#i'm nothing if not predictable [finger guns]

[theladyigraine]

Lando: you MUPPET! Oscar: 😂🥰😁

[unholyhelbig]

Can you do a Kate x reader fic where Kate and R are friends and R gets hurt and ends up unconscious for a while and Kate confesses her feelings? Thanks so much, love your work :)

Title: The Sun Also Rises

Ship: Female!Reader x Kate Bishop

Wordcount: 4155

Warnings: Injuries, blood, general heartbreak, gunshot wounds, yelling and Ernest Hemingway if you're an English major

[A/n: Can you tell I'm nearing the end of my quarantine by the sheer amount of content I've been churning out? Less than 24 hours and I'm free from my enclosure. Also, did not proofread this one either]

Main Masterlist | Read my stuff on AO3 | Leave Requests

The mission was simple. It was recon. They weren’t supposed to engage unless they were engaged first. Kate Bishop knew this was how things were intended to go, but she also knew that nothing was predictable in the field and no matter how much they prepared for things to go wrong, it was never expected when they did.

Her fingers had gone numb in the cold of the night, her ribs had a dull ache that thrummed with her heartbeat. Kate was pressed against the rocky rooftop, binoculars pressed to her eyes as she watched the abandoned building aptly.

You were on the ground, bundled nice and warm in a van that was parked half a block away. There was a non-descript logo of a cooling company painted on the side, and the meter had been paid off for the foreseeable future. It was a safe zone. It was supposed to be a safe zone.

Kate could feel a burning in her shoulders, took a moment to adjust herself on the rooftop. That was all it took, really. She hadn’t seen the flicker of movement at the base of the building, the way that freight doors were pushed open in the dark.

“Kate,” her partner’s voice came through her comm. It was wracked with static despite the fact that she sat in the epitome of tech. “We might have a problem.”

“What’s going on?”

“Four suits walking my way.”

There was a twinge of fear in your voice. Of course, you could handle yourself against four guys. It was when the weapons came into play that things became questionable. Training didn’t matter, not when bullets ripped through flesh and blood began to pour.

Kate directed her sights to the group of tracksuits that were strolling down the rain-reflected pavement. Kate tightened her grip against the binoculars until her knuckles turned white. She let out the slightest breath as they approached.

She nocked an arrow, pulling it effortlessly from the quiver strapped to her back. Her fingers were damp, still numb. But that didn’t change her accuracy. The two of you waited with bated breath.

The four men stopped a few feet away from your van, lilting their heads as if they were assessing the situation. There was a moment of quiet, it could have been a minute, maybe even two, but to Kate it felt like a century. She could feel the string of her bow cutting into her skin, the shaking in each inhalation of cold air.

“Well, fuck”

You whispered the words before gunfire erupted. Kate thinks that you sensed it before she did, and the second the first flash popped, she released her arrow into the crook of the offenders knee. But there were three more, and while she re-nocked and aimed between the ribs of the next.

There were two more shots fired and Kate didn’t have much of a moment to think. The van was littered with bullet-holes and she used her third arrow to create a line directly to you, wrapped sloppily around a lamp post.

She didn’t wait, not with you. Never with you. If there was any fear of bolstering her bow and swinging down to street level, she didn’t feel it. Both heels of her boots hit the third suits’ chest. She heard a pop that rivaled the scent of gunpowder as he dropped.

Kate wordlessly used her bow to take out the last guy, his gun lowered. Her mind was screaming, even as she smashed the instrument against a temple hard with enough force to break skin. She kicked the gun away, something that seemed of little consequence, but had dalmationed the van.

“Shit, shit, shit!”

Kate pulled open the back door of the van. It groaned in response. She could smell the sweet metal before her eyes located you. Screens smoked, laptops going dark, but taking the brunt of the gunfire. You had pushed everything from a bolstered platform, having moved it in front of you for another layer of metal before the gunfire met you.

Smart. You were always so smart, even in distress. It was part of the reason Kate loved having you as a mission partner. That- and you weren’t against playing twenty questions with her through the coms when it was just the two of you.

Kate’s heart broke into a million pieces as she hoisted herself up into the back of the van. Her boots slid on the blood that was slowly seeping across the metal floor. She fell to her knees painfully but didn’t care. Instead, she pushed the table away.

You were curled in on yourself, but despite your coiled stance, she could see the blood. There was so much of it. She could barely hear your stunted breathes, but when she homed in on them, they were fast and shallow. Kate’s fingers pressed against your pulse point. That, on the other hand, was dangerously slow.

“Y/n, stay with me,” Kate rasped out, patting her pockets until she found her phone.

It threatened to slide out of her hands, swipes of blood glowing through the screen. She pressed Natasha’s contact name. Her handler. Her confidant. She only had to say a few words, it was plaguing her voice so deeply, nothing else was needed. “Nat, I need you.”

Three bullets total had hit you. Two in the abdomen and one in the chest. The slight gurgling noise that Kate had heard in the back of the van was a good sign of life, but a bad sign for your lungs. One had threatened to collapse and really; Doctor Cho had essentially said the best thing they could do was make sure that you were stabilized.

She had used the words “make sure she’s comfortable” and Kate must have let out an inhuman noise because Yelena was at her side, gently leading her away from the med bay and towards the closest bathroom. It was an unnatural stainless-steel white compared to the broken state Kate found herself in.

“Malen'kiy yastreb, you have to breathe.”

Yelena’s words were soft, riddled with a quiet accent that held no malice. She guided Kate to the toilet, sitting her on the lid before she pulled as many towels as she could from the dispenser. She warmed water and waited until they were soaked through. Yelena shut off the water and knelt in front of Kate.

She took Kate’s chin and gently started to wipe away the dried blood on her face. Kate’s hands were saturated, her clothes caked with the drying substance. There was so much of it, so much. And while Yelena knew it would be too much to coax Kate into taking a shower, she worked with what she had.

“I should have done more. When they were walking towards her, I waited. We… wanted to see what they would do, and they opened fire, Lena.”

It was a bold move. They had somehow clocked that they were being watched and made a massive play that was bordering on pure aggression. Kate could feel anger form cold in her stomach.

“We will handle it.” Yelena moved to Kate’s hands, working away at the dark red tint. When she said that, Kate knew she meant it. There was a darkness in her eyes that mirrored the underlying sorrow Kate felt in your absence.

They sat quietly for a moment. The only sounds were the scrubbing of Yelena’s efforts and the small sniffs as Kate let her tears hit the collar of her shirt. The words, they were stuck in her throat.

“What if she doesn’t make it?”

Forbade their close proximity, and Yelena would not have heard the question, but her heart broke undoubtedly. She stopped working away at the color, now a dingy orange, something that was manageable and less gory.

Yelena knew how Kate Bishop felt about you. She would have been a terrible assassin if she did not pick up on the soft gestures, the longing looks, and the seconds that sparked between you both while you sparred; your back against the mat, Kate pinning you down with a smile that could only ring in it’s truest form.

She hadn’t admitted it yet, despite the poking and prodding that Yelena forced upon her. After all, their line of work was a dangerous one, and not a place to pine. Life was too short not to ask for what you wanted, and that was truer now than it ever had been.

“We will handle that too, Malen'kiy yastreb. Right now, you have to be with her. When Natasha was in her coma, they said she wouldn’t pull through, but she did. They also said that just being there was what helped her hold on. Talking to her. Perhaps you should do the same?”

It wasn’t a question, not really, because Yelena stood and tapped the side of Kate’s knee to jolt her from her trance. She’d stopped crying, at least, a numbness spreading through her. If she had paid attention to the blood, really paid attention, then she would crumble once more.

Yelena had helped more than she realized, and Kate made a mental note to make it up to her at some point. Despite her rough exterior, Natasha was the one who typically dealt with the feelings. Clint was impossible at it, and Yelena performed in actions rather than words, but Kate didn’t’ need someone to tell her it would all be okay, not right now.

The med bay was mostly empty when Kate returned. There was a nurse in toxic blue scrubs that glanced up at her noncommittedly when she entered, and Kate was oddly thankful for that too. Her eyes darted to your room, a last-minute edition from Tony when one of the team members had an extended stay.

It looked more like an escape pod, bright lights that were dimmed for comfort and a hospital bed. There was a chair that could recline and another one that didn’t. It was built for quarantine if needed, but the door was cracked open.

You looked so small, dwarfed by the machines that worked tirelessly to keep you alive. There was a breathing tube taped to your lips, and a needle had been pushed into the top of your hand. Your stomach and chest had been wrapped with gauze; a small bandage placed over a cut on your brow- so inconsequential.

Kate couldn’t stop the whimper that moved through her lips, but she pressed her fingers against them to stifle the sound. There were so many emotions, so much hurt and anger at herself for not getting to you faster.

She carefully stepped closer, using her stained fingertips to move a strand of hair from your clammy forehead. Kate could hear her tears hitting the scratchy blanket. There was a monitor that beeped along with your heart, and she thought it was much too slow.

“Hi there,” She whispered, taking your hand. It was cold, and she wanted desperately to warm them. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry y/n/n.”

Kate finally broke down, careful with her movements as she sobbed into the small of your neck. You usually smelled of pine, and of the slightest bit of sweat, but all she could get was metal and antiseptic.

“You have to pull through for me, okay? There’s so much we haven’t gotten the chance to do. We haven’t even been on a real mission yet, you know? Clint will never let me live that one down. Getting so fucked up on recon. Who does that?”

Kate paused and waited for your answer. She counted three beeps, before shaking her head and letting out a little laugh. It should have been her in the van, though, the thought of you at her vantage point on the horizon was unheard of.

“You know what, forget the mission, y/n. You know what we really need to do? We need to get you to the beach. God, I’m telling you, it’s just as beautiful as you imagine it to be. My parents have that house on the coast. It’s right on the water, and you can smell the salt from miles away. I’m telling you… miles.”  

She let out a small sob, squeezed your hand tightly and kissed your fingers before pressing her forehead against them. She wished they were warmer, she wished you were warm.

“And the sand… people don’t really like sand because it get’s everywhere, and I mean everywhere, but y/n/n, the sun warms it all day and then at night, at night when you can’t see past the darkness of the waves and it’s not as crowded with people and kids, and dogs, you can still hold onto that one bit of morning.

“I had my first kiss there, down by the docks. I remember it so clearly. It was awful. I’m talking open-mouthed, slobbery, and just much too long even though it only lasted seconds.”

Kate chuckled at the memory, shook her head. She looked at you, at your delicate features and the small scars that littered your skin. They weren’t all from today, and she ached for you to explain each and every faded mark while her fingers traced them.

“I remember thinking, this is it? I’ve waited my whole life for this? I was only fifteen, and my life wasn’t all that long of a wait yet, but the older I get, the more I realize that that first kiss isn’t anything special. Sure, we were on the beach, and the sky was this cotton-candy type of pink. It was supposed to be perfect. But it wasn’t, because I wasn’t with the right person.”

She swallowed hard, her mouth was suddenly dry. She wished she had more time. She wished that she could spend another day with you, struggling over road-maps with a red twist of licorice hanging out of the side of your mouth. Kate craved a day where the sun was too strong, and the lemonade just the right amount of sour. She wanted to see the look on your face when you realized how vast the ocean is.

“When you get better, I’ll take you out there. I’ll take you to the beach and we’ll sit on the docks and we’ll watch the sunset. Every single night, we’ll watch the sunset, okay? But we can’t do that if you don’t pull through. If you don’t fight, I’ll never know… we’ll never know if that perfect moment exists.”

Kate cried until she drifted off to sleep, half-draped across your body in the most conscious of ways as if not to disturb you. She stirred once when the nurse came in and checked your fluids. Then twice the next morning when Natasha was there to coax her into drinking some water from a cheap Styrofoam cup.

Nothing had changed in two days, and Kate still remained rooted in her spot, shifting around the room. Clint brought her a change of clothes, and she made him turn around when she stripped and pulled on one of his t-shirts, a pair of sweatpants that were much too big.

