#the lego brick finds me sleeping at night when i close my eyes i can hear her voice growing louder and louder as she stedily approcahes. i | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

katz-chow · 6 months

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inspired by the post you made of having a child by your hip and then him walking in and going to kiss his "pretty girls"

So, here this, Simon Riley, bad mood, and tired, just came from base to his home, his wife and daughter in the kitchen, unaware. He was going to be grumpy all night long when he heard the babbles from his baby daughter, his wife trying to teach her how to say 'mum' after the kid said 'dada' first.

Bare with me, make it extra fluffy, I'm taking it so fluffy it roots your teeth from how cute it is. The dream he never knew would happen, was now in front of him.

anyway, you'll probs get a smut req from me after this one

a/n: i did not see this until it was like an hour before i wrote and posted this. my bad, man.

warnings: fem!reader, baby, stressed out simon, fluff, domestic, maternity leave, what a family man

Simon was not a stranger to stress and aching muscles, it came almost like sleep to an already dying body. He saw himself as that whenever it got quiet and lonely. Thankfully, nowadays he finds himself in the comfort and joy of people that enjoy his company to any extent. So this stress came in a familiar yet unexpected, especially when it came in a form of 12 hours of office work and not dirt, grime, and blood. Also unusual is how this tsunami toppled him down, so close to the place he called home, in a neighborhood where only old people find themselves retiring to and grand kids running along the street.

He pulled up to the light of his home, which seemed unchanged to when he left the same house earlier that day, completely with the total darkness that consumed the sky. Keys in one hand and a lunch box in the other, he unlocked the front door and was met with the warm glow of lamp lights. The smell of dinner drifted in the air, inviting him into bliss and heat, compared to the cold and damp night outside.

One lock clicked, the other one followed, and then the tumbling of his steel-toed boots against the hardwood. A quiet draft moved around the living and dining room, a remnant of a busy, eventful day still present along the floor. Wooden peg dolls lay slain from a fight hours ago, Lego bricks scattered around from an explosion that seemed to have been devastating for the population and infrastructure of the city, how cute.

His ear perked up at the sound of soft cooing followed by the shrill of your baby voice for your girl. Behind the door to the nursery propped you up against the wall, slumped down onto the floor. The little cow onesie sat on your lap, leaning against your thighs as you held her hands, bouncing her up and down.

"Can you say 'mama?'" You whispered sing-songy, slowing down the last part, making it easier for the baby to understand. The little one giggled at you and forced you to wave your hand with its tight grip on one of your fingers.

Simon couldn't help but shake his head and roll his eyes, your diabolical plan of getting her to say 'mama' instead of 'dada' has started-which was especially unfair because you got parental leave before he did. "I heard that."

You look up at him from your spot of the fluffy rug, sticking out your tongue at him. 'How mature,' he thought as he sank down next to you. He raked a hand through his hair, resting his head against the wall as you rested yours onto his shoulder. Your cowpoke stuck her tongue out at him as he peaked open of his eyes to glare at her. "Already putting my own kid against me, how considerate of you, Lovie."

You giggled at him and thus, your baby girl also giggled, following in her mama's steps. The three of you settled down, Simon taking her from your lap and into his own, holding her close as she snuggled up into his uniform. You held onto his bicep, leaning into him. Soft lips meet your forehead as normal, just like the hundreds of times before this moment. "You got home late."

"I know, I'm sorry..." he sighed, eyes heavy and heart full,domestic life looked good on him. What looked even better was his beautiful girls in his grasp, shielding them away from the horrors of war that he fought all those years ago. This was it.

"I'm glad you're home though... we already had dinner and she insisted that we stay up to wait for you." You laughed. You missed him and the days that he wasn't so caught up, working overtime. You know why though, so paternity leave wouldn't be so out of reach.

He let out a soft laugh smiling and making funny faces at your little calf. "Yeah, I saw the destruction and war crimes the two of you caused out there."

"Womp, womp." You shrugged and let in a deep breath, content with the little family the two of you had created in a span of a few years. This is what life is supposed to be like; simple, warm, and your kids mocking you at the ripe age of 10 months.

Simon Riley, a man built on anger, pain, and built walls, is no longer just that. He's no longer just a soldier, a pawn that's willing to do anything for the greater good, sacrificing sleep, time, and himself. No, Simon Riley can no longer do that, he needs to come home at the end of day, see his girls terrorize the squirrels outside, see his girls nuzzled up watching tv, see his girls make fun of him, and most importantly, see his girls sleeping soundly in his arms.

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thatonebylershipper · 5 months

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silly byler ficlet that is basically 665 words of me projecting onto mike

@bylersrise @unsurebisexualcore

Mike knows he should be asleep. He does. What he doesn’t know is why he isn’t sleeping yet. So he slowly, slowly, carefully, carefully extracts himself from his boyfriend, who has been asleep for three hours at this point, to get his earbuds out of the basket they have tied under the bedside table.

Scrawny by Wallows has been on repeat for a few days, so obviously Mike just keeps listening to it. He physically restrains himself from wiggling around under the blankets with excitement for the song and gets the urge to bite something on about the third repeat of the night. He doesn’t remember where he put his chewy necklace so he settles for biting the heel of his hand, smiling all the while.

He’s so absorbed in the music that he doesn’t notice when his sleepy boyfriend shifts underneath him and seemingly out of nowhere, Will is pulling Mike’s hand away from his mouth. Mike turns to look at Will, grinning sheepishly and pulling out his earbuds one at a time.

“Mike, what are you doing?” Will asks, voice hoarse with sleep. It makes Mike’s smile wider. Will is adorable. “It’s almost 2 in the morning. You should be asleep. Also I can hear that,” he adds, nodding at Mike’s earbuds that are resting on the blankets.

“Me too.” Mike grins. “And I know. I just couldn’t sleep. I don’t know why,” He responds, subconsciously bringing his hand back to his mouth. Will pulls it away before it even gets there.

“Where’s your necklace? I know it’s hard to accommodate yourself sometimes but I don’t want you hurting yourself like this.” Mike shrugs. Will rolls over to dig through their basket. Some of the contents include various fidget toys for both Mike and Will, Will’s headphones, phone chargers, a shared water bottle (okay maybe they’re a little bit gross but neither of them care. Haters gonna hate), and usually Mike’s rubber lego brick necklace that he chews on as a stim but it seems to be missing at the moment.

“Aha,” Will mutters, rolling back over with Mike’s necklace wrapped around his fingers. “Stop biting your hand.”

Mike slips the soft cord over his head and immediately starts biting the rubber. “Shorry,” he says, muffled. “It doeshn’t hurt doe,” he adds.

Will smiles at him endearingly. “It might not feel painful but look at the bruises on your palms. Biting your hands hurts you. That’s why we got you the necklaces in the first place, ya goof.”

Mike unclenches his teeth, letting the colorful lego brick drop to his chest. “I couldn’t find it.”

“It was right there,” Will grins at him incredulously.

“Object permanence issues?”

“Okay fine,” Will compromises, having suffered from the same problem for his whole life. Just yesterday morning he was looking for his keys for ten minutes before realizing they were literally in his hand. “Still listening to Scrawny?”

“Yes,” Mike gushes. “I am a scrawny motherfucker with a cool hairstyle, if you didn’t know.”

Will laughs. Mike has said the same thing at least five times a day since someone recommended the song to him last week. “Trust me, Mike, I know. Can you at least try to go to sleep soon?”

“I can try,” Mike agrees, putting his earbuds back in his ears but turning the volume down so it’s not distracting enough to keep him awake. Will kisses his forehead and mumbles a “goodnight” before settling down onto the pillows to go back to sleep.

Mike loves him, Mike loves him, Mike loves him. He pulls out an earbud. “Will,” he whispers, nudging his tired boyfriend.

“Mike,” Will whispers back.

“I love you.”

Will smiles, eyes still closed. “I love you too.”

It’s not the first time they’ve said it to each other but it still gives Mike butterflies everytime he hears it.

That night, Mike falls asleep next to his favorite person, listening to his favorite song, in his favorite place: his home.

uhmm hope you liked it if not then kiss my ass because i dont actually care this was very very self indulgent 😘

#byler #autistic mike wheeler #my writing #autistic will byers

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tomtenadia · 3 years

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My knight in shining armour

Rowaelin month Day 2 - University AU

I literally just finished this. I wasn’t going to write for this prompt but then an idea finally hit me.

The title as usual is bad... sorry

2k words

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Aelin had days in which she hated men. That was one of those days.

After finishing high school she decided to took a challenging course at the University of Terrasen. Her dad, before he retired, had been an airforce pilot. She had grown up going around his base, visiting him when he was back. In doing so, she had become obsessed with planes. As she grew up, her dad had let her get friendly with his engineer and the man had started teaching her all she needed to know about aircrafts. From the basic physics to the more obscure detail of how the jet worked. Aelin had been fascinated. She had started reading all the possible books, and as she got older, her dad’s engineer had also started having her to actually help her in the hangar. In the summer when school was out, she would actually get a part-time job as an apprentice at the base and she had loved every moment of it. She had also become very close with the two female pilots and together they had spent time talking about the life of a woman in a boys club. The two women had become her role models very quickly.

Terrasen was quite and open minded country but some ideas were still quite obsolete.

In high school at the question “what you want to be when you grow up?” She always answered an aircraft engineer for the airforce. She never faltered or never doubted. That’s what she wanted to, that was her path.

But when time for uni arrived and she applied for a degree in aeronautical engineering, that’s when she realised that the boys club extended far more than she expected.

She was basically the only woman in the class. None of the guys had approached her and on the first day she had walked in the classroom, one of them had the guts to tell her that the humanities department was in the annex c. She ignored the bastard and sat down at the front. She belonged in that room and she would prove it to every single one of them.

Day after day she had shown her knowledge and surprised her professor who was amazed at the fact that she could answer such in depth questions. Last time it happened, she had turned to Chaol - the asshole who had told her about the annex c, and gave him a smirk. That had removed his stupid grin from his face. It felt amazing.

During a private one-to-one with her professor she had confessed to him she had been working at the airbase as an apprentice during the past three summers. Her teacher had luckily been very supportive and encouraged her to keep up the good work.

Now, six months in, she still hated with a vengeance the arseholes she had to study with. Some of them even had the guts to ask her for some help after they realised she was actually good. She had answered that surely they didn’t want the help of a woman, and walked away.

After another class it was finally lunch time and she was meeting Rowan down at their spot on the grass. They were a couple. He had asked her out in the summer after high school was over and they had been together ever since. He was a med student and he knew her pain about choosing a challenging degree. Both their degrees were very intense and required a lot of time so they would just try and spend as much time together as they could. They had a flat together but the public library was were they spent most of their time.

And when their schedules allowed it, they would enjoy lunch together, venting about their academical choices.

“I fucking hate that bastard.” She raged, dropping her bag on the grass and sitting at his side, depositing a kiss on his lips. She felt better almost immediately, being in his arms was all she needed to feel okay again.

“What did he do now?” Asked Rowan knowing of her struggles in her classes.

Aelin grabbed her bag and pulled out her food, the dinner that Rowan had prepared the previous night and then packed away for both of them.

“The teacher gave us an exercise where we had to design an aircraft with what we had learned so far.” She told him, while munching away her food “He was up first and his project was a effing disaster. Seriously, I’d wouldn’t want to fly on a plane designed by him.” She took a sip of her water “the teacher asked us to say what was wrong and it took me ten minutes to stop. I mean, a two year old would have done a better job with lego bricks.”

Rowan giggled at her side “then my turn came and the bastard had the guts to tell me that the aerodynamics of my plane were off and that my ailerons where wrong as well and would not allow the plane to function properly. I took my laptop and shoved it in his face and told him to find the error in my math. He had no clue.” Her face turned smug “then the teacher took over and said that actually my project was, among all, the only one that could actually fly. I felt smug as fuck.”

Rowan pulled an arm around Aelin’s shoulder and pulled her to him. He was proud of her. Every damn day.

“Then after class, he threw me a paper plane and inside it had a message saying this is the only plane you will ever build or work on. I swear, the guy is still alive only because I am not looking forward to finishing my degree via distance learning from a prison.”

She calmed down “how was your day?”

Rowan leaned back against the tree “I had anatomy and physiology. Today we covered the endocrine system and it must be one most boring of them all.”

“Well,” she added with a big smile “when you cover the reproductive system you are welcome to practice with me…”

He laughed and squished her to her chest “I am a very big fan of your… bits.” She kissed him deeply not caring that they were in public, she wanted him and hated that they had more classes before being able to go home and then alas, study more. Maybe for one evening they could study something different.

“Aelin?”

“Yes, buzzard?”

His tongue gently teased her and she opened for him while his hand brushed off a rebel strand of hair.

He pulled back “Nothing, you had tomato sauce on you lips. I was just wiping it off. Did you think I wanted to kiss you?”

Aelin gently punched him on the shoulder, in return he gave her a massive grin. Rowan was a very reserved man who struggled with stranger, but she had her own version, the goofy one, the one who made jokes and loved to cuddle with her. She would treasure that version forever. That was just for her.

They were busy chatting away and she was showing him on her laptop the exercise she had been working on and her plane prototype and although what she was saying was greek to him, he still listened to her in fascination.

She was telling him how a plane flew and the four forces when a figure stopped in front of them.

“It must be exciting to brag with your boyfriend about your hopeless projects.” Said the man.

Rowan raised his eyes and finally saw the face of the man that had been making Aelin’s life miserable.

“What did you just say?” Rowan stood and towered on the brown-haired man by twenty centimetres. Chaol also looked frail compared to Rowan’s muscular frame.

“Chaol, you’d better go.” Not that she cared about the man, she just didn’t want Rowan to get into trouble for a petty man.

“You’d better give up while you still can, Galathynius. Aeronautical engineering is not a field for a woman.” He crossed his arms at his chest trying to look intimidating but the look in Rowan’s eyes told her it was a useless attempt. Her boyfriend was ready to attack. She knew he had never hit anyone, but had a feeling that if Chaol didn’t stop it could be a first for Rowan.

“Chaol,” she stood as well and growled his name in warning.

“Oh, so you are one of those arseholes who believes that certain jobs can be done only by those who were born with a penis. It’s the fucking 21st century. Grow up, idiot.”

Rowan swore, alarm bells rang in Aelin’s head. He only swore when he was extremely mad, something that her unflappable boyfriend rarely was.

“Oh look, Galathynius, you have a knight in shining armour.”

Aelin moved between Rowan and Chaol, trying to separate them when her boyfriend moved a step closer to the other guy.

Chaol chuckled “Did you sleep with every professor—” but Chaol never finished his sentence. She saw the scene develop in slow motion in front of her. At those words Rowan’s face had turned feral and as on instinct his arm moved and a second later his fist found its target in Chaol’s face.

Rowan then grabbed Chaol by the collar and lifted him up slightly “You take it back, immediately or I’ll smash all the twenty two bones in your skull.”

“Go on,” said Chaol, nursing a broken lips.

Aelin stopped in between and grasped Rowan’s hand gently “Put him down, Ro, he is not worth it.”

Her gaze then turned to Chaol “now you go back to whatever shithole you came from and perhaps go back working on your project and design a real aircraft.” She moved closer to him “I know what the fuck I am doing. And I know I will have a job in the airforce after this. You will just go back being daddy’s little spoiled boy.”

Chaol glared at her and Rowan finally let go of him, bur before he fully released him he pulled the man close enough that his mouth was near his ear “you disrespect her like that one more time and you’ll finish your degree from a hospital bed while sipping your food from a straw.” Rowan flashed his teeth in a threatening gesture “you leave her alone, because if I hear you have been a bastard to her one more time, I will make your life a living hell.” And eventually released him. Chaol shrugged his t-shirt back into place and walked away without adding another word.

Rowan sighed and then turned to her, his expression back being soft as soon as she looked back at him.

“You didn’t have to punch him,” she said while snuggling against his chest. His arms quickly around her.

“Yes I had to. What he said….” She felt him tense up again “he made me so mad, fireheart.”

“Seeing you thump him was very sexy,” she kissed him gently on the lips “my knight in shining armour.”

Rowan chuckled and looked into he blue eyes “you don’t need a knight. You are fierce, brave and strong and do not need any protection,” he added, his lips on her head. Nesting under his chin was her favourite position. They fit perfectly “I, on the other hand, as a male who is hopelessly in love with you, felt the desperate need to avenge the sullied honour of my amazing other half.”

Aelin giggled hard “you really sound like a knight.”

“Come on, Sir Rowan Whitethorn of Wendlyn, let’s finish our lunch, I have an hour of mechanics of flight coming up and I need sustenance.”

“Yes, my queen,” he said kneeling in front of her.

Aelin laughed and kissed him deeply “maybe I can be your queen tonight in bed as well.”

His smirk grew wider and Aelin felt heat pool at her core at his expression.

“Whatever m’lady commands.”

They finished their lunch in peace without any more interruptions and eventually they parted ways, going to their respective classes.

Chaol did not bothered her anymore. He didn’t even met her gaze and him ignoring her was all she asked. She was there to learn, he could just go and sulk in the afterburner of a jet, perhaps while on, for all she cared.

Aelin texted Rowan a thank you and his reply was a simple To whatever end.

#rowaelin #rowaelinmonth #rowaelin fanfic #rowaelin fanfiction #rowan whitethorn #aelin galathynius #chaol westfall #university au #Throne of Glass series

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sunkaashi · 3 years

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solo carol — oikawa toru x reader

genre: angst with a fluff twist.

warnings: none.

word count: 1.6k

synopsis: sometimes, the holidays can bring out the best and the worst feelings in ourselves. being away from home during this time of year just makes it specially harder. oikawa toru always knew exactly what he wanted in life, but he never thought achieving his dreams would cost him so much.

tris' note: this was inspired by the song “only the brave” by louis tomlinson, but i'd say I added a lil of a twist to it. if you want, you can listen to it to help you get into the narrative. reblogs are always deeply appreciated and help me tons! ♡

a special thanks to @tetsunation for reading the first draft to this, and to @hcn421 for helping me with my block ♡

Shades of red and yellow illuminated the street cobblestones, the gleaming Christmas lights guiding his way to a yet unknown destination. As he walked down the avenue, Oikawa let his eyes wander all over his surroundings, his gaze running almost as fast as his mind did. Despite that, Toru paced slowly along the sidewalk, soaking in the scenery before him. It really was a beautiful view.

But it wasn’t about the garlands wrapped around the streetlights, nor the shiny golden ornaments that delicately hanged from them. Even the decorated trees didn’t quite catch his attention that night. It was something else that fought for his heart instead. Something that he hadn’t had a taste of for a while now.

And tonight, his undying desire felt like being parched while standing in front of the sea.

Cheerful laughs echoed through the air as little children sprinted past him, unaware of the man’s presence. Yet, he didn’t mind, his sheepish giggle joining theirs. Downtown street bars buzzed with loud chatter, smiles painted on unfamiliar faces as a natural halo appeared to involve every single one of them. The warmth Oikawa felt rushing through his core had nothing to do with the sultry weather, rather, it emanated from that sight before his eyes.

Still, he seemed to lack a light of his own, and basking in other people’s glow, as joyful as it may be, comes with a price. Toru was left alone, only his shadow accompanying him through the night.

Staring at his silhouette reflecting onto the ground, the man moved his hand out of the pocket and to his nape, carefully watching his own contour mirroring him in every move. And even with every step taken that assured him a bond between himself and the dark figure, he still felt like something was out of place.

Oikawa could feel his slouched shoulders pushing him down. For a man who always stood with his head held high, there was only so much he could take. As he dragged his feet through the curb, he asked himself when it all changed so fast.

A quiver took over his body as if he refused to admit to that idea. He had it all, didn’t he? He sneered, lightly shaking his head. If he acted tough enough, maybe his thoughts would catch up to his actions, right? At least that’s what he wanted to believe.

Cracking his neck, he looked up to the clear summer sky, determined to push those thoughts away as if doing so would make it all magically fall back into place. As his eyes met the silver shimmer from the stars, which were shining a little brighter than they usually did, he couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by the beauty of it. Most of all, he was struck by what it reminded him of. He thought back to Miyagi. To Japan. To home.

“Oji-san!” His nephew came running down in his direction, almost knocking him over with all the strength in his little body. “You’ll never believe what Santa got me for Christmas! Guess it, guess it!”

“Wow, calm down, kiddo!” Toru laughed as he held the 6-year-old into his arms. “Hm, let me think…” He said looking up to the ceiling and softly clasping his chin. “Legos?”

“Better than that!” The little guy answered while squinting in joy, eyes twinkling in a way his uncle had never seen before.

“Hm, a bike?” He asked calmly, messing with the kid, knowing that was the present he’d gotten last Christmas. The teenager tried to hold back a giggle, but mocking his nephew was just too much fun.

“No, oji-san! It’s the coolest gift ever! Try again!”

