cover by jonathan young #lack of stand names to steal from aint gonna stop me from dropping recs!

325 notes · View notes

superfreakerz · 5 years

Text

TDDUP 27

"Til Death Do Us Part"

Rated M for smut and heavy themes.

Reincarnation/Immortality AU.

Summary: There are immortals and there are those who reincarnate, but it's best to keep these things hidden. Lucy is attending college and meets Natsu, a boy with pink hair, a devilish smile, and a body that never ages.

Read earlier chapters on FF.net

Chapter 27

Winter Break

Patches of grey clouds littered the sky as they bestowed upon the city of Magnolia a thin sheet of snow. It was the first snowfall for the lively city, barely reaching an inch. Still, kids rejoiced as they did their best to pile up the powdery snow to form misshapen snowmen. They even crashed to the ground in fits of giggles, spreading their arms and legs to create snow-angels. Parents watched happily from the side, sipping on their hot chocolate in content. Others who weren't so fond of the icy blanket outside opted for staying indoors, cozying up by the fire with a book in hand.

That was how most people enjoyed their snow days. However, Lucy and her group of ragtag friends were spending the day a bit differently.

"Chug, chug, chug!" the group shouted as Gajeel and Levy shared a quick glance, shot glasses filled to the rim with vodka in their hands.

Not only was their enough cause for celebration with it being the first day of winter break for the college students, but the pair had also taken the next step in their relationship. Gajeel had popped the infamous question while they were alone in Levy's room, bent on one knee and holding a homemade ring in a shaky hand. With tears of mirth, Levy had accepted the proposal, making them engaged.

When they shared the news with the rest of their friends, it was no surprise that they were immediately thrown into a party at Fairy Tail- above the basement in the world of mortals.

Lucy wiped a happy tear from the corner of her eye, watching as the engaged couple downed a shot together. Words couldn't express how thrilled she was for Levy.

"Congrats again, Levy-chan," the blonde said, throwing her arms around her smaller friend.

"Thanks, Lu-chan!" she replied. "You better be my maid of honor!"

A squeal slipped past Lucy's mouth as she nodded her head frantically. "Yes, yes, yes! Of course! I'm going to help you find the perfect dress, find the perfect venue, and plan the most perfect bachelorette party!"

Levy laughed, shaking her head. "There's plenty of time for that stuff. For now, I just want to celebrate with all of you!" She slid a drink towards the blonde, grabbing one for herself as well. "Ready?"

Lucy accepted the shot glass, bringing the rim to her lips. Immediately, she realized her mistake as the foul stench invaded her nostrils. They counted to three before hanging their heads back and downing the shot. The vodka burned as it went down her throat, and in seconds, her belly grew warm. She'd always been a lightweight, which was why she only drank on occasion. She knew that in a couple of drinks, all common sense would fly out the window. But with such a joyous occasion, she couldn't care less.

"It burns!" Lucy exclaimed, waving her hand in front of her face as she set the glass on the table.

"That's 'cause you're a wimp," Gajeel mocked.

"Hey!"

"He's right," Natsu chimed in with a smirk. "You're a real lightweight. Seriously, I think your face is already starting to turn red!"

Lucy slapped her hands over her cheeks. "Is not!"

"Whatever you say, Luce!"

"Well, I don't care anymore!" the girl said with a pout. "My best friend just got engaged, and I plan on celebrating to the fullest! So come on! Drink with me!"

Natsu didn't need to be told twice. Clinking his glass against Lucy's, they took a shot together. Vodka wasn't his go-to drink, but since Erza ordered a whole bottle for their table, he figured he might as well help them out. It was better than letting it go to waste. Or worse, letting Lucy drink it all herself.

"Why don't you two join the rest of us?" Erza ordered, filling their glasses yet again.

Lucy nodded, facing the group. Squeezing her eyes shut, she drank the shot. She could already feel her head start to get heavy. Her stomach felt like a fireball was swinging around. The alcohol was already starting to do her in.

Time ticked on without anyone noticing. They were too caught up downing shots left and right and filling the bar with boisterous laughter. It didn't take long before they were all drunk. Even Gajeel, the one with the highest tolerance, was flat-out wasted.

Juvia was a crying mess, Erza was a menacing threat to all of humanity, Levy was on the floor laughing at the boys' demise, and Lucy whined for Natsu to pet her like a cat. It was all pretty typical for the drunken group.

"Natsuuu," Lucy drawled out. Her face was bright red, redder than Erza's hair. She was on all fours, oblivious to the stares she was receiving from everyone else at the pub. "Pet me!"

Natsu, who was also a drunken mess, shook his head. "N-No way! Quit askin' me to pet you, you weirdo!"

Tears crept up in the girl's eyes. "Fine! You jerk!" She hurried over to Juvia, resting her head over the other girl's chest. Together, they filled Fairy Tail with their incessant wails.

"How is it that even though we're drunk too, we still have to take care of them?" Gray asked, his words slurred.

