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stormyoceansmain · 3 years

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[im very much NOT a writer - i cannot stress this enough - but i truly mean it when i say sambucky is making me go insane. i find no other explanation for ending up writing 3.8k words of sambucky, alpine, and movie night. thank you if you decide to read this, i hope it's not too terrible]

Sam shows up at Bucky’s place for movie night with a case full of beers and ten minutes to spare.

Sarah makes fun of him for this Friday tradition they’ve been carrying out for the past few months, says he should just muster the courage to ask Bucky out on a proper date already. It doesn't matter how many times Sam told her he is just helping Bucky catch up to the 21st century, she always ends up giving him that Look that says she's not believing any words coming out of his mouth, which is kind of unfair, if you ask Sam.

Well, fine, maybe Sarah is right. Maybe Sam does want to take Bucky out on an actual date and hold his hand and kiss him goodnight and do all those sickeningly romantic stuff he used to daydream about when he was 16. Turns out former assassins who are incredibly annoying but also surprisingly kind are very much Sam's type. Go figure.

Still, they worked hard to reach the kind of friendship they currently have, and Sam doesn't want to lose that. He's also not blind to the way Bucky flirts with Sarah, and despite her insistence that Bucky does it more to rile Sam up than for any real interest in her, he’s not about to risk it all on a whim.

This resolution almost crumbles into dust a moment later, when Bucky opens the door wearing sweatpants and a blue shirt that matches his eyes. He is barefoot and his hair is getting longer, losing the harsh edges of the cut and curling slightly behind his ears. He is still all chiseled jawline and defined muscles, but he looks softer, more comfortable in his own skin, and the easy way he smiles at Sam makes a heavy warmth pool around Sam’s stomach.

“Hey,” Bucky greets him, sliding his metal arm around Sam's shoulders to pull him into a brief hug.

This, too, is something of a novelty. There's always been a sort of intense physicality about Bucky, both in how he carries himself and in how he is always aware of the bodies moving around him, but the casual affection, the playful abandon with which he touches and lets others touch him these days, feels like a wonder. Sam would have never expected it, and he had come to love and hate it at the same time.

“Hey yourself,” Sam greets back, splaying his free hand across Bucky's back, allowing himself to hold him there and breathe him in for a second, a fresh lemony smell coming off his hair, before giving him a quick pat on the shoulder and putting a respectable amount of space between them.

He buries his hands deep into the pocket of his jacket and follows Bucky inside, trying to resist the urge to slide his fingers under the hem of Bucky's shirt and feel the warm skin underneath it.

It's the first time Sam steps into Bucky’s apartment since Bucky took home the stray kitten he found on the side of the road three weeks ago, and the changes around it are staggering. Sam was used to empty spaces and few, essential furniture, but now the space in front of the window is occupied by a giant cat tower, and lots of smaller scratching posts are scattered all over the living room, along with different kinds of cat beds and toys.

“I see you redecorated,” Sam says with a grin.

Bucky shrugs, opening two of the beer bottles with a quick twist of his metal hand. “Cats need stuff.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I'm glad.” Sam grabs one of the bottle and clinks it against Bucky's. “Pets are great company and the place looks much better like this. I wouldn't have pinned you down as the crazy cat lady type, but it's always better than Robocop.”

Bucky rolls his eyes, takes a sip of his beer. Sam catches the smile he is trying to hide anyway.

Sam knocks their shoulders together, asks, “So where is she?”

“Hiding, probably,” Bucky says, as if it’s the most normal thing in the world. “She doesn't like strangers.”

Sam stops with the beer halfway to his mouth. “Excuse you,” he exclaims, outraged. “I very clearly remember accompanying you to the vet the first time you brought her in. I also sacrificed two of my shirts for her and have scars on my forearms where she scratched me to death. I think I deserve more than being considered a stranger. We basically co-parented that cat for the first few days!”

“That's nice,” Bucky deadpans. “Why don't you go tell her that? I'm sure the speech will convince her to keep the claws to herself.”

Sam glares at him and Bucky pats him on the arm. “Just relax,” he adds, turning to open the fridge and taking foods out for dinner. “If we let her be, Alpine will come out eventually.”

Bucky is right, of course. Sam had a few experiences with strays growing up, cats and dogs alike looking for shelter from Louisiana's storms under their porch, and no amount of treats he and Sarah tried to give them had been able to lure them out from their hiding spot. The best course of action in these cases was to wait, letting them come out when they felt safe enough.

It still weirdly feels like a rejection of some sort, but he tries not to let it show.

Sam takes a swig from his beer and asks, “Alpine?”

Bucky turns on the stove and shrugs again. He remains silent for a moment, a distant look on his face that Sam has learned to associate to memories better buried and forgotten. He is about to start telling Bucky about the science fair at the boys' school to change the subject, when Bucky speaks again, low and careful.

“She reminds me of the snow on the Alps.”

He doesn't elaborate on that, but Sam nods anyway, like he understands. He doesn't, like Bucky will never be able to fully understand what it means for Sam to carry the shield, but it's okay. They have each other, and that's still something.

Sam taps his foot against Bucky's bare one, watches Bucky's entire being exhale and relax. “Couldn't you have named her Snowflakes or something like that?”

Bucky levels him with a stare that tells him he would rather jump off another plane rather than calling his cat ‘Snowflakes’, and Sam laughs.

The far off look in Bucky’s eyes melts away and they fall into an easy rhythm, Sam sitting at the kitchen table and talking about some renovations he and Sarah would like to do to the house, Bucky cutting the vegetables to sauté.

They have moved on to argue about the best way to season chicken breasts – you cannot leave cayenne pepper out of the spice blend – when Sam catches a flash of white out of the corner of his eyes, and interrupts himself mid-rant.

A second later, Alpine jumps on the kitchen counter, sniffing the air.

It's been only three weeks since Sam last saw her, but she's already grown a lot, and looks much better too: her fur is shiny and clean, her eyes bright, and the slight sprain that caused her to limp around seems to be completely healed.

Alpine lets out a soft chirping sound and headbutts Bucky's arm, rubbing her head against him.

The smile Bucky turns to her is blinding, and Sam has to look away before he ends up doing something stupid, like climb over the table and kiss him.

“I know you're here for the chicken,” Bucky tells her, scratching her behind the ears. “But you can't eat this one.”

He scoops her up with a single hand, ignoring the disapproving meow that follows, and deposits her on the table right next to Sam's arm. Sam freezes, unprepared for the sudden proximity and recalling how quickly she can turn around and scratch, but as soon as Bucky's hand retreats, she is moving away, giving Sam a wide berth. She doesn't go back into hiding, though, just settles on the corner farther away from him and stares him down in a way that reminds him so much of Bucky, Sam doesn't know if he wants to laugh or cry.

He is also struck by the sudden need to make Alpine like him.

“Is she gonna maul me if I try to give her a treat?” Sam asks.

Bucky tilts his head, considering, which does very little to reassure Sam about the safety of his fingers.

“I wouldn’t try hand-feeding her,” Bucky answers, fishing out a bag of treats from one of the cupboards. “But she likes to chase them.”

Alpine observes with quiet intensity as Bucky dumps a few treats into Sam's hands, and when Sam tosses one a few feet away she jumps down the table and runs after it, grabs it with a paw.

“Alright,” Sam declares, “that's pretty cute.”

Sam spends the next few minutes throwing treats at Alpine, inching them closer and closer to himself to test how willing she is to get near him with the proper incentive. The last one he places right in front of his feet, then he sits back and waits. Alpine hesitates, eyes flitting between him and the treat as to evaluate if it's safe enough, until finally she starts to move, slowly, slowly. She gets close enough to stretch her paw out, pull the treat towards herself and take it out of reach to eat somewhere else. Sam still takes it as a win.

Bucky clears his throat and announces that dinner is ready, so Sam leaves Alpine alone and helps him set the table.

Dinner is nice. Bucky makes a glazed chicken with honey and garlic that it's to die for, which Sam finds utterly unfair, considering he comes from a time where spices were believed to be a menace to the public.

He still goes back for seconds, and by the time they move to the living room to watch the movie, Sam feels full and content.

He finds Alpine curled up on one end of the couch, and while he believes they made some progress in their relationship, he doesn’t think either of them is ready to bring it to the next level, so he takes the seat on the other side, careful not to disturb her.

Bucky doesn’t say anything about it, just flops down between Sam and the cat with ease, his knee bumping into Sam’s.

This week they are watching the second movie in The Hobbit trilogy, if only for the horrified look in Bucky’s face when Sam told him that not only they made a movie out of the book, but that they actually managed to stretch it into three. Bucky, it turns out, is one of those people who notices every little changes from the original material, disapproves of them on principle, and is very vocal about his displeasure, exactly like the old man he actually is.

Sam had almost fell off the couch laughing during the first movie, and it had taken him a while to convince Bucky to give the other two a chance. Maybe it was a little assholey of him, knowing that it only gets worse, but just because he likes the guy it doesn’t mean Sam doesn’t want to subject him to some bad cinema for his own entertainment. After all, that’s what friends are for.

It doesn't take long for the comments to start up again. Bucky holds up for thirty minutes, rolling his eyes and grumbling under his breath from time to time, but then Legolas and Tauriel show up and Bucky turns his head to look at Sam, face completely blank, says, “Who the fuck are these people.”

Sam bursts out laughing, and it only gets worse when they reach the scene between Kili and Tauriel in the Woodland Realm: Bucky throws his hands up, exclaims, “Oh, come on,” and starts complaining about how they made the dwarf hot just to add a romance. It has Sam in stitches, and he has to grab onto Bucky's shoulder to stay upright and not end up falling into Bucky's lap.

The tirade ends with Bucky sulking and shaking his head, and Sam is glad for the temporary reprieve just so he can catch his breath. He feels flushed and warm, cheeks hurting from smiling, and the quiet is comfortable, familiar.

After a while, his eyes grow heavy, and he realizes he nodded off only when a light weight sets on his shoulder, jerking him awake.

The movie has ended, screen back on the Netflix title page, and Bucky fell asleep as well, head drooping until it had come to rest against Sam’s body.

The metal arm is glinting gold and blue in the light, and Sam stares down at it, then up at the lines of Bucky’s face, the soft waves of his hair. It always surprises him how vulnerable Bucky looks like this, how younger, and it’s so hard to remember there was a time Sam had actually been scared of him, of what he could do. Now, he would trust Bucky with anything. His life, his family, his home. His heart, too, if Bucky ever wanted it.

Sam knows he should wake him up, send him to bed so he can sleep comfortably there while Sam stretches out on the couch, but he also knows that Bucky still has trouble sleeping sometimes, and Sam doesn't have the heart to wake him up if it isn't really necessary. He’s well aware it's also a little bit selfish, because it's nice, having Bucky this close, warm and solid and smelling of lemon.

Sam takes a deep breath and rests his head on top of Bucky's. He thought he could handle this thing he has for Bucky, keep it under control, but he’s starting to realize he might have actually underestimated the size of his own feelings, which could become a serious problem in the future.

For now, though, Sam closes his eyes and lets himself have this.

The next time Sam wakes up, it's to something walking all over him. He blinks against the sudden light and when his vision clears, he finds Alpine sitting on his lap.

Sam stares at her, wondering for a moment if he is still asleep and dreaming all of this up, but his neck is sore, his arm heavy from Bucky resting against it in his sleep; there’s the beginning of a headache pulsing behind is eyes, and a pressure in his bladder telling him he should probably get up.

Alpine sniffs at his shirt and Sam tentatively raises his free hand, strokes a finger between her ears. She leans into the touch, head tilting up and guiding Sam's hand under her chin. Sam tries really hard not to shriek with delight.

“Oh, you're a sweetheart,” he says, a grin spreading out across his face. “Just like your owner. All tough and fierce on the outside, but adorable and charming on the inside.”

Alpine meows back at him, like she agrees with that statement, and Sam tenses up, glances at the steady rise and fall of Bucky's chest.

“We gotta be quiet,” he tells Alpine, petting her down her side. “We don't want to wake him up.”

“I'm already awake,” comes Bucky's voice next to him.

Sam's entire body jerks in surprise, and Alpine leaps off him, startled.

“Man, don't you do that ever again,” Sam says, a hand placed over his chest. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

Bucky hums, sounding way more amused than he has any right to be, and sits up.

Blood rushes back into Sam's arm, and while Sam is glad to start feeling it again, he's already mourning the loss of contact between them. Except Bucky doesn't go far, just adjusts his position to angle his body towards Sam and rest his head on the back of the couch. It's easier to look at each other, like this, but they are now so close that Bucky's soft breaths are hitting the exposed line of skin above Sam's shirt, the hollow of his neck, making him shiver.

“So,” Bucky says, dragging the word out, lips tilting up at the corner. “I'm adorable and charming?”

Shit.

Of course Bucky would hear that, that's just Sam's luck. God, he is never going to speak again. He will take a vow of silence like in one of those monastic orders and move some place far and secluded where he won't be able to embarrass himself anymore.

He swallows, makes himself let out a laugh. It's meant to be mocking, but it sounds more nervous than anything else. “I think old age is making you hear things,” Sam still tries to deflect, “I clearly said annoying and self-centered.”

Bucky jabs him in the side with a metal finger. “Nice try, Samuel,” Bucky says, grinning widely. “But I've been told I'm a sweetheart.”

Sam's cheeks heat up. “I was talking about Alpine!”

He wonders if maybe T'Challa would let him hide in Wakanda for a while, just long enough for Sam to regain some kind of dignity. He hopes against all hopes that Bucky will have mercy of him and drop the subject, but of course Bucky doesn't. Sam wouldn't either, if their roles were switched.

“You said she is like her owner,” Bucky points pout, eyes bright and so very blue. He pokes Sam in the ribs again. “Which means, you think I’m a sweetheart, too.”

Sam bats his hand away. He may have embarrassed himself and he's lucky if he ends up this night without Bucky realizing Sam has feelings for him, but he is Captain frigging America. If he has to go down, he will go down fighting.

“What you are, it’s a nuisance,” Sam says. “And a creep. Who the hell pretends to be asleep when they are actually awake?”

“I wasn't pretending, you just assumed I was still sleeping.”

“Anyone would assume that, if you don't say anything.”

“I thought you were going to move as soon as you woke up, it's not my fault you didn't.”

“I was trapped between your heavy ass and your cat. What's your excuse for not moving?”

The argument comes to a halt, an awkward silence stretching between them as Bucky lowers his eyes, scratches the back of his neck. He clears his throat, shrugs.

“Your shoulder is nice,” he says in the end.

It's Bucky's turn to blush, a darker pink dusting his cheeks, and Sam feels like he missed something important.

“My shoulder?” Sam repeats.

Bucky doesn't answer him for a moment, then he straightens up on the couch, rolls back his shoulders like he is bracing himself. He looks up at Sam, and all Sam can see are his eyes.

“It’s comfortable,” Bucky whispers. “And I always sleep better when you’re around.”

Sam's mouth is suddenly very dry, and his heart is drumming against his chest in a way he has come to associate with diving down in midair, or dropping from a high place before his wings open up. This, too, feels a little like falling.

“Buck,” Sam says, because he thinks they are on the verge of something here, but he needs to be sure, doesn't want to mess this up and do something he's going to regret just because his head wants so desperately to see what's not actually there. “You gotta tell me if I'm reading this wro--”

Bucky kisses him.

It's a short kiss, just a soft press of Bucky's lips against his own and he's already gone, moving back to look at Sam with wide eyes, face open and vulnerable.

“Okay?” Bucky asks, and if he didn't sound so uncertain, like he's expecting Sam to push him away at any moment, Sam would laugh at how much of an idiot they both are.

Instead, he holds Bucky's chin between his fingers and pulls him back in. The kiss is deeper this time, turns into a wet slide of tongues and a harsh grate of stubble that makes Sam's insides feel tangled and hot. Bucky's arm slides around Sam's waist, and Sam moves his hand from Bucky's chin into his hair, grips it in a way that makes Bucky exhale sharply into his mouth. Sam wants to touch him everywhere, and he moves his free hand to do just that when a long, loud meow interrupts them.

They break apart just in time for Alpine to jump on the couch and sprawl in the space between them.

Bucky huffs out a small laugh, pets her from head to tail. He looks lovely, with his hair sticking up in odd places from Sam's fingers raking through it, his lips red from kissing, and Sam itches to go back for more, to lay him down and map every single part of Bucky's body with his mouth. He has, however, a horrible feeling about this.

“We will never be able to do anything with her around, won't we?” Sam asks, voicing his thoughts out loud.

Bucky sends him an amused smile. “Someone feels confident.”

Sam rolls his eyes, bumps their knees together. “Says the one who was about to climb on top of me.”

He's pretty sure he was the one grabbing and pulling Bucky closer, actually, but it doesn't seem like Bucky is going to call him out on it.

“It was a good kiss,” Bucky says, smile going soft at the edges, turning shyer.

“It really was,” Sam agrees, and because Sarah is always right, even if he'll never admit it in front of her, he adds, “Wanna go out on a proper dinner, see a movie? Maybe do the kissing part again?”

He's not expecting the way Bucky's lips drop down at those words, and Sam's heart sinks. Maybe he did read this wrong, after all. Maybe Bucky wanted to keep things casual, no string attached, and Sam just ruined everything. He tries to tell himself it was better to know that now, before things got too serious on his side, but it gives him very little comfort.

Bucky takes a deep breath, lets it out in a huff. “I don’t know, man,” he says. “If you make me watch another one of these godawful movies I’m afraid I'm gonna have to break up with you before this relationship even starts.”

Sam blinks at him, then bursts out laughing, sudden and loud. “God, you're an asshole,” he declares, but there's no heat behind it, and when he searches for Bucky's hand, Bucky intertwines their fingers together, places a kiss on the back of Sam's hand as an apology.

“I’m lucky you have terrible tastes, then,” Bucky says.

Sam really has questionable tastes, and if you had told him a few years ago that this was how his life was going to turn out, he would have probably laughed, or worse, tried to stop it from happening. But now, sitting there with Bucky grinning at him and Alpine purring between them, he feels lucky too.

#i don't have a solid enough grasp on the english language for any of this and yet here we are #you can easily spot where i didn't know what the hell i was doing #when i say im literally losing my mind over these two..#most self indulgent thing i've ever done im sorry for subjecting you to it #sambucky #winterfalcon #sam wilson #bucky barnes #alpine #also - embarrassingly enough - i started to write this before the video of bucky saying he wanted to move in with sam #otherwise i would have made them roommate

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burnedbyshoto · 4 years

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strawberry milk & watermelon seeds

How to get through the worst summer heat: have a sweet drink, eat a sweet fruit, and have someone with the sweetest kiss around.

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pairing: todoroki shouto x reader

warning: fluff, cursing, one year later rewrite

word count: 2,855

a/n: so today is my one year anniversary of this blog. it’s been a rather weird and unknowing journey that I still cannot comprehend or put into words as to how this has changed me. one year later and I still love todoroki shouto the most, one year later and im still as invested into bnha as the day I first watched it. wild. anyways, thank you for watching my growth as a writer, and thank you for 14k followers in this single year. anyways, if you want to read the original to compare, here it is.

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“This day can not be any worse.”

With your sweating forearm thrown over your face, and the heat emitting from your face scorching your skin, your clammy skin provided small comfort from the overwhelming heat. Today, according to every news outlet in Japan, it was the hottest day recorded ever. At first, you didn’t believe it; your condo had cooled to near completion with your AC unit running happily in the background. You had spent your day free from work, merrily doing house chores while watching your old classmates text message thread blowing up with complaints about how torturous it was to be outside in this heat. (Even Bakugou who enjoyed hot weather because it benefitted his quirk was ready to go home and get into an ice bath.) That is, you were merry until your power went out.

“I thought you would be happy that you aren’t working right now?”

Ignoring the sweat the slowly pooled down your neck, you turned your head to look at your phone that stood against a stack of books. On the bright screen was Todoroki Shouto, who was wearing a shirt and a jacket despite the heat of the weather. Curse his fucking quirk.

“It was a happy day until the power blew, and I was told that the power wouldn’t be back on until night!” you whined, fingers pressing to your forehead to wipe the annoying sweat on your face. “Now I’m miserable at home, it’s hotter than balls, I have no snacks, and I am not going outside like this!”

You lifted your legs off the couch, shuddering at your sweating thighs sticking to the material. This was the worst.

“I can come over in a bit; it’ll take me about twenty minutes.” Shouto hummed, his left wrist rising as he looked at his watch. His face had a small smile painted on; it was a new look he was trying as he had stated earlier. As part of being a hero that reassured everyone he rescued, he was working on his smile.

While you would never complain about seeing a kind smile on Shouto’s face, it didn’t help your hammering heart when he looked at you with it.

“What?!” you exclaimed a bit frantically, your hand snatching your phone on the table while sitting up on the couch. Your flustered face a bit too close to the camera while you watched Shouto stand up from his seat and gather his things without minding your attempts to have him not come over.

The thought of being horrendously sweaty around your crush was not something you wanted to do.

“Do you like strawberry milk?” Shouto asked you, his head tilting to the side. At the same time, he picked up his phone, leveling the camera, so it angled below his chin (and you immediately noticed that even with the awkward angle, he was still unfairly hot). “There’s a store on the way to your place that I like.”

A strange noise that crossed between a whine and a sigh emitted past your lips when his eyes locked on yours in question. It seemed that you didn’t have much of a choice.

“I love strawberry milk,” you begrudgingly admitted, watching with heating cheeks as Shouto’s face spread into a bigger, more full, and genuine smile.

“Okay, I’ll see you in a bit then. Bye.”

You couldn’t say goodbye back, your finger immediately hanging up on him and your body shaking in your nerves. For right now, you couldn’t tell why you felt overheated: the record temperature or the smile that made your heart stop.

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If your mother could see how you cleaned your home in the twenty minutes it took Shouto to get to your place, she would cry in joy. In fifteen minutes, you had swept, mopped, and cleared the countertops of the slight messes they had been and quickly bolted upstairs to change into something less sweaty while reapplying perfume and deodorant because you would not make a fool of yourself.

“You look like a mess,” Shouto called out immediately as he stood at your front door. Despite his introduction, his hands lifted in front of him, and he showcased the bag of snacks and tea he brought.

Despite the initial feeling of wonder at opening the door to see him standing there in all his glory, his words' sudden bluntness immediately made your eyes narrow.

“I don’t come to your house uninvited and roast your appearance,” you scoff, turning on your heel and letting him in.

“Oh, was I not invited? I assumed I was allowed to come over, sorry,” Shouto’s voice followed after you, but it did nothing to keep him from staying. The two of you had grown incredibly close as friends. It was without question that he was allowed over whenever he wished, a detail that had taken quite a while for Shouto to accept.

“I wouldn’t’ve opened the door if you weren’t,” you sigh, your hands fanning the back of your neck as Shouto placed his guest slippers on and walked over. He put the bag onto the kitchen counter before walking over to you, taking your hands and pressing his right hand to the nape of your neck.

“Just making sure,” he said softly, his eyes meeting yours in a careful gaze before his hand dropped in temperature. For the first time since your AC broke down, a shiver went through your spine.

You had no idea whether it was from the sudden loss of heat from your body or his gentle yet strangely warm touch. But with the loss of being overheated and reaching a better point of homeostasis, you realized that you had been wordlessly staring into his eyes. Falling deep into the blue and grey, drowning in the way they bore into you gently, intently.

“So, uh, what else did you bring me besides your stupidly advantageous quirk?” you asked, your mouth feeling unbelievably parched. At the same time, Shouto’s fingers slowly pulled away from your skin, leaving behind nothing but an exploding heart and raised skin.

To that comment, Shouto’s eyebrow lifted, and his lip quirked a bit too, a teasing look on his face while the two of you began to walk to the bag he had brought. He grabbed the bag before you, bringing it close to his chest as if to keep it from you.

“Sounds like you’re using me for my quirk, y/l/n. That wouldn’t be very heroic of you.”

“I’m off duty, I can be an asshole,” was your quick response, your heart beating faster at the chuckle that rumbled deep in his chest as he untied the bag. His eyes rose to yours, inquisitive and teasing, and an eyebrow raised.

Shouto seemed to debate whether he should say something or not, your locked stares never wavering. But before you could question what was running through his head, he pulled out the items from the bag. Your jaw dropped in your sheer love for what he brought you: two sealed cups of strawberry milk, half of a watermelon with two scoops, and an arrangement of other snacks you loved. There was nothing he could do to stop you from scooping up your nacks in your arms, tears misting your eyes because, at this moment, your lousy day had become good again.

“I hope you still like all these snacks, you always used to talk about them,” Shouto rubs the back of his neck, his gaze falling onto the sweet pink drinks before him. He grabbed the straws and punctured the drinks for both of you, and you looked at him with a smile of pure joy and disbelief.

“This is perfect, Todoroki, really! I love this so much!”

Maybe if you had been looking at Shouto and not at the bags of snacks he had bought for you, you would have seen the flush color climbing the back of his neck.

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It had taken Shouto precisely two seconds to bring your condo back to a habitable environment, a feat that had you quite literally jumping into his arms in your excitement. But in your sudden burst of emotional energy, Shouto had been taken back so abruptly by your arms thrown around him that he had iced over your entire living room. Both of you had stared at the iced room with shocked gazes, and while he looked on in horror, your face split into a shit-eating grin.

So despite his initial decision to defrost the entire room, you said it was fine. Grabbing the frozen watermelon (you had to tear the melon and the two scoops off the counter as it had also been frozen, not to mention you almost ate shit if not for Shouto easily catching you) the two of you retreated to your shaded patio, sitting on the brick and tasting the sweet melon while idly chatting between the both of you.

“You got the watermelon with the seeds!” you laughed loudly, letting the small black seed fall from your bottom lip and onto your await palm. “We have transgressed the need for watermelon with seeds! Have you never gotten seedless watermelon?!”

Shouto shoved you with his shoulder, his face grimacing a bit when a rather sharp crunch came from his mouth. Your laughter growing louder when a fractured watermelon seed fell from his tongue.

“The sign said it was seedless, besides it takes two seconds to get the seeds out, stop complaining.” Shouto groaned, placing the seed onto the pile the two of you had created. You had been taking a drink of the sweet milk as he said this, and his smile grew into a crooked grin at the sight of your eyes widening with the need to speak.

Tearing the cup from your mouth, you swallowed the liquid quickly before jabbing a finger into his shoulder, “Tell that to my face after I accidentally swallow a seed and a watermelon grows in my stomach!”

“The day that happens, I will personally let you dress me up in Endeavor merch.” Shouto wagers, his eyes watching as you scooped out a bit of the watermelon and shoving it into your mouth. You contemplated his words, thinking about the horrendous merch his father had and the humiliation he would have if he had to wear it.