Kate protested that she was getting enough sleep, and she would pick at the meals that they brought in for her. She refused to leave your side, sometimes pacing the length of the room in her socks as she told you all about the summer she turned sixteen and her adventures in their vacation home.

Most of the time, she would watch the slow rise and fall of your chest. She had grown accustomed to the rhythm of it. She wouldn’t take her eyes off you, looking for the faintest sign of movement. Something to let her know that you were still there.

A month in, and she was brought a cot, but still squeezed into the small sliver next to you. She watched the lights on the ceiling. Kate told you about all the places she wanted to take you; the small gas station that sold the best fried fish (trust her, it’s safe), and the fair that would occupy the last fifty yards of the pier for two weeks in July.

Two months in, and Natasha finally dared to go past the small opening of the room. She had watched from the window, and Kate hadn’t noticed. She and Clint would stand and talk for hours, taking in Kate’s heartbreak as she read from Earnest Hemmingway’s “The Old Man from the Sea” over and over again.

Natasha had shyly produced a copy of “The Sun Also Rises” before lowering herself into the uncomfortable chair in the room. Kate watched her warily, thanked her for the book. She held her breath until it burned.

“I know what you’re going to say, and I don’t want to hear it.”

Natasha’s voice was quiet, barely heard over the roar of the machines “Katie,”

“No.”

“As your handler it’s my responsibility-“

“I said no!” Kate was standing now, her voice loud. She would never dare yell at Natasha. She’d never dream of it. For the first three months of their professional partnership, she struggled to even look the woman in the eye. Natasha didn’t flinch, she didn’t say anything. “I’m not giving up on her.”

“We have to prepare for the possibility that she’s not going to wake up.”

“She’s fighting, breathing on her own now, and I’m not going to let you come in here and tell me that she’s not going to come back. You’re the last person I would expect to come in here and tell me to give up. Tell her to give up!” Kate’s voice was losing steam “If this is about resources I can-“

“It’s not about resources, Kate. It’s about you. We’ve been watching you torture yourself for months now and there’s been no sign of brain activity.”

“Will you stop being so clinical about this? This is y/n.” Kate begged, her words finally broke, shattered into a million pieces. “y/n is in there, I know it. She has to be. She has to be because if she’s not, if she’s… fuck!”

Kate was frustrated and exhausted. Her knees buckled and Natasha, with her spy-like reflexes, had her wrapped in her arms in moments. She let Kate cry, both of them uncomfortably on the floor, the tile cool.  Natasha soothed her, tucked Kate’s nose against her neck. There was the slightest bit of pine.

“This is all my fault,” Kate murmured when she calmed “it’s all my fault.”

It had been a week after her conversation with Natasha and Kate was still headstrong in her efforts, though the woman’s words never truly left her. She was a good way through ‘The Sun Also Rises’, nodding off between paragraphs.

Kate’s feet were on the bed, the chair expertly balanced on it’s hind legs with the accuracy of an archer. She felt herself tilting back. Truth was, Kate was tired. Not in the physical sense, though her body hurt.

Despite what Natahsa, and Clint, and probably Yelena thought, Kate would be by your side until the end of time. She’d have to forge books about the ocean that had more plot, but refused to pick up a copy of Moby Dick.

Instead, she let out a sigh and closed the book over her fingers, squeezing the bridge of her nose. She thought of the beach, of her first kiss with Mickey Voit. More than anything, she thought of how nice it would be to feel your lips against hers, to see the bright look of life in your eyes.

Kate figured she had drifted off to an uncomfortable form of half-sleep when she heard it.

“You’re not going to keep reading?”

The voice was raspy, barely above a murmur. The words were unpracticed, but they meant everything all the same. Kate nearly tumbled from her chair; the book certainly flew to the ground as all four legs returned to stability.

She must be asleep, dreaming, or dead. Your stare bore into hers, red-rimmed but there all the same. And you were smiling, God, you were actually smiling after all of this time. It was a sight she thought she would never see again.

“Come on, you were getting to the part about never falling in love.”

“Always,” Kate gripped the armrests of the seat, afraid to let go. Fearful that if she did, she’d wake up and all of this would be over. You would be gone. “I am always in love.”

You blew air from your nose and started coughing, a brittle sound that made Kate stir from her position entirely. Damned if this was a dream, you needed a doctor. She’d will herself to sleep if it meant seeing you again.

Kate called for Cho frantically and stepped back when she rushed into the room, followed by two nurses and an intern that she had come to know based on her pitying glances. Kate really wanted to punch her in the face, most times, but was never happier to see her in this moment.

“Good god,” Doctor Cho quickly went to your side.

She dazedly took your vitals, having you squeeze her finger, something you did with some struggle, weakened from your months out of commission. She pressed the tip of her pen to the balls of your feet, checking your mobility, your lucidity as she guided a straw to your lips and you took a tentative sip.

Kate stood out of the way, her fingers pressed to her lips and her eyes watching every single movement carefully. She relished in your voice, however small it was, as she answered questions.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Agent Y/L/N.” Doctor Cho squeezed your shoulder “I’m going to alert the necessary parties and give you two some alone time… this one never left your side.”

There was a call button if you needed her, and the weight of uncertainty seemed to exit the room. The two of you were alone, as you had been for the last three months. Kate hated how pale you looked; how fragile you were. She wanted to pull you close and squeeze you as if there weren’t 78 stitches across your front.

“It’s so weird,” You lilted your head to the side “I had the strangest dream about the beach. I could see it so clearly, even though I’ve never been there.”

Kate hummed, suddenly timid “That is weird, maybe it was Tahiti?”

“Maybe” You chuckled and then winced “Ouch,”

The archer was at your side in less than a second. Out of habit, she had your hand in hers, quickly forgetting that she hadn’t ever done this before the accident. She still struggled to make the right about of eye contact with you so she wouldn’t’ come off as weird.

Kate groaned “This was easier when you were unconscious,”

“Okay? Ouch again?”

“Not… like that. God, I’m sleep deprived, and totally screwing this up. You would think that three months is enough time to work out a way to talk to a beautiful woman without sticking my fist in my mouth.”

She moved to pull her hand away, but you held onto it with strength to let her know that you never wanted to let her go. She looked down at your grasp, and then back up at you with the beginning of tears in her eyes.

“I didn’t tell you the best part about being at the beach. It was beautiful, really, so vivid and calm. The funny thing is, I was always at the end of this dock and the sky was always this pink color.” You frowned, a small crease between your eyebrows “I could hear you all around me, just pulling me to the end of that dock.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhm, but you were never there, and quite frankly, Katie, I was getting sick of waiting. So, one day I just jumped into the water, and it was startling, cold, but it woke me up… literally, I suppose. My point… I don’t think I would have jumped if I wasn’t trying to get back to you.”

Kate gently closed the distance between you both, pressing her lips so tenderly against yours. It took a moment for your mind to catch up, but when it did, your warm fingers found their way to her jaw, running along the expanse of her skin, breathing her in. She oddly smelled of sand and salt-water.

You whimpered into the kiss when she grazed an aching spot on your ribs and she was quick to pull back, a look of worry on her face “Sorry, oh god, sorry”

“It’s okay, just a little sore” You beamed at her, forehead pressed close to hers. “Was that better than your kiss with Mickey?”

Kate groaned, her nose cold against your cheek as she murmured “You heard that, huh?”

You had heard everything.

[stray-kaz]

You're The Reason I Hate Champagne : a Jesper Fahey x f!reader oneshot

Summary: Too much. He was too much. That's what you told him when you left. He drank too much. He gambled too much. You loved him too much. Too much.

Jesper stared at you, his eyes wide and glossy with unshed tears.

"You're kidding" he said flatly.

But when you just stood still and said nothing, he shook his head slowly at your silence.

"You're not kidding" he said quietly.

Your fingers twisted violently together in front of your waist, the side of your foot kicking out to brush the packed bag you had thumped onto the floor five minutes ago.

"I don't want to live second to second, wondering if you're dead in an alley or across an ocean, Jes" you said gingerly, trying to close off the upcoming tears. "I cannot live like that. I'll go insane loving you."

Jesper's teeth pressed hard into his bottom lip and he stole forward a step, but you shook your head and he stopped moving, anxious energy pulsing off him in waves. You knew that if he were to touch you, if you got your hands on the untucked shirt spilling untidily over the waist of his trousers, you would never leave. If he kissed you, Saints forbid, you would be trapped.

"Kaz has -"

"Kaz?" Jesper interrupted, his eyebrows rising fast.

You swallowed hard and swiped roughly at the freshly escaped tear threatening to roll down your cheek.

"Kaz has organised a place for me. Please don't try to find me, Jesper. I need a clean break. I need a fresh start."

He blinked and ignored the matching tears that stained his skin, his dark eyes narrowing on you.

"Are you staying in Ketterdam?"

You said nothing.

"In Kerch?"

You gave him a half shrug. Before either of you could say another word, there came the sound of a cane and you turned to see Kaz standing in the doorway, his usual grim expression on his face. He jerked his head at you, his eyes glancing beyond you to where Jesper stood. Jesper gazed back at him in silence, his hands shaking slightly where they hovered, just over his hip revolvers.

"Goodbye, Jes" you said softly, and bent to retrieve your bag. "I hope you live."

You turned away from him and followed Kaz down the stairs and out of the Slat. You did not allow yourself to look back.

Two years passed and a quiet life out of town grew to suit you, or you grew to suit it, perhaps. No more guns, no more thieves, no more gambling or Ketterdam clubs.

No more Crows.

The Appelbroek Estate was just down the road, but you ignored it and its residents ignored you. You lived at peace.

You lived in boredom that you continued to struggle with.

There was no whiskey in your home, because it reminded you of his eyes when they lit like gunpowder. There was no champagne, because it reminded you of the fizz in your veins whenever he kissed you.

There was no nothing.

Kaz had bought you freedom, but the receipt was loneliness.

You lived at peace. Until there was a knock on your door and you remembered that Kaz Brekker always played the game ten steps ahead.

One predictably quiet afternoon, a quiet, timid knock sounded against your front door, followed by a tougher fist hammering on it.

"All right, all right, I'm coming!" you shouted, rolling your eyes.

Out of instinct and old habit, you tucked a knife against your palm and held it behind your back, just out of sight. When the door swung open, the narrow serrated blade clattered to the floor behind your booted feet and your eyes widened with panic.

The younger man blinked owlishly at you, glancing down at the discarded weapon. He inched the straps of his backpack higher, squeezing them anxiously.

"Is that for me?" he asked, uncertain.

The tall, hat wearing man standing beside him shook his head, his soft brown eyes drinking you in, because he hadn't laid eyes on you in years.

"No, merchling" he said quietly. "It's probably for me. Although, if she really wants to stab me in the heart, it might be hard to find. She already broke it."

You winced and dropped your gaze from his, his presence already stirring old flames. Your pulse began to race and your hands trembled at your sides as you fought the desire to hold him again.

"Kaz said he had someone planted near Pekka's country estate" Jesper continued wryly. "Should've guessed it'd be you, love."

The old endearment twisted your stomach and rang in your ears. You put a hand out to lean on the wall nearest you; Jesper didn't miss the movement, his eyes flicking away and back to your face. The man next to him glanced between you, looking nervous.

"Should I go and wait somewhere?" he asked.

The pit in your stomach melted as Jesper nodded without looking at him, your gaze dragged back to his without a word. The heat in his eyes simmered over you, flaring over your skin, running lightning through your veins. You felt just as you always had with Jesper, like you were drowning and needed him to breathe.

He was the air.

Jesper stepped inside and shut the door, leaving the man without a name on the other side. You took a few steps back and he followed you, kicking the knife so it skittered out of reach and hit the opposite wall.