Natsu shrugged. "I better get Lucy home. She's gonna have a bad hangover tomorrow."

As if her hearing was enhanced with the alcohol, the blonde whipped her head towards him with a pout.

"I don't wanna go home!" she complained, clutching tightly onto Juvia.

"Too bad," Natsu replied. He rose to his feet, grabbing onto the edge of the table to regain his sense of balance. "We gotta pack tomorrow, remember? You're always naggin' me about packing in advance. C'mon."

"No!"

"Lucy."

"I don't wanna!"

Natsu sighed. The alcohol was slowly starting to leave him tired. "I'll pet you nonstop if you agree to come home."

At that, Lucy's eyes lit up like the miniature Christmas tree that sat by the register on the counter. "Okay!"

Saying goodbye to their friends- which took much longer than he anticipated thanks to Lucy giving each one of them a unique goodbye speech- Natsu locked his hand with hers to keep her steady. He shouldered most of her weight as they walked home. With their inebriation and the slippery snow beneath their feet, they had a few slipups on the way before they finally made it back to her apartment.

Stumbling inside, the two plopped onto the couch. Just as he promised, Natsu brought his fingers to Lucy's chin, petting the bottom of it. She purred underneath his touch, scooting closer to him with a dopey smile on her face.

Natsu's eyes landed on his wiggling fingers before trailing down to the girl's neck. Her bare neck. With that, he was instantly reminded of his failure to find her locket.

It'd been almost a week since Lucy returned home from her trip. He wanted to find her locket and prove that she was an immortal just like the rest of them, but wherever Lucy put it, it was proving to be impossible to find. Without it, he didn't have a lick of proof. All he had was his intuition.

He glanced up at Lucy. Her cheeks were still pink, her golden locks were a disheveled mess, and even though she was sitting down, she couldn't help but sway side to side unsteadily. She was still drunk. Hell, drunk was probably an understatement. She was utterly intoxicated.

"Hey, Lucy…" Natsu began, peeking up at her.

"Hmm?" she replied, cocking her head to the side. Her eyes were half-lidded, proof that she was probably tired from the alcohol. There was a pretty good chance she wouldn't remember the night.

Natsu swallowed thickly. He wanted to know the truth. He needed to know. But he couldn't just ask. That would've been too much of a risk, and he wouldn't have just been risking his own identity. He would've been putting his friends at risk too, and he could never do that to them.

But that didn't mean he couldn't nudge her in the right direction a little bit.

"Do you believe in immortality?" he asked. His fingers stopped their movements as he was too concentrated on her reaction to keep petting her.

Lucy blinked once, then twice. Her face hadn't changed in the slightest, causing the tiny sliver of doubt within Natsu to grow.

"Hmm…" she started, rubbing her chin in thought. "Nope."

"No?"

"Nope."

Natsu furrowed his brows. "But you believe in everything! You believe in aliens and ghosts- hell, every time we watch a documentary on some sorta conspiracy, you believe it right away!"

"Well that's different," Lucy replied with a pout.

"How? How is that different?"

"I don't know. It just is!"

"So you don't believe in it at all?"

Lucy shrugged. "Not really. But that would be a really cool idea for a novel! Let me get my journal!" She shot up to her feet. Her legs gave out on her and she went falling forward.

` Natsu caught her, gently pulling her back down onto the couch.

"How 'bout we just go to sleep now and you can write down your idea tomorrow?" he suggested, stifling a sigh.

"But what if I forget?"

"I'll remind you."

"What if you forget?"

"Trust me, that'd be impossible for me to forget it. Now c'mon. Let's get you changed and in bed."

Lucy nodded, following Natsu to grab some pajamas. With her unsteady legs, it took a while for her to change, but once she did, it was like a wave of exhaustion washed over her.

Natsu settled in bed beside Lucy, gently tracing circles over her shoulder to help her sleep. In seconds, he could hear her faint snores. He stared at the back of her head, caught up in his thoughts.

Releasing a soft sigh, the boy frowned. He was starting to think that he was wrong. The sliver of doubt from before now consumed him, driving away all belief that she could ever be an immortal. Perhaps it was just his hope wrenching its way into his brain and jacking up his ability to think logically.

At the end of the day, Lucy was a mortal, and he was an immortal. Whether he liked it or not, their story had an end. And it was a tragedy.

Lucy threw up for the umpteenth time, tears streaming down her face as Natsu held her hair back for her. Her face was dotted with sweat, her head felt like someone was hitting it repeatedly with a baseball bat, and the dim light of the bathroom was making her irritable.

"How's your head?" Natsu asked, smoothing his hand over the girl's back.

Lucy grumbled in reply, shaking her head.

"C'mon, I'll go make you some breakfast!"

"I think that would just make me even more sick," Lucy said, forcing herself to her feet. Narrowing her eyes at him, she asked, "Why don't you ever get hungover?"