“Is it a rocketship?” Toru said, widening his stare like even himself would be excited if that was the case. But the child sighed, rolling his eyes. Hiding a smirk, the older boy decided to stop playing around, finally giving in to the youngster’s wishes. “I give up! I have no idea! What is it!?"

“A volleyball! Just like yours!”

Oikawa smiled at the reminiscences lingering in the air, the memories immersing his senses back to the time and place he never wanted to leave. Closing his eyes, he could still feel the ghost of his nephew’s embrace, a tight and cozy grasp around his neck, saying more than words ever could. But his daydream didn’t last long enough to suppress the void hoovering his heart. As soon as he opened his lids, he was taken back to reality.

And then, just when he thought there was nothing else that could haunt him that night, a sore sight caught his attention, putting out the last flicker of flame that rested in his almond eyes.

It was just a glimpse, just some little specks of sand running down the hourglass of his life. Those few seconds usually would barely mean anything in the long run, but tonight that was enough to wash away his beam. Slightly furrowing his brows into a hurtful look, he tried to fight back the tears threatening to fall down his face.

An innocent couple running across the street, hands intertwined in a knot while brief chuckles scaped now and then, an exchange of accomplice looks giving out their most clandestine thoughts. It was at that moment, when unforgiving loneliness meets undeniable happiness, that Toru fell apart.

Slowly, he made his way to the building next to him, leaning his back onto the brick walls of the construction. He stood there, swallowing down the feelings that begged him to be screamed out.

He always knew he’d have to make sacrifices for his dreams. But all out of all the things he missed, there was only one that he would never forgive himself for letting go. And as he watched love surrounding him from every corner, it was impossible not to think of it. Not to think of you.

Raindrops cascaded down the windows of the apartment as the man dove himself further under the covers. Shrinking his body between the sheets, Oikawa felt a too familiar touch enveloping his torso, comforting him with a warmth that even sunlight could not compete with.

“Couldn’t you just stay like this all day?” Toru groaned as his fingers found their way to your locks, gently caressing your hair.

“Mhm?” You hummed in response, too disoriented by your lack of sleep to even process what he was saying. Leisurely, you opened one of your eyes to peek at your boyfriend, lips instantly curling up into a smirk.

“Nothing, love” He chortled. Oikawa didn't need to ask you again, he’d found his answer in the way you looked at him.

"Someone woke up in a good mood." You said, trying to tease the boy. "Santa must've gotten you a very special gift."

"I'm looking at it right now."

Brushing against your skin, his other hand played with the buttons of your shirt, the one you were too tired to take off the night before.

“I’m going to miss this. Miss you.”

“I’m not going anywhere. Not now, at least”

“But soon you will” You paused, a heavy silence filling the room. “Toru…" Before you could finish your sentence, he delicately pushed you away, placing one of his hands onto your chin, obliging you to look into his eyes.

"Please… Let’s not think about that now.” Pulling you closer to his body, he held you tighter and tighter by the minute, afraid that if he ever let go, you’d slip away.

And you did.

Looking back at it, he regretted everything. All the words left unsaid, all the things he should've done so that he’d have you in his arms right now. But you couldn't leave it all behind just to follow him to the other side of the world. Even if you wanted to, he would've never had the heart to ask you such a thing.

So you both decided to break it off.

Yet, it had been two years and there wasn’t a single day when you didn’t cross his mind. And right now, when the pounding sound of bells resonated throughout the air, bringing him back to earth, Oikawa believed it must’ve been some kind of sign that you were the person he was thinking about. It was only then that Toru realized he was standing at a church.

Step by step, he moved away from the wall, drawn by the chimes warning him that it was already midnight. Christmas time. Walking towards the olden gates of the holy ground, he contemplated the image in front of him, being hit by one final blow.

Families gathered all around the church, the words "Merry Christmas" being repeated over and over again as everyone exchanged smiles and caring hugs. Even if he wasn't necessarily a religious person himself, let alone christian, Toru still felt inspired by the passion radiating from them.

As the mass finally started, the loud buzzing of the crowd quieting down, he closed his eyes, his mind transporting him to the place he wanted to be.

So he decided to pray. Pray for his loved ones. Pray for you.

He asked for your health, for your well-being, for your happiness and, as much as it hurt him, for you to find love too. The loneliness he felt was something he wouldn't wish upon his worst enemies, and you just happened to be one of his favorite people in the world.

Oikawa didn't even know whom he was praying to. Even so, his wishes were so pure that someone must've heard him because it was in the moment he said his last prayers that his phone started to vibrate in his pocket. A call coming in.

When he saw the name that popped on the screen, Toru thought his eyes were probably deceiving him. That's just what his heart wanted to see.

But as soon as he picked up the phone, your unmistakable voice woke him in a rush.

Maybe there was something magical about the holidays after all.

#oikawa angst #oikawa x you #oikawa x reader #hq oikawa #oikawa toru #toru oikawa x you #toru oikawa x reader #oikawa toru angst #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu!! x reader #haikyuu angst #seijoh angst #toru oikawa #oikawa toru x reader #oikawa x y/n #constellations ✨

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on-maars · 3 years

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Find My Way Home (Back To You)

Alright I wrote a post Eddie Begins episode fic and I really hope you’ll like it :)

Read it on AO3

Eddie sighs and turns around for what might be the tenth time in the past two hours.

He can’t sleep. He can’t sleep without being back there again. He can’t sleep without stopping the nightmares. Not about the war. He’s had his fair share of night terrors about the war, but lately the nightmares have taken another direction. He doesn’t dream of being the target of a thousand snipers anymore. He dreams of that moment. He dreams of being back there again, buried in the ground, thirty feet of wet earth above him, trapped, without any way of getting back to his son, without any way of getting back to his family. It’s suffocating, and Eddie often wakes up soaking wet, his hair sticking to his forehead, his sheet drenched in sweat. Drenched in sweat, and tears. His tears.

He can’t sleep and he tried everything. Every method he can think of. Every method his mother used to teach him when he was scared and alone at night, suffering from insomnia. He tried some breathing exercises his therapist showed him the week before, tried taking a walk around the neighborhood to clear his head and take his mind off things, he tried reading a book and even went through some meditations videos on YouTube that Buck recommended to him a while back. But nothing is working. His mind keeps sending him back to that place. To the well.

Eddie turns around again and lets his eyes fall on his alarm clock as it reads 2:49am. Eddie sighs and presses his hands to his face, apprehending the 24 hours shift waiting for him in the early hours of the morning. Not necessarily because of the fatigue. After all it wouldn’t be the first time Eddie gets through an awfully long shift with the 118 with only a few hours of sleep in his system.

No, he’s only apprehending it because he knows, deep down, that he’s so far from being in the right state of mind to face the difficulties of his job. He feels more restless, more fidgety, less focused than usual. And if there is no doubt in Eddie’s mind that the 118 is going to notice his mood swings. And if they notice, then he’s going to need to explain. Explain the extent of how messed-up he is in the head. Explain how the war still terrorized him sometimes at night. Explain how tight his throat is ever since he’s made it out of that well. And that’s a conversation he’s not ready to face.

Eddie looks up at the ceiling and gropes around in the dark until his right hand finds his phone. He knows scrolling mindlessly the news is only going to keep his brain more awake but he doesn’t find it in him to care anymore. He unlocks his phone and frowns when he notices an unseen message from his sister in his inbox. The message is short, but it catches Eddie’s attention.

“Isn’t he your friend Buck?!”

There is a link just underneath it and when Eddie clicks on it, his breath catches in his throat and his heart starts pounding hard against his chest. It’s a video. A video of that day. A video of the rig, collapsing, and burying him under thirty feet of earth in the process. Only the video doesn’t show only that. It also shows his coworkers’ reaction. It also shows Buck.

Buck

Buck, who collapses on the ground and completely falls to pieces. Buck, who screams his name and starts digging the earth with his bare hands. Buck, who bursts into tears and whose face is contorted with fear, rage and pain. Eddie watches him as he continues calling out his name in agony, he watches him as Bobby needs to physically restrain him to stop him from digging, and Eddie swears he can feel his heart cracked open at the sight.

The scene is devastating, heartbreaking, and the last seconds of the video only shows Buck, sitting on the ground, his head down, tears rolling down his face, as the rain continues pouring down on him.

By the time Eddie finishes watching the video, his hands are shaking and the room is spinning. His whole body is tense, buzzing with a nervous energy and Eddie closes his eyes fiercely but he can’t get the images out of his head. How can he? How can he when he had to sit through and watch his best-friend having a complete breakdown in a video with more than a million views? How can he when until then, he was so far up his own ass not to notice that Buck was hurting too? Not to notice that he wasn't the only one who ended up traumatized by this day?

He sits back straight on his bed, and leans his back against the headboard, running both of his hands through his hair a few times, ignoring how his heart pulses in his head, making it hurt.

He takes his phone in his hand and gets up, stepping out of his room and going down the stairs until he reaches the living-room. Here, he lets himself fall on the couch, rubbing his temples with his fingers, his eyes closed. In vain. It’s no use. It’s no use trying to get his breathing back to normal while the only thing he really wants is to see his best-friend with his own two eyes and make sure he’s okay.

“Can you come over?” He sends. It’s short and vague, but Eddie knows Buck keeps his phone in sound mode at all times just in case this kind of emergencies come up.

But is it an emergency? Eddie asks himself as he brings his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. It’s not. Not really. But Buck’s answer still comes after just a few seconds.

“Be there in 15. You okay? Christopher?”

“We’re okay. Just need to see you.”

Eddie jumps out of the couch and starts pacing back and forth in the living-room, not knowing what to do with himself. He squats down and starts picking up every Lego bricks lying around on the carpet, on the coffee table under the sofa. Christopher was in the middle of building a (more than unstable) house before heading to bed and he seemed so tired from his school day Eddie didn’t have the heart to ask him to tidy. He’s in the middle of retrieving a brick which ended up under the carpet when he hears the distinct sound of someone opening the front door.

He whirls his head around and finds himself face to face with Buck who looks around the living-room in alarm, his eyes wide. His hair is disheveled and his shoes are mismatched and Eddie almost feels bad for waking him up in the middle of the night while they both have a 24 hours shift waiting for them in a few hours. His best-friend’s face softens when his eyes fall on him, and Eddie doesn’t waste any time to close the gap separating them and wrapping his arms around his neck to hold him close.

“Evan Buckley I swear to god you’re going to be the death of me.” He says, not thinking twice before burying his face in the crook of his best-friend’s neck. Buck seems taken aback for a few seconds, but he doesn’t question it and reciprocate the embrace with just as much vigor. “I’m sorry.” Eddie eventually says, grabbing his tee-shirt with his right hand.

“You’re sorry?” Buck repeats, his voiced filled with confusion. “About what?” He adds.

“God I’ve been so far up my own ass these past few days, haven’t I?” Eddie asks, taking a step back and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, following his gaze until he’s sure Buck looks at him in the eye. His best-friend seems reluctant at first, almost as if he already knows where the conversation is going, but then he finally meets his gaze and Eddie’s look is so intense and he’s watching him with so much attention something in his face just breaks. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what, Eds?” Buck asks, but from the way his voice breaks, Eddie knows it’s just a way for him to try and take the conversation elsewhere.

“Buck.” Eddie says, and it’s a warning. We’re having that conversation whether you like it or not.

“Eddie, just- Don’t, alright?” Buck starts. “It’s okay. You’re okay. It’s all that matters.”

“I saw the video.” Eddie says, taking another step backwards until he sits on a kitchen chair, running his right hand through his hair.

“What video?” Buck says, his voice small, but sighs and looks down when Eddie maintains eye-contact. “Took you long enough.” He only adds, leaning against the fridge. “It was literally everywhere on the news. Big headlines too.” He says, letting out a humorless laugh.

“Buck-”

“But again, I’spose it’s fun to see a firefighter completely losing it after his best-friend has been buried thirty feet underground.” Buck cuts in, his voice hollow. “I guess it ‘entertains’ people just fine”

“Buck-” Eddie starts, but his friend is faster.

“As if I want to relive that moment, you know?” Buck goes on and his voice is louder now, more aggressive. “As if one time wasn’t enough.”

“Buck, I-”

“Eddie, you cut the damn line!” He exclaims and Eddie jumps with surprise at how raw and demanding his tone is. “You cut the damn line!” He repeats and a tear rolls down his left cheek. “And you know what the worst part is? The worst part is that I can’t even blame you for it! You wanted to save that kid… I mean, how can I blame you for wanting to save that kid, Eddie? I can’t. I would be a fucking hypocrite if I did, man. Cause I would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed.”

“It doesn’t mean you can’t be mad.” Eddie says, keeping his eyes down, incapable of meeting his best-friend’s gaze. “It doesn’t mean you can’t be angry.” He adds. “Hell, I know I would be.”

“I just- Eddie, did you ever stop for a second to imagine what it was like for me? I was pulling you out Eds. I was pulling you out and then the weight was just- the weight was just gone. You were gone.” He says through gritted teeth and Eddie darts his eyes towards him for just a second, but that’s still enough time for him to see the expression of complete agony and pure heartbreak on his best-friend’s face. Eddie looks away just as fast and sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers.

“But that’s not even the worst part, oh no.” Buck goes on and Eddie knows this one is on a roll. He’s determined and he won’t stop until he got everything off his chest. “ Because then this damn rig just collapsed and I- I couldn’t get you out, I- You were… You were buried, Eds. You were buried and I swear to god I would have dug the whole thing with my bare hands if I had to.”

“I know you would’ve.” Eddie only says, staring at Buck, his eyes filled with the tears he’s been trying to hold back for the past fifteen minutes. “I know you would’ve.”

“I didn’t give up on you.” Buck answers, as if he’s trying to justify his actions in a courtroom. “You’ve got to know that, alright?” He repeats. “I didn’t give up on you. Even when people were trying to convince me that there was no way you would have survived that, I didn’t- I didn’t give up on you.”

“Hey, hey, I know.” Eddie instantly reassures him, getting up and closing the gap between them. “I know.” He repeats, cupping Buck’s cheeks with his hands. “You didn’t give up.”

“I didn’t give up.” Buck nods, his lips quivering.

“Buck, do you think- do you think I’m mad at you because you didn’t try hard enough?” Eddie manages to articulate, his fingers playing with the roots of Buck’s hair. “How could you have tried any harder?” Eddie adds, letting out a nervous laugh. “For Christ’s sake Evan, you told me yourself you were ready to dig the whole thing by hands. There’s nothing you could have done. You hear me?”

Buck frantically nods and Eddie sighs, wrapping his right arm around his neck to pull him forward. Buck’s whole body tenses and it’s only when his shoulders start shaking that Eddie realizes his best-friend is full-on sobbing against him, his tears wetting his white tee-shirt. Buck rests his forehead on his shoulder and Eddie simply runs his left hand through his hair while the other traces small patterns on his back, holding him tight. He presses his lips on his hair, closing his eyes fiercely for a few seconds while throwing his head backwards, looking up at the ceiling.

“I’m sorry.” Buck says against him. “Here I am again, making the whole thing about me while you’re the one who’ve been buried underground.”

“Don’t be stupid Buck, I’m the one who should apologize here. I was so focused on my pain and the nightmares that I-”

“Nightmares?” Buck whirls his head up to meet his eyes. “You have nightmares about the well?” He asks, his eyes full of concern, and Eddie lets out an incredulous laugh.

“Yeah but that’s not the point, Buck.” He says, dismissing his concern with a hand’s gesture. “I should have seen you were hurting. I’m sorry.” He adds. “And yes I have nightmares but Buck you need to know you’re the only reason I got out. You and Christopher? I couldn’t have done it without you guys. Wouldn’t have done it. But I promised myself I’ll always find my way back home. So I did.”

Eddie cradles his chin with his left hand, forcing him to look up.

“That… That was sappy as hell, man.” Buck tries and Eddie snorts, placing his hand on his cheek to make him look away.

“Says the one who was ready to dig thirty feet of wet earth with his bare hands.” He says playfully and then Buck does this thing again where he looks down with a shy smile and Eddie’s heart just melts at the sight.

When Buck lifts his gaze again, their lips are only separated by a few inches of space and Eddie’s head is spinning. He stays there, motionless, not knowing whether he should finally gives in to years of pining and unresolved tension. But then, Buck’s eyes dart towards his lips and all his good sense goes up in smoke. Eddie looks at him for permission and when Buck nods, he places his hand on the back of his neck and presses their lips together. It doesn’t last long. It’s brief, and when Eddie takes a step back, Buck’s lips chase his own a second time and he only smiles and complies happily.

This time, the kiss is more heated and Buck’s hands find their way on the back of Eddie’s neck, biting his lower lip to demand access to his mouth. Eddie smiles against his mouth and runs both of his hands through his hair, bringing him closer. This earns him a small whimper from Buck and Eddie only kisses him harder, pressing his best-friend’s body against the fridge and sliding his hand underneath his tee-shirt.

“God I can’t believe we waited three years to do that.” Buck says Eddie huffs out a laugh against his lips.

“Well I mean you were a bit slow on the uptake.” Eddie teases him.

“Oh fuck off.” Buck taps him on the head playfully. “You know I couldn’t just- I had to be sure.”

“I know.” Eddie says, his voice soft.

“I couldn’t do the first move. I had to wait for… I had to wait for you to do it. Even if I knew that you- because I knew. Of course I knew. But-”

“Hey.” Eddie cuts him off by cupping his cheeks with his hands. “I know.” He repeats. “Alright then Evan. Let’s get you to bed.”

“Lead the way, Edmundo.”

“Not my name.” Eddie says with a smile, taking his hand in his to guide him towards the bedroom.

“Sorry. Eduardo.”

“Still not my name, man."

"Diaz?"

"That's it, you’re sleeping on the damn couch, Buckley.” Eddie warns but the smile on his face betrays him.

“Really? You would make me sleep on the couch? The guy who was ready to dig 30 feet of wet earth with his bare han-”

“Oh my god will you shut up?” Eddie whispers loudly, being careful not to wake up Christopher fast asleep in the adjoining room.

“Make me.” Buck says, a hint of amusement in his voice and Eddie?

Well Eddie wastes no time to crash their lips together another time.

#buddie #buddie fic #9-1-1 #Eddie Begins #Evan Buckley #Eddie diaz #911 #buck x eddie

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sserpente · 4 years

Text

Ablaze (Part II)

A/N: I am way too excited about this TV series. I wonder how many theories will make sense in the end. Here goes Part II, enjoy everyone! ♥

Read Part I here.

Words: 4138 Warnings: there’s going to be a gory corpse

A dark scream ripped you from your uneasy sleep. Alarmed, you sat up straight, ready to defend yourself with the next-best weapon within your reach—a table lamp, in this case. But there was no one there to hurt you. Instead, you noticed Loki, the god who was practically holding you hostage in your own flat after setting the headquarters of TVA, the secret organisation monitoring the multiverse, on fire, thrashing in bed right next to you as if he was possessed. Wait… was he… dreaming?

“No…” He growled. “No!”

Still giddy, you switched on the table lamp and studied the heavily breathing Trickster by your side. His blue eyes were closed. So he was having a nightmare. Should you… should you wake him? What if he accidentally hurt you in his frenzy?

Biting your lower lip, and with your heart pounding in your chest like a steam hammer, you reached for him, carefully grabbing his bare shoulder. The singeing sensation of his remarkably cool skin under your palm made you flinch.

“L-Loki? Loki, wake up, you’re having a nightmare.”

You gasped for air, terrified, when he opened his eyes with a start, momentarily disoriented. His hand darted forward to snatch your wrist so firmly it hurt. You winced.

“Loki…”

It took him another moment to realise you were no threat to him. Finally, his deadly expression softened. His breath was shaky, sweat pooling on his forehead, his neck and even his chest, shimmering in the artificial light of your table lamp. It was, quite strangely, a sight which would have aroused you if it wasn’t for the fact he was a war and time criminal, held you captive and could have killed you in his sleep just a moment ago. God, how could you even think about his looks in this whole horrifying situation?

With a start, Loki let go of his wrists as if hot flames were licking at his cold fingers, defending your body.

He said nothing more. Instead, he merely turned his back to you again… almost as if nothing had happened at all. You would never find out that he noticed you spent the majority of the rest of the night wide awake. But so did he.

Drowsily, you blinked against the gentle sunlight fighting its way through your curtains. It was a beautiful morning, peaceful. You sat up, your eyes registering an empty mug and a dark stain on your carpet.

Your heart skipped a beat when you remembered. Last night, you had involuntarily fallen asleep next to the God of Mischief who had taken you hostage in your own flat after destroying TVA’s headquarters like a house made of LEGO bricks. You remembered his nightmare, too. The way he had had jerked and grunted, almost as if his own subconscious was inflicting serious pain on him… as if it was torturing him. What, for Heaven’s sake, caused such terrifying bad dreams? What… what had he been through opening and travelling through all those portals on your radar?

You were in danger, serious danger so. You had no clue if Loki planned to kill you anytime soon. If he forced you into doing his biddings with violence… no. No, he did not seem like the sort of person who would physically harm women simply for the sake of it. There were limits even to his malice, you were sure of it. Or at least, that was what you were hoping.

