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quicksilversquared · 5 years

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The Lucky Charm

Normally, when an akuma pops up, it's Ladybug (and Chat Noir) who save the day. This time, though, it's the Everyday Ladybug who came to the rescue.

There are...some side effects.

links in the reblog

The akuma showed up ten minutes after Adrien returned to school, all towering body and glowing eyes and snarling mouth. Most of his classmates shrieked and ran, scrambling for the door, but Adrien hadn't had a chance, trapped at the back of the classroom where he had been getting a book and with the akuma's eyes focused right on him.

This Was Not Good.

"I don't understand why you're after me," Adrien said, glancing around as subtly as he could manage, hoping to find an escape route or a distraction or- anything, really. He couldn't leave Ladybug hanging again, not after there had been several akuma lately who had prevented him from transforming and helping her, but he didn't see any obvious escapes. The akuma was blocking his path, and a table had been flipped onto its side in front of the door, meaning that even if he did manage to sneak around the akuma, he still wouldn't be anywhere close to home free. "I didn't think that I had upset anyone today-"

"I was fired!" the Model Model shrieked, making him cringe back. Hopefully Ladybug's Lucky Charm covered hearing damage. "I was fired for being late once, but you- Mr. Boss's Son, Mr. Gets-Everything-Handed-to-You- you're late all the time, and does anyone care? No! Do you get told off? No! Do you get fired? No!"

Adrien very nearly opened his mouth to dispute that- he wasn't late all the time, maybe once or at most twice a month when an akuma attack ended up overlapping with his photoshoot time, and while the photographer never said anything, Adrien's father most definitely found out and told Adrien off afterwards. There were groundings, there were scoldings, there were privileges taken away and extra assignments given to him- but it was pointless to argue with an akuma. It didn't help anything, they didn't remember it, and besides, if there were any of his classmates still around...

Well. There were some things that Adrien didn't tell them.

"So while maybe you weren't the one to fire me, you're hardly Mr. Innocent," the Model Model finished. She glowered at him. "And if Vincent weren't so fed up with your tardiness, then he would have been more forgiving! It's not like it was my fault that I got stuck in traffic!"

"I could speak to him for you," Adrien offered, thinking fast. Surely Ladybug would know about the akuma by now- Alya would have made a post on the Ladyblog, or at the very least triggered the official akuma alert system- and he just had to buy himself some time until she arrived. "Remind him that there's a three-strike over six months policy."

"And how many strikes have you accumulated over the past six months, hmm?"

Adrien winced, trying to come up with another idea. Clearly the akuma wasn't going to stop focusing on Adrien's tardies any time soon, so he had to change tactics. The offers to smooth things over could come later, after Ladybug purified the akuma and set everything to rights. "I, uh..."

Movement at the front of the classroom caught Adrien's eye, and he stuttered to a stop mid-thought, blinking at the spot where he could have sworn he had seen someone ducking behind Madam Mendeleev's desk. Moments later, Marinette's head popped up over the desk, caught his eye, and then vanished again a second later.

What- what was she still doing here? She wasn't trying to pull an Alya and get close to akumas just to get video, was she? Marinette had more sense than that. Maybe there was a table in front of the door, but the akuma wasn't paying attention to Marinette. She should be able to clamber up and over, no problem.

"You don't even have a defense," the Model Model scoffed, drawing Adrien's attention back to her. "Not even a hint! I'll get my revenge on you, and then that damn photographer, and then- oh, I know what the root problem is here, why you're allowed to get away with everything. And I'll get my revenge on Daddy Dearest, too."

Adrien gulped. He hated it when akumas went after his father, even if he was sometimes surprised that there weren't more akumas targeting Mr. Agreste. Still, if an akuma was going to go after either him or his father...

Well, only one of them had the power to stop the akuma and help Ladybug put everything back to right in the city, so if Adrien had to throw his father under the bus to get away, he would.

"I can't always control if I'm tardy or not," Adrien protested, keeping one eye on the akuma and one eye on Marinette, who had snuck out from behind the desk carrying- was she insane? An extension cord, or maybe cords, he couldn't tell- and was creeping up on the Model Model. "Sometimes other activities run over. And I'm not the one who decides if I get to keep modeling or not."

She snarled at him. "I know that. Didn't I just say that I was going to go after your father, too? I know what you're trying to do- escape seeing any actual consequences, just like you always do!"

The Model Model lunged. Adrien threw himself out of the way. Marinette ducked down under desk level, apparently finally aware that the akuma was dangerous and she should make herself scarce. Adrien rolled across the floor, then pushed himself to his feet and tried to make a dash for the door. The akuma blocked him, still trying to hit him with the purse she carried.

The purse, which no doubt held either the akuma or the akumatized item, and which doubled as the Model Model's weapon, if the excessively-destroyed desks were any indication. He would have to point it out to Ladybug, whenever she arrived.

"You can't run and hide this time!" the Model Model snarled, swinging for him again. Adrien ducked and made another short dash, making sure to step over the cord that Marinette had dropped on the floor so that he wouldn't trip over it. "I'll get you! You might as well stop tryi-EEEE!"

Adrien glanced back, just in time to see the Model Model tripping over the cord that he had just avoided, and his mind short-circuited.

Marinette hadn't dropped the cord. She had tied one end to a table leg, left it slack for him to pass over, and then had pulled it tight to trip the akuma before flinging the heavy end just so, sending it wrapping around the akuma's ankle. The Model Model hadn't noticed yet, still thrown off balance and stumbling in her heels.

Marinette was a genius, and- oh. Oh, she wasn't done yet, was she insane? Adrien watched in equal parts disbelief, awe, and terror as Marinette reappeared behind the Model Model- now the akuma was behind her and the door, which would be bad if the akuma spotted her and switched targets- spinning a second cord in her hand like a lasso. Marinette's eyes were narrowed in focus, tracking the Model Model as she stumbled back and forth. Her entire body was tensed and ready to strike, and all Adrien could do was watch.

Well, watch and keep moving himself, now focusing on moving back and forth just out of reach of the Model Model, playing up the distraction as much as he could since he still wasn't in a good spot to get out of the classroom himself. If Marinette was going to try to play Ladybug, then he would help her as much as he could.

Even if he thought that she was totally nuts. Even if she had somehow pulled off the tripping, trying to lasso a supervillain was just complete, utter madness. Ladybug could probably do it, sure, but Ladybug also had a magic yo-yo, and practice, and superpowers, and-

The spinning cord-lasso reached whistling pitch, and the Model Model paused in confusion, just long enough for Marinette to toss her lasso and tighten it snugly around the Model Model's middle, typing the akuma's arms to her side. Before the akuma could react, Marinette dashed around her several times, wrapping the cord around as she did, then tying a fast knot- her hands practically blurred- and grabbing a chair-

Wait. Wait wait wait. A chair?

Adrien only had half a second to wonder at what Marinette was planning now when she flipped the chair, taking hold of the chair's legs, and slammed it at full strength into the wavering Model Model's back, sending the akuma crashing face-first into the floor. Marinette didn't even wait for the (metaphorical) dust to settle before she was dashing up the akuma, ducking down to grab the purse and ripping it away from the Model Model. Adrien's breath caught in his throat as he stared, disbelieving.

Had- had Marinette seriously just defeated an akuma all on her own, without any superpowers? And gotten away with it unscathed?

Before Marinette could jump off of the Model Model and make her escape with the possessed purse, the Model Model thrashed, sending Marinette tumbling off of the akumas back before she meant to. As she landed on the floor, Adrien spotted her stumble and let out a sharp gasp, clearly landing on her foot wrong. Marinette winced, but amazingly enough, she didn't stop. Instead, she kept moving, pulling herself over the upended table and out the door.

He definitely hadn't imagined the misstep. Marinette's teeth had been gritted and while she hadn't let it slow her down much, she was definitely favoring one foot.

Adrien spared a glance to the shouting, thrashing akuma on the floor, then dashed after Marinette. If the Model Model got loose from the cord, she would go after Marinette right away. Combine a towering, long-limbed akuma and the much shorter, injured Marinette and, well, Adrien could guess how that would end.

Besides, he didn't know what Marinette's plan was. She had a possessed item, and if he and Ladybug couldn't find her, that could become an issue.

Over the table, then down the hall. Around a corner, and then Adrien practically tripped over Marinette, who had fallen on the floor. She was struggling to her feet, using the wall for support, and Adrien winced. Her injury had to be pretty serious if it had made her fall, and that she was still struggling on at all was impressive.

Impressive, but Adrien could help. With only a half-formed plan in mind, he dashed forward and scooped Marinette up like he might as Chat Noir, one arm around her back and the other under her thighs, and almost automatically, her legs wrapped around his waist so that some of her weight was supported on his hips instead of fully in his arms. Adrien gave her one quick adjustment so that they were more comfortable, then took off down the hallway, trying to think of a plan.

If they went for a back staircase, then that might be a good hiding spot. Adrien could claim that he was going up to the rooftops to see if he could find the superheroes, then leave Marinette in a hidden corner and come back as Chat Noir. He would be able to reach Ladybug more easily that way- if she was transformed, at least, he had to hope that she was- and then they could take care of the akuma before it pulled itself out of the purse and infected someone else.

Veering to the side, Adrien ducked into one of the lesser-used staircases in the school, adjusting Marinette again so she was a little higher. They should probably head up to at least the next landing, in case the Model Model got free and glanced in the staircase, but even though Marinette was small and light, it probably wouldn't be particularly easy to carry her up the stairs, at least not in his civilian form.

He could do it, though. Marinette had been so brave and done all the hard work of defeating an akuma, so he could get her up some stairs and to safety.

Adrien's breath came in heavy pants as he dashed up the first section of stairs, doing his best to avoid overbalancing in either direction. He didn't hear any banging or shouts, so presumably the Model Model was still trussed up in Marinette's fabulous handiwork.

Adrien reached the landing, and paused to catch his breath. Before he could start up again, though, a blur of red coming towards them caught his attention, and he stumbled to an abrupt halt, eyes wide.

That was Ladybug's kwami. What was Ladybug's kwami doing here?

"Hello!" Tikki chirped, flying to a stop in front of them. In his arms, Marinette tensed up before twisting to try to see where the voice was coming from. "I'm Ladybug's kwami. She can't get away to transform at the moment, so I'll be taking care of purifying the akuma! All you need to do is tear the purse!"

"Oh, thank goodness," Adrien breathed, turning so that Marinette could see Tikki without craning her neck quite so much and adjusting his grip to compensate for her letting go of his shoulders to rip the possessed purse in two. There was a jerk as Marinette tore the fabric, and then Tikki swooped in to grab the akuma and shove it in her mouth, bright light shining out from between her lips.

...okay, that was a bit weird. But seconds later, the purified butterfly fluttered free, and Tikki beamed as she tossed her paws up in the air and let loose a cloud of sparkles, her Cure rushing around the school. Adrien let out a sigh of relief- and almost immediately, it turned into a gasp of surprise and worry.

Marinette had slumped in his arms, suddenly seemingly drained of all energy. Adrien tightened his grip, frantically glancing between her and Tikki.

"What happened to her?"

Tikki had clapped her paws to her mouth in clear surprise. "Oh! Whoops!"

"Whoops?"

"It's been so long since I cast the Cure without a transformation that I forgot that it, well...it has some side effects," Tikki told him, clearly sheepish as she eyed the slumped Marinette. "It's not nearly as strong without being channeled, and, uh, it drains Ladybug of energy- I don't know why, really-"

"Wait, if it drains Ladybug of energy, why did it get Marinette, too?" Adrien asked, frowning. That didn't make sense. "I mean-"

"Oh!" Tikki exclaimed with a titter, eyes going even wider for a second before she rushed on. "Well, that- that's a combination of factors, really. I mean, if I'm remembering correctly. She was heavily involved in the fight, and the Cure had to do the most work on her, and, uh... and she was close by when I cast the Cure, and I hadn't had enough cookies this morning so I had to borrow more energy than I might otherwise-"

Adrien blinked. "O...kay?"

"So that's why it took her energy, too!" Tikki finished with a chirp. "There might be some lingering effects like some soreness in her ankle, but it'll be all healed and right as rain by tomorrow morning! And I should get back to Ladybug now before she wonders where I went, so good-bye!"

"Bye," Adrien managed before Tikki zipped off. He frowned after her for a moment, still worried. He- he had more questions, really, but he couldn't ask all of them with Marinette still in earshot. He was worried about Ladybug- was she still with friends who could catch her before she collapsed to the floor? What would they think? Should he go and help somehow?- and about how quickly the two girls would recover. Marinette was still pretty limp but stirring enough that he knew that she hadn't been completely knocked out. Hopefully a nap would get her her energy back, but what if Ladybug had been hit just as hard and there was another akuma attack this afternoon?

Hopefully that wouldn't happen. Still, her friends had to be super confused right now, and if Ladybug had collapsed to the same extent that Marinette had, she wouldn't be in any condition to come up with a believable excuse for her sudden weakness.

Maybe her friends would just think that she was sick or something.

After another couple seconds had passed, Adrien gave himself a shake and turned, heading back down the stairs. Tikki had gone up, which suggested that Ladybug and her friends had retreated to the roof. If that was true, they would be coming back down soon, and it wouldn't do for him to still be hanging around.

Besides, with the akuma gone, he had to get back to class. Madam Mendeleev had a track record of not being very lenient with people who stayed missing longer than the rest of the class after an akuma attack had ended, and while he would probably get a pass because he would be returning with an unconscious classmate, it was better not to tempt fate too much.

As it turned out, he hadn't needed to worry. When Adrien returned to the classroom, Marinette clinging to him like a sleepy sloth, his classmates and teacher were all gathered around the deakumatized model on the floor. Rose was working at the knots in the computer cords, doing her best to loosen them and free the model.

Another thing that hadn't gone quite right with the Cure. Normally, the cords would have all been returned to their original spot. Maybe it was because Marinette had been the one to use them instead of the superheroes or the akuma, because the formerly-broken window had been put right.

"Adrien! You got away- bro, what happened to Marinette? Did the akuma hurt her or something?"

Chloe sniffed from here spot on top of her desk, where she had been surveying her nails and the trussed model on the floor. "She's just faking it for attention, Adrikins, just drop her on the floor or something."

Adrien frowned at her, hugging Marinette closer. "She's not, and I'm not going to do that, Chloe."

