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jimblejamblewritings · 2 years

Text

little situation | part 34.

Summary: For years, HYDRA had been trying to use the samples of Steve’s DNA to make another super-soldier. They finally succeed and when S.H.I.E.L.D. breaks her out, Cap is forced to come face to face with his kid and figure out parenting on an Avengers’ lifestyle.

Warnings: maybe potential childhood trauma but nothing really,

Pairing: Steve Rogers x blackdaughter!reader, avengers x child!reader, peter parker x black!reader

Word Count: 3.4k

Previous Part | (Series Masterlist)

“Sarah, sweetheart, don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Says the man who’s been throwing the shield for two hours straight.”

“Alright,” Sam conceded. “How about we both take a break?”

You nodded. You and Sam left the newest area of the training room designed for you. It looked like nothing more than a long hallway. The purpose was so Sam could learn how to throw the shield and really use it as an extension of his body the way Steve used to. You were trying to figure out all you could do with the Space Stone. Everyone insisted it wasn’t that necessary but you were determined. The unspoken reason was in case something like Thanos ever happened again, you felt that you should be in the best condition possible to help fight.

You also thought it was smart to prepare in case Wanda ever showed her face again. After Pietro’s funeral, without Vision or her brother, Wanda sort of disappeared. Steve was doing his best to look for her but Wanda’s magic was terribly advanced. It was easy for her to just vanish. Every night, you looked at the letter she left you. Wanda felt sad for leaving you but she needed time alone and time to cope.

You understood her and when you guys found her, there was nothing that you would hold against her. The hardest part— the part Steve hated— was having to work together with some organization called S.W.O.R.D. If he knew that all of this was involved with running SHIELD, he wouldn’t have let Nick retire. But Steve was enjoying his desk job because it meant he got to be the best almost-stay-at-home dad ever.

Sam turned off the training room lights since no one else was there and you guys went back to the apartment. Steve was sitting at the dining room table instead of his office, going over the mid-mission progress report that he had received from Bucky’s mission and a few lower level missions. He looked up when he heard the door close.

“Oh, look, it’s my two favorite superheroes.”

Both you and Sam rolled your eyes in jest at his comment. Walking over, Sam gave Steve a kiss and you gave him a hug. You pulled the mission report off of the table before Steve could grab it from you.

“You’re always touching everything, get off the table. What about the report is even interesting to you?” he asked.

“Nothing, Dheaidí, I just want to look at it,” you said, not jumping down from the table. “Question.”

“Answer,” Steve and Sam responded.

“If Peter and I wanted to go on a nighttime date outside the compound some time next week… without a chaperone, what would you say?”

“Where? Itinerary?” Steve set down his papers.

“So, that’s a yes?”

“That’s a we’ll see depending on your next answer.”

“Dinner at the diner by school and the Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

“They still do that show?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, every Friday.”

Sam and Steve looked at each other and shrugged.

“I don’t see why not. I’m assuming you want Happy to bring you guys back.”

“No, we want to stay out and book a hotel room instead… kidding! Kidding, we’re just going to get Insomnia Cookies after the show. Can Happy drop us off?”

Steve and Sam agreed and you finally jumped down from the table, handing Steve back the page of his report. They watched you skip to your room telling FRIDAY to call Peter so you could tell him how your parents agreed. Steve’s hand instinctively reached for Sam. It had been a couple weeks since everyone had come back and in that time, he had become very touchy feely. Especially when it came to you, Sam, Bucky, or Nat. Steve still felt like you all might disappear.

If anyone were to walk past your room, it would once again look empty. You had a tendency to forget to charge your hearing aids and didn’t want to risk them turning off at Rocky Horror. So while they were charging, you were sitting in your bathtub on FaceTime with Peter in order to sign with him. He didn’t know a few words every now and then, but for the most part he had come really far in his learning. Your family always teased that you and Peter were sickly sweet with puppy love.

The events of the rest of the night would prove them correct. Instead of getting off FaceTime, you and Peter turned the cameras around to shower and change into pajamas before turning them back and finishing your nightly routines. You walked into the bedroom, grabbing a fully charged hearing aid and popping it in. The room was dimly lit with only the lamp on your nightstand as you buried yourself under blankets and turned on your side to keep talking to Peter. He looked away while he was telling you a story and when his attention was back on the screen he saw your eyes were closed.

“Goodnight, Sarah. I love you,” Peter whispered, taking a picture and hanging up.

“Sarah, are you going to go on the grade trip this summer?” MJ asked as she approached your locker.

“The Europe one? No, I don’t think so. I think my dads want Wanda home first before everyone starts traveling around the globe. Besides, the trip is the same time we’re supposed to be going to New Asgard.”

“New Asgard?”

“Yeah, the Tesseract. Space Stone stuff and my powers.” You closed your locker and the two of you started walking to the cafeteria.

“Sounds fun, I’ll miss you on the trip.”

“Take plenty of pictures for me.”

“Of course. Oh.” MJ pulled out her phone. “Did you see this the other day?”

“What am I looking a— did that dude just slice a bus in half? Where is this?”

“San Francisco. They’re calling him Razor Fist.”

“Well, I can see why. I wonder who that guy is?” You pointed to the Asian dude that was fighting this so called Razor Fist.

“He’s not an Avenger?”

“Scott’s not even an Avenger, we’re a very close team. But, no, I’ve never seen him at SHIELD before. Hey, can you send me that? Dheaidí’s gonna want to see this.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

You two sat down across from Ned and Peter. Peter felt like he was going to shrink under your gaze. He was positive you didn’t blink once as you observed him. He was about to ask if something was on his face or if he did something wrong when he saw you move your left hand from where it was resting under your chin.

Peter watched your pointer finger, pinky, and thumb unfurl from your fist. The sign for I love you. You wouldn’t look at him as you signed it. Your chin was now resting on your right hand and you looked at everyone around the cafeteria, observing new faces from those that weren’t blipped and now were in your grade.

“I heard you the other night,” you whispered.

Peter’s face turned red. He meant the confession with his whole heart but that didn’t mean he was necessarily ready for you to hear it. You didn’t say anything else as you put your hand down. Peter didn’t even have the chance to feel awkward about it as you distracted him by taking the comic book out of his hand to read it.

“No! Peter Parker, did you buy your own comic?” You whisper-yelled so no one else would hear.

“Hey! It’s my first merch. It’s called The Amazing Spider-man. That’s kind of sick, isn’t it? They gave me a whole series after I got snapped and I missed so many volumes. You might be used to it but I’m not, and turn to page eight,” Peter said as you flipped. “I got this issue ‘cause Ned told me.”

“It gets boring after a while, unless you’re Uncle Tony… or Uncle Bruce.”

You did as he said to see your hero moniker, Gemstone, waiting on the balcony of an apartment that looked nothing like May’s place but a lot like Steve’s old Brooklyn one. The next panel was Spider-man hanging upside down, mask halfway off, as you held his face while you kissed him.

“They ship our heroes,” Peter said with a smile.

“Congrats, your relationship has been validated,” MJ joked.

Ned pointed to the comic that now laid flat on the table. “Have you two ever tried that?”

This time it was your turn to feel heat rise to your cheeks, blessing the heavens that only the red on Peter’s face would be noticed by anyone. Peter grabbed the book and shoved it back in his backpack while you sputtered through a ‘no’ and gulped down your water.

Having classes with Ned and MJ for the rest of the day meant you and Peter were incessantly teased until school was over. You weren’t sure why it was so awkward for both of you, probably just the abruptness of Ned’s question. You two had never tried kissing with Peter upside down but the question alone made you very awkward.

“Dad just got back from the Flag Smashers mission and said you’re sleeping on the couch again if you don’t come upstairs with me,” you said as you entered Steve’s office.

Steve figured it must’ve been late if you were already back from your date with Peter. He should’ve been upstairs but he wanted to finish checking all the files he had been sent. The video you sent him from San Francisco had to be investigated and then so did the update on Wanda and so did trying to convince Sam to take the shield after he found out that his husband donated it to the Smithsonian and decided to stay the Falcon.

Nick conveniently forgot to mention that Steve wouldn’t be doing just mission reports from agents but paperwork from the different boards in the UN that the S.H.I.E.L.D. branch worked with. He wasn’t as bad as Tony when it came to staying late but Sam chewed his ear about as much as Pepper did Tony. So Steve was glad Sam sent you to retrieve him instead.

“Alright, alright. I’m coming, just let me finish this.”

“What is it?”

“Stephen and Wong want to take on that video you sent me. I don’t know, wizard stuff. If it makes my life easier, I don’t really care. Are those chocolate chip cookies?”

He pointed to the box in your hand. You looked through them.

“This one is. Here.”

You plopped down on the edge of his desk, handing him one of the Insomnia Cookies. Steve looked down at your shirt. He had to restrain himself from making a hum of disapproval at the giant Spider-man mask on the front of the shirt. You didn’t own anything Winter Soldier or Falcon or Captain America, from when it was him or Sam.

He recalled seeing only four Avengers merch in your closet. An Iron-Man onesie that Tony thought was hilarious, the Black Widow sweatpants Nat requested you wear after seeing Tony’s merch, and the large t-shirt you pulled out when you were missing Clint and Pietro because memorial shirts were made for them.

Not once did you ever request their clothes though. Steve thought, yeah it was a little petty to be jealous of his daughter’s boyfriend but you were his family first. Was it too hard to get a shirt? They all got your merch and each other’s— Sam’s favorite thing odd enough were the Winter Soldier sweatpants. Steve took the cookie and ignored the shirt.

“How was your date?”

“It was nice. Rocky Horror’s weird.”

“Weird good or weird bad?”

“Just weird… Is Wanda coming home yet?”

Steve shook his head.

“She says she still needs time to understand her magic before coming back. She doesn’t want to hurt anyone else so I don’t think we’ll be seeing her for a little while, Babydoll. But you can probably visit her soon, I don’t think she’ll mind. She might like the company, actually. You convince your dad to take the shield back?”

It was your turn to shake your head. “He keeps saying that it feels like it belongs to someone else. You kind of have hard shoes to fill, Dheaidí.”

Steve sighed. The shield was Sam’s and he believed that with his entire heart but convincing his own husband seemed to be a different challenge. Life after the Blip was slowly putting itself together but falling apart all at the same time:

Wanda was found but still missing in a sense, there was a potential new hero, Tony and him were no longer heroes but retired, Sam wouldn’t take the shield, his sister-in-law wouldn’t take Avengers’ money to fix the Wilson family boat, Bucky’s nightmares returned after the Blip and weren’t getting better, Bucky hated the therapy that Steve had put him in, his daughter had a boyfriend and was getting closer and closer to becoming an actual adult.

Out of all the things, you no longer being his little girl was definitely the worst part of it. Steve clicked out of all his files, turning the computer off.

“You don’t worry about any of that though. Just focus on school and your space stone thing.”

“And Peter. We have another date on Saturday. Uncle Jamie said he’d be a chaperone.”

Steve deadpanned. “How could I forget? Don’t forget, Morgan’s birthday is this weekend. You can’t miss your cousin’s party for a date.”

“Peter’s invited too.”

Your father sighed. “Of course he is.”

“I mean he’s practically family— Uncle Tony’s! Not ours, that would be weird considering we make out, I mean we just kiss. Promise nothing…”

Steve held up a hand. “I don’t want to know. How about we go to bed and act like this part of our conversation never happened?”

“Sounds great. Want another cookie?”

“Absolutely.”

You and Steve awkwardly munched on cookies and made your way back to your floor in the compound. Moments like this was when everyone said the resemblance between you and Steve was uncanny, aside from the blond hair. You two had the same awkwardness and lack of good communication without stumbling over your words. The goodnights were short and curt as you both went to your own rooms.

As Bucky brought you and Peter to Morgan’s party, Steve gave a small smile before heading into the kitchen under the guise of looking for some more drinks. Tony laughed as you practically held Peter down while Morgan gave him a princess makeover. He looked around to see if anyone was getting footage when he noticed that one particular supersoldier was missing.

“Cap?” Tony called as he snuck into the house. “Ca— Steve, are you good?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said in an unconvincing tone.

Tony walked over, deciding not to say anything about noticing Steve wipe away tears. He looked at what the other man was looking at. The picture of you, Tony, and Peter playing chess in the lab. Steve sighed.

“Sorry, Tony. This is your little girl’s day, I don’t mean to ruin it.”

Tony opened the fridge to look for another soda, handing one to Steve before cracking open one for himself. He leaned against the kitchen sink. Both of them took long swigs of their drinks. Tony shook his head.

“You’re not ruining anything. It’s hard isn’t it, seeing Sarah grow up?”

“Yeah. Even harder when I missed most of it. She should’ve had some dumb princess party like this when she was younger and she had a HYDRA cell instead.”

“You can’t blame yourself for that, Steve, you weren’t even thawed out.”

“But I can blame myself for letting her get taken and the Blip. And it’s my fault she’s here in the first place. That kid and her mom would have had a chance if I wasn’t her dad… You know, I went to see her mom. When I was returning the stones. I just couldn’t help myself. She was a bright woman, looked so full of life.”

“Stev—”

“I didn’t talk to her,” he cut Tony off. “I just stared like a creep. Babydoll looks like an exact mix of both of us.”

“Steve,” Tony said more firmly. “You’ve got to stop blaming yourself for the kid’s past. You were in ice, you didn’t know, and you stepped up to the plate the moment you found out. The only person regretting missing Sarah’s younger years is you. She might be getting older but she doesn’t stop seeing herself as your little girl.”

As if someone called you, you came walking in. “Dheaidí! Cass and AJ are here, so is Aunty Sarah. Are you done with your soda?”

Steve stuck it out for you to finish. “My favorite Sarah’s here?”

“I thought I was your favorite Sarah.”

Steve pulled you in for a hug, swaying the two of you back and forth. “You’re always my favorite Sarah, Babydoll.”

“Guess what?”

“What?”

“Uncle Jamie won’t stop staring at her like a creep. I thought you said he was a ladies’ man in the 40s?”

“Give Buck a break, it’s been a while.”

“So if he marries Aunty Sarah then he’s legally a part of the family now, right?”

“Are you trying to play matchmaker? Stay out of adult business.”

“I’m almost an ad—”

“Nope, don’t want to hear it. Forever my little girl.”

“I know,” you said, making Tony give Steve a shove because he was right. “But I’m not twelve anymore. Boys don’t have cooties and I definitely know what flirting looks like. Uncle Jamie likes Aunty Sarah, she’s totally into him, and I think you should help him change her name from Wilson to Barnes.”

“G.I.”

“Yes, Uncle Tony?”

“How many rom-coms have you and the Spiderling been watching?”

“Like all of them.”

“Explains so much,” Tony muttered into his soda.

The entire party moved from outside to inside as Morgan’s elementary school friends left and only the Avengers and family were left. Pepper had ushered everyone into the cabin house where the party was being held instead of at the compound. Ever the manager and businesswoman, she had an alarm set on her phone about the new Captain America exhibit at the Smithsonian.

The government had actually wanted Steve there but he insisted that his niece’s birthday party was a more important event— not everyday did someone turn six. You all gathered on the couches as Pepper turned on the television. Steve, Sam, and Bucky all rolled their eyes at seeing you cuddled up to Peter who got most of the princess makeup off minus the unicorn tattoo on his cheek. Your actual cousins, Cass and AJ, started making kissy noises while Tony shielded his own daughter’s eyes and told Morgan that she couldn’t date until she was your age and shouldn’t even think about it.

While you enjoyed being the oldest Avenger baby, you suddenly remembered how much younger cousins could be so annoying. Clint’s kids weren’t helping as they joined in. Cooper, the closest in age to you, was the only mature one about it. You didn’t mind if he had wanted to join in on the teasing. Losing Clint was hard on you but he was only just your uncle. He was their dad.

They had slowly been getting better, coming round the compound more with Aunt Laura. So if making fun of your relationship helped them feel better then you would gladly let them. Cass and AJ were a different story, however. You grabbed the pillow from behind you and chucked it at the two boys. Sarah grabbed their phones when she saw them pull them out.

“Nope, no. Your cousin’s relationship is not for you to gain more followers. I thought I told you no Instagram anyway.”

“It’s not for Insta, Mom,” AJ whined. “All the girls at school think Sarah and Peter are relationship goals.”

“And Evan,” Cass chimed in.

“Yeah and Evan. They pay us for exclusives you can’t get on Insta or paparazzi stuff. It’s for vision boards, manifesting stuff. Makes a fortune.”

“How much?” You asked before their mom could scold them.

“A buck fifty per picture, adds up with all the kids paying.”

“You should be charging at least two fifty,” Peter commented.

You nodded. “I was going to say that.”

“Sarah,” your aunt started. “Don’t encourage them.”

You set your head back on Peter’s chest as the tv program started. Did you two pose a little bit for Cass and AJ to get a good picture? Maybe. If a bunch of preteen girls paid your cousins to make you and Peter their little vision board avatars, you weren’t going to stop their hustle. It didn’t affect you two at all. You might actually pay one of those girls for a physical vision board as an anniversary gift.

The mood in the house was a lot calmer with just family. You all passed around leftover snacks, drinks, and cake as the Smithsonian did a live in-depth look at some of the new additions to the exhibit. The US Secretary stood next to the Smithsonian director— the glass case holding Steve’s shield off to the side of them. Cooper sat up straight.

“I can’t believe you gave up the shield, Uncle Sam.”

Your dad just shook his head. “It felt right. I enjoy being Falcon anyway.”

“You think they’ll let us borrow it if we ask?”

Steve and Sam turned to you. “Why do you need it?”

“No reason.”

Sam pursed his lips. “We’ll revisit this conversation later.”

“My answer will still be no reason.”

“See that. That right there, kid, is how I know you’re up to something.”

“And now for the moment everyone has probably tuned in for,” The US Secretary said, drawing everyone’s focus again. “What about the legacy of the shield? Well, Captain Rogers provided a few words for us.”

You all listened to the speech that Steve had pre-recorded, complimenting him for the nice words. The secretary stopped the clip.

“Wise words from our beloved captain. While his legacy lives in this shield and the person behind it can never be replaced, we hope the American people and the world find it in their hearts to make room for the symbol that is Captain America to live on. Help us give a warm welcome to the new man we have picked to help carry Captain Rogers’ burden of being a symbol and hope. A man who embodies the greatest of America’s values. Welcome your new Captain America, Captain John Walker.”

