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#kitchen is being used entirely by whatever he's doing and my sugar is low and i feel bad but he's 30 min into cooking a 50 min meal and
tightjeansjavi · 10 months
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4 is perfect for horse dad joel!!! you could do a blurb of one of their morning phone conversations 🥰
Somethin’ Stupid
horse dad! joel x f! horseback riding instructor reader
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A/N: thank you for sending in this request my love 🫶🏻 #4 things you said over the phone. 𓃗
~word count: 565~
Summary: one of horse dad! Joel’s and reader’s many cute ass morning phone calls ♡
Warnings: none, just a whole lotta tooth aching fluff and flirting of course ;) +18 only because my entire blog is not suitable for minors so dni!
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“I’m sorry, who the hell actually enjoys putting ketchup on their eggs? I feel like that’s a fucking crime. Ketchup on eggs? That’s blasphemy right there!” You said with a light heartfelt laugh.
“Well, ouch. That hurts my feelings darlin.’ I am one of those people who likes ketchup on their eggs. You’ve gone and broken my heart into a bunch of lil’ pieces!” Joel deeply chuckled through the receiver.
“Gasp. So you actually are not flawless after all? Gotta say, Joel. I think this is gonna make or break it for me.” You let out a sigh of disappointment.
“Oh c’mon now sugar. Don’t go and sayin’ that! Bein’ all dramatic on me. You’re lucky I think you’re cute.” He grumbled.
“I knew this day would come. Whatever will I do? Oh, Joel! You have wounded me so!” Your tone was playfully dramatic and you could picture his little eye roll already.
Joel was in fact rolling his eyes as he took a large sip of his coffee. “Alright, Shakespeare. You’ve had your fun sweetheart. Now tell me I’m handsome.” He was grinning over the rim of his mug.
“Handsome? Now who the hell told you that you were handsome Hm? I don’t remember ever letting those words leave my mouth.”
“Believe you did last night. Or maybe it was some other pretty girl at the bar? Hmm.” He teased.
“Okay, okay. You’re handsome. Very handsome. Ezra’s got you beat though I’m afraid. He’ll always been the #1 man in my life cowboy.”
“Oh geez, now you got me out here competin’ with a damn horse? He’s gorgeous, I’ll give him that.”
“I’m just messing with you Joel! C’mon now. You’re a real cutie. There’s no competition, trust me babe.”
“A real cutie, huh? That’s sweet of ya t’say darlin.’ Now, where were we? Oh, right! What’re you wearin’ sweet cheeks?” He could picture your face, the little glare you would give him before swatting at his shoulder playfully.
“J O E L.”
“That would be me.”
You let out a light sigh, an apparent grin on your face from your Texas tall glass of water being his cheeky self. You pulled the phone away from your ear just so you could talk to your boys, who were all happily eating their morning grain. “Can you believe this guy? He’s such a flirt. Absolutely ridiculous.” You brought the phone back to your ear.
“Riding pants and a Star Wars Tee.” You finally told him.
Joel let out a low wolf whistle through the receiver as he leaned against the countertop in his kitchen. “Goddamn, that’s hot.”
“You sound like a horny teenager right now cowboy.” You giggled.
“You take that back right now.”
“Nah, I’m good.” You grinned.
“What’re your plans later?” He asked.
“Depends who’s asking.”
“Oh? Well it’s me. I’m asking.”
“Well, in that case, I’m definitely free.” You didn’t even hesitate to respond.
“‘Atta girl. That’s what I like to hear.” He grinned.
“Uh huh. You’re lucky I think you’re cute. Pick me up at 7?”
“I’ll be there at 6:30.”
“More time for us to makeout.” You felt like a little school girl with a crush.
“Exactly what I was thinkin’ sweetheart. I’ll try and not say somethin’ stupid when I see ya. Although, you make it difficult cus’ my brain goes all fuzzy when I’m near ya.”
“You could never say something stupid Joel.”
“You’d be surprised. I say a lot of stupid shit darlin.’”
“Stupid cute shit you mean.” You corrected him.
“There you go again bein’ a real peach.”
“It’s my specialty.”
“Yeah? Think your other speciality is kissin’ me silly.” He chuckled.
“You’re so cute. Please stop it before the horses start making fun of me.”
“Never. See ya tonight, toots.”
“Catch ya on the flip side, cowboy.”
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Tagging people I think would enjoy: @peterhollandkait @chaotic-mystery @korynnekorynne @lovers-liability @dinsdjrn @last-girl @wonder-harley @loquaciousferret @yazsos @death-wife
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Day 136: Long Drive
Sorry friends. The second half of my week last week was really difficult and I went away for the weekend to recharge. Without further ado, here's the next ficlet. Thanks for your patience <3
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Harry loved the States for a lot of reasons; it was way easier to disappear here than in England; even if people knew his name, they were way less likely to recognize his face; you could basically pick any climate that you wanted and find a place that suited you; and lots of other weird things.
But mostly he loved road trips.
He loved the entire concept behind getting in a car and just driving. The road unfurling endlessly in front of him, windows down, radio turned up and blaring whatever struck his fancy. With Max in the car beside him, wagging his tail and sticking his head out of the window, Harry felt practically weightless.
"Alright, buddy," he told the pittie when he pulled over to grab some breakfast at a little diner, "You hang out in the back, yeah?" he asked, scratching behind his ears and pressing a kiss to the broad bridge of his nose. "Go on," he said, nudging him toward the back that Harry had magically enlarged and turned into a comfortable living space.
Muggles had campers and rvs but with a little bit of magic, the beaten up Subaru served him just fine.
He got out and hit the lock button, listening to the satisfying little beep as he headed toward the diner, catching up his curls and tying them into a loose messy bun on top of his head.
The diner was cute, all red and white checkered decorations and a counter with spinny stools. Harry sat down at one and grabbed a menu, perusing and trying to decide what to order when he heard the crash of something being dropped to the ground and breaking.
His head snapped up and he blinked, wondering if it had been too long since he'd gone to sleep because he had to be hallucinating. "Malfoy?" he spluttered.
(Read more below the cut)
But before the other man could respond there was a shout from the kitchen in the back, "Damn it! You clumsy, stupid ass!" the man shouted and Harry felt himself recoiling from the anger in his voice. "You'll be paying for that!"
"Yes, sir!" Malfoy shouted back, bending over and hastily sweeping up the pieces.
"Well don't mess around with that now!" he shouted. "You've got a customer, you worthless piece of-" his voice trailed off as he slammed a door in the back but Harry could fill in the rest.
"Malfoy?" he repeated as the man in question stepped over to him. "How on earth did you find me?" he asked.
"You found me, Potter," he snapped. "Not the other way around. Now what can I get you?"
"You actually work here?" Harry asked in befuddlement.
Malfoy gritted his teeth, "Obviously. Otherwise I wouldn't be wearing this stupid apron and I wouldn't be getting screamed at by the arsehole that owns this place. What can I get you?" he repeated.
"Umm," he said, glancing down at the menu, "I will definitely have a cup of coffee. And then maybe the first special on your board with scrambled eggs, bacon, and rye toast," he said. "And also grape jelly, if you have it."
"Got it," Malfoy replied, scribbling on the ticket. "Coming right up."
He spun on his heel and strutted off before Harry could say anything more and Harry just stared after him, wondering if he was dreaming.
Malfoy was back a few minutes later with a mug and a coffee pot, filling Harry's cup and sliding it over to him.
"Thanks," Harry said, reaching for the sugar. "What are you-"
"Look," Malfoy hissed, leaning over and keeping his voice low, "Please do not blow this for me. I know that you have no reason to help me but I really need this job, Potter."
Harry blinked and by the time he'd unstuck his tongue from the roof of his mouth, Malfoy was gone again.
It wasn't long before the other man emerged once more, carrying Harry's plate of breakfast. "Here you go," he said as he set it down and slid a couple of grape jelly packets toward him. "Enjoy. Do you need a warm up on your coffee?"
"Uhh," Harry replied, glancing at his half full cup, "Sure."
Malfoy nodded and grabbed the pot to refill his cup.
"When do you get off work?" Harry found himself asking.
The other man's brow furrowed, "Why?"
He shrugged as he slathered jelly onto his toast, "Thought it might be nice to catch up."
"To catch up?" Malfoy repeated. "Is that code for-"
"Hear about your life," Harry supplied.
Malfoy's eyes narrowed, "Fine. I get off at 10:00. If you pretend that you are just a customer passing through I'll give you fifteen minutes."
"Done," Harry replied easily. "So what touristy shite is there to do in this town until 10:00 am?"
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After he finished breakfast, Harry ended up just taking Max for a walk and then to the dog park to chase a ball around him. He'd worked hard to train him the first few months after he'd found him abandoned, tied up to a dumpster and all but starving. And Max had learned quickly, mastering basic commands in no time which was for the best, since people took one look at him and decided he was scary.
He wasn't, he was a sweet boy who loved people and who loved to play but it didn't seem to make any difference. Still, once he was trained, Harry had started taking him to the park and he wouldn't let other people bully them out.
Around 9:30, they headed back to the diner and Harry settled Max into the back, making sure his water bowl was full before he climbed back out of the car and leaned against the hood, waiting.
Malfoy emerged a few minuted after 10:00, looking a bit disheveled in his black t-shirt and skinny jeans, and immediately lit up a cigarette before looking around and spotting Harry. His eyebrows rose like he was surprised to see him before he squared his shoulders and made his way toward him.
"Hey," Harry said, straightening up as Malfoy approached him.
Malfoy blew a stream of smoke out of his mouth, "Hey?" he asked. "Is that really what you have to say to me?" He shook his head, "Just get it over with Potter," he said. "If you want to gloat just fucking gloat so I can move on and go get my groceries."
"I don't want to gloat," Harry protested.
"What do you want, then?" he asked scathingly.
And that was the question, wasn't it? What did Harry want? "Why are you working here?" he asked.
Malfoy rolled his eyes as he exhaled another puff of smoke, "It's amazing where you end up when you're a convicted death eater whose wand is monitored," he replied. "Then add to that the fact that it didn't seem to matter where I got myself set up in muggle London, someone found me and within hours I'd lose whatever job I'd been working. So here I am, just trying to get by and who should appear but the savior himself," he said with a little mock bow. "I should just put my two weeks in here now, at least-"
"I'm not going to tell anyone you're here," Harry said quickly.
"Right," he huffed sarcastically.
"I'm not," he argued, "Because if I told them where you are, they'd know where I've been."
"You're running away too?" Malfoy asked, cigarette dangling loosely from his fingers as he stared at Harry in surprise.
"Obviously," Harry replied. "Come on," he said after a moment. "Your feet must be killing you. I'm sure that arsehole doesn't give you breaks," he added as he opened the hatch.
"You want me to climb into the trunk of your car?"
He rolled his eyes, "I know you think I'm an idiot," he said, "But I'm less of one than you think. Just," he crawled in and stood up, "come on."
After a moment Malofy followed him through but before anything else could happen Max bounded over and all but climbed onto Malfoy's lap.
"Max-" he started to scold before Malfoy started talking over him.
"Oh, hello you sweet baby," he said, pulling Max further onto his lap so he could pet him better and scratch his neck. They looked ridiculous, Max was almost as big as Malfoy, but there he sat anyway, "hello. Aren't you a lovie?" he asked. "Yes you are. You're a giant lovie," he said.
And in that moment, Harry's mind was made up. "Have you ever gone on a road trip?" he asked.
Malfoy looked up at him and Max licked a stripe up his cheek. He laughed and stroked his side, "What?" he asked.
"Have you ever gone on a road trip?" Harry repeated.
"What is that?"
"Like a really long drive," he said. "Where you just get in your car and drive and stop for food when you want to and sleep when you want to." He scratched the back of his neck, "Max and I are headed to California to see the giant redwoods."
"That sounds nice for the two of you," Malfoy replied, steadily patting Max.
"Come with us," Harry said.
The other man blinked. "Sorry?"
"Just," he shrugged, "What else do you have here?"
"A job-"
"That you hate."
"A flat-"
"That is probably smaller than this," he said gesturing to the space they were sitting in.
"What happens when you get sick of me?"
He shook his head, "Come on. Just come with us. If I kick you out I'll give you $5000. That should be enough to help you settle wherever you want, right?"
"Why?"
He stared at him for a moment. There were a thousand reasons that flitted through Harry's mind, a thousand things that he could say, but none of them made any sense. Not yet at least. "Why not?" he settled on.
Malfoy took a slow inhale and then nodded once. "Fine, but you're going to need to make a second bed and we have to stop for my stuff."
"Done," Harry replied, grinning and feeling the familiar feeling of freedom that he felt when he was gliding down the open road unfurling in his chest.
Finally, he was going on an adventure worth having.
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Day 135: Off-Guard | Day 137: Symmetry
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clearlydiamondz · 3 years
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Drug Lords
Erik!Stevens x Black!Reader
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Drug lord Erik Stevens have some dealings with his weapon supplier. He makes it known that no one is going to mess with her..
Warning: Smut, cursing, killing, 
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(Y/N) woke up at around 2:00 in the morning, her sleep was totally off. She went to bed around 10 but for some odd reason she couldn’t get to sleep. It was messing up her entire sleep schedule. She looked at her phone and saw that she had a text message from the one and only Erik Stevens. He sent a text over a little hour ago. She opened it.
Erik- you up?
She rolled her eyes. It’s been a couple of weeks since she last talked to him. She cussed him out when one of his little hoes had the nerves to hit her phone up after getting her number, saying how she was going to beat her ass when he find out who she was.
Little did she know who she really was...
She knew why he was texting her. It was a Friday night, he was most likely drunk and wanting to have sex. She’s not going to lie, she wanted some dick. And Erik sure as hell knew how to deliver it. She decided to text him back.
maybe, why ?
She grabbed her phone, slipping on one of her over sized T-Shirts and walked downstairs.
At the age of 24, (Y/N) ran her own ring. She moved and sold weaponry and technology to other lords, Erik being one of them. She made a lot of money, and made quite the reputation for herself. Erik respected that.
Erik- I’m pullin up,
She didn’t text him back. She gave him a keycard to her penthouse months ago whenever he wanted to come here and lay low.
She walked into her office, walking to her safe and grabbing her pink weed jar, wraps and her lighter. She walked back to the kitchen rolling a blunt. She heard the elevator coming up, before looking and seeing him step out. He had on a dark grey Nike sweat suit, a pair of white Nike Air Forces, and a black beanie.
“Why are you up?” he asked her placing his keys and wallet on the counter. She shrugged.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“So you decided to roll a blunt?” he asked leaning on the counter as she nodded.
“Yup, maybe this could help.” she smelled the liquor on him.
“How you get her so fast?” she asked him as he shrugged his shoulders.
“I was on my way when you texted me back.” he said.
‘What if I had someone over here?” she asked him tilting his head to the side as he rolled his eyes, smacking his teeth.
“(Y/N) stop fucking playing with me.” he told her as she scoffed.
“Whatever, I would offer you a drink but you seem a little tipsy.” she chuckled, bringing the blunt to her lips before lighting it. She took a breath letting the smoke fill before letting it out. Erik grabbed the blunt from her taking a puff of it, a longer  one than she.
“Damn this is good...” he coughed a bit before she tilted her head.
“So um, why are you here?” she asked him tilting her head to the side. “It’s not very usual that Erik tries to see the girl who cussed him out.” she said drinking from her water bottle.
“Well for one, I wanted to come by and see you. I’ve been texting your phone and you have been ignoring me.” he said as she rolled her eyes.
“Yeah... because I’m mad at you. I don’t need another one of your little bitches texting me.” she said in a matter of fact tone.
“Bruh I said, I don’t know how that bitch got into my phone, dead ass.” he said as she shook her head. “I’m being forreal. We did things a couple of months ago, I’m guessing she thought it was something more. She was over at JJ’s house while we were playing poker and I left my phone in kitchen. I’m guessing she saw the messages.. you know actually I think she saw the video of you playing in ya pussy and thought-” she hit him in the arm as he laughing.  
“I’m playin... but I still got that video.” he said. For some odd reason, him still having that video made her feel a little thump down there, but she couldn’t let him know that.
Erik did miss her.. like a lot. Nevermind the sex, he just loved being in her presence. In being without her for the past few weeks without her had a huge tole on him.
“Yeah because your a nasty ass nigga. That’s why.” she said taking the blunt from him, making her way back upstairs him following her. “You’re lucky I didn’t come by and shoot that bitch in her face.”
“Trust me.. you would’ve done been doing us both a favor.” he said. “Also, I want to make a deal with you. Word on the street you got some new weaponry, parts from Stark Industries.” she shrugged her shoulders.
“Maybe? Now that Tony is dead, government been trying to move his weapons. Straight disrespectful.” she said walking into her room. He took off his shoes and sweat shirt showing the white tank top, and his scars. “A couple of people interrupted the move, stole some equipment. Sold it on the black market,  I got my hands on some of the equipment. It was a hefty penny though. Making sure it couldn’t be tracked, tweaking it and shit. Costed me over 5 million for everything.” she said sitting on her bed taking a puff from the blunt. She was definitely starting to feel the high.
“How much you selling it for?”
“Well, I was able to make different things with it. So, depending on what it is. The lowest price I got so far is 250k.” she said handing him the blunt. He sat down in the recliner she had in her room.
“Damn,,”
“Yeah, I’ve already got people trying to do pre-orders but you know that’s not really my thing.” she said.
“So, will I be able to get my hands on a few.” he asked her as she laughed.
“Oh, your too funny. Just like everyone else, you need to come in contact with my team. Then I’ll see if you can get some of those products.” she responded. He kissed his teeth.
“Sorry, just because you’re the only client that I’ve had sex with doesn’t mean you can just get to me to get access or discounts.” she said. “If I thought with my Punani instead of my head with y’all niggas, I’d be broker than broke. No offense.”
“Yeah, you got a point.” she put the blunt on the night stand before standing up. She walked towards him, throwing her legs over him, sitting down in his lap before he leaned back placing his hands on her ass rubbing it.
“I’m guessing you missed me too.”
“Yeah, I guess I missed your big headed ass.” she sighed, as he gave her ass a slap. She jumped a bit before biting his lip. He forgot that she liked that.
She felt his dick pressing on her. “What you want from me, huh?” he asked her as they smirked each other. His plump lips was pouted and his eyes hang low, probably feeling a little high from the blunt. All she saw was a beautiful ass man, with a face she could use as a seat.
“I wanna ride your face.”
He raised an eyebrow at her as she smiled innocently at him. His mouth started to water at the thought of her pussy in his mouth. It was crazy how sweet she tasted, especially when she came. Tasted like honey and brown sugar.
He placed his hands under ass before standing up and walking to her bed. He placed her down before looking at her. He leaned down grabbing her by the con before leaning in for a kiss. The kiss was sweet and passionate. He really wanted to show her how much he missed her.
As they kissed, his hand trailed up the shirt coming into contact with her clothed wetness. He pulled them off with both hands still kissing her. His fingers found her clot rubbing it. His fingers were cold, she shivered at the coldness and the sensitivity. She moaned into the kiss as he pulled away.
“I’m barely touching you and your already breaking.” he chuckled. He sat down beside her before taking his shoes of then pulling her into his lap and laying back. “Come set that pussy on my tongue.” without a second thought, she lifted  her shirt, letting it sit over her ass as she placed herself on his tongue. Without hesitation, Erik had his tongue deep inside of her.
He could physically feel her squeezing himself around his dick making him moan, “Fuck daddy... eat my pussy just like that.” she whimpered out. He gripped her ass cheeks, squeezing one as she moaned.
She grinded her hips, riding his tongue as she threw her head back. He was trying to talk to her, but he had his mouth full.
He reached down, grabbing his dick palming it through his sweats. It was getting painful, and the restrictions of his sweatpants was not helping. She looked back and saw him touching his self before an idea popped into her head.  
“Hold up.” she lifted herself off before turning around. She hovered over his face, pulling the band from his sweatpants down. She pulled down the red and black Gucci boxers down freeing him as he winced. She looked at his dick before licking her lips. He was beautiful. Long and thick, pre cum dripping down the sides running down the veins. Within a split second, her lips wrapped around the tip, as her tongue swirled around it collecting all of his pre cum. She  moaned at the taste, he always tasted like fruit.
“Fuck.. don’t tease me. Put all of daddy in ya mouth.” he grunted. She followed his instructions before wrapping her hands around the base of his dick. She moved her hands slowly stroking as she sucked him.
“C’mon on daddy, keep eating my pussy..” she encouraged him as he moaned.
“Freaky ass.. I got you.” His lips wrapped her clit, sucking on it as she moaned around his dick. The feeling of giving and receiving pleasure at the same time wasn’t new to her, but her first time doing it, she knew that this wasn’t the last time doing it.
He was big, but she was determined to fit him all her in mouth. And she did just that. His dick was deep in her throat, she hummed in pleasure, the vibrations sent to him as he let out a deep  moan. “Fuck baby girl...” he moaned as she smiled. She leaned up, stroking him while rubbing along his hard dick, her spit dripping down to his balls.
He slowly thrusted into her hand as she smirked at his desperation. Finally, she had him like putty in her hands. She lifted up off of him before kissing him. She straddled his hips, his dick slightly rubbing against her pussy, the both of them moaning. She stood up, breaking away from her as she smiled.
She pulled the T-Shirt from her body before he stood up, taking off his clothes. She got down on her knees before looking up at him, batting her eyelashes at him. “You want daddy to fuck your throat. Huh?” he asked cupping her cheeks as she nodded. “No, say it.”
“I want daddy to fuck my throat.. pretty please.” she begged licking the tip as he threw his head bad.
“There you go, beg me. Open your fucking mouth.” he said. Her mouth was open and he inserted her mouth, before thrusting in and out of he mouth. She loved gagging on his dick, and she knew that he loved that sound.
He was talking, but she wasn’t paying attention. She was just focused on the attack on her throat. She snuck her hands down the front, inserting a finger in her wetness before moaning, her eyes rolling back as she fingered herself.
“Yeah, play with that wet ass pussy. I can hear that shit all the way from up here.” she looked up at him, holding his dick in her throat. He pulled out.
“There is no way I’m cumming like that.” he said before grabbing her by her face and lifting her up. He smashed his lips into her, the two of them kissing in sync. “Fuck me...” she whispered. In a swift movement, Erik pushed her on the bed, as she opened up her legs.
The wetness was smeared all on her inner thighs, the center glowing with her wetness as she smirked at him. “Fuck..” he grunted getting in between her legs. He kissed her, distracting her from her. He inserted her as she gasped.
“Shit daddy..” she moaned. Damn she was hella tight. “Fuck your too big.” she whispered throwing her head back. Erik kissed along her neck, to her chin, then placed a kissed on her lips.
“Quit all that, take this dick like a big girl. Ain’t ya first time, so take it.” he said slowly stroking her. Already, she was creaming on his dick.
“Mmm, daddy. Fuck me just like that.” she whimpered out as he smiled at her.
“Yeah.. that’s right. Take this dick in that tight ass pussy. Making a mess all over my dick.. disrespectful.” he grunted out. She bit down on her lip, opening her eyes meeting his. She clenched her self tighter just to get a reaction out of him. His eyes fluttered closed, as he clenched his jaw. She smirked. .
“Daddy don’t slow down, that shit feels too good.” she teased him. It pissed him off how fast she was about to cum.. way too fast. And she was teasing him about it.
“Come up here ride my shit, since you wanna be all bold and shit. Hurry that ass up.” They flipped over as Erik was on his back. She sat down on his dick moaning as it hit her walls.
“Shit.. just use my shit bitch. That’s it.” he grunted as she moaned. She was so close and he was too. Maybe it was just because of the way that they were fucking each other, or maybe it was because it’s been a minute since the last time they fucked, but the two of them were both on edge.
She leaned back opening her legs as she showing him going in and out of her. “Feels so good.” she whispered to herself.
“Yeah show me all that. Just nasty..” he grunted fucking up into her. He was cumming. There was no point in stopping or trying to hold back considering he was close. And by the look and feel of the things, she was close to. 
“Daddy...  I’ma gonna-” She was interrupted by him cumming deep inside her walls. He moaned out, digging his hands in her ass as she moaned out loud. She continued fucking him, chasing her own orgasm. 
“Fuck.. fuck.” he grunted out as she continued riding him. That’s when she squirted all over his stomach. She fell forward, her head resting in her neck as they stayed like that for a minute. 
“We need to go again.. that shit was-”
“Hold up.. I need to catch my breath. You know I got asthma.” she said as he laughed. 
“You need ya inhaler or something?”
“Nah, lemme just catch my breath.”
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(Y/N) walked into the warehouse, looking at her woman pointing their gun at the poor man. The captain of the group, Venom, had her knife to his neck. 
Let’s just say, her team was ruthless. They were a team made of women, who handled her.. business. They were called the Mona Lisa’s. Mainly because they showed no remorse or emotion. But because the actual Mona Lisa was beautiful and mysterious, they gained that nickname. The tricked men into get information, they were amazing actresses actually. They could make somebody feel wanted and loved... and we all know how dangerous that could be.
“Who are you?” 
“I ain’t telling you shit, bitch.” he snapped at her as she rolled her eyes. 
“We gonna skip that part where you try to be all tough. There is nothing stopping Venom here from slashing your throat and trust me. That would most definitely be the high light of her day.” she warned him. “Actually, the highlight of her day would be torturing you until you speak.” she said matter of factly.
“Weak ass bitches, you don’t scare no body.” (Y/N) looked at Venom and smirked at him. 
“You take your time with him. Call me when he says something.”
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(Y/N) ran a face scan through the system, to find out that he use to work for Erik. Name was Claw. Nasty and just plain annoying. After stealing money from Erik and killing one of his close friends, he was never seen again. Erik and a lot of other lords
“So what is this surprise you got for me?” he asked him walking past her in her quarters where they did their interrogations. The entire time he was looking at her ass. They walked to the door as she turned around, 
“Look for yourself.” He walked in the room, looking in the glass window seeing him tied to a chair, as Venom continued cutting his fingers off his one hand, piece by piece. 
“Is that-”
“In the flesh. I caught him trying to sneak into my warehouse where I’m holding some of my weapons.” she said as he looked at her. 
“I hope it’s not the-”
“It’s not the Stark ones. Those are in Alaska. But I’m worried. Out of all my years of moving and supplying, I’ve never had someone successfully break into my warehouse. And I know the Mona Lisa’s aren’t slacking because they are highly trained. I sent over a hundred of them to Alaska to protect the gear.” she said biting her acrylic thumb in nervousness. “This idiot was dumb coming in here alone, but I know niggas. Niggas that are smarter, and I just have this deep feeling that someone is planning something to get at me.” she looked at Erik. He’s known her for years, she’s never really shown nervousness or being scared. He saw that she was genuinely scared. Some might say she was over thinking, but in her line of work you could  never over think.
“Aye calm down, I promise you I won’t let anyone get to you, ight. Even if it takes my last breath.” he reassured her. “Starting with this motherfucker. I’m killing his ass.” he said about to walk to the door to entre the room but she stopped him.
“Wait, lemme talk to him. I got a plan.” she walked into the room before walking over to her. 
“Alright, so I know who you are.” she said as he cursed. 
“You knew who I was this entire time and you’ve been letting this crazy bitch do this shit!” he yelled at her as (Y/N) laughed. 
“Man, calm down. I ain’t even that serious. Plus, it’s been a minute since Venom have had a little bit of fun. She deserves it.” (Y/N) smiled at Venom as Venom smirked at her. 
“Anyways, I know that you’re working with Erik. Or use to work with him. I sent a couple of my girls over there to do.. a lil bit of damage. Kill some of his goons, injure a couple more, but I’m keeping Erik alive.” he said as Claw shook his head. 
“Your dumb if you did that.”
“Well, you and I both know the success rate my girls have so...” she trailed off. 
“No, your dumb if you think that I still work for that bum ass nigga, or I’m trying to get in good terms with him. Fuck his bitch ass..” he said. She chuckled. 
“Well it make sense..  I mean, you were his close friend. Right hand man. Makes since you’d try to steal my shit. I did tell my girls to make sure that Erik know your alive.” she said as his face turned to complete fear. She tilted her head to the side pouting. 
“Tell me why you tried stealing my shit.”
“I-I was doing it to have so I could sell it.” he said as she rolled her eyes. That’s all she wanted to hear but she still wanted to fuck with him. 
“Bull shit. Tell the truth. Either way you’re going to die whether it’s by me or by him. Why?”
“I’m telling you. I only wanted to sell it. Everyone know your work is worth billions and I-I needed some quick cash. J-Just don’t tell him I’m alive.”
“Damn,,, for him to be a bum ass nigga, you a lil scared ain’t you,” she said tilting her head to the side. “Anyways he knows so..” she shrugged. 
“N-No he doesn’t. He would’ve been here by-” she looked towards the window than looked back at him. He got the hint. The door opened and Erik walked in, the vein in forehead popping out as his jaw clenched.
“So I’ma a bum ass nigga now?” he asked him, (Y/N) rolled her eyes. She knew his Ego was hurt. Erik looked at Venom, before smiling at her. 
“Thanks Sweetheart. Love what you did but I got it from here.” he winked at her as she smiled blushing. 
“No problem Erik.” she walked out as (Y/N) chuckled. 
Venom was dangerous, well that’s how she got her nickname. But deep down, she was a girl that blushed even at the smallest compliments. She was a sweetie, but if it came down to it, she didn’t hesitate to drop a body. And she did enjoy tourtuing somebody for her enjoyment.  
“Look Erik-”
“Don’t say my name. First of all, I’ma kill you for what you did to me. But- I’ma make sure that shit is slow. Especially coming up in here fucking with her. And about that one, I’ma make sure yo ass wish you were dead.”
“Well you have your fun, let me know when everything is done so I can have someone come clean up ya mess.” she placed a kiss on his cheek before walking out. 
She knew that Erik was gonna handle business for her, maybe he’ll get a lil something for it.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Here’s a lil fact about me, I’m obsessed with Erik and reader being lords or mob bosses or whatever you wanna call it. 
Taglist:
@sociallyawkward18 @raysunshine78 
@justgetitoverwith0 
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lilxberry · 3 years
Text
That’s My Girl - Scott Lang
Requested by: @bnhaxreaderquotes​
Could I have a Scott Lang x longterm girlfriend fic?? Where she’s like super strong but super dumb?? Like she’s Thor but human and female XD bonus if she lifts Thor’s hammer to get to something and everyone’s like 👀 and she’s like ??? And scots like 🥰 “that’s my gf”
I loved this idea, I just really didn’t want to use the word stupid so much lmao I mostly referred to reader as “slow” I believe but like, this whole thing is kinda cute asf so I’m happy with it. I hope you’re happy with it too
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Warnings: Like, a singular swear. Sweet ass Scott. Upset!Reader? IDEK ANYMORE.
Words: 1,645
Pairings: Scott Lang x Reader (female reader) (super strong reader?)
Unplanned sequel; That’s My Wife
_______________
There’re many words to describe you.
Sweet? Yes. Kind? Yep. Selfless? Definitely. Beautiful? 100%. Strong? No doubt.
Stupid?
No, just…slow.
It’s not that you lacked intelligence, just, your brain worked at a different pace to that of others. Your fellow teammates could tell you that. Especially your partner Scott.
Scott, the sweetie pie that he is, certainly tries his best to help you catch up, to understand things that hadn’t really made sense to you at first. He’s no stranger to defending you either, no matter who or what it’s against.
Including your teammates.
“So, like C-3P0?”
Your head was tilted in confusion and your face was scrunched up as you tried desperately to understand what Tony was talking about.
You had walked into the lab finding all of the Avengers surrounding Tony rambling on about his newest creation, engineering some crazy new robotic tech. The others that had been subjected to his showcasing had explained to you that he’d called them in, forced them to watch the unveiling of Frankenstarks newest monster.
When you had asked why you hadn’t been called in, you’d missed the way Tony and the others tensed up. They knew that you wouldn’t understand a word Stark was speaking, as if the man were speaking some foreign language to you, but they didn’t want to explain that it was because you were ‘dense’.
The heaven-sent that is Scott stepped forward, a big, bright smile on his face as he entwined his fingers with your own as he came up with an excuse for the billionaire, saving Starks’ skin and sparing your feelings.
“He thought you’d find it boring. We all do to be honest honey but only so many of us are lucky enough to have an out,” was the sugar-coated explanation he conjured up on the spot.
You bought it easily, nodding in understanding with the sweetest of smiles before reaching up on your tiptoes to plant a kiss on his cheek. The others visibly relaxed, though you were oblivious as you stared up at Scott with a love-sick expression.
You had then gone on to ask what exactly it was that Tony had been working on which had led to a longwinded explanation with wild gestures and a heap of words you certainly didn’t understand whatsoever. Truth be told, he’d lost you within the first sentence.
Tony heaved a sigh. “No, not like C-3P0. The design is completely different and the level of A.I. being used it higher than that of C-3P0,” he spoke exasperatedly, a mocking tone taking over his tone near the end.
Feeling even more confused that what you had originally felt, you tried once more to understand.
“So…like Vision?”
Sam snorted as majority of the others smirked or tried to supress their smiles, Vision unsurprisingly seemed stoic as ever. Tony, on the other hand, had a look of genuine surprise. Almost looking proud.
“Uh, yeah, actually. You worked that out a lot faster than I thought you would honestly,” Tony said as an off-handed comment causing the others to still and Scott to tense slightly beside you while your brows furrowed.
“What’d you mean?”
Scott once again interjected to save the day, dragging your attention to him instead. “None of us really got it, that’s all. I’m pretty sure Thor still doesn’t, honestly.” He whispered the last part as he pointed his thumb towards the towering, blonde Asgardian.
Although your heart fluttered at the thought of Scott trying to be so sweet and kind to you, you couldn’t help the hurt that spread through you. You knew how the others viewed you, how they thought you were stupid, how you don’t understand anything.
Rather than show it affected you, you forced a smile on to your face and a tiny giggle to pass your lips.
Glancing at the others before allowing your eyes to fall back on to your boyfriend, you kept the feigned smile on your lips as you spoke. “I just remembered I gotta load of stuff to do. I’ll see you guys later.”
Scott flashed you his pearly whites in a wide smile before pecking your forehead and giving you a quiet “Sure babe.”
Walking backwards, you called out loudly to the group before exiting the room. “Have fun with Vision 2.0.”
Usually, when the team unintentionally commented on you in such a way, it would never really affect in such a negative way but today, it was just a series of failure after failure, your day all-round being bad.
From the comment in the lab, to the accidental breaking of a trainee’s arm due to you forgetting the strength you held over others, to Steve and Bucky taking the last of the coffee in the pot of the coffee machine which you had no idea how to work.
You had even bumped into someone in the hallway, the file you had been carrying falling to the ground and the papers inside scattering across the floor in disarray, leaving you to try reorganising the lot, taking a whole hour and a half.
It’s unfortunate that the person to be at the end of your disgruntled mood would be someone who you strongly considered a friend.
The Avengers who were currently residing at the compound were all scattered within the main living area and the open kitchen when you walked in, looking dishevelled as you frantically searched for a package that you had been notified had been delivered.
Walking through, you looked to see if the damn thing was atop any table you passed. Hell, you even lifted one of the chairs slightly to see if someone was cruel enough to hide the thing under it.
Although everyone had opted to watch you curiously, it was your sweet Scott to break the silence.
“Hey honey, whatcha’ doing there?” he asked curiously.
You grumbled out your answer, honestly ready for the day to be over with. “I’m looking for my delivery.”
Sam snorted before pointing towards the island in the centre of the kitchen. “You mean that massive package right there?”
Low and behold, there sat your package on top of the cool, marble surface, just with an added feature. You scowled, storming over towards the thing. You turned your fiery gaze to Thor, who was overall minding his own business chowing down on the entire contents of a Pop Tart box.
“WHY DID YOU PUT YOUR HAMMER ON MY FUCKING DELIVERY?!” You roared out, everyone’s eyes widened in complete and utter shock, Thor even jumped at the sudden loud booming. As he opened and reclosed his mouth repeatedly in a pathetic attempt to say something, anything, you continued.
“There could’ve been something really important in there! Or-or super fragile or something! What if you broke it?!”
During your explosion at the poor Asgardian, you happened to grasp the handle of Mjölnir and lift it with ease, causing everyone’s eyes to widen further and even a few mouths to drop open, gaping at the sight in front of them, Tony choking on his drink that he had been taking a sip of. Although Scott was just as shocked as those around him, he more so looked like a small child who’s completely wonder-struck, a twinkle in his eye.
“Never, and I mean NEVER, put your hammer on my damn things again. GOT IT?!” You shoved the hammer into Thors’ chest harshly, causing him to fumble to get a hold of it.
Once certain he had a tight grasp on the thing, you released your hold and spun on the spot, now becoming witness to everyone’s flabbergasted expressions. “WHAT?” you asked in exasperation and confusion, today completely tiring you out mentally and emotionally.
A pregnant silence befell you all before Scott suddenly jumped out of his seat, face ecstatic, arms raised high into the air above his head, hands balled up into fists, a loud and excited shout escaping him.
“YES!”
“You-you’re worthy?” Thor asked quietly to no one in particular.
Your brows furrowed deeply, now entirely confused and ever so slightly self-conscious. “What?”
“You’re worthy babe! Hell yeah! Up top!” he had made his way over towards you, now one arm raised with his hand now relaxed, waiting on you to give him a high five.
“I’m not following…”
“Only Thor could lift the hammer ‘cause he was the only one who’s worthy or whatever. It’s like impossible for anyone else to lift it,” Clint started to explain before being cut off by Natasha.
“Until you, that is. You’re the only other one whose been able to lift it.”
“Oh,” was all you said before shrugging your shoulders and waddling your way past Scott and towards your package on the kitchen island, picking it up and beginning to walk away.
Before you left though, you thought this to be the perfect opportunity to finally boast about something that you had been able to do that the others couldn’t. “Well, I may be stupid but at least I don’t put my back out by trying to lift a little hammer.”
You smirked as you continued to walk away, your destination being your room, package what would be heavy to most in your arms. Scott laughed loudly, something you could hear as you continued to retreat to your bedroom.
Meanwhile…
“HELL YEAH! THAT’S MY GIRL! WOO!” Scott began to follow after you, still shouting out every single word he spoke. “HONEY! THAT WAS LIKE THE COOLEST THING EVER! DID YOU SEE THEIR FACES?! Oh man, I can’t wait to tell Cass. SHE’S GONNA FREAK!”