"Something happened, though, didn't it?" Alya had abandoned Rose's side in favor of hurrying over to Adrien, either for a scoop or to collect her best friend, Adrien couldn't tell. He wasn't going to give her much of either. "Ladybug's Cure was weird, and I didn't see her or Chat Noir arrive like usual, and now Marinette's practically asleep and the akuma victim is still tied up and the superheroes weren't here when she came to and-"

"Alya, slow down," Nino said with a laugh, cutting his girlfriend off. "Let him talk. Adrien was in the room a lot longer than we were, maybe he saw something."

Adrien nodded, his mind racing to come up with a cover story. There were some things that he didn't want to mention with either Alya or Lila in earshot, and the fact that Ladybug had apparently been caught unable to transform on the school property, close enough for her kwami to come looking for them, was definitely one of those things. Ladybug had managed to throw Alya off when she claimed to be 5000, so the last thing they wanted was for Alya to get back on her trail. Still, the best bet was to get as close to the truth as he could.

"Marinette defeated the akuma even before Ladybug could get here," Adrien told his classmates, and all eyes turned to him. On the floor, the model gave him a disgruntled glare as Rose finally freed her from the tangled lasso wire, but he ignored her. He could deal with that later. "She made a tripwire, then made another cord into a lasso to trap the akuma so that we could take the possessed purse and escape. She landed funny, though, so her ankle got injured, and then we ran into Ladybug up on the roof." It wasn't a common place for people to go, usually, so hopefully no one would be able to dispute his story. "The Cure went a little funny because there was no Lucky Charm, though. I, uh, don't think that Ladybug expected that, or she probably would have called for one anyway."

There was an impressed murmur at that, (almost) all of their classmates regarding Marinette with a bit of awe. While it was hardly the first time that a member of their class had fought back against an akumatized villain, no one had ever defeated one before. Most of the time, all their fighting accomplished was buying Ladybug and Chat Noir or escaping classmates a bit of time.

Unsurprisingly, a sour look flashed across Lila's face at the attention that Marinette was getting.

"Oh, that makes sense!" Max exclaimed, and everyone turned to look at him. He looked a little flustered by the attention, but adjusted his glasses and continued on regardless. "Ladybug's Lucky Charm always helps Ladybug defeat the akuma, and it no doubt contains a lot of magical energy. This time, Marinette helped Ladybug by defeating the akuma, which would make her the replacement for the Lucky Charm. When Ladybug casts the Cure, it releases the energy stored in the Lucky Charm to fix the city. Likewise, the Cure took Marinette's energy."

His classmates lit up in understanding, nodding along.

"That makes so much sense!"

"I can't imagine defeating an akuma by myself- that must have been so scary!"

"I bet she outsmarted the akuma, Marinette is fantastic like that!"

Alya waved her phone, the most excited out of all of them. "I gotta get an interview for my blog! My bestie, taking on an akuma by herself, no superpowers needed!"

Adrien frowned at that. A civilian going after an akuma would no doubt become a target for Hawkmoth, either to try to attack as revenge or as a potential akuma victim, since she was crafty enough to defeat an akuma and might be able to defeat the superheroes. If Hawkmoth hadn't seen who Marinette was through his akuma, then they shouldn't just hand over the information. "Alya, I don't know if that's a good idea-"

"It's too bad you didn't get a video, Alya, I bet people would have loved that!"

Adrien tried not to sigh. He would try to get to Alya later, before she could try to harass Marinette into giving an interview.

Rose was clasping her hands together, forever eager. "Marinette is our Everyday Ladybug and a Lucky Charm! That's so amazing!"

Mylène nodded, sending an awed glance over at Marinette, who was doing her best to burrow into Adrien's shoulder. Clearly she was exhausted and just wanted a nap, but she couldn't do that with all of the noise. "It is! Marinette has to be the only person to ever be a Charm, I haven't ever heard of anyone else doing that!"

There were murmurs of agreement all around at that, people nodding in agreement.

And then Lila opened her mouth.

"Actually, it's been done before," Lila spoke up, just loud enough to be heard but not so loud that she would obviously look like she was trying to take attention away from Marinette. Still, she drew more than a few eyes as she laid a careful, modest hand on her chest. "I mean, I don't want to minimize what Marinette has done or anything, but..."

"Have you been a Lucky Charm before, Lila?" Rose asked eagerly, and Adrien's blood started heating up, headed for a slow boil. What Marinette had done was a first, and it had been super brave of her. She had earned the respect and praise that her classmates had been giving her.

Lila had not.

"Just the once," Lila told them, ducking her head as though embarrassed by the attention. "I happened to be in the area, and, well, I saw an opportunity and I took it. And I wanted to help Ladybug, of course, since we're besties. It was harder than I anticipated, but I didn't want to give up, even after I broke my arm."

There were murmurs at that, and the impressed looks were directed at Lila now, not Marinette. Adrien's blood boiled even more. Marinette had twisted her ankle- maybe even broken it, considering that she had collapsed after only getting a short distance away- and hadn't just sat down and given up on the spot, or thrown the akumatized item to Adrien and told him to run. Instead, she had been in the middle of pushing herself up to continue running, pushing on regardless of the injury.

"What akuma was it?" Sabrina asked eagerly, leaning forward. "I don't remember seeing anything on the news!"

"Yes, well, it was one of those akumas that vanished out of public view and was defeated out of sight. They're common enough, of course." Lila shrugged, the picture of modesty. "I don't know what he was upset about, of course, but he kept, uh, making cell phones explode like- like he had a grudge against them or something."

"Ooh, Cellphobia?" Alya exclaimed, already reaching for her phone. Adrien could see questions for another interview dancing above her head, even though there clearly wouldn't be time- after all, Madam Mendeleev had just entered the classroom, and looked none too thrilled about the scene greeting her. "That one was so dangerous, and there was so much damage! And you were the Lucky Charm for that fight?"

Lila nodded, a small smile dancing across her lips. "Yes, Cellphobia was the one! It was so scary, of course, but Ladybug was down and Chat Noir hadn't caught up yet, so of course I had to step in-"

"Cellphobia was a month and a half ago, when you said that you were traveling around Africa to deal with an emergency at your charity there," Adrien interrupted, anger making his words tumble out before he could rethink them. "So you couldn't have possibly-"

Lila sniffled at once, loudly enough to make everyone's attention snap back to her before they could really think about what Adrien had said. "Are you calling me a liar? That's so mean! Cellphobia happened right before I left!"

There were more murmurs at that, and the entire class's eyes swung back to Adrien. He froze for a second, not at all comfortable with the attention. Was now really the best time to get into this argument? Marinette clearly needed sleep to recover, and if Ladybug was in a similar condition, now was not the time to get Lila upset and in an akumatizeable mood. On top of that, Adrien wouldn't be able to get away very fast, because he was carrying Marinette and she would no doubt be a target for Lila.

As much as it pained Adrien- because right now, Lila was trying to steal an amazing accomplishment from his friend and that on top of everything else she had done had pretty much used up all of his patience and then some- he didn't want to get into any sort of showdown right now. Before he could try to diffuse the situation, though, Alya spoke up.

"Maybe you're misremembering when Cellphobia was," Alya suggested from where she had edged closer to Lila, one hand on the other girl's shoulder. "Because Lila wouldn't lie about that!"

There was a snort at that from Adrien's shoulder, and then Marinette lifted her head up slightly, just enough so that she could speak, though her words were still a bit sleep-slurred, as though she weren't completely awake. "Yeah, right. Google is free, Alya. Feel free to use it for once."

There was a shocked silence at that, everyone staring at Marinette. For her part, Marinette had gone back to curling into Adrien's shoulder, clearly done with the conversation. Lila's mouth was open as though to protest, but she clearly couldn't think of anything to say.

At the back of the group, Max looked up from his tablet. "Adrien is correct. Cellphobia's appearance was on the tenth of last month. I sent my notes from class to Lila due to her travels from the fourth to the twelfth, and she told me that she would return to Paris late on the day on the fourteenth, then return to school that Monday. That means that she either lied about being a Lucky Charm during the Cellphobia attack, or she lied about being out of the country for that period of time."

Out of the corner of his eye, Adrien saw Madam Mendeleev perk up at that comment, eyes narrowing in focus. Lila followed his gaze, the barest hint of panic entering her expression.

Well, it was out of Adrien's hands now. Also, Marinette's lack of filter when tired was pretty funny.

"That- that wasn't Cellphobia's first appearance," Lila insisted, her eyes darting around the group. "I wasn't aware that he had been akumatized again when I was away, and the first occurrence was very contained-"

Even Alya was looking doubtful now as she backed away from Lila, letting the hand that had formerly rested on Lila's shoulder fall back to her side, her fingers flexing. "Why would the battle have been bigger the second time around?

"All right, class, stop dithering around and find your seats!" Madam Mendeleev called, cutting off whatever Lila was going to say next. "Adrien, does Marinette need to go to the nurse?"

"I think she just needs sleep," Adrien told her, maneuvering himself into his seat while jostling Marinette as little as possible. He kept one arm around her, just in case she started tipping off balance.

"She can sleep back here next to me, Adrien," Alya said eagerly, leaning forward to catch his attention. "She's fallen asleep at her desk before, it'll be fine."

Adrien could see through that in a second. As much as it pained him to admit it- after all, Alya was his friend and he wanted to think the best of his friends- he could tell that Alya wanted Marinette near her so that she could get the scoop about the akuma fight as soon as possible, either by pestering Marinette during class or pouncing on her straight afterwards, even if Marinette needed more sleep. Still, he wasn't going to call Alya out on that right now. "I'm good, Alya. Marinette can use me as a pillow, I don't mind."

Alya opened her mouth, then hesitated, clearly torn. Adrien didn't give her another chance to argue, though, turning back to the front in time to see Madam Mendeleev escorting the former Model Model out. It was someone who Adrien vaguely recognized- they had maybe had a couple scattered shared photoshoots- and they shot him a dark look as they headed out, clearly not having forgiven him for- well, for not getting fired from the family business, apparently.

Ah, well. Maybe Adrien could have a word with the photography people later and try to make sure that they were being fair with dealing with lateness.

Turning his attention to the front and making sure that he didn't disturb Marinette- who, from the sounds of her quiet, even breathing in his ear, had fallen asleep- Adrien resolved to stay focused throughout class, even with all of the other things there were to consider.

Lila's clearly impending downfall and the fallout from that. Trying to keep Alya from posting anything about Marinette's involvement in defeating an akuma, and from accidentally harassing her friend in her eagerness to get an interview. In general trying to convince his classmates to keep Marinette's amazing work on the down-low for her safety- perhaps he would pay the class a visit as Chat Noir or something so that people would actually listen. But then there was the entire issue of Lila and the fact that- well, Lila was totally the type to use information like that as a weapon. If it occurred to her that she might be able to get Hawkmoth to target Marinette's family, she would make sure to get the information out.

That could be an issue. Maybe Chat Noir should just go to Alya after school and maybe a couple other classmates, ones who might be likely to spread the news. That way, he wouldn't be giving Lila any ideas.

Two classes back-to-back in Madam Mendeleev's room, and then they moved back to Ms. Bustier's classroom to finish the school day. Adrien got dismissed early so that he could carry Marinette to the next classroom without getting jostled around too much by other students, and he caught Alya snapping pictures of the two of them on the way out of the classroom.

Hopefully after school would be early enough and she wasn't drafting a Ladyblog article in class right now. If she was...well, maybe Adrien would have to do some damage control before their next class.

Marinette stirred in his arms as Adrien headed down the hall, doing his best smooth model walk to keep from jostling her. "Wha...?"

"We're just heading to the final class of the day," Adrien explained, keeping his voice low. He didn't know how awake Marinette was, and he didn't want to startle her. "The teachers know that your energy got sapped after the akuma battle, and so they're fine with you sleeping. I can bring you home after school. Just keep napping."

Regardless, Marinette jolted and lifted her head, clearly more awake. "They...know?"

"They know that you took down the akuma," Adrien specified, wondering if maybe Marinette's short-term memory was perhaps a little fuzzy at the moment. "And that you took her akumatized item to Ladybug to purify. Max theorized that you were Ladybug's Lucky Charm for this fight and- well, he said something about transfer of energy and it was a little hard to follow, but that's what everybody thinks now."

Marinette sounded puzzled. "But- we didn't see Ladybug?"

"I know, but the fact that her kwami was here suggests that she was in the school while detransformed and I didn't want Alya to know that." Marinette would understand why, he was sure. Adrien had overheard her arguing with Alya before about the Ladyblog's goal to find out who the superheroes were behind the mask. "And, uh, I don't know how much of it you were really fully awake for, but Madam Mendeleev is on Lila's trail now, I think."

He could feel Marinette's smile against his shoulder as she settled back down. "That's good."

"Mm. It'll be nice to not have to hear her lies all the time, I'll admit." Adrien adjusted his grip on Marinette, letting his cheek rest against Marinette's head as he waited outside of Ms. Bustier's door. He hadn't expected it, but it was such a relief to know that he wouldn't have to listen to Lila reaping the rewards for things that she hadn't done. "I can't believe she tried to claim that she had done the same thing that you did, defeating an akuma on your own."

Marinette didn't respond. It sounded like she had fallen asleep again. Adrien smiled, making sure his grip on her was secure before letting his attention wander, eyes automatically scanning over the school for any signs of trouble. Everything seemed calm for now, though, and hopefully it would stay that way.

If something did happen- if Lila got angry enough about the class discovering her lies and got akumatized- then, well, Adrien would do his very best to protect Marinette and keep her out of harm's way, even if that meant going toe-to-toe with an akuma before he could get away and transform.

After all, she had done so much for him and the rest of the class. Now, it was his turn to help her.

#Miraculous Ladybug #My writing #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #Everyday Ladybug

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cutie1365 · 4 years

Text

A Kid from Queens Part 17

Pairing: Peter Parker x Stark!Reader

Info: CA: Civil War Era. Tony Stark enlists his daughter to find the web slinging spider in Queens.

Word count: 2.5k

Warnings: Language

A/N: Please let me know what you think! Enjoy!

Masterlist linked in my bio. Taglist in the reblog.

- - - - - 🕷 - - - - -

Another restless night of tossing a turning, not knowing if you really slept or if time has passed, you found yourself reaching for your phone on the nightstand. Your eyes flitted to the time- 3:50 AM. You were about to groan and plop back onto the bed when your eyes journey down to another notification from an hour ago.

“Override 17A” it read, and right below it another one.

“Training Wheels Protocol Disabled”

“What the fuck?” You muttered out loud. 17A was Peter’s suit. Certainly your father wouldn’t have done this, which only left one explanation.