Your jaws all dropped. You immediately turned your head to look at Steve and Sam, both men frozen. As the program ended, each of you slowly recovered. Natasha shook her head.

“They can’t do that, can they? That shield is Steve’s, it’s Sam’s too if anything.”

“Doesn’t matter if they can,” Bruce said. “They just did.”

“No. No one’ll go for it.” Steve tried to sound sure but even he didn’t know.

If this is what they were going to do with his shield then he would have never retired. If it wasn’t going to Sam then it shouldn’t have gone to anyone. He was fuming on the inside, not wanting to show it because it was still Morgan’s birthday. A lot of calls and visits had to be made when you guys got back to the compound.

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x teen!reader #peter parker x black!reader #peter parker x reader #avengers x teen!reader #avengers fic #marvel fic

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dragonmuse · 2 years

Note

In The Kid is Alright, Eddy is new to interacting with Alma and isn’t sure how to be around her. By the next time we see them together, she’s settled into the role of step-parent. How was their process of coming to terms with being a parent and becoming comfortable in that role? I expect there would be some anxiety considering their history with their own parents, and I imagine it might sneak up on them that she’s actually a parent now.

(It's a long and rocky road, but mostly for Eddy, at least, not the kids themselves. She works very hard to keep the pointy parts of herself away from them. )

The first time she thinks of them as hers it's only about a year or so after the wedding. Alma is 12 and Charlie is 8. She has them both with her, Stede is dealing with something at the bar.

"Eddy," Charlie approached them with a frown, his brow all wrinkled up like Stede's which makes them smile.

"What's up?" Eddy asked.

"My shoe broke." He lifted up his foot to show her the toe of his sneakers peeling away. "I was running and I tripped and it broke."

"Huh. Did you bring another pair?"

"Nuh huh."

"Okay then, I guess shoe shopping it is," she decided. She hadn't really had a plan anyway. "Alma, get yourself together, we're going shoe shopping."

"Okay!" She called from the bathroom. "Can I get a pair too?"

You've got a dozen at least,Eddy thought. And you only wear the one most of the time. What the hell do you need another for?

"Maybe," she equivocated.

It took some minor magic to get them all out the door, but within a half hour, they were on the subway. Eddy and Alma clung to a pole, Charlie, after attempting to stand just on his own and almost falling ass over teakettle, wrapped himself around Eddy's free arm. He clung like a barnacle, giggling every time they came to a stop and he almost tumbled over, only Eddy's grasp on his t-shirt keeping him upright. When he fell against her hand, she could feel his ribs, his fluttery tiny heart against her palm.

He was so small in the world. Alma not much larger.

"Come on," Eddy urged them off at their stop. Alma was too big to hold hands, but Charlie had no such compunction, keeping his grip as they mounted the stairs. It was only when they reached street level again that he started his usual yo-yoing, running ahead then arching back Alma kept pace beside her.

"Can we get lunch out?" Alma asked.

"Mm, going to have to. It's almost noon already."

"I'm hungry."

"Me too!" Charlie put in as he circled back. "Can we have hamburgers?"

"We had hamburgers yesterday," Alma groaned. "And I don't even like that places veggie burger. It's so dry."

They'd eaten pizza last night for dinner, so by Eddy's math, she should probably be trying to jam something with the potential for green it down their young gullets.

"Ramen?" She offered.

"Yes!" they both agreed. All right then.

"I saw a documentary about ramen," Alma told her as Charlie ping-ponged around them. "This shop had been in the same family for three hundred years."

"Really?" Eddy listened with half an ear as she tried to remember which side of the street the damn place was on.

"Uh huh, can you imagine? All those generations of people learning how to make noodles. It was so cool. I wish we had something like that, but instead we just have boring Bonnets forever, doing stupid things like stocks."

"Is that it?" Charlie asked, pointing to a sign.

"Read it," Eddy instructed. "You tell me."

"Dry...cleaners...oh." Charlie sighed then rushed on ahead again.

Alma went on describing the noodle making process and at last there was the shop across the street.

"Can I cross?" Charlie asked.

"Wait for us," Eddy instructed and got her hand on his shoulder before he could yeet himself into traffic. "Okay...now."

There weren't tables available during the lunch rush, but the kids seemed happier with the tall chairs around the ramen bar.

"Okay," Eddy wasn't even hungry this early, but she posted up on her chair like she'd survived a ship wreck. "What's everyone getting?"

That bought her a few minutes of peace as they both looked over the menu. She texted Stede their whereabouts in case he got home early and decided on her own meal.

"Can I get it spicy?" Charlie asked.

"It's your lunch," she frowned. "But if you don't like it..."

"I'm going to try," he decided.

"Yikes," Alma muttered.

Eddy let him get it, figuring she could swap bowls with him when he inevitably gave up. They each ordered politely then turned to her expectantly.

"What?"

"What should we do while we wait?"

"Uh...fuck," she rustled in her pockets, came up with an envelope she'd stuffed in there and a pen. "Knock yourselves out."

They figured out some dot game that Alma was clearly going to win, Charlie not even quite following the rules, but the place worked fast so the food was delivered before Eddy had to arbitrate any arguments.

Eddy and Alma's bowls were mostly shades of yellows. Charlie's was a mildly alarming shade of red. Welp. At least it would be a story.

"Cool," Charlie declared, dipped into the broth and sucked down a mouthful.

Eddy ate her egg and considered her life choices. Alma chopsticked enough noodles into her face to choke a cow.

"Bites, Alma," Eddy reminded her.

Charlie was flushed now, but was already inexpertly attacking his noodles with the same verve as Alma with even less tidiness. All right then.

"Can I have a juice?" He asked through a mouthful of noodles.

"Don't talk with your mouthful and no, you had juice with breakfast and there'll be soda with dinner probably, stick to water."

"Can I have your mushrooms?" Alma asked, eyeballing Eddy's bowl.

"Knock yourself out, hate the slimy bastards."

They all finished their bowls. Charlie had blown his nose a few times, but was otherwise no worse for wear.

"That was great!" he said merrily.

"Huh. Okay, Charlie is a yes to spice," Eddy noted, shelling out their debit card. "Who knew?"

"Roach let me lick a ghost pepper once," Charlie sucked down the rest of his glass of water. "I only cried a little!"

Eddy: you let charlie lick a ghost pepper?

Roach: you want free childcare, you get what you paid for

The shoe store was crowded and Charlie wound up glued to their side.

"What size do you wear?" Eddy asked him and was met with a shrug. She turned to Alma. "Do you know?"

"Why would I know?" She looked blankly back Eddy.

"Okay," Eddy scanned the store, found a floor sticker with colorful kids feet and numbers with relief. "Pop off the broken one, kiddo, let's figure this out."

Once they had his size, Alma scouted ahead and located a row of sneakers (gender divided, naturally) and started pointing out options to Charlie, who shrank closer and closer until Eddy wasn't sure if he was attempting to hide or possibly merge with their body.

"Alma," Eddy said gently. "Go find yourself three pairs to try on. No promises, got it?"

"Got it!" She dashed off.

"What color do you want, Charlie?"

"Dunno," he looked down at his single socked foot. Oh right, probably should've had him put the other shoe back on. Whoops.

"You like red, right?"

"Yeah," he said softly.

"Not your favorite though?"

He shrugged.

"Can't read minds, kiddo, talk to me."

"I liked these," he touched his socked toe to the other shoe.

"Oh, you're sad they broke, huh?" Eddy said with some relief at untangling that. "Yeah, sucks. How about we find a pair as much like them as we can?"

"Yeah, okay."

They managed to find a very similar pair in the same brand and Charlie found a smile again. Alma tried on several pairs of sneakers, but then put them all away again and didn't ask for any of them, so Eddy rode that reprieve to the register and then to the overpriced cookie store, handing out sugar and gaining a coffee that she clung to like a lifeline.

They made it back to the apartment to find Stede just getting home himself.

"There you all are," he said as if he'd been looking for them for hour instead of just now hanging up his coat. "How did shoe shopping go?"

"Look, look," Charlie dashed up to him, holding out one foot. "Eddy found the same ones, almost!"

"They are very close," Stede agreed. "Are you happy with them?"

"Yes, they fit really good," he said contentedly.

"I got a garbage cookie," Alma announced with satisfaction. "It had potato chips in it."

"How was that?" Stede gently herded them further inside.

"Really good! Can I watch TV?"

"Yes, of course."

The two of them went to to go tussle over the couch cushions and Eddy sat down on the spindly bench to pry off her own boots. Stede went into the kitchen, to dispense water.

It was as she set her boots down next to Charlie's new sneakers that it hit in her in a wave. There were their big black boots, here were small sneakers and Alma's slightly larger sparkly purple boots. A line of shoes, bookended by Stede's loafers.

This wasn't babysitting. This was Eddy's home, crowded with kids' shoes. They'd just done an errand, got them fed and watered. This wasn't special days out anymore. This just...was.

"You okay, honey?" Stede drifted in. "You spaced out a bit there."

"No, I'm here," Eddy smiled up at him. "Just thinking. When did you start feeling like you were really a dad?"

"When I rocked Alma to sleep for the first time," Stede said after a second's thought. "She was so small. Hard to believe she's the same human almost."

"Does it ever stop being scary?"

"Not so far," Stede slid an arm around her waist, pressed a kiss to her cheek. "But you're pretty brave. I think you'll manage."

#leda house and the kraken verse #ficlet #babygirl and goldenboy #eddy teach bonnet #stede teach bonnet #alma bonnet #charlie bonnet

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halothenthehorns · 2 years

Text

Chapter 16: A GOD BUYS US CHEESEBURGERS

"Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?" Alex asked seriously.

"Depends on the god," Thalia shrugged.

Percy responded just as seriously, "and the cheeseburger."

"He has a thing against those plant ones," Thalia stage whispered.

"Those black-bean ones aren't bad," he protested, "they're just a lie!"

"Moving on," Will chuckled.

The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, our train rolled into Denver. We hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas. We hadn't taken a shower since Half-Blood Hill, and I was sure that was obvious.

"Poor Grover, I wonder if you smelt as bad as monsters by then," Will laughed.

"Let's hope he doesn't start throwing tin cans at us if so," Percy nodded.

"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."

"We can't use phones, right?"

"I'm not talking about phones."

"Um, demigods still need to text with a phone, right?" Magnus asked, he'd believe almost anything at this point.

"Yes, you're about to see what those drachmas were for," was all Thalia would answer.

We wandered through downtown for about half an hour, though I wasn't sure what Annabeth was looking for. The air was dry and hot, which felt weird after the humidity of St. Louis. Everywhere we turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at me, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city.

"I imagine people from out of town feel just as claustrophobic being in New York surrounded by buildings," Magnus said sympathetically.

'This realm is so strange, having a billion different types of cities that are barely held together and have little in common,' Hearth signed.

Magnus froze as he looked at him, for the first time wondering just how different his 'realm' was.

Finally we found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. We veered toward the stall farthest from the street, keeping our eyes open for patrol cars. We were three adolescents hanging out at a car wash without a car; any cop worth his doughnuts would figure we were up to no good.

Will was fascinated at this idea, kids had a tendency to loiter and play and laugh wherever they fancied in the most randomest of places, but he was the only one naïve enough to think some cop wouldn't instantly accuse them of being drug dealers or something. Jason had no specific memories, of course, but he had a feeling he'd had a few unpleasant interactions with mortals and their idea of authority. Each of them had experience being chased off by the cops for some reason.

"What exactly are we doing?" I asked, as Grover took out the spray gun.

"It's seventy-five cents," he grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"

"Don't look at me," she said. "The dining car wiped me out."

I fished out my last bit of change and passed Grover a quarter, which left me two nickels and one drachma from Medusa's place.

"Excellent," Grover said. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping."

'How does this continue to get stranger every chapter?' Magnus asked. 'I keep expecting sentences like that to stop being weird.'

'You're not alone this time' Hearth assured, but he was more than excited to find out, he'd never want to leave if they kept talking about how they use magic.

"What are you talking about?"

He fed in the quarters and set the knob to FINE MIST. "I-M'ing."

"Instant messaging?"

"Iris-messaging," Annabeth corrected. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."

The look of wonderment on many of their faces made Thalia feel like a proud parent showing off her world, her eyes lingered on Jason more than Percy as he grinned and looked from the book to the empty room as if hoping a rainbow would appear now so he could give it a try.

"You summon the goddess with a spray gun?"

"Well when you put it like that it sounds ridiculous," Nico rolled his eyes.

"Says the guy who communicates all of his messages through silent stares," Will sighed, he was so hard to read. He'd known Nico for years and was still trying to pick apart any details he could to try and get to really know him. It helped nothing he'd never spent longer than a month at camp before he vanished, randomly reappearing and then repeat.

Nico answered him, with a stare. His lips were stiff, he seemed unpleased, but there was a bend in the quirk of an eyebrow as he also seemed to be wondering something too, before turning back away.

Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow."

Sure enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapor and broke into colors.

Annabeth held her palm out to me. "Drachma, please."

I handed it over.

She raised the coin over her head. "O goddess, accept our offering."

She threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer.

"Half-Blood Hill," Annabeth requested.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then I was looking through the mist at strawberry fields, and the Long Island Sound in the distance. We seemed to be on the porch of the Big House. Standing with his back to us at the railing was a sandy haired guy in shorts and an orange tank top. He was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring intently at something down in the meadow.

"Luke!" I called.

"How, nice," Thalia caught herself from saying convenient at the last second. She scolded herself for being paranoid, Annabeth hadn't been specific enough and Luke didn't have his fingers in everything!

What gods had been on who's side at this time though? Here she was, lying to Percy even if it was for a good reason, had the same thing been on Luke's mind, had he convinced himself they'd understand when it came out?

"Thalia," Percy asked quietly, "did you need that break?"

She gave him a weak smile. Percy wasn't dumb, he knew he didn't have the whole story and he already seemed to know Luke was connected somehow. She was nothing like Luke, she wasn't manipulating anybody. "No," she assured, "just hoping he's not up there to put out a fire or something, that could get awkward." She lightly fibbed and tried to laugh off.

Will smiled and played along, "oh, like the time Connor and Travis tried to build a bridge out in the forest for extra obstacles, ugh that was a disaster."

The others laughed and demanded details while Thalia smiled and said, "thanks though."

He turned, eyes wide. I could swear he was standing three feet in front of me through a screen of mist, except I could only see the part of him that appeared in the rainbow.

"Percy!" His scarred face broke into a grin. "Is that Annabeth, too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"

"We're ... uh ... fine," Annabeth stammered. She was madly straightening her dirty T-shirt, trying to comb the loose hair out of her face.

Percy glowered and decided he might not like Luke as much as his first impression had led him to believe. Stupid, sandy-haired, swordsman...

"We thought-Chiron-I mean-"

"He's down at the cabins." Luke's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover all right?"

"I'm right here," Grover called. He held the nozzle out to one side and stepped into Luke's line of vision. "What kind of issues?"

Just then a big Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its stereo turned to maximum hip-hop.

As the car slid into the next stall, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much, it shook the pavement.

"Chiron had to-what's that noise?" Luke yelled.

"I'll take care of it.'" Annabeth yelled back, looking very relieved to have an excuse to get out of sight. "Grover, come on!"

"What?" Grover said. "But-"

"Give Percy the nozzle and come on!" she ordered.

Grover muttered something about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle of Delphi, then he handed me the spray gun and followed Annabeth.

I readjusted the hose so I could keep the rainbow going and still see Luke.

"Chiron had to break up a fight," Luke shouted to me over the music. "Things are pretty tense here, Percy. Word leaked out about the Zeus-Poseidon standoff. We're still not sure how, probably the same scumbag who summoned the hellhound.

"It's nice we can all agree on some things," Will said cheerfully, so nobody but Thalia was quite sure why Nico tried so hard to suppress a laugh.

Now the campers are starting to take sides. It's shaping up like the Trojan War all over again. Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo are backing Poseidon, more or less. Athena is backing Zeus."

Nobody was laughing much now, the uncomfortable notion of the gods going to war with each other, the idea still a little to radical for some to wrap their heads around at all, and caused to many bad memories in those that recently had been in battle.

I shuddered to think that Clarisse's cabin would ever be on my dad's side for anything. In the next stall, I heard Annabeth and some guy arguing with each other, then the music's volume decreased drastically.

"I would pay all the Drachmas to sit in on that conversation instead," Percy said enthusiastically as he imagined her little stature telling someone like that off.

"If we could pick and chose what this book showed already we'd be at war with each other," Jason sighed.

"So what's your status?" Luke asked me. "Chiron will be sorry he missed you."

I told him pretty much everything, including my dreams. It felt so good to see him, to feel like I was back at camp even for a few minutes, that I didn't realize how long I had talked until the beeper went off on the spray machine, and I realized I only had one more minute before the water shut off.

"I wish I could be there," Luke told me.

Nico scowled as he thought for himself, 'Poor thing having to stay and sow dissent in the background.'

"We can't help much from here, I'm afraid, but listen ... it had to be Hades who took the master bolt. He was there at Olympus at the winter solstice.

"So was everybody apparently!" Jason scoffed this still seemed the only real evidence.

I was chaperoning a field trip and we saw him."

"But Chiron said the gods can't take each other's magic items directly."

"That's true," Luke said, looking troubled.

"Did he just hope nobody would notice that little plot hole?" Will grumbled.

"Still ... Hades has the helm of darkness. How could anybody else sneak into the throne room and steal the master bolt? You'd have to be invisible."

"Is he accusing Annabeth of something?" Magnus demanded in the closest thing to outrage any of them had yet seen.

"If he is then he's a bigger scumbag than whoever started all of this," Alex agreed with a scowl. She hadn't been very taken with the know-it-all girl, but Annabeth had been instrumentally helpful to a boy she clearly didn't like and obviously worshiped Luke more than her own mother. What a horrible thing to imply about someone he should know better of!

We were both silent, until Luke seemed to realize what he'd said.

"Oh, hey," he protested. "I didn't mean Annabeth. She and I have known each other forever. She would never ... I mean, she's like a little sister to me."

The Norse kids looked soothed at least, while Jason was still compiling it all in his head, of everyone who had been mentioned and even unnamed people who hadn't. He didn't really think it was Annabeth either, she'd done nothing to sabotage the quest though she'd had ample opportunity. To much was still unknown to him, the timing of it all bothered him more than anything. Where was the motive to steal that bolt now?