Natsu shrugged, giving her a nonchalant grin. "I don't know. I just don't. My tolerance is just higher than yours."

"I'm jealous. I always feel like death after drinking."

"It was fun though. Well, 'sides you asking for me to pet ya all night."

"As my boyfriend, it's your job to pet me when I'm drunk. Deal with it," Lucy said, grabbing a glass of water and sitting at the table. Opening her laptop, she signed into her school account.

"Whatcha doin'?" Natsu asked, sliding onto the seat across from her.

"I'm checking to see if the grade for my story got posted."

"It's only the second day of winter break. You really think that he graded it by now?"

Lucy shrugged, clicking her way to her profile. "I had to turn my story in before the deadline since I couldn't be there the last day of class since my trip was extended."

Her eyes widened as a notification popped up on the screen, alerting her that a new grade was posted. With bated breath, she clicked the necessary links to take her to the new grade. Writing meant everything to her, and this story in particular was very personal and special to her considering it was secretly about her own life. She desperately hoped for a good grade, but with Capricorn's strict grading guidelines and her shortened deadline, she kept her expectations low.

Taking a deep breath, she clicked the final link. There at the top of the screen was a bolded 'A-.'

"I did it," she breathed out, her eyes nearly bugging out of their sockets. "I did it! I aced it!"

"Really?" Natsu asked, his lips curling into a grin almost as wide as hers. "I toldja you'd ace it!"

She beamed at him before returning her gaze to the screen to read the feedback she received.

Miss Lucy, your story was wonderful. I had to deduct some points due to some misspellings and grammatical errors. However, your story kept me at the edge of my seat. I could feel the risk you took in every word. Reincarnation is quite the interesting topic, isn't it? Anyways, you did an excellent job. My favorite part was the ending. I am very relieved that Iris learned to live with her curse and found a happy ending for herself. I hope you do well in your endeavors, Miss Lucy.

Tears pricked the back of Lucy's eyes as she reread every word, then she read them again. Hearing such feedback lifted the weight on her shoulders. It was everything she wanted to hear. Now, she had confidence that she would have made an excellent writer if it wasn't for her reincarnation getting in the way. She didn't need fame or fortune, she just needed to know that she was good.

Shutting the laptop, Lucy smiled to herself.

"So, when are you gonna let me read that story of yours? It's gotta be good since you got an A!" Natsu exclaimed, leaning forward in excitement.

"Hmm, never," Lucy replied. She went to put her laptop away, ignoring Natsu's whines. Her mind was too focused on Capricorn's words.

I am very relieved that Iris learned to live with her curse and found a happy ending for herself.

"Happy, huh?" Lucy thought with a hum. Glancing over her shoulder to find the love of her life casually sitting at her table, she smiled. "Yeah. I am pretty happy now."

"You got enough clothes?"

"Yep."

"Are they warm? We're going to a ski resort, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know! I told you, I'm good to go!"

"What about your toothbrush?"

"Yeah, I got- wait. Nope. I forgot to pack that. Gimme a second."

Lucy rolled her eyes as Natsu walked past her to pack his toothbrush. Thinking over all the essentials she would need on their trip, she doublechecked to make sure she didn't overlook anything. Enough layers to keep her warm in the snow, her writing journal in case she was hit with a stroke of inspiration, and a book to read both on the road and in the cabin.

Once Natsu came back, rolling his luggage behind him, she gave him a pointed stare.

"You sure you're ready to go this time?" the girl teased.

Natsu rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Everyone's waiting outside for us outside. C'mon, Lucy!" Grabbing her hand, he raced towards the door, dragging her behind and barely giving her enough time to lock the door. Excited was an understatement of how he felt about going on his first trip with Lucy.

"Hey, guys!" Lucy greeted with a wave as Natsu threw their luggage in the trunk along with everyone else's.

"You're late," Erza reprimanded. "What took you two so long? You should have been packed already."

"I know, I'm sorry! I was just so hungover yesterday, I ended up sleeping through most of the day."

"That's alright," Jellal said with his signature kind smile. "Let's just get going now. If we beat the traffic, we can make it in time to go skiing today."

The group roared with cheers, jumping in the van they rented before getting on the road.

"Oi, turn the music on!" Natsu exclaimed. He, Lucy, and Erza sat in the middle row of seats while Jellal, Levy, and Gajeel sat in the back. Gray, being the only one in the group with a license, drove while Juvia took the passenger seat.

Gray was about to turn on the radio when Erza spoke.

"Wait," the redhead ordered. "First, I want to explain the details of our trip."

Natsu hung his head back with a groan. "Who cares about the details? Let's just have fun! It's winter break!"

"A trip is only as fun as its preparation."

"Can't we just-!"

Erza's fist rocketed into Natsu's gut, leaving him out cold. Clearing her throat, she continued, "Anyways, I shall now explain the details of our trip."

