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pascalpanic · 4 years ago

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Picture Perfect (Marcus Pike x f!Reader)

Summary: You reflect on a perfect vacation with Marcus.

Warnings: language, talk of flying in planes, mentions of food, implied sexual content and sexual flirting

W/C: 3.6k

A/N: happy Easter loves!!! I really adore this fic and hope you guys do too! It’s part of the Beyond the Sea series I’m writing with the lovely @mandoalorian

Beyond The Sea Masterlist

You never thought you’d see the day when Agent Marcus Pike relaxed for more than a few hours at a time. Luckily, your hand holds three Polaroids, all of them proof of the wonderful week of rest and recharging the two of you just experienced. The plane is leaving now, the islands of Hawaii behind you and endless ocean outside of your plane window. Marcus is snoozing softly, head pressed to your shoulder, and you press a kiss to his beautiful temple. This is the man who holds all of your heart in his hands, and you’ve never been so sure that someone would protect it with their life.

He stirs at the sensation and you chuckle quietly. The roar of the airplane’s pressurized cabin makes everything quieter, and you smile as those brown eyes flutter open. “Just me. Love you. Go back to sleep, babe,” you murmur, and he complies, eyes slipping shut as he nuzzles closer. You look down at your hands again, at the three Polaroids.

The first photo makes you giggle. It was taken the first full day the two of you had in town. Marcus holds a tiny crab in his hands, a look of wonder on his sun-kissed face. He’s shirtless and crouched down, wet sand packed beneath him and patterned swim trunks bringing color to the photo.

The second photo melts your heart. Marcus lies in a hammock in the Polaroid, asleep in the shade. Stripes of light peek through palm fronds, illuminating bits of your boyfriend’s warm body. He wears board shorts and an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt, his normally gelled hair forming soft waves. The sun you’ve spent your days in lightened it, leaving light brown and even blonde streaks in the top layer. A soft pink covers his nose and cheeks- a result of the sun as well. His ukulele is lying next to him in the hammock.

The third photo makes you tear up at the memory. Two dark silhouettes- one clearly yours and one clearly his- are just outlined against an orange, sunset-colored sky.

You and Marcus arrived at your condo late at night, tired after the long flights, both cross-country and then across the Pacific Ocean. You’d flown first-class, Marcus insisting he spoil you. It was comfortable, but the pressure of the cabin made your body ache and your joints swell. It was impossible to sleep, even with him to use as a pillow.

The first morning, Marcus rises late: it’s about 10 A.M. local time, and he sighs as he finds you still snoring next to him. You look so peaceful and sweet that he can’t bring himself to wake you.

For the next half hour, he sits on the condo’s porch, overlooking the water. He smiles softly as the occasional breeze passes through, noticing that the air slowly warms.

When you finally wake, you wander out to find Marcus on the balcony. You gasp in excitement as you see the rushing surf. “Oh my god,” you grin and wrap your arms around him from behind. “It’s so gorgeous.”

“Good morning to you too,” he teases as his hands rest on your arms. “Isn’t it though?” He leans back against you, watching the seagulls play in the splashing water. “How did you sleep?” He asks, still eyeing the sprawling ocean. There’s a small reef a few yards from the shore, shallow enough to walk in.

You notice it too. “Good. Can we make some coffee then go explore those little tidal pools?” You ask excitedly as you point at them, resting your chin atop Marcus’s chocolate-brown bed head.

“Of course,” he chuckles, turning to kiss the side of your face. “It’s the perfect time to get some sun, too. We’ll get our swim gear on.”

You press a soft kiss into the top of his head, smiling contentedly at the ocean and Marcus’s steady breathing beneath your arms. “I love you,” you practically sing to him, overwhelmed by the happiness of the morning.

“I love you too, pretty girl,” he murmurs back and turns to kiss you softly.

Twenty minutes later, each of you finished with one cup of coffee and changed into your bathing suits, you head down to the water and wade in. You squeal as the cold water laps at your ankles, your pink Polaroid camera hanging around your neck. One hand clutches at the pink plastic, lifting it instinctually to keep it dry. Marcus laughs and takes your free hand, the two of you commenting on the water and the sun as you wander to the rocky shoals a few yards out.

The volcanic rock in front of you is filled with holes and crevices, and it’s teeming with life. Marcus’s eyes widen in excitement as he sees a tiny crab. “Oh my god,” he laughs. “Look at this little guy!”

Walking closer, the crab doesn’t scuttle away. “Oh, do you want to be friends?” Marcus coos, squatting down.

“Careful of the waves, babe,” you remind him, a hand on his spine, between those gorgeously thick shoulder blades. “Don’t wanna get a concussion.”

Marcus shakes his head, absolutely beaming as he scoops up the little crab. “Oh, aren’t you the sweetest thing,” he mumbles to it, admiring its brown shell and tiny claws. “You remind me of that guy from Moana.”

Of course your boyfriend would draw that connection. He mutters the lyrics to Shiny from the movie to the crab as he turns to face you, holding it up. “Look, this is our baby now.”

You laugh and shake your head. “Well, I suppose our child needs a name,” you chuckle, daring to stroke the back of the crab’s shell. It snaps its little claws in return, grabbing at nothing in the air.

“Well, how about the crab from Moana? The Tamatoa?” He asks. The little thing’s claws are clacking rhythmically to some inaudible beat.

“Hmm.” You think about it for a moment, lifting the camera and snapping a photo of Marcus holding the tiny crab. “It’s a snippy little thing. Maybe we should name it Teresa,” you snort, laughing to yourself at your own joke.

Marcus frowns. “No, I like it much more than her. You’re our little Tamatoa, aren’t you?” He coos, holding it up to give it a little kiss on the back of his shell.

Classic, typical Marcus. Giving all of his love with no regard for his own safety. You almost see it in slow motion as the tiny crab snips the tip of Marcus’s nose. “Motherfucker,” he cries at the feeling, setting the crab back down immediately.

It makes you laugh much harder than you should. Leaning onto your boyfriend’s tanning skin, you wheeze out laugh after laugh. He joins you too.

When you both finally settle down and catch your breath, you giggle up at Marcus. “Okay, so that little shit was definitely a Teresa.”

Marcus laughs this time, giving you a brief kiss. “You are the absolute love of my fucking life, baby,” he chuckles and the two of you continue your walk.

Marcus has always been an early riser, and you forgot to close the shades last night before you passed out in the ridiculously plush bed. The early sunrise warms Marcus’s face until he wakes. He rolls over with a yawn and a stretch before kissing the side of your face. You grunt. “Hi.”