"What's the truth then, love?" he murmured, his boot heels quiet on your wood floors. "Did you break my heart for money? For a cushy sleeper mission? Kaz sends you a wage, doesn't he?"

You closed your eyes so you wouldn't have to see his as you answered him.

"I didn't do it for money" you said softly. "The only way Kaz would let me leave the Crows was if I came here and kept an eye on Pekka for him. He sends me enough kruge to get by every month."

You didn't realise how far you had retreated through the cottage until your back hit your bedroom door. This small knowledge turned your insides to water and you finally looked back up at Jesper again, all too aware he could read the desire in your eyes, the desire of an addict.

He recognised it because he saw it every day in the mirror. And every day, he remembered your words to him and he turned away from that mirror.

"Did you ever love me?" he demanded, his throat aching.

Your pulse jumped, a fluttering hollow under your jaw.

"Yes" you whispered.

Familiar fingers gently grasped your jaw and tilted your head back, his opposite thumb running along your lower lip.

"Do you still love me?"

A sigh quaked out of you as you nodded. Here was the high you had been running from for the last two years, but he was here right now and you weren't strong enough to push him out again.

"I have never stopped."

Both his hands found your face, framing it perfectly, and his lips found yours, and you could breathe again.

Your two years of drowning were finished.

He was the air.

Tagging: @writingmysanity @elizabeth-karenina

[roxr]

vegaspete, as expected, ended up being my number one otp. so, of course, i need to talk about it for another two years minimum.

in this final episode, we start with vegas' "I won't let anything happen to Pete", which, yk, me, same feeling, same page. from the many thoughts I had previously had, some of which i shared (x) (x), i genuinely assumed/thought/expected something significant and powerful to happen during the final battle for vegaspete, something along the lines of either pete getting hurt and vegas losing his shit, or for gun to attempt to harm pete in some way and vegas taking that as the final straw and ending it. i wanted them to kill gun one way or another.

and yet, as this show does, i literally went so over their point that I traveled to saturn with my ideas and had to come back running to say thank you for missing the point. like, I didn't get a single thing right. and that's absolutely brilliant on boc's part.

so, not only did pete NOT get hurt, but they (vegaspete) quite literally shifted roles in all i had predicted. and it was SO good.

vegas' starts, to recapitulate, with "i won't let anything happen to pete", but not only does he never find himself in that position, but it is also actually pete the one running around after him to make sure he isn't, well, murdered. is just a funny lil tweak to their dynamic, or what i assumed would be their dynamic.

now we have pete running after vegas and finding him (each other) in the garage. they are alone. anything could happen. and as they do, my mafia men point their guns at each other. pete! raises his gun first with his finger on the trigger. vegas mimics him exactly. and not 8 seconds later, his gun is down again. vegas, head of the minor family, finds himself alone in a strange place with no backup, with a potential enemy (as bodyguard to the main family) pointing a gun to his head and a finger on the trigger and YET he lowers his gun. he stands in front of pete hurt, and let's be honest, defenseless because i'm certain pete is a great and fast shooter.

for a couple of seconds, it's just them. pete holding his gun up. vegas breathing heavily. and then three more guards show up. main family guards who, of course, immediately raise their guns to vegas. you can see pete panic for a second and make a decision the next.

pete shoots vegas. to protect him. let me repeat. PETE SHOOTS VEGAS TO PROTECT HIM. who in hell saw that coming? not me.

it's brilliant and so fitting. and i love it.

thanks to this, and moving on, vegaspete is alone again. and what happens next? pete jumps on vegas and beats the shit out of his face. and vegas fucking lets him! okay, yes, ik I just said he's weak, hurt, and just landed a bullet, but we know vegas could have stopped him. he does after a couple hits when he turns them over to be the one on top of pete. and what does vegas do? fucking apologize.

honestly, run me over with a truck, it would hurt less.

anyway, pete is not having his bullshit english apology, so he turns them over again and hits him. he's still holding the gun. but vegas is not. vegas has a hand wrapped on pete's collar, holding onto him, and the other is around somewhere as he lands a punch, but the next second he's moving it to pete's face. to hold him. a small loving caress. a simple soft touch.

y'all vegas is such a fucking stupid soft moron in love, i cannot deal !!!

as he's looking into pete's eyes, beat up and out of breath, tasting nothing but his own blood spilled by the man on top of him, vegas goes ahead and asks that if he's to die that day, he wants pete to do it.

because yeah what better fucking way to go than having the man you love kill you and the last thing you see be their eyes that you've grown so used to adoring even if in the distance and in silence because all you have is issues and baggage and even if you know you love this man the last thing you want is forcing your shit upon him, you actually just want him to be happy?? what is this sappy feeling? not something I'm used to, thinks vegas, but it's also kind of nice.

pete, understandably, is like bro, what are you mumbling now. I'm beating you up because you're being a fucking idiot and this is kind of my job, but do you think this pleases me? do you think I like being on opposite sites with you? you absolute deluded psycho. so he screams and asks. because pete actually likes communicating with words. the only mafia man to ever do so, vegas is so lucky.

anyway, back to this thing.

vegas is just lying there and his face is like a beautiful open book. sure he's in pain, but do you only see pain there? NO, you see longing, you see love, you see hope, you see a plea for forgiveness. the one thing not in vegas face is hate or thirst for pain. vegas mister sadist is not looking forward to someone else's pain, he's there kind of relinquishing his own (pain), and confessing feelings that he's been scared of for who knows how long. just the general map of feeling things is not a vegas thing. and yet, here we fucking are, in the middle of a nasty dirty full of dead bodies garage confessing feelings while the taste of copper travels down our throats.

yet, the most important part is what he says. "I love you, Pete." in Thai. In his mother tongue. Not in English. In Thai. we people who speak more than one language know this, but it is so much easier to show feelings in any language that's not your own. because using it makes it all feel much heavier and that's so fucking scary. and vegas, known for not being good with feelings nor expressing them, goes ahead and confesses he loves pete in thai with a smile on his face because he knows what he feels is real and tho scary, it also feels right.

honestly, please, again, run me over with a truck.

and then proceeds to pull pete in for a kiss. let's not mind all the blood. that's just a metaphoric symbol of their relationship. must we only feel pain in his house?

anyway, they kiss, pete is like, huh, this is fine, sure, for like a second, and then vegas pushes him from over him and runs away. pete kind of lays there for like 10 seconds, probably trying to figure out exactly what the hell just went on, and then you see he's like oh, OH! and then shoots running after his man. but wiping his mouth first because who needs their lover's blood all over when you could have them? frankly, king behavior.

this is legit so long, rox, get a grip of yourself, it's embarrassing.

and then we have the hidden room scene. vegas' father is dead. finally. and it wasn't vegas or pete. not even porsche. it was korn. we can discuss that somewhere else later.

vegas has a fucking breakdown in front of everyone. his papa? yeah, stab me in the neck, less painful. we know korn was a terrible dad. vegas knows too, but that doesn't mean his feelings for him aren't contradictory. he was his father after all. and it's not unusual for abuse victims to have some kind of bond with their abusers. vegas is a great example of that.

pete arrives, sees the scene, and his face says it all. that's the face of someone who's seeing their lover break, knowing there's nothing they can do about it. and it breaks my soul. that alongside vegas distress is just asking for trouble. trouble as in I'll need 35 to 100 business days to recover, thank you very much.

and vegas raises his gun to korn. before he even does, pete calls his name. it's a plea. please, vegas, don't do this. please, vegas, let's just leave. please, vegas, turn to me, come to me. please, vegas, I can't watch you die. because I'm not sure pete would have shot him. his moments aren't as precise as they usually are. his hands are somewhat shaky.

and then like 3 more guards come in and point their guns directly to vegas' head like 10 cm away. please, why so aggressive, we were having a moment here.

and then vegas leaves. and what happens? pete happens. that was so brilliant. all of it. i won't discuss it deeply and ruin it but omfg build really said, let me give y'all a masterclass. thank you.

pete resigns. he admits to his undying love and loyalty to the main family forever, but his personal feelings come first. he is more important than his job. he admits that to the family and more importantly, to himself. he gives himself permission to do what he knows his heart wants. what is right for him. he resigns and runs after vegas.

vegas, who genuinely thinks he's lost it all and has nothing left to leave. vegas is going to commit suicide. he would have. i believe he would if pete hadn't arrived when he did. but thankfully for everyone, pete arrives as vegas is taking in his last deep breath. and his voice alone makes vegas hesitate and lower the gun. sure, he's frustrated, but he's alive.

and throughout this whole scene, we have vegas giving his back to pete and pete confessing and opening up. personally, I choose to interpret this as vegas attempting to put up a wall between them again because he's terrified. so, maybe, if he doesn't look at pete, it won't be real. whatever he says. because as much as vegas clearly loves pete and wants nothing but to be with him, he's terrified of this kind of intimacy. these feelings. this... too much.

and yet another brilliant biblebuild scene because they don't do anything if not spoil us with otherworldly acting.

pete wants vegas to turn around. attempts to get him to do so by placing a hand on his arm but vegas flinches and shoves him away. vegas asks, why did you follow me? i got nothing left. so why in hell would you want anything to do with me? why would you want me? love me? want to be with me? is what he means. and pete goes ahead and hugs him from the back. vegas could've resisted further but he gives in. vegas gives in to pete and they end up on the floor.

and they both still have their guns on their hands and their fingers close to the trigger, but not ON it. call this progress.

vegas' voice simultaneously breaks and goes high yet quiet. broken. vegas is absolutely broken. the plan failed. he knows he is no longer anything to the family but a relative. he's not head of anything. his father is dead. his guards butchered. he's wounded. and lost. oh, so lost. and alone. but pete is right there? with him? and he is like, no, this is wrong. and shakes pete away again, recomposing himself as he stands up.

so pete is forced to just... talk. because vegas is deep in a hole and needs to get something through his head. he is not alone! vegas, I am here with you! again, fantastic because pete is a words man. and pete knows vegas is not. and he won't turn around. but that's okay, because pete knows vegas has another love language. food. so where does this get us? to our lovely safe house/torture room.

im not into the whole petplay ordeal, but for vegaspete? woof, bitch.

pete could've said don't turn your back on me because I love you, but i think and i believe pete knows this too and that's why we get the scene we get, that vegas will not accept that. someone love him? sounds viscerally heinous. impossible. no. pete must be lying.

so, pete being the smart person he is, reverts to what he knows vegas accepts and understands, something familiar now that he (vegas) insists all is lost.

Vegas, you can't leave because I'm hungry. and vegas fucking responds to that. are you very hungry? can someone else take you to eat? and pete is like? this fucking idiot? really? someone else? bitch, what do I look like? the farm's pony? no. how dare you try to push me away. ME. ME that you said you wanted to be with?

and through this you can see vegas' face. he knows. oh my stupid psycho knows. but will he break. will he give in to what his cold heart wants to warm up? i am hungry so i came to find my owner. turn to look at me vegas, please. oh he's breaking. yeah, you can see it on how he slowly straightens his back.

Vegas, you cannot turn your back on me and leave me alone because I'm hungry. Am I not your pet? Aren't you meant to take care of your pets? So do it, behave like the master you are, and take care of me. Because I am your pet and you're my owner.

i am yours. you are mine.

iamfine.

so after the final plea from pete, how vegas' name comes out of his lips so softly, so quietly, like it's a word meant to only be spoken in prayer, vegas fucking turns around.

and legit no offense but if anyone looked at me like that, i'd respectfully pass out.

and vegas turns around and pete's face lights up. he turned around! he understood! he knows! and vegas smiles. and all is well.