I wondered if Annabeth would like that description.

"Let's just say it's a good thing she didn't hear it," Thalia muttered.

In the stall next to us, the music stopped completely. A man screamed in terror, car doors slammed, and the Lincoln peeled out of the car wash.

"Random question, of no consequence I'm sure," Alex began pleasantly, "has she ever drawn that knife on a mortal?"

"I reserve the right not to answer that," Thalia grinned.

'And here I was thinking Grover's shoe had 'accidentally' come off,' Hearth grinned.

"You'd better go see what that was," Luke said. "Listen, are you wearing the flying shoes? I'll feel better if I know they've done you some good."

"Oh ... uh, yeah!" I tried not to sound like a guilty liar. "Yeah, they've come in handy."

"Better than tripping you up," Nico said sardonically.

"Really?" He grinned. "They fit and everything?"

The water shut off. The mist started to evaporate.

"Well, take care of yourself out there in Denver," Luke called, his voice getting fainter, "and tell Grover it'll be better this time! Nobody will get turned into a pine tree if he just-"

But the mist was gone, and Luke's image faded to nothing.

"I think I'm relieved," Magnus admitted, "I didn't feel like that was going to be helpful advice." Even if he hadn't done it on purpose, Luke had just annoyed him by even accidentally implying anything about Annabeth. Those shoes would have to save somebodies life to make up for it now.

I was alone in a wet, empty car wash stall.

Annabeth and Grover came around the corner, laughing, but stopped when they saw my face.

Annabeth's smile faded. "What happened, Percy? What did Luke say?"

"Not much," I lied, my stomach feeling as empty as a Big Three cabin.

"How is it every time I talk to him I feel worse," Percy said sourly, he felt like a jerk for even saying it, Luke had been nothing but helpful, but some part of him felt just the smallest relief he'd said it aloud even if Thalia called him one.

'Good intuition,' Thalia kept to herself. "I think I'll blame Grover, nobody's blamed anything on him yet," she instead laughed off.

"Right, yeah, that must be it," Percy smiled back. "Maybe he got in my head he's the only one allowed to give me advice."

"Come on, let's find some dinner."

A few minutes later, we were sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner. All around us, families were eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas.

Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Well?"

I said, "We, um, want to order dinner."

"You kids have money to pay for it?"

Grover's lower lip quivered. I was afraid he would start bleating, or worse, start eating the linoleum.

"Charge people to watch, hell, you could make a mint if you let people start daring him to eat anything and payout big," Alex nodded.

"Maybe save that for plan B," Jason cautioned.

"Speaking of bets though," Magnus reminded, "they're in a burger joint! Final calls now for which god's going to show up and buy them a cheeseburger!"

"I think the only good option at this point is Pan there to scold us all," Percy sighed, "otherwise, this probably won't go well."

Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger.

I was trying to think up a sob story for the waitress when a rumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb.

All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's headlight glared red. Its gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather-but leather that looked like ... well, Caucasian human skin.

'Why do I get the feeling this guy isn't there to talk about healthy plant-based alternatives?' Hearth frowned.

'You never know, he could have a garden at home,' Magnus replied without hope.

'That he buries bodies in!' Hearth protested.

The guy on the bike would've made pro wrestlers run for Mama. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades, and he had the cruelest, most brutal face I'd ever seen- handsome, I guess, but wicked-with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights. The weird thing was, I felt like I'd seen his face somewhere before.

As he walked into the diner, a hot, dry wind blew through the place. All the people rose, as if they were hypnotized, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again. Everybody went back to their conversations.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Will sighed as he awkwardly gestured to the book, "a god you will not question is a god." They'd only gotten a glimmer with Dionysius, Ares was going to be a real glimpse into the Olympians.

The waitress blinked, as if somebody had just pressed the rewind button on her brain. She asked us again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"

The biker said, "It's on me." He slid into our booth, which was way too small for him, and crowded Annabeth against the window.

He looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him, and said, "Are you still here?"

"They didn't order anything," Alex scowled. She wasn't even there and she was already annoyed with this guy!

He pointed at her, and she stiffened. She turned as if she'd been spun around, then marched back toward the kitchen.

The biker looked at me. I couldn't see his eyes behind the red shades, but bad feelings started boiling in my stomach. Anger, resentment, bitterness. I wanted to hit a wall. I wanted to pick a fight with somebody. Who did this guy think he was?

"I'm guessing, not the god of cheeseburgers," Jason frowned. An idea was chafing at the edge of his mind, Percy's impertinence to a god of such importance, yet this seemed like nobody he'd ever want to worship.

He gave me a wicked grin. "So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?"

I should've been surprised, or scared, but instead I felt like I was looking at my stepdad, Gabe. I wanted to rip this guy's head off. "What's it to you?"

Even Percy's own friends were watching him in concern why he still had his own head for mouthing off to a god like this! How had he survived this meeting, let alone to his own age?

Annabeth's eyes flashed me a warning. "Percy, this is-"

The biker raised his hand.

"S'okay," he said. "I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am, little cousin?"

Then it struck me why this guy looked familiar. He had the same vicious sneer as some of the kids at Camp Half-Blood, the ones from cabin five.

"You're Clarisse's dad," I said. "Ares, god of war."

They were all expecting it this time and still saw Jason spasm with frustration. Not right...they stole and distorted...destroyed-

Jason calmed himself with several deep breaths. Whatever Mars- err- Ares was to him was rooted to deep in his mind to get any clear idea on. He wanted, needed to get this horrible confusion out of his system, but the intense burning feeling for how this god was being shown to him was so backwards it only made his frustration at these constant lies grow and he retreated into his seat, scowling at nothing and refusing to look at anyone until the book continued.

Ares grinned and took off his shades. Where his eyes should've been, there was only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions. "That's right, punk. I heard you broke Clarisse's spear."

"She was asking for it."

This, in Nico's mind, finally trumped his very first time seeing Percy be the bravest person on the planet. He really never flinched from a single fight! Medusa, he suddenly remembered, the Chimera... and now he felt disoriented at how, unsteady he suddenly felt, sitting down even. Ugh, no wonder everyone thought he was a nutjob.

"Probably. That's cool. I don't fight my kids' fights, you know? What I'm here for, I heard you were in town. I got a little proposition for you."

"Oh this will not go well," Alex said instantly, she'd never take a god asking her for anything, and this one was already as despicable in pleasure as Loki for how entitled he clearly was, waltzing in and interrupting their quest for his own problems!

The waitress came back with heaping trays of food; cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and chocolate shakes.

Ares handed her a few gold drachmas.

She looked nervously at the coins. "But, these aren't..."

Ares pulled out his huge knife and started cleaning his fingernails. "Problem, sweetheart?"

The waitress swallowed, then left with the gold.

"You can't do that," I told Ares. "You can't just threaten people with a knife."

Ares laughed. "Are you kidding? I love this country. Best place since Sparta. Don't you carry a weapon, punk? You should. Dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition. I need you to do me a favor."

"What favor could I do for a god?"

'Steal something,' Hearth nervously reminded.

"Something a god doesn't have time to do himself. It's nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little ... date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."

"Why don't you go back and get it yourself?"

The fire in his eye sockets glowed a little hotter.

"Why don't I turn you into a prairie dog and run you over with my Harley? Because I don't feel like it. A god is giving you an opportunity to prove yourself, Percy Jackson. Will you prove yourself a coward?" He leaned forward. "Or maybe you only fight when there's a river to dive into, so your daddy can protect you."

"A classic case of instigating, what a bully," even mercifully not being in the presence of him now, Percy could well remember the feeling he'd spent half his life under the influence of, between Gabe and the rich private-school pricks.

I wanted to punch this guy, but somehow, I knew he was waiting for that. Ares's power was causing my anger. He'd love it if I attacked. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"A perfect way to overcome anger issues," Alex approved. "You must have had some good counselors."

"Some were better than others," Percy agreed.

"We're not interested," I said. "We've already got a quest."

Ares's fiery eyes made me see things I didn't want to see-blood and smoke and corpses on the battlefield. "I know all about your quest, punk. When that item was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful..." He licked his lips, as if the very thought of the master bolt made him hungry. "Well ... if I couldn't find it, you got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. Your dad and I go way back. After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."

Nico glowered at the book and for the first time wondered how a god would react to stygian iron being shoved up their-

"And Poseidon believed him!" Will rolled his eyes. "This guy? Man Perce, I'm sorry if this is the best advice your dad had on the situation."

"Honestly, me too," Percy nodded.

Nico was tapping the pommel of his sword and smiling at the two instead now, even if he would still like to test the theory eventually.

"You told him Hades stole the bolt?"

"Sure. Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book.

"So he's admitting it could be a frame-up," Magnus said, "please tell me he wasn't the only one offering up solutions."

"Wasn't there," Thalia reminded, "but I can't imagine it went very well regardless."

I recognized it immediately. In a way, you got me to thank for your little quest."

"Thanks," I grumbled.

"Hey, I'm a generous guy. Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."

"We're doing fine on our own."

"Lies and deceit," Alex shook her head, "but I can't blame you."

"Yeah, right. No money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against. Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."

"My mom?"

He grinned. "That got your attention. The water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."

"What interrupted your date?" I asked. "Something scare you off?"

Ares bared his teeth, but I'd seen his threatening look before on Clarisse. There was something false about it, almost like he was nervous.

'What could he have been sent off to do that makes a god of war nervous?' Hearth demanded.

'I should be asking you that so you can lie and say it's no big deal,' Magnus reminded.

"You're lucky you met me, punk, and not one of the other Olympians. They're not as forgiving of rudeness as I am. I'll meet you back here when you're done. Don't disappoint me."

After that I must have fainted, or fallen into a trance, because when I opened my eyes again, Ares was gone. I might've thought the conversation had been a dream, but Annabeth and Grover's expressions told me otherwise.

"Not good," Grover said. "Ares sought you out, Percy. This is not good."

I stared out the window. The motorcycle had disappeared.

Did Ares really know something about my mom, or was he just playing with me?

"He wouldn't lie about something so important," Jason muttered and was still scowling at nothing as if the god were still lodged in his temple, creating an angry new pulse point sprouting right out of his head.

"You and me must have very different interactions with this guy then," Percy shrugged, he hadn't believed a word out of Ares's mouth.

Now that he was gone, all the anger had drained out of me. I realized Ares must love to mess with people's emotions. That was his power, cranking up the passions so badly, they clouded your ability to think.

"It's probably some kind of trick," I said. "Forget Ares. Let's just go."

"We can't," Annabeth said. "Look, I hate Ares as much as anybody, but you don't ignore the gods unless you want serious bad fortune.

"As opposed to all the good fortune they've been getting?" Alex protested.

"This is all pretty standard quest activity, believe it or not," Will sadly informed. "Ares could still make it worse."

"And this is the optimist speaking," Thalia sighed.

He wasn't kidding about turning you into a rodent."

I looked down at my cheeseburger, which suddenly didn't seem so appetizing. "Why does he need us?"

"Maybe it's a problem that requires brains," Annabeth said. "Ares has strength. That's all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes."

"No matter how the wind howls, the mountain cannot bow to it," Alex assented to that.

"Quoting Disney movies to help your case is a cheap shot," Percy sighed even if he didn't disagree with either of them.

Magnus was smiling tentatively at her and finally had an actual, coherent question he wanted to ask, maybe something resembling a conversation he could start about some of her other favorites, but she was already reading again and this really wasn't the time.

"But this water park ... he acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like that?"

Annabeth and Grover glanced nervously at each other.

Annabeth said, "I'm afraid we'll have to find out."

"I officially hate it when they look at each other!" Percy groaned.

Nico gave a soft laugh that no matter how much Percy said otherwise, he'd be leading the charge there and was probably about to perform some other history-making stunt. It was a water park, how could he do any wrong in there?

The sun was sinking behind the mountains by the time we found the water park. Judging from the sign, it once had been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D.

The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry waterslides and tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the asphalt. With night coming on, the place looked sad and creepy.

"There's a horror movie waiting to happen," Nico sounded curious about checking it out, he'd never been to one and loathed the idea of a crowded area, this seemed like a good middle ground.

"I'll go with you if you promise not to push me down one," Will sighed.

Nico gave him a bizarre look and Will flushed, wondering if he was being pushy and should just leave him alone. If he didn't want company and preferred to be alone then who was he to judge.

"Um, okay," Nico nodded but was still watching him like he was waiting for a trick of his own. Will was that nice to everybody, he reminded himself, he's not just taking pity on you.

"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," I said, staring up at the barbed wire, "I'd hate to see what she looks like."

"Percy," Annabeth warned. "Be more respectful."

"Why? I thought you hated Ares."

"He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental."

"You don't want to insult her looks," Grover added.

"Who is she? Echidna?"

"Gah!" Thalia looked revolted at the idea, "can you imagine the monster baby they'd have! Artemis would have to hunt that with her special bow!"

"No, Aphrodite," Grover said, a little dreamily. "Goddess of love."

Jason finally exhaled like he'd been unnecessarily trying to hold his breath. Venus, his mind easily supplied, and Mars were off canoodling around Vulcan. Yes, that made sense, not everything had been lost to time by those-

The vicious thought ended there as he frowned at Thalia and all of the Greek kids, commanding his mind to pay attention and stop wandering off.

"I thought she was married to somebody," I said. "Hephaestus."

"What's your point?" he asked.

"Oh." I suddenly felt the need to change the subject.

"Isn't there a goddess of marriage? Magnus asked in fascination. "That one with a flamingo-" Hearth finger spelled something, "sorry, peacock. Yet the gods still skip around on each other?"

"They have multiple mortal lovers, they aren't any more faithful to their immortal lovers," Will shrugged.

"So how do we get in?"

"Maia!" Grover's shoes sprouted wings.

He flew over the fence, did an unintended somersault in midair, then stumbled to a landing on the opposite side. He dusted off his jeans, as if he'd planned the whole thing. "You guys coming?"

"Well now he's just showing off," Percy chuckled at his friend doing it with such confidence. This was the same kid who'd teared up in class if Nancy Bobofit looked at him for to long. Who knew all it took to gain a little confidence was some flying shoes and hitting Medusa with a stick. He really owed Luke a thanks when he got back, he reminded himself, and must just be feeling jealous about Annabeth's obvious crush.

Annabeth and I had to climb the old-fashioned way, holding down the barbed wire for each other as we crawled over the top.

"And she said you two couldn't get along," Alex approved, "I've never heard of a better team-building exercise."

Magnus bit his tongue to stop the ludicrous statement he'd help her through barbed wire before she threatened to strangle him with her garrote.

The shadows grew long as we walked through the park, checking out the attractions. There was Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit?

"I don't even know where to start," Jason was right back to being inquisitively curious and clearly mapping the whole place out in his head once more.

"I do," Thalia grinned at once as she imagined all the fun of that place. The hunters deserved a vacation when she got back too, and she was sure she could throw a few literal snapping turtles and alligators in to appease Artemis it wouldn't all be relaxing in the lazy river.

No monsters came to get us. Nothing made the slightest noise.

We found a souvenir shop that had been left open. Merchandise still lined the shelves: snow globes, pencils, postcards,

'Isn't a snow globe of a water park just the least bit weird?' Hearth frowned.

"That's what you found weird about all of this!" Magnus didn't even sign that he was so exasperated while his friend just shrugged.

and racks of-

"Clothes," Annabeth said. "Fresh clothes."

"Yeah," I said. "But you can't just-"

"Watch me."

She snatched an entire row of stuff of the racks and disappeared into the changing room. A few minutes later she came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over her shoulder, obviously stuffed with more goodies.

"What the heck." Grover shrugged. Soon, all three of us were decked out like walking advertisements for the defunct theme park.

"I'm sure that'll throw the police off if they catch up," Will tried his level best to say with a straight face.

"I know I'd hesitate if someone threw one of those flipflops at me," Nico wasn't even bothering to try the same and was snickering mirthlessly picturing Percy in an outfit like that, yet somehow he still looked so regal and perfect in the outlandish getup- he stopped so abruptly it should have been concerning as he straightened back up and only Will was still frowning at him for how spastic the poor guy kept acting over the lightest of topics.

We continued searching for the Tunnel of Love. I got the feeling that the whole park was holding its breath. "So Ares and Aphrodite," I said, to keep my mind off the growing dark, "they have a thing going?"

"That's old gossip, Percy," Annabeth told me. "Three-thousand-year-old gossip."

"What about Aphrodite's husband?"

"Well, you know," she said. "Hephaestus. The black-smith. He was crippled when he was a baby, thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus.

Magnus spluttered in protest at such a horrible mental image, more concerned than anything this seemed casual news to everyone except his own friend who was now fidgeting with the ends of his scarf once more and seemed as distressed as him.

So he isn't exactly handsome. Clever with his hands, and all, but Aphrodite isn't into brains and talent, you know?"

"She likes bikers."

"Whatever."

"Hephaestus knows?"

"Oh sure," Annabeth said. "He caught them together once. I mean, literally caught them, in a golden net, and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like ..."

She stopped, looking straight ahead. "Like that."

In front of us was an empty pool that would've been awesome for skateboarding. It was at least fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl.

Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire.

On the opposite side from us, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed into when the pool was full. The sign above it read, THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!

Grover crept toward the edge. "Guys, look."

Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares's shield, a polished circle of bronze.

"This is too easy," I said.

"Why do I have an even worse feeling than one page ago now?" Thalia sighed.

"Good instincts," Percy groaned, he didn't need his gut to tell him he should smack his own head for saying such a thing!

"So we just walk down there and get it?"

Annabeth ran her fingers along the base of the nearest Cupid statue.

"There's a Greek letter carved here," she said. "Eta. I wonder ..."

"Grover," I said, "you smell any monsters?"

He sniffed the wind. "Nothing."

"Nothing like, in-the-Arch-and-you-didn't-smell-Echidna nothing, or really nothing?"

Grover looked hurt. "I told you, that was underground."

"Okay, I'm sorry." I took a deep breath. "I'm going down there."

"I'll go with you." Grover didn't sound too enthusiastic, but I got the feeling he was trying to make up for what had happened in St. Louis.