“He didn’t-” You stopped, almost in disbelief. Did he just hack your suit?

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. where the hell is he?” you asked angrily, sitting up in bed.

“It appears the tracker has been removed from the suit, boss.” The AI informed you.

You threw the covers off of yourself and jumped out of bed.

“He better be dead, because if not I’m gonna kill him.” You huffed, moving to your desk and pulling open your laptop.

“Can you get me the last location he pinged?” You began pulling up the reports you had on his suit, to see if you could get any more information on what he’d been doing. It showed you a map of him bouncing around Queens and occasionally into the city. There was one last dot 200 miles away.

“A hotel in D.C.” F.R.I. said.

“Why wasn’t I informed the suit left the city?” You asked.

“Mr. Hogan was informed.” She said.

“When?” You shut the computer, turning back towards the middle of the room waiting for an answer.

“4:00 PM yesterday.” She informed you.

“What the hell is he doing in D.C.?” You asked yourself, “Get me Happy on the line.”

You had a bad feeling about this, did Peter disable the tracker himself? If he did, it meant he was going to do something he didn’t want any of you knowing about, likely meaning it’s dangerous.

“Are you sure? It is four in the morning.” She asked for confirmation.

“Call him.” You instructed, standing to pace the room.

“Y/N, what’s going on?” Happy answered, his voice frantic. He knew you’d never call this early unless it was important.

“Where’s Peter?” You asked, the anger evident in your voice.

“The kid? He’s got a school trip in D.C? Why?” Happy asked, curiously.

“The suit’s tracker was disabled an hour ago, and some systems were changed without my authorization.” You tried to explain calmly.

“That’s not good.” Happy said, and you could almost feel his stress levels spike through the phone.

“Has he been giving you reports? Anything that could clue us into what he’s doing?” You asked, still pacing the room.

“He’s just been doing what he always does, helping old ladies, and bike thefts and muggings.” Happy shrugged.

“Shit. Ok, I’ll take care of it Hap.” You said, not wanting to stress Happy out even more.

You would have dug more to see if he knew anything, but in your pacings you figured a way into Peter’s suit. He may have disabled the tracker, but if the Training Wheels Protocols was deactivated that would mean his AI was now online. You should be able to enter through a backdoor in her system remotely.

After about half an hour you were able to get in, and although you wouldn’t be able to transmit anything you would be able to overhear any conversation between Peter and the AI. Hopefully that would tip you off to their location or what he’s planning.

“What is this place? Suit lady, where am I?” You heard Peter speaking, his voice transmitting through your computer.

“You’re in the most secure facility on the Eastern Seaboard. The Damage Control Deep Storage Vault.” His AI answered, casually.

“Son of a bitch.” You shook your head, jumping up and slamming your computer shut once more. Anger wasn’t the right word to describe what you’re feeling right now. Peter was meddling in something larger than himself, and he likely didn’t even know it. You didn’t want him to get killed.

Your dress pants were strewn over a chair in your room, they were closest so you grabbed them and a sweater and began to search for your keys. You knew the drive would take about 4 hours, it may be morning by then and you may miss him, but it was a chance you were willing to take. You couldn’t take the jet since it was upstate and you couldn’t get a pilot at this hour, with the Accords everyone was under such scrutiny that they couldn’t take you. If this had been years ago Steve or Clint would have gladly piloted last minute.

You did have one more option, but it was too risky. You hadn’t tested it enough, and certainly not for long distance flight stabilization. Plus your father would kill you if he found out you had made a suit prototype for yourself.

Once in the garage, you looked at the motorcycle next to your car. That could work... maybe shave an hour or two off of your trip by weaving in between cars and traffic. Though you’d almost certainly get pulled over and be slowed down even longer.

“Next time.” You glanced at the bike once more, as you climbed into the car and revved it up, praying you’d get there in time.

Once you were on the highway you put the car into autopilot, using your phone to connect to your remote desktop and back into his AI, to see if you could get any more clues as to what he was doing.

“Hey it’s like the glowy thing.” Peter spoke, excitement in his voice.

“That glowy thing is an explosive Chitauri energy core.” His AI, who you learned he named Karen, spoke very matter of factly.

“What!” You said out loud. “Peter Parker you’re so dead.” You groaned, flipping autopilot off, throwing your phone onto the seat next to you, and flooring it down the empty highway.

You were able to make the trip in three and a half hours, but you were too late. Peter was no longer at the facility. You had a worker let you into the deep storage vault, your name was practically on the door so authorization wasn’t an issue. You were thankful for grabbing nicer clothing though. You planned on looking for clues to where Peter ran off to, but you were distracted by a shipping container that had clearly been tampered with. This was something Peter couldn’t have done, nearly half of the items were missing. This had to have been the weapons dealings with the major.

You called in your FBI contacts to come investigate, and you were momentarily distracted and forgot about Peter, the whole reason you came here. You showed the agents the containers and the items missing, they must have been using the parts to make and sell weapons. They asked you questions about the protocols of this facility and shipments. When the venture between Stark Industries and the government was struck for this department, you’d read all the documents word for word, as your father was too bored to. Wasn’t really his area, paperwork. You answered their questions and discussed possible entries. A complete catalog of the other containers would have to be done and compared to the original records to see how much had been stolen, security would also have to be increased.

“Hang on.” Another agent to your right took a phone call that seemed important, “Where?” He said, concern evident in his voice. This caused everyone to look in his direction.

“Sir, we have an incident at the Washington Monument.” He turned to his boss saying.

“What kind of incident?” He asked, hands on his hips.

“Someone’s climbing it.” He said, in disbelief, the room went silent.

“Shit.” You muttered under your breath. That had to be Peter.

“Are we good here?” You turned to the agent who was your main contact and asked.

“Yeah, we’ll finish up here, see if we can get any prints.” He nodded, placing his hands on his hips as well, turning away from the rest of the group and dropping his voice slightly before continuing, “We’re getting intel on a possible rendezvous for a sale, we’ve got a guy posing as a buyer. We’ll let you know, we might need to use you as a distraction, but you’re free to go.”

You nodded, and tried to not look suspicious as you slowly rushed off to your car.

You drove as fast as you could, weaving in and out of traffic. As you got closer to the monument you saw D.C. Metro police helicopters circling. You hit the breaks as you saw fire trucks and ambulances surrounding the entrance. You put the car in park and stepped out, attempting to get a better view.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. what happened here?” You asked nervously.

“I’m sensing radiation from a Chitauri energy core detonation.” She spoke plainly.

“What? How the hell?” You walked closer to the scene, they were beginning to put up police tape.

“It appeared to be from inside the elevator.” She said.

“Is everyone ok?” You asked slowly.

“No casualties reported. Students inside the elevator were saved before it collapsed.” You now stood at the police tape, with a full view of the monument.

“Peter saved them?” You asked quietly, you could see the broken window at the very top, that must have been how he got in. He saved his friends, you really couldn’t be mad at him for that.

“Where are they now?” You slipped the sunglasses from the top of your head over your eyes, getting a view inside the monument at the crumbling elevator that would have meant certain death for all occupants if it weren’t for Peter.

“Their bus has departed and is heading back to Midtown, parents have been informed and sent to meet them.” The AI informed you.

“Is Peter on the bus?” You asked, worried.

“Traffic cameras confirm Peter Parker is on board.” She confirmed, and you hung your head in relief. You took one more look around the scene through your tech glasses as two firefighters moved to stand next to you.

“Shit’s crazy, five more seconds and those kids wouldn’t have made it.” They spoke to each other, and you quickly turned and rushed back to your car to make the trip back upstate. You knew what you had to do.

- - - - - 🕷 - - - - -

It was dark when you finally arrived. You saw the bus with kids greeting their parents. They were milling about as a teacher was unloading luggage from the bus. You saw Peter leaning against the brick of the school building as May talked to other parents. Coming from around the corner behind him, you grabbed onto his arm and pulled him backwards, immediately wrapping your arms around him and pulling him into a hug.

He remained frozen for a second, before recognizing your signature scent and hugging you back. You pulled away quickly, keeping your hands on the side of his arms as you scolded him.

“What the hell were you thinking?” You scolded.

“I-” He tried.

“You hacked my suit! You turned off the tracker.” You seethed.

“I-”

“I don’t know how you got into Damage Control, you tampered with federal property and a federal investigation.” You waved your hand in anger.

“I-” he tried once more.

“God Peter, I was so scared,” You hugged him again, “Don’t do that to me again.”

“I’m sorry.” He finally said, as you pulled away and he could see the tears beginning to form in your eyes.

“I can’t do this.” you admitted.

“Do what?” Peter asked, furrowing his brow.

“It’s been killing me, trying to stay away from you. I just- I want to be with you, I don’t care what happens.” You shook your head, letting a stray tear fall down your cheek.

“What about your father?” He asked, as his thumb gently came up to wipe the tear away.

“He’ll understand. The plan worked, we just have to be more careful.” You grabbed his hand to reassure him.

“You just can’t be seen with Spider-Man.” He nodded.

“But I can be seen with Peter Parker.” You smiled.

“What about Harley?” He asked, causing you to let go of his hand in surprise of the question.

“Harley? What about him?” You asked, confused.

“I thought you two were-” Peter began.

“Oh no, no. He’s a friend. He knows dad, it’s a long story. We’re hiring him.” You chuckled slightly.

“Oh.” Peter nodded, feeling dumb for assuming.

“Jealousy isn't a good look on you.” You teased.

“I just.” He shrugged, smiling and giving up. He laughed at his own assumption.

“Happy Birthday by the way, I’m sorry I missed it.” You said, it had killed you not being able to send him a message on the day almost two weeks ago now.

“That’s ok.” He smiled, taking your hand once more.

“I may know how I can make it up to you.” You smirked.

“How’s that?” He asked, knowing what it might be. You leaned in to kiss him, as you felt him smile into the kiss. You’d both missed this. Something just felt right whenever you were together.

You smiled as you pulled away to look at him in the moonlight, you stared into his eyes like it was the first time.

“I have a gala next week, come with me?” You asked, with a hopeful smile.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Peter raised a brow with the tilt of his head.

“Lucky for you, it has a masquerade theme.” You smiled.

“Lucky me.” He smirked, moving his fingers through your hair to the back of your head to pull you into a kiss once more. The both of you were so lost in the moment that you didn’t see someone coming around the corner.

“Peter? Oh-” Aunt May stopped as her eyes landed on the two of you. You quickly pulled apart, you could feel your cheeks begin to blush in embarrassment.

“Oh- uh, hi Ms. Parker.” You stuttered, your finger brushing your lip slightly before holding your hands behind your back.

“Hi Y/N.” She smirked, looking to Peter. She had known that he liked you, but she never expected to find the two of you like this.

“I should- probably- uh.” You pointed towards your car, looking back between Peter and May, nodding and taking a step towards the car.

“Y/N.” May called.

“Yes.” You turned back around with a smile.

“Would you like to come over for dinner tomorrow?” She asked with a smile.

“Tomorrow?” You glanced at Peter, who’s eyes went wide in embarrassment, you smiled, “I’ll be there.” you nodded, you did owe him a raincheck.

As you turned and walked back towards the car you heard them whispering to each other, causing you to smile.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” May giggled to Peter.

“Shh... May.” Peter whined, causing her to giggle once more.

- - - - - 🕷 - - - - -

Taglist in the reblog, link in my masterlist in my bio to join it

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iscariotsdeputy · 4 years

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Sequel to this post

You haven’t seen that man in months, the man with the feathered shoes. The man who gifted you that drachma. The one who put a ‘kick me’ sign on your back and left you to get heckled a little bit by your work, your family, and a couple strangers. He made your life a little inconvenient for a few minutes, but he brought just as much energy as he could to your day too. His laughter, his voice, and the way he appeared in the summer sun will be stuck in your mind for years to come, if not forever.

But it’s no longer a summer day. It’s an autumn night. And on a drive home, you see that familiar shadow huddled in the light of a lantern in the middle of a graveyard. His dark shadow, not nebulous to mask those wings on the side of his shoes and hat. Draped in his light, you can almost see a faint shadow beside him, something or rather someone that appears to sway back and forth in the light. The lantern moves deeper into the graveyard and so do the shadows, before they disappear entirely. The light goes out. You stop the car and get out, walking closer and closer to the graveyard. When you hit the grassy cover of that sanctuary of souls, you can hear those leaves gently crack and crumble under your shoes. You turn on the flashlight on your phone to navigate through the memorials.

You get closer and closer, crossing that threshold and walking past rows of tombstones until you go where those shadows went. The closer you got, the slower your steps got until they went completely still and that light was returning into the world. The lantern sparked back to light and that man with the feathered shoes returned. And he was just as surprised as you were. He said your name. You didn’t know his name, but you shot him an accusatory glance that said it all. With his hands up, he had an attempt to placate you and explain himself. All he said, however, was that he was paying an couple of old friends a visit. You didn’t believe him. He said you wouldn’t believe him if he told the truth.

You both went on your back and forth, you demanded more answers, but he didn’t say a thing. Just came up with more excuses. You were both turning red, him with that flustered face and you with that anger. So, you let go. You gave up and decided to let him play hard. You were going to get back in your car and you were going home. That man let you go home, let you get back to your car, but neither one of you saw traffic coming.

Neither one of you expected that car driving ninety or nothing. Most of all, nobody expected you to get hit. You were hit, you were hit hard and the world went dark. The last thing you heard was the car speed off and the graveyard wanderer with the feathered shoes screamed your name. You weren’t around to see it, but he dashed after you. Made it over to you in mere tenths of a second. A superhuman feat you missed out on.

You came to and the world was dark, the stars in the night sky were shining bright, and he was hovering right by your side. He wasn’t good at medicine, you heard him say that. Repeat it, even. He was begging for help from someone else, said he needed a favor, said he needed help, Just enough to get you through. Words were repeated.

Styx. Obol. Charon. Hades. Persephone.

Well son of a bitch, you thought. This fucker was Hermes.

You spoke his name into the world and he froze, he looked down at you and you looked up at him from your spot on the asphalt. His eyes were tired. His eyes were practically empty. Yes, there were still tears. No matter how many millennia he lived, this part of his job would never get easier.

Hermes knew too many tragedies. He saw too many young lives go too early. You had a fighting chance, though. He believed in you. You weren’t dead. Not yet. And he’d do whatever he could to let you meet a better fate, not something he could’ve prevented. Quickly, he tossed off his jacket and covered your eyes, telling you not to look. You promised not to look. You kept your eyes closed and covered as a bright, warm light surrounded you. When the light faded, however, you moved his jacket and looked up to see the same man, just in a different outfit.