“Good morning, angel,” Marcus’s soft voice coos to you, an arm snaking around your middle. “The sunrise looks beautiful. Want to see?”

“No,” you frown. “Wanna sleep more.”

Marcus pouts, kissing your forehead. “Baby.”

“Fine,” you groan, the sleep starting to wear off anyway. “Only because I love you so much. And because I love your dick and don’t want it withheld from me this week,” you tease, sitting up and kissing him softly.

“Yeah yeah,” he laughs and stands, wandering over to the large window in the bedroom.

Your eyes widen at the beauty as you see the gorgeous colors of the sky. The sunrise is behind you, but the horizon is still shifting in hue, pinks and purples and oranges with the dark blue slowly fading away. Marcus wraps his arms around you as you stand next to him. “See. This wasn’t so bad to get out of bed for.”

Nodding, you rest your head against his chest. “I suppose it wasn’t. I’ll go make us coffee,” you murmur and press a kiss to his bare pec, giving his ass a light squeeze as you walk past him.

The two of you make your plans for the day over the coffee, discussing your options and ultimately choosing that today would be the perfect day to find a secluded little beach and just relax in the sun. They wouldn’t be hard to find around here: unlike other places you’d been, it seemed like the shore was endlessly beach.

Parking in a free lot, locking your ragtop Jeep behind you, you and Marcus wander down the beach for a while until you find the perfect spot. How did you know? Marcus spotted the perfect marker: a hammock.

Tied between two palm trees, under the shade of the fronds, was a woven hammock. It had no pillows, blankets, no one around and no belongings. Marcus decided it was yours now- or at least for the day.

The white sand is warm beneath your feet, flying out as Marcus chases you. You’d stolen his sunglasses just moments ago and now you’re running. “Get back here!”

“Only if you fuck me right here and right now!” You teasingly call over your shoulder.

Marcus stops, as if he’s considering it. You do too. Then he picks up into a faster run. “There’s too much sand for that, you little shit!”

Giggling, you stop and let Marcus crash into you, his warm body slick from the tanning oil he’d slathered on. You naturally wrap your arms around his neck. Marcus plucks the sunglasses from your head and puts them back on. “Thank you.”

“Any time, Pikey,” you tease and kiss him softly as his arms wrap around your waist. That was the name you’d called him when you first met, when you were young, up-and-coming interns for the FBI.

The two of you wander back, lying on your beach towels for hours and absorbing the warm rays. You and Marcus snack on some packed food, staring out into the ocean and chatting. It’s absolutely perfect.

Marcus is ever the early riser. You’re usually the one to end up taking a nap if the last night of sleep didn’t satisfy you or Marcus woke you up for some godforsaken reason. As he lies next to you, though, you hear a yawn slip from his lips. “Sorry, what was that?” You clarify teasingly.

Marcus scowls. “I get tired too.”

“Bullshit,” you laugh. “Do you want to go cuddle in the hammock?” You ask, and he nods as he sits up.

Marcus is wearing just his board shorts, but there’s a cool breeze in the shade. He tosses on his Hawaiian shirt, leaving it unbuttoned. He looks so effortlessly cool, that brown hair starting to get slightly wavy from the salty air. His sunglasses sit just slightly lower on the bridge of his aquiline nose, and it makes you grin. You toss a t-shirt on as well, and you grin as you realize Marcus opens his ukulele case.

“I knew you’d use it,” you grin at him as he settles in the hammock. He’d debated bringing it along, contemplating the hassle, but you’d told him he practically had to- you’re in Hawaii, after all. You scoot in next to him and rest your head on his shoulder.

“Will you play me a song by Abba?” You ask him softly, the rush of the ocean and the wind filling your ears.

Marcus nods and kisses your forehead before giving the strings a strum to test some chords. He finally starts playing a soft version of Andante Andante, and your eyes slip shut. His voice is so beautiful and soothing, and you can’t help but quietly sing along.

“I’m your music… I’m your song…

Play me time and time again, make me strong…”

He’s everything you’ve ever wanted, ever prayed to whatever being up there that you’d meet the right person for you someday. He’s soft and warm and strong. He’s protective but gentle and the most caring man to ever walk the face of the earth.

Marcus starts noodling around on the ukulele, playing some random chords and notes. “I love you so much,” you sigh and snuggle in tighter against him.

He puts down the ukulele and wraps his arms around you, kissing your temple gently. “I love you too, baby. So much, endlessly.” He’s so perfectly cozy that you cuddle on top of him, and he welcomes the position. He wraps his arms around your body and kisses your neck.

The two of you stay cuddled up like that, tired from the long day in the sun, for quite a while. Before long, you recognize the different breathing pattern Marcus has slipped into- sleep. Smiling softly, you allow yourself to remain nuzzled into your boyfriend’s body for a while longer.

After some time, you sigh and realize you should probably wake him and return to the condo. The sun is starting to sink lower in the sky: not enough to be sunset, but enough to know what’s approaching. Careful not to wake him, you clamber out of the hammock and grin at the image. It’s too perfect.

You grab your Polaroid and snap the photo: Marcus is asleep, sunglasses fallen down his nose, Hawaiian shirt open, ukulele next to him. The hammock sways in the breeze, peeks of light from between palm leaves shining down on him. You giggle when the photo develops and it’s the sound of your laughter that wakes him. “Huh?” He groans, sitting up and losing his balance as he realizes his resting spot is moving.

You walk over on your knees, the sand moving with you and allowing you to do so. You kiss him gently for a moment before breaking away. “You fell asleep, love. It’s just about time to head back to the condo.”

“How long?” He asks groggily, pushing up his sunglasses and rubbing his eyes.

“You were only out for about half an hour,” you assure him and rub his arm.

His eyes are still closed but he smiles at that. “I heard you take that Polaroid,” he chuckles, and pulls you in for another kiss that muffles your noise of defeat.

Two days later, you can hear Marcus singing along to his music in the shower as you get ready for the evening. Sitting at the vanity in the suite’s luxurious bathroom, you apply your makeup, opting to keep things light. You wear a nice outfit and fidget with your appearance in the mirror, touching little things here and there.

A few minutes later, Marcus wanders out with a towel around his waist, his skin reddened from the hot shower. “Hey. You look… amazing,” he grins as he looks at you, taking in the sight. “I can’t compete.”

You grin and walk closer, putting a hand on his warm skin. “It’s a good thing it’s not a competition,” you tease, faces close together. “You’re going to look wonderful too.” You kiss him softly for a moment before he breaks away to get dressed.

The sun is above the horizon, just about to sink into sunset. Fuck, Marcus thinks to himself as he realizes he needs to move quickly. He puts on the nice outfit he’d picked earlier, messing with his hair in the mirror. Not more than few minutes later, he’s back at your side. “Ready?” He asks.