Everyone nodded their heads frantically, their faces pale out of fear of being the next one on the receiving end of one of her devastating punches. Lucy rubbed Natsu's head sympathetically.

"As you know, we will be going to Mt. Hakobe," Erza said. "With the low traffic, we should be able to get there before dark. We'll be able to do some skiing this evening. As for sleeping arrangements, we will split up in cabins by couple."

"By couple?" Levy asked. "That has to be expensive! How did you manage to book that?"

Erza grinned smugly while Jellal gave an uncharacteristic pout.

"Let's just say I have some acquaintances in the business. Anyways, the next day we will be snowboarding. After that, we will pack our things because we leave the next morning."

"I'm so excited! I haven't been snowboarding in forever!" Lucy exclaimed, clasping her hands together. She used to go on trips with her parents from her first lifetime.

"Oh yeah? You good at snowboarding?" Gray asked, glancing at her through the rearview mirror.

"I wouldn't say I'm good, but I still have a lot of fun doing it! What about you guys?"

"Gray is actually really good at skiing and snowboarding," Levy said. "But he's even better at ice hockey."

"Psh, like that's impressive," Gajeel jabbed. "Those are all the wimpy sports. I could flatten him in football or wrestling any day."

"In your dreams," Gray replied. "Just wait, Gajeel. You're gonna be begging for my help when we get there and you're fallin' on your ass every two seconds."

Lucy sighed. "Can't we just go one car-ride without anyone starting some sort of petty argument?"

It was at that moment that Natsu finally regained consciousness. He lifted his head off of her lap.

"Nope."

Arriving at Mt. Hakobe, they parked in front of a quaint cabin before grabbing their luggage.

"This will be Jellal and I's cabin," Erza stated.

"Wait, shouldn't this be mine and Juvia's?" Gray asked. "You know, since we drove and parked here, and the rental car is under our name?"

"No. Anyways, you can find your cabins by walking in that direction," Erza replied, pointing down the road. "We've rented the three cabins next to this one. Drop your stuff off and get ready for skiing, then meet us at the grounds."

Not wanting to start an argument with Erza about who should get the cabin closest to the grounds, the group walked away. Since Levy and Gajeel just got engaged, Lucy suggested that they get the next cabin. Natsu was willing to fight for the third, but considering Gray was the one to drive them all the way there, she let them get that one. That left them with the cabin farthest from the grounds.

Lucy's face was red from the cold by time they reached their cabin. It was about a fifteen-minute walk from the grounds, as all of the cabins were separated for customers' privacy. Unfortunately, that left them far from the activities and the local shop.

"Bet you feel good about giving everyone else the good cabins, don't you?" Natsu said, his voice laced with sarcasm.

Lucy shot him a glare. "If I had known how far it was, I wouldn't have suggested it."

"Nah, I bet you still would have."

"…Alright, fine. I would have."

Natsu shook his head with a chuckle. Even though the cabin was far, it was still pretty nice. There was a queen-sized bed, stacked with thick blankets and pillows, a desk, and even a TV. The bathroom was small, and the standup shower was sure to put a slight damper on his girlfriend's mood, but it was bearable.

"This place is pretty nice," Lucy said, letting out a low whistle. "The bed looks really cozy."

Natsu grabbed her hand, pulling her flushed against him. His lips were curled in a crooked grin as he replied, "Oh yeah? How about we test it out real quick? Make sure it's up to your standards."

Lucy's face burned bright red, her heart leaping up into her throat. "Uhh, I-"

"I'm kidding, Luce. Erza would kill us if we took too long meeting up with them. In fact, she's probably already thinkin' about how to punish us for being late."

"You're right. Let's go. Oh, but first…" Lucy slid her hand over the slight bulge in his joggers. She stifled a laugh as she felt him harden from her touch. "Alright, now we can go!"

She quickly turned away from him, her hair swaying behind her. Natsu grinned, running to catch up to her.

"You're a lot more evil than you lead people to believe, you know that?"

"Yep."

"It's nice of you two to finally join us," Erza said, her voice stern as they approached. They were standing at the bottom of the chairlifts to take them up to the mountaintop.

"It's not our fault!" Lucy whined between breaths. "Our cabin is the farthest away!"

"No excuses. Now come. Gajeel challenged me to a bet on who is better at skiing and I intend to win."

They went in pairs onto the chairlifts. Lucy made the common mistake of looking down as they went feet in the air. Her feet tingled, her stomach churning. She was about to comment on how high up they were when she heard a strangled whimper coming from her side. Glancing over, she found Natsu slouched over the rail, his cheeks puffed out.

"Oh no, is your motion sickness acting up?" she asked, smoothing a hand over his back.

Natsu couldn't even wrangle out words, instead having to nod weakly.

"We'll be at the top soon, don't worry!"

Though, the lift was a lot slower than she expected. It took them nearly five minutes to reach the top, and by then, Natsu's face was dotted with sweat. Hopping off, he collapsed beside Gajeel, who was also inflicted with a bad case of motion sickness.