The Avengers were still suck in their retrieves of shock, all unmoving, all trying to process the newfound information that you could lift the hammer.
Thor seemed to be taking it the worst, looking ever so slightly frightened, gulping loudly.
“I believe I have new matters to discuss with my father...”
_______________
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I love any Paul Rudd character just as much as him
I even have a t-shirt with his beautiful ass face on lmao
If you want to be added to a taglist lemme know
Anywho, I hope you enjoy
As always, constructive criticism and requests are welcomed and greatly appreciated :D
_______________
Marvel taglist:
@thanossexual
309 notes · View notes
so-writing · 3 years
Text
Sugar, Honey, Ice and Tea- Matthew Tkachuk (20)
all parts here
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“It’s about fucking time!” 
“Holy shit, he finally did it!” 
“Go, Chucky, get your girl!”
The shouts from the team when they saw the two of you together were as loud as ever and everyone seemed to be celebrating.
“We’re still just friends,” you reminded Matthew and removed his arms from your waist.
“I know,” he shouted after you as you quickly skated away from him.
“So shut your friends up!”
You’d just told yourself that it didn’t matter what the team and their families thought but seeing them, and hearing them cheer on whatever was happening with you and Matthew had you trying to put as much space between the two of you as possible. 
It was easy to think about the two of you when you were alone in a hotel room with one bed, or were in only ones in the hallway at work, or anywhere else where it was just you and him but letting everyone else in wasn’t something you were ready for. You weren’t sure you would ever be ready for it, because it would mean actually letting your guard down. Not just with Matthew, but with everyone around the both of you and thought of doing so wasn’t something you could see yourself doing anytime soon.
You could never picture a time in your life where it was acceptable for Matthew Tkachuk to wrap his arms around you or pull you into a kiss with his teammates and your bosses surrounding you and easily supporting it like it was nothing. 
 The room was starting to get hot and your skates were bothering you. Scanning the wood rink, you found Matthew at the other end fucking around with a few of the guys.  His team, his friends were here now. That meant you probably didn’t need to be, and you doubted he’d notice if you slipped out and took an Uber home. 
*
“Have you seen the girl I came in with, before everybody else got here?”
Matthew had gotten a little too caught up in spending some off time with the guys that he kind of abandoned her. He hoped she was off somewhere socializing with someone else and wouldn’t be be bothered. After checking the entire place and speaking to a bunch of people who claimed they hadn’t seen her in a while, he found himself talking to the girl behind the skate rental counter. 
“She left, turned in her skates like twenty-five minutes ago.”
“What? Did she happen to say why?”
“Nope, just gave back her skates, told me to have a good day and headed out.”
His head was spinning and his feelings were more than a little hurt. They were having fun before everyone else arrived, at least he thought so. What had changed?
“You good, man?”
“Yeah, thank you.”
Matthew replaced his skates with his shoes and set them underneath the table. He couldn’t just leave what was supposed to be a team event, but he needed to know what happened and stepped outside to make the phone call.
Her phone rang twice before she answered. 
“Hello?”
“Uh, hi. What the fuck?”
It came out angrier than intended but fine, maybe he was a little angry. 
“What?”
“You just bailed on me. Why?”
“I just assumed now that everyone was there you’d want to spend time with them. You rarely get to do fun stuff like this with them so I just figured..”
“I get to skate with them everyday. It’s literally my job. I wanted to spend time with you,” he paused for a second to recover, “as friends, obviously.”
At least the first part was true. 
“Oh.”
Oh? That was all she had to say?
“Well, I need to get back inside so I guess I’ll just see you when I see you.” 
“Ok,” he was too irritated and hurt to notice that her voice had gone just a little bit softer. 
*
Matthew ended the call without saying goodbye and you knew you fucked up. He hadn’t been paying much attention to you though, and he looked like he was having so much fun, and maybe you were a little scared that people would get the wrong idea if you hung around him the entire time. 
That’s what friends did though, right? Spent time together? You knew you couldn’t go back to the rollerskating rink and face him, but you knew you couldn’t leave things the way they were. 
His phone went to voicemail after the normal amount of ringing, which you figured would happen. He definitely wasn’t going to be waiting around for you to get in touch with him after ditching the hangout. 
“Look Matt,” you went casual hoping it would soften him a bit, “I’m really sorry I left. I honestly didn’t think you’d be mad but clearly I was wrong. If I’m being honest, this thing happening between us is the most confusing relationship, if you can even call it that, that I’ve ever had and I’m having a really hard time navigating it. Again, I’m sorry for ditching you. I guess I’ll see you at work. I hope you still have fun today.”
++
You were pretty deep into the second season of “The Circle” and a ten piece spicy nuggets from Wendy’s when your phone vibrated. It was a text from Matthew and you were scared to read it. 
So you decided not to, not yet anyway. Hopping off the couch, you headed into the kitchen and poured yourself a considerable glass of wine and downed it like it was a shot of tequila, and then you did it a second time. After that, you grabbed the barely touched bottle of tequila from your cabinet and poured yourself a shot, tossing it back with no chaser. 
It was too much at once but you got comfortably tipsy pretty quickly and decided that it was time to open his message. 
Get out of your fucking head and just hang out with me. We’re trying to be friends, not work out how to handle an arranged marriage. I’ll be home tonight, head up if you want
If he was offering, who were you not to take him up on it?
*
Someone was pounding entirely too aggressively on Matthew’s door and he had an idea of who it might be.
“Jesus, I have neighbors!” 
Matthew pulled her into his apartment and shut the door behind them. He noticed her slightly glazed eyes and the silly smile on her lips, “why are you only cool with me when you’re drunk?”
“I’m not drunk,” she defended, “just nicely tipsy.”
“Come on,” he lead her into the kitchen and thrust a bottle of water into her hands, “drink this.”
“Fine,” she huffed but did it anyway and he couldn’t deny how cute he thought that was. 
She downed the water and seemed to be a little more stable but he wasn’t sure.
“You want to come watch TV with me?”
“Depends, what are you watching?” 
“The Circle.”
“Which season?!” 
She lit up at his response and fuck, that was fucking adorable too.
“Second season, you watch it?”
“Yes! I’m on the tenth episode!”
“I’m only on the second, do you mind watching stuff you’ve already seen?”
“Not at all, I love this show!”
She fell asleep with her head on his chest within twenty minutes and he didn’t dare try and move her so he continued watching the episodes in the same position and finally let himself fall asleep when Netflix asked if he was ‘still watching?’
*
You woke up on a couch you didn’t recognize with your head on a chest you weren’t familiar with. It wasn’t until you stretched your arms and your hand slid into a mess of curls that you realized where you were. 
“Fuck,” his voice was heavy with sleep, “you’re going to have to fuck me if you want to pull my hair like that.”
“Shit,” he was up quickly and practically shoving you off of him, “I didn’t mean that.”
“Jesus, Matthew,” you chuckled at the expression on his face and stood up from the couch to stretch, “this is the worst couch I’ve ever slept on. I thought you had money?” 
“Shut up.”
He ran a hand through his curls as he stood up and you couldn’t stop yourself from watching. Matthew was only dressed in a pair of basketball shorts that hung low on his hips. You counted his abs and wished you had been sober when you slept on them because then you could have truly appreciated them. 
“Eyes on mine,” a smug smile sat on his lips, “you’ve had plenty of looks, no more until you’re willing to return the favor.” 
Matthew Tkachuk was an irritating, annoying pest and an overall pain the fucking ass but he was lovely to look at and you’d always known it. If he could be a scandalous flirt, so could you.
“I could say the same to you. Your eyes have been below my neck since we got up and I think it has something to do with the tank top and shorts I’m wearing.”
He was standing in front of you now, his chest less than an inch from yours and the sexual tension radiating off the two of you was strong enough to cut diamond. 
“I’m looking respectfully,” he commented, “I respect the fact that you are beautiful and that I don’t just want to be your friend. I, respectfully, want so much more than that.” 
There it was fucking was. Matthew didn’t want to be your friend, and you didn’t want to be his either. 
“I’m going to, respectfully, tell you that I don’t want to be your friend either. Also, respectfully, I’d like you to ruin me, Matthew Tkachuk.”
156 notes · View notes
after-witch · 3 years
Text
Title: You Are My Candy Girl (Oh Sugar Sugar Part 3) [Yandere L Lawliet x Reader]
Title: You Are My Candy Girl (Oh Sugar Sugar Part 3) [Yandere L Lawliet x Reader]
Synopsis: After an exhausting day running your bakery, you couldn’t wait to get home and fall asleep. You went to bed in your apartment. You woke up somewhere else. You finally meet your stalker...
notes: yandere, kidnapping
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Your joints were aching. You had gotten up early that morning to work on a large order due to the next day. You were, quite simply, really damn tired. Which is why you were already heading for bed, deciding for once to indulge in a normals leep schedule. You skipped the shower and settled for rinsing off your face. You brushed your teeth, flossed--tiredly checking all of those tidy marks in your head to keep yourself healthy. Wash, brush, floss, rinse.
Pajamas came next. And quickly after, you clicked off the lights and tucked yourself into bed. You barely registered any thoughts as your head snuggled against the pillow; thoughts of your day and even your present troubles (you still needed to make a police report about your stalker) evaporated quickly, coming to nothing.
You were drifting off, pulling towards sleep, when you felt a sudden, pinching pain in your neck. A bug bite? A spider? You tried to instinctively swat the offender away with your hands, but your arms were heavy, like lead. You couldn’t move them. 
You couldn’t move at all, you realized; a dim, grey thought comes to your head: is this sleep paralysis? But you weren't sleeping, were you? Your thoughts turn hazy and dizzy: you can't move, you can't move, you can't move--and then everything went black.
When you woke up, you were not in your bed. You were not in your own home, in fact. You were sitting in what appeared to be a living room, not on a bed, but on a sofa.
You looked down, vision blurry, and realized that you weren't in your pajamas anymore. That was concerning. You tried to move your arms and realized that your wrists were bound together with some sort of padded handcuff. That was also concerning.
As your vision began to clear, and the total fogginess of your mind thinned out to confusion, you realized that there was someone sitting across from you: it was the regular from your pastry shop.
That was very, very concerning.
You tugged at the wrist restraints, uttering a small whimper in your still dulled state. That was when he spoke.
"I hope they aren't uncomfortable. I estimated that there was a strong chance that you might attempt to harm me, and in doing so inadvertently harm yourself in your panic once you woke up. I can remove them if you promise to stay calm."
You didn't think you could be calm if you wanted to, but you want to be less helpless. Being able to use your arms would help with that. So you nod slowly, never taking your eyes off his face.
"Will you try to run?" He asked.
You considered things for a moment. You wanted to run. You wanted to scream and call for the police. But you still felt sluggish, and you didn't know where you were--or even, really, who this man actually was. If you tried to run, right now at least, you probably wouldn't make it. So you shook your head slowly.
He tilted his head slightly in consideration. He stared at you. His gaze, which you had once considered simply a bit awkward, now felt terrifying.
"All right," he said. He got up from his chair and took a few steps forward. You tried to keep yourself still, but the trembling that overtook you was only a natural response. If he noticed, he didn't say anything. He simply took your wrists and pulled out a key from his pocket, before unlocking it in a swift motion. He set the cuffs aside and watched for a moment as you rubbed your wrists. Then he sat back down, once again in the unusual crouching position he’d assumed at your bakery, and stared at you.
“You can call me L.”
“I…” Your mind swam with thoughts of what to say, how to get out of this, before settling on figuring out what he wanted. Was he trying to rob you? Or--something else?
"I... don't understand what's going on," you said, finally. You swallowed thickly. Your throat was dry. You must have been sleeping with your mouth open the entire time.
"I know you don't," he said. He spoke softly, calmly. Matter-of-factly. "It will take some time for you to understand what's happened. It will take some time for you to get used to... all of this. That's all right, I don't mind."
You shook your head, grateful that whatever drugs you had been injected with--the pain in your neck seemed to flare at the thought--were not too long lasting. "Get used to what?"
He began to chew on his thumb nail, and his voice was slightly muffled as he spoke up.
"I find you interesting, (Y/N)." He seemed to think for a moment. "And I like you. I like your kindness. And your sweets." He withdrew his thumb and licked his lips. "So, you're going to stay with me from now on. It's better this way, considering my line of work. Someone might uncover your existence and use you against me. No one will find you now."
You tried to process his words.
"You can't just kidnap me because you like me."
He smiled, slightly. A little quirk of one. It felt patronizing.
"But I did."
You sat up straighter in the chair.
"You need to let me go. This isn't right. This isn't legal."
He sighed a little and nodded. "No, no, it's not legal. But letting you go isn't an option."
You felt tears pricking at your eyes. How was it that you were having this conversation? How was it that this was happening to you? 
"Okay." You felt your chest tighten. "What are the options?"
L seemed to almost rock forward from excitement. You thought for a moment that he might lean too much and fall off the couch entirely.
"Well, I've calculated several." His voice was low yet animated, and the realization that he'd put that much thought into your kidnapping made you want to vomit. "The best option for you is to accept that you're here, that you're staying with me, and that you're never leaving. Then we can get to know one another better. Once I can trust you, you can use the kitchen... but for now I'll have Watari handle your meals."
You swallowed a lump in your throat. "Watari?" Could that be...
"Hm?" He seemed to realize what you were thinking. "Oh, yes. He used to pick up sweets from your shop for me. He's invaluable."
You felt something akin to betrayal bubbling up in your chest. You... trusted him. You trusted both of them. You even told the man in front of you about your personal problems, about your lack of sleep and your stalker.
Your stalker...
"I've already set your room up," he continued, oblivious to the wheels turning in your mind, almost talking to himself rather than you. "I've taken the liberty of bringing some things from your apartment. Familiar objects from home will help increase the chances that you'll behave sooner rather than later."
It was with a jolt that you recognized the mug on the low table in between you. It was your mug. Your favorite mug. The one that was taken from your apartment. You slowly looked up, icy fear spreading through your arms and legs.
"You're my stalker." Your voice was a soft, hoarse whisper.
He seemed surprised at your words.
"Oh... well, yes." He looked away for a moment. He took your things. Your mug. Your--your underwear. "I originally estimated that I might be satisfied with simply having your personal affects, and eating your pastries everyday, but I was wrong."
He continued speaking, but you could barely hear him. His words sounded distorted, far away. You could feel your chest tighten and your breath began coming in strange, gasping hitches. You couldn't think--you couldn't breath. You were having a panic attack.
"Don't worry, (Y/N), I planned for this possibility."
You couldn't reply if you wanted to, with your mind racing and your body trembling with exhaustion as you fought to breathe. You barely registered him getting out of his chair before you felt the press of something against your face. You jerked away instinctively, but he moved it back again. It was a paper bag, the small kind you used to use for scraps.
"Breathe in and out."
You didn't have a choice, with the bag covering your face and nose. So you complied, taking great, big gulps. Your chest hurt. He took the bag away, and waited a moment. Then he put it back.
"Breathe," he said again. And you do. Again and again.
When he finally removed the back entirely, you were... calm. Or calmer. You could breathe, at least, and you concentrated hard on keeping yourself steady. The sudden realization that he was still standing right next to you, almost right on top of you, almost made you panic again. Instead, you shoved yourself against the back of the sofa. You rubbed away tears that had fallen, unbidden, during your panic attack.
He stared at you for a moment before assuming his previous position on the other side of the table. He pulled his legs up and wrapped his hands around his ankles.
"I won't hurt you," he said. 
You pulled your knees up on the chair and hugged them to your chest.
"You kidnapped me." You winced at how childish and almost petulant your voice sounded.
"Yes, I did." If your tone was petulant, his was equally patronizing. The air danced with an unsaid, condescending: And?
"You can't just kidnap--"
"I can.”
The calm confidence of his tone made you feel sick.
You swallowed and turned your head up to keep away tears. Arguing with him felt impossible. You didn’t know where you were. You didn’t know what was going to happen to you. This morning, you were a small business owner with a busy schedule and a touch of sleep deprivation. And now you were at the mercy of an obsessed stalker who wanted to do who-knows-what with you.
"What do you want from me?" you whispered, finally. You felt tired. Were the drugs kicking back in? Or was your body simply shutting down from all the stress?
You stared at his face, hoping for some sort of answer, something that might quell the terror building up in your exhausted mind. He bit down on this thumb nail again. There was an odd, thoughtful expression on his face before he finally looked up at you spoke.
"I don't know yet... but we have plenty of time to find out."
412 notes · View notes
lazarettta · 3 years
Text
Misthios VII
Pairing (Mother Miranda x Spartan!Reader)
Rating (M)
Word Count (4.6k)
Warning (probably language right now)
You and Miranda are finally moving on to having that long chat that's separated you both for centuries.
The Queen's eyes fluttered open, finally waking with the morning rays of the sun peaking over the mountain. Her balcony doors were wide open to let the cool night breeze into her personal chambers while the two fireplaces burned well into the night. It was a combination of warm and cool that her majesty enjoyed greatly as it helped her with sleep.
Of course, sharing her bed with you also aided with her troubles with sleep for the past few months since your arrival to the region. Wonderful in all the ways she could never have imagined; a warrior and a lover, the two things that made her life easier—and the lives of her enemies that much worse.
It had been well past dinner time when you returned to the castle along with the squadron of soldiers you'd gone with including a Captain of the military who was leading the raid. Part of your armor had been slashed and torn, stained with blood and whatever else you encountered outside of the castle walls.
But when Miranda stood in the doorway of her private bath watching as you stripped of your amour—she witnessed no open wounds for her to tend to or fret over, but blood stained your skin anyway. Even though she knew that she should have the moment she noticed: Miranda never questioned why you'd always have a new scar every other day or why your shirts had the evidence of a stab wound taking place right above your hip, including a blood stain, but all you could do was smile when asked about it.
“ Is everything alright, your majesty?”
Miranda blinked, her mind coming back to reality now finding herself sitting up in her bed currently being blinded by the morning sun. The Queen sighed heavily, looking down at your sleeping form—as always you were on your back with one arm tucked beneath one of the pillows behind your head and the other was being used as Miranda's pillow for most of the night. As always.
Like herself, you were bare as the day you were born...your entire torso shamelessly revealed for her roaming insatiable eyes...and she smirked when a particularly cool breeze swept through the room. She watched the goosebumps rise under your exposed skin, including your nipples making Miranda hum softly.
“ Y-your majesty?”
Miranda, suddenly remembering just what, or rather who, had bothered her before and looked towards the girl, pleased when she saw that her eyes were on the floor.
“ Everything is more than alright, girl, however you may leave... I'll be out shortly.”
A hand curling around her waist brought Miranda's gaze from the closing double doors where the meek girl disappeared through and back to you. Your eyes were still closed but you were starting to wake up, stretching like a feline and again Miranda's eyes were drawn to your chest.
“ Carved by the Gods,” she mumbled, the tips of her nails tracing your firm abdomen with no particular pattern, simply enjoying the light marks she was leaving behind around your belly button, knowing how much you enjoyed when she did that as well.
You saw the thoughtful look on Miranda's face when you opened your eyes but you couldn't stop the giant yawn from escaping, “Morning,”
Miranda smiled down at you, enjoying the way the sun made your skin glow but you weren't fooled by that smile—you were used to Miranda's smiles and this was one of her worries. The sort of smile where she wanted to reassure you while scolding you at the same time. You pulled away slightly, and sat up a bit so you could give her your full attention. When the monarch remained silent, simply staring at you, all you could do was raise an eyebrow...waiting.
Miranda scoffed at the action, shaking her head, “It's ironic isn't it, how we the others tales...but we do not truly know each other, do we?”
You shrugged, smirking at her—refusing to hint at the nerves beginning to crawl up your spine, “Pretty sure we know each other inside and out, your highness.”
Miranda gave you a look, clearly unimpressed, “Yes, beneath that charm and nonchalance...is something quite fascinating, isn't there? And...it seems that your truth only comes to light during battle.”
“ Pardon?” you sat up a little more now, eyebrows furrowed—unsure where Miranda was going with this but you no doubt that it probably wasn't going to be good for you. Especially since you're naked and vulnerable but not defenseless.
“ Captain Ake came to me last night after I left you to your bath, he seemed quite concerned with something...and quite frankly, I'm curious myself.” Miranda's hand had stopped tracing patterns on your stomach, but her hand still lingered...and the moment her index finger traced over the raised skin right next to your belly button, the brand new one, you knew you fucked up.
“ About what?” You mumbled not daring to look down at her hand, and her eyes burned into yours—playing dumb would only get you so far—probably the dungeons if you were lucky. You knew exactly what Ake was concerned with though you weren't sure if he actually saw you take a sword through your gut as it was so dark and everything happened within a blink or two.
“ What I am going to say next may sound crazy, however, Captain Ake is one of my most loyal subject in this castle, and quite sane...he claims to have witnessed you being impaled,” Miranda exhaled slowly, “By the enemy...and somehow managed to walk away from it, unharmed. Would you mind telling me what happened, my dear?”
You stared at her for a second, “And...you believed him? Could I have really been stabbed by a sword and do what I did last night? Do you know how insane you sound?”
“ Watch your tongue! You're still addressing your Queen, warrior.”
“ I'm sorry, but you seriously don't believe that shit do you?”
“ I've been noticing a few things myself, (Y/n)...and I would really like some answers myself.”
“ Right. I'll take that as my signal to leave, your majesty. Thanks for letting me sleep here last night.”
Miranda's eyes narrowed slightly, reaching out to grab your wrist to prevent you from running from her, “(Y/n), do not run from me...I'm only trying to understand! You can trust me, this I promise you, I'm not going to hurt you.”
You wanted to believe her, but you had to learn the hard way that trust was nothing but a word—a word that can be broken over and over. You were too stupid to learn in the past but you weren't about to do the same thing now. Pushing the covers aside you threw some mundane excuse over your shoulder but before you could actually get to the edge of the bed, you were pulled back and pushed back into your previous position. It didn't actually hurt but it wasn't gentle either but you were pretty sure that it was Miranda that moved you, but you hadn't actually felt or seen her move a muscle.
“ W...how? Miranda?!”
Miranda smiled shyly at your bewildered expression—a very rare expression from the Queen but like yourself, she was feeling quite vulnerable, “You're not alone, (Y/n)...and neither am I.”
“ Neither....are you?” Miranda chuckled at your expression and your inability to put two and two together. When you tried to sit back up, Miranda's shy smile morphed into something more amused and predatory because you realized that you couldn't move—and Miranda still hadn't moved an inch.
“ Ah, now do I have your full attention?”
The closer you got to Miranda's home the more treacherous the path became and you'd lost sight of the woman flying low above the trees ten minutes ago—or what you thought to be ten minutes, you weren't sure. Your eyes were glued to the ground, keeping a firm but relaxed grip on the reign of your stallion, Bruce, whispering gently to him. Alcina called him a gentle giant and she wasn't exaggerating. The path was narrow and very unkempt but you wouldn't expect Miranda to make things easy, especially access to her private home.
There was a point that you weren't even sure you and Bruce were actually going to make it across but there was no way you could've turned the massive horse around either, forward was the only way and you weren't ashamed to admit that your heart was pounding hard enough to crack bones. The moment you cleared the trees, Miranda's home finally came into view—and you were not disappointed. It was a simple two story cabin practically etched into the mountain and you wanted to know how the hell she managed to get this place on the sliver of rock.
You'd brought Bruce to a stop just as Miranda appeared and landed gracefully on her porch even with her heels on (you caught a glimpse of them earlier when she started flying). From her porch alone, Miranda had a perfect view of everything . The village, the manor sitting on the waterfall, the factory and of course the castle. There was a light blanket of fog obscuring most of the view, but it was still breathtaking all the same.
You dismounted Bruce easily, gently guiding him to the post next to Miranda's porch. You fed him a few sugar cubes, gingerly untangling part of his dark mane and pulling free a few twigs and leaves.
“Further up the path I have there's a stable for him, we can take him later.”
You turned to look at Miranda, finding her standing in the door looking at you, her expression unreadable and you were too tired to try and decipher it. You double checked the post before steeling your nerves and joining her on her porch, it was roomier than it actually looked and you spotted a hammock on the other corner—not the usual netted sort, it looked like a quilt and quite comfortable too.
You followed Miranda inside, shutting out the cold—the interior of Miranda's home had you stock still at the front door with your hand still on the door knob. The space was open, having the living room and the eating area open with no barrier, and you could easily see the kitchen from where you stood. It was...cozy and warm.
“Surprised?” Miranda's voice brought your eyes to where she was, now half way up the stairs behind the kitchen wall, she wore a soft smile, the front of her robes already opened (you didn't even realize the fucking thing even had a zipper), revealing the slacks and blouse she wore underneath, “Did you expect me to live in a cave?”
“I expected you to at least have a TV.”
Miranda smirked but it didn't reach her eyes, “Are you going to stand there bitching about the lack of media corruption or do you want that shower?”
Your hand finally relaxed off of the door knob, the light throbbing resulting in just how hard you were holding the poor thing. You kicked off your boots at the door—they were covered in mud, snow and probably horse shit at some point, they were filthy. And the last thing you wanted to do was dirty up Miranda's wood floors.
She waited until you were on the stairs to continue up herself while slipping her robe from her shoulders and casually throwing it over her arm as if it were just a towel. “There are only three rooms on this floor. My own, the guest room and the bathroom.”
You raised an eyebrow, “One bathroom?”
“I don't exactly keep guests, dear.”
“So then why the extra bedroom?” you were being a shit, you knew it, but you couldn't help it—Miranda made it easy for you to tease her sometimes (all the time). You wanted to be more bothered over how easy it was for you to fall back into old habits with this woman.
“The longer you stand there being an idiot, the colder your water gets.”
You raised your hands slightly, moving past her towards the door she pointed to, flipping on the light—it was roomier than you expected it to be, dark and a bit modern but Miranda somehow still managed to keep it grand and medieval. The floor was made of stone, there was a grand shower with a curved glass door and next to it was a bear claw of a tub, melded into the floor like it was a hot spring. Across the floor was a single sink and a mirror, and next to it a door where you assumed you'd find the towels and toiletries. Just past the tub, was the toilet though there was a half wall there to offer some privacy and you spotted your backpack sitting on top of it neatly and that finally gave you pause.
“Figured you didn't want to walk around naked or wearing any of my clothes.”
You hadn't even noticed that you had actually walked into the bathroom, admiring it's simple yet beautiful décor or that Miranda followed you in until the shower sprung to life next to you.
She smiled at you apologetically, not having meant to startle you—but seeing you so easily bothered helped put her at ease. Miranda was good at hiding it, but she was quite nervous. Having you so near and so far from her at the same time in the comfort of her own home, her sanctuary—none of the other Lord's knew where she lived, they probably thought she lived in a cave or a nest or something. You were Miranda's first house guest since she arrived in this village.
She closed the shower door, watching you open your backpack—checking through it, and she couldn't stop the small smile from forming after you smirked, realizing that you were still without your weapons. But you didn't make a comment on it, instead beginning to pull out the things that you needed—until you realized that she was still in the room as well.
You raised an eyebrow at Miranda, and her smile only grew but the blonde simply shrugged her wings and tucked her wings tighter to her back as she exited the room, “I'll be downstairs when you're finished...”
“Miranda—”
She paused and you froze, fuck, why did you do that? You hadn't meant to call out to her, but your mouth was faster than your brain sometimes and now she was looking at you expectantly and all you could do was stare at her like a jackass. There was so much, too much, that you wanted to say but where could you even start? Why were you getting this courage in the fucking bathroom of all places?
“Downstairs.” She reminded you gently when the silence stretched too long—you had panicked and she saw that, and instead of jumping on you like the predator you knew that she was fully capable of being—she left you alone to your thoughts and the hot water steaming the room, calling your name. It was a welcome distraction even if it wouldn't be a forever one.
“Being immortal really is overrated.”
Miranda didn't go downstairs immediately, instead making a beeline for her bedroom and closed the door behind her but left it ajar enough for her to still hear you in the bathroom. Miranda carefully hung up her 'Mother Miranda' robe and began stripping out of the clothes she's been wearing for the past two days along with her rings; finally taking off the crown of Mother and just becoming Miranda with every stitch of clothing she removed from her flawless skin.
Standing naked in front of her full-length mirror, Miranda whispered a delicate but very familiar spell she's known since she was a small child and she winced quietly as her wings folded back into her body for the next six or seven hours. The spell wasn't forever but Miranda often used it when she was home to avoid breaking her things as she often did if she let her wings remain as they were, they often got restless if she stayed home and still too long so she just opted for putting them away to save herself the trouble. And money.
When the last two smaller ones on her lower back finally retreated into her skin, Miranda rolled her shoulders to pop out the kinks. She got dressed in a pair of washed out pants and a v-neck shirt, and at the last minute Miranda threw on her dark wool cardigan before heading back downstairs but not before pausing outside of the bathroom door. She heard you humming over the shower and though she didn't recognize the song, it still made her smile.
Suddenly feeling like a creeper, Miranda moved away from the door and went downstairs to start on the coffee she was craving earlier. She got her fireplace going but that all took less than ten minutes and now she found herself back in her kitchen, pulling ingredients from her refrigerator to give her something to do besides fret.
“ You shouldn't be so comfortable with your champion, in public.” Fritjof complained for the thousandth time in her ear—he was one of her primary advisors, having been employed by her late husband, the former King. He was always a bit of an annoyance, but he often proved himself useful and unwittingly saved his own life time to time from Miranda's ire.
“ I was only congratulating her on another victorious raid on a neighboring kingdom that thought it wise to steal from us, or have you forgotten that little fact, Fritjof?”
He frowned, not liking her tone but he quickly corrected his features knowing that they were still in the halls on their way to the Queen's study, but there were still eyes on them, “I...yes, but it sends the wrong message when you send a blood wolf to handle this kingdoms affairs instead of your loyal officers! You make us all look weak!”
Miranda stopped walking, and whirled around on Fritjof, her coat wrapping around her leather clad legs as she did so, and the frail man jumped back a step, knowing that he overstepped a line severely, “A-apologies—”
“ You will apologize with your tongue!” Miranda hissed, “Though I'm sure (Y/n) would rather have your head for all the times you've questioned her loyalty to this kingdom! We're coming up on eight years, Fritjof, and (Y/n) has helped this kingdom prosper more than you ever could've in your twenty years with my late husband.” Miranda sneered dangerously, edging closer to him and the terrified man could only back up into the table, knocking over a vase but Miranda paid it no mind, “One more word about this and I will have you removed. Permanently.”
Fritjof swallowed harshly, beads of sweat forming at his hairline and rolling down his face, and Miranda's sneer deepened in disgust, “Please, your highness, I'm only looking out for the future of the kingdom! It—it needs an heir and a King! The other kingdoms will never recognize your power without either—” his words were cut off when Miranda struck him down, a single line of blood staining a portrait on the wall behind him. Miranda struck faster than he could react and Fritjof cried out in pain, alerting the guards who came running but stopped when they saw their Sovereign standing over the slimy advisor holding part of his face, blood starting to seep through his fingers.
“ For every brilliant woman, there's always a stupid man thing to be found.” Miranda stepped over his pathetic body and continued on her way, rolling her shoulders back when her back began to twinge in response to her high and irritated emotions, and she needed release. “Get him out of my sight and find my champion; send her to me when you do.”
“ Yes, my Queen.” They both replied, one of them roughly hauling Fritjof to his feet and pushing him forward, but not before the man could cast one last glance at Miranda's retreating back until he was shoved forward. “Move!”
The cabin was filled with the aroma of sweet bread and coffee and your stomach was growling something vicious halfway down the stairs after you put your back in the guest room. Miranda had her back to you and you took the moment to stop at the bottom of the stairs to just observe her. The very first thing you noticed was that her wings were gone and she was more relaxed—it probably had a lot to do with her being in her own home, and it was starting to make more sense why she wanted to be in the comfort of her own home for this conversation. Though her argument for privacy was valid as well.
Your eyes flickered around the open space, spotting something tucked in the corner of the living room and scoffed without meaning to and alerting Miranda of your presence, if she wasn't already. She turned from her task of fixing you both something to eat to watch you walk across the room to where the object of your interest lay with a carefully crafted expression.
“Didn't take you for owning a rifle.”
“It's ten years old, I believe.” Miranda hummed quietly, dusting off her hands before taking down a couple of plates from the cabinet above the stove. You looked at her when she didn't elaborate, really curious now.
“It's in pretty good condition, really beautiful...where did you get it?” you checked the clip and saw that there were exactly ten rounds in there. When Miranda didn't answer you immediately, you found her watching you.
“It's not mine.” Miranda set the plates at the small eating table that could easily seat two other people, “I took it from a witch hunter as he was so kind to come all this way to visit. He tried to kill me in my sleep like a coward. He intrudes upon my home and couldn't be bothered to give me an honorable death. The audacity of men certainly hasn't changed over the years.”
Her tone was not lost on you and you knew that the witch hunter was long dead. You traced the steel design grip, impressed at the detail—and distracted.
“Oh, so now you hate men?” Ah... and once again your mouth was faster than your brain could process, and just like that her eyes were on your back—you felt it.
“I've always hated men, (Y/n). I...” she sighed harshly, her eyes turning into a glare, “Stop doing that, you don't have the entire story so if you're done being an ass and running from this conversation—I would really like to clear the air between us so we can move on from this.”
“You mean your truth that you want me to hear so badly?” You chuckled though it lacked any amusement. You set the rifle down, finally giving her your full attention then sighed heavily—a sudden exhaustion falling over you, “Would it really matter at this point, Miranda? It happened centuries ago...we both moved on, why do you want to drudge this back up?”
“Why don't you?” Miranda moved around the table, the coffee and snack forgotten in the moment, but she didn't try to approach you, “I'm not the only one who was in the wrong, (Y/n).”
“Do you think I cared about your status when I found out the woman I loved married a man behind my back and didn't even fucking tell me! I had to find out in the middle of that stupid ball you wanted to throw so bad after we invaded those rebellion villages. I gave you everything and you betrayed me . I crossed lines for you, Miranda. I thought that would warrant enough decency to be honest with me. I-”
You stopped, your face was hot and you exhaled heavily—doing your best not to sniffle, you hated that you were the type to fucking cry when your emotions bubbled to the surface too fast. Especially when the topic is something you've buried long deep in the dark corners of your mind with no hope for daylight again. You just never thought you'd bump into your past like this. And it's been years since you've had to deal with anything on a personal level after your last child passed away fifty years ago at the tender age of eighty-six.
Miranda saw the emotions playing across your face with a frown but otherwise her own emotions were carefully hidden, she was always better at that than you were, and inched closer, “(Y/n)...”
“We've both obviously lived with this hurt and came out fine,” you cut her off, not looking at her but instead at your bare toes with your hands back in your pockets, “What's closure gonna do besides bring up old hurt?”
“No, that's not it at all, I just...” Miranda coughed lightly and cleared her throat,—your question was valid as she's asked herself this many times before, asking herself why she didn't just let you go in the forest—she could've let you go and saved you both from this reopened wound. But she didn't because she couldn't and Miranda wouldn't apologize for it. Because she's always been a selfish woman, and one of her most selfish needs—even when she first laid eyes on you—she knew that you were hers. That never changed, time could never take that away from her.
“This life is long and lonely, (Y/n)...and I've made many mistakes, most I will never have a chance to atone for...and when I saw you,” Miranda looked into your eyes and bit her bottom lip, you weren't even looking at her anymore, “I've lost so much in this life, and I refused to lose you a second time. The first time I was...I was corrupted with greed and power, but I was stupid and it cost me everything too, (Y/n).”
You looked up, surprised by her words, “He took your kingdom from you, didn't he?”
“ You!” Miranda moved closer, though you hardly noticed because you were focused on her eyes that were duller than they were down in the village but just as clear, bright and brimming with tears, “He took you from me. He took us away from each other, (Y/n). I'm not innocent in it either, I...I could've done something about it, but I didn't and it was the biggest mistake I could've made in my entire existence. And I think about it more than I care to admit, I think about you...wondering what sort of life we could've shared together had I made better choices. I'm...I'm sorry, (Y/n).”
Miranda was close enough to touch you now, and this time she didn't hesitate nor did you pull away when both of her hands cupped your cheeks, making you shiver. “Miranda...”
Miranda's hands tightened on your face, obviously thinking you were about to argue again but you were tired of arguing with her, over this...before she could speak, you took Miranda by surprise and pulled her into a tight embrace, both of your arms around her waist and you caught her when her entire body sagged in your arms. You had no idea what was going to happen after this, but that little piece of you that longed for the closure you never got...began to grow.
“I'll stay.”
82 notes · View notes
sugar-petals · 3 years
Text
hey angel (m)
♡  sub!felix + reader 
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↳ The JYP Halloween party is ditched on short notice. That means: You have a down-to-celebrate boyfriend in full angel costume on your hands.
words. 5k 
tags. domestic au, finger sucking, hickeys, latex, corruption kink, fingering, vaginal sex, footjob, harnesses, cunnilingus, kitten antics, edging, aftercare 
★⎡CARO’S NOTE⎦› here goes the cutie on duty 👼
genre. domestic + smut/crack
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„So sorry mate,“ Bang Chan’s voice resounds through the speaker. „I thought it could work but… We can’t celebrate tonight. Really sorry, Felix. Changbin and I already got dressed up too, but, you know things got shut down. JYP won’t let us with the Corona rules and stuff.“
„Oh no…“
„Yeah, man. Looks like we’ll have to do it next year.“
„You even prepared the food already, right?“
„We’re handing it out to staff and eat it at home. I know, it sucks. I spent half the morning in the kitchen. I can like keep the pumpkin cookies so you can eat them tomorrow after practice or so.“
„I feel so sorry Chan… and thank you.“
„I’ll be calling Hyunjin and Han now as well. Really sorry we’re cancelling short notice. I hope you’re still having a nice evening bro. Maybe we can make it happen for Christmas.“
„Okay. Cheers mate.“
„Yeah, cheers.“
Felix puts his phone down looking more than deflated in his angel costume, puffs out a big sigh. You can tell he really looked forward to this. Just an hour before, you bothered to sew the wings in place rather than rely on the wobbly back-pack like construction that came with it. 
They’re firmly attached to his white top now, and all for nothing. He glued them together by himself with a pack of synthetic feathers ordered on Etsy for a ridiculous shipping cost, along with a little halo that he clipped into his hair. Which, because maybe it really does sense his mood, dangles low and even a bit lopsided over his head.