Your teeth bit onto a black seed, and instead of politely removing it from your mouth as you had been doing, you turned your head toward the fence and spat out the watermelon seed.

“Oh, that’s tempting!” you sing out, your fingertips dancing against each other, a very comically villainous sight.

Shouto scoffed, his head shaking as he chewed his own watermelon before spitting out his own seed. You watched it soar through the air before falling somewhere near where your seed landed. Ever the competitor, your head tilted, trying not to take it personally as Shouto finally spoke.

“Is it? Well, we both know it’s impossible.”

You shake your head at his true remark, your mouth once again full of watermelon, and you concentrated on the two black dots on the grass. Rolling your shoulders, you spit the seed sitting on your tongue, and you refrained from sounding too victorious when your seed was now the furthest one out. So with the calmness of a child who had done something terrible and was attempting to not be caught, you turned to Shouto with a wink.

“Nothing is impossible!”

Shrugging, Shouto took another mouthful of the watermelon before sending a seed flying, landing what seemed like a centimeter further than yours. Your eyes narrowed at the taunting victory.

“Oh, but some things are,” it felt like he whispered that in your ear, and you turned onto him. Your fiery glare matching his while he took yet another bite of the watermelon. He did it without breaking his gaze with you, and an astounding grin spread on your face at the pure childishness of this all.

“...are you… are you challenging me?!” you accused, your eyebrows shooting to your hairline and your finger connecting with his nose.

Shouto smirked, his face turning back to the grass, and he spat out the seed, sending it much further than it had gone before.

“No. Not at all,” he said smoothly, his sight coming back to you, and as if to rub in the salt, he added, “We both know who’ll win.”

So, under the blazing hot sun, both you and Shouto sat with sticky sweet watermelon juice dribbling down your chin and black seeds soaring as far as they could go to only pathetically landing on laps. Slandering words were thrown about, but the echoing laughter told anyone who tried to overhear just how unserious this entire predicament was.

Your fingers wiped at the bottom of your chin again while tears streamed down your face from the laughter. Shouto was in a similar position, his head leaning against yours as three black seeds failed to leave his mouth and chose to stick onto his chin.

“Imma - holy shit STOP - Imma fucking pee my pants!” you wheezed, trying to focus on anything that wasn’t Shouto right now. “You look so dumb right now!”

“Your insults mean nothing to me because you’re jealous I’m winning,” Shouto forced out, his voice wavering with his own laughter and fleeing concentration.

“Only because YOU CHEATED!” you exclaimed, your fists weakly pounding onto his arm. “Who the hell burns a watermelon seed flying in the air if not to keep me from winning?!”

“Because you took five steps closer! That’s cheating!” Shouto pointed out, the back of his hand, wiping the sheen of watermelon juice and seeds from his chin.

“Whatever, I’ll end this all right now!” you rolled your eyes, and the both of you directed your attention to the nearly empty watermelon. Almost empty, save for one part that would be enough for one last scoop.

“That’s the last of the watermelon…” Shouto spoke softly, his hand grabbing his spoon the same time you did.

“Yeah, and?” you pressed, your gaze narrowing as he lifted his spoon, moving it to push against yours.

“You were the last one to spit,” he said, trying to box you out of the melon.

Your jaw dropped, and you pressed against his again, trying to keep him from doing as he pleased. “I called it first!”

“You can’t go twice!” he pointed out, his hand wrapping around your free wrist to keep you from potentially hitting him with that arm.

“You went twice earlier!” you countered, pushing forward, leaning on with all your weight in hopes he would back off. You had to win.

“I’m the guest at your house, be better accommodating!”

Push.

“Oh yeah?! Well, ladies, first!”

Shove.

“Clearly, I am acting more ladylike right now, so it’s not you!”

But in an unequal push, you sent Shouto and you tumbling off the patio and onto the floor with a thud. Your eyes were squeezed tight as the earthy ground made contact with your back, and you sighed, knowing you hadn’t been hurt. You saw the watermelon on the floor, the last scoop of the sweet fruit ruined with dirt and grass, but you froze when you became aware of the way Shouto had landed.

His forearms were planted onto the ground by your head, his eyes wide and his mouth parted slightly. His warm and minty scent easily carried into your nose like this, and the smell of the strawberry milk still clung to his lips. Immediately your face exploded in heat, and your sight went dizzy in the situation you were in.

“...the watermelon… um, you dropped the watermelon, Todoroki,” you painfully whispered, unsure if speaking would send him away from you, acting like this didn’t just happen.

Your beating heart was loud in your ears, almost washing out the summer day's sounds as Shouto studied you carefully before turning his head to look at the indeed ruined watermelon. Still, he made no attempt to move off from on top of you.

“We can go buy some more in a bit.”

“I… but Todoroki--” you almost shuddered, unsure as to why that simple sentence ignited something profound from within you.

“Don’t-” Shouto interrupted, his brow furrowed, and his eyes dark while he looked down. Shaking his head, your breathing stopped when his eyes met yours. There was no hesitation, no doubt, and something you never knew you would see in his eyes: adoration. “Shouto. Call me, Shouto.”

“Shouto…” you breathed out, the sound of his name on your tongue foreign yet otherworldly pleasant.

And his eyes warmed at the sound of his name, and you could do nothing when his sugary sweet lips connected with yours, pressing thoroughly and gently against yours. Today had been a mix of goods and bads. Still, the moment his lips claimed yours, everything in the world quickly faded away. There was nothing to focus on except Todoroki Shouto and the way that you would forever crave the way his tongue and kisses tasted like strawberry milk and watermelon seeds.

#todoroki x reader #todoroki shouto x reader #bnha #bnha x reader #mha

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tangledinmdzs · 3 years

Note

hi can you do the juniors in a husband au? like reader and the juniors is having a happy marriage but its the readers birthday and the juniors suprise reader? haha its my bday tomorrow but I want to know what will be their reaction im quite new to this blog but read everything already haha! *★°*:.☆o(^▽^)o:*.°★* 。

aww, first off: happy birthday! i hope i’m catching this request at the right time. and welcome welcome i’m so glad you’re enjoying the pieces here!

here’s my present to you~

༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

Lan Sizhui

the day had been long,

and even though it was your birthday

you were simply looking forward to coming home and sleeping early for the night

but when you open the door, flick the lights on

you remember that you are absolutely married

and that it’s a blessing who you were married to

you let out a little breathy laugh at the sight you walk into

there’s a trail of rose petals leading on one long path to the bedroom

and as you step into the apartment and close the door, you follow the trail and all the little presents along the way

a little bear here,

a little cheesy love note there

another balloon elsewhere

and even though you both have been married to each other for going on 5 years now, Sizhui still acts exactly like he did when he was courting you

you open your bedroom door

and burst out laughing

because sat on your bed, dressed in a cute hoodie and warm clothes is your husband

with half of (what’s supposed to be your cake) on his face

“i can explain!” Sizhui stutters when catch the chocolate frosting on the edge of the bed and the floor

and even though that’s an extra mess to clean up (on the floor, on his face)

you walk up to him and lean in for a big smooch

frosting and batter be damned

Lan Jingyi

you find him sitting on the couch

nonchalant, relaxing,

just chilling

you look around your apartment together, wondering if there was anything amiss

but it looks as it always does

you cough into your hand as you come up to him,

Jingyi looks up from his phone, looking up at you in the noon sunlight

like half of your birthday hasn’t already passed already

“oh, is something happening today?” Jingyi asks, tilting his head to the side

last year, you’d had to remind him and you’d think that if he’d married you 6 years before that, he’d be the person that knew everything about you

but maybe he’s forgotten

again

you purse your lips

and with a slightly heavy heart, you sit down on the same couch, pouty

Jingyi looks at you, coughs a bit loudly himself

you turn to look over at him, and catches the way that he waves you closer

you sigh and move a tiny bit closer

Jingyi lets out a laugh and moves close to you on the couch, putting an arm around your shoulder

you don’t move out of his grasp, even though it’s clear that you’re not happy

“happy birthday,”

you look over to him, then down at the little box that he holds out to you in your lap

you blink at him, and then back down to the box

Jingyi urges you to open it

when you do, your entire breath is stolen away and tears build in your eyes,

“i honestly wanted to wait until our dinner tonight, but you were pouting and i...i couldn’t help it,”

you take out the beautiful band, eyes glistening and stare at the engravings,

“when we got married, i know that you always wanted to keep our promise rings from when we were younger, even though they were kind of childish...and i didn’t have the funds to get it remade in a way that would be... you know, the way that i wanted it to be for you, until now”

he’d remade your promise rings

you look up to him, getting teary eyed at his gesture,

Jingyi just huffs that laugh he gets whenever you get emotional, holds your face in his hands

“i’m sorry i can’t anything bigger or better-”

“no,” you cut him off, a little breathless, winded at his love for you

“this is more than enough”

Jin Ling

“right right...right”

you peak into the conversation from the threshold of your bedroom

Jin Ling’s pacing by the window, his dress shoes and vest swinging back and forth in the wake of things

you watch him sigh and groan a bit into the phone before hanging up (rather tiredly) and sighing to himself

you take in a deep breath yourself, stepping into the bedroom

Jin Ling halts his pacing at your arrival, and all other thoughts at the sight of you

you’re dressed up beautifully for the birthday dinner that he had reserved for tonight

and even though you always dress nicely (because you’re you, and also you’re the wife to the heir of a multimillion dollar tech company (but I digresss)

he’ll never get over how much more beautiful you’ve gotten in all the years he’s married with you (going 4 years now)

“you look beautiful,” Jin Ling compliments

you smile at him and step closer to him to fix the collar of his shirt (loosen and ruffled with all his aggressive pacing)

“was it the company again?” you ask, a bit conversationally a bit concerned

because only his father’s company could make him this frazzled

Jin Ling sighs, though it quiets down when your gentle hand runs down his vest to smooth the wrinkles and fix the little details

“when is it not the company,” Jin Ling finally replies, and you both huff out your own laughs

yours ends in a half sigh

“we can stay in tonight... just in case some more people from the board try to reach you...” you say, because the company was important

because Jin Ling had other responsibilities beside being your husband

you try to keep the frown off your face but the smile that you try to give him is sad

Jin Ling holds your hand close when it lands on his shirt collar

“it’s alright,” Jin Ling tells you,

you watch in mild surprise as he puts his phone on silent and stuffs it into his inner pocket,

“are you sure?” you ask him, because work had always been important

that’s what you had thought anyways

but Jin Ling simply nods at you, smiles and intertwines your fingers

“we’ve got a reservation to catch,”

and he smiles at the sparkle that returns in your eyes

Ouyang Zizhen

“hey...”

you blink your eyes open

it’s barely the crack of dawn

you rub at your eyes, turning to the side to look at the person that’s calling you

“what time is it?”

“it’s birthday time,” Zizhen whispers in his deep voice and you let out a sleepy laugh

“did you wait up all night to wish me happy birthday?”

“mhm, i had to wish you happy birthday first” Zizhen replies easily and you let out another sigh at him

you can’t be annoyed even if you want to

“we’re married, Zizhen, you’re the first person i see every morning”

“yea, but this is for just in case you look at your phone first,” Zizhen jabs

you hum at him, ready to fall back asleep when you feel his arms wrap around you and pull you close

“i also, have a present for you,” Zizhen says (enticingly) into the shell of your ear

“can it wait until the sun’s up?” you ask (whine) a bit, because you’re much too sleepy at 1AM

“nope,” Zizhen says and pulls the blankets over the both of you, breaking out into laughs and giggles under the soft sheets

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vennilavee · 4 years

Text

the soul of a flame - ch 1

the spark

pairing: levi x reader of color

summary: levi follows his squad to a new bar called the silver sapphire and finds you, a pretty girl with a knack for making drinks.

warnings: alcohol, cursing

word count: 2022

a/n: reader is a reader of color because that's how it's going to be. if i feel like i cant relate with some of the fics posted here/ao3 bc of obvious physical attributes assigned to reader, then im sure many others feel the same as well. ENJOY

***

Levi suspects that his squad is getting shitfaced. Again. It’s only the end of a grueling few weeks after they’ve been appointed to his squad and had to go through a stricter, more regimented version of Cadet training.

It was Levi’s version of training.

He had them training from early hours into the heat of the mid afternoon until the sun began to dip into the sky. They never outwardly complained, not to him at least. They knew better.

Levi had granted them an early evening, to which all four of them had been surprised by-

“What? You four earned it,” Levi says with his arms crossed, “Don’t look so surprised. I’m not a tyrant.”

“Of course not, Captain Levi,” Petra chirps, an always sweet smile on her face.

Oluo elbows her, telling her to stop being such a kiss ass and Petra gapes at him.

“Me? Look at your hair! You can’t even pull off bangs the way Captain Levi can,” She scoffs, arms crossed over her chest.

Levi rolls his eyes, not bothering to conceal the fondness he has for his team.

“Get outta here,” He says not unkindly.

He didn’t think they would end up finding their way to a bar for two nights in a row. They’re getting ready for their third night at the same bar and Levi has to know.

What the hell has gotten into his team?

“Which one of you four idiots is gonna tell me where you’ve been sneaking off to?” Levi asks, appearing suddenly in front of Oluo and Gunther.

“We told you Captain! There’s a bar not too far from here,” Eld says enthusiastically, “There’s a rumor that they make their own alcohol with gold there.”

“Right,” Levi scoffs, “That has to be the only reason why you four come back shitfaced every night. Because of gold.”

“Not me, sir!” Petra protests, earning herself a glare from Oluo.

“Who are you lying to, Petra?” Oluo says, “And it’s not gold, Eld. I hear it’s diamonds and rubies. Sapphires, too.”

“How the fuck do you make alcohol out of diamonds, rubies and sapphires? Do you hear yourselves?” Levi says, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“That’s what it tastes like, Levi. That’s what her alcohol tastes like,” Gunther says dreamily.

“So which is it? You like the alcohol or you like her?” Levi says, a faint, uncharacteristic teasing in his tone.

“Doesn’t help that she’s very pretty, sir,” Petra says thoughtfully, tapping her chin.

“I’m sure it doesn’t,” Levi rolls his eyes, turning his back on his team, “Enjoy. You’re expected to be ready for training at dawn.”

“Yes, sir,” They all chorus while saluting.

“Levi,” Gunther says, “You should come later, if you want. Hange and Mike will be coming later.”

“Tch,” Levi waves him off without another word and Gunther shrugs.

He has better things to do than drink shitty alcohol from a shitty bar with his friends and fellow soldiers.

***

It turns out that Levi in fact, does not have better things to do than drink shitty alcohol from a shitty bar with his friends and fellow soldiers. Hange had convinced him to join them. And her version of convincing had been blackmailing him into holding his most favorite tea leaves hostage and loudly telling him that he needed to get out more often otherwise he’d turn shrivel up and turn into a grump-

“If we hurry and go, we can reverse the process before it’s too late.”

Which is how he found himself walking to the bar that Hange coerced him into going to. It’s called the Silver Sapphire, and honestly, he can’t think of a shittier name for a bar. Sapphires aren’t even silver.

Levi hates any amount of attention on him, and the way the bar goes silent for a moment when all eyes land on him makes his skin crawl. He sits at his own table, away from the ruckus of the other squad leaders and his own team as the noise around him resumes. He fully expects his team to see him and surround him soon.

At least none of the shitty kids were here.

“Captain Levi! You caaaame,” Oluo says, as Petra sits across from him.

“Came to see what all the fuss was about,” Levi shrugs, “And Shitty Glasses decided to hold my tea leaves hostage if I didn’t show up.”

“Orrrr Captain Levi wants to see the pretty bartender,” Petra says in a singsong voice, eyeing him curiously.

Levi lets her have her fun. It puts a smile on her face, so he lets her have it.

“Try some of my earthwater, Captain,” Oluo says, pushing his glass towards Levi.

“I’d rather die by the hands of my own blades than drink anything you’ve put your shitty tongue in, Oluo,” Levi says tonelessly, “Earthwater? What the hell is that?”

“The stuff made of diamonds,” Hange appears from around the corner and sits next to Petra, “You were right, Oluo.”

“Hange,” Levi says curtly, crossing his arms over his chest. Hange lets out a peal of delighted laughter at his irritation.

“Shorty’s upset with me because I told him to get out of his office for the first time all week,” Hange whispers to Petra.

Levi rolls his eyes so far back he’s certain he sees his own skull.

Suddenly, Petra elbows Hange, discreetly looking at the bar and whispering to her with a tipsy giggle. Levi hears Gunther and Oluo sigh like lovestruck fools, even Petra and before he can ask them whether they are soldiers of the Survey Corps or whether they’re idiots in high school-

He sees you making your way to them from behind the bar and can kind of understand why they have hearts in their eyes, and why they’re behaving the way that they are. His own throat is a little dry but he clears it subtly, eyes not leaving you.

“Third night, huh? To what do I owe this pleasure?” You murmur, all smiles and warm, dark eyes. You have a notebook and a pen in your hand to take their orders.

Levi is aware of the intensity of his gaze over you. Your dark green silk shirt is neatly tucked into your black pants that hug your hips and your legs. It’s loose and yet sits on your torso like it was made for you. The dark green is a shade or two darker than the Survey Corps capes, but you wear the color much better than anyone in the Corps ever could. Levi catches a glint of gold at the base of your throat attached to a thread of gold wrapping around the column of your neck. The top two buttons of your shirt unbuttoned carelessly, allowing him a peek of your deep skin glowing with the lights of the bar.

He swallows.

“These four idiots have been raving about your drink, what is it dirtwater?” Levi says tonelessly, “Must be pretty shitty if it’s called dirtwater.”

“It’s called earthwater, actually,” You reply easily but Levi catches the bite in your tone, “You should have one. On the house. It’s my own recipe and maybe it’ll loosen the stick up Captain Levi’s ass a little bit.”

His teammates, all traitors apparently, snicker at your comment.

“Fine,” Levi scoffs, “I’ll have your shitty drink. And what happens when I decide that I don’t like it?”

“That won’t happen,” You wave him away with a smirk across your painted lips, “After all. I made it.”

And with that, you saunter away with the rest of their orders and Levi sinks into his seat imperceptibly.

You look over your shoulder and toss him a reckless wink and a rogue smile. It takes a second for Levi to realize that you’re looking in his direction. He turns his gaze away from you, ignoring the heat creeping up in his neck.

***

The minute you see Levi of the Survey Corps walk into your bar, you know you had to see him up close. You’ve only heard stories about him, rumors mostly. That he’s a well oiled Titan killing machine. That he’d climbed the ranks of the Corps quickly, too quickly. You’ve heard that he’s an Underground kid, and that has your interest piqued.

The entire bar goes silent when he pushes the doors open. Clearly, Captain Levi doesn’t just walk into bars very often. Your eyes immediately shift to the rest of the Corps, in a separate corner of the bar.

He looks disinterested as he observes the bar around him. You have an eye on him, as you do with all your new and high profile customers. You notice how he relaxes in his seat, but he has a watchful eye on his surroundings, too.

Maybe it comes from being from the Underground. Always trying to be five steps ahead of any perceived threats. Maybe it comes from his Corps training. Maybe both.

You can’t help your eyes from wandering as you watch him subtly from the bar. He’s handsome, somehow both rough and effortless at the same time. The planes of his face are lined with cues of life and loss and you wonder how close you can get to him to see more.

You prepare five mugs of earthwater, adding a little extra mint to their drinks to spruce it up. You strive to impress, and Captain Levi is no exception. Carrying all five drinks on a tray with one hand, you head back over to their table, ignoring the hollering of your patrons around you. You turn your head towards them while you’re still walking, and flash them a gratuitous wink to quell them. They sigh happily and you roll your eyes fondly.

They’re just drunk and happy.

“I’m back,” You announce, “One earthwater for each of you.”

You hand a mug to each of them, careful not to slosh the liquid over the rim. Levi eyes the mugs impassively- they’re made of shiny brass and have a thin handle on the side. And they’re clean, he realizes as he inspects the mug.

“I’m curious to hear your thoughts, Captain,” You say with a smile, your right hand on the table and your left hand on your hip. You lean on your right hand and Levi tries to ignore the way the collar of your shirt slips to the side, the hollow between your neck and shoulder exposed. He catches the glint of something shiny on your left hand before taking a sip in front of six pairs of waiting eyes.

They all lean in close to hear the verdict.

“It’s not shitty,” Levi says, pleasantly surprised. Not that you’d be able to tell. It’s a little sweet but not overwhelmingly so. He can taste richness in the aftertaste of the drink and the combination of it with mint is unlike anything he’s ever tasted. What exactly is in this drink? No wonder Oluo says it’s filled with diamonds and sapphires.

“Ha! I’ll take it,” You say triumphantly, “Well, enjoy. You know where to find me.”

Your dark eyes linger on Levi for a second longer, searching for the hidden roughness that only an Underground kid can have. But he’s no kid, and he hides it well.

So do you.

Levi is no stranger to pretty women, and he knows beauty when he sees it. At first glance, you look like you’ve been born and raised inside of Wall Rose. Your brown skin glows despite the absence of sun, you smile so boldly that your cheeks must hurt, your eyes are mischievous.

And yet. It only takes one sweeping glance at you, at your confidence and the twinkle in his eyes for Levi to see how much of yourself you’ve given to be here. To have something called your own. Your hands were rough when you had handed him his mug and he saw faint, old scars on your forehead and your neck when you had leaned in.

He can admire from afar, can’t he? No harm, no foul. It’s not like he’ll be coming back here anyway, right? He’ll probably be dead before he can.

#levi x reader #levi ackerman x reader #levi x you #levi ackerman x you #aot imagines #snk imagines

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innuendostyles · 4 years

Note

Umm maybe Ben exploring his ‘feminine’ side more????? How bout him asking u to paint his nails? Or him asking if he can wear your makeup? Idk thought it would be cute hahah

ben wants to try something different

2.8k -> masterlist

waking up next to ben was one of her favourite things on the planet. something about the way his hand would rest underneath her shirt (if she had one on) and rub small circles under her breast settled her like nothing else could. she normally woke up to ben cooing to her, usually murmurs of how beautiful she was when she slept, or if she’d overslept it would be gentle reminders of where she had to be - which was why she was surprised to wake up to dead silence.

she yearned to feel his hands on her skin, as she was so used to, but instead, her hand simply rested in ben’s. her palm face down on ben’s larger hand while he traced one pointer finger over her freshly manicured nails. they were painted a pastel blue colour, completely matte except for a shimmery top coat applied to her ring finger. she’d been on the phone ben while she was getting her nails done, asking him what he thought she should get done when the nail lady asked her what colour she’d like. he asked her what clothes she had on at that moment, to which she replied a light blue jumper that had a sparkly carebear printed on the front of it. he simply gave a ‘well then…’ and told her he’d ring her back when she was done. so to see him admiring her fresh set wasn’t surprising.

his eyes flashed to hers as she roused herself from sleep, carefully removing her hand from his to wipe the drool from her chin. he gave her a light chuckle as her body strung completely taught before laying entirely limp back on the bed and stretching her arms across his chest. she clung to him like a koala, pressing a couple of kisses to his neck when she had enough energy.

“you like my nails?” she whispered, pressing one final kiss to his neck before sitting up.

“yeah.” he chuckled, resting his hand on her hip as she reached to the bedside table to retrieve her phone.

“i’ll make some breakfast.” she said, leaning down to place her hand on ben’s cheek before leaving the bedroom.

she walked down the stairs, calling for frankie as she reached the bottom step, happy to receive many sloppy kisses to her face when she bent down to give the dog her favourite behind the ear scratches.

there was a pink bottle stuck in her mouth, which y/n speedily removed and wiped on her t-shirt to get rid of all the dog spit. it was her nail polish, a cheaper dupe of some dior varnish she’d seen on instagram. the colour, effectively called ‘cha-ching cherry’ was a hot pink, and she’d bought it purely because it was on sale at the drugstore and reminded her of the dior version.

“how’d ya get this, silly girl?” she cooed to the dog, stamping kisses on the top of her head. she wondered how she even reached and opened the polish in the first place, she was sure it had still been in the plastic wrap it came in when she went to bed last night… no, it definitely was. she remembers placing it on the shelf next to the tv when she emptied her bag after she came home. so how had a three year old dog opened protective packaging? it was a mystery to her. instead of going full sherlock mode, she cracked some eggs into a pan and discarded the thought to the back of her mind.

she had to shout ben downstairs, which was unusual, because normally he’s downstairs as soon as she is, offering to help her make breakfast and playing whatever music he was in the mood for over the apartment speakers. he came down the stairs looking rather sweaty and she wondered what he’d been up to. looked like he’d just run a fucking marathon, but he was still dressed in his pyjamas (a pair of calvin kleins couldn’t be classed as pyjamas, surely?) so she knew that answer was out of the equation. maybe he’d been brushing his teeth super violently. she knows that’s not true when he goes to kiss her cheek as a good morning and she shies away from him with a ”morning breath!” and a playful grimace. he chuckles at her, bending down to pat frankie on the head.

he got frankie’s food ready before even realising he had a plate of eggs and fruit waiting in front of him. he sat at the rather small dining table, pouring them some orange juice and handing her the glass once he’d finished. even gave her a little more than he had, because he always complains she doesn’t get her 5 a day.

he just wants her to feel happy and healthy! can he complain, when she treats him so well and even leaves his eggs on for a whole minute longer than hers because she knows he doesn’t like it when the yellow is all runny? when she takes care of a dog that originally was the shared pup of him and his ex?

he has no time to think before she’s giggling a little, pointing to frankie in the corner of the kitchen who had somehow managed to eat all her food and drink all her water in the space of 2 minutes. he giggled as well, taking a bite of his eggs and calling out a ”good girl” to the beagle.

“yeah, well our ‘good girl’ somehow managed to open my new nail polish and came to me this morning with it in her mouth like it was some sort of present she bought! might have to start calling her father christmas!” she jokes, taking a bite of banana before breaking some off and making a kissy sound to garner frankie’s attention before placing some on the floor next to her for the dog. she did love her banana.

ben places his hand quickly onto his thigh beneath the table after he caught sight of it on top of the tablecloth, hoping she hadn’t noticed how quickly he made the movement. she simply furrows her brows at him, tilting her head as she asked if he was okay.

“yeah, ‘m fine just got a cramp.” he lies straight through his teeth, not being able to look her in the eyes and instead offering frankie a piece of watermelon to frankie, which was unusual for him as he never gave his food to her, claiming it ‘only gives her a bad tummy and then i’m the one who has to clean up all the sick she leaves on the bathroom floor!’, which y/n notices and gives a sigh.

“ben.” she deadpans, setting the banana peel down.

he removes his hand from his leg and sets it upon the table, in a fist originally, before he unclenches his hand and then she sees it. his ring and middle finger nails are painted pink. he looks carefully at her reaction, even though there isn’t much to go off, just a look back to his eyes after she’s seen his hand.