You nod with a smile. “You hurried.”

Marcus shrugs, pursing his lips and shaking his head. You know that look, you’ve known it since the very first time he did it. He’s terrible at bluffing. Something is hidden behind those eyes. “Just… don’t wanna miss sunset,” he murmurs and kisses you on the cheek, shoving his hands in his pockets.

You’d planned on dinner at a luxurious restaurant located within a fancy hotel, but Marcus insisted that you’d be at the beach for the sunset. When you finally reach the resort, you wander through the gorgeous surroundings until you find the white sand beach in front of you.

Marcus walks with one hand in yours, the other in his pocket. He’s quieter than normal, holding back his remarks about the wildlife and gorgeous architecture of the buildings.

There’s a small gazebo just off the sand, and Marcus walks you up. “Well… surprise,” he chuckles, showing you the little shelter. It’s strung with twinkling lights and white gauze, the ocean’s breeze rippling the fabric. There’s a table with a white cloth covering it, champagne glasses at the ready and flowers sat in the center.

“I thought you said we were eating at the restaurant,” you exclaim but laugh in surprise, setting your purse and Polaroid camera next to the chair.

His eyes twinkle with excitement. “Well, they offered this. How could I choose the restaurant when we could have dinner in our own little private gazebo?” He chuckles. “They won’t start the service for a little while. Want to go walk on the beach a little longer?”

“Marcus,” you coo and take his arm, wrapping both of your arms around it. “You’re the most romantic man on the face of the earth.”

He shakes his head and kisses your forehead. “Only for you. Come on, let’s walk.”

The two of you stroll along, the gorgeous sunset behind the dark and rolling ocean. The breeze rustles Marcus’s hair, and you grin as you see it happen. “This is… amazing.”

“You’re amazing,” he mumbles and nudges you with his shoulder, making you stumble to the side and laugh. “Can I ask you something?”

Looking up at him, you breathe out a small laugh. “When have you ever asked first?” You tease him, but you stop when he stops walking.

His hand squeezes yours a little tighter and he moves so you’re no longer standing side-to-side but facing each other. He takes both of your hands. “You know how much I love you. I really can’t imagine you wouldn’t, because I know you love me just the same.”

Your brain flies a mile a minute as he starts talking. It sounds too planned, not at all the spontaneous man your Marcus is and has always been. Wait-

“You are, without a doubt, the best thing in my life. I’ve been burned by love before, but you’re everything I’ve ever needed. You’re the only one who has ever reassured me and calmed me and silenced that endless buzzing of fear in my head. I know you’d never leave me, and I hope you know I’d never leave you.”

“Marcus,” you whisper, and your eyes well with tears as he falls to one knee in the soft sand, his own eyes shimmering with tears.

“And, if it’s alright with you, I want to promise you I’ll never leave you. I want to make it so official that nothing can ever separate us, not time or distance or anything. And I figured the best way to do that is, well… fuck, I messed it up,” he winces. “I had all the words, I swear-“

“Just ask me the question, baby,” you laugh, the tears falling down your face. You know what’s coming now, as he reaches into his pocket and presents you with a velvet box.

He opens it and inside is the most gorgeous ring you’ve ever seen. It suits you. Of course it does: Marcus knows you better than you know yourself. You can tell when you look into his eyes that no one else ever would or could know you like he does.

He stutters for a moment before you fall to your knees in the sand in front of him. “It’s okay, you know what I’m gonna say,” you say quietly, cupping his face with both hands. “Just… say it. Please.”

He bites his lip then looks into your eyes. “Will you marry me?”

“Of course I will,” you laugh and wrap your arms around his neck, kissing him happily. “Yes, Marcus Pike. I will marry you. I love you so much,” you murmur in between kisses.

“I’m so pathetic,” he laughs as the happy tears trail down both of your faces, him sitting back on his heels and you following suit.

“Oh shut up,” you laugh and hold out your left hand. Marcus takes the ring from the small box and slides it onto your finger, grinning as he notices it fits just right.

Swallowing hard, you laugh at the fact that your makeup must be trailing down your face. Marcus wipes the tears with one large hand, his other cupping yours and admiring the way the ring looks against your skin. He kisses your knuckles and you giggle uncontrollably.

“I get to be Mrs. Pikey now,” you grin and he nods.

“Of course. I mean, if you want to take my name. You don’t have to,” he rushes, shaking his head and blowing a raspberry. “I didn’t even think about that really, just figured that you’d tell me what you wanted first.” His words are a blur of relief, the anxiety fading from his body.

“Marcus,” you laugh softly, your hands cupping his face once more. “It’s okay. Just… relax,” you laugh as one of his hands covers yours, his fingers slotting between yours.

He nods. “I think I finally can now,” he chuckles and kisses you one last time.

taglist:

@remmysbounty @mishasminion360 @blo0dangel @binarydanvvers @sleep-tight1 @apascalrascal @randomness501 @spideysimpossiblegirl @notabotiswear @pedro-pastel @sanchosammy @lv7867 @greeneyedblondie44 @hunnambabe @astoryisaloveaffair @emesispo @pedritobalmando @magikfanatic @sugarontherims

#marcus pike #marcus pike x reader #marcus pike headcanons #pedro pascal #jose pedro balmaceda pascal #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal x reader #the mentalist fanfiction #the mentalist

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mage-and-the-tantrums · 2 years ago

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Awaken

I was right. The vindication is not sweet, and does not feel like a triumph. It feels like nothing. It comes across as empty, hollow and lonely.

What is it that I fear ? Solitude ? I had lived with solitude, to an extent that I could not even imagine now. I do not know how those days passed. I could hear the grinding of the gears of time during those years. Yet here I am. I suppose that what I fear is the resolution that home can be as lonely as abroad. When I was away from everyone I knew, it felt okay to eat alone, to walk alone, to cry alone, and to celebrate my little victories with my spotify playlists. It was conceivable for me to be by myself on nearly all levels. I was alone until the next vacation, when I would be going home to recharge, to sit for long hours with my family and friends, tell them all about it, and how the streets were flooded with persons, and yet I walked alone. It was like an apnea, with the certitude of a lungful of oxygen, after a certain while. Slowly, after my stay abroad has ended, I went up home, for the last time as a guest. I could not open my arms to welcome it, because I was too broken. But I yearned for everything back here. I thought it would be the solution to most of my problems. I never thought being back home could be this lonely.

Apnea is defined as a "transient cessation of respiration". I woke up from the estranged apnea I was suffering in a country that is not mine, only to wake up and slowly come to the realisation that I am trapped in another apnea. Think of it like the layers of dream in the movie "Inception". It becomes harder to track time, and to mentally accept the stark difference between reality and the perception of reality.