As expected, and much to your relief, the other side of the bed was empty, the sheets unmade. You could hear him in the kitchen, opening drawers and cupboards almost frantically. With your heart in your mouth, you made your way into the kitchen.

“Is there anything edible in your accommodation?” He complained, shutting the fridge shut without even spinning around to face you. “Where is the sweet hot chocolate mixture you used last night?”

“In the cupboard above the counter.” I mean, what was the point of lying? He would find it anyway, at some point, only angrier. You almost snorted at the thought of trading your survival for hot chocolate.

“Make us something to eat. I need sustenance.”

Make us something to eat? You clenched your fists, eyeing the coffee machine in the corner of the kitchen and wondering if you were less likely to risk your life by talking back once you had pumped your body full of caffeine.

Your heart was pounding. You barely dared to move around him. Loki glared at you but said nothing. It was like he felt you remembering what had happened last night.

“If you lose a word about what you witnessed last night…” He growled darkly.

“Don’t threaten me,” you whispered weakly. “It’s not like I have anyone left to tell anyway.” You paused, curious whether he was going to reply. He did not. “I-I’m having cereal.” You said, despite your lack of appetite. “You can have a bowl too.” As if I had a choice sharing my food with you…

You had just poured some milk into both your cereal bowls when a loud song ripped apart the tense silence in the kitchen. Your phone! Your eyes widened. Oh God, you still had your phone! How could you have been so stupid?

Starting for the living room, you were panting by the time you picked up. It was Isabelle, one of your co-workers. A fellow agent who must have survived! Your hands were shaking.

“Hello?”

“(Y/N)! Thank the Lord, you’re okay.”

“So are you! I-I am… more or less, I…” You did not need to turn around to feel his presence behind you. Loki was eyeing you threateningly, circling you slowly. The message was clear—if you told anyone he was here, you would be in some serious trouble. You swallowed thickly.

“Do you… do you know who else made it out?”

“I’ve been on the phone all morning but nothing’s confirmed yet. They’re optimistic but Jed is devastated. He’s trying to get us all back on track… whoever’s left of us, anyway.” Jed was your boss, more or less, guiding your missions and keeping a neat overview over everything that happened within TVA. You eyed Loki from the corners of his eyes, looking for anything to ease your mind. A hint of remorse, perhaps. Regret, pity, anything would have sufficed. He was like an impenetrable wall.

“Can you meet us? By the river? Jed is already on his way.”

“W-why?”

“We found traces of another portal but…”

“But what?!”

“This time… there is… (Y/N), someone has been murdered.” You took a sharp breath. Ever since Loki’s capture, you had almost forgotten about those mysterious portals that seemed to keep appearing out of nowhere. For a moment there, you had all assumed it had been Loki himself, repeatedly using the Tesseract. Given that he had been with you last night, however, and before that, had spent his time in custody at TVA’s headquarters... before he had… burned them all down… it could not possibly have been him. You swallowed. For once, you knew that he was innocent. There was someone else still out there. And they were, so it appeared, equally dangerous. “Where are you right now?”

It was then Loki snatched the phone from your grasp, clutching it so tightly the screen cracked… and went black. Fuck. You should have screamed bloody murder the minute you had picked it up.

“W-what…”

“Do you truly think I will let you tell them about your whereabouts so lightly?” He snarled.

“They will get suspicious if I don’t show up!” You yelled, your lower lip shaking.

“Show up where?”

“T-the crime scene. There has been a murder.”

Loki frowned. “I believed you are monitoring time travel, not petty crimes.”

Slowly, you shook your head. Murder was hardly petty. Well… perhaps it was to him, given you were only humans. Swallowing your anger, you looked up at him with courage. “We normally don’t but…”

“But?” He probed strictly when you trailed off. You flinched.

“There… we have repeatedly recorded interdimensional portals. They interfere with our readings. Something is… off about this and now someone is dead and I… we have been trying to find out what it is even before you came along and destroyed our headquarters, you know.” It was just that SHIELD wouldn’t let you. It was a fight over power and recognition, really.

“I want to see it.” Loki stated simply. Your eyes widened. “How many portals have there been?”

“Thirteen.”

“You believe they have a harmful cause?”

“We don’t know that yet. We are monitoring everything. Those energy waves did not go unnoticed by our radars, they are going to start tearing time and reality apart if we don’t stop whoever is creating them. SHIELD has already…”

Loki’s face distorted.

“You work with SHIELD?”

“We do, if we must but we prefer to keep our distance.”

He rolled his eyes. “I see. When did the first portals begin to appear?”

“A few weeks ago. Whoever it is… I don’t think they realise that they are being watched.” Hugging yourself, you took the opportunity to move away from him a little, watching from a safer distance how he pensively looked out of the window. Suddenly, the weather did not at all fit the depressing situation you were in, let alone the topic you were talking about.

“Yes… I can imagine that.”

“W-what?” You frowned. “What do you mean by that? Do you know who it could be? Is it one of your allies?”

Loki’s gaze darted back to you—seriously. “I don’t have allies,” he spat. “I shall join you.”

“You can’t just… walk in on a crime scene unauthorised.”

“I just walked into your flat, did I not?” He mocked.

“They will recognise you.” You argued, voice shaking audibly.

“They will not.” Loki smirked. “No one but you will be able to see who I truly am.”

Fuck. Did you have a choice? After what he had done last night… could you refuse him? You sighed, defeated. No. Probably not.

There were thunders in the distance when you left, the initially blue sky slowly turning grey. Heavy clouds pushed in front of the sun, blocking its light from reaching Earth. That is more like it. If you got suspended today because you brought a war criminal to a crime scene revealing important details about another potential threat, at least it would not happen in broad and warm sunlight.

You were nervous. No, you were terrified. If there was one thing your boss did not accept, it was weakness and fear of what might happen if you chose to prioritise your survival over protecting life in the multiverse. It sounded cruel and ridiculously altruistic but you had known what you got yourself into with working for TVA. There was only one thing worse than egoism. And that was treason.

Yet here you were now, approaching a crime scene with a criminal who had ensured you he would be looking like a normal Midgardian man to anyone you met. Spotting SHIELD first thing you arrived did not exactly ease your nerves. Taking a shaky breath, you approached them. Rain was falling by now, wetting the asphalt and your clothes. At least, part of your uniform was waterproof.

You could tell Loki was watching you intently as you tensed the closer you got. He was dressed in a surprisingly inconspicuous police uniform—plain beige trousers and a white shirt, a black tie and an equally beige police jacket with a badge.

Luckily enough, Jed arrived just when the SHIELD agent, Jeff, so you knew, lifted his arms to stop you from stepping over the barrier tape despite your ID. With his blonde hair fluttering in the wind, he looked a little like Owen Wilson. He even sounded a little like him too.

“What are you doing here, TVA?” Jeff groaned with dismay. “This is our crime scene. You have no business here.”

“Shut it. The energy readings we keep getting from these portals say something different. They have been interfering with our radars for weeks now. We can’t keep the world safe from potential threats in time and the multiverse if we can’t observe it properly. So I disagree. This is our crime scene too. Now get out of my way.” He paused, turning to you. “(Y/N), I’m glad to see you’re well.”

“You too.” You replied with a court nod.

“Who is that?”

“Uh… He is, uh, with the… the police.” You lied quickly. You couldn’t believe you were doing this. Help me, you attempted to scream with your eyes. You must realise that something is wrong! But he did not.

“Luke.” Loki jumped in, letting his charm do all the work as he offered Jed his hand. He took and shook it, his initial suspicion dying down once the God of Mischief gave him a sly smile.

“Right. Pleased to meet you, Sir. We’ll do our best to get the situation under control, then I promise we’ll leave you to it. A lot of my agents have been in a critical state in the hospital since that Asgardian arsehole escaped from us last night. There is no excuse for that faux-pas but he is… difficult to say the least. It’ll take us a while to make amends.”

“Asgardian arsehole?” Jeff interrupted. “What are you talking about? The war criminal Loki was taken back to Asgard by Thor years ago.”

Jed pressed his lips together to a thin line. “It’s complicated.”

Panicking, you gasped for air but much to your surprise, Loki did nothing whatsoever. He only smiled—maliciously so.

“I am deeply sorry for your loss.” He stated hollowly, making you swallow thickly. If Jed only knew… “So? What is it that interferes with your radars, agent?”

“We don’t know. It almost feels like…” Jed looked at you.

“As if there are remnants of… magic… it’s crackling.” The both of you were unable to tell him more than you already had. As a TVA agent, you were not dealing with murders often. Accidents, yes but actual murder? Hardly, fortunately.

Loki lifted his chin. “Show me this corpse.”

“Here,” you announced, taking a step back when you felt the energy waves pushing against every fibre of your skin. You had been focused not to give the dead body surrounded by barrier tape and a pool of blood more glances than absolutely necessary, to ignore the dreadful and almost sweet stench of decay. It had been… cut in half. The victim must have tried to enter the portal after whoever had created it—but had been too slow to make it through entirely. Scrunching up your nose, you resisted a gag. You were a TVA agent, for Goodness sake. Pull yourself together. There are worse things. Just like being kept hostage by a dangerous god without anyone even knowing. It certainly was a good sign he had not harmed you as of yet though, no? What, however, would happen once you got a chance to tell Jed the truth? Would he kill you after all? Set your flat on fire as well?

Gulping, you wiped your sweaty palms on your trousers, your heart speeding up in your chest when you felt his presence behind you. His body temperature was remarkably cool, yet you could practically feel the heat radiating off of him, making you feel small and powerless next to him. Still, there was this tiny part of you—a barely audible voice whispering in your mind—that enjoyed the fear and the excitement that came with being Loki’s… captive.

The urge to slap yourself rose.

“What causes this?” You managed to choke out.

You watched, almost in awe, how he brought up his palm to touch the remaining energy waves your radars had recorded prior to arriving at the crime scene. Unlike yours, however, his palms began to shimmer in a green light.

“It is unlike the gamma radiation the Tesseract emits. It’s more… crackling. That probably doesn’t make any sense.”

“Oh, it makes perfect sense.” Loki replied matter-of-factly. “The crackling, as you describe it, is of magical origin. On Asgard, we call it seidr. Few can wield it, fewer are able to take their skills beyond simple tricks.”

“What… are you saying that whoever is creating these portals is Asgardian too?”

“I am not…” Loki took a deep breath and pressed his lips together to a thin line before speaking on. “They might be. I only know one person who would be capable of finding a way to open doors to other realities like that.”

Glancing at him in utter shock, you waited for him to continue. He did not. Instead, he directed his attention at the person approaching you before you even registered the footsteps on the wet asphalt yourself. You were hauled into a hug, all air pressed from your lungs and your eyesight blocked by waves of her long ginger hair.

“Isabelle!”

“Don’t you dare scare me like that ever again! The connection was lost and when I tried to call you back, I could only reach your voicemail. What happened? I thought Loki attacked you!”

Well, technically… you swallowed thickly. “No, I, um… I was doing the washing up to distract myself from… you know… and the phone fell into the sink. I put it in a bowl of rice, it should be fine again tomorrow.” There went another lie. You would have to buy a new phone and you sincerely doubted that Loki would let you. Next to you, the God of Mischief chuckled maliciously. Bastard.

“Who are you?” Isabelle frowned at him.

“Luke. Officer Luke.”

“He’s with the… police.”

“I see. You are here alone?” She probed suspiciously.

“I am. I am merely here to ensure things are… taken care of, so to speak.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that. Your superiors are familiar with our work and how significant it is for all our wellbeing.” Loki only raised his eyebrows in a seemingly unimpressed manner.

You wondered, briefly, what would happen if you screamed bloody murder and warned her about him, gave away his identity. Would he kill you straight away? Torture you first? After he had set the TVA headquarters on fire, anything was possible. Bruce Banner had not been wrong. That man’s mind was like a bag full of cats.

“Where is the rest of our team?” You asked her instead. “Have they still not arrived? Jed said a lot of them are being treated in the hospital but…”

“They’re busy finding Loki.”

“Do you, um…” Your voice was shaky. Clearing your throat, you continued despite his threatening presence right beside you. “I didn’t dare to ask Jed back there.” Or Loki, for that matter. “How many agents died in the fire?”

“Only two. Pete and Roth.” The very same agents who had caught Loki. Loki barely put any effort into hiding his satisfaction. Clearly, he had planned this. Taken his revenge. It made you wonder what else he’d have in store for this world even without you spilling his dirty secret. But then again… you remembered how vulnerable he had looked last night in his sleep. There had to be more. So much more.

A loud and alarming bleeping tore through the crispy air with a start. Both Isabelle und you flinched, turning your heads towards the computer station Jed had by now stationed at the crime scene with the help of another agent. The radar was blinking red and purple, the noise downright ear-piercing.

“Jed, what is it?” Isabelle covered her ears.

“Another portal opened.” Loki answered for him, his expression hardening.

“What?! When?! Now?”

He did not reply—instead, he turned on his heel and ran, presumably straight towards the source of the readings.

“Officer! Officer Sir, no, it’s too dangerous! Officer! Damn it. (Y/N), stay where you are!” But you weren’t listening either. You hurried after him, for what reason you did not know yourself. Loki was perfectly capable of defending himself—you were not. If what he had said was true and there was another Asgardian wreaking havoc in this city, you’d do well to leg it and flee. Besides… why would you care? If he died playing curiosity kills the cat, your entire organisation had one problem less to deal with. Why, for Heaven’s sake, did part of you feel like you owed him in spite of this nerve-wrecking fear?

“Stay back!” He yelled.

Gnashing your teeth, you stopped dead in your tracks, blinded by the bright green lights illuminating the narrow alley Loki had run off into.

The energy the portal was radiating was numbing, almost. Like an invisible wall you were trying to step closer, tensing every single muscle in your body to no avail. Loki, however, seemed to have no problems approaching the hazardous time threat at all.

Finally, a tall, blonde woman stepped through. The portal closed behind her, drowning the alley in rainy darkness once more. The impact of the energy ebbing away nearly knocked you off your feet. Right before you could fall, however, a strong and cold hand wrapped around your wrist and pulled you up again seemingly without any effort whatsoever. Gazing up, bedazzled, you met Loki’s serious and reproachful glare.

“I told you to stay back.” He growled, his grip around your wrist almost painful. It was the one already forming a bruise from his sleepy attack last night. He let go as if he had burned himself when he noticed, leaving you there all exhausted and trembling. It was then an almost soft voice sounded behind him, making him stiffen and go pale—if only just a little. Your lips parted.

“By Odin’s beard… Loki?!”

The God of Mischief took a deep breath. “Sylvie.” He too, was surprised, to say the least. Yet if there was one thing Loki was really good at, it was hiding his feelings. So they knew each other. Just great.

“I would recognise that mischievous voice anywhere. What in the nine realms happened to your face?” With some words, it almost sounded like she had a lisp.

“An illusion. I am a fugitive, so it seems.”

“Oh, what have you done now, hmm?” Her laughter tore through the dark alley, next you thing you witnessed she had already thrown herself into his arms, her feet dangling in the air. Loki, albeit hesitantly, reciprocated the hug. “I missed you! Midgard is so boring without you.” She pouted. Never before had you felt as redundant as you did now. It seemed to have been your cue.

“Oh, not again…” She suddenly complained, her brown eyes finding you standing in the background. She glared at you darkly. “Didn’t you see what happened to the last human who attempted to follow me? You would do well to leave me alone if you do not wish to suffer from the same fate.”

“You look very human to me.” At least she was dressed human, unlike Loki when they had first found and brought them to your headquarters.

“Well, I am not. I am Asgardian.” Loki opened his mouth. He never got to say what he intended to.

“Put your hands up in the air and no harm will come to you!” It was Jed’s voice that ripped you all from this uncomfortable and undoubtedly dangerous situation. His gun was aimed at the blonde who rolled her eyes in response. “Officer, step away from her, please! She is likely a hostile!”

The curse Loki uttered sounded a lot like he had spoken it in a foreign language. “We need to leave, now. They have weapons which immobilise even me—long enough for them to shackle you.”

“What? Those meagre mortals? Oh, please…” While the strange woman crossed her arms, Loki reacted already. Unceremoniously, he pulled out the Tesseract out of… seemingly nowhere—your heart skipped a beat when it appeared in his hand and he held it without any sort of protection—and offered her his arm. The woman’s eyes widened. Without any hesitation, she took it. And then, everything happened at once.

“Sir, what are you… the Tesseract. This is Loki! Everyone, this is Loki! Fuck!” More guns were aimed at you all, a low chuckle from the God of Mischief sending ice-cold shivers up and down your spine.

“Wait, don’t shoot! (Y/N) is in the line of fire!” Isabelle’s ear-piercing scream barely reached you when the first gunshots tore through the air as wild as a swarm of wasps. So this was it. You would be shot by your own colleagues and a handful of SHIELD agents.

The last thing you expected Loki to do, however, was to grab you, pull you flush against him and tear you with him into the unknown.

A/N: Stay tuned for Part III!

Check out my blog to find more Imagines and take a glimpse at my first (to be) published novel! If you enjoyed this story, I would appreciate so much if you supported me on Kofi! ko-fi.com/sserpente ♥

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sweater-daddiesdumbdork · 4 years

Text

Ransom stares at you from across the room as you bring your glass of wine to your lips, you can tell as he’s biting that buttery cookie what he’s thinking about, it’s all over his face.

The light blush rises in your cheeks, watching him just over Joni’s shoulder, shes to self-absorbed to notice your not paying attention, Ransom does though.

Abruptly he stands and leaves the room, heading for the stairs. Drawing yourself away, you go up to, quiet as a mouse cause they squeak. When you get to the top, Ransom beckons you into a spare bedroom and once you slip in, the door shuts and he crowds you against the door, pinning you against it with his hips, hands on each side of you closing you in.

“There’s my girl…”

Chris is in the middle of a talk show, and your sitting in the crowd, watching your man. Damn you can see he’s a bit nervous, the way his hands are moving just as fast as his words, and he keeps breaking out in shy grins and overabundant laughs.

His eyes seek out yours and you mouth to him ‘Relax, you got this.’ and automatically his shoulders drop a bit and you see a deep inhale, a bit more calmness in his face as he turns back to the host.

“Sorry, could you repeat that?”

Ari watches the beachfront as you moan softly, rolling in the bed to sit up, clutching the sheet to your chest as you blink the sleep out of your eyes.

“Handsome, what are you doing up?” you whisper, and he looks over his shoulder.

“Sorry baby, just watching the sun come up.”

You stretch to a stand and come over, your hand sliding along his back as you tuck up against his side, smiling at the way the sun was inching its way over the water. “It is beautiful…” You nuzzle his chest and lean against him for a moment.

Soon his hands are sliding under the sheet and he yanks it away, carrying you back to the bed. “You really think Im done with you yet Baby?”

Steve, he’s shy. But he can’t help but notice you as you working on some project for Howard Stark. You glance at him a few times, but he is to quick to keep a gaze, looking down and away. Finally, you set your clipboard down and approach him, holding out your hand. Bashful blue eyes of the super-soldier lift from your hand to your face.

“I’m Y/N” you say and his hand falls into yours, bit, large, and warm. It feels comfortable there and a relieved smile crosses his face.

“I’m Steve.”

He loved you, more then he could know.

It was in the way you would crash on the couch next to him and shove a bowl of Capn’ Crunch in his hands without him asking, or how you would perch in his lap at his computer and read over a chapter he was unsure about. How when he got frustrated, you NEVER backed down, but challenged him head on to face his problems instead of running away. It was the nights he would find you awake, worrying yourself and he would pull you into his hold so that for once he could take care of you instead of you taking care of him. All these things he had a hard time saying to you, thanking you for, so he cupped your face in his hands and poured it all into a kiss, one that swept you into his embrace, losing yourself into it. When he pulled away.

You whispered. “what was that for?” and his thumbs brushed along your cheeks.

“Because I love you Y/N.”

“ya know what, superpowers bitches! I got them, ya sure you wanna mess with me?”

Your gun is trained, your ready. As soon as Jensen started finger cocking his way across the men, you dropped them one by one. You could hear him in the earpiece you were wearing responding to your shooting. “Fuck baby, every single one, it’s so fucking hot when you go all sniper for me.”

You are dismantling your gun, rolling your eyes. “Jensen get your ass out of there now.”

“Aye Aye Boss.” He states and you snort with a laugh hearing him.

Ari’s hands clasp together and you look away from his pleading face. “Don’t, you can’t ask this of me, Ari. I told you I couldn’t do this anymore.”

“Do what Y/N? save lives, we were so fucking good at it. You were good at it.” You can hear the resolve in his voice, the way he was ready to keep going at you till you broke.

“This, Me and You. Ari, we are so… destructive together. You hit me like a ton of fucking bricks, and I’m left shattered every fucking time. It took me a year to get over you the last time I saw you. Your just… you’re not good for me.” You start taking care of supplies, and you can feel him coming behind you, letting his hands rest against your hips.

