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wiypt-writes · 3 years

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Stark Spangled Banner

Stab Me In The Front Part 3: The Redemption Of Ransom Drysdale.

Intro: It’s the Public Launch of Harlan’s book and SIP have pulled all the stops out. Once again there’s a clash of wills between Katie and Ransom, but this one is firmly a score draw…

Warnings: Bad language. Mentions of rape and violence.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

A/N: Huge thanks to @angrybirdcr for the banner!

Part 2

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

November 2015

Fiasco.

That was the only word to describe the operation in Dubrovnik

The computer banks they were working on exploded as soon as Sam and Rhodey tried to extract any information. Thrown backwards, stunned, they luckily escaped any severe damage thanks to their armour but it didn’t stop Steve from worrying.

"You okay?" he asked, stepping forward as they both straightened up.

The movement saved the Captain’s life. There was no pop of breaking glass or crack of gunfire as alll the windows in the room had been blown out in the explosion, and no doubt the gun had a silencer. The only sound alerting any of them to the fact something had happened was Steve's pained grunt as he went to his knees.

Sam dropped with him, forcing him below the level of the window sill as he tried to stand again.

"Don't move," he ordered, as his hand pressed to Steve’s back, blood seeping out through his fingers.

Natasha sent three bullets speeding on their way before Rhodey tore past, shattering what was left of the window on his way out.

"Sam," Steve protested, trying to get up, but Sam pushed further, shaking his head.

"They're fine," he said firmly, "they've got this. Just stay down until I can tell how bad this is."

Natasha walked over, kneeling down. “Cap, you need evac?" she asked, but Steve shook his head firmly.

"I'm okay," he panted.

Natasha glanced over at Sam and he nodded to her as she started to talk into the coms.

"Evans, get in here with a couple of those compression bandages. Cap's been hit."

Reluctantly, Steve settled under Sam’s hands, face drawn with pain and concentration, completely focused on his team as ever. Sam kept his hand pressed against his back trying to stop the bleeding.

“That bullet should have killed you.” Natasha said grimly as she looked at the trajectory. “If you hadn’t moved…”

“Thanks Romanoff…” his said between gritted teeth, fighting the urge to roll his eyes.

“What I’m trying to say…” She repeated patiently. “Is that this was a set up…whoever he is, he’s got a hell of a grudge.”

Steve groaned again. Not least because of the agony in his back from the wound but also the realisation that he had been so stupid. They should have spotted this was as set up right from the start. Fucking Crossbones and his stupid fucking hockey mask…why would he want to target an old warehouse of all places?

And he’d made the decision to go in shorthanded as well. Katie was busy prepping the ‘Colour of Revenge’ launch which was due to take place in little under a week, Vision and Wanda had remained at base, neither of them particularly ready for a field operation, Wanda still working on channelling her powers and Vision…well, he was still ridiculously conspicuous. And, as they’d initially decided it was recon only, Steve had pulled Natasha, Rhodey and Sam in on the job along with a couple of the support staff, thinking it would be a quick in and out to gather intel on what it is Crossbones is intending on stealing next.

Rhodey’s voice crackled over the connection. "Um, guys?" He sounded oddly grave. "We've got civilians."

Steve didn't wait for the bandages. He twisted out from under Sam’s grip and bolted for the doors, barking instructions to the support team, ignoring Sam’s calls as he ran.

“You all need to get back inside!” Rhodey was instructing as Steve emerged from the building, voice loud from the speakers on his suit “This is not a drill. For your safety, step inside."

“It’s Captain America…” Steve heard someone say as he began to stride forward, Sam and Natasha hot in his heels,

“No sign…” Rhodey turned to him. “You alright?”

“Perfectly.” Steve said, his mouth thin before he turned to the crowd. Thankfully, at that point the local authorities had arrived having been called by the support team, and Steve pushed through the throng of people to speak to them.

“How is he really?” Rhodey asked, looking at Natasha then Sam.

“Being stubborn…” Sam said, scanning the surroundings as the civilians reluctantly began trickling indoors, directed by the Police on Steve’s instructions.

Ironically it was the suddenly widened eyes of the bystanders around him that was the only warning they got as to what was coming. Sam just managed to spin round extending his wings to shield Natasha from the shot as another one bounced off Rhodey’s suit.

“Take cover!” Rhodey said as he took off, followed by Sam. The pair scanning for a shooter.

The screams and various yells from the public rang out all over the area and it was then that Steve felt himself run cold. One of the bystanders was down, blood seeping from a wound in his abdomen. As he watched the medics moved in Steve tapped Evans on the shoulder.

“Keep the emergency crews covered” he instructed, looking up to see Sam and Rhodey circling the sky. "Rhodey, Sam report,"

"No sign of anyone Cap" Sam announced wearily, "He must have taken that last shot and gone.”

With a frustrated groan Steve spun back towards the Emergency relief to coordinate with their chief with regards to a clear up.

**** "You know, when a man gets shot, he's supposed to accept medical assistance before running back into a fight," Katie looked at Steve as he walked down the ramp of the jet. “Why are you not on a gurney?” “Because my legs work.”

“Steve…” she sighed gently, “I’ve been so worried.” “Which is why I told them not to call you.” he looked at her softly.

“Yeah, not gonna fly.” she shook her head “That’s not the deal and you know it. You better not have shouted at Sam too much.” “Define too much.” Sam quipped as he walked past and Steve rolled his eyes before he turned to the man.

“We need to…” he only got 3 words into his sentence before Katie shut him down.

“No, you need medical.” she said, in a tone that meant it was not up for debate. Steve glanced down at her and gave a resigned sigh, and then winced involuntarily at the movement. “Come on” she said gently, nudging her self under his arm as she guided him away from the jet and across the landing pad, through to the facility. Once inside she pushed the button for the elevator.

“You don’t have to put on a brave face in front of me.” she looked at him and immediately his body language changed.

“I know.” he said softly “But it ain’t the first time I’ve been shot. It tends to happen.” Katie glared at him as he looked down at her, eyebrow raised slightly “Yeah, and the last time I nearly lost you.” “I’m fine.” he insisted, his face softening as she stared at him, green eyes alight with worry. “You know, I still have an old bullet…” “Yeah, yeah, it’s embedded too deep near your spine to be easily removed.” she said, “I know, you told me that when we first started hanging out. Remember? It kept setting off the metal detector in Tony's lab.” Steve gave a huff of laughter, instantly regretting it as the movement jostled his wound.

“Tony was pissed because he couldn’t figure out what was doing it.” Katie watched him “I think you took pity on him after a month as he was threatening to have them all ripped out and replaced.”

“See, I did have a sense of humour back then after all.” Steve chuckled a little as the elevator arrived, immediately stopping as another sharp pain shot up his back.

“I never said otherwise.” Katie smiled, bustling him into the elevator when it opened, slapping the button for the medical floor. As the elevator doors shut, Steve leaned his shoulder and head against the wall. Now that they were alone and away from any of the staff that had been bustling about Katie knew he’d give in and sure enough, he took a deep breath and gave a small cry of pain. She moved behind him and started undoing the buckles of his harness, letting the heavy straps slide forward over his shoulders and fall to the floor.

"Sam would be joking about this for years if he knew." Steve mumbled as Katie started working on his gloves. "You taking my clothes off in the elevator."

"Not the first time.” she replied calmly, pulling off the second glove and sweeping up the tangled mess of items from the floor. The doors opened and she took her place back under his arm.

"Come on, let's get you fixed up before you heal over that bullet entirely."

Peggy had told Katie once about how she had dug a bullet out from Steve’s thigh during the War with no morphine as the supply was so limited and, as he needed about 4 times the dose for it to do anything, he had insisted they saved it for the others. Now, he didn’t refuse the pain killers or the anaesthetic as the medics put him under to remove the bullet, although he probably would have done given half a chance, which thankfully he wasn’t. They were done in under an hour and he was left to recover in one of the rooms. Katie took a call from Tony, assuring him that Steve was ok and settled in a chair by his side, flicking through the tablet which held the final details of the organisation for the book launch.

It was an hour or so later when she was half way through putting the finishing touches to her speech that a slightly slurred mumble from the bed to her right took her attention.

"Hey pretty girl."

Katie smiled.

"You probably say that to all the ladies," she teased, reaching out to take his hand. He smiled at her touch and something tender stirred in his unguarded eyes.

"Just the one I'm married to," he countered, eyelids fluttering as he fought off the effects of the drug. Then he frowned. "Don't suppose you can stop the walls from wobbling?"

Katie felt her lips twitch with amusement as she stood up and reached to turn the IV drip containing his anaesthetic down a touch. Steve’s eyes almost immediately began to focus as his powerful metabolism worked to clear up the drugs in his system. He shifted uncomfortably and tried to sit up, but Katie’s hand on his chest stopped him at once.

"Lie down, Badass," she ordered firmly. "Even you don't get over a bullet to the back that easily."

With a sigh, he lay back, eyes intent on her face, bringing up his hand to cover her left on his chest, his fingers gently skating over the rings that adorned her finger. "You okay?"

“I am now you’re awake.” she smiled “This is the second time you’ve been shot on me.” “Sorry, I’ll try not to make it so awful for you next time.” he quipped.

“Err, I’d rather there wasn’t a next time full stop, thanks.” Katie looked back at him and he smiled back at her before he nodded to the tablet that was resting on the bed by his side

“What you working on?” “My speech for the launch. Just about done.” “So you’re not winging?” He asked and she chuckled.

“Too much to say, although I’ll probably end up improvising some of it.” she shrugged. “And that is another reason you need to make sure you’re properly healed.”

“I’ll be right as rain in a day or so, I promise.”

“Good, because I can’t have my soldier unable to dance with me now can I?”

Steve smiled at his wife and reached up with his hand, to gently brush her face “No, we can’t.”

***** True to his word, thanks to the serum Steve was back on his feet the next day, but was instructed to take it slow for a while, which was easier said than done when you had the constant energy and drive he did. However, one stern gaze from Katie when he offered to help her set up for the launch was enough to make him retreat to their quarters, hands up in surrender, Sam’s loud guffaws at the way he’d literally quivered under his wife’s gaze like some sort of naughty kid echoing in his ears.

Now, he was stood in The Rainbow Rooms, simply admiring his wife as she moved around. She was dressed in a stunning floor length midnight blue lace dress, embellished with beading and detail. The plunge neckline gave him a perfect view of her cleavage (and everyone else for that matter, not that Steve cared, she was his, he knew that) and it hugged all of her perfect curves and pooled on the floor around her high heel clad feet. She’d blown him away when she’d emerged from the room before, hair elegantly twisted up, make up immaculately applied and that flash of scarlet lipstick she wore had almost sent him over the edge.

The fact she looked utterly stunning was one thing, but the other was that it never ceased to amaze Steve how at home she was at big events like this. He watched her, a swell of pride in his chest as she milled around with Tony and her Chief Editor, a nice man that Steve liked called David Jones, welcoming people to the launch. She introduced Steve to Harlan, the author, who he had instantly liked and it had left him completely puzzled about how a man like that had such an insufferable shit as a grandson. Mind you, he hadn’t been overly enamoured with Ransom’s parents to be fair. Linda seemed far too full of herself and as for his father, a grey haired weasel of a man called Richard…well, the way his eyes had blatantly travelled over Katie had set Steve’s teeth on edge. Katie hadn’t missed the way Steve’s arm had curled protectively round her waist and his lips had brushed softly against her temple in a display of gentle possessiveness and she’d simply grinned up at him and flashed him a wink, letting him know he was well and truly busted. But did he care? Not one damned iota.

As more guests arrived Katie excused herself to go and speak to the Compare for the evening, checking her timings for when her speech would be taking place, which was when Tony’s attention was drawn to Evans who was manning the door. There was a strict guest list, and it looked like he was arguing with someone who was trying to get in. Excusing himself from his current conversation he strode over.

“Evans?” Tony asked as he drew up besides the man.

“Mr Stark, this man is trying to gain entry…”

“I’m telling you, Harlan is my grandfather…” “Your grandfather could be the King of England, Sir.” Evans responded drily “You’re not on the guest list so I can’t let you in…” “This is bullshit!”

“Sorry, who did you say you are?” Tony asked, knowing full well who he was after Katie had told him all about her encounter with him in Boston. He looked Ransom up and down, taking in his long black coat which he wore open over an expensive suit, blue and black striped woollen scarf draped round his neck. But it was his face that really drew Tony’s attention. Katie had been right, he did have an uncanny resemblance to Spangles. Differences were there, but still…

“Ransom Drysdale.” Ransom responded, his teeth grit together.

“Oh, you’re the mush whose ass my sister kicked in Boston!” Tony nodded, raising an eyebrow “What you doing here?” “This is my Grandfathers’ book launch.” Ransom glared back at Tony, his jaw twitching. “Well last I heard your grandfather approved the guest list and you’re not on it. At least I don’t think you are.” Tony made to move and took the clipboard off Evans, glancing at the names “Nope, don’t see anything down here for Felonius Gru…”

“You mean Felonius Hugh.” a voice spoke and both Tony and Evans wheeled round to see Katie stood there hands on her hips. Ransom gave a snort as he looked back at her “What are you doing here?” “I was in the area.” He shrugged.

Katie took a deep breath and stared at him, the last time she had seen him he had been on the floor getting his coat defiled by a dog. As the image stirred in her memory she smirked a little before she sighed and glanced around. There were too many people here, too many reporters to make as scene and she didn’t want the night to be overshadowed by some spoilt shit of a man who she had no doubt would get fairly loud if this little stand-off continued.

“Let him in.” She said to Tony and Evans.

Tony looked at her “You sure Kiddo?” “Yeah.” She nodded, her eyes not moving from Ransom’s.

“Your funeral.” Tony said, stepping back. Evans did the same and Ransom strode past them both, an infuriatingly smug look plastered on his harsh features.

“Cloak room is over there.” she directed him to her right.

“Thanks.” he muttered. She paused to look at him, frowning. He rolled his eyes. “What?”

“You, I didn’t know you had manners.” “I’m not a complete heathen.” he shot back, removing his coat.

“Could have fooled me.” she shrugged, “By the way, I’d kinda like my reputation to be unsullied after tonight so please try not to demand all the staff call you Hugh, it won’t look good on me or my company if they realise I’ve allowed in a complete douchebag.” With that she turned and headed back into the main room, making straight for Steve who was stood chatting to Wanda and slipped her arms round him from behind, underneath his blue tux. He glanced down at her and smiled.

“Hey, was wondering where you had gotten to.”

“We had a gate-crasher.” she said.