„It’s the party of the year,“ Felix flops down on the living room couch. “I can’t believe this.“
You sit down opposite to him, starting to clean off the table where masses of cosmetic products and leftover feathers have piles up.
„Next time, Lixie. We can keep the costume. Poor Chan, he organized the living shit out of everything.“
„I’ll just go and shower, get this off, and stuff,“ he points at his face. Felix applied his own makeup with a little help from you here and there, including some golden sparkles. Just yesterday, he bleached his hair. It’s sculpted down to every strand with hair spray now. Felix unties his sneakers with the little gold stars on. Just before he starts plucking off his halo, you get an idea, pick up your phone from the table.
„Wait— Let’s at least make some pictures with your phone, you put so much effort in this. You look so cute. The fans might want to see it as well.“
„Oh! You’re right,“ Felix stops right in his tracks. „For Instagram.“
After tightening his sneakers again and you making sure the halo sights right, Felix walks around your flat in search for a nice backdrop. You follow, quickly flipping through some filters to try, and adjusting the flash on the camera.
After posing at the fridge — strange idea — and in the bathroom turns out a little awkward as well, you decide that such an elaborate costume needs a themed background, and only the bedroom offers just that. You recently changed the duvet to sky blue sheets with clouds on them. The overall interior is mostly clean white as well, with some thrifted vintage furniture. Fairy lights, heavy curtains, a wooden ceiling. Perfect.
„We’ll caption it as… post your own stay-at-home costume, something like that,“ Felix plops down on the bed, acting as if he just took a seat on the cloud in the very middle.
„Sounds pretty good,“ you press release, and the first picture pops up on your screen. „Can you turn a little towards the light? That the sparkles are showing.“
„Yay, I love the sparkles!“
„Just like this, just like this. Don’t move. The sparkles!“
A five-picture series of more snapshots ensues, with you adjusting Felix’s face a few times by hand, even, turning his chin by sheer millimeters to find the perfect angle. He’s stunning.
„I have another idea.“
„Oh?“
„I remember what I wore for Halloween three years ago. The costume must be somewhere. I think it fits together with yours.“
„What, oh wow?“
„What was it again, wait…“
You already begin to sort through your wardrobe, checking each hanger, each drawer, end up where you store your socks, and finally pull out a larger plastic zip bag from the very depths of all that chaos. There it is. Nice.
„Lix, if you’d turn around for me, please.“
He immediately does. Blushing.
„Thank you, angel.“
You pull off your sweat pants, your grey shirt, socks, your bra. Time to dress up. Only your simple black panties stay on. On goes a pair of scarlet stockings, snug and high. Then, a dark red latex skirt that goes in big circles and flounces, down to the mid-thigh. 
Added: A tight sleeveless peplum top that admittedly… and deliberately squeezes your boobs a little. Not too much. More important is that your nipples are showing right through, and the cleavage is sweeping, every demon would be salivating at your feet. If an angel does: Remains to be tested.
Around your waist and chest and over your shoulder goes a black harness, pulling everything together. Some very pointed, glossy pumps with thin heels complete the costume. They’re not crafted to be walked on in the very least, their balance is terrible. You’re planning something else with them. Cherry on top: Devil horn headband. Really curved and pointy, too. Can’t go wrong. You click your tongue and take a spin. The skirt flares out perfectly. Ready to go.
„Felix, time to turn around.“
He does. You can tell he didn’t cheat.
„You’re, you’re so hot in this,“ Felix buries his face right in the comfort of his sweater paws, hoping they would not give away his embarrassed little face. But — his voice does, effortlessly so.
„Come on, have a look at me. Real closely, angel, come. You’re allowed to.“
Felix gazes through his fingers with what sounds like a little meep! in a much more high-pitched tone than his usual speaking range. He’s cute.
„Hey pum’kin. Miss Lucifer speaking. Where’s the barbecue?“
Felix and you recently agreed that hell must be one big and extremely hot cave where everyone’s grilling and having a good time. Australia, essentially.
„Welp!“
„Damn right. Infiltrating God’s realm one cloud at a time. Any last words?“
„It’s so intimidating!“
Felix digs himself into a mountain of pillows on the bed, with only his eyes and nose peeking out. You shrug, adjust your horns.
„Hm. Time for my first satanic act I guess.“
„Oh no!“
„Wait just one minute, be a sweet and patient boy.“
You leave Yongbok confused given that you’re quick to hurry to the kitchen. However, what you return with puts a giggle on his lips right away.
„Boom. It is served.“
„Yes, yes, please!“
Poufy black cocoa cupcakes. The ones with the cute little ghost frosting on it, and the melted chocolate inside. Felix finds them irresistable since the last Halloween party, to the point where you bake them mid-July. The current set of cupcakes was meant to be a contribution to Bang Chan’s eerie and delectable buffet. As for now, they’re in deep need of someone hungry since you made a lot of them, assuming a post-workout Changbin would devour at least five or more.
„Good move,“ he admits, a little shaky, and you proceed to tray the cupcakes on the bed — stuffing Felix for a solid ten minutes until there’s chocolate all over his face. What you’ll be quick to confess is that you’ve been deliberately messy feeding him, with all the crumbs in particular.
„Spoiled honey bun,“ you plant a kiss on top of his head.
„These taste so good, I swear.“
Next up is Felix who has to carefully maneuver the sweet treats into your mouth without spoiling your outfit.
„If you get crumbs into my cleavage, I can’t put your face in there later you know.“
Fierce nodding.
„That’s the spirit.“
Under your eagle eyes, he proves to be an obedient little cherub doing his job pretty well. The cakes are delicious in how spongy they are, and the liquid chocolate warms up so well on the tongue, it melts even more. You’re more than pleased and have Felix store away the remaining four pieces only after quite a while.
„I’ll have them for Brekkie, woo!“ is what he’s fast to proclaim, and you agree he’ll need them the next morning. Once you’re done with him, that’s gonna count as a hangover even Chan’s wildest party couldn’t give him.
„We’re talking dinner first, Felix.“
At this point, all the sugar is kicking in. Or it’s the chocolate being some kind of aphrodisiac. Whatever, could be either, you’re feeling like you’re up there at the ceiling, and you’re not the only one. Felix coming back to the bedroom so bouncy and cutieful just gets you even more in the mood.
You sit at the edge of the bed, slanting backward just a little. „You look like you need some more corruption, I won’t lie,“ you pat your lap, beckoning. He can ditch wifi because this is his favorite hot spot waiting for him. Felix sits down looking tiny as ever, eyes full of anticipation and his pants full of… big fat late night erection.
„I don’t mind at all, Miss. I don’t, oh my god…“ he mumbles into his nonexistent Aussie trucker beard, and you’re clear that whatever the skirt did to him, his brain must be doing kangaroo somersaults right now. In the meantime, something very eager is poking right at your lower belly. Captain Boomerang already came fully armed tonight and the Suicide Squad isn’t even anywhere near to be seen.
„Oh hey hey, cupcake. Getting really big there,“ you wipe at the curled little corners of his mouth. Some crumbs come off. His lips already twitch the way you know they want to do naughty things on you. He doesn’t seem to notice. Autopilot Felix has already taken over.
„Don’t hurry with it,“ he stares, mouth half-open, but his little grinds prove him a dirty — in an entirely direct sense — fucking liar. Like he’s literally rubbing himself against your stomach.
„Boy oh boy. You’re not even trying.“
„I’m fucked!“ is what Felix soon realizes with the daggers you’re shooting at him through your hopefully very satanic-looking eyes right now. Alongside catching up with his darn hips doing their own thing.
„You are.“
„I’m sorry for grinding, God help me!“
„He won’t. Cuz I’m here on your cloud. Cue stage number two of my demonic plan. Safeword?“
„It’s chocolate!“
„Mh. Good pick.“
The rest as usual. Tapping the thigh, yellow for pause, towels plus water ready, and always double-checking the lube in case of Jisung putting a glass of vegemite under your bed as his latest practical joke. Yes, it happened. It’s a whole new level of demonic. On the other hand: perhaps Felix’ ass could’ve actually handled it, Made in Australia it is. 
„Let’s go honey angel,“ you curl at his hair with a little finger just to tease him a little more. The answer is a little meow, at this point Felix’ communication skills have simplified to kitten vocabulary which always happens when he is nervous and looking forward to something.
Next thing poor Felix knows, his face has entered the scorching satanic abyss that is your cleavage. Literally, you’re burning up. It’s fucking October and Felix has you breaking a sweat from all your horniness (literally, your horns are just that chic) already. Twice the reason to punish the shit out of him. If that can be considered anything near a punishment.
A shower of various „Mh— nh!“ and mewling noises comes to rain down on you while Felix face takes a trip down mammary lane, and that, too, is literal. He’s salivating. So much about rain. Actually, great lubrication. Felix always does things best by instinct.
„Yes, good boy. Great job.“
Now that his mouth is wet already, you’re unceremonious about shoving your fingers right down his throat after he resurfaces. Blushed, hard, and ready to choke himself since he’s already running short on breath. It doesn’t take long until he’s gagging himself stupid and the sparkles under his eyes start running.
„Pretty, pretty,“ you lean down a little, kissing his nose. „Give me all you got.“
„Gh—gch—“
The answer is as slobbery and unintelligible as can be. To a normal human, at least. You’re a demonic top. That automatically means having an Ivy League major in gag noise translation.
„Oh yes, I know,“ you stroke his hair, using your free hand that usually rests at the back of his neck. „Talk to me about it. Exactly what I was thinking. Do go on.“
And he does, louder than ever. If there’s one satisfying sound, it’s this, that heavenly deep voice doing all kinds of nasty acrobatics is making you go crazy. That Felix is absolutely close to cumming in his angel pants is very much clear to you given how the veins and muscles on his neck are having a chaotic Halloween party on their own.
Which includes his tongue taking turns on your two fingers as well. And a wide-eyed Felix struggling, swallowing, holding on to your shoulders with his little feet twitching in their sneakers. Like mad… and you love it. But also — hopelessly sucking and moaning and slurping and squealing until his neck has way too much saliva on it for you not to make it your next target. Felix is so good at this. Way too good.
„Looks delicious,“ you lean in, your hair tickles his ears. And now, you’re busy nibbling, biting a little… and most importantly, giving Felix a wet hickey that will send his makeup artist — my God, you really torture the unsuspecting man almost weekly — into a meltdown. Rowdy and unholy is the look you’re going for.
In the meantime, Felix is still wrapped up trying to hit your fingers at the back of his throat. If his cute bouncy run and rude boner moment didn’t turn you on already, now you would be. The way he’s just sucking in his own spit makes you realize that you won’t ever need a fire brigade for your flat.
You emerge from his neck and raise your brows. Felix is just hard-wired to impress. „Just how much saliva can you produce!“
„Ch… Mnh— Nh…“
Hitting some more complex syntax and consonants there, is he.
„Oh, I get it now. You stayed hydrated during the day. Thanks for explaining, mate. That’s the secret.“
Whether that’s perfectly scientifically correct down to the enzyme theory and shit neither of you can google right now. At least you know that you’re both drenched on either end so that’s that.
Once Felix is so horny from deepthroating your damn hand that he has pull off and yellow-word, you’re already prepared for introducing a new position which you can prepare while he’s gathering himself and wiping off his chin. You hand him a second towel for his neck, and present him a little hand mirror to see how the hickey turned out.
„It’s shaped like, hm,“ he pants, words still slurring a little. „I dunno! It’s really cute!“
„Let me see… No doubt that’s a rice cake hickey. That’s the shape.“
„You’re right!“
And off he goes snapping a selfie with it while you get comfortable on your back, cleaning your own fingers.
„Just don’t upload that one to Insta instead of the cloud shots, we’re not gonna survive another Manager call at 1:15 AM.“
„Can I use your phone for it? That’s where it’s supposed to be on, anyway.“
Felix giggles a little. That cute brat. Always knowing how it’s done.
„Sure babe!“
And voilà, Felix is already occupied setting a good view of his new rice cake-shaped friend as your phone background. Good thing, helps his erection cool down a little, he was about to blow up his poor white pants. The acceptable unfair feat being that he’s just riling you up even more like that on the other hand.
„If you come to mommy now,“ you wriggle one foot in the air, the other splayed on the duvet, knee slightly bent. „Rubbing her pussy and doing your thing, you know how it goes.“
„Angel duties calling! What am I doing!“
At the speed of sound, Felix stores your phone back on the bedside table and crawls over in an instant. He props his chin on your abdomen and blinks.
„Sorry Ma’am. At your service. Never wanna keep you waiting.“
A big smile rouses his cheeks, and you boop them from either side. His peach fuzz is so soft and his eyes are so beautifully dark. You don’t waste any time keeping your skirt down for any longer. Another blink and Felix is already pawing — well, kneading and caressing technically — between your legs. He’s visibly understanding just how wet the whole finger sucking circus has left you now.
„What if I used my heels on your cock, boo. Still no cumming. Just my heels and my lil’ prince.“
Satanic plan stage number three. Felix has gotten to savor it last Christmas and for his birthday, and some time around the holidays in summer.
„I love it yay!“ Felix claps his hands. Baby, baby.
„C’mere then. Just keep on rubbing.“
His arms are fairly long enough. While you’re dragging the slender heels of either shoe right across the outlines on his crotch, Felix, eyes loosely closed, maintains a steady rhythm on your clit with three fingers lined up on the fabric of your panties.
„Oh fucking hell, Felix, shit—“
Whenever you masturbate, that alone would never do. You’d get frustrated after a while. Need more stimulation. But when Felix is on angel duty to keep your pussy soaked, it doesn’t need much to make your clit throb, even with your underwear still on. Guess that God’s little helpers know how to work their magic to make your head spin.
He’s hitting the right spot, with the right moves, and his other hand doesn’t miss out on a single opportunity to stroke at both the in- and outside of your thighs. The touch is so subtle, you twitch. Felix strokes on, delirious himself. His eyelids flutter.
„Fuck…“
Despite the little pause from earlier taking out most of his tension, your heels leave Felix with pants that are even more bulged out. That’s making it easy to direct your feet to jerk up and down at either side. You’d never know either of you would be so into this. Foot fetish and all.
Once he’s edged you to the point of moans, last thing you properly remember is calling it quits with the panties and telling him to line himself up. The heels kicked off, the skirt still on, you decide that unpacking your Halloween treat has been long overdue. You slide his pants down, roll down a pink condom, and grab his cock at the base to glide it all over your wet lips.
„Lix, come fuck me. You got me all horny. Satan is recruiting.“
„With me it’s not sinning,“ he smiles, brighter than the sun and you do right along. It’d be hard not to. Felix truly has the innocence of a virgin, the subtle confidence of an intermediate, the caution of a pro, and the kindness of a real veteran.
„You’re right about that Felix,“ you say, prop your entrance at the very tip, let the wetness do its job. „Come kiss your honey girl.“
And he does. Entering you with care for the right angle, letting your hip do the rest. What’s been circling and sucking your fingers so deliciously is now doing a hot job teasing and pleasing your tongue all over. His lips are amazingly soft and plump, they open so gently and feel electric on yours. A gentle squeeze around your left breast sparks a moan into the kiss from you. It’s Felix massaging your breasts while deepening his penetration, and you can tell the vegemite can stay under the bed today. You can tell Felix is getting more than flustered knowing it was all him who made you this dripping wet.
Even his dick seems to blush in sync. It’s fucking pink and red. Oh wait, that’s the condom. But knowing him and from your viewpoint, it’s still more flushed than before, no kidding. Faithfully pumping in and out of you at its full length now. You wrap your legs around his waist, the thrusts become deeper, shorter, parting you open much more, and filling you out so properly.
„So good. Right there, angel. Just right there. I’m loving that.“
Felix has a great dick. Best handy size, the girth’s comfortable, all nice and bendy, virtually no curve, you can always gyrate on it in any way and even take a complete 180 if you go from cowgirl to reverse (which you’d be doing right now but he’d crush his wings if he were on his back like that so no). Cherry on top, compact but soft balls that don’t steal the show but still do the trick during doggy. They’re whipping up the best cum in the world, so.
The slow kissing goes on and on and Felix tries to walk the tightrope of neither letting your pussy lips suck the orgasm out of him, nor making you cream his cock with shaky legs from all that gorgeous sloppy friction, and the kissing, and his sweet cherry shampoo scent that has your brain in absolute limbo.
With everything hanging by a thread like that, every kiss becomes special and full of a suspense that makes your lips tremble — either set, and Felix can hardly bear it himself.
His little halo is dangling back and forth, and you can tell by his face that all that thrusting has him in serious trouble. And you? Are fucking leaking and groaning, and that little shallow series of first contractions before your orgasm is already preparing you.
The sugar high from the cupcakes is fading, but your adrenaline is sure to replace it. You just want Felix to fuck you more and rock against him, and hold his head, and kiss him. God, his mouth is so warm and inviting, tastes so good like cocoa.
The pace joins yours without any effort, it adapts when your rhythm changes, and it stabilizes everything when you’re currently riding the high of his cock really filling you out so you can clench your muscles around him, feel him and tell him just you wait, I’ll milk you. He’s such a good kisser. You can feel all of your wetness running down your ass like it’s Christmas.
„Felix, I’m overflowing.“
„I’m so sorry,“ he whines into the kiss. „I’ll be washing the sheets.“
„Listen, baby,“ you break the tongue-on-tongue, „you doing laundry is really sexy. But the overflow is the best part. Just look what you’re doing to my body.“
You could ravage him on the spot. He’d probably lose it and cum in two seconds. Holding yourself before the edge is so tough right now.
„Shit… yellow again. Need a moment.“
Felix has to resort to a bit of cockwarming, and you use the little break to rid yourself off the harness. It’s not perfectly comfortable when you’re lying down. You’re about to fling it off the bed that Felix asks to wear it. Oh. Very well. It actually goes as a nice contrast on his white top, and the straps make it easy to adjust to him. And he wants it to sit on him really tightly. Oh again.
You realize—
On you, it’s only a fashion piece. Something random that came with the costume.
On him: It’s kinky.
„Hey hey. You look sexy, pum’kin,“ you pat at his chest. „Look at your waist, wow.“
Your sweet boy. It’s like it’s made for him. So cinched and the exact opposite of his costume. He’s a corrupted, dirty angel now, it’s perfect. With his pink neck and all sweaty face, and his little puppy gaze that will haunt you in your sex dreams because it literally just gets into your pants so much. Oh god, you just wanna cum. You have to distract yourself with chaste images of Felix washing the dishes or writing grocery lists with little hearts and emojis on them but that just makes it five times worse.
The way he puts the harness on with his dick inside you is so mouthwatering and cumworthy, you can’t wait to resume and switch your own brains off on that angel cock. Once Felix is ready to exit phase yellow and resume the session, your hands magically gravitate towards the straps of the harness at this waist.
„Can I?“
„M—hm!“
You have the time of your life grabbing and guiding him by the harness, controlling every thrust. Felix clenches up his teeth from how lavishly his cock is squeezing into your pussy.
„Oh babe,“ you groan out. „Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me. Come on, angel.“
He’s not going to take it much longer. Felix is tensing all over, neck to the knees, it’s a huge shock wave in the making. That climax is going to be like a fucking punch into outer space.
„I’m really at my limit, I’m, I’m…!“
„Cum for me, angel,“ you reach to his neck to bring his lips down again. Your mouths going into shaky contact brings a big soaring moan with it.
„Ahn—!“
You lock lips, his face scrunches up, and you can tell that cum worth of three orgasms is currently pooling into the condom. You don’t belong to the mile high club, but going by how far up this feels, you might as well be. Those sweet shivers. And the little whines. It’s all too much for him, this one got him bad. Felix cumming is like the angels really are singing. With bells and harps and all that shit at once.
After pulling out, the ruined condom goes off lightning fast. Felix’ cock gets some much-needed cooling, but his face is on heavy duty. How he does it after almost getting his lights turned off, it’s a mystery, it must have been six whole loads he shot into you. You’d already be collapsing in his shoes. Felix still being able to put his mouth to work is an act of divine intervention. Honestly though, it doesn’t even take half a minute. Sloppy head from Felix is cryptonite, your stamina comes tumbling down. His tongue just knocks you out with an overwhelming rush of pleasure.
“Oh— yes...”
What is gravity? You don’t know what north and south mean anymore. He laps and sucks you through your high and your legs give up their soldier service. All you see it fluffy blonde strands of hair peeking from below your skirt, a glimpse of the harness, the rest is heavy growling and swearing from all of the contractions and Felix getting raw and dirty Down Under with no fears, literally none, to bury his face and move it around and let his tongue loose. Time and again Felix shows you he’s a swallower. Satanic agenda: success.
For tonight, your pussy will be nothing but glitter, cum, and spit. Swollen like crazy, properly fucked, and tipped to the absolute limit. Felix keeps on slicking up his face completely, and then brings you into the afterglow with his fingers. One at a time, barely adding stimulation. Just fetching you where you are and climbing down. Looks like you’ll share the cupcakes, this is a couple hangover in the making. In Felix’ case in particular. It’s like he signed up for testing a mad scientist’s latest designer drug.
„Wow wow… So you served me choco cupcakes and God’s menu,“ is the last thing he can say in his delirium before falling over. He’s so fucked out and went so wild on eating you, a part of the harness came off. Thank god his nose is so small, all that swiping could’ve broken the bridge and whatnot. And his lips, they’re twice as plump. You really have to compliment in on what his mouth has done today because that was some champ shit.
You’re both buffering on the sheets for a solid five minutes until you roll to the side. Towel… water… forehead kisses. Yes, forehead kisses most importantly. After gathering yourself a little, you pamper Felix into a heart rate around 90 rather than 120. And with the onset of exhaustion for the two of you, that’s not too hard after some minutes passing. Whispering sweet nothings and praise is all you do up until 2 AM and after. Felix is somewhere between worlds, one foot in the door of the dreamland, the other soaking up the care and the intoxicating, thick scent of the room that has a lot of cherry shampoo in it.
At some point. You loosen the harness, pull off his shirt with the wings attached. The halo you unsuccessfully try to spot in his hair. Turns out: It flew off. Felix really must’ve made Satan proud if it fell down just like that. Good job. Felix has earned a title of being a dirty angel now, and by the way he’s chugging water now, a wet one on top of that.
Five tons of spit, six, seven, who knows how many he’s afforded for today. A head pat is not enough, it has to be several, and Felix passes out onto the pillows. As good as you can, you wipe him down, bin the condom, get off his shoes and his half-pulled down trousers. After staggering to the bathroom, your skirt and peplum shirt follows, the stockings stay on, they’re cozy as hell. Last but not least, you remove your devil horns. It feels like they granted you the most unknown demonic powers.
Next time Felix is on his way to making you cum again, you’ll be wearing them, and you’ll last the way you did tonight. Meanwhile, Bang Chan is blowing up your phone because Felix pressed send by accident earlier, but you don’t notice. It just keeps on vibrating on the bedstand and Chris will have to riddle over the rice cake selfie for the rest of November.
Felix dozes with an angelic little smile on his lips and puffs his cheeks in his sleep, his makeup wiped and his hair truly messy. Instagram can wait. Maybe you’ll get to brush your teeth a little later, it usually takes some time until you wake up again and topple to the sink. You huddle together, tuck your sweet baby pum’kin into his second favorite spot at your chest. Ah, the glory of Felix little spooning.
As the last signature, you nibble at his ear, call him your cutie pie, and switch the lights off. You have to listen closely but if you do, it’s like Felix is purring in his sleep. Whatever your own dreamland is planning to launch on you tonight, you’re looking forward to it.
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© 2017-2020 submissive-bangtan. all rights reserved. reposts, modifications and translations are prohibited. character depictions are fictional & for entertainment purposes only.
PS — oh, my good ole fellas, a last cursed disclaimer. i must insist on the following for obvious reasons. vegemite makes for some terrible strap lube okay 😂🇦🇺
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shadowgeist-stars · 3 years
Text
Ren x Gakushu: Nightmares
Ren was standing in the Chairman's office, watching the man pace around him, Araki, Seo, and Koyama with practiced, measured steps. His words were almost entirely unintelligible, but his voice was just like always. The same eerie, low tenor that made his skin try to crawl off his body, like he suddenly had some kind of flesh-eating disease.
Suddenly the monster struck. A huge fleshy mass with eyes so big that they overlapped one another on its face. A mouth so wide and sharply fanged that it could swallow anyone whole and shred them apart in its jaws anyway. Before he knew it, there was an agonizing sting at the back of his head and the better part of his back. Ren was somehow thrown against the wall, pain tearing against his sternum and surrounding ligaments making it nearly impossible to breathe. The others were no different, as if they were flung just as woefully unprepared into the same MMA fight that he was in.
Then he realized all of their bodies hadn't even moved.
For all intents and purposes, their minds had been violently punted from each of their bodies, leaving them as empty shells that did nothing but chant an insatiable desire to kill E-Class. If Ren didn't have trouble breathing before, he was all but suffocating now. It only got worse when Gakushu reentered the room, only to call out to Ren and the others in horror. The mix of anger, disgust, and outright fear with which he stared at his father and his pet beast nearly wrenched his racing heart clear out of his chest.
“Gakushu, please… I'm right here…”
He forced his ghostly form to stand up. Dizziness spun his vision every which way. His shaking feet didn't feel anything close to steady as he tried to stumble toward his friend. The monster over the principal's shoulder only pounced again, painfully crushing his throat in its clawed grip as he could only face that menacing, unnatural grin. Darkness was beginning to dot his vision as it blurred with tears. He reached helplessly for his best friend with whatever vanishing strength he had left, as it all went cold and dark and --
Ren's eyes shot open with a gasp, heart pounding and breathing as if he'd just endured one of Gakushu's soccer games. He lay frozen and tense in his bed, clutching his bed covers and staring at nothing but his own bedroom floor as he slowly willed himself to calm down.
After he finally deemed himself calmed from the nightmare, (and telling himself that No, panic-brain, my blazer that I keep hung on my door is not a monster that's here to kill me) he sat up in his bed and checked the time on his alarm clock.
Only a few minutes after 3 o’clock, in the morning.
Ren grimaced to himself, running a hand through his stupid bedhead. Either Seo or Koyama would probably laugh about some kind of joke related to the time that he’s almost certain he’d rather not hear. However, he just thought it was too darn early to be up, even with something like a very graphic memory/nightmare to blame.
The principal monster from his nightmare flashed behind his eyes, in its own twisted "speak of the devil." What better way of being told by one's own brain that going back to sleep at that moment was not an option?
…Maybe a cup of tea or something warm (and uncaffeinated) would settle him down enough to help.
With a sigh, he got out of bed, pulled on a shirt, and headed to the kitchen.
He knew the house well enough that he didn't have to turn on the lights. He knew every place where the floors creaked, exactly where to stick to the walls and where to simply keep a light foot. The tiny nightlights in the halls kept it just visible enough that one didn't have to stumble around in complete darkness.
Many years ago, traversing his house at night was a game to Ren. One where his eyes sported beams of light to help him see. A game in which the dark wasn’t a monster to fear, but his playmate.
When he reached the kitchen, he breathed a soft sigh of relief. He grabbed a mug from the dish cabinet, but before he could do anything else, he noticed a light.
Light that was coming from the living room TV, partly shadowed by a figure on the couch.
Ren had a feeling he knew who that was. Guess I’m not the only one having a rough night.
With that in mind, he grabbed a second mug before pulling the jar of dried chamomile from the back of a different cabinet, fixing some tea with it.
The person on the couch didn’t respond to any noise he made, which meant one of two things: he was either quite aware of his presence and simply waiting for Ren to reveal himself, or he was out of it to the point of somehow not noticing the brunette was even there.
With someone like Gakushu Asano, there was no in-between with those two possibilities.
The moment the tea was ready, Ren poured it into the two mugs, a small voice in the back of his mind reminding him to put some sugar in Gakushu’s mug. He likes his tea sweetened a little. It’ll help him calm down more easily if he’s tense or had a nightmare, and right now he's possibly both.
He glanced at whatever he was watching on TV, which was turned down so low he couldn’t quite hear it. A documentary: his go-to for calming down from a bad dream. Crime or historic ones usually mean something relatively tame. But this one’s a nature documentary; he only goes to those things when it’s really bad.
The taller boy took a deep breath before heading over, humming a familiar tune and making sure to seek out the one floorboard he knew would creak. A word of advice from a friend, so as to not scare him once in his line of sight.
The redhead made an almost unnoticeable jolt before bright purple eyes met his. (So he really was out of it to a point he didn't know I was there, or at least hyperfixating on the TV.) He was wrapped in a throw blanket and had his legs laid across the length of the couch; he was probably planning on sleeping there if he was able to calm down enough.
“Ren… How long have you been up?” he asked, shifting around to sit properly on the sofa.
He chuckled, setting down the mugs on the coffee table until he was sitting down beside his boyfriend. “Obviously not as long as you.” His smile became a frown when he got no snarky response. “Nightmares keeping you up, too, huh?”
The shorter boy only nodded once, taking his mug when it was offered. “I hoped to be able to sleep again, after getting my mind off of it… And I didn’t expect to be discovered."
Ren hummed, sipping his own beverage. "…It was the brainwashing incident on my end… Araki saying it felt like an out-of-body experience was pretty accurate."
The ginger didn't seem too surprised. "…It was partially that exact incident for myself… and also the immediate aftermath of the pole-toppling match. I still find it hard to forget how badly Kevin and the other exchange students were injured, because of him… it was so severe that they all had to return to their home countries, once they'd recovered enough to do so."
The others didn’t hear much of that when it happened beyond when the paramedics showed up at the school. At the time, they all knew better than to ask while the wound was still fresh. Then again, it wasn’t like he would’ve been coherent enough to elaborate on the situation anyway, given how he fell asleep on the ride home.
"Least they don't have to worry about him hurting them again now…" he replied finally, "or anyone, to be honest. Especially not you." He pulled the strawberry blond boy into his side. "I think you remember well enough… how worried I was when he hit you in front of everybody."
The shorter boy’s exhale reverberated with exhaustion as his head drooped on his lover’s shoulder, followed by the sound of him emptying his mug. “Not as much as I wish I did… but at the same time more than I care to admit. It’s exhausting just thinking about it.”
The brunette smiled sadly at the sheer amount of fatigue in his tone, giving his shoulder a squeeze before finishing his own drink. "All the same, we can say that we're safe from him, and that in itself means a lot… By the way, I would've been alright with you coming over to my room after you woke up from your nightmare."
That only earned him a sleepy, yet sour look. "Why would I do that? I'm not a toddler, Ren."
The brunette snickered, using a thumb and index finger to get the other to face him. "Maybe not, but it's not childish to be afraid or need someone else, even for just a little company. Haven't you felt any better since I came out here?"
Gakushu tried to avert his face. "I suppose you could say that…"
Begrudging victory; I'll take it.
He smiled as he leaned in to kiss the shorter boy. He slipped his tongue in easily, tasting the chamomile's aftermath and practically feeling the remnants of Gakushu's tension and traces of his own nightmare disappear into the documentary's white noise. The ginger all but melted into his arms, the long and lazy kiss bearing down on his eyelids with sleep in a wave of honeyed warmth. Pulling away showed a pair of hazy purple eyes struggling to open again, on an adorable, blushing face.
“I love you, Gakushu; sweet dreams.”
The shorter boy gave a slow, cat-like blink, snuggling further against the taller boy. “Hmm… love you too… Ren…”
Ren chuckled at his slurred speech as he took Gakushu's empty mug from his hands, placing it and his own mug on the coffee table. Afterwards he turned off the TV, pulling Gakushu along as he shifted them around, until they were now both laying sideways on the couch, with a red-haired head on his chest. He managed to resituate the throw blanket over them both, draping long arms over his beloved; one settling across his waist, the other scratching his scalp in rhythmic circles.
He leaned into the crevice between the couch cushion and backrest with a contented sigh. With the weight and warmth of his boyfriend in his arms and the steady whispering breeze of breath in his ears and over his chest, the image of the former principal and the big-eyed monster was nothing more than a fading memory. They were both safe here, in this homey little bubble. Pressing a final kiss to his boyfriend's crown, he laid his own head down and closed his eyes, letting sleep carry him away on a far more welcoming cloud.
It wasn’t the first time they had such nightmares, and it may well be far from the last, but for now, they could sleep without fear, and that was enough.
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runwithwolvcs · 3 years
Text
You Know I'm No Good - t w o
Temptation vs Freedom
Warnings (future chapters): Drugs/Alcohol, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Jealousy, Mental Health, (Mentions of SA, but no details)
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I don't like memories because the tears come easily, and once again I break my promise to myself for this day. Its a constant battle . A war between remembering and forgetting.
Back in her darkened bedroom, Tallulah still couldn't wrap her head around her current situation. The rest of the night consisted of her being introduced to people who seemed to know more about her then she had wanted, clearly word spreads fast around La Push. Josie had introduced her to some of her friends that had arrived later, after the tribal stories. Clearly only there for the party. They seemed nice, but they were definitely not the type of people she would choose to be friends with herself.
Lenna had made herself scarce throughout the entire, to which her twin stated was typical behaviour. But Tallulah figured it had more to do with her presence than anything else. Tally couldn't help but look for the tan boy she had locked eyes with, something about him was so alluring. It was almost frustrating, Tallulah Forester doesn't get captivated by anyone, not ever. She was the captivating one, at least that's what Xander had always said. “You're like a tornado, with pretty eyes and a heartbeat. Luring in bystanders until you’ve ruined their lives..That's what I enjoy so much about you”, that was the last thing he had said to her before she had left his house party the night she had been caught. Their relationship was a mess, both of them struggling for control, even if it meant hurting each other in the process. It was a rollercoaster of emotions, but it was all she ever had. She craved it in an almost masochist way.
Tallulah's phone had been off all night, not in the mood to deal with the onslaught of messages she was sure to get, now that she had a moment to breath by herself she figured she may as well read them, 1 5 messages from Lina and 3 missed calls, her best friend, was more than likely freaking out, consumed by guilt over the fact that their lies to their parents had been crossed. 7 messages from Kit, who she figured was already trying to plan how to spin this to make herself the victim, as Kit does, and 1 lone message from Xander, the only one she read before she shut off her phone to go to sleep.
That sucks :(
Was all that it said.
-
After a lot of tossing and turning in the bed that was almost too soft, mixed with the pillows that weren’t soft enough, Tallulah drifted off to sleep. She dreamed of the boy who had taken her by storm, his smile seemed brighter than the sun and the way he laughed was like music to her ears. They were on a cliff overlooking the ocean, she could see that he was talking, but couldn't hear what he was saying, she watched as he stood up and walked towards the edge of the cliff, looking as though he was about to jump, she stood up in a panic--
Tallulah startled awake to Kira shaking her shoulder gently, a soft smile graced her face. It was raining, but Tallulah could tell it was early morning.
“Tally, sweetie, you’re dad and I would like to speak with you before he goes to a meeting” she said quietly, “Get dressed and meet us downstairs in ten minutes,” she spoke, the smile never leaving her lips. Tallulah groaned, not one to be a morning person in the slightest, she swung her legs out of bed, toes touching the cool hardwood floors. She could hear low murmurs outside her door as she heaved herself out of bed, still not used to her surroundings she walked to her two duffle bags and sifted through the clothes before settling on an oversized, green long sleeve to cover the stick and poke tattoos that littered her arms, with ripped, loose, blue jeans. One disappointment at a time, she thought to herself as she got dressed. She grabbed her hairbrush from her bag and ran it through her hair, leaving it to lay in its natural waves down her back before quietly heading downstairs to whatever talk she was awaiting.
She was met with Kira and her father sitting at the kitchen table next to each other, and as they beckoned her over to sit, she noticed the thin, blue rectangle laying in the middle of the table. The same blue rectangle she had so carefully hid in her room back in Seattle, or so she thought. She could feel anger begin to bubble in her belly as realization dawned on her, her mother had been through her room.
She sat expectantly, waiting for her dad to chastise her for using drugs, or even alcohol, as a minor and how that could affect her future, but he looked to Kira to begin. The gentle smile that was near permanent on her stepmom was almost comforting in the moment, almost. “Tally”, She starts, “We are aware of your.. pastimes, in Seattle, however, we will not be encouraging that same behaviour here.” she sounds like a damn counselor, Tallulah thought to herself. She’d honestly prefer being yelled at. “We have a few ground rules that we expect you to follow, as we do Lenna and Josette.” Kira continued, “Under no circumstances, will we allow drugs under our roof, including nicotine,” she says referring to the vape sitting in between them, “Or alcohol that does not belong to your father and I. If you are to partake in these activities and are caught you will have consequences.” She looks at Joseph, as if they had rehearsed their own parts, looking towards her dad expectantly, “Secondly,” He speaks up, “As we expect with the twins, any boy, or girl, that you are,, having relations with, we expect to meet, no sneaking them through bedroom windows.” Tallulah cringes internally, it was one time, she wanted to yell. “Curfew will be 11:00 pm on school nights and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, no exceptions.. Understood?” he asked, looking at his eldest daughter. She wants to argue with them, tell them that policing her life won’t make her change, not the way that they wanted her to at least. That was something her mother learned the hard way. She had taken the door off her bedroom when she had found out she was sneaking out in the night, which only caused Tallulah to start sneaking out the front door instead, right in front of her.
“You done?” she asks, yawning, this wasn’t new to her at all, and she really didn’t care to be frank. The two adults look at each other, Kira nodding her head in Tallulah's direction, Joseph sighed before tossing a key chain on the table next to her vape. A small house key was connected to what looked like a car key. “Choose one.”
Temptation or Freedom?
Tallulah spent the rest of the day running errands with Josie, who had offered to show her around the reservation. They had stopped at Monets, the local cafe, run by the Littleseas, its the go to hangout spot, according to Josie. Who happens to be friends with Colin Littlesea, the eldest son of the owners.
Tallulah picked at the half eaten muffin sitting in front of her as she waited for Josie to return with a refill of both of their coffees. They were so different from each other, Tallulah drinking hers black, while Josies consisted of mainly cream and sugar, just like their personalities, but for some odd reason they clicked.