Black jeans, well-taken care of boots, slicked back hair, raggedy stubble, and a familiar green uniform shirt. Hope County Sheriff Department. The shirt a deputy would wear.

A Messenger Can Get Anywhere, he promised you, leaning his head to the side to speak through the little radio he had.

He spoke quickly, giving out a plea for paramedics. Someone would come. Either Apollo or the paramedics. Or maybe you’d get to follow Hermes off into the Underworld. Whatever the outcome, you knew one thing was for sure:

Your story, whether some gut-wrenching tragedy or confounding, confusing comedy, was not over yet.

#Out of Crashes: OOC #THE SEQUEL IN THIS HERMES STACE SERIES #car crash tw #car crash cw #SORTA

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froggy-beans · 4 years

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I Remember You for the 2019 Irondad Fic Exchange

This piece was written for @imgoingtocrash with the prompts Peter Parker is Tony Stark’s Biological Child and Amensia. I love your blog and your writing and I hope you enjoy this piece :)

Summary: There was no reason the experiment should have gone wrong. FRIDAY ran countless simulations, each one giving good results. And yet, it does, leaving the Stark family to suffer the consequences.Prompts: Peter Parker is Tony Stark's biological son and Amnesia

link to ao3

Peter’s head pounded with the heart rate monitor, each spike a pulse of pain. The headache was nothing compared to the burns on his arms, and even that was nothing compared to the pain in his heart.

“You ready, kiddo?” His dad asked, smiling. They were working on new Spider-Man technology, Peter’s favourite thing. Except working on the Iron Man armor, of course.

Peter watched the shallow rise and fall of his dad’s chest to reaffirm the idea that he was still alive. After the accident he wasn’t sure.

“Yeah. Did FRIDAY run the final simulation?” Peter responded. His dad nodded.

The accident that was his fault.

“I hope this works,” Tony said, helping Peter set up the experiment.

Everything had been going fine until the last step.

“Can you hand me that?” Tony gestured towards a beaker on the edge of the table. Peter handed to him, careful not to drop it. While the chemical wasn’t dangerous on its own, he certainly didn’t want to risk anything. Just as Tony went to mix the chemicals, Peter felt a pit open up in his stomach.

And then it went to hell.

A loud bang echoed on the walls, deafening the pair of them. All Peter saw was a bright flash before blinding pain erupted in his hands, his arms, his torso. He fell backwards, knocking over a table on his way down. Before he truly knew what was happening the alarm started blaring and water poured from the sprinklers in the ceiling.

Peter sat up, ignoring the pain, and looked around frantically. He saw his dad on the ground several feet away. Unlike Peter, he didn’t appear to be awake. The skin on his hands was red.

Later, Peter would learn that it was from burns, not blood. Not that that was better by any stretch of the imagination.

Peter called out to him. No response. He tried again, this time forcing himself to his hands and knees. He slowly crawled over to his dad, careful to avoid the still-smoking remains of a lab coat.

“Dad?” Peter shook Tony’s arm, already crying at the pain in his own. He tried again before someone was dragging him out of the lab. He wanted to struggle, to go back and make sure Tony was okay, but he was frozen. Even the words had trouble forming.

“Please—don’t—I – he –“

“We’ve got him, okay? We’ve got him.” Replied the person who was carrying him. Peter wondered how he could sound so calm when everything was so clearly not okay.

That was twelve hours ago. Since then Peter had passed out, woken up covered in bandages, and moved from his own spot in the medbay to an uncomfortable plastic chair next to Tony. He wondered why they didn’t have better ones. Pepper had visited him a couple hours before to bring him lunch, but Peter left it untouched on the end table. The guilt in his stomach didn’t leave room for anything else. I knew something was wrong. If I had just said something--

He pretended not to see the sad look she gave him as she left, but it still made him feel worse. The security system in the lab was damaged during the explosion, so they couldn’t look at footage of what happened, but Peter knew she wouldn’t feel bad for him if she ever did see it. Then she, and the rest of the world, would know that the explosion was Peter’s fault. He could have stopped it if he’d said something when his spider-sense went off

They would know, and they would probably hate him. Peter tried to push that thought away—there were more pressing things to worry about— but it was never far. He attempted to distract himself by texting Ned until he realized his phone was destroyed by the accident too. So, instead he talked to the one person he desperately wanted to seek comfort from, even though he couldn’t hear him.

“I’m sorry, dad,” Peter whispered softly.

Peter woke from a fitful sleep around three a.m. He was in his own bed, courtesy of Pepper, and nearly had a heart attack when FRIDAY started talking.

“Sorry to have woken you, Peter, but Pepper has requested your presence in the medbay. She says its urgent.”

“Did something happen?” He asked nervously, fearing the worst. His heart was already racing before he heard the reply.

“Dr. Cho will explain when you arrive.” FRIDAY answered cryptically. The reply (somehow) made Peter more jittery than he already had been. He carelessly tossed the covers onto the floor as he jumped out of bed to run downstairs. He took the stairs instead of the elevator, glad that it was the middle of the night. There were no Stark Industries employees to run into that way.

Dr. Cho waited for Peter just outside the door to Tony’s room. She appeared tired, but still as professional as ever with a clipboard in hand. Upon hearing Peter’s footsteps, she looked up from the charts with an apologetic look. She barely had a chance to explain before Peter started asking all manner of questions, all of them some variation of “Is he okay?”

“Yes, he’s stable, at least. He woke up around twenty minutes ago, Pepper is in there with him now, but there’s something you have to understand before you go in. He appears to be suffering from retrograde amnesia. Do you know what that is?”

Peter shook his head and nervously toyed with the hem of his t-shirt.

“It means that his ability to make memories hasn’t been altered, but he can’t access past memories. We’re optimistic that he’ll make a full recovery soon, but until then, he won’t remember you.”

Peter understood what she meant, but the words must not have stuck, because it still tore his heart in two when he walked in the room and his father looked at him like a stranger. Peter stood in the doorway as if his feet were glued to the floor. He could only watch as Pepper leaned towards Tony and explained who he was.

Pepper beckoned him closer and gestured for him to sit beside her on the edge of the mattress. “How did you sleep, sweetie?”

“Not very well.” Peter answered, looking anywhere but Tony. He didn’t want to see the bandages that were there because of him or the bruises that were there because of him and he definitely didn’t want to see the confusion that was there because of him. This is all your fault.

“Sorry to wake you early, then, but I figured you would be more upset if I hadn’t.” Pepper said. Peter wondered if he truly would have been more upset if she hadn’t woken him up until later. He already felt like shit anyway, so it probably didn’t matter.

“It’s okay. I was awake when FRIDAY called me anyways.” Tony looked confused at the mention of the AI, but he didn’t say anything. Peter felt another twang of guilt.

Pepper only nodded. Neither Peter nor Tony knew what to do. Peter could feel his dad’s eyes burning a hole in the side of his head as he stared out the room’s only window. There wasn’t much to look at other than the dark sky, but thanks to his spider powers, he could hear the traffic in the city below them while he once again played with the hem of his shirt.

After several minutes of the painfully tangible tension Pepper excused herself by claiming she forgot something she needed upstairs. Peter watched her go warily. He suddenly didn’t know how to act around the only constant figure in his life. He desperately wanted the comfort that only his father could give him but couldn’t shake the feeling that he didn’t deserve it. As soon as the door shut behind Pepper the tears started flowing.

“I’m sorry,” Peter sobbed. “I should have done something—”

“What could you have done?” The words were sharper than Tony intended them to be. He wasn’t sure how to comfort this kid that he was told was his but didn’t recognize. He only knew his name and relation because Pepper had informed him before fetching Peter, hoping to soften the blow even just the slightest. It hadn’t worked.

“I don’t know. Something. Anything. I’m the one who has super healing, I should have taken more of the blast.” Peter rambled. He tried to look anywhere but at his father. This time Tony’s words were softer, closer to the way they normally were but still unusually harsh.

“There isn’t anything you could have done. We won’t know what really happened until the fire marshal gives us his report.”

Peter flinched at Tony’s tone. He’d heard his dad talk like that many times, sure, but never to him. That voice was reserved for board rooms and SHIELD agents. That voice was reserved for people Tony didn’t know. Tony sighed, leaning his head back against the pillow.

“Look, kid, I’m sorry. I’m not trying to take this out on you. I don’t know anyone who’s come in this room today even though you all very clearly know me. And I know it hurting all of you, but I don’t know how to fix it.”

“I know.” Peter said, finally looking at his dad. “Dr. Cho said there isn’t much we can do but let the memories come back naturally. I don’t want to make you feel bad about it, but I cant pretend that it doesn’t hurt. You’re the only person who’s been there for me my whole life. It’s hard to feel like a stranger.”

Tony looked sadly at the kid (his kid, he reminded himself) sitting at the edge of the bed. He looked much younger than Pepper had said he was. His small frame was practically swimming in the red sweatshirt he was wearing. They could certainly afford clothing that was the right size, so where had he gotten it?

“Where is the sweatshirt from?” He asked. Peter looked at what he was wearing like he too was only noticing it for the first time and shrugged.

“It’s yours. From college.”

“Oh.”

“You went to MIT. Graduated summa cum laude in engineering. Not that you graduating top of your class was surprising.” Peter allowed a small smile with the last sentence as if it was some sort of inside joke. Maybe it was, Tony wouldn’t know. “Uncle Rhodey—your best friend—went there, too. It’s where you met.”

“Is Rhodey short for something?” Tony couldn’t imagine that was his real name. Peter nodded.

“James Rhodes. He doesn’t like being called that, though. I’m sure he’ll be by later this morning to visit. He was in Washington for a conference, but Pepper called him after the—uh—the incident.”

“Is there anything else I should know about him before he comes?”

“You call him honey bear a lot, too. He’s a colonel in the military, and an Avenger. War Machine, actually. The government tried to change his name to Iron Patriot but it’s not anywhere near as cool.”

Peter yawned, the events of the last sixteen hours weighing on his shoulders like a ton of bricks. Even though Tony would rather keep talking, keep trying to learn about his life and maybe jog his memory, he sent him to bed. Pepper said she wouldn’t mind filling him in on what he needed to know, and supposedly FRIDAY would be able to do the same.

Peter didn’t protest, welcoming the invitation to sleep. He hadn’t been able to earlier, tossing and turning nervously, but now he could barely keep his eyes open. There was nothing he wanted to do more than crawl into bed and bury his emotions in a heap of blankets. Peter nearly fell asleep in the elevator on the way to the penthouse. Pepper was waiting for him on the other side. When she asked if he needed anything, Peter shook his head and made his way down the hall to his bedroom.

Sleep brought relief. Much needed sweet relief.

Tony, however, wasn’t so lucky. Sleep eluded him as the sun rose. He filled the time by asking FRIDAY (who he thought was fucking cool and also a little weird) questions.

“What does Pepper do? Like as a job, I mean.” He asked. FRIDAY had answered all his questions diligently and patiently. It was easier to ask her. She couldn’t be hurt by too-harsh words and empty gazes.

“She is the CEO of your company, Stark Industries.”

“I own a company?”

“Yes, sir. Stark Industries was founded by your father Howard Stark in 1940. It was primarily a weapons and tech company until you shut down the weapons division in 2008. Now the main focus is on medical research and technology development.”

“What more can you tell me about Howard Stark?”

“Howard Stark was born 15 August 1917 in Richford, New York. He worked with the U.S. military during World War II and founded Stark Industries before being briefly on the run from the government, primary the SSR for supposed war crimes. He became one of the founding members of SHIELD. He died in 1991 as the result of a car crash. His wife and your mother, Maria Stark, was also killed in the crash.”

"And what about Maria Stark?”

“Maria Stark was born Maria Carbonell in Southampton, New York to a wealthy family and became a philanthropist as well as a socialite. She married Howard Stark before having you on 29 May 1970. Died 16 December 1991.”

“What is SHIELD?”

“SHIELD, or Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, is a government organization that focuses on espionage, law enforcement, and counter terrorism tactics. You are a member of one of their programs called the Avengers Initiative.”

FRIDAY continued without Tony even having to ask, already anticipating what he would want to know. Pepper told him that he designed FRIDAY, and maybe it was odd, but he felt a strange sense of pride at programming her so well.

“The Avengers Initiative was designed to bring together the best and most able people Earth has to offer. Their job is to defend Earth from threats, terrestrial and extraterrestrial, that are beyond the capabilities of conventional military to handle. You are one of the original six members and go by the title Iron Man.”

“Original six? How many are there now?”

“There are thirteen active members, including your son Peter.”

“I let my son be an Avenger? Is there something wrong with me?” Tony was shocked. He may not know very much right now, but it certainly seemed wrong that he let his son be a part of something so dangerous. Maybe I should fix that.

“What does he do?”

“Peter, also known as Spider-Man, does not participate in the larger scale battles. He spends most of his time on patrols in New York City, stopping small crime and helping out the little guy. For example, on his last patrol, he helped an old lady get her cat out of a tree.”

Tony couldn’t help but laugh at the last part. He could feel a memory poking at the edge of his mind, just far enough away that he couldn’t reach it. It frustrated him to no end. Dr. Cho had told him that he couldn’t force it, he had to let the memories come back naturally, but it was difficult. Tony just wanted to remember. He didn’t want to hurt everyone else, especially after making Peter cry. He didn’t want to ever do that again.

“Tell me about him.”

“Peter’s full name is Peter Anthony Stark and he was born on 10 August 2001. His mother, Mary Fitzpatrick, granted you full custody after deciding her career was hardly conducive to raising a child. Peter currently attends Midtown Science and Tech, where he maintains a 4.0 GPA and is also a member of the Academic Decathlon team. Would you like to know more?”

“Yes,” Tony answered.

“His favorite movies are the Star Wars films, and he prefers to watch them in release order instead of chronological order. He believed the experience is more authentic that way. His best friend is another student at Midtown named Ned Leeds and his favorite color is red.”

Just as FRIDAY finished talking Tony heard footsteps in the hallway outside his room. He quickly thanked FRIDAY for her help.

“That’s what I’m here for, sir.” FRIDAY replied.

Tony was released from the med bay later that day, just in time for dinner. Pepper was the one to make sure that he didn’t end up on the wrong floor. FRIDAY could have done the job just as well, but Pepper didn’t want him to feel more disconnected than he probably already did.

"Dinner is ready if you’d like to eat now,” Pepper said once they were in the elevator. The awkward silence was practically tangible in the small space with neither of them quite sure how act around the other.