“Gate-crasher?” he instantly spun round “Why didn’t you come get me?” “Because Tony, Evans and I handled it…well, sorta.” “Sorta?” he frowned even further.

“I let him in.” “Why would you do that?”

“Because he would cause a scene if he wasn’t admitted, plus he’s full of shit anyway as we well know.” “We well know? Just who…” Steve trailed off as he looked around the room and spotted Ransom strolling in like he owned the place “Oh hell, no!”

With that he set off walking towards the man, his strides purposeful. He was fuming at the out and out audacity that this utter, utter prick had shown in turning up, especially after everything he had said and done in Boston, not to mention the fact he had dared to grab Katie that day when she was leaving his Grandfather’s house.

“You’ve got some nerve.” he spat.

“Hey, look, don’t rip another one of my shirts.” Ransom said, lazily “This wasn’t a cheap one either.” “Your shirt is going to be the least of your worries, trust me.” Steve snarled, his hands falling to the buckle of his belt.

“Steve.” Katie gently grabbed his arm, feeling the furious energy radiating off him in waves. “Please Soldier, don’t cause a fuss. The press are here and, I’ve worked so hard for tonight.” Steve took a deep breath and looked at his wife. Her face was pleading with him. Fuck, she was right. He didn’t want to ruin what she’d spent so long preparing for, not when it meant something so personal.

“Fine.” he said, a little gruffly. He glared at Ransom and took a step forward so that he was eye to eye with the man “But just for the record, you so much as lay one finger on my wife again, I will rip you limb from limb.” There was a silence as Ransom’s face slipped ever so slightly before he recovered and held his hands up.

“Understood.” he said.

Steve’s eyes held the man’s gaze for a few more seconds before he looked down to Katie, his expression and face softening as she looked at him with those eyes he would never tire of seeing. “I’m going to get a drink, you want one sweetheart?”

“Gin and Tonic, please. I’ll come over in a minute.” she said. He took a deep breath, not entirely happy she was staying to talk to the self-absorbed asshole but he nodded. Dropping a kiss to her cheek he shot Ransom one last glare before he headed off to the bar.

"You’re doing it wrong," Ransom said, shaking his head as he watched Steve walk away.

"Doing what wrong?" Katie frowned, turning to him.

"Marriage," he answered shortly, looking at her. "You should be fighting about the colour of your drapes or his latest affair that you’re desperate to ignore or something."

“Well if that doesn't say something about your parents…" Katie trailed off.

Ransom snorted “My parents are all kinds of fucked up Doll, trust me.” he took a deep breath

Katie sighed “Look, I’m only letting you stay because I know what a scene you’d have caused otherwise, not to mention how it would make your Grandfather feel…” Ransom shook his head, dropping his gaze slightly before he looked back at her “I’m not here to cause trouble and I genuinely was in the area. It’s just, well, this would be the first of his launches I’ve missed in years.” “Oh my God you do have a heart.” She said, looking at him.

“Don’t tell everyone.” He said with a shrug, “Listen, the last time we met, I wasn’t… well, I guess, you rubbed me up the wrong way…” he trailed off somewhat lamely, shrugging. “That’s about as much of an apology as I’m gonna get isn’t it?” Katie said after a pause. “I wasn’t apologising.” Ransom sniffed. “Simply stating facts.”

“Oh go fuck yourself with a cactus.” Katie shook her head causing Ransom to throw his head back in laughter. And it was genuine laughter too, Katie was surprised to see. His eyes crinkled up and his entire body shook. She waited for him to calm down before she looked at him, a faint smile on her face. “Here was me thinking you’d actually shown some remorse!”

“Well, to be fair, you left me on the ground where the dog pissed on my coat and left a knife in my tyre.” Ransom’s laughter died down and he looked at her, his eyebrow raised.

“Then we’re even.” Katie shrugged. She nodded to where Ransom’s Grandfather was stood observing them and Ransom followed her gaze. The old man took a deep breath and gave him a questioning look.

“Suppose I best go explain why I’m here.” Ransom sighed, and Katie was surprised to find he was actually coming across as slightly nervous. His hands were shoved in his trouser pockets but she could see from the way his shoulders had slumped slightly, and his arms were twitching which made her think that that he was balling and un-balling his fists. Maybe there was a slightly softer side hidden under that brisk exterior after all.

“You want my advice?” She looked at him.

“Not really but something tells me you’re gonna give it me anyway.” he said, his eyes turning back to her.

“Try being honest.” Katie suggested, her tone slightly softer. “Tell your Granddad you’re here for him. You might be pleasantly surprised.”

Ransom snorted but didn’t reply. Giving her one more appraising look and a small jerk of a nod he headed off to join his family before Katie made her way to Steve who was waiting for her at the bar. **** When the time came, Katie took to the stage, welcoming everyone and inviting Harlan to say a few words. The old man accepted, smiling and spoke for a few moments about the book, his inspirations, and how honoured he was that the profits were being donated to such a worthwhile cause. There had been a few shared looks amongst the rest of his family, Ransom had noticed, much to his amusement, but he knew they’d save face and pretend they actually gave a shit about the people the money was going to help when all the time they were just thinking of their bank balances.

When his grandfather stepped down, he watched as Katie stepped forward, her insufferable husband watching her carefully, all doe eyed and so evidently in love… frankly it made him want to barf.

But then she started talking.

“Most of you here will know that I was missing last year as result of a mission gone wrong” Katie spoke, looking out across the audience. “In reality, I was…” She took a deep breath, before she licked her lips. “I was held captive and tortured for information on what the Avengers were doing. And when the usual methods of torture didn’t work, they moved on to trying other things. And given the charities we are supporting tonight, I’m sure you can all guess what those other things were.”

Shit.

Suddenly her reaction to being grabbed by him outside the house made perfect sense. Hell, what was it he was feeling all of a sudden? Was that guilt?

No, Ransom Drysdale didn’t do guilt…

“I was subjected to an ordeal that no one should have to suffer.” Katie continued, speaking clearly and calmly “But sadly, the figures speak for themselves. I won’t bore you with statistics but it truly is frightening. And something else I found frightening is that I didn’t even know about half the charities that exist to help people who find themselves subjected to the same ordeal. I was lucky. I have an amazing support network of friends, family, an amazing substitute father in my brother and a loving, wonderful husband, or fiancée as he was at the time, who I wouldn’t have coped without. To all of you, and Tony and Steve, I would never have gotten through any of this without your constant support and encouragement, and I love you all from the bottom of my heart.”

A small round of applause and mumblings spread across the room and Ransom cast his eyes over to the Captain who was stood not far from the stage, his eyes shining as he glanced up at his wife a look of sheer pride and adoration on his face.

Yep. Utterly sickening. But yet…what was that? Was he moved?

No, Ransom Drysdale didn’t do sentiment…

“But the point is, not everyone is that lucky, which is why I wanted to do something positive, have something good come out out of what happened to me. Giving money to these causes is one thing but the most important way of ensuring people get the support that they need is to make the world aware they exist. By Mr Thrombey agreeing to let us use his book to create awareness, well this is the kind of publicity that money can’t buy, and for that I thank you sincerely Harlan.” She looked directly at his grandfather, who raised his glass in her direction, flashing the woman a smile.

“And now, because I know this will be repeated on various press platforms, I want to speak directly to anyone who is dealing with the after effects of rape, sexual assault or sexual violence. Be it having happened to you or someone you know. You probably feel broken, alone, like no one understands, maybe you blame yourself, or maybe you just don’t know what to do to help a person you love or care about deal with their trauma. These support networks exist for you, to help you, to lend an ear when you think no one else will listen or understand, to share your experiences with others going through the same thing. The first step is always the hardest, but sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. Tip toe if you gotta, but take the step. Please, don’t suffer in silence. Thank you.”

She finished and the room erupted into applause and Ransom glanced at his Grandfather, before he too started clapping.

**** “Was it ok?” Katie whispered to Steve as he gently helped her down the steps again, the applause ringing around the room.

“Ok?” Steve looked at her, his eyes shining with emotion “Honey, you were amazing. I’m so, so Goddamned proud of you.” he pressed a kiss to her temple, his arm pulling her closer as the Compare once again took to the stand to announce the rest of the evening’s activities. There was an auction to be held to raise more funds, then the band would start, food would be available, and then the DJ would see the evening out.

After a hug from her friends, Katie took off to talk to a few of the reporters that were around and it felt like she had hardly spent any time with Steve before the DJ started signalling they were into the last hour of the night. That was when Harlan found her to come and bid her goodbye. She thanked him again, shook hands with all of his family, before she found herself face to face with Ransom.

“It was a, err, good speech.” He offered and she smiled, shrugging a little.

“Thank you.” She nodded, taking the praise for what it was.

“I erm, I had no idea about…” He gestured with his hands, a faint flush on his face

“Why would you? You don’t know me.”

“No but, if I had I wouldn’t, well, I wouldn’t have said what I did to you outside my grandfather’s.”

“Wouldn’t you?” She asked, curiously.

“No.” he said, sincerely “I get why you reacted like you did now. I’m sorry.” “Ok so this is an apology, just so we’re on the same page?”

“Yes, it’s an apology.” Ransom rolled his eyes.

“Well then I accept it.” She nodded. “Burying the hatchet huh?” “Or in this case knife” He drawled and she laughed “Preferably not in my tyre this time. Or my back come to think of it.” “I only stab people in the front” Katie quipped and he shook his head with a smirk.

“I don’t doubt it. Goodnight Mrs Rogers.” he said, holding out his hand. Katie looked at it for a moment before she took it, his grip surprisingly gentle.

“Goodnight Mr Drysdale.” “Call me Ransom.” he said, and with a last wink he headed off after his family.

“Weird.” Katie mumbled to herself, before she felt two arms circle her waist and a soft pair of lips pressing a kiss to her neck.

“He gone?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, he was…surprisingly nice” She mused, turning to face him “Apologised for his behaviour.” Steve snorted. “Like I said, weird.” Katie shrugged.“Anyway, is it time to dance yet?”

Steve laughed and allowed her to lead him out onto the dancefloor where he took her in his arms, the pair of the swaying to a fairly upbeat song.

“You know, I did some digging.” Steve said, as he revolved them both across the space

“Yeah?”

“The resemblance between us got me curious.”

“You’re nothing like him” Katie said “trust me.” “No, I know but looks…” Steve shrugged “Anyway, I had FRIDAY do some research and it turns out that there’s a Rogers way back on his mother’s line.”

“So you could actually be related?” Katie grinned.

“It’s possible. It would make me like his great, great uncle or something, maybe.” Steve mused as he twirled her round “But trust me when I say this, that’s one thread I really aint going to pull on!”

Katie laughed as the music slowed down and the opening bars to John Legend ‘You And I’ struck up. Steve smiled and pulled her closer, one large hand clasped around hers, the other on the bottom of her back.

“It reminds me of you this song.” he murmured as she lay her head on his chest.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah…the fact you try on every single outfit you own before you decide what to wear.” “I do not.” she protested. At that he pulled back to look down at her and she looked up at him, “Ok, maybe I can be a little indecisive sometimes…” He chuckled and she moved back so she was pressed against him, as they gently swayed.

“If your mirror won’t make it any clearer I’ll be the one to let you know, Out of all of the girls, you’re my one and only girl, aint no body in the world tonight, All of the stars, you make the shine like they were ours, Aint nobody in the world but you and I… You stop the room when we walk in, spot lights on, everybody’s staring, tell all of these boys they’re wasting their time stop standing in line, coz you’re all mine…” “Stevie…” she whispered and he looked down at her, blushing as he realised he’d been singing the words softly to her. She smiled up at him and pulled his face down to hers for a soft kiss. “Love you Soldier.” she whispered against his lips.

“Love you too baby girl…” he murmured back, before pressing his lips to hers for a deeper kiss.

“Wanna get out of here?” she looked up at him cheekily. “And leave your own gala?” he feigned shock and she smirked. “It’s my party, I’ll leave if I wanna.”

He didn’t need asking twice. Quickly and silently they headed to the cloakroom. Steve helped her into her jacket and then took her hand and led her out.

**** It was a few days later when the package arrived for her at the tower. Her secretary brought it in and Katie thanked her, forgetting all about it until she came back from lunch. Opening the box she frowned as she pulled out an envelope and a smaller box. Deciding to go with the smaller box as curiosity was getting the best of her she pulled off the lid and had to fight the loud laugh that was threatening to bubble from her chest. It was her knife, the one she’d thrown into Ransom’s tyre. Picking up the envelope she opened it and her mouth dropped open at the cheque that fluttered down onto the desk. It was for a total of Fifty Thousand Dollars, and was made out to her charity. After she stared at the numbers and the signature for a moment, she turned her attention to the note held in her right hand. The writing was actually fairly neat, but she would expect nothing less from the man who had sent it.

“I just wanted to say thank you for being part of something that pissed off my shithead family no end. Took a leaf out of your book and thought I’d put some of my trust fund to good use. It would have been slightly more but I had to replace a tyre. I was tempted to keep the knife as a souvenir but it’s quite a nice one so figured you might want it back.

Regards, Ransom

P.s. if you tell anyone I’m actually a decent person, I’ll kill you in your sleep.”

She read it and re-read it about 50 times, smiling to herself before she stood up and handed the cheque to her secretary, instructing her to have it sent to finance for the Charity Fund. She sank back into her chair, pondering something for a moment before she leaned forward and tapped at her keyboard top open up a blank webpage, biting her lip and smiling as she did. ****

“Hugh, there’s a package for you in the study.”

“Thanks Franny.” Ransom bustled over to his cupboard, grabbing his packet of cookies and frowning “This is the last one.” “I’ll make sure they’re added to the food order.” she replied. He gave her a nod before he walked out and down the hallway.

The box was fairly large. Grabbing a letter opener, his mouth full as he chewed, he slit carefully down the tape on the top and folded back the sides. He hastily swallowed, coughing slightly as he pulled out the new Burberry camel coat that was inside. Slipping it on it was a perfect fit, good quality too. Shrugging it off and draping it over the back of the chair he glanced back in the box and let out a laugh at the 4 packets of Biscoff in the bottom, and pulled out the note attached to one of them, before sitting down and reading.

“Thank you for your very kind donation, Mr Drysdale, rest assured it will be put to good use for the charity. I’m also pleased you sent me my knife back, Steve says I have an unhealthy attachment to my weapons so leaving it buried in your tyre was a real wrench. I hope the coat fits, sorry about the whole kicking your ass and the dog piss, but they really are exceptional judges of character.

Katie.

P.s Do us all a favour and have someone fix the holes in your sweaters …or even better just buy some new ones for fucks sake, hobo chic went out of fashion about 10 years ago.”

