#we even now get all kinds of cookie-dough stuff which was something I missed for a long time

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 17: WE TAKE A ZEBRA TO VEGAS

"Is that a new sports car?" Nico asked, he still wasn't clear on why mustangs and impala's were, nor how horsepower related to the engine. His stomach clenched up unpleasantly at just the name of that city and he was really looking for any stupid distraction right now.

"Maybe they find a portal in a zoo," Will offered eagerly.

"A zebra's not big or fast enough to carry all three of them, so it can't be literal this time," Alex nodded.

"I'm more worried Ares turned one of them into a zebra, so how about we find out," Thalia sighed.

The war god was waiting for us in the diner parking lot.

"Well, well," he said. "You didn't get yourself killed."

"You knew it was a trap," I said.

Ares gave me a wicked grin. "Bet that crippled black-smith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You looked good on TV."

I shoved his shield at him. "You're a jerk."

"Percy, you should learn to take a compliment," Will gave a nervous laugh as he once again wondered how Percy had even lived to get to Hades. He found himself wondering that an awful lot.

Jason had a constipated look on his face as well for this guy disrespecting Mars like that, but he wasn't as surprised either after the Medusa head. He had admitted to being impertinent.

  Annabeth and Grover caught their breath.

Ares grabbed the shield and spun it in the air like pizza dough. It changed form, melting into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back.

"See that truck over there?" He pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked across the street from the diner.

"That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas."

The eighteen-wheeler had a sign on the back, which I could read only because it was reverse-printed white on black, a good combination for dyslexia: KINDNESS INTER-NATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS.

"I have found the zebra!" Jason chuckled.

"I have found its bad when the title's revealed so early," Nico bitterly reminded. He only realized after he'd been speaking at a normal enough volume everyone heard him, and were now frowning at him oddly. He scolded himself for getting too comfortable in here and just hoped whatever wonderful thing happened to Percy would hurry up already!

Percy was still watching him, clearly wanting to say something to him as those seagreen eyes would not go back down to the book. Nico felt trapped and a little terrified of being so completely under his focus with no clue why he was opening his mouth-

"Come on Percy," Will swooped in first and laughed eagerly, "I want to hear about the rest of the cute animals in there!" Nico looked like he was trying to stare down Medusa and Percy was the one starting to grow pale and uneasy like he needed to remember something about Nico. Will was flailing to try and keep everyone from exploding, clearly missing something and just wanting to help.

It worked, thankfully, Percy turned back to the book and muttered something about a hotel while Nico exhaled and switched his glower to the nearest shadow. Thalia mouthed a thanks at Will though and he nodded while biting his lip to stop himself asking for once what in Tartarus was going on.

I said, "You're kidding."

Ares snapped his fingers. The back door of the truck unlatched. "Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job."

He slung a blue nylon backpack off his handlebars and tossed it to me.

Inside were fresh clothes for all of us, twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuff Oreos.

"Mmm, that was worth it just for the Oreos," Magnus grinned, he hadn't had such luxury, or any of those things just casually in that bag for almost two years. Finding that would be like a treasure chest! Then he yelled at Percy to pause as he remembered and ran off to the fridge, coming back with a plate of assorted cookies now to be passed around, no insane war god or spiders needed!

He let Hearthstone have his pick first before offering Alex the plate and taking note of which she selected. She took a large bite as she watched him watch her...there was something so unique about her he couldn't put his finger on, and it wasn't just the green hair, uniquely shaded eyes, and pink vest. She was so confident about everything-

Percy had already kept reading, that plate had moved around the room weirdly fast and he was still stuck being a tongue tied idiot.

I said, "I don't want your lousy-"

"Thank you, Lord Ares," Grover interrupted, giving me his best red-alert warning look. "Thanks a lot."

"I would like to see that look," Thalia sighed, she'd yet found one of her own to get Percy to shut up on command.

"It looks like he's watching someone take a chainsaw to a tree, so be it your own peril," Percy shrugged.

I gritted my teeth. It was probably a deadly insult to refuse something from a god, but I didn't want anything that Ares had touched.

"You're so," Jason paused and gave him a strange, appraising look that was no where near complimentary. "Odd," he finally concluded. There was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind though, as a nereid had warned about gifts, and this had just been added to the pile. Shoes and backpacks, possibly even the sword or Annabeth's hat...Who to believe, who to trust...

"And you're blonde, anything else we need to clarify," Percy rolled his eyes.

Jason at least didn't think he was alone on this opinion though, only Alex seemed as dismissive of being so rude to the gods as well. The others at least had a healthy look of fear on their face when it happened.

Reluctantly, I slung the backpack over my shoulder. I knew my anger was being caused by the war god's presence, but I was still itching to punch him in the nose.

"He might give you another backpack if you do," Alex said helpfully while Percy grinned at her.

"Don't encourage him!" Thalia protested.

"He'd more than likely throw him into the stratosphere," Will groaned.

"Thank you, mom and dad," Percy mocked as he continued reading loudly instead.

He reminded me of every bully I'd ever faced: Nancy Bobofit, Clarisse, Smelly Gabe, sarcastic teachers-every jerk who'd called me stupid in school or laughed at me when I'd gotten expelled.

I looked back at the diner, which had only a couple of customers now. The waitress who'd served us dinner was watching nervously out the window, like she was afraid Ares might hurt us. She dragged the fry cook out from the kitchen to see. She said something to him. He nodded, held up a little disposable camera and snapped a picture of us.

Great, I thought. We'll make the papers again tomorrow.

Magnus waved off, "I doubt you're famous enough to get repeat headlines. We still haven't even heard your fugitive name."

"At what point should we be grateful the poor preteen isn't being looked for by the country?" Percy scoffed.

I imagined the headline: TWELVE-YEAR-OLD OUTLAW BEATS UP DEFENSELESS BIKER.

"I take it back, that would be worth it," Magnus said, somehow even more delighted when Alex howled with laughter while the others still glanced nervously around, as if somehow fearing Ares would spontaneously sense the challenge of that and pop in here to kill them.

"You owe me one more thing," I told Ares, trying to keep my voice level.

"The fact that you accomplished that at all should have been your bead for the trip," Thalia said.

Percy ran his thumb over the beaded necklace and wondered why Thalia didn't have her own more than the silly comment.

"You promised me information about my mother."

"You sure you can handle the news?" He kick-started his motorcycle. "She's not dead."

The room's water spun crazily around them for a moment like someone had started the spin cycle, slamming all of them back into their seats unpleasantly, but settled back just as quickly as Percy steadied his breath. He hadn't needed proof, he'd believed Thalia when she'd said that, but to hear it repeated, confirmed by a god somehow made the news feel more vital, and disturbing.

He didn't bother to ask her or anyone what that could mean, but instead kept reading at critical speed.

The ground seemed to spin beneath me. "What do you mean?"

"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept."

"Kept. Why?"

"You need to study war, punk. Hostages. You take somebody to control somebody else."

Percy and Jason froze for just a moment, an echo, a connection, a tension traveling across the room from all directions before it settled back and they looked away from each other without ever having decided to frown at the other. 'Their lives had been meddled with...' Hadn't Oceanus told them that, back when they were all struggling to even catch up their first five minutes here?

Percy went back to reading while deciding he did owe his father a thanks. Nobody controlled him, and no way would he be sitting idly by if he was somehow being used.

"Nobody's controlling me."

He laughed. "Oh yeah? See you around, kid."

I balled up my fists. "You're pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues."

Behind his sunglasses, fire glowed. I felt a hot wind in my hair. "We'll meet again, Percy Jackson. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back."

Will swallowed and already decided he'd be happier hearing about Nico telling him of the Underworld rather than Percy's upcoming fight with Ares, it sounded like it was going to be a bloodbath.

He revved his Harley, then roared off down Delancy Street.

Annabeth said, "That was not smart, Percy."

"We have on record the first time Annabeth ever said that to you," Thalia grinned.

"Why would you need it when you'll have it live soon," Percy said in anticipation.

"I don't care."

"You don't want a god as your enemy. Especially not that god."

"Hey, guys," Grover said. "I hate to interrupt, but ..."

He pointed toward the diner. At the register, the last two customers were paying their check, two men in identical black coveralls, with a white logo on their backs that matched the one on the KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck.

"If we're taking the zoo express," Grover said, "we need to hurry."

I didn't like it, but we had no better option. Besides, I'd seen enough of Denver.

We ran across the street and climbed in the back of the big rig, closing the doors behind us.

The first thing that hit me was the smell. It was like the world's biggest pan of kitty litter.

The trailer was dark inside until I uncapped Anaklusmos. The blade cast a faint bronze light over a very sad scene.

Percy was already starting with a rather disgruntled look on his face for that unpleasant reminder, inhaling another warm cookie to distract himself from the fact he seemed to remember smells the best during this trip.

Sitting in a row of filthy metal cages were three of the most pathetic zoo animals I'd ever beheld: a zebra, a male albino lion, and some weird antelope thing I didn't know the name for.

Someone had thrown the lion a sack of turnips, which he obviously didn't want to eat. The zebra and the antelope had each gotten a Styrofoam tray of hamburger meat. The zebra's mane was matted with chewing gum, like somebody had been spitting on it in their spare time. The antelope had a stupid silver birthday balloon tied to one of his horns that read OVER THE HILL!

Apparently, nobody had wanted to get close enough to the lion to mess with him, but the poor thing was pacing around on soiled blankets, in a space way too small for him, panting from the stuffy heat of the trailer. He had flies buzzing around his pink eyes and his ribs showed through his white fur.

By the time he was done, a familiar pain was clenching up his gut as he pictured with mental perfect clarity pitching all responsible for this into a tank with man-eating sharks. He was pretty sure he could talk them out of eating the people while teaching them a lesson anyways.

Thalia was throwing around ancient Greek like she was literally trying to curse the mortals responsible, she was in fact practicing to see if she even had the power to do so, and that was before she even informed Artemis of this travesty.

"This is kindness?" Grover yelled. "Humane zoo transport?"

He probably would've gone right back outside to beat up the truckers with his reed pipes, and I would've helped him, but just then the trucks engine roared to life, the trailer started shaking, and we were forced to sit down or fall down.

"I am very disappointed in you not busting open the back of that truck to do this while freeing those poor creatures!" Alex protested.

"You clearly need some pointers on that sword," Magnus agreed as he crumpled the last Oreo up in his fist.

We huddled in the corner on some mildewed feed sacks, trying to ignore the smell and the heat and the flies. Grover talked to the animals in a series of goat bleats, but they just stared at him sadly. Annabeth was in favor of breaking the cages and freeing them on the spot, but I pointed out it wouldn't do much good until the truck stopped moving. Besides, I had a feeling we might look a lot better to the lion than those turnips.

Thalia groaned as if in actual pain before she said, "you had a good idea over Annabeth!"

"Don't remind her, or she still might sick that lion on me," Percy chuckled.

I found a water jug and refilled their bowls, then used Anaklusmos to drag the mismatched food out of their cages. I gave the meat to the lion and the turnips to the zebra and the antelope.

Grover calmed the antelope down, while Annabeth used her knife to cut the balloon off his horn. She wanted to cut the gum out of the zebra's mane, too, but we decided that would be too risky with the truck bumping around. We told Grover to promise the animals we'd help them more in the morning, then we settled in for night.

Grover curled up on a turnip sack; Annabeth opened our bag of Double Stuff Oreos and nibbled on one half-heartedly; I tried to cheer myself up by concentrating on the fact that we were halfway to Los Angeles. Halfway to our destination. It was only June fourteenth. The solstice wasn't until the twenty-first.

We could make it in plenty of time.

"Jinx," all seven of them decided to tell Percy at once.

"If you're not going to say something helpful than-" Percy stopped and just sighed and looked back down at the book. "Never mind, I can't hold that either."

On the other hand, I had no idea what to expect next. The gods kept toying with me. At least Hephaestus had the decency to be honest about it-he'd put up cameras and advertised me as entertainment. But even when the cameras weren't rolling, I had a feeling my quest was being watched.

I was a source of amusement for the gods.

"Us puny mortals always have been," Alex sneered in agreement.

"They rely on us half-bloods too," Will reminded with a sad, but stubborn smile.

"Us demigods need the gods the same way they need us," Jason peaceably settled.

"Hey," Annabeth said, "I'm sorry for freaking out back at the water park, Percy."

"That's okay."

"It's just..." She shuddered. "Spiders."

"Because of the Arachne story," I guessed. "She got turned into a spider for challenging your mom to a weaving contest, right?"

Annabeth nodded. "Arachne's children have been taking revenge on the children of Athena ever since. If there's a spider within a mile of me, it'll find me. I hate the creepy little things.

"I swear you guys have got to be exaggerating some of this," Magnus both signed to his friend and looked to them. He knew how much his cousin hated spiders and had never asked for a reason.

"If only we were," Will grumbled as he forced himself not to shiver in disgust at the thought of a snake popping up down here.

Anyway, I owe you."

"We're a team, remember?" I said. "Besides, Grover did the fancy flying."

I thought he was asleep, but he mumbled from the corner, "I was pretty amazing, wasn't I?"

Annabeth and I laughed.

She pulled apart an Oreo, handed me half. "In the Iris message ... did Luke really say nothing?"

I munched my cookie and thought about how to answer. The conversation via rainbow had bothered me all evening.

Luke had been bothering him since he'd first heard his name, Percy mentally grumbled, had this guy ever not been weighing on his mind?

"Luke said you and he go way back. He also said Grover wouldn't fail this time. Nobody would turn into a pine tree."

'It's like he wanted him to ask about that,' Hearth signed.

'Trying to help Annabeth open up?' He offered, though he wasn't so sure. Luke would know she wouldn't be getting along with Percy, apparently with that rivalry, but Annabeth hardly needed a babysitter to make peace. She was managing just fine on her own.

In the dim bronze light of the sword blade, it was hard to read their expressions.

Grover let out a mournful bray.

"I should've told you the truth from the beginning." His voice trembled. "I thought if you knew what a failure I was, you wouldn't want me along."

"I've had my suspicions all along, and he was still the first person I wanted to come," Percy corrected, since that day on the lake Grover had told him Thalia's story. There was a familiarity in the way his best friend and Annabeth spoke to each other, something only a shared childhood trauma could relate to. The two had just more or less confirmed it along the way.

"You were the satyr who tried to rescue Thalia, the daughter of Zeus."

He nodded glumly.

"And the other two half-bloods Thalia befriended, the ones who got safely to camp ..." I looked at Annabeth. "That was you and Luke, wasn't it?"

She put down her Oreo, uneaten. "Like you said, Percy, a seven-year-old half-blood wouldn't have made it very far alone. Athena guided me toward help. Thalia was twelve. Luke was fourteen. They'd both run away from home, like me. They were happy to take me with them. They were ... amazing monster fighters, even without training. We traveled north from Virginia without any real plans, fending off monsters for about two weeks before Grover found us."

"I was supposed to escort Thalia to camp," he said, sniffling. "Only Thalia. I had strict orders from Chiron: don't do anything that would slow down the rescue.

Alex watched in appreciation she no longer had to wonder what Annabeth's glare looked like as much, as Magnus scowled at that stupid centaur. She agreed, it sounded awful of him to prioritize kids by their heritage like that, as she rubbed the tattoo on the back of her neck.

Will opened his mouth, he wanted to protest Chiron had been putting Luke and Annabeth's best interest at heart too, they'd be safer without Thalia around attracting as many monsters as she did, but then he frowned and glanced at all three in here, particularly at Nico. He hoped their head counsel, or anyone had never tried to impress that into him. Being safely escorted to camp and avoiding people your whole life were not the same, and he'd be having words with anyone who said so!

We knew Hades was after her, see, but I couldn't just leave Luke and Annabeth by themselves. I thought ... I thought I could lead all three of them to safety. It was my fault the Kindly Ones caught up with us. I froze. I got scared on the way back to camp and took some wrong turns. If I'd just been a little quicker ..."

Jason pursed up his lips at the ugly thought that flitted across his mind, that anybody who'd been foolish enough to trust a fawn with a task deserved these results, but it felt horrible and he immediately speared the thought away to hopefully never come back. How old had Grover been when this was happening? He'd already shown how capable he was multiple times.

"Stop it," Annabeth said. "No one blames you. Thalia didn't blame you either."

"No, I don't," she agreed firmly. She'd had a long talk with Grover that first summer. She hadn't had to quite beat it into his horns, but it had come close.

"She sacrificed herself to save us," he said miserably, "Her death was my fault. The Council of Cloven Elders said so."

"Sounds like that council needs to be de-cloven," Alex wrapped her garrote around her fingers as a sure promise she'd get started on that.

Nobody was crazy enough to argue with her, even non-satyrs hated those jerks, and Will and Thalia eagerly looked forward to a time when they got disbanded thanks to the promoted Lord of the Wild.

"Because you wouldn't leave two other half-bloods behind?" I said. "That's not fair."

"Percy's right," Annabeth said. "I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you, Grover. Neither would Luke.

Thalia made a really odd face, like the water had tried to invert her expression for a moment. She would always loath Luke for what side he'd helped and be grateful to him all the same for looking out for Annabeth while she'd been trapped in the tree... that he'd turned around and poisoned for Kronos as if her memory meant nothing to him, all so he could possibly free her. All choices had unintended consequences.

We don't care what the council says."

Grover kept sniffling in the dark. "It's just my luck. I'm the lamest satyr ever, and I find the two most powerful half-bloods of the century, Thalia and Percy."

'Three,' Nico bitterly kept to himself, but somehow less than usual with his unpleasant thoughts as he still relaxed and smiled Will nor Thalia chucked him under the bus.

'Three,' Will brightly wanted to correct but held his tongue, as the son of Hades was still tapping the pommel of his sword and had made no move to share this information with anyone, he wasn't going to do it for him. 'Four counting his sister,' but he sighed himself as he glanced uneasily to the satchel Alex still had possessively by her side. Maybe they'd get lucky and it would be full of party-favors for when they left after this one book. He hoped this time had at least convinced Nico he wanted to be friends, maybe the guy would open up about his sister soon someday on his own.

"You're not lame," Annabeth insisted. "You've got more courage than any satyr I've ever met. Name one other who would dare go to the Underworld. I bet Percy is really glad you're here right now."

She kicked me in the shin.

"Yeah," I said, which I would've done even without the kick.

"I'm sure she was just testing a theory about how to get you to respond on command," Jason said with just a hint of joshing.

"It's not luck that you found Thalia and me, Grover. You've got the biggest heart of any satyr ever. You're a natural searcher. That's why you'll be the one who finds Pan."

'It's no wonder he became a minor god himself,' Thalia thought with a small smile, 'he was the one, he was destined for so much greatness.'

I heard a deep, satisfied sigh. I waited for Grover to say something, but his breathing only got heavier.

When the sound turned to snoring, I realized he'd fallen sleep.

Laughter broke any tension left in the room. "If only compliments were a universal snooze button," Nico kept snickering, wishing to linger on this longest of all so that truck would never stop.

"We can all give it a shot tonight when we have to sleep with the fishes," Will chuckled.

"That was terrible," Nico rolled his eyes and fought off a smile.

"You're off to a terrible start!" Will protested.

"And I'm ignoring you both," Percy pleasantly reminded before doing just that.

"How does he do that?" I marveled.

"I don't know," Annabeth said. "But that was really a nice thing you told him."

"I meant it."

We rode in silence for a few miles, bumping around on the feed sacks. The zebra munched a turnip. The lion licked the last of the hamburger meat off his lips and looked at me hopefully.

"For more hamburger meat, or...?" Magnus asked.

"I wasn't waking Grover up to ask," Percy shook his head.

Annabeth rubbed her necklace like she was thinking deep, strategic thoughts.

"That pine-tree bead," I said. "Is that from your first year?"

She looked. She hadn't realized what she was doing.

"Yeah," she said. "Every August, the counselors pick the most important event of the summer, and they paint it on that year's beads. I've got Thalia's pine tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress-now that was a weird summer..."

Nico, of all people, finally waved his hands for silence and looked imploringly at Will for the story.

He melted at the sight and didn't at all care for this bizarre turn of events, he'd lock him up in a trailer with sad animals all day if it would get him to interact like this more, not that anyone had any protests anyways as he happily explained, "okay, so, it was actually my first summer there," he tapped his own necklace that had the same bead in place, "so I can not emphasize enough how weird all of this was to me too.

Chiron's not the only centaur, he mentioned that right?" He waited politely for nods and any questions before eagerly going on, "well they're called the Party Ponies, they have chapters in every state, but they're as opposite of him as you can imagine, they completely live up to the name. This group from Louisiana, it was near Mardi Gra time, when they invaded camp, Chiron let them in because they were actually escorting this Aphrodite kid. Long story short, they found out we weren't planning on celebrating, and refused to leave until we all put on a party and everyone had to earn a necklace the traditional way-"

"You had to flash a bunch of centaurs?" Alex interrupted, clearly appalled.

"Oh gosh, no, there's a whole history to the event that has nothing to do with that," Will said quickly. "It involved feats of justice, faith, and power, that new girl was made head councilor her first weekend there for organizing most of the event, new record; we also had a paintball war, it was wild. Anyways, the leader of the group wore a dress the whole time, it was purple, gold, and green with little bells on it, I'm pretty sure he just loved the flashy outfit, you can apricate that, right Alex?" He grinned so delightfully at her she could do nothing but smile back. "So Chiron finally promised to put him on his very own beaded necklace if they'd leave."

"The more I hear about you guys the more I'm with Magnus," Jason told him, "you guys are nuts." Not a single thing he'd mentioned had made a lick of sense to him, partying centaurs?

"We know how to live!" Will cheerfully corrected. "Mr. D himself made the design! I think he likes them."

Nico was still watching him with such a casual smile like he was waiting for more details, a question in his eyes Will nodded at to answer who exactly that girl had been.

Percy was still chuckling and thanked him for the story before turning back, and Nico looked very much like he wanted to take the book away and sit on it. He hadn't seemed this content since the only two weeks he'd spent at Camp after Krono's defeat and Will now made it his mission to get him invited to the next chapter's party, he was positive there would be one going no matter when they got back.

"And the college ring is your father's?"

"That's none of your-" She stopped herself. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."

"You don't have to tell me."

"No ... it's okay." She took a shaky breath. "My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keepsake from Athena. He wouldn't have gotten through his doctoral program at Harvard with-out her... That's a long story. Anyway, he said he wanted me to have it. He apologized for being a jerk, said he loved me and missed me. He wanted me to come home and live with him."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"Yeah, well... the problem was, I believed him. I tried to go home for that school year, but my stepmom was the same as ever. She didn't want her kids put in danger by living with a freak. Monsters attacked. We argued. Monsters attacked. We argued. I didn't even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to Camp Half-Blood."

"You think you'll ever try living with your dad again?"

She wouldn't meet my eyes. "Please. I'm not into self-inflicted pain."

"You shouldn't give up," I told her. "You should write him a letter or something."

"Thanks for the advice," she said coldly, "but my father's made his choice about who he wants to live with."

We passed another few miles of silence.

Percy would have cut off Nico's hand if he'd tried to grab the book away, who was still eyeing Will like he was hoping he'd go into extravagant detail about every bead rather than keep the miles rolling, while he was wrapped around every letter getting to hear a pinch more of Annabeth's personal life. He wished so badly she was in here now, to ask if things had gotten any better, or hear what she'd done at that epic party, whichever she wanted to share.

"So if the gods fight," I said, "will things line up the way they did with the Trojan War? Will it be Athena versus Poseidon?"

"Don't count your troops until they're trained," Jason muttered, he and Percy kept exchanging ever increasing uneasy looks as mention of a war just kept being thrown up like that.

She put her head against the backpack Ares had given us, and closed her eyes. "I don't know what my mom will do. I just know I'll fight next to you."

Magnus smiled without surprise. He wished he knew his cousin better, to be able to pinpoint the exact instance and reason he knew the answer, but it was nice all the same he did already know that answer from his firm grasp on her.

"Why?"

"Because you're my friend, Seaweed Brain. Any more stupid questions?"

"Several, but none that she's here to answer," Thalia laughed at the stunned look on Percy's face like she'd already declared she was in love with him.

I couldn't think of an answer for that. Fortunately I didn't have to. Annabeth was asleep.

I had trouble following her example, with Grover snoring and an albino lion staring hungrily at me, but eventually I closed my eyes.

...

My nightmare started out as something I'd dreamed a million times before: I was being forced to take a standardized test while wearing a straitjacket. All the other kids were going out to recess, and the teacher kept saying, Come on, Percy. You're not stupid, are you? Pick up your pencil.

Magnus swallowed and tucked his left hand close to his chest, a teacher had once strapped him to a desk and made him write with his right hand despite being left handed and his mom had gone nuclear on them. Boy did he hope Percy had never had to go through something similar.

Hearth got his attention by using his sign name, his friend knowing his aversion to touch had given him one very early on, and asked if he was okay. Magnus nodded quickly and didn't at all want to know what look had been lingering on his face to be asked.

Then the dream strayed from the usual.

I looked over at the next desk and saw a girl sitting there, also wearing a straitjacket. She was my age, with unruly black, punk-style hair, dark eyeliner around her stormy green blue eyes,* and freckles across her nose. Somehow, I knew who she was. She was Thalia, daughter of Zeus.

Magnus had his mouth flopped open in fascination that these dreams could even show the past and future! 

Thalia stared Percy down now with a look like she was going to zap him out of his seat.

She struggled against the straitjacket, glared at me in frustration, and snapped, "Well, Seaweed Brain? One of us has to get out of here."

"Even in your dreams I'm always right," she nodded and looked away like he'd passed inspection while Percy exhaled and stopped wondering if she could electrocute molecules.

Then he sighed as he read the next sentence.

She's right, my dream-self thought.

and endured the others laughter with his own indulgent smile until he could keep going.

I'm going back to that cavern. I'm going to give Hades a piece of my mind.

That snapped the amusement right back down as if this whole book were one giant seesaw. Not one of them were fully convinced it was even Hades doing this, but Nico sunk lowest of all in his seat as he dreaded more and more this trip to Vegas. If Percy somehow wound up in that hotel and saw him, finally remembered who he really was and then was convinced he was there for his dad, he didn't know if he would bother defending himself or just go up to the roof. Why he was even still down here listening he had no decent answer for.

The straitjacket melted off me. I fell through the class-room floor. The teacher's voice changed until it was cold and evil, echoing from the depths of a great chasm.

Percy Jackson, it said. Yes, the exchange went well, I see.

I was back in the dark cavern, spirits of the dead drifting around me. Unseen in the pit, the monstrous thing was speaking, but this time it wasn't addressing me. The numbing power of its voice seemed directed somewhere else.

And he suspects nothing? it asked.

Another voice, one I almost recognized, answered at my shoulder. Nothing, my lord. He is as ignorant as the rest.

Thalia mentally burned with hatred she'd been the one in the straight jacket when that's what he deserved, not the Luke she'd known who had never bowed to his own father for authority, let alone called anyone Lord. Oh how far he'd fallen.

I looked over, but no one was there. The speaker was invisible.

Deception upon deception, the thing in the pit mused aloud. Excellent.

Truly, my lord, said the voice next to me, you are well-named the Crooked One.

Most of them were doing good to remember the named gods who had and hadn't shown up yet, and even if they had a phone to check, none of them had the reception down here to look up what Greek deity had once been called that too.

But was it really necessary? I could have brought you what I stole directly -

You? the monster said in scorn. You have already shown your limits. You would have failed me completely had I not intervened.

But, my lord-

Peace little servant. Our six months have bought us much. Zeus's anger has grown. Poseidon has played his most desperate card. Now we shall use it against him.

Jason sat up straighter in his seat with excitement for finally getting an explanation to that. The original thief had been caught, and put the plan on hold! There was a third party involved...an unwitting one too apparently.

Shortly you shall have the reward you wish, and your revenge. As soon as both items are delivered into my hands ... but wait. He is here.