Tony nodded. Even in Avengers Tower the hospital food wasn’t great, and he hadn’t eaten since he’d woken up somewhere around two thirty that morning. They reached the penthouse quickly, opening the door to Peter setting the table. Peter turned around when he heard them and greeted them with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

Tony returned the smile, the gesture unfamiliar to him. If it came out more like a grimace, nobody said anything to him about it. Pepper did her best to keep the conversation going during dinner but had to leave the room halfway through to answer a call from the fire department regarding the lab incident.

“The fire marshal thinks he figured out what caused the explosion,” Pepper said when she came back into the room. Peter looked up at her expectantly. “He said that the chemicals you two were using were mislabeled, and the ones you happened to mix had a volatile reaction.”

“Who would have labelled them wrong? I thought we were the only ones allowed in that lab. FRIDAY would never let anyone else in.” Peter looked to Pepper for an answer, but she shrugged her shoulders.

“We’ll have to check the security tapes. Is it possible that the interns labelled them? I know Tony has them help with some of the bigger organization projects. FRIDAY, can you work on that for me?”

“Of course,” Came FRIDAY’s quick answer. Peter felt a surge of anger. What if someone had done this on purpose? What if his dad never got his memory back and it was all because of some intern?

Peter, Tony, and Pepper were all sitting in an examination room on the medical floor. A week had passed since the explosion and Dr. Cho wanted to check up on their burns as well as Tony’s amnesia. There wasn’t much to check on Peter because of his super healing, but she still felt it necessary.

Cho walked in not long after everyone else, as serious as ever. She wasted no time in checking Peter and Tony’s various burns and bruises before moving on to the more pressing issue.

“Have you been able to recall anything, even something small?” Cho asked. Tony shook his head.

“Any headaches?”

“Not really. I had one two days ago, but it wasn’t a bad one.”

Cho nodded and checked some things off on a chart. Once her questions were finished, she took Tony for an MRI, leaving Pepper and Peter to their own devices for the time being. They avoided the elephant in the room, choosing to talk about things like the tv show they’d been watching that week.

“I found the weirdest thing ever on Netflix last night. It’s only like twelve minutes long, but its about this sheep that lives on this island in the middle of nowhere—”

Peter was cut off by the door opening and his dad and Cho coming back in. Tony took a seat beside Peter and stared towards the ground. Cho cleared her throat before speaking.

“I have some less-than-great news. While it seems that Tony’s burns and bruises are healing correctly, his brain doesn’t show many signs of recovery. That isn’t to say that it isn’t possible for him to get his memory back, but it does mean that the longer he doesn’t the less likely it is that he will.”

“Is there anything we can do?” Pepper asked, concerned. Cho informed them that there wasn’t much they could do other than wait and see what happened.

“You can keep trying to jog your memory, but it doesn’t always work that way. It might work, but it probably won’t. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you for being honest.” Tony said. Peter couldn’t do much more than stare at Cho while she delivered the news. What were they supposed to do if he never remembered?

Late one night Peter heard noise from the living room, which was odd considering everyone went to bed hours ago. There was no reason for it to be any of the Avengers since they had their own floors. Deciding to investigate, Peter pulled off the bed covers and quietly slipped down the hallway.

All the lights were off in the penthouse except for the tv, bathing the living room in a soft glow. Peter couldn’t figure out what was playing until his own face appeared on the screen, albeit a much younger version of himself. It was a video from his fifth birthday party. His dad was holding him while Rhodey and Happy stood off to the side, having just sung Happy Birthday to him. Pepper must have been taking the video because she was the only one not in it.

<,i>“I can’t believe he’s five already,” Rhodey said, shaking his head. His dad agreed with him, saying something about how they grow up too fast. Pepper could be heard laughing in the background.

“I know. Feels like just yesterday I was driving you two home from the hospital.” Happy chimed in. Tony glanced down at five-year-old Peter with the biggest grin anyone had ever seen.

“I was so scared that day. It’s a surprise we ever made it back here with how slow I made you drive.”

“Yeah, you had me driving forty on the interstate. If I hadn’t sped up right as we passed that cop, we would have been pulled over.”

“That would have been a field day for the press.” Pepper laughed from behind the camera, the video turning shaky. “Tony Stark Caught Driving Forty on The Highway with World’s Smallest Baby.”

“He was pretty tiny, wasn’t he? Can’t say he’s grown much.” Rhodey joked. Peter let out a small whimper, earning a round of laughs.

“Come on, Rhodey. Your job as an uncle is to make my kid happy, not tease him. Don’t listen to him, bambino, you’re perfect just the way you are.”

“Nah, I’m fairly sure that’s my job too. Right, Happy?”

“Of course. If we’re going to spoil him, we’ve earned the right to tease him a bit. If he’s anything like you he’ll learn to dish it right back.”

The video was over, but another one soon took its place. The next video was much more recent, being from a little over a year and a half ago. This one was of Peter’s first day of high school. Peter remembered that day all too much, in his opinion. Everyone wanted to talk to him because of who he was (he was used to it by then, but it still sucked) and he could barely find a moments peace. He had almost been late to second period by how many people stopped him in the hallway, which earned a lecture from his English teacher that boiled down to, “I don’t care who you’re father is or who you are, if you’re late again you’ll go straight to detention.” To sum it up, his first day of high school sucked.

This time it was Tony behind the camera. Peter was dressed in jeans, a nerdy science t-shirt, and glasses. He hadn’t been bit by the spider at that point and still needed them to see. His dad and Pepper always say they wished he still wore them, but Peter was glad to be rid of them. He’d broken or lost them too many times to count.

“Are you ready for your first day of high school?” Tony asked. Peter glared at him from across the dining room table.

“No. I don’t want summer vacation to be over yet.”

“It’ll be fun. You get to make new friends and see new things.”

“I’m terrible at making friends.”

You’ll be fine.”

The tv paused before the next video could start. Tony stood up from the couch, mug in hand, and started to make his way towards the kitchen. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Peter standing in the doorway. The pair stared at each other, each waiting for the other to speak first. In the end they both tried speaking at the same time.

“I’m sorry—”

“I didn’t—”

“You can go first,” Peter said, playing with the sleeve of his shirt. Tony sighed.

“I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“You didn’t. I couldn’t sleep.” Try as he might, Peter couldn’t shut his brain off long enough to even doze. He’s spent hours staring at the ceiling and thinking about what Dr. Cho had said.

“Oh. How long have you been standing there?”

“Only for the last two videos.”

“I know it won’t jog my memory.” Tony admitted, defeated. “But even if I can’t remember on my own, I don’t want to forget.”

Peter wanted to ask the impossible question, but he couldn’t form the words. What do we do if you can’t remember? What happens then?

Two weeks passed with no signs of Tony’s condition improving. He’d spent countless hours watching videos stored in FRIDAY’s servers and reading articles about things he’d done. And yet, nothing. The only things he knew were the things he had researched. How odd it felt to research one’s own life and have no recollection of any event that one learns about.

The intern who mislabeled the chemicals was identified by FRIDAY, as well. He was a college intern from NYU. He claimed to have had no intention of mislabeling the containers, but one of his friends informed the police that he had done it on purpose for no other reason than because he had the opportunity.

Tony wanted so badly to meet him in real life. To show him the true reality of his little stunt. To explain how it felt to not even know his own family, his fiancé, his son. He wanted to make him feel the same. He wanted that stupid NYU intern to know how much pain he’d caused.

It wasn’t good enough to know that he would be going to jail for attempted murder, but it would have to do. Tony had more important things to focus on anyway.

Peter woke up the next night when his door flew open. The light from the hallway hurt his eyes as they tried to adjust. He asked FRIDAY to turn on the lights and dim them. Once Peter could finally see, he saw his dad standing in the doorway.

“I love you, bambino. So, so much.” Tony breathed. Peter squinted at him inquisitively. Nobody had so much as mentioned those three words since the accident.

“I remember,” Tony elaborated. “All of it. I remember all of it.”

“Really?” Peter asked, afraid he was dreaming. His dad nodded. “Oh my god.”

Peter nearly tripped on his blankets after throwing them on the floor in his haste to get up. He stood up so quickly he almost gave himself head rush.

The two met in the middle of the room with a bone crushing hug. If both of them we’re crying, nobody had to know. There was no way any of them could go back to sleep now. So, they met Pepper in the living room for a movie night (or was it a movie morning?) complete with fuzzy blankets, ice cream, and an overabundance of cuddles.

When Rhodey came over to visit that morning, he found the three of them asleep on the couch under a shared blanket.

“It’s good to have you back, Tones,” He whispered before heading to the guest bedroom. He hadn’t had the heart to wake them up.

@irondad-fic-exchange

#irondadficexchange #peter parker and tony stark #irondad

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lemonysharkbait · 6 years

Text

Participants pt. 5

As usually, sorry updates take so long, but here’s part 5!

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

GREY

Rain spattered against the dark concrete, puddling in cracks and soaking Grey’s shoes. The rain had none of the warmth of spring but this drop-off was somehow colder. Grey pursed his lips, huddling under the awning of a clandestine casino.

He didn’t recognize these men but they had given the correct sign. They were part of the She’s operation. A petal flowed past Grey’s foot, caught in a stream of rainwater. The men had insisted on ripping open the boxes of flowers that the illegal shipments of blood came in and tossing the flowers onto the sidewalk.

“If it’s good, I’ll grab the rest of the boxes.” Grey said in an attempt to hurry this up. He was chilled to the bone.

One of the thugs raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth, telling off Grey for something or other. Grey didn’t really listen. He knew they were all bark. Well, She Li’s men could also be bite, but he had dealt with shady groups enough to know when they were serious and when they just wanted to sound good.

Grey waited patiently, stoney faced.

Finally back in the delivery truck, the drop-off done, Grey cranked the heat and headed back to the flower market. He was glad Guan Shan hadn’t come along this time to make the drop-offs. He would have mouthed off at the guys at the casino, started a scene, possibly gotten himself beat. He actually hadn’t seen the redhead since they made one drop-off together about three weeks ago. Actually for that matter, he hadn’t seen He Tian in awhile either. Maybe Guan Shan did become his participant.

Grey shook himself from his thoughts, guiding the delivery truck into its cramped spot in the back of the flower market. Inside, the market was empty. Grey shuddered at the quiet and dim stillness. Chen, the owner of this stall and the main contact for smuggled blood, wasn’t in the back portion like normal. Grey made his way to the front where the display coolers stood holding the remnants of Valentine’s day flowers. Little paper signs with handwritten prices advertised deep discounts.

“Chen? I’m here to return your truck keys.” Normally she was out back in the truck’s parking spot, smoking, or she was inside yelling in a mixture of Mandarin and English into the speaker of her bulky office phone, a phone so old it still had a cord.

Grey was about to dial He Tian to see if he knew what to do when the back door burst open. Chen streamed in, soaked to the bone but somehow holding a dry and lit cigarette. Her signature apron was missing and Grey noticed she was wearing street clothes instead of her flower market uniform.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” Chen snapped.

Grey handed over the keys. “Sorry, I didn’t see you outside.”

“This rain,” Chen waved her hand holding the cigarette vaguely, “it’s bad luck, a bad omen to have this rain and that snow we had last month.” She shook her head and took a drag of her cigarette.

Something had Chen worked up. She never smoked inside (put that out! You’ll ruin the flowers) and she spoke all business, not caring to gossip or small-talk.

Grey’s phone buzzed. “Well, my ride is here, see you next time Chen.” Grey moved to leave but Chen held him in place with a solid look. She took another drag on her cigarette, calculating something. Grey waited.

“Some of my smugglers are acting strange. Their prices for a simple request quadrupled. They’re smuggling something and it’s not blood.” She looked at some point behind Grey, eyes unfocused. “I don’t think it’s drugs either. Something is going on and I can’t tell if it’s vampires or people or both.”

A silence hung and Grey was about to make to leave when Chen snapped to. “I shouldn’t ramble, you’re a peon when it comes to these matters. You’ll catch hypothermia dressed like that, your feet are all soaked. Stay inside until it’s spring. There’s nothing good come from these early rains.”

HE TIAN

Vampires.

What were they but parasites? He Tian pressed his head against his apartment’s cool glass windows, thinking about the taste of Guan Shan on his lips. Sometimes, he was so soft and pliant, all his hard edges gone for a moment. This thirst wasn’t going to lessen.

The light from his phone felt blinding. He scrolled through his contacts half-heartedly, no participant sounded good today. Nothing sounded good. The only thing he wanted was to hold the redhead close and breath in the smell of him. He wanted to drink from him.

He curled his lip at the thought. It was such a selfish impulse. But none of his contacts sounded good tonight. He had the urge to throw phone, frustrated and thirsty. Compose yourself, He Tian. You dug yourself into this, into being around him. Too late to find your way out now.

A blood bag would have to do for tonight.

GUAN SHAN

Come over now.

That’s it. That’s all the message said. Guan Shan practically felt his phone burning through his jacket pocket.

He had been fooling around with He Tian in the office room at the Blue Crow when the text came through. His face dropped when he saw it and he made up some excuse to go. It had been a week since he had almost gone to jail as the fall guy for She Li. He still didn’t understand why He Tian had saved him, or how. But ever since that night in He Tian’s apartment, they couldn’t seem to keep their hands off each other.

Guan Shan told himself it wasn’t anything. Didn’t mean anything. They never talked about it– whatever it was. Still, He Tian looked awfully concerned when he left and Guan Shan was sure He Tian knew who he was meeting.

--- Guan Shan parked his motorcycle in the middle of She Li’s massive driveway, purposely making it difficult for anyone to come or go. The doors opened when he walked up. Not a good sign. One of She Li’s many attendants took Guan Shan’s helmet and ushered him into a dim room lit with a fireplace.

She Li was there, draped in a chair and holding a lit cigar.

Guan Shan repressed a shiver as unnaturally golden eyes scanned him up and down. This was the first time they had met since Guan Shan escaped going to jail. She Li did not seem pleased. The vampire stood. He wasn’t much taller than Guan Shan, but he was bulkier and his slink carried the menace of an animal unhinged.

“I always knew you were a bit of a slut.”

Guan Shan tensed but didn’t say anything. He couldn’t know, could he?

“You reek of He Tian.”

“I work with him.”

“Mm, that’s not what I’m smelling.” She Li crowded in close. Guan Shan made a conscious effort to stand his ground.

“You do have a knack for tangling yourself up with powerful vampires but I didn’t think you’d tangle yourself in his sheets so quickly.”