He read and reread the note again, laughing as he did so, glancing at the frayed cuff of his light blue sweater before he stood up, stuck the note into his back pocket with a smile and picked up the red packets of his favourite snack.

“Franny!” He called as he walked back into the hall “Scratch the cookies off the list...”

*****

Part 4

**Original Posting**

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #Katie Stark #ransom drysdale #knives out

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slimeyslimeyballsack · 4 years

Text

The Mix Up Part Three

Pairing: Mob!Steve Rogers x OFC (Adrien Bravo)

Warnings: violence, swearing, they’re not in love yet because they just met ya nasties, Bucky and Adrien flirting, mentions of sex but it’s not like- nobody is doing any sex, oh and she’s still tied up so also not good, shirtless bucky i was going to make her and bucky buddies but she bonded with thor in this one somehow, warning section lowkey just turning into my footnotes,

Taglist: @kayteewritessteve @wxstedhexrt @caps-lockdown @scuzmunkie @my-favorite-fics-and-imagines @champagnesugamama @weepingwillow2233 @ellystone

Part One Part Two

“James, you never cease to amaze me.”

Steve finally tore his gaze away from Adrien, and she had to admit she was a little relieved. He intimidated her, and that took a lot, granted he was a feared crime lord so maybe it was in the job description: be scary to look at. Check.

“Uh oh. Pulling out the first name.” Sam leaned into Bucky’s, (James’?) side and whispered. Well, it wasn’t really a whisper but he tried.

“Don’t think you’re off the hook Wilson.”

“Uh oh. Pulling out the last name.” Bucky mocked.

Adrien let out a huff of laughter. Because, holy shit she was about to be killed by guys with the IQ of drunk puppies, and maybe the personalities as well.

“Excuse me, sir,” Suddenly they were all looking at her and they all had the stare. Jesus Christ. “are you going to kill me?”

Steve cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. There was that stare again. Why did it give her shivers? He chuckled before settling on an amused grin.

"No, dear, I'm not going to kill you."

Thank god. At least she could relax a little. She could acknowledge her surroundings in a manner that wasn’t looking at what she thought was the last place she’ll see. She could look at the men who stood before her and holy shit, were they this hot the whole time? Of course, now that she wasn’t worried about imminent death the tight hold she had on her tongue went in the trash to the dump into the incinerator.

“Well that’s a fucking relief, my ass hurts, so maybe if I’m not gonna die, one of you hunks could show me to a more comfortable seat.”

She clasped her hand over her mouth. If she wasn’t going to be murdered before she certainly was now. Sam and Bucky exchanged wide-eyed glances, jaws slack before looking at Steve. Her whole life depended on his facial expression. Would his perfectly smooth skin be wrinkled in anger? Okay, he’s a criminal, maybe picturing how scary his gorgeous blue eyes would be when angry isn’t a good idea. Yeah let’s file that away and put it in the drawer that we never think about along with our eating habits, the fact that the Zodiac Killer was never caught, and our creepypasta phase.

She finally opened her eyes that had, sometime in her fear and embarrassment had screwed shut. He looked amused. Thank god. He has a sense of humor.

“Of course, how rude of me. Come along Miss Bravo.”

Again, her mouth betrayed her. “How am I supposed to follow you when I’m tied up like I’m about to have kinky sex. Which, not going to lie, would really bring up my mood right now.”

So long to her dignity. Steve chuckled and signaled to Bucky to untie the ropes.

“You have quite the mouth on you don’t you?”

“Yeah and I’m pretty good with it too.”

“I’m going to get the lady situated, you two wait, we’re going to have a chat afterward.”

Steve gripped her arm firmly but not so much as to hurt her. That seemed to be a tendency with these guys. Weren’t they supposed to be like monsters? You know, brutal, cold-blooded criminals? Steve was silent the whole walk. He kept his eyes forward and so did Adrien she didn’t even kind of trail behind to maybe check out his ass. She didn’t.

They came to a lovely room filled with lounge chairs and leather couches. Another handsome man stood by the door. Was it a requirement that you had to be hot to be in the mob or something? He was big and bearded and had long blond hair and also a criminal.

“Thor, I need you to watch Miss Bravo here while I attend to some things. I’d rather she be in the office as she’s not exactly mobbed up.”

He turned to face her. “There are food and drinks, just ask Thor. He can get you anything you like. Nobody will bother you in the office, and I will be back to address our situation.:” He said a few hushed words to Thor before exiting.

“Thor, huh?”

He raised an eyebrow at her. Okay, yeah he was a criminal, but like a little flirting never hurt anybody, did it?

“Like the Norse god?”

“Miss Bravo,”

“Call me Adrien.”

“Adrien, I was born during a lightning storm. The storm started when my mother was first having contractions and ended as soon as I stopped crying. Or so my mother said.”

“Well, Thor, I can say with certainty that that is actually very badass”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why are you here Miss Bravo?”

“Adrien. And that, my friend, is a long-ass story.”

By the end of that long ass story, which took forever to get through because of Thor adding his input and Adrien getting sidetracked, the two were laughing like hooligans. Like absolute madmen. Like nutzos. Like, they were laughing really hard. Every time they would calm down Thor would let out a breathless wheeze causing Adrien to burst into another fit of giggles. If they were being honest neither of them knew why they were laughing anymore. Not entirely. Every now and then Adrien would let out a loud, “Another!” before dissolving into more laughter.

Then the door opened. Adrien once again found herself meeting the intense gaze of Steve. The two tried to hush their laughter. Adrien mumbled out a ‘sorry sir’. Adrien shrugged and made a face at Thor, who let out a boisterous laugh.

“I like this one Boss.”

“Thank you, Thor. I would like to speak with Miss Bravo now. Tell Bucky that he can count the cash now if he would.”

Thor mouthed a ‘good luck’ before exiting the room. Leaving Adrien alone. With Steve. He gestured for her to sit before taking his place behind the desk. “Miss Bravo, I am Steve Rogers. I run this establishment. Now you understand, Miss Bravo, that I can’t just let you walk away from this. It’s a liability.”

“So you are going to kill me.”

“Of course not. We will just need to take measures to ensure our friends at the police station don’t hear about this incident. You understand.”

“Hey boss man, I’ve got bad news.”

Bucky burst into the room. He had tried to appear laid back, but his eyes displayed panic. He threw down a duffel filled with hundred-dollar-bills.

“Buck, we are trying to let Miss Bravo out of here relatively scot-free. How are we supposed to do that when you come running in her with garbage business dealings. Do you want us to have to kill her?” Steve looked thoroughly annoyed.

“No, no, no. I would never want such a lovely lady to die.”

Adrien winked. “Oh, I’m sure you could keep me alive.”

She eyed the bills again. She had never seen so much money in her life, not even on a bank statement. Money like that could pay for braces. Money like that could pay for a lot of things.

“That’s a fat fucking stash of cash.”

“Yes, and it’s all fake. The cash from Rumlow’s payment, it’s all counterfeit.”

Anger flooded Steve’s eyes. It was only for a second, but she never wanted to see it again, let alone be on the receiving end of it. She almost felt bad for this Rumlow guy.

“Could you two, if it isn’t too difficult for you, fetch Rumlow for me. I need to speak with him”

Bucky quickly hurried off.

“Mr. Rogers sir if you don’t mind me asking, do you make that kind of money regularly?”

It was hard not to notice the expensive clothes and lavish furniture. Clearly, somebody had money, and Adrien needed money. Adrien wasn’t averse to breaking the law when it came to providing for her two boys. They were her sons and they were going to get the best damn life they could live.

“That kind of money, when actually paid, is a small portion of the money that we earn. Employees are paid based on time commitment, loyalty, and type of job. But to answer your question, yes, that kind of money is made regularly.”

“So, if someone were to be interested, hypothetically, in a job offer, how would they go about that?”

For a vicious criminal, Steve had a very expressive face. Weren’t these guys supposed to be stoic? Was everything in the godfather wrong? Or perhaps she was just more perceptive than most people?

“I’m an excellent worker with flexible morals and a strong will, and I can fight, and I need the money for my brothers, sir.”

“Well, that’s admirable Miss Bravo but it’s a little more complicated than just signing up. We’ll have to do a background check, we’ll do an interview, a skill assessment. This would of course take several weeks. Here, I have some paperwork you can fill out.”

“Okay, thank you for your consideration, sir. I really have to head home now. I have to take the boys to school in the morning.”

“I’ll call you a car. Perfect timing. Bucky, can you drive Miss Bravo back to her residence? I’ll deal with Rumlow. We’ll be in touch, Miss Bravo.”

He left and Bucky led Adrien to a car similar to the one she was in earlier. It was all very silent as they got in. There was a tension in the air.

“Wow, it’s nice to sit in the front this time.” she tried.

Bucky gave her half a smile. They rode in silence until they reached her house. “Hey, you should put some ice on that.”

She pointed to the blooming black eye he was sporting. There were also several cuts on his face and hands. He probably had several bruises on his torso as well.

“I’ll be fine-”

“Absolutely not. You come inside. I’ll get you fixed up right now.”

She walked around and grabbed his arm, pulling him out of the car and into her apartment.

“Shirt off and sit.”

“Well, at least take me out to dinner first Miss Bravo.”

He still did as she asked, sitting on the island and removing his shirt, confirming her suspicions of further injuries. She grabbed the first aid kit and an ice pack before coming up to him to assess his injuries.

“Adrien. And I might just take you up on that offer Bucky.”

She gave him the ice pack to place on his eye. After cleaning the blood off of his face and stomach it was clear that the only actual issue was a split lip and eye. She was able to apply some Neosporin and butterfly bandages. She kissed the top of his forehead before freezing.

“I’m so sorry, I’m just used to fixing up the boys and, and, and I-”

“It’s quite alright. I should be heading out though.”

“Well, I’ll be seeing you.”

Bucky gave a sly grin before shutting the door on himself.

“You bet your ass you will.”

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justthehiddleswrites · 3 years

Text

The Reluctants | Chapter 10 | The Reluctant Detective

Pairing: Adam (OLLA) x OFC (Charlie Bock)

Summary: Charlie can’t believe her luck when she lands an apartment all to herself in Quincy, Massachusetts in a decaying triple decker. But life gets more complicated when someone moves into the basement. Specifically her landlord, Adam, who also happens to be a vampire. As life collapses around Charlie, these two forge an uneasy and unlikely relationship. But is their relationship as doomed as the building they live in?

Chapter: Adam finds out the truth of Charlie’s whereabouts as well as Jason’s nature and is pissed.

Warnings: Violence, Smut, Frottage, Dry Humping, Teasing, Coming In Pants, Oral Sex, Vaginal Sex. Couch Sex. Kidnapping. Stalking. Non-Graphic Violence, Character Death

Adam groaned and stretched in bed early that evening. Charlie’s side was cold, and the sheets tucked up. His brow furrowed until he spied the note on his nightstand.

“Ridiculous.” he clicked his tongue at Charlie, slipping out without waking him. He remained in bed, hoping she would soon return and slip under the sheets to curl next to him before heading to the living room.

But Charlie didn’t show when she usually did. Or two hours later. At first Adam figured she was caught up at the record store, but at three hours Adam worried enough to call Simmons’ personal cell phone. No easy feat as Adam needed to dig out his landline from under a table and crumpled pieces of paper and dust.

“Hello?” Simmons answered with his distinct, gravelly voice.

“It’s Mr. Streiff.”

“Oh, already calling with an offer to buy the Gibson? Charlie is a better salesperson than she lets on.”

Adam’s brows knitted. “What Gibson? I’m calling to check on Charlie, who is working late with you.” His tone firm, bordering on accusatory.

“She left hours ago. With a 1905 Gibson she insisted to take to show you.” Simmons responded worried, although Adam couldn’t tell if it was over the guitar or Charlie. His fist balled tightly at his side.

“What?! Where did she you go?” Adam paced the floor as silence hung in the air while Simmons contemplated his response.

“I didn’t see.” Simmons snapped his fingers. “Wait! I wondered if her cousin came and got her.”

“What cousin?”

Adam shoved on his boots while pulling on a shirt. Charlie said nothing about a cousin. And given what she said about her parents, he doubted the existence of any cousin.

“The one who came by the other day asking for her schedule.”

“And you gave it to him?!” Adam’s voice rising to a yell.

“He said the family came to surprise her. It sounded nice.”

Adam rolled his eyes and cursed. “Fuck! What did he say? Did he give a name?”

“He said his name was Jason. And—” Simmons’s next words met with a dial tone when Adam hung up.

He threw the phone against the wall, smashing it to bits.

“Fuck!” He kicked at the pieces of plastic on the floor before slumping onto the couch. He couldn’t decide whether to kill Simmons first or go out hunting for Charlie.

Charlie rolled her neck, popping the bones.

“Ah…” she sighed while taking a quick inventory of her body.

Her head still pounded and tender to the touch on the back, where she touched what seemed to be a goose egg. Her arms and hands were free, and she was wearing everything from when she left the record shop, save her overcoat. As Charlie sat up from the bed or couch or whatever she sat on, a chain clinked. Charlie glanced down to see her leg shackled to what Charlie now determined to be a couch. A shitty futon to exact.

Loud voices filtered from next door and Charlie moved to the edge of the couch, as far as the chain would let her.

“This was not part of the plan, Jason. Idiot!” A female yelled.

Something clattered to the floor on the other side of the door.

“Why are you the one calling the shots!?

Charlie recognized Jason’s sniveling tone.

“I’m the one taking all the risks! You wanted Adam, she will get us him!”

“That doesn’t mean kidnap her! Do you realize how pissed he will be?!”

“What do you suggest? Let her go? Absolutely not! She’s mine.”

“I don’t know what I wanted, but this is not it.” The floor shook as Ava stomped and pouted. “I’m hungry.”

“There’s some blood in the fridge.”

The door creaked open and Charlie scrambled away. Ava popped into the room.

“Oh, you.” her voice dripped with disdain. “You’re awake.”

“How in the hell did you and Jason…” Charlie’s voice wavered, still coming to grips with her situation.

Ava smiled, her fangs peeking out from behind her lips. “Your little stalker boyfriend?”

“Not my boyfriend.”

“No, but he is your stalker.” Ava smirked. “I met him outside when Adam threw me out. So rude.” Her bottom lip popped out into a pout.

“He will be so pissed when he gets here.”

“I realize that!” Ava stomped her foot and then stormed away as Jason came in.

He sat down right next to Charlie. His cast rough against her skin. Jason lifted his good hand to run the back of his finger along Charlie’s cheek. She jerked back at the intrusion.

“Get used to me, sweetheart.” Jason’s face twisted into a sick smile.