“It wasn’t easy for me either, but I had to go back, you didn’t want to.” He said softly, pressing a soft kiss to your shoulder and you shuddered in his hold. “It will be different.”

Lies, Ari was the master at them, and the fool you were, you just went along every fucking time.

Colin laid there the next morning, the slight bit of stubble already making its way across his chin, and his sleepy moan made him open his blues, looking right at you. “Morning Babygirl.”

“Morning Colin,” You bite back a grin and he reached over, circling around your hip and bringing you in closer to his warmth. You nuzzle right into him, and he starts giving you lazy morning kisses, sighing in satisfaction against your lips.

“Your so beautiful first thing in the morning. I want to wake up like this forever.”

You had just finished treating his wounds, nothing serious thank god. But still, every time he came back from a mission, his beautiful features marred with bruises.

Ugh, it hurt to see. You tried to hide it, but he noticed the clipped quiet way you were afterward, and when you walked by him again, he grasped your wrist and pulled you into his lap.

“Hey Doll.” He would press his lips against your temple and cuddle you into his chest. “Thank you.”

“Your welcome Steve.” You would whisper back and tilt your head to lean against his and he would rub your back.

“Can I get a kiss from my best girl.” His blue eyes hopeful, and you would smile softly, nodding as he would cup your face, and draw you into a slow welcome home kiss.

Cause that’s that you were, his home. He would fight to always get back to his Best Girl.

It had been a long day, Mary had tooth and nail wanting to bring Fred into school today, and he had to explain to her a hundred times that although it was show and tell day, the cat wouldn’t appreciate spending the day in an unfamiliar place.

He finally managed to convince her to bring a set of her favorite legos instead.

Then in the boatyard, he was commissioned to fix what the man had called his dreamboat. It was a pile of rusted junk. Frank looked at it and immediately felt his temple pound, this job was a lot more then he would normally do, and the man wanted it done in five weeks. Well hell this was at least a six-week job. But it was good money. He agreed to do it.

Then you called. His love, his girl, his unknown factor in life. Normally he wouldn’t date, not while he had Mary. But you somehow stayed around. Respecting his need to be with his niece, you normally only came around on weekends until he was sure he was ready to introduce you two.

You never pushed him, never asked him the question he dreaded. You were just there, Friday’s meeting up with him, and circling your arm around him, leaning up to give him a kiss. “I missed you. Tell me about your week.”

You made it so fucking easy, he almost didn’t believe that you were real.

But seeing you come across your complex parking lot, putting your bag into the back of his truck, and climbing in the seat next to him, he reached for your hand. “Y/N, how would you feel… getting to meet Mary?”

His eyes are nervous but your eyes widened at this, a grin breaking on your face. “Are you sure Frank? I’m not rushing you.”

“No I mean it, I really want us to take it to the next step. If your ready that is”

You slid over closer, and ran your hand along his chest, and up to that scruff of his you loved so much. “Frank, I would love to meet Mary, and yes… Yes I would love to see where this goes.”

You leaned in and shared a kiss with him, sighing into it with a sense of peace that washed over him.

Better things were coming.

#for you #submission #frank Adler #steve rogers #ransom #me #colin shea #jake jensen #ari Levinson #chris Evans #sweater loves lielullaby

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sayonarasanity · 3 years

Text

Reverberation

Summary: Levi’s grey eyes watched her seriously, and with caution. He was giving her all his attention, focused on the words that were about to leave her mouth. Hanji thought that was the actual reason why they were so close. Because when no one cared to hear a word from her Levi listened to her telling stories of gods and goddesses, heroes and villains, ancient people and ancient folks, tales of love and tales of hatred. When no one bothered seeing her colours, Levi sat down in front of her and let her paint everything she ever wanted.

Chapters: 2/?

link to AO3

link to second chapter

In short a Levihan Childhood Friends AU in which I plan to enjoy using quotes from Shakespeare a lot if I make it that far that is.

The boy sits on top of the rooftop.

Hanji wonders why she is so fascinated by the view of a boy about her age. All he does is watching above and there is not even a token of emotion written on his face. He looks like he is reading a book in which he is not a bit interested, yet the mere fact that he is holding pages in his palms is enough for him.

She hasn’t seen anyone who has spared just a few minutes of their precious time to watch the sky, through her eleven years of a lifetime that is. Just like she hasn’t seen anyone going crazy when they find out that there was a frog in Indonesia which had no lungs, so it breathed entirely through its skin. Oh, it was so very exciting and bewitching and she had barely slept dreaming about it. Hanji would die to see that frog. She had begged her parents for about a week for them to take her to Indonesia. Mommy, mommy, please! I want to go there. I need to see that frog. It is breathing through its skin mom. How fascinating is that? Hanji, darling you know you can’t. You have school. I don’t have school in the summer! But Indonesia is so far away honey. It on the other side of the world. Oh, oh! That’s even better. I want to go to the other side of the world! Mommy please, please!

Too bad her efforts had given no fruit. She hasn’t given up on her dream yet, though. She just had to postpone it for a little while.

She approaches the boy cautiously. Because maybe this is his area and it is her first time here, so she doesn’t want to be seen as an invader. She had been walking around the town aimlessly when she came across this abandoned building. Its construction is uncompleted, there are no windows and doors, and the orange bricks on the walls are uncovered, free of paint. Hanji knew that sneaking into a hollow, and a relatively eery building was sort of perilous, but it was also thrilling. It had made her feel like she was a member of the Paul Street Boys. Although the setting was kind of distinct and she was alone. But it had never stopped her from discovering. And when she had climbed the concrete, grey stairs she had found the mystery boy here.

There is the not-quite-unfortunate fact that she cannot get along well with boys. They are rude, and filthy and egoistic. They walk around like they are the reincarnations of Achilles like no one is good enough for them. They are no sons of gods or goddesses. How pathetic. But she senses that there is something different with this one. Because he watches the sky, and the stars stare down at him. Hanji feels like she is observing a painting or reading Percy Jackson for the first time. It causes her nerves to stand, her insides to shake and she knows she cannot hold herself back. A step away from the rabbit hole, she imagines and feels like this is Wonderland and she is fool but also curious enough to fall down.

“Hi!” She twitters suddenly.

The boy doesn’t seem surprised or taken aback at hearing someone talking to him out of the blue. Maybe he had already known that Hanji was here. It only makes him more intriguing and Hanji hardly stops herself from bouncing on her feet. For a moment he observes her. His eyes are the colour of the moon, argent but they also have a touch of blue. Not too light but not too dark either. Closer to the sky when the night just begins to settle down. More like it is right now.

“Hey,” he says, dryly.

No rejection. That’s a good start.

“May I sit?”

The boy merely shrugs then turns his gaze back at the sky. Hanji takes it as a positive reaction and sits down next to him, carefully putting some distance away between herself and the boy. She opts to watch the view spread out before her first. This is a partially remote area of the town. The buildings are disorderly, and the streets do not seem fairly clean. Hanji wants to travel her hand on top of the buildings to feel the ups and downs of the rooftops on her palm. The image makes her giggle to herself. Ah, how nice it would be, wouldn’t it? Too bad it was impossible.

She feels the boy giving her a side glance, but he makes no remarks.

“Are you counting the stars?” She asks as she tilts her head back to watch them. There aren’t so many yet, but it would be hard to keep track of the numbers.

“No,” he replies. Curt and clear. He is not the one to talk, is he? Hanji muses inside.

“My grandmother used to say that it would make calluses to appear on your skin. Have you heard about it as well? I think it is a superstition though—”

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” the boy interrupts. That is the first time he has used more than a word! Success. Good for you, Hanji. She pats her shoulder in her head proudly.

Hanji opens her mouth to respond but he beats her to it. “You can’t count infinity,” he says. “It is a waste of time.”

Hanji inhales.

At this point, she is so near the edge to burst with her bubbling excitement that she is sure he feels it too. Her head spins as she stares at his side profile. He makes her feel like she is on a carousel. Everything about him makes her dizzy as if he is one of those books on her father’s library which she cannot reach and cannot understand even if she does. He doesn’t look at her. He has an undercut, she notices, dark hair moving in harmony with the wind. His attire is clean, neat and tidy. His face has the smooth lines of a child but there is a lining of maturity underneath them. And the way he holds himself, upright but also at ease. Nothing about him is fake, superficial or ordinary.

“What’s your name?” She asks as a grin spreads on her lips uncontrollably.

He moves his sharp eyes to her at last and he travels his gaze around her face. It is so hard to read anything from his features. Like looking at the blurry surface of a mirror and trying to figure out the lines of the face in it. And she fears that he won’t answer. Was he annoyed with her? But she hasn’t even reached the peak of her usual talkativeness, yet.

“It’s Levi.”

She nearly gasps for she had been very close to convincing herself that the boy had disliked her very much. Levi. It is a nice name, and it suits his personality somehow. Despite the fact that she had only known him for what? Five minutes? Maybe even less than that. But Hanji can tell.

“I’m Hanji,” she says her name back even though he hasn’t asked. Slowly put one Lego on top of it the other. Bring them all together and there, you have a castle. “Say, Levi, would you like to learn more about the sky?”

The boy doesn’t answer with words. He looks back above and shrugs.

But that’s more than enough for her.

now

Hanji’s phone rings in the middle of an important meeting.

Frankly, it is not that big of a problem. It happens to everyone every now and then. And her phone doesn’t even ring with a melody, it merely vibrates on the wooden table. Though it does make a hell of a lot of noise. Yet, the only way to overcome the situation is to simply reach out and silence it in a cold-blooded way, like nothing ever happened. That she does, without a nuisance.

The actual problem here is the name on the screen of her phone, and the fact that her hand was trembling as she pressed the button. Suddenly the air becomes too heavy, too hot and the room too narrow to fit inside. She distinctively feels Mr Jaeger’s piercing gaze from across the table. It is always hard to hide subtle changes of behaviour from a man as sharp as him. But Hanji is a professional and there is no way she can allow a slight disturbance to avoid her from focusing on her job. She imagines herself flicking her fingers aggressively as if to wake herself up from a deep slumber like she is buried deep in thick fog. Concentrate.

The blurry whiteness disappears gradually, her vision becomes clear and the deadlock in her ears leaves. But the name remains on her screen even after the ringing stops and she has to grip her pen tight enough to make the shivers go away.

The next time her phone rings there are several minutes to her lunch break. She shifts her attention from her computer screen to the phone and she just stares at the name, as if she looks long enough the letters will change or they will disappear, or she will wake up from this dreary sleep.

None of those happens, the machine keeps ringing on her desk, her heart slams against her ribcage, and her hands tremble yet again as she types numbers on her keyboard.

The vibrations cease after a while, but the cramps in her stomach don’t.

During her lunch break, Hanji goes out to the terrace for some fresh air. It is early spring; the weather is not quite cold but it’s somewhat chilly. The wind which blows occasionally disperses her hair as she leans her elbows on the railing. The terrace is high up on the building. She can easily watch the white, mushy clouds on the smooth, blue sky. Whether it is funny or tragic she cannot decide, that after all those years whenever she looks up at the sky, she still thinks about him.

“Yo, Hanji.” Zeke Jeager comes to stand next to her putting a cigarette on his mouth and using his Zippo to light it.

“Good afternoon, Mr Jeager,” Hanji greets, smiling in return as the man takes a deep breath from his smoke. His dark, yellow hair is untidy with the wind, and his glasses reflect the midday sun.

“Just call me Zeke when we are alone,” he says and shakes the ashes of the cigarette with his index finger causing them to fall from the railing. “I hate formalities.”

“But you are my very superior,” Hanji replies with amusement.

The corners of the man’s lips curl upwards when he takes another breath from his smoke. “I don’t care. You are almost as smart as me if not more.” He sends her a playful stare as he blows the smoke and Hanji laughs, but the act makes her stomach curl onto itself. Cheerfulness is the last thing she feels at the moment.

“You seem a little bit… different,” Zeke comments, just like Hanji predicted. Nothing escapes him. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” Hanji lies easily. She doesn’t feel like talking about it. She doesn’t even feel like thinking about it. It makes her uneasy, and it fills her with apprehension and distress whenever the name on the phone screen comes before her eyes. She shakes her head. She needs to convince herself first. “It’s nothing.”

“Hmm,” Zeke mutters thoughtfully. He doesn’t believe her and it’s not like she expected him to. “I mean, I won’t say no if you ever need a drink,” he shrugs, and the gest reminds her of him so much that she feels a gulp shaping in her throat.

“Are you possibly flirting with me?” Hanji asks playfully, with a need to distract her mind from the wide field of dreary thoughts and memories.

“I don’t know. Is it working?” Zeke plays along and Hanji laughs again, this time more genuinely. “But I’m your very superior, so I guess not.”

“Yeah,” she says, her smile still evident on her lips. “Don’t take it personally.”

Zeke shakes his head as he puts the smoke between his lips again. He has a nice profile. A fine line of a bearded jaw, sharp cheekbones, soft-looking, bushy hair, pretty nose and a pair of nice lips. Eyes are a light blue mixed with green. A complete opposite, Hanji notices.

“Whatever it is,” Zeke continues after blowing out the white smoke. “It’s obvious that it affects you but don’t let it affect your work.”

“Of course,” Hanji nods.

“Hanji!” A female voice cuts in their conversation. Hanji turns around to see it’s Pieck. She waves at her from the door. “What are you doing here? Let’s go have lunch!”

“Yo, Pieck-chan,” Zeke waves at her cheerfully, grinning wide as they both walk up to where she is. “How are you?”

“Hungry,” Pieck replies, then turns to Hanji. “Come on. I’ve been looking for you.”

“Sorry,” Hanji apologizes. They always have lunch together with Pieck, but with her mind a muddle of emotions she had forgotten all about it.

“See you later then ladies,” Zeke, bids them goodbye and leaves then they both start to walk in the direction of the cafeteria.

“Is he bothering you?” Pieck asks as soon as Zeke is out of their hearing zone. “I can talk to him if he does. He is not as tough as he looks, and I have the material in my hand to sabotage him.”

Hanji laughs heartily for the first time that day. Pieck and Zeke are old friends, and she uses it every chance she gets. “There is no need for that. We were just talking but thank you.”

“Talking about what?” Hanji feels Pieck observing her face, looking for a hint. “Did he also realize that your mood is kind of sour today?”

Hanji’s smile freezes on her face. She hadn’t been as subtle as she thought she had as it seems. She opens her mouth to object, to array excuses like I’m just tired or couldn’t sleep well and change the subject.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it,” Pieck assures, bumping her shoulder lightly to hers. “It’s just unusual to see you like this.”

“Right,” Hanji adjusts her glasses and pushes herself for a slight movement on her lips. Upwards. “There is nothing to worry about.”

Her dark eyes travel around her face, searching Hanji’s gaze and she tries hard not to look away. Pieck is suspicious and Hanji knows she is not quite convinced when she says, “Okay.” But she doesn’t press upon the matter either. “I’ll be here if you want to talk about it.”

“I know,” Hanji smiles, genuinely this time. “Thank you, Pieck.”

Hanji watches her reflection in the mirror and sees the reason why everyone could tell that she had been in low spirits today.

“This shouldn’t have affected me that much,” she mutters and splashes cold, icy water on her face. Her glasses rest next to the sink, the hair on the side of her face and the tips of her forehead gets wet. Her soul feels heavy to carry, her heart uneasy and her stomach like it’s wrapped with thousands of sharp thorns.

Inside her head, there is an earthquake. It rumbles, rocks and causes the old shelves stuffed with dusty memories to be dishevelled all around. Yellow paged books lie open on the ground. It has been so long since she had let herself read a word from them. Now they force her to read the tale from the very beginning. And it doesn’t help that she already knows them all by heart.

“The temperature at the sun’s core is about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit,” she whispers, gripping the edge of the cold, white marble.

“The Moon’s distance from Earth is about 240.000 miles.

The globular cluster NGC 6397 is almost as old as the universe itself.

Mercury is the fastest planet,” she continues with quick whispers. “Daytime Temperatures can reach 439 degrees Celsius and drop to -180 degrees Celsius at night.

Ceres takes 1.682 Earth days, or 4.6 Earth years, to make one trip around the sun.

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun at an average distance of about 228 million km or 1.52 AU.”

Hanji closes her eyes and imagines the space. Infinite, black and yet aglow with suns, stars and moons—galaxies, clusters and planets.

The worn pages of the books rustle in her head. A distraction, a nuisance that came out of nowhere. Why? She thinks for the nth time that day. Why is he calling me now? After all those years, why now?

“This cannot be ill, cannot be good” she murmurs.

Then laughs to herself. Quoting Shakespeare again? he belittles her in her mind.

She shakes her head as if to erase his ghost from her mind. “Cannot be good,” she repeats. But she has never run for no reason, she has never let life win over without girding herself with arms. She has never been coward enough to hide.

It might be nothing. Maybe a simple call for a quick hello. Five minutes of conversation would do her no harm. It might be nothing, but it might be something too. There is only one way to figure it out.

She straightens, puts on her glasses and adjusts her clothes. Blinks her eyes a few times until she makes sure they are not blank as an empty, grey wall. Until the fire inside that is close to dying out, flare up again. After that, she lifts her hands to either side of her face and slaps her cheeks, “Okay,” she says, nodding at herself in the mirror.

Then turns around on her heels and walks out of the door.

He calls again when she is out of work and waiting for a bus at the stop.

She is tranquil, somehow, as she looks at the screen. Maybe it’s because she has made her mind earlier today that if he is to call again, she would answer this time. And she does.

“Hey,” she greets.

“Hey, Hanji.” His voice is rough and coarse. It sounds older than she has last heard him. “What’s up?”

“I’m fine,” Hanji swings a leg absentmindedly. “How about you, Kenny?”

“’m fine too,” Kenny replies. She tries to imagine him with long, dark hair and a smug grin on his face. Although the years had rubbed out the picture of the man she has known it is easier than she had expected.

“Sorry, I couldn’t answer earlier,” Hanji says, half-lie, half-sincere. “I was busy at work.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it, kid,” Kenny slides over and Hanji smiles slightly at the way he calls her. “I thought you’d be busy. But, eh, you see… I had to… call you,” he sighs. “Didn’t know who else to call.”

“Why?” She starts to feel the thorns again. Her body tenses involuntarily. A car sweeps by scattering her hair and clothes. “What’s wrong? Is he—"

Kenny sighs again and she hears his breath tremble. Above, the stars are hidden behind the grey, mobile clouds. The moon is a thin crescent. Strangers pass by, a bus stops, takes a few passengers and carries on. A breeze blows and the leaves rustle.

And Hanji feels like she is eleven again, watching the stars with a boy she barely knows.

You can’t count infinity, he had said. It is a waste of time.

They are no longer there.

“Kuchel,” Kenny begins. Cannot be good, Hanji thinks again and closes her eyes as he goes on with the dreadful news she had so feared to hear. “She is dead.”

The girl has stardust in her eyes.

Her hair is messy, and her clothes are dirty with mud and dust. She wears round glasses and when she smiles, he sees one of her upper teeth is slightly twisted.

And she reminds him of the first time he had seen a shooting star.

Do you want to learn more about the sky? The girl asks. Does he? He had never thought about it. He merely likes the experience of watching it while sitting or lying on his back with his arms under his head and a leg over the other in this abandoned, derelict building. It eases his mind when he is overwhelmed with school or family or friends or humans in general. He had most liked the fact that he had been alone all this time which was the actual purpose of this place anyway.

But the girl has stardust in her eyes, and she is like that shooting star, and she holds the moon in her hands.

If she reminds him that much of the sky maybe she would make him feel like he is watching it too, he thinks as he looks back above and shrugs.

Cannot be ill.

#levihan #levihan fanfiction

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back2thepalace · 4 years

Text

Why I am so Stupid? (Parrlyn)

Yes I have to many stories opened at once. Yes updates will be unlikely to happen to a lot. Yes I need help.

TW- Night terrors

Words- 1775

Spell Checked- sí

"You deserve to die Anne."

"What, no. I didn't mean to do this." I said while sobbing.

"No, Anne you did this to yourself."

"Henry, no." I say before feeling something go through my neck

At this I woke up drenched in sweat and everything was off my bed expected for my pillow. I reach up feeling my neck know that it is still there. I slap the clock on my bedside table making it glow showing the time.

2:02 am

"Fuck." I say while slamming my body back against my bed. 'Just another fucking night with another fucking stupid night terror.' I think to myself. I pull my up to sit straight up and stare at the black nothingness of my room. I pull myself out of bed to try and find the light switch. Suddenly I step on something sharp which causes me to panic. Picking up my foot I start to hop around on one foot while still trying to find the light switch. Then again I stumble back over the sharp object which stabs my other foot. At this I fall straight over with a big bang.

"Fuuuck." I scream a little too loud as I hear it come out of my mouth. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, god dam it. What did I leave on my floor." I whisper to myself while rolling around on the floor holding both of my feet. I wince in pain as I accidentally squeeze my foot. I close my eyes while still rolling hoping that the pain would stop. Suddenly I heard the door swinging open and the light turned on. I'm still squeezing my eyes shut in pain so I can't see who it is.