"No," I told him. "I want you to stay up top with the flying shoes. You're the Red Baron, a flying ace, remember? I'll be counting on you for backup, in case something goes wrong."

Grover puffed up his chest a little. "Sure. But what could go wrong?"

"I'm going to knock both of your heads together," Alex joined in on how not helpful that advice was.

"Hey, he has horns!" Percy protested.

"And you keep telling us to stop tempting the fates," Magnus backed her up.

Percy just crossed his arms but sighed in defeat.

"I don't know. Just a feeling. Annabeth, come with me-"

"Are you kidding?" She looked at me as if I'd just dropped from the moon. Her cheeks were bright red.

"What's the problem now?" I demanded.

"Me, go with you to the ... the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? How embarrassing is that? What if somebody saw me?"

"Somebody, like?" Jason asked dubiously.

"All of Olympus apparently," Thalia chuckled.

"Who's going to see you?" But my face was burning now, too. Leave it to a girl to make everything complicated. "Fine," I told her. "I'll do it myself." But when I started down the side of the pool, she followed me, muttering about how boys always messed things up.

"I take it back," Will was shaking with laughter now, "I want a copy of this book framed, let the god's wrath reign on me!"

"Me and her will sign it and everything," Percy said with no regrets as he gave his empty hand a squeeze where he wished her fingers were. He thought for the first time how lucky he was, getting to fall in love twice.

We reached the boat. The shield was propped on one seat, and next to it was a lady's silk scarf. I tried to imagine Ares and Aphrodite here, a couple of gods meeting in a junked-out amusement-park ride. Why?

Then I noticed something I hadn't seen from up top: mirrors all the way around the rim of the pool, facing this spot. We could see ourselves no matter which direction we looked. That must be it. While Ares and Aphrodite were smooching with each other they could look at their favorite people: themselves.

Que eight collective snorts of amusement around the room, finally something they could all agree on.

I picked up the scarf. It shimmered pink, and the perfume was indescribable, rose, or mountain laurel. Something good. I smiled, a little dreamy, and was about to rub the scarf against my cheek when Annabeth ripped it out of my hand and stuffed it in her pocket. "Oh, no you don't. Stay away from that love magic."

'How much do you think she knows about love magic?' Hearth asked with extreme interest.

'Enough I'd be worried about the next thing she gave Percy,' he chuckled back.

"What?"

"Just get the shield, Seaweed Brain, and let's get out of here."

The moment I touched the shield, I knew we were in trouble. My hand broke through something that had been connecting it to the dashboard. A cobweb, I thought, but then I looked at a strand of it on my palm and saw it was some kind of metal filament, so fine it was almost invisible. A trip wire.

"Wait," Annabeth said.

"Too late."

"There's another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another Eta. This is a trap."

"You guys are getting slightly better with every catastrophe," Thalia sighed, "now you know it's a trap right before it's sprung rather than figuring it out during it happening!"

"I've always taken whatever improvement I can," Percy shrugged.

Noise erupted all around us, of a million gears grinding, as if the whole pool were turning into one giant machine.

Grover yelled, "Guys!"

Up on the rim, the Cupid statues were drawing their bows into firing position. Before I could suggest taking cover, they shot, but not at us. They fired at each other, across the rim of the pool. Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arcing over the pool and anchoring where they landed to form a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net.

"We have to get out," I said.

"And I thought Annabeth was the smart one," Will smirked.

"Duh!" Annabeth said.

"So that's why she's the smart one," Alex cackled.

I grabbed the shield and we ran, but going up the slope of the pool was not as easy as going down.

"Come on!" Grover shouted.

He was trying to hold open a section of the net for us, but wherever he touched it, the golden threads started to wrap around his hands.

The Cupids' heads popped open. Out came video cameras. Spotlights rose up all around the pool, blinding us with illumination, and a loudspeaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute ... Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight ..."

"Hephaestus!" Annabeth screamed. "I'm so stupid.' Eta is H.' He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!"

"If that is the worst thing that happens I'd call it a good day," Will shrugged, it at least explained Ares's part in all this.

Jason wasn't so sure he agreed, he shifted uneasily at the idea of being the laughing stock of onlookers. Mars shouldn't be put into that kind of position either.

We'd almost made it to the rim when the row of mirrors opened like hatches and thousands of tiny metallic ... things poured out.

Annabeth screamed.

Thalia cussed in ancient greek and Magnus jumped free of his seat in pure concern to run to her now and help even before he heard the problem. Percy's empty hand was now clenched into a fist as he watched Alex's every twitch of the lips like he was trying to read for her.

It was an army of wind-up creepy-crawlies: bronze-gear bodies, spindly legs, little pincer mouths, all scuttling toward us in a wave of clacking, whirring metal.

"Spiders!" Annabeth said.

Everybody else was wincing now as they understood. The poor girl clearly had a thing against arachnids and should not be subjected to them spontaneously popping up.

"Sp-sp-aaaah!"

I'd never seen her like this before. She fell backward in terror and almost got overwhelmed by the spider robots before I pulled her up and dragged her back toward the boat.

The things were coming out from all around the rim now, millions of them, flooding toward the center of the pool, completely surrounding us. I told myself they probably weren't programmed to kill, just corral us and bite us and make us look stupid. Then again, this was a trap meant for gods. And we weren't gods.

"Percy for the win of astute observations this chapter," Thalia groaned, no wonder her sister had never mentioned this particular adventure, she had no clue how they'd gotten out of this one and was resisting the urge to start smacking Percy to get on it if he wasn't wringing his hands with so much worry, she was getting concerned he'd start flinging the ocean about- wait. They were in a water park!

Annabeth and I climbed into the boat. I started kicking away the spiders as they swarmed aboard. I yelled at Annabeth to help me, but she was too paralyzed to do much more than scream.

Alex hadn't hesitated to see the scrutinizing look Thalia was giving her friend or much of anything, she was reading with complete concentration even over Magnus's burning gaze. At least now she knew a Halloween prank she would never pull on Annabeth.

"Thirty, twenty-nine," called the loudspeaker.

The spiders started spitting out strands of metal thread, trying to tie us down. The strands were easy enough to break at first, but there were so many of them, and the spiders just kept coming. I kicked one away from Annabeth's leg and its pincers took a chunk out of my new surf shoe.

Grover hovered above the pool in his flying sneakers, trying to pull the net loose, but it wouldn't budge.

Think, I told myself. Think.

The Tunnel of Love entrance was under the net. We could use it as an exit, except that it was blocked by a million robot spiders.

"Fifteen, fourteen," the loudspeaker called.

Water, I thought. Where does the ride's water come from?

Then I saw them: huge water pipes behind the mirrors, where the spiders had come from. And up above the net, next to one of the Cupids, a glass-windowed booth that must be the controller's station.

"Grover!" I yelled. "Get into that booth! Find the 'on' switch!"

"But-"

"Do it!" It was a crazy hope, but it was our only chance. The spiders were all over the prow of the boat now. Annabeth was screaming her head off. I had to get us out of there.

Grover was in the controller's booth now, slamming away at the buttons.

"Five, four-"

Grover looked up at me hopelessly, raising his hands. He was letting me know that he'd pushed every button, but still nothing was happening.

I closed my eyes and thought about waves, rushing water, the Mississippi River. I felt a familiar tug in my gut. I tried to imagine that I was dragging the ocean all the way to Denver.

"Two, one, zero!"

Water exploded out of the pipes.

"I've never had a book give an actual countdown for me before, usually I'm just doing that in my head," Jason sighed in relief.

"It's not over yet," Magnus cautiously lowered himself back into his seat even as he kept scrutinizing the book, he wanted to hear of his cousin back to chastising Percy or something to know she was okay after that sort of panic attack, very early childhood memories of her screaming like that over a spider in the park had convinced his mom early on not to take them outside to play much when she was over.

It roared into the pool, sweeping away the spiders. I pulled Annabeth into the seat next to me and fastened her seat belt just as the tidal wave slammed into our boat, over the top, whisking the spiders away and dousing us completely, but not capsizing us. The boat turned, lifted in the flood, and spun in circles around the whirlpool.

The water was full of short-circuiting spiders, some of them smashing against the pool's concrete wall with such force they burst.

Spotlights glared down at us. The Cupid-cams were rolling, live to Olympus.

But I could only concentrate on controlling the boat. I willed it to ride the current, to keep away from the wall. Maybe it was my imagination, but the boat seemed to respond. At least, it didn't break into a million pieces. We spun around one last time, the water level now almost high enough to shred us against the metal net. Then the boat's nose turned toward the tunnel and we rocketed through into the darkness.

Thalia managed a genuine laugh again at least as she imagined Annabeth blushing scarlet to chase away her pale face, this scene playing out for all of them to watch. She and Percy got that Thrill Ride of Love after all.

Annabeth and I held tight, both of us screaming as the boat shot curls and hugged corners and took forty-five-degree plunges past pictures of Romeo and Juliet and a bunch of other Valentine's Day stuff.

"That honestly sounds like the best tunnel of love ride ever," Will chuckled.

"I'd be happy to send anybody else crazy enough down there," Percy promised, "but please don't be getting ideas of putting this in camp."

"Where's your fun side gone Perce!" Will couldn't stop grinning at him.

"Safe in Denver," Percy reminded.

Then we were out of the tunnel, the night air whistling through our hair as the boat barreled straight toward the exit.

If the ride had been in working order, we would've sailed off a ramp between the golden Gates of Love and splashed down safely in the exit pool. But there was a problem. The Gates of Love were chained.

Two boats that had been washed out of the tunnel before us were now piled against the barricade, one submerged, the other cracked in half.

"Unfasten your seat belt," I yelled to Annabeth.

"Are you crazy?"

"Unless you want to get smashed to death." I strapped Ares's shield to my arm. "We're going to have to jump for it." My idea was simple and insane.

"I really wish that wasn't such a common thing with you," Jason muttered. They were only on the first book and this guy seemed to be made up of nothing but crazy ideas and killer monsters on his tail.

As the boat struck, we would use its force like a springboard to jump the gate. I'd heard of people surviving car crashes that way, getting thrown thirty or forty feet away from an accident. With luck, we would land in the pool.

Annabeth seemed to understand. She gripped my hand as the gates got closer.

"On my mark," I said.

"No! On my mark!"

"What?"

"Simple physics!" she yelled. "Force times the trajectory angle-"

"Fine.'" I shouted. "On your mark!"

"Look at you two cooperating, this is obviously destiny," Magnus sighed and relaxed back in his seat in pure relief again she was definitely okay.

She hesitated ... hesitated ... then yelled, "Now!"

Crack!

Annabeth was right.

"I take it back, I get to blackout some passages before Annabeth signs this," Percy theatrically sighed.

"Not a chance," Will's smirk increased.

If we'd jumped when I thought we should've, we would've crashed into the gates.

She got us maximum lift.

Unfortunately, that was a little more than we needed. Our boat smashed into the pileup and we were thrown into the air, straight over the gates, over the pool, and down toward solid asphalt.

Nico was enthralled by hearing of all this. Even in Annabeth's wisdom, her mistakes meant just as many mess-ups. Percy hadn't the perfect solution and saved the day single-handed, he had no doubts who was about to swoop in and save them. He swallowed as he watched his idol lounge back comfortably in his seat now, adjusting finally to the disorienting feeling of his pedestal getting some cracks in it. That Percy was just, normal.

Something grabbed me from behind.

Annabeth yelled, "Ouch!"

Grover!

In midair, he had grabbed me by the shirt, and Annabeth by the arm, and was trying to pull us out of a crash landing, but Annabeth and I had all the momentum.

"You're too heavy!" Grover said. "We're going down!"

We spiraled toward the ground, Grover doing his best to slow the fall.

We smashed into a photo-board, Grover's head going straight into the hole where tourists would put their faces, pretending to be Noo-Noo the Friendly Whale. Annabeth and I tumbled to the ground, banged up but alive. Ares's shield was still on my arm.

Once we caught our breath, Annabeth and I got Grover out of the photo-board and thanked him for saving our lives. I looked back at the Thrill Ride of Love. The water was subsiding. Our boat had been smashed to pieces against the gates.

A hundred yards away, at the entrance pool, the Cupids were still filming. The statues had swiveled so that their cameras were trained straight on us, the spotlights in our faces.

"Show's over!" I yelled. "Thank you! Good night!"

The Cupids turned back to their original positions. The lights shut off. The park went quiet and dark again, except for the gentle trickle of water into the Thrill Ride of Love's exit pool. I wondered if Olympus had gone to a commercial break, or if our ratings had been any good.

"Number one I'm positive, you'll have a dozen seasons in no time," Alex nodded seriously.

"Action, adventure, comedy, even a stupid love triangle, you'll be raking in the views," Will mocked along.

"Who's in the triangle?" Nico looked at him oddly, the back of his neck feeling unreasonably hot, oh gods, was he that obvious? Just because Percy was normal didn't mean he had a chance against a ship that had long since sailed.

"You don't think Grover's got a shot with either of them?" Will gave him an exaggerated mock pout, "I was rooting for it!"

"Moving on," Thalia cut in with an exasperated laugh.

I hated being teased. I hated being tricked. And I had plenty of experience handling bullies who liked to do that stuff to me. I hefted the shield on my arm and turned to my friends. "We need to have a little talk with Ares."

"It won't stay little for long," Alex said with confidence, imagining the yelling Percy could hopefully get out of his system as she passed the book along to him.

#PJO #Percy Jackson #reading the books #fanfiction #Will solace #Nico di Angelo #Thalia Grace #Jason Grace #Hearthstone #Magnus Chase #alex fierro #fierrochase #Solanglo

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lolitastories · 1 year

Text

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Description:

You work alongside Matt and Foggy at the law firm. Of course as one of the most successful lawyer in the city the one and only Tony Stark would recruit you. As you are trying to find a meaning of your life you find life in someone. It’s may be a rocky start for you two but maybe it’s worth taking.

Chapter 2:

“Goodmorning, How can I assist you this morning?” The young lady at the front desk asked me.

“Hello, I am here to see Agent Penelope Garcia” I check my phone and verify if she has responded but nothing.

“Am sorry I don’t recognize that name”

“Of course. She and her team are here on the doppler case” Come on.

“Oh yes.” Thank god. “Let me lead you to the office she is using. I nod following right behind her. Once we arrive I give her thanks and she lets me walk in alone.

“Why haven’t you responded to any of my messages?” I can’t help but smile as her usually bubbly self engulfs me into a hug.

“Im sorry, I just wanted to get these papers filled out so I can have enough time to shop around before leaving tonight”

“Well new york is surely the place to walk around and shop”

“Sure is, so what's up” I take a seat next to her. She always made every place she was in hers, no matter how long she was in them. She was the one to bring the cases into a new level with a sense of emotion. We met here about 2 years ago when they requested my help. One of their agents was in trouble and needed to get his case resolved. He was being wrongly accused and working alognside her the most was the best. Since then we have kept in touch.

“My client was found dead last night from an apparent suicide, and my partner and I know that was not the case. He left a note behind and photos of the scene were taken.” one of the things I hate doing is asking for things, more when they haven’t asked anything of me.

“They took you off the case and they are just treating it as a soon to be closed one since he probably admitted guilt in the note” She surely is a smart bee.

“Yes. So my question is if you could..” Why does asking for help have my heart beating faster and wanting to punch myself?

“Get you the pictures? Sure. Give me a couple seconds” I let out a short laugh seeing her move her fingers magically over her keyboard. “I will send them to you using an encrypted address, so no one knows it was sent to you and no one can take them off your phone” After a short conversation I bid her goodbye. I was so lucky she was in town. I drove back into the office and straight into Matt’s.

“Hey got the pictures, did you get the videos?” I see him shake his head but move a file towards me. I open them up and see death certificates.

“There is no video eveidence in or around his home and the officers are of no help, but they did mention that” I see him point at the papers again. All in alphabetical order, all the suspects' death certificates. All killed one day during the week prior to Miller’s death. “Foggy spend his morning looking them up and even confirmed it with the families”

“Why would they kill Miller and the suspect in question? Eitheir we never got the right guy in our suspect list or they don’t care who they kill, loved one or not '' I throw the papers to the desk. It's like if I was driving down a road and had three ways to go. One was the easy way, just a straight paved road. The other one was a road that would take me days to drive. I would have to take a car, then a boat, a plane and finally walk on foot to reach. The third one I could see the destination but the bridge had just broken. The train broke. Everything is falling piece by piece. What was supposed to be our advantage and a step ahead brought us closer to nothing, nothing. Anyways, that just confused me more. I get up, popping open my phone. “I got the pictures of the letter and you are right it was definitely not a suicide note”

We spent the whole afternoon trying to figure anything out. Any connection to the Miller to the suspects or any of them to the 3 guys mudered and finally we got a lead. One of the suspects had the same marking left on the note and the three guys that were murdered. We looked back on the guy’s pictures and with the help of Foggy and Karen now we came to find that the suspect was close to another guy with the same marking on his wrist.

“I will send over the information to the lead officer” I nod at Karen. Our next step is to wait for them to take them into custody and wait for him to talk. Let the police do their jobs and have him give as much information as possible. What did that marking mean? Who was the suspect to him?

“Now what?” Foggy asked, as he is seated next to Matt and I. I take my phone out to check the time.

“Well it's 4:45. I say we take a break and resume this as soon as we hear anything from the police. I can’t miss Tony’s party and neither can you three” I part to my home to get ready. I rush home quickly, taking a shower and fixing myself up. Supricenly I look into the mirror and it doesn’t look like I havn’t slept well for the past 2 weeks. When I arrived at the tower the time hit 7:10. I took the elevator to the floor where they were having the party. It was a long way up but I finally made it.

“Look who’s here” I hear Tony scream from across the room. I would have turned right around but I notice Nat and Steve now behind Stark as he walks towards me.

“I brought you your succulent but those guys in the entrance took it from me” I say feeling his arms wrap around me and pulling towards the way he came from. “Happy birthday” I say quickly returning his smile.

“Thanks. I know you are a no show to parties but I want you to enjoy yourself tonight” I was about to argue with him but he always has to get his way or he won’t stop. “Come on do it for me. It's my birthday!” He grabs a drink from the waitress passing by and with that he walks away.

“I understand you’re his lawyer but that doesn’t mean you have to be his friend” I laugh at Nats words as I hug her, than Steve.