WELL NO. SOMEONE HAD TO COME RUIN IT BECAUSE WHAT IS VEGASPETE IF NOT PAIN AND DESPAIR.

and for a moment, you could think the one who lands the shots is pete. but no. it's vegas. vegas "I'm not going to let anything happen to pete" theerapanyakul. vegas who was so focused on keeping pete safe that forgot he himself can bleed.

and pete loses it. he really does. he turns to the man and doesn't hesitate a second to turn him into a strainer. as he should.

and then pete turns to vegas, who could honestly have fallen into the pool and that'd have been a disaster of its own. or not. and he whispers, and touches vegas as he falls to his knees. and here you can see so well then two blood stains on his white shirt. convenient shapes and placement. almost like two wings.

two wings from a fallen angel who fell in love with the devil himself.

where's that truck, seriously. pain is all ik now.

and frankly, pete goes to vegas like a puppy who's owner collapsed. he's helpless. he's lost. his heart is breaking a little more every second vegas doesn't move or answer. he shoves him. please move, vegas, not you. and he crawls next to him. and lays his head on his chest, broken, shattered, feeling like he himself is dying. because if vegas is death, really, what does pete who has left behind his friend and the main family to leave with vegas have left? nothing.

we've all seen all those videos and stories of dogs whose owners passed away and remain where their graves are or by their beds until they die soon after.

but then, thank fucking satan because idk what i'd have done with myself and boc if that had been their end, vegas is alive! and pete is with him, by his bed as he recovers from the war they went through. and he's wearing light, soft, green colors. colors related to soothing (for the heart attack I almost had) and youthful (because vegaspete can start again and live their best domestic kinky lives without abusive parents), and hope. and green because that's just vegas color and all it incites that plenty of others have mentioned in other metas.

and they talk. of course im here vegas. you're not a burden to me, you could never be. i choose you. and you're not my pete anymore, pete, you're the most important person in my life. and he says this in thai. strong, deep feelings language!

pete's i want to follow my heart and vegas face about to have an ugly cry because he is what pete's heart wants. he! vegas! the one everyone dismisses. the one who has so much baggage! pete wants him. pete, this creature who's more of a fallen angel than he himself is a devil.

and i haven't cried this much in a while. because they are safe. they are together. they are happy.

and macau is there too. happy little found family. and I couldn't have asked for anything else.

[lollahazadi]

Zeb x Y/N (Your Name)

"I already told you…" you whisper to the lasat beside you "there's no one here!" he spoke in a low, squeaky voice. "Relax there, I know what I'm doing" Zeb said looking from side to side with the communicator in his hand. " The only thing you know how to do right now is holding that communicator and making us walk in circles…." you said without putting much faith in the path they were taking through the city. The communicator beeps and reveals Kanan's call with a worried and impatient tone of voice: "Zeb where are you two?" Zeb, his face creased in lost but unadmitted, gazes at the outskirts of the city. You, in desperation to get to the meeting place soon, take Zeb's giant fist and shout "HE MADE US GET LOST!" snorted, Zeb looked at you irritated and snapped "What do you think you're doing, girl???" . Kanan, on the other side of the frequency, asked what that complaint had been and Zeb took possession of the communicator, undoing the thesis of his friend next to him: "It was nothing, it's her drama" He explained glaring at you while you just shake your head slowly in a (no) and meaning (you're completely wrong) "Me and y/n at the rendezvous point. Where are you?"

"Your're not at the rendezvous point , because i'm at the rendezvous point. Y/n is right." Kanan laughed "You really got lost!". Zeb turned his gaze to the right where you were standing and he could see you raise your left eyebrow in a (I told you big guy) "I told you big guy" you warned smiling in the corner. That voluntary movement that you made made Zeb glazed over you, he saw that as a charm that you carried with you and that from time to time he reproduced whenever he had the opportunity. You were a piece of perfection that made him want to bite, but so tiny that he was even sorry to break you. His voice echoed as he looked at her, it was trying to bring him back to the real world, Rebellion, Empire, Buckheads with guns and the rendezvous….. you called it. "Zeb…Zeb…ZEB!!!" Until he heard the last call of his name and was able to return to the reality in which they found themselves: "Huh? What?" Zeb woke up. "Ask Kanan, where should we go" he Asked you pointing to the big purple hand holding the communicator. Confused and silly, Zeb clears his doubts: "Uh, where's the rendezvous point again ? Kanan had said over and over again that it was in the alley and in a market, but even so, the duo could not reach the predicted location. Zeb smiled mischievously: "Well, I am in an alley" while watching StormTroopers overwhelm an ugnaught merchant. Kanan said that the one who was in the right place was himself and that it was another alley. You intervened nervously: "My God in heaven, this is a city, with many fairs, with thousands of alleys, it could have given a better reference point, no ???" and you put both hands on his cheeks until they slid and his face was like a hutt's. Then you can look at the poor ugnaught trying to talk to the empire troopers in order to avoid his arrest and you looked at Zeb waiting for him to do something and shook his swollen biceps and brindled dark purple. "Look there! They're going to arrest him!" Pointing worriedly at the small humanoid, you notice that Zeb contorts his joints, neck and shoulders. Yes, in addition to realizing how masculine and altruistic that was, you realized that he was about to pick a fight with a fist in the face and possible broken limbs. the Lasat smiling in satisfaction at having to feel the crash of those men's helmets going against his fists said to Kanan:

"Yeah, there's a lot of alleys in this town" The only thing you could do was bring both hands together and snap your fingers stretching them out in front of your body. You were no brute, although, you liked this big brute, with the goatee and side beard, big green eyes that you enjoy looking at for a while while you guys talk about sabacc, podracer or wrestling that goes through the holonet. Just as the two stormtroopers were about to arrest the small, porcine creature, Zeb's large hands came out on either side and brought the two troopers' heads together to collide with each other like two marbles, knocking them unconscious to the ground. Job well done, Zeb wipes both of his hands as the little creature looks on that he's just been saved by a lasat. You laughed at the two men who easily succumbed to Zeb's blow and congratulated him by clapping his hands "You make it look so easy, you crumpled them like one who crumples paper" Zeb looked at her cheekily and bragged "It was nothing honey, you can also crumple those heads of potty". You asked suggestively approaching him "Perhaps some private lessons on how to delete a trooper…" "Oh stop y/n, you don't need lessons, you blow these guys away with that flexible, energetic little body of yours, it's pretty easy for you to do a surprise attack." Zeb spurred you on as he looked deep at him. You were flattered and slightly blushing "If that's what it says.." but he insisted "Hey hey girl, stop now, I don't even need to say this, look at you, you have a body to envy, look at that hair, that eyebrow, those eyes and… besides, I'm not just talking because you're pretty , but also because you are incredible and skilled in battle". Now you turned into a cherry tomato because your cheeks changed color because of the things he said to you "Oh, but…you don't have to say those things to me Zeb…" laughed "You're not bad either, your physique is too a kind I like and admire…." WAIT! WHAT ??? No, you shouldn't have said you like his physique!! Now he's going to think you're an idiot!! But Zeb seemed to laugh heartily in his thick, husky voice, finding you amusing.

"Y/N you really are the kind of person everyone would like to be around" He looked at you and you repeated the look of complicity, you on your tiptoes trying to reach Zeb's face to stare at him closer and closer deep, but had to cease as Kanan was still online asking if they would come to the meeting or not. Before you could even respond, dozens of soldiers in white armor came towards you shouting: "Hey! you guys, stop". Zeb looks at you and says: "You spoke too soon when you said I made everything look too easy, girl." "Yeah, I think I overdid it a bit…" You said, shrugging your shoulders and bracing yourself for what was to come. Zeb sighs and tells Kanan that you would be a little late, making Kanan complain that you were already late and start running from the stormtroopers in pursuit. Zeb gives his hand for you to take and run together, but you were so desperate to escape the oppression that you ended up overtaking Zeb, making him look silly and perplexed, but they ran together until they reached a dead end, you screamed : "Look there! What did I say! This town doesn't have a point of reference that isn't a damn alley." But in the alley there was a TIE fighter and a pilot beside it, when he saw them, he warned that it was a restricted area, but you didn't care, you just wanted to escape or fight. Zeb warned Kanan in a humorous tone; "Right. So we are definitely going to be late" . And you started to fight to the sound of Kanan scolding both "Late-er.Late-er!" . The lasat bravely punched the pilot who kept the fighter, climbed into the ship and jumped into a huddle of soldiers, surrendering and hitting them one by one. You with your two hands disarmed a trooper, broke his wrist and kicked him away with your boot. The next one who was shooting you dodged to one side and did a backflip and landed on the ground with one hand and the other raised and your legs well positioned on the ground, one of your legs slipped on the soldier's ankles, knocking him over for once. A trooper coming from behind, you can reflexively elbow him. While you fought, Zeb watched her from afar, admiringly and with a full look, thinking "Karabast. Look at these moves, I like this" and stretched his rifle, transforming it into an electric baton, ascending it at each end.

"Wait, you and y/n are fighting stormtroopers??" Kanan wanted to know without being able to see anything, just hear the mess made. Zeb positioning his Lasat weapon asked feigning innocence: "What makes you say that ?" and attacks his imperial opponents, electrocuting anyone he can.

"I heard blaster fire." Kanan justified every hit Zeb landed on the troopers, making one of them scream in pain "And Screaming". Kanan continued and Zeb not caring said calmly "there may be more screaming" but Kanan does not forgive the delay and continued to scream "Oh thats great. You get lost in the middle of a mission for you two to be sneaking out in any alley and decide to start your own battle with y/n again". You hear it from afar and defend yourself by yelling as you grab a trooper and kick him with your knee in his groin " I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS NO KANAN, I told you, he made us lose!" you accuse Zeb " Go on As for me, I was just as focused on getting to the reunion as you are."

Zeb also defends himself to Kanan while also defending himself against enemies in "Didn't Decide." a soldier jumps on Zeb's back as if they were playing football " It just happened. " Zeb put his back against his leg in the TIE fighter to shoot the guy on his back and wrapped his rifle around him and threw him to take down the soldiers who came.Kanan asks on the call "So you two…?" "This time . And NO! I didn't plan to be alone with y/n and I didn't make us both get lost, nothing happened, Just happened I mean because we couldn't get to the rendezvous. He looked at her and they both gasped after a good fight and were interrupted by the LS-607 pilot who called desperately for help when he saw a lasat of 2.10 with his back to him. The communication asks how many opponents there were, Zeb was joking looking at himself, looking at you, around and pointing at him even " One", but you intervened " Stop being brazen, you fought alone, did you? Two" You leaned on Zeb like he was a doorframe as you watched the terrified pilot.

Zeb gets the idea to climb the TIE while the poor pilot miserably shoots Zeb, but Zeb hides. Seeing that he didn't see the lasat, he approached the vehicle terrified, but he was suddenly lifted by the humanoid's prehensile feet and fell hard to the ground. You with your machine gun blaster shot at the trooper reinforcements that came and took down as many as you could, shooting, disarming, striking each man until some of them passed out at your feet. When your ammunition ran out, without a second thought, with the machine gun itself, with the weight of it, you howled and beat your opponents in the head, in the ribs, in the back until you were sure that their bones were broken enough to fight back. Zeb half kneeling on top of the TIE looked at her as if he saw the doors of Ashla's paradise, as if it were the most beautiful, most beautiful and most exciting thing to waste his hours and hours watching. Kanan on the line asked feigning embarrassment "Oh, Zeb. Are you embarrassing the imperials again". Zeb taking the device off his belt, said satisfied "No, y/n is doing a beautiful job for me and honestly, Kanan. Its hard not to. She is learning from the best." He smiled proudly as he watched you beat up the idiots. That was better than watching a Miss Universe show that airs every year on the holonet.

But just an empty blaster wasn't going to stop the reinforcements that arrived more and more. Then Zeb had an idea as they tried to shoot him, Zeb crawled behind the vehicle until he was upside down and the shots were all concentrated on the TIE, causing it to leak fuel. You run for cover behind the TIE and see Zeb who is clinging to the TIE like a spider: "These guys are too many!" You say. He notices that the liquid was coming out of the vehicle and advises you as he looks at you "I think you better run and fast." You look down and immediately see the reason and connect it to the shots focused on the ship and worriedly ask: " And you ?!" "I can handle it, run to the alley!" You, even though you don't want to, decide you need to get out and fast. "Alright, back to the alley!" Said frustrated while running "Always the alley, this city is full of alleys!" you complain leaving the field of view of the troopers who shoot.

