“Come on!” shouts Eren from above him, nearly at the peak already. Erwin catches sight of his legs, long and tan, and the brim of his black hiking boots before Eren disappears again. “Sunrise is in thirty!”
His arm and age make hiking harder. They make most things harder, if he’s being honest, and scrambling around rocks in pre-dawn light is hard enough to begin with, much less with Erwin’s additional baggage. Luckily, his current lack of breath and the burn of his legs keeps him from feeling too down on himself. It’s a plot of Eren’s, he thinks fondly.
Eren’s laid out the blanket by the time Erwin gets to the peak and is pouring lukewarm coffee into tin mugs from a thermos. “Sit down,” he orders, handing Erwin a tin and patting the space next to him, “it’s time.”
There’s no sugar or cream at the tops of mountains, the way Erwin normally takes his coffee, but there is Eren, leaning against his side, and the sun reaching out pink fingers along the horizon, beginning to stretch.
There are worse ways to start a morning.
(There are also better ways, too, involving Eren’s sly mouth and his long legs, but Erwin tucks that away for a different conversation.)
“I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I don’t notice.”
(thanks for the prompt! have a cliché mors drabble lmao)
“I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I don’tnotice.”
“And how’s that?” Shaw asks, like she’s resigned to hearingthe answer one way or the other.
She’s sat at the desk with both feet thrown up over it, legscrossed at the ankle. The chair is a ridge of hard wood against her spine,uncomfortable, but she rocks backwards on its hind legs and picks at herfingernails.
“Let me cut to the chase,” Root says instead. She’s beenpacing around the safehouse for a while now, staring at random objects with athoughtful look on her face. Now she’s standing at the edge of the desk, andShaw would prefer she not get any closer than that.
“I think, and correct me if I’m wrong,” Root smiles at the veryidea of this, “we’re due for a really vigorous fuck.”
Shaw blinks once, looking up from her fingernails.
Huh.
“I gun you down and wake up zip-tied to a steering wheel,and you think the next step is me taking my pants off for you,” Shaw says, awry smirk pulling at her mouth.
Root doesn’t look like she’s kidding; no, the way she’s now leaningover the desk, flicking locks of perfect hair over one shoulder with a practicedsweep of her head – that’s a come-on if Shaw’s ever seen one.
“I’m willing to take the first step,” Root murmurs, and Shawthinks yeah, she probably would,wouldn’t she?
And, honestly, Shaw’s not really opposed to seeing what Root’sgot under the hood. Doesn’t mean she’s going to get her off. Maybe she’ll takecare of herself and leave Root zip-tied to the radiator for a while, catch afew hours of sleep before the men in black come knocking.
Shaw drops forward hard in her chair so its front legs crackagainst the floor.
“Start with the jacket,” she says. The night is still young.
Lionel jolted out of the squad car, batting snow from hishair and shoulders with a scowl. He’d been keeping watch across the street fromthis apartment complex for at least an hour now, foot tapping to the radio ashis watch ticked in slow circles.
Not his favourite way to spend a day off.
But Shaw had called him, said there was something going downin Queens, but she wouldn’t say what, just where.
He’d asked her, “Isn’t Glasses the one who usually deals outthe dirty work?”
“He’s on vacation,” Shaw had said. And hung up abruptly.
Well, sucker that he was, Lionel figured he could swing byfor a while. Lee was at the movies, anyway, and Lionel’s place always seemed alittle too quiet without him.
But time went on and the snow kept falling. The apartment didn’tlook like it belonged to the criminal underbelly, and there were kids running aroundthe block, tumbling in the snow. Plus he’d rarely had any trouble in this partof town before.
Lionel pushed open the car door, about to get out for a closerlook, when the first snowball ploughed into his dashboard, splatteringhalf-melted snow into his lap. He jerked upright as it soaked through hispants, and looked up to see one spiky haired kid with his arm raised foranother shot.