What I could not get my mind around is why I feel this bad for so long. What is it that makes me see shit that I was oblivious to. I realised that family is not something I could count on for over two years. I know how toxic people are in this country, and I made my peace with it. I always knew that. It feels as if something was awaken in me, that shook me and said "this is not the way to live".

I have heard that voice before, when my cousin came to visit me in Istanbul. The week that she stayed flew by, and felt like instants, even though we met multiple times. She torched whatever mental peace I had found with my situation, by simply casting a big light on my life. She had said nothing but encouragements and appreciation for me. Just by meeting her and getting to see her aspirations, her reflections, her dreams ..., made me realise the rock bottom I had hit.

Which brings me to her.

I am not a girl. My mutuals and my virtual "friends" here know that already. I felt like a slight obligation to indicate it, to avoid any possible ambiguity concerning what I am about to say.

I know this movie pretty well. I write about a girl here, and months later, it happens that I get invaded by a desire to share it with her. I was fortunate that in the first instance, I was crushing hard on a girl, and when I had shown her the text she was my girlfriend. On the other instance though, well, the other instance is too complicated to talk about in a sentence. I do not know what will happen in this case, and I do not know if I should call it a "case". But it's all I could think about ever since we talked. On those two previous occasions, I had used the second person to address them, but this time I am sticking to the third person. I know better than that now, and maybe it would be a good omen that this time would be different. I cannot believe I am admitting this right here and now because it is dangerous. Hope is a dangerous thing for a person like me to have - but I have it.

I had already run a dozen scenarios on our promised meeting. I don't know what should feel about the fact that we are syncing our trip to a country, just so we could meet. I feel humbled and extremely happy, but my heart wants to add more words to the meaning of this reflection, and rightfully so. I had thought about the first hug, and how she would put her head on my shoulder on the way back from the airport. I had thought about whether we should rent together or if that would be a little bit too much. I wondered about what we were going to talk about, and where to go to. I wondered about the explanations I would give about my last relationship, just because I would want to swipe that "naive" picture she may had got of me. I wondered how stupid I was, even in my vast hypothetical world, and that I would not talk about it to her. I would tell her instead how painful it felt, and she would talk about her relationship and how painful it must have been. I wondered about the fact that I should ask her out on a date. I wondered about a good restaurant (and I found the right one in the corners of my dusty memory of that town) , I wondered if she would ask me if I still don't drink. I would have smiled because she would remember a detail about me. I wondered about a first kiss. I wondered where things could go from there.

Is it normal ? Is it sane that my mind wanders to such extents just because we talked about meeting up in her country, or mine, or the country where we met ? I mean, it is a little of a big deal, it does not happen often. Still, I had been attracted to her for quite a long time. I had always appreciated how smart and outspoken she is, how she talks, her smile, her very clever sense of humour. There's a lot of details about her that I admired. But I had never gotten the chance to get to know her, like really know her.

More importantly, committing, even mentally, and admitting that I like someone is frightening, and terrifying. I do not want to hang by a thread that is not even there, and I don't want to walk miles for just a mirage. Beyond the obvious setback of making a complete fool out of myself, and loosing someone I care about who I randomly found again, there is heartbreak. I don't want to break my heart again. It has been already quite a few times, and I am sick of that feeling.

We will see how the upcoming months will unfold. I hope we both make it, and I hope even more that we would offer each other a chance. I mean, it could be false signals, but who asks someone if they are single or not, and then tells them they would join their next planned trip. I know this last bit makes little sense, but it does, for me and her. And maybe, maybe, one day, she would get this text.

Maybe it's her waking me up, just like my cousin did a few years ago.

The sweet coincidence, is that I was listening to music when I was writing this, as I always do, when Jeff Buckley's masterpiece, "lover, you should've come over", came into play. I have this habit of closing every post with relevant lyrics from a song, but I could not have put it better than the Jeff himself, as if he was talking about something similar. I hope you would come over.

Looking out the door I see the rain Fall upon the funeral mourners Parading in a wake of sad relations As their shoes fill up with water

Maybe I'm too young To keep good love from going wrong But tonight you're on my mind So... you'll never know

Broken down and hungry for your love With no way to feed it Where are you tonight? Child, ya know how much I need it

Too young to hold on And too old to just break free and run

Sometimes a man gets carried away When he feels like should be having his fun Much too blind to see the damage he's done Sometimes a man must awake to find that Really he has no one

So I'll wait for you, love And I'll burn Will I ever see your sweet return? Oh, will I ever learn? Oh-oh, lover, you should've come over 'Cause it's not too late

Jeff Buckley - Lover, You Should've Come Over

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marveldc-imagines-hub · 4 years ago

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That One Valentine’s Day Special (Captions)

Anon said: “Hello!! I saw that your wandavision requests are open and I had to request something! I’m so obsessed with Vis right now, it’s very bad. I can’t think of any specific plot ideas, all I know is that I would really love to see some fluffy Vision just head over heals in love with reader. Kisses, cuddles, all that jazz. Thank you so much ❤️❤️❤️”

Anon said: “maybe a request where it’s valentines and the reader and Wanda team up to get really dressed up and make an amazing dinner to surprise Vision, but when he comes home and sees them both he’s so flustered that either like has a shutdown or faints? And then obviously Wanda and the reader panic and spend the evening taking care of him and also teasing him for being so adorable/fainting? Thank you!!!”

A/N: Combined aspects from both of these requests to make an ooey gooey Valentine’s Day special (which got belated because I lost half of the writing when I transferred it from doc to Tumblr post :’D)!

Don’t think this is the type of dressed up you meant but I hope you like it, either way! The type of nightwear I was going for with Wanda was something like this.

Subtitles/Captions Masterlist

Tip Jar

Word count: 7,117

Warnings: Valentine’s Day sap. Lingerie, passionate kissing, and everyone being flirty (nothing graphic). Reader makes a really, really, just terrible pun in order to compliment Wanda. This was edited very late at night, so there might be a few errors.