"Anne are you- ow Shit." I hear some say before feeling another person holding their body up above me nearly pinning down. I slowly open my eyes to reveal Catherine Parr holding her body up trying not to squish me. "Hi Anne." Cathy says sheepishly and then flops herself right next to me.

"Hi Cathy." I said awkwardly staring at the ceiling in shock of what just happened. I lay there on the floor waiting for Cathy to say something.

"Hahah, Sorry about that Anne." Cathy says with an awkward laugh. She sits up and looks around the room, while I just stay laying on the floor staring at her. She gets onto her hands and knees and crawls for a couple seconds before sitting on her lower legs. I watch as she picks up the object and studies it carefully. I sat up to get a look of what it was. In her hand were three LEGO bricks stuck together making a small pyramid. I stare at it questioning how it got on my floor. I sigh falling back onto my floor.

"LEGO Brick! Why are there fucking LEGO Bricks on my floor. God damn it. Why do I have to be so god dam stupid?" I say running my finger through my long brown hair.

"Come on Anne. You're not stupid." Cathy says giving me a sympathetic smile.

"Yes I am. Ask literally anyone else in this house and they will agree with me. Especially Cath, that's all she says to me." I say lying on the floor looking at Cathy.

"Babes, don't let what Cath says affect you. You know she is still salty about the whole thing that went down between you in your past life. You can't let other effect you." Cathy says as she put her hand on my thigh rubbing it with her thumb in a sympathetic way, but even though it was a platonic sort of way it still turned me on slightly. Well Cathy just turns me on in general, as ever since we started spending more time together I started to develop a crush on Cathy.

"Well I almost failed my way through school." I say staring at her with my hands on my head. She tilted her head giving me a disappointing look.

"Hey B minuses and C pluses are good for you. You can't expect to get all As like me." Cathy says as she grabs one of my hands that was resting on my hand. She pulled me up so that I was no longer on the ground. She moved that she was directly in front of me. I drew my legs so that they were against my body. I knew what Cathy wanted to talk about to me and I wasn't very happy.

"So, what woke you up at this unruly hour." Cathy asks as she grabs both of my hands, as she most likely already knew.

"A night terror." I said sheepishly looking down at the floor.

"Same one?" She asks.

"Yep, the same one." I said as I felt a small tear fall down my face landing on the floor.

"Annie?" I hear Cathy say as she lifts up my face from my chin. I look at her with tears in my eyes. I looked into her brown eyes, which were looking into mine with a sympathetic look. She moved her hand to wipe the tears from my face. Her soft skin brushing against mine. I knew she was trying to calm me down, but her attempt didn’t work. I threw myself onto Cathy crying into her shoulder. I felt her hand around my back and started rubbing my back.

“Why me.” I cry into her shoulder. I feel her bringing me closer still rubbing my back.

“I don’t know Annie.” She says to me trying to call me down.

“I didn’t do anything wrong. All I did is have a daughter instead of a son and he fucking decaptaded me.” I say into her shoulder. I propped my head up on her shoulder so that I could look at her. I look at her face, she looks perfect even for the middle of the night. I watch as she moves her head looking into my eyes. She moves her hand placing it on my face. She rubs my cheek with her thumb still looking into my eyes. Then she uses her hand to push the stray hairs out of my face. Her eyes were filled with sympathy.

“Hey love, why don’t we try to get you back to sleep.” Cathy says still looking into my eyes.

“I can’t go back to sleep. Every time I have a night terror I can’t go back to sleep.” I say.

“Well we have rehearsal tomorrow, so I will stay with you in the bed, maybe that will help. Sounds good?” Cathy says as I nod my head. Sleeping with my crush is something I couldn’t turn down. I release my grip from around Cathy letting her get up. She gets up and then reaches her hand out to let me grab it. I grab it and pull myself up to Cathy, but I came up a little too fast launching myself into Cathy. Luckily Cathy caught me but it was an awkward experience as I landed with my face into Cathy’s chest.

“Sorry.” I say laughing awkwardly as I pull myself away from Cathy.

“It’s okay.” Cathy says as I look up at her. Her face was bright red as she scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. ‘Was Catherine blushing because of me’ I thought. Was I dreaming that Cathy was blushing? I rub my eye to see if I was dreaming but as I removed my hands from my eyes her face was still red. I walk over to the bed assuming that Cathy had been following me, but as I get in bed I see her still standing there.

“Cathy, you good?” I ask her and she seems to snap out of her thoughts and walks over to the other side of the bed.

“Yeah, I am fine.” Cathy says as she sits down on the edge of my bed. I crawl over to her on the side of my bed. I put my hand on her shoulder and she jumped a little bit. I studied her face for a bit trying to find what was wrong. Cathy never told anyone about her feelings, she just kept them locked up. There were bags under her eyes showing her lack of sleep from staying up reading or writing.

“Cathy?” I say cause her to wipe her face around to the point where our noses were touching. I sat there trying to resist grabbing Cathy’s cute little face and kissing it, but I held that feeling back. I turn my face away and reposition myself so that I could crawl back to the other side.

“Anne?” Cathy says and I turn around. Suddenly Cathy grabs my face and kisses me. It was passionate and hard, it caught me by surprise but soon I melted into the kiss. I rapped my arms around Cathy’s neck to brace myself as the kiss continues. I grab the back of her head to get a better grip while kissing. Cathy slowly moves down and my face kisses my jawline. I sat there for a second and I felt Cathy’s soft kisses along my jawline, but soon I was going at Cathy’s jawline. It was magical never had I thought I would be kissing my dream girl but was this only a dream. I was afraid I would wake up with Cathy not with me and I had dreamt of this magical moment. I pulled away from Cathy so that I could look at her.

“Cathy, can we go to sleep now.” I said as I was tired from all the kissing.

“Sure Anne.” Cathy said kissing my lips again. It was softer than the others but still passionate. When she pulled away I laced down on my pillow still looking at Cathy. I stared at her admiring her face as I looked at her features. No one could say that Catherine Parr wasn’t a beautiful woman because she was and there was no doubt about it.

“Hey Anne, I am going to turn the light off.” Cathy says and I nod as she gets up. I watch as she walks to the switch turning it off and again my room was swallowed in darkness. Soon I felt Cathy get into the bed laying down next to me. I move closer to her so that we could cuddle. Then warmth of her body made me feel safe and I was able to drift off to sleep with in seconds.

#parrlyn #parrlyn fanfic #anne boleyn #Catherine Parr

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stark-tony · 4 years

Text

oh, the weather outside is frightful ch. 2

summary: It's the biggest snowstorm seen in recent years, and all Morgan Stark wants is for her big brother to be there so that he can celebrate Christmas with her.

word count: 2,333

rating: G

chapter 1

read on ao3

The sun had risen in its full glory only to be almost immediately masked by the numerous gray clouds in the sky, and the rain that had woken up Morgan several hours earlier had now turned to snow by the time she'd opened her eyes once more. She looked out the window with excitement, tearing the covers off of her and nearly falling off of the bed in her haste to look out of it. "Wow." She whispered, nose pressed up against the glass, her breath fogging it up. There was only a thin covering of snow that lay on the ground, but it showed no signs of stopping, and Morgan was excited as to what that meant in the near future.

If it didn't stop, then that would mean that she could play with Peter outside in the snow. They could build snowmen and make snow angels and possibly even have a snowball fight. And to make it even better, this was the first year that she'd be able to do that with him. She couldn't wait. She ran out of the room, heading towards the kitchen where she heard Mommy talking to Daddy as she cooked breakfast.

"It's snowing!" She announced to them as soon as she came in, just in case they weren't yet aware. This was very important information and she just had to make sure they knew about the wondrous thing that was occurring just outside their front door.

"Yes, it is!" Mommy said with a laugh as she flipped a pancake over, bacon sizzling on the frying pan next to her.

Daddy was leaning against the counter, and Morgan was pleased to notice that the Christmas tree stickers she had put on his prosthetic arm the day before were still attached, albeit now peeling slightly at the edges.

Despite -or perhaps because of- the early morning a cup of coffee was already in his hand. Morgan didn't know why he liked the stuff so much. She had once tried to sneak a drink of it when he wasn't looking and had almost instantly started choking at how bitter it was.

"Bleh." She had said, spitting into her sleeve and frantically wiping her tongue to get the atrocious taste off. "That's gross! How can you drink that?"

Daddy shrugged and just told her, "It's an acquired taste," before taking another long sip of the offending brew.

Morgan had nodded solemnly at him before going to find Mommy. "Mommy," she said, hoping that her mother would understand the grave importance of what Morgan was about to tell her. "Don't ever let Daddy choose what we're having to eat, because he has a bad 'quired taste."

"Okay, sweetie." Mommy said with her hand covering her mouth, unable to mask her shakes of laughter. Morgan didn't know what was so funny, but she hoped that Mommy would take her concern in to consideration. Unless it turned out that Mommy had poor taste in food as well, and in that case Morgan felt that she would just have to start planning their meals herself.

Morgan now ran up to Daddy and gave him a hug, wrapping her arms around his legs and glowering at the cup he held as she did so. :

"Hey, Maguna." He said, running the cool, metal fingers of his prosthetic arm through her hair. "Did you sleep well? You know, after waking up and all."

"Mmm-Hmm" she nodded, pressing her face against his hip. She looked up at him with wide, hopeful eyes. "Can I play in the snow with Peter when he gets here?"

Daddy cleared his throat, getting down on his knees so that he could be face to face with her. "Actually, Morgan, me and Mommy wanted to talk to you about that."

Morgan tilted her head, confused. "About what?"

Daddy sighed, stealing himself for whatever he was about to tell her. "We don't know if Peter will be able to make it for Christmas this year. It's just started to snow here, but it's getting really bad in the city.

Morgan pouted. "But he promised. You can't break promises."

Daddy smiled sadly at her. "Listen even if Peter can't make it right now he'll still probably come as soon as the storm is over and the snow melts. It might be a few days, but we will have Christmas with him then."

"But it's not the same!" Morgan complained, stomping her foot on the ground, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I know." He sighed before hugging her again. "I know."

The thing was Morgan had always known she had a brother. She saw it in the photographs of the teenage boy that lay scattered around the house. She saw it in the sad look Daddy got whenever he saw something about the snap. She saw it in the way he held her close whenever she was sick. But, apparently, she was the only one who did, because when she had asked Daddy about the brother she had never met, he just looked confused.

"Brother?" He questioned her one night after she had asked for a story about him. It had been late and they were sitting on the couch together, Morgan perched on his lap while she played with a toy War Machine in her hands" Morgan you don't have a brother."

"Yes I do!" Morgan said, shaking her head at her Daddy's silliness. "He's the boy in the pictures!"

Morgan didn't know what she had done wrong, because one second Daddy was holding her and the next he had pushed her off of him and ran out of the room.

"Hey, Daddy!" She said indignantly as her toy fell out of her hands and went halfway beneath the couch.

It wasn't until the next night when she was tucked in her bed that Daddy came and apologized for what happened. "Hey Morgan. I'm really sorry about what happened yesterday. I wish you'd hadn't seen that. It's just -" He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Who told you that Pe- that boy was your brother." He swallowed heavily.

Morgan shrugged. "No one. It's just, well, Mommy and Uncle Rhodey and Uncle Happy talk about him sometimes and how you were close to him, so I just thought that made him my brother. And you never talk about him so I just wanted to hear about him from you. I'm sorry, Daddy."

Daddy didn't speak for a long time, looking off into the corner of her room as if seeing something that she couldn't perceive. "Yeah, I guess he was sort of your brother." His voice cracked at the end.

He gave her a sad smile. "Goodnight." He kissed her delicately on her forehead and left, closing the door gently behind him as he did.

It was astounding how something that had once brought her great joy mere hours before now only gave her deep resentment. Morgan was playing in her room, glancing out the window every so often at the snow that was piling up on the ground and taunting her. For the first time in her life she just wished it would stop snowing. Sure she loved the snow, but she loved Peter even more.

She tried to keep on amusing herself with the array of blocks, stuffed animals, and dolls that lay before her, but the truth of the matter was that her heart just wasn't in it. So she left. If she wasn't happy in her room then perhaps she could find something else to distract her.

She walked through the house. Feet guiding her aimlessly through the paths she had trekked through numerous times before. Sometimes walking. Sometimes running. Sometimes dancing. Now she only shuffled, heavy bricks of sorrow weighing her down.

All of the plans of having fun with Peter were disappearing, floating away on the wind. Yesterday she had daydreamed about the presents that lay heaped beneath the Christmas tree. Now she only thought about how much fun she would be having if only her brother were here. They could be doing so much together. They could be coloring or playing or conducting their own science experiments. The possibilities were endless.

Morgan stopped walking, having noticed she stood face to face with the guest room. Well, it used to be the guest room, but then when Peter started staying at the house more it quickly became his own room. What used to be a relatively bare room compared to the rest of the house was now filled with evidence that it now belonged to a teenage boy. Posters adorned the walls and pictures sat on the dresser, the people in the frames smiling back out at her. Legos from his last visit still lay scattered haphazardly on the floor and Morgan gave a small laugh at that, wondering what Daddy would say if he knew about that.

But her amusement didn't last long. The empty room only served to reminder of who wasn't there, and if anything she felt even worse than before. So, her head hanging heavy, she turned around and walked back the way she came.

The first time Morgan met her previously dead brother was in the hospital waiting room, waiting for her Daddy to get better. Mommy was talking to a lady with long brown hair a few seats away. Morgan didn't know who she was, but with the way that she kept looking at her brother Morgan assumed that she must be his mommy.

"Hi!" Morgan said, swinging her feet back and forth in her chair. "You're my brother."

Um, Hi?" The boy said, clearly confused. "I'm Peter. Who are you?"

"Morgan Stark." Morgan replied, to which Peter's eyes went wide in disbelief. "Mommy said that you might be surprised to see me, but that's okay. I'm gonna be your friend." She got up out of her seat and using the entire strength that her five-year-old body could muster she managed to pull him up and out of his chair. "Come play with me!" She demanded, leading him over to a bag full of toys that she had brought with her.

She pulled out a miniature robot Daddy had made her for her fourth birthday. "This is Budd-e!" She waved the device's mechanical arm at him.

"Hey." Peter told the robot which gave a small beep in reply. "That looks like Dum-e." He turned his attention back to Morgan.

"Yep! Daddy modeled her after him!" Morgan said.

"Wow. That's - that's something." He picks up a random item from the bag. "So what do you want to play?"

They played for hours on end, and later when Morgan is exhausted from the day and leaning her head against Mommy's shoulder as she quietly dozes off to sleep, she hears Peter ask, "Why does Morgan think I'm her brother?"

To which Mommy can only reply, "Because you are."

"Can't you just call and ask them if they'll be here?" Morgan asked her Mommy as she lay halfway off the couch.

"Daddy called May a few hours ago and she still didn't think they'd make it. And sit up, you could hurt herself."

"I won't hurt myself." Morgan muttered to herself, but still she pulled herself back into a seating position.

"Uncle Rhodey should be here soon." Mommy said.

"Oh. That's nice." Morgan replied, and it truly was. Then a thought occurred to her. "What about Uncle Happy?"

Mommy paused. "He was supposed to be coming with May and Peter."

That's right, Morgan thought, Uncle Happy had moved in with Aunt May and Peter a few weeks ago after they'd been dating for a few months. Great. Now she had to miss someone else this Christmas. Tears began to fall unwarranted down her face. "It's not fair!" She cried, rubbing her eyes. "It's not fair!"

Mommy pulled her up into her arms and Morgan buried her face into her neck as she sobbed uncontrollably. "I know, honey, I know."

"But I don't want you to go!" Morgan complained to Peter as she watched him pack up his belongings.

Peter sighed. "I know you don't, Morgan, but I have school tomorrow. Besides, you know that I'll be back next weekend."

Morgan frowned. "But I'll miss you."

"I know, but listen. As soon as I get home I'm gonna call you and talk to you until you get sick of me and are begging me to hang up."

"I could never get sick of you." Morgan said, offended that he could even think that.

"And I could never be sick of you." Peter told her.

"I Love you, Morgan." Peter hugged her.

"Love you, Peter." Morgan replied as she wrapped her arms tightly around him, wishing he'd never leave.

Morgan must have cried herself to sleep, because the next thing she knew Mommy was gone and she was lying down alone on the couch. She yawned as she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She didn't know how long she had been asleep, but it must have been a while because she heard Uncle Rhodey talking to Daddy and Mommy and the sky outside was almost pitch black. It must be almost time for dinner, she thought as she stood up.

She was just getting ready to say hi to Uncle Rhodey when she heard it. The sound of tires slowly crunching up the driveway. She didn't want to get her hopes up, but still she looked out into the darkness. Aunt May's car was slowly ambling up towards the cabin. She could hardly believe it. She closed her eyes and shook her head, just in case she was imagining it, but when she opened her eyes once more nothing had changed. A smile began to spread across her cheeks. " They're here! They're here!" Morgan shouted with glee, and before either Mommy or Daddy or Uncle Rhodey could stop her she had flung the front door open and ran out into the night.

#mcu #morgan stark #pepperony #pepper potts #tony stark #my fics #peter parker #i hope you guys enjoy this

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undercoverwizardninjaturtle · 5 years

Text

Windows: A ROTTMNT Fanfiction

Summary: Some of us are born different, sometimes it takes a special family member to understand you. Some of us are just that lucky. A Leo and Donnie centered Fanfction

Word Count: 4100

Pairings: None

Rating: Its just a family story, don’t worry

Windows

“MUMMY ATTACK!!”

The large lair immediately filled with the squeals of young children. The source of the chaos was the five-year-old with red stripes over his eyes, and a large blue t-shirt now charging after a laughing four-year-old who was waving his arms excitedly as he ran away, “NO one can escape a mummy attack!” Leo shouted grabbing at Mikey who only laughed louder and ran faster, even for a four-year-old.

A six-year-old, far larger than either of the two boys, leapt out from behind the recliner, scooping up the four-year-old and turning to Leo in a blur of red, “I’ll save you Mikey!!!” Raph pointed at Leo,” Get the mummy!!!!”

Leo threw his arms over his face as the giant mass suddenly fell on him, knocking all wind, life, and sense out of his body. Even if he had loss, he made sure to let out a over dramatic cough, “Foiled again!!!! Curse you Lou Jitsu!” before letting out a loud ‘bleh’ and letting his head roll off to the side with his eyes closed

“‘eo’s dead!” Mikey shrieked, Leo could feel his small hands shaking him in panic,” ‘e killed him!”

“Leo’s not dead.” Raph always ruined his fun,” He’s playing dead.”

“‘he is?” Leo could feel Mikey peer closer at his face, he had played dead long enough he still waited till Mikey was poking him in the face before bolting upright, his hands brought up like claws with a snarl, “I’m alive!!!” he declared

Mikey shrieked again, diving behind Raph’s legs. Before his light blue eyes peered around their oldest brother. Though Leo was laughing loudly Raph was giving him a frown, figures, “Leo don’t scare Mikey! He’s the baby!” Raph never knew how to play right

“Yeah! I’m da baby!” Mikey declared from his hiding location.

Despite his young age, Leo was more then adept at rolling his eyes, “it’s a game! You’re the one who wanted me to be the mummy. Next time ask Donnie.”

Raph frowned, not yet capable of a glare, “you know he doesn’t like that. He wanted to be alone.”

“He ALWAYS wants to be alone.” Sass was another one of Leo’s natural talents. But despite himself he looked over to the far side of the lair where a curtain lay over a doorway. A designated ‘quiet area’ that Dad had set up a few months ago. Raph was already walking over, his constant shadow Mikey was waddling after him. Raph poked his head past the curtain, “Donnie do you want to play with us?” as Leo expected, he didn’t get a response, “Ok but if you want to let us know” Raph ducked back out. Looking at Leo before smiling, “Come on! Let’s go play Jupiter Jim!”

Raph was already running off with Mikey. Mikey would have no problem playing whatever Raph wanted. But Leo found himself glaring at the curtain and sticking out his tongue before running after his brothers

(#)(#)(#)(#)

They played for a while after that, but eventually Mikey wanted to play with paint. Not in the mood for being painted pink, but as usual Raph was, he went and read through some of his Jupiter Jim comics. Until the smoke wafting from the kitchen signified dinner was ready. Thankfully Dad had only managed to burn the salad, somehow, and left the grilled cheese sandwich mostly undamaged. Leo had only ever known one dad, his Dad, so he often wondered if another Dads were as round or tired looking as his. Whenever their Dad wasn’t watching movies or playing with them, he was pouring over several books he had gotten from the ‘internet’. Most of the titles didn’t make sense to Leo, but he recognized one as a cooking book. Which had helped Dad’s food to go from, ‘tolerable’ to ‘tasty’ as he tore into his grilled cheese. Raph, of course, was into his third already. Mikey was savoring each bite with a wide grin on his face. Splinter’s sandwich was untouched mostly because he was too busy using it as a pillow. His black hair had started to resemble salt more then anything, and no amount of poking from Mikey could wake him up. Eventually Raph got sick of it, “Pop’s sleepy let him go!”