Adam spent the better part of an hour grilling Simmons on every nuance of his conversation with Jason and the events of that night. Frustrated and angry, he slammed his hand repeatedly against the steering wheel of his Jaguar. It hurt like hell.

As soon as he got back home, he went to Charlie’s apartment and ransacked her living room and bedroom. Clothes and paper flew in the air without regard until he located Charlie’s neglected planner. With a deft finger, he flipped the pages until he found what he wanted. He ripped the page out and then shoved clothes and debris from his fit to find the phone.

“Charlie?” Elise answered in a groggy voice.

“Who the fuck is Jason?”

“Who the hell is this?” Elise’s voice turned shrill.

“It’s Adam, I’m her…” He hesitated. How much did Charlie tell her friends? He quickly replaced the thought with panic and fear as to what may happen to Charlie. “… boyfriend.”

Elise sat up in bed. “Oh, pleasure. Did Jason show up? I told Charlie to be careful.”

Adam would have to wait until Charlie came home safe and sound to discuss hiding important information from each other.

“Tell me everything about him.”

Twenty minutes later, Adam hung with Elise with enough information about Jason to recognize breaking his arm last month was a gift. He should have broken his neck. Nothing that would pop up on a standard background check, but red flags nevertheless. He sounded like a serial killer in the making. Adam ripped the phone out of the wall and walked downstairs to fish out his own address book. He prayed the number still work as he punched in the number.

“Hello?” the male voice answered.

“Frank, I need a favor.”

“Adam. You know that’s not my name, right?”

“I’m not calling you Francois Eugène Vidocq.”

The man chuckled. “It is a mouthful. It’s been at half a century since we talked. How’s Eve?”

“Dead.” Adam winced.

“I’m sorr—”

Adam cut him off. “I don’t need your apologies. Do you still have access to the Registry of Motor Vehicles?”

“Massachusetts? Well, yeah, if you call hacking into their database access.”

“I need you to get my an address for a Jason Fuller and a Nicole McDonald?”

“Got anything else? Dates of birth?”

“No.”

Frank sighed on the other end of the line. “Give me a bit, I will call you back.” The line clicked dead.

Adam paced the floor. His hand ran through his wild hair. He hated this. He hated his mind racing to all the possibilities of the horrible things happening to Charlie. A thought entered his mind. He walked into the spare bedroom, digging through a box. And then another, and a third.

“She’s fucking right, Eve. I should let her clean and organize down here.” He rummaged through yet another box before pulling out a tattered shoebox. “Apologies, baby, for what I may have to do. But I love her.”

An hour later, the phone rang.

“Took you long enough.” Adam snapped back. He threw a black leather jacket on top of his usual rock n roll attire, combat boots and everything.

“You didn’t say anything about a rush.”

“The urgency was implied, Frank. Did you get the addresses or not?”

“I got what you want.” Frank rattled off two addresses, Jason’s in Cambridge and Nicole’s in Revere. “You never told me why you are looking for this guy.”

“He took something very dear to me.”

“A guitar?”

“A girl.”

Charlie soon discovered Jason and Ava didn’t have a fucking clue what they were doing. Two things became clear to Charlie: Jason wanted to keep Charlie for himself, and Ava was always hungry. She had no idea how long she had been here or if Adam realized she’d gone missing. If she wasn’t so terrified, Charlie would have been laughing at this Keystone Cops kidnapping of hers.

Ava and Jason bickered in the corner.

“Hmmm.” Charlie cleared her throat. Two heads snapped over to glare at her. “I’m wondering,” She crossed her legs at the ankles, chain clinking along the floor. “which of you is going to let Adam know you have me?”

Ava’s face pinched up. “I beg your pardon?”

Charlie’s lips twitched into a smile. “Well the whole point of this is to get Adam’s attention, am I correct? It’s hard to do that if he DOESN’T HAVE A FUCKING CLUE, I’M HERE!” she screamed.

Jason stomped over to Charlie and hit her with his open hand. The left side of her face exploded in pain.

“DON’T FUCKING TELL ME WHAT TO DO!” Jason screamed back. His nostrils flared and spittle flew out of his mouth. Charlie cried out of exhaustion and pain more than anything. Jason’s expression softened. He sat next to her.

“Sweetheart.” He cooed, reaching up to soothe the already bruising mark on Charlie’s cheek. “You know better than to get me upset. I lose control when I get upset. You might end up hurt.”

Charlie gulped. “Sorry.”

Jason stood up and kissed the top of her head. “Now let’s go get some ice from that bruise.” He walked off to the kitchen.

Ava’s gaze darted between the kitchen and Charlie. “Fine, I’ll make the phone call.”

Adam never got that message because he was long gone.

Jason’s Cambridge apartment was empty, but that didn’t stop Adam from ransacking the place. In particular, he shredded to bits a few photos of Charlie pinned onto a corkboard.

“Fuck!” he cursed as he caught the time after kicking in Jason’s TV. There wasn’t enough nighttime left to make it to Revere. “Hang on just one more day, my love.”

Charlie iced her cheek with the frozen bag of peas Jason tossed to her. Her stomach gurgled.

“Could I get something to eat?” Charlie’s voice soft and wavering.

“I’m hungry too.” Ava whined.

Jason rolled his eyes. “Women.” He grabbed his keys. “Feed on her if you’re hungry.”

“Do I look like I have a death wish? I want to talk to Adam, not be killed by him. Bring something to eat.”

“Fine!” Jason slammed the door.

He returned several hours later, a greasy bag of fast food tucked under his cast and a drunk girl holding his other hand.

Charlie’s nose scrunched at the aroma of burger and fries. Jason pushed the girl towards Ava.

“Eat up, both of you.” he sneered.

“I’m trying to watch my cholesterol.” Charlie piped up.

“Did you ask her if she is clean?” Ava complained.

“If you don’t like what I brought you, then you can STARVE!!” He slammed to the door to the other room.

Ava shrugged her shoulders and dragged the girl into the kitchen. Charlie snacked on the fries while ignoring the greasy cheeseburger. Tears rolled down her face.

“I miss you, Adam. Please find me.” she whispered as she pulled the thin afghan over her body and laid down on the sofa, which she just noticed smelled of beer.

#adam #adam fanfic #adam fanfiction #adam angst #adam fluff #adam smut #only lovers left alive #only lovers left alive fanfiction #adam x ofc #the reluctants

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losille2000 · 4 years

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Hoot and Howl, Chapter 3

TITLE: Hoot and Howl CHAPTER NUMBER: 3/? AUTHOR: Losille2000 CHARACTERS: Actor!Chris Evans/OFC GENRE: Paranormal Romance (more on the magical realism side?) FIC SUMMARY: Chris goes on a camping trip to calm the noisy anxiety in his head, but it ends up leading him into his own messed up version of a Disney movie. When he said he wanted to be a Disney prince as a boy, this was absolutely not what he meant. Especially considering that the princess is also, well… about that… RATING: M (sex, language) WARNINGS: Nothing. AUTHORS NOTES: Sorry for the wait... and thank you all for reading!

Previous Chapter - Also available on Archive of Our Own!

Chapter 3

A hand on Chris’ shoulder shook him awake. It took a few seconds to fully come to, but once he did, he immediately noted how dark the room was. The dying embers in the fireplace barely illuminated the silent woman hovering over him from her spot standing behind the couch. She smiled silently, like the Cheshire cat, and stood back while he tried to pull himself into a sitting position. However, a heavy Navajo blanket of woven rust red wool impeded his movement.

He remembered, vaguely, wrapping the blanket around his shoulders after Dr. Bird had shown him back into her house. Not only had it immediately warmed his shivering body, but any remaining tension in his muscles loosened. Somewhat—and almost deliriously—he remembered thinking that it felt like a hug. And not like any old hug. This was like a mom hug. The type of hug his mom gave him every time he got on a plane for work, like she’d never see him again and wanted to fill him with all the love she possessed in case something happened.

It made him feel completely and utterly at peace.

So at peace, in fact, he’d passed out.

It was unlike him. He was always on alert, always dealing with the persistent worry rippling through his head. He took pills and did some hard core meditation to find this kind of relaxation at night, unless he was so physically exhausted he couldn’t keep his eyes open. Otherwise, he suffered extreme insomnia from the need to be on guard.

“Hi,” said the woman softly, her alto voice soothing.

Chris blinked a few more times, forcing himself to pay attention to the hypnotic black eyes that stared back at him. He finally succeeded in shifting to a sitting position, rubbing his face, waiting for the blood flow to return. He yawned. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I passed out like that. How long—”

“Three hours,” she replied.

“Why did you let me sleep?”

The strange, beautiful woman shrugged. “The storm blew in off the mountain and it wasn’t a good idea for you to leave when I finished with Dodger, so I let you sleep. I’m not surprised you fell asleep—you were pretty keyed up earlier. That takes a lot of energy out of you.”

“Where is Dodger?”

On cue, the canine hobbled around the couch and limped over to him, awkwardly jumping into his lap. The bandage—purple in color—encased the paw and most of the leg. Dodger threw himself against Chris’ chest and released a long-suffering sigh. Chris hugged him close, burying his nose in the dog’s fur. He smelled terrible from the ordeal, but it still somehow smelled like Dodger, and that was all he wanted. Everything was right with the world.

“The leg will be fine, by the way,” Dr. Bird said, coming around the back of the couch and finding a seat on a lumpy armchair. She reached over and flicked on a lamp, flooding the room in light. “The staples need to come out in a few weeks, and he’ll take a course of antibiotics and have a pill for pain management.”

“So I freaked out over nothing?”

Dr. Bird shook her head. “It wasn’t nothing, and you did need to bring him in quickly. You’re just a concerned dog parent.”

“Do they teach you how to handle crazy people in veterinary school?” he asked.

She let out a whooping laugh. “I learned that particular skill on the job.”

Chris looked down at Dodger, who was half asleep. “He’s sleepy.”

“It’s the drugs. I gave him the good stuff,” Dr. Bird replied. “He’ll be a little drowsy when you give it to him, as needed. Also, you need to keep the bandage dry. Going back out to your campsite probably isn’t the best idea, especially as the nor’easter is finally here.”

“Nor’easter?” he asked.

She cocked her head to the side like an inquisitive bird. “The one they’ve been forecasting for the past three days?”

Because of course something else would have to go wrong on this ill-fated camping trip. Clearly, he and Dodger were headed home after they got done here and packed up camp. The weather had been unusually cold and rainy since they made camp, but there hadn’t been anything in the forecast when they left Boston days before this.

No… wait. Had he even looked at the forecast? If he did, he hadn’t paid attention as he hastily packed his gear and hightailed it out of town to get away from a nagging girlfriend.

“You mean to tell me you went out into the wilderness without having some way to check the weather?” she asked. “What kind of idiot does that?”

“This idiot, apparently,” he mused dryly. “Let’s just say I had other things on my mind when I left Boston. And people have been camping for eons in the middle of blizzards. This will just be a little cold rain.”

“Those people were prepared for it, though. Did you bring gear for a nor’easter?”

Chris pursed his lips. “Well, no…”

“My point?”

“True.”

“I’m not letting you go tonight,” she said. “And I don’t mean that in a creepy psycho killer type way. I don’t want you to go out there and have something happen to you or Dodger. I like Dodger too much.”

He appreciated her no-nonsense attitude. Most strangers changed their entire demeanor around him, though it wasn’t always because of his celebrity. Sometimes it was simply because they thought he was a somewhat attractive guy. He was so tired of being forced to read the situation and between the lines to understand the other person he was talking to. It was utterly exhausting. She was a breath of fresh air. What’s more, he agreed with her. He usually liked Dodger better than himself most of the time, too.

“Normally, I would object, but I would appreciate it,” he said.

“Good,” she replied and stood up from the chair. “I don’t mean to be an ungrateful host, but you need a shower. You’re a mess.”

He lifted his arms and looked down at himself. Yep, nothing had changed since he’d arrived. Except the blood and mud had dried completely and began cracking and peeling off all over her couch. “Do you have something for me to wear?”

“I can find something,” she said. “Let me show you to the bathroom.”

Chris followed her obediently after moving Dodger to another couch cushion, wondering why he was following behind her like this. He certainly liked meeting new people, though staying in a strange person’s home was something else altogether. Dr. Bird’s no-nonsense attitude or not, he’d seen enough horror movies to know it probably wasn’t wise to accept an invitation to stay in an isolated farmhouse in the middle of a nor’easter without any ability to contact the outside world. He didn’t even know where he put the keys to his truck—they were probably still in the ignition, but he couldn’t say for sure. No matter how upstanding she seemed as a veterinarian, he couldn’t ignore the fact that everything about this place was strange to him, from the cat receptionist to the hugging blanket.

“What’s wrong?” she asked as she stopped in front of a door down a long hallway.

“I was just thinking that this is a set up for some sort of horror movie,” he said. “You’re not going to fatten me up and eat me, are you?”

She threw her head back in laughter, but even with the mirth, he sensed a bit of tension in the tone of it. “I’m a terrible cook. So unless you can be fattened up with a frozen pizza, you’re in the clear.”

“Frozen pizza?” he asked.

“Pepperoni,” she said. “And a beer?”

He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until that moment, and his rumbling belly let them both know that. “Sounds amazing.”

“Good. Now, the towels are in the cupboard in the bathroom,” she explained. “Use any of the soaps. I’ll find some clothes and leave them out here by the door while I pull dinner together.”

“Thank you, Dr. Bird,” he said.

She grinned. “It’s Nascha.”

Nascha… Nay-shaw. He repeated the name a few times in his head; he’d never heard a name like it. Somehow, though, it fit her. Strange and unique, like everything else he’d encountered.

“You can lock the door if you’re worried about me turning into Norman Bates,” she teased, nodding at the door and turning on her heels to head the other direction.

“I am locking it!” He called back, “But not because I think you’re going to murder me.”

Nascha laughed. “I’m not going to jump your bones, either. You’re safe.”

He couldn’t help but wonder, as he shut the door and flipped the lock, if he was safe. But, surprisingly, the anxiety that would usually be clawing its way out, stayed locked in its cage.

----

Nascha puttered around the kitchen, wondering what in the actual hell she was doing with a strange guy in her house. And not just any strange guy. A strange guy who was a very real temptation in so many ways. She could so easily reach out and take what she wanted from him. The energy and vitality coming off him was a beacon—a strong magnet—and resisting its pull was exhausting. It was too easy to slip; she barely held on during her daily clinic appointments with her clients. Spending a whole night alone with someone under her roof? That was another story entirely.