"Pathetic," Erza said, rolling her eyes at the two. "Jellal, Gray, Juvia, and I will go grab our equipment. Lucy, Levy, you guys stay with these two."

By the time Erza and the other returned with the gear, Natsu and Gajeel were back on their feet, their cheeks slowly starting to gain back their color. Gray showed everyone how to properly use the equipment, to which Natsu and Gajeel scoffed, saying that anyone with half a brain could ski.

"There are different difficulty leveled hills," Levy said. "Beginner, intermediate, and expert. I don't know about you guys, but I'll be staying on the beginner hill."

"Juvia will join you," the girl replied. She gave Gray a quick hug. "Juvia would stay and watch, but-"

"Don't worry, Juvia," Gray interrupted with a smile he saved for her. "You don't hafta watch me. I want you to have fun too."

"Okay! Good luck, Gray-sama!"

With that, she followed Levy to the beginner hill.

Natsu stood close to Lucy.

"You aren't gonna join them?" he asked.

Lucy shrugged. "I've been skiing before. I think I can handle the intermediate hill."

"Oho, you scared of goin' down the expert one?"

"It's more like I have a brain telling me not to bite off more than I can chew. What about you? You think you can handle it?"

"I know I can! Just watch!"

"Oh please," Gray chimed in. "You're gonna go tumbling down the hill. I'm not callin' for help if you need it, you know."

"You're the one who's gonna need someone to call for help after I'm done kickin' your ass!" Natsu replied, about to lunge for the other boy when Lucy grabbed him by the collar.

"Will you two just enjoy this vacation instead of trying to fight at every chance you get?" she said with a sigh.

"I agree," Erza added. A dark shadow loomed over her face as she continued, "Besides, there is no time for fighting. It's time to see who is the best at skiing once and for all."

"Well, you guys have fun with that. In the meantime, I'll be on the intermediate hill."

"I'll join you, Lucy," Jellal said, walking with her.

Once they were out of earshot, she asked, "What? You don't want to be in a competition with your wife?"

"Oh no. She would kill me if it meant winning."

"That's… endearing?"

"It's okay. You can say scary."

"Good. It's scary."

"I know."

Standing at the top of the hill, Lucy positioned her goggles over her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she scooted herself down the hill until she started to glide over the smooth snow. The faster she went, the faster her heart pounded in her chest. She could feel the wind in her hair and the snow beneath her feet. As the slope started to decline, she slowed to a shaky stop.

"That was great, Lucy," Jellal said, trudging next to her.

"You were better!" she replied. "Seriously, you can handle the expert hill."

"I know, but I wouldn't want to be there with such a fierce competition happening."

"Oh yeah. I wonder how that's going."

"Care to check it out?" Jellal asked.

Lucy nodded. "It'd be good to make sure Natsu isn't buried under ten feet of snow."

Unbinding their boots, the two headed towards the bottom of the expert hill. Immediately, they found Erza standing over a hunched over body.

"Erza?" Lucy called out. She was about to question who was hunched over when she saw tufts of pink. Rushing over, she asked, "What happened to Natsu?"

"Oh, nothing," she answered with a shrug. "His motion sickness just started acting up, so he went tumbling down the hill. He's not hurt too badly. Gray is over there making sure Gajeel is okay."

Lucy helped Natsu into a sitting position. A gasp slipped past her lips as she found blood trickling from his nose.

"You're bleeding, Natsu!" she said. "Come on, let's get you back to the cabin. We'll see you guys tomorrow."

"My stomach…" the boy groaned being forced up to his feet. He was thankful Lucy kept him steady on his feet. He was even more thankful that it was just his nose bleeding and not another part of his body. It would've been pretty hard to explain why his wound just miraculously healed on its own.

Then again, he could always get her drunk enough to black out and forget about it like last time.

Lucy guided Natsu back to the lift. If his stomach wasn't churning enough before, it had to be swirling around like a washing machine going back down the mountain. Lucy did her best to try and help him, combing her hands through his hair and humming a soft tune, but it didn't help at all. His motion sickness was worse than usual.

Once they finally made it back to their cabin, Natsu was feeling considerably better. His stomach had started to calm, his nose stopped bleeding, and his face regained its color. He tore off his boots and plopped on the bed with a sigh. The corners of his mouth were tugged down in a pout.

"Are you upset that you lost the bet?" Lucy asked, moving to sit by him.

Natsu shook his head. "I'm annoyed because my motion sickness ruins everything. Riding in cars, dates with you, trips with our friends, it's always gettin' in the damn way!"

"Nobody is upset with you for it!"

"Yeah, I know. But still. I just wanna have one good day without it ruining everything. Tomorrow is gonna be the same way."

"Hmm. Are you feeling better right now?" Lucy asked, quirking a brow.

"Yeah, but not enough to go back on the chairlift. Why?"