“are you… angry?” he questions, eyes still avoiding hers.

“i’m not angry at you for using my nail polish without telling me ben…” she says with a slight chuckle, her face looking awfully confused, “...what’s mine is yours, and all that.”

his eyes flit to her’s at this, a brow raising as he asks, “so you’re not… weirded out?”

she can’t actually tell if he’s joking or not until she looks at his hands, where he’s nervously pulling at his knuckles in hopes to make them crack. it was one of his worst habits, something he only did when he was really going through it. she realises he must have been embarrassed or feel ashamed when she tells him she wasn’t, if the way his shoulders fell from near enough above his head showed her anything.

she decides he wants to leave the conversation at that when he picks up his fork and begins eating his eggs, looking a hell of a lot less stressed than he did before.

“why were you so sweaty when you came down before?” she questions, though she’s careful to make her tone sound as least judgemental as she possibly can, offering an inquisitive smile at the end.

“i um- wanted to get it off. before you saw it.” he purses his lips before he speaks again. “i couldn’t find any of that horrid-smelling remover stuff so i was trying to scrub it off with that lemon exfoliating shit you’ve got in the shower. worked up quite a sweat.” he chuckled, and she smiled at his first genuine laugh this morning.

“ben, why did you think i’d care so much?” she asks, and she can actually feel a pain in her chest as she realises it must have been eating away at him all night after his reaction to her seeing it. the pain in her chest only deepens when she hears a muttered, “i thought you’d think it was … really weird and like… not normal.” he continues, his voice getting louder and louder as he carried on, “cause it’s like… a girls thing. and i’m not a girl. and i know you’d never think that i was stupid or weird so i don’t even know why it ran through my head cause i did it last night when you went to bed and i was still downstairs… i saw it and i just wanted to put it on me like… for fun. and then i thought you might be angry at me for opening it so i just went to bed but i couldn’t sleep cause i was worried you’d be annoyed at me so i just… spent all night looking at yours. your nails, i mean.” once he’d finished rambling, she reached a hand out to his, pulling him along until they’d settled onto the sofa in the living room.

her on her back against the arm rest, with him on his stomach laying between her legs. maybe not the most flattering position on her part, but she felt closest to him this way. she reached a hand up to his hair, running her fingers through the golden locks before sighing.

“ben, i need you to listen to what im gonna say really closely, yeah?” she whispered.

he nods, and she takes that as her cue to continue.

“it isn’t ‘a girls thing’. and i’m not angry at you, and you’re right, i’d never think you’re weird for doing anything ever. i love you, and i’m in this for the long haul, so speak to me. tell me when you wanna try new things. ��cause you know i won’t be angry, or annoyed, or weirded out… because it’s you.” she could see his eyes softening as he stared directly into hers.

it felt like he was reaching deep inside her mind and pulling out every honest word he could find. he laid his head down on her stomach, before giving a simple, “i love you.”

“do you want me to paint the rest of them?” she asked after a couple of minutes of stroking through his hair.

“please.” he replied, and she felt his smile on her stomach as he heard frankie pattering through the doorway and coming to lie on ben’s back to join them both. he lifted his head up and formed his lips into a kissy shape, to which she leant down and pecked him.

he followed her into the kitchen to retrieve the nail polish, clapping like an excited kid as she led him upstairs. she walked into the bathroom and sat on the countertop, ben bringing a chair from the bedroom to sit in front of her. she spread her legs and placed his hand flat on the surface of the counter, protected by an old sheet of newspaper in case of a polish accident.

once she’d painted one hand, he rested it on her thigh, only beginning to stroke it once she told him his nails were dry enough. she’d finished his other hand, commending her own painting skills as she skipped the two nails he’d already done the night before, he kissed her thigh, just below where his dry hand sat, before lifting himself off the chair to press a kiss to her forehead, then her left cheek, and finally her lips. she pulled her head back as soon as she felt how dry his lips were, telling him he needed some vaseline.

he looked behind her, seeing her collection of lip products before picking up a familiar tube. it was one she used constantly, which meant it must have been good, which was the reason why he asked her to put some on him a couple of seconds later.

“vaseline isn’t the same as lipgloss, but i’ll let this one slide, my dear.” she chuckles, opening the tube of clear, strawberry scented lipgloss. it had a slight shimmer to it, especially when in the sun, and she was unbelievably excited to see it on him.

“i only picked it cause it tastes nice.” he mentions before she has the chance to apply it.

“ben! you’re not meant to eat it!” she scolds, pulling back and taking the applicator with her.

“i know! i don’t do it purposefully, i just get a mouthful sometimes after you snog me.” he says,

smiling when she laughs.

“yeah, well i think i might have to see just how it tastes the next time we snog, which i have a feeling might be in just a second.” she smirks before applying the gloss.

#my work #bohemian rhapsody #bohemian rhapsody imagine #ben hardy x reader #ben hardy fanfiction #ben hardy fanfic #ben hardy fluff #bohemian rhapsody cast #ben hardy #ben hardy blurb #ben hardy imagine

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weasleypogues · 4 years

Text

hurricanes (p.h.)

masterlist.

so this wasn’t a request because im just getting this page started but i wanted to show pope some love <3

you sat around on the beach with your friends to watch the sunset after a long day on the HMS pogue. this is what you loved most. you loved the serenity of the beach as the waves crashed in front of you, the sound of palm leaves rustling in the wind. you even didn’t mind the sound tourists and their big groups inhabiting the beach every summer. you felt connected to your best friends and felt like you were living your best life.

you initially met john b a couple of years back at the age of 10 at recess. at first, you were shy because a random boy just came up to you out of nowhere but you were glad he did. you wouldn’t change meeting him and forming this friend group for the entire universe, let alone the world.

you, (y/n), fell somewhere in the middle of the outer banks class system. you didn’t own two houses like most kooks but you definitely weren’t struggling like a lot of the pogues on the island. you were content and comfortable. no matter how many times john b claimed there was no in-between with pogues and kooks, he always said you were the exception.

“you guys wanna crash at mine tonight? if the hurricane is going to leave us helpless with no electricity i'd rather be with my best friends than alone while being helpless.” john b stated.

“ohh, i’m so down.” jj exclaimed. “no parent supervision and most likely no cops patrolling whatsoever? smoke and drink all we want.”

“you’re relentless jj. but i gotta ask my parents but i should be able to also.” pope said, rolling his eyes at jj.

“you gotta do what you gotta do, brother.” jj chuckled, proudly.

“kie? (y/n)?” john b inquired, glancing over to you and kiara sharing a small couch, your legs intertwined.

“you already know that i’m in...(y/n)?” kiara answered and then turned to you. you glanced up out of a quick zone-out and were met with everyone's eyes on you. you smiled quickly and awkwardly but nodded.

“perfect, we should probably stock up on food before it hits just in case so i’m probably going to head out.” john b said, standing up and fixing his shorts.

“on that note, i think i’m going to go home and pack a couple things, who knows what this storm is going to bring us.” you said, standing up as well. “anyone needs a ride anywhere?”

you ended up driving only kiara back home but waited with her while she packed her stuff.

“are you going to bring your surfboard to john b’s?” kiara asked as she rummaged through her t-shirt drawer.

“surfboard? are you crazy? those waves are going to be deadly,” you answered with your eyebrows furrowed. you weren’t that comfortable with your surfing in the first place because you learned so much later than the rest of the group but you were still average. but too average to take that risk during an actual hurricane.

“that’s what i said. depending on if jj is too stoned out of his mind or not, john b still convinced pope to join him. they’re crazy if they think i’m joining.” kiara stated with raised eyebrows. she knew this was a dumb idea but let them go on with their dumb antics. at least she told warned them prior so she could eventually say ‘i told you so’.

“pope’s surfing?” it wasn’t until you asked this that it hit you. your heart race slightly increased at the idea of pope getting hurt or worse during those waves. you guys always subtly flirted here and there but there was a no pogue-on-pogue macking rule. you admitted to yourself and kiara that you had a crush on him but nothing would ever happen.

seeing him at john b’s house with a button-down hawaiian shirt and sunglasses ready for a day on the boat always made you blush. seeing him just sip on beer at a kegger made you feel intrigued by him. he was intelligent and always had a way with words. he had common sense and was sensitive. it almost seemed impossible to not like him. or maybe it was the way his body glistened in the sunlight after you and the rest of the pogues hopped back on the boat after taking a dip in the marsh.

after packing her stuff up and packing your own clothes and saying goodbye to your parents, you were on your way back to john b’s. as you welcomed yourselves inside you saw john b, pope, and jj unpacking groceries.

“you guys didn’t bring your surfboard?” john b practically whined.

“i don’t have a death wish john b, at least not today. but pope...i’m surprised you do,” you responded, raising your eyebrows at pope as you waited for an answer. he glanced up from the back of cereal and canned corn with his big brown eyes and you felt like you could melt right then and there. you even felt like you were at a loss of breath.

“peer pressure at it’s finest.” pope answered with a small yet nervous chuckle. you watched the way his hands moved from the bags to the cabinets, with the few occasions of fixing his shirt or cracking his knuckles--a habit you noticed that he did quite often.

a couple seconds of zoning out led you to think. am i in these feelings deeper than i thought? because if i am, i gotta get out of them real fast.

after a night of smoking, drinking, and messing around you all fell asleep in the living room except for john b who found his way to his own bed.

your eyes opened up slowly and adjusted to the lighting in the house from the windows. it wasn’t necessarily bright outside but it was definitely somewhat daytime. you checked your surroundings and saw jj and kiara still fast asleep. john b’s door was open and you saw his room was empty from your spot on the couch. you also noticed pope wasn’t present either.

you felt your hands get somewhat sweaty and a lump in your throat form as you remembered that the guys must’ve gone out to surf. you weren’t sure if this was going to end well or not so that slight thought of an unfortunate occurrence made you feel nervous.

kiara shifted from her initial position into one that faced you and you saw her eyes flutter open.

“they went surfing, didn’t they?” kiara muttered with a tired, morning voice. you nodded and instinctively bit your thumb’s nail. it wasn’t until you heard branches hitting the side of the house was when you snapped out of it.

“they’ll be fine...don’t worry about your knight in shining armor.” jj said, groggily. you felt your face get hot and you looked at him quickly.

“what do you mean?” you answered, nervous that maybe kiara told him your secret. but she wouldn’t and you knew that but how else would he know?

“you know what i mean (y/n/n), you like pope and it’s so obvious.” jj slightly chuckled, rubbing his eyes. you looked to kiara quickly and she put her hands up defensively as if to say she didn’t spill anything. “i see the way you look at him and you zone out afterward in deep thought. i’m not stupid. plus he does the same to you.”

“yeah...i’m sure,” you responded, slightly embarrassed that maybe you weren’t so discreet with your feelings after all. if jj noticed, does that mean pope noticed also? if he noticed and liked you back, he would’ve made a move by now. right?

your thoughts were interrupted by the door opening aggressively and a wet and flustered john b and pope. initially you noticed their stressed and dripping-wet faces but quickly landed on pope’s hand covering a bloody gash on his forehead which made you jump off the couch in an instant.

“what the hell happened?” you asked, rushing to pope after grabbing a towel off the table in front of you.

“a big wave came and we were sure we had it but we both got pushed off. i fell to the side but he went headfirst into the tip of the board.” john b responded, searching for his first aid kit.

“remind me to never surf during a hurricane ever again.” pope stated, in hopes of making your worried state a little more at ease but you were too focused on cleaning the gash. pope felt his heart flutter at your determined and focused face taking the time to help him. he thought it was cute the way your eyebrows were furrowed together and you slightly bit the inside of your lip.

“i told you so.” you heard kiara say in a sing-song voice. you mentally laughed.

jj and john b knew that he had a crush on you. sometimes he felt like you had the same feelings for him but psyched himself out that it was just you being your friendly and charming self.

it wasn’t long until john b brought the first aid kit out and you were quick to clean up the gash and bandage it up.

“thank you, (y/n). i really do appreciate this y’know.” pope said as he confidently brought his hand to your hand that was keeping his head still while the other fixed the gash. you paused and your eyes diverted to his hand on yours and you could feel the blush creeping from your neck to your cheeks.

“anything for you, pope.” you responded with and placed a quick peck on his cheek.

even though every muscle and thought in the back of his mind were telling him not to in fear of what may happen, the devil on his shoulder told him to grab your face and pull you in for a kiss. thankfully enough, you kissed back as passionately as him as your hand stayed to cup his face. you could feel him smile and almost melt at your touch.

“thank god you made the first move,” you said through the kiss, slightly giggling. he chuckled back and pulled you in again.

“get a room love birds.” jj yelled out while covering his face with a pillow. john b covered his own eyes and kiara’s eyes with his hands as a joke while pope flipped them off, still engaged with the kiss.

who cares if you two broke the rule.

#obx writings #outer banks #pope heyward imagines #pope heyward #jj maybank #john b #kiara imagines #pogue writings #rafe cameron imagines #topper imagines #sarah cameron imagines #obx imagines #obx x reader #pope x reader

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musicnoots · 4 years

Text

Another Cinderella Story

Babe Heffron/Reader

Prompt “Oh my God, I'm in love with an adult man-child” requested by anon

A/N: 🌼BABE CUTENESS🌼

Synopsis: The quest for a missing shoe at one in the morning.

Tags: @gottapenny @dustyjjumpwings @wexhappyxfew @medievalfangirl @bandofmarvels @those-dusty-jump-wings @curraheev @junojelli @majwinters @david-weepster @evelyn-shelby @those-dusty-jump-wings @floydtab @rayleighshughes @alienoresimagines @yeahcurrahee @not-john-watsons-blog @inglourious-imagines @meteora-fc

“Psst, Y/N,” he whisper-yells. He’s trying his very best not to rudely wake you up, rather, politely wake you up in the middle of the night. “Y/N?”

Babe can’t find the pair of his shoes. His favorite pair of shoes. The ones his Ma gave him for his eighteenth birthday—the brown oxfords that he’d been laying his eyes on at the store weeks before all those years ago.

He’s all but turned the entire house upside down looking for them.

The shoe rack is in disarray, your shared closet that was once neat and tidy is now messy and won’t close shut thanks to your boyfriend and his midnight antics. Babe had also gone rummaging through the kitchen cabinet, as if the missing shoe would magically appear in between the bread and jam.

“Hello?” he shakes your shoulder this time, and that’s enough to wake you up from your deep sleep, dazed and confused as to who’s talking to you right now. “Hello? Earth to Y/N?”

“Babe?”

You yawn, your hand drifts to touch his cheek—truth be told, you hadn’t noticed that he’d slipped out of bed.

You swear your person was in bed snuggling with you ten seconds ago! His head tucked under your armpit, his lips attached to the underside of your breast, and his hand resting on the curve of your waist all while hogging all the blankets from you (he doesn’t mean it, though), you hadn’t noticed until he wakes you up while on a scavenger hunt for God knows what at this hour.

“Baby, have you seen the other pair of my shoes?” He holds the shoe up. “My favorite ones. I’ve been lookin’ all ova’ the goddamn place for ‘em!”

You almost let it slide past you. Luckily, you’d recovered from your muddled state to snag a peak at the clock on the nightstand. It’s well past midnight. “W—“

“Looked in the closet, looked in the living room, I even looked in the damn cabinet! S’like it just grew legs of its own and walked straight out the door! What do I gotta do to find the missing pair?”

“Why are you looking for your shoe in the middle of the night?”

He sighs and sits on the edge of the bed. “I’m goin’ to Bill’s place! Now, Y/N, can you please help me find my goddamn shoe?”

You blink. Bill’s place? You know the two are the bestest of friends, but you’re not too sure if that includes Babe randomly waking up at half past one to hang out. “Why are you going to Bill’s? It’s one in the morning?”

“I want ‘im to make a grilled cheese for me,” he says, and your eyes nearly bulge out of your head.

Really? Grilled cheese? At one in the morning?

“You want to go to Bill’s house...because you want him to make you...a grilled cheese…”

Part of you knows not to question why your favorite gentle ginger woke up in the middle of the night suddenly wanting a grilled cheese sandwich—a few months ago, he woke you up at 4 in the morning asking for you to bake him a few cupcakes that he ended up helping decorate with vanilla frosting and rainbow sprinkles.

But Babe thinks, as if you didn’t already love him, that he shouldn’t bother you again at this ungodly hour.

“Yes! But my shoe, Y/N!” he whines. “I’ve been lookin’ everywhere for it! Looked in the closet, looked in the pantry, looked in the fridge—I swear if I lost it for good, I’m gonna be so fuckin’ sad. My Ma gave it to me for my birthday a couple years ago!” He sighs and buries his face into his hands. “Goddamnit, I just wanted a grilled cheese and now I’m pissed off because I can’t find the other pair of my favorite shoes!”

“Babe—”you sit up in bed and put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention, “if you wanted a grilled cheese this bad, then you could have made one yourself, we have the things to make it.”

“No…”

“No?”

He pouts. “It’s not as good as yours.”

Him saying that automatically warms up your heart.

You love him, damnit. You didn’t say no then, so there’s no way you wouldn’t get up and make your wonderful boyfriend the greatest grilled cheese to have ever graced this Earth. “Alright,” you swing your legs over the edge of the bed and stand up, “let’s go make you that grilled cheese. C’mon, baby.”

His eyes light up in joy. “Really?” he says as you tug on his hand to follow. “But can we still look for my shoe? After I eat the grilled cheese, I mean. I’m gonna be so sad if I never find ‘em! My Ma would never forgive me!”

“Babe, you’re alright, and besides, I think Mango probably hid it somewhere to sit in it without having to deal with you trying to cuddle with her.”

He nods. Mango is a pretty smart cat, and judging from the countless times she’s stolen both of your shoes to sit in, it’s more than likely that she’s abducted Babe’s favorite shoe. “I can’t help it! Mango’s just so squishy, and she’s an awesome cuddle buddy whenever you’re not home to give me the lovin’ I deserve.”

“I’m starting to think you love Mango more than me.”

“No!” Babe wraps his arms around you from behind, his chin resting on her shoulder as the both of you waddle out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, ready to make that wretched grilled cheese he made all the ruckus about this morning. “I love you,” he peppers your neck with kisses, “from my butt to the top of my head. I love Mango, too, but she probably took my shoe so I’m kind of eh about her now. And I know you’re gonna love the way I decorated the kitchen...”

“Oh my God,” you sigh, coming to see how much of a mess he actually made. It’s nice to see that he tried to clean up for your sake, but the open cookie jar sitting on the counter is enough to make you realize how Babe has cemented his presence into your everyday life. “I’m in love with an adult man-child.”

He nuzzles his nose into the crook of your neck. “Yeah, but I’m your adult man-child.”

#babe loves u and mango #and grilled cheese #babe heffron #band of brothers #band of brothers imagines #band of brothers imagine #band of brothers fanfiction #band of brothers fanfic #hbo war #easy company #babe heffron x reader #edward heffron

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duhliriouss · 4 years

Text

Gotham’s Little Prince:

Part One

A Request For: @jokers-doll Here you go Doll, I hope you like this first part :)

Summary: Y/N finds out she’s pregnant with Joker’s baby. Terrified of how he will react, she hides the evidence until she can muster up the courage to tell him.

A/N: Buckle up because this is more than just a story of reader telling Joker she’s pregnant. There’s aftermath, protection and a beautiful birth❣️this was supposed to be a one shot but I got carried away like always 🖤

Beta Reader: @arthur-flecks-lovely-smile thank you again! Im so glad I found you ❣️ The perfect Beta Reader. Everyone should check out her work too, it’s amazing and it inspires me :)

Word Count: 2,934

Warnings: Mentions of Sex, Swearing, Pregnancy, Mentions of Violence

You were tired, exhausted actually. After Joker had overthrown Gotham, you have both worked tirelessly day in and day out to get where you have gotten in this very moment.

And there you were - standing outside on the balcony of Wayne’s Manor, with your hands on the railings looking out over the trees at the cities buildings that stood tall in the distance. Even though it was right outside the city, it was the perfect place for a king and his queen. This is where you and Joker lived now after hearing of the Wayne families death, and a luxury it was. How ironic it had been that you both had everything you could possibly ever dream of; a warm bath in a marble tub that blended with the white marble floors, grapes picked right off the vine for you and Joker to share after a long day, aged wine worth hundreds, a magnificent California king size bed with a canopy of dark red drapes cascading down the frames. Everything, everything except the daily doses of Gotham’s chaos. It was too peaceful here for you and your king sometimes.

So that is why you stood where you were in this moment, Joker and Your’s favorite spot, the only spot in the manor to be able to still see the tall structures as they inundated with the smoke that rose from Gotham’s streets.

You usually accompanied Joker during his daily tasks and crimes. He’s been a busy man since this all started, usually making sure his followers were keeping guard around the entire city’s borders.

No one comes in... and nobody leaves.

But you have stayed behind this past week and a half, you weren’t feeling well. You blamed it on your upcoming period since you tended to belong to the unlucky kind of woman who couldn’t even get out of bed during their cycle. Though your period never came, and you have grown worried. Joker has been very stressed recently so you haven’t dared to talk to him about your own distresses and concerns.

It was unlike you to keep things from Joker. You first met when you were walking home from work one day. You saw a clown dancing happily to piano music on the street with a sign reading “EVERYTHING MUST GO”. You watched him as you came closer only to find a group of punks stealing his sign and running away with it. You quickened your steps and followed as the clown chased after the teenagers. After a couple blocks you thought you had lost sight of his bright colored getup. Ready to give up, you went to turn around until you saw him laying almost lifeless down the ally in front of you. You saw no sight of the punks so you started to run until you were close enough to kneel down by the clown. You helped him up and brushed off the asphalt that stuck to his clothes.... and the rest has been history.

You sighed deeply, still flicking your (y/e/c) eyes to the buildings in the distance. You held your tummy as your mind rambled anxiously. You knew it was possible you could be pregnant. Joker wasn’t one to care for protection or pulling out. And neither were you for that matter. The sensation was just too staggering to give a shit. You were both so impulsive, you were perfect for each other.

As you looked out your mind continued to ramble with thought after thought. Joker was out there in between those buildings somewhere. You were planning on going out to get a pregnancy test without being seen by anybody. This would be a difficult task since everyone knew who you were, everyone knew you were Joker’s Queen.

You took one last sigh before turning on your heels to go back inside. You scurried down the hallways and corridors to your bedroom to change your clothes into something that would make you less noticeable. After a couple minutes of searching you found a oversized black coat that had probably belonged to Thomas Wayne. You also picked out some black jeans you owned. You quickly got dressed and took a look in the mirror, taking your (y/h/c) hair and pulling it behind your head to tuck it in the back of the coat. You then reached over and grabbed a clown mask, setting it over your face before pulling up the hoodie over your head. You felt confident that you could get away with this look and blend in.

And with that you were off, leaving the building with ease without being seen by any of the “guards” that Joker had stationed around your new home. You were allowed to leave whenever you wanted but you didn’t want to chance any of them telling Joker you had left. You had imagined beforehand what it would be like; Coming home early only to find one of his henchman tattling to him before he could even reach the main doors. Revealing to him how you were spotted leaving, without a return. You knew he would be very concerned for your wellbeing. You’d rather just come clean now than have to make Joker go through such affliction.

Your walk was longer than usual since you stayed in the shadows. You took allies that weren’t occupied and kept your head down as protesters and rallies passed. You entered the first convenient store you saw. You didn’t have to buy anything right now In this city as the mayhem was at its peak recently. No one was working since it was too dangerous. Almost all stores had smashes in the window and most people looted as they pleased. You walked straight in through the window and found the feminine section fairly quickly. You took what you needed and left and fast as you came.

You were home safe without being noticed by a soul. You peeled the clothes off putting them back where you found it and changed back into your dark blue polka dot flare dress. You walked straight to a bathroom that usually wasn’t used by Joker and Yourself. You lifted your dress and sat down, staring down at the box that contained the test. You felt unsure now.

Did you really want to know right now? What if it’s positive? How will your beloved Joker react?

Your heart started to pound in your ears as these new thoughts rose throughout you. You couldn’t see this being a positive outcome. You really didn’t want to see Joker mad. He was so unpredictable with his emotions that sometimes you didn’t even know if you knew him. He’s not Arthur anymore. However, Joker was still very tender towards you. Warm and gentle for the most part. But you also knew certain things caused him to lash out. You actually loved how unpredictable he was at times. It made everything new and exciting. But right now you were seeing how this could be a not so great and not so thrilling thing.

You were feeling dizzy now. Your mind going a mile a minute, you tried to get your breathing under control.

“You can do this. Joker will still love you no matter what. Just take the test.” You consoled softly to yourself.

You took a few more deep breaths before opening the box. 1980’s pregnancy tests were test tubes that took 2 hours before showing results. So you were in for a very tense wait. And a nervous one at that since you were never sure when Joker was going to be home. You did everything you were supposed to do. You shook the urine in the test tube and placed it behind the toilet on the floor for no one to see. You took the box and crinkled it up inside out, discarding it deep in the trash. Now all there was to do was wait. And it WAS a very tense wait. You made a mental note to keep your eye on the clock for when it was ready to check.

You tried to keep your mind off of it by watching tv, a fail. You paced the halls over and over with your hands clenched behind your back. You even went outside to get fresh air and smell the roses that had begun to wilt outside. You were running out of ideas to ease this edge. And oh so badly did you need a cigarette right now. You usually smoked almost as much as Joker but you haven’t dared the past few days. Joker actually noticed this the other day and questioned you to see if everything was alright. Only then did you stutter out an excuse by saying your throat was scratchy and it made it worse. And what a stupid excuse it was, initiating your guilt as he ran to make you herbal tea with tender kisses for the rest of the night.

You went back inside to check the clock.

30 minutes left

With a impatient huff, you went to go try and watch tv again In the bedroom. You walked down the hallway for what seemed like the 80th time today and turned to step into the bedroom. You gasped, jumping backward when you saw that Joker was standing right there. He saw that he’d startled you. He reached his arms out for you, a smirk evidently written on his face.

“My sweet darling girl, how I’ve missed you today”

You straightened yourself out and smiled sheepishly. He always made you a blushing mess. You skipped over and let yourself fall into his arms. He instantly scooped you up with ease, making you instinctively wrap your legs around him and letting your head fall over his shoulder. He wasn’t much taller than you but he still always managed to hold and carry you comfortably.

“I’ve missed you too. And you’re home so early.” You tried to hide the nervousness in your voice.

He started to draw circles on your back as he spoke. “A clown can only do so much crime my love. Besides, I thought I’d surprise you with something tonight since you haven’t been feeling well.” His voice cracked huskily.