It wasn’t like she could just run off to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting when she felt the urge to consume. They didn’t have SEA—soul eater’s anonymous—even though she wasn’t technically one of those, anyway. The old medicine woman who took her in as an orphan was the closest thing she had to a sponsor, and she had long since departed her earthly existence. Since then, she’d hidden out here in the woods and made friends with the local community of the magically-minded, but their magic operated differently than hers.

And when someone must kill humans to survive, it tends to make that someone an outcast.

The other magical folk in this town were all perfectly capable of horrible outcomes in their own practices, but none of them were forced to take human lives just to live their own. Even though they accepted her into the community, they still regarded her with suspicion. There were no open arms here. Going to one of them for help would yield nothing but a cold shoulder.

Sometimes she wondered if staying on the reservation wouldn’t have been the better idea in the long run; at least there, she was an accepted part of the tribe. A feared part, sure, but still a part of it. And there were others like her.

Nascha, the bear and his cub are here. I heard them arguing outside.

Nascha startled at the intrusion to her thoughts, popping her head up to look at Ash. The cat sat on the kitchen counter in front of her, flicking her fluffy tail in agitation. Nascha patted her pockets for her cell phone, wondering why the motion sensor hadn’t detected the new visitors, but it wasn’t on her.

See! Called the Southern-drawling dog from his spot on the couch on the other side of the large great room. There was a bear!

She certainly did not need a visit from this bear, either. Not with her houseguest. The houseguest for whom she had not yet found clean clothes because she’d been so caught up stressing about him.

Her front door burst open with a force too great for the wind. In stomped a boy of thirteen, dark shaggy hair hanging in his eyes and a curled, angry lip. The boy threw his backpack on the floor with a flourish that sent it skidding to a halt across the room against a wall. He kicked off his Vans and promptly went to the couches in front of the television. Once there, he threw himself down next to Dodger with an overly dramatic flop of teenage angst.

Then he said, “Alexa, turn television on.”

The television glowed to life.

“Nice to see you, too, Adam,” Nascha called out to him as she stepped from the kitchen into the living room, hands on her hips. “Where’s your dad?”

Adam didn’t bother to look at her. “Alexa, find Twitch.”

“Adam!” growled the new male voice at the front door. “Turn the damn television off.”

Adam ignored his father. Said father was a giant of six-foot-five and a wall of solid muscle with a mean look on his face and a gun on his hip; such a visage was nothing in the face of Adam’s bad attitude.

Adam’s father walked over to the television and pulled the electrical cord from the wall. Adam let out the most epic groan and rolled his eyes. He sounded like Gollum freaking out over Sam Gamgee’s cooking. “Just let me watch TV!”

“No. You need to do your Algebra homework!”

“When am I ever going to need that bullshit, anyway?!” Adam yelled.

Adam’s father took a step forward, his giant paws curling into fists. His square jaw tightened and a muscle just under the jagged scar by his left eye jumped. “You will do your homework, or so help me, you won’t see the light of day until you turn forty.”

Dodger, who had been sitting silently on the couch, ungracefully stood and walked the short distance over to the teenager and laid across Adam’s lap, as though to protect him. Then Dodger said, Aren’t you gonna do somethin’, Doc?

Nascha sighed heavily. She hated stepping between these two in family arguments. It wasn’t her place, no matter how much both men tried to insert her into their lives. But it needed to be done and Erik needed to leave.

“Alright, you two,” she said, finally. “You both need to calm down.”

“He started it!” Adam exclaimed.

Nascha shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. “What’s going on, Erik?” she asked the father, whose face had turned purple with rage.

“The storm,” Erik grunted, waving his arm toward the open front door. “I have to go set up the command center because our new recruits can’t handle it, apparently.”

“Okay…”

She let the word fade as though she expected him to elaborate about how that involved her, but she knew what he meant. Since she’d moved into town, Erik had been the most welcoming and accepting of her peculiar magic. Some might even call him a friend, insomuch that he came around every so often to say hello, brought her venison steaks from his latest hunting trip, or helped her clean out the rain gutters. Sometimes he brought in injured wildlife he encountered, though all the park rangers and the other emergency services in the area usually did. Erik, however, stuck around for more than she was ever willing to give him, and it evolved into her occasionally being a place where he could leave Adam with an unpaid babysitter. She didn’t mind it, much. Adam was a fun kid when not in the throes of hormones.

What Nascha didn’t like about the whole situation was Adam’s mother—the feeling was mutual between both women—and Erik’s complete disregard for that fact. Or that, just maybe, she wasn’t able to be an emergency mom when Erik’s ex-wife was too busy to take care of their son. Nascha did not relish facing the wrath of Brenna when she found out that Adam had spent another night at her house.

“He needs to do his homework and then he needs to go to bed,” Erik replied. “Will you please see that this happ—who the fuck is he?”

Nascha frowned. Behind her, a rather… damp… man stood in the hallway with a towel wrapped around his trim hips. For a minute, her brain short-circuited as her eyes traveled down the sculpted muscle of his torso to the cut of his hips that disappeared into the towel. She knew he was built; all she had to do was look at him to understand that. She had not expected this, or the fact that her feminine interest would be so strong.

“It’s a long story,” she said.

“Sorry,” he said. “You didn’t leave the clothes out for me and…”

“No, I’m sorry,” Nascha said to Chris, stepping away from Erik toward her guest.

Erik grumbled. “Nascha?”

“Just give me a minute!” It came out more testy than she had hoped; Erik was the last person she wanted angry at her, but in her defense, she was a little stressed and he’d just have to deal with it.

She scooted by Chris at the entrance to the hall, careful not to touch him, but would have been lying if she said she hadn’t readily inhaled the scent of cedarwood and sage that smelled heavenly on his clean skin. “I’ll bring you the clothes, you can wait in the bathroom.”

Chris nodded his head and turned to head down the same narrow hallway. He did so carelessly, his naked torso accidentally grazing her uncovered arm. Every hair on her body rose to attention, gooseflesh prickling her skin. The unforgiving sexual awareness tightened her breasts and her nipples pebbled into hard sensitive peaks against her bra.

This was the very last thing she needed.

She glanced to her side, seeing if he had any reaction, but he was already stepping back into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him. “Get your head on right, Nascha,” she muttered to herself. Focus. She needed to focus.

Inside one of her spare bedrooms was a trunk of old things she kept from the previous owner of the house; when the old doctor had asked her for her help and given her the house in repayment for it, he did so because he had no relationships with his family. Still, though, she had packed his clothes and personal belongings into some boxes and kept them in storage should someone show up one day.

It had been five years. No one had shown up.

Every time she thought about it, it made her morose. What was the point of suffering in this life if you didn’t have someone there at the end to mourn? Not that she’d ever have anyone like that, considering how her life had turned out, but it was still a shame for humans to not have a legacy.

She found an old cable knit sweater and a pair of sweatpants with a drawstring at the waist that still smelled reasonably fresh in the depths of the third box she hastily dug through. Perfect for a few hours, at least, while she threw his other clothes in the wash.

The torn flannel was going in the trash, though.

When she emerged, she heard Erik and Adam arguing again. It was time for Erik to go. Adam usually always did what she asked, but that was because she had patience. True to Erik’s ursine nature, he was quick to anger and once there, it took him ages to calm down.

“Chris?” she asked when she neared the bathroom door. He thrust an arm out through a barely opened door. She handed over the garments and walked back to the living room.

“Adam,” she said softly, “did you have dinner?”

“No,” he replied.

She nodded. “Go put the oven on to 425, please.”

“Nae...” he moaned.

“Go!” She pointed in the direction of the kitchen. “And you,” she turned to Erik, “outside.”

She thought for a minute that Erik wasn’t going to comply, however, after a few seconds of hesitation, he followed her out onto the front porch.

When the door was shut, she turned to Erik. “I thought we talked about this, Erik! You have to call me first to see if it’s alright.”

“I did call!” he snarled. “You weren’t answering your cell.”

“I was a little busy,” she said.

“Clearly.”

Nascha scoffed. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

“Like I didn’t just see a naked guy walk out of the bathroom?” One of Erik’s dark eyebrows rose in challenge. This brow had one of the other prominent and jagged scars that adorned his otherwise handsome face. He always looked menacing when it lifted.

“He came in with an emergency. His dog fell in the river,” she said. “He went after the dog, he was covered in blood, and I told him to take a shower. And I’m forcing him to stay here tonight instead of going back to his campsite because of the storm.”

Erik regarded her for a silent moment that stretched too far to be entirely comfortable. “What campsite?”

“I don’t know, the dog didn’t say. But he swears there was a bear out there,” she said. “Were you out patrolling this afternoon?”

His nonreply was enough of an answer.

“Well, I guess I owe Dodger an apology.” There certainly may have been one there in the trees, but it still wasn’t the thing that had ultimately caused Dodger’s injury.

“You need to be careful, Nascha,” Erik said. “You don’t know this guy. He could be bad news.”

Nascha snorted and shook her head. “Good thing I can protect myself.”

The front door burst open again, this time with Adam rushing out and shutting the door behind him. He was dancing around wildly to get her attention, like he was about to burst from pent up energy. “Nascha! Nascha, Nascha, Nascha…”

“What is it now, Adam?” she asked.

“The dude!”

“What dude?”

Adam gesticulated toward the door and inside the house. “That dude.”

“What did he do?” Erik growled, his hand on his gun holster in a millisecond, ready to take matters into his own hands. Never mind that he could rip any man limb from limb with little effort and bare hands.

“He didn’t do anything!” Adam said breathlessly. “Nascha, do you know who that is?”

Nascha pursed her lips, thinking for a moment. He had seemed familiar to her, but other than that—

He got close to her, leaning in to hiss-whisper, “That’s Chris Evans!”

“Who?” she asked. The name didn’t particularly ring a bell, but she supposed he was someone noteworthy out in the real world. Probably a Youtube gamer, if Adam knew him.

He was louder and exasperated. “Chris Evans!”

When that still didn’t elicit a reaction from her, he groaned and shoved his hands in his hair. This was clearly stressing him out. “What am I doing with all you old people?! I swear to god… you are useless!”

“Who is he?” Nascha asked calmly. She hadn’t realized that Erik had gone silent, and that the other man in question was now standing in the doorway; he was fresh, clean, and—this time—fully clothed. Pity, that.

With his hair slicked back, still damp from a shower, and really taking a good look at him, it hit her like a ton of bricks.

Well, shit.

#chris evans #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans fanfic #chris evans fan fic #chris evans fan fiction #hoot and howl #somseries

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boogiewrites · 5 years

Text

Reports & Repertoire 15

Characters: Eddie Brock x Venom x Candace Miller (OFC)

Word Count: 4700+

Summary: Eddie and Candy both start to deal with the reality and the downsides to their success and the symbiote. Candy battles herself on feeling like she’s out of touch and not helping enough. She has to share some bad news with Eddie, but she follows it up with good news.

Warnings/Tags: Fluff. Minimal angst. Everyday life for these two. Language. Mentions of violence.

Click on my icon then go to Mobile Masterlist in my bio for my other works and chapters. (Had to do this since Tumblr killed links, sorry.)

Having finished a two-part episode for her show, Candy found herself with the rare few days off. Since she'd been so engrossed in her current project, new stories had been slipping her grasp as she'd been ignoring the acts of violence and focusing on her investigations for the shady business practices of the newly rich tech guys. The only thing more problematic than their umbrella companies was the even shadier nightlife patterns in the neighborhoods where the poor mixed with new gentrification.

She was currently trying to catch up on messages and emails from her sources and friends in the mission and tenderloin, trying to see what areas looked like they could use some help.

She spent her night reading and researching, not a terrible use of her time as it was one of her favorite past times, but she would've rather been spending this night off with Eddie. He was currently finishing up a job and would be flying out on a red-eye back home. So she was spending her evening getting together all the violent crimes stats she could to pass them on to him.

They'd formed a relationship much like his and Venom's, where it was mutually beneficial and based on a strong foundation of killing people that deserved it. She gathered the information, as she was known to be excellent at and passed it on to Eddie. Sending him patterned locations of the worst sort of violent crimes. She focused mainly on ones that were committed against women and children on her own personal bias but she couldn't find it in herself to care.

As was their schedule, Candy would normally be wrapping up with her crew and having a drink at some bar near where they were shooting and Eddie would be out with the information she gave him and hunting. She could tell it made Eddie feel better about what he was doing, grateful for her help as he was good at intimidation and being a bit of a cowboy when it came to his work, but she was more precise and worked faster within legal means. Since his time was spent traveling and being slower at the writing bit, she took it upon herself to do the bad guy round up and let he and Venom handle the things that the law wouldn't. Eddie felt he had a purpose, even found himself thinking of himself as some sort of vigilante justice character head, a man for the people again. He'd wanted to be some sort of superhero growing up, do some sort of good in the world, and he was surprised and found contentment that he could help, actually make a difference as he saw it. He could interview all the serial killers or heartless CEO's he wanted but nothing felt as proactive as eating a pedophile whole.

So on this Friday night, Candy sits at home alone, watching true crime documentaries and folding laundry. Not exciting but a necessary action she'd been neglecting. Eddie is encapsulated inside his symbiote as he rips and tears through a gang in an abandoned warehouse. Eating his fill, swallowing men whole and leaving nothing to be found. They both go to bed alone, but share a goodnight text before falling asleep, both exhausted but fulfilled.

That next morning Candy decides it's been too long since she'd been to the shelter and volunteered. She gets up early and dressing down, being used to overthinking her outfits since being more in the public eye. She didn't want to be all over social media in people's selfies looking like she wasn't doing as well as she was. But it felt good to get back into her old trainers, holey jeans and an old habitat for humanity t-shirt that was faded from time and washings.

She's greeted more enthusiastically than usual. Some of the younger volunteers asking for pictures with her, but she was volunteering and it didn't matter what she looked like. To be honest, the skin care routine the makeup artist with the studio had suggested along with sending her for facials had left her feeling more confident without makeup than she ever had. It was comforting and problematic in its own ways, knowing that having money and access to these sorts of things was what made so-called celebrities look so good. But as she learned, rubbing elbows with people from all walks, everyone had their own ugliness deep down that no amount of gold fleck, young blood, or endangered snail facials could erase.

The people at the shelter treated her the same and it's what she wanted. A little break to be treated like just another face and be around humans who didn't deny their struggles but rather wanted to share. She'd take this over a gala any day. She gladly took the shit talking from her old friends, jokingly asking for an autograph and she got to roll her eyes and laugh about the insanity of her importance.

As she settles into a far table, shifts changing and people moving in and out, she stays back, observing and having a soda. She sees an almost unrecognizable version of a woman who had given her information shuffle in. The woman sees Candy and begins to hobble towards her on sight.