Tag list: @cyanide-mustard @badasspolygenderfriend (These were the only two on the tag list who confirmed that they wanted to be tagged in everything WandaVision-related; if anyone else on the Subtitles list does, just let me know!)

~~~

“Hey, Wanda?” You hollered to the woman in the other room. You were standing in front of the mirror in the Maximoff bathroom, adjusting the collar of the somewhat too-big shirt you wore.

“Yes, dear?” Your girlfriend hollered back from a couple of rooms away.

“While I definitely get the why we’re doing this,” you continued, tugging the shirt’s shoulders farther to one side, then back to the other, before giving up and moving onto your hair, “with Valentine’s Day and all, you know--”

Wanda piped up, probably to assure you that she was listening more than anything, “Yes, I do.”

You snorted. “--but is there a reason we’re doing so… much?”

As you spoke, you ran your hands through your hair, ruffling it to give it a bedhead type of look. You faltered a bit when your eyes settled on the ugly scar on your forehead that your hair couldn’t cover without being in a bizarre style. You frowned and dug a finger into the scar tissue, feeling very little other than mild pressure when you did so.

There was a pause on Wanda’s end. “You don’t think he deserves it, working so hard this past week?”

You reeled back, insecurity forgotten, and quickly left the bathroom. You walked down the hall to where Wanda was working on her own outfit in the bedroom she shared with Vision, rambling away, “No, no, no! I mean no as in no, you’re wrong, not as in he doesn’t deserve what we’re doing. Of course, he does! To be completely honest, he probably deserves it more than anyone in town--aside from yourself, of course--but… For example, we did a lot revolving around food and… Vis doesn’t eat.”

There was another pause and you halted by the closed bedroom door, mainly to pick a rose petal from where it stuck itself to the bottom of your stockinged foot but also because you didn’t want to walk in on your partner.

“But Valentine’s Day revolves around food quite a bit, doesn’t it?” Wanda said from the other side of the door. At this point in your relationship, you could pick up pretty easily how Wanda was feeling by her tone of voice. She spoke thoughtfully, which wasn’t all that concerning, but there was a certain edge to her voice that made you worried; she was going to start overthinking and scrapping the entire idea if you didn’t interfere soon.

You tilted your head from one side to the other while considering her statement before giving a nod she couldn’t see and responding, “I suppose you’re right there. Lots of holidays do, now that I think about it. Thanksgiving? Turkey. Easter? Candy. Christmas? Just… food in general.”

You glanced around as you spoke. You couldn’t see much of the house from where you stood in the hallway but you knew what to expect when you walked to the main part of the house. All of the house’s lights were off, save for a few lamps that washed the house with what would have been a low, cozy, get-comfortable-before-bed sort of light if Wanda hadn’t used her powers to turn the lightbulbs in said lamps from yellow to a red; because of this change, the dim light gave off a much more romantic energy that fit with the rest of your and Wanda’s decorating. Red, pink, and white rose petals were scattered all across the floor, starting from the front were, where Vision would be when he walked in after work and making a trail to different rooms of the house. One path led to the kitchen and dining area, where you and Wanda had spent a good part of the day preparing various sweet, Valentine’s Day- and romance-themed treats plus dinner and setting up the table with candles and flowers and a pink tablecloth that matched the pink rose petals. Another led to the living room, which was decorated in a similar nature. Thanks to Wanda’s ability to conjure, she was able to quickly clean up the area that was usually hidden under a mess of baby equipment, change the color of the throw pillows and blankets to the correct red and pink theme, and even had “floating” heart decorations that danced across the ceiling on transparent strings; the babies themselves were gone for the night, safe under Agnes’s care once she and you had been able to convince Wanda. Finally, a rose path, accompanied by ceiling hearts, led down the hallway until it made a fading stop at where were you currently stood, leaning next to the bedroom door. The bedroom itself wasn’t decorated and neither of you had really talked about the assumptions that could be made from looking at the trail, but what you had discussed was how many romantic movies Wanda was going to project onto one of the walls after dinner while cuddling would most certainly take place on the couch.

The third path was mainly to guide you down the hallway while Wanda greeted Vision from the kitchen. It was also to lead Vision to go change into his own set of comfy pajamas when you and Wanda would ultimately have to push him to do so after him grumbling about too tired to do so.

Poor thing, you thought while pushing yourself away from the wall.

Being the company’s fastest and best worker, Vision had become victim to Mr. Hart doubling his workload and as a result, the gentleman had been working like a dog for the entire past week. His days had consisted of getting up way too early only to go into work and be worked to the bone, then come home and relieve Wanda of the babies--regardless of her assuring him that she’d be fine while he rested--until he passed out on the couch sometime later into the night. You’d been surprised, after learning of his synthezoid identity, that he’d need to sleep at all but you supposed anyone would need to recharge after a day like that.

You, on the other hand, had racked up some vacation days and, after a chat with Wanda about the upcoming romantic holiday, decided to add an extra day to your weekend so the two of you could do something nice for her husband. You’d probably regret this on Monday but for now, you were just happy to have spent the day working with Wanda and were hoping the rest of the night went well.

Speaking of the woman, Wanda had been quiet for some time now, other than the sounds of rustling fabric. You decided now was a good time as any to get involved before she decided that she should do something completely different and cause all the previous work to go to waste, so you knocked. After getting a verbal invitation, you strolled in, only for a sharp inhale to almost propel you back to slam into the doorframe.

Wanda was standing in front of a full-length mirror against the far wall of the bedroom, anxiously fiddling with what little clothing she had on. She wore what looked like a bathing suit but was made out of a sheer, body-hugging, baby pink fabric and embellished with a subtle pattern of roses. Her back was turned to you but you could see from the mirror’s reflection that the piece still left plenty to the imagination with a more opaque version of the same fabric keeping her chest, the bit of fabric held snugly between her thighs, and even an upsidedown V-shaped panel that was framed by silky white bands and reached from the middle of her torso to the lower part of her hips covered. This lovely piece, clothing an even lovelier woman, was paired with similarly colored stockings of the same fabric, minus the rose pattern, and you were both surprised and amused by the addition of a string of pink pearls around her neck and one wrist with matching earrings and a pair of white low heels with a bow on the toe strap. Wanda’s hair was styled in loosely curled waves, making it look shorter than it actually was, and pushed back with a headband that could be mistaken for a minimal tiara, which was also embellished with pink-tinted pearls.