Your body sunk heavier into him. You didn’t know your guilt could make you feel this culpable. You leaned back to look in Joker’s green orbs as he held you, putting on your best fake smile.

“What is it?”

“Stay here doll while I go get it for you, I left it in the kitchens”

Joker placed you down gently and began to make his way out the door, stopping at the door frame. He kept his gaze forward as he spoke. “Don’t move a muscle, I know how sneaky you can be, my little squirrel”

You smiled sheepishly one last time until he was out of site. Joker knew you all too well, seeing how you poked your head around the doorframe until he was out of site again. You were confident you had enough time to race down back to the bathrooms and check on your fate. The bathrooms were much closer than the kitchens. You couldn’t wait any longer. You took your first sharp right turn down another coordinator, making your way to the end before taking another sharp right which led off to the bathroom. As you took your last turn you stopped in your tracks instantly as you saw Joker standing right outside the bathroom doors talking to one of his female followers that helped keep guard around the building. You hid yourself around the corner and poked your head out slightly to listen. They didn’t notice you.

“Why are you showing me this? I don’t even know what that is”

“It’s a pregnancy test Sir, I don’t know who’s it is but it’s positive, just figured I’d show you before tossing it out”

You leaned your back fully against the wall around the corner now. Your hands found your mouth to muffle your sobs as tears poured down your cheeks. Not only did you just find out you were pregnant, but this was also not the way you wanted your Joker to find out. How was he going to react now, Keeping it from him like that?

Will he even still love me? he’s THE Joker. The infamous man that’s killed multiple under his own will. Why would a man like him want a baby with someone like me? Especially in such a disorderly world that we have created together. He’s going to make me leave this place. Probably force me to move somewhere else far away to somewhere safer. I’ll never see him again!

Your eyes were scrunched tightly closed. You let your hair fall messily around your face as you continued to muffle your sobs with your hands. You were so caught up in the shock you didn’t think to run away. And you didn’t notice Joker was standing right in front of you now.

“Y/N...”

Your breath caught in your throat. You slowly started to take your hands away from your mouth. You kept your head down with your arms stick straight by your sides, your hands balled up in little fists. You peaked your eyes up to look your destiny in the face. Your eyes began to dart around his face, desperate to find any emotion apparent on his features. But... nothing. You couldn’t see any emotion. His red painted lips displayed a thin line. His eyes showed emptiness, not even the green in his irises were visible.

Joker watched your eyes dart around him desperately. He knew it was your test. Why else would you be hiding around the corner in a complete dismantled mess? He cleared his throat and tried one more time.

“Y/N, answer me”

You finally let go and burst into tears. Covering your whole face with your hands and sobbing as you pleaded. “I’m so sorry!! I didn’t know either and I was just coming to check. I promise I was going to tell you today! I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you. I’m so sorry I left this place by myself and stole the test without telling you! I know I should have told you my worries sooner but... you’ve just been so stressed recently and so busy I didn’t want to bother you or stress you more. Please forgive me Joker! Please don’t make me leave this city! I love it too much now! I’m so sorry, I didn’t know what to do”

Your head stayed down as you sobbed and hyperventilated between each sentence as you cluttered. Joker watched you with his lips slightly parted without interrupting your break down. After you were finished, you continued to breath heavy and brought your hands up to wipe your tears with your balled fists. A couple seconds had passed without hearing a response from him, which caused you look up to see if he was even still there.

He was, but his features still looked emotionless to you. Maybe a little bit shocked? You opened up your mouth to speak again but was stopped short when Joker’s laughs began to fill the corridor, echoing down the halls. His face showed a semi wide grin as he laughed louder, placing his hand on his chest. He didn’t look mad, he also didn’t seem very sympathetic to you in this moment either. And it definitely wasn’t a laughing attack. It sounded like his real, true laugh. They started to die down into giggles as he wiped the tears from his face. This all hit you hard in the chest.

“I think I’ll go no—“

You were interrupted as Joker scooped you up in an immense hug. Swirling you around a couple times before stopping to sway you back and forth, drawing circles on your back like he did in your bedroom.

“My dear Y/N...You really are a sneaky little squirrel”

You couldn’t speak. Your mind bounced around to what the hell was going on. You felt comforted however as he held and swayed you before bringing his head back to look at you. None of this was what you were expecting.

“Look at me.” His voice was calm

You leaned back as he did and looked into eyes. You could see his green oceans now. And you could still see the tears in his eyes from laughing.

“My little squirrel, do you see these tears?”

“Yes...”

“They’re tears of joy darling, I would never be angry over something like this”

“Y-you’re really not mad?” You stuttered through your new found tears.

“Of course not.” He cooed in his high pitched voice. He began to walk forward until your back was against the cool wall, leveraging you as he still held you to free one of his hands, gently placing it over your tummy as he spoke more. “I put a prince in your belly”. He said it in a British accent, causing you to giggle.

“How do you know? It could be a princess!”

“I just have a feeling. But we shall see darling”

You couldn’t stop smiling now. And neither could joker. You started to feel a little silly for being so worried in the first place. You both cried happily as you brought your head into his chest, taking in his scent that smelled like cigarettes, mint, and blood. Joker took his hand off your tummy and brought you closer, placing his hand in your hair now to slightly stroke the (y/h/c) strands.

“Is that why you haven’t been smoking?”

“Yeah..” you replied innocently

“So sneaky...”

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foutbolimajine · 4 years

Text

please, just leave me alone. ⦁ ruben loftus-cheek pt. 2

word count: 2053 ⦁ short/medium/(too damn) long

(rqst), tw [miscarriage]

For the first time in a long time (seven months to be exact), I felt hurt. Betrayed. Foolish. I was freezing cold and burning hot at the same time. I’d taken the long way to my flat, took an extra lengthy shower, and cuddled with my dog (all while crying my eyes out) and yet. The next morning and I still felt like absolute shit. The worst part of it all was Vinny. She knew how much pain I’d been in the last seven months. She was there with me all through the stages of heartbreak. I’d cried on her shoulder, on her couch, in her bed, and in her cereal on one occasion. She had stressed how he wasn’t going to be there all week and while I would never admit it out loud, it’s the only reason I told Juliette I would come to her party.

I let out a groan before finally turning back on my phone that immediately started going off with notifications. I would pretend to be surprised, but I’m not. I’d put my phone on do not disturb and airplane mode but that didn’t stop the incessant badgering from Ruben and his family. After I left, the entirety of the Loftus-Cheek clan began mass texting/calling/FaceTiming/DMing me on literally every platform possible. I’m sure there’s a lonely message in my kik inbox from Isaac just begging me to hear out his P.O.S. brother. Or maybe a message from Ruben himself lies in my old, embarrassing email that he always teased me about when we first met. I snort at the thought of Ruben emailing [email protected].

The thought only kept the miniscule smile on my face for so long. I finally huff and call Lavinia, she being the LC that had absolutely wrecked my inboxes more so than the others.

“Ayla? Ayla! I am so sorry! I swear to God I didn’t know Ruben was coming. He wasn’t even supposed to be in town. He didn’t think you’d come so he decided to surprise everyone. I promise I would never do this to you purposefully. I don’t even know what possessed him to bring her, but they’re not even friends! They both swear it and Rubes feels terrible. He cried, Ayla. Like actually bawled in our living room. He misses you so much. We all feel so bad. There was barely any time to warn you since they came literally like five minutes before us. I’m so sorry.” She picks up and doesn’t let out so much as a “Hello?” before she begins rambling. I suppose knowing that she also didn’t know makes me feel a little better.

“H-he cried?” God, you are pathetic, woman! One tear (that you didn’t even see) and you’re ready to forgive him?

“Yes, Ayla. It was totally bizarre. Mum could barely console him.” I close my eyes and inwardly groan at how weak I am. Or rather, how weak he made me.

“I’ll um, call him. Same number?” I mumble, even though I knew it was from the several new messages from “cheeky ❤️” sitting in my inbox as we speak. Vinny let’s out an undignified squeal that causes my dog, Ira’s ears to perk up. She apologizes at least 50 times more before finally hanging up and leaving me alone to do what I said I would. Although, there were dishes in my sink. And I needed to vacuum my lounge. And Ira’s toys were thrown all over my office. There was so much more to do than talk to my cheating ex.

I bend down to pick Ira up and kiss his head. “Yeah, we’re entirely too busy to deal with that right now. Aren’t we, buddy?” He of course doesn’t answer, but I know he agrees with me. So I spend the next six hours doing literally any and everything to not focus on my situationship. And when the last candle had been lit, and all my emails completely cleaned out, I sat on my bed with my phone staring back at me.

“I should read his messages first, right?” Ira continues to chew his rope on the other side of the room. “Right. Just a dog.” I sigh and finally unlock my phone. First thing first, that contact name has to go.

ruben loftus-cheeks for everybody: ayla please answer my calls. please it’s not what you think it is

ruben loftus-cheeks for everybody: i miss you. so much

ruben loftus-cheeks for everybody: i’m not w sheena. it was a mistake. please babe

ruben loftus-cheeks for everybody: i love you ayla. please answer me

ruben loftus-cheeks for everybody: i know why you’re upset but please just let me explain!

ruben loftus-cheeks for everybody: i remember you saying how loving and being in love were different. and you were right. i'm so in love with you ayla yanna cooper. so so so in love

ruben loftus-cheeks for everybody: im sorry

I don’t realize I’m crying until my vision blurs and my phone screen turns wet. For seven months I’d tried to wrap my brain around what happened to us. Why me? Was I not enough? Was it because I didn’t make him a father? What did Sheena have that I didn’t? Everyday, for all those months, a thousand and one thoughts of him ran through my head and didn’t think to look both ways before crossing my mind. Sometime between my initial heartbreak and my “getting over it” I had convinced myself that Ruben didn’t love me. That he hadn’t loved me for the three and a half years we’d been together romantically, or for the two years prior that we’d just been best friends. Damn you, Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

The phone doesn’t ring twice before it’s picked up. He doesn’t say anything, but I know he’s there by the slow breathing on the other side of the line.

“Ruben-”

“Ayla-”

We both let out awkward chuckles before I tell him that he can go first. “I would actually much rather do this in person...if that’s okay with you?” He asks gingerly. It wasn’t okay with me at all, actually. Not even a little bit. Who did he think he was? Of course the answer is no.

“Uh, s-sure. I’ll text you my address. Bye.” I hang up before he can respond and immediately throw my phone. “SURE? SURE? REALLY AYLA? SURE?” I scream into my pillow, completely shocked at how much of a dumbass I really was. I take two (hundred) deep breaths while on the search to find my phone, trying to buy myself both time and a peace of mind. It had somehow wedged itself between Ira’s dog bed and my dresser, but unfortunately wasn’t broken. At least then I’d have an excuse as to why I never responded. I quickly type out my address and let the doorman know to let him up and then put my phone on the charger so I don’t touch it.

It feels like all too soon the buzz of my doorbell sounds throughout my flat and Ira bolts out my bedroom. Ira hadn’t seen his dad in months, the last time being when Isaac had watched him for me while I traveled to America on business. I was positive their reunion would be significantly better than ours had been. With one final breath, I open the door and allow Ira to take all of Ruben’s attention while I looked at him.

It was clear he’d left immediately from his gray sweats and wrinkled white tee. He’d chosen slides to accompany his mix-matched socks, and was lacking a jacket despite the cool weather. He also hadn’t shaved, which is something I always liked. His eyes were red and puffy, something I’m sure we shared in common. And while I hate to admit it, despite every disgruntled thing about him, my heart still beat faster in his presence.

I clear my throat and he finally looks at me. “Um, come in?” He walks past me with Ira in his arms and I nearly faint. Still found time to put on that cologne. “Do you...want something to drink? Forgive me, I didn’t exactly have enough time to pull out the charcuterie board.” He laughs at my sarcasm and shakes his head. “I’m good, thank you. Can we sit?” So we do, and the air immediately gets thicker.

“You read my messages?” He asks, sheepishly. I nod in response, not trusting my voice enough to give him a verbal answer. “I mean it, Ayla. I am so, so in love with you. Never in this life would I ever hurt you purposefully. That night was a mistake. I was never going to let it get that far. She-”

“I don’t want to talk about that night, Ruben. You said you wanted to talk so here we are: talking. What happened, happened. I saw it with all two of my eyes. There’s nothing much you can do to explain yourself there. I don’t care what she did; I’m not- I wasn’t in a relationship with her. I don’t know her, nor do I ever want to. She didn’t promise to love me, to be faithful to me. She wasn’t who I was sleeping next to at night. She wasn’t who I put love, energy, and time into for three and a half years. I didn’t-” I can’t help the tears that begin to fall. “I didn’t lose her baby.” Ruben tries to hold me and I push him away. “You’re not allowed to do that anymore.”

I find the courage to look at his face and see how absolutely broken he looks. I may sound like a monster but that look on his face, it did make me feel just a bit better. It was nice to know the feeling was mutual. I struggled so much in the last year. I’d lost my baby, my boyfriend, and consequently my home. I was uprooted and I literally felt like I was walking on new legs for so long. And now, just when I was getting my shit together, he decided to come back and undo most of the work I’d done to make the broken puzzle I was, whole again. He should feel broken, because I was.

He clears his throat and grabs my hand. “Okay, we don’t have to talk about then. Let’s talk about right now; me and you. Right now, I miss you and I love you. And I would do anything in this world to have you back. You didn’t lose the baby; we did. And in my grief I made a bad decision I wish I could take back, but I can’t. What I can promise you though, I will spend the rest of my life trying to win you back because there is no one in this world more perfect for me than you, Ayla Tanya Cooper. Plus...I miss Ira.”

I roll my eyes and begrudgingly let the smile I was holding back show on my face. I jump as Ruben shoots out his seat and runs around the couch, whooping. “We got a smile!” He shouts, Ira running and barking closely behind him. I grab a throw pillow and cover my face. Jesus, what am I going to do with this man. He flops down beside me and sends me that killer smile. “So?”

“I never want to see you with that woman again.”

He doesn’t hesitate, “Done.”

I squint at him. “I mean it, Ruben.”

“Me too. She randomly saw me and asked what plans I had last night. She invited herself, I swear. She’s gone, I promise.”

“And we have to be friends again before anything else. You have a lot of trust to earn back.”

His bottom lip folds in as his cheeks raise. “As long as you let me back in your life, we can work on the rest.”

I silently pray before sighing. “Fine. Whatever, of course. You’re in.” I roll my eyes again at his excitement. This time he runs all over the room before crushing me in a hug. “Thank you, Ayla.” He whispers in my ear. “You won’t regret it.” I hum and just bask in the feeling of holding him close again.

#ruben loftus cheek #ruben loftus cheek imagine #hope yall enjoy #soccer imagines #football imagines

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boarix · 3 years

Text

Wraith in the Ruins: A Fallout 4 Story Part XX

Call My Name

Trigger Warnings: canon violence/gore/language/gun, drug and alcohol use.

......

Deacon and Wraith had finished placing the MILA at the construction site in Cambridge and were taking stock of ammo and equipment before heading back to Railroad HQ. Deacon was especially eager to move along as the building was tall and they were still at the top. Wraith was nonchalantly lounging in a chair with its deposed super mutant owner lying at her feet. She had no idea he was acrophobic, and he wanted to keep it that way.

“You almost ready, boss?” He kept his tone light, “You’ve been staring at you’re Pip-Boy for a few days now.”

She made a circular motion with her right hand, “I’m trying to see if there isn’t a quicker way back then there was to…” She interrupted herself by laughing, “a few days?” She smiled up at him, “You in a particular rush?”

“My rush isn’t so particular, just feels too open here. If I were a sniper I’d be there,” He pointed helpfully, “or there, or there. Isn’t this fun?”

“Okay, okay…” She continued to stare at her screen.

“Whisper, it’ll be dangerous to climb down in the dark. Which is soon…” He shuffled closer to her while purposefully dragging the soles of his sneakers, “I’m also starving. Can we stop at the Fast Food?”

She chuckled, “We have food at home.” She stood and stretched, “I think there’s a way to get over to the freeway from here. I want to go check it out real quick.”

He frowned dramatically at her, “But I’m hungry.”

She reached into her pack, grabbed a small package wrapped in cheese cloth and tossed it to him as she walked, “Here. It’s fruit leather.” She pulled one out for herself but rather than eat it she sniffed and frowned at it, “This batch is too heavy on the carrots. I miss bananas. These would have better with bananas. Or I could make chips! Mmm, banana chips.”

Distracted by her melancholy, for a brief moment he forgot his fear. Balling up the entire strip, he clowned for her by shoving it into his mouth, “Mmfp. Sfo… thereshf im brogdgg nofp wha?”

She snorted and laughed, “If you’re asking me about a bridge… kinda?”

His fear was back.

The gap between the building and the freeway was only about 6 or 7 feet. It was bridged by road sign that looked fairly secure, but to Deacon it might as well have been miles. His arms twitched up reflexively as Wraith skipped across.

“I’ve been meaning to see if there was anything good up here. Since it’s so out of the way I thought there might be an armored truck… Are ya comin’?” She leaned back in to view, eyebrows tented and lip sticking out, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothin’ just… how long do you suppose this has been here?”

“It’s pretty solid, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“You didn’t hardly step on it.”

“You’re just as light on your feet as me. Don’t try to jump it.” When he didn’t immediately move, she offered him an out, “Or, you can just hang tight for a sec, I shouldn’t be long.”

“No, no. We’re partners; I go where you go.”

He tried to take it in two large strides, but with his vision marred by vertigo, his second step landed heavily on a rusted edge and the whole piece gave way. Wraith lunged to grab his hand, yelling his name. Swinging forward, he yelped in pain as his right hip was punctured by exposed rebar. Hearing his cry, Wraith didn’t immediately pull him up for fear of causing further damage.

“Are you hung-up? Can you free yourself?!”

“I’m… going… grragh… to try…” Though he knew it would cause a flash of intense pain, he reached up to hold her hand with both of his. He took a few deep breaths to recover. When he tried to pivot to push off with his left foot, the pain was too intense and he felt a surge of panic. “I can’t!”

“Are you cut?! I can’t … I can’t see.”

Screwing his eyes shut he tried to calm himself, “I got stabbed. It’s not super deep but this… I don’t think I’ll be able to talk my way out of this one. Ha hahaha!”

“Deacon, look up at me. You are going to be okay. I won’t let you fall. Let go with one hand and see if you… don’t shake your head!” She smiled and lowered her voice, “I’m very strong, Deacon. I promise I won’t let you fall. Trust me.”

“I…” He swallowed hard, “believe you.” Bolstered by her smile he let go and set his free hand against the girder. Screaming through the pain he brought his foot up and pushed off with both limbs. “GGGAAAARRRKKKK FREE!”

Wraith yanked him up next to her as if he were a prized catch at the end of a fishing line. He immediately dropped to the asphalt and was very noisily sick off the side of the bridge. Wraith ignored his retching but made assorted unhappy noises at the hole in his hip that was in fact very deep and bleeding a lot.

“You liar, you’re a goddamn shish kebab!” Quickly she gave him a one-two punch of Med-X and a Stimpak. When he made a small noise of protest against the painkiller she growled at him, “You hush! Being in pain slows healing.”

“And being on chemsh makes me shlow everything!” The lightning-fast med already had him stumbling over his words.

In the midst of her tying a temporary bandage, yellow-green lightning split the sky which set the Geiger counter on Wraith’s Pip-Boy to ticking madly. A rad storm was approaching fast. “Oh, for crying out loud!” Glancing around fearfully, she spotted a semi-trailer. Popping Deacon up and over her shoulder she made for the truck and set to work picking the lock.

“No, noooo NO! Danger! DANGER AGENT WHISNMPERS!”

“Yeah, yeah; ‘never open a new can of worms while cleaning up the first’. Look, I need to get you inside someplace!”

Tipped on its side, the trailer’s interior was narrow but devoid of monsters. Wraith gently lay Deacon down atop the scattered shipping tubs and glanced around for an additional light source to supplement her Pip-Boy, “Keep pressure on it, I’m going to hop back and grab some of those lanterns…” Once she returned she pulled shut the truck’s cargo door and got out her knife. However, when she turned back to Deacon he was nowhere to be seen. “Did you just… are you using a Stealth Boy?!”

“I don’t want you t’ cut my jeans!”

Blinking rapidly, she looked down at her combat knife and then back up to where his voice came from, “Deacon… you might bleed out! I’ll make you new pants!”

“Imma try to get out… OW! Huuurrgn… of them…” Failing, he phased back into view with a miserable expression on his face.

“There’s nothing wrong with showing a little leg. Or… a lot… damn, Deacon.” She made an attempt to school the worry from her face as she worked, “Looks like you’ll need to wear skirts for a while.”

“I have the calves for it.”

She couldn’t disagree, “Actually, you have better legs then me. Turn a little more on your side…”

“Why don’t you like the way you look? I think you’re pretty.”

“Well, I think you’re pretty too, Deacon. So I’ll throw that right back at you; why do you want to change your face again? Seems a more… dramatic solution than sticking on a false mustache. What’s th’ matter? Can’t grow facial hair?”

“I grow the best bneards you’d ever shee!”

“I’ll take your word for it. Anyway, I like the face you’re currently wearing.”

He was touched and even with his chem addled brain he knew the conversation was getting dangerously close to things he wasn’t sure he wanted her to know. It was time to change the subject, “What’s that? Brobzzs… Brave… Bavarian… Bob’s Best Moonshine?”

Wraith had pulled what looked like a liquor bottle out of her pack, “Oh, no. Curie gave me a lecture on how terrible alcohol is for wounds. So, I’ve been trying to carry soapy water instead. Buuuut,” She soaked a clean rag and gently wiped at his injury, “I don’t think she realizes that soap is way more rare out here then booze.”

Satisfied that the bleeding had stopped, she helped the now shivering spy into a sleeping bag and made for the door. “I’m going to go see if there is a quicker way down from here. I want to get you back to HQ and Carrington ASAP.”

“Jump down would be fastnerest.”

“You tried that already…” Her spirits sagged as she jogged along the short span of crumbling road. Then, they suddenly skyrocketed when she noticed there was a scaffolding lift on the very edge of the partially destroyed highway, “Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!”

The storm had passed so when Wraith returned she put Deacon’s pack in the sleeping bag with him and cinched the opening until only his face showed. She shouldered her own pack and then bent to pick him up as well. She had thought he was asleep until he started giggling.

“He heee; imma worm.”

“Oh, Deacon, you’re my favorite.”

……

“HANCOCK!” MacCready watched in horror the ghoul dropped to the pavement and writhed about while clutching his head. Fearing he’d been shot, the sniper pushed away from the feral citizen he’d been trying to subdue and rushed to the mayor’s side. “What?! Tell me…”

Hancock gaped; opening and closing his mouth like a fish trying to breathe air. His eyes bulged and were completely unfocused.

“She’s attacking him! Radiance!” Fahrenheit wanted nothing more than to throw herself off the balcony and rush to her father, “Pick him up or drag him if you have to but move him away from the bar!”

MacCready stooped and hooked the ghoul under the armpits while Magnolia grabbed his legs; both calling for the Watch. They only made it a few steps before multiple ferals burst from the Third Rail and charged them. The sniper dropped to a knee and set Hancock down as softly as time would allow. Telling the singer to pull Hancock toward the Memory Den he unholstered his sidearm and started an attack of his own. Aiming for their legs as he dodged their swinging arms, he lured them away. Twisting and turning, he danced just out of their reach and quickly cut them down.

“HELP ME!

Surprised by Magnolia’s desperate cry, MacCready whipped around and then stood frozen by what he saw. Hancock had lifted the singer off the ground to chest height and was viscously shaking her back and forth in the air. Like a terrier with a rat.

Thinking quickly, the young man took aim with the syringer and hit the ghoul in the neck with a dose of Pistol Whipped. The effect was almost instantaneous; Magnolia was released and the two dropped to the pavement. As he jogged toward them past the entryway to the bar, MacCready was hit by a powerful shockwave of radiation that swept him off his feet and hurled him through the window of the offices across the street.

Radiance seemed to almost float above the ground as she moved to where Hancock lay. Determined to claim him as a prize, her blazing eyes were fixed on his face. She was confused why she lost her hold on his mind and curiosity drove her to edit her own plan, act directly and leave the relative safety of the Rail. As she crouched and reached out to touch his brow, a shot rang out and she felt burning pain as a .44 bullet tore through the palm of her clawed hand.

When MacCready stepped back through the shattered glass, he was terrifying to behold: blood steamed down his face from a multitude of lacerations, and his cerulean eyes were a promise of death, “You can’t have him.”

The glowing one rose to her feet, turned up the heat and sent out another blast of energy. MacCready suddenly found himself in the midst of revived, legless ferals. They pulled themselves after him, snarling. Dodging, he continued his assault on their mistress but found that her radiation was both acting as a shield as well as healing any damage he managed to inflict. He was getting dangerously close to cursing loudly.

“MACCREADY, GET OUT OF THE WAY!” Fahrenheit had returned to the balcony, this time armed with a minigun.

Even as the gun began its spin up, Radiance decided to make a tactical retreat. Sending out a psionic call, she dashed back into the Third Rail with her few remaining minions trailing behind.

……

“Hey, Glory; think fast!”

The Railroad heavy easily caught the beer that Wraith tossed to her. “It’s cold! Where’d you get this?”

Wraith set a cooler on the floor and pulled a chair up next to where the synth was sitting, “I’ve a buddy in Goodneighbor.”

“Oh, ha ha.”

Wraith held up another and gently rocked it back and forth in Tinker Tom’s direction, “TT, come have a brewski with us!”

The Railroad engineer’s eyes lit up and he quickly walked over to them, holding both his hands up toward the booze the entire way, “Oooh, presents!” He took a swig and made several, almost inappropriate, noises of appreciation. “Well, don’t that beat all?” He smiled down at her, “Where’ve you been, Whisper? We missed you.”

She did a quick survey of the room, “Doc told me that Deacon needed some time and Hancock had mentioned a friend of his needed work so I’ve been dragging this kid around with me while I do Minutemen stuff. I see my partner isn’t here resting, like he’s supposed to be.”

Glory made an indelicate noise, “Nope. Though if Carrington catches him out, working with that injury…”

“Doc’s just itchin’ for an excuse to holler at our boy D.”

“You called?” With an almost imperceptible limp, Deacon, dressed in Gunner camo, crossed the room from the backdoor tunnel and leaned rather heavily on the center map table. He set down the sniper rifle he’d been carrying and frowned at the three of them, “Doing some day drinking, are we?”

Wraith flashed him a bright smile, “It’s gotta be five o’clock somewhere.”

“Yeah, D! Don’t be such an old lady, man.”

“You know, I briefly was an old-lady man. It worked out pretty well too.”