“Food is for eating not for sleeping,” Mikey said,

“Daddy’s tired Mikey, he’ll be ok.” But it was hard not to hear the pride in Raph’s’ voice. Leo knew Raph well enough to know he craved moments like this, since it meant he could be in charge for a bit. But Leo glared across the table towards a second occupant who wasn’t eating, “Why isn’t’ HE is eating then, he’s not sleeping”

The object of scrutiny didn’t look up from his book. Or look to the plate of plain bread by his hand. Donnie, unlike the others who liked to wear t-shirts and shorts, wore a giant purple hoodie that hung around his knees, the hood brought up over his head and eyes fixated on the pages of a book with words too complicated for Leo to understand.

“He’s not hungry.” Raph said, “he’s fine.”

“He’s boring.” Leo clarified. Sinking back into his seat and crossing his arms

With a giant snort Dad sat straight up, “It-wasn’t-my-donut!’” before blinking, seeming to recognize he wasn’t in a situation with a guilty pastry, “Um, right.” Picking up his sanwich and, despite the fur that must have been caught in it, devoured it in one bite, before looking t his sons., “Finally! I knew I could cook something edible.” With a proud look on his face, “WE will just not eat salad ever again.” Before looking over his sons,” did you all enjoy your dinner?””

“It was really good Pop!” Raph said happily, “It was really good!”

“Tasty!” Mikey agreed,

Despite how tired he looked, Splinter beamed happily,’ Ha! Take that Rupert Swaggart! There’s a new chef in town!” he looked around tile his eyes fell on the quiet son at the table. It was hard to see Dad’s face fall, “Purple, you didn’t eat breakfast. Are you really that unhungry?”

But, like when Leo had said something, Don didn’t look up from his book. Instead he slid off his chair and walked away from the table. Leo frowned and crossed his arms again. It was one thing to ignore him, and he REALLY hated being ignored, but Dad had made a good dinner!

Splinter, to celebrate not burning down the kitchen, gave each of his remaining sons a small bowl of vanilla ice cream. Missing out on ice-cream might have seemed like a punishment to Leo, but he had never seen Donnie even look at a bowl. So instead he ate his treat greedily, and watched Splinter scrub the ice-cream off Mikey’s’ face.

When dinner and desert was all cleaned up, Mikey and Raph went to watch some tv with Dad. Which seemed fine except that Leo wasn’t in the mood to hold still. Instead he thought of his comics. He hurried up to their shared bedroom to retrieve the next issue.

Their room was a usual mess, except for the bed for Don’s corner, so its surprised Leo to see Donnie sitting on the floor fiddling with something in his hands. IT surprised him more to see his Jupiter Jim comics strewed on the floor around him. One of the comics on his lap, “What are you doing?!” he asked

Don stared at him before looking back to his hand. Leo reached forward and snatched the comic off his lap,” These aren’t yours stupid!” he snapped, he quickly flipped through the pages to check for tears, “you can’t just take stuff that doesn’t belong to you Donnie!”

“Leo?” figured mother Raph would come to investigate, “What’s going on?”

“Donnie was touching my stuff!” Leo pointed, “Its my stuff! Not his!”

Raph looked over the scene, before looking back to Leo, “He’s just looking at its Leo. He’s not doing anything bad- “

“No! You always stand up for him but its’ my comics! He never plays with us, he refuses to do anything other then sit alone by himself.” He turned, looking to look at said brother, whose unreadable gaze was fixated on him, “You’re stupid, and I hate you.”

Donnie blinked at him, for the first time in his life Leo could see that Donnie’s eyes were light brown, and even if his face was still silent and stoic, his eyes had begun to tremble with tears. In a dash, Donnie darted out of the room, ducking underneath Raphie’s arms. “Donnie!” Raph shouted after him, before turning and glaring at Leo, “Y-You’re a bully Leo!” before running after their brother.

Leo squeezed his eyes shut before kneeling. Picking up his comics off the ground. It wasn’t his fault, Donnie shouldn’t have been touching his stuff! It wasn’t’ his fault.

He was picking up “Jupiter Jim #192 The Never-ending Tale” when he saw something where Donnie had been sitting. Seeing as he had been messing with his comics, he didn’t have a problem messing with Don’s stuff. But when he picked it up, he recognized a small stacking of Lego bricks This one was only a few bricks tall with a blue brick. He had taken some cloth, probably from some sparse clothing and made it into a blue strip around the brick. There were two block dots where the eyes should have been.

Leo sat down hard on the ground for a moment. Before shifting around the comics some more to find a second brick figure, clearly made to resemble Jupiter Jim, he even had found a plastic piece to use as a helmet….

(#)(#)(#)(#)

Donnie didn’t come out of his ‘quiet place’ for the rest of the night. And neither Raph or Mikey talked to him either not that he was really trying to either. Instead, after sitting alone thinking to himself, he wondered upstairs. His father was, surprisingly, still awake, and sitting at his desk. Even though their bedroom wasn’t’ the cleanest, it was nothing compared to the disaster of their fathers’ room, clothes strewn over the floor and stacks of boxes in the corner, there was even a sword sticking out of the wall, for some reason a sword sticking out of the wall. His father was sitting at his desk, piles of thick books by his desk. Some of them, most of them, had Lou Jitsu on the cover. But there were also a few extra thick books with children on the cover ‘one reading parenting for idiot’s and you’. It was some sort of weird textbook like Donnie was already reading. Leo was having a hard time reading the cover. But the book in Dad’s hands was a little bit easier to read. “A-Auti-sim?” He read out loud, “What’s that? Why are you reading that?”

Dad gave a small sigh, one sadder then Leo had ever heard from him,” I’m hoping it will help understand your brother.’ He set the book aside and turned in his seat, ‘You had a bad day Blue. You were very cruel to your brother today.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

“Did you apologize to Purple?”

“I-I.” he couldn’t lie. But his eyes started to burn, “He doesn’t talk, he doesn’t’ play he sits in that stupid room all day. He doesn’t even act like he feels anything. But=But he was messing with my comics…and and he made these” Leo stood on his tip toes and set them on Splinters desk. Splinter picked up the Jupiter Jim figurine, then the Little Leo, “I don’t get it Dad.”

“Some children, like Donnie, have difficulty communicating. They have sensory problems, and don’t know how to connect to others. But if they want to connect with someone…...sometimes they try to communicate in anyway they can.” He held the figurines out to him,

(#)(#)(#)(#)

Leo had never actually been in Donnie’s Quiet Area, but it was made for Donnie. It was covered in boxes of weird old electronic items that Splinter had collected for him over time. There was also a set of headphones lying by a fully purple blanket. Which is, of course, where he found his brother. Donnie was curled up on the blanket, headphones over his head. Even in the low light he could see his blood shot eyes and wondered how long he had spent crying. Probably all night since Donnie didn’t come to sleep in their room last night. The thought made his gut twist in guilt. Don took one look at him before rolling over onto his side, shell to him and hoodie over his head.

The five-year-old didn’t move closer, but sat down on the ground, if it wasn’t for his sweat pants the ground would have been a lot colder, “Hey Donnie.” He started, keeping his voice low. Now out of fear of their brothers hearing him. But it was called Donnie’s ‘Quiet Area’ for a reason, “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean what I said earlier….” He fiddled his thumbs together. He wasn’t’ sure if Donnie was even listening to him, “I don’t always understand what you need. Only what I want…” he reached into his pants pocket. He saw Don’s head tilt over his shoulder for a moment, probably fighting curiosity. Leo set the little Jupiter Jim figure on the ground, and the Little Leo besides it, “I think these are really cool. Did you make them?” Don was now looking at him fully before sitting up sliding the headphones off his head, “ I’m sorry I yelled at you. I didn’t know you were making anything so cool. “Leo reached back into his pants pocket, it wasn’t as clean as his, actually it was mostly just green and purple and marker marking where he had tried to replicate the detail Donnie had made, he set it by the little Leo, “See? Now Little Me won’t be lonely.”

Even though his expression is still unreadable something in him lights up. He immediately scoots closer and picks up the Little Donnie and looks over it, Leo took the opportunity to look around again, he didn’t realize before that the wires and electronics are organized. But in what way he didn’t know, “What else do you like to do in here?”

Don looks at him again, but nothing more. Leo almost thought for a moment that Donnie was asking him to leave but wondered if Donnie was asking something…. Leo got up and looked around the room before seeing a box shoved between two disassembled stereos. He moves closer and makes sure to look at Donnie before pulling it out. In it are more bricks of multiple colors, but scrubbed so clean Leo can smell the disinfect, he sits down again in front of his brother, “Show me how you play, and we’ll go from there alright?”

Its’ obvious Don is still wary of him, but he sorts out all the pieces by shape and color and slowly starts to build. At first Leo isn’t sure what he’s supposed to do but adjusts to Donnie’s subtle gestures and glances on what to put what piece where. Out of the corner of his eyes, Leo can see where Don has put up strange pictures on the walls, not in the typical sense of art, but it looked like he had drawn family members as cars. With Raph being a semi-truck and Splinter being a bug. Mikey was an airplane and Leo was, to his enjoyment, a racecar. He couldn’t help but wonder how many hours Donnie spent staring at the drawings…did he put them up because he missed them? Did it have something to do with what Splinter said about not being able to communicate even though they were less than a few feet away? But it wasn’t’ too long before a strange noise comes from Donnie, one that Raph always got when it got close to meal time. “are you hungry?” Don gives him a blank look again, “You haven’t eaten since last night, “Even then it had been just a few oyster crackers, “can I go get you a snack?” Donnie glances at his hands for a moment. It took Leo a little bit to catch on, “Oh you don’t want to get your hands dirty. I get that.” Not really, but he didn’t want to say that, “What if I go find a food that won’t make your hands dirty? Is that ok?”

Don sits up more, as though in trigged. Leo stood up and walked out of the room. But immediately realized his task was futile, a word he had heard in Lou Jitsu’s Child Development Movie called “Lou Jitsu vs Child Illiteracy”. He really couldn’t cook on his own, the Ice Cream bomb of Mikey’s’ third birthday party banned everyone from cooking till they were Atleast ten. But the long yellow fruit on the counter caught his attention, he was sure Donnie love bananas but wasn’t sure on how to make them…clean.

After a few mints of deep though he peeled the bananas and uses the back of a spoon to cut them into pieces into bowl. After that he grabbed a new spoon and hurried back to the Quiet Area, “Blue?” he stopped and turned to see his Dad looking at him from his recliner, ‘What are you doing?”

“Donnie’s hungry, he wants clean food.” He held the bowl up for his father to see.

“You- “Splinter looks surprised, not that Leo can blame him, “You got him to speak?”

“No, but I can tell he’s really hungry,”

“Oh, well um I’m very glad you figured out what he wanted to eat.” Splinter turned back to the tv. But again, Leo can feel something is off. There was a sadness coming off his father that he wasn’t sued to, it was the same sadness Leo had felt before when Dad had been reading that book. Was he sad he wasn’t able to help? Leo walked over to the chair, lowering his cheek onto the arm rest, “Donnie loves you Daddy.” He said, “Donnie loves all of us. He just doesn’t know how to tell us yet.”

Splinter looked back to him, again there’s something about him that makes Leo sad. But slowly his father smiles and gently rubs his scalp, “I know, and I love all you.”

Leo hurries back to don’s quiet area where Donnie is still waiting of him, sitting o up on his knees eagerly and looking at the bowl in Leos’ hands, “Clean food!” he sat down Nd held the bowl out, how’s this?” he asked

That time. Leo almost gets a full smile

(#)(#)(#)(#)

Ten years later

What a freaking Day.

Donnie glared at his broken self-cleaning-toothpick. Of course, Raph would use an experiment he knew nothing about. What part of personal space did no one understand?! He didn’t even use it as a toothpick, honestly, he didn’t want to know what he had used it for only that it had come back to him with the same consistency of molasses.

Knowing Raph, he had probably used it in a microwave to see what would happen.

“Back tot eh dork cave I see?”

The purple masked ninja groaned under his breath and glanced towards his door to see a familiar snarky Leo leaning against his circular doorway, grinning his usual grin,” find out what Raph did to your toothpick yet?”

“No and I don’t think I want to know.” It was a lost cause anyway, it was better just to start over. He pushed the destroyed device aside and laid his head on his desk with a loud moan. He could have flipped Leo off for chuckling like that but couldn’t find the energy to lift his head up

“Come on D, you were going to start over anyway. We both know it. Now get out here so we can watch a movie.”

Unfortunately, Leo was right, if only because every time he tried to use the tooth pick it tried to gain consciousness. He had never told Leo about ah problem, but like every other moment it seems like Leo can read him.

Another thing he had never told Leo was how grateful he was for that. His brothers didn’t have the memory he did, so his childhood wasn’t as clear to them as it was to them. But he could still remember when his bed rom was his ‘quiet place’ hiding back here for hours and working on whatever he wanted. His brothers, though eh had loved them, were often too loud and messy for him to handle. Now that he was older he understood what the problem had been, what was still the problem, but it had been like looking at his family through a window with them waving over occasionally to acknowledge him. He could see everything they were doing. But no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t reach them.

But one day, after being so cruel Donnie almost cried himself sick. Leo had approached the window. He had taken time to finally understand what he needed. For a while after that, Leo was his protector, his translator for the world. A way for his brothers to understand him and for him to understand them. They had become unofficial twins. A nickname he had hated as much as he loved it.

He truly believed Leo reaching out helped him learn to communicate better, how to deal with his sensory issues. Though those problems still lurked in the back of his mind, every once in an awhile, he still couldn’t handle loud noises and he still had problems talking to his brothers…

But that window had been opened.

Donnie looked at his desk, at the three brick figures that had been built so long ago and stood up, “Atta boy!” Leo cheered, turning to leave, “Now hurry- “Before he could stop himself, Donnie hugged his brother tight around the chest. Burying his face into his brother’s shoulder rand squeezing him for all dear life. He could feel his brothers shock by the fact he lost his footing for a few seconds before freezing up, even so his brothers’ arms came up around him back, cautiously returning the brace, “You ok? If it’s the tooth pick, I swear Raph didn’t drop it in the toilet- “

“Thank you.” He mumbled. Donnie felt Leo tilt his head more in his direction, probably unable to hear him. So, despite his already waning pride, he spoke louder, with a tighter hug, “Thank you for everything Leo.”

He half expected a sarcastic comment. Or maybe a bad joke. But instead Leo squeezed him back just as tightly, somehow a link that had existed since their childhood told Leo exactly what Donnie was talking about, “You’re my favorite twin Donnie.” He nuzzled his cheek against Don’s, “I’d do anything for you.”

“I know.” For a few moments the two just stood there, even when Raph walked by, gave off an emotional ‘aw’ and slunk away to not disturb them. Donnie finally drew away, but before he could fully release Leo, his brothers’ arms caught him around the chest again and squeezed tighter then before, “then its time for a movie!” eh declared, Hugging Donnie off his feet lifting him out of the room as Don squawked loudly,” LEO YOU NEANDERTHAL- “

“MOVIE MOVIE MOVIE!!!’ he chanted loudly, using his free arm to pump the air. Despite his embarrassment, and despite his brothers all collapsing in near laughter, he couldn’t hate Leo for embarrassing him. He got his revenge later by kicking Leo off the bean bag they had shared, before reluctantly letting Leo join him again.

He was his official twin

He could never stay mad at him

(#)(#)(#)(#)

I haven’t written anything here in a while, but this was a prompt from another website I thought would be fund to you, course it became personal for me for many reasons. But I hope you found it enjoyable 😊

#Rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt #tmnt 2018 #rottmnt fanfiction #tmnt fanfiction #leo #donnie #leo and donnie #leo and donnie centered fanfiction #brotherly fluff #nothing gross #just family #serioulsy #seriously #there that's how you spell it #ha!

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gluupor · 5 years

Text

I Always Wanted a Real Home

This takes place in the universe I created in Where You Lead, my Gilmore Girls AU, featuring kid!Kevin.

Andrew shifted the bags he was carrying to one hand so he could knock. There was an immediate reaction: thumping feet running in his direction, Kevin’s childish voice yelling, “I’ll get it!”, and Neil’s response from farther in the apartment, his words undecipherable. The footsteps came to a halt on the other side of the door and the deadbolt clicked open.

“Kevin,” said Andrew loudly enough to be heard through the door. “Are you about to open the door without asking who’s knocking?”

There was a long, silent pause. “Who’s there?” Kevin finally asked.

“It’s Andrew.”

The door swung open, revealing a pout on Kevin’s five-year-old face. “I knew it was you; Dad told me you were coming.” His eyes caught on the bags in Andrew’s hands. “Did you bring me a present?”

Andrew handed over one of the bags. “Go put these under the tree,” he instructed as he stepped inside the tiny apartment. He removed his boots and coat and headed to the kitchen with his other bags.

Neil was standing in front of the stove, frowning at a piece of fairly mangled packaging.

“Are you cooking?” asked Andrew, letting his extreme skepticism bleed into his tone.

“Cookies,” said Neil, brandishing the packaging. “From a tube. I think I can manage.”

“Can you?”

“I may have ripped the bit that told me what temperature the oven’s supposed to be but 450 should be fine, right?”

“If you want charcoal briquettes,” Andrew sighed and reached over, adjusting the oven temperature to something much more reasonable. Neil leaned against him and smiled, causing a slight ache in Andrew’s chest.

“Merry Christmas,” Neil said. “Thank you for coming.”

Andrew had received his usual invitations to spend the day with Bee or with Aaron but he’d declined in favour of spending it with the Jostens. He’d come to realize that there was nowhere he’d rather be, something which worried him. He hadn’t quite decided what to do about his attraction and attachment to Neil.

“DAD! PRESENTS!” shouted Kevin.

“He's excited,” commented Andrew, unpacking his groceries into the almost-barren fridge.

“He was awake at 2,” said Neil, pouring out two mugs of coffee from his coffee maker (the only high quality appliance in the kitchen).

“Was he worried you’d disappeared again?” asked Andrew in a low voice. Kevin didn’t have any concrete memories of his mother anymore but he did carry the lasting impression that she’d left in the middle of the night and never returned. He had the habit of getting up to check that Neil hadn’t abandoned him.

“No, he just couldn’t sleep from excitement. I eventually had to threaten to take away his presents to get him to stay in bed until a reasonable hour.”

Kevin ran into the kitchen. “You said we could open presents when Andrew got here,” he said impatiently. He grabbed Andrew’s hand and started ineffectually pulling him. “Come see the tree! I decorated it myself.”

“I see that,” replied Andrew. The tree was small, but real, probably brought over by Boyd or Reynolds. All the ornaments were clustered at the front and were about three and half feet off the ground - directly level with Kevin’s eye-line.

“Look at my presents!” said Kevin, as Andrew settled on the couch. Neil perched beside him and handed over one of the mugs of coffee. “I’ve got one from you and one from Matt and one from Dan and one from Allison and one from Wymack and one from Miss Renee and one from Laila and one from Abby-”

“Breathe, bud,” said Neil.

“-and THREE from Santa and zero from Dad.”

“Oops,” said Neil. “That’s supposed to be two from Santa and one from me.”

“Santa’s wrapping ability seems to be on par with yours,” said Andrew, indicated the three messily wrapped parcels that stood out from all the neat folds and tight corners of the other presents.

“We collaborated,” said Neil.

“Can I open them now? Please, dad? Pllllllease?” whined Kevin.

Andrew flinched minutely. The word ‘please’ still held terrible connotations for him - especially when spoken in a child’s voice - but Kevin whined enough that he was becoming desensitized to hearing it.

“Open the one from Allison,” said Neil. “I don’t trust the smile she gave me when she brought it over.” He turned to Andrew. “The last time she smiled at me like that she gave Kevin cymbals.”

Allison’s gift turned out to be a collection of children’s DVDs full of colourful characters and songs that were probably specifically written to appeal to kids and to torture their parents.

“I don’t know what I did to make her hate me,” said Neil despondently.

“She doesn’t hate you,” said Kevin, looking concerned. “She likes you. She gives you hugs and pats your head and calls you kitten.”

“I’m aware,” said Neil dryly.

Kevin still looked troubled. “Once, she told Miss Renee that she’d do you if you weren’t so obivious. What’s that mean?”

Neil groaned.

“Dad? What’s obivious?”

“It means your dad doesn’t always see what’s right in front of him,” provided Andrew.

Kevin’s face cleared. “Like when he can’t find his shoes?”

“Exactly like that,” said Andrew. “Open another present.”

Kevin was sufficiently diverted by opening the rest of his presents.

“He’s so spoiled,” said Neil fondly, picking up the discarded wrapping paper once Kevin had disappeared into his room to organize his new toys. Not play with. Organize. Andrew was convinced that this was abnormal child behaviour but he appreciated it since it decreased the likelihood of him stepping on a Lego brick.