You knew that you were staring, flushed, and with eyes almost bulging out of their sockets--you knew only because you could catch part of your own reflection in the mirror, not because you could feel anything other than goosebumps-inducing tingles travel across your body--but it took Wanda laughing softly and catching your eye in the mirror to pull your slacked jaw off the floor and close your suddenly dry mouth. You eventually also tried to speak but not much other than a stammering “Uhhh…” came out and you gave up, instead choosing to scrub your hands over your face so you would at least look away.

Then Wanda dared to ask, “So, do I look okay?”

You stared at her again but this time it was one of disbelief. “I’m sorry, what?”

Wanda rolled her eyes and chuckled again at your utter belief before nervously running her hands down along a perfect set of curves. You fully believed she had no intention of torturing you by doing so but here she was, doing just that. If it hadn’t been for the awkward look on her face, makeup-free except for light lipstick and a little mascara, your gaze probably would have stayed with the path her hands made over her stomach and down to rest on her hips. You watched her gaze jump worriedly from one part of her body to the other instead.

“Look,” she continued, “I know I look okay, I know I look fine--”

Fine? Only fine? If Wanda asked you to strip naked and run through Westview while screaming her praises, you would do so without a second thought. Well, you probably would have done it regardless of what she was wearing but you wouldn’t be complaining about the extra bit of help.

“--but ever since the twins were born, I feel a little… hmph… wearing something like this.”

While you couldn’t possibly fathom how she could see herself as anything but one of the most beautiful living creatures ever, but you’d also figured out quite a while ago that she didn’t exactly see herself the same way you did. You chewed the inside of your cheek a bit before walking over and wrapping your arms around her; her own hands settled to rest on top of yours. You rested your chin on her shoulder and met her gaze in the mirror one last time.

“I suppose even goddesses have their insecure days, huh?”

Wanda laughed and rolled her eyes so hard you were vaguely worried about them rolling back into her skull. She lightly slapped your arms but still leaned back into your embrace as she scoffed, “Be quiet.”

“Wanda,” you said, “you had kids. You still look great. You look so good. So, so, so good. Insanely good. Earth-shakingly good. So pretty. Very gorgeous. Amazingly foxy. Incredibly stellar. Your mom body? Could demolish Aphrodite in a beauty pageant.”

You rambled on a bit longer before Wanda was smacking your arms again. She looked more at ease now, though, completely relaxed in your arms with her head leaning into the crook of your shoulder and one ankle loosely crossed over the other.

“Mom body.” She snorted. “Please, enlighten me further about this mom body I have.”

You quickly shook your head and gave her reflection a warning look. “Can’t. If I say much more, it’ll upset the gods. Every single one of them. I’ll be thrown into the pits for all the sinful things I’d have said.”

Wanda’s head fell back as she laughed again; you felt the tickle of her hair against your exposed neck as you grinned against her shoulder. When she settled again, you gave her a serious look, moved your lips to kiss the shell of her ear, then muttered, “But let’s just say you’re a foxy mama in absolutely every sense of the word.”

The woman in your arms erupted with laughter once more, though this time it was short and accompanied by a gentle slap to the cheek. Then her hand rested there, holding your head close as she leaned her forehead partially against yours.

“You and my husband,” she said with a little shake of her head, “and those ridiculous puns of yours.”

You nodded slightly in agreement, then tilted your head to peck her cheek. “That one really was just…”

“Awful?”

“Yeah, no, not good.” You chuckled and reached a hand up to poke her cheek. “Made ya smile though.”

Wanda hummed, squinting at herself in the mirror, then huffed. “I suppose.”

There were a few moments of the two of you just holding each other and soaking up each other’s presence.

Then Wanda just had to ask again, “Do you really think I look okay?”

It was your turn to roll your eyes. “Wanda! You’re so pretty! You’re so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so--”

“You tell me I’m pretty all the time,” she pointed out.

“I have yet to be wrong,” you countered.

She looked herself over again. Tilting her head and glancing up at you from under her lashes, she said, “You could call me sexy.”

“I could,” you agreed, “Don’t want to make you uncomfortable though.”

Wanda raised a brow. “Did I not just say you could?”

You snorted. “Was my foxy mama joke not enough? Do you know what havoc me doing so would release onto the world? Would you want the gods to reject me because of my filthy language?” You leaned your head into her neck while keeping your eyes on hers. You waggled your eyebrows and lowered your voice. “‘Cause I’ll do it.”

Wanda made a face at you, scrunching up her nose and pursing her lips in the special, incredibly cute way that only she could. Then she smiled and ruffled your hair slightly. “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind you calling me sexy once.”

“Oh, nay,” you insisted, “if it happens once, it shall happen a million types! An unholy, unhinged, affectionate monster shall be released from its mortal prison!”

Wanda hummed thoughtfully and made a show of tapping her chin and tilting her head. “Okay, deal.”

You rolled your eyes and smiled. Giving her cheek another quick smooch, you said simply back, “‘Kay, you’re sexy.”

She smiled back at you and did a single clap. “Yay.”

“And, hey,” you said, tapping the scar on your forehead, “even if you weren’t a level of beauty that matched an immortal otherworldly being--impossible--at least you don’t have a scar on your face.”

You saw Wanda’s gaze soften in the mirror before she twisted around in your arms to face you. She gently took your face in her hands and your eyes fluttered shut as she leaned up to kiss you directly on said scar.

“I like the scars,” she said softly, “It means you survived something, even if you don’t know what it was, and I’m happy that you did.”

Your eyes blinked back open. “Why?”

“You wouldn’t be here for me otherwise.”

You huffed out a little breath, somewhat involuntarily, and were suddenly very aware of the fact that you two were practically tangled around each other now. You squished your nose against hers in a nuzzle and said in a lower tone, “Lucky you then.”

She dropped her hands from your face to wrap her arms around your neck. She matched your tone and bumped her nose back against yours, tilting her head a bit. “Very lucky.”

It was almost like a mutual decision when your lips crashed against each other.

Having been prone to the feeling of floaty dizziness as a result of your migraines, the feeling itself wasn’t particularly jarring. What replaced the usual undercurrent of pulsing pain, however, was what made this dizziness feel heavenly instead of hellish. When you kissed Wanda, it was like immediate intoxication but instead of booze, it was the taste of the gloss on her lips and the strawberry flavor that still lingered on her tongue from your cooking session earlier that day and the mix of citrusy sweetness from her perfume and shampoo that made you think of candied orange slices whenever you inhaled. You’d always be too busy to mentally describe it while in the moment, far too concentrated on committing whatever part of Wanda’s body that you were touching to memory via your grazing fingertips and adding new scents, words, feelings, images, and whatever else to the catalog of things that reminded you of her in your head, but when you thought about the love-drunk dizziness that followed the initial intoxication after the fact, you equated it to being a little tipsy and stumbling into a warm home. Only this time, home was a woman whose arms and mouth kept drawing you back for one more kiss, and then five more, and the thing that made you tipsy was the way the air crackled with invisible electricity and magic, and the look in her eyes when your eyes fluttered open after parting.