“I know I am not the most uplifting person but someone how in his little weird way he makes me like him. Plus the pay is good so if I have to come to these once every year I can take it”

“Well it's good to see you,” Steve says, handing me a drink. “So what has been keeping you busy from visiting us?” Nat and I follow him as he leads us towards the bar.

“I had this case that has been going on for 3 weeks and just this morning my client was found dead. Now it seems to be a murder but the officials want to pronounce it as a close case because some letter states he admitted fault” Damn I am going to need more alcohol.

“So they just want to throw him under the rug and call it a win?” I simply nod towards them stealing two cups from a waiter. “So what is the reason you think it was a suicide?” Before I could ramble on about what we figured out a tall figure walks behind steve and places a hand on his shoulder

“Hey man, I need to talk to you” The deep voice belonged to a dark-haired guy. Build with a strong stance. A vibridium arm. Call me crazy but I don’t even know how to handle my thoughts right now. Being in the presence of the avenger is not new. I know everything can be expected but not me becoming so infatuated with only looking at this guy for the first time. Who was he?

“Yeah of course” Steve got up, excusing himself from the table. “I will be back soon” I nod watching them both leave

“Bucky” I hear from the side. Quickly I noticed I was having a staring problem so I looked towards Nat with an awkward smile. “Well James Buchanan Barnes. He was stationed with Steve back in the 40s. We found him as the Winter Soilder”

“Oh yeah. You told me some details, before he had to go to Wakanda '' Nat mentions some things here and there but with her missions and my cases we prefer to leave our work lifes behind most of the times we hang out.

“Yeah. He seems much better now but I know its a struggle for him to get used to this world now” As she continues talking I can’t help but move my eyes discreetly towards them. The lights were low but when he was close I could tell they weren’t brown. His face was emotionless as he walked away but he tried to direct a smile towards us as he spoke to Steve. Being on the bad side most of your life and having to work for it now is not simple. “You like him.”

I shake my head, “No, no, just curious” It was true. He was the mysterious, cold looking, low voice guy in all of my books I have read before and fell in love with but I am too smart to know that something like that would work out. Boys in my books fight for what they want while battling their demons. When I see him I see a guy who has demons he has yet to overcome because the main demone is himself. He is struggling. His arm twitches and his head turns at every noise. He has things he needs to fix and if all my books are correct a woman may help but they want their space. Also the woman in the books does everything for them not to be alone and helps them fight their demons but I am not one to do so. I get scared and run away at the first look of difficulty. I am not the one to be placed with someone's trust and love. I can’t give you a correct response. I am not someone’s needs.

“Stop analyzing everything” She laughs while handing me another drink. “Is you were to stop anylizing eveythning and just go for it you would see how wonderful life could be '' She was right. Every move I make has to be foreseen by a pro and cons list. A breakdown of cause and effect. I break down my decisions and take the best route, even if my heart is telling me not to.

“Am a lawyer, that's what I do” I take a sip shrugging her off to change the conversation.

“Well how about for tonight you can be a girl in a little black dress who everybody in the party sees as carefree” I smile at her words. Of course I am not the one to let go but fuck it. Right?

“And what do you suggest, Miss. Romanoff?” She drinks her last glass and pulls out her hand.

“I suggest dancing like nobody's watching?” And that is exactly what we did. We dance past midnight. Many guests had left and while the rest were drinking and talking Nat and I were the only ones on the dance floor.

“Girls! The DJ needs to go” We both turned booing at Tony who was speaking through the microphone. “Don’t boo me! Go get some water!” We both laugh making our way to the other avengers. Which was only Steve, Wanda. Vis, Bruce and soon I knew Tony was going to come over.

“Hey I know you are not in the right mindset but I have something I would need help with in the morning?” Steve asked innocently which I only nodd to trying to gulp down a whole water bottle. “Its nothing just a ticket” I burst out laughing and soon the others follow.

“Goody two shoes got a ticket?!” Of couse Tony was the one with the nickname although everybody was thinking it.

“It wasn’t my fault! I was fed up with Nats feet on the dashboard and didn’t see the light was red”

“Well it wasn’t my fault either. You could just have ignored it but you chose to remove my feet yourse-'' We were caught off guard as the big windows outlooking the terrace blew up. I don’t know if they were the drinks or if I was just that tired but I don’t remember anything else from that night.

A/N: we are introduced to Bucky!!!. I am going to start writing the next part tomorrow and I want them to have a sort of enemies to lover kind of relationship but I don’t know how to get there. If you got any ideas feel free to comment. Thank you♥️

#james buchanan bucky barnes #bucky #buck #bucky x y/n #bucky x female reader #bucky x you #bucky fic #avengers #tony stark #steve rodgers #nat romanoff #james barnes x reader #james barnes

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blacklodgemusictx · 1 year

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2.5 hrs? I thought "down here" south from home, Abilene, all cities were right next to each other and required no time or effort to get between.

I have the magical, if annoying ability to sleep the second I'm in a moving vehicle so the trip from Houston to Austin takes no time to me.

I've picked all our hotels for this trip with proximity to venue in mind, but Austin is two shows so apparently I picked it for distance to the second show... we're accidentally 20 miles away from the first show.

We hang out at the hotel. Doug sleeps. I write, mess with my pictures from Houston, get Doordash (Michi Ramen, y'all, accept no substitute! Though I apologize to anyone who met me after as I am now a walking garlic glove.)

I don't know if needs will change in the next few days, but right now I'm so delighted NOT being at work, I'm happy as a clam in bed surfing for the ubiquitous episode of Forensic Files. Updating Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, TikTok, my own website that I don't even know how to access right now because of hosting issues and my own virtua-ignorance - I'm emailing entries to an extremely tolerant gentleman I met on Fiverr: just update everything now and I"ll learn to internet later, please? Ok.

I've taught myself basic graphic design, marketing and literally created an internet presence purely to try and amplify the presence of these musicians I've come to love so much.

In the back of my mind, a tiny voice keeps whispering: these are skills. Skills people might want. You could parlay this in to a job that doesn't kill your soul, makes you look forward to waking up every day... but I've also never been the type of person who just believes; takes for granted that good things will happen. I'm trying to change and I would love to believe that if I gaze in to the future, I'll see myself happy, doing something I love that fulfills me spiritually instead of just paying the bills... but some lessons hammered in to my head as a child (life, work is to be endured not enjoyed) stick like cement and feel impossible to break.

But I will keep trying. Things change. One of my Zox affirmational bracelets I've taken to adorning my wrist with recently says: 'Just Breathe.' As long as there is breath, there is hope. If you are still here, if you are ALIVE, you can change.

The first Austin show is cold.

The audacity of having an outdoor show in January! But this is Texas. My Rocky Horror troupe at home performed in the cold, I was Janet is the pouring rain once (actual splashing during the swimming pool scene, can you imagine?)

There are heaters, but occasionally the musicians still stop to flex and wiggle life back in to cold digits.

Olivia has borrowed a black throw from the lady of the house and knotted it about her shoulders. A simple knot, a careless/careful draping and suddenly that throw is any stylish piece off a Paris or Milan runway.

Joe and Salim are in layers. I'm layered too, but Salim still lends me his coat while he performs. I wear it like a lap blanket. Wool. Cozy.

I pull up my hoodie. Run inside. Steal some cheese from a charcuterie. "Leave the moon alone" one gentleman, also enjoying the cheese, comments. That's what my hood says. It's an inside joke from the Jimmy Newquist Zoom COVID shows. "Remember Caroline's Spine?" Head shake. "Sullivan? The song about the brothers in the navy who died together? It's the story 'Saving Private Ryan' was based on" He doesn't remember. Normally, I pull out my phone and play the song when I have a captive audience like this, but I shrug and head back outside.

Marty banters. Marty poses like Robert Plant.

Some day, bless them, my musicians will learn that I'm here to document... and that includes the silly stuff too. I have pictures of all of this. I love it though. I love Marty being silly with us. I love that I can talk to him and he will smile and joke. I've met so many who can't be bothered - one of Marty's previous group of contemporaries comes immediately to mind. So many whose self importance takes up too much room. Leaving no room for a fan to squeak by and pass a word of admiration or two.

It was a cold, beautiful night.

I'm already so aware though that the trip is speeding by. Tonight is the Cactus Cafe. Tomorrow is San Antonio and hopefully a friend or two or three to see. Then leg one is over.

Salim brought up a term at the show last night that I am now trying to keep in my head, "Hyper presence." Just be here. Be here now.

Eyes open. See everything. Experience. Be here. Eat the food. Hear the music. Love the companions.

Be alive for this.

Live.

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captainmaplesblog · 1 year

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Life of Lea Volume 1 Chapter 2: An Odd Dimension

Everyone looked at the new surroundings as they were cold as there was a sign in the distance saying 'Welcome to Ice Region, Fairy Dimension'. Lea shivers as the cold temperature starts to get to her immediately.

“My family's cabin and lab are nearby, we can warm up there,” Sergean said as he put his cloak around Lea then summoned snow clothes from them with his magic.

They all nod and follow Sergean to his family's cabin west of where they were. Lea stayed quiet as she wondered why Sergean was calling her princess and then put his cloak on her.

“Maybe he’s trying to be gentlemen-like?” Lea thought to herself. Once they got to the cabin, Sergean walks up the stairs and onto the porch as he unlocked the front door.

“Nice cabin your family has,” Lea said as she looked at the woodwork of the porch as they came in.

“Thanks, my grandad is great at woodwork” Sergean replies as he let the others inside as he held the door open for them.

Everyone went inside as it started to snow outside. Lea looks around as if she wasn't used to being in a new dimension, magic being real or animals turning into humans.

“So, do you have family nearby, Sergean?” Mom asked as she looked around hoping his parents knew they were staying there.

“Yea… I have a sister in the next region” Sergean replied as he adjusted the collar of his shirt.

"Is it alright for me to use the kitchen to make lunch?" Mom asks him.

"Sure, that's fine" Sergean replies as he points in the direction of the kitchen.

She nods as she goes toward the kitchen, so she could see what they have for her to make for lunch and dinner.

“Oh, so who is older?” Dad asked curiously.

“I am” Sergean replied as he puts wood into the fireplace.

“Ah ok,” Dad said as he got comfy in his seat on one of the couches.

Alyssa and Cloud lay beside the couches on the side with blankets over them to relax. Vanessa, Snowball, and Rocky look at the pictures on the mantel over the fireplace. Lea and Sergean get up and set up the table for lunch after mom finished making lunch. Mom then put the food on the table when they finished.

"Ham sandwiches look good," Dad said as he praised Mom.

“Indeed” Lea replied as she agreed with her dad.

Alyssa and Cloud sat at the table first as they kept their blankets around them.

“Huh…first time I won’t be told to go away when it’s time to eat, it’s nice,” Cloud says slightly nervous as he grins.

“Fair point, so enjoy the food even more,” Mom said with a smile as she finally could hear what he thought about her cooking.

Lea stayed quiet as she ate her sandwiches as she was lost in her thoughts about what has happened today.

Sergean looks at her as he noticed her facial expression and thinks “What a day she must have had … well all of them anyways”.

After everyone finished eating, Lea walked outside for fresh air and went for a stroll. She was completely lost in thought as she got to the railroad tracks while also not wearing layered clothing. She sat on the tracks as the snow fell on her and she was completely zoned out.

“Rough day?” Sergean asks as he had followed her immediately.

“Yea the roughest so far this year” Lea replied as she was coming back to her senses.

Lea turned to look at Sergean as she had forgotten she was surrounded by snow.

“So why did you follow me?” Lea asked a bit curious.

“It’s your first time in this dimension so going on a stroll while not being properly dressed for snow was a dumbass choice” Sergean replied.

“Ah oh…fair point,” Lea says before she flinches slightly when she realizes how cold she was again.

“Mhm…” Sergean replies as he uses his magic to add another layer to her clothing before sitting beside her.

“Thanks for lending me your cloak and the warm clothes,” she says as she hands him his cloak.

He shakes his head as he lets her keep wearing his cloak.

“Keep it until we go back to the cabin,” he said.

“Ok…thank you,” she replied softly as she stood up.

“We should head back,” he says as he stands up before summoning an umbrella so they wouldn't drag any snow when they return.

She nods and follows him back to the cabin as she stays under the umbrella with him. He ruffles her brown hair in a joking matter as he gets the snow off of her head. She sighs as she shakes herself to make sure the snow comes off of her. When they finally got back Mimi was showing everyone to their rooms.

“Nighttime already…?” Lea says as they had only been gone for two hours but then again, she did zone out for half of it.

“The noon comes a bit faster in this dimension” Sergean implies as he noticed her confusion.

“Odd but ok” Lea replied as she turned to look at him as gave him back his coat.

Sergean shows her to a room at the end of the hallway.

“You will be staying in here,” he says as puts away his umbrella and coat.

She nods and goes into the room, she takes off her shoes and moves her stuff beside the bed. Sergean leaves and goes to his room as he was exhausted as well. Lea sighs as she goes to her bed she then immediately lies under the covers.

“What a day I’ve had…but is it my fault like Alyssa said it was?” Lea thought to herself.

Lea slowly fell asleep as she stayed under the blanket it was a long day for everyone. Cloud later came into her room as he wasn't used to sleeping alone as a human. She wakes up to the sound of the door as she hadn't adjusted to sleeping in a new location let alone a new dimension.

“Lea? Are you awake?” Cloud whispers as he goes over to her.

“Yea I’m awake…” she replies as she stretches a bit.

“I can’t sleep…this place doesn’t smell like home…” Cloud replies as he sits beside her on the bed.

“Well, there’s nothing that I can do about it…sorry,” Lea says with a yawn.

"Oh, can I sleep with you, please?" Cloud asks as he looks at her with puppy eyes.

“Sure…” Lea mutters as she is ready to go to sleep now.

Cloud curls up against her and closes his eyes as he gets comfy. She sighs and closes her eyes as she falls asleep and faces the wall. The next morning was brutal since it was snowing all night. Lea groans as she sits up in bed as Cloud nuzzles against her.

“Cloud time to get up,” Lea says as she turns to look at him.

Cloud shifts in the bed as he is super comfy under the sheets.

“Cloud… get up now,” Lea says a bit annoyed.

He sighs and stretches before getting up.

“Oh, good you're up, breakfast is ready,” Dad said as he stood in the doorway.

Lea nods as she fixes her bedhead in the mirror, then Cloud yawns and leans against her as he mumbles something.

“You heard him; Cloud let’s go,” Lea said as she stood up.

Cloud groaned as he stood up and followed her to the kitchen table but then the smell of bacon and eggs filled the room.

“Mm… smells good,” Cloud said as he still has a love for bacon as a human.

“Indeed, it does,” Lea said as she took her seat.

The others then join her at the table.

“So, was everyone comfortable in their bed last night?” Mimi asked as she tied her hair back before eating.

“Yes…” everyone said in a tired tone.

Lea yawns before eating her food.

“Close your mouth princess,” Sergean said as he crinkles his nose.

“Sure, if you quit calling me princess, Serg” Lea snapped at him.

He rolled his eyes and went back to eating his breakfast as she also went back to eating her breakfast annoyed. After they ate there was a knock at the front door.

“Now who could that be?” Mom said as she went to the front door but when she opened the door see a long blonde girl in a blue dress, black leggings, and a pink winter coat with a white scarf.

“Elizabeth, what are you doing here?” Sergean asked as he stood up.

“Lady Molly sent me; she said the fairies need help in the Water region” she explained.

“Who’s Lady Molly?” Lea asked curiously before putting a piece of bacon into her mouth.

“Lady Molly is the guardian of Water; she has an assistant named Holly” Sergean exclaims.

“Well let’s go see what they need help with,” Mimi said as she was ready to go.

“Alright let us get ready first,” Mom said as she had everyone get ready after finishing their breakfast.

Lea sighs as she gets ready, when she is done, she comes out in a black shirt, a thick yellow hoodie, and jeans with matching black boots.

“Well everyone is ready so let’s head over to the Water region,” Elizabeth said with a smile.

Everyone followed Elizabeth to the Water region.

Vanessa goes to Lea and whispers,” Doesn’t she look like Sailor Moon?”

“Yea she does but is she fourteen like Usagi?” Lea whispered back.

“So how long will it take us to get to the Water region?” Alyssa asked.

“In an hour or so” Elizabeth replied.

“Will there be any mermaids over there?” Snowball asked as her eyes lit up with excitement.

“There might be seaweed and fish drop off so maybe” Sergean sighed slightly.

“Not very fun with splashing sirens?” Lea jokes.

“Shut it princess” Sergean replies unamused by her joke.

“Mhm,” Lea says as she giggles lightly.

“We should’ve brought lunch with us,” Dad said as he didn't notice any lunch boxes.

“True” Mom replied as she felt slightly guilty.

“They’ll have food there,” Elizabeth said with a bright smile as she reassured them.

“Bright smile and appetite like Usagi” Vanessa whispered to Lea.

Lea giggled and nodded as they walked beside each other.

“So how old are you, Elizabeth?” Dad asked curiously.

“Fourteen and Sergean, my big brother is four years older” She replied.

“So, he’s eighteen… alright,” Dad said skeptically as he glanced at Lea, who was also eighteen.

Lea looks the other way awkwardly as her Dad looks at her. Sergean just rolled his eyes as he had not been too interested in anyone at the moment.

“Anyways we are almost at the Water region,” Elizabeth said to make things less tense.

“Alright,” Lea says as she stays beside Vanessa and Cloud.

Dad kept his guard as he was being an overprotective father slightly as he was all bark but no bite. As they continued to walk, they soon reached a wide crescent beach shore.

“Welcome to the Water region,” Elizabeth said with a bright smile as she posed in a way to get their eyes on this beautiful location before she unsummoned her winter clothes into just a blue dress and pink boots.

#LifeofLea #original story #original characters

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teasty · 3 years

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hold on tight || b.c (m)

"hi! can you write something about streetracer!chan x f reader where things got heated up 🥺🥺 i really like your works by the way, kiss yourself really is one of my jisung’s fav fic !!" - anon

a/n: holyashjdljzhldsa just the thought of streetracer!chan makes me... omg i don’t even KNOW, i'd actually go crazy... and omg tysm! that means so much to me :,( and you're gonna have to excuse me since there's so many things heated could mean i'm just gonna make it angsty and smutty,, also kinda went off for a fluffy ending because it's bang chan, the christiano bangnaldo, how can i not???