Orrelios watching the ship leak, head over heels dodging the blasters quickly, he laments jokingly: "Well, thats not good". Kanan blindly, apprehensively asks: "Whats not good? whats not good?" And suddenly, a big explosion devastates that scene, spreading debris from the TIE and you protecting yourself as you can under a tent. After the impact, you can come out of hiding and together with the ugnaught that appeared with his droid carrying a basket of fruits, they could see all the soldiers knocked out on the ground in the middle of the explosive fog. You search with your eyes where that crazy lasat is that risked to be able to blow up those bucket heads, until you saw him coming out of the smoke screen as if nothing had happened to him. Unceremoniously you run up to him and jump into a tight, reassuring embrace, he holding you behind your back and you wrapping your legs around his wide hips, "You crazy !" You scream in congratulations drowning your face in his shoulder "It could have been in pieces, are you sure it's in one piece?" You wanted to know as you felt around Zeb's strong shoulders, his full biceps, every part of his body making sure he wasn't scratched, he was intact. You accidentally end up touching his ears too, a sensitive and intimate part of a lasat's body, making Zeb shiver at the sweet touch and growl affectionately. You noticed that you went too far and stopped immediately, because you remembered that his species' ears cannot be easily touched "It was bad Big, it escaped me, I did it on impulse" You still hid your face in his shoulders. Zeb even though he liked the soft touch of her little hands, he replied calmly "It's okay, it was nothing, as you can see, I'm fine, girl, are you hurt maybe? Those toilet-headed men weren't kidding with you" He questions while touching her back with his hands and then sliding down to her spine to see if she hadn't been compromised and accidentally groping her waist, squeezing it slightly and going down to her behind, but realizing that it was a precious female part being touched, the Lasat he gasped and his cheeks went from purple to burgundy and he placed his hands under his thighs, stilling himself. You ask "okay big guy? I heard choking" you took your face from his shoulder to face your purple friend who looked you in the eyes, he replied nervously " Yes yes, it was no big deal, you're fine, I'm fine, we're all fine he he " He laughed awkwardly at the situation and hoped she hadn't noticed the touch on her buttock. You answer mischievously looking at him "Don't worry, no trooper kicked my ass, I kicked theirs" leaving Zeb blushing and clearing his throat with nervousness and that he was still holding her but was afraid of being disrespectful, but the two looked good . "Look y/n, I just… I didn't mean to touch her the way you think…." You cover your big lips " Shshsh, it's ok Zeb, I know you, you're not the perverted type, that's even.. cute Zeb" you laughed red and you both looked at each other not knowing what to do next. The communication device still left Kanan on: "Zeb ! Y/N! I see smoke . Was that? was that a TIE fighter exploding?"

Instantly, the two of you pull apart as if Kanan was able to see the scene. Zeb gently releases you to the ground and you reach down and stroke your right arm like you're cold. The ugnaught offers its credits as a way of gratitude to both of you, but you decline and prefer something you can eat. Zeb takes a piece of fruit from the stallholder's basket and offers it to you first, you gladly accept it, wipe it off on your clothes and take a bite. Zeb takes his fruit and denies coughing to Kanan that there was no explosion: "No" but then he saw that there was no reason to lie and admitted "Okay. Yes" and bites the fruit. Excited Kanan says "Nice". Zeb thinks out loud "I thought so". As you two follow the course to leave, more stormtroopers appear as Kanan says "Okay, stay put. I'll follow the smoke and pic you two up" You and Zeb look at each other knowingly, as he stretches for a second round, you steal a gun from a fallen trooper, ready to fight again. the lasat rebel stretches his bo rifle like an electric baton saying defiantly "We'll be here".

[sir-yeehaw-paws]

i’m being predictable but if no one else has asked yet… bosselot (for the ask game)

Congrats you ARE the first!

Send Me a Ship

Ship It

What made you ship it? Ok so let me start this off by telling you a bit of a story. My introduction to Metal Gear was MGSV. I played Ground Zeroes and then started up Phantom Pain. I straight up thought that Ocelot was Kaz because hey it's been 9 years I've only seen a handful of Kaz and then Ocelot is introducing himself and telling me I know him and I'm like 'Nah dude I really don't.' AND THEN AND THEN. EVERYTHING HAPPENED. Within maybe..3 hours of playing I determined 3 things about Ocelot: Cowboy Gay Evil By the time I finished MGSV, listened to all the tapes and saw the CIGAR SCENE. I had to know more immediately. More I played through the series more I got into Bosselot. By the end with Ocelot's fuckin' finger guns call back and BB's graveyard I was A SOBBING DISASTER THAT GOT SO ATTACHED AND ANYWAY.

What are your favorite things about the ship? I already had a huge weakness for 'evil freak painfully devoted to one person' (re: Yoshitaka Mine, but also I like that kinda thing in general) and Ocelot delivers that in SPADES. (Also their WIG fight? Hello? BB might have a sex drive once a year and wouldn't know romance if it hit him in the face and took his other eyeball but sir, son, my friends; that man likes what he sees). It's extremely funny to me too that EVERYONE calls BB out for helping Ocelot-and asks him why, and he's just *genuinely baffled* "I..don't know...I just had to." Because you like him sir it's okay it's fine. I also don't think BB gets enough credit for enabling Ocelot. I think Ocelot could do whatever he wants and BB's unhinged self would openly encourage him. Ocelot lived and died and brought down the Patriots for Big Boss. Ocelot devoted his ENTIRE LIFE to this man. That is some *chews on glass* worthy shit there. "In love with the legend not the man" my entire ass. If anything he transitioned from loving the legend to loving the man, and stopped associating the two as one in the same. IT IS THE MESSIEST THING EVER. But also weirdly romantic in a way that makes sense to them. Perhaps. Romance can be romance without being sweet-or good. I have more thoughts I'm sure but this is getting long oops.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? No authority on this here again but I don't think the power dynamic isn't quite as it seems. Ocelot is completely, 100% life long devoted to Big Boss, but that devotion is where the ball is in HIS court. Ocelot could take that devotion away at any given moment should he choose; and there'd be NOTHING Big Boss could do about it. The iron grip Big Boss holds on Ocelot is because he knows Ocelot WON'T because Ocelot is terminally in love and obsessed with him. But this isn't a weakness so much on Ocelot's part as it's a known fact. Which can make it a weakness in the right hands. Also, as tying into the above, Ocelot's really bad at hiding it. His enemies might not know jack about him, but his Big Boss open weakness is known to those who can REALLY use it against him (such as Zero).

THANK YOU FOR SENDING IN <3

[marshmallowprotection]

Another ask about teasing Unknown? More likely than you'd expect 😶

Anyways! So I've been thinking about my reasonings behind my love for finding all kinds of different ways of getting myself in deep trouble with our stern boss. It's especially interesting, cause my cmc for him is much more calm and gentle with her way of approaching him! And... I kind of realized that the reason for me getting under his skin like that is honestly much more wholesome in its nature than you'd think.

There's just something... so special about trying to bring some excitement and chaos into his predictable life, at least the good kind. His days are probably blending together into one tiring and angry fog, since there's not much for him to do or even think about, other than work towards his revenge. And I don't want him to live in these negative emotions, even if he thinks that that's the only way for him to get what he wants. I know this might be super silly, but watching him jolt in surprise or raise a brow in confusion whenever I'm acting stupid with him (sometimes on purpose whether he realizes it or not) is making me feel very happy :) It might be small, but for this fleeting moment, there's something different occupying his mind, something much more real and tangible than his usual thoughts of hatred and pain.

Making people I care about laugh is definitely one of my love languages, but since I know that Unknown is not the type to appreciate jokes or funny comments, I guess I'm just trying to lighten his mood by being silly. I wonder how he would react to me confessing my true motivations behind all my banter? Cause I'm pretty sure he might misinterpret my behavior and think that I'm trying to bring him down or exploit his weaknesses, when it's definitely not the case.

Watching you is almost like watching a child who won't stop trying to jam a fork in a light socket. You don't know when to quit and he isn't sure why he hasn't exploded on you enough to make you regret that you keep opening your mouth to say things that have nothing to do with his goals. You just don't get it and he doubts you ever will get it.

Frankly, he can't stand it.

But, what could he expect from someone like you? What could he expect from somebody who lived in a world entirely different than his own? What could he expect from somebody who knew what it felt like to wake up in the morning without having a gun pointed at their head? Was there a point in expecting anything different from you in this life?

"Guess what?" you asked, fingers prodding at the elastic that clung to his tank top.

With a disdainful noise that told you all he could ever feel about your distraction, he looked from the monitor and appeared at you with his piercing blue eyes. If you looked closely, you could see him debating if it was worth seeing what you wanted or not.

His voice was unpleased. "What?"

"Chicken butt."

Dear Savior, he regretted the day he took you from that apartment. It would have been punishment enough to leave you in that place with those morons and traders. It took all of his strength not to explode at you for distracting him for even a fraction of a second. There was no time for this.

"Why?" he asked, teeth grinding against each other as if he was going to get an answer to your lunacy.

"Chicken thigh," you chimed.

A part of him wanted to teach you a lesson for continuing to get on his nerves in this way, but it was his fault he brought you here in the first place. There was no way for him to get rid of you at this point because you knew too much and he didn't want to waste any of his time finding somebody else to take care of all the grunt work. But, it was wearing his patience thin.

So, he decided it wasn't worth the energy. He looked back to his load of work and continued to type, ignoring the distracting weight of you against his lap and the cheeky tone of your voice that kept trying to win him over for whatever reason. Well, he wouldn't have it. You were his and he would break you of this streak eventually.

Little did he know that you were the one pulling the strings behind him. You were going to make sure he didn't destroy himself, even if it wound up destroying you.

[inlocusmads]

Hi Mads! Dropping in for a little Valentine's Day fun...

Ethan gives Jane a card for Valentine's Day. Does he pick out a mushy or funny one? Is there anything special he writes inside?

(Feel free to respond for your other pairings too.)

Cari, thank you so much for this! I loved this so much that I turned it into a mini-drabble!

Love, Slitheens And Klingon

Ethan gives Jane a Valentine's Day card that is so feverishly extraordinary.

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey, Jane Fletcher from Open Heart, Choices.

No Warnings/WC:399

“What is this?”

“A card. Because people do that.”

“Do what?”

“It’s Valentine’s Day.”

“Right. Not concerning at all. Are you sure you aren’t -- under the weather?” Jane said, sending an intense, piercing gaze at Ethan; a furrowed brow with a tight-lipped expression that could only translate into the fact that she wasn’t amused. Sure, some people would call her crazy or idiotic to think that her partner of less than a year and a half (whom she’d known for four years prior to the establishment of their “yes, they will” relationship, after crossing the trenches of “will they, won’t they”) was secretly an extraterrestrial being with long eyes and a pear-shaped head, who’d managed to squeeze into a human costume with a zipper attached near his neck, but guess what? They were the idiotic ones.

“Am I really that predictable that when I get you a card, it is something of a blue-moon sighting?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s encouraging, isn’t it?”

“No, it is a little surprising from the same man who’s against the commercialisation of a day that’s supposed to talk about love and stuff and against establishments that sell you glitter and stuff and it is guilting to walk by these shops, because Valentine’s Day isn’t really about glamour to you or anyone, but everyone is forced to buy into this because they have no choice.”

“I didn’t buy it. I made it.” Ethan informed.

“Oh. That explains why the card’s pantone blue and there’s nothing written on the cover.”

“You have to open it and--”

“Did the printer not work?”

Ethan stared at her.

“Yes.” he admitted.