What? The invisible servant suddenly sounded tense. You summoned him, my lord?

No. The full force of the monsters attention was now pouring over me, freezing me in place. Blast his father's blood, he is too changeable, too unpredictable.

Alex smiled grimly to herself, more frustrated than anything they were given no hints whom this mysterious person was but more tease, but also absently agreeing Percy wasn't the worst person she could have something in common with.

The boy brought himself hither.

Impossible! the servant cried.

For a weakling such as you, perhaps, the voice snarled.

Will's hand moved sharply before he stilled himself, almost like he wanted to step between Luke and Kronos of all people, Nico noticed in absolute confusion. Even after everything Luke had done, it clearly angered him Luke had let himself be spoken to like this, when apparently his goal had been to tear down the gods for having no love for their children. Nico never even would have considered such an idea, but it was written all over Will Solace's face.

He wondered if Luke came back if Will would forgive him, just how far his foolish niceties ran.

Then its cold power turned back on me. So ... you wish to dream of your quest, young half-blood? Then I will oblige.

The scene changed.

I was standing in a vast throne room with black marble walls and bronze floors. The empty, horrid throne was made from human bones fused together.

Nico scowled and glared at the floor for all his fathers glory on display right there, it was no wonder they were known for nothing but death and betrayal when that was all he advertised. 

He missed Will trying to catch his eye, even if he had no nice words to brush that off, he still wished he could try.

Standing at the foot of the dais was my mother, frozen in shimmering golden light, her arms outstretched.

Magnus forcefully kept in mind how much this wasn't Percy's fault, that Sally Jackson was being tantalized in front of him and Magnus had no doubts now he would get her out, his dream would become reality and he had a mom to go back to. Was it to late to trade godly parents?

I tried to step toward her, but my legs wouldn't move. I reached for her, only to realize that my hands were withering to bones. Grinning skeletons in Greek armor crowded around me, draping me with silk robes, wreathing my head with laurels that smoked with Chimera poison, burning into my scalp.

The evil voice began to laugh. Hail, the conquering hero!

I woke with a start.

Grover was shaking my shoulder. "The truck's stopped," he said. "We think they're coming to check on the animals."

"Hide!" Annabeth hissed.

She had it easy. She just put on her magic cap and disappeared. Grover and I had to dive behind feed sacks and hope we looked like turnips.

"Turnip brain is a tad catchier, I'm surprised it never caught on," Thalia chuckled.

"So that's what that face is," Alex grinned, "doing a great job Percy!" She even gave him a double thumbs up.

"You guys make me wish for the chimera blood crown," Percy rolled his eyes.

The trailer doors creaked open. Sunlight and heat poured in.

"Man!" one of the truckers said, waving his hand in front of his ugly nose. "I wish I hauled appliances."

"I wish you hauled a hearse," Will said darkly, more than happy to get between those poor animals and those awful excuses for people.

Nico mentally scratched off animal abuse on his list of things Will wouldn't forgive, at least he'd never done that.

He climbed inside and poured some water from a jug into the animals' dishes.

"You hot, big boy?" he asked the lion, then splashed the rest of the bucket right in the lion's face.

The lion roared in indignation.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the man said.

Next to me, under the turnip sacks, Grover tensed. For a peace-loving herbivore, he looked downright murderous.

"I am now concerned Grover might be part hippo," Alex said seriously.

"I would not test that theory," Magnus shivered.

The trucker threw the antelope a squashed-looking Happy Meal bag. He smirked at the zebra. "How ya doin', Stripes? Least we'll be getting rid of you this stop. You like magic shows? You're gonna love this one. They're gonna saw you in half!"

The zebra, wild-eyed with fear, looked straight at me.

There was no sound, but as clear as day, I heard it say: Free me, lord. Please.

Percy startled and looked around, but while most of them looked just as surprised as him, Thalia, Nico, and Will didn't. He touched his ear and looked around the ocean, half expecting to hear it again and wondering how crazy you had to be to hear voices nobody else did, from a zebra.

I was too stunned to react.

There was a loud knock, knock, knock on the side of the trailer.

The trucker inside with us yelled, "What do you want, Eddie?"

A voice outside- it must've been Eddie's-shouted back, "Maurice? What'd ya say?"

"What are you banging for?"

Knock, knock, knock.

Outside, Eddie yelled, "What banging?"

Our guy Maurice rolled his eyes and went back outside, cursing at Eddie for being an idiot.

A second later, Annabeth appeared next to me. She must've done the banging to get Maurice out of the trailer.

"Look at you with the astute observations," Thalia applauded. "Here I thought the antelope had achieved sentience and was doing it."

"I liked you better in the straight jacket," he said right back.

She said, "This transport business can't be legal."

"No kidding," Grover said. He paused, as if listening. "The lion says these guys are animal smugglers!"

That's right, the zebra's voice said in my mind.

"We've got to free them!" Grover said. He and Annabeth both looked at me, waiting for my lead.

'The fact that Annabeth follows his lead so willingly surprises me,' Hearth admitted.

'It's his quest,' Magnus shrugged, 'if she's willing to fight beside him over her mom, I take it she also respects his choices.' He didn't really think she'd just up and run to leave those animals even if Percy did bolt though.

I'd heard the zebra talk, but not the lion. Why? Maybe it was another learning disability ... I could only understand zebras? Then I thought: horses. What had Annabeth said about Poseidon creating horses? Was a zebra close enough to a horse? Was that why I could understand it?**

"Can Annabeth understand spiders?" Magnus asked in fasciation of something so odd yet oddly cool.

"I, have no clue," Thalia admitted, "I've never asked. Though if they are cussing her out, it would explain the screaming. I can communicate with many predators, we employ wolves and falcons in our hunts quite often."

"I've never met a cow to ask," Will said cheerfully.

'Why a cow?' Hearth asked curiously.

'Dude, why any animal?' Magnus rolled his eyes.

The zebra said, Open my cage, lord. Please. I'll be fine after that.

Outside, Eddie and Maurice were still yelling at each other, but I knew they'd be coming inside to torment the animals again any minute. I grabbed Riptide and slashed the lock off the zebra's cage.

The zebra burst out. It turned to me and bowed. Thank you, lord.

Grover held up his hands and said something to the zebra in goat talk, like a blessing.

Just as Maurice was poking his head back inside to check out the noise, the zebra leaped over him and into the street. There was yelling and screaming and cars honking. We rushed to the doors of the trailer in time to see the zebra galloping down a wide boulevard lined with hotels and casinos and neon signs.

Nico's olive skin was starting to twitch unpleasantly, but he fiddled with his ring and squashed out the petulant memory trying to surface of being thrust into this unknown world. Percy would never get trapped in that stupid hotel and he wished he could just banish the place from his mind. Maybe his father had done him a favor making him forget, or maybe it was Hades's own selfish desires to leave his children in the dark about his past. He could never decide.

We'd just released a zebra in Las Vegas.

"Along with all the other wild animals out there, I'm sure it'll blend right in," Alex chuckled.

Maurice and Eddie ran after it, with a few policemen running after them, shouting, "Hey! You need a permit for that!"

"Now would be a good time to leave," Annabeth said.

"The other animals first," Grover said.

I cut the locks with my sword. Grover raised his hands and spoke the same goat-blessing he'd used for the zebra.

"Good luck," I told the animals. The antelope and the lion burst out of their cages and went off together into the streets.

Some tourists screamed. Most just backed off and took pictures, probably thinking it was some kind of stunt by one of the casinos.

"Will the animals be okay?" I asked Grover. "I mean, the desert and all-"

"Don't worry," he said. "I placed a satyr's sanctuary on them."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning they'll reach the wild safely," he said. "They'll find water, food, shade, whatever they need until they find a safe place to live."

"Why can't you place a blessing like that on us?" I asked.

"Would a blessing not work on himself?" Jason asked, blushing slightly and glad Grover wasn't here as he was sure that was a rude question.

"No, but it might work on Percy," Thalia smirked.

"Hey!" He protested, only to look down and sigh as he repeated.

"It only works on wild animals."

"So it would only affect Percy," Annabeth reasoned.

"Hey!" I protested.

"Who knew noise echoed at the bottom of the ocean," Will chuckled.

"Kidding," she said. "Come on. Let's get out of this filthy truck."

We stumbled out into the desert afternoon. It was a hundred and ten degrees, easy, and we must've looked like deep-fried vagrants, but everybody was too interested in the wild animals to pay us much attention.

We passed the Monte Carlo and the MGM. We passed pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, which was a pretty small replica, but still made me homesick.

I wasn't sure what we were looking for. Maybe just a place to get out of the heat for a few minutes, find a sandwich and a glass of lemonade, make a new plan for getting west.

We must have taken a wrong turn, because we found ourselves at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino.

Nico sat so tense in his seat now Will was looking back and forth between Percy and him like he thought he'd have to bodily throw himself in the way of an oncoming meteor. 

Everything is fine, Nico scolded himself, Percy wasn't going to get trapped, he was going to turn around any second.

The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking. No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air-conditioning that smelled like flowers-lotus blossom, maybe. I'd never smelled one, so I wasn't sure.

Nico found himself inhaling slow, deep breaths like he was still trying to breathe that air in now, his body still craved it when he woke up some days to just go back to such a pleasant time where he never had to worry about anything- stop that! Such weak willed thoughts was why he'd never go back to the state of Nevada.

The doorman smiled at us. "Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"

I'd learned to be suspicious, the last week or so. I figured anybody might be a monster or a god. You just couldn't tell. But this guy was normal. One look at him, and I could see. Besides, I was so relieved to hear somebody who sounded sympathetic that I nodded and said we'd love to come in.

He shuddered so hard he drew everyone's attention like some whimpering child, but okay, yeah, Percy got sucked in...then Annabeth would snap him out of it! Any second now.

Inside, we took one look around, and Grover said, "Whoa."

"No," Nico said with such absolute dread Percy dropped the book and grabbed his pen while the others all looked at him like he was about to drop dead. 

"Nico?" Will began to reach his hand out, he just wanted to lightly grasp his shoulder and talk to him about whatever this place clearly was to him, but Nico shut down.

It was creepy, almost comatose looking, like his mind was still trapped there and trying to bring him back from thousands of miles away as he looked around at nothing in here.

"Um, should I summon the grindylows?" Magnus asked in what he clearly thought was a helpful tone of voice.

"Absolutely not," Jason frowned, "but maybe we should get Oceanus back in here-"

"It's fine," his voice was wrong, too level, steady as the ocean; placid on the surface and a toil of trouble beneath. "Just keep going Percy." He obviously wasn't still trapped in there, Percy was rescued by a god to get on his righteous path, and he was absolutely, one hundred percent, perfectly fine.

He was so fine he didn't notice Will didn't take his eyes off him the rest of the chapter.

Percy was positive of it this time, Nico knew exactly what was happening. He snatched the book back up and read with new horror what was about to happen to his friends without giving anyone a second of breathing room.

The whole lobby was a giant game room. And I'm not talking about cheesy old Pac-Man games or slot machines. 

Hearth gave a tentative smile and wanted to laugh at what Percy called cheesy. He loved pinball, it was one of the few things Midgardians had created he couldn't find a single flaw with.

There was an indoor waterslide snaking around the glass elevator, which went straight up at least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on the side of one building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There were virtual-reality suits with working laser guns. And hundreds of video games, each one the size of a widescreen TV. Basically, you name it, this place had it. There were a few other kids playing, but not that many. No waiting for any of the games. There were waitresses and snack bars all around, serving every kind of food you can imagine.

"Hey!" a bellhop said. At least I guessed he was a bell-hop. He wore a white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts, and flip-flops. "Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here's your room key."

I stammered, "Um, but..."

"No, no," he said, laughing. "The bill's taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up to the top floor, loom 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or what-ever, just call the front desk. Here are your LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides."

He handed us each a green plastic credit card.

I knew there must be some mistake. Obviously he thought we were some millionaire's kids. But I took the card and said, "How much is on here?"

His eyebrows knit together. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, when does it run out of cash?"

He laughed. "Oh, you're making a joke. Hey, that's cool. Enjoy your stay."

"Ooh, I see," Magnus was clutching at straws as he looked from Nico being a reanimated corpse to Percy looking very close to vomiting from all this remembered pleasure. "You died and went to heaven."

"Magnus," Alex looked very much like she wanted to reach over and smack him. "Magic. Mind games," she sneered. She wanted to shapeshift into an elephant and demolish just the sounds of such eternal punishment as being trapped in there.

"Right," he deflated and looked around at their own little slice of paradise, that they all wanted out of.

We took the elevator upstairs and checked out our room. It was a suite with three separate bedrooms and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and chips. A hotline to room service. Fluffy towels and water beds with feather pillows. A big-screen television with satellite and high-speed Internet. The balcony had its own hot tub, and sure enough, there was a skeet-shooting machine and a shotgun, so you could launch clay pigeons right out over the Las Vegas skyline and plug them with your gun. I didn't see how that could be legal, but I thought it was pretty cool. The view over the Strip and the desert was amazing, though I doubted we'd ever find time to look at the view with a room like this.

"Oh, goodness," Annabeth said. "This place is ..."

"Sweet," Grover said. "Absolutely sweet."

There were clothes in the closet, and they fit me. I frowned, thinking that this was a little strange.

I threw Ares's backpack in the trash can. Wouldn't need that anymore. When we left, I could just charge a new one at the hotel store.

I took a shower, which felt awesome after a week of grimy travel. I changed clothes, ate a bag of chips, drank three Cokes, and came out feeling better than I had in a long time. In the back of my mind, some small problem kept nagging me. I'd had a dream or something ... I needed to talk to my friends. But I was sure it could wait.

Thalia wanted to open her mouth, to tease and laugh with her friend about this little misadventure and how he'd forgotten her, but she wanted to hear of them being out of there more.

I came out of the bedroom and found that Annabeth and Grover had also showered and changed clothes. Grover was eating potato chips to his heart's content, while Annabeth cranked up the National Geographic Channel.

"All those stations," I told her, "and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?"

"It's interesting."

"I feel good," Grover said. "I love this place."

Without his even realizing it, the wings sprouted out of his shoes and lifted him a foot off the ground, then back down again.

"So what now?" Annabeth asked. "Sleep?"

Grover and I looked at each other and grinned. We both held up our green plastic LotusCash cards.

"Play time," I said.

I couldn't remember the last time I had so much fun. I came from a relatively poor family. Our idea of a splurge was eating out at Burger King and renting a video. A five-star Vegas hotel? Forget it.

I bungee-jumped the lobby five or six times, did the waterslide, snowboarded the artificial ski slope, and played virtual-reality laser tag and FBI sharpshooter. I saw Grover a few times, going from game to game. He really liked the reverse hunter thing-where the deer go out and shoot the rednecks. I saw Annabeth playing trivia games and other brainiac stuff. They had this huge 3-D sim game where you build your own city, and you could actually see the holographic buildings rise on the display board. I didn't think much of it, but Annabeth loved it.

There was no monster circling them, no worries or fears, and yet this felt like the worst thing Percy had encountered. Jason kept trying to pinpoint what this place wanted! Were there no lines because the guests were being eaten at their happiest, but Percy had just said he was already far past that.

The truth terrified him. It just existed to keep you from remembering.

I'm not sure when I first realized something was wrong.

Probably, it was when I noticed the guy standing next to me at VR sharpshooters. He was about thirteen, I guess, but his clothes were weird. I thought he was some Elvis impersonator's son. He wore bellbottom jeans and a red T-shirt with black piping, and his hair was permed and gelled like a New Jersey girl's on homecoming night.

We played a game of sharpshooters together and he said, "Groovy, man. Been here two weeks, and the games keep getting better and better."

Groovy?

Later, while we were talking, I said something was "sick," and he looked at me kind of startled, as if he'd never heard the word used that way before.

He said his name was Darrin, but as soon as I started asking him questions he got bored with me and started to go back to the computer screen.

I said, "Hey, Darrin?"

"What?"

"What year is it?"

He frowned at me. "In the game?"

"No. In real life."

He had to think about it. "1977."

"No," I said, getting a little scared. "Really."

"Hey, man. Bad vibes. I got a game happening."

After that he totally ignored me.

I started talking to people, and I found it wasn't easy. They were glued to the TV screen, or the video game, or their food, or whatever. I found a guy who told me it was 1985. Another guy told me it was 1993. They all claimed they hadn't been in here very long, a few days, a few weeks at most. They didn't really know and they didn't care.

The place was literally perfect, Hearth found himself thinking, already trying to stamp down the guilty thoughts, but they were festering around the edges and didn't want to leave. It attracted you by smell, so he wouldn't be immune, he tried to scold himself, but to late he was busy wondering, yearning to know if maybe they had a room to study magic in there. Maybe, maybe he'd even be able to hear laughter in such a utopia.

Magnus was about to do something very impulsive and stupid himself, like figure out if busting down a wall would snap his friend out of this. He was fiddling with his fingers, not making any signs at all but clearly thinking about this place and it needed to stop!

Then it occurred to me: how long had I been here? It seemed like only a couple of hours, but was it?

I tried to remember why we were here. We were going to Los Angeles. We were supposed to find the entrance to the Underworld. My mother ... for a scary second, I had trouble remembering her name.

Percy was finally looking back on his own past self with the same stupidly aggrieved look the others usually had on their face, for once he vividly remembered something better now looking back than he had this whole time!

Sally. Sally Jackson. I had to find her. I had to stop Hades from causing World War III.

I found Annabeth still building her city.

"Come on," I told her. "We've got to get out of here."

Will still hadn't taken his eyes off of Nico, watching him flinch and close his eyes. Will's hands moved on impulse to rest on him again, the glow of a healing touch already surging through him, but Nico felt his movement and leaned just the slightest bit away, still staring at nothing. He let his hand fall away even as he schemed. 

Everybody at camp knew he was a son of Hades, but nobody was quite sure about anything else in detail. He'd showed up one winter break and left just as quickly after he'd found out his sister left with Hunters of Artemis and died, he'd come and gone from camp so infrequently afterwards he was more like a ghost story to some kids.

Was this the place he kept vanishing to? He'd burn this place to the ground if so to break its thrall.

No response.

I shook her. "Annabeth?"

She looked up, annoyed. "What?

"We need to leave."

"Leave? What are you talking about? I've just got the towers-"

"This place is a trap."

She didn't respond until I shook her again. "What?"

"Listen. The Underworld. Our quest!"

"Oh, come on, Percy. Just a few more minutes."

"Annabeth, there are people here from 1977. Kids who have never aged. You check in, and you stay forever."

"So?" she asked. "Can you imagine a better place?"

I grabbed her wrist and yanked her away from the game.

"Hey!" She screamed and hit me, but nobody else even bothered looking at us. They were too busy.

I made her look directly in my eyes. I said, "Spiders. Large, hairy spiders."

Percy absently wondered how much she'd kill him if he started carrying a fake one at the very least around in his pocket, just to make sure they never fell under such a spell again.

The worst of it was that he wanted this for her. Isn't that what you should want for someone you loved, just to be happy? If his mom had been there with them, he probably never would have left.

That jarred her. Her vision cleared. "Oh my gods," she said. "How long have we-"

"I don't know, but we've got to find Grover."

We went searching, and found him still playing Virtual Deer Hunter.

"Grover!" we both shouted.

He said, "Die, human! Die, silly polluting nasty person!"

"Grover!"

He turned the plastic gun on me and started clicking, as if I were just another image from the screen.

I looked at Annabeth, and together we took Grover by the arms and dragged him away. His flying shoes sprang to life and started tugging his legs in the other direction as he shouted, "No! I just got to a new level! No!"

The Lotus bellhop hurried up to us. "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"

"We're leaving," I told him.

Nico had never even thought of leaving. He'd spent years playing and laughing in there to his hearts content. They'd conveniently had a Mythomagic Tournament going on and he'd been beating players twice his age, a boy had even traded some rare cards with him and asked to hold his hand.

Bianca hadn't either though, he tried to tell himself he was even mildly less useless than he already felt. The few times he had seen her she'd always been in the kitchens, the chefs had never kicked her out but instead enjoyed learning from her, their moms recipes she was always trying to get perfect.

Percy had never been sucked into a game like Annabeth and Grover had been addicted to. Changeable, too unpredictable, Kronos had called him, and that fluidity had given him a chance to start asking questions. 

"Such a shame," he said, and I got the feeling that he really meant it, that we'd be breaking his heart if we went. "We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members."

He held out the cards, and I wanted one. I knew that if I took one, I'd never leave. I'd stay here, happy forever, playing games forever, and soon I'd forget my mom, and my quest, and maybe even my own name. I'd be playing virtual rifleman with groovy Disco Darrin forever.

Grover reached for the card, but Annabeth yanked back his arm and said, "No, thanks."

We walked toward the door, and as we did, the smell of the food and the sounds of the games seemed to get more and more inviting. I thought about our room upstairs. We could just stay the night, sleep in a real bed for once...

Then we burst through the doors of the Lotus Casino and ran down the sidewalk.

Nico's breath caught as if Percy had just gotten up to punch him in the stomach with all the might of the ocean. As if he'd ever needed more proof how much better than him the son of the sea god was. He'd escaped all on his own, he was so powerful and never let anyone manipulate him.

It felt like afternoon, about the same time of day we'd gone into the casino, but something was wrong. The weather had completely changed. It was stormy, with heat lightning flashing out in the desert.

Ares's backpack was slung over my shoulder, which was odd, because I was sure I had thrown it in the trash can in room 4001, but at the moment I had other problems to worry about.

Was it because it was a gift from a god, Jason wanted to protest, but Percy was finally breathing easier, not quite so tense at never having to think of that place again. Grover's shoes, something about them working in there without using the word to activate them...don't trust the gifts...those had been the only gifts mentioned acting differently in a place full of magic, or was that just coincidence? Percy and Annabeth had no reason to use their own...

I ran to the nearest newspaper stand and read the year first. Thank the gods, it was the same year it had been when we went in. Then I noticed the date: June twentieth.

We had been in the Lotus Casino for five days.

We had only one day left until the summer solstice. One day to complete our quest.

It was almost over, Nico kept telling himself as he felt a horrible churning in his gut, Percy would rush off to LA now and save the world, he'd never even caught a glimpse of him in there! What if he had...Little cracks began to appear in the floor as memory tried to swamp him. It was the last place he and Bianca had ever known, the last peace they'd ever had before being shoved into the street and overwhelmed at the bright city lights; uncaring people who didn't even seem to hear the screaming kids tugged along by the Fury to drag them off-

"Nico?" Will's voice came from a long ways off, even as he asked with such concern it drew everyone's attention...he'd swear the walls were starting to close in on him as the cracks in the floor grew and something horrible was building in him, the shadowy room was literally flickering around them all as Percy lowered the book and looked right at him, but he would, not, cry!

"Hey man, don't tell me you lost your memories too," Percy laughed awkwardly even as he began to shut the book in concern.

Nico cleared his throat so hard it hurt, but he forced himself to collect a calmness back with so much power, his form pulsed with dark energy for a moment before he tried to speak again. He could do this, Percy could laugh anything off, so could he. "No, just bad memories, nothing to concern yourself with, trust me." King Minos had been a great, if selfish teacher as he pushed it all from the forefront of his mind and concentrated. Not so much he actually drew ghosts a plenty down here to him, but enough the room stopped forming shapes out of nothing. He could feel them though, just waiting to lose control again, but he would master and overcome his childish whining.

"Nico," Will tried again, but he snapped, "just keep going, no sense dwelling on it! There's nothing for you in that city Percy!"

Percy glanced at the book, back to him, then to Thalia as if to confirm, but finally and to his immense shock Jason and Alex both agreed if Nico didn't want to say what was on his mind it was his right.

"Well, um, it was the end of the chapter, so," he passed the book to Thalia and gave Nico a significant look to the door like he was totally offering another break.

Nico waved his hand carelessly and Thalia gave him a sorrowful look but thankfully went on. She knew what it was to have no choice but to look ahead because your past was long gone.

Will still looked unhappy with him, but he crossed his arms and didn't care. Bianca was gone, the memories of their time in that stupid hotel were fabricated magic and not even real. It had been pointless to let Will distract him or keep pretending his past had anything to do with the current problem at hand, he had to get out of here already and back to the one spot of good he knew he could do. No more wandering around the Fields, he was going into Tartarus.

PJOPJOPJOPJOPJO

*Ah the first of many continuity issues. Thalia's eyes are said to be green in this passage, but later changed to blue. Whether you're a 'the first thing said is the true cannon,' or a 'the author changed their mind after and so the second is better' is obviously a personal preference. I bend between both depending on the context, and I like her with blue eyes better, so that's what I went with.

**This is my favorite thing and never referenced with any other children! It's not cannon, but I'm going to go with the idea that yes, every time a god created or blessed an animal their children can communicate with it, which is no wilder than the Hunters of Artemis talking to their animals for no good reason other than because.

The problem though is that we don't don't get told in the books of what most of the gods sacred animals are, and if you just look it up there's lots of over lap between such as Athena's is the owl but Hade's can be a screech owl, etc., so to preserve my sanity and not go down a million rabbit holes I'm only taking specifically what is stated in PJO as cannon material for these guys. Anything else referenced is considered 'myth' to them too.

#PJO #Percy Jackson #Thalia Grace #Reading the Books #fanfiction #Jason Grace #Nico di Angelo #Will Solace #solangleo #solanglo #Alex Fierro #Magnus Chase #fierrochase #Hearthstone #sibling bonding #Lotus Hotel and Casino

[langernameohnebedeutung]

I'm just curious, is there an American you'd ever want to try? I've heard so many good things about German chocolate, I hope to have some one of these days

now, personally, I like to think that Americans would taste just the same as the people I eat around here :)

#(gjhgfj I just wasn't sure whether you meant American -food- in general or sweets/chocolate specifically-) #if food in general then I'd really like to try an authentic southern chili or a real bbq bc what we get here is An Attempt at best #also at the risk of committing more pizza-related anti-Italian hate-crimes on this website this week: #but I'd really like to try a typical New York and a typical Chicago pizza. Just to get an opinion in on that one. #also the chicago pizza looks actually interesting #also I know it's Mexican food but I always really really wanted to try Taco-Bell. :( #but I heard there are some restaurants in other Euro countries now so I imagine it's only a matter of time until we get them. #but generally I think you get a lot more spicy food over there and since I love spicy stuff that would be something I'd definitely enjoy #if you meant sweets specifically I'm not sure I can think of any specifically bc we actually get more and more American candy #plus we have some small English/American shops nearby and they sell American candy so I've tried quite a lot of it. #Oh our local supermarket now has Hershey bars which I really liked so that's one point for American chocolate! #a friend of mine brought me a box rainbow nerds back from his Florida vacation and it was much too sweet for both of us #so I'm gonna give anything in that direction a no #we even now get all kinds of cookie-dough stuff which was something I missed for a long time #hmm...as far as chocolate goes I'd recommend Toblerone. It's Swiss not German but tbh I prefer the Swiss chocolate. #and they're available worldwide AND cheap AND I assume they take their recipe quite seriously. So it should be authentic. #(I just checked and apparently you can get it at Walmart) #if you specifically want to try a German one - I just googled it and apparently Walmart has Ritter Sport. #They have a lot more variety than Toblerone though so that would be trial and error) #so yeah I think it mostly would be ... general cuisines and kinds of dishes I'd like to try than specific food items #nonfandom #personal #Oh Belgian chocolate is also pretty good! I was going to recommend Belgian Fruits de mer (chocolates that look like mussles) #so I just googled it to see if you can easily get them over there #but the wikipedia article specifically mentions that they're very local and quote-unquote: #Copycat products are sold at German discount stores #so I guess that means I've never actually had authentic fruits de mer. BUT! the knock-offs are great.

[mikeyinnit]

lovebug

Pairing: Wilbur x GN!Reader

Summary: Wilbur was done with love after he lost Sally, but when Fundy introduces him to one of Niki’s friends, things start to change.