● pairing: bang chan x (fem) reader

● genre: a lil bit of fluff at the beginning | angst | smut (mdi!)

● requested? yes!

● words: 8.7k

→ summary:

You’ve never known about your boyfriend’s secret and very illegal job, if you could even call it that.

"Shut up, buckle up and hold on tight 'cause it's gonna be one hell of a night for us, darling."

It’s a cold, rainy night. You’re waiting comfortably on the couch, sitting there wrapped up in one of Chan’s blankets, waiting ever so patiently for his return. He’s not usually out this late, neither did his job usually end this late. Your mind was getting the worst kinds of ideas as you held your phone in your hand, more worry than anger coming over you. You couldn’t be mad at him, really, you were just worried something happened to him, since he wasn’t picking up your calls or even looking at your texts.

It’s around midnight, and you swore you wouldn’t sleep until you watched Chan, in all his glory, walk through the front door of your guys’s shared apartment. You’ve been dating Chan for years, ever since high school. And, now, even after graduating college and finding a stable job and apartment, Chan still tended to keep things from you. It was a bad habit of his, yes, but you couldn’t really be too mad at him for it. Besides, you’ll be able to help him out of that habit. Once he comes back, at least.

To wait, you decided to watch a bit of television to let your mind wander from the thought of something bad happening to Chan. Of course, the subtle thought of him cheating crossed your mind a few times, but Chan’s only ever been the most loyal and dedicated boyfriend, even past his pretty hard shell. He acts pretty tough sometimes, but you know that he’s just a little bit insecure about himself on the inside. Which, to you, is completely normal. Everyone’s at least a little bit insecure. You couldn’t blame him for that.

Getting with Chan was actually very difficult at first. You both had a rocky start before you started dating, since Chan was kind of like the cliche popular bad boy, and you were the snarky book nerd. You both started off arguing and bickering about everything. But, when you both got closer and closer, you began to see a softer, kinder side to him. And, like magic, you two started dating. You don’t really remember how it happened. It might’ve been just Chan saying, “Wanna date me?” or something like that just ‘cause it’s simple. However, getting it past your parents about your relationship with Chan was the most difficult in the world. They did not approve of him whatsoever. Even today, they’re still cautious of him even though Chan’s already proven his loyalty to you and swore to your parents that he’d never lay an aggressive finger on you.

You’re parents didn’t really like him because of his choice of outfits and friends, which was a stupid way to judge somebody in your opinion. So, no matter how many times they tried to break things off or distance you from Chan, you two always found your way back to each other. Though it was fun, all the sneaking out at three in the morning, saying you’re going over to a friends house when you’re really going to go see Chan and all the late night calls in a hushed tone, you’re glad you can finally relax about it and live peacefully with Chan without the need to sneak around.

But, your mind hasn’t been so peaceful these last few hours. There’s still no sign of Chan and no opened messages. You gave up on calling him after the fifth call had gone unanswered, and just decided to wait. Clutching your phone to your chest in case he were to call or text. Your eyes switch between the screen and the front door (which led into the living room).

You nearly jumped out of your blanket when your phone started ringing obnoxiously loud. Your heart beat loudly as you scrambled to look at the caller’s I.D. And, thankfully, it’s Chan. You’ve never answered so quickly.

“Chan?” Your excited voice squeaked out when you brought the phone close to your ear, a bright smile etching over your lips. Just happy that he’s in contact with you.

“Hey, darling,” Chan’s voice was husky and tired, and a little deeper than you remember. He must be exhausted, and you wondered if he had to stay late at work, “I’m so sorry for being out late. I’ll be home soon.”

“Alright… Is everything okay? What were you doing out so late?” You ask carefully, wrapping the blanket tightly around you.

“Work. My boss had me work over time. I would have texted you, but I was pretty busy,” in the distance, you can hear the sound of his car’s engine. He must be driving pretty fast. Chan also has a really nice car he saved up for and worked really hard for. It’s a smaller, good looking and really, really fast car. You could recognize that engine anywhere.

“Oh… I’m sorry about that,” You respond after a moment.

“It’s alright. Nothing to worry too much over,” you can hear Chan’s smile even through the phone, “And, by the way, could you do something for me before I get home?”

“Sure.”

“Could you make me something small to eat? I didn’t have the chance to eat dinner at work. If you could do that, that’d be so great, baby.” Chan says, and you get up off of the couch. Already heading for the kitchen.

“I could make you some jjajangmyeon? We have all the ingredients,” you say, surfing through your pantry.

“That’d be great, (Y/N). Thank you,” Chan sighs through the phone, and you pull out the ingredients.

“Of course. When will you be home?” You ask before he could hang up.

“I’ll be home in the next ten to fifteen minutes, at the least.” He says, and you can hear the engine get a little bit louder behind him, “I have to focus on the road. I’ll be home soon. I love you, baby.”

“Love you, too, Chan.” You respond, and hang up. Now with the satisfaction and the relief of knowing Chan’s coming home, you separate the ingredients out and start cooking (thank god you took that home economics class back in high school. You couldn’t cook for shit before that). Since Jjajangmyeon is a pretty slow cooked dish, you try your best with temperature control to fit it into the timeframe for when Chan gets home, wanting it to be ready for him.

You had your hair tied back as you cooked, occasionally looking up to watch the television, which was still on the random news channel from before. It talked about things you weren’t too interested in, so you only kept it on for background noise.

You were so immersed in cooking, you didn’t even notice the door slamming open and closed and a pair of heavy footsteps walking up to the kitchen. You jumped when Chan’s arms wrapped around your waist, his chin planting itself on your shoulder. He laughs tiredly at your reaction, and you turn to give him a subtle glare, but your smile deceived you.

“Hey, baby. I’m sorry for coming home so late. I promise it wasn’t my intention,” Chan grumbles out, his words low and slightly slurred, mostly because he’s tired.

“It’s alright, don’t apologize,” you chuckle softly as you arrange two portions of the jjajangmyeon into two different bowls. Chan watches silently over your shoulder, “I’m just glad you’re home. You worried me. Please text me next time, before you stay overtime and don’t bother texting me. I worry a lot, you know?”

“I know, (Y/N). I know you worry too much for your own good,” Chan smiles softly, chuckling tiredly, “It’s one of the reasons I love you so much.”

You smile, flustered, and raise a warm hand to press against Chan’s cheek, turning your head to press a loving kiss to his temple, which is cold, even in the warm kitchen. “Dinner’s ready. Do you want to eat in bed?”

“Not if you’ll make me do the dishes directly afterwards,” Chan lets go of you to take his dish, and you take yours.

You cock a brow at him, “I was going to make you do them anyways. You’re not getting out of it that easily.” You giggle and tap his nose with the tip of your finger. “Come on. Take mine, too. I’ll shut everything down.” You hand your bowl to Chan, who takes it quickly as you scurry around, turning off the television. Turning off lights and putting the dishes in the sink.

Once Chan’s changed into more comfortable wear and you’re both comfortable in bed, watching some show on the TV while eating. Time at home was usually like this; relaxing. You’re cuddled up to Chan while he ate slowly. Once you both finished, you placed them on the nightstands for the time being.

Chan was asleep instantly. You were up a bit longer, still a bit run on adrenaline from worrying so much earlier, despite knowing you have to be up early for work. Chan didn’t have to work till the afternoon, but you had to be up early since you’re a librarian at the local public high school. Chan’s an assistant producer and works under a decently big entertainment company. It’s quite the drastic difference, but you being a pretty big book worm yourself, you decided it would be fun to be a librarian (mostly using your literature degree), even if it’s stressful at times. Chan’s work, however, is much more tedious than your own. Where you can usually go at your own pace, he has more strict deadlines and sometimes more difficult work.

So, you let Chan sleep on your stomach. His arms wrapped around you securely as his face nuzzled into the soft fabric of the oversized shirt you were wearing. You were up a bit longer, watching the TV while running your hands through Chan’s soft hair. Enjoying the moment for the time being before you, yourself, drifted off into a deep sleep.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

You were the first one to wake up the next morning, per usual. You woke up to your alarm that Chan thankfully slept through. You got ready as quickly and quietly as you could. Since you work in a pretty professional environment, you wear something modest, but fits well with the fall weather and your fashion style. You wore a white long sleeved shirt and a pair of black slacks under a jacket with your university’s logo on it and a pair of sneakers. They weren’t too big on dress code for the teachers at the school, but the students still had to wear uniforms.

Before you left, you made Chan lunch for the day and yourself a lunch. You even bothered to wake him up briefly to give him a kiss goodbye and that you’ll be back early afternoon, although he’ll probably be at work, then. Chan, although three fourths asleep, gave you a tight hug and a kiss with a slurred ‘Love you’ before plopping back onto the bed and instantly falling back asleep.

Although Chan had quite the expensive car, he wasn’t quite fond of you driving it. You have your own car, and it’s fine. Mostly used to drive to and from work and nothing more, since most other things you were with Chan, so you both usually took his car. It’s not so much a matter of richer and poorer, his car just had more little trinkets and things that are just more convenient. You’re not completely sure what model his car is, all you know is that it’s expensive.

The school isn’t too far. It’s actually a ten minute drive from your apartment. You have to make it there pretty early, so the roads aren’t jam packed like they would be when Chan has to drive to work. So, you have a bit of an advantage there. When you get there, you’re met with the people in the front office, who bow respectfully to you, and you make your way to the library.

You set up at the large, round desk. You especially like being a librarian, because it’s quiet. You don’t think you’d do too well as a teacher, so you settled for a librarian since it was a good and easy way to use your literature degree and put it to good use, other than the fact you’re writing a novel, but that’s a whole other story (hehet).

It’s about half an hour before some students pile in, bidding you good morning and sitting down at the tables to study for whatever assignment or test they have, or to finish homework. Some of them go around to look at books, but most just sit by their lonesome and work on whatever while blasting profane music into their poor ears.

You were busying yourself going through overdue books, and emailing parents about student’s overdue books. You were immersed in your work, so you were somewhat shocked when someone tapped your shoulder. When you turned, you were met with the smiling face of your coworker. A middle aged, pretty woman named Jung Migyeong, who gave you the permission to call her ‘unnie’. She’s considerably your work - best friend. She’s the only person who really delved into conversation with you, unlike most of the other teachers who only talked to you about whatever book they’re class reading or for book suggestions (and you just choose the first book in the library that comes to mind).

“Oh, you scared me!” You giggle in a hushed tone, and Eunmi smiled brightly, her motherly aura giving you a sense of calmness.

“Sorry, sorry!” Eunmi sits on your desk, more leaning against it. Eunmi is really a pretty lady. Her hair is cut short to her shoulders, and she never wears makeup. Her natural tone is without blemishes or acne. She always wears pretty dresses to work, and she always carries around her purse for some odd reason. “I wanted to catch up with you. I didn’t realize you were so immersed in your work. I should’ve known, you’re more responsible than half the teachers here.”

“I try, I really do,” You respond, leaning back in the chair and smiling up at her, “Do you have a free period for the first hour?”

Eunmi nods, “Yes, I do. They switched it up just ‘cause of something wrong in the student's schedules. But, that’s past the point. How have things been going? In the home life?”

You shrug a shoulder, your smile dropping, “It’s… going. My boyfriend didn’t come home until, like, twelve - thirty last night. He said he had to stay late for work, but I don’t get it, Eunmi. He wouldn’t answer my calls or texts, and I don’t think his job prevents him from at least opening a text until he gets off, you know?”

“You said he’s a producer, right?” Eunmi asks, her head tilting down to look at you more clearly. You nod, “Well, he might’ve been busy with the idol. It’s pretty difficult work, I’m surprised he’s been able to keep up with it well.”

“Well, he came home hungry and tired,” you sigh again, “Which is weird because if he stays late he usually grabs something from the kitchen at the company building or fast food and eats it before he comes home. But, he was hungry… not super hungry, but I made him jjajangmyeon.”

"Jajangmyeon?" Eunmi’s head tilts, and one brow lifts and she scoffs, “That’s like a fifty minute dinner.”

“Not if you toy around with the temperatures, no,” you smile, and Eunmi shrugs a shoulder, “Eh, I was the one who suggested it to him. It’s one of his favorites, and he sounded exhausted and overworked so I though, you know, might as well. But, after eating, he was out like a light. You wouldn’t think that producing would make someone so tired.”

“You never know,” Eunmi reassures, “You seem to be really worried about this. You don’t think he’s cheating, do you?”

You quickly shake your head, “No, no! I know him, and I know that he would never do that to me. I think he’s just trying to hide something from me. I’m not mad at him, I just don’t want him to keep anything from me.”

“You’re not mad… yet!” Eunmi corrects, and your lips purse, “If he’s really hiding something from you, it must be pretty big. I would personally be surprised if you were able to keep your temper if you found out whatever it is he’s hiding. Cheating or not.”

You’ve never really been one to get extremely mad or even start arguments. As said before, you and Chan did have petty arguments back in high school, but since then, you’ve both matured. Chan always shut down a fight if you were getting too agitated, and you were usually never the first one to start up an argument, since your patience isn’t as thin as before. You will admit, though, you’d be decently upset if you found out Chan really was hiding something from you. You trust him so much, you thought there should’ve been nothing to hide.

“I suppose you’re right,” you lean your head against your hand, resting your elbow on the desk, “If there’s a good chance, I’ll talk to him about it tonight. If I want things to really work out with him, then there has to be complete trust and honesty with each other.”

“That’s the spirit,” Eunmi proudly says, placing a gentle hand on your shoulder.

“I want to spend the rest of my life with him, unnie,” you admit shamelessly, and Eunmi smiles wistfully, “I want to grow old with him. But I don’t want to live waking up every day at four in the morning and coming home to no one for hours on end. And, sometimes he won't come till midnight or morning.”

“Well, my husband and I used to have a lot of secrets, too. That we kept from each other,” Eunmi admits, reassuring you that you’re not the only one going through something like this, “The only way we were able to sort things through was by sitting down and talking to each other. Just telling all of our secrets to each other, even if they’re embarrassing or stupid. Just knowing the fact that we can trust each other with everything gives us that reassurance that we’re meant to be. Honesty is everything.”

You look down, thinking about the advice Eunmi had just given you, and you swallow down the growing lump of frustration in your throat, “Thank you for the advice, unnie. It means a lot to me.”

“Of course. I’m always free to talk, and you have my number if anything happens,” Eunmi smiles fondly, “And my doors are always open to you. I’ve spoken to my husband about you and he said that he’s always willing to keep our doors open. Just in case anything happens. You can’t be too careful, right?”

“Right,” you smile, flustered by Eunmi’s kindness, “Thank you so much. I’m… you’re right. If the worst of the worst happens and I’m booted out of my own apartment, then I’m at least glad to know that there’s some place I can go to that’s not three cities over.”

Eunmi laughs softly, and you laugh along with her, “I’m glad. Anyways, it’s about that time. I’m going to start heading back to my classroom. Let Chan know that I said hello, and that I wish you both well. Good luck, (Y/N).”

“Thanks, unnie. I’ll call you later,” you wave briefly as Eunmi makes her way out of the library, students bowing briefly to her as she passes.

You’re glad to have a friend like Eunmi. You’re lucky to have someone open their doors to you. Sometimes, you wonder if Eunmi views you as a younger sister, since she constantly rambles on and on about how she loves being called unnie or noona by her younger coworkers, even if she’s among the younger teachers. She’s like the sister you’ve never had. Sure, things had to be professional, but you’d like to spend more time with her out of the workplace. That would be fun.

The rest of the day is pretty slow. You had a few classes come in to pick up literature books, math books and to check out some books, but that was really it. You didn’t see Eunmi again, and left a few hours after the school closed. There was a bit of traffic on the way home, but it was mostly cleared up.

When you got home, you weren’t surprised to be met with an empty house. No sign of Chan, except the lunch you made him was gone, meaning he took it with him, thankfully, and he left a cute little note on a sticky note saying his thanks to you for making it for him. Which he usually did for you (you never bothered to throw them away. You actually kept them all in a little cigar box for safekeeping. Why? You didn’t know. You just felt like it.)

Like every day when you come home, you change into a pair of more comfortable clothing, which was just one of Chan’s hoodies you took out of his side of the closet, and a pair of ripped jeans. Since Chan didn’t do the dishes before he left, like you thought he would, you decided to do them to pass the time. In doing so, you turned on the TV for some background noise as you rolled up your sleeves to start scrubbing the dishes.

However, your attention was soon caught by the TV when the regular news anchor started talking about crime. At first, it was just about a robbery that took place in uptown, and that didn’t really suit your interest. What did catch your attention, enough to turn off the faucet and ignore the dishes to watch the TV, was when an all - too familiar black car with tinted windows and no license plate appeared on the screen, and there was a red car, too, but you didn’t recognize that one.

You turned up the volume, “Today, police are trying to look for these cars with no license plates caught on camera last night. They were suspected to be illegally street racing and gambling last night at around eleven o’ clock at night before being caught on security footage of a hotel nearby. If you can identify these cars, please contact the police immediately. One has been identified as a black Ferrari SF90 Stradale. The other has yet to be identified. If you see anything suspicious on the streets, please contact authorities. Here’s a clearer picture of both cars.”

And, that’s when it sparked you. One of the pictures of the black Ferrari was of the front. Despite the tinted window, you could clearly see a black ice Little Tree air freshener hanging from the mirror and a familiar hand gripping the wheel tightly. How could you recognize it? Despite the low quality, you can see a familiar ring on the middle finger. A celtic design Chan loved so much.

“Oh… my fucking god,” your mouth drops open as realization hits, and you immediately dash to the bedroom to yank open Chan’s dresser drawer, one left vacant for paperwork to “keep things safe”, and you pull out his insurance for his car. And, there it is, in plain sight. Ferrari SF90 Stradale. Color; black. Windows; tinted. At first, shock pools through you. Doubt climbing up. There’s no way Chan’s a criminal. There’s no way that he’s the one in the Ferrari. It has to be someone else.

But, there was only one way to find out. You had to be sure it was him.

So, you grabbed your purse and your keys and threw on a pair of slip - on vans. The sun was already setting, and you nearly forgot to lock up before running to your car. Barely unlocking it before you throw yourself into it, not even bothering to buckle your seatbelt before driving off to god knows where. Your gut leading you, immediately driving towards the area shown on the news. You pull out your phone, trusting the wheel in one hand as you pull up Chan’s profile and call him, pressing the phone to your ear.