“Next time, you do this--” she made a fist and a rapid banging motion against the air. “Or a good baseball bat would do the same.”

Jane eventually opened the card to find a short message, scribbled hastily. 

Happy Valentine's Day, J. May our partnership be more improbable than a sperm whale and a bowl of petunias- which translates to a very rough figure of 8,767,128 to 1 against and may our misadventures be as improbable as starting a spice trade with Arrakis, waking up to five hundred stone angels and speaking Klingon to those said weeping angels.

Much love, Ethan.

Right next to the writing was a picture of Annie Lennox doing finger-guns.

“Looks like a fever dream. It’s the best thing ever.”

“Tlhih're hochhom welcome." he said, in Klingon. ("You're most welcome")

____

A/N: And so begins Ethan's indoctrination into the wonderful world of 80s and 90s science fiction. There is no escape.

Thank you so much for reading!

Tag List:

Perma: @quixoticdreamer16 @trappedinfanfiction @tessa-liam @peonierose

Open Heart only: @cariantha @jerzwriter @ofmischiefandmedicine

I'm super sorry I'm behind on responding to reblogs! Uni has been a bit hectic lately, so I only find time to write on the fly and not even care to edit things out. I promise I'll find time to get to your wonderful comments and you can expect me to get back to you in a week-ish. You guys are awesome! Thank you so much for your support! Otherwise these silly fics wouldn't have found an audience at all.

Cheers, Mads.

[twoboneswriter]

Both Arms?

I'm dragging him through the dirt because I love him. More of a treat for book readers who know what scene I'm changing but also forgive me if I have the timeline mixed up I'm silly.

Short read. Injury and violence. Driver crying.

The shot missed. The glass crackled and twinkled as it fell.

The bullet made its home in the wooden beam hidden behind the apartment's drywall. Irene yelped, hands up to her ears as she dropped to the ground. Driver shot up, moving towards her to grab and guide her away from the glass and the resetting eye of the gun. Another shot was heard and another bullet found itself inside of drywall instead of flesh. Driver dragged the two of them towards the front door of the apartment, putting a corner wall between them and the windows. He stood there pressed against it, all too reminiscent of the hotel having nearly the same ringing in his ears.

Fortunately, amateurs were predictable, the man kicked away at the glass on the bottom of the window before stepping inside. He grumbled something about wrist pain ruining his clean kill, taking calculated steps towards the corner. The magnum was held out away from the man's body in typical gun-holding fashion, yet being held that far forward made it vulnerable. The gun was nothing more than a field mouse, Driver's hands being the talons of the red tailed hawk.

The man slipped the trigger as he grabbed it, shooting a sharp silence into both their ears, they wrestled and foul play wasn't off the table. The man kicked at Driver's legs without letting go of the gun taking them both down to the ground. While a good move this was, this made the man take his attention off the gun which, while still in his hands, was now bent towards at him. He puppeteered the man's hands, squeezing down on his fingers and having blood splatter onto his face from the now lack there of on the dead man.

Driver laid his own head to the ground, attempting to level his breathing as the pain from the situation started to show face. He became aware of how much more blood was on him then there should've been, then the pain in his arm. The stray fire from earlier had made it home in his arm, well not comfortably enough- it blasted through leaving a horribly torn crater behind.

Yet, there was also a body in front of him with a crater where eyes should be. There's no bullet to pick out, there's no glass to pick out, he has eyes, a nose, and a mouth on his face, he's grateful.

Time to clean it all up.

He had a lazy wrap around the wound, feeling an equally lazy sense of dejavu as he sat in the front seat staring out at the apartment's parking lot. His nose was used to the metallic sting of blood at this point, turning over the engine he took the body elsewhere as Irene gathered what she had. They said their curt goodbyes, thanked him for what he done for her and went to explain how she was just going to be leaving, finding grandparents more than a few states over. He understood. Despite saving her life that night he had still lost her and Benicio.

Coming back to his own apartment he did the same, they knew he lived here and they would come back but he wanted to see Irene off. His arm continued to bleed slow and thick, most of it having crusted over clinging to the soaked bunches of cotton balls. He wasn't a doctor, he would make sure it would stay clean and check to make sure it never looks infected but the rest was keeping it covered, whatever covered may be. As he stood there, packing away what little he owned in the one duffle bag he had, Driver shook. He shook with silent and choked cries. What little tears he had trickled like a creek down his cheeks. It hurt like hell, it all hurt like hell.

Just like that everything he had was gone again. Just like that him and everything he had was on the road again.

It wasn't until he was on the road, off the freeway, and onto the freeway did he let it loose. Barely a sound above the radio as his chest heaved, up and down, jerk, down, jerk, down, jerk, down, a whine no louder than a whisper, and up again. Driver wasn't unfamiliar with crying, but sobbing was different. He's not above letting out a tear, no man is he believes, but the vulnerability of the sob is something he has only shown his steering wheel and the asphalt of the freeway. The two lane stretch of track, surrounded by miles of sprawled land and the ones around California had some nice scenery. Driver couldn't pay attention to it though, much of it being blurred through watery eyes and wet eyelashes.

[eorzeanpages]

Bullet In A Gun (FFXIV Quickfic)

Chel's gun is on the fritz and Emet has a tidy solution.

Shadowbringers spoilers

He watched her from the shadows for a time. The training courtyard was barren save for her, and the shots from her gun echoed almost painfully across the hewn stone. The bullets were not going in the predicted direction, if her swearing was anything to go by. A few more rounds, then the box at her hip gave a high-pitched whine and started emitting a faint blue smoke.

This, it seemed, was the last straw for the dear hero, and Emet-Selch watched her unbuckle the box and throw it into the wall, where it rang and then clattered to the ground. She kicked it as she passed to sit on a bench.

It was here he chose to reveal himself, stepping out from behind a nearby tree.

“Good gracious hero, have you no respect for your weaponry?”

“Fuck off,” she replied, taking a long swig from a flask of water and dumping the rest over her head. Her long Viis ears flicked droplets everywhere. When a few moments passed and she finally realized that he would not, in fact, “fuck off,” she grabbed her box and pulled tools from her satchel to pry it open. She didn't react when Emet-Selch sat next to her on the bench to watch. Inside, some of the wires were melted - to the box, to the crystals, to each other.

“The aether imbalance on the First is overheating it,“ the Viis muttered in explanation. ”Water-aspected can't be used because they tend to leak, and ice-aspected crystals slow the mana transference. The sheer amount of Light present is causing my rounds to be severely underpowered. I can't afford this right now!“

”Find me a shard of crystal,“ Emet-Selch demanded with sudden thoughts.

”Excuse me?“

“Did I stutter? Crystal, unaspected, a shard. Should be plently littering the ground out here. One that will fit in your precious little box.“

The Viis looked confused and wary, but quickly fetched one from the base of the Tower and returned with it. He plucked it deftly from her fingers and held it aloft between his two hands, suspended in the air. It was nothing to will his own Dark aether into it until it practically radiated such. He then handed it back and she took it delicately after a moment's hesitation.

”You know I'm like to use it on you just as much as any Sin Eater?“

He chuckled. ”Hero, were I concerned about your chances, I would not help you.“

”Then why help?“

”I'm bored.“

She snorted. ”Of course.“

The box was quickly wired and screwed tightly. The hero secured it to her waist and faced the training dummy, arm level. One focused breath, and the bolt fired with such force that it left a mark in the wall behind. She grinned and laughed, sheathing her gun.

”I'll be damned, it worked,” she turned to him just as he was getting up to leave. Her eyes widened.

”Wait, hang on!“

He gave a heaving sigh. ”What, hero?“

She grabbed his hand. “Thank you. For helping. Look I know the others are… and Thancred especially is… but I appreciate it.”

They stayed like that a few moments before he gently pulled his hand away.

“You are welcome. Now run along before they think I've abducted you.”

[snakedevour]

new kakegurui chapter released today and as i am like to do... i've got a couple thoughts. i dunno if this'll constitute a full deep-dive but (finger guns) another month another dump of my thoughts on kakegurui chapter 99.

spoilers galore for the kkg manga as always

i recommend referencing my deep dive on chapters 96 and 97 for some supplemental context but i'll probably be recycling a few panels from it. a lot of things are still/are even more relevant so like. yeah

the first major bullet point for chapter 99 is that souko's appearance is Somewhat consistent with her formerly anime-only appearance from rei's flashbacks

and by that i mean... she wore a kimono and had her hair in that updo whenever she was at the momobami mansion. the design isn't 100% but the jist is more or less the same. ideally this means that while kkgxx had some anime-only contrivances in it, homura isn't writing the manga in a way that contradicts it. with that in mind, there's a standout detail from kkgxx:

rei was present during souko's breakdown. where was rei when this happened? the momobami main house. souko, as of this chapter, is about to gamble vs her aunt tsugiko... at the momobami main house. these particular stars are aligning despite the schrodinger's canon of rei's backstory.

should we suppose that this stays consistent, we know this gamble is going to go one of two ways:

souko loses

souko wins, but something else goes awry

the gamble itself is for the title of the jabami family head, but furthermore operates on the conditions of

if souko wins, tsugiko is ousted from the family

if tsugiko wins, she adopts yumeko as her daughter and heir

considering what we know in hindsight and putting that together with these conditions, we'll probably see souko's breakdown by the conclusion of this game and moreover and at the same time, it's probably most likely that souko will win. this is a reasonable guess because sayaka ran that background check on yumeko waaayyy back in chapter 10:

just like i did in my summaries for 97 and 98, i'm going to re-highlight "yumeko jabami currently lives alone" and "her only other family is her sister"

the reality is that aunt tsugiko is not in the picture. as possible as it is that souko loses (which would facilitate some manner of breakdown, which we know will happen somehow) and then something else happens to tsugiko between that and the main plot, that feels a little contrived when this whole game has been set up. iunno.

the other thing is that we have terano's line about "kirari killing jabami"

we already know that to be "killed" in the momobami family means to lose your personhood and to lose your seat in the clan. this can still refer to something with souko we just haven't seen yet, but it's worth remembering that this was the condition in the event of tsugiko's loss.

the problem is that... if souko wins, something else causes her breakdown. if she loses, we know that her breaking point is probably losing guardianship of yumeko.

on the other hand, her winning still leaves that circumstance a mystery unless her aunt were to go on to do something unhinged after losing. though admittedly, tsugiko doesn't seem to be above going off the deep end:

i will say though that tsugiko doesn't outright answer souko's question here... it's more like she doesn't deny it and that leaves room for elaboration later... that this is a red herring i think is in the realm of possibility. the jabami parents' death either has something to do with tsugiko or kabura (who's definitely up to something) -- they're the only new characters of note introduced in this flashback and that's how storytelling works.

my tentative prediction is that souko "wins the battle but loses the war" so to speak. i think she'll beat her aunt in the gamble because tsugiko is just Not There in the main story, implying she's been ousted, but something else is bound to go wrong. maybe tsugiko gets real ugly upon losing, who knows. if absolutely nothing else, we know from her interaction with kabura last chapter that there's Something Else going on with her.

we also have to remember that yumeko thinks of souko when manyuda asks her if she feels remorse for "the people whose lives she's ruined" but now for all we know that could refer to souko playing this game for her sake, so...there's definitely stuff that's yet to be revealed. too bad we gotta wait another month 🤨

[elpida]

' keep your fucking eyes open. ' (from Cristov for Eris)

The attack was unfair, nobody would've seen it coming. She was moving some things from what'd been their little hideout, a box in her hand and that same postal worker had been in an out of this building hundreds of times during their stay.. she'd walked by Eris a hundred times.. so why now? Why did it have to turn out this way now?