The girl hopped out of bed. "Come on! Let's go get you some motion sickness pills! That way, you'll be able to have fun tomorrow!"

"It's a long walk, and I know you're tired from having to help me all the way here," Natsu replied, his frown deepening.

"I don't care about that! I want you to have fun on this trip, so let's go!"

Natsu rose to his feet with a smile. "Alright. Thanks, Luce."

"Don't mention it," she replied, flashing him a grin of her own. Sliding her hand in his, she laced their fingers together.

Stepping outside, a shiver ran up Lucy's body. The snow was thick on the mountain, blanketing the ground. During the time that it took to carry Natsu back to the cabin, the sun had started to set. Now, the sky had turned black, stars twinkling overhead.

Snow fell from the sky, covering the path that led to the store. Luckily, Natsu already knew where they were going. Lucy had a feeling that if she was separated from him, she'd get lost immediately considering the cabins were so far from each other and they were surrounded by woods. Lampposts were scarce.

"So, who ended up winning your bet?" Lucy asked, glancing up at Natsu.

He pouted like a child. "That damn stripper did. But that's only 'cause I was sick! If I wasn't, I woulda won!"

Lucy nodded. "Mhmm. I'm sure you would."

"Is that sarcasm I'm hearing?"

"Well, it's just that Gray is known for being good at this stuff."

"I can beat him!"

"Then you can prove it tomorrow since you'll have your motion sickness pills," Lucy said with a chuckle.

Natsu gave a face-splitting grin. "I'm all fired up!" He was about to continue when he heard the snow behind them crunch. Throwing a discreet glance over his shoulder so that he wouldn't worry Lucy, he looked for the source of the noise, praying there wasn't a bear there. Not finding anything, he shrugged the noise up to be a squirrel and faced forward.

However, once he heard another crunch in the snow, he stopped in his tracks.

Lucy glanced over to Natsu. His gaze was serious as he looked behind them. Worried, she followed his gaze, only finding a thicket of trees.

"Natsu?" she called out, her voice laced with concern. "Is something wrong?"

He ignored her, keeping his eyes peeled for any movement. His gut was telling him that something was wrong, and he trusted his gut.

"There's something there," Natsu whispered.

Lucy's eyes widened, her heartrate speeding up. "W-What? What is it?"

"I don't know."

"Are you sure it's not just a squirrel?"

Natsu shook his head. "My gut is telling me it's something else."

Lucy clutched onto his arm, whipping her head around to survey their surroundings. "S-Should we run?"

"Running could just trigger whatever it is." Taking slow steps back the way they came, he looked for any clues as to what was out there with them, lurking behind the trees. It could have been a bear, a wolf, even a mountain lion. Whatever it was, he had a bad feeling about it.

He was about to take another step forward when he found a trail of footprints in the snow. They were human.

Natsu heaved a sigh of relief. "Very funny, Gray. Come out already, idiot."

They heard a rustle of a bush to their right, along with crunching snow as someone stepped out of the woods. Wearing a black hoodie, their face was covered.

"That's not funny, Gray!" Lucy scolded, planting her hands on her hips as the man approached. "I thought you were a bear or something!"

Natsu eyed him. The closer the man got, the clearer it became that he wasn't Gray. He was shorter, his walk was different, and even Gray wouldn't try to scare Lucy that badly. Stepping in front of Lucy, Natsu glared at the hooded figure that stood just a few feet in front of them.

"Who the hell are you?" he spat.

Lucy's brows shot up to her hairline as she glanced between the two. Looking over Natsu's shoulder, she watched as the man removed his hood, revealing shaggy locks of dirty-blonde hair. Under his eyes were dark bags. His eyes were bloodshot.

"U-Umm, hello?" she called out. "Who are you?"

The man pulled a shaky hand out from his pocket. Lucy's stomach dropped to the ground as she found a gun in his hand pointed directly at Natsu.

"O-Oh god," she breathed out, tears immediately pricking her wide eyes. Her stomach felt like it was doing flips, her shaky hands flying to her mouth.

Natsu sucked in a sharp breath, a rush of fear washing over him. All color drained from his face, not of fear of being shot, but fear that the man was going to hurt Lucy. Holding his hands up in surrender, he inched closer to Lucy so that he could shield her.

"What do you want? Do you want our money?" Natsu asked, his voice low.

The man nodded. His eyes were brimmed with tears and he was shaking like a leaf. It was obvious this was his first time doing anything like this before.

"I-I need it," he said, his voice unsteady. "I-I have a family and I need to do whatever it takes to take care of them."

Natsu nodded, slowly reaching into his pocket to grab the few bills he brought to buy the motion sickness pills. It was only seven dollars total. Swallowing thickly, he slowly held his hand out to the man.

"This is all we have," he said, hoping he could reason with the distraught father and get him to walk away.

The man looked at the money and shook his head, tears streaming down his face. "You're lying!"