The car her father and Kira gave her was originally supposed to go to Josie, so that the twins no longer would have to share their current one. Finding out that alone made her reconsider her choice, at least a nicotine addiction only really affected her, but with a lot of reassurance from Josie, and the simple ask that Tallulah help run her errands eased her guilt. She didn't want to upend the twins' life, it wasn’t their fault her parents decided to force her to move to La Push. While Josie seemed to enjoy her presence, Lenna did not, and it's clear now she was avoiding her.
Tallulah gazed around the quaint yet homey cafe, its hand painted walls consisted of the same trees that surrounded the reservation, it was peaceful. She looked towards the door as it chimed, alerting the staff of new customers entering, a group of extremely tall, good looking men walked through the door, causing the calm energy to shift with their booming laughs, everyone seemed to be used to this behaviour, considering she was the only one to look in their direction.
Her eyes followed the group of boys, taking each one in, by the time she reached the last, he was already looking at her. Paul Lahote. The largest of them all, in height and muscle, she thought to herself as her eyes raked his body.
Josie setting her coffee down in front of her broke her concentration on the boy, her attention fully shifted to her half-sister. “What do they feed the men here? They are all so tall” Tallulah asked jokingly, to which Josie laughed, shaking her head. “Not all of them. Just the ones who hang around Sam Uley. Some people say he's giving them steroids but dad swears against it. So does mom.” She watched Josie grimace, and cut her off before she could correct herself, “--I’ve seen boys roided, they look nothing like them.” she spoke before taking a sip of her coffee. Josie nodded, an almost fascinated look on her young face, “So it's true then..” At this, Tallulah raises her eyebrows, “ what's true?”
“Your mom sent you here because you got mixed up with some guys who did drugs or whatever. At least that's what Lenna said she heard dad say”
Of course she did, so much for a fresh start, she thought.
Tallulah rolled her eyes, “Sort of, I guess --”
Now she was being interrupted, a large looming figure was now standing at the edge of their table, greeting Josie, she watched as the younger girl blushed in response, before saying “Hey, Ethan. Uh, this is my older sister, Tally or um, Tallulah,” Josie fumbled over her words as she introduced her. Tallulah looked up at the towering boy with a half smile, nodding her head as a way to say ‘hey’ , Ethan nodded back before asking, “I didn’t realize you guys were sisters. Do you go to school off the rez?”
Tallulah shook her head, “I did but I just moved here from Seattle. I start at the rez school tomorrow.”
He nods before engaging with Josie in conversation about some project they were working on and she can’t help but look over at the boisterous table in the far corner, she can see Paul and another boy glance at her as they talk, she excuses herself from Josie and Ethan, the coffee in her mug no longer appetizing and itching for her little blue rectangle in that moment.
Tallulah makes her way up to the bar-like counter, the waitress coming to take her order almost immediately. She orders a sweet tea, hoping to wash some of the lingering bitterness from her mouth, hoping it would help curve her cravings. She can feel someone come up next to her but doesn't bother to look who it is as she fiddles with a napkin, the waitress comes to take their order and their voice sounds like velvet in her ears despite the hint of gruffness to it.
“You're Joseph Forester's daughter, right?” She hears him ask, she looks in his direction to see he's already looking at her, a small cocky, smirk toying on his lips. He already knows the answer clearly. She wants to roll her eyes and tell him to fuck off, but she can’t bring herself to do so. So, she nods and softly says, “Yeah, Tallulah.” This causes him to actually smile, like he's thankful she didn’t just blow him off. That hot, cocky persona is nearly untraceable now,
“I’m Paul Lahote.”
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story-thief · 3 years
Text
MHA X READER (SHRUNK):
CHAPTER 3 - BAKUGO X TINY Y/N - HOT POCKET
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Info--------------------
Y/N- Age: 16, Hight: 5'6", Gender: female, Quirk: Plant Growth and Control, Class: 1-A
AU- None, Domestic fluff
Relationship background: You and Bakugo are really good friends and secretly have crushes on each other!!!
———————————————
It was rather early in the morning and admittedly, (Y/N) hadn’t slept the best, her dreams being plagued with fantasies of hungry gators, with her on the menu. So in short, she needed her morningly sugar.
Walking down the halls of the dorms, she groggily made her way to the kitchen where she opened the fridge and grabbed herself a vanilla DrPepper. Popping it open, she shuffled into the living room and flopped onto the couch where she tiredly sipped at her drink.
*****
Unknown to her were the three mischievous boys who had gathered in Sero’s room. “So here’s the deal…” The tall black haired male began to fill in his peers, Kirishima and Kaminari. “Yesterday, as I was out… I came across this guy who said that he had a special serum that can shrink someone…” He told them, to which their eyes practically bulged from their heads. “Wait for real?!” Denki cried, willing to believe his friend despite the height of the tall tale. Kirishima looked slightly skeptical, “Shrink someone??” He asked, despite how much he wanted to believe his friend.
Sero pulled a small bottle from under his bed with a wide, sly grin. “It’s pure extract from someone’s quirk.” He explained, shaking it gently  as the amber colored liquid inside sloshed lightly. Denki looked momentarily horrified, “LIKE THAT THING THEY DID TO THAT LITTLE GIRL, ERI!?” He cried, “NO!!!” Sero replied, “Yeah, Sero wouldn’t do that, come on man!... Though how did you get it??” The redhead asked, now fully on board. Their friend just gave them a slightly creepy smile. “I have my ways…” he admitted. “Anyways, the reason I called you guys here…” He continued, setting the glass jar down gently in front of them.
“You guys know (Y/N)....”
“Yeah!!!” “Of course man!!!”
“Know Bakugo…?”
“Oh?” “Where’s this going……”
“Well…. I was thinking we could help them come out of their shells a little bit…” He chuckles almost darkly. The other two gave him curious and expectant looks. “I say we find a way to sneak (Y/N) some of the elixir…. Then we leave her to Bakugo.” He says. The other two perk up, “YES!!!” Denki fist pumps, “That’s genius!!!” He laughs. Kiri on the other hand didn’t seem so sure. “I don’t know man… If (Y/N) found out we’d be in a lot of trouble…. And if Bakubro found out….” Kirishima needn’t finish as all three boys shivered at the mere thought.
“Its ok, Bakugo isnt gonna find out because nobody's gonna tell him.” Sero urged, both him and Kirishima giving Denki a death glare. “Wha- HEY!!! I WOULDN'T TELL, YOU GUYS NO THAT, I DON'T SQUEAL LIKE A PIG, I'M NOT MINETA!!” he whined, throwing his arms out before Kirishima quickly clamped a hand over his mouth. “But he will know if you’re not quiet…” He hushed.
“So are we going to do this then??” Sero finally asked, the other two glancing at each other briefly before nodding. “Great!!!”
****
(Y/N) remained on the couch, passively drinking her soda whilst tapping away on her device. The three boys all came in one by one, gradually as not to seem suspicious. The girl paid them no mind, only acknowledging Kirishima when he sat beside her on the couch, whipping out his own phone after wishing her a goodmorning.
After five or so minutes, The boys’ classmate got up to go retrieve her charger as her phone battery began to run low, leaving her DrPepper on the coffee table. As soon as she was gone Sero tossed Kirishima the bottle and he uncapped it, dumping its entire contents into the unsuspecting drink.  He then quickly screwed the lid back on and pocketed the empty bottle.
Shortly after, (Y/N) returned, retaking her place on the couch, grabbing her drink and taking a small sip.
All three boys couldn't help as devious smiles tugged at the corners of their mouths…
For the first little while she didn’t notice their creepy smiles as they watched her expectantly, her continuing to enjoy her beverage. Finally she looked up to be met by three pairs of eyes. “What??” She asked, furrowing her brows, confused at their behavior. "Nothing..." Kirishima smirked, chin on his fist as he refused to look away. "Riiiight.... Did you guys spit in my drink or something??" She asked, eyeing the other two who laughed, "No!!" Sero guffawed, "So.... Are you guys on drugs or something??" She pressed, feeling frustrated that she didn't know what was going on. "no, but you are...." Denki muttered under his breath with a snicker, getting smacked in the back of the head by his friend.
"Ok then, I'm going to leave you creeps to yourselves and get ready..." She stated, finishing her drink and tossing it into the recycling.
'What on earth was wrong with them??? Did they do something to my drink??? Were they just being dummies and trying to see how she would react???' (Y/N) couldn't help but wonder as she walked down the halls back toward her room where she'd shower and make herself presentable for the day.
Not long after she felt her knees turn to jelly as the air whisked itself from her lungs. Startled, she tripped over herself and fell hard to the ground.'What the heck just happened!? Was this because of Denki, Sero, and Kirishima?!' Her mind whirled as the fall to the ground felt far further than it should have.
*****
The three men peeked around the corner at their classmate and watched as her legs gave way and she tripped, disappearing completely in the process, just her sweat pants and white T-shirt left on the ground.
"What just-"
"Did she-"
"Did we...?"
Their eyes were frozen open. It looked as if they had just vaporized her. "Well, we gotta see if she's ok!!!" Kirishima said, finally running out from their hiding spot, the other two chasing after. As they approached the discarded garments they were able to see a small form moving  underneath the cloth. "Is that-!" Sero's smile grew exponentially. Kirishima looked as if he would reach out and see if she was ok so Sero clamped a hand over his mouth, shaking his head in reminder that Bakugo had to be the one to find her.
****
(Y/N) Felt the ground shake violently briefly. She sat up, still a little shaky and trying to catch her breath. "What just happened, where am I?!" She cried, trying to look around only to see she was in some sort of large fabric covering. The boys remained silent, slowly backing away as to not be around if anyone else came down the hall. Luckily they had timed things right and the very man they wanted to see came walking down the halls.
The floor vibrated again with his footsteps. "H-hello??" (Y/N) called, a smidge of fear starting to creep in given she still didn't know what all was happening.
****
Bakugo had only just gotten up and was on his not-so-merry way when he heard a small voice. He stopped, noticing the clothing discarded on the floor. "Eh?? Who on earth just left their clothes on the floor??" He asked, grabbing each piece, unintentionally scooping the small woman inside up as well. "Whatever. If they want their stuff back they'll have to come get it back. I don't have time for this crap." He grumbled, making his way back to his room.
The three other boys just gave each other victorious smiles, the plan was set in motion.
****
Bakugo reached his room shortly, tossing the clothes onto a nearby chair. He was about to walk right back out when he saw that they were moving. He hesitated, eyes growing a little with curiosity. (Y/N) on the other hand was so close to getting out, "HEY!! WHAT'S GOING ON!!!" She shouted, pushing at the shirt that surrounded her. Bakugo's eyes widened more, was he going crazy or did the pile of clothes talk??? "IS THERE ANYONE THERE??!!" She yelled once more, finally pushing her way out, shoulders and up protruding from the linen prison. The ash blonde's eyes snapped all the way open, which, may I add, was most certainly a first. "Oi, what kind of a joke is this??" he asked, regaining his demeanor, reaching for what looked to him like some kind of doll. (Y/N) was still trying to process what all she was looking at around her when the giant hand tried to grasp for her. With a startled squeak she ducked back down, barely missing as the closing fist brushed the top of her head.
When he grabbed nothing Bakugo only blinked. Curious as to if he really saw what he thought he saw. Bakugo parted the clothes enough to see the top of  a miniature head. What was that thing?! he just stared at it for a second, trying to process what he should do. As he thought, the head turned to look up at him, and he was greeted by the tiny face of his classmate, (Y/N). Startled, he flinched away, goosebumps breaking his skin. "WHAT THE HECK!?" He finally yelled, "B-Bakugo!?" she yelled back, inching her way back out of the shirt just enough to peek up and out at him. "How'd you get so big!?" She asked to which he promptly shouted back, "Nothing happened to me, you're the one who shrunk, idiot!!!" "What!?" She looked down at herself to figure out if he was telling the truth, and soon learned that not only was she a great deal smaller, but she was also in her own clothes, meaning they weren't necessarily on her body anymore.
(Y/N)'s eyes widened and she hugged the fabric closer to herself. "Uh.... I don't think I have anything to actually.... wear" She told him, her cheeks lighting up with embarrassment. Bakugo rolled his eyes, shutting his door roughly, "Tch- well you're not walking around my place with your naked butt." He replied curtly, just standing there as if she should do something about it. "Well?" He asked. She looked around, growing uncomfortable, "Well....?" She responded, unsure of what he wanted. "Use your dumb quirk to make yourself some! You can grow plants from your body right???" He asked, lip slightly curling up as he spoke. "Oh!! i can make them grow from anything really, but it has to have the nutrients that the plants would need to sprout, so I could grow them from my own body, but they'd sap my energy and life force in a sense, plus that could be risky given plants can be kinda flimsy and delicate..." She responded.
Bakugo huffed, making his way over to the bed where he pulled something out from under. A small shoe box. The tiny girl leaned to look inside as he took the lid off to reveal the last thing she expected to see. Barbies.
"YOU HAVE BARBIE DOLLS?!" She cried out in disbelief, quickly covering her mouth as his head swirled to give her a death glare, "IT WAS A PHASE OK!? AND THEY'RE NOT BARBIE DOLLS, THEY'RE ACTION FIGURES!!!!" He belted, making her cover her sensitive ears. "Plus, I was ten...." He grumbled. pulling a few of the different girls out. "Pick whichever one you like, I don't care." the boy huffed, holding them out. "Umm, well I like the last one!!" She told him, pointing to one with a red, flannel shirt with a collar, and blue jeans. The ash blonde didn't respond, only set it down beside her and put the others away, his cheeks ever so slightly pink from embarrassment of the dolls.
"U-um... Could I maybe have some privacy???" The small girl asked, a little flustered. "Yeah, whatever..." he replied, turning around to stare at the wall, "Just hurry up, I have places to go and things to do." he told her, his tone returning to not a mean one, but also not necessarily nice. (Y/N) just nodded, staying within the safety of her shirt as she slipped the doll's clothes on. "Alright, I'm decent now." she told him, climbing from the wrapped cloth to stand before him, his crimson eyes turning to look her up and down. "Eh- They fit you well." he said after a moment of silence, making her blush, "Thanks!" She chirped, quickly turning his cheeks red, "NOT LIKE THAT, THEY JUST AREN'T TOO BIG!!!" He yelled angrily. The tiny couldn't help but laugh, a blush still set on her face. "SHUT UP!!!" He bellowed again, to which she responded, "Hey, no need to get all prickly, it was a nice compliment! Your yelling is hurting my ears though..."
Bakugo just scowled, letting out a terse huff. "Yeah, fine, whatever. I gave you clothes, you can go now, I just want those back whenever this is over." he told her, grabbing a duffle bag off the end of the bed. "Wait! You're just going to leave me here?! While I'm like this?!" (Y/N) sassily inquired, stopping the giant in his tracks. "Why not?? You're not some helpless little kid." he responded, to which she knew translated into another silent compliment. She understood that he thought that even like this she could handle herself just fine, and he wasn't a dunce, so she knew he meant it. "I know... but still, I'm still trying to get used to everything and, would you at least find me someone else safe to stay with?" she secretly hoped deep down that no one else would be able to, but she definitely wasn't going to admit that aloud whilst around him.
The Pomeranian let out a long sigh after glancing at his nightstand clock. "Tch- fine." He slung his duffle bag over his shoulder, then lazily grabbed his shrunken classmate in his fist before she could protest, his large fingers wrapping around her stomach and waist so as to not grip her anywhere that would restrain her or make her uncomfortable, being respectful in his own way. "Hey!!" She cried out in surprise, pressing against his hands. "You're fine." He told her, though he made sure his grip was loose enough he wasn't crushing her, but she couldn't get loose either.
"I never said you could just grab me!!" She objected, "And I never asked." He replied, walking out and into the hallway, toward the common room. (Y/N) just sulked, resting her head on her hands, elbows braced against the giant’s hand that wrapped carefully around her. As they walked in, the three boys from earlier plus Deku, Mina, Ochako, and Iida were all up and about. "OI! Extras!!" Bakugo yelled as he walked in, getting the attention of everyone there. "Who here can watch Flower Face for today??" He asked, waltzing up to the counter where he promptly set her down. (Y/N) stumbled, startled by the sudden and rough motion, trying to regain her balance. The eyes of everyone in the room popped from their heads, save the three boys who put her in the predicament to begin with.
Deku was the first to talk, followed by Iida, then Ochako, then Mina.
"Is that-?!"
"(Y/N)!?"
"Woah!! How'd she get so small!?"
"So cute!!! What happened!???"
Bakugo let out a long, exasperated breath. "I don't know ok?? I just found her like this in the halls." He explained. Midoryia quickly fell to his knees, making himself eye level with the tiny as he gripped the edge of the counter, in absolute awe. "This is amazing!? Do you know what happened!?" He asked, his excitement enough to make it appear almost as if he were glowing.
(Y/N) stumbled back when he got so close so fast, his already large green eyes suddenly so much bigger. "Uh- well I was just fine when I woke up this morning, then I suddenly just got sick and shrunk..." She told him, still a little unsure of his enthusiasm, simply because of the drastic size difference.
"Wait, wait!! (Y/N,Y/N)!!! Could I hold you!?" Mina squealed, bouncing up and down, holding her hands out. the small girl was just about to answer when Bakugo stepped in. "Jeez, give her some space! She's still a living being and you guys are being super invasive." he growled, growing slightly protective, "And don't be so loud, she has smaller ears now you know." He added, hand raised as if he were ready to slip it in between them and the small. The others stopped to look up at him before realizing that they really must have been overwhelming her. "S-sorry!!" Deku cried, jumping back, "I guess I didn't stop to think how that may have made you feel, (Y/N), I'm sorry..." He said with a apologetic and flustered smile, rubbing his hands nervously. "No... You didn't..." Bakugo scoffed, making the poor boy feel worse. "It's alright, I know you didn't mean to." She chuckled, feeling slightly bad about Bakugo's unnecessary persistent comment.
"Now who here can be responsible and take care of her?? I have stuff I need to get to so hurry up." The grumpy teen curtly explained, leaning against the counter. Deku gave another apologetic smile, "Sorry... I can't today...." He said before looking at the clock, "I have to be somewhere in- IM LATE!!!" He jumped upon seeing the time, grabbing his stuff and running out the door. The girls watched with stifled giggles, "Sorry, we had a girls' day planned for today." Uraraka explained, Mina nodding, "Speaking of which, we need to go wake the others if they're gonna be ready in time!" she added, Uraraka nodding vigorously as they both jogged off. "What about you three?! You've been weirdly quiet." The Pomeranian growled at the culprits. Denki startled, "Uh- yeah well I have to go see my mom...." He said before running out the door, earning exasperated looks from Kirishima and Sero as he bailed on them. "Sorry Bakubro, gym day.." Kirishima said as he casually got up and quickly left, already in workout clothes and sneakers.
(Y/N) watched as one by one, they each left, the chances of her having to stay with Bakugo growing, along with the nervous butterflies in her stomach. Then Iida piped up, "Don't worry, Bakugo, I will gladly keep watch on-"
"Oop- Iida was going to go visit his brother today!! And I have elsewhere to be!!" Sero interrupted him, clamping a hand down on his mouth and dragging him out of the common room.
Bakugo growled, "WHAT!? YOU CAN'T ALL BE BUSY TODAY!!! YOU LITTLE BRATS, GET BACK HERE!!!"  He cried as they left, "Tch-!!" The man was beside himself, they really just left him to watch over her. "Come on Bakugo, I can't be that bad!!" (Y/N) laughed, though part of her felt slightly hurt that he seemed so reluctant to spend time with her. The ash blonde teen rolled his eyes, "Not that bad?? Taking care of your sorry butt would be easy, but it gets annoying when I have to do it while doing hero work..." He grumbled, "I don't have time for this!!" he said, gripping the bridge of his nose. "Oh... Well, I won't be much trouble!!" (Y/N) pressed, still determined to go with him. It'd be better than staying here all day where she wouldn't be able to do anything. The boy just stared at her long and hard before he grumbled, grabbing his bag again and holding his hand out. The tiny girl stared at it for a moment before her face lit up and she looked up at him with a glittering smile, "Wait- I can-!?" She started to ask before he glared, face heating up as he tried to ignore the throbbing in his chest at the sight of her so stoked to go with him. "Hurry up will ya, I already told you I'm in a rush!!" He complained, trying hard to hide the faint coloring in his cheeks.
(Y/N) enthusiastically jumped on, wrapping her hands around his soft yet rough fingers. Bakugo walked out of the building and towards The Best Jeanist's agency. Bakugo had agreed to work with him for a short time whilst he looked for a more permanent position, all under the condition that he wouldn't wear those cursed skinny jeans or have his hair combed back. "Before we get there and I'm officially on patrol and whatever, we'll need to get some things straight. I'm not babysitting you." He stated, still holding his hand up and out where she sat. The girl turned to look back at him as he spoke. "You and I both know you're not some flimsy little pansy, so if you get in a tough spot don't expect me to come in and save you right away, you'll have to be fine holding off as long as you can, got that??" He asked, her nodding her head. (Y/N) noticed he was a little more straightforward with her and honest about his thoughts, a privilege that only she and Kirishima shared. As the thought occurred she couldn't help but blush.
"Oi, earth to Flower Face!!"
His voice broke her train of thought. "Oh!! yeah??" She responded, finally coming to. "I'm getting tired of holding you like this." He told her as he kept walking. "Oh!! Sh-should I move??" she asked, not wanting to do anything without his say so. "Well I didn't tell you just to waste my breath now did I?" He replied, it being as much of an 'okay' as she'd get. "Right!! Is your shoulder okay??" She asked to which he didn't answer other than lifting his hand closer up to his shoulder. Carefully, she climbed on and quickly situated herself to be standing with some of his blonde fluffy hair clutched in her fists to help support her. Bakugo kept walking, seemingly thinking to himself the most of the time, so (Y/N) made herself busy braiding his hair into tiny, spiky braids that followed the natural flow of his messy head. Before she knew it she had braided everywhere she could reach from his right shoulder. 'It'd look weird if I left his hair like this...' she thought to herself, her natural next move being to braid the rest. She grasped each soft clump of hair to keep her from falling as she moved with careful feet to the back of his neck.
As she began to cross she felt him shiver as it quite obviously tickled, his neck and shoulders tensing beneath her feet. "What the heck are you doing??" He asked, the tiny's foot holds vibrating with the hum of his voice. (Y/N) looked down at his feet that kept pace, coming behind him just enough to push off and into the next step. "Oi, What are you up to you little dummy!" He asked again, this time getting her full attention, "Just wanted to see what this'd be like!" She exclaimed, carefully testing to see if his shirt collar would support her. "Yeah well don't get used to it!! And don't fall, you've already made me late enough!!" The Pomeranian warned her as she looked out over the ground they had covered. "Ok!" She chirped back, before  getting to work on his hair.
Crossing each large tuft over the other she soon reached the smaller hairs along the base of his neck that were too small to braid. The tiny girl ran her hands through the far softer, finer hairs that bristled straight up. "So soft!!!" She giggled quietly to herself, eventually burying her face in the fluff and nuzzling the boy's neck.
Bakugo could feel everything the girl did. Truth was that he had been thinking to himself around the beginning of the walk but as tiny fingers began working through his hair, his mind wandered to them. He couldn't tell what exactly she was doing but it felt good and he thought it was kinda cute. She was the only person, other than maybe Weird Hair, that he wouldn't yell at for doing this, plus he knew she was a very hygienic person. Though he grew curious as he could feel tiny hands and feet ever so carefully creeping toward the back of his neck. Bakugo could tell as hands tickled the base of his neck  where the baby hairs were and heard her praise his hair. He couldn't help but scowl harder in an attempt to hide the blush that painted itself across his cheeks. Soon something a little bigger than the minuscule fingers began to nuzzle against him. Shivers ran up his back and goosebumps broke his skin in a mixture of tickle and good feeling sensations washed over him.
"Hey!! No one said you could just do whatever you want back there!!!" The ash blonde growled, reaching back and plopping her on his other shoulder. "Sorry!" She laughed as his hand let go of her and she fell flat on her stomach. "oof-" She let out a little noise before pushing herself back up and looking up at the side of his face which was still very hot. "DUDE YOUR EARS ARE SO RED!!" She exclaims with a snicker, startled by the sudden change in color. "SHUT UP, IT'S JUST A SUNBURN!!" He roared back, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets. "That's a fast sunburn!!!" She retorted to which  she could see a sneer curl at his lips, "You're about to get a fast burn...." He threatened.
(Y/N) shrugs it off and doesn't think much of it, beginning to work at his hair again. "What are you doing anyway???" He snarled after some time to which she realized just how ticked he'd be if he knew she was doing this. "N-nothing.... just- playing with your hair, you know...... fluffing it and stuff." She responded, turning sheet white. "Just don't do anything stupid or I'll blow your sad little butt to shreds." He tells her impatiently, to which she nods, continuing the braids slowly now. "Yep, definitely nothing stupid." She added, only adding to the blonde boy's suspicions. "Yeah, whatever." He sighed, rolling his blood red eyes as he kept walking.
At last the braids were done, and (Y/N) thought they looked amazing!!! She couldn't help but giggle and feel proud as she looked at their reflection in a window of a building they walked by. "Eh?? What's so funny?" The boy asked as he twisted his head to look at his tiny crush. The little girl was still grabbing his hair for support, so when Katsuki turned his head, (Y/N) lost her grip and wobbled before falling back and onto the giant's face. "Hey-Woah!!" She cried as she tipped back and fell against his nose and mouth to which he startled, clearly not expecting her to latch onto him for dear life. "HEY!!!" He hollered, making her grab tighter to his nose as her foot caught in his mouth. "GET OFF ME!!" He then began trying to grab at her. "I'M TRYING!!!" she shot back, her surprised but feisty, small, glittering eyes, meeting his much larger, glaring red ones.
He managed to grab her in his fist and give her quite the look. "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR, HUH!!!???" He bellowed at the tiny that tightly gripped his fingers. "It wasn't on purpose!!" She countered, growing more and more conscious of the smoke that seeped from his palm and the rapid heat that generated around her as well. Bakugo's response came with a hard glare. "Well then be more careful idiot!!! I don't want you all over my face, who knows where on this blasted planet you've been!!" "No, you should be more careful!!!! I was fine till you tried to look at me without giving me any warning!!!" She corrected Bakugo quickly, earning a huff and a growl as he looked away for a moment. "Well I'm not gonna tell you every time I wanted to turn my own blasted head...." He didn't answer any more despite his softened attitude. He knew she was right and that he was letting his anger get the best of him.
"So are you gonna carry me in your hand again, Pufferfish??" The tiny girl asked. Bakugo scoffed, "Well you're not going back on my shoulder." He responded curtly, shoving her down in the pockets of his baggy jeans.
Once again, she was plunged into an ocean of cloth, only this time she was pressed up against his hand that rested casually beside her. Put out, the small girl began squirming around against his hand and in the pocket to get comfortable. "The heck you doing??" She heard his grumpy voice ask, and she promptly ignored him, wiggling into the inside of his hand and pressed herself to the Pomeranian's palm and fingers. She heard him scoff lightly before his hand curled inward and around her. She smiled and snuggled into his rough, work worn hand. She allowed her eyes to pull heavily closed, the swaying motion of Bakugo's walking soothing her.
(Y/N) awoke suddenly to being squished against the giant's leg by his hand briefly. "Oi, Watch it." His voice angrily chided. It was clear she had fallen asleep given that she could hear the sounds of a bus humming and every step seemed to drop her lower and lower before she could hear the vehicle start and drive off. How long she had been asleep, she didn't know, but the miniature girl was tired of being carried around in Bakugo's pocket. "Hey!!" (Y/N) began trying to climb up his arm before he pulled his hand out, leaving her in his loose pocket by herself. "Bakugo!!" She whined, trying to pull herself out before failing.
Bakugo was getting off the bus as a stranger got on, slamming into his side where the tiny was in his pocket. "Oi!!! Watch it!" he barked at them, silently hoping that she was okay. She had fallen asleep quite a while back and he was now at The Best Jeanist's agency when he heard her call from his pocket. "Hey!!" (Y/N)'s small and soft voice chirped. He could feel her pulling herself out, but he needed her to stay hidden or Jeanist might try to confiscate her, saying it wouldn't be smart to take a tiny girl like her on a hero patrol. So he paid her no mind as he pulled his hand out without her to open the building's doors. "Bakugo~~" She continued to complain and protest as he walked in, heading straight to check in with his temporary mentor. "Shuddup." He said quietly, cupping one hand to his pocket to keep her from wriggling around too much, clearly having the opposite effect. "Quit it alright?? I'll let you out in a minute," The giant whispered harshly, bopping the little body in his pocket gently. Luckily she stopped moving and he was able to get his patrol route and head to the changing rooms.
After a while of him walking something began poking hard against his leg. He was confused at what she was doing before he figured that she was probably kicking him. Bakugo ignored the little human who continued to relentlessly jab at him until her protests began to come a little too close to a certain sensitive area he did not want to be kicked in. His eyes widened and he quickened his pace to reach the privacy of the changing room as each rough nudge seemed to creep closer and closer to his midsection.
He swiftly threw open one of the locker room doors and dashed inside, setting his duffle bag down and quickly fishing the girl out right as she threw a hard kick. His hand tightened around her harder than he meant as he folded in half. Her small size did not affect her strength in the slightest. Bakugo then shakily pulled (Y/N) from his pockets and gave her a murderous glare. She looked up at him absolutely clueless as to what she had just done, her face a mix of confusion and surprise. "Dude..... Y-you okay????" She asked with furrowed brows. "Im fine." He responded in a strained voice, "But I'd be better if you didn't plant your gosh darn foot between my legs." He added, rage trickling into his voice with each word.
The tiny's eyes grew large as understanding dawned on her, "WAIT FOR REAL!!??" She quickly lost it, wheezing and choking on her laughs at the giant's misfortune. He held his breath for a few moments, resisting the urge to squeeze her just enough to get her to stop laughing and maybe, just maybe exact some extent of revenge. "Would you quit that?! It's not funny, alright!?" He yelled as she continued to laugh and apologize, "Sorry, I just-" she giggled, tears streaming down her face. "You don't sound gosh darn sorry!" He growled before setting her down roughly on the bench beside the bag. "Just be quiet, alright??" He snarled, unzipping it and pulling out his costume.
"Why didn't you let me out??" She asked carefully, calming herself, but not wanting to upset him any further as he remained still somewhat bent in half. "Because Greasy Hair would try to take you if he knew you were here." He told her, quickly pulling off his shirt to which she just stared, "Dang~." (Y/N) cut herself off face turning bright pink as she looked up at the boy's well built, bare chest. "You look like you work out, do you work out??? Would you like to work out together sometime???" She asked, making him roll his eyes as he tossed his shirt onto her. "Don't make this weird alright??" He told her, taking the opportunity to swap his pants whilst she tried to crawl out of the sweaty cloth.
"Hey!!" She squawked, pulling herself from the shirt and looking to see him sitting on the floor and pulling his boots on. She opted to just sit and watch as he put on the rest of his outfit. The room didn't have a mirror so he had to blindly do his eyeliner that he used to make the area around his eyes black and fit in with his mask.
"You missed a spot," The tiny chimed as he picked up the mask, about to tie it to his face. "Eh? Where."
"Right there."
"Here?"
"No!"
"Well I'm gonna need something a little more specific than 'there'."
"Here, let me get it." She offered. Bakugo didn't respond, only leaned in close to the bench so she could reach his face. "Right here." She responded, stepping forward and placing her tiny hands on the soft skin beneath his eyes to carefully spread the thick black makeup. He didn't close his eyes while she did this, the giant blood red spheres just followed her every movement. The minuscule girl couldn't help but look back up and into his large eyes, every detail becoming very visible. Being this close up to his face, she had to admit, made her heart hiccup. She watched his large pupils dilate as they stared at her, shifting ever so slightly with his studying her tiny form. It was hypnotizing....
"You done??" His voice broke the silence, puffing a small, warm breath across her little body. "Oh, Yeah!!!" She replied, stepping back as he pulled away, tying on his mask. "Thanks I guess," He muttered before scooping her up in gloved hands, far more gently than the last few times- er- all the other times.
"Whoah!" She let her surprised reaction slip from her lips as she was tucked into the hero's belt loop, typically where a grenade would hang. "ah- This isn't very comfortable you know..." she complained, trying to change her position as she was held up by the strap that ran across her chest and under her arms. "Well you've pretty much lost the privilege to ride anywhere else." The ash blonde told her, opening the door and marching out and into the streets, though he walked with a bit of an awkward limp, presumably from her kick. "I'm not a baby, Come on!!!" She proceeded to whine at his stubborn responses. "You may not be one, but you get into about as much trouble as one." He responded as he walked, not even throwing her a glance. (Y/N) let out a huff equal to her size.
Things seemed pretty uneventful as Bakugo walked around, snapping at the occasional fan, and pretty much just marched around his route, with his tiny classmate hanging from his belt. Surprisingly enough, hardly anyone seemed to notice her. Two or three people did and Bakugo easily passed it off as her being his 'sidekick' or 'partner' but that was the most interesting thing to happen so far.
That is.... until a commotion broke loose...
A building not too far from them suddenly exploded as the side wall flew outwards in thousands of pieces, causing the explosive boy's head to whip around, a crazed grin stretching across his facial features, "Finally!" He cheered, a little too eagerly, as he took off running. (Y/N) was being shaken up and down violently by the mere motion of the giant's sprint. Suddenly they lurched forward as Bakugo rocketed forward with his own explosions, landing just a few feet from a startled bystander, "WHATS GOING ON!?" The angry Pomeranian demanded, startling the poor man even further. "I- I- I don't know!! I was just on my way back from the-" "I don't need to know that crap! It blew up, I know!!" He cut the man off quite rudely as he took to a speedy sprint toward the source of the panic.
As they approached the explosion sight, three figures could be seen coming through the smoke. "We've done it!! Now hurry up and let's get out of here before the pros arrive!!!" One masculine voice could be heard, followed by two more voices, one sounding male, the other female. "Sure thing!!" "Less chatting, more scramming!"
Bakugo couldn't resist the urge but to call out, "Not so fast!! Where do you brats think you're going?!" He taunted with the same frightening smile. "go." The first voice instructed and the other two bolted. The tallest of the bunch stayed, presumably the first to speak.
"Mind your own business kid, this doesn't concern you." He said sharply, raising one arm before it came whistling through the air, stretching out like a whip. Bakugo reacted quickly, using his own blasts to flip over the on coming threat right before it slammed into a nearby pile of debris with a sickening crack. "LIKE I GIVE A CARE!!" The hero in training shouted back, one hand held protectively in front of (Y/N). The figure paused before approaching, the long tentacle-like arm retracting into the thick fog and by their side. "Well then, I suppose I've warned you proficiently..." The figure mused, emerging from the dense aerial soot with a slow but powerful stride, "I have no intention of killing one so young, but I can't make promises, the fight tends to get away from me..." He added early with a sickening grin as he came into the light enough to tell the details.
The man was staggeringly tall with shaggy but well kept black hair, he had a long scar that ran up the night side of his face, painting one of his striking blue eyes a milky, blind white. He wore a battered suit and tie, dress shoes replaced by heavy duty combat boots. Two strange scars crept up from the corners of his mouth to his long pointed ears; sharp fang looking things jutted from the scar.
Bakugo couldn't help but smile wider as the man approached, "Same here, Bean Pole." He chuckled, more under his breath than out loud.
Then, with a loud ripping noise, The villain's arms split into many different tentacles, all rushing forward hastily. Bakugo blew up each one as they reached him, smoke and flame firing off in all directions with ear splitting noises. Bakugo grew careless, excitedly flipping and spinning about, propelling himself dramatically with his hand explosions that were each aimed strategically at on coming tentacles and arms that swung about with startling amounts of force.
It was then that he didn’t notice a particular limb until it slammed into him from behind, knocking the air from him as he was flung toward the ground, flinging the tiny (Y/N) from his belt just before he hit the ground.
(Y/N) watched as the world whirled about her as she fell, the wind whistling loudly in her tiny ears as the unknown of how far she’d fall threatened to plant fear in her chest. Reacting quickly she covered herself in cushioned mushrooms that bounced her gently whilst her tiny form rolled across the ground.
Peaking one eye open she shook the shrooms from her body and looked around in hopes to study her current situation. With shaky legs she stood and observed Bakugo swiftly standing and quickly checking his side where she was previously, he looked panicked as he looked around himself and even under his boots, and where he sat. “Crud-“
“What’s wrong??” The figure asked tauntingly as he walked closer, cradling one particularly burned tentacle close to his body as the others crept closer to the panic stricken hero. "You lose something??? Aww~ That's too bad isn't it... especially since you're about to lose consciousness as well...."
The pale blonde whirled on the villain, firing a barrage of explosive shots at him, each one hitting a tentacle and the villain in the head. The man let out startled cries of pain and surprise before shaking it off, "You little-" He started before Bakugo flew at him with outstretched hands that crackled and spat sparks. "I'll make you pay you filthy low life!!" The hero spat, pouncing on the man who deftly dodged and defended himself against the explosive demon boy that tore at him like a feral animal.
(Y/N)'s eyes widened as she observed the giants fight. She had to help, but she couldn't get close, or she'd risk getting crushed. That's when it occurred to her. She looked down at where she stood to see exposed dirt.
Perfect!
Placing her hands on the ground, they glowed a bright green and long, dark vines began to creep along the ground quickly, toward the two who fought. With careful control she aloud the plants to ensnare the tall man and slowly entangle themselves around his body. "What the?!" Both men asked in confusion but Bakugo's eyes quickly widened with relief and realization as he remembered your quirk.
The villain snapped the vines quickly, "How do you have two quirks?!" He asked in astonishment and confusion before his eyes caught that the plants crept from a further and smaller human form. "Isn't it obvious?! Cause I'm the best gosh darn hero this world will ever see!!" Bakugo yelled back, not wanting him to know about his minuscule classmate and crush who was somewhere he was unaware of.
Narrowing his eyes, he focused all his extensive arms on the explosive teen, cocooning him quickly before tossing him off to the side brutally. He then snapped his head to glare at the tiny girl. (Y/N) startled as the villain walked slowly but steadily toward her, stunning eyes fixated on her. She quickly looked behind herself, silently praying that he was looking at someone or something else. But when she turned to look back he was bolting toward her, long arms outstretched.
The small girl let out a startled scream as she turned to run the other way before one of the scaly limbs wrapped itself around her and pulled her off the ground. "So you have an accomplice!" The villain chimed, turning to look back at Bakugo who was standing up from a pile of crumbled stone, one hand clutched to his side.