“You’re the one who decided to settle in a town full of busybodies,” said Andrew.

“Can you believe it’s been three years?”

Andrew couldn’t. His life had changed so much since Neil, looking like a zombie, had carried a screaming toddler into his diner on a late November evening. At first he’d told himself that he was helping out and keeping a close eye on him for Kevin’s sake - he was never going to allow a child to be harmed like he’d been if he could prevent it. He hadn’t needed Bee, his therapist, to point out that a lot of his initial interest was due to his own unresolved childhood issues: how many times had he wished that someone would steal him away and keep him safe?

It had taken him some time before he’d realized the danger he was in. One morning he’d handed Neil his morning coffee and Neil had given him a genuine smile and looked at him as if he were the only person on the planet that had any worth. Then Neil had taken a sip of the coffee and emitted a groan that was practically pornographic, sending a bolt of desire through Andrew’s lower belly.

Unfortunately it hadn’t taken him long to ascertain that Neil didn’t return his interest. Neil didn’t return anyone’s interest, actually, which was lucky as Andrew didn’t have to watch him date someone else. Neil was busy with his job and overwhelmed caring for Kevin and Andrew didn’t think that dating was currently in the cards for him, even if he had showed any inclination of wanting to.

Bee had told him that he had three choices.

One, he could ask Neil if he were interested in starting a romantic relationship. Andrew vetoed that; he had no desire to pressure Neil into something he may feel obligated to do because of how much he relied on Andrew.

Two, he could distance himself from Neil (and, by necessity, Kevin) and try to move on with someone else. That option made Andrew’s stomach hurt, especially since he wouldn’t be able to explain to Neil why his behaviour had suddenly changed.

Or three, he could accept that his relationship with Neil may never be exactly what he wanted but it was important and fulfilling all the same.

Andrew started on dinner fairly early. He was roasting a chicken as he wasn’t about to make an entire turkey for the three of them. For the last two years Neil had attended the dinner that Wymack provided at the Foxhole Inn for staff and guests and townspeople who had nowhere else to go, but Andrew had offered to cook this year and Neil had gladly accepted.

Kevin shuffled into the kitchen, blinking sleepily. His adrenaline had clearly worn off and his lack of sleep was catching up with him. Still, he clutched one of the DVDs from Allison and held it wordlessly out to Neil, who was keeping Andrew company and occasionally helping as Andrew prepared their meal.

“Are you sure you don’t want a nap?” asked Neil.

“Naps are for babies,” said Kevin disdainfully.

“I nap all the time,” said Neil. “I love naps.”

“For babies and disasters,” corrected Kevin.

Andrew felt his lips twitch as he put the chicken in the oven. Neil was glaring at him when he straightened.

“That is completely your fault,” he accused.

“I only speak the truth,” said Andrew.

Neil rolled his eyes and turned back to Kevin. “You go put that in the DVD player and we’ll meet you there.”

Andrew brewed another pot of coffee while Neil gathered blankets and they settled into a warm nest on the couch. Kevin climbed up beside Andrew and cuddled against him, already losing his fight with sleep. His blinks became longer and slower as the movie started.

Neil was leaning heavily on Andrew’s other side, having fallen asleep almost as soon as he’d sat down. He had the enviable ability to instantly drop off to sleep almost anywhere. Andrew knew that he must be exhausted as he’d been picking up extra shifts at the inn so he could afford to take the next week off to spend time with Kevin. He snuffled and started drooling on Andrew’s shirt.

Andrew watched the inane movie alone as Neil and Kevin slept, already knowing that at least one of the songs was going to be stuck in his head forever. He’d be humming it for weeks.

This is enough, he realized with sudden clarity. He ran a hand through Neil’s hair and wrapped his other arm around Kevin, holding him more securely as the boy snuggled into his side. This is more than enough.

#aftg #tfc #andreil #andrew minyard #neil josten #kevin day #ggau #kid!kevin #dad!neil #long post #my fic

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tomtenadia · 3 years

Text

Remember us - part 4

Hello lovelies,

It’s Thursday evening and I have some angst coming your way :)

Please enjoy part 4 of Remember Us

CW: mention of depression and miscarriage

--------

Rowan had the week from hell. Rehab had been relentless and Dorian had taken him to the gym everyday, but at least now he could say that he was able to walk the length of the walking bars and back. In the last couple of days Dorian had pushed for him to start using crutches, insinuating to the fact that the doctor was thinking about discharging him.

On top of the pain from rehab he was still punishing himself for what had happened with Aelin. Every morning he woke up and the first thing he did was to look at his phone for a reply from her, but nothing ever came.

The doctors think they might discharge me in a few days. Dorian is making me a pro at using crutches.

Maybe a good news might cheer her up.

He tried to watch tv but lost interest very quickly so he went back to his phone. He had been reading the whole thread of messaged between him and Aelin and discovered some interesting tidbits. They bickered a lot but from the text messages it looked as if they would always make up in the end. He also found some texts that made him blush wildly. But what was always present was love. That he knew was real.

He was absorbed in the texts that he did not notice the woman who had entered his room.

She was blonde, the same golden shade that Aelin had.

“Hi Rowan,” she greeted him walking fully into the room “I brought you your favourite biscuits. Hospital food is atrocious.”

The stranger placed the box on the nightstand “orange oatmeal cookies.”

He looked at her puzzled.

“I am Evalin. I am Aelin’s mum and your mother in-law.”

Rowan straightened his back, wanting to make a good impression, realising a moment later that the woman knew him already.

She took a seat on the chair near his bed “how are you doing?”

He had good vibes from the woman and he was impressed just how much her daughter resembled her “Adjusting…discovering new things that are not actually new.”

Evalin patted his knee “are any memories coming back?”

“I had a couple. All related to moments with Aelin.” He paused, sighed and gathered the courage to ask about Aelin. He hadn’t her from Aelin in a week “How is she doing? I haven’t heard from her in a week.”

Evalin hesitated “she is not well. She had been off from work the whole week.”

Rowan worried. Without realising it he felt a pang of fear rise in him “is it the pregnancy?”

Evalin nodded “partly. She has been very stressed this last month which has been hard on her and the baby.”

He threw his head backwards and leaned into the pillow “and it doesn’t help that I pile on with my stupidity.”

“She told me what happened.” The woman said quietly and he had a feeling that all of a sudden she had lost all of her respect for him “It must be scary to be in your position right now.” she admitted “I can see that you were just trying to protect my daughter, because the heart is a treacherous thing and I don’t think Aelin would survive loosing you completely and again.” The woman’s eyes were on him now “As a mother who loves her daughter and her grandchildren deeply and accepted you like a son… all I am asking is to give it a try.” She took his hand in hers “I know I am asking a lot of you, but you two used to hate each other and look where you got in the end.”

“What if I am not anymore the man she loves? I am scared that something might have broken in me and I don’t want to hurt her or the kids.”

Evalin squeezed his hand “listen to your heart, what does it tell you?”

“Try.” He whispered and he knew it was true “if I tell you something will you promise you will not think of me as crazy?”

Evalin shook her head.

“When I saw her the first time, I could not recognise her, but my body somehow did. I felt a tug… as if something pulled me to her. I don’t know how to explain it. There was a sense of familiarity.” He explained, thinking he sounded like a complete lunatic, but Evalin smiled deeply at him.

“I think it was your soul recognising its other half.” And she chuckled “my husband used to tell me I was an hopeless romantic.”

“I dreamed our wedding day, the day both kids were born and some other moments with her have come back.”

“And how do they make you feel?”

“There is always love. I am sure Aelin and I had our bad days but the memories coming back so far are all happy.” He told the woman.

“Then treasure those feelings.”

They stood in silence for a moment then Rowan spoke again “can I ask you something?”

Evalin nodded.

“Aelin mentioned that before having Thomas and Freyja we had problems and lost as well. How bad was it?”

He wasn’t sure if he should talk about it but he wanted, needed to know. He needed to know more about his relationship with Aelin and Evalin seemed very keen to indulge him.

“You started trying after you got married. You were both obsessed about having a big family so you started straight away. But it took Aelin a year to get pregnant.” She told him and he could see the heartbreak in the woman “you lost the first baby in the first trimester. But the second one happened during her fifth month. She woke up one night bleeding heavily and you lost your baby girl. It destroyed you both.”

Evalin paused, giving him time to absorb the facts “Aelin was heartbroken and you were just the same. And your marriage suffered quite badly, but slowly you both found your way back together. Thomas arrived a year later.”

Rowan listened and he felt a stab of pain in his heart. How did they survive such pain?

“You both went through something more horrific, and I am positive you will survive this too. You have to.” The woman stood and placed her bag back on her shoulder “next time you see Aelin, talk to her. Tell her about your fears. Let her in Rowan, she is your wife.”

She was about to leave when she stopped and pulled something from her bag. It was a piece of paper “Thomas did this for you.”

Rowan took the paper and saw it was a messy drawing of his family. The four of them were all there “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Evalin smiled and left the room, leaving Rowan on his own.

He thought about his options and realised that he had none. They were his family and in that moment they were all he knew. He had no idea if he had any friends close enough who would take him in. And who would do that anyway? He was a burden. But Aelin had offered him a home. A family. And eventually love. Maybe Evalin was right, maybe with time and patience he could learn to love her again. He just hoped he was not too late.

Aelin woke up from her afternoon nap and found her mother playing with Thomas. Freyja was napping as well on the sofa, her soft toy close to her chest, her blanket wrapped around her and a pacifier in her mouth. She looked serene.

Thomas was building something with lego. His father was obsessed with the colourful bricks and he had bought huge quantities and they would sit and build for hours.

“What are you building, Tom?”

“Our house.”

She ruffled his blonde hair and went to sit opposite her mother.

“How are you doing?”

Aelin sighed “the nausea stopped, but I still feel exhausted.”

“You should go back to bed.”

Aelin shook her head “If I keep sleeping I will not be able to do so tonight.”

Evalin took a sip of her tea “I went to see Rowan this morning.”

Aelin froze. She had retyped and deleted the reply to him countless times now. She had wanted to tell him she was scared too. Tell him that she knew it was hard for him and that she was ready to stay at his side and help him. They would find their way back. They always did even during the darkest moments of their marriage when she pushed him away because she thought the pain was only hers, Rowan had fought to be back at her side. Together they rose from the abysm and their bond grew even stronger.

“How is he doing?”

“Your husband needs you at his side. He is lost, and confused.”

“He told me to move on. He told he might not want to be my husband anymore.” She snapped, her heart aching.

“Have you considered that he might have said that to protect you? He is afraid you will not love the man that will come out of this ordeal. He thinks that by leaving him he will protect this family.”

Aelin sobbed, her face in her hands “I miss him so much.” Her sobs grew in intensity.

Thomas noticed his mother cry and walked to her and gave Aelin a hug “don’t cry, mum.”

“I am fine, Tom. Go back playing with lego.” She kissed his blonde hair and sent him back on the carpet.

“I know you are the doctor,” started Evalin caressing her sleeping granddaughter’s silver hair “but I did some reading and it seems like sensorial stimulation might help trigger the memories.”

Aelin nodded “He has his phone back with all the photos and the texts.” She took a deep breath “he texted me saying that the doctor might discharge him in a few days and I don’t know what to do.”

Evalin gave her a dashing smile “you are taking your husband back to this home where he belongs.”

Aelin felt fear at the idea “have you thought how the kids will feel at seeing their dad that way? I can’t put them through that.”

Her mother placed a hand on her knee in comfort “have you thought about the fact that being surrounded by a familiar environment might be best way to help him?”

She had not. All she had been thinking since that text had been her children. She wanted him back. There was no doubt about it. But she had to protect them. She was an adult and could endure the pain. They could not. They had no idea what was happening.

“You could explain to Thomas what happened and ask him to help you to get his dad back.”

Her boy, her wonderful boy, she could not do that to him. Her hands shook in fear.

“Aelin, he needs his family. All of us.”

She stood abruptly “he should go and stay with friends. Lorcan perhaps.”

Evalin stood as well and joined her “He and Elide have a baby who is only a few months old, they will not take him in. And they cannot help. He needs us. He needs all of this.” Her arms extended to indicate the house around them.

“He might not want this.” Aelin snarled “he made it quite clear.”

Evalin loved her daughter but she had inherited her father’s stubbornness. But if Aelin was stubborn, she was on another level “Aelin, you are going back to work tomorrow. You march in your husband’s room and tell him that he is coming home. Where he belongs. And don’t fight me on this.”

Aelin knew her mother had her best interest at heart. She was the one who had dragged her out of the abysm she had thrown herself into after they lost their daughter. After she had pushed Rowan away, Evalin had been at her side. Helping through the pain of the loss, fighting her depression with her. Slowly she had made her realise that Rowan was hurting too. That the pain was his as well and that he could be the one pulling her out completely. In the end they had helped each other.

To whatever end.

It was their pact, their promise.

An oath that went deeper than a I love you.

It was a thread that bound their souls together.

To whatever end.

#rowan whitethorn #rowaelin #rowan x aelin #rowaelinkids #aelin galathynius #evalin galathynius #Throne of Glass series #angst

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toevenexist · 7 years

Text

The Darkening Pt. 11

MAKE SURE TO READ PART 10! ALSO POSTED TONIGHT! Heres Chapter 11! Please do let me know what you think so far! I hope you are enjoying reading it as much as I love to write it!

Enjoy xx

The morning was crisp, as crisp as the gravel giving way underfoot. Each quiet breath sent a white plume out from their mouths as they walked across the base. Nebulous clouds rolled slowly across the overcast sky and birds flew mutely overhead.

They had been woken early that morning. Nina had forewarned them the day before, so it hadn’t been much of a shock.

It was, however, a strain for Amelia, who had concluded her sickness was in-fact, morning sickness, and it was continuing at full force. She had been ripped from sleep an hour before everyone else, and was found asleep against the toilet by Owen after thirty minutes. She was now walking in a trance, eyes mostly closed as she struggled to keep from throwing up.

It was eerily quiet on the base. They walked together, shoulders brushing softly as they swayed in step. The buildings changed from sprawling buildings, like the hospital, to huts laid out in grids.

“This here is yours” the soldier that had been leading them stopped beside the door to one of the huts and pulled a whole bunch of keys from his jacket pocket. He opened the door and handed them to Richard.

“Your food stores are stocked, you have a limited number of tokens per person each week, which you can use to get your rations. You will be given work based on your previous occupation, you will find out your roles ahead of the weekend. I recommend you settle in here for now, sleep, eat. Feel free to head out around nine. You’ll find a map of the base inside and you’ll also see a landline with a code book. If you have any needs, questions, or request’s, call the support line 4402” He stopped abruptly, straightening up and marching off without another word.

Ray jumped up and down beside Arizona, “Can I go in?” she squealed excitedly, springing up onto the step and jumping. Her eyes danced around the group, hesitating briefly on Amelia’s ashen face. “Go” Arizona said, walking towards her with an energized grin, following her up the steps with Ellis bouncing happily on her hip.

“Come on…” Owen uttered quietly, wrapping his arm around Amelia’s. She moved forward, every step making her stomach clench painfully. ‘I need to lie down’ she thought, pressing close to Owen as they slowly migrated down a long hall.

Through the first door on their left, Ray was jumping on a single bed. Arizona was just walking back to the hall after having settled Ellis in a crib. She grinned at the pair as she approached the door. “This place is great, I’m right across the hall from these two, and there’s a double in there for you?” she said, gesturing to the second door on the left. She disappeared through the first door on the right, one of three, evenly spaced doors.

Ray saw the pair and pounced down from the bed, “Did you see my room, I get to share with Ellis! And … and you will be right here! See?” she said, running ahead of them and pushing open the hollow, dark wood door.

It was a small room, enough for a double bed to slot in at the far end, as if the room had been made to fit the frame. They’d both have to climb on from one side, the other side was pressed against the far wall. Above the bed was a wide single-paned window. A bedside table sat beside the head of the bed and two trunks sat against the wall next to the door.

Owen dropped their belongings atop one of the trunks and turned his attention back to Amelia. She ambled carefully to the bed and sat down.

“Ray… you hungry?” Arizona poked her head in. Ray nodded emphatically and ran from the room. “There’s a toilet right next door to you if you need it” Arizona said, nodding once before backing out and pulling the door closed.

“Here lie down…” Owen said, plumping the pillow beside her and applying gentle pressure to her shoulder until she began to sink down.

She groaned quietly. “I still can’t believe this is happening” she sighed, relaxing against the mattress. Owen sat slowly at her side, feeling nauseous for her. He soothed his hand under her shirt, against the bare skin at her waist, running up and down from her hip, to her ribs. “Me either…” he said, watching her slowly doze off.

He stilled his hand, the heel of his palm resting at the side of her stomach and he stared down, feeling warmth washing over his body. His eyes traced her figure as he tried to steady his breathing. He had found himself dizzy with worry since they had found out. Amelia had often been too preoccupied with the morning sickness to notice.

Amelia fidgeted, moaning softly in her sleep. Owen brought his hand up to her face, pushing her hair back with his fingertips, tracing around the back of her ear. He dropped a kiss at the corner of her mouth and she fidgeted again, pulling her knees up until they were pressed against Owen’s thigh. He stood, finding a brick coloured wool blanket at the foot of the bed and pulled it up to her shoulder.

“Hey O” Megan greeted him from the sofa, a steaming bowl of porridge in her lap. Ray walked over slowly, watching her feet as she carried a bowl for herself. She sat beside Megan and smiled up at her.

“Hey” Owen breathed out, taking in the large room. Behind him on the left was a toilet, separated by a wall from the shower room, his and Amelia’s room behind that, beside their room, also on the left, was Ellis and Ray’s room. Opposite those rooms, on the right of the building was three single rooms, Arizona took the one closest to the front door, followed by Alex’ and then Richard’.

“Do you want some porridge sweetie or something else?” Evelyn was busying herself at the kitchen. The room smelt of sweet porridge, Owen walked to the window and opened it, hoping that the new smell wouldn’t set off Amelia’s nausea before it could even settle.

“Porridge is fine Mom, thank you” he waked into the center of the room, looking around. In the furthest corner from the front door was another bedroom, he could see Evelyn’ things on the bed inside, another bed sat around the corner.

“This is a nice place isn’t it?” Evelyn said, placing a bowl down on the bar that sat against the wall, seven stools pushed under it. “There you go sweetie” she said, sitting back down at a small round table in the centre of the kitchen space. “Did Amelia go back to sleep?” Evelyn said, pulling her tea towards her and stirring the contents. The teaspoon clanked against the tin mug.

“Yeah” he sighed, bringing his bowl and sitting across from him mom at the table.

“You know I had bad morning sickness with you?”

“Really...Sorry?”

Evelyn chuckled, shaking her head. “I had none with Megan… horrible heartburn” she said, grimacing. Owen smirked, enjoying hearing his mom talk about her pregnancies. “She had much more hair than you though” she smirked, raising her brows.

“Knock knock… Hello?” Nina called, she let herself in and closed the door. “Hello?.. Ray...” Ray gasped, and her eyes stretched wide. She smiled and jumped up from the floor, knocking over the Lego tower she and Ellis had been building.

Amelia grinned, unmoving from the comfortable embrace of the couch.

Nina appeared from the hall. A cat carrier in her right hand. Ray squealed, calling Ginny’s name. Ginny meowed longingly, her fur poking through the front of the cage. Nina set it down on the floor and Ray fell to her knees, immediately releasing her friend and squeezing her in her arms.

Owen entered the room then, greeting Nina with a smile.

“Evelyn” Ray squealed, clamoring up from the floor and running over to where Evelyn sat, reclined in the armchair, “Look” she gasped, nuzzling her face into the scruff of Ginny’s neck. Evelyn pulled the girl onto her lap and they both stroked the cat together. The creature stretched out its long body, basking in their love.

Amelia sighed inwardly, muscles relaxing at the feeling of Owens hot hand against the back of her neck. He stooped and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, “Alright?” he murmured softly, his expression radiating love and worry.

She smiled, nodding, taking hold of his hand.

“Have you had a chance to look around?” Nina asked, sitting on the edge of the couch where Amelia sat. Amelia shook her head,”no, I haven’t but I think everyone else has…” Amelia said, glancing at everyone around the room. Evelyn shook her head, “I haven’t been out yet” she said, distractedly, scrunching her hand against the cat’s belly. Nina looked up at Owen, “What did you think?” she asked.

Owen pouted his lips, shrugging, “It’s good, everyone seems nice…”

Nina nodded, pulling some paper from the folder she had carried in with her. “I imagine you will get bored very quickly… so I have arranged for you all to start work in our community hospital.” Alex and Arizona had migrated over from the kitchen.