While time seemed to slow to a stop during your and Wanda’s moment, it hadn’t actually done so at all. This was proven when you heard the front door begin to open, causing you and Wanda to practically leap away from each other. She stared at you with wide, startled eyes and you couldn’t help but note your handiwork; her entire face and neck were flushed a deep red, her hair was significantly messier than it had been previously, that the lip color she’d been wearing had been partially transferred to your mouth.

The admiration could only last a moment. “You’re supposed to be in the kitchen.”

“I’m supposed to be in the kitchen,” Wanda repeated. “My lipstick is all over your face.”

You brushed a thumb over your bottom lip and it came away with a glossy pink. “Your lipstick is on my face.”

Wanda stood in front of you, suddenly frozen except for flitting eyes and hands grasping at the air while she tried to think of something. Then, with a couple of snaps of her fingers, she remembered her magic a moment later. “Oh, I can just-- You look amazing, the shirt’s a nice touch. See you out there!” She snapped once more and disappeared in a puff of red smoke just as you heard the front door swing open and Vision’s voice drifted down the hallway.

“Darling, I’m ho-- Oh.”

Then Wanda’s voice also bounced back your way from where she was probably now perched in the kitchen. Her tone was one part frazzled, two parts cheery, and five parts flirty teasing as she spoke. “Hiya, honey! Whaddya think?”

You drew your attention from their voices to the mirror that you now stood in directly in front of. The outfit you wore wasn’t nearly as polished as Wanda’s, but it had its intimate charm. While the two of you both wore stockings, that was where the similarities stopped. Your stockings were a sheer brownish-black and you wore no form of shoes with them nor any other accessories aside from your lightly ruffled mess of hair. In contrast to Wanda’s overall body-shaping attire, the pair of high-waisted silky shorts that you wore were flowy and loose, and instead of the shorts’ matching tank top with uncomfortable lace straps, you wore one of Vision’s pajama shirts that was a similar shade of red with vertical yellow and dark brown stripes. Posing a couple of different ways for yourself in the mirror, you were pleased to find the red and yellow were an almost match to Vision’s skin and the glowing gem in his forehead; with a little more pondering, you were a tad upset that the shirt you were wearing had yellow stripes instead of yellow spots.

If it had spots, you thought, I could look like a strawberry with a thigh-high chocolate dip.

Pleased with your look otherwise, you aimlessly moved about the bedroom before hovering around the doorway where you could almost make out the rest of Vision and Wanda’s conversation. The plan in place was that Wanda was going to give Vision the itinerary for the night--gifts and cards, dinner, because there was food to be eaten whether Vision ate any or not, an indoor movie theater that Wanda would magically whip up, and the rest of the night spent in romantic snuggling bliss--and then would give you a cue. When the actual process of getting the gifts came about, you were to bring said items to the living room, being somewhat of a surprise gift for Vision in your own right. You glanced towards the bed, where a white clothing box wrapped in a red ribbon sat with a trio of cards, one each from you and Wanda and one Wanda had made on behalf of the twins, who were still too young to do much on their own.

You couldn’t be sure whether it was because Wanda had slipped up and mentioned you--it was much harder to hear them from the other part of the house after their loud introductions finished--or if Vision, clever and curious man that he was, had caught on to your and Wanda’s plan already and decided to uncover it ahead of time. Either way, you suddenly caught a glimpse of Vision turning down the hallway, hovering a few inches off the ground to probably preserve the rose petal trail underneath his feet, and jumped away from the doorway before he could see you. While you couldn’t quite make out what Wanda was saying, you could hear a slight strain in her voice as she tried to get Vision to back down from his cause, to no avail. You only had a few moments to think of something and you decided to hop onto the bed and get comfortable in a casual sitting position, moving the small stack of Valentine’s Day goodies and looking coolly off to the side just before Vision floated into the room.

The soft thud of Vision landing on his feet your attention back over to the doorway and you saw him standing there rigid in his work suit, his gaze roaming over you before respectfully glancing away--only to be slowly dragged back less than a minute later. After watching this process continue a couple more times, you decided to tease him.

“Oh, hey there, crimson toaster oven,” you quipped nonchalantly, reaching up to toy with a stray piece of hair as you did, “how was work?”

Vision’s eyes settled on yours as you watched him with a cocked head. You expected some sort of reply, and for a moment he seemed like he was about to speak. Instead, though, he settled into an almost completely frozen state, jaw clenching slightly.

At first, you were amused. Then you realized he was quite literally frozen, nothing moving aside from the whirling of gear-like shapes in his irises, and your facade broke down a bit.

“Vis?” you questioned, sitting up straighter and moving the Valentine’s Day gifts aside, “you okay?”

No response.

You frowned and got up to walk over to him. “Um, Wanda?”

The Sokovian woman appeared a moment later shimmying around Vision’s form to stand next to you.

“Is he okay?” you asked.

“Oh, dear,” Wanda murmured. You watched as her gaze turned red and she looked him over, using her powers to check that his internal functions were still working properly. Eventually, her gaze stopped at his face and after squinting at him, Wanda said, “Ah. [Y/N], it appears we broke him.”

“I’m sorry?” you choked, “Broke him?”

Wanda seemed much less worried than you felt about the implications of Vision being some form of broken. She instead smiled and stepped up to him, giving you a simple “Yep” before pressing her fingers to his temples. Her eyes flashed red again and a second later Vision’s body sagged into a much more human position. “There we go.”

You blinked and watched as Vision shook himself out, flapping his hands and then rotating his arms and neck with a grumble.

“Ah,” he said, “much better.”

You eyed him. “Everything’s chill then? His gears got, ah, de-gummed, so to speak?”

Wanda snickered. She was now tucked against Vision’s side and helping him shimmy out of his jacket.

Vision seemed to remember where he was and what was going on because his eyes flitted from Wanda to you and back. When he settled a bit more, he looked at you both in turn, his gaze making a slow, deliberate path down both your and Wanda’s bodies as he took in what each of you wore. Finally, his eyes jolted back up to meet yours, and he responded in a low, gravelly voice, “Well, right now, I’m doing absolutely marvelously.”

You grasped that everything was back on track again and a smirk graced your face. “Well,” you said, clapping your hands together and turning back towards the bed, “as long as the short-circuit didn’t fry anything, the step of the night is gifts.”

Then you were being dragged back to Vision’s side by your wrist and he had an arm around both your and Wanda’s waists. “Now, just hold on there, [Y/N]. Shouldn’t I get to spend some time with my lovely partners, especially after seeing all the effort they’ve put in? Besides, I haven’t even gotten to compliment you about your looks.” He paused and pressed a kiss to Wanda’s temple, then nuzzled the side of your neck. When he moved his head away again, he eyed the way your shirt hung loosely off your shoulders. “Is that my shirt?”