Bakugo's eyes widened with genuine fear once they spotted the small. He began to run at the villain with startling speed, "GET YOUR FILTHY LITTLE-"
"Uh-uh -uh! I wouldn't do that if I were you!!" The man teased maliciously, tightening his grip on the girl's small form as the scars opened themselves along his jawline to reveal a startlingly larger mouth full of dagger-like teeth. (Y/N) paled. "Make one wrong move and I'll make sure she isn't a problem.... got that??" he asked, still with a sickeningly terrifying grin playing across his facial features.
Bakugo skidded to a stop, growling as he was left in quite the predicament. "What the heck do you want then....." He asked through gritted teeth, his glare hardening on the criminal. "Let us go and I'll give your friend back." He responded before continuing, "I'm going to take her with me to make sure you don't follow, because if you do...." the man trailed off, flashing a very toothy grin.
Bakugo just glared back, carefully running ideas and scenarios through his head as to how to get his tiny friend back without getting her hurt or putting her in any more risk.
(Y/N) on the other hand gripped the villain's arm that held her and let her quirk go crazy, sapping his energy as thorns exploded across his body, rapidly tangling and ensuring him and each other.
The blonde took the opportunity to jump on the villain whilst he struggled against his restraints, roughly pulling the small woman from his grasp and striking him unconscious. "Stupid extra." He spat under his breath before returning his attention to his miniature crush. "You miss me??" She asked with a bright smile despite her shaky voice, to which he turned her in his hand, setting her on his palm. He began checking her up and down for potential injuries, poking, prodding and feeling at her with careful fingers, "You break anything, idiot??" he asked, avoiding her question, and hiding just how petrified he had been for her safety.
The tiny giggled as he hit some ticklish spot and swatted at his large fingers. "Yeah, i'm fine!!! it'd take more than some creepy Slender-Man dude to take me out!!" She told him to which he sighed, giving the thorn ball on the ground a rough kick. "Yeah, whatever, come on, we can't let those other guys get away." He told her, looking down at himself for a safer spot to place her.
(Y/N) watched him study himself, noticing that the braids were still intact. Honestly a beautiful sight!
"You know what, i don't even care anymore!" He grumbled, interrupting her train of thought and quickly plopping her onto his head, "Grow some dumb vines to secure yourself or something." He told her, marching off before breaking into a full sprint in the direction the other villains had gone. "Wait what about that other guy??" She asked, quickly growing some vines off his head to secure her tightly to him. "What, Bean Pole?! That dunce is done for, the other heroes will take care of him." He chuckled darkly as he continued to run, following a strange trail of blue slimy residue footsteps.
(Y/N) just lied back into the tall, crazy, spiky blonde hair. There was a stunning amount of it and its ridiculously soft texture made it clear that it held its messy composure without any kind of gel or treatment. Good gracious was she glad she didn't have shoes. She couldn't help but wiggle her feet back and forth through his silky tufts, fluffing strands and clumps of it through her hands and against her face as well.
Bakugo knew full well what she was doing and smiled softly to himself as he kept running, doing his best to ignore the burning in his ears as they turned red.
Soon they could hear voices...
"Do we just wait here for the boss???'
"Duh, what else would we do?!"
"Well, what if he got caught?"
"By that kid?! Please, Kanja Kaiju​ise wouldn't get taken down by a silly little twerp like that, just be patient, he said to wait here so we will." a feminine voice chided in an annoyed tone in response to the nervous male one.
Bakugo gave a sadistic grin at their confidence in their leader. “You should watch who you're calling a ‘Silly little twerp’!” He yelled, swinging himself around the corner with a powerful blast, using both legs to kick the two from behind, knocking them to the ground where he pinned them by standing on them. “WHAT THE-?!” They both exclaimed in surprise, grunting as they were pinned beneath the ash blonde teen. “IM GONNA BLOW YOU TWO IDIOTS ALL THE WAY TO HELL...." he rasped harshly in their ears. The woman was stronger built than the guy and her skin was a transparent, glossy blue. "I'd like to see you try, punk!!" She hissed though she didn't seem to have any mouth. And just like that she flattened beneath his feet, upsetting his balance briefly. "What on earth??" He muttered as a large, sticky blue puddle and empty clothes replaced the woman.
Like water, the strange substance began to sift from between Bakugo's feet and took shape behind him. Suddenly a sharp pain connected with the back of the boy's head, sending him flying forward. Miraculously, he stopped himself  before he ended up crushing (Y/N) who gripped onto his hair with surprising strength, tearing at his hair ever so slightly. "You alright Flower Face??" He asked, hands cupped over his head before a shaky answer came, "Y-yeah, never better!! Just focus on kicking this girl's butt!!" She squeaked, gaining a very eager grin from the giant, "Alright then, hold on tight!!" He warned. She tightened her grip before he flinched, "Ow, ow, ow, not that hard dummy!!!" He winced at the feeling of his hair being yanked at.
Turning to face his opponent, he was met by the sight of the women, her entire body made from the blue, glossy slime. It looked as if she wore a loose body suit as the goop lacked any other details. The blonde grinned, sparks popping sporadically, from his palms,  "Come at me!!!" He jeered, both crouching down into battle stances.
"RAHHH!!!!" The woman let out a fierce battle cry, rushing forward and morphing around Bakugo's attacks, delivering heavy blows in return. The giant boy coughed and grunted, catching a second wind before sprinting at his sludge-like enemy. "DIE!" He bellowed, utterly missing again.
(Y/N) on the other hand acted quickly in an act of desperation, she generated a long twisted, horned vine and allowed it to fall back around the woman in attempt to trip or snag her, though it caught around her neck, and went right through the glop, severing her head from the rest of her body in a way that looked a great deal like cutting jello. The rest of her body completely melted. The tiny was left star struck and terrified of what she had just done. That was, until the woman's head touched ground and the rest of her quickly formed back. "OH MY-" her breath caught in her throat as she witnessed what she had thought had just been her own manslaughter. But that's when it clicked, "BAKUGO!! I KNOW HER WEAKNESS!!! ONLY THE SLIME CONNECTED TO HER HEAD CAN BE CONTROLLED, SO IF YOU SHRINK HER DOWN YOU CAN BEAT HER!!!" The minuscule girl yelled, making the boy's eyes snap in realization.
It had happened so quickly, all within the time the giant stopped his missed punch and whirled around to see her form again. "I KNEW THAT DANG IT, JUST SHUT UP AND DON'T GET YOURSELF SPOTTED!!!" He yelled back, "Don't tell me to-!!" "I SAID SHUT UP AND DIIIIEEEE!!!!!" The hero whirled on the woman, this time, using her dodging tactics to blow up or kick off small amounts of goop at a time, instead of trying to blast her face into the floor. With each quick, controlled blow strategically taking out inches at a time, they fought till he towered over the woman who stood at only 3-4 inches tall. "Heh heh heh heh, whatcha gonna do now pipsqueak?!" He asked with a devilish grin, having her backed against a wall.  "You should watch who you're talking to you little-" She was cut short as Bakugo slammed a glass bottle over top of her, trapping her inside. "Can it!" He laughed maliciously at his own pun. She let out a frustrated growl as she banged slimy fists against the glass whilst Katsuki pocketed it in one of his heavy duty pockets on his pant legs, filled with other gear and equipment. He turned to see that the other villain was gone. "Coward!" He rolled his eyes with a click of his tongue. "at least he left the money,..." The boy muttered,. "Oi, Flower Face, you still alive??" he asked to which she answered sassily, "Psh- Yeah!!" she chirped whilst he sighed, grabbing the many, heavy duffle bags off the ground, slinging some over his back, the others over his shoulder, and the last two in his arms.
With a light grunt, he lifted the loot and marched back toward where the fight initially broke loose, where the other pro heroes and police were inspecting things and indeed dealing with the so nick-named "Bean Pole".
"Dynamight!!" a voice called as he marched over. "Eh?" He grumbled as a news reporter rushed over, "It seems you single handedly took out the leader of the villains responsible for this attack!! What can you tell the rest of us!?" The lady asked before practically shoving the mic into his face.
"Well (A, I took down two of those gosh darn villains, and got the money back, (B, i didn't do it alone, so get your stupid facts right." He finished his snide remark before shoving past her and marching steadily toward the police. "What are you talking about 'didn't do it alone', i didn't do squat!!" The tiny asked, genuinely confused. "Well, you wrapped Bean Pole in thorns and helped me figure out how to beat Pipsqueak, didn't you??" He asked, though it came out as more of a declaration. (Y/N) just smiled.
After a long chat with the cops about the third man, Bakugo handed the slime girl over to them, along with the stolen goods. Then they finished up an otherwise uneventful patrol and headed back to Best Jeanist's where the blonde would check in, change back into normal clothes and head home for the day.
Bakugo walked into the agency, no longer determined to hide his miniature crush as he had already gone on patrol so it didn't matter anymore. He reported quickly with Jeanist who was, as the boy predicted, angry that he had brought her along but couldn't do much about it any more.
He then went into the changing rooms, this time getting one with a mirror. "Alright, as soon as we get back to the dorms, i'm-!!!" "THE HECK!?" "DID YOU DO THIS YOU LITTLE FUN SIZED PUNK!?" The ash blonde giant roared, staring in horror at the neat little braids that followed the sides of his head all the way around.
(Y/N) paled, "Um well-"
"YOU SCRUFFY LITTLE BRAT!! YOU BETTER UNDO THESE THINGS OR I'LL UNDO YOU!!!"
"NOOO!!!! They look so cuuuute~!"
"I'M NOT TRYING TO LOOK STINKIN CUTE!! YOU HAD BETTER GET THESE ABOMINATIONS OUT OF MY HAIR!!!"
"Can we leave them-"
"NO! WE MAY NOT! NOW GET. THEM. OUT."
Bakugo was livid with her and clenched her in a hot, smoking fist as she was forced to undo the little braids that were far too small for his large fingers to fix. Though unknown to him was the fact that she left a particularly favorite one of hers in the back, where he couldn't see. "No way I'm letting you anywhere near my hair again!!" He snarled, earning a complaining whine from her. "And if you freaking kick me I will kill you..." the explosive giant growled as he stuffed the tiny (Y/N) into his pocket after having changed back into his clothes.
(Y/N) knew full well that he'd send her flying if she did so, though she didn't plan to. Instead, she made herself busy playing with pieces of lint, like one might a cloud or cotton candy, squishing and shaping it in her hands.
Sooner than she would have thought the sound of a door opening and closing caught her attention. "Hey!! Are we home!?" She asked, standing on his thumb to peak out of the pocket. Her question was answered simply by looking around. They were in a simple convenience store. "Tch- Whats it look like??" He asked with a click of his tongue. "Wait, I thought we were gonna head back to the dorms?" She asked to which her classmate let out an annoyed sigh, "We are, dummy, I just wanted to grab some snacks to eat before we get back."
"What do you mean?? You already have a snack!!"
"Eh? what- that plain crap ramen and potato chips back home?? I'm not eating that trash-"
"No, you've got me!!! I'm a hot pocket!!!!"
"..."
"Cause I'm hot! And I'm in a pocket!!!" Bakugo just stared at her with a blank expression as she returned one that clearly stated that she knew full well and was proud of her bad pun. She could have sworn his cheeks and ears turned red though, "Are you blush-" "Shuddup!!! Just pick something out already so we can check out!!" He yelled, turning to look away from his pocket and hide his face as his hand shifted beneath her, catching her tiny figure in his palm as he lifted her out of his pocket. (Y/N) decided not to push, but the thought alone that her comment had made him blush caused a hot pink to dust her cheeks whilst her heart swelled.
Bakugo carried her around the small gas station store to pick out some sweets and snacks. A certain treat caught the tiny's eye, "OOO, GRAB THOSE (fav unhealthy snack)!!!" "Are you serious!? Do you know the havoc those things can wreak on your body!?" He asked, disgust lacing his tone. "Yes!!! NOW GIMME!!!" Bakugo rolled his eyes, "Fine, just know I'm not gonna let this be all you eat, you better save room for something healthy!! There's no way I'm letting you eat too much of this junk!!" He chides, (Y/N) just laughing at his comment. "ok, I won't say no to that!!" she giggled.
After picking out some stuff for her, Bakugo bee-lined for the spicy ramen and other hot snack foods, grabbing some ghost pepper potato chips, dried chili peppers, and spiced almonds. "You want some food with that hot sauce??" The tiny asked with a sarcastic little scoff. "Ha!! This is the mild stuff!!!" He said, grabbing a pack of Carolina reaper snack sticks off a shelf. "This.... is the good stuff!!" He spoke with a triumphant laugh as her eyes popped, looking at the pack of seasoned sausages he shook in his hand. "Holy crap man!! How can you even still taste anything!!??" "I can taste plenty fine, and you're gonna eat these with me!!" He laughed, tossing them into the little basket he held. The tiny girl paled as she looked down into the basket below her, sitting on the wrist of his hand that held it. "No way, and you can't make me!" She responded after a moment as they came up to the register. "Oh yeah!? We'll see about that, Flower Face!" he laughed, setting the ingredients and snacks they planned to purchase on the conveyor belt.
The cashier rang them up, casting countless looks and glances at the shrunken human that sat on Bakugo's shoulder. It clearly got on the hot head's nerves as he eventually yelled at the poor guy to stop staring. The adult got defensive and demanded that the temperamental boy give respect to his elders.
"Oh yeah!? And who are you to make me!?"
"Someone who can kick you out of here without your food!"
"Try me Spider!! You're looking at the future number one hero!!!"
"Number one hero!? You're not going to be squat with that attitude!"
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!? I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT AN ATTITUDE LOOKS LI-" The blonde was promptly cut short as the shrunken girl pressed both her hands against his face, squishing his cheek and getting him to stop. Bakugo had already gotten up and onto the counter, one leg propped up high the other ready to launch him forward as both hands sparked. "Sorry, he's a little hangry, if you'll pardon us we'll just pay for our food and get out of your hair!!" She apologized, still leaning against the boy's face.
The man just stared as Bakugo began angrily fishing the money from his back pocket with a sneer. "Fine whatever, just get out of my store already..." the cashier huffed. Bakugo clearly got angrier at this and moved to further threaten the man but (Y/N) pulled one of the blonde tufts of hair. "Come on, let's just go home and eat!" She urged before he snatched the bag of food and stomped out, "Whatever... " The small girl just let out a long sigh, "good grief..."  she groaned with a soft chuckle.
Bakugo then began walking back to the dorms with her still on his shoulder.
They soon arrived and the teen went straight inside where they were met by the three from earlier who had started the whole thing. "Yo! Bakubro!! How was your time out!? Where'd you guys go?? What'd you do!?" "It was hero work." he replies, giving the red headed, Kirishima, a skeptic glare. "You took her on a hero patrol!?" Sero asked sitting up from his spot on one of the common room couches closer to the kitchen where the blonde set down the food. "Well what else was I supposed to do?! You idiots were all too busy to provide any other supervision... if what you would do could even be called that." he added with a click of his tongue, (Y/N) laughing at his comment, knowing full well how true it was. Denki piped in, "Yeah but how was it???" He asks with a sly grin. Bakugo's scrutinizing scowl returned, "Why do you three dummies care huh?" "No reason, no reason!!!" They all quickly shut him down, throwing each other glances. "Yeah right...." He muttered with a roll of his eyes before grabbing out a pot for the ramen with the tiny girl still perched on his shoulder.
(Y/N) just observed him start the boiling water, silently praying that he forgot his little vow to make her eat the spicy food. "Why the heck did you go quiet all of the sudden, huh?? Usually your mouth runs like a stinking river." The boy commented as he fished out an apron from a kitchen drawer. "Oh! I don't know, just watching I guess." she shrugs. "Yeah well, remember that you're technically not even supposed to be up there so just don't get too comfortable." The boy commented with a sharp exhale.
Bakugo then pulled the strap around his neck, unaware that it loosely wrapped around (Y/N) till he pulled it tight and she was yanked up against his throat. "Hey!!" She cried out in surprise as the previously loose strap suddenly came up and around her stomach, pulling her tight against the giant's neck. "Oi, What are you doing?" "Nothing! The apron strap got me!!" she laughed, gripping the cloth strap around her waist. "The strap-? oh." And with that it loosened and she was able to slip free.
"You alright?" His question startled her. It came softly, as if meant only for her ears, despite being close to the boy's voice box. "I- Yeah I'm ok, just startled me" The small giggled, discovering herself slightly flustered at the fact that he cared enough to ask, especially given that he did not often check on people like that. "Don't take it like that, gosh dang it! I just wasn't sure if it caught around your stupid windpipe or something!" He yelled, though looking up at the subtle color of his face told her otherwise. "I thought you said you knew I could handle myself!" (Y/N) was unable to resist another chance to tease him."Shut up!! Don't think I've forgotten about our little deal!! I'll spice it up just for you if you keep being a little pain in the neck!"
"heh- pain in the neck~"
"I said to shut it already!!"
The blonde then carefully retied the apron, sure to not get the tiny caught up in it this time. (Y/N) Just beamed as she ventured to stand, carefully placing a hand along his jaw. She enjoyed criticizing his cooking and pointing out the few tiny and unimportant mistakes or differences in cooking that he made; be it the way he chopped green onions, the way he de-shelled garlic, or his choice in extra seasonings, she nagged him over everything. It very clearly was ticking him off more and more as she just got a kick out of the whole thing.
"Fine!! I guess you want me to dice up some raw ghost peppers!!"
"NO!!! NO No No Noooo Nonononononono!!! I'll stop, I'll stop!!"
"Heh, that's what I thought, you little punk!"
"Don't be spiky! You porcupine!!!"
"Tch- spiky?! I can show you spiky if that's what you're wanting to see!!!" Bakugo kept on grumbling at her remarks.
"Oh I've seen plenty!!!" (Y/N) laughed before following up, "I wanna help cook." The giant blinked, not only was her comment off topic, but how did she expect to help cook when only a few inches tall?  "Oh yeah?? How so??" "I don't know, but I feel like I haven't really done anything other than be carried around! I wanna help!" She pressed. It had been bothering her since they left the agency. "Alright, Peel the garlic then." He instructed, continuing to cook without giving her much of a way down from his shoulder. (Y/N) knew full well he wasn't going to stop unless she asked, silently giving her her wish of a chance to display her independence. "Okay!!" She cheered, waiting till his arm was hovering over the counter and near the garlic before she slid down, landing rather sloppily before standing back up with a laugh and dusting herself off. The tiny noticed a faint smile tugging at the corners of the blonde's mouth as she got to work on the garlic as he had requested.
She soon finished, and before she could say anything on the subject he scooped it up and plopped it onto the cutting board, promptly dicing it into tiny bits. "What next!?" She chirped. Bakugo scoffed, shaking his head lightly with a soft grin. "I need some of the chicken seasoning in the cabinet." He stated, nodding his head in gesture to the cabinet just above the floor and not too far from her. He felt he should test her with slowly bigger and bigger tasks.
(Y/N) took one glance and replied with a bright and determined smile, "Easy!"
And with that she jumped off the counter, sprouting a large and frilly flower from the soles of her feet, saving her from a dangerous fall. The giant teen watched her scurry across the floor from the corner of his eye, keeping tabs on her as he moved about the kitchen, careful to watch his feet.
The small girl swung the cupboard open with little effort, easily accessing its contents. The seasoning jar was about as big as her, so carrying it was the harder part of the ordeal. With a soft grunt she managed to lift it up and move it out and onto the floor where she rolled it up to Bakugo as he stirred their meal. "Got it!!" (Y/N) cheered in triumph.
"Took you long enough." He chided, her response coming back playfully, "Hey! I did really well given my size!!" The ash blonde just rolled his eyes as he picked the jar off the ground and added some of the dry mixture to the boiling liquid in the small pot.
"What else!?" "Eh? Now we just let it cook for a couple minutes, so why don't you make yourself useful and put stuff away." "Ok then!! Give back the chicken stuff!!!" With that, the giant set the jar on the floor before grabbing other items off the counter tops to return them to where they belonged.
(Y/N) watched the giant move around above her. Being on the floor was both terrifying and exciting. It was cool to watch him shuffle around from below, his feet being careful not to come too close to her, though he did occasionally step over her, his towering shape moving just overhead. She was quick to deftly put the dried herbs back into the cabinet. She then realized that everything else, including her friend and crush, were above her, and she was still on the floor.
She could either ask Bakugo for help, or further prove her independence and find a way up herself. The answer was obvious.
As the giant stood at the fridge, putting things away, (Y/N) took her chance. Moving quickly she climbed onto the boy's stationary feet, causing them to shift ever so slightly beneath her as he looked down to see his shrunken classmate. Bakugo just watched as the small began pulling herself up his pant leg til she reached his pocket where she managed to pull herself inside.
Bakugo couldn't help but smile at this. But he pretended not to notice, moving to grab two bowls of different sizes and serve the ramen. He then grabbed himself chopsticks and her a couple of toothpicks before he grabbed the bag of snacks. "Oi, Flower Face, Ready??" he asked, glancing down at his pocket where she peaked out, giving him a thumbs up. "Yup!!"
Bakugo marched up to his room, sending (Y/N) through another roller coaster of swaying motions. "We're going to your room??" "Yeah, so what?" "I just don't think I've ever seen it before if I'm being honest." "You were in here this morning..." "Oh yeah!! I guess I just didn't pay much attention then..." "Yeah, well then don't make it weird or I won't ever let you in again." He grumbled, opening the door and walking in.
His room, quite honestly, was an absolute aesthetic. The shelves were decorated by comic books and traditional books, he had some small string lights that draped over them too. Small succulent plants and potted cacti could be found here and there. His bed was up against one wall with storage underneath and in the headboard; a cork board hung above it. He had some posters up on the walls, some of U.A., others of All Might, and few of other topics. A laptop lay open on his desk, along with other supplies and small books. An open window allowed the wind to flow through the room. Over all the room's decorations were simple but homey, theming more around a sort of Lofi feel.
"DUDE!!! YOUR ROOM IS SO COOL!!! HOW COME YOU'VE NEVER LET ANYONE ELSE SEE IT BEFORE?!" "Tch- Because I never felt like it." He scoffed, setting the food down on the desk before clearing it up a little. "Well okay, but your room is so cool!!!!" She continued to compliment him. "Yeah yeah, now are we gonna eat this stuff or what??"
That's when (Y/N) remembered that the ramen was spicy, as in spicy spicy......
"Ohhhh.... Yeah.... Well-" She started before the explosive boy cut her off. "You're not bailing on me, are you?!" he taunted, flashing her a devious grin. "I- No!!" She shot back before realizing what she had done. "Good!" He laughed, pushing the small bowl forward. "Because this batch should be really good!" He chuckled darkly.
The bowl was gigantic in comparison to the tiny. There was no way she'd be able to eat all of it, though knowing Bakugo, he'd try and get her to eat as much as she possibly could. "Eat up Bite Size!" He coaxed, using a new nickname.
(Y/N) gave him one last foreboding glance before grabbing the makeshift chopsticks and lifting a noodle out of the bowl. Bakugo already had a full mouth and let a slight grunt of approval to the meal escape. "Well?! It's not going to eat itself!" He managed through his full mouth, finishing and quickly shoveling in another bite. "It's not even that spicy!!! Still pretty flavorful though." The small girl wasn't sure how much she trusted his judgement on that, but nonetheless she took a large bite.
Yup. It was bad.
The tiny human quickly swallowed it before exploding into a coughing fit, making Bakugo almost spray his food. Whilst (Y/N) fanned at her mouth frantically, tears began to well up in her eyes as her nose went bright red, becoming runny from the spice alone. "HOT HOT!!! OH HEAVENS THAT IS VERY VERY HOT!!!" She gasped and sputtered between coughs. "IT'S NOT THAT BAD!!!" The blonde giant guffawed at her predicament. "JUST GET ME FRIGGIN WATER!!!!" "FINE WHATEVER!!!" Bakugo was now choking on his own laughter as he got up and ran out of the room. Had he seriously not grabbed any kind of liquid before trying to get her to eat the stuff?! What was that idiotic brat of a gremlin boy thinking???!!! After what felt like eons of fiery mouth pain, he came back in, slowing from a run.
He dashed over, holding the large glass in his hands, moving to help her drink. In both their hurry to help (Y/N) with the spice, neither thought to be very careful, and the teen ended up drenching his friend in the process, tilting the still sloshing glass of water a little too much. "DUDE!!!" The girl yelled, getting more upset from the pain in her mouth than the actual water. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" The giant lost it, dropping the cup as it further soaked her. "BAKUGO!!!!!" She screeched, no longer in pain given that she choked on an entire wave, but now hopelessly soaked. 
The laughing Katsuki lay face down on his desk, face in his folded arms as his shoulders heaved from his chortling fit. "DUDE! YOU SOAKED ME!!!" "Sorry~" He managed between laughs, "You don't sound sorry." She huffed, folding her arms and glaring at him. Bakugo didn't answer, he just kept laughing.
Despite being sopping wet, (Y/N) couldn't help but smile. He didn't smile much so it was really nice to see. "Well then, since it's so funny, you got me wet, you can dry off!" She exclaimed before throwing herself onto him and scrubbing herself against him furiously. "Hey, get off me idiot!" He half laughed, half yelled, still grinning wide. The miniature girl clung tight, burying into his sleeve and drying herself even more violently. "Dang it! Let go of bite size punk!" He cried, wrapping his fist around her and trying to pull her away with little to no success as she continued to stubbornly cling. "The heck!?" The giant pried and pried, but his best efforts weren't enough. "I'll dry you the fun way if you don't LET GO!!!!" He threatened, his fist becoming increasingly hot as both steam and smoke rose from between his knuckles. "BET!!!" And with that a sharp pain collided with her entire torso, predominantly where he had been gripping her. "OW!" She startled as a loud crack filled her ears and bright light obscured her vision, a strong wave of heat washing over her for a brief instant. "You asked for it you little brat!"  he chuckled, dropping her roughly onto the desk whilst she shook herself from her daze. Her only response was to let out a few short coughs, still a little out-of-it from the blow.
"Tch-" Bakugo clicked his tongue, scoffing at the tiny. "Well... At least I'm dry and okay, but come on bro! What the heck!!" (Y/N) punched his hand that rested by her, causing him to flinch slightly. "Don't look at me Bite Size, I gave you fair warning!"
"..."
"That's what I thought, now hurry and finish your ramen!"
"FINISH MY- AFTER ALL THAT YOU THINK I REALLY WANT TO EAT THE REST OF THAT!?"
"Are you insulting my cooking?~"  The question came dangerously, as if testing waters that were sure to be filled with sharks. "N-No!! It's good, it's just too hot for me!!" She exclaimed, as she began to lightly shiver from the cold of her still lightly damp clothes and the wind blowing through the open window wasn't helping. "Yeah, well at least you handled it better than Dunce Face and Soy Sauce Face." "What's with you and ____ Face?" "Shut up. Plus I'm calling you Bite Size now." "That only concerns me further." "Just have your junk food or whatever." Bakugo scoffed, rolling his eyes with a faint grin still drawn up on his features.
(Y/N) gladly accepted the sweets and ate them quickly, Bakugo finishing both his and her servings of ramen. When he was done, the boy swiftly cleaned up their mess and returned to his tiny friend. When he returned to her, she was shivering violently. "Oi, What's wrong??" She startled a little, previously lost in thought and caught slightly off guard by his question. "Wrong?? Oh! N-Nothing I'm f-fine!" she stuttered out between chattering teeth. "Don't even think about lying to me, idiot." "No really I'm ok." "No you're not, you're freezing, gosh dang it." He huffed back, carefully scooping her tiny figure up in both his hands. "The heck, you freaking ice cube...." He commented softly before lifting her in cupped hands up to his mouth where he began puffing warm breathes across her small body.
Being this close to his face, and mouth no less, made her antsy; not to mention the boy's breath wreaked of peppers and literally everything else hot, and it took a decent amount of self control to not cough from the prickly smell. But his breath was warm and it felt very very good, so who was she to complain?
"Better??" He asked after a moment or two, her response coming as a slow nod, content from the heat. "Good. Wanna get changed into some of the dry clothes??" "Dry clothes??" "Yeah dummy, from my action figures." He clicked his tongue at her before cradling her in one hand, reaching under the bed for the shoe box. "Oh! The barbies! Yes please!" (Y/N) made the mistake of calling the dolls by their real name. "Action figures!!..."  Bakugo hissed back angrily, pulling the box out along with the little figures inside. One caught (Y/N)'s eye, one that Bakugo hadn't pulled out last time. It was a boy so that was probably why, but he wore some simple long sweats that looked especially warm, and the tiny girl wanted them very badly. "That one, that one!!" She cried excitedly, pointing to the very doll. "Him?" "YES." "Geez, chill."
The giant pulled the doll out and stripped it, handing her the clothes. "Be fast alright?" He instructed, placing her on his desk before turning around to face the other way. (Y/N) felt rather uncomfortable changing clothes without what felt like proper privacy, but he wasn't looking and she didn't have any other options, so she swiftly swiped her clothes, making herself decent. "Done!"
"Took you long enough!" Bakugo groaned, taking the wet clothes and laying them out by the desk light that was on.
"Thanks by the way!" The miniature teen girl chirped, earning the boy's attention. "Eh? For what??" Bakugo gave her a curious glance. "For taking care of me!" "You make it sound like some kind of dumb mushy thing, all I did was carry you around." He acknowledged her thanks with a gibe, trying to cover the fact that he really did enjoy it. "Plus I don't really care, it wasn't much effort..." (Y/N) just smiled, wrapping herself around his hand, "Well thanks anyways." She says with a bright smile. Bakugo gains a light blush before covering his mouth with the other hand. "Yeah whatever, I wasn't gonna leave you to get crushed by those idiots." He says before lightly shaking his hand and wiggling it from her grasp.
"Anyways, we have the whole rest of the afternoon, so what do you want to do??" The giant asks, gesturing to the  digital clock which read 4:26pm. The small just shrugged in return, not quite sure herself.
Since neither of them knew how much longer this would last, it seemed that now all they could do was kill time until (Y/N) turned to normal. "Well.... We could play a game??" She suggested half heartedly, shrugging whilst she said it. The ash blonde scrunched his nose, "What kind of game, cause most I can think of won't work for you right now...." He made his point. "Hmmmmm, got any multiplayer games on your phone???" She asked. "Tch- like what?" "I don't know, like Jelly Jump, Astro party, or Fruit Ninja??" "Really?? Fine... But they better be free. I'm not downloading some cheap-crap game if it's gonna rip me off my money." He told her, pulling out his phone and tapping around for a minute or two before setting it down, and confirming with her that they were the right ones, messing around a bit longer before setting it back down, the screen showing the three games downloading. (Y/N) smiled, "Have you ever played them before???" "Tch- no. I don't bother with lame games like those..." He scoffed. But this only made the tiny girl smile wider. "We'll see just how lame they are when I'm beating your sorry butt to a pulp!!!" She declared mightily, giving him a competitive grin. "What was that!? I don't care what these games are, I'll rip you to shreds!!!" Bakugo barked back, suddenly sitting more upright and attentive, until he leaned down to get somewhat in her face. "See you at the finish line!" "Yeah right, I'll make you eat those crappy words you dang Bite Size!!"
Once the games were installed and ready, Bakugo opened the first being the one titled Jelly Jump.
"Ok, so how does this work??" The giant asks gruffly. "This one is a teamwork one, and it's pretty simple." She explains. "Tch- teamwork?! How do I know you're not gonna just drag me down the whole time??" He complains as the screen turns to show a little gelatin like cube. "This already looks lame..." He adds with a grimace upon seeing the little thing. "Shush! Now gimme the phone, I'll show you how to play on one player mode!!"
Bakugo set the device on his desk for the ecstatic little girl. She quickly displayed how to play and spelled out how it applied for two player mode. Pretty soon the boy's room filled with vigorous yelling as the two tapped violently at the phone. (Y/N) was pretty much just slapping the screen, but it worked as they waited and timed things just right for the two small jello-like squares to keep jumping up levels.
Bakugo was quick to reprimand (Y/N) as the game grew intense "THE HECK ARE YOU DOING!?" "MY JELLY GOT STUCK!!!!" "WELL UNSTUCK IT THE BLACK STUFF IS RISING!!!!" "I'M TRYING, I'M TRYING!" "TRY HARDER THE NEXT THINGY IS COMING!!!" "I DID IT GO GO GO!!!" The two kept screaming at each other, earnestly trying to work through the game. "DOES THIS FREAKING THING HAVE AN END!?" "NO I'M PRETTY SURE IT JUST GETS HARDER AND FASTER UNTIL YOU DIE!!!" "*#^^&(%^* THIS **%&^%## &^$$" "BAKUGO PAY ATTENTION WE ALMOST DIED AND WERE SO CLOSE TO OUR HIGHSCORE!!!!" "SHUT UP AND FOLLOW YOUR OWN ADVICE, BITE SIZE!!!"
"WE DID IT!!!" "WELL DON'T STOP!!!" And it was then that their luck ran cold.  "NO!!! GOSH DANG THIS STUPID GAME!!!!!" Bakugo leaned back in his chair, gripping his hair in enraged fists, fluffy clumps sticking out between his fingers. "WOOOO!!!! WE DID IT, HAHA!!!!" (Y/N) on the other hand found a victory dance more appropriate. "Fist bump!!!" She cheered, sticking her arm out in waiting. "Yeah, whatever, I guess we did alright..." He grumbled, watching his tiny crush doing her funky little jig softening his mood. He complied and tapped his finger against her fist as she beamed up at him, her smile alone like an entire freaking sun.
Bakugo just smiled, though he quickly caught himself and stopped, "What were the other dumb games again??" He inquired, trying to distract himself from the cute and panicky thoughts running through his mind. "Oh! We could do Fruit Ninja now if you like, that one is a verses and is super duper fun!!!" He scrunched his nose. "Mmmm." "It also has brutally murdering fruit with knives." "Ok fine." (Y/N) couldn't help but smile wide at his quick cooperation.
They opened the app and let's just say the explosive Pomeranian didn't need any sort of instruction, and took to quickly wiping his shrunken classmate out, battle after battle.
"Ok, I'm done with this game..." She eventually pouted after finally running out of juice and just accepting defeat. "The heck?? Did I really whip your butt for a full two and a half hours!?" The ash blonde laughed looking up at the clock and making her slouch more. "Yeah- very modest about it too!" she sassily shot back, earning a cocky smirk from the boy. "Oh?? Not so high and mighty now, huh Bite Size?! What happened to beating me to a pulp?!" He taunted with a wide and malign smile. "Be nice!!" She whined, flopping back and onto the hard surface. "Enough mopping you cry baby, you're almost as bad as that dang nerd." He shook his head, still smirking as he grabbed the plastic shopping bag off the desk not too far from where (Y/N) sat. He then pulled out the Carolina reaper sausages and some fresh fruit. "That's dinner??" She asked, slightly confused, mainly because she was so used to Bakugo cooking something in one way or another. "Yeah. It is. Now don't complain. I'm having to take a lighter day on everything because of you, you know." He berated her, pulling out a pocket knife from one of the desk's drawers.
"You have a pocket knife?!" She asked in disbelief. The explosive giant took a long, annoyed sigh. "Yes. Now would you just be quiet for a minute and stop questioning everything I do??? Geez...." He exhaled sharply before continuing in cutting up the fruit into slices including small edible cubes that were perfect for the tiny. "There, eat up." he instructed, setting the pile of minced fruit in front of her before grabbing some of his own fruit and popping it into his mouth. (Y/N) gratefully took the food and ate quickly, finding that even after such a large amount of food she was still a little hungry. "Could I have some more??" She questioned, taking some cautious steps forward and toward the giant's food. "Eh?? You finished yours already!?" "Yeah... And I may or may not still be hungry?" She tries carefully, watching his brows knit together. "More!? Tch- No way!! You had your share!! Don't be stinking greedy!" He scolds harshly through a mouthful of nashi pear.
So be it.
While the boy's eyes fixated on something else for a brief moment, the dwarfed hero-in-training took her chance to quickly latch onto a thinner slice of fruit and swiftly drag it a small ways away and begin eating quickly. "HEY! I TOLD YOU NO!!" His angry voice startled her as she devoured the slice of crunchy pear. "And I told myself yes!!!" She shot right back at him before shoving the last few bits into her mouth and turning to give him a sort of 'try me!!!' look. "Stupid little idiot!! Well that's all you get so make yourself busy doing something else to waste your gosh darn time, got that?!" He growled at her before returning his attention back to what it had previously been on.
Still hungry...
She watched the temperamental Pomeranian before snatching the last one. "YOU LITTLE-!!" She heard him yell and let out a surprised squeak before her legs involuntarily began carrying her further than she had meant. She cast a glance over her shoulder to see a large open hand extended toward her and that was enough to really get the tiny going.
Soon the minuscule little trickster was tearing across his desk, dodging grabby hands that barely missed her each time. That is till he got to close and she jumped up and onto his arm. Still running.
"The heck you think you're doing Bite Size!?" He snarled, his other arm flying to quickly snatch her up before she deftly dodged, "Quit it!!" He yelled at her as tiny feet scampered up to his shoulder, then neck. (Y/N) had dropped the pear by now and it was clearly more about him catching her and her keeping out and away from his dangerous hands. "Heh heh heh! Looks like you've run out of places to run!!" The blonde chuckled maliciously, both hands now quickly closing in and toward her as he bent his head down slightly, making things easier for him.
Clearly she hadn't really thought this far... or like- at all.
Panicking, she made to step back and away from his approaching hands before she realized there was nothing under her foot. Both her stomach and heart dropped in surprise as quicker than either of them could register, the tiny girl slipped and disappeared down Bakugo's shirt.
The explosive teen just stared forward, wide eyed for a minute and frozen in place as the girl disappeared off the back of his neck. "THE HECK!? GET OUT!!!" He cried out, a shiver crawling up his spine as (Y/N) fell about halfway till where his back was pressed against the chair stopped her, entrapping her between the cloth and the boy's bare back, before he arched his spine and made things worse.