Glory laughed, “I admit that was a good one. No one ever suspects a little old woman. I’m surprised you didn’t keep her going longer.”

“It was hard on th’ back.”

Wraith popped her chin at his gun, “What have you been up to?”

“Now that I know that lift is stable, it’s a great spot for… observation.”

“I think someone had told me that area was a good spot for a sniper.”

“Well, whoever that mysterious stranger was they sure were brilliant as well as handsome.” He felt a flutter in his chest when Wraith smirked while giving him a toe to crown look of appraisal. She smiled into her beer and blushed slightly when she saw that he caught her and this in turn caused all matter of mental alarm bells to start shrieking at him.

NOT GOOD! VERY BAD! STOP FLIRTING!

“So what brings you in today? You want me back on deck, huh?”

“Are you sure you’re up for it?”

“Yup! Fit as a fiddle.”

Glory rocked her beer back and forth at him, “That’s not what Carrington said.”

“Pfft, Carrington… I’ll have you know that I went to Amari for a second opinion and she said ‘Deacon, please leave. You are underfoot and I am too busy.’”

Wraith laughed, “You were probably in Goodneighbor the same time I was.” She paused for a second when she saw Deacon’s brow twitch. “Actually I came to let you know that I need more time. Desdemona says there’s nothing for us right now and this kid, MacCready, I think he might really need my help.”

“Yeah. Help. Right.” Deacon shouldered his rifle and turned brusquely away, “I’m going to report to Dez. See you ‘round, Whisper.”

Tom patted Wraith on the back, “Don’t take it to heart; he’s just sore he has to share you.”

……

The Minutemen had made it to Goodneighbor in record time. A temporary field hospital had been erected and several of the Dragoons, wielding Gatling guns, were stationed in and around the Third Rail. Hancock was still unconscious and MacCready was holding one of the ghoul’s hands while a medic worked on the lacerations on his face.

“You shouldn’t have to worry about scarring. The derma-fuse works really well on glass cuts like these.”

MacCready mumbled his thanks, his eyes on Hancock.

The medic tried to reassure him, “Dr. Amari says his brain looks no worse than usual… erm… I’ll make sure you have a dose of Radaway…”

“No need,” Magnolia interrupted, “he’s the Mayor’s boyfriend. I’m sure he’s on a suppressive dose of Rad-X.”

MacCready chuckled, “That’s really funny, actually.” Then, when he realized the medic hadn’t gotten the joke he rolled his eyes, “She’s kidding. Yes, I need a bag of Radaway.”

Magnolia was wearing a neck brace and had dark circles under her eyes. She sat on the ghoul’s opposite side and took his other hand in hers.

“You’re not scared of him?”

She frowned at him, “Of course not.” She smiled tenderly down at the sleeping mayor, “I owe Hancock my life. He’s protected me here for years, and I know he would never hurt me willingly.” Her face hardened, “Am I crazy or did that wretched hag go for him specifically?”

“That’s what it looked like to me. I think this whole attack was meant to secure him.”

“Why?” Fahrenheit had ducked under the tent flap and stood at the foot of Hancock’s gurney. She looked tired and worried, and it carried in her voice, “Also, no Wraith? Why would Radiance come here herself without her strongest piece? It’s a move that makes no sense.”

“Not everything is chess.” MacCready had a warning in his voice, “Wraith isn’t a queen and we aren’t all pawns!”

“I never said you were all pawns; Hancock is at the very least a knight.”

“THIS ISN’T A GAME!”

“Uuhhg, MacCready, are you yellin’ some more?” Hancock made a halfhearted attempt to sit up before collapsing back onto his pillow, “Someone catch the brand on the brahmin that stamped my head last night?”

MacCready, all but sobbing in relief, embraced the ghoul and kissed him soundly, “I had to shoot you with the syringer. It scared the sh… crap out of me!”

“You shot me? Why?” He brought a scarred hand to his forehead, massaging it as he tried to remember, “What happened? How long was I out? I remember I was holding Curtis… damn. Everything’s all backwards.”

“You’ve been unconscious for about four hours. Radiance came up through the Blue Line into the Rail. We all seem to agree that she intended to leave with you.”

“I saw Wraith!” Hancock sat up quickly, his headache momentarily forgotten, “It was just a flash but…”

“What do you mean? She was here?!” MacCready stood up and made as if to leave the tent.

Hancock waved him back down, “No. No, I saw her in… she was someplace dark… her eyes… I think I saw her when the glowing one had me.” He shook his head, wincing, “That sounds crazy, even for me.” He gave MacCready a wan smile, “I’m sorry I’m no help…”

“What does she want with you? What does she want with Wraith?” Frustration gave an edge to Fahrenheit’s voice, “If we could figure out what the hell her endgame is, we could make a more efficient counterstrategy. Wraith is in the dark? Well, so are we!”

Hancock nodded, “We need to be proactive and not reactive. Right. Call Curie. She might want adjust the dosage on Pistol Whipped and I want to brainstorm with Nicky so better call him too. Oh, and give me the names of all my people who didn’t make it or are still feral.”

……

“Are you trying to sneak up on me, Whisper?”

“Well, kinda.” Wraith sat cross-legged next to Deacon. She had gone to Railroad HQ in search of him only to find that her partner was once again AWOL. The broken freeway was the next place she checked.

“Trying to impress me?”

She stuck out her lower lip and dipped her chin, “Yeah.”

Her admission surprised him as well as stoked his ego, “Well, I’m sure with a little more practice you’ll be half again as good as me.”

She laughed, “Thanks, teach. I love what you’ve done with the place, by the way.”

Deacon had set up a small lean-to on the upper level, tagged with the railsign for “cash”, “Yeah, I’m glad I found it.” He had brought up a beach lounger and now, in an attempt to appear casual, leaned back with his arms folded behind his head, “So, what’s up?”

“I’ve gotten a really good lead on Shaun…” She paused when Deacon abruptly sat up and leaned toward her, “Hancock and I are going to look for an Institute scientist… in the Glowing Sea…”

“The Glowing…” He didn’t even bother to hide the concern on his face, “You’re taking Hancock?”

“Yeah, well, he’s…” She floundered, looking for the right words, “a ghoul.” she finished, lamely.

“He’s also not exactly Mr. Dependable.”

I should not be this jealous!

“I don’t know, Deacon; he’s been really supportive and helpful. He’s a good friend. Besides, I know how much you hate power armor. I promise I’ll share any information I get with you and Dez.”

“My hip is all healed, Whisper. I want you to know that you can depend on me too.”

Shut up! Shut up, shut up shutyourstupidmouthyoumoron!

Wraith’s forehead creased and she leaned away from him, “Oh, no! It’s not that! Hancock was with Valentine and me… he asked to go. I know I can count on you. Really!”

“Regardless of power armor, I would have gone with you to the end, into the very fires of Mordor.”

Wraith sputtered for a moment before tilting her head back and laughing, “That was just perfect! You know, I think you and Hancock would get along really well if you tried. You both like the same books, apparently.”

……

Infamy watched Radiance leave with an escort of ferals. Having firmly established where the other glowing one’s limit of irresistible influence was, Atom’s Assassin hid in the caves the host was occupying; waiting for just such an opportunity. With most of the ferals left to wander freely throughout the expansive catacombs, Wraith’s guard consisted of only one bloated glowing one and a few reavers.

“If I can pull you away…” At war with themselves, the ghoul couldn’t decide if they were there to try and rescue Wraith, or destroy her. “Hmm, what would Atom do?”

Pushing their will onto the reavers, they caused them to swarm the bloated one until the assassin could put their knife through its eye. As they turned back to Wraith they jumped involuntarily because she had stood up and begun to growl.

“You’ve smelled better, Sister Wraith.” Another choice popped into their head, “Or… you could be mine. Perhaps the Mother has chosen you to be a harbinger for Infamy!” They cackled wildly in excitement, “Ha! Ha haha! Hmm, mustn’t get carried away, now. First things first…” Filled with narcissistic confidence, they sent a blast of psionic energy at Wraith’s mind. Fully expecting her to be knocked off her feet, they were shocked and irritated when they hit a solid mental wall. “What is this? We should be well outside of mommy’s range!”

Wraith flexed her hands menacingly as her growl deepened and grew louder. Then with shocking speed she sprinted for Infamy. When the ghoul tried to sidestep away, she anticipated the movement and hit them with backhand that nearly sent them across the room. Recovering quickly, the glowing one sent their captive reavers to trip her up, giving them time to put more distance between them. Strangely, Wraith didn’t kill the attacking ferals but only pushed them down and away.

“Hmm. Mommy doesn’t want you to kill your siblings, ey? Well, that works for me. Let’s see if we can’t tear down that wall, hmm?”

For several long moments the group danced back and forth across the rocky floor. Wraith seemed tireless and occasionally she would knock the ferals down long enough to attack Infamy. Regretting having destroyed the bloated glowing one, the assassin found that their utter lack of progress was filling them with fear. It dawned on them that without the reavers, they may have already been killed.

“Damn you!” They hissed, “Damn you, you beast!”

Suddenly the ferals and Wraith looked up at the cavern ceiling and froze. They stood motionless for a few moments before they all started snarling. Then, Wraith put her hands up to either side of her helmet and cried out. Still clutching her head, she stepped away from the reavers and began groaning what sounded like a name. Infamy edged closer to try and hear.

“Hann… Hn… Han.. Hancock…”

……

“Remember, Wraith’s appearance will most likely have changed and she will undoubtedly attack us. Do your best to evade and aid MacCready in lining up his shot. If injured, fall back immediately! We cannot afford a bottleneck or blockage that may prevent access to the cages.” Danse took a deep breath, “Do not exit your power armor for any reason! Assume the radiation levels to be at lethal levels throughout the vault. You few have been chosen for your exceptional levelheadedness and steady aim. If spotted, you are to shoot the glowing one known as Radiance on sight. Do not hesitate, and shoot to terminate. There isn’t a soul here who hasn’t been saved or comforted by Wraith. Now, ARE YOU READY TO RETURN THE FAVOR? ARE YOU READY TO SAVE THE COMMONWEALTH’S SAVIOUR?!”

“WE ARE READY!”

“COMMONWEALTH HEAVY DRAGOONS, ADVANCE!”

After much deliberation and investigation it had been decided that Vault 88 was the most likely location of Radiance’s stronghold. A large Minutemen battalion, arrow headed by a small taskforce of the Dragoons, MacCready and Strong, led by Danse, stood just beyond the rim of Quincy Quarries finalizing the plan of attack. However, the operation was as much recon as it was rescue, due to the simple fact that there wasn’t a way to enter the vault without one’s presence known to the possible hostel force within.

Hancock had been furious when MacCready had told him to remain in Goodneighbor, “Like hell I’m going to sit at my bar while all of you are out here…”

“If I have to shoot you again, I will!”

A compromise was reached when Hancock agreed to hang back with the main force. Though, he watched the preparations like a hawk and made several of the Minutemen nervous. And he wasn’t the only one. Strong had taken to pacing back and forth through the encampment, swinging his super sledge, Smashy, while muttering murderous things to himself.

Hancock stood next to Preston with his arms crossed, tapping his foot irritably as Danse’s group disappeared into the cave that led to the vault’s entryway, “Not a bad speech. We sure nine of ‘em are going to be enough?”

Preston frowned at him, “Nine? There were only eight assigned including Strong.”

“Well, I know I have fewer brain cells than when I was a smoothskin, but I can still fucking count! There were eight suits!”

……

She could feel something. Something that wasn’t Radiance. Her mistress’s light shown so bright in her mind that normally that’s all that there was. But now, there was a smaller light. It annoyed her. Like the incessant whine of a mosquito just outside your window. You know that it can’t get in, but your skin crawls nonetheless.

She growled at it. It persisted.

She pushed it down and threw it away from her. It persisted.

She could feel something. And there was now a crack in her shield.

……

Infamy was furious.

They had fallen back when it became apparent that Wraith couldn’t be obtained by head-on force and when Radiance returned, they had found themselves a protected nook just outside of the danger zone. There they meditated: focusing all of their will onto one spot in Wraith’s protective barrier. And just when it seemed that they had a breakthrough, Danse’s team came stomping by.

“Never a moment’s peace!” They pulled their hood close and dimmed their light as much as possible to avoid being spotted. “So close. Well, I can’t follow them… we will see how this plays out. Dammit.”

……

The ferals seemed endless as Radiance sent wave after wave at the Dragoons. Because she had sentry ferals posted at the entrance, her response had been almost instantaneous. The group was equipped with rifles rather than Gatling guns to avoid accidentally mistaking Wraith for an enemy and mowing her down. MacCready hung back, spotting for them as much as possible in the near darkness, grinding his teeth in anxious frustration. Strong repeatedly called for Wraith, the desperate cries for his alpha echoed throughout the vault. Though it adding to the bedlam, no one shushed him.

The suits of Danse’s team were modded for melee and with Strong clearing multiple enemies with each great sweep of his hammer, conserving ammunition wasn’t their highest priority. As such they initially pushed forward with relative ease.

Well past the area that had been developed for settlers, the floor’s slope angle pitched sharply and as the taskforce descended their Geiger-counters began to tick with increasing rhythm.

Danse checked the map on his integrated Pip-Boy, “There’s a large, open area coming up. Don’t let them flank you.”

The tunnel banked ahead of them and the group could see an ominous glow from the chamber beyond. Rounding the corner they fanned out across the entrance in the face of a sea of powerful feral ghouls.

“STRONG SMELLS ALPHA!”

As if on cue, a group of charred and bloated glowing ones separated from the main host and rushed the taskforce. All but unseen, Wraith was in the center and using the brutal attack as a screen, she slipped behind the group and started ejecting cores. She got through half of them before they even realized she was there. Once she pulled MacCready’s core she threw it into the middle of the chamber, and as if it was a signal, the rest of the feral mob began its swift advance.

They hit the group hard. Not anticipating the loss of fusion cores was a crippling oversight. Literally. There was some attempt to close ranks as they fought to put a wall at their back. Danse, having more experience maneuvering in depleted cores than most, called out encouragement and direction as he reduced feral after feral into green goo with his plasma rifle.

Strong left the group; foraging ahead in an attempt to locate Radiance. Less concerned about securing Wraith, his goal was to kill the glowing one who had taken her away.

Wraith’s appearance was shocking: her fast-growing hair was already long enough to protrude from her helmet in a filth-ridden fringe and her once silver-grey armor was blackened by blood, offal and fire. Snarling viscously, she turned back to MacCready after throwing his core and hit him in the back of the knee before leaping into the air and double kicking him in the chest. As he crashed to the ground she straddled his breastplate and punched him repeatedly in the helmet.

Bringing his arms up to shield his head was all MacCready could manage, stunned and low-powered as he was. He had no way of engaging the tesla field now that his fusion core had been ejected and no hope of throwing her off let alone righting himself. As she swatted his defense away, his vision blurred and the metallic taste of his own blood blossomed on his tongue, an image of Duncan flashed in his mind.

Suddenly, Wraith was whisked away as a taskforce member grabbed her from behind and lifted her off of him, “MACCREADY, GET UP!” They struggled mightily with her as she braced her feet on their breastplate and tried to kick off. When it became apparent she couldn’t free herself that way she tried slamming the back of her head into their helmet. Shock caused them to loosen their grip enough for her to free her arms and she began pounding on theirs. Realizing that they could potentially kill her if they held on any tighter, they took her to the nearest corner and dropped her in it.

Her retaliation was savage. However, the team member still had their core and so was able to block her lower leg and knee attacks. Even as she rolled between their legs, they turned quickly enough to prevent her from ejecting their core. Adapting quickly, she leaped, grabbed their gorget and used the leverage to pull herself up and onto their shoulders. Hooking her fingers underneath the edge of their helm, she tried to remove it; pulling and twisting as if trying to unscrew the lid on a particularly stubborn jar of pickles. They reached up to grab her but she grabbed their arm instead. Then, throwing herself toward the ground, she was able to pull them off balance enough to cartwheel them over her and send them crashing to the cavern floor in an unceremonious heap.

I’M LOSING! I’M IN POWER ARMOR AND SHE’S GONNA KILL ME! FIGHTING WAS A POOR CHOICE!

“PIPPA,” her name ripped from him in anguished desperation, “PLEASE!”

She stopped mid-charge. She tilted her head slightly then brought her bloodied hands up and briefly rested her fingertips against her temples before slowly lifting her helmet.

“Oh… oh, no.”

Her face was greatly emaciated and she had large, deep scabs where her helm had rubbed her skin away. Her sunken eyes, made all the more pronounced by her now jutting cheekbones, were missing their normal inner light and flickered back in forth as she searched for something recognizable in the armored figure before her.

“Pippa, it’s me. I…” he choked on a sob, “I came back.”

“De… Deac…” Wraith stopped and crumpled to the ground; a syringe of tranquilizer protruding from the back of her neck.

……

Radiance’s self-preservation had won out. Retreating further into the connecting maze of sewer and metro tunnels, she was escorted by a dwindling pack of her ferals. Strong had got her in his sights and was on her like a bloodhound. Taskforce team members had made attempts to call him back but to no avail.

“Leave him be.” Danse waved their concerns away, “Let us hope, for Wraith’s sake, that he is more than up to the task.”

MacCready carried Wraith out of the vault but hesitated when it came to putting her in a cage, “I know I said this was a good idea…”

“If she wakes up and you’re still holding her she’ll tear your head off.” Deacon’s eyes were red rimed and there wasn’t a trace of his normal humor in his voice, “Put her in the cage or give her to me and I’ll do it.”

“You don’t get to touch her.” MacCready stared him down, “You. Left. Her.”

Hancock, unchecked tears streaming down his scarred cheeks, held his arms out, “Let me. I want to hold her first anyway.” He kissed her forehead and gripped her tightly to his chest, “It’s alright now, sunshine. She… she don’t hardly weigh nothin’.” His legs gave out and he collapsed to the earth; rocking her back and forth, sobbing.

Once secured in a cage, they used brahmin and moved Wraith to the basement of the former Peabody home. Now a fully equipped Minutemen safe house, it was far enough from settlements they were somewhat less concerned if Radiance was able to evade Strong and launch a counter assault.

Curie, with Piper acting as nurse, carefully cut Wraith out of her armor and bathed her. All the while making sad little gasps and sighs at her sores and how terribly bony she was.

“Oh, Blue…”

Curie hooked her up to IV fluids and was able to get a few bags into her before she woke up. Naturally, the first thing Wraith did was to pull the catheter from her arm and throw it away from her.

“Oh, Madame! Why must you always pull out my lines?!”

Wraith, her eyes wild and unfocused, snarled at her and rushed the bars. She pulled on them experimentally to the point where the metal groaned in protest, but when they proved immovable she stepped back and stood in the center of her cage. Her eyes dulled and she was motionless except for the occasional owlish blink.

Over the next several days her friends came to see her and each time a new person came into the room she would hiss, snarl and try the bars. The exception seemed to be Hancock. Instead of her usual violence, she tilted her head back and forth as if she was trying to see him better. She wouldn’t move closer to him nor let him touch her and MacCready yelled at him for putting his hand in her cage to try.

The only one who hadn’t been in to see her was Deacon. He had disappeared soon after Wraith was secured. Hancock was surprised and a little disappointed and MacCready felt guilty. The sharpshooter wondered aloud if his outburst had “run him off”.

“I doubt it. He’s gotta be skulking around here someplace. Heh, now he’s back we’re never gonna be fully rid of him, you feel me?”

Deacon hadn’t been by because he was hunting. Harkness’s report had contained a description of Infamy and unfortunately for the ghoul, Deacon placed 90% of Wraith’s condition squarely on their narrow shoulders. He had spotted them in the caverns of Vault 88 and again when they followed the rescue team to the safe house. He lost track of them soon after but now he stalked the haunted ruins of Quincy like a vengeful ghost.

Infamy was torn. They had very much wanted to follow Radiance but knew that, lacking the strength to resist her, they’d end up much the same as Wraith. They had followed the rescue caravan with no clear intention and retreated to the Quincy ruins to meditate. They settled themselves in the church there for some serious introspection. It dawned on them that they may have slipped from Atom’s path and been following the light of their own hubris instead, “Mustn’t stray like Marie did. Oh, no! Who is Wraith to you, hmm? Should I save her? Should I kill her? Hahahahaha!”

“Laugh while you can.” Deacon’s disembodied voice reached the ghoul a half second before his knife did. Although buried to the hilt, the strike pierced their bicep and wasn’t intended to be a killing blow. He wanted them to hurt.

Infamy instantly cranked up the heat and sent out a blast of radiation. This in turn caused Deacon’s Stealth Boy to malfunction and he phased back into view on his next attack which allowed Infamy to dodge. Dressed in a hazmat suit, he pursued them out the doors and into the street, taking several shots at them as they ducked into Guns Guns Guns, and cursing softly when he missed. Fully expecting an ambush, he ran in after them anyway. He blocked their knife attack with his own blade and shot them point blank in the shoulder. They sent out another blast that staggered him backward and pushed him off his feet. Rolling sideways, he tried to shoot them from the ground but his pistol misfired.

“Oh, what’s wrong? A little radiation got you down? Toy doesn’t work? Too bad.” They threw a knife and exalted when it stuck in Deacon’s blocking arm, “Should know better than to bring a gun to a knife fight!”

Their victory was short lived. Deacon pulled their weapon from his forearm as he vaulted to his feet and threw it right back at them. Using it as a distraction, he closed the distance between them. Easily ducking under their knife swing he slammed his fist into their ribs. They flinched backward, bringing a knee up before stomping down toward their opponent’s foot causing him to involuntarily back away.

Deacon knew he only had a few seconds before the glowing one could hit him with another pulse and he wanted to capitalize on the delay by staying close and inflicting as much damage, without killing them, as possible. As such he appeared to step into the ghoul’s roundhouse, but in a blur of fluid motion, blocked their hand down and brought the back of his hand back up and into their chin. Hard. This resulted in two things: one, their teeth to sliced into their tongue and two, they decided they didn’t want to fight him anymore.

“I gggan haave her!” Their irradiated blood flowed freely from their mouth and they could hardly speak around the ruin of their tongue, “I gan ring her ack.”

……

“ABSOLUTLY NOT!”

“NOT ON YOUR LIFE!”

“SHUT THE HELL UP!”

Danse, Preston and MacCready’s protests overlapped as they shouted at Deacon. The Railroad agent sighed and turned to Hancock, his pale blue eyes pleading.

“I think I want to stab them in the neck more than I want to…” he turned to face the glowing one directly, “How many goddamn people have you fucked over to mess with Wraith?!” He pointed at Danse, “You see him? He’s a friend of mine and you shot him in the fuckin’ face!”

Infamy’s mouth had already healed and they pouted like a child being scolded, “Oh, poo. It’s no fun to have your failures thrown back at you. Besides, I didn’t actually pull that trigger…”

Danse leveled his plasma rifle at them, “Yes, well, you damn well better believe I’ll pull this one.”

Deacon held up his hands and boldly stepped between them, “Whoa there, big dragon. We all know how tough you are.” He brought his palms together as if praying, “This could be the only way to undo what Radiance did to her. I want my friend back.” He swept his hands out to either side, including all of them, “Don’t you fellas want her back?”

Danse looked at the bandage on his arm and lowered his gun. “For the last time; it’s ‘Dragoons’. And of course we want her back. The entire commonwealth wants her back, but we have no guarantee that this villain will actually help her. There is no promise they can make that I will trust.”

“I am but a humble servant of Atom. If it is His divine will that Wraith be spared…”

“Stop. I don’t want to hear it.” MacCready put his hand on Hancock’s chest, “I can’t listen to this crap anymore. I’m gonna go and feed her and relieve the girls. Whatever you decide, I’ll follow.” He glared at Infamy as he left the room.

The ensuing argument gained volume when Piper and Curie joined in and lasted for the better part of an hour. Curie’s sticking point centered on whether or not they would be able to get an accurate reading from a memory lounger if Wraith was doped out of her mind on chems.

“We simply must learn the extent of any and all damage to her brain!”

Piper had her face in her hands, “Yeah, doc, but how are we going to do that if she’s trying to kill us the whole time?”

“I don’t want to see her strapped down, but…”

“Hell no, Garvey,” Hancock folded his arms, “the cage is bad enough.”

In the end no real decision was made beyond incarcerating Infamy and shelving the argument until Dr. Amari arrived. They radioed Fahrenheit to ask that the doctor join them and locked Atom’s Assassin in the spare cage in an outbuilding. Afterward each went to their separate corners to stew.

“Shaved th’ beard but you haven’t changed your mug yet.” Determined to not let him sneak away again, Hancock had followed Deacon outside.

“My guy’s in Boston. Hadn’t worked out a new one yet.”

“Sunglasses are off, yet yer still lying.” The ghoul took a long drag on his cigarette and blew an exceptionally large smoke ring at him, “I’m thinking you can’t bring yourself to do it.”

Deacon folded his arms and forced a smile that would have been convincing if it had reached his eyes, “Oh? Is that right? So tell me, oh enlightened one, why that is.”

He brought his hand up, index finger extended, to eye level and then slowly tilted his finger down and out to point at him, “That face belongs to someone that Wraith loves.”

Hancock might as well have shot him in the heart. He stood shocked into speechlessness.

“Now, I see that got ya.” Hancock’s eyes softened, “Things been different… well, they ain’t. You screwed yourself, son. But if she loves ya, there must be something good about ya. I gave Danse a chance and I gotta say I kinda love that kid.” He flicked his cigarette away, buffed his fingernails on his waistcoat and examined them as he continued, “You’re an asshole, but I’ll put up with ya for her sake.” He slowly brought out his knife and started juggling it; rotating and spinning around and through his fingers expertly, “You need to go and see her. Don’t try to run away again. I’ll find ya.”

Deacon stood outside on the small lawn while the sun went down. He remained until the lights in the house had been extinguished and he could hear the various snores and sighs of Wraith’s sleeping friends. He turned to leave but on his third step he stopped.

There was a lantern in the corner of the basement. Its low light cast a warm glow on the cold steel of Wraith’s cage. She had been lying in the nest of blankets she had made on the mattress they gave her, but stood up when she heard Deacon come down the stairs. She didn’t rush the now slightly bent bars, but stood and tilted her head back and forth much the same way that she did for Hancock. The bath and a few days of heartier food and clean water had done her some small amount of good and she no longer looked undead. He stared at her hair; now just long enough to curl, it appeared bronze when a ringlet caught the light.