People always say it happens fast. That wasn't usually a problem, they knew how to handle fast.. but what Eris couldn't do was predict everything. She held open the door for the postal worker and gestured with the nod of her head that they could pass her and as they passed and Eris was to leave they said something. A brief "Shame to see you're leaving." They hadn't told anyone. Nobody knew why or when they'd come, or when they'd leave.. they didn't make friends here, they knew each other for the job and that was it nobody more than just a passing acquaintance. That is when it clearly dawned on her, but smart as she was... it came to light too late. When she turned that worker lunged at her, knocking the box from her arms and forcing her with cracking thud into the door.

All she saw was the gun, that is all she saw and acted, like she knew to. She immediately forced their arm up to get the aim away from her and Cristov and it was fine, Eris broke their wrist in a second, disarmed them and then used the hilt of the gn to knock the worker out. A single fire would draw too much attention in the middle of the day but.. but it hadn't fired a single shot, and crimson was staining everything.

She was staining everything. It may as well ahve happened in slow motion, the way she opened her arms from her body and looked down at herself. Thick crimson was spreading into the knit of her jumper and wedged into the side of her torso was a blade. The gun hung limply in her fingers until she dropped the thing, she'd put the safety on so no danger there but she was just.. staring at herself.

"Hey, maybe you can take my cut from the-" she couldn't walk it off, act like it was nothing because she was getting pale, fast. She faltered when her knee's buckled and gravity demanded her to be pulled down. Her hands moved closer, cradling that wound but all it did was spread blood to her hands, her fingers that trembled and she had the most calm controlling hands normally. "-my cut from the job." she forced herself to finish. "They.. they got me good Crissy." she managed to breath out but she was in pain, she didn't want to admit it, stubborn as ever but she couldn't make herself get back up.

"They-.." the world was spinning and Eris was barely getting words out between her short, rushed breaths. That's when her eyelids started to flutter. She wanted to close them, no more pain, no more fighting. "Why.. Why not.." she mumbled, this was bad. "I'm so tired Cristov, I'm so tired.." the most genuine thing she'd ever admitted to him.

[casspurrjoybell-26]

Made of Steele - Chapter 31

*Warning: Adult Content*

- Kit -

I was running so late.

Despite taking a car ride here, I couldn't relax in the car so I had asked to walk the rest of the way, which was only two blocks from where I needed to go to meet Jamie.

I wanted to make a good impression on Jamie's family, the last time I had met his father it didn't end so well but I knew this time it was different, I was different but most of all, Jamie had forgiven me and wanted me to stay and come tonight.

I just needed to get my head right and take a breather before I walked in there, I wanted to be confident but I was anything but as I was a nervous wreck and scared of screwing this all up again with him.

I was just a five minute walk from the place I was meeting Jamie and his family, when I felt something or someone touch my shoulder before I turned around the corner back onto the main street.

When I turned around, I did not expect to stare down the barrel of a gun pointed directly in my face, by a man I did recognise but from the look in his eye, I could see he knew me.

"Fancy seeing you here, asshole," the man said, as I slowly raised my hands up, my heartbeat banging loudly in my chest.

His eyes were dark, he had looked like he hadn't slept in months as his fingers tightly wrapped around the gun in his hands, as he gestured for me to step forward, further into the alleyway.

"You can have my wallet, there's money inside.," I calmly say, not moving from my spot as I swallow hard as his face remains stoic.

"Money?" he scoffs, as I hear a click come from his gun.

"You... don't even remember me, do you?"

I stared at his face but nothing came to mind and even if I did know who he was and why he was doing this, a loaded gun pointed in my face was making it hard to think about anything other than that fact.

I tried to think if I knew this man or not, he looked as though he was in his late 30's but nothing was coming to mind, I didn't remember him.

Fuck, why was this happening tonight of all nights?

"You ruined my life and didn't even learn my name... did you?"

He laughed darkly, before hissing out.

"L-Look, put the gun down and we can..."

"TALK?" he shouts in my face, stepping forward to press the gun painfully against my forehead.

Before I could predict his next move, he raised the gun and hit me with it hard across my face, making me stumble back and as I knelt down to cover my face, the man had jumped on me.

"I'm done talking, you took her from me... I have nothing now."

Tears filled his eyes as he shouted in my face.

I felt something suddenly touch me and at first I thought he had hit me again but through the chaos of what was happening, I watched as he got up off me, his eyes filled with sudden panic before he turned around to run away.

As I watched him run down the alleyway I felt a sharp pain from where he had touched me and once I looked down and saw why I was suddenly in so much pain as I stared at a knife in my stomach.

He... he stabbed me.

The pain upon seeing what was inside me suddenly overcame everything inside of me as I was now aware of what had happened, making my pain seem unbearable as I tried to process everything.

I tried to call out for help but every time I opened my mouth it felt as though the knife was going further into my stomach, causing me to cry out as I tried not to move.

In those moments, I thought of nothing but surviving this, I tried to steady my breathing, and think of what to do next but most importantly, I thought of the only thing keeping me from being afraid.

Trying to calm myself, it suddenly dawned on me where I had seen that man before and once his face flashed in my mind, I finally remembered where I had seen him before.

I didn't know him, not even by name but I did know him from somewhere and that was because he was always staring at me from behind a certain someone, someone who I was forced to be with.

He looked different now but it was definitely him, the more I thought about it, he was her bodyguard.

Or... ex-bodyguard.

Jessica Whipley, my soon to be ex-fiancee.

I can't believe he found me here, in America of all places and that he stabbed me, in the alleyway blocks from where I should be, living my life how I should've lived it months ago, before I ran away like a coward.

Now... Could it be too late?

I didn't want it to end like this, not like this.

Reaching for my phone, I saw that my hands were covered in my blood and shaking profusely as I stared at the bright red blood on my hands, trying my best to not let the fear sink in and to focus on unlocking my phone.

Only then I realized how much blood I had lost and that my hands were feeling sore and numb and with one last desperate effort, I tried to open my phone to get help.

It was useless, I was losing too much blood and the blood on my hands made it impossible to open my phone to get help and in the end...

It was all for nothing.

The last thing I heard, before I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore, was a scream filling the air and the sound of car horns filling the cold air of New York at night.

[samanthas-mess]

Subs of the Mafia (Hidden Level)

When the game loaded the level selection, I was at my lowest point.

I didn't want to continue this. But it was like I had to.

I saw how an extra level became unlocked. "Please, no more." I trembled.

But there was no going back. I paid $10 for a reason.

I clicked on the level and braced myself for what more horrors were to come.

When the level loaded, I found myself staring at a garage door.

"The garage door I kept finding?" I questioned. I clicked on it.

Text at the bottom appeared. 'You can't access this without a proper ID.'

"What am I supposed to do?" I wondered. I kept clicking the door.

For a while, the same text kept appearing. But around the tenth click, something activated.

Don Vito appeared. It surprised me. I didn't think he would ever show up again.

"Hey there. I need a favor." He told me. "What is it?" I asked.

"I forgot to get an AK-47, could you be a dear and get it for me?" He asked.

"Sure thing boss." I replied. Don Vito dug in his pocket and took out an ID.

"Here, forgot to give this to you when you first arrived."

My avatar took the ID card and turned back to the garage.

I clicked on the garage door and sure enough, I was now allowed in.

"Remember, I'm looking for an AK-47." Don Vito reminded me as my avatar entered.

Once in the garage, I began to look around, getting startled when I heard a noise.

For the first time in the whole game, my character finally took out a gun of their own.

I saw somebody messing around with the guns that were on the table.

I made my character lower their gun and walk to the person.

My avatar tap the person on the shoulder, causing her to yell in panic.

When she saw it was just my avatar, she sighed with relief.

"Oh, it's just you." She sighed as she attempted to hide what was behind her.

"What's going on back there?" I avatar questioned. "Uh, n-nothing." She lied. When my character crossed their arms, she sighed.

"Okay fine, but on one condition." She asked as she placed a hand on my avatar's shoulder.

"Whatever you do, don't tell-" a sudden second screen appeared.

Showing a masked capo slitting the girl's throat. I even saw the blood spurts.

When the screen went back to normal, I saw her sitting on the floor, holding her throat to stop the blood.

The mask capo stood there. Through the eyeholes of his mask, I saw how he was glaring at her, his bloody knife slightly visible.

Upon seeing me, he tried to hide his knife.

"Oh no! Kate had an accident!" He pretended to gasp.

"In the Mafia, accidents can happen, but it's never anyone's fault." He explained.

"I'm Aaron by the way. But no time for introductions, we have to help Kate!" He said.

My character turned to Kate. "What kind of accident can lead to a throat getting slit?" I asked.

"It seems like Kate was preparing a gun, but it accidentally shot and the bullet probably connected with her throat." Aaron predicted.

"T-That's not-" Kate tried to confess. "Who do you think can help with this kind of accident?" Aaron interrupted.

Options appeared. 'Don Vito' or 'Doctor'.

I remembered how Don Vito is literally outside the garage, so I clicked his name.

"That's a good suggestion, but he's unfortunately busy." Aaron disagreed.

"Unfortunately that makes sense, he does need my character to get a gun after all." I told myself. So I clicked on doctor.

The capo nodded in agreement. "Good choice!" He smiled.

But it faded shortly after. "But...our team doesn't have any doctors unfortunately." He pointed out, slightly upset.

Before I did anything, Aaron snapped his fingers. "It doesn't hurt to do it ourselves though!" He declared, connecting his hands together.

"What can we use to heal Kate from her accident?" Aaron wondered.

"H-He di-" Kate tried again. "Should we use rubbing alcohol? Or a First-Aid kit?" Aaron interrupted.

The options appeared. I decided to click on rubbing alcohol.

"I don't think that can help." He informed me, shaking his head.

I clicked on the First-Aid kit. "Excellent idea!" Aaron agreed.

The screen went to static for a bit before Aaron was seen holding the kit.

"We may not have doctors, but I'll be more than happy to act like one for Kate!" He happily volunteered.

My options appeared. 'I'll help!' or 'See what you can do.'

I clicked the first option. Aaron smiled. "Perfect. You can kneel down to get a closer look."

My character got to their knees and got close to Kate.

Her skin started to turn slightly pale. The camera moved a bit close to her neck.

Aaron knelt down next to us and forcibly moved her hands away from her neck.

I actually gasped and twitched at the sight. I saw how long and somewhere deep the cut was. It looked gross.

"Hmm," the mask capo began. My character turned to him.

He continued to look at the injury. "In some accidents, sometimes nobody can help. Not even medical professionals."

The camera zoomed out back to normal, both of us standing again.

I saw how Kate was hugely distraught. She did her best to speak, but with the amount of blood she lost, she couldn't.

Aaron turned to my character. "Do you think it's impossible to save her?" He questioned.

The options 'Yes' or 'No' appeared.

Upon remembering the fact that she tried to mess with the guns, I instantly went to yes.

"I knew it." He turned to the female capo. "It'll be best if you hold still." He advised.

My character took a step back as Aaron toon out his knife.

With a swift movement, he cut her head clean off, her head falling to the floor.

He turned to me. "That was so much fun. It's always fun to play pretend." He grinned.

After putting his knife away, he asked, "What brings you to the garage anyway?"

My character pointed to the table where the guns were located. "The boss asked me to bring him an AK-47."

He turned and saw them. Without a word, he went to it, picked it up, and handed it to my avatar. "You should probably head out. I gotta clean." Aaron advised.

My avatar nodded and automatically left the room, gun in hand.

Don Vito was still waiting as my character exited. He smiled when he saw us with the weapon.

"Here you go." I said, handing him the weapon.

"Thank you. And welcome to the family." He smiled before walking off.

The words 'Hidden Level Completed!' appeared on my screen.

"For a hidden level, it was so much better than the other levels." I sighed with relief.

When the game loaded the level selection, I saw how every single level was now complete.

Alternative:

"Hmm," the mask capo began. My character turned to him.

He continued to look at the injury. "In some accidents, sometimes nobody can help. Not even medical professionals."

The camera zoom out back to normal, both of us standing again.