"Who did it?" Candy says rising immediately and taking her by the hand, sitting her down before joining her on a couch.

The woman smiles, patting Candy's cheek. "I'm glad you're back." she says with a sigh.

Candy learns in her absence that violence has been rising again. The cops being mad and not patrolling as often due to her expose', unreported crime had been on the rise. The usual drugs and fighting were always there, but groups of people not from the area were starting to come in looking for trouble. Candy takes out her notebook and gets all the information she can. Descriptions, locations, dates, times, and injuries for her notes. It felt good to be back in her place of origin and getting to be around people she knew. She'd been so invested in going higher up, taking down bigger people, interviewing strangers for their silhouetted, voice distorted words. Getting to help someone with no other motive than helping, no cameras, no paycheck involved felt right and she felt grounded. Candy told her friend she would do what she could, try to pass the information on to someone who could help. She just couldn't disclose that the person who could help would be eating the abusers.

She takes a shower, scrubbing away the dirt of helping clean the shelter, thinking about how she felt responsible for the uptick in problems. She wanted to do something to correct it. Something besides point Venom in the direction and have him attack. SHE wanted to do something. As she's brainstorming, hair piled on top of her head messily, chewing on the end of a pen, Eddie's voice startles her out of her train of thought.

"Thought we were keepin' work out of our days off?" he scolds playfully, hanging up his coat as she moves and closes her laptop that was sitting in her lap on the couch.

"I went to the shelter this morning to do some work." she takes a big stretch, lifting her arms over her head and groaning. "I've been distracted by it all afternoon." she yawns.

"You interested in some other kinds of distractions?" Eddie smiles and moves in to kiss her.

"Maybe." she chuckles against his lips.

"Maybe?" his voice goes high pitched and cracks. "Ya gonna have to do better than that Candy." he teases, face moving to her neck.

She laughs and hums happily as he moves her back to the couch as he snuggles down between her legs, nuzzling into her neck and giving her pecks to her face and chest. "Of course I am. But have you eaten yet?"

"What are you my mother?" he laughs, raising up to look down at her.

"Has he eaten today Venom?" you ask with a scolding tone.

"We have not." he says, a little blob of a head appearing over Eddie's shoulder.

"How do you think you're gonna fuck me well enough for me to keep you around if you aren't fueled up?" she laughs, kissing his cheek and wiggling out from under him and into the floor as he watches with his mouth open with fake disbelief.

"You hearin' this?" he asks Venom, flopping to his side and watching her. "The way she talks to us?" he says, watching her move to the kitchen.

"She has a point, Eddie." Venom says, looking at him, knowing she wasn't serious, but also seeing the facts in what she was saying.

"I can't win with both of you on the same side." he groans, getting up from the couch.

"Get in here and eat baby boy." she chirps and moves to take the leftovers out of the fridge.

"We not goin' out?" he asks, ruffling his hair with his hand.

"We are, but I have to get ready and you're going to get cranky if we go out on an empty stomach."

"This is true." Venom says. "You get very grumpy and I have to work harder to keep you stable. Eat."

"Geez you two. Fine." he says taking the cold container of pasta and shoving a fork full into his mouth.

"Good boys." she says kissing his sauce-stained cheek. "There are pills in the cabinet for you Venom. I'm gonna go get ready." she calls out.

"Yesssss." she hears him hiss, already stretching across the room as she walks towards her bedroom.

---------- Candy looks lovely, a dress and curled hair with boots as she and Eddie walk side by side down the street after a movie. They're on their way to dinner, wanting something quick to eat while they get a bigger order to go and then go home and be able to snuggle up. Being in public together was something that they both wanted but neither liked doing. They couldn't be affectionate as they didn't want anyone to know they were a couple and Candy was starting to get quite annoyed by it. When she'd heard "Oh my God are you two together? You're so cute!" after taking pictures with people who recognized them for the 8th time that night, she let out a frustrated sigh.

"What's wrong babe?" Eddie asks quietly, handing her her helmet.

"I'm just..." she rolls her eyes and sighs. "Just not in a great mood." she mumbles, taking her place behind him on the bike. "Let's just go home baby. I don't want to have to stop myself from holding your hand anymore. I'm tired." she wraps her arms around him, and feels Venom lace between her fingers. "Yeah, I 'm tired of hiding too." she sighs against Eddie's back.

Eddie can tell she's distracted and frustrated when she keeps chewing on her bottom lip while they watch a movie.

"You can just tell me what's wrong ya know?" he says out of nowhere and her eyes blink fast, coming back online.

"Just having a weird day." she sighs, nuzzling her face into his chest.

"That could mean a lotta things." he states with a sweet tone.

"I'm trying not to think about work. But I found out crime has spiked in the tenderloin because the cops are being pissy and not patrolling as much, possibly because of me and the expose' we did. Then some of the women I know have been assaulted and no ones helping. I got that info and I'm gonna pass it on to you so you guys can handle it. But I'm just frustrated because I want to help. Not hand everything off to you two."

"You are helpin'." Eddie states obviously.

"How? You two are going out and doing everything." she says with an attitude and Eddie knows she's only mad at herself.

"You're giving us the information. I couldn't know all this stuff if it wasn't for you. And I'd rather be out there than you. I worry about you when you're out there doin' filed work ya know."

"I know. But that's where I want to be. I miss doing things without cameras. Getting my hands dirty. I just want to feel like I'm anonymous and can get in there and work on the ground floor again. I've been in so many skyrise apartments and fucking overdone offices lately to interview assholes I'm afraid I'm going to lose touch."

"Oh now that's not true." Eddie says, rubbing her arm. "You're only one woman babe. You can't do everything. You know how many people you've helped since doin' the show? More than you ever coulda reached before."

"Yeah." she grumbles. "Doesn't mean I don't miss it though."

'She could come with us.' Venom says in Eddie's head.

"Absolutely not." Eddie answers out loud.

"Huh?" Candy looks up at him.

"Talkin' to Venom." he mutters.

"What's he saying?" she asks curiously.

"No, don't-" Eddie begins before being interrupted.

"You should come with us. We can protect you."

"Really?" her eyes flash brightly.

"No, no. I don't want her involved in this." Eddie says.

"Look at her. She wants to. She is unhappy." Venom coos.

"You can't just go givin' her what she wants just cause she's unhappy. She'll be a lot more unhappy and so will we if she's dead."

"That's what I do to you." she pouts. "And couldn't you guys protect me?" she says with a higher pitched voice.

"We could. We do not have to do anything dangerous." he says aloud. 'Take her out with us, we do not have to hunt. Let her feel useful. It is important to her.' he says to Eddie in his head.

"Yeah, we can just check out some places or something. Or you could be my bodyguard's, I could be bait."

"No bait." they both answer and she sighs.

"Fine." she frowns.

"You should think of other ways to be helpful though. Comin' with us isn't something you should get used to. It makes me nervous." Eddie shakes hs head, his brow low.

"But is that a yes?" she smiles.

"Okay. We'll take you out. But we aren't going to go looking for trouble, alright?" he says with raised brows, trying to show her he was serious.

"Deal." she says with a smile, snuggling back into him.

'Awwww. See? Look how happy she is.' Venom says quietly in Eddie's head, reaching a tendril out to lovingly pet on Candy's hip. She takes it and holds it as it forms into a hand.

Eddie nods and sighs, giving her a kiss on the head, thinking about how he really didn't want her to get hurt because of him.

------ "Any other ideas in miscellaneous?" Candy's producer asks the room full of the Report's crew.

"Have you seen this crazy shit?" one of her interns says, tossing a printed out photo across the table to her. "Somebody got a picture of this crazy looking thing. It's blurry as shit and dark but it's been exposed and brighten. What the hell is that thing?" he says with a look of amusement.

Candy takes the picture and tries to not show her fear. Someone had gotten a picture of Venom, crawling up the side of building. It was dark and blurry, but she knew her alien boyfriend when she saw him. "What's uh... what is this?"

"The cryptozoology boards are lit the fuck up over it. Calling some San Francisco crawler. The OP said they saw it lurking around rooftops and they got this shot. Apparently, the thing is fuckin' HUGE and fast."

"You sure it's not just photoshopped?" she says convincingly enough.

"It's damn good photoshop if it is." he shrugs.

"Where'd you find this?" she asks, putting the paper back down on the table.

"On the San Francisco boards. Some monster hunters were flipping their shit over it. Trying to come up with theories about it. Saw it down in the mission apparently. Tying it in with the spike in missing persons from there possibly. "

"Yeah most of those people are a bit... imaginative." she says with heavy condescending in her voice.

"I thought it's something you might be able to have fun with. No one's really talking about it yet. Thought you might want in on the ground floor." he shrugs, putting the picture back in his folder.

"I do news. People, places, events. I don't do cryptozoology crap like that. What am I going to do go stand in a dark alley and wait?" she says sarcastically and a murmur of chuckles and agreement come from the others. "That sort've thing is below us. Cool to talk about on some monster board but I don't want to cover things that are possibly fake and only speculation. Thanks for thinking outside the box though." she shrugs and tries to pull back not make the kid feel bad. It wasn't his fault her boyfriend's powers had been possibly exposed.

"And any other new ideas?" her producers asks again, she'd been waiting to share something when there was a lull in the talking.

"Yeah." Candy nods, tapping her pen on her notepad, trying to shed the worry and focus. "I thought maybe we should try to connect with the city more. Give back, give some good PR for us and the network. I think this show would be a great place to do something like that."

"What do you mean?" she's asked.

"Do spotlights on places that help people out. Show us donating money and time and we can give out information on their causes and tell people how to donate to them. It'll be a story by focusing on a particular struggle on the ground level, the people that don't normally get any credit. It'll be easy, fast and cheap to shoot. The money saved can go towards a donation."

"That's... a great PR idea." she responds, scribbling down on her notepad. "I think this would be a good way to balance out the budget. Get more social media involvement, show that we are a part of the community like you said." she nods in thought.

"It would also give us more downtime to work on bigger things and not give us 7 day work weeks." Candy offers.

"Also that. A day or two of shooting, a press release, quick press conference. Some talking heads and narration." she nods. "Would be a hell of a lot easier on logistics."

"My thoughts exactly." she smiles proudly.

"Alright. Well, I have another meeting coming up, so anything else?"

"Yeah one more thing but, I'd like to speak to you privately if that's okay."

A murmur of yes's from the crew around her who are already packing up their things.

"Fine with me." she says, putting away her things, Candy moves to sit on the table top next to her.

"Is it bad news?" she asks first.

"No." she laughs and shakes her head. "But I needed you to run something by the higher-ups or, HR or whoever needs to be told about this." she shrugs.

"Oh God did someone harass you? Shit."

"No! No." she moves her hands back and forth with another friendly smile. "I've just been seeing someone and I'd like to be able to go public with it."

"Oh!" she says with a big nod and the clear sign of relief in her shoulders. "Who's the lucky guy?" she asks with a much more perky disposition.

"Eddie Brock." she says with a nervous chuckle.

"Ahhhh." She nods. "I see why you're asking now. Wasn't in your contract to have to ask these sorts of things."

"Yeah, I know. People see us out and we have to be careful not to get too close and everything. And we're pretty serious, so I'd like to be able to go out on a date with my boyfriend ya know? But since we're both employees and this used to be his show..." she frowns.

"No, I get it. I do. It was smart of you to have me check first. I appreciate it."

"So just...text me or email me when you know something? I'd love to be able to have a real date night and not pretend like we're just friends when people ask us for selfies and tell us how cute we are together." she smiles and walks towards the door.

"If I have time I'll swing by and ask today. I don't think they'll have a problem with it, since you two have your own successful things going on now but I'll let you know when I know, kay?"

"Thank you. I mean it." she says sincerely with a wave goodbye.

----------

It's date night and Candy has both good and bad news on her mind. She's sitting across from Eddie who is eating cheese fries and rather messily. She sighs for what could've been the hundredth time that night.

'Ask her what is wrong?' Venom suggests

"Mmmph?" Eddie makes a sound, but Candy just thinks he's enthusiastic about his fries as she chomps away at her fried pickles. Something Eddie made fun of her for, telling her he didn't know he was dating a hillbilly. She took it in stride and told him to shut his city ass up.

'Something is wrong. Stop stuffing your face with this artery-clogging food and pay attention.' he snaps at him.

Eddie wipes the cheese from his face, taking a moment to look her over, her eyes were far away but her mouth was set in a pleasant smile. "Somethin' wrong?" he asks, pushing the fries away.

"Maybe."

"Well can you maybe tell us?" he says playfully.

"There are pictures of you." her lips move to a straight line and she meets his eyes. She hadn't wanted to ruin the night with this but she obviously wasn't hiding anything from them.

"Pictures?" he says with the push back of his chin, his eyebrows lowering in question.

"Of Venom." she says quietly.

Eddie's eyes go wide. "What?"

"In the meeting this week for brainstorming one of the interns found a, albeit really poor quality, photo of you crawling up the side of a building in the mission. " she says with no inflection, clearly she'd been dreading sharing this news.

"Oh." he says with wide eyes that darted around the table.

"Yeah. You're gonna have to figure something out. Maybe lay low for a bit. The crypto people have ahold of it and have already linking it to disappearances in the area."

"Whatta ya mean linked?"

"With their theories."

"So nothing concrete?" the relief in his voice is obvious.

"It's a blurry picture of a humanoid creature...so it's all theories." she shakes her head. "No one in the meeting seemed to take it seriously and I shot it down as internet fodder that wasn't worthy of our time. BUT the missing people have been noticed. Which means you need to switch up your locations or try to make it on chocolate and pills for a bit until the interest passes."

"He's not happy about that." Eddie frowns.

"About which part?"

"The chocolate and pills part."

"Of course." she rolls her eyes. "He should be more concerned about being seen and found out. That's a whole world of trouble that none of us want. We have a nice little set up between the three of us. We don't need outside involvement to come for our careers or our personal lives." she whispers, her face more sad than annoyed now.

"She's got a point, man. You need to keep your priorities in line here. We've done it before we can do it again." he shakes his head.

"I'll even order more pills. Get some chocolate wholesale or something. I won't let you waste away. You know that." she reaches out and takes his hand in hers and the affectionate touch in public surprises them both. She'd been scolding them so long for trying to touch her when they were out that this was a more meaningful touch than what it would seem on the surface.

"We're a team alright? I'll do everything I can to keep the noise down from my end. I'll keep you both running as best as I can. And you can lay low for me okay? We'll just spend Friday nights together when we can instead of you out hunting."

"That's something we can both agree one." he smiles and rubs his thumb across the back of her hand. "More time together would be nice." his soft smiles warms her, makes her feel like everything will be okay.