“It’s almost like it was when you came up…” He stopped and swallowed hard before trying again, “I hate that you love me. I hate that I allowed myself to fall in love with you. I hate that I left the lean-to up on purpose, knowing that you’d find it. Knowing that you were smart enough to know what it meant. So that even though we loved each other, we would never be together. Because, how could you forgive me? But..” His breath caught as he sobbed and tears ran freely down his cheeks, “but… you did. You did. But now things were different. You thought that the tension between us was a lie. You thought that any minor flirting comment I made was just… another kind of lie. That I never imagined kissing you freely or holding you in my arms because, we were ‘just friends’. That I winced when we touched because I had Haphephobia, and not just because that I cannot allow myself to enjoy it.” He sat on the floor next to the cage and reached out to her, “Pippa, please hold my hand.”

She flinched when he said her name. And after blinking rapidly for a few minutes she open and closed her fists and then sat down facing him. She came no closer but her eyes we fixed on the bandage poking out from his sleeve.

“I thought that if I left I would stop thinking about you. But, it turns out I lie to myself more than I lie to anyone else. Harkness told me to retire, but if I can’t have you and I don’t have work then I have nothing.” He sighed deeply, climbed slowly to his feet and headed for the stairs, “Hancock was right; I screwed everything up.”

“De…”

At first he wasn’t sure he had heard her and when he turned back she was still sitting on the floor and staring at where he had been sitting, “Wishful thinking…”

“Don’t… leave...” She lifted her chin and met his eye, “Deacon… don’t… leave… me.”

......

Thank you so much for reading! Like what you read? Looking for more? Please see my master link post: pinned or under the tag Wraith in the Ruins. My ask is open for any questions/concerns/comments and I would love to hear from you. =^..^=

#wraith in the ruins #fallout 4 #fallout companions #fallout fanfic #fallout fan fic #fanfiction #hancock #john hancock #rj maccready #maccready #deacon #danse #curie #preston garvey #strong #piper wright

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afterthelastreset · 3 years

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Rules Of One’s Soul Ch15 A Little Offer P5

(Mak belongs to @wasted-church )

The entirety of the cliffside home was oddly silent other than the furious sounds of scrubbing coming from the other side of the sheap. The outside had gotten slightly darker indicating it mustve been early night at least. The residents were sure feeling it. Seam especially as he relaxed back down into the old armchair, normally he hated water but after getting blasted by ashes he was happy to scrub it off. Took a while for his fur to dry though. Luckily no stitches came loose this time. As for Jevil and Rouxls-

The small gremlin was balancing on his tail watching the working worm with a crestfallen face. Seam could only shake his head and couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor fella. True his uh ....'help' had backfired but considering he was pretty rusty from being locked up for over one hundred years of his life, one couldn't judge him too harshly....Buuuut Rouxls wasn't one to let go easily. It had been proven before.

"Can I help,help?" Jevil gave a hopeful smile to the cleaning worm, who paused for a split second before harshly dunking the sponge he was using into a nearby bucket filled with sudsy water and continued as if he hadn't heard a thing. Making the foolishly hopeful smile from his face vanish a bit, but ever persistent, his tail leaned him forward to be closer to the worm's side where he tried seeing his face. "You shouldn't have to work, work so hard. Im sorry, sorry. So allow me to he-"

A quick snap of a heated glare from the duke silenced the jester into submission, his smile now silently small and he froze at the hatred radiating off him. It got smaller when Rouxls leaned onto his knees. Usually hed tower over Jevil but his current sitting position made for perfect eye level.

"Oh. THOU art sorry." A dry chuckle came from that angry being. "Good. For I amst sorry as well....Im sorry for ever letting mine guard down aground thee!"

Jevil flinched. Hard. And Seam continued to watch calmly from the comfort of the chair, but Kaard didnt care as he already turned his frustrations back to scrubbing the black blotches.

"Im sorry I ever met thee. Im sorry I canst be there for mine boy- He can't even sleep properly without a story let alone runneth an entire kingdom by himself. Imst stucketh cleaning homes likest some maid just to get decent food and all for what? For a smiling foolish worme to come crashing into thine-"

....He froze.....Something gently kneeding his shoulder...

"DON'T TOUCHE ME YOU PLAUGE ON MINE LIFE!!"

The tail that been holding up shot back the shocked body of the imp as a worm reared his full anger towards him for trying to put a hand on his shoulder.

"Why dont'st you doeth what thou doeseth best and playest games elsewhere?!"

With that the duke snapped back around to the floor ignoring any other sad look Jevil gave him. The jester slunk back even further from the duke- An ear perked at a soft chuckle he turned and found it came from the plush cat away from him.

"Your next play has been interesting to say the least. Are you ready to accept defeat old friend?" His smile widened as the small man pouted and promptly huffed at the audacity of the question.

"Absolutely not,not. I just-" Yellow orbs glanced back shakily to the worm for a split moment before back to the smiling cat. "...Need a new move,move to play."

He chuckled again. "Then may I offer some advice-"

"I can heareth everything thou art saying." Another annoyed glance was thrown over his shoulder.

A paw was held up in defence. "Now, now. I meant no harm but maybe its best Jevil leaves you alone right now."

The smaller man Took one last look to the worm before slowly starting towards the smiling cat. Seam ever so calm reached out and gave the sulking gremlin a pitty pat on the shoulder.

"I dont suppose you would like some tea to help ease the sting of rejection?"

A dark chuckle and smile. "The taste is bittersweet. But I would rather get sweet victory, victory.~"

Deep chuckles came from the cat as his one good eye watched the jester jump onto the couch next to himself, but somehow his forced frustrated grin still seemed to be sad there. It sorta made his cotton shiver with a pang of sorrow, but in a game it was best not to let his guard down too much. Jevil sat down on the couch next to Mak, who was fast asleep in a box filled with different things from gems to random jewelry they probably stole. Took forever to get them to calm down after finding their 'room' ransacked and cleaned out by Rouxls. The purple migit made his frustrated ways known with tapping fingers and strained grin directly towards him in question.

"I just...have a few set backs. Set backs."

"Oh yes. I remember how fondly old couples would chase each other with screams and try to bodily harm one another." He chuckled at the narrowed eyes Jevil have him. "Or maybe not. It's been at least a few hundred years. Hahaha."

"Funny,funny....What have you done, done to get expertise in other's romantical preference?," his voice asked in a low tone. A Jevil way of challenging his knowledge.

To which he shrugged. "I don't. But Id like to think I have enough know how to at least hold a decent conversation and get to know them more."

He could practically hear the gears working in the other's mind as Jevil slowly came to the realization that maybe, just maybe he had something up his sleeve. So when a more questioning look came over him, Seam couldn't help but chuckle.

"Really,really?...Would the Magnificent Seam be willing, willing to....discuss his tutorials? Tutorials.

"Haha. But then wouldn't that be cheating the game old friend?"

One of Jevil's eyelids twitched. Indicating held back annoyance at least. "Hmhm....Perhaps rules could be ...temporary bent,bent?"

It was more of a suggestion than question, but one that made Seam hum with interest anyways. His eye went back to the worm who was stretching his back out with a groan and popping noise from said worm's back. He looked about ready to get done and be one his way. Could it really hurt to exchange a few short insights of his? Jevil waited with hopeful patience as Seam rubbed his chin in thought before looking back to him with a smile.

"I suppose...haha. Two opponents of opposite sides could come to an agreement every so while still searching for victory."

A couple of giggles came his way as Jevil lit back up. "Do tell. Do tell."

"Well....I could but I think you already know he doesn't appreciate forceful attempts to get him to like someone...But how you're doing things I could be wrong."

"...And I could say, say the same about having to be forced to clean a mess,mess that's not his. ..His."

"Not if the person offered to help him in return and was happily offered to go as a ...guest for the holidays."

There it was. The straw that broke the hathys back. The jester became as still as a statue as soon as those few words tumbled out of the plush's mouth, it was honestly rather funny to see such a rare shock upon the normally cheerful face, unfortunately it didn't last long because rapid blinks followed shortly after and a forced pleasent chuckle escaped his throat.

"My dear friend, friend," Jevil said in a forced sweet voice. "It seems that my ears are not what they used to be, be. I thought for a moment you said-"

"That I will be accompanying the Duke to the this silly ball?" Jevils face dropping again made him chuckle and lean into the chair's cushions more. "I suppose it's not that big of a deal...But then again." Even if it seemed unreal, a smug look came over the cat. "You might not like my play on words, Old friend. Hahaha."

In that stuper the imp could only get out one word. "How...?"

"I offered to help take care of you. It seems you've outdone yourself with the romanticizing eh?"

He went from shocked to an angry little man complete with puffed cheeks and red eyes. If you didn't know Jevil personally it would be quite scary but to the laughing cat it was just like a small tired child. It was cuter when he suddenly stood up and stomped a foot onto the couch. Jarring the sleeping child awake and jingling the box they were sleeping in. Seam didnt even flinch when a claw was pointed at him .

"No far, no far! You cheated, cheated!"

"By nicely asking if I could go? Really Jevil. You're acting like a child who didn't get the cookie jar."

A growl. "You can't keep me away, away! "

"Who said I would? I only said I would try to help keep your wild self in check and I intend to do so. ...By giving you advice. " when Jevil didnt say anything he continued. "Try a less forceful approuch next time round. "

".....Next time?" It seemed he found his voice. Jevil could always rebound pretty fast. "My next turn will leave your head spinning, spinning!"

"Oh Im sure it will." Still with the smug grin.

"You'll see, you'll see!!"

With that he sprung himself off of the couch and with furious jingles made his way back to the back room. Oh this was surely was going to be worth watching. A slighy jingling of trinkets ditected his attention back towards the box where the child was looking at him.

"Breakfast time now?"

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

Scrubbing sounds was the most of what he heard as he kept up the cleaning momentum. He wanted to get done, collect his earnings, and get out of that chaotic hell of a home. The set back had made him take a whole couple more hours to fix, it was already probably in the middle of the night by how slightly darker it was outside. But luckily he was nearly finished. Just a part of the ceiling left-

The mop was promptly dunked back into the bucket and pulled out a moment later before being thrusted back up against the ceiling and rubbed against the black ashes remaining stuck to it. The anger was still burning in his mind but he couldn't careless. ....Unfortunately it blinded him to what would've been the soft jingling of bells coming up to him until he felt a tug on his sleeves. The scrubbing stopped and looked down to the small mass that was Jevil. Giving him a small smile-

"What doth thou want?"

The harsh tone made him flinch slightly but that didn't deter his new set of confidence. "Ive come to apologize, apologize for everything that's happened."

An anoyed but slightly confused expression came over him as Rouxls rose a brow. His attention turning back to scrubbing. "Oh lucky me... And what doth I owest thy pleasure?"

He didnt see the inhale of breath Jevil took. "I want you to forgive, forgive me. Let us start over, over. Please. Let me make up, make up!"

That made the worm pause his movenents and look back down to the hopeful face of the imp who smiled wider at him. Rouxls blinked....And blinked again. .. Before another annoyed look came over him.

"Really? I amst supposed to forget everythinge that has happened?" Jevils ears drooped slightly as Rouxls huffed. "Likest I wouldst do that- EEK!"

The mop fell to the floor with a thump and water spilt onto the floor. Rouxls scrambled back from the sudden flashing of pink in front of his face, in his hast knocking over the mop bucket and almost falling over onto his rear. Jevil admittedly was pretty startled from sudden reaction as well and just stood there. A couple shiny pink heart attacks floating above him at Rouxls's eye level.

He blinked upwards at the heavy form of the Duke in front of him-

"ART THOU TRYING TO GIVETH MINESELF A SOUL ATTACK?!" He pointed at the hearts. "I will nay f-forgiveth thou for doing that! Now...g-getest rid of them!"

Jevil did. Immediately. "Im sorry, sorry-"

"Stoppeth it! Just stoppeth apologizing." The worm pushed himself up from the wall as gave Jevil another annoyed look. "If thou was really 'sorry' thoust wouldst try harder and use that head of yours."

Jevil said nothing as Rouxls turned around to look at the new mess with a disgusted look, but he did hum and make a thoughtful expression a moment later. He might have mumbled something like 'Try harder, harder?' but Rouxls wasn't paying much attention so he barely heard. But he did see him back out of the room from the corner of his eye. Good. Now he could get done

He looked back down at the spilt water, wondering how he would get that cleaned up-...Wait. A pair of rapid footsteps came towards him, along with a small...battle cry. He barely had time to turn around before a purple blur slammed hard into his chest. They went to the ground like a sack of gems wind knocked out.

"WHONST THY F*CKETH-"

"FORGIVE ME!" A pair of yellow eyes stared intensely from his chest.

"WHA-" The smaller body of the darkner squeezed around his form face pouting against his chest. Rouxls struggled but managed to sit back up with the imp digging into him. "Absolutely not!"

His hands grabbed onto him and pulled. Hard. But Jevils limbs dug harder around him resulting in a panic running up the worm's spine and pulling harder on him. The digits digging into his goopy body was starting to hurt.

"Im not letting go, go until you let me,me make it up to you! You!"

"Thou art bluffing!" By now he was disparately wanting to get this thing off of him! He couldn't stand the way his soul was thumping against his ribcage- "T-Thou cant do this!"

"I CAN DO ANYTHING!"

Of course. What answer would he expect? He sat there and stared dumbfounded at him but considering that he was still clinging to him tighter than Lancer, and that pouting face was.....kinda cute.....UGH!!

"Fine!Fine! Thou can getteth off me now!"

He narrowed his eyes. "You give me your word,word?"

"Y-Yes. Now please-"

After a few more moments of looking at him suspiciously but slowly let Rouxls go. The worm man shakily stood up onto his feet while remaining eye contact with Jevil who seemed alot more satisfied and happy he finally got his way.

"Splendid, splendid! Hehehehehe! Im so excited,excited to hear that! I promise, promise to make you happy, happy!"

"I doubt that..."

But Jevil didn't seem to hear Rouxls mumbling to himself as he proudly skittered to the exit to the shop front. There he stood proudly and pointed a claw at the ever so calm Seam.

"One step closer,closer to checkmate!"

#Jeam #nosuit #seaxls #seavil #seam x jevil #jevil x seam #jevil x rouxls #seam x rouxls #rouxls x jevil #rouxls kaard x jevil #rouxls x seam #rouxls kaard x seam #deltarune #seam #jevil #rouxls kaard

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nsheetee · 5 years

Text

Yin&Yang

Pairing: Mark Lee x Reader Genre: Bulleted AU, Superhero AU || Action, Romance, Angst, Mystery Length: 6.3k Details: mentions of Johnny, Doyoung, and Sicheng, major character death, happy ending Summary: In a world where certain people obtain superpowers, you are granted the dark and destructive powers of Yin while Mark is granted the bright and positive powers of Yang. Forced to work together, Mark uses his powers of creation to fight evil and you use your powers of destruction to maintain the balance of the world. The superhero gig isn’t full-time, though; you live as a University student, and when Mark becomes your chemistry lab partner, unbeknownst to either of you of your secret identities, a love blooms that seems to be stronger than any disguise you can hide yourselves under. Will Yin&Yang be able to conquer Imitatrice, a new villian who seems to be able to imitate superpowers? Or will it cost Yin&Yang their relationship? Or worse, their lives?

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Yin and Yang are forces that are complementary (rather than opposing) to each other

just like how there can never be day without night or cold without heat

in your city, there can never be yin without yang

any average citizen of your city could tell you that yin&yang are anything but trouble

yin&yang are the city’s heroes

the black and white matching uniforms with complementing masks that cover over half of their faces could be recognized by anyone

children were taught to recognize their figures and how to shout for their help- just in case

people would stop what they were doing and gawk as yin&yang zoom down the streets, cheering them on as they ran to save the city once again

ever since superheroes appeared decades ago, the entire city started to rely on the comforting notion that a superhero will save the day

whether it be from a good-for-nothing criminal that’s involved in petty crimes, or another superpowered human that decided to use their fate-given gift for malicious purposes

these “supervillains”

(a term appropriately coined by the citizens of the city)

are the reason many wealthier people are opposed to superpowers, and have tried to place a ban on the city from allowing superpowers to be used

this law never passed, the people of the city were too adamant on the idea that superpowers did more good than bad

fate granted you the destructive powers of yin

living life as yin was.,.,. mentally scarring, to say the least

to have the ability to destroy anything you touch from existence was.... a bit difficult to get used to

and finding out that your superpower matched with this other random kid’s superpower (better known as yang)

and finding out that the two of you balance out and help keep the world from falling apart

it was just a little too much for hormone-filled teenagers

despite that, you and yang have worked together for several years to stop criminal acts

yang has the power to create anything he wants

weapons, tools, literally anything you could think of

with one exception

you had to destroy something of the same caliber in return, to keep the balance of matter in the world

this led to years of fighting crime together

and years of being pushed into the shadow of yang’s accomplishments

at first, you didn’t mind that people only saw you as someone who destroyed things

you were glad that yang was confident enough to handle the press because at that point in time, you weren’t

yang was always at your side

he was always reminding you that he couldn’t do his part without you

to you and him, you were a team- it didn’t matter what other people thought

▼△▼△▼△▼△

on a bright and fresh morning in the downtown area of your city, a shapeshifter wreaks havoc, disturbing several people’s day and destroying businesses and property

you and yang run towards downtown, the wind whipping past your faces and the cheers of people with their cameras pointed at you encouraging you to go faster

you both stop in front of the shapeshifter- you couldn’t really tell what it shifted into

some sort of hybrid between a lion and something with wings with big horns on its head

both of your minds go into a fritz at the sight in front of you- you’ve never had a fight with something that looked this non-human

“you got a plan for this one, yang?” you quietly asked your partner beside you- slowly backing up as the creature catches sight of you

“of course I do, smiles” even during times of stress, yang still throws out his endearing pet name for you with a smile

you relax, knowing that yang is confident makes you feel confident, too

“I just need some time” yang finishes

almost like an answer to a prayer, lissome comes from the opposite direction

his flexible and stretchy limbs propelling him further down the street- his green suit stretching with him and reflecting in the morning sun

behind him is foreshadow, a tall and lanky man with hair as black as the night and a suit as blue as the deep sea

although you and yang were the only superheroes that work together, lissome and foreshadow are known to help you out when a particularly stubborn supervillain appeared

“lissome! foreshadow! I know how we can catch the shapeshifter, I need a diversion!” yang yelled out

with one shared look, foreshadow and lissome took action

foreshadow used his ability of calculating the shapeshifters next movements and pointed that lissome should go the opposite direction

lissome’s malleable limbs seemed to catch the shapeshifter off guard and the constant movement from foreshadow seemed to confuse the supervillain, it was barely able to keep its eyes straight with all the movement from your two helpers

while all this was happening, yang quickly pulls your attention and points towards the multiple clothing lines hanging between two apartment buildings not too far away

knowingly, you sprint towards the buildings and begin to climb up the fire escape

“yin, hurry” you hear a cry from below you

you hang off of the fire escape with your right hand holding onto the railing for dear life, your left hand reaches out to the clothing line

you quickly envision the clothing line out of existence as your fingertips start to turn black with your power generating through you

and with one simple touch, the entire clothing line disappears, almost as if it wasn’t there to begin with, and reappears in yang’s hands in the form of a net

without much thought, yang, lissome, and foreshadow throw the heavy netting over the shapeshifter, stopping it from moving around

the supervillain lets out groans as it tries to shift into something that will break through the net

but it seems that fatigue takes over, and the shapeshifter returns to its normal human form

soon, the police task force used to detain superpowered humans show up and relieve the odd group of superheroes from the supervillain

and from all the ruckus of law enforcement, antidote shows up

his tall figure looms over the street, and as he walks everything behind him slowly moves into its correct place

the scratches left on cars that are parked on the side of the street are gone, the cracks in the concrete from the fighting are sealed, and even the heavy netting used to capture the shapeshifter is now once again turned into the clothing lines that hang between the two apartment buildings

antidote was the only one to ever be able to reverse what you and yang do

when you first met him at the beginning of your crime fighting career, he was a scary, tall guy whose powers seem to be stronger than yours

but slowly, you and yang realized that antidote was just a fellow superhero who would look out for you with all his might

antidote greets the four of you as a crowd forms, several cameramen and anchors ready to pounce on you to ask questions on your latest capture

more like ask yang about his most recent capture

his white mask does nothing to hide the smile on his face as he talks to the press animatedly about the events that went down

“one day, im gonna be busy and won’t be able to come and clean up after you kids and you’ll regret it” you almost don’t hear antidote’s groaning from beside you as you watch yang

his cool and calm demeanor calms down the citizens who are listening and you quietly admire his way with words- you’re quickly reminded why he is the city’s favorite superhero

“you say that every time we all show up together, but you always arrive on time...?” foreshadow grills from the other side of you and before a cat fight can break out, yang makes his way over to you

“great job today, guys! I know you all say you work alone, but I think we make a great te-”

“no thanks, one of us already has to deal with you taking all the credit for their work, I don’t want that weight on me, too”

an awkward air settles over the group and it seems like the comment put you in the center of attention, even though no one was looking at you

“yeah... I'd love to stay and continue this thrilling conversation, but I have places to be. until next time.” you end the conversation coldly

the four of them watch as you run through the crowd that parts like the red sea for you, fear propelling them away

away from your superpower

you’ve never used your power on a person before

you promised yourself you never would- that killing is not the answer to anything that you come across in this line of work

but no one wanted to find out what would happen if you did

▼△▼△▼△▼△

after quickly changing into your regular clothes, you make your way to your first class of the school year

although you love being a superhero, it wouldn’t pay the bills in the future

so you were a college student outside of your superhero persona

(yes, it was difficult to juggling both of these parts of your life)

(yes, you were stressed)

(yes, you were going to continue being yin- there were too many people that count on you and yang to save the city to just drop the superhero side of your life)

you made your way into your chemistry lab, greeting the professor and the professor’s assistant

the assistant’s name tag read “doyoung” and he showed you the seating assignment

once you sat down, the door to the lab opened once again

mark stumbled in, his backpack half open and hanging off one of his shoulders as he balanced his water bottle, phone, and several papers in his hands

before mark knew what was happening, he was falling over his own two feet with his phone flying up in the air and his papers falling to the floor

in one swift and fluid movement, doyoung grabbed mark’s arm to stabilize him, placing his foot down on the papers so they wouldn’t move away

when mark looked up at his savior, doyoung held mark’s flying phone in his other hand

mark’s gaze shifted to the other student’s in the class, but somehow no one was aware of the scene that just took place

they were all talking amongst each other and some even had their heads down on their table

“next time, tie your shoes. this is a chemistry lab, clumsiness can be fatal.” doyoung preached and sent a dumbfounded mark to his seat

as he arrived, his things practically fell from his hands and onto the table, getting your attention

when you look up at the ruckus next to you, your breathe leaves you

it feels like you can’t move

like whatever comprehensible thoughts you had before were suddenly erased as you looked at the person next to you

“hi, I'm mark. I’m your lab partner.”

he’s preoccupied with his things but he still smiles, pushing up his round glasses with his fingers and you swear you can’t look away from a sight like this

“im y/n”

mark finally looks at you

and everything suddenly feels right

like the feeling of completing a 1,000 piece puzzle

or the feeling of ending a 1,000 page novel

complete, relieved, and content

you both look at each other for a few more seconds as if the whole world doesn’t matter

“alright everyone, settle down...” the professor interrupts and you and mark snap out of the trance

he takes off his jacket and you gulp down some water from your water bottle because the room just feels a bit too hot for the two of you right now

your mind, that was blank from all thoughts before, was now running a million miles per hour and you try to shake off the weird feeling in your chest

you discreetly glance over at mark

he’s nothing like your type at all

the clumsiness he showed as he came to his seat and the nervous laughs he let out as the professor talked was not something you were usually attracted to

you felt weird to admit it, but you were most attracted to someone like yang, who was cool and confident and almost unbothered

mark tried to listen to the professor as they talked, but his eyes kept wondering over to you

he couldn’t shake off how much you looked like yin

the same hair color and the same shaped eyes, even your lips looked the same

but as soon as the thought came into his mind, he shook it off

yin was a bit... stone cold

the yin he knew wasn’t one to be super warm and fuzzy- they were calculated and decisive

and you sat next to him with sweater paws and an aura of softness around you that made you look so so so inviting

more inviting than yin could probably ever be

(despite that, mark still admired yin... very strongly admired)

so you both sat through your professor’s talking, silently wishing that the other would say something

hoping that you could catch each other’s gazes just once more

▼△▼△▼△▼△

with all of this going on, neither of you notice beatrice, who sits behind both of you

lets talk about beatrice for a bit:

she belongs to a wealthy family, they fund several activities at the university and are well known in the city

(they are well known for hating superpowers as well...)

despite this, beatrice is not that popular on campus

she mostly keeps to herself, and just sticks to her small group of friends (if you can even call them that)

but she has a secret:

she has a superpower

and it’s a dangerous one

she has the ability to know when someone possesses a superpower, and even worse, she has the ability to copy it

this type of superpower is not common, usually superpowers stick to just expanding normal human traits

because of this, beatrice sees herself as someone special, that fate has given her this gift for a reason

when she told her family of her amazing gift, thinking they would accept her and maybe even change their minds about superpowers

she was shocked when they told her to keep it to herself, to not let anyone find out

she was even more shocked when her parents continued to parade around the city with nastiness dripping from their mouths about superpowers

now, sitting behind you and mark, she immediately understands

she understands her purpose

she understands that you are yin and mark is yang

and judging by the way you are acting around each other, you don’t even know it yourselves

she chuckles quietly to herself

“what a bunch of fools”

after peering her head around to make sure no one was paying attention to her

she leans forward in her chair, across the table, and quietly plucks a strand of mark’s hair off of his jacket that hangs on the back of his chair

she quietly forms a plan in her mind as the professor drones on and on

▼△▼△▼△▼△

the next few months are pretty hectic not only for you and mark, but yin and yang as well

you and mark both realize you aren’t that good at chemistry (I mean, who is?)

so you decide to spend some time outside of class to catch up and help each other with your studies

(this was totally because you are lab partners, not because of how you felt towards each other hahahah.,.,. no- not at all)

the library was extra crowded at the beginning of the school year and you and mark found yourselves sitting on the floor during some study sessions because there were not enough tables

when doyoung, your professor’s assistant, ran into both of you studying on the library floor, he helps both of you pick up your things and takes you to a library cafe a few streets away

there were way less people here and many more seats- also, coffee was discounted for students

this is where you met johnny- the owner of the place, and sicheng- a fellow student at your university who works part time at this store

the first time you met them, sicheng was at the cash register of the cafe part of the store, all smiles and low giggles as you, mark, and doyoung gave him your orders

“what is your major, sicheng? I haven’t seen you around?” you ask and lean forward to hear him better

“dance... which is probably why you’ve never seen me before” you both lightly laugh at the small talk, until you feel mark by your side

he gently pushes you away and gives his order to sicheng

mark didn’t really like how your attention was all on sicheng

how you just met him, but you could start up conversation so easily

when you could barely talk to mark without stuttering after several weeks of knowing each other

“what the hell is wrong with me?” mark thinks as he pays

you were just talking to the cashier, that was it, he shouldn’t be feeling like this- for his lab partner, no less

thankfully, you didn’t say anything about his small gesture

as johnny started making your drinks, he walked away from the expresso machine for just a moment

an abrupt clatter caught everyones attention

sicheng was holding the coffee cup to his chest and a bunch of straws were spilled all over the floor and the counter

he gives a shy smile “sorry everyone, the cup was about to fall off the machine. I caught it, though!” and everyone turned back to what they were doing as johnny chastised sicheng about wasting product

(you, mark, johnny, and doyoung found it slightly weird how sicheng was able to catch the cup so fast even though the machine was over five feet away from the cash register)

▼△▼△▼△▼△

you and mark LOVE the library cafe, it was cozy and kinda small

but you could actually sit in chairs to study, and you kept coming several times a week

especially when doyoung was there, he would sit down with you and help you with the concepts you couldn’t understand

one particular day, johnny was moving through the tables and replacing the daily newspaper with the one that has today’s date

as he set it on the table you were working on, your eyes stared at the picture on the front cover and you slowly dropped your pencil to pick up the thick collection of articles

taking up half of the front cover was a picture of yang- it was from a few days ago when you and yang defeated an armed bulgur at the city’s bank

but only yang was in the picture as he handed off the criminal to the police, yin’s figure was in the back- a blur as you moved around

the cameras didn’t even bother to catch your presence

a feeling of anger started to fill the bottom of your stomach

yin was there, too

yin helped capture the bugler, too

you were used to not being on the cover of any newspapers or articles, but for some reason your existence as yin being boiled down to this one blur in a photo made you angry

why weren’t you given any proper credit?