One moment (Y/N) was on her classmate's shoulders, the next she was plunged into another ocean of fabrics and cloth, only this time she was pressed against Katsuki's spine. She tried to process what had just happened and began to shift when everything around her started moving, dropping her further down. "STOP STOP, YOU'RE MAKING IT WORSE, YOU'LL CRUSH ME!!!" She quickly yelled back as she quickly got tangled up in the clothes. "THEN GET OUT OF MY GOSH DARN SHIRT!!!" He belted back. The teen had clearly didn't know what to do and was panicking as he just sat there, trembling with rage from the embarrassment and the uncontrollable tickling it was creating. "I'M TRYING, STOP MOVING ALREADY!!" She ordered to which he didn't argue, using all of his will power to keep from jerking or accidentally smooshing her.
The shrunken high school student then managed to get herself loose and began trying to first figure out where exactly she was. "C-can you feel me??" She asked, tentatively reaching a hand out to rub his tense body. "Yes." He snapped, his voice strained. "Ok, where am I?? Which way do I go?" She asked, not wanting to move until she knew what to do. "Just go up." He instructed, to which she began to make her way back up to his shoulder. His shirt wasn't super loose but it wasn't super tight either, so she was able to move about with surprising ease. As she climbed, she could feel each muscle tense and trembled beneath her hands. It was kinda terrifying, felt like he might give in any moment and suffocate her. "Hurry. Up." Bakugo growled through clenched teeth as every part of him twitched and vibrated. It was humiliating to have to sit there and try to not flip. It tickled like heck and he was getting impatient.
After what felt like forever, the ash blonde could see (Y/N) heave herself onto his shoulder out of his peripheral vision. Finally.
Both their faces were beet red and Bakugo didn't move for a minute, seeming to try and calm the embarrassment that had just boiled up. His mini sized friend on the other hand was a giggling mess. "What so funny, huh??" He quickly accused, glaring at her from the side of his vision. "Nothing- its just- Everything!" She snickered, "I guess I'm just so relieved things didn't go worse than they did!!" she added before his expression softened. "Well, just don't ever speak of this to anyone else, ever..." He muttered, still red though calmed down. The small just gave a slow nod, still laughing lightly, draped lazily over his shoulder.
"Oh, and for good measure-" Before (Y/N) could react, Bakugo wrapped a tight fist around her and brought her up to his face where he gave her a victorious grin. "I win!" He taunted smugly before setting her back down on the desk and grabbing the discarded nashi slice and popping it into his mouth. His small companion just gave him a pouty glare, silently promising payback. He just laughed.
Bakugo flashed another glance at the clock before his brows raised slightly. "Mmm- it's getting late..." He commented before glancing around the room as if contemplating what to do first. (Y/N) turned to do the same, reading it. "Late!? Bro it's only like 7:43!!" She exclaimed, her gaze meeting his scowl. "Tch- just because you go to bed so dang late doesn't mean that's when you should go to bed." He scoffs. "Come on! There's no way-" "I have to take care of you, so that means I say when we head off to sleep." He cuts her off abruptly, earning another very annoyed look.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm going to get into something more comfortable." He tells her, getting up and walking to a nearby dresser and opening a drawer to pull out some lazier, and more comfortable clothes. The tiny turned away whilst he swapped out his outfit. Then, without much else warning, two large fingers wrapped around the minuscule girl's underarms, lifting her up and off the table top. "woah~" she squeaked out another cry of surprise. She was carried by the boy off and over to the lights where he flipped them off, and then to the bed. "Come on, I'm tired and ready to sleep." He told her, setting her gently on the headboard before rummaging around in the cabinet space underneath.
After some searching, Bakugo pulled out a match box and a little towel and some cotton balls. He then put the three together and created a makeshift bed for his small classmate and friend. "There, you can use this for tonight." He told her, setting it beside her gently.
"Wait!!! This is still super early for me, and I don't think I'll be able to sleep.... Could we maybe talk for a little bit??" (Y/N) asked timidly, watching his blank face for a moment before he let out a short sigh, lying down on the bed, having already thrown back the sheets. "Fine. Whatever. What do you even want to talk about anyway??" He asked, his tone becoming calm and quiet, reflecting the exhaustion that was coming over them both, though the small was determined to stay up. "I don't know, what if we just took turns asking each other random questions???" She offered, watching as he thought about it for a moment before slowly nodding, "Sure." "You go first!" she chirped, walking over the edge of the head of the bed before dropping down and into his blonde mess of hair.  "Me?? Fine..." The giant teen looked off to the side as he thought, not reacting much to the tiny now on his head. "I don't know, Who are your closest friends here at UA??" He inquired.
(Y/N) just blinked, it was a rather mundane question for someone like Bakugo, so she wonders if it had ulterior meanings. "Uhhh, Well, definitely You, Kirishima, Mina, Ochako, Deku and Iiida are really nice, But so is everyone, I guess that's just everyone I'm super close with...." She admitted, bracing her elbows just above his brows, chin in her hands.
The giant's large eyes scanned the ceiling for a moment longer before they fixated on her, dilating dramatically. "Mmm." He responded to her answer. The soft glow from the moonlight outside illuminated the room just enough to make out the soft details on each other as they both stared for a moment before the mini sized girl broke the silence. "My turn. Who are yours??" She asks, not sure what kind of answer she'd get, nor sure what she expected.
"Ugh- This is between you and I okay?? Share this with anyone else and I'll never tell you anything ever again..." He let out a low growl before taking a deep breath. "If I had to choose someone to consider my friend I guess I'd choose..." He seemed hesitant with his next words. "Don't take it weird, but probably you and weird hair... Then maybe Soy Sauce Face, Dunce Face, and Raccoon eyes..." He replied.
(Y/N) was ecstatic, "Wait really!?" She cried, perking up. Bakugo's face grew hot beneath her, "I said maybe!!!" He insisted, face contorting into an embarrassed glare. When he moved his eyebrows, The tiny fell forward, face-planting into the bridge of his nose. "Would you quit it with the being all over me?!" He growled, scrunching his eyes shut in instinct before grabbing her by the back of her shirt and lifting her off him. "Sorry..." She giggled before he let out an annoyed breath, gently placing her back where she previously sat.
"Who do you think will be the number one hero??" He eventually asks, resuming their little game. "Aha- obviously me!!!!" She laughed, "Ok but for real- Ummmmm either.... You  or Deku... I think Shoto, Momo, and Kirishima have pretty good chances too, maybe like top five for them, but like you or Deku for number one." She replied thoughtfully. "Tch- That dang nerd is good, but nowhere near as much as me." Katsuki scoffs, earning some merry little laughs from his fun-sized companion. "Right! Anyways, Okay, okay, Do you think I'll be a good hero??" "What kind of lame question is that!? Of course, idiot!!" "Really??" "Duh!!! You're smart, you're good at combat, you're strong, you're spunky, and stubborn, and I have no doubt you'll beat the heck out of any and every villain you meet." He says proudly, rattling off his little list as if he's given it much thought.
"You think so??" She asks softly, "I mean- what if people don't like me..." She tacks on, it's clearly something that's been honestly bothering her for quite some time now. "Then they can-" And with that the giant proceeded to use some very colorful language to further make his point. "(Y/N). You've got everything you need to become an amazing Pro-hero and more, way more than you credit yourself. And if you don't believe that. That's ok. I will... till you can." He told her. She wasn't sure if she had ever heard him speak so genuinely or passionately about something and it made the girl tear up.
"Th-thanks!!!" she stuttered out through teary eyes, sniffling softly as she wiped at them. "Hey, hey, calm down okay??" His voice comes tenderly, a cautious finger reaching up to pet her head and back, like one would a small animal, but (Y/N) didn't mind, it felt good. "You good, Bite Size?" He asked after a minute or two. She could only muster out a quick nod, not trusting her voice to not betray her and crack like a dry salt pan.
"Alright then, my question... Have you ever been in a relationship before??" He asked, his skin becoming increasingly hot against her own. "I- um- no??" "Really???- I mean- yeah, ok,"
"Bakugo??"
"Eh?"
"Do you-... do you have a crush??....."
The boy remained silent for some time before speaking. "Tch- Who needs crushes!!!"
"oh- ok."
"No I-...D-Do you?"
"Maybe...."
They sat in silence before the tiny continued.
"Bakugo?"
"Eh...?"
"Do you like me?"
"......... Do you like me???"
"Yeah."
"...Why?"
"..... BRO I JUST CONFESSED TO YOU AND THE FIRST FREAKING THING YOU ASK IS WHY!???" The shrunken girl was beside herself with a flustered mix of fear, excitement, anticipation, and confusion. "I DON'T KNOW!!!! I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING OKAY!?? I DON'T GET WHY YOU WOULD LIKE ME!!! I'M LOUD, I'M A BRAT TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE, I'M HORRIBLE WITH EMOTIONS, I'M TEMPERAMENTAL, AND I'M A HORRIBLE PERSON!!!" He cried, balling his hands into large fists and shoving them into his eye sockets.
"That may be true... Not the horrible person part but- you're also super kind and caring in your own way, you're considerate, you recognize your faults and are working on them, you're loyal, you're determined, ambitious, and you're an incredible friend." She said, "And that only scratches the surface...."
"Oh and you're like super duper hot like- really hot." (Y/N) adds quickly, the last part making him let a singular laugh slip loose. "Ok then..." he mumbles after a minute, the soft and subtle glisten of tears welling up in his large crimson eyes able to be seen.
The girl just lies there for a silent moment before pressing her previous question. "So do you like me??"
"I- I think so..."
"Well, what do you mean "you think so"??"
"I don't know. I do!! I like you!! A- A lot, I just- don't know if I'm ready for a relationship right now... or if I'm even looking for one... But at the same time...." He trailed off again, now refusing to make eye contact with her. (Y/N)'s mind began to race before it was quickly interrupted with the giant's gravelly voice. "But here-" And before she could really respond, a large and gentle finger was placed to the back of her head, whilst he tilted his up, bending her carefully over his nose to plant a very large, but soft and innocent kiss onto the entirety that was her face.
It seemed to last forever, but not long enough. A single blissful moment when all time stopped and everything was perfect. A single moment she wanted to experience as much as humanly possible, something one could truly describe as amazing. When she finally pulled away, she caught a breath she hadn't known she had been holding.
Wow~
"There, I'll think about it, but for now, I won't keep you waiting..." He told her kindly, her still draped over his nose, each word humming a warm breath onto the tiny's face as she continued to try and process what all had just happened. "But for now, I'm tired, so let's get some rest..." He finished, careful fingers gingerly scooping her up only to place her back down on his chest where he then draped one hand over her like a blanket, in a very protective manner.
"Goodnight (Y/N)..." The boy hummed, "Oh- G-goodnight!!" The young girl finally managed to retrieve herself enough to speak and actually make out what was happening around her, that it was real, and that she wasn't dreaming.
And with that, the shrunken girl was able to drift off, the powerful sound of the giant's steady heartbeat and the chorus of each strong breath flowing evenly through his enormous lungs just beneath her lulling her to sleep like a sort of lullaby.
(Y/N) awoke to one of the best nights of sleep she had ever had. And to some place she didn't quite recognize. As the girl was groggily coming to, she slowly pieced things together, finding herself still carefully wrapped in a careful, loving hand, clutched to the giant's chest. She honestly wanted to just curl back into his warm hands and go back to sleep, but she wanted to know if Bakugo had made up his mind yet, and was concerned about the fact that she was still no bigger than a few inches.
So cautiously, she wormed her way out of his fingers and began carefully walking up to the boy's face, where she pulled herself onto him and flopped. "Bakugo." The tiny lay sprawled across the lower half of his face, head resting on her folded hands that lay on the tip of his nose.
"Good morning!!" She greeted, though there was no initial response. "Bakugo! Wake up!!" She made a second attempt as his crimson eyes flew open before he remembered the night before "Mmm...." The boy grunted, shifting a little. His eyes quickly dilated upon spotting her, his mouth curling into a tender glow. She had to admit she absolutely loved how his eyes grew larger every time he looked at her, it honestly reminded her of a cat.
"Hi!" The tiny chimed, grinning from ear to ear. "How'd you sleep!?" she asked, still splayed across him. "I slept fine I guess..." He mumbled, careful of the fact that his tiny crush was over top of his mouth. (Y/N) let out a little yelp, surprised by the ticklish feeling created by the vibrations of his words against her stomach. Bakugo snickered, only making it worse as she squeaked again, quickly sitting up before tumbling off his face, landing on the giant's collar bone. "Oi, watch it, I don't want to have to take you to recovery girl this early, alright??" He chided softly, cradling a hand beneath her before sitting up in the bed, allowing her to slide into his large but gentle palm. "Sorry!! Just startled me!!" She giggled.
"Do-.... do you have an answer for me??" She asked after a few silent moments of inner debate. The ash blonde furrowed his brows in confusion for a mere moment before the night's previous events came back to him entirely. He seemed to linger on her decision before telling her,  "I- I guess we can try it but- don't go telling anyone about us just yet alright??" The usually so confident teen avoids her gaze whilst a bright red glow warms his face. "REALLY!!??" She cried, jumping to her feet, suddenly much more awake than before. "Geez, yes!! Just don't make it weird, got that!?" He warned, his second hand coming up to catch her should she fall.
"This is too good to be true!!!" she squeals, bouncing up and down eagerly, clutching to his thumb to keep from losing what little balance she had left. "I get it, I get it, just calm down already, I don't want to drag the nosey attention of everyone else in the entire stinking dorms!!!" He continues to try and hush her excitement in vain, more and more embarrassment filling him.
"Best day ever!!" (Y/N) squeals clearly not listening to a thing he had just said, lunging forward before falling onto his face yet again and stretching her arms to hug as much of the Pomeranian as she could. Bakugo panicked when she dove for him, her high energy so early in the morning just not being what he had expected. But as the miniaturized hero-in-training clung to him, he couldn't help but smile, "Tch- yeah, whatever..." He finally gave in, taking her up into his hands once more as his expression softened before pulling her down and into another kiss. 
Just as the previous one, the tiny was able to nuzzle her entire face into his show of affection, enjoying every moment of it. Upon finally breaking away, he brought her up eye level, holding her close. "As much as I'd rather stay here than deal with those nerds out there, we've got a full day ahead of us, we should get going." Bakugo whispered, and despite (Y/N)'s reluctants, the ash blonde was eventually able to coax her into greeting the day.
A request for: WinterKlover
WOW. OKAY. THAT WAS A REALLY REALLY LONG REQUEST!!!! I DONT THINK THEY WILL EVER GET AS LONG AS THIS EVER AGAIN BUT I HAD A LOT OF FUN WRITING THIS!!!! This was super fun despite its ridiculous length!!! Thank you to WinterKlover for being my beta reader and helping me sort my story to its finest!!!!! Keep up the cute requests!!! Ill be working on them as much as I can!!!!
Up next: ( ∆ requested, Ω inspiration)
∆~ Giant deku x YN - Baby Bird
∆~ Tiny Bakugo x YN - Dynamight!? More like Firecracker!!!
∆~ Shoto x Tiny YN - Baby It's Cold Outside
∆~ Giant Shinso x YN - Forest Spirits
Ω~ Giant Kirishima x YN - The Crown Jewel
Ω~ Tiny Deku x YN - Hickery Dickery Dock
Ω~ Bakugo x Tiny YN - Pest Control is For Pests
Ω~ Tiny Bakugo x YN - The Prize Fish
Ω~ Giant Kirishima x YN - Baby Shark
Ω~ Giant Kirishima x YN - The Big Bad Wolf
Ω~ Tiny Deku x YN - Peter Rabbit
Ω~ Tiny Bakugo x YN - He's A Pop-Rockin Pixie
Ω~ Tiny Kirishima x YN - Dragon, not Lizard
Ω~ Deku x Tiny YN - The Innocence of a Child
Ω~ Giant Kirishima x YN - I Fear No Man... But That Thing.... Scares Me
Ω~ Tiny Kirishima x YN - Crossing Worlds
Ω~ Tiny Bakugo x YN - A Figment of Imagination
Ω~ Tint Deku x YN - Shoulder Angel
Ω~ Giant Bakugo x YN - GREAT EXPLOSION MURDER GOD DYNAMIGHT!!!!!!!!!
Ω~ Giant Kirishima x YN - One Heck of a Softy
Ω~ Deku x Giant YN - A Pure Soul
Ω~ Kirishima x Giant YN - Snakes Are Very Manly, Very Manly Indeed
Ω~ Giant Deku x YN - ~Blep~
Ω~ Tiny Bakugo x YN - Red on Black, Poison Lack
Let me know if you guys want some of these sooner than others, I will count it as a request and add it to queue, right now they are in the order of request to inspiration. Requests willl come before inspiration.
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This is my art please do not trace or repost without my permission. Feel free to reblog i, I would appreciate that!
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kasienda · 3 years
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Right Behind You - Ch 2: Friends
Chapter 1
The silver limo pulled to a stop outside of Adrien’s building. His luxury oversized studio apartment was on the top floor. Adrien didn’t move from his seat, his eyes locked onto the white van parked across the street from the entrance. He couldn’t even come and go as Chat Noir as long as the media had him on stakeout. He wasn’t sure if they’d assume Chat was his lover, or if they’d piece together his identity, but neither possibility was remotely appealing.
He turned to Nino, who was seated beside him, popping the last chouquette into his mouth.
“You sure you want to be seen with me?” Adrien asked. “They might assume you’re my boyfriend.”
Nino shrugged, licking the crumbs off his fingers. “People have assumed far worse about me.” Nino turned to him with a grin. “We could make a show of it if you want?”
Adrien smiled in spite of himself. He couldn’t resist the boyish playful look on Nino’s face. “What do you have in mind?”
“Nothing major. We could hold hands! Just play it up, like we are together.”
Adrien laughed, feeling more than a bit tempted if only to turn the whole situation into a joke, but he didn’t want anyone else swept up in this scandal. Especially not Nino who already did so much for him. “I appreciate the thought, but I don’t want you or your family being harassed by reporters if it’s not even real.”
“We could handle it,” Nino insisted, his grin never fading.
“I’m not saying you couldn’t.” Though Adrien wasn’t sure if that was truly the case. Adrien knew that Nino wasn’t out with his family. He wasn’t going to force Nino to have that conversation before he was ready even if he did have the option of saying it was all for show. “I just… if you have to handle it, I want it to be for real.”
“Fine. Be that way,” Nino said, pouting.
“It almost seems like you want to be mistaken for my boyfriend,” Adrien teased.
Nino’s gaze turned towards the window. “If people think you’re taken maybe they’d be less likely to think they can get away with scamming you on the street.”
Adrien’s chest bloomed in warmth, and his lips stretched into another smile. He was never sure what he had done to earn Nino’s friendship, but he could no longer imagine what his life would be like without Nino’s warm, and often forceful, support.
Keep Reading on Ao3
Nino undid his seat belt, leaned forward, and clapped a hand onto Ezra’s shoulder. “Thanks Big G! Hope you have a good one!”
His bodyguard nodded acknowledgement, but didn’t smile. Ezra never smiled while on the clock. Adrien had no idea how he managed it.
Nino opened the door and exited the vehicle.
Adrien undid his own seatbelt. “Thank you, Ezra. You don’t need to stick around. I’m planning on hiding away all day. I’ll text you if that changes.”
The large man nodded, pointed his large index finger at Adrien’s chest, and signed an okay sign with raised eyebrows.
Adrien shrugged. “I’m… better than I was. I’ll be okay. Thanks for asking.”
Ezra pushed a knuckle to his own chin, flicking it upwards.
“I need to keep my chin up?” Adrien guessed.
The gruff man nodded. He still didn’t smile.
But Adrien did. “I promise I will try. See you tomorrow, Ezra.”
Then he exited the vehicle, and broke into a trot to catch up to Nino who was waiting at the top of the stairs in front of the double doors that led into the building. One short elevator ride later, they arrived at his front door.
The door swung open and they were greeted with the amazing smell of raspberry and flaky crust. Adrien kicked off his shoes, and glanced across the open floor plan towards the kitchen. Sure enough, Marinette was there, headphones in either ear, facing away from them as she wiped down the counter, which was dusted in flour.
When he had signed a lease, the elaborate space with marble countertops, stainless steel appliances, and an island prep space with a built in gas stove had all seemed remarkably excessive for him when he barely knew how to use a microwave. To this day, he ordered out more often than not. When he had first moved in four years prior, Marinette and Alya both refused to let the amazing set up go unused. And he was often spoiled with five star dinners from Alya, and baked perfection from Marinette. But Alya had left Paris for university, and Marinette had started coming around less and less often unless the whole gang had plans.
But she was here today and he was grateful.
Nino settled onto a high stool in front of the island, opposite Marinette.
“Marinette?” Adrien called loudly, hoping to be heard over whatever she was listening to.
She whirled around immediately, her blue eyes jumping up to his face. She tore the headphones out of her ears and threw herself at him. Her slender arms were quickly around his neck. He closed his eyes and basked in her comforting warmth against his chest.
“I came as soon as Nino texted me. Are you okay?”
“I’m okay,” he assured her, letting his chin rest on her shoulder. “It’s really good to see you.”
She pulled away, and stared into his eyes. He felt like he was being measured, but he couldn’t help the soft smile that grew on his face watching her so intently focused before she pulled him into a hug again.
“It’s been too long,” she agreed. It hadn’t been that long. Maybe two or three months, but once upon a time he had been unable to go a week without her dropping by at least once. “How can I help?”
Adrien let her pull away. “Tell me what smells so good and tell me it’s ready to be devoured right now.” He and Nino had just polished off a box of chouquettes from her parent’s bakery, but today felt like the perfect day for total self indulgence.
She laughed. “What you’re smelling is a raspberry torte, but it has to refrigerate for at least six hours. Papa says it’s better if you leave it overnight, but I’m never patient enough for that. It’s for round two later this afternoon. I was going to start on a batch of snickerdoodles next. Should only take about thirty minutes before we can partake!”
“Can I help?” he asked.
She grinned. “Absolutely!”
“The usual cookie ingredients?”
She nodded, “And cinnamon! Oh and do you happen to have cream of tartar? I already took out butter earlier.”
“Yeah, I keep all your baking ingredients in stock. I’ve learned I miss out if I don’t!” He grinned as he handed her a mixing bowl, and a large wooden spoon.
Nino had buried his head in his arms resting on the counter. Adrien poked him as he passed by with baking soda in hand. “You know there’s an extra bed right there,” he said, gesturing past the living area filled with leather sofas and ottomans to the guest “bedroom”.
It wasn’t really a guest room, as it didn’t have any walls. But the lack of walls was the whole reason he had elected to go for the studio over the three bedroom flat. He never felt trapped when the whole living space was one giant room. Even the wall to the balcony was made entirely of glass giving the illusion that the room extended into the open air around the building, but it was higher than any of the surrounding buildings meaning no one could really get a good view inside unless he was standing right at the window. A necessary consideration for a part-time superhero.
“Too far away,” Nino grumbled into his forearms. “I’m fine right here.”
“Suit yourself.”
A cell phone rang, and Nino immediately bolted to a sitting position, pulling out his device from the pocket of his green hoodie. He grinned at it, flashing the screen towards Adrien.
Nathalie Sancoer was calling.
“Mlle. Sancoer, I was expecting your call!” Nino answered, his voice positively gleeful as he mimed towards Adrien’s pocket.
“M. Lahiffe,” was the dry response on the other end, loud enough that Adrien and Marinette could hear.
Adrien pulled up his missed call log. Four missed calls from Chloé, one from Kagami, another from Marinette, and six from Nathalie. He held up the device to Nino with a resigned sigh.
His friend fist pumped in silent victory. Adrien supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised to lose the bet. “Ms. Sancoer, give me just a moment.” Nino muted the call. “I’m going to head out to the balcony. I might be a while.”
Negotiations apparently took time. Adrien seriously didn’t know what he had ever done to deserve a friend like Nino. “It’s all yours!”
Nino left out the back, and Marinette turned puzzled eyes toward him. “What was that all about?”
“They’re negotiating over me,” he explained, as he fished out white and brown sugar from his cupboards.
“What,” she said, her voice flat.
Adrien chuckled. “Father wants to talk to me, but he is unwilling to call himself. He makes Nathalie call me, and I’m not taking or returning her calls. My father apparently doesn’t find that to be an acceptable excuse for her being unable to get through to me, so when that happens she calls Nino and bribes him to get me to call her back.”
“That is awful.”
Adrien retrieved a couple eggs from the refrigerator. “No, it’s good! He gets her to take away a photo shoot here or there, or frees up my schedule so I can hang out with you and the gang.”
“That is still terrible! Adrien! I knew your father was strict and controlling and insufferable in so many ways! But Nino having to serve as your union representative? That is a new low! How long have you had to bargain this way?”
He ignored the question. He didn’t know the answer. It had been going on long before Nino started making it easier. “It’s how I got to have more control over my studies without being disinherited. For reasons I don’t understand, Nathalie listens to Nino more than she does me. And father listens to Nathalie and no one else. These are the tools I have, and I’m not going to be ashamed of using them. Fancy physics degrees don’t pay for themselves after all.”
She squeezed his shoulder. “I never said you should be ashamed. I just… I wish none of it was necessary.”
He shrugged. “That makes two of us. We never planned to do this. She just called Nino once when she couldn’t get a hold of me. I never asked him to go to bat for me.”
“Nino’s just awesome like that.”
“He most definitely is!” Adrien agreed enthusiastically, placing a bag of flour and the cream of tartar on the counter next to Marinette’s mixing bowl. “So… is that everything you need?”
Her eyes scanned over the items, as she silently mouthed the ingredients while counting them off on her hands.
“Just missing salt,” she concluded.
“Salt. Of course.” He retrieved the condiment from the third cupboard to the right.
“Are you really okay?” she asked him as he handed her the last ingredient.
He shrugged. “I’ll be fine. I’m mostly just embarrassed.”
She frowned, her eyes shining with concern. “I imagine it hurts too though. To think you’re having a moment only to find someone is lying to you the whole time?”
“I only knew him for a day,” he insisted, but he couldn't meet her eyes.
”If you say so. I’ve managed to fall in love in a day before,” she admitted softly.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I’ve done that before, too. It hasn’t panned out for me though. You?”
Her eyes avoided his, intent on scraping the butter off its paper wrapper and into the stainless steel bowl. “Not as of yet.”
Her sadness hit him in the chest. “We make quite the depressing pair, don’t we?”
She scowled, her lips pursed to the side of her face. “No! Not today! Today, we’re indulging ourselves in baked goods, and maybe Chloé will bring some good wine and we can get tipsy.”
He laughed. “I like your plan. How much sugar?” he asked, holding up the bag.
“Umm… 150 grams.”
And quickly they fell into a rhythm almost not needing words. It was strange to him how easy it was to follow Marinette’s line of thinking, but as they had gotten older, it had only gotten easier.
Now, what she was feeling? He had no idea. She was as much as mystery to him now as she had been their first year of college.
“Did you ever hear back from Dior?” he asked into the silence.
Her whole form slumped, and he wished he hadn’t brought it up.
“Not good news, I take it?” he asked as he added the last portion of flour into the mixing bowl.
She growled. “The worst part is they left me glowing feedback. Practical and fashionable at the same time, they said.” Her stirring took on a furious pace, and flour burst into the air between them. He chose not to comment. “They had no criticisms to offer except that it wasn’t what they were looking for. I just wish they would tell you what they were looking for so that I could design with that theme in mind.”
“I don’t think they want to give away to the competition what they’re thinking.”
She groaned. “That makes sense. I just… I think I could deliver what they wanted.”
“I could talk to my father if you wanted?”
She dropped the wooden spoon and jerked her head towards him. “Absolutely not! You will not owe that man any favors on my account.”
“I bet New York would still take you, if you reached out. They seemed really excited about the possibility of you on their team. And you seemed so excited with their design philosophy.”
Her eyes turned glassy, threatening tears. “You’re probably right,” she whispered. “They probably would still take me…”
He turned her away from the counter and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. She trembled in his embrace. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry,” he told her softly.
She shook her head. “I-It’s not your fault,” she stammered through her tears. “I was… already a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off.
“I’m not pressuring you to leave Paris if you’re set against it. I would miss you if you were gone,” he mumbled into her shoulder.
She pulled away and offered him a watery smile. “I would miss you, too.”
The front door clicked open. Adrien didn’t spare it a glance, knowing it was likely Chloé. Kagami always knocked despite the fact that she had a key. His attention remained on Marinette.
She wiped her tears away. “Enough about me!” she exclaimed. “Today is supposed to be about cheering you up!”
“Maybe if I could make you feel better I would feel better,” he told her, his lips quirking upwards in a sideways smile.
Marinette giggled. “That’s sweet. But I’m a bit of a lost cause at the moment. Maybe it would make me feel better to make you feel better!”
Chloé’s heels clicked definitely as she stepped into the tile floor of the kitchen.
“Are you two seriously arguing about who gets to make who feel better?” she growled out in exasperated greeting.
“Uh… maybe?” Marinette hedged, turning away from Adrien’s comfort and back towards the cookies in progress. She soon was rolling out little balls of dough and lining them up on a baking sheet.
Chloé shook her head, mumbling something under her breath. But she didn’t comment further on how ridiculous they were. Instead, she wrapped Adrien in a tight embrace. “Are you okay, Adri-kins?” she whispered.
He nodded into her shoulder. “I am with you here.”
She squeezed him harder. There had been a time when she would have scoffed at such a statement. But a random off topic tangential lesson on recognizing abusive relationships in tenth grade Literature, a fortune spent on intensive therapy, and time spent in self reflection, his oldest friend had become someone he could rely on again.
She pulled back, and scooped out a spoon of cookie dough from the bowl, and began licking it.
“Hey!” Marinette objected. “Those aren’t done yet!”
“I hate to break it to you, Dupain-Cheng, but they are better this way.”
Marinette rolled her eyes, but didn’t comment as she dipped a cup in a sugar cinnamon mixture and then pressed the cup gently into each ball of dough.
Chloé turned to Adrien again. “So, what can you tell us? Who are we plotting revenge against?”
Adrien groaned. “No! No revenge.”
Chloé patted his shoulder consolingly. “Don’t worry. You won’t have to be a part of it at all. I’ll take care of it. I’m sure Tsurugi will help. You in Dupain-Cheng?”
Marinette cocked her head, her gaze considered the ceiling. “Yeah… I think I am.”
“Marinette!” he hissed.
“What?!” Marinette exclaimed. “Someone goes after my friend? After you? And you want me to just let it go?”
“Yesss!” Chloé grinned. “Welcome to the dark side, Dupain-Cheng.” She offered a fist, which Marinette reciprocated.
“No,” Adrien repeated firmly. Chloé remained unmoved while Marinette shifted more nervously from foot to foot. “I’m serious. No revenge! That won’t make this go away any faster. And it won’t make me feel any better.”
Chloé stared at him, her face a mask of stoicism. “Is it so bad that we want to protect you?”
“Chloé, please,” he begged. “Promise me. No revenge.”
Chloé pouted, glancing down at her nails. “You’re absolutely no fun.”
Adrien rolled his eyes, very aware that she had promised nothing. “Oh, I’m so sorry to ruin your day.”
Marinette threw her arms around him again. “We’re so sorry.”
“Speak for yourself,” Chloé said. “I have nothing to apologize for.”
Marinette and Adrien shared an eye roll, but a knock at the door suppressed any comeback from either of them.
Adrien shook his head. “I’m going to go remind Kagami for the thousandth time that she has a key.”
He swung the door open revealing Kagami in a deep red business suit. She always looked good in the color. He was more than a bit envious.
She stepped forward and they exchanged the formal la bise greetings before they stepped back into the entryway of his studio.
“Coming from the office?” he asked, as he took her coat and scarf.
“An interview. A potential psychologist to add to our founding team. She is somewhat an expert on assessment and screening for red flags that could be indicative of current or past trauma among children and adolescents.”
He grinned. “That’s fantastic! I know I’ve already said it a dozen times before, but I think this foundation for neglected and abused children you and Chloé have started is amazing. I just can’t help but wonder how much better off she and I would have been if someone had caught us earlier in our lives.” And maybe Kagami too, even if her situation could be classified slightly differently.
Kagami lips stretched into a fond smile. “I don’t know that you could be better than you are. You have so much integrity and resilience. I have always looked up to you.”
Adrien felt the heat burning to the back of his neck. He really needed to get better at taking compliments.
“I have always looked up to you, too, Kagami.”
She nodded in formal acknowledgement. “Before I forget, my mother wishes you good luck in light of your scandal, and offers the use of her PI if you want to check this guy out.”
He groaned. “Not you, too.”
She chuckled. “I told my mother you likely would not make use of her offer.”
“I’m sure that went over well,” he commented, his voice flat.
Kagami laughed. “She said you were foolish and naive to not go out of your way to protect your family legacy and honor from those that would besmirch it.”
“I wish I could say she was wrong, but it sounds like she has me pegged.”
“Would you two stop standing awkwardly in the doorway and come in?” Chloé called. She was sprawled elegantly across the corner of the black leather couch nursing another spoonful of cookie dough in one hand, and a glass of red wine in the other. Nino sat in the recliner, his red hat over his face. Adrien hoped he was actually asleep, but he had his doubts. Marinette remained in the kitchen, sliding her first sheet of cookies into the oven. He knew she would prepare a second before joining them in the living area.
Kagami took a seat on the opposite side of the couch of Chloé leaving the space between them for Adrien.
“Tsurugi! The suspense is killing me!” Chloé whined. “That report you just gave to Adrien was carefully neutral. How did it go?”
Kagami grinned. “I do enjoy giving you a hard time, but that was not my intention this time. I think it went really well.”
Chloé literally squealed and threw her hands up in a miniature victory dance without spilling any of her wine.
“You’re awfully excited,” Marinette commented with an amused grin. “Who were you interviewing?”
Chloé spun back towards the kitchen island where Marinette was dusting another twelve cookies in her cinnamon sugar mixture. “You don’t understand!” Chloé exclaimed. “This woman was amazing! It’s like she could have written our mission statement! She had so many ideas for how children in abusive situations could be identified earlier, for what type of education is needed for children to recognize harmful situations themselves. And she somehow projected this aura of such gentleness. She would be so approachable. And yet, it didn’t diminish her passion at all!”
“You fell in love didn’t you?” Adrien smirked at her.
She turned back to him, and held up two manicured fingernails a centimeter apart. “Only a little bit.” Her blue eyes immediately shifted to Kagami. “But that’s not why I want to hire her! She will be an asset in getting the foundation off the ground!”
Kagami nodded. “No, I agree with you. She’s a good fit. I would like to make her an offer.”
“Tsurugi!” Chloé whined. “Why haven’t you already done that? I already told you I wanted to hire her! She’s going to be snatched up so quickly!”
“No, you didn’t. You told me you wanted to date her,” Kagami countered matter of factly.
Chloé spluttered, and then blushed. Everyone else laughed, including Nino, which definitely meant he wasn’t asleep. Adrien would have to fix that. “Can we talk about something else please?” she begged.
As if the universe had heard her, a siren blared right outside the building. Chloé immediately bolted for the window. She pushed aside the curtain and peered down into the street below, her lips stretching into a smile as satisfied as the cat who had found the camembert.
“Chloé?” Adrien asked, his voice dripping with suspicion. “What did you do?”
“Mwah?” she asked, her painted nails flared out to her chest dramatically with complete innocence. “I only did my civic duty by reporting someone that looked exactly like the wanted poster down at the precinct this morning hanging out in a creepy unmarked van.”
“Chloé!” Marinette scolded, but she was grinning as she peaked through the drapes over Chloé’s shoulder. “That’s terrible!”
“Efficient,” Kagami disagreed.
“He was doing nothing wrong,” Adrien said.
“Nothing illegal, maybe,” Nino said, replacing his hat onto the top of his head, revealing his face once again.
“Did he really deserve to be arrested?” Adrien asked, but it was clear that he was the minority in this debate.
Chloé’s blue eyes pinned him in place. “Do you really want them to have you under surveillance like that? That kind of trash understands only one thing! Power.”
Adrien sighed. “No, but there were other ways to take care of it.”
Chloé shook her head. “Adrien, you are amazing, and I love you! But you are way too nice! It’s not like he’s a journalist speaking truth to power! It’s not like he’s going after some corrupt asshole that profits off the plights of others while not paying his taxes.”
“You’d sick righteous reporters on your parents like that?” Nino teased. He was clearly trying to deflect the subject. “Harsh.”
“Though not undeserved.” Kagami added. She and Nino exchanged a fist bump across the open expanse between the sofa and his lounge chair.
“Can it, both of you!” Chloé snapped, shooting a glare towards both of them from the window.
Nino chuckled. He rolled out of the recliner and took over Chloé’s vacated seat next to Adrien.
The oven timer went off, and Marinette scurried from the window back into the kitchen. “Who wants cookies?”
“Just bring a giant plate!” Chloé called back. “We’ll eat everything.”
Seconds later, there was a crash, and a scream from the kitchen. Adrien bolted to his feet and ran to her side, Kagami less than an arm length behind him.
Marinette’s hands wrapped protectively over her head, she was surrounded by broken glass.
Adrien tread carefully around the largest fragments to put a hand on her shoulder.
She peeked out from under her hands to him. “I’m okay,” she said.
“What happened?” Adrien asked.
“Just me being my usual clumsy self,” she said, her voice dripping with self deprecation.
Kagami handed him the broom and he immediately started sweeping up the glass, starting with the area closest to Marinette.
Marinette sighed, dropping her arms completely to her side. “I just was reaching for another wine glass, but I couldn’t quite reach it. In trying to urge it closer, I overdid it, and the two glasses went flying.”
Kagami tisked in disapproval. “Perhaps, next time you should just ask for help?”
Marinette nodded in agreement. ”Yes, I’m sorry for being stubbornly independent.” She turned her gaze back to Adrien. “And I’m sorry for breaking your glasses. I will replace them.”
Adrien shook his head. “Please don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you’re okay. And I do wish you let us help you when you need it.”
Marinette snorted. “You’re one to talk.”
He grinned. “Touché.”
Kagami held the dustpan and he swept the glass into the tray.
“Do you have a mop?” Kagami asked.
When he handed her the requested item, she leaned forward and whispered in his ear. “Would you mind letting me do this part? I wanted to talk to Marinetted about something.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind helping.”
“I got this,” Kagami insisted.
He nodded, and turned back to Marinette who hadn’t moved since the glasses had fallen. “Are you okay?”
She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m… I’ll be fine. You should get back to your party. Kagami and I can finish cleaning this up.”
It was obvious he was being dismissed. “Okay, well, let me know if either of you need help finding anything.”