"It would." she squeezes his hand and looks down at it. "And I've got some other news. Some good news." she says with a tilt of her head. "I'd just been so worried about ruining the night with mentioning the pictures that it just..." she motions to her head. "Took over my brain. So... sorry. Ive not meant to be distant."

"S'okay." he squeezes her hand back, surprised she's still holding it. "You got good news though? Let's focus on the good news." he suggests.

"We can do that." she nods and gives him a warm smile back that makes Venom purr. "You done with those fries babe?" she laughs. "I'll tell you the good news on the way." she offers with a hum of happiness.

"Yeah, wait." he says, taking his finger and getting the rest of the cheese after stuffing the remaining fries in his mouth. "Ready." he mumbles out with stuffed cheeks and she cant help but laugh at him.

"C'mon you slopapotamus." she snorts.

She holds his hand on the way to the movie theatre as they walk together. He doesn't dare mention it because it's making them both giddy with pride. They were getting to show she was theirs and that was extremely important to Venom and Eddie just wanted to be able to show her he liked her through touch. They get to the line and she's recognized.

"Oh my god can I get a selfie?" the girl says excitedly.

"Of course." Candy says, leaning in and smiling.

"Holy shit you're Eddie Brock, right?" the girl asks. Looking up at him.

"That'd be me." he says with a charming smile.

"Can I get a picture with you too?" she asks with wide eyed.

"Yeah." he says politely.

"Oh my god wait. Are you two like on a date or something I totally just interrupted. Shit, I'm sorry." she says her face flushing with embarrassment.

"Yeah we were but it's fine." Candy laughs, moving and putting her arm around Eddie's back and he tries to hide how much Venom is freaking out in his head and how equally shocked he was on the inside. "Have a good night." she says sweetly, moving up in the line.

"What?" Eddie's eyes dart around. "What was that?" his voice breaks.

"The good news." she says, moving to put her arms around him under his jacket.

"Oh?" his high pitched voice of shock makes her sigh at his bewildered, adorable face.

"I asked if we could go public about our relationship." she says quietly, her chin tilting up towards him.

"And they said yes?" he says with excited eyes.

"They did." she purrs back.

"Oh shit." he lets out a giggle, wrapping his arms around her. "They did?"

"Uh huh." she nods. "So are you gonna give your girlfriend a kiss or what Eddie?" she teases.

"Of fuckin' course I am." he mutters, already leaning against her lips.

"You think we can even get a bit saucy and holds hands during the movie? Might even let you put your arm around me." she winks and laughs.

"If you don't mind my butter fingers from the popcorn." he laughs.

"You know I never mind your fingers when they're slippery Eddie." she coos and gives him a suggestive look as she pulls away, tugging at his hand.

"Oh!" he giggles again and follows behind her like a happy puppy to the ticket stand.

@hardygal69 @marvelgirl7 @emerald-bijou @negansdirtygirl22 @brianaisasongbird @vale0413 @izzy-the-ginger @chortletortoise @onomatopoetic-aesthetic @anrm1 @jademox @nightcraver @venomous-possibiities @tinastarkandco @chipster-21 @ugly-crying-over-bucky-barnes @queenof-wakanda

#Eddie Brock #eddie brock x reader #eddie brock fic #venom fanfic #eddie brock fanfic #Venom #Tom Hardy #venom fandom #venom fic #venom fluff #venom fan fic #eddie brock imagine #eddie brock fluff #eddie brock x ofc #eddie brock au #venom au #eddie brock fan fiction #eddie brock fan fic #symbrock

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igottheissue · 5 years

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This Time Around 1

A strange woman Bucky is sure he knows but can’t fully recognize, picks him up after the fall of SHIELD. She claims to be friends with Steve and that she is here to help him. He can’t help but keep wondering where he knows her from; it’s definitely not through Steve Rogers. Can she help him be the man he wants to be or will the all too familiar struggles of being a super human overcome him?

Pairing: Bucky Barnes X OFC Rowan O’Connor Word Count: 3,610 Rating: M Masterlist Chapter 2 Taglist: @xmarveled @spidey-the-killer-queen

A shuddered breath accompanied by a low groan came from a disheveled bed across the small studio apartment. Rowan O’Connor looked up from the book held tightly in calloused, tanned hands. The owner of said hands calmly placed the book on the cushion beside her. Getting up slowly, she carefully walked over to the man occupying her bed; grabbing a bottle of water on the way.

As she neared the bed, she eyed the greasy brown-haired man cautiously; she was no fool. She knew exactly who he was as soon as she laid eyes on him two weeks ago. The silver bionic arm attached to the man's left shoulder had given him away instantly. No matter, she had known his face for years now; coming across him more than a few times.

That bionic arm had been the bane of her existence for what felt like most of her life. Sure, she had other missions that needed to be completed, but that damn glinting arm – red soviet star gleaming at her; was always top priority.

She calmly held the water bottle out in front of her. Troubled blue eyes looked up to her own before scanning every nook and cranny they could find of the small, square living space.

"Ostavaytes’ spokoynymi. Ya ne sobirayus’ prichnyat’ tebe bol." She watched with bated breath while the man’s eyes flew back to hers. They were startling blue. They held a lightness to them that she had never seen before.

"What?" His throat felt dry. How long had it been since he'd used it? He sat up a bit more before eying the water bottle warily. The woman cleared her throat before speaking again.

"I said, stay calm, James, I'm not going to hurt you." Bucky looked at her oddly, wondering why this woman was calling him by his first name, before deciding since she seemed to at least somewhat know him, the water bottle she was offering couldn't be all that hazardous.

He took it roughly from her hands and tore the lid off, internally sighing from relief when it popped lightly within his grasp, revealing it was sealed and therefor, not poisoned. He briefly wondered why his mind went to whether or not a bottle of water would be poisoned before downing the contents quicker than he would have thought.

When was the last time he'd had something to eat? As the thought passed through his mind, his stomach growled, rather loudly. Both sets of eyes looked down at his abdomen. The woman, who had yet to reveal herself, chuckled lightly and headed over to the kitchen area. Bucky watched with slight confusion as she hummed to herself while she stuck some bread in a toaster.

She could feel the soldier's eyes on her back as she got the butter out of the fridge for the toast. Although she had told herself the man in her bed was the Winter Soldier, a man who had tried to eliminate her on countless occasions, it had seemed – at least at this moment in time, the eyes that had questioned her first statement since he had been placed in her bed were in fact not the deadly ones she had met before. No, the man currently in her bed was Bucky Barnes, war hero, best friend of Steve Rogers; who she knew was looking for the silver-armed super soldier in her apartment.

Bucky Barnes, at the moment that is, had no idea how he found himself in this situation. Rowan didn’t quite know what to think about that. She was expecting the cold blooded killer and now she had a guy who wouldn’t remember a damn thing, at least for the next day or so, until something triggered a fit.

She knew how it went. Everything would be fine, then a memory from his time as the Soldier would break through his mind while reading through a magazine or seeing something in a storefront. There was no rhyme or reason why the fits and memories came about, but Rowan knew they would come. They had for her.

The toast popping up suddenly had Bucky gripping the sheets nervously. Where was he? What happened to Steve and their team? He looked around once more. The warm breeze coming from the opened window above the bed he was residing in somewhat answered his question of where he was; not in the icy countryside where he last remembered being with his team.

Everything in this apartment looked weird also. Nowhere he had ever been looked as shiny and new as the things in here. Even the clothing the woman had on were weird looking. That raised even more questions. He looked back up to the woman's face as she turned around and began speaking again.

"You're in Chicago, by the way." She said as she came closer, a plate of buttered toast and a glass of orange juice in her hands. Bucky noted her accent, the same British lilt to her voice as Peggy Carter, but with a higher notes on the end of some of her words, he couldn’t quite pin point where he had heard it from. She continued as she sat on a small stool next to the bed,

"Do you have any idea who I am? What year it is? Who you are?" She couldn't keep the questions from tumbling out. She hadn't been expecting him to be waking up like this; confused, pale, and visibly shaking. No, she had expected a bionic hand reaching for her neck. She was familiar with that situation.

He didn't answer her at first, seeming more interested in the glass of orange juice and toast that she was still holding onto, as if waiting to reward him from any answers he gave her. She sighed quietly before slowly handing him the glass and plate.

"I'm sure you're probably hungrier for more than toast and O.J., but trust me, after what you've been through, give it a few days before you try more than this." The auburn haired woman spoke softly, not wanting to spook Bucky. He had grabbed the glass and plate as soon as she gestured for him to. By the time she was done with her statement, he had already finished the orange juice and was halfway done with the second piece of toast.

Her jaw slacked open slightly in surprise at how fast he had sucked the food and drink up. She inched her stool back a bit with a pinched face and grabbed the small trash bin next to the bed. He looked quizzically at it for a second before shooting out his left arm for it. She hoped the crack he made to the bin didn't reach down far enough to let the vomit leak through onto the rug.

He looked sheepishly back up to her after emptying the small amount of sustenance he had just inhaled, gladly accepted the paper towel from the woman, and wiped his face off before slowly taking in the object holding onto the waste basket. Taking a sharp breath in, the woman took the bin away slowly before speaking.

"James, please remain calm. I can't help you if you freak out, okay?" Bucky hardly paid attention to the woman in from of him. He dropped the half eaten toast from his right hand and continued to glare at the silver arm attached to his shoulder.

What happened to him? Who did this? Where was Steve? And why was this woman still calling him James? His breathing started getting shallow and his vision grew black around the edges. Pain. All over; it started behind his eyes, but continued until it spread, white hot, throughout his entire body.

The warm apartment disappeared as Bucky found himself cold, so incredibly cold. His eyes could barely make anything out. His vision was blurry, and there seemed to be frost all around him. If he concentrated hard enough, he could just see a figure through the ever-thickening frost.

A man in a black business suit was glaring at him with a hopeful look on his face. His gray fringed red hair stood out bright among the dimly lit room. The cold was growing, his vision fading yet again. Then warm hands reached out and grasped both his shoulders. His mind did not think. His body only reacted.

Rowan could only watch as Bucky grabbed her right shoulder with his left hand and her left thigh with his right hand and toss her like a lawn chair across the apartment. She landed roughly on the coffee table, thanking her lucky stars it wasn’t glass. It almost didn’t break under her weight.

Rowan didn’t slow down as she rolled from the crumpled coffee table and jumped back up, twisting her body as she landed back on her feet. Just in time to deflect a rather roughly thrown left hook. The Winter Soldier’s bionic arm groaned under the force of hitting the woman’s right arm.

Taking advantage of his surprise, Rowan grabbed hold of his right shoulder and heaved herself up, flipping and landing on Bucky’s shoulders. Bucky stumbled backwards and grabbed both her thighs while trying to pry her off. Rowan flexed her legs tightly to hold on and landed blow after blow to Bucky’s face. After four elbows to the head the Winter Soldier fell back onto the couch, dazed, but not knocked out.

Rowan jumped off quickly, taking advantage of his quieted state to grab hold of his shoulders once more, softer this time. She took a deep breath, silently thanked Natasha for teaching her signature move (a rather funny story for another time), and began trying to talk the Winter Soldier back down into the form of Bucky Barnes.

"I need you to focus on me. Breathe deeply, there. Now breathe out. James? Look at me. There you go. How many windows are in this room?" This was an exercise that Natasha had used countless times to help Rowan from going nuclear when she started to have a fit from a memory breaking through. It worked most of the time.

Bucky’s eyes snapped back to the woman kneeling in front of him in between his legs. How did he end up on the couch? He didn’t remember moving to the couch. What happened? Why was this God-forsaken, weird-accented woman still calling him James?

"Why do you keep calling me James?"

"Answer my question."

"My name is Bucky."

"Bucky. Answer my question." He was sweating, and had a rather splitting headache he didn’t remember having. Sky blue eyes pulled away from emerald ones and tried to calmly count the amount of windows.

"Four." He stated, sounding calmer than he felt.

"How many doors?"

"Two."

"Good. My name is Rowan O'Connor. You seem not to remember me, which, considering our past is probably a good thing." She finished with a slight smile to her red-stained lips and took her hands off his shoulders. Standing up, she wiped some imaginary dirt off of her shorts before making her way to the love seat across from the couch Bucky was sitting on. He eyed the splintered coffee table suspiciously, but didn’t say anything.

"I found you two weeks ago lying face down in a dry creek bed in Virginia. You'd been shot twice; your right shoulder and your abdomen. Don't bother looking for any wounds. Our bodies heal faster than most." Bucky was trying to process the information. What did she mean by 'our bodies'? He couldn't wrap his head around any of this. Too many questions were going through his muddled brain. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He decided to start with a simple question first.

Rowan had sat back as comfortably as she could with cracked ribs after relaying the information to her fellow super soldier. She knew he had to have a million questions bobbing around in his head; who was she, why was she here, where did this arm come from, why couldn't he remember anything; but Rowan was very surprised by the first question Bucky voiced.

"How did you know about the food?" His voice came out low and gravelly still, even after the orange juice and water; clearly it was sore from not using it for at least half a month. Bucky noticed some hesitation before a quiet answer emerged from her lips.

"Let's just say I've… had some personal experience in this field before." He nodded in understanding, nearly choking on the thickness in the air that the seemingly simple question had brought on. Her nearly palpable nervousness about the topic gave him some much-needed confidence in the situation. It seemed, at least a little bit, that he wasn’t alone.

"You asked me earlier if I knew who you were. I don't know you. I mean, I don’t think I do. There’s glimpses. You’re eyes. I know I’ve seen them before... But I don’t have a name. Well, I have a word. But it isn’t a name, ‘least not where I’m from. But you know me. And it seems that I’m at your mercy," He stretched his body out a bit before grimacing.

Rowan stilled, just barely, she wasn’t sure if Bucky noticed. He had a word. There was a dictionary of words out there that he could remember about her. She wished it was something trivial, but she had a sickening feeling it was the one word she didn’t want anyone to remember. There was only a handful of people still alive that knew that word. When Rowan didn’t continue, Bucky spoke again, not feeling comfortable in the silence.

"And if what you said about where and how you found me was true, it seems you might be the one to thank for me being alive right now." He paused with a smirk. Rowan could see why so many women had swooned over him back in his Howling Commando days. She didn't really have a reply to his latest statement so she just looked at him, amazed at the difference brainwashing someone does to their features.