Word Count: 2k words

Notes: Songfic!! I said they would be rare and it’s the second fic I post lmao. Inspired by Lovebug by the Jonas Brothers, totally willing to do a part 2 for this one because I have other ideas with other lyrics and stuff

Tagging: N/A

After Sally, Wilbur wasn’t really looking for anyone else to love, in fact, he had given up on love entirely. He had to focus on his son and the nation he was building from the ground up.  

Then you came into the picture.

You were a friend of Niki’s, that’s how he met you. Fundy was visiting the bakery and when Wilbur came to get him, he saw you helping the young fox hybrid make cookies. It was such a sweet sight that he took a moment to just enjoy seeing his son have a great time. When he did enter, Fundy introduced the two.

“This is Y/N! They’re one of Niki’s friends. Y/N, this is my dad. He’s single.”

Of course his son would throw him under the bus like that. But you just laughed, and god did you have a beautiful laugh, and held out your hand. A gesture that Wilbur returned with one of his charming grins.

“Fundy’s talked about you all day, I feel like I know you already…” you had trailed off, obviously Fundy only referred to him as my dad, prompting him to give his name.  

“Wilbur Soot.”

“Wilbur. It’s great to meet you.”

You gave him your phone number, clearly you were as taken with Fundy as the boy was to you, for him or his son to use anytime. Then you said your goodbyes for the night as you sent them on their way with the cookies you and Fundy baked along with some extra baked goods.

Called you for the first time yesterday

Wilbur hadn’t used your number for a good couple of days. He had been busy with L’Manberg and honestly had barely had time to see his son, let alone the enchanting stranger.  

Today was a day that he could actually spend quality time with Fundy, and obviously all of that time at the bakery while he was working just made the young boy want to bake cookies with his dad. Unfortunately, Fundy was very specific with what cookies he wanted to make. The ones he baked with you.

“These don’t taste like the ones Y/N made.” Was said numerous times throughout the night no matter how Wilbur changed the recipe so eventually, he just gave up and called you to figure it out.  

“Hello?”

Your voice rang out through the telephone and it instantly felt like all of the stress of this baking night was leaving his body.

“Y/N, it’s Wilbur. We met at Niki’s the other day?”

“Wilbur! Of course. How are you? How’s Fundy?”

Another grin was brought to his face at you almost immediately asking about Fundy, though he didn’t have the chance to respond as the aforementioned hybrid returned from getting more ingredients for the cookies and practically begged his father to put you on speaker so he could talk to you as well.

“Y/N!!”

It was almost like he could hear the smile on your face as you spoke to Fundy. “Fundy! What are you up to?”

“We’re trying to bake cookies but dad can’t make them like you.”

Wilbur heard that laugh again, that beautiful laugh that he first heard at the bakery.  

“That’s because your dad probably doesn’t know the secret ingredient that we used to bake those cookies. How about you give the phone back to him so I can let him know and then I’m sure you two will bake the best cookies ever.”

Then the phone was back in his hand and he spoke, “Secret ingredient?”

You grinned as you answered, “I just told him to tell the dough nice things in his life. Some people say speaking love into the dough helps, I don’t know if it’s true or not but he had fun with it.”

It sounded ridiculous, but Wilbur decided to try it.

“Thanks, Y/N. I’ll let you know how it goes.”  

This time, Fundy thought the cookies were perfect.  

I finally found the missing part of me

You became a big part of his routine after that night. He would see you at the bakery every time he came to get his son, he called you even when he was at work, you quickly became an important part of his life. Fundy loved you, days together often involved him telling Wilbur all about whatever the two of you got up to.  

Wilbur wasn’t a stranger to love, he loved Sally, he loved his country, he loved his son. But it felt very different with you. He couldn’t even say it was love yet, you just felt like you fit with him and Fundy. You were kind, and obviously cared about his son, you were funny, the texts and calls he exchanged with you never failed to put a smile on his face. And you cared about his son a lot, which was certainly not a negative. For the two of them, it felt like you were the perfect fit to the puzzle they didn’t realize was missing a piece.

I felt so close but you were far away

Getting used to having you in his routine meant it really sucked when you traveled to a village far away. Fundy missed you and honestly, Wilbur did too. You promised the young boy that you wouldn’t be gone for long, and told him that he was welcome to call you at anytime. Which Fundy took full advantage of. Every night before the young fox hybrid went to bed, he called you on Wilbur’s phone and the two of them heard about your day and they shared details of their own. On certain nights, you even joined Wilbur in singing a lullaby for him.  

People say that absence makes the heart grow fonder and that absolutely seemed true with your trip. Both of the boys missed you and wondered when you would be back, but luckily, you came back within a month. And you came back with plenty of gifts for Fundy, which made the boy ridiculously happy. You even got a gift for Wilbur, which was certainly a pleasant surprise since really, you being back was enough of a gift for him.  

That night, he invited you over for dinner. He said it was to celebrate your return, which is true, but he also just wanted to spend time with you now that you were back. You agreed, and the three of you even tried baking dessert, which resulted in a small flour fight initiated by you.  

Wilbur usually liked everything in order and in his control, something like throwing flour around and making a complete mess of his kitchen is something that Tommy would enjoy, but somehow it felt okay with you and his son.  

I never thought that I’d catch this lovebug again

After that night, Wilbur came to realize that he did like you, if not love you. You were a nice balance to his control and an escape from the stress of his job as president.  

At first, it felt like a betrayal to Sally. He decided he was going to focus on his son and his nation, not love. He decided that long before you came into the picture and he was a man of his word. Even if that word was only said to himself.

He knew he couldn’t just outright ignore you. Not only would that be unfair to you, it wouldn’t be fair to Fundy.  So he had to deal with it another way, throwing himself further into his work. It meant less time with his son but it was very productive for L’Manberg. Plus it meant Fundy got to see you and Niki more so Wilbur is certain that the young fox would understand and perhaps enjoy this more than spending time with him.  

There was a knock at his door but Wilbur didn’t even look up as he called out, “Come on in.” Obviously it wasn’t Tommy since the boy never knocked but it could have been Tubbo or Jack Manifold or even someone from outside of L’Manberg.  

“You would think that in a time of peace, the president would have more free time.”

He knew that voice. He could never forget the face that went along with it. Your smile and eyes never left his mind even with him trying his hardest to shut out the rest of the world.  

“Y/N, I wasn’t expecting to see you. What brings you by?”

“I haven’t seen you in a while, Fundy told me you’ve been sleeping here lately so I thought I would check on you.”  

And there was that kindness again. The kindness that made him fall in love with you in the first place.  

“I’m okay, Y/N. Just busy.”  

“Too busy to stop by the bakery to see your friends? Or to even come home and see your son at night?”

There was an edge to your voice and Wilbur wasn’t sure how he felt about it, obviously he thought that Fundy would prefer spending time with you and Niki over himself but it seemed like you disagreed.

You strongly disagreed.  

“I’ve just been busy. Running a country is a lot of work, Fundy will understand. He gets to see you and Niki more anyways, he’s happier that way.” He shifted his eyes back to the papers in front of him, letters he had been drafting for the past two hours and couldn’t get anywhere with.  

“Fundy is a child, Wilbur. Niki and I are happy to see him at the bakery but we aren’t replacements for his dad. His dad who suddenly became “too busy” almost overnight. What happened?”  

It truly was sweet the way you cared about his son that much. Enough to come to his office when you could be sleeping. This could have been a good moment for him to say what was on his mind, that he thinks he was falling in love with you and didn’t want to betray his dead wife. But he lied.

“Tommy has been getting into trouble with Dream recently, I want to make sure we don’t fight in another war so soon. Or ever again.” It was a solid lie, Tommy had a reputation for being a troublemaker and he could use that to his advantage. You seemed like you were about to speak, probably about Fundy, so he spoke first, “I promise that I will talk to Fundy and see him more as soon as I get this figured out. Thank you, Y/N, it’s really nice Thank you, Y/N, it’s really nice to know that someone else cares about Fundy this much, he needs that.”

“It’s not just him that I care about, Wilbur. I wish you would see Fundy more sooner but I was also worried about you, I know you care about him so something had to be going on for you to miss seeing him this often.”

Well that certainly didn’t help with him trying to ignore these feelings.

“Then I thank you again. I really appreciate it. Goodnight, Y/N. Get some sleep.”

“Goodnight, Wilbur.”

I kissed them for the first time yesterday

Wilbur kept the promise he made to you. Considering the reason he gave you for being busy was a lie, it wasn’t hard to get back to seeing his son and by extension, you.  

If you asked him, he would say he’s handling his feelings for you rather well now. He hasn’t done anything about it but he isn’t shutting out the world so, progress.

It was another dinner night with you and Fundy, you had brought desert with you this time so they didn’t have another flour fight but it was still lovely. After he sent Fundy to bed, you stuck around.  

The two of you had been sitting on the couch together for a whole, just talking about anything, and maybe it was just because it was late and you looked so beautiful but something came over Wilbur and he asked, “Would you mind if I tried something?”

You nodded, curious about what he was going to try, but you didn’t stay curious for long as Wilbur gently cupped your face with one hand and leaned in to kiss you.

A kiss that you returned.  

I never thought that I’d get hit by this lovebug again

#mikey's writing #dream smp x reader #wilbur soot x reader #wilbur x reader #dsmp x reader #dream smp x you #wilbur soot x you #dsmp fic #dsmp x you #dreamsmp x reader #dreamsmp x you

[simpleserendipity]

Baking cookies | Min Yoongi

Pairing: Min Yoongi x Reader (established relationship)

Word count: 1,768 words

“What do you want to do today?” Your fingers run through your boyfriend Yoongi's hair while his head rests on your chest.

“Stay right here,” He buried his face further into your chest, making you giggle, “Lay here all day with you.” Yoongi’s arm that was wrapped around your waist pulled you tighter into him.

Your hand halted its movements, “As much as I love that, we did that yesterday.”

“Two lazy days can’t hurt.” Yoongi tilted his head slightly to meet your eyes.

You chuckle before running your hand through his hair once again, “It’s not just two lazy days, if we stay in bed today that makes four days.”

“But, it's my break.” He grins.

“Nope,” You wiggle a bit and escape his grasps, “I think I know what I’m going to do today.”

Yoongi rolls onto his back with a groan as your warmth leaves him, “_______,

 He calls after you as you walk towards the door, “Come on honey, stay with me a little longer.” He calls you honey knowing that is a weak spot for you. You bite your lip to conceal a smile, even though your back was to him. You didn’t bother to change your clothes, you wore one of his t-shirts and underwear.

You stop in the doorway, spinning around to look at him, “I think that I’m going to bake some cookies today.”

Yoongi rolls onto his side, resting his head into his hand, “Cookies really?” His grin spreads wider. You examined his messy hair and sleepy face along with the same hoodie and shorts he’s been wearing for days now. You couldn’t help but feel your heart swell at the sight of your boyfriend.

“Yep.” You nodded with a smile before turning to leave the room. You wandered down the hall of your shared apartment, stopping in the kitchen to stretch. You wandered around the kitchen gathering the ingredients. You heard the footsteps of Yoongi coming down the hall followed by the little padding of Holly following behind him. You giggled to yourself as you reached up to grab a bowl from the cabinet. Whenever he had a break like this, he would follow you around like a lost puppy, needing to spend as much time with you as possible.

Before you could turn around you felt Yoongi’s hands on your hips and his lips pressed against your neck softly, “You’re really gonna make cookies before we even have breakfast?” He says softly as his lips pull away from your neck.

“It’s your break,” You turn your head slightly, to be able to see him out of the corner of your eye, “So cookies for breakfast.” You grin.

Yoongi raises an eyebrow at you, “Cookies for breakfast?” He questions again like he didn’t quite hear you right the first time.

“Live a little,” You shrugged, “Cookies for breakfast sounds fun. I mean we’ve eaten ice cream for breakfast so why not cookies?” You giggled.

Yoongi kisses your cheek, “You really one of a kind, honey.” He chuckles as he pulls away, retreating to the other side of the counter to sit at the bar stools. You notice that he had set his laptop on the counter before you turn to face away from him, embarrassed by his words. You start to measure out the ingredients, facing away from him.

“Yes, Holly I bet you can have a cookie,” Your boyfriend coos at the dog, “I’ll make sure you get one.”

You turned back to see Yoongi, cradling Holly like a baby, “What are you doing?” You bit the inside of your cheek to hold back the giggles.

“What?” He looked up at you with a scowl, still holding the puppy.

“I swear you love that dog more than me.” You roll your eyes as you start to combine the ingredients in a bowl carefully.

“I do not,” He was quick to defend, “I love you both equally honey.” The nickname rolls off his tongue, smoother and smoother every time. It almost sounds better than your name coming from his lips.

“Mhm,” You roll your eyes playfully, “Whatever Min.” Yoongi rolls his eyes, setting Holly down onto the floor.

He chuckles at the use of his last name, “Whatever honey.” Your heart flutters every time he says it. You continue to mix the dough while Yoongi sits at the counter, his chin resting in the palm of his hand while the other scrolls on his laptop.

You finish mixing the dough just as he flips on some music from his laptop. You listen carefully, not recognizing the song but recognizing Yoongi’s voice, “What song is this?” You asked as you sprayed the baking sheet with baking oil.

Yoongi hums, “It’s something I’m working on.”

“For the group or for you?”

“This is for me.” He nodded, not looking away from the screen.

“I didn’t know you were working on any new solo stuff,” You hummed a bit as the song played on, “I really like this.”

His eyes narrowed looking at the work in front of him, “It’s missing something though.”

You hummed along with the melody of the song as you began to roll out the cookies, “You’ll find the missing piece baby, I know you will.” You smile warmly at him over the edge of the laptop and he smiles a bit too.

“Thank you, honey.” He commented, narrowing his eyes on the screen.

You continued to roll the cookies into balls, placing them on the sheet. You were in your own world, humming along to the sound of the song which is repeating over and over. You were rolling the last dough ball when you felt Holly weave around your feet, acting like a cat in that way. You let out a little scream before you dropped the dough ball. Holly was quick to snatch the dough ball and run away. You giggled at the sight of the dog running away to hide with the dough ball. You collapsed to the floor, back leaning against the cabinets with the laughter still escaping your lips, “Holly…” You whined between the laughter.

You look up to meet your boyfriend’s eyes, “Wait…” He smiles, “That’s it.”

You take a few more seconds to compose yourself, “What are you talking about Yoongi?”

“Honey that’s it,” He stands up heading down the hallway, “I got it.”

You watched him disappear down the hall, “Alright Yoongi…” You whispered to yourself as you stood up. You dusted off the bottom of your shirt from the flour and being on the floor. You turned back to the counter, grabbing the sheet of cookies and placing it in the oven.  You turned to the side and spun the dial of the kitchen timer. When you turn back, you see Yoongi carrying his microphone to plug into his laptop. He barely ever used this microphone, he would much rather just record in his studio, but sometimes he enjoyed recording in random places. He always surprised you when it came to his music, sure he worked a lot but he would get the most random moments of absolute focus like now.

He sets the equipment on the counter beside his laptop, situating everything before looking up at you, “Come here,” He calls you, waving you over to him. You wandered over to him and he patted his thigh, “Sit here honey.” You nodded, sitting down sideways so that your legs are both between his.

“What are you doing?” You asked as he picked up the headphones from beside the microphone.

“You are going to help me finish this track,” He sets the headphones carefully over your head, leaving one side off your ear so you can hear him, “You think you could do that honey?”

“Yoongi how am I supposed to help you finish the track?” You looked at him confused, setting one hand on his shoulder.

“I knew what I was missing the moment you dropped that cookie on the floor.”

“Yoongi, baby, I still don’t understand.”

“I heard you laugh and I want that on the track.” He rolls his eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

You examine his face and realize he’s serious, “Why?”

“I think it would bring the beat in nicely.” He shrugs. It wasn’t the first time he’s asked you to do something for his track but normally it was just to hum or whistle, never something like this.

“Are you sure we don’t need to go to the studio?” You asked as you ran the hand from his shoulder down to rest on his chest, “Isn’t it going to be loud out here?”

“It’s fine honey,” Yoongi rolls his eyes, “Can we start recording?”

“Sure.” You rolled your eyes.

He rolled his eyes, “Alright,” He reaches around you, clicking a few buttons on the screen, “Alright lean into the mic.”

You leaned into the microphone, your lips almost touching the pop filter, “You’re gonna have to make me laugh though.”

He rolls his eyes once more before looking to the ceiling like he was thinking, “What kind of music should you listen to while fishing?”

You raised an eyebrow, “I don’t know.” Yoongi hadn’t even said the punchline before you had started to giggle.

“Something catchy.” Your boyfriend had a stupid grin on his face, clearly proud of the reaction he got from telling the stupid joke. You weren’t going to tell him you were laughing more at how proud he was than the joke. Then he immediately proceeded to make every funny face he could at you.

You giggled more than before the microphone recording it all, “That’s the dumbest joke I’ve ever heard,” You said between laughter, “Where did you hear that?”

“Jin told me while we were fishing one time,” Yoongi laughs along with you, “Thought it was a little funny.”

“It is funny,” You nod, both of you forgetting that the conversation was being recorded. You both let out another laugh just as the time goes off, “I gotta get the cookies.” You slip the headset off before sliding off his lap. You get off his lap and head into the kitchen. You pull the cookies out, setting them on the counter before turning around. Yoongi now has the headset on, only covering one ear as he worked. You smiled, walking back to Yoongi.

“This is gonna work perfectly,” Yoongi smiled staring at the laptop, “Just perfectly.”

You stood over his shoulder, watching him work, “Glad I could help.” You smiled, leaning down to press your lips to his temple.

#bts #bts jin #bts yoongi #bts hope #bts namjoon #bts jimin #bts taehyung #bts jungkook #bts fic #bts imagines #bts fanfictions #suga #rm #bts suga #bts rm #bts jhope #yoongi fanfic #yoongi fic

[asimpforarmin]

Not so Safe? 💛

Content: Armin Arlert x Reader, Modern AU, two dorks being awkward

Summary: You and Armin go to the beach during quarantine as a way to get away from the stressors of life, keeping safe during it.

WC: 2,123

Genre: fluff?? maybe i guess. Wholesome stuff.

Warnings: None

A/n: This is my first fic on this account and also the first one I’ve written in a long time, so this might be bad, idk. Btw check out this playlist: https://youtu.be/1_2lm4tS9N4 It’s really nice and I listened to it while working on this. Ok bye-

You were bored, just slouching in bed late at night waiting for something to happen. Since quarantine hit, you really haven’t been able to see your friends, well not without a screen. You’ve been keeping up with your closest friends, Connie, Sasha, and Armin, and playing Minecraft with them when you don’t have (or don’t do) your schoolwork. You’ve been missing actually hanging out with them though.

So you decided to group message them about it, see if they wanted to go do something, taking safety precautions of course. Turns out Sasha’s mom wouldn’t let her go anywhere because she was worried for her, and Connie was staying with family out of state. But Armin could come.

You moved to private messages to talk to Armin about it, so you don’t spam the group chat or make Sasha and Connie jealous.

“Hey, are you free on Friday?” you asked.

You quickly saw him typing back to you, “Sorry, no, but I can do something on Wednesday or Thursday.”

You sat up a bit, “Alright, either one works for me.” You had that equivalent of awkward silence between texts where neither of you know what to say. “Which one do you prefer?”

He responds after a moment of thinking. “Wednesday’s fine. What do you wanna do?”

You thought it over for a moment, not actually expecting to get this far. “I know that ice cream shop down the road’s open. We could get some ice cream and head down to the beach for a while and just screw around if you want.”

“Sure. Which ice cream shop again?” He questioned. Armin lived not too far from you and had been over a couple times.

“That one we pass when you come over. Taking a right from my house it’s on that corner, a few shops down from the gas station.”

“Oh that one! Ok.” He responded.

“Did you get your bike fixed?” You asked. You all had bikes and would go places on them before the whole virus thing happened. Thing is, Connie crashed into Armin after hitting a pothole and totaled his front spokes.

“Yeah, it’s all ready to go. Do you have a cooler?”

“I know there’s one somewhere in the garage that I can find and clean out.”

“Alright, I’ll see you Wednesday?”

“Definitely.”