Adrien let himself fall back onto the couch next to Nino. His head flopped back onto the couch, his gaze locked on the ceiling.
“Marinette okay?” Chloé asked. She had taken Nino’s former seat in the lounge chair.
“Just rattled, I think,” he reported. “They kicked me out. Kagami wanted to talk to Marinette about something.”
“Ooh!” Chloé leapt to her feet. “I think I want in on this conversation! Excuse me!”
Adrien sighed again.
“If all the revenge talk really bothers you, I will get them to stop,” Nino told him softly after a moment of silence.
Adrien smiled. “Thank you for the offer. I do appreciate that everyone is all protective. It’s really nice to have you all on my side. I just… I also want this to be over. Ideally, I never want to have to think about it again after I talk to my father.”
Nino nodded. “Yeah, I get what you’re saying. You do get why they want to go after this guy though, right?”
Adrien shrugged. “Maybe?” He understood it intellectually he supposed, but emotionally, revenge had never made sense to him.
“Imagine it was you mystery girl on that tabloid instead of you. Where you can look at the picture and she looks happier than you’ve seen her in a long time.”
“Is it really that rare to see me smile?” Adrien objected.
“Have you seen this pic?” Nino asked, whipping out his phone, swiping through his apps. “It is not just a smile!”
“Please don’t make me look at it,” Adrien begged, turning away from Nino’s phone, towards the kitchen.
Marinette giggled at something Kagami had just said, and Adrien found himself smiling fondly at the pair.
“Yeah, fine,” Nino continued. “But again, she looks amazingly happy, and you now know that the person who was kissing her was lying. That in fact, the whole image is a lie. And she’s hurting somewhere after the fact because of it. Wouldn’t you want to do something?”
“Yeah okay,” Adrien conceded. “I get your point. And for the record, that would be the case if it had been any of you.”
“Good! So, if you’re willing to stand up for others, why won’t you ever let us stand up for you?”
Adrien hadn’t really thought about it in those terms. Was he just being stubbornly independent? Thinking he should be able to manage everything himself? Or did he believe deep down that he wasn’t worthy of being defended.
He shook himself out of his thoughts. That was a therapy session for another day.
“How did the phone call with Nathalie go?” Adrien asked, intentionally changing the topic.
A grin bloomed across Nino’s face.“Pretty good for you, I think? We managed to get five am fittings until you complete your masters degree. She wouldn’t commit to an indefinite change.”
Adren didn’t know why Nino used the “we” pronoun in his summary. His friend was the one doing all the work in negotiating out a deal. If Nino wasn’t already running a successful DJ business, Adrien would have pushed his friend to become a lawyer.
“Nino, that’s literally a year or more. Thank you. When do I have to talk to my father?”
“Eleven tomorrow morning. At the mansion.”
Adrien breathed a sigh of relief. He may have wanted to do his fittings first thing, but it would be nice to have time to mentally prepare in the morning before seeing his father.
“You’re the best.” It felt like a weight had been lifted from Adrien’s shoulders. With an appointment on the books with his father and his friends all in the room, his phone would finally stop blowing up. He could almost pretend it was a normal day.  
“Anything for my best bro,” Nino said, offering a fist bump. He yawned in the middle of it.
“You should get some rest,” Adrien suggested.
Golden eyes turned toward him with eyebrows raised. “You didn’t get any sleep last night either, mec. Want to follow your own advice?”
Adrien barked a laugh. “I would love to, but I don’t think my brain shut up long enough to let me yet. It’s better to be distracted by all of you until I’m bone-dead tired. But you got everyone here, so if you want to take a shift off, I’m good for a while.”
Nino started to nod when there was a knock at the door. He jumped up to answer it.
“Isn’t everyone here already?” Adrien called after him.
“Not everyone,” Nino reported and answered the door. Alya Césaire stood on the other side of the threshold, and Adrien grinned at her unexpected presence. Last he heard, Alya had been chasing some International drug cartel in Italy.
“Hey Al,” Nino greeted as he enveloped her in a warm hug.
Adrien smiled at how well they fit together. He still didn’t understand why they had broken up. He rose to his feet to greet her, but a squealing Marinette came running from the kitchen, tackling Alya the second Nino had pulled away.
“I didn’t know you were in town!” Marinette exclaimed, a huge grin lighting up her features.
“Yeah, I honestly didn’t think I’d have time to see anyone so I was trying to keep it hush hush, but then I saw that headline…” she trailed off, her hazel eyes landing on him with a sympathetic smile from over Marinette’s shoulder.
“Say no more! You are totally welcome to be an honorary member of the “protect Adrien Agreste squad!” Marinette squealed happily as she pulled away.
Alya swept him up in a hug next, with Marinette and Nino joining in from behind him. He let himself melt into their protective holds. Once upon a time, the four of them had been as thick as thieves, and he had missed their dynamic.
“I called Nino as soon as I saw,” Alya confessed as they broke apart. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you myself. I just figured you would be more comfortable hearing from him, but if you ever need to talk about anything, please reach out.”
Adrien’s gaze landed on Nino who was grimacing over Alya’s shoulder. “Liar! I knew there was no way you were up that early.”
Alya laughed, her sparkling eyes flicking back toward Nino. “Sorry, I didn’t realize I was getting anyone in trouble.”
Nino waved away her apology.
Marientte quickly ushered them all inside and back to the leather sofas. Soon, the six of them all sat around the plate of snicker doodles and with glasses of wine in hand.
“Spill Césaire!” Chloé demanded.
“About?”
Chloé rolled her eyes. “Stop. I know you’ve already done your research on this bastard that landed Adri-kins in the tabloids, and have a half formed plan for vengeance. So tell us what you’ve discovered so we can get it on it.”
Alya set her glass of wine on the center coffee table with a sigh. “You don’t want to know.”
Chloé scoffed. “What do you mean? Of course I want to know!”
“He recently graduated university,” Alya reported. “Majored in theater and minored in physics.”
Huh. Adrien hadn’t expected that. Maybe the conman hadn’t feigned his interest in Adrien’s research after all. He frowned. Or maybe, he had been hired specifically because he had the expertise to feign interest.
Nino’s head fell onto Adrien’s shoulder. His golden eyes had finally fallen victim to Nino’s sleep deprivation. Adrien couldn’t help the fond smile that stretched across his face as he adjusted his arms to make his lean form a more comfortable pillow.
“He hasn’t landed a job in about six months,” Alya continued, “and apparently he has some crippling debt.”
“That doesn’t justify…” Marinette broke in.
Alya barreled over the interruption. “Medical debt. For his… kid sister.”
“Ugh! Just stop!” Chloé cut in. “You’re right! I don’t want to know if you’re just gonna make me feel sorry for this guy.”
Alya smirked. “The trashy tabloid that hired him, though?”
“Now we’re talking!” Chloé exclaimed gleefully. Even Kagmai leaned forward with her elbows on her knees to listen to Alya’s research.
Adrien let his own eyes fall closed and he leaned into Nino’s warmth only half listening to his friends as they plotted and schemed.
Soon he was dozing in and out, finding comfort in the familiar righteous voices that spiraled around him.
Alya wanted to sink this online tabloid that had a reputation for going after easy personal scandals of celebrities and regular people alike. Chloé had connections that could crash the server for a solid week. Kagami has strategies and clout to encourage divestment from the organization. And of course Marinette’s crafty mind worked to tie it all together in a plan so bizarre, it was worthy of Ladybug so it couldn’t be traced back to Adrien or any of them.
Despite his own misgivings, it felt really good to have them all so willing to pour in hours and resources to come to his defense. And if the tabloid couldn’t hurt anyone else, Adrien definitely could get on board.
“I’m so glad you’re all on my side,” Adrien interjected, sleepily after about an hour. These were four women you did not want to cross. “I’d never survive your combined wrath.”
Their laughter melted together in the best kind of harmony.
A second later his phone buzzed in his pocket. He slowly fished it out, careful not to disturb Nino who remained on his shoulder - still as a rock.
Marinette had sent him a picture. He opened it to reveal him and Nino curled up on his black leather couch seemingly asleep with the tagline “I slept with my best friend” scrawled across the bottom in elegant cursive. He flashed her a smile and she grinned back.
Thank you, he texted. I’m going to frame this.
yw. The two of you are too cute.
Before he could craft a response, all their phones went off at once, and Adrien’s contentment evaporated like liquid nitrogen on a laboratory floor. The simultaneous alert could only mean one thing.
Nino sat up, his thumb and forefinger rubbing at his eyes.
“Shit!” Chloe muttered. “It’s at the office.” She glanced at Kagami. “We have to go.”
Kagami gave a stoic nod and rose to her feet gracefully.
Alya was only a second behind her. “I should probably go, too. To make sure the twins stay out of trouble.”
Adrien nodded and waved her away with a smile understanding completely. Alya’s twin sisters running the Ladyblog were somehow more reckless than Alya had ever been.
Marinette didn’t even offer an excuse. She just gave him a hug, grabbed her purse, and ran out the door.
Nino stood as well, but he lingered. “You going to be okay, mec?”
Adrien nodded, grateful that his friends had learned over the years to make themselves scarce during an akuma attack. They believed he was contacting his bodyguard for added protection under his father’s orders. He wished he could tell them the truth.
And within a minute, Adrien stood alone in his lavish studio save for Plagg who came out of hiding the second the front door had closed behind Nino.
“Stupid akuma,” Adrien muttered under his breath. His friends would have stayed until two in the morning had the alert not gone off.
Adrien called for his transformation and stood on his own balcony with his eyes closed for a second, letting the chill breeze whip his hair around. A moment later he activated his baton and vaulted into the Parisian sky.
A hero’s work was never done.
Chapter 3: Akuma
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fandom-blackhole · 3 years
Text
Mando May 2021 Week 2 + Day 12
AN: Next prompts are done! I had fun writing this bittersweet ficlet, and I hope you all enjoy reading it! Again this wasn't entirely edited and all LIKES and REBLOGS are really appreciated and help with exposure! Love you all!
Prompts:
Ret’uryce mhi- “Maybe we’ll meet again.”
Mandalorian goodbye, their fate not fixed in fact.
Yaim- Home
Pairing: Paz Vizsla x GN!Reader
Words: almost 1.6k
Summary: You’ve been hearing blaster fire for what feels like all afternoon when things go eerily quiet, and then you here a thud outside your door followed by a heavy knock.
Warnings?: gunfire/fighting mentioned, angst, soft Paz
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The day had started as any other. You'd woken up, crawled out of bed and into the refresher for a quick shower, and then headed down to the small bakery you owned and lived above. The day wasn't anything special, no holiday or big event planned, it was just supposed to be an average day. 
After heading downstairs to the small bakery that you owned, you grabbed a stale pastry that didn't sell the day before and ate it quickly as you turned all the lights in the store and kitchen and fired up the ovens as you took stock of what you had and needed more of soon. Then you set about measuring and mixing, and once the pie crusts were cut and filled, and the bread doughs were set aside to rise, you went about prepping the small confectionery molds and worked on measuring and melting down sugars and chocolates.
By the time the store opened you counters were filled and there was more baking in the large fire ovens. Admittedly, you had gone overboard with the baking this morning, but it was only because today was the day that your favorite customer would be coming in, a large tower mandalorian in blue armor that you had taken to calling Blue Bird after he had not given you his name and you had noticed the jetpack strapped to his wide back. The mandalorian had also found the nickname funny, chuckling when you had first called him that, saying, "That is a first, no one has given me that name before."
At the time you had smiled, and basked in the fact he had liked the nickname, especially considering it had fueled you're attraction to the man who was softer than he appeared to be. Blue Bird always came in once a month and bought the old baked goods that had not sold and were still editable, as well as completely clearing out your candies with a soft, "The children always like your candies the best." 
You always snuck in fresher goodies, knowing that stale bread was nothing to live off of, and the first time you did this had resulted in Blue Bird to try and pay you extra the next time he came in. In the end it only started a game between the two of you and you eventually found yourself giving only fresh breads, pastries, and sweets that you had made that day, or the day prior, saving the older staler things for yourself and to hand out to those unlucky few you came across sitting and shivering in dark alley ways or on corners with cups and hopeless looks in their eyes. You and the mandalorian grew closer over time, seemingly like a force was drawing you together, and while neither of you had made the move to cross into that uncertain area of relationship territory, the both of you knew clearly that the other was fond of them.
As time went on as well Blue Bird explained some of the mandalorian culture to you, though only very basic things. He told you why he could not show you his face or give you his name freely, and you had accepted that fact with a smile, knowing that even without those two things your heart would always long for him. He made sure you were aware of the importance of his armor, and the wars that had been fought with the precious metal. The large man had even gone as far as taking you out and teaching you how to use blaster, all the while telling you how important weapons were to his religion and culture, then at the end of the night gifting you the weapon he had taught you to use, and the gesture was met by a soft look from you and you knowing exactly the commitment and feelings behind the deeply meaningful gesture. There was absolutely nothing you could do to stop your heart from yearning and falling for the man after he showed you the soft, kind side to his hardened warrior facade.
So each month, on the same day you waited with baited breath, watching the door to your store every second waiting for his hulking figure to walk through the frame. And that was exactly what you were doing today, even as you shared kind smiles and words with your other regular customers, you still distractedly watch the door. You knew he never came until it was close to closing time because he liked not being surrounded by people and he liked the privacy of the late hour. Did that stop your impatience, or excitement to see him again, not in the least. 
The day absolutely dragged on, to the point that you had only had two customers by the time midday had come and gone and you were starting to wonder if you were going to be counting losses for the day. That's when you heard the muffled blaster fire and your stomach started turning. Blaster fire wasn't exactly uncommon here on Nevarro, but to this extent it was. You were too scared to venture out and look to see what was happening yourself, but it sounded as if every being in town with a blaster had turned up and started shooting. The loud shots echoed off the walls of the buildings, and you thanked every deity that it sounded like the fire fight was slowly traveling away from your small bakery and not towards it.
It felt like the fight dragged on for days, and the shouts and blasters refused to stop as you curled up behind the counter with Blue Bird's blaster clutched in your hands bringing you some comfort. But, after hours of shaking in fear and waiting, the loud noises slowly came to a stop and everything seemed eerily quiet. You still refused to move, not trusting whatever was happening to be over yet, and you took deep breaths to try and calm yourself down. Only after a few minutes of silence you jumped out of your skin as you heard a loud thud right outside your doorway and then a heavy knocking thud. Slowly you peaked your head above the counter to see the top of a familiar blue helmet through the small window that framed the top of you door. You will admit readily that never before had you run so fast to the door and opened it, let alone eagerly pulled in a dirty, post fight warrior before locking the door, but in that second you did just that.
Once he was inside, you finally let your fears engulf you and let tears fall freely down your face. Through blurry vision you saw Blue Bird reach out to you and cup your face tenderly wiping away the tears. 
You weren't sure when you closed your eyes, but they shot open when you felt the slightly cooled touch of rounded metal on your forehead and found yourself looking eye to eye with Blue Bird's visor, as he slowly stroked your cheek, and you finally registered the soothing words he was speaking to you. Once the tears had stopped, the mandalorian's low soft and steady voice spoke, "I am leaving, mesh'la. The imperials have found our small covert, and we are also being hunted by the parsec's guild, so we must all leave and scatter ourselves…"
"But- Leaving? You...you'll visit still right?"
"Mesh'la, I don't think I will be able too, at least not for a long while."
You felt you heart cracking at the mandalorian's small admission and you clutched onto the hand that was still on your cheek as you frantically darted your eyes along his visor and breathed out, "Then...then I'll come with you...Just..just give me a second to grab a small bag." 
Immediately after saying that you tried to turn out of his arms and rush upstairs but you found yourself mandalorian's arms wrapped around you waist holding you in place and his helmet pressing slightly firmer into you forehead.
"I cannot take you with me, cyare. I will not put you in more danger by you just traveling with me."
"Bu-"
"Please...please don't make this harder than it already is…."
You were crying again by this point, with chest rattling sobs, trying to choke out pleas to convince the mandalorian holding you, but only managing soft wailing noises. Then the scuffle of footsteps sounded outside and you heard him sigh before whispering, "Mesh'la, my darling starlight, you will always be my yaim, my home, the holder of my heart, and I will try everything to come back to you, but I must go now to keep you safe."
You couldn't find it in yourself to do anything but listen as the man you loved said goodbye for what could be the last time, and you felt like your chest was caving in on itself.
"Blue Bird…"
"P-paz, my name is Paz Vizsla, mesh'la."
Feeling another sob make its way up your throat you forced it down so you could brokenly say his name as he squeezed you close on last time before pulling away. You watched unable to move as he took steps towards the doorway to your shop, and after he unlocked the door he turned to you and said in a language you didn't recognize, "Ret’uryce mhi," then you watched himnstep out of your shop, and disappear upwards into the sky, leaving you to sob alone on the floor of your shop.
(Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate it sooo much, and if you would please LIKE and REBLOG it helps me out a bunch. Love you guys!!)
Taglist: @ollovaemisc @ace-kit-kat-witch @goblinsimp @kikiinden @shellyc9 @cappchen
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The Spirit of Christmas
Did someone order a Christmas fic? Oneshot. Erik is being hassled by his annoying neighbor.
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Erik's eyes drooped as he looked down on the overgrown child standing before him, short, bundled up, and grinning in a hideous bulky sweater that Christmas threw up. Gold bells dangled from her sleeves. There were multicolored puff balls. His four-year-old play niece couldn't even make anything that ugly. Wasn't she embarrassed? No, she'd have to be somewhat aware for that to kick in.
From the moment she knocked on his door back in April with that same unsettling grin and an offering of rabbit-shaped cookies to let him know she was his new neighbor, he knew there was something wrong with her mentally, he just didn't know what. Needless to say the cookies went in the trash and from then, he'd made it a point to avoid her. He'd tried! On God he had, but as hard as he tried was as strong as she would not let that happen.
What went through that happy little empty head of hers? Did it sound like air blowing through or were there little dancing elves singing all day like Smurfs? As she beamed up at him, he didn't like the hope in her eyes. She was gonna ask for something and it was never anything simple like sugar or flour.
"Merry Christmas neighbor!" Her large dimples sank in. She looked sneaky.
He threw the door shut, but stopped when he heard a loud squeak. Her hand was in the crack blocking the door from closing in her face. That had to have hurt. Opening the door, he started to ask if she was okay but she spoke first, rubbing her hand with a slight wince.
"I've been watching you."
His eyebrows went down knitting together.
"I've seen a lot.. Things you don't think I've seen," she bragged with a smug cross of her jingling arms. Erik stiffened thinking of the bands of cash sitting out on his coffee table.. drugs in a duffel on the floor. His eyes narrowed.
"Oh?" His eyes flickered to the neighboring apartment doors as he wondered who else was watching. "What you see?"
She pushed her index into his chest. "You haven't had visitors since I moved in! No friends.. no family!"
Erik exhaled his relief. "I'm not a people-person."
"If you're a people, you're a person. That makes you a people person," she chirped. Again she made no sense. Erik took a long blink closing the door more carefully this time. "Wait," her hand jetted out again. It was the other hand now blocking the door from shutting.
"What do you want, Jessica," Erik waved impatiently leaning with his elbow on the door frame.. partially to support his resting weight and partially to keep her out. She liked to be nosey looking into his apartment past his body, craning her neck to get into his business.
"I'm doing Christmas in Pittsburgh with the fam, come with me."
He almost spit.
"No."
She blocked the door again and he rolled his eyes putting his head briefly on the door.
"Jessica, I'm tryna be nice 'cause I don't know quite what's wrong with you... but you pushing it."
"It's Christmas spirit! Oh Erik, can't you feel it? It's all around us! 🎵 Christmas is the time of year for being with the one's we love. Sharing so much joy and cheer," she sang. "What a wonderful fe'-"
"PLEASE..."
She froze.
"Don't sing..," he whispered. "Look I have plans. Thanks for the invite but I can't make it."
"Hm." Her finger pointed hard and accusingly. "Erik Stevens you're lying to me! You spend every holiday here in this apartment. I know!" Looking around first, she leaned forward. "I check..."
"With who?"
"This won't do! You gotta get into the festivities, it's Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year!"
"Busy."
"But-"
That was all she got out before the door closed in her face. Erik didn't like holidays. To him, they were regular days but worse because everyone seemed so damn happy as if reality had somehow slipped away. He couldn't just forget real life so easily, he wasn't built that way. Finishing his count, he stored his cash and started on dinner.
"A man fires a rifle for many years and he goes to war. He comes home and he sees that whatever else he may do with his life like build a house, love a woman, change his son's diaper but he will always remain a jarhead," Swoff said onscreen as Erik shoveled a forkful of cheesy pasta into his mouth. This was reality. War, death, power struggle, and debauchery.
A series of knocks on his door had Erik rolling his eyes again. He ignored it until he realized she wasn't leaving then he paused the movie.
"What," he yelled swinging his door open to that same annoying grin.
"Erik, don't close the door! Please, come with me it'll be so much fun. It's twenty minutes away!"
"NO."
"You'll get a present!"
"Nuh-what kinda present? Not one of those ugly ass sweaters I hope."
"Oh this," she chuckled pulling on a bell. "My mom sewed it.. One night and I won't bother you ever again... until New Year's."
"Bye," the door closed.
"Okay okay!" She blocked it. "You won't hear a peep from me until Memorial Day, thank you for your service!"
"My what?"
"I accidentally got your mail one day, you had a VA appointment."
Erik could feel the intense irritation palpable and radiating on his skin.
"I swear, you won't see or hear me just one night of fun," she beamed, blinking quickly with praying hands. Erik sighed looking back at his leftovers to put away.
"Do you promise?... You won't look at me, talk to me, bother me if I go with you this one night?"
---
The ride took twenty-five minutes, five minutes longer than she'd said and she'd sang the entire ride. He was Christmas'd out already. Then he saw the house surrounded in snow.
It was a humble cream colored house with white around the windows and a red door decorated with a wreath. Multicolored lights lined the roof and an inflatable snowman stood guarding the bushes out front. Jessica giddily bounced behind the wheel turning off the car including the heat and Erik was forced to follow her into the residence. The door wasn't locked. They were greeted with heat, strings of Christmas lights, a tall tree decked in pricey looking ornaments, and the sound of old music. Erik knew the song by Bing Crosby.. but he didn't like it.
"Mommy! Daddy! I'm home!"
"My baaby," a woman's voice came, chased by an older woman with neatly arranged grey twists pinned by a mistletoe hair clip. She was definitely a Claire Huxtable type in a white silk blouse, red lipstick, pearls, a red skirt, and low heels. Why wasn't she as tacky as her daughter? Hadn't she made that hideous sweater? She hung onto Jessica, smiling and swaying her back and forth in her arms as if she hadn't seen her in a while.. and then she noticed Erik and straightened. "Ooh. Where are my manners," she smiled looking between him and her daughter as if she were missing something she'd ask Jessica about later in private. Erik felt only mildly uncomfortable. "I'm Ernestine... you are?"
"Mom, this is my neighbor, Erik. I told you he was cute! Ain't he HOT!"
Ernestine's brow raised at her daughter and Erik wondered if something really was wrong with Jessica.
"He has dimples like me! He-"
"Okay dear, that's nice. Erik could I speak to you for a moment?" Ernestine smiled gently but he could read it. She had something serious to say. Following her into the kitchen where casserole dishes and pots and pans of food sat, he could smell cooking like he hadn't smelled in a couple of months. She cooked like his late grandmother and it made him salivate. Greens, shrimp, chicken, ham, mac and cheese, yams, potato salad. He could almost taste it.
"Sorry I'm not really dressed," he offered with Ernestine waving him off.
"Not at all.. Erik..," she paused choosing her words carefully. "What.. exactly.. do you.. know.. about my daughter?"
Erik felt her meaning between the words.  "Not much," he admitted. "We're just neighbors. Is she..."  He didn't know how to ask it.
"She's eccentric" was the answer. "A little.. different than most."
Erik swallowed his response. 
"I know," Ernestine nodded seemingly reading his mind. She must've been used to it. "But I look at it this way.. It's rare that such a beautiful spirit is born into this world, since she was a baby that's never changed. She's our angel.. Please, I know it's not your responsibility but.. look out for her. Will you?"
"Sugarplum," a booming voice yelled from the living room taking the attention. When Erik looked back to Ernestine she smiled and he followed her from the kitchen to see a heavyset older black man shaking Jessica in his arms as she grinned.
"Me next," a younger guy said. From the context, Erik could see it was father and brother. Donald and Joshua who was probably in his early twenties. They both nodded to him as he smiled politely, hands clasped in front of himself. "What you been up to sis? Staying outta trouble I hope."
She shared a few tales from her job. He didn't know she was a dentist, it shocked him completely. Was she really smart enough? Apparently so.
"And I told Mr. MacDougall the SNUGGLE is real," she snickered tickled rosy by her own joke to her patient. She laughed from her nose, forever on the verge of snorting while her family looked at her like she was the baby Jesus. They really did adore her. "But wait! There's MYRRH!!!" Tears leaked from her eyes from laughing and Erik found himself smiling to blend in.
"Oh phooey, Erik, don't be a phoney," Jessica wiped her eye, still shuddering in her laughter. She threw a white pillow from the leather couch at him and he caught it feeling suddenly awkward. "You never laugh at my puns! That's what makes it's so funny," she gasped in stitches. "Mr. MacDougall didn't laugh either. He just stared like he was so confuuused," she wheezed, her nostrils flaring like headlights. It broke her brother who snorted. "I swear I love your faces!"
"Hey hey!" A voice came from the front door as a woman with a brown fur vest scooted inside to the living room with matching brown boots followed by a small group of happy people carrying gifts. They kissed the rest of the family, laughing and talking about everything from rowdy kids to the snow. They seemed like a normal family, everyone but Jessica. She jumped up quickly to take the gifts adding them under the bigass fir tree and Erik wondered what type of gifts they gave and how he'd get one.
Jessica hugged every single person in that group as well as the next. The house was full and loud with laughter, stories, and the sound of kids running back and forth.
"SIT YA ASS DOWN," he heard an auntie growl at a kid only a little older than his play niece. The kid looked at her, sitting immediately.. reminding him of his childhood with his family. "Excuse me," the woman waved apologetically when she made eye contact, but it made Erik feel comfortable. He smiled.
When the family played charades, he sat quietly and hoped they wouldn't call him up and he was lucky because they were too busy competing for a turn, each person imitating a family member and getting roars of laughter followed by an "I am not like that" or an "AND?!" The reactions tickled Erik more than anything. He tried to watch each family member from then to see if the impressions were accurate and he laughed to himself on the ones he could personally confirm.
"Hey Erik," one of the men called from around the kitchen table. The seats were full all around with additional folding chairs pulled up. "Prettyboy like you know how to play spades?"
Erik's brows rose and he blew out a breath. "Old man.. you sure you in the mood to lose?" The man's face dropped and instantly Erik felt his foot in his mouth. He'd gone too far.
"..I think you got a challenge, Lem," the man beside him on his right smirked, coughing to hide his laugh. Lem cut the cards after the man to his left shuffled.
"I'll ask you the same question when you're digging this old foot out ya ass," Lem chuckled and another man stood to let Erik sit. Erik played four successful games before Jessica appeared over his shoulder whispering loudly in his ear. He controlled his shudder feeling the air on his face.
"Christmas scavenger hunt," she said pulling him from the chair. "My neighbor," she explained to the table, hugging him proudly. "Okay, let's go!"
The outdoor scavenger hunt happened in the backyard in the dark. Erik didn't understand why his wrist had to be tied to Jessica's. It wasn't like any scavenger hunt he'd done, not that he'd done one since he was eight and that was for Easter.
"Follow me," Jessica pulled as if he had a choice. She fell almost instantly. "Owww, I bongo'd my booty," she pouted seriously, rubbing her butt.
"..Now I gotta get outta here," he muttered.
"Huh?"
"I said did you see that reindeer."
"What reindeer?" She looked puzzled but forgot it fast.
She pawed through trees and got down on her knees in the snowy grass to feel around which was more than anyone else was doing. They were mostly talking and enjoying the view of the bright sky. It was a beautiful night. The more Jessica searched through the snow, Erik began to think of her hands. She wasn't wearing gloves. Her hands had to be freezing. He looked around at the guests standing around casually.
"Jessica.. I don't think you'll find anything under the snow let's look somewhere else."
"I'm like a bloodhound for this, I can smell it!" She continued to shift snow, digging on her knees shifting around the ground and Erik's mind went to Ms. Ernestine.
"Jessica.. stand up," he whispered through his teeth tugging her up with a quick yank of his wrist. "It's too cold for you to be digging through snow with your bare h-" There was a plastic ornament in her palm, a proud grin on her face.
"I knew it," she leaned in with a conspiratorial smile. "Joshua planted it and he's not that creative," she whispered giddily. "He must have done it before the snow... WE FOUND IT! WE FOUND THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS! WE WIN! YES!! TAKE THAT LOOOOSERRS!!"
As the round of applause and some disappointed groans followed, Erik felt awkward standing with her as she gloated in her ridiculous victory dance but he couldn't negate that... she was right. Once untied, he stood next to her as she turned in the ornament to Ms. Ernestine exchanging it for two small red gift boxes. Handing Erik one, she beamed at him and the small crowd.
"Same time."
He nodded and at the same time they opened the boxes.
"Socks!!! Oh my God I love fuzzy socks," she spazzed bending backward to cheer at the sky. When Erik looked in his box, he looked up at the crowd and Ms. Ernestine. Was it really cool to accept this? Should he give it to Jessica? "What did you get," Jessica asked. He showed her. "Eh.. it's nice but I like mine better," she winked. It was a $100 bill. She could've had tons of socks. He sat down their boxes and felt her hands, they were still cold.
"Let's go inside and warm up," he nodded toward the house glad when Ms. Ernestine agreed, announcing that it was definitely time to eat. She said the prayer as people held hands and Erik couldn't remember the last time anyone around him had held hands to pray. "Let me get that for you. You want a lil everything?" He stepped in to fix an older lady's plate so she wouldn't lose her seat or wait in line. That led to him fixing three different plates for people but Jessica was right there with him, smiling the whole time. "Have a seat," he told her, doubling down when she politely declined. "You've done enough, enjoy your family."
Confused, she did what he suggested and he brought her food and drink to her in the living room before finding a nearby seat. She was just as quirky as ever, saying things that made no sense, but Erik was too into the food to care. He ate three plates and drank two eggnogs.
Right when he thought he'd go into a food coma, he heard his name.
"Erik," a gruff voice called from the dining room. It was her dad waving him over where most of the men were. "Hey, do me a favor and go upstairs to the room on the right and grab that jar from the top shelf of my closet.
Erik looked around briefly with slightly widened eyes for Joshua but didn't see him.
"You want me to..," he questioned.
"Yeah, son, go get it and bring it here. Thanks."
Son, Erik thought as he went up the stairs. The man barely knew him yet called him son. This family was something else and it wasn't something he was used to.
In the closet was a glass mason jar full of pocket change and dollars of varying values. There were 50s in there. The fact that he was trusted to retrieve it spoke volumes. He carried it down the stairs carefully fulfilling his mission to get it back to Mr. Donald who thanked him asking no questions.
"And the jar this Christmas... goes to.. drumroll," he commanded getting a loud drum of hands on laps, tables, and walls. "DREW!"
"YES," a teenage boy shouted hurriedly finding his way forward to pose beside Mr. Donald with the jar. His grin full of braces was as big as Jessica's in that moment and when Erik glanced at Jessica, she waved. He nodded back with a small smile. She was beginning to grow on him... just a little.
When the house erupted in carols, he didn't feel pressured to sing. He sat and listened, smiling at the little kids who sang the loudest with the drunk uncle leading in an offbeat baritone. It was a warm feeling he'd forgotten.
And then they exchanged gifts with some people opening there's on the spot and some people taking theirs to go along with several plates of food.
"Erik," Jessica smiled bouncing happily in front of him like she had the best news. She put a red and green gift box in his hands. The dog design was tacky, but he could look past that now. "Open it now," she rushed and when he did, he was taken aback.. again. "I made this on the off chance that you'd say yes and come home for the holidays with me."
His fingers rolled over his face pasted on top of a photoshopped body added to her family's group photo and it was the most bizarre and lowkey creepy gift he'd ever gotten.. but in that way, it was also perfect which hit different. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't stop looking at it.
"Ew... Don't get all soft on me now Stevens," she blurted rolling her eyes with genuine disgust. What kind of response did she expect? He laughed thinking about it.
"Come here," he grabbed her into a hug she fought to get out of.
"Ew ew ew, feelings!"
It only made him laugh and hold tighter.
---
The ride back to the apartment was more chill. Quiet except for the old music that Jessica sang along to, this time under her breath. When they reached the building, there was a relaxed peace as they went up in the elevator together.
"I owe you a Christmas present," Erik said at the door glancing over as Jessica opened the door to her apartment.
"You do, I gave you a good one."
He blew a small laugh through his nostrils. "Yes. Yes, you did. Have a good night, okay?"
"Sleep in heavenly peace," she smiled leaning her head on her door. He nodded and entered his apartment, picking up in the living room before getting ready for bed. There was another series of knocks on the door.
"What's up," he asked opening it to a squinting Jessica. She looked a little constipated or confused. "You good? What you need?"
"Uh.  I know I promised, but do I still have to stay away from you until Memorial Day? I kinda had a lotta fun tonight. It looked like you did too."
Erik shook his head, too tired to laugh at the nonsense. One thing for sure, he'd never be bored.
"You can talk to me," he nodded dramatically before yawning. "We family ain't we?"
"Good because for New Year's we gotta go turn up at my granny's cat hotel! Eee!!" She clapped squealing in excitement. "You'll love her, she's just like me but she's just a little weird," she whispered.
Erik's brows knit together as he broke down that statement. That was something to think about when the time came, he was too tired.
"Good night, Jessica," he sang closing the door gently. She stopped it.
"One more thing!"
"Girl do you ever get tired!"
"Merry Christmas, brother from another mother," she grinned. He shook his head with a sigh.
"..See you on New Year's."
@nahimjustfeelingit-writes @goddessofthundathighs @thadelightfulone @mszrenee @woahitslucyylu @badgalbrix1 @supersizemeplz @idont-know-shit @vikkidc @ladymac82 @xsweetdellzx @msreshel
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starkexposition · 3 years
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The Bachelor: Tony Stark Edition
Forced myself against my will, at gunpoint, to update this. Here it finally is.
Chapter 2: Electric Boogaloo
Rating: Teen/Mature, it's from college!Peter Parker's perspective Pairings: Tony/Steve, Tony/Strange, Tony/literally everyone, Happy/May, Peter/MJ, Peter/Black Cat, many token ships eventually Summary: One man. Twelve contestants. Several weeks in paradise. All through the horrified eyes of one sticky, adopted son.
“Mr. Stark…”
Most people have normal dreams.
“Can you hear me?”
Nice ones.
“It’s Peter.”
Weird ones.
“Hey.”
Bad ones.
“We won.”
Ones you forget.
“Mr. Stark…”
Or in my case, ones you wish you’d forget.
“We won, Mr. Stark.”
They say when you dream about a person, it’s because they’re dreaming about you, too.
“We won—you did it, Mr. Stark. You did it.”
That never explained why I kept dreaming about him when he was gone.
“I’m sorry, Tony.”
It was never different. Never had a different ending—never even a nightmare. Just the same weak eyes followed by the same labored breaths, every single dream. And each time, the woman who believed in him most would sit with him, hand held to his heart, and promise to him that everything would be okay. And with that, the man who never sleeps would find the peace to finally rest.
There was nothing like it. I had already been through my fair share by then—whether it was the plane crash, or Uncle Ben, or the girl that I loved… Mr. Stark was different. There was no regret, or blame; it was only the mission. The worst part about it was struggling with the selfish feeling that something had been taken away from me, all while balancing the pride that I felt in what he did for the whole universe—and most importantly, for the family that was built around him.
To us, it was a sacrifice. To Iron Man, it was a responsibility.
I guess that must be the reason it kept replaying in my dreams. It didn’t need amending because of the good that it caused, but hell—it kept coming back like a nightmare.
Even after he came back, most sleeps would end the same way: with everyone around us taking a knee for him as the air grew quiet in his passing, Captain Rogers would rise to his feet, place a hand on my shoulder, and say through watered eyes and a weakened smile:
“It was all for you.”
And with Pepper’s blessing, Steve would step forward and pick Tony up from where he laid, carefully carrying him back as Pepper, Rhodey, and myself would slowly walk alongside them.
Some nights, if I got lucky, I’d wake up before Steve’s words.
But not last night.
My brain managed to string out every last excruciating detail of the dream it possibly could in an effort to stay asleep and ignore the sound of repulsors powering down to a low hum beside me. But as they hovered nearby, the stinky air of New York was blown through the ventilation of my suit, which, unfortunately, can be stinky enough to wake you when you become aware of it. A figure took the place of the city’s rising sun, casting a shadow that darkened the scene and gifted me with my daily post-dream reminder...
“You know if you prefer this for your room and board situation, I’d be happy to take up the bill.”
Tony Stark lives.
Which is great. Quality of life really did improve when he came back—for myself, and others, too. Being adopted by him, however, kind of spiced things up a bit. From mentor to parent meant that I was proving myself to him from a parental standpoint, and that consequently resulted in me becoming far more relaxed with him. ‘Cause he’s kind of stuck with me now, you know?
But even in times like this particular morning, when I had a curfew the night before and had to get back to the house upstate by a certain time and specifically did not do so in favor of fighting crime and flirting with a kleptomaniac in a leather suit, I still don’t think I couldn’t be grateful for that fact even when I am abruptly woken from my slumber on a rusty fire escape in New York by Iron Man.
There was always something about those slitted glowing eyes in the faceplate that managed to relay the disappointment behind it so well.
“How’d you find me?” I asked as I kicked my leg up onto the platform, letting my eyes settle on the ladders above.
“Same way I always find you—” Beep-beep, beep-beep! Karen pulled up a GPS screen in my lenses that pinpointed my location, with an additional flashing blip for where the Iron Man suit was just a few feet away. “Installed another tracking device in your suit.”
I pulled off my mask and sat up quickly. “Really?”
“Yes, really,” he gestured to me, his tone dripping with annoyance. “I don’t have time to play hide-and-go-seek in the alleys and dumpsters of New York every time I need you.”
“I have a phone.”
“That you don’t answer.” Tony then tossed over my backpack that was webbed up on the dumpster below. “You know, you could be sleeping on a fire escape in Cambridge right now.”