"I'm not lying. This is really all we have."

"You expect me to believe that? You rich people are always coming to this resort and flaunting your money around like it's nothing! I know you have more! Hand it over!" The man shook the gun, threatening to shoot.

Lucy took a deep breath. Before, she was never afraid of death. She knew that if she died, she would just be born again moments later. Now that she had Natsu, however, she was terrified of dying because it meant she would never be able to see him again.

But if it meant he got to live, she would die a million times.

Lucy glared at the man as she stepped in front of Natsu, the gun just feet away from her chest.

"Lucy!" Natsu shouted. "What the hell are you doing!?"

Ignoring him, she spoke only to the man in front of her. "It's obvious you don't want to do this, so don't. Just walk away and be with your family."

"Shut up!" he yelled, fisting his hair with his unoccupied hand.

"Your kids don't want money, they just need you to be in their lives. If you pull the trigger, you won't be there to support them anymore because you'll be in jail. Is that really what you want?"

"I said shut the hell up! You don't know what it's like! Just hand the money over!"

"We already told you, we don't have any."

"Quit lying to me! I am so sick and tired of being lied to!"

Lucy's eyes narrowed at him. "We both know you aren't going to shoot. Just go already!"

The man ran a hand through his hair. "I-If you don't give me the money, I'm really going to shoot."

Lucy stood her ground, daring her luck by taking a step closer to him. "Then do it already! I'm not afraid! Shoot!"

Natsu's heart felt like it was beating a mile per minute as he kept his eyes glued on the gun. It was pointed directly at Lucy's chest. He could tell the man was getting antsy.

"I-I can't go to jail," he said, his hand shaking violently.

"Then just turn around and go," Lucy implored. "We won't tell anyone about this, we swear."

"I-I don't believe you."

"It's true! You have my word! We won't tell anyone!"

The man swallowed thickly, shaking his head. He let out a shaky breath. "I'm so sorry."

Natsu watched the man position the gun directly over Lucy's heart. His fingers tightened around the gun.

And then he pulled the trigger.

#fairy tail #nalu #lucy heartfilia #natsu dragneel #ftfanficton #nalu fanfiction #tddup #til death do us part #super writes

59 notes · View notes

crystaljins · 5 years

Text

Latte Hearts

Characters: Seokjin x Reader

Word count: 1.6 K

Synopsis: 6. Coffeeshop au + 2. Enemies to lovers + 19. “Suck on that.” [drabble game]

Notes: @wilhelminalucinda I hope this is what you wanted. If not, then I hope it’s fluffy enough that you can pretend it was haha

If anyone had told Jin two months ago that he would be waking up in your apartment, in your bed no less, to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and you softly singing in the background, he would have laughed them out of his café. After all, you were the most demanding, irritating customer to ever cross the threshold into the small space he thought of as a second home. You always ordered contrary to the recommendations he had drafted up carefully on his little chalkboard, the one he lovingly rested against the cash register. You always sculled the scalding coffee like you were a college girl offered free tequila shots and one time you had ordered a to-go coffee, pulled out a packet of instant coffee and poured it straight into his carefully crafted masterpiece. Every morning his mood was ruined as you graced his beloved café with bed hair and circles under your eyes darker than the blackest pits of hell where you belonged.

So no one had been more surprised than him when one day you stormed into his café in tears, begging him to teach you how to make the perfect cup of coffee. Now Jin has never been the kind of man to leave a lady in tears, no matter how repulsive she may be. And as much as he loathes you and your disgusting coffee-drinking ways, he could only see the advantage in such an offer. If he were to teach you to properly appreciate coffee, perhaps you would finally appreciate the mastery in the dozens of freshly brewed caffeinated beverages he churns out each morning for an exhausted and sleep-deprived slew of office workers. He was doing himself, and any other future baristas you cursed with your presence, a favour. That, and you had promised you would never again occupy one of his tables with your study notes for hours again and to grant any favour he asked for in return. There is nothing he hates in this world more than broke university students using his café as a free library when the universities in the area had constructed more than adequate study spaces.

And so his lessons had begun, sporadically at first because, as he quickly discovered, your schedule is ludicrously hectic. You work three part time jobs in addition to a fulltime internship while caring for your family when you can manage a trip back to your hometown. It would be enough to burn anyone out and probably explained why you treat caffeine like it is cocaine and the solution to all life’s problems. And then you had started to enjoy yourself, and he had watched you bloom into a full-fledged coffee lover. He noticed that a few weeks in, your instant coffee supply had mysteriously vanished and you had stopped adding absurd amounts of sugar to the coffees he made you. What had started as you trying to impress your fussy supervisor at your internship who you had been pretty sure was going to kick you out for ruining her coffee order had turned into something much more than that.