You were excited to see at least one of your close friends during the pandemic. You set your alarm for tomorrow, which was Monday. You only had to wait until Wednesday to see him.

~~~~~

Wednesday rolled around soon enough and you had just finished the last of today’s schoolwork. You packed up a backpack with some extra snacks, water, and some bandages in case either of you fall.

You texted Armin “Hey, where do you wanna meet?”

“I can just meet you at the ice cream place if you want.”

“You sure? That's kinda far from where you are.”

“I’ll be fine, it's not terribly far.”

“Alright, well I’ll see you there.”

“Cya,” he signed off.

You put your phone in your backpack, before dusting off that old cooler, filling it with ice, and putting it in your bike basket. You set out for the shop feeling good. You haven’t been outside in a while, and feeling the wind against your skin felt perfect.

You went down the road a ways, pulling up into the shop’s parking lot. You pulled your bike over and leaned it against the curb with the kickstand, and waited for Armin.

About 10 minutes later, the blond comes into view, pulling into the lot, spotting you, and heading over. You look up at him, pulling your mask up as he does the same. He wipes his brow as he’s hauling his bike over. “Hey, how are you?” he asks, looking down and putting his kickstand to the curb.

Your smile, “Good, how about you?” In all honesty you were great now that he’s here. You haven’t seen him in person for around 11 months and you’ve missed him.

He looked back up at you and you could tell he was smiling even under his mask.

“I’m fine, happy to be outside,” he sighed.

“Hey, your hair’s a little longer,” you pointed out.

He blushed a tiny bit, “I’ve only gotten it cut once during this and now since everything’s reopening, my mother’s scared to take me to get it cut again. The only reason she let me come on this trip was because it’s contactless.”

“I see, well either way it looks cute,” you reassured him.

He let out a small laugh, “Thanks.”

“Anyways,” you say, going up to the front of the building, “what flavor do you want?” You put some gloves on before reaching for your wallet.

“I’ll just have the cookie dough.” Armin pulls out his phone to pay that way.

“Hey, I can pay for both of us if you want,” you say, looking over at Armin.

“It’s fine, I have my own money,” he politely declines.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s my pleasure,” you say, taking money out of your wallet, enough for the two of you. “What size do you want?”

He puts his phone back into his pocket, looking up at the size chart. “I’ll just have a medium.” You nod and go up to tell the person at the counter your orders. A few minutes later, your orders are in the window. You hand the cashier the money, then take off your gloves and grab your ice creams. You put the bowls in Tupperware and then in the cooler.

“You ready to go?” You ask Armin. He nods, clicking his helmet back into place and getting on his bike. You get back on your bike too and the both of you head out.

It’s another 10 minutes before you get to the beach. It isn’t the best weather for this kind of visit. It’s overcast and a little bit foggy, but it’s still a nice place to hang out.

The both of you lock your bikes up and take your ice cream out of the cooler. You hand Armin his dessert and open your own.

“Wish the weather was better,” you commented, looking up at the grey sky.

“Well if the sky’s not clear, that means less people will come,” Armin points out, looking over at you. You nod and look around for a spot to sit down. “We could go over there,” Armin suggests. He’s pointing at a couple boulders decently spaced apart up on the hill away form everything.

“Ok,” you say. You both start going over. There’s no one else at the beach besides a few random people chilling at the shoreline. Armin hops up on the boulder to the right and you get on the left one.

“Thanks for paying for this,” Armin sheepishly says, taking a bite.

“It’s no problem, I’m happy to,” you say. God, you wish you could hug him. Quarantine’s been horrible to your social interaction, plus you may have an inkling of attraction to him. Even to just hold his hand would be ethereal. But you can’t. You need to stay safe, and you don’t know if he feels the same about you.

“So, um, how’s your week been so far?” He inquires.

“It’s been okay. Hating school as usual, but besides that I’ve had a good time keeping up with you all,” you say.

He takes another bite before speaking, “If you want, I could help you out with your work if you’re having trouble.” This wasn’t the first time he offered, but you felt like too much for agreeing last time.

“I’ll think about it, I’m managing alright for now though. How about you? How’s quarantine been treating you?” You ask him.

“I’ve been able to keep up with things for the most part, but it does get tiring. It’s good to finally get out of the house again.” You nod and both of you just sit there for a moment, eating and looking out at the ocean. You couldn’t see that far out because of the fog, but what you could see was nice.

The waves slowly crashed against the sand and rocks while you heard gulls above you. You cherished this moment, as simple as it is. Even if your feelings were unmatched, he was still your best friend. You get butterflies whenever he’s around. He makes you happy and anxious in the best ways possible.

Armin looks up before taking out his phone. “Looks like it’s supposed to rain in a bit.”

“That’s a bummer, I wish we could stay out here longer,” you say.

“We can always come back. I’m still free tomorrow.” You perked up at his suggestion.

“Same, we can do that,” you quickly reply. He nods his head in agreement.

“Same time?”

“Sure.” You both went back to eating for a moment. “We should  do this more. This is fun.”

“I do quite like this. It’s relaxing to take a break every now and then,” he says.

The two of you keep talking, about home, friends, hobbies, school, etc, when you felt a raindrop on your cheek. You look over at Armin, who looks up at the rain.

“Guess it’s time to go,” he says, slightly frowning. You stand up, getting the trash from your ice cream and start walking over to the trash can. It’s under one of those buildings that look like metal car awnings, but with benches and the board that shows the directory and rules of the beach. Armin follows suit.

“We really should have checked the weather,” you say, disposing of your trash, “I don’t feel comfortable with either of us biking in the rain on the road like this.”

Armin throws his trash away, “We’ll be okay, it’s not a whole lot,” he says. “Besides, you can call someone if you don’t feel comfortable.”

You sit down on a bench, looking on your phone. “Looks like it’s not supposed to stay for too long. We could just stay here for a while if you’re okay with it.” He sits down next to you and nods. He looks between you two and sees the small gap.

“Sorry,” he says as he moves further away.

“Hey, it’s okay,” you say. You want to tell him how you feel, you really do, but if he doesn’t feel the same, you’re afraid things won’t go back to normal.

You start to say his name at the same time he speaks, which causes you to both chuckle. “You go first,” he says.

“Go ahead, I’ve already forgotten what I was saying.”

“That quickly?” he smiles.

“Apparently.”

“Well I- I don’t know how to put this properly, but…”

“But what?”

“I want to do this more often, and I know you already said that but I really miss hanging out with you.” He looks over at you, waiting for your reaction.

“I miss you too,” you say. You felt your cheeks darken as your face warmed up. You look over at him, he was just the same as you. That gave you the confidence you needed. “I really like you, Armin.”

He looks up at you suddenly, “You mean like, more than friends?” he asks you nervously.

“Yeah. More than friends. I have for a while but I just haven’t said anything.” You look away until he says something, not wanting to face him as he’s making up his mind, but he answers almost immediately.

“I do too! I- I mean I just didn’t say anything because I wasn’t sure if you felt the same.” You felt your breath hitch in your throat, wanting to say something, but you just didn’t have the right words.

“Well, um, we should definitely do this more often then,” you finally say, giving him a smile.

“Do you uh, want to hold hands?” he asks shyly.

“Should we?”

“It’ll be fine as long as we wash our hands when we get home.” You nodded and stuck out your hand. He took it as he moved a bit closer to you.

You two just sat there for a moment, taking everything in. The rain, each other, the sounds coming from the road. Even though it seemed so new, it felt good. It felt right. Armin started speaking again, talking about how he’s been thinking of this moment for a long time. You smiled and continued the conversation for a decent half hour, still clasping hands.

You finally heard the rain let up and the sun began to shine through the clouds.

“You want to go down to the shore for a bit now?” You asked him.

“Of course,” he said. You got up, taking him by the hand down the hill.

#aot #aot x reader #snk #snk x reader #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #attack on titan x reader #shingeki no kyojin x reader #armin arlert x reader #armin x reader #fluff? i guess

[psychedellic-phase]

Fifteen (part 10)

A/N: Part of this chapter is inspired by the song 2 Years by Thomston. Thank you to the lovely anon that told me this song reminded them of this fic! I highly recommend listening to it! 

word count: 3.9k 

tw: mentions of childbirth, slight season 9 spoilers, otherwise fluffy 

masterlist: “A few months later we were in Boston, on that strangulation case. It’s a pretty hard case to forget, I mean, you delivered a baby. A real human baby, that you brought earthside with your own two hands. You delivered him, and she named him after you. Baby Spencer. 

Morgan and I dragged the unsub out into the street, hearing that poor woman scream and cry as you brought her baby into the world, but you did great, and he was beautiful. Just like his namesake. When I walked back inside I saw you give her the baby, and my heart just about melted into a puddle on the floor. You and kids, it just does something to me. It feels like my heart comes out of my body and into your hands like putty. It's an odd feeling, like you’re physically poking around in my chest. In a weird way I’ll miss it. 

Then I saw JJ give you a side hug, and put her arm on your chest. She even leaned into your neck, with a soft, sweet little nuzzle. You probably didn’t notice it, but I did. I always noticed. A million little ways to say ‘I love you’ without actually saying ‘I love you’. Right?

Yet again, I said nothing. I had no logical reason to be worried. She was married. You told me daily how much you loved me, how special I was, how beautiful, how amazing, how lucky you were. It’s a shame you didn’t feel like that at the end. But I made it okay. I told myself I was just overthinking it all, like usual. I buried it all down. Again, and again, and again. 

That night we went to that bar Rossi loves and everyone was happy, talking about how you delivered a baby. 

Alex asked you, “How on earth did you know what to do?” 

You explained how you memorized all the delivery manuals when JJ was pregnant, just in case. I often wonder if you’d do half the things you do for her, if it were for someone else. Or are some things just for JJ?

I just smiled and laughed, still pushing the feelings away. It was a night to celebrate and I was determined to not be a party pooper. Instead, I went the other way. I was the life of that party. We all got on stage and sang ‘Piano man’ karaoke, and if anyone was making love to a tonic and gin that night, it was me. Many, many, tonic and gins. I stumbled into an Uber with you and ended up at home. You helped me into bed. You wiped off my makeup and undressed me, putting one of your large shirts on me, leaving a bottle of water, two advils, and a note that said “i love you, love” for me to see when I woke up. Stuff like that makes me wonder if you’d only ever do some things for me. It sounds selfish, but I hope wiping my makeup off and putting my moisturizer on for me is something reserved for us. I know there are many things I have reserved just for you, Spence. No one will ever be that kind to me again, and that’s a fact.”

Are some things just for JJ? Really? He was irritated for a passing moment, why were you mad about him caring about his best friend? Before he had even met you?

But then that anger was soon replaced with confusion. Why’d you never mention it? In all the fights you had, you never once mentioned JJ. You never once threw the feelings that were so clear to everyone in his face. Why? Why not? 

Every word made him feel like he didn’t really know you, but also made him wonder if you even knew him? Because if you did you would’ve known he did nothing for JJ, but everything for you. 

“I immediately fell asleep.

 I woke up at some point, maybe around four am, and you weren’t in the bed next to me. I remember patting the sheets, looking for you as I usually did at night. To sleep, I needed to feel you pressed up against me. I didn’t. I panicked. I looked at the note, and for half a second I thought you left. It did look a little like a goodbye note, Spence. I yelled your name a few times, and when I didn’t get a response I really started to worry. I got out of bed and stumbled around; my head was still fuzzy. I walked around the house calling your name. You still didn’t answer. I finally found you on the balcony. 

It was warm for April, and you were sitting on a chair in your pajamas, staring at the stars. 

“Talking to the moon again?” I said, and you turned to look at me. 

The moon was a waxing crescent (thank you for that) so I couldn’t see you well. If it had been full, maybe I would’ve seen your sad eyes. 

“Hey, what’re you doing up?” You whispered.

I sat in the other chair, “I woke up and you weren’t there, so I came to find you. You scared me half to death, Reid.”

 I was looking at you but you wouldn’t look at me. I needed you to look at me.

“Go back to sleep.”

“Only if you come with me.” 

I was trying to be funny, but the pit in my stomach was insane. I really felt like I was staring the end in the face. That was the first time I ever saw you like that, completely shut out from me. You were always forthcoming with me, no matter what was going on. Your voice was rough, like you were getting a cold. You cleared your throat. 

“I think I want to stay out here a while longer.”

“Okay, then I’ll stay with you.”

“Y/N...” You were warning me, I should’ve listened. 

I stood up to walk back inside and I patted your shoulder. I disappeared to get a tub of ice cream and two spoons. We both knew your stomach would hurt afterwards, but we didn’t care. The comfort that binging on ice cream when you’re sad brings is well worth a tummy ache. And even in my half drunk brain fog, I could tell you needed it.”

Spencer chuckled, remembering how you always kept two tubs in the freezer “just in case.” Whenever one of you was having one of those days, the other would grab a tub, and you’d sit in silence and eat. That was back when each other’s company was enough. He still kept one tub in his freezer, hoping in some weird way that you’d be back and the two of you could sit and eat in silence, and somehow that would make it all okay. 

“We sat in silence staring at the sky and taking turns grabbing spoonfuls of cookie dough ice cream. It was comfortable, domestic, calm. 

“So, are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?”

You shook your head, “Nothing’s bothering me.”

“You only talk to the moon when you’re upset, Spence.”

You sighed, knowing I was right. The ice cream was for bad days, but the moon was for when you needed to think. And think alone. You said staring up at the moon helped you feel grounded; it reminded you how important we are. It always reminded me of how small I am, how I am literally a speck of dust on a planet that’s a slightly bigger speck of dust that’s hurling through time and space. It reminds me of how small we all are in the grand scheme of the universe. Then you’d tell me: “Everything that makes up us is from those stars. We’re literally made of stardust.” Then I’d feel important too, because you made me important. I mattered because I was in this place at this time with you. You’d tell me about the big bang and the million miracles that led to us being here, alive in this moment. You’d say it reminded you how lucky you were that you got to exist in this world with me. I don’t know if I believe in God, Spence, but if there is one I thank him for letting me exist at the same time as you, even if it was only for a finite time.”

He had to remind himself to breathe. How could words suffocate? How could ink take his breath away? Spencer wished it was nighttime, so he could talk to the moon again, so he could feel important again, so he could feel lucky. 

“You didn’t answer.

“Was it the case?”

You just nodded slightly, as if to say ‘sort of’. 

“This is literally as good as it can go. We got the guy and you brought someone’s baby into the world. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a happier ending.”

“No.”

That’s all you said, and I let the silence fester. We both just kept eating the ice cream. After about fifteen minutes you said, “The world looks different from here.”

“From the balcony? Yeah I guess, the city looks small, tiny ant people.”

You chuckled, “No, like from where I am right now in my life. I just see the world different than I did yesterday.”

“And I’m sure we’ll look at it differently again tomorrow.” I was trying to help, but it was 4:30 in the morning and I was still slightly buzzed. No amount of ice cream or an existential crisis was going to get rid of that. 

“I held a human being in my hands as it took its first breaths today, Y/N. I was the first thing he ever saw. I literally held his life in my hands.” 

“I know. Maybe you should take up obstetrics.” Another failed attempt at a joke.

 “It just made me think.”

“About what?”

“I just, I always thought I wanted kids,” you said it doubtfully and with a shrug. You looked at me in my eyes finally, and wow did it hurt. 

“But now I’m not so sure.”

I’m pretty sure my jaw almost dropped. How did delivering a baby make you no longer want a village of kids on Christmas morning? I thought it’d have the opposite effect. I thought it’d ignite your baby fever, like it ignited mine. My heart sank, “Why?” 

“I-I don’t know.”

I tried, again, to lighten the mood, “Is it because of the actual birth part? Because I promise I can handle it. No epidurals for me.”

You half smiled, “No, no it’s not that.”“Well then what is it?” I had this dreadful feeling that you were going to tell me that it was me. That I was the reason. That you wanted kids, but you didn’t want them with me.

 “How am I supposed to pass on these genes?”

“Your super smart, tall, handsome, magnificent genius genes? C’mon Spence,” I scoffed. 

“I meant schizophrenia.”

The air went cold between us. 

“You don’t have it though.”

“Having a grandparent with the disease increases your chances of developing it by 5%.”

“Yeah, and I have bad eyesight and terrible allergies and had braces as a kid, which our kids will inherit.” 

“You don’t understand what I mean.”

I rolled my eyes, “No, Love, I don’t. But I do know that you can’t be scared of what ifs.”

You ran your hands through your hair, and just groaned. You sighed, but I kept rambling. I blame my loose lips on Rossi. He kept buying, and I kept drinking.

“And there’s so many what ifs. What if they do get schizophrenia? But what if they don’t and you didn’t have kids because you were scared?”

“It’s not just that it’s—”

“It’s what Spencer?”

“I-I didn’t have a dad! I don’t know how to be one.”

We sat in silence. I didn’t know what to say. 

“I just don’t think it’s for me anymore.”

I felt tears sting my eyes. If we weren’t on the same page, this conversation was going to end horribly. “

But if you don’t want them then—“ I stopped and shakily wiped my face. 

“Then what?” You sounded scared.

I stopped myself from saying something that I’d regret. I wanted to say ‘then I can’t do this.’ Thank god I didn’t. 

“I just, I always thought my kids would be your kids too. I don’t think I want to be a parent if you aren’t there with me.”

Your eyes were shining from the tears and the sliver of moon when they met mine, “Really?”“

Yeah, I’ve told you this a million times, love. You will be the best father because you know what it’s like to not have one. You become better than the people before you.”

You dropped the spoon into the almost empty tub, “I know, I know. I just got in my head about it all.”

“Stop thinking about years ahead, Spence. All you have to think about is right now. I know it feels like we’re running out of time, but don’t rush life.”

You smiled watery and I went to sit on your lap. You rubbed your hand against the small of my back and we watched the sun start to rise. We were done talking to the moon. I dragged you inside, the new day’s sun was coming in through the windows. 

“Do you really think you’re running out of time?” You asked me, holding me close.

 I nodded, “Yeah. I always feel like I am. I thought I’d have two kids and a golden retriever by thirty-one, but I have none of that and I’m getting close to thirty-two. Twenty-four hours just feels shorter and shorter everyday.”

“That’s because each day is a smaller and smaller fraction of our memories. Time feels quicker and quicker every day.”

There you were. There was my love. My you. 

I squeezed you, “I know. It’s just scary. I feel like I’m behind.”

“I feel like that a lot too. You know I thought I’d cure schizophrenia by twenty-five?”

I smiled, “Even you can’t do everything, love.”

“Do you want to catch up?”

“How so?”

“We could get a golden retriever.”

I laughed, “Sure, and next you’ll be saying ‘let’s have a baby.’”

You shrugged and swooped me in front of you, “Why not? Me, you, a baby, sounds pretty good.” 

You said it as a joke, but it didn’t feel like one. “

You mean that?” I looked up at you and could see that longing in your eyes. You could see it in mine too. Always so pensive, Spencer Reid. 

“I didn’t mean like right now, but we can soon. We have to get married first.”

I rolled my eyes, “Who says we need to get married first? JJ and Will didn’t get married until Henry was four. They’re perfect.”

“Henry wasn’t planned.”

“And?”

“And, I’d like to marry you before knocking you up,” you said it like a joke again, peppering me in kisses. 

“We don’t need a stupid piece of paper from the government, Love.”

“So you don’t want to marry me?” There was amusement in your voice. 

“Oh, I want to marry you. I want to marry you so hard, Spencer Reid.”

We laughed, “I want to marry you so hard too.”

You kissed my forehead, and then my lips before moving away from me. 

“So, we both know we want to marry each other and we just agreed to have a baby, like soon?” I clarified. 

“Yes. We did. So, what’s stopping us from doing it right now?” You started milling around in the book case, looking for something. “

Don’t you dare get down on one knee right now, Spencer Reid. I told you already, I am not getting engaged without my nails done.”

You smiled, “I wasn’t! I wasn’t! I was just going to put on some music.” You held up a CD, and I smiled. You came back and pulled me close, and we started to sway back and forth. I always wanted to dance in the kitchen with the love of my life. That morning I did.

After the song ended, we went up to bed finally. I remember laying down and kissing you, going to the place we usually went. Afterwards, you held me against your chest again, “Did you mean it?”

I nodded, “Every word.”

You sighed happily, “So did I.”

I looked up at you, grinning, “So does that mean puppy Reid and baby Reid are coming soon?”

You rolled your eyes, “Puppy Reid, I can handle. But baby Reid is after Mrs. Reid. Call me old fashioned, but that’s how I want to do this.”

I toyed with your hair, “I can handle that.”

While I was packing, I found the CD you were rummaging for. I put it on and danced around the kitchen again. It wasn’t the same. ‘Your Song’ by Elton John is a love song, and love songs just hurt when you’re alone. I swayed in the sunlight, imagining you were swaying with me, talking about having a baby and getting married. I miss that feeling. I miss talking to the moon. I miss ice cream. I miss dancing in the kitchen to Elton John. I miss baggy tee shirts. I miss little notes. I miss the way “How wonderful life is when you’re in the world” felt when I was in your arms. I miss late night kissing. I miss the way you feel with me. I miss us. I miss you, but I miss that you. 

You’re probably wondering what your souvenir from that night is. I thought about giving you the CD, I thought about giving you some ice cream and a spoon, I even thought about giving you the moon, but I decided on the note. “I love you, love.” 

The note was badly wrinkled and his pencil chicken scratch was faded with time. He smiled, remembering the hundreds of notes he probably left you. They always ended in “I love you” with a little doodled heart. He remembered dancing in the sunlight and looking at engagement rings and rescue dogs. He missed you, and not just the version of you from that memory. He missed the version of you from the end. He hated that you didn’t miss that him too.  

“I thought going through all of this would bring me some closure, and now that we’re halfway through I realize that was a mistake. Instead of stitching me up, this opened wounds I thought I had long since healed. This brought it all back. I hope this doesn’t do that for you. I hope it’s the period on the end of this run on sentence. I hope this is closure for you. We both need that.”

He took the letter and the note and walked to his bed, flopping on it and staring at the ceiling fan. It was soothing, in a weird way. He fell into a trance. 

His phone ringing tried to snap him out of it. He didn’t reach for it and waited until the vibrations died. They came again, and he forced himself to look at it. 

JJ. 

Great, first Derek, now JJ. He knew they were just being good friends, but it was getting tiring. He wanted to just be alone, and he especially didn’t want to hear from JJ. His relationship with her was a point of contention with you and he didn’t even know. Between what he had just read and the photo from her wedding, all the old feelings he had for her were brought back to the surface and made him feel gross. He now realized the way your face would turn sour whenever he would pick JJ up in a spin and your off remarks when he’d mention going out with her. In hindsight, you were being jealous but somewhat reasonable. Before he met you, he wondered if he was just waiting for an alternate universe where he could be with JJ. One where there was no Will and no bad Redskins date, where he could look at her without it hurting. Now he knew he’d only be waiting for an alternate universe where he could be with you. 

The phone buzzed again and he finally decided to grab it and answer. 

“Hello?”His voice was groggy and hoarse from not being used. 

“Spence? Hey, it’s me, I just wanted to see if you were okay?”

He didn’t answer, eyes still trained on the fan. 

She cleared her throat, “I just talked to Derek and...”

“What’d he say?”

“He told me about the letters, little dramatic huh?”

He could hear her roll her eyes. JJ was the sweetest person alive, but when it came to Spencer the claws could come out. 

“Yeah, I’m up to number ten,” he kept his voice steady and almost bored, not wanting to reveal anything to her. 

“Out of how many?”

“Fifteen.”

Spencer stood up and walked to the window by the chess table.

 “How are you doing?”

“Did you know every seven to ten years our cells regenerate completely?” Spencer spoke into the phone, staring out the window. It was mid afternoon by now and the snow had stopped. The cars on the road had ruined the innocent white snow, leaving dark gray slush in their wake.

“Every cell?” JJ said back, the phone making her voice crackly and hard to hear. 

“Yeah, skin cells live two to three weeks,” He swallowed thickly, “So the skin she has right now is skin I’ve never touched. Those cells don’t know who I am. My lips are already on the second cycle. They’ve never kissed her. Eventually I’ll have a body that doesn’t recognize hers and she’ll have a body that recognizes someone who isn’t me.”

JJ didn’t speak, just sighed, “You know that isn’t true.”

“It is, Jennifer,” He ran his hands through his hair, “I’m going to be stuck here and she’s going to move on and it’s killing me.” His voice cracked at the end.

 “Then don’t think of it as being stuck, think of it as a turning point. You get to choose a direction now. You’re at a crossroads, Spence, you can choose to move on.” 

She sounded earnest and he knew she was right, but he couldn’t help the feeling. It’s like he was in quicksand and no one could pull him out. 

“Thanks,” he mumbled. 

JJ sighed, “Do you want to talk about the letters?”

“No,” he said harsher than he intended, “I just want to finish this and then figure out what I’m supposed to do.”

“Well, if you need any help, you know where to find me.”

He nodded as if she could see him and whispered, “Bye.”

He hung up before she could respond. He threw the phone on the window sill and walked to the bathroom, splashing cold water over his face. He stared at his own reflection in the mirror. It looked foreign. The whites of his eyes were bloodshot, his skin looked pale, and his hair looked like he had just rolled out of bed, which he kind of had. He felt like his whole body was bruised. He toyed with his hair to get it to a tolerable place and sat back down on his bed, grabbing the tenth letter.

part 11!

taglist! (just let me know if you’d like to be added!)

@l0ve-0f-my-life @aperrywilliams @helloniallslovelies @random-ravings @ajwantsapancake @andiebeaword @boiled-onionrings @frnks-stuff @icantevenanymore1 @mellifluouswildbluebells @rottenearly @sammypotato67 @blushingwueen @peaxhyjaes @justanotherfangurlz @juniorgman187 @mbowles23-blog @blameitonthenight21​ @goldentournesol​

#spencer reid #spencer x you #spencer reid fic #spencer reid smut #spencer #reid #reid x you #reid fic #cm #cm fic #criminal minds #criminal minds fic #mgg #fanfiction #matthew gray gubler

[ggukcangetit]

Dreamcatchers Chap 1

Pairing: jungkook x oc

Summary: DI Jeon didn’t need a new partner. Unfortunately, his superiors felt otherwise; especially considering the extremely high-profile murder that had just taken place in the port city. Recent transfer, DI Choi Yuri finds herself confronted with a new cityscape, unfamiliar people, a hostile partner, and a homicide that is certain to bring back unpleasant memories.  

Genre/AU: fluff/action/mystery | detective! au | police!jungkook, police!oc

Word Count: 3.1k

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: mentions of violence, alcohol, blood, drugs, death. basically stuff you’d associate with a murder mystery/crime drama.

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Acknowledgement: shoutout to @stutterfly​ for designing this beautiful banner which i am completely in love with and stare at for no particular reason throughout the day

A/N: here’s the first chapter! i had originally planned on posting the entire story as one post but it’s way too long so i’m breaking it up into multiple chapters. the story features a named oc because i’m still very unfamiliar with writing second person reader inserts. i’m not aiming for strict accuracy in this story, and all criminal investigation/forensics knowledge i have has been gathered by watching crime drama/procedural dramas! my knowledge of geography is also not totally accurate so apologies for that. once again, one thing right by @hobios​ prompted me to write a police inspector! jungkook story. would highly recommend reading that because it’s probably one of my most favorite pieces of writing!

16th December

Mornings began early in the Yeongdo district of Busan. Yuri realised this on her first morning in town, as her fitful sleep was broken around 5 in the morning. Perhaps the quiet bustle at the crack of dawn shouldn’t have surprised her too much, given how this was primarily a seaside town with a small port. Her work did not require her to arrive before 8 am so she decided to talk a stroll around the town, acquaint herself with some of the shops and people, and perhaps even grab a bite to eat.

Yuri’s best friend from high school - Kim Ahreum, lived in this town, and this was one of the few reasons why Yuri hadn’t protested violently against her transfer. That, and she hadn’t been given much of a choice from her superiors. Ahreum had texted her excitedly about how beautiful the sea port of Yeongdo was - full of beautiful parks, quirky shops, exquisite food, and fascinating people. Coming from Seoul, Yuri wondered how difficult it would be for her to adjust to a world that sounded so different from the one she was coming from. Ahreum herself was a doctor in training, while her older brother - Namjoon, was in his final year of graduate school, just a few months away from his second law degree. Yuri didn’t remember much of Namjoon as he had left for college by the time she and Ahreum had become friends in their second year of high school. Her limited memory told her that he was very well read, quiet, and taller than the most other boys in school. 

“Hey! I haven’t seen you around before.” 

Yuri looked around for the owner of the voice - a little girl with two tight pigtails, a bright red dress, and a look of suspicion and curiosity lining her face. The woman beside her - presumably her mother - looked appalled at the little girl’s statement and shushed her before apologising to Yuri.

“I’m so sorry, miss,” she said, bowing deeply. “Nayeong here doesn’t really know how to talk to elders!”

“That’s alright,” replied Yuri, returning the bow. She squatted down in front of Nayeong and looked straight into her eyes. “Hello, my name is Choi Yuri. I moved here yesterday. It’s nice to meet you, and I hope we can be friends.”

The little girl seemed to hesitate in her desire to outcast this stranger who had seemingly no qualms about being truthful and friendly. Yuri could see the indecisiveness flitting through her features and decided to try a different tactic.

“I’m quite hungry but since I don’t know any of the shops over here, I was wondering if you could tell me where I could get some fresh bread and pastries.”

At these words, Nayeong’s eyes lit up and any indecision she previously held disappeared. She grabbed hold of Yuri’s hand and her mother’s, pulling them along in the direction of the town’s center. A few minutes later, they came to a halt outside a cozy looking shop.

“‘The Moon’s Post Office’?” Yuri read the sign out loud, intrigued by the name.

“Seokjin oppa makes the best pastries in the world! Eomma, tell her!” Nayeong exclaimed, looking at her mother excitedly. 

“Alright, alright,” her mother laughed. “Yes, Nayeong is right. Seokjin does make incredible pastries, breads, and desserts. It’s almost impossible to stop this one from visiting the shop every day.”

“Well then, I guess I’ll just have to go in and find out. Would you like to join me, Nayeong?” asked Yuri. She glanced at the older woman once, to make sure this request wasn’t out of line.

“Can I, Eomma?” asked Nayeong, excitedly.

“Of course! It’s always a good thing to help others out.” Nayeong squealed happily at her mother’s response and rushed inside.

“I’m Lim Seora, it’s nice to meet you,” said the older woman, once her daughter was inside.

“Choi Yuri,” Yuri responded, bowing deeply. “Thank you for accompanying me here.”

Once inside, Yuri felt her senses getting assaulted by a plethora of soft, sweet, refreshing smells. Nayeong was already at the counter, talking to someone about the different things she wanted. Yuri felt her throat go dry as she glanced at the person behind the counter. She had rarely seen anyone as handsome as the young man currently talking to Nayeong. His thick black hair kept falling over his forehead which he tried to remove with a gentle shake of his head, his plump pink lips pressed together in amusement as an oversized black and red cardigan hung off his rather broad shoulders. 

“So that’s three blueberry scones, one orange muffin, and a bag of peanut butter cookies?” asked the young man, to which Nayeong nodded enthusiastically.

“Anything else?” he asked.

“I’ve brought a friend with me today. She’s hungry so can you make something tasty for her, Oppa?” responded Nayeong, pulling Yuri forward.

“Is that right? Hello, I don’t think we’ve met,” he said with a soft smile. “Kim Seokjin, I run this bakery.”

“Nice to meet you,” replied Yuri, bowing in greeting. “I’m Choi Yuri, I moved here yesterday.”

“Nice to meet you too! May I recommend the Snow Croissant?” said Seokjin, sweeping his hand dramatically over the display case.

“The ‘Snow Croissant’? What’s that?” asked Yuri, chuckling at his enthusiasm. 

“It’s my take on the New Orleans Beignet and the French Croissant,” he replied, bringing out a golden flaky croissant dusted with powdered sugar. 

Yuri took a bite of the pastry and gasped in surprise. The light crunch of the savoury croissant blended beautifully with the soft sweetness of the sugar dust, along with-

“A hint of lemon?” wondered Yuri, biting into the pastry absentmindedly. 

“That’s fantastic! Not many people have been able to detect the subtle lemon flavour infused into the pastry dough,” replied Seokjin, looking extremely pleased. “Would you like anything else?”

“A coffee, please,” said Yuri, throwing the paper plate into the nearby dustbin. “To-go. And how much do I owe you?”

“It’s on the house,” replied Seokjin, with a wink. “Consider it a welcome present. Hope to see you around!”

“Oh…” Yuri flushed slightly at his generosity, but accepted it nonetheless. The clock inside the bakery chimed seven times, indicating that she had spent close to an hour with her new acquaintances. 

“I should get going,” she said, taking the coffee cup from the counter. “Don’t want to be late on my first day of work. It was nice meeting you all. I hope we meet again, Nayeong!”

xxx

“You can’t be serious! Why the hell are you doing this?!”

Chief Inspector Goh pinched the bridge of his nose as he watched one of his best officers fly off the handle. 3 years into the force Detective Inspector Jeon had proven himself to be smart, capable, and extremely reliable. The only problem was a recent case which had slowly come to take over his life. Which was why, when Chief Inspector Goh had called him into the office to tell him that they were closing the case, DI Jeon had taken it a little too hard.

“Jeon, you are, first and foremost, a homicide detective. Granted that this disappearance was linked to a homicide you were investigating, but you need to let it go. There are other, more pressing, cases that require your attention. We need you back on the force full time. Let Lee handle the disappearance - it's his department. For now, I’m assigning you a new partner to work with. Especially-”

A knock on the door interrupted Chief Inspector Goh, followed by the entrance of an unfamiliar face. 

“Right on time! That’s the kind of dedication we’re looking for over here,” said Goh with an appreciative nod. “Jeon, meet your new partner - Detective Inspector Choi Yuri. She’s just transferred here from Seoul. DI Choi, this is Detective Inspector Jeon Jeongguk - he’s one of our best men.”

DI Jeon scowled as he surveyed his new partner. She was tall, dressed in a plain shirt and slacks, her short hair tucked behind her ears. She gave him a small smile and bowed in greeting. In response, DI Jeon stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

“I apologise on behalf of him,” said Chief Inspector Goh. “He isn’t usually this impolite. Really glad to have you join our team, DI Choi. You’ve had quite a number of impressive cases in Seoul, and we hope that you can continue working hard with all of us here.”

“Thank you, Chief Inspector. I will do my best,” said Yuri, with a small smile.