The ringing carries on and on until the familiar voice of Chan speaks up, telling you that he’s not available and to leave a message after the beep.

“Oh, fuck off!” You scream at your phone before trying to call him again. Again and again it led to voicemail. Voicemail after voicemail. You couldn’t text him, not with you driving.

After the tenth call, you let out a frustrated yell, hitting your wheel with your palm and trying your best not to cry. You might be overreacting, since there’s a large chance that it isn’t Chan. But, for some reason, you believed it. You believed, at least somewhat, that it was Chan’s car. That it was Chan in the car. You didn’t want to believe it, but you did.

And your questions coursing through your mind were soon answered when you pulled up to the spot from the news, it now twilight, the sun just being set over the city’s horizon. You pulled onto an empty freeway, and parked in an alley between two buildings. There’s a group of people and a ton of expensive cars around the freeway. There were people crowded around a table. Some girls sat on top of cars, talking and laughing to each other while wearing vulgar and revealing clothes. Your brows furrow, deciding to stay low for a while. You turn off the engine to your car and watch carefully, gripping your phone in your hand. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, popping beer bottles, laughing and talking amongst themselves.

But, it’s when the sound of a loud engine came into earshot, and everyone, including you, turned to see the source of the sound. The moment the crowd of people see who it is, they start to cheer loudly. Throwing up their hands. However, your mouth falls open once more as the black Ferrari SF90 Stradale with tinted windows and a black ice Little Tree air freshener hanging from the rear - view mirror. It pulls up to the crowd, and they all part to make way for it.

Instead of shock or sadness, anger and rage begins to boil inside of you, and you grip your steering wheel tightly as you watch Chan, Christopher Bang, step out of the car. People pat his shoulder, and he smiles widely at them. Giving a few people hugs and even smiling to some of the women, who tried to steal a hug from him, too. He’s wearing clothes you don’t ever remember seeing. He wears a black leather jacket over a white button up and black skinny jeans. You’d be impressed by how good he looks if you weren’t so upset.

You didn’t even have to look at your phone as you pulled up Chan’s profile and called him, pressing the phone roughly to your ear.

“Pick up… Pick the fuck up,” you grumble under your breath as you watch Chan. He pulls his phone out of his pocket, and looks at it briefly.

Not even hesitating to hang up.

As you heard the familiar sound of Chan’s sweet voice telling you he’s not available at the moment and to leave a message after the beep, you finally have enough courage to get out of your car. Slamming the door shut and making your way out of the alley. They’re not too far, but it's a long enough walk for you to catch the eye of some people. You don’t even pause to rethink your decisions when a girl taps the chest of one of the guys, who glares at you with a raised brow.

The man that glared at you stepped away from the crowd, and you could barely see Chan over the people. He walks over to you, and you stop when the man is right in front of you, peering down you. The smell of cheap beer oozing off of him.

“And who the fuck are you?”

“Chan’s girlfriend, now get the fuck out of my way,” you try to push past him, but he grabs you by the arm. Tightly, too. Probably tight enough to leave a bruise after a while. “Hey! Let go of me.”

“No can do, princess,” the man says, smirking mercilessly down at you, his grip not loosening one bit, “Whether or not you’re Chan’s bitch doesn’t matter to me. It’s either you leave or I take you home and we have a good time. Well, I will, at least.” So, you tried to yank your arm from his, trying your best not to use your free hand to punch him in the face.

“Where’s Chan? Bring him to me.” You demand, and the man scoffs, chuckling.

“Fine, have it your way,” the man turns his head towards the crowd, a few people watch, and he says, “Grab Chan. This chick says she’s his girlfriend.” A few of them laugh at him, thinking it’s a joke. But, you stand your ground, glaring through the crowd. One of the people that laughed pushed through a few people. It takes a minute, and there’s a tense silence between you and the man as you try to pry his hand off.

But, as you suspected, a smiling Chan pushes through, but his smile instantly drops when he sees you.

“Hey, Chan. This chick’s babbling on about being your girl. Should I kick-”

“Get your hands off her right now before I shoot you in the face.” Chan interrupts, anger lacing his dark, deep voice. The man holding your arm instantly lets go and steps away, his hands rising in defense. Mumbling something about just ‘trying to keep things safe’. Once the man is away, Chan walks up to you, now being the one tightly gripping your arms. Leaning down so his face is close to yours.

“Why are you here, (Y/N)? Why the hell are you here?” He asks harshly, his voice full of surprise and desperation. He even shakes you slightly.

“You seriously thought I wouldn’t find out?” You snap, ignoring his question all together, “You thought I was dumb enough to let this go under? Well, I’ve been dumb for too long, Christopher. I’m not going to be like that anymore.” You know he’s not too big a fan of being called by his real name, but you do it anyway.

“Go home (Y/N). I’ll explain everything to you afterwards.” Chan says, placing a hand on your shoulder, trying to turn you away.

“No!” You yell, pushing his arms off you, “I am not going home, Chan! I am staying with you. I need to know what the hell all of this is. Right. Now.” You demand, and Chan shakes his head.

“No. You’re going home, (Y/N),” Chan tries to push you away again, his hands gripping your shoulders tightly and trying to turn you from the curious crowd. However, you weren’t going to be let off so easily. You swiftly turned around, letting your flying hand come in contact with Chan’s cheek. Smacking him. You made sure not to backhand him, knowing how much that could hurt. Besides, you don’t want to hurt him too much, you just want to get your point across, and he wasn’t listening to your words. He lets go of you again, his head flinging to the side because of the impact.

“I said no. I’m staying here,” You repeat yourself, and Chan’s eyes no longer lace with aggression, but worry. He doesn’t seem upset that you hit him. In fact, he seems to gloss over it. “I need to know what’s going on-”

You weren’t able to finish your sentence until Chan grabs you by the wrist and pulls you into the crowd. They part to make way for him, and you aren’t able to muster out a sentence before Chan unlocked his car and shoves you forcefully into the passenger seat.

“Chan, what -”

“Shut up, buckle up and hold on tight ‘cause it’s gonna be one hell of a night for us, darling,” Chan snaps, and your lips clamp close at his harsh words. You didn’t expect that out of him. You could nearly cry right there. Chan backs away and slams the door shut, and you quickly scramble to put the seatbelt on as Chan yells something at the crowd, and they erupt in cheers. A few people scramble to get into different cars, and the rest stay back, keeping their distance. However, Chan didn’t seem too pleased as he walked around the car and into the passenger’s seat, locking the doors.

“Chan…”

“Quiet,” Chan snaps, revving the engine of the car. You can faintly hear the cheer of the onlookers behind as Chan pulls alongside the other three cars. A young woman wearing small shorts and an exposed shirt too small for fall walks ahead, and pulls a red cloth out of her back pocket. Her red lips smile bright as she lifts her red cloth. She holds up one finger, and Chan’s engine growls from behind, the car shaking along with it. Your hands go to grip the first thing, which is the cup holder in the center console and the door. Bracing yourself for what’s about to happen.

“Chan!”

“I said quiet!” Chan yells, sparing you a glance and your brows creased with worry as the woman holds up a second finger, and Chan’s hand grips the wheel as the other rests over the buttons.

She doesn’t hold up a third finger. Instead, she throws down the red cloth, and the moment she does so, Chan is off on the road. His foot slammed against the gas as he pushed his back against the seat and used one hand to effortlessly steer. You feel so impossibly scared in the car. A small part of you was debating whether or not you should have gone home, but you knew that it was the right decision to stay. To truly understand what’s been going on and what this is all about.

You try your best not to scream as the loud engine nearly bursts your eardrums.

“Chan… Chan, stop the car!” You scream, the need to vomit creeping up, even though you try to gulp it down.

“I can’t, (Y/N). I really can’t right now.” He says loudly over the engine.

“Please, Chan, just stop the car…!” You yell out again, and Chan finally glances at you, seeing your distressed look before his head snaps ahead again.

His hand swiftly reaches over to grip your thigh, as if trying to prove that you’re secure, “Calm down, (Y/N). You’ll be fine. We’re fine. I’m not stopping the car. Sorry, but I just can’t.”

“I should hate you for this, Chan!” You say, and you can see the way his knuckles turn white from gripping the wheel. “But I can’t… I just… Goddamn it, why!?”

“I can’t tell you that right now!” He yells back, looking over briefly before making a sharp turn, making you clutch onto the seat belt for protection, his hand now back over the buttons, “You just need to sit there until this is over, got it? I don’t care how scared you are, you’re gonna get through it like the strong woman you are, (Y/N), and I’m not taking no for an answer.”

You look over to Chan, and his lips are downturned, his brows furrowed and his eyes glossed over, as if he could cry right there.

“But why didn’t you just tell me?! We wouldn’t be like this right now if you just told me, Chan, and that’s the truth.” You yell over the engine, and Chan bitterly and breathily chuckles, shaking his head as an angry smile casts over his lips.

“You wouldn’t have stayed with me if I told you, (Y/N), you know that.” His voice is a little softer. If any softer, you wouldn’t have heard him. “You would’ve left me.”

Your mouth falls open, and you shake your head, “Never… Never! Never, ever, accuse me of that. I would never leave you even if you killed a man, Chan, and that’s the truth!” He doesn’t respond. He doesn’t even look at you as he turns another sharp corner, and you can see the other cars following behind, closing in. He sees it, too, and he presses some buttons you didn’t bother reading and slams his foot on the gas again. You let out a deep breath, still clutching the seat belt, “I just want to know why, Chan. Why are you resulting to this even though you have a stable job at the entertainment company, I-... I just want you to be honest with me.”

“I’ll tell you later, (Y/N). Just sit tight and keep your mouth shut. I need to focus or we’ll fucking crash, you got it!” He yells, and you flinch at his harsh tone. Finally keeping quiet.

The race seems like it lasts forever, when it was probably only five minutes. With sharp twists and turns and screeching of the engine in wheels, it feels like torture. You hate this, but there’s no backing out yet.

Chan doesn’t utter a word. Only cursing at the other cars when they do something that they weren’t supposed to do, or somehow start catching up to him. You let a few tears slip as you watch his hands and Chan as he focuses solely on the road. The lump in your throat is growing bigger and bigger, and swallowing it down seems to get more and more difficult.

But, it’s over at some point. You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding and Chan finally slowed down after reaching a pathetic excuse of a finish line. Your trembling hands grip the hem of the hoodie you were wearing as Chan comes to a steady stop. People come cheering as the other three cars pull up behind, being careful not to bump into anyone from the crowd. You breath heavily, and look over to Chan, who rolls down his window, plastering a triumphant smile on his lips.

“I don’t even get why I race against you, mate. You always win. Just take the money and get outta here,” says one of the racers playfully, tossing Chan a briefcase through the window.

“Thanks man. Good race,” Chan says, “Now, I have business to attend to. If you’ll excuse me.”

He rolls up the window, and the man who handed Chan the briefcase smacks the window playfully as Chan rushes off, his smile instantly vanishing as he goes through backgrounds to try and get to a main road without drawing too much attention. Chan’s smile drops, and he hands you the briefcase.

“You want to know so badly? Open it and be careful. It’ll be hell to clean up if you drop it,” Chan grumbles, looking over as you look to him for reassurance. He only gives you a cocked brow as you look back to the case in your lap before unlocking it and opening it. Your jaw falls as you look at the thousands of bills stacked on top of each other, rubber bands holding equal stacks together, and you gawk at just how much money Chan won from one race.

After a minute of you staring at the money, Chan slams the case closed in your lap, locking it with one hand and tossing it in the backseat making you jump at how hasty he is.

You both sit there, Chan driving to god knows where in tense silence. You're holding your head in your hands as Chan shifted his gaze between you and the road.

It’s about fifteen minutes until you look up, surprised that he’s still driving and nowhere near home. It’s an emptier city, but Chan seems to know the area well.

“Chan, where are we?” You ask, but Chan gives no answer. Only driving a bit further before pulling into an alley between two old buildings. “Chan, I said -”

You were quickly by Chan yanking off his seatbelt and leaning over the center console to firmly grab your face and pull you into a rough kiss. It isn’t too rushed, but it’s not at all gentle. You’re caught by surprise at first, but couldn’t help melting into it. It’s almost instinct at this point to kiss him back, but you push him away after a moment. “What… What the fuck are you doing?”

“Kissing you,” Chan answers briefly before grabbing locks of your hair at the back of your head and pulling you into another kiss, his other hand creeping down to unbuckle your seatbelt, and you let it slam against the car as it flies off you.

“No, Chan… We need to talk,” You grumble out as you try to pull away, and he presses wet, sloppy kisses to the side of your mouth. His eyes are fluttered shut, and your’s are half lidded. You will admit, you love this. The kisses and how unnaturally aggressive Chan is being. But, you knew that you have to talk things out, or you’d never get to figure out how the hell things turned out like this, “Chan, I’m serious right now.”

“Then relax, baby,” Chan breathily whispers out, and your thighs squeeze together, “Let me make things up to you, okay? I’ll fuck you so good, baby.” He pulls away for a moment, and he stares at you with a teasing smirk, “Think of it as my apology, alright?”

“Chan, I’m… I’m - ah! Chan!” You gasp when Chan’s lips come in contact with the side of your neck. Your neck is already tilting to give him more room, despite trying pathetically to push him away. There’s no getting through to him anymore. You’ve passed the point of no return, and there’s not much you could get past him without slapping him again. And that didn’t seem like a very good idea to you. Your hand flies up to grip the back of his neck, the other loosely clutching the hem of his button up.

“You know that… ah… that we are going to talk about this at some point…” you groan out, and Chan only groans against your neck, sucking on the sensitive skin. “You can’t get out of it like this…”

“Shut it, (Y/N),” Chan snaps, and your head falls back. Chan leans his seat back, aggressively grabbing you by the thighs to pull you over and sit on top of him. Straddling his waist despite it being such a tight environment. He pulls you down by the hoodie, into another kiss. You could feel how frustrated Chan is by the way he grips you tightly, as if you’re going to magically vanish, and by how he talks to you.

It’s rushed, too. Chan is impossibly quick to pull up your hoodie, his hot, sweaty hands creeping up your warm back, caressing it with a different, quick sense of gentleness. His lips connect with yours once again. His tongue already pressing against your lips. The quick, sloppy kiss all too lust filled. The erotic sounds coming from the both of you almost making you gloss over the fact that you should still be very mad at Chan. But, you just can’t find the need to pull away from him. You need to let off the steam, too.

You flush your body firm against him, one hand on his chest and the other by his head, holding onto the head of the seat for support. Breathing as slowly as you can through your nose to savor the air Chan so selfishly takes from you from the heated kiss. Your thoughts begin to vanish and your worry and concern for Chan’s life choices begin to falter for the time being. So immersed in the heated kiss to forget about it entirely. All your focus is now on Chan. You can tell how stressed he is, and the loving part of you wants to help him let off that steam. But, now, you’re in the same boat. So, he’s going to have to do so much for you as you’ve been doing for him.

Chan’s hands don’t bother to hesitate before they loop underneath your jeans, not caring to unbutton them as he tries his best to pull them off by himself. Because of how restricted you both are because of the size of the car, you had to do it yourself. You parted from the kiss and pressed your head against his shoulder to unbutton your jeans and pull them down as quickly as you could before throwing them in the back (along with your shoes and socks. You can already see how hard Chan’s gotten as his rough hands massage and knead your ass, only covered by the thin, black cloth keeping you at least somewhat covered. But, if this was like any other time, they’d be gone quicker than you’d imagine.

Your hands fly up again once your pants are thrown to the back, resting on either side of Chan’s head as he grips your hips, grinding your womanhood against his clothed hardon (you’re also clothed, but it’s so wet from your juices that it basically attaches itself to your skin). His head throws itself back, his eyes closing and a pleasure filled smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. You press yourself against him, now propped up to be looming over him, sitting on him.

When you do press against him, his head snaps forward again, and his dark eyes glare up at you, “Don’t start getting proud, (Y/N). I’m gonna fucking break you.” His hand crawls up to grip your face in his hand. One of your hands weakly comes up to grip his wrist. His hand moving down to grip your throat, and your lips part blissfully as his fingers press into the sides of your neck, still allowing airflow through you. “Oh, fuck. You like being choked, huh? You like being choked like a slut don’t you?” You don’t answer, too nervous to and too caught up in the pleasure to actually let something other than a moan escape your lips.

“Talk to me, (Y/N). Use your fucking words,” Chan growls, and you swallow. The lump in your throat pressing painfully, yet blissfully against Chan’s hand.

“Fuck me, Chris. Fuck me…” You utter out his name, and Chan’s brow raises. But, he smirks nonetheless and lets go of your neck, and you let out a breath as he undoes his jeans and pulls them down to his feet. His hand palming his clothed cock briefly before pulling it out. His hard dick already leaking with precum.

“Condom…” You mutter, and Chan shakes his head. You look up to him with worry.

“Trust me, baby,” he mutters, and you sigh, leaning against him, pressing your body against his as Chan moves your panties out of the way before he aligns your throbbing cunt with his dick, and slowly pushing himself into you, raw. As his raw cock slowly becomes engulfed by your heat, Chan lets out low groans. Your face nuzzles into the side of his neck as Chan slowly guides you down until you’re sitting on his cock.

At first, he stays there like that. Not moving. You suspect it’s because the sane part of him wants you to get used to the feeling of his cock so deep in you without a condom, but Chan seems to keep you there for a few moments just for the sake of how good it feels without a condom. The way his head is leaned back, his lips slightly ajar and his eyes fluttered shut.

But, it doesn’t last long before Chan’s strong arms wrap around your waist, holding you up and starts ramming into you. His hips move so quickly, yet so efficiently as he burns your wet walls. You erupt in a series of loud moans, mixtures of Chan’s name and curses spilling out, too. Chan groans sometimes, right next to your ear. The sound of skin slapping against the fabric of Chan’s boxers echoing through the air tight car.

Your pussy burns from how fast Chan thrusts into you, keeping you at a steady position so he could have an easier time ramming himself into you without the difficulty of it being such a confined and restrictive place in the car (especially in the driver’s seat). The burn is so good for you, though. It’s such a numbing, euphoric feeling that you’ll crave later. A type of burn you could never provide yourself, only Chan.