“MIT doesn’t have MJ—” Oof. Too quick there, Pete. “Or-or Ned. Or May. Or… you?”
The face plate turned to stare at me with slitted eyes once again, Mr. Stark tilting his head. “I thought you broke up with MJ.”
Of course, he won’t ignore it.
“We broke up,” I corrected him, even though that was also technically wrong, but he definitely did not need to know that. “Besides, we’re fine. We’re friends.”
“When was the last time you spoke to her?”
“Last week,” I told him, pulling the mask over my face again.
Mr. Stark stayed silent, faceplate staring into my soul with those narrowed eyes as he waited for me.
“Okay, fine,” I sighed, swinging down from the escape, “a month ago.”
I shot a web to the wall of the building across from us, and like that, we were en route home.
“Ouch.” Naturally, Mr. Stark’s voice came in through the suit itself while he traveled closely behind me. “That bad, huh?”
“Not really,” I lied. “And I mean, we did try the whole friend thing. That’s not gone. It’s just that… well, sometimes when you break up, it makes it a lot harder to stay broken up when you try to be friends right away, you know?”
“So…” He paused for a moment, as we turned a corner to Avengers Mansion. “You’re not friends?”
I landed on the walkway and pushed my way inside. “I stressed her out too much. I’m just giving her space.”
Mr. Stark’s suit was entirely gone by the time he followed me into the kitchen of the mansion. Making a beeline to the coffee, he raised an eyebrow at me as he pulled the pot and two mugs for the both of us, fixing mine up with sugar before he poured. “That must be easy for you at least.”
“Never said it was.” I informed him as I rummaged around the refrigerator for something, anything with sustenance… Bingo. Pizza. The only consistency that truly exists within the Avengers is the ability to almost always find leftover pizza in the fridge. “But is that stuff ever really easy?”
“Well…” Tony’s voice raised suggestively as he circled around the counter and took a sip of his coffee. “It sure seems like it is now that you’ve got yourself a feline to keep you company.”
I came to a halt, cold pizza at my lips. “Seriously? I’m not talking about this with you.”
Tony cackled, sipping his coffee as he slipped from the kitchen to the elevator, finger pressed on the ‘open door’ button as he waited for me to gather my pizza and coffee to join him. Moments later, we were entering his workshop, which was remarkably as cluttered as I had seen it last. He walked through slowly, moving papers and hardware around to organize the place and put away his projects reluctantly, and each time he seemed lost in thought, staring at some weird looking, half-dismantled device, he would take a sip from his coffee before making his decision on what to do with whatever it was he was holding.
“All packed?” He asked as he pulled the mug from his lips, tossing something into the trash.
I gripped the mask in my hands and turned away from him to face one of the blueprints on the wall, pretending to read it. “Yeah. Absolutely.”
“Good,” he said. He stopped at the door to his office and looked at me with expectant eyes. “Well? Get dressed so we can go home.”
Before I could even turn away, the door to his office was shut behind him, the blue glow of his holograms flashing through the opaque glass of his office doors and windows. Whatever it was he was working on must not have required too much attention, as he was waiting impatiently for me by his car in the mansion’s garage only a few minutes later, toes tapping the ground while he leaned against the hideously orange supercar.
“Really?” I asked. “This one again?”
His eyes perked up over the rim of his glasses, eyebrows shooting up in offense. “Would you rather walk?”
I shook my head and walked over to the passengers side with Mr. Stark moving out of the way to the driver’s door. “I just think—” I got in, stuffing my bag by my feet, “—you could spice it up sometime. Maybe you could go red next. Or a matte black… now, that’d be nice. All electric, so smooth. Stealthy. It’d be great.”
Tony sat beside me, buckling his belt as he looked at me in disbelief again, “I’m sorry, can you even drive?”
I stared at him and waited for him to realize, but he just stared back. “I’m 19,” I reminded him.
“And?” He said as he started the car and drove closer to the garage door, allowing it to open automatically at his approach. “You never drive anywhere.”
His gaze looked past me then, encouraging mine to follow, and we both looked at the gray Audi that sat on the far right end of the mansion’s garage collecting dust. I looked back at Tony, ready to defend myself and my apparent preference for swinging as my primary mode of travel, but he just grinned and floored it, pulling us away from the mansion, the city, and to upstate New York.
* * *
Saturday nights at the Stark Residence meant one thing: family dinner. It wasn’t required, obviously, since most weekends I couldn’t make it home, and even if I could, I usually chose to not to, as I was 19, in college, had homework, Ned, and was constantly in an internalized battle of wanting to win my ex-girlfriend back and my unexplained desire to spend an unusual amount of time around one of my more recent torments in life:
Felicia Hardy.
And if I’m honest, I’ve probably spent more of my Saturday nights playing cat and mouse with Felicia than I have been doing homework or playing games with Ned. Only thing is, lately it has seemed more like she’s the cat and I’m the mouse—appropriate, since she is the Black Cat and all—despite that I have almost always been in pursuit of her. But my naivety always manages to lead me into falling for her traps and doing whatever it might be that she had planned for me—which, of course, almost always results in me failing to “catch” her.
What a shame.
Of course, that does exclude all of those nights where I did catch up to her. On the rooftops, quips and riddles, jabs and flirts, and the few times I got lucky enough for her to lift my mask up just enough to leave a…
How did I get started on Felicia again?
Right. Family dinners. Instead of seeing her. Just a prelude to the next few months. Did I even remember to say goodbye?
Sigh.
Anyway. Family dinners.
The only night of the week we managed to get (mostly) everyone together. Between Stark Industries and some Avengers work for Tony (remotely, of course, since the man really can’t help himself), Morgan in school and clubs, the vast Morgan Babysitting Unit (Rhodey, Maria Hill, Aunt May, and Happy mostly) trading off the rascal throughout the week, and of course, whatever Happy and May got up to in their free time (don’t remind me), Saturdays were usually the one time in the week that everyone tried their best to set aside for visiting with each other. You know, for Tony’s sake. While the ladies, including Tony’s new personal assistant, Charlotte, would split a bottle of wine as Happy and May cooked the meal together—Italiano, as they introduced it this particular time—the rest would buzz around the house, catching up on the week’s events and sharing laughs like a normal family would.
Normal.
Of course, with it being my first time home for dinner in a few months, most of the attention was on me during the meal—as Mr. Stark cleverly directed it to be, in an effort to avoid talking about the obvious circus that was set to begin the following day—with Rhodey and Maria mainly prying at me for school and hero related questions, but they were sure to cover every topic in the book, like the one I was hoping to avoid.
Girls.
Or, more specifically, MJ.
It took me going from my typical sarcasm to getting quiet and frustrated when the questions persisted for the conversation to finally fizzle out, bringing our dinner party to an end. Rhodey stood up from his seat beside me, resting a hand on my shoulder and squeezing it in understanding, as he grabbed his plate to leave. Everyone, apart from myself and May, began to disperse with him, heading to the kitchen with their empty plates.
I lifted a rogue spaghetti noodle above my face and caught it in my mouth between my tongue and teeth as Aunt May poured herself another glass of wine. She looked up at me as I practically inhaled the noodle, eyes slimming into an unamused look as she stared at me over the rim of her glass.
“This is our last dinner together for a while and you’re not even gonna use your manners?” She tilted her head, hair sliding down from her shoulder.
I made a face and shook my head, reaching for the spoon in the pan. “Not when it’s spaghetti night,” I shrugged in refusal, dumping a small second serving on my plate.
May eventually followed in suit, her eyes nervously checking up on me again and again. With a breath and returned eye contact, I braced myself for the inevitable questions—
“You’re all packed?”
“Yes.”
“Have your passport?”
“Yes.”
Her face fell and she leaned forward, brows furrowing in worry. “… Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“Of course not,” I said. “It was my idea to begin with.”
She lowered her voice. “I mean for Tony.”
“Well, why not?”
Aunt May stared at me for a couple seconds, noodles sliding off her fork back onto the plate. “I don’t know, he just… you know, this is a lot of publicity for someone who, you know… was dead—”
“—in a coma—”
“—less than a year ago,” May let out a sigh, her shoulders sinking. “Do you have to get technical with me?”
I set my fork down and sat back in my seat, biting my lip in frustration. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”
“Tony’s been back for, what? Seven months?” She crossed her arms.
“Publicly, yes, and it’s not like he really kept it much of a secret before that, anyway,” I said, crossing my arms back. “He’s been alive for almost two years. A lot can happen in two years. A person can grow.”
She let out another sigh of concern. “And you don’t think all of this is too much for him?”
“He’s two years old. Of course not,” I said, dropping another noodle into my mouth. “I was ready for that kind of attention when I was his age.”
“Peter…”
“Wasn’t I?”
“Peter.”
“Listen,” I sighed, “he agreed to it at his own risk. Besides, no matter what he does, publicity will follow. He knew this ahead of time. That’s why he waited until his rehab was over—he wanted to be ready. And if he says he’s ready…”
Her eyes looked over her glasses’ frames at me. “We both know he’s not ready.”
“You know, this might actually be good for him,” I offered. “A good way for him to kinda get back in it, you know? It’s like a nice, long vacation with a bunch of pretty people gawking over him. I honestly don’t see the problem with it.”
“A bunch of pretty people trying to use him for his money, maybe,” she started picking at her food again.
“That’s the life he always used to live, May. Which is why I think it could be good for him. Might teach him to have fun again—you know, center him,” I sat up in my chair again, picking up my fork and stuffing my face with more noodles. “Plus,” I said through chewing, “it’s good promotion.”
“Promotion for what?”
“I don’t know, really,” I swallowed my food at her look of distaste. “Something to do with clean something something. Something for the planet. Or something. He was talking about it with those fancy people from the network out at dinner the other night.”
“And you didn’t listen?”
I wound up more pasta and took another bite. “No, why would I?”
Aunt May stopped her movements and stared at me for a moment before continuing to scoop up the noodles. “Are you sure there’s nothing else you’re gonna need for the trip?”
“Positive,” I smiled.
“Alright,” she let out a sigh, “if you say so.”
I smirked a bit, and took another bite full. “Are you sure you’re gonna make it that long without me?”
She took a small piece of a noodle from her plate and chucked it at me. “Zip it, you. I’ll be fine.”
I peeled the noodle from my cheek and looked at it. “Man, Aunt May… Nice aim—” And with that, I launched the noodle back at her.
By the time Morgan and I had finished clean up duty, with me washing the dishes and her wiping down the table with a cloth I gave her, the adults had migrated to the lounge with another bottle of wine, loud chatter and laughter filling up the air around them. Tony was off with Charlotte, going over a checklist with her to ensure that he had everything he needed for the trip before our departure in the morning. I stopped Morgan before she headed upstairs, holding a finger to my lip to keep her quiet as I pulled the freezer door open for her, and before we knew it, we were sneaking upstairs to our rooms with a popsicle in Morgan’s hand and snacks in my own.
The crinkling noise a bag of potato chips makes as you open it is one of the most satisfying noises in the world. Especially in the safety of your own home—unabashedly opening up a new bag without holding back to muffle any sounds. Just that sweet, sweet tearing noise as the smell of greased up, salty potatoes fills your nostrils and momentarily takes the place of that super sweet tub of Ben & Jerry’s beside you. One plus about upgrading to a king sized bed is finally having the room to keep your food beside you as you lie there—it’s a great way to be lonely without entirely feeling lonely. For the most part. Except when you remember that you’re eating an whole pint of ice cream entirely by yourself, because that’s when it starts to hit you that you’re actually, seriously doing this and you really shouldn’t be—
“Really, Pete?”
I looked up from my snacks as I pulled out an earbud, my eyes meeting the unamused eyes of my father. “What?” I asked.
He closed the door behind himself as he walked closer, crossing his arms. “We just picked those up for the flight tomorrow and you’re already eating them?”
“I was hungry,” I told him before grabbing another chip.
“You’re supposed to be getting everything ready,” he grumbled.
“I am,” I said, pointing the chip towards the half-zipped suitcase on the floor, with shirt sleeves and socks and pants sticking out the sides… Well. I tried. “Over there.”
His gaze followed my potato chip to the suitcase and he walked over to it, opening it up to see the jumbled mess of clothes that I neatly tossed into the suitcase from my closet—which, mind you, was already half packed from the last field trip we took in school a month ago. Clever, I know. I mean, half of the clothes were dirty anyway, and a lot of them I just grabbed from my floor… so really, most of them were at least a smidgen dirty. Probably, like, 90% of them were dirty. But none of that really mattered, you see, because we are staying in an actual house while we’re there, and real houses always have washers and dryers, right?
Right?
That didn’t quite matter any longer either, as my father’s eyes fell into that absolutely terrifying “disappointed” look that I was unfortunately seeing a lot of as of late. But just as he went to close it, his eyes widened at the sight of something else and he knelt down to tug on a piece of cloth.
A red piece of cloth. And blue. And black. That turned out to be more than just a piece of cloth. And that was suddenly being dangled in my face for a split second before it was folded over my father’s arm.
“No suit,” his stern voice rang through the room as he turned back towards the door.
My eyes widened as I jumped from my bed, almost knocking over my ice cream, and I followed him out. “What do you mean ‘no suit’? I can’t just go away for that long without it—”
He opened the door, looking back at me. “And is that seriously how you’re taking care of this thing?” He pushed through, lifting the suit to his nose. “God, Pete, it smells…”
“Dad,” I pleaded, “I can’t leave without it.”
“Seriously. When’s the last time you sent Hap to get this thing dry-cleaned?” He turned back to look in my room, pointing at the suitcase as the door swung shut. “By the way, pal, one half-assed packing job isn’t gonna cut it. We’ll be gone the whole summer. Pack accordingly.”
I stopped in the hall as he continued up it with the suit still slung around his arm. “Dad, please,” I begged.
He began walking backwards, a smirk plastered to his lips. “No can do, kiddo,” he said. “You’re not supposed to work while you’re on vacation.”
And with that, he was gone, spending the rest of his evening with the usual entourage before they headed out to Happy’s place for the night.
I didn’t notice myself falling asleep. I wasn’t planning on it either—I don’t think I ever even rested my head for a second. But there I was; it was one o’clock, N64 fan roaring, half-eaten pint of ice cream melting accompanied by an opened bag of potato chips, and I had fallen asleep, controller still in hand. I peeled myself out of bed slowly, grabbing the snacks and heading downstairs to put them away in their respective places. As I was sealing away the tub of ice cream in the freezer, I noticed the door to the workshop downstairs slightly propped open, a faint glow coming from it and the distant voice of FRIDAY.
Curiosity killed the cat, right? Wish me luck.
Ever-so-thankful for my powers, I creaked the door open quietly and jumped up to the ceiling, slowly crawling down the spiral staircase until I finally reached the workshop. Everything was dark and put away apart from the desk, where Tony sat in his rolling chair, staring up at the blue holograms projected around him.
As though his breath had been hitched in his lungs for a long while, Tony let out a sharp sigh as he let go of his frozen stature, leaning forward in his seat. “Alright FRIDAY,” he pulled a pen from his desk and started scribbling on a piece of paper, “run the scans.”
“Certainly, boss,” FRIDAY said, and the holograms began pulling up hundreds, thousands—hell, even millions of files of footage. “Scanning all known devices now.”
Tony sat back in his seat again, jaw clenched in fear as hopeful eyes watched the projections around him. A sigh escaped his lips as he watched FRIDAY sort through the files, hurt filling the contortions of his face and… That’s when I noticed him.
How had I missed him?
“Come on,” Tony prayed, his eyes daring to well up into tears. “Come on, Cap.”
As files were sorted, discarded or scanned again and again, the screen running through images and clips so fast it hardly even flashed with the changes, the files were compared to an image presented to the right of them, none of them matching up with with the familiar head of blond hair that was almost damn near waiting for a match.
Years later, and Tony Stark was still searching for Steve Rogers.
I guess it sort of came as a surprise to me. He didn’t talk about Cap very often. If he did, it was usually short lived—it was never really something he chose to dwell on. And anytime someone tried to bring him up, he never spoke of their time together like it had the weight that I knew it did—like they were just some old buddies back in the day, and that was it. With everything going on in his life, I guess I just assumed he was a bit forced to move on from it.
Then again, when Tony came back—which, mind you, will forever be the most shocking moment of my entire life—one of the first things he asked about was Steve. Just to know if where he was… if he was okay. I was the one who told him he was gone, that he had brought the stones home, and was never to return.
He gave me a small nod when I told him, eyes drifting away from me, as he forced out a quiet, “okay, then.”
And that was it. That was all he ever asked about him. After he quickly regained his composure, Pepper ushered him away to get him some nourishment until they both finally decided it was time to wake Morgan up to see him again after seven long months apart.
I always wondered if Captain Rogers would have stayed if he knew Tony was coming back.
I guess that was part of the tragedy, wasn’t it? How could anyone have known that by some miracle he would come back? I hadn’t, Pepper hadn’t, nor did Rhodey, or Morgan, or Happy. There was no way Captain Rogers would have predicted that, either. He, like the rest of us, altered his life accordingly.
But if he got the chance to see what I was seeing, would he come back?
“I’m sorry, boss,” FRIDAY said solemnly. “The scans were unsuccessful.”
I suppose we’d never know.
Tony sat still, defeat stealing whatever energy he had left in him, as he tried desperately to understand the holograms before him. He stared for what felt like ages, breathing through the frown on his lips, swallowing back his guts here and there whenever he needed it. Finally, his eyelashes fluttered as he looked away from what was before him, energy joining him once again to neaten his paperwork. “Well, then,” he forced out, “let’s wrap it up for a while, shall we?”
He stood from his desk, picking up a mug of cold coffee and bringing it to his lips as he turned and started walking away, papers still in hand. He walked to a cabinet, dropping the papers into a file as he slowly lowered the mug, swallowing back his thoughts with his coffee.
“Would you like me to keep an open scan going while you’re gone?” FRIDAY inquired.
Tony’s eyes broke from wherever they had drifted, running in my direction on their way to look at the hologram—
Uh oh.
I managed to scurry back right as his head stopped its movement, hiding out of sight before his eyes flickered back over in my direction.
“Yeah,” he agreed. Footsteps. “Let me know if you find anything on your radar.”
Goose bumps. Skin tingling. Danger. Danger. Danger. I don’t think I’ve ever crawled on a ceiling faster than I did, barely making it to the door in time to leave it cracked where it was before he noticed it. It was faster to go out through the porch and up through my window than it was to run through that maze of a house, and I still only made it just in time to get under the covers before my father cracked open my door to check if I was sleeping. The pixelated N64 screen and controller by my hand was seemingly convincing enough, as he turned out the rest of my lights and left me to sleep.
* * *
To be honest, I wasn’t the most excited person when I realized that being adopted by Tony Stark also meant moving off to some cabin in the deep woods of upstate New York. The whole farm life thing never exactly appealed to me the way it did others, I guess. I was perfectly fine with living just a block away from my favorite hoagie joint, a couple blocks down from my best friend, the same part of town as the girl I sorely wanted back, and you know, the same city as the college that I attended daily. The drives back and forth from campus whenever I actually did make my way home only started to get better when I was actually doing them on my own, but they were still painfully long when Ned wasn’t able to join me for a weekend. And when your only entertainment for an entire weekend (or even week) is a six-year-old who is particularly obsessed with outsmarting you, Happy Hogan, and a video game that you somehow manage to fall asleep to while playing pretty much every night as of late, life can get pretty lonely up in the boonies.
Still, there was something to be said about waking up surrounded by nature instead of the city.
You’d be surprised as to just how calming it is for the morning sun’s glow to slowly enter your room, birds chirping in the trees outside your windows, wind chimes twinkling as a soothing voice peacefully rings throughout the four walls of your room…
“Everybody was kung fu fighting—” I don’t think I could have slapped my alarm any faster.
I attempted at covering my head with a pillow to block out the light, but the disturbance of voices downstairs disrupted my Sunday morning a bit early again—although this time, the voices seemed to amount to more of a crowd.
Great.
“Peter, your father will be arriving at your door in fifteen seconds,” Karen warned, lights brightening in my room as I hopped from my bed, placing in my earbuds. Like clockwork, the door creaked open as I paced my room in an effort to make myself seem busy.
“Pete.”
I pulled an earbud from my ear and glanced up at my father before heading to my closet. “You know, you should try knocking sometime.”
Mr. Stark trailed into my room behind me nonchalantly, looking around at the mess spread across the room as he picked up notebooks from my bed and placed them on my desk. “You say that like your alarm didn’t go off two minutes ago.”
“So?” I picked up the notebooks and moved them to my pile of schoolwork. “You never know—I could have been changing.”
He stopped in his tracks, his gaze tracing up to mine with a single eyebrow cocked up in disbelief. “Really?”
“What?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in anything but pajamas before two on a weekend.” He forced back a smile. “Besides, my point stands, you weren’t doing anything embarrassing. Which, by the way—”
“—that’s not my point—”
“—what exactly was it that you were doing?” He turned on his heel, looking around my room. “And what is that smell? Garbage? Gym clothes? Dirty sheets?”
“Dad.”
“When’s the last time you changed your sheets?”
“Dad.”
“Can we get some windows open in here?”
“Of course,” Karen complied, the panel windows rotating open on command, the sound of the leaves following the breeze that filled the room.
“Much better,” he exhaled.
I collapsed on my bed again, then, placing the earbud back in my ear. “Do you always have to act like something died in here when you enter my room completely uninvited?”
“I’m saving your skin, you know. May is downstairs and if she smelled whatever’s going on in here, you’d have a much bigger problem on your hands.”
I jolted up in horror. “May? What is May still doing here—”
“I invited her,” he stated simply. “For Happy’s sake. Surprise.”
I scowled. “Don’t encourage them.”
“Which reminds me, where are your bags?”
“Bags?” My eyes then drifted to the very same suitcase from the night prior, just as untouched, half-full, and dirty as it was the last time my father told me to work on packing it.
My father followed my sight and immediately let out a sigh, his back to me, and I just knew the face that he was about to hit me with before he even managed to turn around. And then he did.
Here we go.
The look of unsurprised disbelief with a flavor of sheer, utter annoyance as his eyes rolled up to the ceiling.
Personally, this was my favorite look of disappointment from him. His “shocked” face that I always seem to get whenever I prove time and time again that he really should stop having any sort of faith in me being able to do anything that is not Avenger, homework, or video game. I mean, it’s only fair. To the both of us, really.
He finished his eye roll, those disappointed eyes falling to mine before he finally headed to the door. “Get dressed and be down in five. Say hi to the crew quickly and then please finish packing. We can’t be late for this.”
“We’re leaving today?”
“Seriously?” He was out the door in seconds, calling back, “How on earth are you more like me than I am like me these days?”
I jumped from my bed and grabbed a t-shirt that was folded on the top of my dresser, pulling it over my head as followed Mr. Stark down the hall, door clicking shut behind me. “How long until we leave?” I asked, catching up to him on the stairs.
“Around an hour.” He muttered, head tilting towards mine. “You definitely did not get dressed that quickly.”
“I’m not going in there alone,” I told him.
He halted about half-way down, looking me up and down in my sweatpants and Midtown gym shirt. His lips flattened into a line, the look of annoyance returning to his face. He then unbuttoned his suit jacket, turned, and shrugged. “Fine.” And as we finished our trek down the stairs, he expanded his arms grandly, cleared his throat, and projected an embarrassingly loud, “Everyone—Peter has finally decided to join us!”
Every pair of eyes in the room fell to mine.
… I brought this upon myself.
It was barely seconds before the only person from ABC that I actually recognized managed to catch my attention—and yes, there was, once again, a gray hair sitting intrusively on the blazer.
“Peter!” She exclaimed, peeling her way through the group to shake my hand. “Are you excited for the next few months?”
“Sure,” I offered, my eyes drifting from hers in search of Aunt May. I looked back at her, squinting a bit as I studied her face. “I’m sorry, I’m forgetting your name.”
“Nellie Freeman,” she reminded me. “I’m one of the producers for The Bachelor.”
“Uh huh,” I nodded my head. The whole bullshitting portion of this thing was already wearing on me, and I was only about… a sentence and a half into it. And it was obvious, as a rather awkward look of concern started to form on her face. “Look, I’m going to be honest with you, Ms. Freeman,” I sighed, slouching a bit. “I just rolled out of bed. I really just came down here for food before I get ready to leave.”
Nellie nodded then, stepping aside. “You should probably focus on that, Peter. And please, call me Nellie.”
“Okay.”
“We’ll find the chance to talk later, alright?” She said, clutching her mimosa close to her hair-intruding blazer.
I nodded, turning to make my way to the kitchen. “Okay, Ms. Freeman.”
And with that, I was free, and doing one of my favorite past times: rummaging the refrigerator for food. And as I rolled out each and every tray, drawer, compartment, searching high and low for just a little bit of cream cheese, I felt a very gentle tug at the hem of my shirt. I paused, raising my eyebrows to look down at the very soft, yet expectant face of a six-year-old, a small smile playing at her lips.
“Hi,” she said.
“Good Morgan,” I greeted her, stifling a laugh as she let out her usual giggle. “Staying out of trouble so far?”
“I need your help,” she said. She then waved for me to get close, so I did, crouching down and offering my ear to her. She cupped her hands, leaning close to whisper. “Can I have some of your root beer?” She asked, pulling back with an innocent look on her face.
“Maguna,” I sighed, turning towards her totally. “You do realize it’s still morning, right?”
“Yes,” she nodded.
“And that our father is right on the other side of that wall?”
She nodded again. “Yes.”
I raised my eyebrows again, pointing in the direction of our living room. “And that if he catches me giving you root beer at seven in the morning without asking his permission, he’ll get very mad at me?”
“Yes,” she said, this time with a single, big nod.
“I don’t know, kiddo,” I told her, standing up and pulling a bottle of root beer from the fridge, “not sure if it’s worth the punishment.”
She tapped my arm this time, tugging at my shirt afterwards. “Please?”
“Hmm,” I looked between my sister and the bottle of root beer in my hands. “Are you ready to leave yet?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” I set the bottle on the counter, along with the bagels and cream cheese, closing the fridge and crouching back down to meet her height. “Go on up to my room, then. I’ll bring some up to you when I finish getting my breakfast and you can play Mario Kart while I pack.”
And for the last hour that we spent in our home for the time being, my sister and I kept sanctuary up in my room, with Morgan sprawled out on my bed, trying to make sense of an N64 controller as I coached her on how to take out Bowser as revenge for his ruthless attack on her Luigi. My bags were carelessly tossed together in a matter of minutes, suit staying tucked away underneath heaps of clothes, and my Playstation carefully wrapped (and hidden) in clothes in my second suitcase, zipped away until further notice. I had bravely ventured downstairs to grab the next round of root beers, and the two of us were able to stay far away from any parental units paroling the household for the remainder of the hour—shocking, since Morgan’s got quite the big mouth when it comes to video games.
Packing the vans for our departure to the airport wasn’t chaotic until the rest of the black-blazer-with-a-stray-strand-of-gray-hair-obtrusively-standing-out-and-distracting-me-once-again people from ABC arrived. It went from packing up the car for a nice family vacation to me pretty much being sent up to my room to pack yet another whole bag with all of the items on their list of things that I had to bring for my “wardrobe” that I didn’t know were “required” for my nice, lovely, family vacation. And then came the labeling of each and every bag—which, of course, followed their security check of each and every bag.
That’s right. They brought security for us.
I know.
Anyway, I’m pretty sure the ridiculousness of checking Iron Man for safety threats was the tipping point of my sanity, so by about eight o’clock, I was lying in the middle of the driveway and tossing a rock up into the cloudy sky. At some point, Mr. Stark’s hand suddenly reached out and caught it and he looked down at me with a tired smile.
“You ready?”
I raised my eyebrows and caught the rock as my father dropped it. “Did my background check already make it in?”
“Funny,” he rolled his eyes as he reached down to grab my hand, pulling me up. “You should be praying that they don’t find it.”
“What do you mean?” I laughed, picking my backpack up from the curb as I followed him up the driveway to the big, black, spy-like SUVs. “Peter Parker is as threatening as Happy when he falls asleep on the couch after Thanksgiving dinner.”
His hand rested on my back as he guided me to an open door in one of the SUVs. “Have you read your high school disciplinary record?”
“No. That’s your job,” I grinned at him as I climbed in and slid to the end, grabbing the buckle.
“Yeah,” Mr. Stark’s eyes widened at the thought as he got in his seat beside me. “And your poor Aunt May’s.”
“Well, she knows about the whole… you know… Spidey thing, now, so it’s fine,” I said, shrugging. “I’m sure it explains a lot.”
Happy’s eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. “Yeah,” he grumbled. “Wait until you can’t use that excuse this summer.”
My jaw fell only slightly as I let out a chuckle. “No, no—not an excuse. I won’t need it, anyway. No suit, no hero antics, no need for doing anything absolutely stupid.”
Happy’s eyes looked up again in the mirror as he stopped at the end of our driveway. “The suit isn’t what causes you to be stupid.”
And with another small, Pikachu gasp escaping my lips and laughter bellowing from Aunt May and the man beside me, the window rolled up slowly, separating him and May from myself, Morgan, and our dad for the rest of the ride to the city.
The car ride inbound was far more easy-going than the last long one we had heading outbound, on our way home from my grand, very belated ‘adoption party’, where this whole Bachelor thingy began. I was silent, overwhelmed, sort of regretting the amount of root beer that I had consumed.
I think, like, five glasses, maybe? Full glasses, too. Like the big ones, not the little scotch glasses. All five, sitting in my stomach over every pothole and rock we ran over.
“Come to think of it, Pete, I didn’t really see you much tonight. Was it the nerves? Too many people?”
I nodded assuringly. “Too many people. Definitely.”
He eyed me in suspicion and then let out a sigh. “Listen, Pete. Don’t let this whole… moving into a multi-billionaire’s million dollar lakeside New York mansion thing scare you into thinking you have to respect me any better.”
“I think,” I narrowed my eyes as I stared at him in confusion, “I think just saying that… does?”
“What I’m trying to say is now that I’m officially your father and you’re officially my son, that weird, politeness type of respect isn’t necessary anymore,” he went on, looking forward at the street as Happy drove their car back to their home. “If anything, you should respect me less.”
“I feel like this is a test,” I told him.
“It is and it isn’t,” he grinned to himself. “Just be a normal kid, alright? No more Mr. Starks, no more asking permission for every single little thing. Just ask permission sometimes, when it’s necessary. And don’t call me ‘dad’ while wearing your suit. That’s when you call me ‘Mr. Stark’. Got it?”
And that was it. I’ll be honest, the whole transition from “Mr. Stark” to “Dad” hasn’t exactly been easy, but I think I’ve got it down.
For the most part.
Happy took a sharp turn then, breaking my thoughts as we went off of our course to the airport. “Sorry,” he shouted from the front seat.
“Mr. Stark…?” I muttered, staring out the windows in confusion. I looked at him and he raised an eyebrow expectantly. I realized my mistake but refused to correct it, staring back at him with my own eyebrows raised expectantly as the SUV pulled to a stop in front of the mansion, film crews piling out of one of the vans ahead. “What’s going on?”
“Showtime—” was all he said, before jumping out of the vehicle and heading over to the makeup artists, who, of course, swarmed him.
It was going to be a long summer. And it was only April.
The beauty of college was that the summer typically began in May, anyway, and with some teeth-pulling trips home away from the hyperactive, crime-filled city, I was able to set aside blocks of time to get my work done early in an effort to finish my semester earlier than most. I must say—midterms and finals all within two weeks of each other were not exactly the highlight of my college career so far, but finishing the semester by the start of April in exchange for an extended summer was pretty worth it.
Apart from the makeup brushes that were suddenly advancing on my face.
“Wait—” I held up my hands in defense, waving the brushes away. “No, no—not me, not my thing. I’m fine with—you know,” I gestured toward my face, “this.”
“It’s for lighting,” one of the artists argued.
“And that,” I said, slinging my backpack over my shoulder, “is what editing is for. Tell Ms. Freeman I said that.”
Like clockwork, Nellie Freeman ran towards me, calling my name. “Peter!” She said, excitedly, “Go on over to your father. Share a laugh with him.”
Share a laugh?
I was guided over to where he was and before I knew it, cameras were pointed at us in all directions as Mr. Stark put an arm around me and looked at me to chat, pointing to me. “Are you ready?” He asked, charming smile flashing on his face.
“No,” I said, forcing a smile, trying hard not to look at the camera. “How long do I have to do this?”
“Entire summer,” his smile grew proud.
My face fell.
“Remember, this was all your idea,” he let out a laugh then, and it was apparently enough to satisfy the cameras.
Worst moment of my life.
So far.
As a small part of the crew followed me around the front of the mansion—which, I had inferred was for their introduction to the show, as they were filming numerous angles of the mansion itself, as well as our family by the gates out front, and even a small moment of Tony driving out of the garage in yet another hideously orange supercar—the sound of a small explosion a couple blocks over rumbled through the streets. Myself and the camera people with me, who happened to be closest to the noise, all turned in fear as cop cars zipped up the street towards whatever it was.
My heart pounded a bit as the adrenaline came through my body with my senses and I looked at the crew urgently, “You should probably go distract Iron Man before you lose camera time with him.”
They took my advice.
Barely a minute later, I was in my suit, swinging through the streets of New York City.
Standard bank robbery: getaway car at the corner of the block waiting in drive, hold up in the lobby of the bank, gunmen standing guard outside, and my favorite—two pyromaniacs blowing a hole in the alleyway wall to gain outside access to the vault.
Minutes later, the vault guys were webbed to the brick walls of the alley, the gunmen were knocked out and webbed up, the two guys holding up inside were webbed together in a nice, snug hug, and the getaway car was stopped mid movement by me mere seconds after I had webbed up its passengers to street lights in their escape.
A standard day in New York City for Spider-Man.
Man, I was going to miss it. Genuinely. It was a hobby as much as it was a passion and a responsibility. It had its perks, of course, but swinging through the city, stopping to fight whatever crime was impending, and then getting back into the air moments later just to return to whatever I was doing, or like in many cases, to the backpack I webbed up to a dumpster in an alleyway a block away from the mansion. I undressed from my suit as quickly as possible and got back in the clothes I was wearing before, stuffing the suit into my backpack—
Spider sense. Spider sense. Behind you, Peter—Peter. Peter. Peter.
I turned quickly to see an old bearded man standing at the end of the alleyway by the sidewalk, staring at me as I stuffed the spider suit into my backpack.
I felt my cheeks burning red as the man just watched. “It’s not what it looks like, I promise,” I smiled nervously. “I just found it in the dumpster. It’s probably—it’s probably not even real.”
The old man let out a chuckle, approaching me slowly. “It’s okay, Peter,” he said with a smile. “You don’t need to worry.”
I froze in that moment, movements halted as I registered the voice and the way it said my name—yes. My name.
My name?
“How did you…” I trailed off as the main presented a large pouch to me, reluctantly taking it from him. I stared at the pouch and then up to those old, tired, glistening eyes. “Are you one of the wizards?”
“No,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “You might wanna grab a lab kit for that before you leave, by the way.”
And that was how my Breaking Bad career took off.
Kidding. Sort of. Hopefully. All that was in the bag from what I could tell was some old rusty gear and tech and a few pieces of paper to accompany the items. I looked up from the bag and back at the old man, who just watched with a pair of what seemed to be proud eyes.
I stared at him for a moment, trying to make sense of the familiarity in his eyes. “Who are you?”
The man’s face fell slightly for a moment and he placed a hand on my shoulder, dipping his head down a bit as he blinked slowly, lips curling into a smile once again. “You’ll see.”
The sound of repulsors taking off echoed through the streets, followed by the sound of flight, and both myself and the old man turned in its direction, looking up to the sky as Iron Man appeared over the rooftop.
He hovered there for a moment, silence dripping between us for a split second, before he finally let out a confused, “Pete?”
I widened my eyes. “I can explain,” I started, stepping towards him, “You see, I was helping this nice gentleman over here and—”
He flew passed me to where the man was, but as I turned around with him, the old man was gone.
Tony landed in his place, stepping towards the sidewalk slowly and looking around. “It doesn’t make sense…”
Okay, Peter. Time to be honest. I took a deep breath, “Well, to be honest, there was an explosion up the block, and it turned out to be a huge bank robbery, so I kind of had to step in and—”
“I said no suit.” He stated bluntly, but he was still distracted by our surroundings.
“I know. It’s just—it’s hard,” I confessed. “I’m sorry.”
Tony was silent in response; he was evidently listening to Friday as opposed to me, focusing in on whatever it was they were examining in the alleyway. Moments passed in silence, before he finally let out a sigh, “Alright, let’s go. We have a flight to catch.”
He lifted me from the ground, returning us to our group at the mansion a couple blocks over, cameras and all. The obligatory clips of the Iron Man suit removing itself from Tony that ABC insisted on filming bought me enough time to sneak into the mansion and snag one of the lab kits we had set aside for missions. I was able to slip it into the SUV by the time Tony finished with his numerous close-ups with the film crew.
The remainder of our morning once we actually arrived at the airport was just that. Cameras, interviews, weird filmed moments where we all chatted about absolutely nothing in an effort to seem like we were actually engaging in real conversations—then pause, break, and we were back to loading Mr. Stark’s private jets.
Yes. Jets. As in plural.
Because we weren’t going to fly with the ABC people, right? They had to be there waiting for us upon our arrival anyway.
Eyeroll.
It was only about eleven in the morning by the time we took off, but it felt like the day had been going on for hours already. The jet we were on, which was Mr. Stark’s newest of his hybrid engine class, had quarters for him, myself, and Morgan in the back, which were separated by the full bathrooms in between. It wasn’t long before I had passed out on my bed, the shades closing on the windows to leave me in a nice, quiet slumber…
“Pete, wake up,” My father’s voice called from the door to the cabin. I stirred a bit, covering my head with my pillow. “Shower quickly and get out here, we’re landing soon.”
Soon? Already? How long had I been asleep?
I sprung out of bed, heading to the bathrooms to shower in the circular full shower, washing up as fast as I could, before I dressed in some warm weather clothes and headed out to the cabin, natural sunlight blinding me a bit before I could see outside the windows at the…
Islands? Surrounded by turquoise… lagoons?
How long had I been asleep?
My father walked over to me, looking out the window alongside me with a grin on his face. “Welcome to Bora Bora, Peter.”
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