“Glad to hear that. Now,” he said, pulling out a thin case file from under a large stack of paperwork. “I need the two of you to head over to Manor House right now. Some officers are already at the scene, along with the forensics team. The body was found early this morning.”

“Have they identified the victim?” asked Yuri, checking how far Manor House was on her phone.

“Hmm. Kang Eunwoo, son of Kang Kiwoo, who owns the largest chain of hotels in Busan. So you can understand the situation.”

Yuri gulped softly, tucking her phone away and nodding her head slowly.

xxx

The entire ride to the crime scene was silent. Not the pleasant or comfortable kind of silence Yuri had always preferred over meaningless small talk. No, this was the stiff, suffocating silence that made her want to pitch herself out the car window. She was currently regretting not having driven to work - although she was still a bit exhausted from the nearly 5 hour drive from Seoul the previous night.

She didn’t know what to make of her new partner. When she was working in Seoul, her partner had been a 43 year old woman named Hwayoung. She was separated from her husband with whom she shared joint custody of their three kids, only drank low sugar milk tea, and talked a mile a minute while on the job. Some might have found Hwayoung a tad irritating, but Yuri had found a caring older sister in the ruthless and chaotic world of criminal investigation in the country’s capital. DI Jeon, in comparison, had yet to speak a word to her. The couple of routine questions she had asked him about the exact location and identity of the victim were met with heated silence. 

The Kangs were incredibly wealthy - the type that could buy your family business in an instant and then gift it back to you without incurring any loss. The lavish mansion reeked of money, luxury, and carelessness that only accompanied an abundance of liquid cash. The victim had been found in the private meeting room on the ground floor. Being an extremely high profile case, there were already reporters trying to get a good picture from outside the mansion itself.

“Cause of death?” asked DI Jeon, kneeling down to get a better look at the body.

“Blunt force trauma to the back of the head. Death would’ve been instantaneous,” said the forensic doctor, removing her gloves and stuffing them into her coat pocket. She turned towards Yuri and gave her a small smile. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Dr. Ahn Seulgi. I head the forensics team at the precinct.”

“Choi Yuri,” replied Yuri, bowing slightly. “I’m DI Jeon’s new partner.”

“Is today your first day at work?” asked Seulgi, with a surprised expression.

“Yeah, I just got transferred from Se-”

“DI Choi, need I remind you that there’s a body lying here?” snapped DI Jeon. “It would be better if you socialize on your own time.”

Yuri was taken aback by the anger in his tone. Even though she had worked in homicide for nearly 5 years now, her colleagues had always been polite and friendly with her. She didn’t really know how to respond to her new partner’s accusations.

“Calm down, DI Jeon,” said Seulgi, a frown settling on her forehead. “This isn’t socializing - we’re coworkers and it's impolite to not introduce yourself to each other.”

DI Jeon didn’t say anything more after that, but Yuri could feel the anger radiating off him. She was grateful to Seulgi for sticking up for her, but it didn’t look like she was going to have an easy time working with Jeon. 

“Detective Inspector,” said another officer, approaching DI Jeon with a notepad. “I’ve just spoken to the staff. It seems there was a big party here last night. The victim had invited around 10-12 of his friends and they stayed till just before midnight.”

“Thanks, Jisoo. Ask Suho to get statements from all those who were present at the party last night. As well as where they went afterwards.”

“I will,” replied Jisoo, with a nod. “Mr. Kang is waiting for you in his office.”

Kang Kiwoo didn’t look like a seasoned businessman who had a 26 year old son. His face was young and his smile was extremely attractive, but, Yuri noticed, it didn’t reach his eyes. In fact, there was something inscrutable in his dark brown irises that disturbed her more than she liked to admit. Yuri had come to realise that a person’s eyes were the first to betray their true nature; and Mr. Kang’s eyes were almost vacant.

“My condolences, Mr. Kang,” began DI Jeon. “Please rest assured that we will do everything in our power to catch whoever is responsible for this.”

“Thank you, DI Jeon,” replied Mr. Kang with a smile. “I’m feeling reassured knowing that you are handling my son’s case. And you are?”

Yuri bowed once again and introduced herself. “DI Choi Yuri. I will also be working on your son’s case with DI Jeon.”

“Well then, how can I be of assistance? DI Jeon? DI Choi?”

“Could you please tell us more about the party that took place last night?” asked DI Jeon, not giving Yuri a chance to say anything. He had already sat down on one of the chairs, and Yuri decided that she would rather remain standing.

Mr. Kang frowned for the first time since the beginning of the meeting. “My son likes to- I’m sorry. Eunwoo liked to party quite a lot. I wasn’t fond of his lifestyle and I had told him of my views many times before. This isn’t the first time that he’s taken over an entire floor of our mansion to ‘entertain’ his friends.”

“You argued with your son last night,” continued DI Jeon, consulting the notes Jisoo had given him. “What was that about?”

“If you know that we argued, I’m sure you know what we argued about.” 

“In your own words, if you will,” said DI Jeon, a forced smile gracing his features.  

“I lost the use of my legs almost 3 years ago,” said Mr. Kang, leaning forward on his desk. “I expected my son to take over the company by the time he was 28. However, he didn’t seem in the least bit inclined to take any responsibility whatsoever. So last night, I told him I would disinherit him.”

“And how did he take that news?”

“I’m quite certain you’re not asking me to elaborate on the type of language my son used last night,” said Mr. Kang, with a slight smirk. “Because I’d prefer not to.”

DI Jeon stared at the man across from him who was proving to be much more difficult than expected. “Can you tell us what your movements were for the rest of the night?”

“I was in here, finishing some paperwork, until the party got over. I said goodnight to my son and retired for the night at around half past 12.”

“How did your son seem when you last saw him?”

“He was quite inebriated. I barely got a coherent reply from him. In hindsight, I should have stayed with him until he had fallen asleep. Maybe I could have prevented his death.”

“Why do you say that?” Yuri asked, speaking for the first time since introducing herself. DI Jeon shot her a glare before returning his gaze to Mr. Kang.

“If I had been with him until he fell asleep, he wouldn’t have gotten into a fight with the Park boy.”

“The ‘Park boy’?” asked Yuri, frowning slightly.

“Park Jimin. He came here last night. I heard his voice just before I closed the door to my room.”

“Are you saying Park Jimin killed your son?” asked DI Jeon. “Do you have any proof, Mr. Kang?”

“It is your job to find proof, DI Jeon. I’m merely stating what I know. The Parks are our long time rivals; I’m sure you’re aware of that. My son never got along particularly well with Park Jimin since they were in school. As far as I can tell, he was probably the last one to see my son alive.”

xxx

Yuri was currently at Ahreum’s apartment, having dinner in honor of her moving to Busan. 

“I had such grand plans of taking you to the street food market on your first day here,” whined Ahreum. “But given how completely exhausted you look, this is the best alternative.”

“This is great, Ahreum. I haven’t soba noodles in such a long time. You’re actually a pretty decent cook.” Yuri grinned at her best friend, before slurping some noodles.

“I still can’t believe that a high profile murder took place the day you moved here. You really can’t catch a break, can you?” Ahreum sipped on her wine, while scrolling through her phone. “Social media is blowing up with this.”

“I’m just glad I could leave in time for dinner. The way Jeon was treating me, I thought he would make me file paperwork at the station the entire night.”

“I don’t really get that. Jeongguk’s a pretty decent guy. Why’s he being such a dick to you?” Ahreum asked, tying her long brown curls into a bun. “Namjoon’s known him since before I moved here. He only has good things to say about him.”

“Beats me,” shrugged Yuri. “But more importantly, where is Namjoon? I thought he’d be joining us for dinner today.”

“He’s still at the library.”

“It’s almost 11 pm.”

“Yeah, the library closes at midnight. He’ll probably come home after that.” Ahreum stretched her hands above her head before stifling a yawn. “He runs on very little sleep anyway.”

“Nice to see that hasn’t changed since I last saw him,” grinned Yuri, slipping on her shoes and getting ready to leave. “Thanks for dinner, Ahreum. I really needed this today.”

“Oh shut up! You know I’m always ready to feed you!” she replied with a wink. “Now go home and get some sleep.”

Sleep. That was the problem. 

xxx

hope you enjoyed the first chapter! feel free to send me an ask if you have any questions so far. and don’t forget to like/reblog if you enjoyed the chapter!

#jungkook #jungkook fic #jungkook x oc #jimin #taehyung #seokjin #namjoon #yoongi #hoseok #bts fic #c me write bangtan #btsbookclub

[purrincesskittens]

Story prompt where Mari is dating Kagami and Bustier and Adrien don’t like that Kagami is helping Marinette be more confident and stand up for herself?

"You can say no. Tell them no more often so you don't have to stress over stuff at the last minute." Kagami comments as she watches her girlfriend rush around her room to make something for her class that they wanted done. "And no it's not mean to say no. You're only one person you can't do everything you're going to burn yourself out at this rate." Kagami moves off the lounge to press a kiss to her girlfriend's lips wrapping her arms around the petite girl who had a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Okay class don't forget that the bake sale fundraiser is this weekend and we need to reach our goal in order to go on the big year end field trip." Ms. Bustier announces at the end of class a few days after Marinette and Kagami hung out in her room instead of going on the date they had planned. "Now whose bringing what?" Everyone listed off what they were bringing which wasn't much really just one item from each person and some people were bringing store bought items. At least Chloe was bringing a bunch of baked goods that she was having her chefs make as per usual. Lila wasn't even bringing anything herself something about her arthritis acting up and how if she could she would have made her famous cookies for everyone to try.

"And Marinette your bringing your usual." Ms. Bustier announces checking everything of her list ensuring with Marinette's generous donation of baked goods from her family's bakery they would be sure to reach their goal if not exceed it. "Actually I'm not able to bring as much this year. It costs the bakery to much for me to keep bringing stuff so instead I'm just bring all the day old stuff and a few batches of premade cookies." Marinette pipes up stealing herself against the protests sure to come.

"Now Marinette..." Ms. Bustier starts to chastise gently only to be interrupted by her role model student. "No Ms. Bustier I can not bring anything more then I already am it costs my parents their livelihood by bringing in more than what I already am and I do not have the time or money in which to make more myself. I also will be unable to help with the bake sale itself. I already have plans." Mari stood firm a determined expression on her face straightening her spine eyes ahead not looking at anyone but Ms. Bustier. Especially not a certain blonde model who was giving her a disappointed look.

"Marinette can I talk to you outside the room for a minute?" Despite how it was phrased she knew it wasn't a request but still she didn't give in. "Miss whatever you wish to talk to me about can be done in front of the whole class." Whispers spread through the classroom as everyone stared at her or rather glared. Adrien's disappointed look increased but still she didn't glance at him. Lila opened her mouth to most likely spout off something about her being a bad friend but got cut off.

"Im sure you can come up with something if you try. You have every other time and remember what we talked about with the Marinette's in the world." Ms. Bustiers smile widened stretched across her face straining as she tried to coerce her star student into doing what was expected of her. "Yeah Mari you're so brilliant and amazing it shouldn't be so hard for you to do this especially since you've done it every other time and the bake sale won't go off as well without you. I'm sure you can rearrange your plans till after the bake sale. You're our class president after all we need you there we wouldn't be as successful without you." Adrien throws in standing up and giving the dark haired girl a winning smile trying to get her to agree so the class wouldn't argue.

"I have plans already and I can't cancel them I already canceled my plans the other day because someone wanted something done and I didn't have time unless I canceled my date. I don't have any money left to contribute more than what I already promised nor do I have the time to contribute. I'm not canceling my date again. We already have reservations at a restaurant and tickets to see a movie. I refuse to cancel the date I had planned long in advance when there are plenty of people to help out for the bake sale." She turned her head away from her former crush gathering the rest of her stuff as the bell rang running down the steps and jumping into the arms of her girlfriend who had come to pick her up. Kagami caught the other girl easily hoisting her up in her arms so she could plant a kiss on her lips. Giving the class a glare especially a certain blonde boy and the useless teacher she strode away carrying her giggling girlfriend in her arms.

.........

That weekend Marinette showed up with a couple boxes of baked goods from her parents bakery and two dozen cookies she had made up from frozen cookie dough she kept in her freezer for special occasions. Her contribution was still the most anyone had brought but not nearly as much as she used to bring to previous bake sales. "Marinette there you are we need someone to run the stand for a little while I'm sure it won't be that hard to push your date out a little to help out. After all where would we be without our class president?" Ms. Bustier exclaims with forced cheer as she tried to gently direct Marinette towards the table where Rose was setting up everything. Marinette frowned digging her heals in and manoeuvring out from under her teachers grip. "I'm sorry but I already told you I can't. I already have plans that are set in stone, I can't keep canceling or delaying them what kind of girlfriend would I be if I kept doing that?" She set her stuff down on the table with Rose giving her a cheerful smile before turning to walk away. "Now Marinette I'm counting on you to set a good example..." The teacher places a hand on the girls shoulder, moving in front of her to block her path. "I don't care there are plenty of people here who can help out and Rose is doing a great job, now I'm going to be late for my date so if you'll excuse me." She shrugged the hand off her shoulder and moved towards where Kagami was waiting for her only to be blocked by Adrien. Rolling her eyes and giving a frustrated huff she tried to move around him only to be blocked again. "Marinette what's gotten into you? You're not acting like you usually do. What happened to our everyday ladybug?" Adrien asks giving her sad kitten eyes his voice laced with disapproval. "She grew a spine that's what happened now MOVE." Kagami came forward shoving Adrien out of the way to take her girlfriend by the hand and guide her to the waiting car. Shooting one more glare over her shoulder at the boy she got in and closed the door leaving the class behind as the car pulled away.

#ml salt prompt #salt #salt prompts #ml salt #ms. bustier salt #adrien salt #kagaminette

[holidaywishes]

i can’t carry this anymore

part twelve: i can’t carry this anymore

  Summary: After Freddie goes back to Toronto, You are bombarded with questions and judgements from your family

  Warning: mostly angst but some fluff as well

  Author’s Note: Here is the angsty chapter, yay! I think I’ve only done angsty sections in this series but this chapter will be (almost) completely angst, with a touch of fluff to round it out, which either means it’s really long or really short. Since I haven’t written it yet, I can’t say yet. Also! I’ve been listening to this song nonstop and I love it. I wanted to put it into something but I didn’t really know how but then this idea of a death in the family came up and it seemed fitting. I hope you enjoy it! Stay Golden, Loves! ❤️

  masterlist

  the other masterlist

  Song Credit: I Can’t Carry This Anymore -- Anson Seabra

xx

  You hated watching Freddie leave and that Vita had to see her parents fight but you were too stubborn to admit you were wrong.

  “Why did you tell him to leave?” your mom asked

  “Mom, please” you groaned

  “Why did you let him leave?” Lauren added

  “I. Have. To. Be. Here,” you explained, emphasizing each word bitingly, “I made a promise to everyone and I can’t just bail because he needs to get back to training”

  “Baby,” your dad added softly, “it’s his job, he’s committed to it”

  “But it’s not that simple, dad,” you sighed, “he never talked to me about this. I wake up and he’s telling me we have to leave. I get that he’s committed to his job and I love that about him but this is something that is happening with me and he shouldn’t just expect me to bail on it because he needs me to”

  “Sometimes you need to compromise!” Lauren argued

  “What do you know about any of it, Laur?”

  “Hey now,” your mom tried, “don’t talk like that”

  “No, I’m serious. I’m really curious, mom,” you continued, talking about your sister as if she weren’t there, “She’s never had to compromise with anyone. Ever. Her relationships have always been easy!”

  “THAT’S NOT TRUE!” Lauren yelled

  “Girls...” your dad tried

  “All relationships need work, including mine. All relationships need to have some kind of compromise--”

  “I DO COMPROMISE!” You interrupted, “the father of my child is gone days, weeks at a time. I didn’t get to have a honeymoon because the hockey season started. I’ve spent more time talking about the Stanley Cup than I have about birthday parties and engagement parties and Christmases. He gave me a beautiful wedding and a beautiful daughter and he loves me every day and I love him every day but this was one thing, one thing that I needed him to compromise on and he wouldn’t”

  “Because of his job!” Lauren repeated

  “IT DOESN’T MATTER, LAUREN!” You yelled back, “this is my grandparents funeral. It doesn’t just end when they’re cremated or when their ashes are spread where they wanted, it doesn’t end for us the way it ends for everyone else. He should’ve understood that!”

  “HE WANTED TO BE HOME WITH YOU SO YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO STRESS OVER DUMB SHIT!” she shouted at you, the two of you standing up to face each other as close as you could before your parents pulled you apart

  “DUMB SHIT?! DUMB SHIT?!” you continued, fighting your fathers attempts to pull you away from your sister, “DUMB SHIT LIKE HELPING OUR PARENTS CLEAR OUT OUR GRANDPARENTS HOUSE? DUMB SHIT LIKE BEING A GOOD DAUGHTER? DUMB SHIT LIKE ACTUALLY GIVING A SHIT ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS TO THIS PLACE?”

  “YOU’RE NEVER GONNA LIVE HERE! SO WHY DO YOU CARE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS TO THIS PLACE?!”

  “THEY WERE MY GRANDPARENTS, LAUREN! THIS IS WHERE THEY LIVED! THAT’S WHY!”

  “YOU HAVE A LIFE SOMEWHERE ELSE! WITH OTHER PEOPLE!”

  “THAT DOESN’T MEAN I DON’T HAVE THIS LIFE TOO!”

  “YES IT DOES! YOU’VE STARTED YOUR LIFE SOMEWHERE ELSE, YOU DON’T NEED ALL OF THIS!” You heard Vita begin to cry and you wanted to comfort her but your sisters words were still flying at you to a point where you couldn’t stop yourself from yelling at her

  “WHY DO YOU WANT ME TO LEAVE SO BADLY? WHAT DO YOU GET FROM ME HOPPING ON A PLANE?”

  “I J--”

  “ENOUGH!” Your dad finally yelled so the two of you would stop, “You’re both being ridiculous! (Y/N), we appreciate that you want to stay here but Lauren is right, your life is with Freddie and Vita in Toronto,” Vita was still crying but it wasn’t as intense as it was before, probably due to your mom rocking her back and forth and shielding her ears from the yelling, “and Lauren, stop yelling at your sister. I know your intentions are good but you have no idea what she’s going through so stop trying to get under her skin”

  “PAPA IT’S NOT MY FAULT, ALL I WAS--”

  “I DON’T CARE, LAUREN!” He finally snapped, his face turning bright red and his posture becoming imposing, “YOU’RE THE OLDER SISTER, ACT LIKE IT OR GET THE HELL OUT!” Everything was silent for a while before your sister eventually left the room and you were left to pick up the pieces

  “I’m sorry, Papa...” you said quietly

  “You should go home, Liebling” he confessed

  “Why is everyone trying to get rid of me?”

  “We’re not trying to get rid of you, love,” your mom added, handing Vita to you before kissing your head, “we love you but so does Freddie. You two should be together”

  “Yeah, he should’ve stayed--”

  “We’re not getting into this again” your dad interrupted

  “What your father means is that Vita should have both of her parents with her in a stress free environment. Running around trying to clean up a dusty old house so far away from home isn’t what your new family needs right now”

  “But Mama,” you tried, “I can’t just leave. I can’t just let all of you... say goodbye to them without me”

  “Is that what this is about?” your mom asked and you nodded, a small tear escaping your eye, “baby, we’re not saying goodbye without you. We’ve all said our goodbyes. This stuff here, it’s just stuff. It’s not them.”

  “But it’s all their memories. Their first date, their first fight, their wedding album, your baby pictures,” you rambled, gesturing to your mom, “their favourite shows and favourite clothes. Oma’s old jewelry that she didn’t want to ruin so she would keep in a box, Opa’s old suits that he never had a reason to wear anymore or his dress blues that he kept from the Navy.”

  “Baby girl,” your dad cooed, wrapping his arm around your shoulders and guiding you to the bench in the kitchen, “your Oma and Opa lived a very full life. They had things to keep them comfortable and content but even they would agree, that these things are just things. Just stuff, like Mama said, if you want some of it to remember them, we can put them aside for you and bring them back or send them to you. But they are not this stuff. The memories are not in some dusty old suit or tattered quilt, the memories are in here,” he tapped the top of your head and you giggled, “locked away safe where you can always get to them”

  “And they’ll never fade” your mom added

  “That’s right,” your dad smiled and you did in return, “they would want you to make new memories with your husband and let the stuff just be stuff. Miss them, love them, but don’t worry about all the stuff.”

  “Stop saying stuff,” you laughed, “oh papa.. I know it’s all things and I know that I’ll have the memories forever but it’s not just about that... It’s about Freddie wanting to leave so soon after the funeral, without even talking to me. All so he can go back to training camp for another Hockey season. It’s never about him compromising in the smallest way. I needed him here and he needed to be there... I will always come second”

  “That’s not true,” your mom said, “his job is important but you are his life. Both of you. Everything he does, he does for you and your little girl. Sometimes it sucks and sometimes it doesn’t seem like he’s listening to you or compromising for you but he is. Trust me, he talks about you two all the time and says he hates that he has to be away but he wants to give you the best”

  “I just want him around and sometimes it feels like the league is more important...” You shook your head, kissing the top of Vita’s head to find some kind of comfort in how you were feeling before you went to find your sister

  “Laur?” you whispered from around the corner

  “What?” she snapped

  “I just wanted to apologize,” you said, leading her to turn and face you, “I shouldn’t have yelled like that. I know you mean well but I was -- it doesn’t matter. I’m sorry”

  “I’m sorry, too,” she admitted, “I know how much you love him and how important it is to spend time with them. I guess I just thought that you’d want to spend as much time with him as you could.”

  “I do,” you sighed, “I just... also wanted to be here. With everyone. To say goodbye to this place, these memories, these things... I didn’t want to come back one day and pass this house and realize that it’s completely different. That whoever buys it just buys it to flip it. It’s an old house and people do that with old houses you know? I just wanted one last memory here since I haven’t been here since we were kids...”

  “I get that” she smiled

  “But it doesn’t matter...” you continued, “I know that something is going to happen to this place, unless someone in the family buys it and keeps it exactly the same. It’s going to change because it has to. Because they’re gone... God, I can’t believe they’re gone.“ You sighed, dropping your head to your hands, “I can’t believe we’ll never hear Opa’s snort when he laughs anymore”

  “Or the way Oma had to wake him up every time he fell asleep with his plate on his stomach” she laughed

  “Or the way they would hold hands anytime they walked together”

  “I remember when we were kids, they were babysitting us and we caught them kissing in the kitchen after Oma was finished baking cookies”

  “I remember that, she had dough on her cheek and he said he was helping her” the two of you giggled at the memories

  “I miss them already”

  “Me too” you said quietly

  “They loved us,” Lauren added, “but they loved you the most.”

  “They did not” you scoffed

  “No, seriously. They told me,” you laughed but she continued, “they loved me, they never denied that, but they said that you had a kindness to you that they’d never experienced before. They so admired it”

  “I got it from them”

  “I know,” she laughed, “but I just wanted you to know that you were the favourite.”

  “Oh, Lauren....” you sighed, bouncing your daughter on your knee, “I gotta go home”

  “Yes you do” she smirked

  “Do you think I screwed everything up?” you winced

  “Yes.” She joked and you scoffed in response, “no, you didn’t screw things up. But you do need to be there for him”

  “Fine...” you laughed before standing up and making your way upstairs to pack yours and Vita’s things. It appeared that your family had already ordered an Uber for you because they were waiting outside to say goodbye.

  “We love you” your dad said, hugging you tightly as the driver grabbed your bags to put them in the trunk

  “Tell Freddie we love him too” your mom added

  “And don’t forget to tell him you’re sorry.” You laughed before hugging your sister and hopping in the car to head to the airport; eager to get back to Freddie and make things right.

xx

Freddie’s P.O.V

  You got back to the house and dropped your bags before letting out a sigh. You weren’t sure what would happen when (Y/N) got back but you hoped a lot of time wouldn’t pass before she appeared at the door. Until then, you had to continue with your daily life; that meant waking up early the next morning and going to practice

  “HEY FRED!” Willy called out to you, “wait up!”

  “What’s up Willy?” you asked as you both walked to the ice

  “I heard about (Y/N)’s grandparents,” he started, “I’m sorry.”

  “Thanks, bud. She’s still in Vienna for a bit but I’ll let her know you were thinking about her.” He patted you on the back before skating away from you and, needless to say, you couldn’t concentrate and you were quick to run home. Hoping that she would be there when you got there, “(Y/N)?!” You called out as soon as you walked in the door but not hearing a response, forcing you to collapse onto the couch

  “Freddie?” her voice rang through the room and to your ear, “baby?”

  “You’re here!” you exclaimed, “God, I hoped you’d be here.” You ran to hug her and she giggled as you spun her around

  “I’m sorry.. for yelling and for everything,” she said, “I didn’t mean any of it”

  “I know, elske” you said before kissing her face

  “Fred.. Fred,” she laughed, “Fred! Hold on, we need to talk about this”

  “What?” you asked and she stepped back

  “I hate that you left that you didn’t want to compromise on this... I know Hockey is important, I know it’s your job but I needed you to be with me, even if it meant not being here. In Toronto.”

  “I know,” you admitted, “but I did need to be here. Can you understand that?” She scoffed in response, pushing away your arms and walking toward the couch

  “Sometimes, Fred, it feels like it’s all up to me. To carry everything. To carry us, this relationship, this marriage. I can understand a lot, I can put up with a lot but I’m trying to stay strong for my daughter, for you, and I don’t know how much more I can push myself before I break. I need you to put in as much effort as I seem to be. I lost two of my favourite people in the world and I couldn’t re-live their memories because I had to come back here. To deal with this.” She gestured between the two of you while you just dropped your head, “I fought with my sister and made Vita cry because I was tired of compromising. I just.. I’m scared that I’ll have to be this person forever, the one who waits for you to come home. Who drops everything even when things are going well because your career needs me to. I can’t carry this anymore, I can’t be the only one doing the giving in this relationship. I need you carry us. I need you to carry me sometimes, too, okay?”

  “Of course,” you said, hugging her close and tucking your face in her neck, “I’m sorry that you feel like you have to carry all of this. I want you to drop your stuff on me, okay? Let me take your stress, let me carry you. Let me do all the things that you don’t want to do.” She giggled at your words before she lifted your chin so she could look at you

  “I guess I didn’t realize how upset I was about Oma and Opa. I mean I knew I was sad, I knew I was grieving but I think I was just holding onto all of it because I wanted to be strong for everybody, I didn’t want to crumble and cry because I knew I’d never stop if I started. So I started carrying all this pain and then I took it out on you,” she said quietly, placing her hand on the side of your face as she spoke, “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I’m sorry I was so selfish, I’m sorry I--” she interrupted you with a kiss and you tried your best not to break it, you hadn’t realized how much you’d missed kissing her until you finally had the chance again, but she needed to pull away

  “I love you.” She stated simply and you kissed her nose quickly, reciprocating her words before capturing her lips in another kiss and, this time, you wouldn’t let her go.

#Frederik Andersen #Frederik Andersen imagine #Frederik Andersen fic #Frederik Andersen series #penultimate chapter #penultimate #Freddie Andersen #Freddie Andersen fic #Freddie Andersen imagine #Freddie Andersen series #masterlist #the other masterlist

[danny-chase]

Hello, are there any Cassandra Cain fans/stans that could help me out with her characterization? I’ve just started to get into writing fanfiction (I haven’t posted any, and am working towards getting more confident with writing the characters in general so hopefully I’ll post some someday) and I haven’t been in the fandom long. Cass is a confusing character for me to write, mostly because I feel like she’s written differently in everything she’s in. And her personality absolutely got erased and overhauled in the New52. I’ve read some of her Batgirl run (it was awhile ago ngl) and I read the storyline where she was introduced in the New52 and the Rise and the Fall of the Batmen (I think that’s the arc she’s involved in with Detective Comics). Idk, more under cut.

My goal in writing Cass is to make her seem like a real person and I’m drawing more on pre-New52 than post-New52. I feel like she used to have so much more to her than just being like a perfect person and the sweetest person in general. Not that she can’t be sweet (I love cinnamon bun Cass too), but she used to have much more grit to her personality it seems like. I’m blending the two personalities, and I’d really like to focus on her love for dance, it’s one of the changes I really liked, and of course her connections to her siblings because I love sibling dynamics. Currently I’m working on a fic where she ends up dancing with each of her siblings. I like the idea of writing her as a bit snarky or sassy (the kind of person that just stares at you with the “really” expression when you do something dumb), more introverted, a bit of a little shit, self deprecating, but genuinely kind hearted, driven, and a perfectionist. I also don’t want to write her as being a magic character that instantly knows what’s wrong with a character. Yeah, she can read body language, but her family is good at hiding things, they’ve been trained recognizing body language and I’m guessing some of them have worked to have good control over their own. My interpretation is she can tell what people are feeling but not why, and how they’re going to move. I’ve written a little bit of the fic so far (um please don’t feel obligated to read through it, any comments on how you think Cass should be written is helpful) so I’ll post it below. Thanks for reading this far if you made it XD.

I don’t have a title for this lmao but the fic starts here:

“Hey.” Dick gently placed a hand on her shoulder as he hopped down from his spot on the water tower. “You know who’s my most favorite, strongest, most beautiful, spectacular-”

Cass groaned; he was making the face. He was wearing his Nightwing mask, but as she turned to look, she could already tell he was making the face. Dick ignored her groans and continued “-most perfect, amazing, gorgeous, sweetest, nicest, kindhearted, thoughtful-”

Cass pulled away; she would not be doing what he asked. Nope. The last time she heard Dick talking like this, Barbara ended up agreeing to dog sit for Titus. The dog chewed everything in the clocktower; they were still finding ripped up socks in various locations. “He’s so well behaved” he said. “It won’t be for that long” he said. “You’re the best thank you so, so much” he said. On the bright side, Dick had bought her new ballet shoes to replace the ones Titus tore through. But they’d taken weeks to break in and-oh he was still talking.

“-smartest, wisest, funniest, loveliest, badass, awesomest, funnest-” Cass placed her hands on her hips and stood up to meet him. The stakeout had been going fine on her own, at this rate she probably didn’t need his backup anyways, so if this was something stupid, she could always tell him to leave. She gave him her best “bat-glare” as he continued to mumble on compliments. “fantastic, reliable, trustworthy-” his voice grew smaller as she continued glaring. He cleared his throat “sister of all time?” He finished.

Cass sighed and leaned back against the tower’s support. “What do you want?” Dick gave her a weak smile, embarrassment radiated off him. That couldn’t be good.

“Look, I’ll cut to the chase.” Thank heavens for that. “But like, just know I love you so much.” Cass wished she could stick her tongue out, maybe the domino mask was the way to go. She settled for lightly shoving his shoulder. He grinned at her, doing his best to seem casual, but slight tension in his neck gave away his discomfort. Dick was always hard for her to read, he was a performer from birth, and had excellent control of his posture and facial expressions. He gave himself away in movement, in the lack thereof. He could paint the perfect mask, but it slipped slightly when he moved. He was nervous, anxious, exasperated, and worried. Cass was intrigued.

“What is it?” She said, more gently than before, turning back to watch her mark. She could hear Dick let out a deep breath.

“It’s Da-Robin. He got invited to a formal.” Cass turned back and cocked her head. “Don’t give me that look, you know how he is.” He said, shifting his weight. “It’s a school event, so they’ve been learning ballroom dance in gym. But I got a call the other day from the gym teacher saying he’s not participating.”

“Why should he?” Cass asked. “You shouldn’t force people to do things they don’t want to do.” Living with the family long enough had taught her that. If the kid didn’t want to dance, he shouldn’t have to.

“Yeah, I know.” Dick replied a bit flatly. He moved to crouch where she had been sitting and focused on the building across the street. “But I don’t know if he doesn’t want to, or if he’s just embarrassed.” Cass thought for a moment. “I don’t suppose he grew up with many dance lessons.” He added a bit apologetically. She shook her head.

“Have you talked to him?” She asked. Dick sighed.

“I tried. But he kept switching topics and when I pressed it, he locked himself in his room. Which is why I’m concerned.” Cass hummed in affirmation. It made sense.

“Why haven’t you tried teaching him?” Dick wasn’t a bad dancer, and he’d always performed quite well at the galas.

He looked back at her sheepishly. “I gave it a go last time I was at the manor. But he stormed off before we could get anything done. Something about me being an embarrassment to the family.”

Cass rolled her eyes under the cowl. “What did you do?”

“I just wanted to do some jazzercising to warm up, what’s wrong with that?” Dick spluttered in response. Cass lightly smacked the back of his head. “So anyways, I lost my chance at it. I can’t even play music without him running away.” He continued, ducking away as she tried to tap him again. “Besides, you’re probably a better height to practice with for him.” She scoffed in response.

“When’s the gala?” She asked. It slipped out without her permission. She wasn’t getting involved. The kid could figure it out on his own. Couldn’t he?

“It’s next weekend.” He replied and sighed. “I don’t want him to miss it. He never does stuff that’s age appropriate.” Oh, no. Not that card. Cass would not be involved, she had work to do. She stepped back to lean against the tower again and bit her lip. “And some girl in his class asked him to go. Her name’s Maps and she’s a really good influence on him.” She crossed her arms tighter. Damian was rude to her. He called her Cain. Not. Getting. Involved. “She’s so energetic, it helps him loosen up-” Damnit.

“Fine.” Dick whipped around to look at her, not bothering to hide his disbelief. She squirmed internally. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about the kid. It was just easier to spend time on her own. The kid was better off without her influence anyways.

“Are you sure, I could ask Steph or I don’t know-” He continued.

She cut him off. “I’ll do it. I don’t mind.” The others wouldn’t work. Dick knew that going into the conversation. They were too…loud in their judgement. Steph would laugh at the wrong time, Tim would say the wrong thing, Jason didn’t have the patience for the kid’s temper, and Duke would be a safe bet, but was away on Outsider business for the next two weeks.

Dick practically melted in relief. “Thank you so-”

“You owe me, big brother.” Cass reminded.

“Anything you want, little sister.” He promised. “Are hugs acceptable as a down payment? I could kiss you right now.”

“Eww.” Cass made a face under the mask but strode forward as he opened his arms and stood for a hug. He eagerly wrapped her in a bear hug. She couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re winning sister of the year award.” He said as he released her.