“We didn’t– what do you want She Li?”

She Li exhaled smoke, “I’m not surprised though, you obviously have influential ‘friends’ to pull off what you did. And how else would you get those friends than with that body of yours?”

It was as if She Li had access to Guan Shan’s innermost fears. He couldn’t fathom why He Tian had helped him. It wasn’t for the Blue Crow. It wasn’t for anything Guan Shan could do. It had to be, well– what had they just done together?

She Li slinked to his chair and took another puff of his cigar, tapping the ash into an ashtray that was probably worth more than what Guan Shan made in a month. “I have orders to keep He Tian busy. I thought you might help but seems like you’re all I need to keep him occupied. Get close to him and tell me anything that seems important.”

Guan Shan felt the eager presence of vampires behind him, silent predators excited for a taste. She Li motioned at the vampires, “Go ahead, you can drink.”

“I don’t know them–” Guan Shan felt cool fingers at his neck.

She Li sauntered over, clearly intoxicated by the scene before him. By some cue Guan Shan missed, the two vampires behind him, the ones waiting to drink from him, wrenched his arms behind his back and forced him to his knees in one smooth motion. She Li crouched, gripping Guan Shan’s chin, forcing eye contact. “I know them. They’re not diseased.” his voice dropped low so only they could hear, “Tell me, how did he taste? I hope he was good. Because even though this is all working out in my favor, I’m still pissed that my plan didn’t go through. We live by our plans. Our reputations are by our plans, and you fucked that all up.” He looked at Guan Shan for a moment before releasing his chin.

She Li discussed business while the two vampires fed. There were others in the room, Guan Shan could feel the tension of want, his blood stoking jealousy. But all he could think about was how he didn’t want to lie to He Tian.

JIN YI

Jin Yi loved the way Zheng Xixi looked after him as though he was in need of something. As though he wasn’t a vampire, several hundred years old and the son of one of the most powerful vampire families in all of Beijing.

He loved the way Zhang Xixi was all business when they first met. That first meeting, Zhang Xixi, dressed in his cop uniform, took careful notes in his notepad and asked careful questions about the car crash. He didn’t seem at all bothered by the fact that Jin Yi was a vampire. The other cops were ancy, a few steps too far away, their hands near their guns, their eyes darting towards Jin Yi surreptitiously. To be fair, there was blood everywhere.

A semi-truck was driving too fast and hit a patch of ice, It plowed into stopped traffic. Jin Yi had stumbled from his car, mostly unscathed. Others weren’t so lucky.

The paramedics tended to everyone but Jin Yi, carting away the injured and handing blankets and waters to the rest. The police nervously skirted around him, unsure of what to do. Jin Yi sat cross legged and shivering on the side of road away from the rest, bemoaning that today of all days he decided to wear a thin and casual getup.

He was plucking dead grass and contemplating how to get ahold of someone to come get him when raised voices caught his ear. A new cop was fighting with the others. They were motioning in his direction, obviously fighting about the safety of having a vampire near people with cuts and open blood. Jin Yi wanted to tell them that bloodlust didn’t work like that. There was no appeal in drinking from the sick or weak. But instead, he stood and stuffed his hands in his pockets, ready to walk along the freeway until he found somewhere with a phone.

The newcomer cop huffed and turned, marching towards Jin Yi with a blanket and a bottle of water. The other’s yelled something at the newcomer but he ignored them.

Jin Yi raised his hands, palms out, the universal gesture of backing down. “I’m just leaving, don’t worry.”

“No don’t leave. We need your statement. Here. I’m sorry they didn’t give you these sooner.” The newcomer cop handed over the blanket and bottle of water. Jin Yi took them, dumbfounded. This guy was a little gruff in his demeanor but hot hell was he easy on the eyes.

“I’m officer Zhang Xixi,”

Zhang Xixi. Jin Yi rolled the sound of his name around his head, waiting to be able to say it out loud. Zhang Xixi launched into a list of dry questions. Jin Yi took note of his features.

Jin Yi already had a thing for uniforms and Zhang Xixi fit in his well. It was tight in all the right places. He was about the same height as Jin Yi, maybe a touch taller, but more muscular. His hair was a reasonable cut and deep chestnut.

“Jin Yi?”

Oh, and his eyes were the most interesting hue, somewhere between sleight grey and silvery blue.

“I asked why you didn’t move out of the way. It looks like you were able to.”

“I didn’t see him coming.”

“You didn’t see the semi-truck barreling towards you?”

“I was thinking about sparklers.”

“Sparklers?”

“Yeah, how do they explode and spark in your hand, but it’s not too much?”

Zhang Xixi’s face betrayed nothing, just the same strait and even stare, but Jin Yi could feel a twinge of confusion and something else. Bemusement? Annoyance? Zhang Xixi looked back down at his notepad and scribbled something down.

“Any injuries?”

“Nope.”

“What’s that?” Zhang Xixi pointed with his pencil at Jin Yi’s abdomen. His once white t shirt was marked with blood from little cuts.

“Just some small cuts. I heal fast, they’re fine.” Zhang Xixi stared at Jin Yi for a moment, his emotions clearly signaling annoyance at something, although Jin Yi couldn’t figure out what he had done.

Zhang Xixi flipped his notepad closed and stuffed it in a pocket. “Follow me.”

They walked further away from the crowd and towards the clump of cop cars that was keeping traffic away from the accident.

Jin Yi wondered for a moment if he was being arrested for something, but he wasn’t handcuffed and Zhang Xixi’s emotions were at ease other than a slight perturbance at something.

Zhang Xixi unlocked what must have been his cruiser and opened the passenger side front door, reached in and grabbed something. A first aid kit.

“Sit down.”

Jin Yi made to sit where he was standing.

“No– in the car.” Zhang Xixi motioned towards the passenger side front seat. Jin Yi happily obliged. He sat with his feet planted on the concrete outside of the cruiser and obediently took his shirt off when Zhang Xixi ordered him too.

It had been a long time since anyone had taken care of Jin Yi this way. Zhang Xixi cleaned the cuts, working with precise purpose. This close, Jin Yi could fully smell his scent– an intoxicating mix he had no words for. But more than anything, Jin Yi enjoyed the emotions– or lack of emotions– rolling off the stoic cop. There was no fear. No suspicion. No disgust and no revulsion. Zhang Xixi’s emotions were just those of someone doing their job.

Jin Yi was smitten.

He couldn’t get the stoic cop out of his head. So, he did what he did best and snooped. He found out Zhang Xixi wasn’t just a cop, he was detective. And he hadn’t dated anyone seriously in long, long time.

There was a chance.

He Tian, Jin Yi’s horrendous excuse for a best friend, bluntly told him not to bother.

“He’s a cop. Vampires and cops do not get along, Jin Yi. Also, you don’t know if he’s into men and also, you’re not a man. You’re a vampire. Fat chance anything will ever work out. You’re more likely to get yourself sent to jail than you are to land a date.”

Crushing reality aside, Jin Yi knew it was about the stupidest thing he could do. But, he did it anyways and called the detective to leave tips.

Then one day, Zhang Xixi called him. Jin Yi was over the moon, even if the call was just to see if he had any information in connection with a case.

They started meeting up and over the course of three agonizingly slow years, they became lovers.

It was more than Jin Yi could have dreamed of. But, he was greedy and he dreamed of more. He dreamed of endless days away from everything in a quaint town where nobody knew them and nobody cared that they were together. He looked over at Zhang Xixi and sighed.

A place like that doesn’t exist.

“What are you staring at?”

“You.”

Zhang Xixi pursed his lips, “You’ve seen it all before.”

Jin Yi opened his arms from where he was lying on the bed. Zhang Xixi finished pulling on a pair of sweatpants he had in his hand and crawled into Jin Yi’s arms. “I could look at you forever and still see new things I love about you.”

Zhang Xixi sat up and gazed into Jin Yi’s eyes, “That’s cheesy.”

“It’s true though,” Jin Yi laughed. He dragged his fingers along Zhang Xixi’s back, relishing in the comfort of his weight. “So you know why I want you to quit everything and hole up here with me. I’ll give you all the money you need, anything you want to occupy your time, and we could fall asleep together every night.”

Zhang Xixi’s warm breath tickled. He was thinking, Jin Yi could sense it as much from his body as from his emotions. “What we have now is good.”

“What we have now is tiring.”

“What we have now keeps both of us safe.”

“I don’t think it will much longer.” Jin Yi ran his fingers through Zhang Xix’s hair, reaching for his thoughts in the deep chestnut strands.

“Something has been brewing in the She family for awhile now. They’ve been keeping it quiet but eventually violence will break out, it always does. And when it does, I don’t want you to be there in the middle of it.”

Zhang Xixi planted a whisper of a kiss on Jin Yi’s cheek. “I’m a detective for the police force. I’m going to be right in the middle of whatever happens.”

Jin Yi groaned and clutched him tight. “At least tell me the damn updates you have.”

Zhang Xixi smiled, “It’s not much and it’s kind of odd. The more we learn about the murder victims, the weirder it gets. They were all nasty people with bad habits. A lot of the people on the team are starting think we have a serial killer on our hands who’s doling out vigilante justice. Something still just isn’t sitting right though. I think we’re missing something obvious but I just don’t know what.”

“Mm,” Jin Yi chewed his lip, “I don’t have anything helpful for you. Everything with She Li has been quiet since the Guan Shan framing incident was resolved. Guan Shan’s back at the Blue Crow– the bar has its grand reopening in a few days, He Tian’s going to throw a party. And I don’t tell you specifically about the illegal stuff I’m involved in, so that’s about it then. You make such a terrible cop.”

“I know.”

“Consorting with the enemy.”

“I know.”

Jin Yi was glad a semi truck had plowed through traffic and totaled his car all those years ago. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Even so, even with the words off his lips and Zhang Xixi in his arms, Jin Yi felt a foreboding, had felt it since the redhead had shown up. And he had a strong idea why.

#19 days #participants #participants 5 #vampire au #19 days vampire au #sorry updates take so long!#mine #fanfic #19 days fanfic #mo guan shan #guan shan #he tian #jin yi #zhang xixi #she li

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buckyscrystalqueen · 7 years

Text

A Puppy For Bucky

Pairings: Bucky x Reader

Warnings: Swearing, jealousy, fluff, angst.

Word Count: 4,782

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Driving a motorcycle was scary in and of itself. Driving a motorcycle in New York City was down right terrifying. But driving a motorcycle, in New York City, on Black Friday when it was snowing was down right suicidal.

You zipped through traffic as fast as you could while still being safe, cursing yourself for being late to work. You spent half of your drive swearing at ignorant tourists that ran into the middle of the road without looking and the other half laying on your horn as you raced through Midtown Manhattan. You were so caught up in your thoughts you didn’t notice the cab that jumped the line at the red light as you bobbed around a group of people more concerned with their cell phones than traffic. You careened into the side of it and flew over your handle bars. With a loud yelp, you slammed into the unforgiving pavement and rolled a few feet before coming to a stop on the ground.

“Goddamn son of a bitch.” You grumbled as you reached up slowly and unbuckled your helmet as passersby raced to your aid. “Mother fucking, good for nothing, cock sucking scumbag piece of shit.” You pulled off your helmet and slowly sat up as a man rushed to your side.

“Go slow, doll. That was a pretty nasty spill.” You nodded in agreement as everything started to spin violently.

“I think… I…” You reached out and grabbed his arm for balance as you swallowed down some bile in your throat. You looked up into piercing blue eyes… three spinning sets of them. “Can you stop moving?” You asked before your vision tunneled and everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everything hurt. You felt like you had been… well, hit by a car. With a groan, you slowly forced your eyes open.

“Fuck, man.” You groaned as you were blasted by a blinding white light. You groaned again and swung your arm up to cover your eyes and you yelped as something hard whacked you in the face. “Jesus Christ!”

“Hey, easy doll.” You heard a man’s voice say.

“Turn off the lights, dude.” You growled as you gently laid your arm back across your eyes. You heard him chuckle slightly before the sound of his boots crossed the floor followed by the flick of the light switch. You raised your arm and opened one of your eyes. You blinked a couple times to bring the room into focus. You saw a long haired, handsome man standing at the end of the bed and your brow furrowed.

“Why do I know you?” His eyebrows shot to his hair line as he shook his head. Your eyes quickly ran up and down his body as you tried to place the man as he walked over and sat down on the bed by your ankles.

“Umm… I don’t…” The memory clicked as you caught a glimpse of metal at his wrist.

“You’re James Barnes. I was actually going to call you today.” He stood up slowly and took a step back.

“How do you know my number?” You shook your head, groaning at the pain that ricocheted through your skull.

“Hey, wait. Sorry. I don’t mean to scare you. You applied for a service dog a while back. I work for the VA’s service dog program…” His face almost instantly softened and he let out a breath he was holding.

“Sorry. I just…” You nodded in understanding as you pat the bed by your knees.

“I don’t really think sometimes before I talk. I could blame it on the concussion I apparently have but… it’s just me.” He smiled and you felt your heart almost instantly melt.

“So that would explain why you have a file about me in your bag.” You nodded and chuckled.

“Yep that would… wait, you went through my backpack?” You looked up at him curiously and smirked as a blush raced to his cheeks.

“I… uhh… I was looking for an emergency contact for the cops. Then I had to figure out who you were…” You nodded slowly, taking note that the slow motion didn’t bother your head so much. “I’m gunna grab the doc, then we’ll talk.” You gave him a thumbs up, scowling at the cast on your arm.

“Sounds good to me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So you have your choice of dogs." You told Bucky as you flipped through your documents on your iPad, that had somehow managed to survive you landing on it in the accident. “Personally, I suggest the puppies. They tend to be slightly easier to train over a rescue dog. One way or another, though, this is a real commitment. You will be doing a lot of the training yourself with my help, obviously. But it takes a year or two of hard work and continued slightly easier work after that.” Bucky nodded as you quickly refreshed your memory on his file before pulling up the dogs you currently had available that were good for psych cases.

“How do you train them?” You glanced up at him as you spun your tablet around toward him on the bedside table.

“Practice.” You teased with a smile. “It’s a process. Lots of repetition. Now you applied for a dog to help with a psychological condition?” He nodded slowly as he scrolled through the pictures of the dogs.

“I get nightmares… panic some times.” You nodded as you pulled yourself up in the hospital bed you were confined to for 24 hours to monitor your concussion.