I saw how Kate was hugely distraught. She did her best to speak, but with the amount of blood she lost, she couldn't.

Aaron turned to my character. "Do you think it's impossible to save her?" He questioned.

The options 'Yes' or 'No' appeared.

Part of me was curious about what would happen if I clicked no.

So I decided to click it.

Aaron paused for a bit. He was stunned at my answer.

He let out a frustrated sigh before tossing the kit to the side.

Without a word, he took out his knife and slit my avatar's head clean off.

When the game crashed, along with the screen. Immediately, I saw him.

Aaron was visible in the reflection of the laptop screen.

Before I could blink, he took out the same knife and cut my head right off.

[crookedkryptonitebeliever]

Can we please have more creepy Eden. I'm screaming, I'm crying, I'm foaming at the mouth.👹 Can't you see I'm in PAIN. I can't think of any ideas, JUST SOMETHING PLZ 🥺🥺💯🧠😠🙉

Haha suffer ❤️

But yea I actually had a half baked draft that WAS molding in my drafts until I decided to throw it out a few days ago. Cause like, Eden fucked so hard that he broke the bed on that one there is literally nothing else 2 do other than MORE animalistic fucking 😭

I tried exploring the concept of him doing a whole Tom Cruise mission impossible thing where he sneaks into your college to get a piece of that reader ass but naaah, can't pull that off without making it too goofy

I also thought about Eden keeping you captive in his apartment room, thinking that you're like the hottest thing he has ever seen that he would openly masturbate in front of you and would ONLY get off the thought of you

Like, if i remember correctly, that moldy draft starts off with Eden snuggling you from the back as you try to fix yourself a cup of water but you feel his raging erection poking itself into your butt. I made it a point that he chronically has a hard on 24/7 because your scent, your voice, your look, your taste is constantly turning him on. You cant leave his room cause he threatens you with his gun and sometimes fucks you while holding it,,,

oh and at random times of the day, he would just stick his hand in his pants and jack himself off as he stares into your eyes. Look away, or he might pounce on you again and have dick stuffed into you, get served semen gogurt (while he runs his fingers through your hair and mutter praises because I like praises), and/or get your vagina fuckin devoured by the very hungery Edenpillar.

One scene also included that he innocently offred a very innocent little innocent backrub which is innocent and also innocent. Inevitably you can predict where this innocent escapade will go. But you DID get that backrub though, just that you received extra.

I also did contenmplate writing about him using the gun itself to fuck you but tha gun safety 101 preinstallled in my brain blocks me from writing anything other than garbage

i cant think of a good climax other than getting one or more forms of sex for the 193782847285th time, makes a pretty boring peak - not much continuity or any good conclusion that i can think of, the best i could do was a comtinuous sinusoidal wave for a plot, but i dont want that, take a look at my Yandere Brother series where i cant complete the next cycle

So it is better for that arc to die as the fic that makes you bark, than let it live long enough for it to become the fic that makes you barf.

Thanks for reading though 💖

[prodbyblush]

the niragi "will you go out with me?" one was so cute ☹☹ can i request a sequel to that where reader appears at the beach and niragi's (who had been there for awhile alr) reaction to seeing them? & tysm for the aib content u feed us with !!!!!!!

will you go out with me? - suguri niragi

ｎｏｗ ｌｏａｄｉｎｇ . . .

▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ 100%

ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ!

・❥・ requested

AN: It's a no problem! ♥ I kind of went all out in this...

Part 1 | Part 2

Word Count: 1.8k

Taglist: @ahahawowwwwww @chishiyaslosthoodie @jnrenner @dorizone @bangtannie7 @fruity-frutta @miniminnie27@itsmeaudrieee

→ female!reader

"If you're right handed, use your right hand to grip. Hold it firmly and not grip it."

You blushed as you felt Niragi stood behind you, his hands slowly enveloping yours to demonstrate how to hold the Glock 30 in your hands.

"Don't put your trigger finger on the aim unless you're about to shoot." He says, his breath sending tingles down your spine. Slowly, you nodded your head and stared at the plain cutboard in front of you.

"Then shoot."

And with that, you pulled the trigger. And woke up.

Staring at the moldy ceiling, you wished you waked up in the real world. But no matter how many times you told yourself that this is your new reality, you had to get used to it. For now.

'Nothing is permanent. Only change.' You reminded yourself before sitting up on the mattress as the orange sun sets, preparing yourself for tonight's game.

As the night falls and welcomes the dark skies, the nearest game arena to you is the bright lit apartment complex, and by the entrance were other players waiting for the game to commence.

Girls wearing clothes that looked like they wanted to spend a rad night, men wearing suits, an elderly woman, a scared or nervous looking guy wearing a blue cap, a muscular guy who and a smaller guy who both wore weird bracelets and a guy who looked like he was around her age and stared at the floor while earphones were plugged on his ears, you took a phone from the table before standing on the sides.

'With this many people, the game is probably a spade game.' You thought to yourself, trying hard not to stare at them.

"Excuse me...do you mind if I stick with you?" Said the guy who wore a blue cap on his head. Your mind told you not to, people like him would only slow you down and have yourself killed. But your heart said yes, choosing to remain human even in a crazy world like this.

Smiling, you nodded your head before your eyes darted to look at the other people playing. A girl matching a sporty outfit and two guys who looked like best friends, one with a blonde hair and the other had dishelved hair.

As the waiting game was over, you felt a small sense of pride when you correctly predicted that this game is indeed a spades game, though it was a five number, it would still give you enough days to not play.

"With this many people, it would be impossible if there is only one tagger. Perhaps two, maybe three." You said, suddenly letting out a soft gasp before turning to the guy who stuck beside you.

"I'm sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Y/N!" You said, offering him a smile while extending your hand out to him.

The smaller guy smiled while he adjusted his cap. "Tatta" he said and shook your hand. He too, wore the same bracelet just like the two other guys you saw.

'An alliance?' you thought to yourself before shaking your head.

"If we want to finish this game, let's split up." You proposed to a now pale looking Tatta upon hearing your words.

"I-" Tatta started to say but you cut him off.

"You go look for the safe zone and I'll take care of the tagger for you." You said, taking your hands inside your oversized hoodie pocket.

"Take care of the tagger?! Are you crazy? How are you gonna take care of them?" He asked half shouting at you.

Lazily, you shrug your shoulders. "With this" then stuck your right hand out holding a glock 30.

Tatta widened his eyes at the sight of the gun in your hand before nodding his head vigorously.

"Don't start looking at the lower floors too, start around the middle. Maybe at the fourth floor?" You suggested before walking to the stairs of the apartment. "Don't die on me, Tatta! I hate being left alone!" You said, waving your hand at him in the air before going to the third floor.

Upon reaching the third floor, you took out the gun in your hand and readied your position, ready to aim at any given moment. Slow and steady steps, you tried to feel if a presence is within your range, and in the corner of your eye, it was only a buff guy who hung with him is the smaller guy with a bandana.

"You have a good hold and aim." Said the buff guy who looked at you with a stone expression. "A right handed woman who looks like in her early late teenage years or early twenties" He continues to say.

Gulping, you wondered if this man ever knew you in the real world.

"Hey Aguni, we can use her to bait the tagger just like we planned!" The bandana guy suggested, grinning before he slowly raises both of his hands up in the air as you aimed for him.

"No." Said Aguni. "Let's take down the tagger together."

Since that was your sole purpose, you nodded your head. And in that instant, heavy footsteps could be heard. Getting into their hiding place in the little corner, you took a peak to see what the tagger looked like. Wearing a horse head mask, the tagger wore the same exact pants as Aguni, but much darker. Holding a gun on the right hand and is tall in height.

You wanted to come up from behind the tagger and shoot it, but Aguni raised his arm, slowly shaking his head. Suddenly, the first gunshot rang throughout the apartment complex.

After some time, you, bandana guy and Aguni walked out of the little corner as the gunshots came from the upper floors. You wondered if Tatta found the safe zone already, given that the apartment complex sure seems to have a lot of doors in one floor.

Loud panting breaths grew louder in your direction before it disappeared.

"Arisu! You go first!" You heard someone say, popping your head to take a look, it was the blonde guy wearing a dark blue button down, holding a knife in his hand. "Damn it. Let's take the tagger out."

"Were going up against a machine gun here." Says the other guy who came with him. Leaning your side on the white wall before tilting your head to the side. "A machine gun is a machine gun. But can a person stay human forever in a situation like this?" You asked, the two of them staring at you with wide eyes.

"That's human" you heard Aguni say. "The tagger is 190cm and weighs 90kg. Dominant hand is their right hand." He spoke coolly with his hands in his pockets. Most likely an ex SDF officer or policeman."

Hearing Aguni describe the tagger made you slightly nervous to be around him. Before shifting in your spot, the bandana guy came with a fire extinguisher in his hands.

"I got it" He says before handing it to Aguni who then handed it to them.

"Take this" He said. "Let's go hunt down the tagger." And before walking away, he added "Go search the safe zone."

As the five of you split, you followed the bandana guy down and was about to turn left when a hand stopped you. You raised the barrel of your pistol and ready to the person in the head, but it was only Aguni who placed his index finger in his lips, signalling you to be quiet.

You understood his motive. He used his companion as a bait.

"Aguni?" You heard the bandana guy say, nervously looking at the tagger in front of him. "Aguni?" He called out once more.

"Aguni!"

Three bullets pierced through him before falling down on the floor. Still hearing his grunts, the tagger shot twice again. Aguni came out from behind the stairs with an used the extinguisher to mess with the tagger's vision.

Coming out from behind the stairs as well, you heard gunshots that made you duck down.

Clink!

The sound of the tagger no longer having ammo was music to you ears, shooting the tagger on the leg as the air wasn't as foggy as above. With Aguni on the floor, you tried to run up to the tagger, only to be kicked in the stomach, flying back and landing on the floor with a heavy thud, knocking you out in the process.

Slowly, you fluttered your eyes open and the first feelings you felt were soreness all over your body. Blinking multiple times, you noticed that the floor is carpeted, racking your brain for what happened.

"Had a good sleep?" You lifted your head up and saw four people before you, one of them was Aguni besides a woman who wore shades.

"We heard from Aguni that you're an asset. Though got knocked out during the game." The woman who wore shades said, slowly lowering her voice on the second sentence.

"Where am I?" You asked.

"Utopia! That's where you are!" Hatter said, explaining that the place you are now is called Beach, a community for all players to collect cards and hand it to him when returning.

'Everyone has a choice, but they choose to be pawns.' You thought to yourself, however, you too became a pawn by default. Seeing as Aguni saw potential in you, Hatter took interest in you and decided to make you a part of the militants.

Being a part of the militants was somewhat a good idea. In a place like this, you'll never know who you can trust and having your pistol with you is a good start. Putting on a two piece black bikini and a short denim jumper, you walked out of the hotel's dress rooms and roamed the place.

Literally everyone was free to do as they please. But it astounded you how everyone chose to party at daylight and not fear for their lives as they could die at any given moment, time and day.

Softly sighing and crossing your arms, you left the pool area and walked behind the hotel. You wondered what had happened and why did your life became like this. You were happy being with Niragi until he disappeared, and now you in this strange world.

Lifting your head up, you saw the blossoming cherry blossoms above your head and then a sad smile painted your lips, reminded of the wish you once made when you were in high school, standing in the same trees you once made a wish.

I want to see you again

"Y/N?" you heard someone ask behind you, the same voice you've been longing to hear for months.

Feelings your eyes tearing up, you turned around and slowly you came face to face with Niragi, hair now tied into a half ponytail and just like back then, holding a rifle because he always loved them and told you how he fantasized about killing his tormentors with a rifle gun.

"Hey shh, don't cry" He said, wiping away the tears falling down with his thumb. "I'm here now. You're all that matters to me now." He spoke softly before pulling you in a tight embrace. Finally, you're in the same place with Niragi again.

(gif not mine. credits to the rightful owner!)