“You’re making me cookies.” She retorted. Dick grimaced.

“Can I buy them?” He asked hesitantly. She shook her head.

“Homemade, with love. And I’m watching.” She added, smirking under the mask. Dick sunk back down into position.

“I’ll do my best.” He promised. Cass snickered. The last time Dick tried making cookies, he apparently caught his oven mitts on fire. There was still a bit of cookie dough on the ceiling he hadn’t noticed yet.

A flash of movement jolted her back into reality, their mark was making his move. She shot her grapple, and Dick quickly followed suit. “I’ll text you the plan tomorrow.” He promised as they leapt into the night.

Thanks so much if you read this far, and please comment or send me feedback directly if you have the time and don’t mind. I’m sorry if you completely disagree with how I characterized her (or Dick/Damian for that matter) I’m mostly relying on Damian’s canon interactions with her and Dick’s half canon half fanon personality (I know they don’t get on great in the comics...but sibling dynamics) and the rest of this portion of the fic would focus on Damian earning more respect for her (and learning to call her Cass - not Cain).

#i don't know how i feel about posting this #this is the first time i've posted some of my writing #and it isn't betad or anything #please help me #i don't know what i'm doing #i don't even have an AO3 account cuz i'm such a noob #it's gonna take time #a whole lot of precious time #but someday i will hopefully post a fic or two #if i ever finish one of them... #cassandra cain #batgirls #batfam #batman #dc #black bat #orphan

[abandonedlefteye]

Derry 1988- Part One (Losers club x reader)

Summary: This is inspired by the book ‘11/22/63’. The reader is an average girl from the year 2020 but accidentally travels into a parallel universe and finds herself in Derry 1988 where she meets the losers club, and tries to change their fate.

Warnings: Spoilers (IT, and IT: Chapter 2), Swearing, Violence (Bowers gang)

“DON’T LISTEN TO HIM GEORGIE!”

“STAN DON’T DO IT!”

“MOVE OUT OF THE WAY EDDIE!”

“......this can’t be the end”

**********

Summer boredom was just about killing 17 year old Y/n Y/l/n. She spent most of her days either on her phone or watching her favourite movies. Her most favourite movie however had to be ‘IT’, she didn’t know why exactly but it was something about the characters, how she wished she could be a part of that world, even if it was a horror movie, a tragic one after all.

She had just finished watching IT: CH2 for what felt like the 5th time since it came out. Her eyes red from crying at the death of not one, but two characters that she for some reason felt so close to.

Y/n closed her laptop as she got out of her bed and walked into the hallway. She had just moved into a new house with her aunt a few days prior. Her current room was just a bed and...well that was it. Her aunt had been raising her for as long as she could remember since her parents passed away in a car accident when she was just a baby.

Deciding it was time she explored the area, Y/n texted her aunt saying she’d be back by sunset and started to put her shoes on. She was wearing tight jeans matched with a cropped t-shirt as she made her way out the door.

Y/n then rode her bike around the small town of Windsville (made up), soon stopping at an ice cream store that was located in a plaza that consisted of no other stores; but instead a dentists office...how ironic. She got her favourite which was one scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough in a cup, because she hated the cone. As she sat down and looked out the window she noticed how old the buildings were and how much the area lacked of greenery. The last thing she wanted was to go from living in sunny California with all her friends to being in a dark sketchy town where she had yet to see anyone that looked under the age of 50; That was until she noticed she was quite obviously being watched by a boy around her age.

Y/n slightly turned her head to face the boy. He had curly dark brown hair that was almost black. It looked completely disheveled as if he had never brushed it in his life, and bright blue eyes. He was dressed in black jeans and a grey cardigan, underneath was a graphic t shirt that read ‘windsville library club’. As she caught him staring he gave her a warm smile, which she returned back although she still felt a bit creeped out.

He noticed her getting uncomfortable and decided to speak up “Hey I’m Cosmo. Sorry I didn’t mean to look weird it’s just that you seem new” He told her as he went to sit next her. She didn’t mind though as she was dying to meet someone interesting.

“New?” she asked.

“Yeah. Well I mean, this is a small town and I’ve lived her my whole life so I think I’d remember seeing someone my age. We are rare you know” He chuckled trying to break the ice.

“I noticed” She smiled. “I’m Y/n, I just moved here a couple of a days ago”.

“Really? I didn’t even know there were any houses for sale here” He stated in slight confusion.

“Oh, well I live on the corner house on Castlelane” She replied while finishing the last spoonful of her ice cream.

She then looked up to notice his eyes go wide as he suddenly froze up.

She knew this Cosmo kid sounded weird, but it was something about the way that he looked as if in fear from just the name of her street that gave her a feeling so eerie she couldn’t even seem to describe it.

“Is something wrong?” She asked enthralled by his reaction.

“I, I don’t think I should say anything” He stutterered as he suddenly got up and walked out of the store.

Okay. This is way too weird now Y/n thought to herself. She was definitely not the kind of person that would let someone leave her with all that confusion, so she decided to grab her bike and run after him.

“Wait! Cosmo!” she shouted as she caught up with him. “Okay now you HAVE to tell me what’s going on, please?” she begged.

“I don’t know I really shouldn-“

“PLEASEEE” she started to scream, catching the attention of an elderly couple walking down he sidewalk, they both gave the two teens dirty glares.

“Agh okay okay fine...just promise you won’t tell anyone I told you this?” he stopped in his tracks as he stuck out his pinky finger.

She chuckled a bit until she realized that he was completely serious, and then slowly wrapped her finger around his. “I promise”.

“Alright, now believe what you want but for as long as I’ve lived in this town it’s been a known fact that everyone in the house you’re living in right now...goes missing.”

Oh wow. Classic. As cool as it sounds Y/n knew there was no way her life could be interesting enough to sound like the plot of just about hundreds, if not thousands of horror and thriller movies. But at the same time they all did end the same way: owners of the house don’t take the rumours seriously, and then they go missing too. Y/n decided she rather bruise her ego than be a missing person.

“Let’s Say I believe this conspiracy-

“Not a conspiracy, it’s a fact” he interrupted.

“Okay..So let’s say I believe your fact. Why do you think that is? Ghosts? Demons?” She questioned him.

“Well, I don’t exactly know but nobody’s lived in that house for like 10 years, it’s gotta be cursed or something i’m telling you.” he tried to explain “it’s like..someone would move in, and by like a week they’d just be gone into thin air, but all their stuff would be the exact same”

“Hm..I mean if they all just coincidentally decided to move, why would they all leave their stuff behind?” She thought out loud.

“Exactly right? I’m telling you there’s some weird shit going on in that house, you better be careful” He told her.

She then felt a buzz in her pocket. She picked up her phone to see she had 2 missed calls from her aunt. It had been past sunset but Y/n didn’t seem to notice.

“Shit. I have to go...I’ll talk to you later?” She told him as she hopped onto her bike.

“I’ll be there” he called out as he pointed to the town library. Y/n gave him a thumbs up as she rode down the street.

***********

It was now about 3am as Y/n was tossing and turning around in her bed. After her conversation with Cosmo she couldn’t bring herself to sleep. She wasn’t one to get scared over things, especially not ghosts or demons. But it was something about the situation. People going missing, how it was completely unknown what happened to them that made her feel uneasy.

After about an hour of trying to sleep but failing miserably, Y/n decided to get out of bed again and get a glass of warm milk, something that helped her when she was younger and would get nightmares. She made her way down the stairs slowly as she noticed herself checking behind her and in every room, as if something was going to come and attack her any second. The fear had definitely gotten to her.

As she waited for her glass of milk to heat up in the microwave she jumped when she heard a huge crash in her basement, as if someone had fallen. Panicked, Y/n rushed down the basement stairs calling after what she assumed to be her injured aunt, but instead she found nobody at all. She then walked down the dark and empty room as she realized she was alone. Feeling goosebumps rush throughout her neck and arms Y/n quickly decided to walk back up the stairs.

As she went up the first step she suddenly heard a voice call her name from the end of the dark room, groaning in pain, the voice sounded like someone was injured very badly.

“Y/n.....y/n help me please hurry!”

“Aunt Jane?....A,Are you there?” she called as she walked down the room trying to see as much as she could in the pitch black. Suddenly she reached the end of the room and noticed a wooden door that was opened slightly. She opened the door and walked in to see a figure in crouched in the corner crying.

“Aunt Jane what happened are you okay?!” Y/n called out approaching the figure, however she was walking very slowly because in the back of her head Cosmo’s words kept repeating. She knew this could be a trap, but what if it really just was her aunt? It sounded like her. She couldn’t leave her alone if she was hurt, that’s just the kind of person Y/n was.

She slowly crouched down to the figure that had it’s back away from her as it was crying into the corner.

“Aunt-“ she spoke as she reached her arm out to the figure but was interrupted as it quickly turned around revealing the face of not her aunt, but rather a terrifying clown, one that seemed all too familiar.

Before she could say the name of who/what she knew was in front of her, everything went black.

**********

After the darkness came a shining bright light under the eyelids of Y/n. She was almost sure she had to be dead, that this must be heaven and she was brutally murdered and left to die in a room she didn’t even know existed. That was until she opened her eyes.

She was no longer on the cold black ground of the mystery room, but instead she found herself laying on a field, a beautiful one as a matter of fact. Y/n looked around and noticed the bright blue sky and shining sun. Confusion had hit her as she knew that there was know way Windsville could have an area so full of life, but she was still trying to put two and two together on how she ended up there until she looked down. Instead of her pyjama shorts and tank top she now had on overall shorts, and a lilac tshirt underneath, an outfit she would never think to wear considering how out of date it is.

Y/n decided this had to be a dream. There was no way she went from her basement floor being attacked by what she thought to be Pennywise, to going through a wardrobe change and ending up in the middle of a bright green field of grass. But it all felt too real. She pinched the skin on top of her hand over and over again.

“Wake up wake up wake up” She whispered to herself repeatedly expecting to be back in her own bed.

“Hey! who is that?”

“Where? I don’t see anyone”

“Over there dumbass, it’s a girl!”

...Turns out Y/n wasn’t dreaming after all.

**********

A/n: Part 2?

#losers club x reader #the losers club #losers club #it losers #richie trashmouth #richie tozier x reader #richie x reader #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak x reader #eddie kaspbrak #it 2019 #it chapter 2 #it 2017 #it chapter two #pennywise #bill denbrough #bill denbrough x reader #stanley uris #stanley uris x reader #beverly marsh #beverly marsh x reader #ben hanscom #mike hanlon #mike hanlon x reader #ben hanscom x reader #finn wolfhard x reader #finn wolfhard #jack dylan grazer #jack dylan grazer x reader #wyatt oleff

[written-on-the-trees]

Cookie Dough For Breakfast - Emerson Barrett Fan Fiction

Prompt: Baking Cookies

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1075 words

Summary: Kitchen floor crying sessions are good for the soul. Eating cookie dough for breakfast in bed with your boyfriend is even better. 

Angel carefully measured out eighty grams of muscovado sugar, the last ingredient she needed to bake the cookies she was craving.

 The house was quiet around her, the winter morning still dark and empty. It was peaceful, and perfect for baking chocolate chip cookies. Or, at least, it was as far as Angel was concerned…but maybe that was more because she only baked cookies when she was stressed.

 Christmas was getting…a bit much this year.

 It was the first year Angel had spent it completely away from her friends and family, and it was making her feel unsettled. Even if she didn’t see them on Christmas Day itself, she always saw them at some point around the festive season…but between moving to Las Vegas to live with her boyfriend, and the travel restrictions, and the fact that Covid-19 cases were still super high in Tennessee, where all her family were living, Angel was going to spend her first Christmas without seeing any of her family.

 She knew it was the sensible decision. If she went home, there was a high risk she’d contract Covid, give it to all her family, and then come back just in time to give it to Emerson had his family before developing symptoms and realising what had happened. It would kill her to know she’d inflicted that on the people she loved, and just reminding herself of that risk was enough to validate her decision to stay in Nevada.

 …It didn’t mean she was happy, though.

 Angel tried to work out her frustration out via creaming together the softened butter, white sugar, and muscovado sugar, but even once the mixture was smooth and even-coloured, she still felt emotionally wobbly.

   Like the smallest thing is going to knock me off balance.

   There wasn’t really a much better way to describe it. Even if she kind if thought she should be happier, or at least a little more satisfied, because she knew she was doing the right thing, Angel still felt like she just wasn’t prepared to face her reality. She couldn’t even put her finger on why she felt that way, besides the obvious reason - which shouldn’t matter because it was the right thing to do – all she knew was that she felt unstable.

 And sad.

 That sadness made her feel even more wobbly, more unstable, which made her feel sadder, which left her yet more unsettled…

 Which led to her silently crying on the kitchen floor, cookie mixture abandoned on the counter while she slumped to the floor and buried her face in her hands.

   It’s all just too much…

   Angel bit the inside of her cheek to muffle the sob that wanted to escape her chest, not wanting to disturb Emerson. She felt silly, missing her family to the point of tears, when she was a grown woman and they were all at the end of the phone, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to cry. Or from having to bite the inside of her cheek so hard that she started tasting blood.

 She was about to force herself to get up and get some water to wash the taste of iron out of her mouth, when warm arms enveloped her in a tight embrace.

 Opening her eyes, Angel blushed when she saw Emerson peering at her in concern: eyes hazy from sleep and squinted against the light of the kitchen after the darkness of their bedroom.

 Emerson didn’t say a word, and Angel didn’t either. He just sat on the floor behind her, his legs on either side hers, and his arms wrapped around her torso, chin tucked on her shoulder. He let her cry until she was done, slumped back against him, eyes itching and nose blocked, feeling bone-tired, but a little bit lighter than she had when she’d woken up and decided to stress-bake. A little more willing to listen…which was probably why Emerson chose that moment to finally speak to her:

   “It’ll be okay.” he told her softly.

 “I know…it just doesn’t feel like it yet.”

 Emerson squeezed his arms gently: “You don’t have to feel like it will be yet…but you don’t have to deal with it on your own, either. If there’s anything I can do to make it easier for you, tell me.”

 “You’re already doing it.”

 “Maybe wake me up next time, then?” Emerson asked: “I don’t like the thought of you crying on the kitchen floor on your own.”

   Well, when he puts it like that, it does sound bad…

   Angel nodded: “I will.”

 “Promise?”

 “I promise.”

   Emerson nodded, and then hauled both himself and Angel off of the floor. He whirled her round in his arms, wrapping her up in a tight hug. She hugged him back, nuzzling her face against his shoulder and closing her arms around his waist as they swayed from side to side and Emerson hummed something under his breath, until she slowly started to feel a little better.

 Angel started humming along with Emerson, smiling into his shoulder as he twirled them around to stand in front of the bowl of cookie mixture:

   “So…cookie dough for breakfast?”

 Angel laughed: “It’s just butter, sugar, and egg right now.”

 Emerson still looked hopeful: “But if we add all the other stuff we’re meant to add…”

 “It’s best if you heat it up in the microwave for a minute.” Angel hedged: “Warm cookie dough is the best. Especially for breakfast.”

   Emerson grinned, and reached for the sieve and the flour.

 Angel watched as he managed to get - most - of the flower into the mixing bowl, before she added the bicarbonate of soda and pinch of salt, before Emerson mixed it all together. She added the chocolate chips she’d measured out earlier - and found that Emerson had added the rest of the bag while her back was turned.

 She didn’t mind - it wasn’t as if extra chocolate was a bad thing…certainly not in the state Angel was in - and if they were going to eat cookie dough in bed, they might as well make it as decadent as possible.

 They rolled the cookie dough into balls before putting them on a microwavable plate, standing in front of the microwave, leaning into each other as the balls of cookie dough went round and round.

 Emerson wrapped an arm around Angel’s waist, and even though it was such a simple thing: just standing in the kitchen with her boyfriend, making cookie dough before the sun came up, Angel felt…far more at peace, with Emerson beside her, his arm wrapped around her. He was such a steadying presence, even now as they stood in silence together, it was hard to not feel better. Or maybe just the way he let her cry on the kitchen floor and told her everything would be alright.

 Either way…Angel felt better.

 And she’d feel better still after eating cookie dough in bed with Emerson, she just knew she would.

#The Trees' Christmas 2020 Writing Collection #The Trees Writes #Emerson Barrett #Emerson Barret imagine #Emerson Barrett fanfic #Emerson Barrett fan fic #Emerson Barrett fan fiction

[acaemia]

I’m having a really bad anxiety attack right now and what sucks about it is the awareness part since I only recently realized that moments like this are actually considered anxiety since we only ever see the shaking, etc. one being represented or portrayed in mass media but that’s besides the point the point is my jar is missing and I made it a point to remove the label from it because I wanted to reuse it and place cookie dough on it and it’s been chilling in the kitchen for so a few days since I had to soak it and I was going to make a paste to dissolve the sticky residue but I left it there first and earlier I heard my sister yell to no one and hearing her yell really messed me up like why does everyone have to yell like she screamed there’s no water and I started panicking because I had just taken the last water container and have now collected six of the containers since I was too depressed to wash them all and I was panicking because usually I would get yelled at but since I don’t talk to them anymore that won’t happen but it still messed me up bad and I also saw my dad and I hate being around him so much and like a few weeks ago they left me a note telling me to wash my dishes but I do wash my dishes it’s just that particular week they kept doing it for me so I thought it was fine and since then I’ve been panicking to wash and now my jar is gone I just woke up after having major anxiety earlier because of the water incident I fell asleep debating if I should make comfort food or not and I thought I was fine but now my jar is gone and it frustrates me knowing they might’ve tossed it because it was near the trash can I’ve always been made fun off by this family for being eco conscious which fucking sucks now that everyone here is suddenly a fucking plant parent and I feel so gaslighted right now in advance because I know I’ll probably be blamed since the gar was near the mini trash can in the kitchen and it just sucks to be aware that I’m having anxiety because fuck guys I hate my ex girlfriend so much she really messed up my response to situations like this she never supported me properly and it’s sucks that it doesn’t even feel like I can type this because again isnt it my fault too but I also acknowledge that she was just so unsupportive whenever I would have anxiety attacks like I didn’t even know I was going through one that time but she always made me do stuff and now it’s four am and I keep feeling like I have to fucking shower I have to fucking show up I fucking hate her and how she abused my kindness and for what like for fucking what!!! If you’re fucking lurking right now get the fuck out of my page I hate that she always felt so sorry for herself and never bothered to actually be better and it’s cruel to say this but it was so unfair for her to be in a relationship see fuck it doesn’t even feel moral to say this since I understand that it’s hard don’t you fucking see all I did was make excuses for her when will people realize that your trauma doesn’t excuse you from a shitty person it explains shit but gosh if someone kept telling you for almost a year na your qactions make them upset uhh do something ???

Fuck it’s just frustrating talaga and I really hate that I keep invalidating myself right now it never feels right to voice out my feelings because I know there are other sides to things but now I just have so much resentment for the girl who really abused my kindness and because I’m the one that broke up with her she’s probably going to have another sad girl moment eugh there’s a reason why she has so much exes SHES the problem and I hate it so much

#I feel so cruel but I also need to let myself acknowledge that good people hurt me #I feel better after writing #maybe I should stuff an Oreo #I’m going to therapy soon guys don’t worry #sopher junior

[syms-things-5]

Clear The Area - Chapter Seven

Previous Chapter HERE

Warning: Some language

Chapter Seven

Curled up on the sofa next to Shan with the bottle of red Noah had left was where Sarah found herself later that same evening, not entirely of her own doing. She’d changed into her sweatpants and her old university hoodie for comfort as soon as she’d arrived back but she still found it hard to relax.

Earlier, after they’d left the gallery, they had continued walking to the restaurant Jocelyn had scouted for them based upon a magazine review she’d read in Home & Country. They had managed to keep their awkwardness to a minimum so no one could tell but Chris soon felt the need to make an excuse and leave. Just before they arrived at the restaurant, he turned to thank Noah and Jocelyn for a nice afternoon and left them to it claiming his producer had emailed some last-minute script amendments he needed to be clued up on. Thankfully, he was a good enough actor that they didn’t suspect anything was amiss. He kissed Jocelyn on the cheek and patted Noah on the back of his shoulder but pretty much ignored Sarah as he walked off back in the direction of his own apartment, head down to avoid the rain. The three of them continued but Sarah had lost her appetite by that point so they called it a night after having a drink at the bar next door.

She texted Chris on the way home to tell him her folks had said it was nice to see him. She had no real reason to tell him that of course but it seemed like the thing to do. That was now over an hour ago and Chris still hadn’t responded. Anyone else would have assumed, logically, that he simply hadn’t seen it yet, or he had been in the process of replying but got distracted with something else, but she knew differently. She found herself anxious at the best of times but not so much concerned with what other people thought of her, if they thought anything at all, or whether she had annoyed anyone. The Evans clan were the exception to that rule. They knew her better than almost anyone. She figured, should she ever wind up missing, that she would be one of those people about whom others would give very banal police statements such as “she was quiet” or “she kept herself to herself” or “actually, now you mention it, she does look a little bit like a female Cillian Murphy.” She almost certainly would not have a candle-light vigil held for her in a park, which was a sobering thought.

“This guy’s a dick.” spoke Shan, mouth full of cookie dough, snapping Sarah out of her head for a second. “He’s stolen another designer’s idea but the judges haven’t figured it out yet.”

Sarah tried quickly to catch up with what was happening on the TV screen. “Is he gonna get away with it? Will they get told, or...?”

“Yeh, the producers will say something. They’re just ramping it up for the drama.”

Sarah loved how into Reality TV Shanna was. Don’t count her out of a quiz team; she knows everything there is to know about Project Runway and could put anyone to shame with her intricate knowledge of Kim Kardashian’s romantic life. Possibly even more so than Kim herself. It was both strangely impressive and kind of scary at the same time, and was possible also the reason why Chris never invited her to parties in L.A.

“So, who is going to win again? Is there a frontrunner yet?”

“We’ve only had three episodes but Jody, definitely. She’s soooo cool. I’m following her on Instagram and she designed these flares that I’m gonna buy if they ever go on sale.” Shan pulled out her phone and started scrolling through the app to find them.

Sarah poured herself another glass of wine and waiting to be blown away by Shan’s ever-changing fashion sense. She wished she was confident with clothes and colour as Shanna had grown to be. She was never afraid to experiment with what she wore, often clashing but somehow always pulling it off. Confidence is key, she would say if you asked her for advice. You can wear absolutely anything you like if you act like you don’t give a shit. In stark contrast, if you managed to find something that wasn’t beige or mauve in Sarah’s closet, it would be a miracle. Actually, if you managed to find anything in her closet that was younger than five years old would be a rarer find than a double rainbow. “Autumnal” is how she would describe it. “Dull as fuck” would be Audrey’s response. 

“Oh, Chris wants to know if we’re bringing anyone to his party next week. Matt needs numbers. Do you think Audrey will fancy coming?” Shan offered without looking up from her phone. “Actuallt, stupid question.”

“Actually, no, I don’t think so. I think it’s hers and Michael’s anniversary. She mentioned they were thinking of driving up to the coast.” She took a sip from her glass. “Did he just ask you that?”

“Yeh. Well, like ten minutes ago but I forgot to say anything.” Shan was still scrolling through her phone to find the photograph and couldn’t see the dejection cross Sarah’s face.

“Here they are. Look. Funky or what?” Shan excitedly waved her phone in Sarah’s direction so she could only make out a swirl of blue and purple. They were definitely flares, though. Ideal for a themes costume party but probably everyday wear for someone as ballsy as Shanna. “I reckon these with my black platforms and that red angora sweater of yours.” Maybe Sarah’s wardrobe was of some appeal after all.

“Yeh, I could see you in those for sure.” Sarah smiled. “But that sweater is the only decent thing I could wear on a date that isn’t part of my day to day stuff so you need to be careful with it.”

“Aww you saving it for Greg?” Shan winked.

“Hardly.” Sarah tried to find the energy to eye roll back at her but she was too bothered by the confirmation that Chris was almost certainly absolutely definitely ignoring her.

“Shan? I think I’ve done something stupid and I’m not sure what to do.”

Shan looked taken aback for a moment before just plain confused. “Sarah, you don’t do ‘stupid’. Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s fixable.” she leaned forward a little, moving closer to Sarah on the armchair next to the couch. “You know, it sounds odd but I had this feeling something was going on. You’ve been a little distracted lately. What is it?”

Now it was Sarah’s turn to hope Shanna wouldn’t be mad at her. “You know I contacted the agency? About Charlotte? Well, they’ve put me in touch with her and things have moved on a little bit since and now we’re sort of talking to each other. We’re thinking of meeting up soon.”

Shanna’s eyes grew wider in surprise. She’d known about Sarah’s response to the agency’s request and had made her feelings approximately clear some time before, but the actual talking part was new information.

“We’ve been texting a bit.” Sarah continued with some trepidation. “She gave them her number to pass on to me. She’s thinking of coming to Boston soon, maybe to have a drink or something. What do you think?”

Shan looked at Sarah without blinking for a moment. She didn’t know what to think. “Wow, you have her number? And she has yours? Obviously, sorry. That was a dumb thing to ask. OK. Well, I guess that’s that then.” Shanna placed her phone down on the coffee table in front of her and readjusted her position on the couch so she was facing Sarah more now.

Sarah rubbed the back of her neck. “Chris thinks I’m being stupid.”

“Oh, Chris thinks everyone is stupid if they don’t think the exact same way he does.” Shanna exaggerated her eye roll causing Sarah to chuckled. “Have you heard him talk about Giants fans?!”

“He is right, though, isn’t he? It’s a risk. I mean, she didn’t want to know before so what’s changed now?”

“A lot of things could have changed, Sarah. I guess you’ll find out soon enough.” Shanna responded. “When do you think you guys’ll meet?”

“She’s gonna let me know. She has to travel to Boston so I guess it depends on her journey.” Sarah shrugged, noting Shanna’s scepticism. “I’m sure she’ll contact me.”

“Yes, of course she will.” Shanna briefly paused. “Where is she from?”

“Raleigh, North Carolina. She wasn’t born there, I don’t think. Moved for work. I’m guessing she’s from Michigan originally but I don’t really know that for sure.”

Shanna nodded along, taking in everything Sarah was telling her and trying not to appear cynical. Having been on the end of something similar some years earlier, she appreciated how comforting the support was even if she herself knew it to be forged somehow. She knew the last thing Sarah would need right now was to be told she was being foolish, and she made a mental note to elbow her stupid brother in his ribcage the next time she saw him.

“I was going to tell them this weekend but I bottled it. After everything Chris said, I just figured maybe they would think I didn’t appreciate them enough. I just can’t put that on them. Not now. Not until I’ve at least met her.” Sarah rubbed both hands down her face. She didn’t know what to do and had kind of hoped that Shanna would magically make everything better.

“From everything I know of Joss and Noah, I really don’t think they would ever stop you from seeing her.” Shan nudged Sarah’s foot with her own, trying to get her attention back. “You can’t expect them to be over the moon aout it but they would at least understand your choosing to do so. And despite Chris’s opinion, that’s what this is. Your choosing. You have control over this and if you say so, well, then...that’s all that matters.”

Sarah smiled softly at Shanna, glad she’d taken the plunge and finally told her what was going on. Her shoulders felt a little lighter after removing some of the weight.

“But I can’t promise we’ll be OK. We’ll worry about you until she gives us reason not to.” Shanna leaned back on the couch, wine now in hand, and curled her feet back under herself. “Tough shit.”

Sarah watched as a smile slowly spread across Shanna’s face, her eyes full of sympathy. “You have to face it. We love you very much and if she dares even cross you? Just once? We’ll burn her house down.”

“OK.” Sarah nodded, wiping her eyes of the tears that had started forming in the corners. “OK, deal.”

*

Nothing had really changed in the days that followed. Sarah had the impression Chris was continuing to ignore her, with only short, clipped phrases padding out any conversation they might have had by accident. She was also pretty sure he and Lisa had both been talking to Shanna about it when he thought she couldn’t hear him, casually enquiring about her plans to meet. At several times, she caught the ends of hushed conversations and experience the odd awkward moment where everything would freeze as soon as she’d walk into the room. If they had been hoping to alleviate any concern, they were failing. Shanna was also a terrible liar at the best of times but to her credit, Sarah had heard her give Chris an earful for what he’d said to her following their visit to the McCurry exhibition and he had promised to offer Sarah an apology but that had yet to materialise, not that she cared much. Shanna had also decided not to give away any details of their impending meeting and for that, she’d be eternally grateful. 

“So,” Audrey said, leaning on the desk where Sarah had set up camp to catch up on some patient admin. “You’re really going to see her, huh? How will you know it’s her?”

“How do you mean?” Sarah looked up briefly from the papers in front of her, a crease forming on her brow. She was fed up of people’s judgements.

“Will she be carrying a white newspaper and some roses, or has she sent you a photograph of herself so you know who to look out for?”

 No sarcasm intended, Audrey was serious and she was right. That was a really good question. Crap. She hadn’t given much thought to asking Charlotte what she looked like and the photograph from twenty-nine years ago of a young curly-haired brunette with wide, tired eyes might not be the most entirely accurate depiction to work off. She could be a full-time blonde right now, and she had no idea how tall or slim she might be. In a strange way, being caught up in the unnerving anticipation of finally meeting her birth mother, she must have simply assumed they would bear a passing resemblance to one another. That their eyes would meet across a room and they would know instantly who the other person was. Maybe they would hug first and conversation would flow naturally from there and it would be like, where have you been all my life? 

One thing Lisa had offered by way of advice was to tell Sarah to stop putting unrealistic expectations on herself. She told her she didn’t want her to be disappointed but it was almost too late for that now. She couldn’t help but get a little carried away the more she thought about the infinite possibilities and the closer their arranged date crept up on her, the more agitated she became.

Work had been something of a welcome distraction. A chance to ground herself in reality as opposed to daydreaming all the what-ifs she might have before the weekend arrived. She’d even allowed herself to flirt a little bit with Greg, not too much but certainly enough to garner Audrey’s amusement and surprise.

“I’m just saying. It’s worth asking for some kind of idea of what she plans to wear, or maybe you should tell her something about yourself?” Audrey suggested. “I’ve always thought you would look amazing with rose gold hair and that would give you a perfect way to stand out.”

“I’m not gonna dye my hair. Remember what happened last time? That charity thing? I had to replace all of my towels.” They both laughed at the memory but something had clearly struck a chord somewhere inside her and Sarah pondered it for a second. “You’re right, though. I haven’t really thought much beyond the day itself.” Sarah looked back down at the work in front of her, all of it suddenly losing focus. “Tell you the truth, I have no idea what I’m going to say to her.”

“Yes, you are quite awkward at the best of times, aren’t you?”

Sarah eyed Audrey for a second unsure of what to say before catching the smirk on her face. She threw a roll-up memo note at her face.

“What do you think you’ll say to her?” Audrey asked, more seriously now.

Sarah took a deep break and leaned back in her chair. Truthfully, she had been losing sleep over this very subject, swinging between general chit-chat you would have with a long-lost pal you’d just added on Facebook, and calling her every name under the sun. She figured the fairest most useful thing would be somewhere between the two.

“I have no idea. Every time I think I have a hold on the situation, some other thought pops into my head and it’s like I’m back at zero again.” She threw the pen she’d been holding on to the table and looked at Audrey. Audrey’s face was full of something akin to worry.

“If you like, I could always call you, like on a date? If everything is OK, you can ignore it. If not, it could be your get-out clause?” Audrey offered. If Sarah had asked, Audrey would have probably staked the place out and sat next to them all night, and only partly because she was nosier than she would admit.

“I love you, Audrey.”

Audrey playfully rolled her eyes. “OK, I get it. This is something you have to do yourself. Just know the offer still stands, OK?” Sarah nodded gratefully. “I’m off in ten and I don’t think I’ll see you again before, so...take care. Let me know how it goes, yeh?”

She grabbed Sarah’s shoulder in a tight grip before walking out of the room, leaving Sarah to her mountain of paperwork and another three hours of shift before she could head home and try to get some sleep.

Sarah waited a second before pulling her phone out of her pocket. The last messages she had sent over the past day or two had all been to Charlotte; all of them casual enough but she’d answered every single one of them. Relief washed over her momentarily as she considered how to approach the awkward subject of not having a clue what her biological mother looked like. Then again, this whole situation was awkward. It was awkward as hell, so she just went for it.

Sarah 9.02pm: Just a thought. Who should I look out for this Friday?

Mercifully, she didn’t have to wait long for a response. The feeling she had was almost pleasant and it caught her off guard.

Charlotte 9.09pm: Oh my word, I didn’t think!! I’ll be in a red dress. Boots. Honestly I only have one nice outfit ;)

She allowed herself to smile for a second at her reply, taking a moment to think about what she was doing. If she could meet Charlotte for an hour, nothing too pressured, she could easily grab a cab to Chris’ place afterwards and still be there before 9pm. No one would notice.

Sarah 9.12pm: No problem. I’ll look out for you. Still OK for 7.30?

Charlotte 9.14pm: Absolutely! Looking forward to it x

*

#chris evans #chris fic #evans fic #Clear The Area #Sarah Bernette #chris evans x original female character #Syms Writing

[anotherspnfanfic]

Kisses, Cookies, and Puppies

A/N: Christmas time fun! Word count: 2756

Betas: @banshee1013 and @muchamusedaboutnothing

Written as a Christmas gift for ThatOneWriter15 on Ao3. I *adore* her and she is a PHENOMINAL author... check her out!