“y/n... are you okay?” mark asked from where he sat next to you

he noticed your tense figure and something propelled him to lift his arm over you and lay it on the back of your chair as he leaned in closer, all his attention on you

his fingertips grazed over your arm, and for some reason you weren’t taken aback by his sudden closeness

you relished in the attention he was giving you and it made you relax

yang deserved the recognition, the amount of people he has saved is immeasurable, and your power... just scared people away

you could deal with it

you have been for this long

“yeah, I'm okay.” you pushed the newspaper onto the table and a plate that was sitting on the edge was pushed off and shattered on the ground, catching johnny’s attention

“oh god, I'm sorry, johnny-”

“no, it’s okay, don’t move. I got it.”

mark eyed the newspaper on the table in front of you

seeing himself as yang would always be weird to him

he picked up the papers with his other hand and looked at the photo a while longer, sighing at the blurry, dark color of yin in the background

mark was glad that people saw him as a hero, but he wished people saw yin as a hero as well

yin puts just as much effort into fighting crime as yang

yin&yang are a team

the city wouldn’t be the same if there was just yang and he wished more people could recognize this

“are you sure you’re okay? you looked... not like yourself just now?” mark is brought down to earth from his thoughts when johnny repeats the question

“yes, johnny. thank you. I'm just... a little stressed with all this work, you know?”

johnny seemed to accept your answer “you guys don’t work yourselves too hard, okay?”

you, mark, and doyoung all nodded and johnny bent down to retrieve the plate, picking it up and setting it back on the table and walking away to continue his business

all three of you looked at the plate

it was whole

not in pieces like it was moments ago

and almost as if everyone at the table could read each others minds

you all left it alone

returning to your books and notes, quietly noting the small incident, but not daring to speak of it to each other

▼△▼△▼△▼△

as for your feelings towards mark, they kept coming

you thought that maybe after spending some time together, they would gradually go away

maybe you would find somethings that you hated about him- he must have some sort of faults... right...?

but no, it seemed like someone, somewhere, wanted both of you to keep these feelings for each other

you even tried to find things you don’t like about him

like the fact that he’s super clumsy

(how could you hate the small blush that covered his cheeks when he asked you to help him carry his things, or when you catch the sleeve of his jacket and pull him away from stepping into a puddle or running into a door?)

or the fact that he laughs at everything... I mean EVERYthing, even if it’s not funny

(how could you deny the fact that his giggle sounds so much like yang’s???)

as for mark- he lets himself fall

he falls completely into his feelings for you, at first by accident, but after getting to know you more- he is relieved that he allowed himself the pleasure of loving you

you were different from what he thought he wanted, but he accepted it wholeheartedly

your soft smiles, your hard-working mind set, whatever it was- he fell for it all

unfortunately, these feelings translated to yin&yang as well

the feelings were there because you and mark were yin&yang- but neither of you knew that

which just added to the confusion and made both of you wonder:

who was underneath the mask of your crime fighting partner?

▼△▼△▼△▼△

on one particular night, after catching yet another criminal and handing them over to the police, you and yang made yourselves scarce from the scene

yang noticed your hunched posture and walked faster to catch up to you

he grabbed onto your elbow and moved both of you into an alleyway a few feet away

“yang, what is it?” you weren’t really in the mood- crime fighting always made you tired

“what’s going on with you? is it the paparazzi again? I know they don’t give you the credit you deserve but you can’t let them get to you like that-”

“no, yang, it’s not that. it’s... you”

yang tilted his head

“me? what did I do?”

you sighed and rubbed your hand over your mask

“you’ve been very.... restricting lately”

“what do you mean?”

“you haven’t been letting me destroy things like you used to. like when we stopped that one armed burglar, you didn’t let me destroy his gun-”

“it was a GUN, you could’ve been SHOT”

“when has that ever stopped me before?” you ask and yang shuts his mouth

“don’t you trust me?” you ask again “because I trust you”

the alleyway becomes stuffy with your choice of words

“I can’t help it, smiles.” he weakly says, using your pet name, knowing that it’ll make you soft for him

you roll your eyes at his tactics but your heart beats a little faster anyways

“I don’t know, I just... I don’t want you to get hurt. what we do is dangerous and if something happened to you- if you got hurt and I couldn’t protect you... or even worse, if you got hurt because of me... I don’t know what I would do with myself”

the confession slips off of yang’s tongue so smoothly that the words pluck your heart strings, a beautiful melody resounding in your chest and you began to feel light

yang sighs, if there was any chance to tell you his thoughts- it was now

“I think I could let you do your part if... we show each other who we are.” yang says and the airy feeling spreading through you abruptly disappears

“yang... you know that’s dangerous. we can’t-”

“we can, smiles. we can pulls off our masks right now and that can be the end. wouldn’t you feel better knowing who I am?”

you thought about his question, would you feel better if you knew who yang was? it was a tempting offer, and something that you’ve recently thought about...

but you’ve gone this long without knowing who he is.. does it even matter anymore?

yang senses your doubt and steps forward, pushing you against the cold, brick wall behind you

but you don’t feel trapped or pushed, his presence doesn’t frighten you

he looks into your eyes, swearing he’s seen them somewhere else before, and those lips... how close they were getting to his

he’s so close you can see the sweat still sticking to his forehead and the individual strands of his hair hugging his skin, his fair skin glowing even though the alleyway was dimly lit

you can’t see all of him, but you know that underneath the mask he must be beautiful

“there can’t be yang without yin- that’s the whole point of our powers. In our world, there can never be a me without a you. Why are we hiding from each other?” yang whispers, bodies only inches apart now

your mind is infused with him- his proximity and scent and aura so overwhelming you feel like you’ll be complete if you could just lean in all the way

yang’s hand slowly creeps up to his mask, his fingers finding their way under the edge and he takes a deep breathe before-

“yin&yang!! help!! we need you!!!”

the shout pulls yang away from you, and you share one more look before leaving the alleyway and running towards the shouts

but the tension and questions that have risen don’t leave either of you

▼△▼△▼△▼△

the rise of imitatrice came very suddenly, and with almost no warning to you or anyone else

all you got was a notification on your phone from the local news station

a picture of a woman standing on top of the city hall building, wearing a dark purple uniform with long blonde hair whipping around in the wind

you didn’t think twice about changing into your suit and running towards the center of the city, where city hall is located

when you arrive, the whole front yard of city hall is blocked off and several people stand around along with the police and tv crews, filming the mysterious woman who is now by the fountain that is situated in front of the building

suddenly, on the command of an officer, a line of policemen all shoot a round of bullets right at the woman, making some members of the audience release screams in shock

she reacts quickly, her hands coming up in front of her, and several shields appear out of thin air, blocking the bullets from hitting her

gasps leaves the audience as the shields fall like dominos to the floor, breaking the concrete underneath

“oh, yin? you’ve arrived, came to join, huh? do you like the show I've been putting on?” the woman yells with a taunting lilt to her voice and the audience turns around at the mention of you

they part for you as you walk towards the woman, a familiar scene when it comes to yin walking through a crowd of people

your mind is reeling- the only other person able to conjure up something like that out of thin air is... yang

you look around- he’s no where to be seen

“where is yang? what did you do with him?”

“oh, I didn’t do anything, dear.” she steps forwards, raising her voice to make sure everyone hears her

“I am imitatrice, and my superpower is to imitate other superpowers. I have been silenced all my life, but no longer.”

“do you have to talk like that? you don’t look that much older than me, why are you so demeaning-” you try to play off her vague threat

but you’re cut off by an uncomfortable feeling in your gut starting to form, it cramps up and makes you feel sick- imitatrice notices your discomfort

“oh, what is the matter, my little yin? do you feel sick? maybe a bit... unbalanced?” she hints and your eyes widen in realization

if imitatrice really is copying yang’s power... then the world is slowly becoming unbalanced from her previous actions

despite the pain in your abdomen, you quickly run over to some parked cars, your left hand gliding over them as you run by, hoping that destroying them could balance out the matter in the world

when the uncomfortable feeling in your stomach goes away, you make your way back to imitatrice who has been watching you the entire time

as if everything is going the way she planned- she looks pleased

“imitatrice, please. you don’t have to do this.” you now try to reason, but the words don’t go through to her

“save your words, listen to me instead.” she counters, “I have yang’s power now, and you have yours.. why don’t we team up?”

her proposition makes the audience gasp and chatter fills the area before imitatrice starts to speak again

“why did you ever think that your powers of destruction could make you a superhero? you were made to DESTROY, for god sakes.” she chuckles and it makes your skin crawl

“If we work together... we could get equal credit, your name could be on all of the tabloids and media there is- not yang’s... yours” no doubt some people in the audience quietly think to themselves that you could do it- you could become a supervillain

“everything you touch dies- it rots away. do you ever think that yang could love you for that?” she asks

confusion runs through your thoughts “why would she bring up yang like that” but it quickly disappears

because a scary thought replaces it

“what if I did join her?”

you would definitely be on tabloids and a talked about person, fate’s gift to you would be used for what it was probably given to you for: destruction

but at what cost?

the cost of death, grief, and misery in a whole city?

....not on your watch

“if I have to use my power for evil, I'd rather not use my power at all”

your words anger imitatrice and she lets out a growl

“fine. have it your way” she turns around but she doesn’t get far before a voice catches her attention

“imitatrice, there’s room for only one power of creation in this city, and it’s mine”

you whip your head around at the sound of mark’s voice, only to see yang standing by the audience

he sounded so much like mark- but that was not something you had time to think about

lissome reaches over the crowd and the blockade, straight to imitatrice

foreshadow yells towards you and yang about going inside to help the last group of people out

and city hall slowly turns into a hot mess

the fountain in front of the city spills water onto the concrete and the grass has been turned over and ripped from the ground

several objects that imitatrice and yang both conjure up are laying all over the concrete- everything from rope to guns to materials like wood and metal

despite the dangerous action going on, citizens stand around and watch, phones up and recording every last second of the fight

soon yang, lissome, and foreshadow are trapped behind the shields that she imitatrice first made and have been thrown into the ground

you crouch down next to them- you’ve been running around touching anything you can destroy to keep up with yang’s and imitatrice’s tricks

you’re out of breath, but you still focus on what the group is saying

“nothing is working” lissome growls as he rests, at some point his uniform tore at the arm and you can see his skin covered in dirt underneath from all the fighting

“she’s not letting up, how do I defeat her if she’s just using my power against me?” yang asked, frustration seeping through his words

you look at the members of this odd group of superheroes- everyone looked so worn out from the fighting

tired eyes and confused thoughts prominent in all of them

“maybe yin can destroy something that’s the opposite of you, wouldn’t that give you more power?” foreshadow asks

“no that’s not possible” yang shakes his head “the only thing that’s the opposite of yang is-”

“me” you simply state, and all three superheroes turn to look at you

“the only thing that is the opposite of yang.... is yin” you sigh, and the tone of your voice makes yang panic

you sound like you’ve made up your mind on something

“no, don’t even think about it. absolutely not.” yang’s voice rose in volume as he talked

“I know you can defeat her. I mean it when I say I trust you, yang”

you honestly can’t even believe yourself, you were about to do something you promised yourself you’d never do

and you were willing to do it all for yang, for your city

“smiles....” yang says weakly, reaching out to you, but lissome holds him back

and before anyone can change your mind or stop you

your left hand, finger tips black from dirt and from your superpower, comes up and presses into your chest

and like you never existed, your presence was completely erased

gone

just like all of the things you’ve ever destroyed

yang couldn’t believe his eyes, lissome and foreshadow breath heavily as they stare at the space you once occupied

the audience that was watching you gasps and covers their children’s eyes and look away themselves

it was the most sudden death anyone could imagine

yang wasn’t about to let it be in vain

“c’mon. let’s finish this”

for once in his crime fighting career, yang lets anger take over

he doesn’t know if it was the surge of energy he was gifted by you or the fact that you just erased yourself from existence

but he could barely think about what he was doing, letting his gut take control of his powers

at one point, gray clouds cover the city, and rain starts falling, thunder rumbling and the ground was shaking from the new weather- but yang never stopped

in the future when asked about this fight, he would say he was blinded by the fear of you leaving him, by the sight of you killing yourself for him

he didn’t calm down until imitatrice’s hands were stuck behind her back in handcuffs with dome covers over them to keep her from creating anything else

yang falls to his knees, from exhaustion and from the numbness building in his chest and quickly spreading like a disease

the reality of what happened finally coming to him

as he looks up at the citizens of his city, he does not feel proud to be the hero

he does not feel joy to have saved everyone- because it was really you who saved the city today

“are you happy?” he asks the audience, voice cracking under the tears that threaten to flow down his face, and everyone settles down after hearing his helpless tone, only the pounding of rain on the concrete could be heard

“yin... killed themselves, for me, for us, for all of you.” yang points in the direction of the crowd

“we never deserved yin, no matter how you saw them, they were too good for us.” a blanket of guilt settles over the crowd, but no comfort comes to anyone as yang continues

“none of us really appreciated yin, and now we mourn them. how selfish can we be?” and with that, yang rises to his feet and a commotion is heard from behind him

antidote slowly walks through city hall’s front yard, slowly everything goes back to order

the fountain is repaired, the concrete is made new again, and the rain ceased

almost like the fight that just occurred here never happened

but no one would forget the events that took place

everyone looks towards the area that you had ended your life in, anticipation weighting down everyones chest

but nothing ever happened, you don’t reappear

antidote walks up to yang and places a steady hand on his shoulder

“what happened? shouldn’t they have come back” yang asked, despair dripping off of every word

“I don’t know, yang. I've never brought back anyone who was destroyed by yin’s power. only time can tell now.”

and like that, the crowd started to disperse and yang was left on city halls front yard with a heavy heart filled with guilt

▼△▼△▼△▼△

johnny messaged the group chat containing you, mark, doyoung, and sicheng later that day

“come to the store, after all that happened at city hall today... drinks are on me”

johnny’s phone notified him that the text was only seen by three people

▼△▼△▼△▼△

in johnny’s store that night, doyoung and sicheng crowd around johnny’s phone as they watch footage from what happened earlier that day

the mayor issued an investigation into the events of what happened at city hall and a message to yin to show themselves if they are still alive

the message has not yet been answered, and several people and businesses keep their window blinds open in hopes of seeing the black uniform running down their street

although it was once again sunny outside, the weather did not reflect the city’s feelings

as the bell above the door jingled, all heads turn to look at the new customer

mark walks in and stumbles up to the counter

“glad everyone’s here, and that you’re all okay” johnny sighs and mark clears his throat

“where’s... where’s y/n?”

silent looks are shared between the men

they all turn their heads to face the floor, knowing what your absence means

as no one talks and no one moves, grief fills the store, and slowly it turns into sadness

until the bell chimes again

“hey, guys. am I late? I just saw your message, johnny. I came as quick as I could”

your warm laughter never sounded so hopeful and has never been so appreciated until now

mark thinks he could cry when he sees your smile as you walk through the front door

suddenly everyones shoulders seem to fall in relief at your presence

“alright, I said drinks on me tonight, but shouldn’t we go out for dinner? I think we have a lot to celebrate tonight.”

couldn’t agree with you any more, Johnny

you decide that the city should be kept on their toes for a little longer- the return of yin would come eventually

tonight was the time to spend with your friends after so much happened earlier that day

you lock fingers with mark, a sheepish smile rising to both of your faces and you hope your friends don’t turn around to catch the affection you’re showing each other

walking down the street in the city that you and your friends unknowingly (but silently knowingly) saved together

the tune of your friends’ laughter and the promise that everything is okay again comforts you- mark's loving gaze a reminder of all the good things to come

both of you are only slightly aware that fate has brought you together

whether it’s as yin&yang

or as you and mark

neither of you really care how you stay by each others side

as long as you can keep staying together

▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼

#ncitynetwork #mark lee #nct angst #mark angst #nct x reader #nct soft hours #nct mark #nct fics #nct scenarios #nct au #nct imagines #mark fics #mark scenarios #mark au #mark imagines #mark x reader #mark soft hours #bulleted au #superhero au

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iluvsexyvoltageguys · 4 years

Text

Full Service

Fandom: Irresistible Mistakes (Love 365)

Pairing: Shunichiro x Reader

Note: @rougepetale this is for you, hope you enjoy your man 😏

You had been completely ready for work, just about to put on your coat and head out the door when you felt his hand on your shoulder. It was early and you hadn’t expected him to wake before you left, but you turned toward him and saw fire in his eyes.

He wanted you.

Knowing it wouldn’t take long, and feeling his heat light you up, you tossed the coat aside and let him press against your body, his erection obvious even through his boxers and your pants. The kiss was brief, dirty and deep, meant only to agree upon the level of need. Shunichiro pulled you into the living room where you could brace yourself on the back of a chair, right after unfastening your pants and letting them fall to your ankles. He stepped behind you to take care of your panties, pushing them roughly to the side as he bent you over.

He freed himself from his boxers and pushed forward, using his knee to open you as wide as your clothing would allow, sliding home with one long stroke. He hadn’t even bothered to check to see how wet and ready you were; not that there was a need for that. You were always wet and ready.

You wanted him.

There was never a rhythm, the pace frantic from the first thrust. You didn’t hold back, letting your cries for more echo throughout the room. Shunichiro was well aware that you loved to be fucked hard, but you liked to remind him anyway, pleading for his cock even as he gripped your hips with enough force to leave marks. When he leaned forward to nip your shoulder through your blouse, you came on a violent shudder, breathlessly demanding that he fill you up.

He couldn’t remember you ever wording it quite like that. Sure, you had told him to come plenty of times, but the specific request to fill you up was different. Primal. And he reacted to it. “You want to be filled up? You want to feel everything I can give you? The way only you can make me come?”

“Fuck, yes.”

Any further encouragement was unnecessary and Shunichiro pumped only twice more before he held himself deep inside and let your pussy help milk him of every drop. He was still draped over you, his cock slowly softening within you, as you mumbled into the chair cushion. “I should go change before I leave for the office.”

“No.”

“No?”

“You wanted to be filled up. I want you to stay that way.”

Something in his tone kept you silent, so he took the opportunity to slip out from you, fixing your panties as quickly as possible. Your pants followed, though he let you handle the zipper and button. You were quiet long enough that he thought he might have pushed you too far, but when you turned around and hungrily attacked his mouth, letting your tongue tease the roof of his mouth before you nipped at his lower lip, he stopped worrying.

You finally pulled away and smiled wickedly, loving the secret you would share with him all day. Without another word, you picked up your coat and left for work.

~~~~~

The rest of the morning was relatively normal; you, Toma and Toshiaki continued to work on the story board of the current commercial you were working on. However, even surrounded by the mundane, you couldn’t stop thinking about the way you were marked, feeling it with every step and embracing the warmth crawling just under your skin.

When you saw Shunichiro step off the elevator, two coffees in hand, you swore you felt a new wave of your own wetness mix with his. He handed you the steaming cup at your desk, leaning forward to whisper in your ear. “I can smell myself on you.”

Wide-eyed and blushing, you whipped your head around to where the guys were huddled around Toma’s computer, then slowly turned back to Shunichiro. “Really? Do you think they’ve noticed?”

“I hope so.” He walked away before you could respond, and you couldn’t even figure out how you felt. Powerful? Dirty? Needy? Some of everything? You supposed being ashamed would be a normal reaction, yet there was absolutely none of that. Hurrying to rejoin your team, you did what you could to push it all from your mind so that you could focus on work.

Things were fine until lunchtime, when everyone went to grab lunch and you and Shunichiro were left alone for several minutes. You were leaning against a desk, still editing the story board, but he made his presence known when he nudged your shoulder and grinned mischievously, “Still filled up?”

“Well, I’m not sure how ‘filled up’ I am, but I’m plenty wet.”

He studied you for a long moment. “What happened to keeping it in all day?”

“Um, gravity?”

It was a simple fact, but he just shook his head and grabbed your hand, pulling you away from the office and down a familiar hallway. There was a small storage closet that you had become rather acquainted with, though you really tried to avoid too much sex at work. The idea of getting caught was both arousing and appalling, but on days like this, it just didn’t matter.

You both crowded into the tiny room and shut the door behind you, leaving you with a sliver of light. It only took a minute of fumbling to find the sturdy boxes you knew were there, then stack them to a height that would allow you to sit at the perfect angle for him to fuck you with little effort.

Just as had happened earlier, your clothes hung around your ankles; he let his fall as well, unconcerned with anything but coming inside you again. Your mouths met sloppily just as his cock drove deep, a gasp of relief coming from both of you. The sound of your joining was louder and wetter than normal, a reminder of what you were doing and how much you were turned on by it. He reached for a handful of your hair and pulled your head back, giving him room to suck on your neck as he repeatedly pounded into you

Your hand dropped between your bodies, fingers quickly finding your swollen clit. He looked down at your colliding hips and groaned at the sight. “You want me to come hard inside you? Fill you up again?”

"Please!”

You let yourself go, your entire body tightening as you tried to stay silent, only a desperate mewl escaping your lips. He followed quickly, in tune with your body and on edge with the desire to leave you with more evidence of your shared lust. As he spilled inside you, his forehead fell forward against yours, and you both took a moment to catch your breaths.

By the time he slid away from your body and you carefully moved off the boxes, your eyes had adjusted to the darkness and you were able to watch as he eased your panties back into place. Before his hand fully let you go, he tucked it under the elastic and dragged his fingertips through the cum he had just left behind. Bringing them up to your mouth, he touched your lips and you opened for him, sucking his fingers clean as you stared at him.

“You’ll try harder to keep it all inside this time?”

Your tongue still held him in your mouth, your lips sealed around him as you nodded.

~~~~~

You managed to make it through the rest of the day with some semblance of productivity and concentration, even as the heavy scent of sex followed you like an illicit haze. The guys had to have noticed something, but stayed quiet, the topic too intimate for either of them to bring up. Still, just knowing that they must have had their suspicions was enough to keep the arousal thrumming steadily throughout your body.

For his part, Shunichiro did lots of staring, but far less talking than normal. Instead, he followed you with his eyes, territorial and proud, eager for the moment he could get you alone again.

You had dinner reservations at a swanky restaurant and needed to stop at the apartment to change first, so you left work at a decent hour. You were both quiet on the drive home, simply holding hands with an innocence that belied the day’s earlier activities, but once you were through the front door, you grabbed at each other, removing clothing at a feverish pace.

How you made it to the bedroom was unknown, even to you. Your panties were the last barrier between the two of you and they were unceremoniously tossed to the floor, just a second before his naked body pressed you down into the mattress. You attempted to lock your legs around his waist, pulling him closer, but he stopped you, instead moving them to his shoulders. The angle allowed him to get deeper than he had been all day, and hit your g-spot perfectly. It didn’t matter that you had already fucked twice that day; neither of you would last long.

You got loud, begging to be filled up one more time. Your string of expletives urged both of you on, and you finally screamed his name, your pussy gripping him desperately and pulling him in. Several seconds later, he emptied himself for a third time, sticky streams adding to everything he had already given you.

As soon as you both recovered, he moved to pick up your panties, dropping them onto your bare stomach. “Pick any dress you want, but keep the same panties on.”

You made it to the restaurant in time, dressed to the nines and sinful as hell. There was no way to tell which of you were riding more of a high throughout the meal; he still felt dominant, having left his mark on you all day long, while you felt powerful, flaunting your unions with poorly-hidden evidence. It was outrageously dirty, but you both owned it.

By the time you had finished dinner, you were fully sated, all appetites and cravings having been satisfied over that past several hours. Well, almost all of them.

Your server came over to you offering a choice of crème brulee, cheesecake, or tiramisu, but you spoke up before Shunichiro had the opportunity to respond. “No, thank you. He’ll be able to eat dessert at home.”

IM Masterlist

#irresistible mistakes smut #im smut #shunichiro tachibana smut #voltage inc smut #voltage inc fanfiction #irresitable mistakes #im #shunichiro tachibana #voltage inc #love 365

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katiebug445 · 4 years

Text

Happy Birthday, Marco!

so some context: im in the process of reading attack on titan before the fall and i fucking adore cardina baumeister with my entire fucking heart, he’s such a soft boy and my heart belongs to him and i want his little gay ass to be as happy as can be, so i thought, you know who else needs someone to be soft and happy with? marco. so mardina was born and i fucking adore this ship with my whole heart and they’re just CUTE together okay they fucking are so im posting this but whatever i don’t need to justify myself just take it

Cardina wanted nothing but for it to be special.

He and Marco had been together for just a little under a year, and it was the first birthday they were getting to celebrate as a couple. He’d been planning it in secret for months, buying little things here and there when he was able to go shopping on his own, hiding it away in the top of his closet, where he knew Marco never noticed things. He’d even gone so far as to message Marco’s best friend, a man named Jean who had always scared the hell out of him, for help in making the cake.

Cardina wanted to do it from scratch, to make something entirely homemade for his birthday, but he genuinely had no idea what he was doing, and Jean was a chef, so why not?

Once Marco left for work that morning, Cardina sprang out of bed and got started as soon as the car pulled away, pulling down all of the decorations and ingredients he’d picked up, and took everything down to the kitchen so he could get started.