“And we are going to help you with that. Your PTSD dog will be specifically trained to help you before you have those moments of panic. The dog will also be trained to wake you up at the first signs of a nightmare before it gets bad. He or she will also comfort you through those times, giving hugs and kisses to bring you back to the present.” You reached out and gently touched his arm with your good hand and smiled when he finally looked up at you. “You’re gunna be alright, Sargent Barnes. I can’t make the promise that I will get you back to what you were all those years ago, but I can promise that we will find you a comfortable ‘normal’ for your life now.” He gave you a small smile and nodded with the slightest hint of tears in his eyes.

“Thank you.” He whispered.

“Don’t thank me just yet. We have a lot of work to do before we get to the thankin’ part.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“There are so many of them.” Bucky said as you walked him through the kennels.

“That there are. And all of them will go to veterans in need of…” Your words stopped when you realized Bucky was no longer walking right behind you. You turned to see him stopped in front of a cage, looking at the dog inside. You walked back over and smiled as you quickly checked the clipboard on the kennel. “She’s one that you could potentially work with." You told him as he crouched down in front of the cage to look at the golden lab puppy who had come over to say hi. Bucky chuckled softly as he stuck his fingers through the cage to pet her; receiving kisses instead.

“What’s her name?” You shrugged as you pulled the lead from around your neck.

“We call her Lily but you can change that if you want.” He nodded as you popped the latch on the cage and pushed the door into the kennel. “Try call…” You didn’t even have a chance to finish your sentence before Lily trotted over and nudged Bucky’s metal hand in his glove. “And then there’s that.” You handed him the leash as he scratched her head.

“I take it that doesn’t always happen?” He asked as he clipped the lead to her collar. You shook your head as you stood up.

“Not usually. You know what we gotta do next.” He nodded as he stood up with the leash in his hand. You gestured him to keep following you to the ‘placement room’; the room used to figure out if a dogs personality would fit the veteran. Lily, still the puppy she was jumped playfully as Bucky lead her down the hall. She came from a long line of service dogs and you expected big things from her but you expected the playfulness from the untrained puppy.

You pushed open the door to the room that was painted to look like a small park with faux turf on the floor. It was covered in dog toys. You told Bucky to take Lily off the lead and let her get used to the room. Lily immediately ran over and grabbed a rope and carried the length back over to Bucky. She seemed to be enthralled with him as he crouched down in front of her. She tossed the rope across his knee and looked up at him pleadingly as her tail wagged hopefully. You stood back in the corner, letting Bucky take control.

“What, you wanna play?” He asked her as he took the end of the rope in his hand. She waited until he tugged it lightly before breaking out into a full blown game of tug of war. He laughed at her vicious little growls as she pulled with all her might. She stayed interested for a while until Bucky moved his left arm. The whirls of the motors and the slight clack of the plates caught her attention and the rope was instantly forgotten. Very cautiously, she took a few steps over toward the noise. She sniffed at his jacket as she waited to see if the noise would come back.

“Are you comfortable showing her?” You asked softly. He sort of nodded as he pulled off his glove. You didn’t let the metal hand phase you as he held his fingers out so Lily could smell them. She looked at them curiously, her ears perked in her curiosity as she touched her nose to them. You and Lily both watched as Bucky pulled his arm out of his jacket and sat down on the floor.

Lily jumped back a bit as he moved his arm a bit back and forth so it would make the noises again. You watched as she cocked her head to the side, watching it carefully. You could almost sense Bucky’s fear that he would scare her away because of it; something he had told you was a concern of his. As if she could sense it, Lily looked up at him in concern at his sudden mood shift. You smiled to yourself as she followed her natural instinct to sooth. She walked over, glancing only briefly at his arm before crawling into his lap. She let out a tiny whine as she laid her head on his metal arm gently as if she knew that was the source of his pain.

“She's your dog.” You said softly as Bucky scratched her head. He nodded as he tilted his head to look at her a little better with a giant smile on his face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“This is your home?” You asked as you followed him and his shadow, Lily through the living quarters of Stark Towers.

“For now until Lily is older.” You nodded as you followed him toward the living room. You had been working with both of them for almost four months and you had never seen a better match out of the ten vets you had worked with in your career. And Lily was picking up on commands faster than any dog you had seen as well.

“Alright, so let’s see what you two have been working on here.” You said as you sat down on the couch and pulled out your iPad to take notes. This was always your favorite part. It was one thing to teach a dog commands in a controlled environment. It was entirely different to see them follow the commands at home.

Bucky snapped to get Lily’s attention and you could almost see in her eyes the switch from pet to worker. Bucky tapped his forehead, suggesting a head pain and Lilly got up. She ran to what you assumed was his room and brought back his med bag containing anxiety meds one of the doctors wanted to try on him in extreme situations. Without even needing to be commanded, the second she dropped the strap in his hand she ran to get a bottle of water from the fridge.

You watched Bucky lead her through a whole string of tasks; from bringing Bucky a house phone from his room so he could call Steve for help in case of a break down, to hitting the speed dial for his cell phone and calling him, to going as far as retrieving him from his room; pushing him toward the living room with her head so he could assist where she couldn’t.

She wasn’t deterred when you played loud music or called her name in attempt to purposely distract her. She didn’t pay any mind to Natasha and Sam tossing a tennis ball back and forth right in front of her. The only thing she focused on was following the commands Bucky had given her. She had a few commands that she was still obviously working on and Tony got her attention for only a moment with a slice of bacon before Bucky got her back but from what you saw, she was making progress unlike anything you had seen.

“He always gets her with the bacon.” Bucky said as he let Lily out of worker mode by giving her a treat and scratching behind her ear. “And we are still working on the lights and the TV out here. This place is still even too technologically advanced for me but my room is a little simpler and she's got it down in there.” You nodded as you finished typing your notes in his file.

“Now how is she doing with public stimuli?” You asked as you crossed your legs and looked up at him. He nodded slowly as he signaled Lily to lay down.

“We’re getting better. The people that don’t pay attention to the ‘working dog do not pet’ vest still distract her sometimes.” You nodded as you switched to a different part of his file and took a note as he cleared his throat. “Would you… um… like to see her in action? Get a cup of coffee with me?” Your head shot up and a slight blush crept to your cheeks. You had a rule about dating your clients but there was something about Bucky that had you breaking all your rules.

It started out with telling him a few personal stories. Sure, you told your clients a little about you but you never scraped below the surface like you did with Bucky. You told him about your family and told him the real reason you got into training service dogs. Your little brother had severe autism and he was given a service dog to help calm his uncontrollable tantrums. You vowed that one day you would help make other peoples lives better the same way.

You found yourself spending more time than was necessary with Bucky and Lily, wanting to get to know the man you were helping out. It took almost two months before he started slowly opening up to you and you really thought Lily had something to do with it. Now he was a completely different man than the man you had sat with you at the hospital; still guarded but much less tense. You wanted to tell him no, wanted to tell him it was a bad idea to mix business with pleasure but that’s now what came out of your mouth.

“I… um…” You nodded your head as your smile and your blush grew on your face. “I’d actually really like that.” He smiled as stood up from the couch. You collected your things as Bucky told Lily to help him get her ready to go. She happily trotted in front of him to his room to get her harness and service dog vest on. Neither of you said much as you rode the elevator down and walked through the lobby of Stark Towers but as you headed out the main doors toward the coffee shop a couple blocks away, Bucky glanced over at you.

“Are you gunna get in trouble for this?” He asked and you huffed a laugh.

“Typically, yea but seeing as though I am one of the owners of my company…” You shrugged. “It’s a grey area.” He nodded as you both let Lily guide you through the people; monitoring for potential threats that could trigger an anxiety attack. You notice in the last week that Bucky had stopped wearing his glove out in public but he did keep it in his pocket. You were honestly proud of the progress he had been making as well.

“Can I confess something?” You asked as you came up on the coffee house. He glanced over at you and nodded as he paused outside the door. “You’re the first man I’ve met, in my business or otherwise that I would want to grab coffee with.” You watch a slight blush creep up under his short scruff of a beard and he smiled at you.

“Confession of my own? You're the first woman in my life that I actually look forward to seeing everyday.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was three months to the day after your first coffee date when you really saw Lily in action for the first time.

You and Bucky lasted a week after your date before you slept together for the first time. After Tony had walked in on the two of you mid action twice; swearing up and down it was a total accident, you decided to bring him to your place instead. He stayed over at your place once or twice a week, which turned into a few times a week and eventually, he practically moved in.

You were laying in bed on your stomach, using Bucky’s arm as a pillow when it suddenly jerked under your head. You gasped and lurched back onto your knees, trying to wrap your sleep fogged brain around what was happening.

“No!” Bucky snapped as he whipped his head to the side. You could hear the panic and fear in that one simple word… and so did Lily. She leapt onto the bed and let out two loud barks, ripping Bucky from his nightmare. You watched her keep her distance for a moment, making sure she was getting Bucky and not the Winter Soldier. Once she was sure, she walked forward, laid her head on his shoulder and put her paw across his chest in a hug. She whined to let him know she was there and kissed his jaw as he fought to catch his breath. You let her do her job as you kneeled at the end of your bed and watched. He pinched his eyes and rubbed his hand down her back until his breathing finally leveled out.

“You OK?” You asked softly after a minute as you moved your legs to sit on the bed. He uncovered his face and looked down at you, almost as if he was just realizing he woke you up.

“Shit, doll. I’m sorry…” You shook your head as Lily, got up and moved to the end of the bed until she was told what to do so you could be the comforter.

“You're fine, hun. I was just trying to figure out why my pillow moved.” He gave you a weak smile as you laid back down next to him with your head on his chest. “You wanna talk about it?” He shook his head as he pat the bed with his metal hand to call Lily to his other side. You nodded against his chest as he scratched the top of Lily’s head.

“She’s a good dog.” You said as you reached across his body and scratched behind her ear. He nodded as he wrapped his arm around you and pulled you closer to his side.

“And I can never thank you enough for her.” You smiled and kissed his muscular chest before shifting your head into a comfortable spot to fall back asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“See how he's pulling like that?” You asked your new client, Sam. He nodded as he wiggled his fingers under yours on the harness next to his wheelchair. He glanced over at you out of the corner of his eye, the only way he could see you with his version of blindness. You gave him a small smile and nodded your head.

“A dog’s natural instinct is to go and play with other dogs. To explore and be a dog and do doggie things like bark at squirrels and sniff each others butts and shit.” Sam chuckled a bit at your training methods. “So when he does that, what do you do?” You felt him pull back on the harness under your hand. You nodded as the dog took a step back like he was supposed to. Scout was a well trained service dog that was pre trained for people with physical needs. Now it was just a matter of getting Sam and Scout to learn each other.

“So now that he’s calm and at attention…” Your words were cut off by the distinct sound of metal sliding across metal before a whined metallic crunch filled the air. You glanced over toward the noise and smiled at Bucky. Your smile almost instantly dropped at the look of pure fury in his eyes. “Hey Sam. Why don’t you run through some basic commands real fast. I’ll be right back.” He glanced over at you and nodded as you stood up and walked across the dog park.

“Lily down!” Bucky snapped as she tried to do her job to calm him down from an episode.

“Hey!" You shouted as you ran over to him shaking your head. “You don’t yell at her. She’s doing her job.” You said with a level tone once you got close to him so people didn’t overhear. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on but you can’t…”

“Keep the dog.” He snapped as he threw the leash at you. Your jaw dropped as he turned on his heel and stormed off.