~~~~~~

Dean leaned over the bed and kissed her forehead. “G’morning, beautiful. Merry Christmas Eve.” He peppered more kisses across her cheek, neck, and down to her partially-uncovered shoulder. “Wake up, sleepy-head.”

[[MORE]]

She groaned and mumbled, “Don’t wanna. Just one more hour.”

He laughed as he threw the covers off of her. “I have to leave for work. You told me to make sure you were up. You get two minutes, then I start tickling.”

“No! You’re mean. It’s freezing in here!” She shivered as she opened her eyes and glared up at him. He was already dressed and ready to leave. “Fine. You’re just lucky I love you… and that I have important things to do today.”

“Definitely the luckiest,” he agreed. “Still not going to tell me what these important things are?”

“And ruin the Christmas surprise? It’s like you don’t even know me.” She rolled out of the bed and popped up on her tiptoes to place a kiss to his lips. She headed into the bathroom, “Thanks for waking me up. I’ll see you later.”

“Love you!” he hollered as she closed the door behind her.

She took a quick shower. She threw on her favorite leggings and comfy oversized sweater. Last thing she added to her outfit was a Santa hat as she headed out the door to the shelter. It was where she spent most of her spare time. Arriving, she headed straight to the kennels which was where she found Garth.

“Hey. I didn’t think you were coming in today,” he greeted.

“Good morning to you too,” she teased. “I told you it was adoption day! I left all the stuff here. Can you help me load it into my car?”

“Of course!” He followed her to the office where she had stashed everything and they quickly loaded it all up.

Once they were done, she walked to the kennel with the eight-month-old dalmatian puppy. “You ready to get out of here, bud?” She smiled as she opened the door and attached the leash to his collar. “You’re gonna love these guys, I promise. See you later, Garth!”

She parked in front of the fire station, and grabbed her phone. She sent a text to Chief Singer to have him gather everyone in the conference room. She waited a few minutes until she received the green light.

She made her way through the halls as quietly as possible. Peering into the conference room, she started chuckling. Bobby was giving some sort of lecture and all the guys looked half asleep. “I asked you to gather them. Not bore them to death.”

Dean stood and walked over to her. He smirked as he flipped the white puffball on her Santa hat over into her face. “I don’t think he knows how to do one without the other. What are you doing here?” He knelt down to greet the puppy, “And who is this guy?”

Sam and Charlie quickly made their way over to pet the dalmatian puppy. Everyone else slowly gathered around them.

“Well I have been calling him Poky, because he reminds me of The Poky Little Puppy. But since he is the newest member of the department… I think you guys get to name him whatever you want.”

Sam’s head instantly snapped up, glancing at her and then to Bobby. “Wait. What?”

Bobby nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Merry Christmas. She would make a great hostage negotiator. I couldn’t say no.”

“Yes, and that adorable face had nothing to do with breaking you.” She pointed towards the puppy who was now attacking Sam with kisses. “What are you guys gonna name him?”

“I vote we not be those nerds that go with something like Smoky or Sparky,” said Charlie.

“How about Mjesto?” Sam asked. “It means ’spot’ in Croatian.”

Dean just stared at Sam for a moment. “You’re like a walking encyclopedia of weirdness.”

“What? It’s a good name.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “And what are we going to do with him when we all have to leave for a call?”

“That would be what the kennel in the back of my car is for. There is also a bed, bowls, some food, and a handful of toys he really likes. I’ve been planning this for weeks.” She squinted at Dean, daring him to have more doubts. “Oh! And I brought everything to make Christmas cookies too. Anyone want to help me bring everything in?”

Dean snatched her keys out of her hand and quickly headed outside with Cas, Benny, and Jo on his heels. “We got it. Meet you in the kitchen!”

They returned a few minutes later. Cas brought in the kennel. Benny had the large bag of dog food tossed over his shoulder. Jo carried in all the toys and the bedding. Dean appeared in front of her with the grocery bags. “Do I see pie ingredients in here, too?”

“You snooping through my groceries, Winchester?”

“It’s like you don’t even know me!” he threw her words back at her. “Of course I was snooping. I had to check for pie.” He winked at her.

“I could, maybe, be convinced to make a pie.” She leaned in close, brushing her nose against his.

“Convinced, huh?” Dean smirked before he pulled her closer and kissed her.

“Alright, can you two stop being nauseating now?” Sam teased.

Benny and Sam disappeared to set up the kennel. Jo and Charlie pulled out some of the toys and played with Mjesto. She and Dean headed into the kitchen to start baking.

She had just put the pie in the oven and started to mix cookie dough when the bells sounded, alerting them to a call. “Be safe, guys. Cookies might be ready when you come back.” Dean kissed her cheek quickly before jogging towards the trucks.

She spent the next hour and a half rolling out dough, cutting cookies, and baking them. She pulled the last pan out of the oven and moved the cookies to a cooling rack.

She decided to watch TV while she waited for the cookies to be cool enough to decorate. She sat on the couch and flipped on the TV, quickly picking the Hallmark-Christmas-movie-of-the-hour to watch. Slowly she slid down to lay across the overstuffed sofa. Mjesto jumped up to curl up beside her. She pulled off her Santa hat and placed it on Mjesto’s head. Soon after, they both fell asleep.

Dean couldn’t help the small smile upon seeing the two of them when they returned from the call. He knelt down beside the couch and brushed some hair out of her face.

She stirred and smiled at him, but it quickly faded. Immediately she felt a discernible weight in the room that hadn’t been there before.

“Hey, we’re back. I’m gonna take a quick shower. I’ll be back in a few,” Dean stated, barely above a whisper. He was out of the room before she could say another word.

Concerned, she turned towards the rest of the crew, “Rough call?”

Mjesto hopped off the couch. He went and placed his head on Sam’s knee as he wagged his tail slowly. Sam pet him absently, “Yeah. It was a house fire. Mom and the two kids should be okay. But Dad was in pretty bad shape, he might not make it.”

She stood and quickly gave each of them a hug. “You guys did everything you could. How is Dean?”

Cas and Sam both cringed slightly. “He got the older kid out, a little girl. She was about four.” Cas started. “It might have been a little too close to home. She kind of clung to his neck like a little spider monkey when he tried to pass her off to the medics.”

She gently placed a hand on Sam’s shoulder and squeezed comfortingly. “What about you?”

“I’m alright.” Sam gave her a small, reassuring smile. “You know I don’t remember that night, unlike him. I just wish I could do more to help him.”

“He just needs a distraction. I’ve got him.” She headed to the bathroom and found Dean had already finished showering. He had changed from his navy blue department tee to a light grey one. He was standing in front of the mirror, staring blankly at his reflection. She wrapped her arms around him from behind and hugged him tightly.

After a moment, he turned and wrapped his arms around her as he buried his face in the crook of her neck. Her hand came up to run through the short hairs on the back of his neck. They stayed like that for several minutes before Dean spoke: “She was so scared. She kept asking for her daddy. She was the same age I was when—“ He cut himself off as he took a shuddering breath.

Her heart broke. She knew there was nothing she could say. Instead, she squeezed him a little tighter. “You guys did everything you possibly could. You got him out. He might be okay.”

He was quiet as he continued to hold her. She rubbed her hand up and down his back a few times. He took a deep breath before finally pulling away to look at her. “Yeah, you’re right.” He kissed her forehead. “Thanks.”

“Thanks? I didn’t do anything.”

“You’re here, that’s a lot.” He pulled her into another quick hug.

“You think you’re ready to go decorate some cookies?” she asked before smiling mischievously, ”We should probably hurry; before those vultures out there eat all the cookies and the pie,” she teased.

She giggled at the panicked expression that crossed his face. “That is not funny. They wouldn’t dare.”

He was already moving back towards the kitchen as she asked, “Are you sure about that?”

“My pie better still be in one piece!” Dean hollered down the hall.

“No one touched the pie,” Benny mumbled through a mouthful of cookie as they entered. “And that was absolutely the only cookie we stole.”

She glanced at the cooling racks and then around the room. Half of them were avoiding eye contact or trying to hide half-eaten cookies. She laughed, “Uh-huh, right. There’s definitely not half a dozen missing.” She laid out all the frosting colors and sprinkles across the counter. “Anyone wanna help decorate them?”

“I’m gonna take Mjesto for a walk around the block,” Sam announced.

“We’ll help decorate,” said Jo as she and Charlie walked over.

“I would help. But, I would rather spectate while I eat this pie that smells heavenly.” Dean grabbed a fork and hopped up to sit on the counter. He picked up the pie, took a huge bite and moaned happily.

She wiped some excess filling off his lip with her thumb, “I swear you need a bib to be within five feet of a pie.”

“I do not,” he defended before turning to Benny. “You gonna decorate some? I want to see your artistic talents.”

“Only if I get to eat the ones I decorate.”

A few minutes later Dean set his pie on the counter and moved to look over Benny’s shoulder. “What is that even supposed to be?”

“Uh, it’s a pirate,” Benny explained.

“Looks more like a vampire with those fangs. Maybe a vampire pirate. A vampirate!” Dean smiled proudly at his new word mash.

“Oh, shut up. I don’t see you doing any better at this.”

As she watched them bicker, she couldn’t help but think back to when she had first met them.

~~

Three years earlier:

There was a light knock at the door as it was pushed open. “Fire Department. Someone call 911?”

“Over here,” she called from the next room.

The two medics made their way over. They noticed two puppies in a pen close by. She was sitting on the floor leaning against a cabinet, head tipped back and eyes closed tightly as she took deep breaths through her nose. She had a bunch of paper towels gripped firmly against her forearm. As they approached, she opened her eyes to look up at them.

“Hey, I’m Dean, this is Benny. Dog bite? Can you tell us what happened?” He had short spiky hair that was a bit messy as if he’d run his fingers through it a few times that day.

“I’m so sorry. This is dumb, and it’s Christmas. You guys probably have some nice meal waiting for you back at the station and I go and interrupt with nonsense,” she began to babble. “I was playing with the puppies, and it’s not his fault. He’s just a baby and doesn’t know his own strength. He got me just right with those sharp baby teeth. And I didn’t restock the first-aid kit, but it won’t stop bleeding and—” she paused as she ran out of air.

Dean took the opportunity to interrupt, “Okay, it’s okay. It’s kind of our job. Christmas or not.” He smiled as he knelt down and reached for her arm, “May I?”

She nodded and then looked toward Benny, who was now kneeling on her other side. He reached out for her other arm so he could check her pulse. She closed her eyes again as she felt the paper towels removed. “Little squeamish?” Benny asked.

“Nope. Not usually. Only when it’s my own blood, apparently. I was going to just wrap it and drive myself to the ER, but I didn’t have any gauze. Plus, I was trying to rinse it in the sink and I got super dizzy, which has yet to pass.”

“Like I said, it’s what we’re here for. Better you call than pass out while driving,” Dean justified. “I know he is hard to look at, but just focus on Benny over there.”

“It’s gotta be easier than lookin’ at you,” Benny drawled. “Little pinch, darlin’,” he warned only a second before he placed an IV.

She risked a peek, squinting one eye open to glance between them as they teased each other.

“How’s the pain?” Dean asked.

“Not terrible. My fingers feel kind of tingly, though. I don’t think that’s the bite, though, because this hand is tingly too. Started the same time as the dizziness.” She flexed the hand closest to Benny as she explained. She finally opened both eyes fully and focused on Dean and the giant smirk on his face. “What is so amusing?”

He locked eyes with her for a moment before his focus returned to the bandage he was applying. “Nothing. Just your answers are… thorough.”

“Sorry. I ramble when I’m anxious. And when I’m excited. Sometimes when I’m tired.”

He glanced up at her again, eyebrows raising in curious amusement.

“Okay, I just talk a lot, in general.” She rolled her eyes at him.

“One last, really important question. The guilty puppy all up-to-date on shots?” Benny asked.

“Yeah. They both got their last ones two weeks ago,” she explained.

“That’s good. Alright, still pretty dizzy, or do you think you can walk?” Dean asked.

“Uhh, I think I’m good. I’ll walk.” They both helped her to stand.

“You sure? Not too dizzy?” Dean asked again.

“Not too bad. It’s not that far, I can make it.”

He took her hand in his and placed his other gently on her lower back. “Just let me know if that changes.”

She leaned into him for support. “You smell amazing,” she blurted, instantly blushing. ”I mean, sorry, that’s probably inappropriate or something.”

His eyes lit up with his smile. “No, it’s fine. If I said ‘so do you,’ that would probably be inappropriate. And, uh, thank you.” As he helped her up into the ambulance, he glanced at his partner, “Benny, you’re driving.”