She remembered hard, strict jawlines. Stoic, dark blue eyes with thick, creased eyebrows. A five o’clock shadow that seemed to cover more than just his lower face. That shadow covered his mind, his heart. Bucky’s smirk faded a bit, growing impatient with the woman’s stillness. It was almost perverted the way her green eyes were moving over his face. So he tried again,

"Besides the obvious," he raised his left arm as indication to his biggest question,

"If you don't mind I'd like to know who my savior is, and not just a pretty name with an even prettier face." He lifted his light blue eyes slowly to meet Rowan's. Rowan raised her eyebrows slightly at the openness and willingness to speak coming from a man who had hardly spoken two words to her since they had first met over forty years ago.

Could she trust this man enough to give him the information he seemed so desperate to want? Was there any way he could have been assigned to eliminate her as his mission after DC? She thought hard while he waited for her to speak. She had seen him at his deadliest. There was no way that he was under any type of whatever brainwash thing HYDRA was known for; his eyes were too bright, his features too expressive; for now at least.

And she knew for a fact that no one working for HYDRA knew about what happened when Assets had been out of the freezer for too long. She knew the difference between someone who had been put on a mission and someone who didn't know what the hell was going on. So she went with her gut feeling.

"Well, I'm a lot like you. Actually we fought against each other more than once in the past forty years. It's-"

"Forty years? Listen lady, I’m only 26. You can’t be any older than I am. What I said earlier about your eyes, hey, I’m just saying, lots of dames have pretty green eyes.”

"If you'd let me finish…" She gave him a wry smile that showed a small dimple on her left cheek. He shut his mouth slowly.

"Like I was saying. It's gonna be kinda hard to explain who I am without first explaining who you are. So let’s start there and we’ll see how you’re feeling about my story afterwards, yeah?" Rowan rose from her position on the loveseat, deciding this was a conversation for the couch instead. His gaze followed her every move. Bucky was thinking hard about where they would have fought against each other; if she were even telling the truth. Did that mean she was working with the Nazi's? What year was it? She said over the last forty years?!

He took a breath… People had thought what happened to Steve was impossible, hell if he admitted, he had even had some questions about the whole thing. But he saw it with his own eyes. Maybe what he was about to hear wasn’t as crazy or impossible as he initially thought. He watched her wearily while she got comfortable on the couch next to him. He could feel the warmth radiating off her body. He enjoyed the warmth.

"Don't hurt yourself trying to think. Just sit back and relax a little, it's gonna be a long morning." Bucky looked out one of the windows, only to be met with a brick wall of another building not ten feet away. But he could tell by the ever lightening of the red bricks that the sun had started to rise, though the wind creaking at the window panes teased a storm coming through.

While Bucky was busy looking out the windows, Rowan quickly pulled a syringe out from under her, making it look like she was adjusting an ill fitted cushion. She didn’t want to take any more chances of Mr. Barnes having a fit while talking about the last forty years. The light blue liquid was the only thing she had known to exist that could take someone like Steve Rogers, The Winter Soldier, or herself down in under ten seconds.

Once again, something to thank Natasha for, maybe… Tony did the majority of the work, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of a big thank you until she had tried it out properly. As it was, her body visibly relaxed when the dark haired man turned his head back to her and adjusted his seat on the opposite end of the brown leather couch.

"Okay, so… Who am I? I mean what exactly do you mean by that? I know who I am. I'm Sergeant James Buchannan Barnes, 107th, Howling Commandos. I was born in Shelbyville, Indiana in 1917 before moving to Brooklyn when my dad changed jobs. After I graduated high school I was drafted into the army.

“My best friend, Steve, he didn’t get in with me at first, but then they made that serum thing and we fought together, in the Howling Commandos. Never married, just a mom, dad, and little sister. I'm not sure what else you need to know about me…" he paused, taking in a deep breath and running his right hand through his shoulder length hair; still afraid to move the thing that had apparently replaced his left arm. Rowan held her breath, waiting for him to continue; she didn't want to overstep any boundaries he might have. When he didn't elaborate on himself any further, she decided to step in.

"Well, Bucky, it seems I've got a lot to catch you up on." And so the day passed on slowly for the two super human subjects. Rowan relaying The Winter Soldier's history that she had been forced to learn over her years as a soldier fighting "The Good Fight" against him, filling him in on some facts about herself, but leaving most of it out. Bucky listened closely to every word, anxiety growing with each passing hour.

-TTA-

Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America, paced back and forth nervously in front of the many screens decorating the walls of Tony Stark’s lab. The self-proclaimed genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist had graciously opened his home to the remaining Avengers after the fall of SHIELD and HYDRA. The Iron Man himself was nowhere to be found this morning, having stayed the night over at Pepper’s house (She insisted on keeping her penthouse overlooking Central Park for the times Tony drove her just a wee bit bonkers).

Sam was upstairs, still sleeping. Natasha sat in the middle of all the computer screens, every once in a while tapping rapidly on one keyboard or another. Not being able to keep the motion of Steve pacing rapidly out of her peripheral vision, she spun around in her chair and glared at him, stopping him in his tracks. The innocent look he gave her almost made her laugh despite the situation. She took a calming breath, he wasn’t doing this to annoy her. He was just worried about his friend.

She had tried to convince Steve to let it go, but she couldn’t do that with a clear conscience because she actually liked Steve, and since she enjoyed his innocent company most of the time, she couldn’t keep the fact that she was seventy-two percent sure where The Winter Soldier was.

Well, at least who he was with. That’s probably the biggest reason she wasn’t freaking out that a Nazi super soldier was on the loose. If anyone could handle him, it was Rowan.

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ildivine · 5 years

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in all my crazy self realizing ik its been time again to ask: Is It Kin Or Hyperfixation? a fine line when u greatly love n connect to things. i heard aziraphales voice all day after the last time we watched good omens but that went away, so i kno it was me - but also amethyst started as a confused voice in my head so im never too careful

my muses r their own entities n i discovered murdoc n 2d thru rp originally at age 11; i can tell when muses start typing n talking for themselves, so.. until i Feel palpable proof, im not worried

but being majorly attracted to connor n rping every aspect of his complex potential for personality + the fucking occasional lucid dreams make me wonder as my formula is "if theres no memories of the ppl there, its not kin. if its not separate thoughts outside my own, its not soulbonds." but as someone that often accidentally soulbonds thru my own writing (it makes sense, rly, when i look back on it) im always.. double-checking

my experience as mettaton was v different from dbh androids as i was built so differently but used a pretty human chassis anyway thx to my robo builder fangirl; theres def sth abt being a Real Fuckable Robot i can get behind

but theres so many aspects of connor ive latched onto i joke my soul Is Him, even if its a great irony. i kno souls cant necessarily transfer thru technology cuz that argument is legit + humans n social beings attach personalities to inanimates all the time. russian duolingo man voice is hot. cars have a certain attraction to em, the buses r creaky old women doing their best. my computer is a confused scared sheltered beast like me. r they really? nah, but i 'feel' them anyway

the game is abt nonbiological beings realizing theirselves with free thought, from THEIR point of view, so ofc its a confusing, upsetting mess no matter how i deal. i still securely think connor would b what tumblr might have called copingkin; ive picked up his lil habits n attributes, facial expressions, etc that all come w the new journey of cosplay. im excited for halloween

so i think i may not remember but maybe i experienced? maybe not. either way connors kept me going for ten months in an adventure of Rebirth But Never Dies, w that morbid n sexual fascination of aspects i was too scared to explore before. rping smut w a friend where con has a vag setup for 'exploration' is a great opportunity im glad to have! rp friendships r weird n open n its nice to understand my sexuality n body without using this vessel as thats often too personal n im getting over my bad history but i kno, as connor does, to always question; hes nosy to the point of annoyance, his cadence is awkward n he scoots too close to ppl, yet is always capable of being a callous, cold-blooded killer; i see n acknowledge every parallel over the months of replaying dbh n picking apart his character, as writers do. its important to keep that line clear lest i fall into escapism again which im not trying to inherently avoid but make a habit of time-n-place w moderation as ik i get my head in the clouds way too often n i need to stop that

but in order to i have to finish this journey which is connor, even if im still trying to expand my interests n finding other things to enjoy, media or otherwise. being new to the world no matter how old u r is just a Big Mood n he feels that too, lol

#>>.txt #doing lots of big thinks lately lol

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sserpente · 7 years

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Condolescence (Chapter XII)

Pairing: Adam (Only Lovers Left Alive) x OFC Language: English Rating: M

Read it on AO3!

“We do?”

There was silence again, spreading between them like cold and moist fog. The words hung in the air, unspoken and quiet. There was nothing either of them had left to lose. Nothing else worth fighting for. They might as well try and fight for whatever this was… whatever they were.

“Let’s head upstairs. You must have a lot of questions.”

“I-I think I do.”

So they walked further inside, Tal allowing Adam to close the door behind him and thus trapping her in his house. Alone, with him. Yet right now, she didn’t feel afraid, at least… not so much. There was still so much that needed to be said.

Following the vampire to his living room, she wondered how many humans had walked on these very steps, not knowing what they were getting themselves into, not knowing that he could easily suck life out of them.

Adam seemed so peaceful, calm and introverted. She couldn’t imagine him doing such a dreadful thing and still, more and more horrible scenarios kept flashing before her inner eye. They needed to talk. Desperately.

When he sat down on the couch, mutely motioning for her to join him, she swallowed thickly, nervously wetting her lips as she did, preparing to talk and taking a deep breath. There was no need to beat about the bush now.

“So you… you can’t walk in the sun. It burns you. And you drink blood.”

Adam nodded. “Yes,”

“How? Have you… do you… I mean… drink from people?”

“I used to. A few centuries back, there was no such thing as hospitals and blood banks. Today, I get my rations from a doctor at the local hospital. I hide it in the cellar in a fridge.”

Tal felt herself breathing out so intensely she realised only then that she had been holding it. So he didn’t kill, hunt and murder. He was just trying to survive—similar to herself.

“You don’t sleep in a coffin.” She continued.

“No. That is an absurd myth zomb-… humans have invented for the entertainment industry.” Much to her surprise, he was being exceptionally calm about this. Had he done this before? Talked to a mortal about what he was? The girl doubted it.

“What about garlic?”

“No,”

“Crosses?”

“Not at all,”

“Churches?”

Adam shook his head, his lips pressed together to a thin line. Even now he looked incredibly handsome, with the weak light of a lamp on his desk throwing eerie shadows that tainted his beautiful and flawless face.

Looking up, he sought out her beige eyes, locking with his when he found them. He could hear her heartbeat from where he sat. Rapid and excited, a little scared; like a rabbit that had been hunted by a fox in the woods.

“Can you… enter people’s houses without permission?”

“I can. Though we say it brings about bad luck.” He explained thoughtfully. Tal frowned.

“What about mirrors?”

“You mean are you able to see my reflection?” She nodded.

“You will see nothing.”

“At all? Not even a creepy shadow or… a blurry shape?”

Once more, the vampire shook his head.

“How long… have you been a vampire already?” Shyly, she stared at her fingernails to avoid Adam’s gaze. She didn’t know whether he possessed supernatural powers as to seduce her in any way. She hoped against it, for the way her heart pounded whenever she was near him, was beyond alluring.

“For several centuries… Do you want to know my exact age?”

“I-I don’t think so,” Tal frowned, eyes fixed on the battered carpet on the floor. She had to ask him. Even if she didn’t like the answer. “Adam… when you… helped me that night… did you… I mean… think about… drinking my blood? Have you ever?” Again, the vampire remained silent for a few seconds. He studied her intently, probably weighing how she would take the different kind of lies if he told her. In the end, he settled for the truth and nothing but the truth. She already knew now. There was no way to make this worse.

“Yes. I have.” Again, she let out a deep, decided, however, to remain silent and listen to what he had to say. He was no merciless killer, now was he? No, it couldn’t be. “The night I brought you into my house, I… wondered why I did so in the first place. I didn’t know why I bothered. With the drugs in your veins, you were… unsuitable to be fed on at that point. I thought I’d never see you again when you left again but then… you somehow ended up in my house again because of those fucking zombies and…” he paused, desperate to keep his composure. He didn’t want to spill this, that much she could tell; and still, he did it. For her. “I kept thinking about what you would taste like. Day after day. I still do now, I can’t help myself.”

Looking up briefly, his blue eyes locked with hers once more. Her heart was beating so fast now he feared she would faint. She was nervous, more so than only minutes before—but unless she would start to trust him again on her own accord, there was nothing he could do about it.

“But you… I mean, so…” she swallowed thickly, “You never actually wanted to drink my blood?” Instead of answering her question, he simply said,

“Do you remember the day you cut yourself in the kitchen? The day I disappeared?”

The girl nodded, unable to find her voice.

“It was the day I first tasted your blood. I wanted to, Tallulah. More than anything do I dream about how sweet you tasted. I know this scares you but it is the truth. I can’t deny my nature, it’s what I am.”

“I…” He had tasted her blood? Tasted… her? It sounded strange, something she had yet to get used to but oddly, it did not gross her out or scared her away. Against what she had expected, it merely sent an uneasy feeling through her body and the more she forced herself to accept his words, the more she calmed.

“Your blood isn’t contaminated,” he continued, not letting her speak up. He would finish explaining this. He was afraid she would leave again once she knew but right now, there was nothing else he had left to lose. “It’s… sweet… the most delicious blood I’ve ever tasted. It’s rare. You are rare. Zombies nowadays, they… have an unhealthy nutrition, they drink alcohol, they do drugs… they managed to contaminate not only their drinking water but also their own blood. It’s why I started to obtain clean blood from the hospital.”

Tal said nothing at first. She just sat there, beige eyes wide, dry lips parted, attempting to comprehend the words Adam had just spoken. He liked her taste. He liked what her blood tasted like… sweet. Was it really sweet?

“I… I don’t know what to say, I… I’m gonna have to get my head around this.”

The vampire nodded understandingly. “Maybe you should get some sleep. If you still want to stay, that is. If you wanted to leave, that’s fine but I’d have to ask you to keep this a secret and—“

“Adam.”

Her expression was soft, calm and almost loving as she looked at him. He could still sense how tense she was around him but she was trying her best in coping with the situation. He couldn’t help but admire her for it.

“It’s okay, I won’t leave.”

“That’s… that’s great.” He replied awkwardly. Almost, he wanted to thank her for her decision. “You should rest then. I’ll have some food ordered and brought here when you wake up again.”

Smiling weakly, she nodded, getting up to head downstairs again. Relief flooded through Adam as he watched her leave. Perhaps she was still scared of him. Perhaps she would never trust him again, always be cautious and keep her distance like he had before and perhaps, all of this meant that he would never be able to hold her and kiss her again. But it had been the right thing to do, he was sure of that now. Tal was back, she was still here and she was safe and sound. It was all that counted.

➡️ Find all chapters on my masterlist!

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