“Bucky.” You called as you quickly grabbed the leash so Lily wouldn’t run off. He looked back long enough to tell her stay before running from the park without another word. You shook your head, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. “Lily, come.” You commanded as you opened the fence to let her in the park as you fought back tears. You let her off her lead and pulled out your phone to call Steve to let him know what was going on. Lily sat down at the gate, stared in the direction Bucky went, and whined; wanting her daddy to come back. With a heavy heart, and a promise from Steve that he would let you know the moment he found Bucky, you headed back over to Sam to finish your training session.

~~~~~~~~~~~

It took Steve six hours to find Bucky. You and Lily were both sitting on your couch, looking up at the door at every little noise you heard when the text that he was OK and at the Tower finally came through. Tears filled your eyes as you thanked the Avenger before tossing your phone on the table. You forced yourself off the couch and Lily followed after you to the bedroom. You both climbed into bed, and laid there wide awake the whole night.

It was three days of forcing yourself and Lily to eat and function before Bucky finally came home. You were sitting on the couch, watching the rain fall out your apartment window when the lock finally turned on your front door. Lily jumped onto the back of the couch with her tail wagging a mile a minute as you nervously chewed your thumb nail. The moment he stepped into the room, Lily lurched over the couch and ran as fast as she could. You wanted to stand up and go to him; wanted to wrap him in your arms and tell him it was all going to be OK but you couldn’t move.

“Hey Lil.” He said softly as he shut the door and crouched down to say hello. She instantly attacked his face with kisses; giving him all the love she had in her heart. You crossed your arms over your chest and chewed your bottom lip as he finally looked up at you. “Doll…” You shook your head as tears poured from your eyes. You got up with a shake of your head and headed into the bedroom; not ready to hear him out just yet. He let you have a minute as you crawled onto your bed and leaned back against the headboard with tears streaming down your cheeks. You ran your hands through your hair and looked up at him as he headed back to the bedroom with Lily right on his heels.

“I got jealous.” He said as he leaned against the door frame with his eyes trained on the ground. “You were holding his hand and I just…”

“I was working, James.” He nodded as he shoved his hands in his jacket pocket in shame.

“I know. Baby, I’m so sorry.” You looked away and watched the rain fall outside your bedroom window as you tried to collect your thoughts.

“You could have cost me my job; my company.” You said softly as you looked back over at him. He didn’t say a word as he sat down on the end of the bed. “Buck, you abandoned Lily. Do you understand what kinda position that puts me in? I usually have to report this.” He nodded as he pat the bed for Lily to come up.

“Doll, please.” With a heavy sigh, you ran your hands through your hair again and looked at Lily. She was pressed up against Bucky’s side, her tail thumping away on the bed. She was peacefully content just licking his hand; happy her daddy had finally come home. You shook your head and looked back up at him.

“Pull a stunt like that again where you just leave her and I have to report it. You get mad at me, you take it out on me, you understand. I’m a person, I understand. She doesn’t.” You pointed at Lily and he nodded. “And you need to understand, I work with mostly men. I’m not holding their hands because I want to. The man you saw me with is legally blind so me putting my hand on his is to let him know where I am since he can only see one thing at a time out of his peripheral vision.” He nodded again and carefully rested his hand on your shin. When you didn’t move your leg away, he shifted so he was right in front of you.

“I love you. The thought of losing you was just…” You nodded in understanding as he wrapped his arm around your knees. You put your hand reassuringly on his arm as his tear filled eyes searched yours.

“I love you too. You don’t have to worry about me going anywhere. I’m right where I wanna be.” He nodded and you reached up and wiped away his tears with your thumb. You moved your fingers to his chin and held his face so he would keep looking at you. “You leave me abandoned in a park somewhere again for any reason other than a Avengers related thing and I’ll kick your ass.” You watched his mouth twitch up into a small smile and he nodded.

“Yes ma’am.” You pulled him toward you and gave him a chaste kiss before pulling back.

“Glad we got that covered. Now, she needs to go out and then I’d like to go to bed early. Haven’t slept well in a few days.” With a small shake of his head, he pat your thigh.

“Me neither.” You smirked as he got up to take Lily out for a short run like he always did before dinner.

“Wonder who’s fault that is.” He looked back at you as he pulled a pair of sweatpants out of the closet.

“Mine.” You nodded and bobbed your eyebrow.

“Run fast. I’ll make us something to eat, baby.”

#Bucky x Reader #A Puppy For Bucky #A Puppy For Bucky One Shot

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thepiecesofj · 4 years

Text

The Gaslight Effect.

I don’t know when it started. I guess that’s the whole point of it. It starts out small. Something as small as the way you give a hug. Next thing I know, I’m trying to change the way I give a hug just to prove a point...that I’m not lame, I’m not awkward.

I’ve been reading up on gaslighting. In 2018, I started to have bouts of anxiety and depression. I tried talking to B about the anxiety and how it made me feel but all of a sudden he would turn the conversation about him. He said that’s how he feels everyday. And it made me feel like maybe I was being overly dramatic because I don’t have clinical depression that was diagnosed. I didn’t grow up in a “broken” home. I didn’t suffer like he did. I grew up in privilege. Perhaps I wasn’t feeling anxiety, perhaps it was all in my head. But that didn’t explain the random tears that would befall down my cheeks as I’m doing everyday activities like driving to and from work. It didn’t explain the burnouts. And it definitely didn’t explain the constant wanting to harm myself. I have a scar on my right wrist from pinching myself so hard one night. Though I don’t remember the reason why, I remember the feeling. I was anxious, he was talking, most likely yelling and I couldn’t take it. When he gets these moods, it just feels like it’s always my fault. And I started pinching myself so that the focus was on the pain and not on the emotional feelings. 2018 was the start of the demise of my soul. I’d try to make our relationship work and in the end I’d be disappointed whenever he’d flake on me at the last minute. When my grandma and uncle passed and he didn’t even show up to their funeral I pretty much gave up. 2018 should have been the year that I ended it. I had all the right reasons to end it. He’d forgotten our date that I was looking forward to and had been his suggestion. He didn’t show up to my grandma or uncle’s funeral. His main focus that year was to collect his toys and his toys only, it seemed. Nothing else mattered. But when I brought that up. When I brought up how disappointed I was, all he would say is, “You don’t follow up. I said yes to the date right? Then nothing happened. I didn’t hear anything from you. All you do is tell me you want to go on a date and you expect me to do the rest? I always have to do everything. Why don’t you do something for a change? It’s always me me me. The burden is always on me?” And I would sit there confused.

The date? I had signed up for ice skating lessons that gave me “practice hrs” and “companion passes” to use. The very first lesson I had, he wanted me to skip it because he wanted to go home. See, I was driving him to and from work that week because his car was having issues. That meant I was already going back and forth because I worked in Cypress (south west of his work) the ice skating was East (in the middle between my work and his work) and his work place is on the way home. So I backtracked. I went to pick him up, we had a quick dinner, and I made it to my ice skating lesson. He watched my lesson and said, it looked fun and that maybe he’ll join me next time after my lesson. I brought up the companion ticket and said we can make a date out of it since it’s been so long since we’ve had one. The next week, I planned it. I said we can get dinner at this place, ice skate, and then walk around the downtown area to the packing house for dessert. I was so excited. I went into work early the day of the date, so I can leave early and meet him at the restaurant since he was a little closer than I was. The whole day I checked in with him. I told him the plans and the time. And finally when I left work, I messaged him and said i was heading to the restaurant and will meet him there. When he called me afterwork, I told him i was running a little late because of traffic but would be there in 15 minutes to which he replied, “where?” And I said the restaurant. I sent you the location. All of a sudden he says, I went on the wrong side of the freeway and I’m too far to turn back and really just wanted to go to the weekly Frank & Sons tradeshow instead. My planned evening was tossed out and i couldn’t be mad because he said well do you really want me to go? If you do I’ll go. But I’m really far now and it’s out of the way. And in my head, all I could think of was, I had two choices. Let him go and just cry my eyes out, become emotionally numb, and then pretend nothing was bothering me and eventually, the pain would go away. Or tell him I wanted him to be here since I planned this date and time for us and have him come to me but in the baddest mood ever and then i still cry and feel bad. So I chose number 1. I told him it was fine and said I’d just go to the gym since I have 2 hours before class started. And I sat in the parking lot of the gym and cried my eyes out. That was 2018. Heartbreak

In 2019, something changed. There was a shift. I stopped caring. I just went through the motions. I started to feel apathetic. I didn’t care anymore about anything. I started to feel crazy. Sometimes, I would have moments where I would just check out. Most times, my mind would just be blank. I wouldn’t have thoughts. But 2019, I started fantasizing more about crushes I used to have on people I used to know. I started fantansizing about my old former self. I would start yearning for my old former self. I hated being around people and would just try my best to be alone. Driving through traffic was my haven. My car was my sanctuary. In March 2019, B forced me to have sex with him even though I told him multiple times that I wasn’t feeling well. In the end, I was somehow the one in the wrong because he loved me and wanted to be intimate with me and all I can think about was my arm hurting and my body in pain after running a full marathon. How selfish was I? To only think about myself and not realize the pain he had to endure while being aroused and not being able to satisfy the arousal. I was confused. That was 2019. Confusion.

It’s 2020 now. In March, we had 1 argument about sex. I had a very bad day at work and met B up in Temecula for a wedding (he was the best man). The whole drive there I contemplated back and forth. Should I tell him about work and how bad a mood I’m in and how I don’t really want to do anything tonight? Just want to sleep it off? Or should I not tell him and pretend I’m super happy and nothing is wrong and I just do what he wants which is sex and then I’ll be able to get the sleep I need. However, it was a new year and we had decided to change our ways. I had convinced myself that I was horrible at communicating so this time, I needed to verbalize the problems I’m facing. So I told him about work and what had happened and that I was not in the mood to do anything. All I wanted was to shower quickly and sleep. To which he agreed and he didn’t say anything. He was actually supportive. I went to take a bath and he joined in. Immediately after joining, he took my hand and placed it on his erect penis. I really didn’t want to have sex so I pulled away and told him I was going to rinse off and finish showering to get ready for bed. And that pissed him off. All of a sudden it was a argument about being unattractive to him and him feeling like i was some robot and I told him I really wasn’t in the mood. He could have waited one night. Just given me one night. All he kept saying was how important sex is and all I kept thinking about was how it’s the only thing we do. I’m sure he was trying to comfort himself by “comforting” me but that wasn’t the way I wanted to be comforted. If he was really concerned about me, about my day, he’d find a different approach that didn’t involve his needs. That’s how I feel about our relationship. It’s always about his needs. Even when it’s about me. It’s about him. I signed up for therapy the next Monday.

June is about to end soon. I signed for another round of therapy. I wanted to talk about myself the first time but all I could do was talk about him. This time though, it will be different. I’m reading The Gaslight Effect, and understanding it a little more. It’s time I take back control of my own perception of my reality.

-J

24 June 2020

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brinnlymackentire-blog · 7 years

Text

Maleficus

Change is inevitable, that’s what life had taught me for the past sixteen years. I understood that sometimes life takes you by surprise and the only thing you can do is hang on for the ride. Whizzing down the busy streets of New York on my skateboard, I clutched my sketchpad in one hand and used the other to push people out of the way. I didn’t have the time to deal with rowdy crowds, today was the one day out of the year I looked forward too. It was my birthday. A symphony of honking horns and angry curse words played in the back of my mind as I ignored all traffic laws. The only thing that mattered to me was that I had about five minutes to get home before the little monsters returned and ate my cake. It was an unwritten rule in my family, the first person to see the cake eats the cake. For the past three years, the little monsters had gotten their grubby paws on my cake before I did. Ever since they were able to walk, they made it their goal in life to to annoy me to death.. Until now. My foster brothers will not even taste a lick of frosting this year, I vowed. Skidding to a halt, I stop in front of the alley way that led to my foster family’s apartment. A shiver of disgust ran down my spine as a rat leapt off of a metal trashcan and stared at me with it’s beady red eyes. I narrowed my eyes and studied the odd creature. Rats don’t have red eyes. I would know, after living in New York my entire life I’ve seen plenty of them. The rat cocked his head the side, almost as if he was studying me as well. Brushing off the weird thought I continued down the crumbling alleyway. Cigarette buts and fast food wrappers created a makeshift trail to the apartment’s door. Before I could pull my key out of my pocket, the door swung open revealing a jubilant Gloria. “Feliz cumpleanos, mi hija!” Gloria shouted in my ear as she pulled me into a bear hug. I melted into her warm embrace. Gloria wasn't my birth mother, but she cared for me since I was three. She was a much better mother than my own. My birth mother had left me unconscious, in the middle of the road. If Gloria hadn't found me, I could have became roadkill. Pulling myself out of her grasp I looked at the woman that raised me. She was a robust tanned woman with greying black hair. Her face was marred by time but she still retained some of her youthful beauty. “Gracias Mamma,” I kissed her cheek and followed her into the kitchen. A smile slipped onto my face when I didn't hear any raucous, which meant the little monsters had yet to return from school yet. The kitchen looked just like the rest of our four room apartment. Old. Dirt had turned turned the white tiles into an off white color. One of the wooden cabinets was missing a door and the appliances were rusted and covered in grime. “Where's the cake?” I asked as I placed my sketchbook on top of the metal table. Gloria gave me a sheepish look before pulling a muffin out of the refrigerator. “I was working all day, I didn’t have time to bake a cake. However, I did buy you a muffin,” She said in her thick spanish accent. My heart sunk as I looked at the muffin. At least it has chocolate chips, the optimistic voice in my head cheered. Forcing a fake smile onto my face, I took the muffin from her meaty fingers and gingerly bit into it. My tastebuds whined in displeasure when they realized the chocolate chips were actually raisins. I ate the rest of the muffin quickly so I didn’t have to taste disappointment on my tongue any longer. When I finished swallowing every last crumb, I saw that Gloria was no longer by the fridge but standing beside the metal table. She was skimming through my sketchpad. “You’re still drawing this family, Petra?” Gloria asked, looking slightly hurt. Ever since I was a kid I was extremely gifted in the arts. At the age of five I would draw realistic portraits of characters that lived inside my mind. Overtime, those characters became the only thing I drew. In my mind they were a family of witches. I perfected their backstories by the time I was ten. There came a time when I knew them better than I knew the back of my hand. Iona Pratt, the mother, was the first character I ever drew. In her prime she had bewitched every man in her hometown. Everybody succumbed to her charms and her ethereal beauty. Her first daughter, Tabitha, was born out of wedlock and known to be the smartest person alive. It was her second child, though, which earned her a scandalous reputation. Iona’s second daughter, Aslyn, was believed to be illegitimate. However, nobody really cared about Aslyn’s legitimacy as she grew up. By the age of sixteen she had already became a more powerful charmer than her mother ever was. Shortly after Iona left her first husband she met, Marcus Hunt. Marcus was a ruggedly handsome warlock, with a dangerous persona. Like Iona, he had two kids of his own. Xander was known for being an invincible fighter, his strength and speed could not be matched. Monroe, Marcus’s younger son, was silent but just as deadly. The last two Hunt children were born after Iona and Marcus were married. Rory and Royce, were like Siamese twins. They were practically adjoined at the hip and were gifted with twin telepathy. In my mind, the Hunt’s were the most powerful family of witches ever to exist. There were many times when I found myself dreaming that I too were a part of that fantastical family, but that was only a dream. “That's personal!” I pulled the sketchpad out of her reach and sent her an icy glare. “Don't you give me that look,” she reprimanded sharply. Gloria hated my glare, she had once said I could kill a man with my death stare. Most people didn't like my eyes in general. My pale blue eyes looked odd against my tan skin and black hair. Gloria said I looked exotic, but I knew that was just a nice way to say weird. “I was just doodling,” I told her. Placing her hands on her round hips, she narrowed her eyes and pinched her thin lips together. “Petra De Olmo,” she started, “You have been drawing this family since you could hold a pencil, I think it’s time to let them go.” My knuckles whitened as I held onto the sketchpad with a tighter grip. I knew they were fake but for a reason I couldn’t explain, I felt like their pictures were my lifeline. Rationally, I knew Gloria was right. My obsession with them was crazy but just like every other obsessed fanatic, I couldn’t let them go. “Mamma,” I said through gritted teeth, “like I said they’re only doodles.” Gloria opened her mouth but her counter statement was drowned out by the noise of three arguing boys. My little brothers, stumbled into the kitchen wearing mud covered boots and grass stained jeans. Gloria’s face turned blue as tried so hard not yell at them on my birthday. The little monsters ignored Gloria’s furious look as the scavenged the kitchen for cake. “Get out of the kitchen!” Gloria bellowed and ushered them out of the room. I stood in the kitchen for a few moments, looking at the muddy shoe prints on the floor and wondered if this was all my life would ever be. Walking over to the narrow staircase, I started the steady climb to my small bedroom. The stairs creaked under the pressure of my foot, making me aware of every flaw in the apartment. Closing my bedroom door behind me, I flopped onto my bed and stared at the cracking ceiling. This is my life, I told myself. It would be better to just accept it and forget all about the Hunts’. They’re magical lives were fiction, this is my reality. I played with the fraying edges of my pillow case until my fingers brushed against a package of matches. Last year, I had hid them in my room so the boys didn’t accidentally burn down the house. Taking one out of the package, I quickly lit the match and held it in front of my face. Make a wish, I ordered myself. It took me less than a second to think of my wish. Even though I loved Gloria, I desperately wanted a real family. Taking a deep breath, I blew out the flickering flame and tossed it into the corner of my room. Feliz cumpleanos, I thought bitterly before falling asleep.

#short story #artist #dreamer #foster #magic #paranormal

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