He dumped everything out onto the table and began to sort it absentmindedly as he tapped around on his phone for a playlist that Marco had made for him of all of his favorite songs, and once it was playing, he tied his hair back and started ripping open packages. The decorating was one of his favorite parts of this stuff, figuring out the perfect placements for banners and streamers and every other little thing was always so much fun for him, he wished he had the chance to do it more often.

Once everything was how he wanted it, Cardina went back to the kitchen, bopping along to a cheery song that he knew Marco loved, and hummed along with it as he typed out a message for Jean, telling him he was ready for him to send over the easiest recipe he had on hand. While he waited for him to get back, he rounded up everything that he assumed he would need to make a cake, trying to remember all of the baking things that Marco used when they made box brownies and cookies.

He kept peeking over at his phone, but nothing had come through yet, and Cardina was starting to get impatient waiting for it. He tried to distract himself by tidying up some little things here and there, but that didn’t take nearly enough time up before he was back at his phone, cursing quietly to himself and wondering if Jean actually knew how to text at all, by the speed it was taking.

Cardina found himself wandering back upstairs with his phone in hand, deciding to go ahead and get dressed, and before he realized what he was doing, had one of Marco’s shirts pulled on, along with his favorite pair of pants and an old baseball cap that he’d been given by his boyfriend, and pulled his ponytail through the hole in the back. Finally, his phone dinged with a message, and a text long enough that it had to be broken up in three parts came through. Suddenly, he realized why it had taken Jean so long to get back to him: He’d written out a novel!

He quickly scanned over the recipe, still a bit intimidated despite this being an “easy” cake, and typed out a quick thank you to Jean before heading back downstairs so he could get started looking for the rest of what he needed. Unlike the boxed goodies that they’d made previously, this required a lot more ingredients, several of which they didn’t have. Panicked, Cardina sent another text asking if it would be okay not to use some of the stuff, and Jean explained that it could, thankfully, be substituted by a few things he did have on hand.

Cardina read over the beginning of the texts from Jean three times, just to make sure he had down everything that he needed, and got started, putting in as much care as he possibly could to every step, and smiled to himself when he was finished mixing in the wet ingredients. It looked good, if he said so himself, and felt a bit of pride in himself for getting that far in without messing it up.

Next came the dry parts, all of which he had ready in a smaller bowl, which he soon realized was a mistake. Everything went in nice and easy until he got to the flour, which was a lot lighter and dustier than anything else, and he made the mistake of dumping it in all together, which created a giant puff of white, which ended up all over his face, his shirt, and even, to his surprise, in his hair. Coughing, Cardina fanned the flour out of his face, and looked over the next bit of the recipe, which was to put everything in together, and mix it. Easy, he thought.

Seeing as the wet ingredients had the bigger bowl, he decided to dump the dry into it, but the bowl was heavier than he expected, and, once again, he was covered in an even bigger mess, and the wet bowl teetered dangerously on the edge of the counter with the extra weight and the momentum in which everything was dumped in.

Cardina yelped, holding the bowl with his hips as he dumped the rest of the stuff in, then hurriedly set the empty one down and moved the full one back to safety. That was entirely too close, he thought, and, because everything was so full, he decided to hand mix it rather than use the machine.

Twenty minutes, a sore arm, and an egg yolk stain on the front of his shirt later, he put the spoon he was using down, and was digging out the other mixer, wondering if it would be okay to use one beater, seeing as the other wasn’t where it needed to be. He decided it would be better than nothing, and plugged it in, at the last second deciding to put it on the lowest speed possible, which turned out to be the right move, seeing as how fast even that spun everything around.

Somehow, he managed to pull it off, and had a cake mix that looked as perfect as everything he found on the internet. Satisfied, he grabbed one of their cake pans and poured it in, which ended up needing to be split into two with the amount of batter he had left, but he thought that would be fine; that meant more cake for the man he loved more than anything. Cardina quickly scanned over the last bit of Jean’s messages, and decided to set a timer on his phone for when it would be ready, and popped them in the oven once it was ready.

While everything cooked, he cleaned everything up, himself included. He didn’t want to take off the shirt, seeing as it was comfortable and smelled like Marco, so he just brushed it off the best he could and settled for that being good enough. He did up the dishes, swept the floor, and cleaned off the counters, all while listening to his music, feeling happy and lighter than he had in awhile. He loved the idea of being able to do this for the love of his life, to be able to surprise him with nice things like this, and thought maybe, if this went over well, he could start asking Jean for more advice on how to cook things.

He hadn’t been keeping track of time, and only realized that something might be wrong when he began to smell something burning, and panicking a bit, checked the timer to realize that he hadn’t actually hit start. Cardina screamed, quickly shutting the oven off and grabbing the nearest cloths he could find to pull the pans out, cussing quietly to himself when the heat from the metal burned through the dishcloths and burned his fingers. He quickly set them on the counter to cool off, and his heart completely sank when he realized that they were all but ruined. The tops of the cakes looked more like charcoal, or the tops of their brownies than they did a lemon cake, and he sighed, his good mood completely destroyed.

He couldn’t even bring himself to ask Jean for help, he was so humiliated, and just stood there for several moments, looking at the burned mess of a surprise, and tried not to cry. Who was he kidding thinking he could actually pull this off? Cardina looked around at the decorations, and the happiness that they brought him earlier in the day turned to disgust, and suddenly they looked horrible, too close together and junky, and made him feel like he was trying too hard to impress his boyfriend rather than a genuine expression of his love.

Tears filled Cardina’s eyes, and he had half a mind to tear them all down, but when he got up to do it, a little thought stopped him: how touched Marco would be to see it, even if it was a huge disaster. He took a deep breath and looked around at the decorations one more time before deciding to leave them, wondering to himself how he’d been so lucky as to land someone as forgiving and kind as Marco was.

The cakes still bothered him, though. A lot. He left them where they were for the time being, and grudgingly decided to go out and just buy a cake for him instead. It felt like cheating, but he wanted to make sure Marco actually had something edible. So, Cardina bought a blank cake and a tube of icing, deciding to at least do the decorating on it himself.

Marco pulled up several hours later, exhausted from a long shift at the restaurant where he and Jean both worked, having worked a double shift to cover for his friend while he spent the day with his new fiance, Armin, and just sat in his car for a moment and tried to relax. He shrugged off his jacket and smock, and decided, just for the night, to leave his work shoes out in his car so he didn’t have to look at them anymore. Barefoot and exhausted, Marco walked up to the house with a paper bag full of food he’d been able to bring home for he and Cardina to share.

He opened the door, not surprised to find it unlocked already, and stepped inside. The first thing he noticed was the giant banner that said happy birthday written out on the wall behind the couch, and his heart lifted the tiniest bit. He was glad to see that at least someone had remembered his birthday after a long day of being bitched at by angry soccer moms on their lunch breaks, and then he realized that the rest of the room was decorated with streamers and even more banners.

“Car?” he called, the tiniest hint of a smile lighting up his face as he hung his keys and smock up on the hook by the door. “Did you decorate all of this?”

Cardina appeared in the doorway, then, and Marco couldn’t help but laugh at him when he saw how much of a mess he looked. His face, despite his best efforts to clean it off, still had flour smudges on it, and he noticed a few white spots in his ponytail that he hadn’t seen that morning, too. His shirt, he realized, was all but ruined, with flour and egg stains covering the front, but he couldn’t bring himself to be too upset with him.

“Hey,” Cardina replied, hurrying up to him and kissing him softly on the cheek. “Happy birthday.”

“Thanks.” Marco grinned, holding up the bag of food. “I brought dinner, in case you haven’t eaten yet. I’m sorry I’m home so late.”

“Don’t be!” Cardina said quickly, taking the bag from him in one hand, and his boyfriend’s hand in the other. “Come with me, we’ll heat this up and celebrate a little while you’re still awake.”

Marco let himself be led through the house to the kitchen, and felt his heart swelling even more when he realized that the whole house had been decorated for the occasion as streamers brushed against the top of his head. “You were busy today.” He commented happily.

“I was.” Cardina grinned, hurrying over to the microwave and pulling out the to-go containers to heat up. “Very, very busy, actually, and I think I deserve a kiss or two for my efforts.” He teased, unable to help himself.

Marco spied the cake sitting on the counter as Cardina spoke, and a huge grin lit up his face at the sight when he read the inscription on it. “I think you’ve earned a bit more than that…” He murmured, popping the lid off the cake and swiping a bit of icing off of the bottom corner, just so he could taste it. “This is good. Where’d you get it from?”

“The little grocery store down the street, I don’t remember the name. The new one.” Cardina replied, peeking back at him and feeling his mood lift the tiniest bit when he noticed how happy Marco looked over his cake. That was something, at least. “Do you like it?”

“I do!” Marco said, part of him wanting to be selfish and skip dinner just so he could tear into the cake and taste it. He still couldn’t believe that Cardina had gone through all of that trouble just for him, and it was touching in a way that he couldn’t describe. “Thank you, you have no idea how much I needed this after today.”

“I think I can guess, based on the look on your face when you were coming up to the house.” Cardina replied, putting the first of the dishes in the microwave before coming back over to sit with him for a moment. “Bad day?”

“No worse than usual,” Marco shrugged, leaning over and giving Cardina a kiss on the cheek. “Just a really rude party at lunch, and a couple different nasty ones during the dinner rush. But it’s okay.”

Cardina scowled hearing that, hating that Marco had to deal with that almost every day, and scooted his chair over closer to him so he could touch him, to comfort him as much as he could. “Screw them. How was it aside from that?”

Marco thought about that for a moment, not wanting to keep complaining about his day, and smiled a little when he realized that something good did happen. “It was worth taking the double shift.” He explained. “I guess Armin asked Jean to marry him tonight.”

“Really?” Cardina smiled, feeling a small wave of happiness wash over him for their friends, making a note to text them both in the morning to say congratulations, and ran his hand comfortingly over Marco’s back. “Good for them.”

“Yeah, I was relieved when Jean messaged me. It’s been too long co-” Marco broke off, then, his face scrunching up in confusion when he spotted their two cake pans half hidden behind a loaf of bread. “Car, what’s that?” He asked, pointing.

Cardina’s heart sank again when he realized that Marco had seen his failure, and with a sad sigh, went over to get the pans. “I tried to make you a cake this morning.” He explained. “But I think I’m just going to have to accept the fact that cooking isn’t what I’m best at.”

Marco’s heart swelled with even more love for his boyfriend when he heard that, and got up to stand with him, slipping his arms around him from behind and pressing a kiss to the back of his shoulder as he looked over the cakes. “What kind is it? Chocolate? It looks good.”

Cardina winced a bit when Marco said that, and shrank into himself some. “It… was supposed to be lemon. Your favorite.”

“Cardina…” Marco murmured, touched that he remembered that little detail, and squeezed him tight around the middle before pulling back and going to grab a knife from the drawer. He grabbed one of the pans and began to cut the cake out, much to Cardina’s dismay. He ignored his pleas for a moment and cut the top layer off, smiling a bit to himself when he saw the cake underneath the burn was still perfectly edible. “Well, look at that!” He smiled, his gaze flickering to the other man. “My boyfriend was sweet enough to bake me a perfectly edible cake for my birthday!”

Cardina’s lip wobbled a little when he heard that, and met Marco’s eyes for a second before the tears started to form, and he tried desperately to blink them back. He really had no idea how lucky he was to have someone as positive as Marco, and the fact that he’d even thought about trying to salvage the cake was making him more emotional than he could believe.

“Do you have any frosting for these?” Marco asked, fixing up the other cake as well.

“No, I… didn’t get that far. I saw they were ruined and completely gave up.”

Marco thought for a second before pulling out his phone, tapping around on it for a second before he found a good recipe for homemade frosting, and showed it to Cardina. “Want to make some?” He asked, smiling at him encouragingly.

With a little smile of his own, Cardina nodded, and while Marco got everything together, he went to get his plate out of the microwave so Marco could eat while they got started, and put his own in to get cooking. Once it was in, he grabbed his phone and put on the same playlist as before, hoping to improve both of their moods some while they got ready.

Marco grabbed himself a fork from the drawer and took a bite of food while he read over the recipe, nodding to himself and thinking that it would be fairly easy for them to do if they did it together. He smiled even more when he realized what song was playing, and shot a loving look towards Cardina, incredibly grateful for him and thinking he was so lucky to have such a thoughtful partner to spend the rest of his life with. “Hey, Car?” He started as the blonde made his way over to him.

Cardina slipped his arms around Marco’s waist and kissed him softly on the cheek. “What’s up?”

“I love you.” Marco said honestly, looking over at him again and feeling his heart swelling with affection. “I really, really love you, you know that, right?”

Hearing those three little words coming from Marco, even though they’d both exchanged them thousands of times over the last year, never, ever failed to send butterflies swarming in Cardina’s stomach, and he squeezed Marco a bit tighter around the middle when he heard them to confirm that he knew. “I love you, too, Mar.” He breathed, kissing him on the side of the head. “I really, really love you, too.”

“Good. As long as you know.” Marco grinned, leaning into the other man’s embrace for a few seconds before getting started on making up the frosting for them.

Cardina watched as Marco took control of the kitchen, providing support where he could, and found himself beyond grateful for Marco Bodt, for being such a generous, loving person, who genuinely appreciated a failed effort at making his birthday something special. He smiled, watching as he moved around the kitchen, humming along to the music and smiling hugely whenever their eyes met, and thought that, maybe, it hadn’t been such a bad attempt after all.

#marco bodt #cardina baumeister #mardina #katie's writing #fight me fuckos

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satanschild01 · 4 years

Text

No All Might? That’s Alright Prt3

Izuku Midoriya Fanfiction

A/N: In all honesty this took me way too long just to finish writing this chapter, but I pushed through so I guess it’s fine. I’ve created a AO3 account recently and I’ve posted all of my previous fanfictions there so if you want to check me out, you can find me as SatansChild

Hope you all stay safe and wear a mask if you can't physically distance.Hope to update soon!

Catch you on the flip side ~ Em

Photo used in this fic was referenced from original picture from anime, I did draw this photo jtlyk

Tags:

@random-fandom-girl-24

Tags for some wonderful feedback😘: @trashys-things @pink-imagines @marvelmymarvel @shikigami-the-paper-spirit @spaced-out-imagines @marvelmymarvelmain @writingfreakk

Trigger warning: Talk about death

Word Count: 2633

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

After making sure all of the blood was no longer on his uniform, Closing his eyes, Izuku steeled himself to walk into the All Might shrine that was his room. Sure, he still wanted to be a hero, and he admired All Might’s strength, but he couldn’t stand to be surrounded by posters and figurines of a man who couldn’t offer any sort of encouragement to a child who clearly needed it. Izuku pulled some cardboard boxes out from his closet and started filling them with everything All Might. Oboro didn’t make a sound during the time he cleaned out his room, which he was grateful for. Even though he could just feel Oboro wanting to ask questions.

“So what are you going to do about all this stuff?” Oboro asked as Izuku changed his All Might sheets with regular black ones “You seem like such a big fan...it just seems like a waste just to keep it all in boxes.”

Izuku shrugged his shoulders.”I’m not much of a fan anymore.” he lied to mostly himself rather than to Oboro, “I guess I’ll just donate the stuff later.” Once his walls were finally bare, Izuku stuffed the now full boxes to the back of his closet and flopped onto his bed. The room stayed silent for a moment until Izuku broke the ice, “I don’t want to intrude on your personal life…but can you tell me about yourself?” he asked

“Well for the fact that I witnessed and helped you with some pretty deep stuff, it sorta would be rude if I didn’t tell you something about my previous life,” Oboro said cheekily

“H-how long have you been...you know…” Izuku paused not really wanting to complete the question.

“...dead?” Izuku nodded “I was in my second year of high school when I died and I would be 29 by now so...close to 12 years I think?” Izuku sat there on his bed frozen

‘12 years is a long time to be a ghost or spirit to not have passed on, that is if people actually pass onto another place once they die’ Izuku thought to himself

“I was patrolling around Tasomiya Ward with one of my best friends when there was a villain attack...I was working on saving some kids when debris fell on top of me...when I woke up I was like how I am now, I couldn’t find my body anywhere so I just...travelled around…” Oboro seemed to quiet down at mentioning that he never found his body to move onto another life, so Izuku thought of ways to change the current mood of the room.

“So you were a hero in training or something?” he asked, face full of wonder, Oboro hummed in affirmation “What school did you go to?”

“I went to U.A”

“Wait really?!” Izuku exclaimed excitedly, “that's so cool!”

They continued talking and asking questions back and forth, before falling into a comfortable silence. A few minutes past before Izuku took a deep breath

“I...I’m sorry,” Izuku said quietly, slowly curling into himself

"Why would you be sorry kid?" Oboro’s voice was full of confusion. But Izuku only curled in on himself further.

"If it wasn't for me you wouldn't be stuck here." As if anyone wanted to be bound to some stupid Deku...like him. And here he thought it was a whole coincidence that Oboro was with him. But instead, he just took whatever type of freedom he had to begin with.

"Hey, no! Stop that. Izuku that's not true! I'm here because I want to be!" The warmth spread all over him and he couldn't help but lean into it. “I said I'd make a hero out of you and I still plan on it."

Izuku looked up only to see the ceiling of his room, lifting his arm up to the sky and let it just float there (like what every kid does while laying on there bed contemplating on what to do next). "I wish I could see you again."

Oboro hummed. Seeming to think something through. "I don’t think there’s much out there since I was only a second-year when I died, but there could be some photos of me with friends or an article"

Izuku seemed to take that as a challenge as he went to his computer. "What did you choose to be your hero name?"

"Loud Cloud."

After scouring the web for a couple of minutes nothing showed up except for an old article from the Nikkei Shimbun newspaper, reporting the death of hero-in-training Loud Cloud. Izuku quickly exited that site choosing to search for something different. “What’s your full name Oboro?”

“Oh that’s right I didn’t tell you my full name, it is Oboro Shirakumo” Oboro replied

“Oboroshirikumo...oboroshirikumooo….here!” Izuku exclaimed pointing at the monitor’s screen. “This photo was tagged saying ‘Curry eating competition at U.A’s School Festival. Winner Hizashi Yamada from class 2-A!’ it also says the names of the people in the photo are; Shota Aizawa, Hizashi Yamada, and Oboro Shirakumo.”

“Oh, I remember that!” Oboro cried out laughing “The curry was soo spicy I was freaking out because I couldn’t find anything to soothe my burning throat!”

“So that’s you in the back then?” Izuku asked pointing towards a teenager who seems to be freaking out.

Oboro chuckles “Yep, the other two were my best friends!”

“Yamada looks sorta familiar what’s his hero name?” Izukku asked, curious on why the 16-year-old looked so familiar to him

“Unless he changed it before becoming a pro, which he probably would not, his hero name is Present Mic.”

Izuku sputtered “W-wait you were close friends with THE Present Mic?!” Oboro hummed in agreement while Izuku had his miny freak out “

“Oh my god that is socool!Ilistentohisradioshoweveryday,andhe’ssuchanamazinghero,likeevenifheisdeafduetohisquirkhedoesn’tletitbotherhiman-” He stopped hearing the sound of laughter coming around his room and his lamp flickering

"Aw jeez, that’s amazing Hizashi got to get that radio show he wanted." There was a quick blast of warmth flooding around his back and chest resembling a hug. "Well anyway, you should probably head to bed. You have a busy day ahead of you tomorrow and a long way to go before you can have a chance at being accepted into UA!"

"What are you going to do while I sleep?" Izuku asked, eyes slowly drooping.

"I'm going to see how far I can go without being next to you, and have a look around and exploring a bit. No need to worry. I'll make sure to be careful and be here in the morning." He seemed to pick up on his anxieties. Izuku felt warmth as Oboro slowly pet his hair back. "Goodnight, Izuku."

The next morning Izuku woke up to warmth pulsing on his right cheek. "Hey kid it’s time to get up! You have training to do! Up and at ‘em!" Oboro’s voice was overly joyful and Izuku felt very unwilling to get out of bed.

"Mm...just a bit longeeeer." He groaned turning himself over facing away from where he guesses Oboro is standing (floating?).

"Fair warning Izuku my jokes are terrible, everyone at school would always runaway once I started and I haven’t been able to talk to actual people in so long! If spaghetti were to have it’s own action movie, what would it be called?.... Mission im-pasta-ble. What did the pot eat on it’s birthday?....pancakes. What do you call a camel in a drought?....A dry hu- "

Finally, Izuku jerked up, covering his ears. “Okay. Okay, I’m up! No need to finish that.” His face started to burn a light pink across his face, (knowing what the end of the joke was) as he started to kick the blankets off only to turn towards the window and see barely any light outside. "Wha- Oboro!! The sun isn’t even out yet!"

He turned glaring into thin air hoping to make contact with him.

"Yes, it is, Izu. It's just reeeally early in the morning. There is plenty of time for you to get ready and eat before we go out for a morning run!" He was being weirdly energetic about the whole ordeal, but Izuku knew he wouldn't take no for an answer.

Heading to the bathroom, Izuku ran a brush through his wild curly hair and brushed his teeth. Going back to his room, Obroro pipped up. "It's a bit cool outside so I suggest you wear some long sleeves."

The entire way to his closet Izuku muttered incoherent things. In the end, he opted to wear a plain black shorts and a long-sleeved shirt with written kanji saying 'tank-top' with his old dusty sneakers because his red sneakers were still on top of the roof.

Before heading out Izuku ate some toast and an orange. If he got hungry later on their run he could always eat more when they got back. As Izulu started to leave the apartment Izuku tripped over an unmarked box that was just left in front of the door.

"Ooo I wonder what it is!” Oboro seemed quite enthusiastic as Izuku went to open the box revealing his faded red shoes and yellow backpack.

"Wai-how-who found my stuff?" Izuku asked immediately putting the bag by the door and quickly changing between uncomfortable and comfortable shoes.

"I don’t know, when I got back from wandering around the package was just...there."

"Maybe someone found it and found out where I live from my contact info and address was written inside…?” Izuku wondered out loud.

“I guess so,” Oboro said looking to the bright sight of things.

‘But what if it was...All Might. Yeah, I’m glad that I don’t have to go back up there to collect my things but...I don’t want to have to depend on All Might to help me with my own problems.’

“Hey don’t think like that Izu! I know you’re not a huge fan of the guy, but you don’t have to beat yourself down like that. I know you’re better than that” Oboro spoke sternly trying to make a point, but that soon backfired as warmth spread through his body.

“Hold up- could you always hear my thoughts?” Izuku questioned as he started to jog away from the apartment.

“So far I can heat some things. Like your thoughts that way heavily on you emotionally. But it could possibly work to talk to me through your mind. So you don’t look like a freak talking to themselves.” Oboro quickly informs Izuku as to not worry him.

Sighed Izuku. That was true. Though he kept thinking about it as he jogged. As they passed Dagobah Municipal Beach, the sun had started to rise. Taking in a deep breath was the wrong reason as Izuku cringed from the awful smell of garbage. Despite the smell, Izuku took a break, taking a seat at the entrance.

"Oh gross. What is this place?" Oboro asked with a clear sound of disgust in his voice.

"Well," Izuku started."This is Dagobah Municipal Beach Park. It has accumulated trash coming from the sea for years, turning it from a beautiful beach spot into a trash heap for everyone's unwanted or broken belongings." It was really a shame. As a kid, Izuku recalled going to the beach. Lie under a beach umbrella, making sandcastles. But by the time he was tall enough into the water, it was already flooded with trash by then.

"That's terrible." Oboro seemed deeply upset about this actually. It made Izuku want to do something about it. But before Izuku could voice his thoughts Oboro spoke up.

“Hey Izu, could we make a quick visit to a convenience store?”

“Sure...what exactly do you want me to get?” Izuku asked, despite having an idea what Oboro was thinking.

“Well...you’re going to need to get some garbage bags and some gloves.”

Izuku then dashed towards the nearest convenience store with determination in his eyes. A frail-looking lady turned the key to open the doors as he walked by. Causing her to recoil in slight shock, Izuku realized that with his rapid approach he had frightened her. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I'd just come to purchase some garbage bags and some gloves.

The older woman seemed to soften something about his face as she smiled and opened his door. "Sure thing, they’re both in the last aisle on your right."

Before she went inside, Izuku thanked her and smiled back. He quickly found what he was looking for and brought a box of trash bags and a pair of workers gloves onto the counter.

"What's the hurry, son? Why do you need trash bags this early in the morning? You aren't trying to cause trouble are you?" the old woman pointed to Izuku with an accusing finger, and he shook his head quickly.

"Oh no, ma'am! I thought that I could just try and clean the beach up! I passed it while I was on my morning run!" Izuku assured, voicing Oboro’s plan

At this, the elder woman gently smiles while scanning the items. “Wow, is that right?” she said astonished, “ You know how long that place has been a mess? What makes you believe you can do it all by yourself?"

Her words weren't really painful, she was just being realistic. He knew she was right. He certainly had no obligation to clean up the beach. He could have just ignored it and easily went about his day. But he knew if he wanted to be a hero then he would need to start off the roots of how heroes came to be. How they used to work. Heroes in the beginning didn’t do what they did for fame. No. They didn’t care for the recognition they would get. They did it because they just wanted to help.

“That’s the thing, ma’am. I thought that it wouldn’t hurt to try. It’s also a great way to work out, instead of having to buy workout equipment or get a gym membership!” Izuku brightly smiles towards the lady as he handed her the money to buy his items.

“Well, I wish you luck, kid. I’m guessing that you’ll need a place to put the trash you collect.” She stated, Izuku smiling sheepishly at her rubbing the back of his head she continued, “There are two dumpsters in the alley behind the store, they get taken every Monday.”

"Thank you, ma'am!" Izuku said genuinely as he headed for the door. He didn't think too much about how he would dispose of the garbage, so it was good to have one offered.

Oboro began to laugh as Izuku jogged back towards the beach. "Cheaper than having to buy workout equipment or get a gym membership! Man, how true that is nowadays!”

The first garbage bags were packed very quickly. broken bottles, cans of beer, old and rotting newspaper, all of it was poured into the trash bag. Plastic, paper, glass, etc. Izuku could take them to a recycling center! He was already pumped about this new project when Oboro spoke up.

“Hey, Izu, before you toss that into the bag” placing his hand on Izuku’s making him feel warmth blossom closest to the soda, can packaging he was holding in that hand. “make sure you cut each circle so if they end up in wildlife again then animals won’t get their heads stuck inside.”

Izuku's eyes lit up as he started to tear apart each loop before placing it in one of the bags used for recycling. Soon Izuku had used up a quarter of the box of trash bags gone and only had 6x5 feet rectangle cleared of the beach.

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