Hence the yelling and the mostly token attempt to leap outof his car and give chase. He couldn’t exactly cuff the punk when all evidencewas currently dripping into his woollen socks.
Short and Spiky legged it for the building, ducking around acorner and out of sight. Lionel pursued, slower as his shoes got caught in thesnow and almost tripped him over more than once.
“Assaulting a police officer is a serious offence, kid,” hecalled, a half-smirk forming as he turned the corner. And walked straight into acircle of pink-faced children, all beaming innocent expressions at him withtheir hands behind their backs.
A fresh onslaught of snowballs chased him back around theapartment complex, along with a dozen laughing smiles. Soaked to the bone andfreezing cold, Lionel smiled too.
-
“They got him,” Root said, lowering her binoculars.
Behind her, Shaw snorted, tapping the walkie-talkie in herhand against the toe of her boot idly. She had her back to the metal fencesurrounding the edge of the rooftop, nonchalant as always. Like she hadn’t justcoordinated a group of kids into a very one-sided snowball fight.
“Thought he’d never leave his car.” Shaw turned her head toglance down at the scene below, mouth hidden behind the thick lapels of herwinter coat. “The guy needs to get out more.”
Root grinned at her, charmed by the sight of Shaw curled upin the snow with the sun setting at her back. It was rare for them to spendtime together like this, on a roof with no rifles involved.
“Always knew you were the thoughtful type,” she murmured,tucking herself in at Shaw’s side for warmth. She wanted to lean closer, buryher cold cheeks into the space between Shaw’s collar and neck. Maybe aftersunset, once the kids below had scurried indoors.
Shaw pursed her lips, but didn’t pull away from the closecontact. “Whatever that means.”
She crossed her arms over her chest with a sigh and lookedup, possibly just to avoid the knowing look Root cast her way. The sky wasturning a deep purple around them.
Root pressed their shoulders together and closed her eyes.
Sakura’s face is flushed, her palms sweaty where they’re twisted intoshaking fists. She’s trying to express something important here, but the wordsare a little too honest, a little too real in the face of five years betweenthem.
Naruto, to his credit, isn’t moving from his spot on the hospital bed.It’s hard enough keeping him there when he thinks his injuries can’t possiblybe as serious as they really are. Harder still in the midst of a seriousconversation.
But he’s hurt again.
There are bandages wrapped around the crown of his head, across hischest, and his hands—
It hurts to look at him like this.
“Why are you so—“ she struggles around a mouthful of rage and fear and amillion other things that she never quite manages to stifle down around him.
“I know, I know. I’m an idiot.” He throws his arms up in mock surrender.“You got me. I’m incurable.”
And he only winces a little, only grits his teeth through the pain in away that could pass without notice if you weren’t looking. If you weren’t inlove with him.
“You are,” Sakura agrees, falling into the chair beside his bed. “But I’mgoing to keep trying.”
Naruto stares at her, his expression soft like maybe he’s finallycatching on. He reaches out for one of her wrists, gently pulling her closedfist into an open palm that he can hold in both hands.
“If anyone can do it,” he says, lacing their fingers together, “I knowit’s you.”
Helloo, I have a request for a drabble or oneshot! Maybe Scarlet Witch Wanda (multiverse of madness version) meeting reader somewhere totally random, like becoming a regular at the coffee shop reader works in. Wanda is at first cold towards reader, because she’s too focused on the Darkhold shenanigans, but reader slowly gets her to soften. The rest would be up to you, but I’d love if they get together, and Wanda is like a protective gf who would never admit to anyone that she has a massive soft spot for reader :,)
No worries if you don’t want to make this request! (This is my first time requesting anything from a writer so idk if I’m doing this right)
Ps: I love your work and I hope you’re doing okay <3
Hii, I actually really love this idea but might do it over a couple chapters instead of one fic bc i think the idea is so cool!!
Also thank you it means so much that people enjoy my work and is rlly motivating to hear <33 I'm doing alright today and hopefully things are improving 💗💗