Chan’s hands go from gripping your body to sliding up your side to gripping your hair and yanking your head back so he could look at you. A judgemental, sexy smirk adorning his lips as he sees how fucked out you are. Your mouth open as you moan, and your half lidded eyes occasionally closing from the bliss.

“Fucking hell… you’re so good for me, (Y/N). You take my cock so fucking well, don’t you?” You let out a choked moan as Chan’s hand grips harder on your hair, craning your neck. “Mmm… Baby girl can’t even talk to me… I know I said to shut it…” he laughs darkly through his moans, and your moans get louder when Chan lets go of your hair, letting your face fall back onto his shoulder as his hands grip your ass. Kneading them as he fucks himself into you. You clench helplessly around his cock.

“Oh… fuck, you’re gonna cum, aren’t you? You wanna cum around my cock, baby girl?” You nod frantically, your climax climbing up as you push your body back to meet with Chan’s aggressive thrusts. Your overstimulated cunt only being destroyed by Chan’s cock as he thrusts harder into you, his hips staggering slightly as you clench around him. “Mmm! - Cum for me, baby. Cum for me.” Chan growls out as his hand grips your face again, forcing your head up as your eyes roll into the back of your head, a loud string of moans escaping your lips as you cum all over Chan’s cock, and he pulls out just quick enough to spurt out a string of cum along your ass.

He lets go of your face, and you breath heavily as you rest your head on Chan’s chest, closing your eyes to catch your breath. A burning sensation still resting in your core as you relax, your womanhood’s muscles contracting every now and then from the orgasm.

Chan cleans you both up with a napkin he had in the center console and helped you put your jeans back on (deciding to toss your soiled panties) and he slipped his jeans back on silently. It’s not until you’re sitting on his lap, resting your head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat when he speaks.

“You know I love you so much, right?” Chan mumbles out, and you look up to him. “I was so mean to you today… when you must’ve been so confused.” His head falls back, and he looks out the window with a longing look in his eyes, “I’m the worst boyfriend in the world, aren’t I?”

“No, you’re not. Don’t even think things like that. Yes, I am still a bit upset, but you know what? We’re going to get past this because I love you, too, Channie.” You stare at him with an adoring expression adorning your sparkling eyes (trying to ignore the burning in your core).

“You… You want to know the real reason I’m a street racer, (Y/N)? Why the fuck I'm doing this?” Chan asks softly, his hand stroking your hair.

“If you could… I’ve been asking all day,” you chuckle softly, and Chan smiles bitterly.

“Well… I… I’m doing this all for you.”

“What do you mean?”

“No job will pay for the things I want to give you, (Y/N).” He turns over, reaching into the center console to pull out a black box, and your eyes widen as he opens it. You can’t see it, but you can barely see the sparkle of a something reflective. “I… I couldn’t pay for this myself. I knew I couldn’t. I hate how this is how I’m asking you… but, (Y/N), will you-”

“Oh my god, yes!”

1K notes · View notes

quindolyn · 3 years

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hi can i request the maurauders going to see the reader do a musical like heathers or mean girls and they are just confused and turned on bc they didn't expect it to be this dirty (can lead to smut or not). luv you and hope you are taking care of yourself, if not go get something to eat, drink some water, take a nap, or do somthing you enjoy. or dont not trying to be pushy :)

Creature of the Night || Poly!Marauders

Word Count: 3029 (excluding song lyrics)

A/N: I think I liked how this turned out? I didn’t make it smut but it’s certainly suggestive, I went with Rocky Horror, I know that the musicals mentioned in the request are more modern but I fucking love Rocky Horror and I think it works with the request. When I first read this request I smiled so much because I love live theater, I don’t perform as much as I used to because as I progress with my education I’m focusing more on the stuff I can use to pad my resumes for college and stuff but I still love going to see productions. One of the worst parts of the pandemic for me has been not being able to go see shows, I miss it so much.

Warnings: theatre enthusiast reader, erections, suggestive material, song lyrics, slight teasing, wearing very little clothing in front of an audience, I believe that that is it

Masterlist

500 follower celebration

antici-

The magic of the stage was second to none. Sure, Hogwarts may have had witches and wizards, subjects like Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts, and ghosts that spent their time meandering about the halls but there was always a part of you that looked forward to the summer between your years at Hogwarts. Because no matter how magical Hogwarts was, the theater always made you feel completely and utterly alive.

Every summer since the one after your first year at what all of your muggle friends thought to be a very prestigious boarding school up in Scotland, you’d taken part in your local youth theater’s productions. Your parents both being muggles thought that it would be a great way for you to be able to stay in touch with your muggle origins.

The first year you’d been far too nervous to actually audition for a role, the very thought causing bile to churn in your stomach and threaten to make you sick all over your kitchen floor when your father first pitched the idea. So instead you’d done costumes and it was the most wonderful experience of your life.

Who needed drugs when you had live theater? The hustle and bustle behind the scenes was electrifying but after two summers of costuming, of quick changes in the wings, learning how to use the ancient sewing machines they stored in the depths of the storage rooms, and pulling pieces for the actors to try on you decided that you wanted to try something more.

The moment you had stepped onto the stage it was like you’d come to life and you cursed yourself for not taking the risk earlier. You belonged on the stage, with the harsh stage lights on you and pounds of makeup plastered onto your face you could feel the magic thrumming through your veins and it was addicting.

If it was possible, you were even more excited to perform this summer, the previous school year you’d finally gotten together with your long time best friends the Marauders, turning them from friends to your boyfriends.

When your mother had sent word of the production being put on this summer you’d squealed while seated next to James and across from Remus, who had Sirius hanging off of his side. After explaining to them, mostly Sirius and James really, just what live theater was their first reaction was to ask if they could come see you perform.

“I don’t even know if I’m going to be cast,” You had explained gently, not wanting to get their hopes up in case you weren’t cast this year.

“Bull shit of course you’re going to be the cast,” Sirius had contested through a mouthful of jam and toast, waving his hand theatrically through the air, watching him that day was not the first time you’d considered how the way he acted often reminded you of an over enthusiastic theatre major.

Remus, the only one with any knowledge on muggle theatre had snorted, wrapping an arm around Sirius’ waist to pull him closer to his body, “She’s not going to be the cast Pads, she’s going to be casted,” He’d corrected gently, pressing a kiss into his long, dark tresses.

“Whatever,” The smaller boy had grumbled, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

Which brought you to where you were right now, five minutes to curtain touching up your make up in the mirror of the shared make-up room.

“Hey (L/N),” One of your cast mates called settling into the makeup chair next to you as she plucked a tube of dark red lipstick from the small canary colored makeup bag she had previously abandoned on the counter, “Your boyfriends coming tonight?” She asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

“Yeah, they are,” You responded, applying mascara to your lashes.

“Excited to meet them, that photo you showed us,” She smiled, fanning her face with her hand, “Smoking,” She smiled, making eye contact with you in the mirror.

Rolling your eyes you ignored her comment, “It’s five minutes to curtain, you’re just now doing your make-up?” You chuckled, noticing her black face.

“Oh, shove it,” She laughed as you pushed yourself from your chair, traipsing out of the room, giving her the middle finger on your way out.

“Break a leg!” She called after you as the door latched shut.

You weren’t usually this nervous before a performance but knowing that your three boyfriends were sitting out there somewhere in the audience had you pacing back and forth backstage wondering what they were going to think of the whole production.

“Rocky Horror?” Sirius’ confusion evident in his voice as he plopped down in his seat next to Remus, throwing his arm around the werewolf’s shoulders, drumming his fingers on his clothed shoulder hidden behind his knitted cardigan.

“Yeah,” James collapsed into his chair on the other side of Remus, tucking one leg under his body, “No clue what it’s about but I’m sure our angel will be wonderful. Can you guys see her?” He straightened himself up in his seat, craning his neck in attempts to catch a glimpse of you.

Remus being the only one with any ties to the muggle world knew a bit about the show and had to do his very best to suppress a smirk from overtaking his face as he knew exactly what he and your other two boyfriends were getting themselves into.

“Just hush up you two, the show’s gonna start any moment,” He scolded, patting his large, scarred hand on James’ thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Rem,” Sirius whined, puckering his lips and closing his eyes, signaling to his boyfriend that he wanted a kiss.

“My needy baby,” He crooned, leaning in to connect his lips with Sirius’ in a quick liplock before pulling back, allowing Sirius to drop his forehead to smear against his shoulder.

“That’s mean,” Sirius murmured discontentedly.

“Poor baby Pads,” James cooed mockingly.

“Both of you,” Remus hissed as the lights in the theatre dimmed, “The show’s about to start, be good for me and be quiet yeah?”

Their response came in their silence as the crowd started settling down and the music from the orchestra pit began a voice coming from somewhere out of sight as it was played through the speakers,

“Michael Rennie was ill

The day the earth stood still

But he told us where we stand”

Not 20 minutes into the show all three of them were as hard as rocks, James had already made Remus check the playbill for the name of the character you were playing, not being able to remember what you’d told them as all of his concentration was focused on a certain place.

Janet Weiss.

Remus couldn’t remember either, but he was almost certain that’s the name he could make out in the dark theatre, printed next to a picture of your smiling face.

When you’d stripped down to your underwear the boys could barely focus on the plot line of the show, only being able to watch the way your bare skin shone under the harsh light of the spotlights. Watching as sweat glistened on your skin, making you shine as you moved about the stage.

Enchanted by the melodic cadence of your voice they all felt a certain jealousy burning deep in the pits on their stomachs at the thought that there were dozens of other people packed into that theater, all observing you in your vulnerable state of under dress. Only they got to see you like that.

Sirius missed much of the first act glaring at members of the audience who he deemed as looking at you for too long for his liking, but if you were being honest a 4th year smiling at you in the hallway was sometimes too long for his liking.

It wasn’t like any of them had never seen you naked before, in fact they’d all seen you naked more than their fair share of times but something about you on that stage in a white bra with a matching slip was driving them all crazy.

Especially Remus, whose ultimate weakness was seeing you in anything white which was one of the reasons you’d been so excited to invite them in the first place, knowing that they would be horny messes the entire time.

On stage you did your very best not to look out into the audience looking for them, knowing that you wouldn’t be able to stop a ginormous grin from forming on your face and you couldn’t afford to break character. Not if you wanted the night to go your way.

As the opening notes to “Touch-A, Touch-A, Touch Me”, rose from the orchestra pit you had trouble stopping a small smirk from pulling at your lips as you opened them, inhaling deeply before singing the first words of the song,

“I was feeling done in, couldn't win

I'd only ever kissed before”

Despite yourself you caught a glimpse of long dark hair in the audience, quickly taking a glance at Sirius’ face, eyes glazed over in lust, legs shifting uncomfortably with his mouth hanging wide open.

Out of the corner of your eye you noticed another raven-haired boy’s mouth dropping as you shrugged off of your robe

“I thought there’s no use getting, into heavy petting

It only leads to trouble and, seat wetting

Now all I want to know, is how to go

I've tasted blood and I want more”

It was impossible to miss the way Remus’ jaw clenched as you laid your palm against Rocky’s chest, he was being played by your good friends who’d been working with the same theatre company as you since forever, he was like a brother to you. But that didn’t mean you couldn’t lay it on extra thick tonight with your boyfriends in the audience.

Tracing a dainty finger down Rocky’s chest you pushed your body against his singing out the next lyrics of the song,

“I've got an itch to scratch, I need assistance”

You turned you and your cast mate so that looking over his shoulder you were able to meet Remus’ eye, sending him a quick wink before focusing back in on Rocky.

“Toucha, toucha, toucha, touch me

I wanna be dirty

Thrill me, chill me, fulfill me

Creature of the night”

Pressing your back up against Rocky’s chest you guided his hands with yours to your breasts, squeezing them as you followed the choreography you knew by heart.

You ripped your slip from your body with the help of Rocky leaving you in only your white bra, matching panties and a pair of small heels as you paraded around stage, belting the suggestive lyrics into the theater.

“Then if anything grows, while you pose

I'll oil you up and rub you down (down, down, down)

And that’s just one small fraction, of the main attraction

You need a friendly hand, oh i need action”

You smirked, thinking about all of the action you’d be on the receiving end of later that night as you sunk to your knees in front of Rocky, your hands grasping his thighs. Deciding to tease them perhaps a little more than necessary as you went through the number, curling your leg around his and pressing your bodies together so that there was no space between your two questionably clothed bodies.

As the number was brought to a close it was impossible for you to ignore the excitement bubbling up inside of you as you continued your way through the show you kept throwing glances at your boyfriends, always finding their eyes already trained on you. More often than not, on some body part other than your face.

If your boyfriends thought that they had a bit of a problem before that song they were in a terrible predicament now.

Remus caught Sirius on multiple occasions trying to move the hand that he was holding to grope at his crotch as he tried to buck up into his boyfriend’s hand. And much to his own dismay, Remus would pull his hand away, thinking it probably wasn’t the best idea to give his boyfriend a hand job in a crowded theater. Knowing that he wouldn’t have to worry about James touching himself because he would never dream of disobeying him, Remus divided his attention between you on the stage and keeping Sirius in check.

Each of the boys were counting down the seconds until the show came to an end and they could get out of there and relieve some of their tension. As the curtains were pulled closed they all breathed a sigh of relief before they reopened, leaving all three of them bewildered and slightly annoyed, even more so when they noticed everyone around them standing as they applauded the actors.

Remus forced both of them up when you rushed to the front of the stage, curtsying as the crowd went wild, your boyfriends most notably. As you took your bow you blew a kiss to your boyfriends taking note of the uncomfortable way they all stood, trying to adjust their erections to make them less noticeable while simultaneously applauding you.

As you cleared the stage after curtain call you took your time, doddling towards the dressing rooms where you had left the clothes you’d arrived at the theater in along with a special outfit you’d brought for after the show. Usually you were one of the first actors to clear the theater after a show but tonight you took your time. Hanging up your costume with more care than anyone really should treat any garment with and certainly more than what it needed.

You smirked mischievously as you pulled the you’d brought outfit from your bag and shimmied it up your legs before slipping the delicate straps up your shoulders. You glimpsed yourself in the mirror, the red satin of the dress clinging to your curves in an attractive manner, short enough to display miles of legs and low cut enough to show off a decent amount of cleavage and perhaps a sighting of the matching red bra you were wearing beneath it.

Slinging the back of your black heels over the heel of your feet you snatched your purse from the armchair in your dressing room before striding out to go meet your boyfriends in the lobby, where you’d told them to wait for you.

Their heads all turned as they heard the clacking of your heels against the tile of the floor, “Boys,” You greeted as they unabashedly took in your new appearance.

As he most often was, Remus was the first one to collect himself, “Puppy, you were wonderful,” He praised, walking to meet you as you approached him, leaning down to smear a kiss against your cheek, “You did amazing up there, so proud of you,” He threw his arm around your waist as you walked towards Sirius and James.

“We got something for you,” He explained, his grip on your waist tightening, “Jamie give it to her, yeah?”

“Oh yeah,” The smaller boy grinned, remembering the bouquet he held cradled in his arms as he handed it over to you, “Here you go angel.”

“Thank you Jamie,” You said as you took it from him, closing your eyes as you buried your nose in the sweet smelling flora. As you opened your eyes you made eye contact with Sirius, who stood across from you, practically drooling as he took in your appearance without any shame, “They smell wonderful.”

“You okay Si?” You asked, looking up through your eyelashes, batting them innocently.

“Like you don’t know exactly what you did up there to us (Y/N/N),” Remus whispered in your ear, pressing his nose into your temple.

“You guys are the ones who wanted to come,” You lilted, rubbing one of the velvety petals between the pads of your thumb and forefinger.

“Could’ve warned us,” James mumbled, his eyes not leaving your thighs as he licked his lips, if it were anyone else you would’ve been uncomfortable but you couldn’t help but feel flattered whenever any of them ogled you.

“And what’s with the dress Pup?” Sirius nodded his head appreciatively towards your dress, obviously admiring the way it hung on your body.

“What, you don’t like it?” You asked with fake hurt in your voice, knowing that he more than liked it, he fucking loved it.

“S’not that,” Remus mumbled, nosing at your jugular, “Just that whole show, got us a little bit worked up. We didn’t expect it to be so sexual Puppy,” He nodded towards James and that’s when you noticed the erection he was still sporting.

“Got us really worked up, can we go home now?” James asked, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, trying to distract himself from his little problem.

“Jamie,” You whined, smiling wickedly, “I wanted to celebrate, I was thinking we could go eat somewhere, I was thinking maybe Thai food?”

You watched as Sirius ground his teeth, conflicted between needing to get home and not wanting to deny you from what you wanted.

“Having fun teasing us Bunny?” Remus asked you with a sly smirk, knowing exactly what you were doing.

“M’not teasing,” You insisted, turning indignantly to your other boyfriend.

“Sure you aren’t,” He chuckled, “Thai sounds great (Y/N), wanna talk with you about the show,” The idea of teasing Sirius and James even longer was very appealing to Remus and he was ready to make the sacrifice of being teased himself, knowing that he’d be able to get back at you later that night.

“But-” James began.

“You wanna argue with me Jamie?” Remus challenged, raising a singular eyebrow.

“No,” He moped, “Of course not.”

“Good,” Remus said, nodding his head approvingly, “We wouldn’t wanna deny our Princess would we?”

James shook his head, eyes pleading, desperately seeking Remus’ approval.

“Pads?” Remus challenged, turning his attention to the other raven haired man.

“What? Oh um, of course not,” He agreed distractedly, dragging his eyes from your form to meet Remus’, his reluctance evident in his voice.

“Good,” Remus said pointedly, his eyes cold, daring Sirius to question him. When he didn’t the werewolf continued, “Let’s get going then, there’s a nice little restaurant a couple blocks away yeah?”

As you all hummed your consent you made your way to the exit, “Ten galleons if you can make James cum in his pants at dinner,” Remus whispered in your ear quietly enough so that James and Sirius trailing behind you wouldn’t be able to hear you, you could hear the smirk in his voice as you exited the theatre.

“Deal.” This was going to be fun, you considered that you might have to invite them to come see the show again.

-pation

tagging: @randomoutsiders @weasleyposts @kittykylax @amourtentiaa @superbturtlemakerathlete

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