Still, waking up in your room after pulling an all-nighter with you is probably him hitting a new low. He’s no stranger to waking up in stranger’s beds- after all, he’s a good looking guy and women are surprisingly susceptible to the whole I’m-a-talented-barista-and-I-look-like-a-model angle he has going on. But regardless, he has already compromised himself and his beliefs far too much to be pulling this kind of stunt. He’s not even sure what happened- one moment he had been teaching you how to make the perfect latte heart, (and throwing in a few hilarious quips at your total inability to create one) and the next he had been having dinner with you while laughing over your atrocious vegetable-chopping technique, and then he had been watching a movie that you swore on your life would change his entire outlook on life, and then the buses hadn’t been running anymore and you had graciously offered your bed for him to stay the night since your roommate was away for the weekend and she was happy for you to sleep in her bed. And now here he is, shaking off the last remnants of sleep. He can’t seem to bring himself to lift his head- your sheets smell like you and with the warm embrace of your plushy comforter he can almost fool himself into thinking that it is you keeping him warm rather than the pillow he hugs tightly to his torso.

Still, with inhuman strength, he manages to drag himself out of bed when the tempting smell of warm coffee and a freshly cooked breakfast becomes more powerful than his urge to sleep. And he pads into your kitchen where you are wearing pajamas bottoms with little ice cream cones on them and an oversized shirt that your tiny figure is drowning in. You’re huddled over the kitchen counter, focusing so intently on something that you don’t notice the eggs are burning behind you. He quickly shuffles over to the stovetop, intent on flipping them, when he nearly dies of a heart attack at the triumphant screech you release. He leaps about a metre in the air and whips around, ready to assault whatever had frightened you with an oily spatula.

“I did it!” You crow. “Suck on that, Kim Seokjin!” You shout. It is only then that you register his presence in the kitchen with you, one hand clutched to his heart and the other wielding the spatula like a sword. You blink a few times and then your expression turns sheepish (and a little shy if he squints but he doesn’t want to look too closely lest his heart do that annoying fluttering thing its been prone too lately). “Oh. Good morning.” You offer, bowing your head with no small amount of embarrassment. “I didn’t realise that you were there- I… I made us breakfast.” You say, gesturing to the now-burning eggs, the messy kitchen and one single coffee mug beside you on the kitchen counter. Seokjin takes the opportunity to slide the eggs onto the plates beside your stove before they become inedible, and then inches closer to the single coffee mug.

It’s one of those corny ones, with a little cartoony kitten taking a nap on a branch with the declaration that the owner of the mug is a crazy cat lady. You don’t even own a cat but one would never guess it based on the large amount of the furniture and pyjama shirts that claimed you were obsessed with your pet cat. And inside the mug is a slightly misshapen but surprisingly well-crafted latte heart, floating in the centre. He finds himself smiling before he can control his expression.

“Not bad.” He admits, smiling at your earnest attempt. But then he wipes the smile off his face because his heart does that annoying fluttering thing again. He turns to offer you constructive criticism but finds you much closer than anticipated in your tiny kitchen. You almost have him pressed to the kitchen counter with the way you had been leaning in close to observe his expression. And now your face is close enough, despite the height difference, that he can see the way you’ve washed your face for once and your lashes are long and almost brush the apples of your cheeks as you blink, and the way there is a slight pout to your bottom lip as you stare intently up at him with an expectant look that has him short of breath. He makes a mental note to visit a cardiologist later and get tested for an arrythmia because his stubborn heart is misbehaving.

“Really?” You ask eagerly. “Do you think I did well? Would I make a decent barista?”

You’re like a puppy, looking for praise and attention and it makes him smile. But the smile quickly slides off his face as he realises something- your coffee making skills are improving at an alarming rate. At this pace, the lessons will no longer be necessary and in a few short weeks and you won’t even stop by his café to study. All because he made you promise you wouldn’t do that once the barista-lessons were finished. Which means… he won’t have any more excuses to see you anymore! Which, just two short months ago, was all he wanted in life. But now the thought is… it’s… Well, it’s positively abhorrent. In just two short months he’s come to adore and appreciate your eagerness and your determination and though most of the time you are poorly kept and groomed, there is something pretty beneath the sleep deprivation and messy hair. He’d even go so far as to say the way your eyes spark and your whole face lights up when you smile is beautiful. And now he’s orchestrated the perfect removal of what he had thought was a dark spot to his mornings, just as he realised that you’re actually the brightest part of his day.

His heart squeezes painfully in his chest as he makes up his mind.

“No, this is absolutely atrocious.” He says, sniffing distastefully at your concoction. It actually smells quite good and the more he looks at the little lopsided heart, the more charming it becomes. Your face falls. He shakes his head like he’s ashamed of you. “But being a barista is a skillset that requires a lifetime of study to master.” He explains. “So I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself.”

You look puzzled and he wishes the look wasn’t so endearing.

“You’ll just have to keep studying under me until you master it, I guess.”

#jin x reader #seokjin x reader #kim seokjin x reader #seokjin fluff #bts fluff #drabble game #writing

104 notes · View notes