Benny looked between them and smiled, “Sure thing, brother. Let’s go.”

~~~~~

“Sweetheart?” Dean’s voice snapped her out of her memory.

“Huh? Oh, sorry. Did you say something?” She turned to look at him, finding he was now right behind her.

“Are you okay?” He asked, concerned eyes boring into hers. “You kinda zoned-out over here.”

She smiled. “I’m perfect. I was just thinking about the day we met.”

“My favorite day. Except for the part that you were hurt.” He lifted her arm and planted a gentle kiss on her small, faded scar.

“One of the best Christmases ever.” She slid her arms around his waist and pulled him into a hug. She took a deep breath. “You still smell good.”

“So do you.” He kissed the top of her head before she pulled away to finish decorating the cookies.

Tags: @deanwasscaredbyacat @babypieandwhiskey

#dean x reader #supernatural #spn fanfic #firefighter!dean #hurt/comfort #au!dean x reader #benny lafitte #firefighter!sam #charlie bradbury #jo harvelle

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Stark Spangled Banner Ch1: Back Into The Field

Summary: Katie heads back to SHIELD following the crazy events in Miami and finds herself on desk arrest following a disciplinary for two weeks. But when catastrophe strikes on a mission, she kinda wishes she had stayed there.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x O/C Katie Stark

Warnings: Bad language (no smut, yet, but will be down the line. A bit of angst,  injury and blood (some may find upsetting)

Stark Spangled Man: Re-cap

Steve was mad, furious, absolutely and utterly infuriated. His foot tapped as he rode the elevator up to the 95th floor where it pinged open and he stepped into the living area of the tower. Katie uncurled herself off the couch and started to speak before the doors had even shut behind him.

“I know you’re pissed…” she began, but he held his hand up, shaking his head.

“Pissed doesn’t even come into it…” he said, “Are you insane?”

“Not last time I checked.”

He felt his jaw tighten, this wasn’t the time for her jokes or quips. As he looked at she felt herself quell under his gaze and she dropped her eyes from his and sighed.

“I had to help.”

“You’re a fucking idiot_!” he stood, arms folded as he glared at her. She raised an eyebrow at him, but remained silent as he unloaded “You could have been seriously hurt, or killed… I told you to call me!”

“You’re only pissed off because you missed a chance to play the hero…” she snapped and then inwardly groaned. As soon as the words left her mouth she regretted them.

“Is…is that actually what you think?” he frowned, looking like puppy dog she’d just kicked across the floor.

“No, its not…” she said, shaking her head. “I didn’t mean…”

“I was worried about you!” he pressed, “Katie, you’re my best friend and I couldn’t cope losing you as well…”

As well as Bucky.

His sentence hung, unfinished, making her feel like shit. She sighed and crossed the room, slipping her arms around his waist. After a second or two he unfolded his arms and hugged her back.

“You should have called me.” He sighed, his tone softening as she lay her head on his chest.“It was so frustrating. Fury was refusing to do anything, if I knew how to fly one of those damned jets I’d have taken one myself…"

“Ask Clint for some flying lessons.” she said, stepping back to look up at him, sighing again as his face displayed no amusement at her attempted joke. “Look, I’m sorry, truth is, I didn’t think. We just got caught up and I didn’t want to drag you into something that wasn’t your fight. This was down to Tony and a very long list of people he has pissed off…”

Steve snorted as he released her from his grip “Well then it isn’t your fight either is it?”

“He’s my brother, Steve, I’d die for him if I had to.” she shrugged.

“How is he now?” Steve asked, following her towards the bar area.

“Seems ok.” she said, stepping behind it. “Recovering from the surgery, destroyed all his Iron Man suits…”

“He what?”

“Clean Slate protocol… blew them all up. Including the one he had made for me.” she slid an open beer across the bar top towards him. He caught it as he settled down on a stool, shaking his head.

“Wait, he made you a suit?” Steve frowned “An Iron Man suit?”

“Iron Maiden…” she grinned, leaning on the bar opposite him as he looked at her blankly. She rolled her eyes and grinned “They’re a band…rock… add them to the list.”

He raised an eyebrow at her and pulled out the notebook she’d gifted to him the year, making a note of the name, before he slipped it back into his jacket pocket.

“So he made you a suit…” he said, motioning her to continue.

“Yeah, well wasn’t much point seeing as I only got to wear it for like half an hour or whatever. It was only a prototype, nothing I could use with SHIELD either as it was too conspicuous, not that it matters anyway as he blew them all up, like a massive firework display”

“Why?” he frowned, bottle paused halfway to his mouth.

“Some kind of outward gesture to Pepper, basically said that any designs for a new one she gets to help him with…”

Steve took a big pull of his beer and swallowed. “That’s a big step for him.”

“Yeah, I know. He loves her.” Katie swallowed a mouthful of beer “And she loves him, she’s good for him.”

“Is she ok now after the whole Extremis thing?”

“Yeah. Tony managed to engineer an antidote with a bit of help from the SHIELD lab and she’s good.”

“And how are you?” he asked.

“Honestly?” Katie snorted, shaking her head “absolutely exhausted by all of it. Gods, Aliens, crazy assed super soldiers that explode…” her eyes narrowed as she eyed him playfully and suspiciously “you’re not gonna explode are you?”

“Not planning on it, no.” his crooked grin spread across his face.

***********

March 2013.

Any doctor would cry if they visited SHIELD; the caffeine and alcohol intake of pretty much every worker there would way exceed a dose construed to be healthy. Mind you, if you asked any agent whether they’d give up coffee or alcohol, they’d say alcohol in a heartbeat. Well, most of them. Katie couldn’t imagine surviving without an ice cold beer on a hot summer’s day, but she also didn’t function until she had her morning cup of Joe. It was a tough choice to make.

Not today though, she needed coffee. And lots of it. After ‘going rogue’ to chase the Mandarin with her brother Fury was pissed and as such was basically giving her the most boring thing he could think of- working through piles of mission reports, analysing and cross referencing them with others to pick up on common threads .To be honest, she didn’t mind it too much. After the excitement of the festive period she had welcomed a relatively quiet return to work, and didn’t particularly give a shit what Fury thought about her either. That said, it was heavy going, but as with anything she was soon engrossed, circling a part of the hard copy of the report with highlighter pen, before glancing back at the screen to cut and paste it into the Scrapbook App she used to trace trends with, letting out a groan. 

Nope, this was officially crap.

Steve’s morning wasn’t much better. After one particularly gruelling Ops Training session, whereby one of the newest kids suffered a broken nose after colliding painfully with a stray shock baton, he showered and headed up to find Katie. She’d skipped the Ops training, not particularly needing it to be fair as she was a dead shot as it was, but her main reason was she was buried in work that Fury had dropped on her desk. He found her sat, paper in her hand and she was looking her computer screen. She sighed, scratching at her head before she dropped the file onto the desk letting out a groan. It was such a pure, natural action, Steve felt he was interrupting something, even though he knew he wasn’t. So he gave a little cough and as she turned round, her pretty face cracking into a smile which he returned. 

“Fancy lunch?” he asked her.

She nodded instantly “God yes. Can we get FroYo after?”

“Yeah but don’t let me pile it with all that crap this time!” he shot her his best playfully disapproving look as he remembered the first time she had taken him to the Frozen Yoghurt stall. He had loaded his with all sorts of different things and the result had been beyond foul.

Katie gave a laugh and picked up her jacket, shrugging it on. He held the door for her and she stepped under his arm, and he followed her to the elevator.

“Stick to chocolate chip, mint and cookie dough!“ she said, stepping into it. “Trust me.”

They strode across the foyer and into the early spring sun. Katie pulled her jacket tighter around herself as they crossed the street. 

“How are you just wearing a shirt?” she asked, looking at Steve as he fell into step besides her, making sure he was on the side nearest the road. He noticed that she’d long since given up chiding him on this old fashioned habit after he had revealed it was something he used to do for his mom too, and Bucky’s younger sister. She’s simply rolled her eyes but today he swore he saw something that looked like a soft smile flicker on her lips when he positioned himself on her left, but as quick as he noticed it, it was gone.

“It’s not too bad. Been through worse.” He grinned as he opened the door to the Deli for her. He followed her in and stood besides her in the queue and became aware that she was looking at him.

“What?” he asked, turning to her exasperatedly. Katie couldn’t help but grin, she enjoyed winding the usually mild mannered man up

“I’m trying to imagine how you would look with a beard. And with shorter hair.” she said causing the Captain to roll his eyes. He was used to her utter random comments now. She was very like her brother in that respect, her mind moved at about 100 miles an hour and half the time he had no idea what made her come out with the stuff she did and to be honest, he’d long since given up attempting to understand.

“Not gonna happen.”

“What the hair cut or the beard?” she asked.

“Neither.”

“Spoil sport.”

“Captain America doesn’t have a beard.” he shook his head.

“Steve Rogers could…”

She was impossible, but Steve couldn’t help but want to laugh. This playfulness was the thing that he enjoyed the most, how she could just treat him like any other punk she knew.

“Did anyone ever tell you you’re exhausting?” he rolled his eyes, a smirk playing on his face as she stepped forward in the queue.

“Yeah, you.” she spun round to face him, grinning “Several times. But you still come back for more.”

“Well I have the distinct impression if I didn’t you’d hunt me down anyway”

They ordered and ate their lunch, Steve filling her in on the ops drill and after Fro-Yo they made arrangements to slob out that evening at Steve’s with a film. Katie headed back to her office to continue sifting through the Mount Everest of reports she had to do. As with anything once she got the bit between her teeth, she completely zoned out. It was only when she heard a gabble of voices all bidding each other goodbye that she looked up from her work. It was dark outside, and past 6.

“Shit…” she groaned as the realisation washed over her. She was supposed to be at Steve’s for half past. She clicked to save her work whilst calling him at the same time, phone sandwiched between her cheek and shoulder.

“So…I’m running late” she apologised the instant he answered. He chuckled.

“I thought that you said the one good thing about being confined to desk duties was that you set the hours!”

“Yeah, well I got caught up in something…but I’m leaving now. Do you want me to grab pizza on the way?”

“Sounds good, not Chicago Style though. I’m hankering for a proper piece of pie.”

“God you’re such a New Yorker.” she rolled her eyes.

“You say it like it’s a bad thing.” he said, his voice taking on a mock hurt tone and she could imagine him pouting on the other end of the phone.

“Hmmm, I’m undecided. Right, I’m going now…see you soon.”

“Drive safe.”

“What are you my dad?”

“Old enough to be” he shot back.

“Touche.” she sniggered, cutting the call

*******

“Boring New York style for Mr S Rogers…” she spoke into the intercom and he buzzed her in. By the time she’d climbed the stairs he was waiting at the door to his flat, leaning on the door frame.

“Bout time…” he muttered, taking the boxes off her “Was about to send a search party.”

“Mario’s was packed” she said, kicking off her sneakers and heading straight through to his kitchen to grab a beer out of his fridge without waiting for him to offer, knowing he wouldn’t. He didn’t need to. 

Steve headed into the living room, depositing the 3 boxes on the coffee table and reaching straight in for one of the pepperoni slices before Katie flopped down next to him, handing him a beer.

“What we ticking off the list tonight?” she asked.

“A Few Good Men.” he said, nodding at the tv where he had queued the movie up ready.

“Wait...did you manage to navigate that Android box all by yourself…” she looked at him and he sighed. 

“I’m not completely useless ya know…”

“Jury’s out.” she teased, curling her legs up onto the sofa next to her.

They watched the film. Steve got most of the references within it. He chuckled in the right places, and laughed out loud when Katie was unable to stop herself uttering the immortal line “You can’t handle the truth” When the film had finished, Katie unfolded herself from where she had been sat and they launched into Steve’s favourite part of Movie Nights- the post film analysis.

“Who was the guy who played the colonel…errr Jessup?” he looked at her.

“Jack Nicholson” she said, “Amazing actor. He’s in a few on your list.”

“He was good. Kaffee annoyed me a little, arrogant, cocksure.”

“Reminds me of Tony” Katie sniggered.

“Well, I didn’t want to say anything” he said, giving a little smirk.

“You enjoy it?” she asked.

“Yeah, very good. Better than the one we watched the other night anyway.”

“Yeah, pisses me off though. I mean Galloway, she’s a strong female military woman and they still have to go with the romance angle. And with Kaffee too. Personally I’d have punched him in the face several times.“

“It does seem to be a tried and tested format” he said, leaning back against the cushions on his couch “Boy meets girl, boy likes girl, boy wins girl over…”

“Appeals to the hopeless romantic in all of us.” Katie shrugged “Crap like that, happy endings and all, never happens unless it’s in a film. What’s more likely to happen is boy gets you into bed and then fucks off when the chase is over. Well, most men anyway.”

Whilst her action and mannerisms remained neutral, the bitterness in her voice gave her away and Steve felt a surge of anger towards her ex. He’d never met the guy and still wanted to punch his lights out for the way he’d treated her. They continued to chat for a bit longer until Katie glanced at her watch,and seeing the time decided to call it a night. Steve walked her down to her car, he always did without fail, another thing she had given up chiding him for and when he came back upstairs and got in the shower, he found himself straying back to the first time he had seen her, the minute she had stepped into the light in the boxing gym and he’d found himself looking into the greenest eyes he had ever seen in his life.

The more he stood there in the shower and thought about her, the more he started to feel something…well…different. And he couldn’t put his finger on it. Was it that he found her attractive? Well of course he did. To be honest, he reckoned you’d have to be blind not to. And if he was totall  honest, since he’d seen her the first time in that little boxing gym in New York he had noticed how pretty she was. She had the figure of the stars of his time. Hour glass waist, brunette hair, shapely ass and legs and quite large breasts considering she was so slim. But what did it for him were her eyes. Deep, warm green pools that he could lose himself in quite happily. And that smile, that fucking smile that could make him stop in his tracks when she flashed it. But it was more than just that, she was…well…just Katie.

It was strange, really, she reminded him so much of Peggy in some ways, but in others she was so different. Both were vivacious, smart, strong willed and beautiful. But where Peggy had been harsh, after a military upbringing, Katie had a softer edge to her. She was still ferocious at times, but she was a people person, and somehow knew exactly how to explain and understand what he was trying to say even when he struggled to himself.She made him feel at ease. With that in mind it wasn’t surprising they had grown so close. He could trust her and knew that she would do anything for him because she was a good person. And she made it so easy to be around, he didn’t feel a shred of awkwardness around her. 

He hadn’t thought he’d ever find himself a friend he could be as honest and open with again, one he would happily lay his life on the line for, not just out of a sense of duty but out of a sense of love and friendship.

Who you trying to kid, Rogers? 

He knew his feelings went deeper than that. All those times he'd felt irritation at other men looking at her or touching her, all those times he'd looked at her and just wanted to smile because she was just her... the fear he had felt when he had known she was off chasing the Mandarin and he wasn’t able to help...none of that was anything to do with mere friendship. 

He leaned his forehead against the tiles of the shower cubicle and groaned. He was crushing on his best friend. He was so fucked. *******

Katie’s desk arrest didn’t last long. 2 weeks later she was catapulted back into the field, on what was supposed to be a simple op, simple by SHIELD standards, anyway. They had a request from the Cuban government – all very hush, hush, of course –to take down a drug lord who ran the cartel SHIELD had tangled with last year.

Katie read the files, all the intel, pulled together a briefing and delivered it, answering questions that came her way from the team and then handed over to Steve when it was his turn to take the floor. He started issuing out his orders, and informed everyone that the 3 newest recruits would be joining them as it would be a fairly straight forward op to ease them into.

And it had been, for the most part, until one of those new recruits, Steven Adams, had frozen mid fire fight and as a consequence he’d taken 3 bullets to the chest.

“I got him…” Katie said, calmly taking aim at the hostile responsible and as soon as she knew she’d hit him, she broke cover to get to Adams, as she was closest to him. She skidded to the floor, pressing her hand to his chest and her other reached to his face, turning it to look at her.

“I got you…Adams…look at me…” she said gently, her hand warm, wet and slick with the young man’s blood. Steve dropped besides her and she turned to face him.

“I can’t stop the bleeding…” she said, her tone giving away exactly how worried she was.

“Medic, NOW!” Steve yelled, looking around frantically for help “We need emergency evac…”

“This is just like Coulson all over again…” Katie mumbled to no one in particular as she reached into her belt and retrieved a tab of morphine. Steve gripped the young man’s hand as she administered the pain relief.

“Son,look at me…” he instructed and Adams horrified eyes turned to Steve “That’s it, keep looking at me…”

Steve swallowed, figthing to keep his face calm. He’d seen that look so many times on the battle field, the look that told him the man who lay injured knew he was injured beyond repair, that there was nothing to be done for him. But this was now, 70 years into the future, medical science had worked so many wonders since then, they had to be able to do something, right?

“RUMLOW WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT MEDIC?” Katie screamed, her tone frantic.

“Still got hostiles on us!” Rumlow replied in his ear “Evans has taken 4 down but they’re approaching from the right! We need to cover the medics in and now you’re down there…”

Steve instantly looked round before he looked back at Katie “We can take him ourselves”

She bit her lip, looking at the young man, then up to Steve again. Everything in their training told them not to move casualties, but Steve knew if they stayed here he was going to bleed out.Katie seemed to come to the same conlcusion a she nodded.

"Alright…Brock, we’re coming to you. Have the medics prep the bay…Evans, we need top cover…”

“Roger, Nova…”

“Steven… we’re gonna move you now.” she said, looking at him, her voice calm and level. She took his hand out of Steve’s which allowed the captain to haul him into a lift over his shoulder. Once he had the man positioned he gave a small jerk of his head and Katie picked up his shield in one hand, and her pistol in the other as they broke cover, sprinting across the front of the industrial yard towards the jet. In the corner of his eye, Steve spotted 2 hostiles moving but before he could shout a warning, Katie had fired off 2 shots, the thumps and lack of returning meaning each bullet had hit its target. Soon they were joined by Rumlow who flanked them up the ramp where she dropped the shield to the floor and offered her hand back to Adams, Steve placed him gently on the stretcher.

“It’s gonna be ok…” Katie said, soothing him as the medics bustled around, glancing up every so often to watch what they were doing.

“Can you tell my mom…I love her…and dad���” Adams was mumbling now and she shook her head.

“You can tell them yourself. “she smiled “you’ll be fine, I promise…”

“We’re locked down outside, local authorities are handling it now. How’s he looking?” Rumlow asked as he stepped up besides Steve who had stood back from where Katie was knelt by the injured man. Steve turned to Rumlow, shaking his head sadly.

“Not good. He lost a lot of blood.”

At that point Katie suddenly drew back slightly, looking at the hand held in hers, before she glanced at the medic who was sadly shaking her head. Katie threw her head back closing her eyes as her face screwed up.

“Shit.” Rumlow muttered as Steve pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and middle finger.

“Radio base” he turned to Brock, his voice soft “Let’s get him home.”

*******

Writing mission reports wasn’t Katie’s favourite thing to do, but this one was awful. So she’d treated it like ripping off a band aid, and after a horrific nights sleep, she’d been at the T riskelion early to get it done. As a result it was little after 10 am, she was done for the day and was about to head home until she heard a familiar voice.

“Eat me…eat me…” The voice was accompanied by a bag from her favourite bakery, which was hovering in the space between the door and the frame, before Clint Barton’s head poked round the side, a grin plastered on his face.

“Hey!” She beamed at her friend as he dropped a cup holder containing two coffees and the bag onto her desk before taking a seat, scooting the wheeled chair over the floor towards her.

“Heard you had a rough time of it yesterday so I brought donuts and almond croissants.And coffee.”

“Hawkeye, you are a godsend.” she said, taking a large drink and leaning back, closing her eyes.

“That the first time you’ve lost a man on a mission?” Clint asked.

“Other than Coulson.” she shrugged. “He was 24 Clint. His whole life ahead of him.”

Clint watched as she rubbed at her temple before reaching into the bag and pulling out an almond croissant. She couldn’t remember when she had last eaten, it must have at least been before the mission.

“How’s Cap taken it?”

“On the outside he seems ok, but I know he blames himself. Keeps saying he shouldn’t have taken him.” Katie shrugged “He’s gone with Fury to see Adams’ parents. Rather him than me.”

“This job is hard.” Clint said after a moment “We fight to keep everyone safe, but y’know, sometimes not everyone makes it. Thing is, if we can’t find a way to deal with that, then maybe next time no one gets saved at all.”

“You mean like Collateral damage?” she snorted, shaking her head.

“No, I mean that everyone one of us that are out in the field know the risks Nova, hell last year 7 of us took on a horde of Aliens in New York. For hours we fought them, and did any of us give a second thought to our own safety? No,because that’s what we do.”

His words made sense. She knew they did, but that didn’t stop the feeling in her stomach that if she had done her research more, maybe she could have spotted something that would have told them about the armour piercing rounds.

*******

Adams’ parents already knew he was dead. Which made it slightly easier. Fury had the local authorities call ahead, common practice now, but still Steve found himself sat on their couch, talking, informing them all about their son’s last moments. They hadn’t shouted, hadn’t screamed or blamed him. Instead, they’d thanked him for what he had done and for bringing him back so they could hold a proper burial.

By the time he got back to base, he was exhausted.

“Here.” Fury said, handing him a glass of scotch from the bottle he had pulled out of his desk. Steve took it, dropping into one of the sofas at the side of the large office, Fury settling into the other. Steve knew the drink couldn’t’ get him drunk, but he liked the momentary buzz he got that lasted all of 60 seconds post sip.

The scotch was smooth, he expected nothing less from the boss. And the pair of them sat in silence for a few moments.

“Ever done that before, a death message?” Fury asked, leaning back.

“Can’t say I have. Wasn’t really my job back in the day.” Steve said, undoing his tie.

“Worst part of the job. Doesn’t matter how many times you do it, never gets any easier.” Fury ran his hand over his face, and it struck Steve how tired his boss actually looked.

“Yeah, it isn’t exactly up there with my favourite thing to do.” he said, rolling the tie up and shoving it into his old Army uniform pocket.

“How’s Nova?” Fury asked.

“She’s upset.” Steve sighed “But she’s strong, she’ll be ok. I’m gonna head over and see how she is later.”

“You two spend a lot of time together outside of work.” Fury commented, innocently enough but there was something in his tone, something that was almost good natured accusation.

“Not a problem is it, Sir?” Steve asked, face straight.

“No, not at all.” Fury said “Why do you think I partnered you up in the first place? She’s a people person…”

“She’s a good friend.” Steve nodded “We get on.”

“Glad to hear it.” Fury said “There’s going to be a debrief with the Secretary of Defense tomorrow.”

Steve sighed “If they’re looking to blame someone, the buck stops with me. I should never have taken the kid.”

“Bullshit.” Fury said simply “I’ve read the reports. From what they say, he just froze.”

“He wasn’t experienced enough.”

“It was a straight forward in and out job Captain.” Fury leaned forward. “What happened was an accident. A tragic one, but an accident none the less. From the reports, neither you nor Stark could have done any more to save his life.”

Steve shrugged, the words were kind but didn’t help him feel any better.

“Taking risks is part of this job.” Fury said simply “It’s a dangerous gig.”

3 glasses of scotch and an hour later he shook the director’s hand and left the office, pulling out his phone. He didn’t want to appear like he was checking up on Katie, so he pinged her a text, dressing it up like it was him who needed to see her, which wasn’t a complete lie. He did, he was craving the normality she gave him.

Can I come over? I could do with seeing a friendly face

He read it a few times, before deciding it was casual enough before he sent it. The reply was almost instantaneous.

My door is always open for you. And I made Mac and Cheese…plenty left.

He couldn’t help but smile. One of the best things about this “new life” was the food, and her Mac and Cheese was frankly his favourite thing to eat on the planet. He shot a message back.

He changed into a pair of sweat and a hoody, hastily making his way to her penthouse and the the smile she gave him when he walked into her place instantly made him feel at ease.

“Hey…” she said, crossing the space towards him and giving him a hug which he happily melted into, a hug they both needed.

“how did it go?” she asked, pulling away.

“As well as can be expected.” He sighed as he followed her into the kitchen, dropping into the stool on the other side of the breakfast bar. “His mom broke down but…they were ok about it. They didn’t shout or yell…”

She flipped the lid off a beer and handed it to him. He took it, with a nod of thanks and pulled a large swig as he sat back down, staring at the bottle in his hand.

He was brooding and blaming himself, Katie could tell so she gently lay her hand on his, reaching over the counter.

“it wasn’t your fault Steve.” she said, gently. She did that all the time, knew what he was thinking. It gave him the unnerving impression that sometimes she could read his mind.

“I should have spotted that shooter…” he said, shaking his head.

“I’m the fucking mission analyst.” she sighed. “I knew from last time those guys were packing, if I’d done more research, maybe I would have found out about the armour piercing rounds…”

“You can’t seriously blame yourself?” Steve’s head shot up unable to believe she actually thought that.

“Why not?” she sighed sadly. She’d been over it a million times in her head that day and had come to the same conclusion every time. She should have spotted something, dug further. “I didn’t do my job.”

“Yes, you did.” he implored, his eyes locking onto hers “Your report clearly set out the layout, the learning from previous missions…Abrams was just too inexperienced, I should never have taken him…”

There was a pause as the microwave pinged and Katie turned to look at it.

“You know, Clint made a good point before.” she said, reaching in for the plate and the smell of the food made his stomach grumble again as she continued “This job, it’s hard. We fight to keep people safe but not everyone makes it back all the time…and if we can’t learn to live with that then maybe next time no one gets saved.”

“It feels like trading lives.” He said as she placed the plate down in front of him “It’s just wrong.”

“I know…” she said, handing him some cutlery and sat down next to him.

“You eaten?” he asked, looking at her, suddenly aware she didn’t have a plate. She nodded.

“Couldn’t have waited until now, I’d have starved to death…” she said, shrugging.

“Hardly.” he replied, mouth full, instantly realising he had said the wrong thing as she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Is that a fat joke?” she asked, making him roll his eyes as he swallowed. That hadn’t been it at all, he was referring to the fact that she never actually stopped eating, despite her tiny frame she gave him a run for his money.

“No, that’s not… I mean you’re tiny…” he said, almost choking on his food through his protests.

“So now you’re making short jokes?” She said back, Steve looked at her, dismayed she thought he was picking on her but then he spotted the look in her eyes and rolled his own.

“Punk.”

“Jerk” she shot back. 

It was the perfect way to escape the trauma and stress of the last few days. Once they had finished eating the two of them flopped down on her large L shape sofa, Steve’s legs extended along one side of the L shape, her legs on the other as she leaned against his shoulder. He couldn’t help but notice the smell of her shampoo…apple, he thought, along with her perfume. Her proximity was making his head buzz but he wasn’t about to move her. The contact was comforting, clearly for her as well as about an hour or so into the film- the first in the Lord of The Rings trilogy- he felt her head growing heavy. He glanced down and saw that her eyes were closed and as he watched her head slipped slightly. He shifted so that he could catch her gently, and grabbed a cushion from behind him. He placed it against his leg and manouvered her head so that she was lay down, gently brushing her hair off her face. She stirred slightly, snuggling down further into the cushion as he absentmindedly rubbed between her shoulder blades as her breathing grew gentle and even.

Steve stayed like that, engrossed in the film right to the end, surprisingly. He had enjoyed it. Katie hadn’t woken up, and he looked down debating whether or not to wake her or simply carry her through to her bedroom. Pondering for a moment, he decided to do neither, reaching for the remote as he sifted through to find something else to watch. He didn’t want to leave just yet, he was too comfy and too at ease. Picking one of his favourites, Casablanca, he settled down, getting himself comfy as he immersed himself in the familiar world of Rick’s Café Americain. At one point he felt his eyes growing heavy and he lay his head back, deciding to rest them for just a little while…

Cold air was blasting his hair back…there was a hole in the side of the train…then a flash of light and Bucky flew straight through the hole. “BUCKY…” he yelled, grabbing onto the side of the train, the bar in one hand as he stretched to reach his friend with the other.

“Steve…” The voice was louder, but not loud enough. No, he had to get to Bucky…

But he was gone, Steve was grasping at nothing but air.

“Steve…” Katie was doing her best to wake him from his obvious nightmare after he had jolted her awake, thrashing in his sleep. She placed both her hands on his shoulder and shook him. Softly at first, then a bit stronger, trying to shake him out of his sleep. His face contorted into a silent scream and then he jerked awake, his eyes wide, breathing deeply. It took him a while but he suddenly realised where he was and whose eyes were looking at him he took a shaky breath and lay his head back.

Damned it, he’d fallen asleep and had a nightmare. On her sofa.

“Shit…sorry…” he said, his voice croaky “I err…”

“Don’t apologise, it’s fine.” Katie said, gently “I’ll get you a glass of water.”

Whilst she was gone he leaned forward, swinging his legs off the couch so his feet touched the floor, wiping his clammy head with his hands.

“Thanks…” he said as she handed him the glass. He took a large gulp, his breathing returning to normal.

“You ok?” she asked, kindly as her hand gently knotted into his, her concern evident.

“Yeah, just a nightmare…” he said softly “I’ve not had one for a while.”

“Understandable with what’s happened.” she said softly “What was it about?”

“It was…just Bucky.” he said shaking his head, “I saw him fall…”

“You know you can talk to me about it Stevie.” she said softly “It might help.”

“They’re always the same.” he said, shaking his head, swallowing thickly “I either replay him falling or me going into the ice…”

She didn’t speak, simply waited for him to continue and for a moment she though he wasn’t going to, but then after a sigh he leaned forward and placed the glass on the table and ran his hands over his face again.

“It was a Hydra train,” he started, “We had a tip that Zola, a Hydra scientist was traveling somewhere and thought that it was our chance to capture him. One step closer to taking down Hydra. There was a blast from one of their weapons and it bounced off my shield and blew open the side of the train car and Bucky was thrown out.” he blinked, swallowing  “He grabbed onto a bar and it wasn’t stable, and he fell.”

Katie stayed silent for a moment before her hand curled round his shoulder and she pulled him to her, causing him to lay his head on her shoulder. “You know it wasn’t your fault.”

“I should have done more” he said softly. The guilt ate him up every day, that he had survived, why had he deserved that any more than Bucy?

“How?” she said again. “How could you have done anymore?”

"I should have gone after him.” he said quietly.

“What would’ve changed if you had?” Katie asked “There’s no way he could have survived that fall.”

“He wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for me.“ he said softly, "I should have gone after him, brought him home, done something.”

Katie remained quiet, her hand gently running through his hair which was nice, far too nice. He took a deep breath and sat up moving away from her touch.

"What time is it?” he asked, clearing his throat.

“Nearly six in the morning” Katie replied

“You’re kidding?” Steve snorted.

“Nope. You want some coffee?” she asked, standing up.

“Yeah if that’s ok…” he replied, following her to the kitchen. From her body language he could tell she was rolling her eyes, even if she wasn’t facing him.

“I don’t know if your Ma ever told you, but it’s rude to run out on a girl after you spend the night with her.”

“And as you know, I’m useless with women.” he said, as he sat down at the barstool on the breakfast bar. He watched her, but he didn’t say anything. She bustled about, throwing some bread in the toaster and went to the fridge for the butter, marmalade and jam, sliding them onto the island. At that point Steve held his hands up.

“You don’t have to-” he started to say, but she silenced him with a glare, similar to the ones Peggy used to give him, the look that could stop him in his tracks it was that stern.

“Shut up.” she said, pouring them both a cup of the coffee before adding milk and a spoon of sugar to both, passing one to him. The bread popped up from the toaster, and she put it on a plate before handing it to him and adding more bread to the machine.

His stomach rumbled and he gave in, smearing butter over his toast. He eyed the jam curiously. He’d had marmalade before but…he looked at Katie and she nodded. “It’s good…”

So he added some, and after a bite he concluded she was right, and nodded in agreement. Once the next round of toast was done she sat next to him.

“So…when did I fall asleep.” she asked, swallowing her food.

“About an hour into the film.” he said, taking another bite of his toast.

She shook her head “What an ass…”

“It wasn’t a problem.” He replied honestly with a shrug, chewing his breakfast “to be honest I enjoyed it.”

She looked at him “What, me drooling on your leg?”

He swallowed, his eyes wide “I meant the film.”

“I know…” she smirked, and he rolled his eyes before he smiled softly.

“Punk…”

Tags @the-omni-princess

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers x oc #katie stark #mcu #mcu fanfiction #marvel #marvel fanfiction