“Now as you may have noticed, our population here isn’t very big, so the inflow of patients won’t be what you are used to. You can work when you like, as long as we have at least two of you at the hospital during the day, we won’t need you in at night but we will need two of you to be on call. You are… and don’t take this statement at face value… you are on call twenty four seven” everyone's brows furrowed at this. She lifted her hands in defense. “Listen... I’m on call twenty four seven but have had only two real patients in the past two weeks… you’ll be acting as general practitioners when you’re one of the two who’re on shift at the hospital… and when you’re on call you’ll be paged if needed for something in your specialty.”

Everyone seemed satisfied with the set up, nodding to one another. “Evelyn, Megan, there’s various things you could do, would you like to see the options?”

Evelyn nodded and Megan slid down from her stool at the breakfast bar. Nina stood and lunged, passing Evelyn a sheet of paper. “You can decide between you who will start tomorrow” she said, sitting back down. “Amelia, maybe wait a couple of days wait to see if your sickness settles?” she said, and Amelia nodded, agreeing, feeling her chest tighten at the mention of her pregnancy.

It still scared her, no matter how many times she reminded herself that the baby was healthy, and that they were all safe, she still found herself awash with a paralysing fear.

She was vaguely aware of Nina leaving her side, moving towards the Evelyn before leaving. Owen showed her out. Everyone in the room scattered again, leaving Amelia alone, or at least she thought alone. “Hey” Alex appeared at her side. He smiled kindly, perceiving the fear in her gaze. Amelia forced a smile and inhaled sharply, “Hey.”

Alex sat down next to her. “How’re you doing?” he spoke softly, the chatter in the room giving them a sort of privacy. She dropped the smile, lingering at his eyes for a moment before looking down. “I’m terrorfied” she admitted. She shook her head, placing a hand against her chest.

“Everything is fine isn’t it?” he asked. She nodded, looking up to meet his eyes again, smiling tearfully.

“Everything is happening so quickly… I have no control over it… anything could go wrong” she said, bringing up her other arm, and wrapping them around herself. He pursed his lips, lolling his head to the side.

“Amelia… you do have some control, you just have to look after yourself, you’re surrounded by doctors… I really do think everything will be fine… perfect even… this… this isn’t going to be like last time Amelia” he said, finally. She met his eyes, tears falling freely. She nodded almost imperceptibly and breathed in, closing her eyes and throwing her head back. “Alright” Alex said, patting her knee. She smiled genuinely now, and nodded, looking back to him. “You talk a lot of sense” she chuckled.

He smirked smugly, standing up. “Anytime” he replied, circling around her to the kitchen, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly as he went. Sunlight flashed around him as he passed the windows along the wall where the breakfast bar was affixed. They framed a landscape of fields and woodland. Layers and layers of fencing stood between them and the far distance. Dust specs danced around within the columns of light that bridged from the windows to the carpeted floor.

Owen stepped just into the room then. His eyes landed straight on her. It took her a moment to notice him there. Her eyes met his in a gentle way, and he smiled, sliding his hands into his jean pockets. “Want to go look around?” he asked. His voice was so faint that she relied mostly on the motion of his lips. “Yeah” she replied, nodding, pressing her open hands into the cushions to get up.

There was a buzz in the air outside, like a shuffling sound, the sound of people going about their day. They walked slowly, Ellis holding onto Owen’s hand and waddling beside him. Amelia breathed in deep, eyes falling shut as she drank in the cool air.

“We can go and pick up everyone’s pagers?” Owen said, stopping to lift Ellis up onto his hip. Amelia nodded, rocking against his other side, wrapping an arm around his waist. “You okay? You’re very quiet” he asked her, lifting his free arm over her head and onto her shoulders. She smiled up at him, eyes sparkling.

“I think so…” She savoured the silence, looking down at her shoes, ankle high rubber boots she’d been given. “I’m scared” she said, still not looking up, kicking the gravel underfoot. “But I think i’m alright, or… going to be” she smiled, looking up to meet his eyes. He was grinning. His happiness was contagious. He pulled her closer, tightening his arm around her shoulders. She softened against him, leaning into the kissed he pressed against her temple. “Love you” she uttered.

“Love you too” he replied.

LINK TO CHAPTER 12

Thank you for reading xxxx

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fanfic-inator795 · 7 years

Text

Lego Batman Oneshot: No Fear

Plot: Every hero has something to fear... Both old fears and new ones... Thankfully, hugs make it better.

((Yaaay, new fic! ^v^ Thought of this while I was watching my brother fight Scarecrow in the new Injustice game. Enjoy!

Also, quick warning. Soooorta graphic imagery ahead. But I mean, graphic for Legos. So, no actual blood or anything. Still, I wanted to give you guys a head’s up!))

The full moon had already risen above Gotham, with the dark violet sky acting as its stage as it shone down on the city. Below, there were plenty of people out and about - not too surprising, since Gotham was a big city after all. Of course it would have a healthy nightlife, even after all the crime that usually happened during this time.

And speaking of which...

*BOOM!*

Several citizens quickly turned towards the explosion, each letting out a small scream or gasp in surprise. Others just instantly ran for cover out of instinct. However, as the green gas from the explosion began quickly washing over the late-night shopping and/or clubbing crowd, very few managed to escape it.

And, as more screams of fright were heard, a raspy laugh echoed over them. “Yessss,” the masked man smirked as he sauntered through the chemical fog, a metal pack full of fear gas on his back and a hose in his hand, “Another successful experiment~”

All around him he could see people afraid - and not just of him, but of their own imaginations. From spiders and killer mosquitoes, to snakes and giant hungry rats, to- ...giant man-eating tax forms apparently (the doctor actually felt kinda sorry for that guy), everyone on this block was seeing their worst fears!

And Scarecrow was loving it.

“Now, let’s see how many more people I can frighten~ Perhaps I should take my little experiment to the bank next.” After all, fear gas wasn’t cheap. And hey, what was crime without a little robbery?

Chuckling again, the Scarecrow started heading towards the next street, but stopped when he saw something fly by out of the corner of his eye. “Huh?” Unfortunately, he was just a bit too slow, and as Scarecrow turned to try and block the attack, a bat-a-rang ended up hitting and getting stuck in his fear-gas hose, blocking it completely.

“No!” The Scarecrow’s scowl deepened as he looked up - and sure enough, he could see a pair of white, glowing eyes staring him down. “Batman... Hmph, I would be a fool if I had thought that you wouldn’t come after me tonight. However, you’re still a fool for being here!”

“Maybe,” Batman gruffly replied as he stayed in the shadows, “But come on, did you really think I’d just stay in the cave and let you terrorize everyone in Gotham?”

“Oh come now, it’s only a little experiment!” Scarecrow insisted, “A bit of late-night chemistry. Scarecrows never sleep, Batman. Always vigilant, always spreading fear - or, in my case, fear and gas. Speaking of which-” Lifting up his hose, he started to pull on the stuck bat-a-rang, “How about I give you a taste of my latest concoction?!”

“Sorry, Scarecrow!” A new voice shouted, making the villain flinch, “But-!” From behind him, a rope was thrown and instantly wrapped around him, trapping him as well as keeping him from releasing more gas.

Robin smiled proudly before hopping down from his position. “It looks like science class is canceled for tonight!”

Batman smirked, giving his sidekick/son a small nod of approval - he really was improving on his awesome one-liners, and Batman couldn’t be prouder! - before hopping down himself. “Heh, if it’s any consolation though, you should still be able to make it to Arkham’s villain arts and crafts class tomorrow.”

However, instead of looking disappointed or angry, Scarecrow simply smirked, even as the Dark Knight started walking towards him with bat-cuffs in his hand. “You know, I really am more of a chemist than an artist so, I think I’m going to skip out. Besides, every experiment has a back-up plan!”

With that, Scarecrow threw his head forward. He nearly gave himself whiplash, but (more importantly) he also managed to knock his straw hat off his head. A hat that, as soon as it hit the ground, automatically released a whole cloud of fear gas!

“Hey!” Batman shouted, glaring and squinting through the gas as he heard both evil laughter and footsteps. Maybe Scarecrow couldn’t use his arms, but he could still run and escape! But Batman wasn’t about to let that happen! So, ignoring the gas the best he could, the vigilante ran through it and after the masked doctor.

Robin however, just backed up and covered his mouth. “Uh oh...” He may have still been a new hero, but he still knew how powerful Scarecrow’s fear gas could be. The Boy Wonder could still remember nearly a year ago when Scarecrow released a bunch of it near the orphanage. Most of the kids had been affected by it, and Dick himself had had nightmares about his parents for almost a whole week...

But, as unpleasant as those memories were, he wasn’t about to let them stop him from helping his padre! So, holding his breath and going as quickly as he could, Robin took off his sparkly cape and wrapped it over his mouth and nose like a bandana.

Maybe it wouldn’t keep out all the fear gas, but it would at least slow its effect on him. And with that taken care of, the boy ran after his father and their villain of the night.

The two of them had actually gotten pretty far, and with all his movement (combined with his own skinniness), the Scarecrow actually managed to shake off the ropes. Now all he had to do was unclog his weapon. “Come on... Come on-!”

He gave a small yelp as another bat-a-rang whizzed by his head. Close, but still a miss! “A miscalculation, eh Batman?” Scarecrow shouted back at him as he turned a corner into an alley.

Batman however just narrowed his eyes. His vision was starting to blur, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. He simply got out his grappling hook and shot it up towards a nearby fire escape, using it as a sort of jumping point/shortcut into the alleyway. “Are you sure you aren’t the one who’s miscalculated, Scarecrow?”

“Huh?” the still-running doctor raised an eyebrow as he looked over his shoulder, trying to find his pursuer, “And just how can you say that?!”

...Unfortunately for Scarecrow, no sooner had he said that did he look forward and see exactly what Batman had meant. And as the doctor’s feet screeched to a halt, Batman simply glided down and stood behind him. “Because, you’re the one who just ran right into a dead end.”

No nearby windows into buildings to jump through, no holes or pipes to crawl through, and a wall that was way too big for anyone without a grappling hook to climb. The Scarecrow sighed, muttering under his breath about how he knew there was a dead end here, he simply forgot.

“Now,” Batman started to say as he crossed his arms, “Are we going to do this the easy ‘take-you-to-Arkham’ way, or the punching way? What’s it going to be, Scarecrow?”

“A simple enough choice, I suppose,” Scarecrow shrugged, still facing towards the high brick wall, “In fact, it reminds me of another. The old ‘Fight or Flight’ decision that the brain has to make each time it’s faced with danger - faced with something threatening and intimidating enough to cause the mind to enter into a state of primeval panic. So, tell me Batman-”

The doctor finally turned around, with a bat-a-rang in one hand, and an open hose in the other.

“Which will you choose~?”

With that, Batman was practically smothered with gas. The Dark Knight coughed, covering his face with his cape the best he could. “Ggh-! S-Scarecrow!” Even through the thick green clouds, he still could see the villain trying to escape. “No! Not gonna happen, Scarecrow!”

After all, it wasn’t like this was his first time being poisoned with fear gas. He could deal with it. He just had to stay focused! Stay focused... Stay focused... Stay-!

Batman stepped forward, using his arms to push away the gas. He quickly spotted an arm and- ...Wait. The arm... It wasn’t Scarecrow’s. It was on the ground, and it had a blue sleeve on it. “What...?”

The hero took a couple more steps forward and- He completely froze at the sight.

All around him were... were his friends. His family. Alfred, Barbara, even people like Jim Gordon and the Joker! But they weren’t just lying there. No... They were lying in pieces. Completely and utterly broken with X’s over their eyes.

However, as horrible as seeing all of this was, Batman’s clouded mind quickly focused on just one set of body parts - arms and legs that had been adorned in bright red and green clothing. “No... No!”

Batman couldn’t even move - the most he did was falling to his knees - yet the image of his son’s broken body somehow came closer. And, unlike the others, his eyes weren’t just X’s. No, instead Dick’s eyes were wide and filled with fear and sadness and pain... He was supposed to protect his son. So why? Why didn’t he protect him?!

All around him, Scarecrow’s chuckles echoed. In the back of his mind, Batman knew the villain was escaping, but his body didn’t budge. His eyes still couldn’t look away from his broken family - his broken son.

“It really is nice to see that I can still get a reaction out of you, Batman,” Scarecrow taunted, his pace now slow since he no longer needed to run. Besides, he always loved watching the effects of his gas. “Even if it does take an extra dose or two, I can easily say it’s worth it. Oh, but don’t worry! I’ve got plenty more for the rest of this city!”

“Oh really?” a familiar, slightly muffled voice asked. Eyes widening, Scarecrow turned around - and nearly got hit with a metal bo-staff. Yelping slightly, the Scarecrow jumped back while Robin glared at him. “Then I guess I just have that much more I have to take from you!”

“Hmph...” The doctor began to narrow his own eyes. “As if a child could ever intimidate me!”

“Yeah well, no one said that I had to intimidate you to beat you!” Robin retorted. With that, Robin leapt up and swung his staff at the Scarecrow. Again, Scarecrow dodged, but this required moving back into the alley. If he wanted to escape, he’d now have to get past the Boy Wonder.

“Grr, little brat!” Admittedly, Scarecrow wasn’t the greatest hand-to-hand fighter, but he still had a couple tricks up his straw sleeves! After managing to dodge another would-be blow, he quickly got out a gun and started firing. “Pew pew!”

Retracting his bo-staff, Robin ducked and rolled out of the way out of the bullets. Once he was safe though, he quickly extended his staff and used it to help him pull jump up and over the Scarecrow!

Before the villain could even try to turn around and shoot the boy, he felt a sharp kick in his back strong enough to knock him to the ground. Not wanting to give him a second chance, Robin also made sure to push the gun away from him before pointing his staff at the Scarecrow. “Gotcha!”

“Erg, t-that’s what you think, boy!” Still desperate to escape, the Scarecrow held up a fear-gas grenade - and dropped it just before he could press the activate button, thanks to a flying bat-a-rang. A bat-a-rang that, once he had unstuck it from his hose, he had simply discarded. “NO!”

Robin grinned as he glanced over his shoulder. “Nice shot, Batda-!” He stopped, his smile falling as he noticed that his father was still on his knees. “...Padre? A-Are you-?”

“Robin. Cuffs.” “Oh! Ah, right...”

It didn’t take long for GCPD to arrive at the alley, and with Scarecrow already in handcuffs, it was easy to take him in. Still, as successful as their mission had been, Batman still only gave half-hearted “Thank yous” as he and Robin headed towards the Bat-mobile.

Worry still clearly on his face, Dick spoke up once more. “So, uh... Batman? Is everything-?”

“Seat belt,” Batman reminded him, his voice quiet yet still just a bit stern.

“Oh, right. Got it.” The boy quickly put his seat belt on, and the Dark Knight started the car.

“...You’re alright, right?” his father asked suddenly as ‘Puter drove them back towards the Cave.

Smiling a bit, Dick nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. I don’t think I got much of the gas, thanks to my cape.”

“Good... Good to hear. Nice work.”

“Thanks! ...And, what about you, Padre? Are you-?”

“I’ll be fine.” And with that, the conversation had ended, leading to only silence and light radio noises the rest of the ride home.

()()()()()()()()()

Bats squeaked and fluttered above as he poked his lobster thermidor. He’d only managed to eat a couple bites of it so far, and it was starting to get cold again, as had the earl grey tea that he had told Alfred to bring him.

Batman sighed. Getting exposed to any kind of gas always seemed to cause him to lose his appetite, whether it was sleeping gas, laughing gas, poison plant gas or-...

“Ugh. Stupid fear gas...” He had already taken some antidote for it, but he knew very well that it wouldn’t really start to kick in for at least another half hour or so. Until then, he’d just have to at least try and relax. Forcing his fork into the seafood, he took a bite of the luke-warm lobster and slowly closed his tired eyes.

...Unfortunately, once his eyes were closed, all he could see were broken friends and family members he had let down.

Choking slightly on his bite, Batman quickly opened his eyes and made himself swallow. “No...” He muttered, squeezing his fist.

He thought he was used to whatever Scarecrow’s fear gas had to throw at him. Snakes, clowns, his parents’ disappointed faces - even visions of that one bad night in Crime Alley... He had faced them all, and he had still managed to break through these horrible, fearful visions all on his own and save the day from Scarecrow each time.

But this...? How could he just forget seeing something like this?

“...Batdad?”

Gasping slightly, Batman turned his chair around and threw a punch. Thankfully, the person behind him had not only been expecting it, but also knew how to block. “Whoops,” Dick said, looking more sheepish than frightened by the attack, “Sorry, didn’t mean to-”

“I wasn’t!” Batman shouted, a bit too loudly, “I-I mean, you didn’t scare me. It was just, uh, heroic reflexes, you know?”

“Heh, right,” Dick said, smiling for just a moment.

“Yeah. So, uh... What did you need, buddy?” Batman asked.

“Well...” Dick glanced away slightly, “I, I guess I just wanted to check up on you. I, I know you probably inhaled some of that fear gas and, well-”

“I-” Batman started to argue, but as soon as he saw his son’s concern he stopped, giving another small sigh. “Yeah, I... I guess I did breathe a bit of it in, yeah,” he admitted (finally), “But, I’m not lying when I say I’ll be fine, okay? I mean, it’s not like this is my first time getting gassed by the Scarecrow. I’m used to this sort of thing. And, and I’ve already taken antidote for it anyway so-”

“But are you still being affected by the gas right now?” Dick interrupted.

Again, Batman felt the need to tell the truth, albeit a bit reluctantly. “Ugh, yeah, I’m... I’m still being affected by it. But the antidote should kick in soon. Shouldn’t be too long now. ‘Bout half an hour wait, tops. So it’s fine, really.”

Forcing it only a little, he gave Dick a small smile before turning back around. Maybe he ate a bit more and made it look like everything was normal, the kid would stop worrying. So, he stuck his fork back into the lobster, lifted it up towards his mouth and Batman stopped, blinking as he felt a pair of small (yet still very strong) arms wrap themselves around him. “Huh?”

As surprised as he was, he fought the urge to try and break out of the hold. Instead, the Dark Knight put the lobster back on his plate before looking down at Dick. The kid was leaning over the armrest of the Batcave’s computer chair just so he could hug his dad, not caring how uncomfortable the position might have been for him. “Uhh... What are you doing, Dick?”

“Hugging you,” Dick replied simply.

“Well, yeah, I can see that,” Batman told him, rolling his eyes slightly, “I mean, why are you hugging me?” Even if he had gotten somewhat used to it, he still couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward about it.

Dick however, unsurprisingly, didn’t mind the hugging at all. “Now just seemed like a good time for hugging,” he explained, still refusing to let go.

“Okayyy... And just how long is this ‘hug time’ thing going to last, cause it’s been almost a minute already-”

“Eh, I’d say maybe... half an hour tops?” Even if wasn’t really able to look up at his father, Dick knew he was probably giving him a flat look.

“Dick, this really isn’t necessary.”

“Well, I kinda think it is, Batdad. So, I’m gonna keep doing it.”

“Yeahhh no. Come on, Dick, let go.” “Nope, sorry Padre!” “Dick-” “Nope!” “Kid-!” “Nuh-uh!” “Richard-!”

“I’m not going to let you be all alone while you’re feeling scared, Dads.”

“...” Once again, Batman couldn’t help but fall silent at that. And as he sat there without a word, he felt Dick hug him tighter - tight enough to feel his adoptive father’s shaking, despite his attempts to hide it.

“You wouldn’t let me just sit somewhere all alone, feeling sad and afraid,” Dick quietly told him, “Not while fighting crime, not in Arkham Asylum, not after Joker’s big top scheme - not ever! So... So I’m not gonna let you sit here all alone either!”

“...Heh.” Batman smiled, just a little. “Yeah... Yeah okay, fair enough. I guess it’s hug time then.” He paused for a moment. “Though, maybe we should move this hug thing upstairs, just so your arms don’t get too tired. Besides, I could use some more tea anyway.”

Dick smiled. “Sounds like a good idea to me!”

With that, Batman stood up - and Dick continued to hug his shoulders as tight as he could, hanging off them now. “Huh... You know, maybe I was right to assume that your hugs are actually attacks,” Batman smirked, making Dick giggle a bit, “Come on, kid. Let’s go.” “I’m right beside you, Batdad!”

Maybe it was a bit unorthodox - and certainly different from what Batman was used to - but he supposed it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. Just like how letting people in wasn’t necessarily the worst thing either. Far from it, in fact.

“...Hey, Dick?” Batman spoke up as he pressed the button to the bat-elevator.

“Hm? Yeah?” Dick replied.

Maneuvering his arm slightly, making sure not to accidentally shake his son off him, Batman managed to wrap an arm around Dick’s waist and return the hug. “...Thanks, kiddo.”

Dick smiled, laying his head on his dad’s shoulder. “No problem, Padre. Any time.”

Yes, the fear was hard to deal with at times. Very hard and very tiring. And yet, the more Batman thought about it, the more he knew it was true: Even if this fear was tough, having a family was still more than worth it.

It had taken him a while to learn that, but with Dick and the others being willing to stay by his side, he knew he would never truly forget it.

THE END

#lego batman movie #lego batman #lego robin #dick grayson #the scarecrow #my writing #oneshot

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