You and Wanda shared an amused glance. She’d told you earlier that day about the anniversary-Hart family dinner mishap she and Vision had had when they’d first moved to Westview, the same day you’d met the couple, and how Vision and the Harts had come home to Wanda wearing an intimate nightdress that had made Vision more than a little flustered; the story is what sparked the idea for the evening’s current attire. She ignored his comment about you wearing his clothes and decided to nudge him back to the plan as hand, brushing a hand over the suit jacket now hanging from her arm. “I don’t know about that, honey, your eyes were certainly saying something.”

Vision pouted and hummed, probably trying to come up with another reason to keep hugging you and Wanda close to his body. After a moment, he chirped, “Ah, well! I brought you each something and something for the boys, and I left everything out in the living room. We can’t open gifts without all of them, what a pity. We might as well--”

“I have an idea.” Wanda interrupted. When you looked from Vision to her, she was still smiling but her eyes sparked with a playful warning. She freed herself from Vision’s hold, much to the tall man’s dismay, and walked over to the bed. She picked up the cards and tucked them under the arm that also held Vision’s jacket, then brought the clothing box over and held it out to you. “How about I go and make sure the food is warmed up and the table is set, then get all the cards and things into one place while, [Y/N], you give Vision the one gift he should still have.”

You raised a brow as you took the box from her and watched her saunter to the door, consciously moving out of Vision’s range. “You don’t want to see him open it?”

“I saw you open one I bought for you, you get to see the one you bought him,” Wanda said simply. “And I have a feeling that we’re better off if we’re not all in the same room until things get back on track, Vision might run the risk of shutting down again.”

You gasped dramatically and pressed your free hand to your cheek. Looking at Vision with wide eyes, you whispered, “How will I warm my bagels?”

Vision narrowed his eyes and made a grumbling sound from so deep in his chest you could feel the rumble where you were still held against him. Said sound and Vision’s overall reaction so far made you perfectly happy with the idea of the night derailing a bit off course, but you knew how much of a stickler Wanda could be when she made a plan and this was just as much a night for her as it was for Vision or you.

With no further objections, Wanda walked out of the room. The heels she wore gave her a sashaying step and neither you nor Vision were particularly upset as the two of you watched her go. Then the door was shut and you two were alone.

“So,” Vision said slowly as he turned his attention fully to you, “this is what you’ve been up to instead of going to work today.”

“It is indeed,” you confirmed, “and before you say anything else, I know full well what I’ll be getting into when I go in on Monday.”

“I hope so. You’ll be working harder than I have all week.”

You hummed and chewed on your lip as you thought. “Maybe… I could just… quit my job…”

“Hah!” Vision laughed and waggled a finger at you. “No, no, no, no, no. If I have to endure it, then so do you.”

You grinned and turned away from his finger as if to avoid his complaint. He chuckled and tried to catch your eye, rambling away about Oh, the work we shall both do, but you merely twisted away further, feigning beautiful, blissful ignorance. You even went so far as blocking Vision’s face from your sight with the box you held, which made Vision break off briefly to laugh again.

“--and then, maybe someday you will come home,” Vision continued, catching you in his arms again and tugging you close to him, “and see both of your partners, looking very fetching and being even more wonderful than usual because they’ve set up and entire romantic evening, not only because it’s a romantic holiday but because they specifically wanted to plan something to help you relax after a particularly busy week.” He paused, then added, “And it might even be a little better for you than it will be for me because you actually get to eat the food that’s taken up the entire kitchen.”

You tittered, tilted your head in mock thought even though Vision couldn’t see it, and then lowered your chipboard shield just far enough for your eyes to poke out from over it. “Mm, now that does appealing. Just one question though.”

“Of course, darling.”

You waggled your brows at him. “Which outfit will you be wearing, Wanda’s or mine?”

Vision smirked just slightly but it was enough to set off a volcanic eruption of heat throughout your entire body. You felt his fingers suddenly brushing against yours as he started to gently pry his gift out of your hands.

He said, “Depends on what’s in the box.”

He snagged the box from your hands, revealing your blushing face, but instead of opening it right away, his arm moved around your waist to be with the other once more. He pressed his forehead against yours and you felt a different sort of warmth as the golden gem in his forehead touched your skin. He tilted his head closer still to nuzzle his nose against yours then--

You quickly turned your head away again, flashing him a wicked grin when he stared at you, dumbfounded. You draped your now free arms loosely around his neck, fingered brushing lightly against his neck and fiddling with the collar of his button-up shirt. You shuffled closer to him to eliminate what little space left there was between your body and his, looked him in the eye, and teased, “Careful now, Mr. Maximoff. Wouldn’t want to knock another screw loose in that gorgeous, handsome head of yours.”

Vision’s low chuckle vibrated in his chest, feeling almost like a purr against your own body.

“Or,” you added, “knock one too many screws in?”

“[Y/N].”

“Wind the gears too tight?”

“[Y/N].”

You looked at him innocently; the irritated scowl on his face was contradicted by the mischievous twinkle in his pretty blue eyes. “I can keep going.”

“Oh, I’m very aware of that,” said Vision in that grumbling voice that would probably make you implode every time if it were his regular speaking voice, “but we are never going to get out of this room.”

“Interesting hypothesis,” you said with a very serious nod. “You are welcome to test it or stop me at any time. Now, where was I?”

It took a smirk and a raised brow to kick Vision back into gear but then you were grabbing his face and laughing against his mouth as he all but threw himself at you.

Kissing Vision was quite different than kissing Wanda, although no less addictive. Wanda’s kisses always felt needy but not in the way that one would think. Her kisses always felt like she had been lost up until the very moment your lips would touch hers, and then she was finding refuge and trying to absorb every bit of warmth and comfort that came from the way her mouth melded against yours before the kiss ended and she was alone and lost again. She almost always felt soft and sweet against you but you could feel a wild, restrained power brewing just underneath, and her power seemed to draw out and entangle itself with a power of your own, whatever that power was; the kisses never seemed to last long enough for you to figure that piece out.

When you kissed Vision, you could never get the idea that you were kissing someone not totally human out of your head, but in the best way. One of your favorite things to do whenever you kissed him was to run your hands over his skin and explore every single uniquely intricate thing about him, like the way his skin somehow felt soft and dense at the same time and how it was just slightly textured with lines and grooves that felt inhuman or the way that he didn’t really have a heartbeat or a pulse but rather a gentle constant rumbling of whatever gave him life doing its job, and sometimes this rumbling would jolt or slow depending on where you focused your ministrations. No matter his current state of being--exhausted, flustered, distressed--he was always strong and steady under your hands like he was ready to catch you if you suddenly misstepped or fly you to safety at a moment’s notice should the need arise. You couldn’t help equating the way his mouth worked against yours with the phrase “built to please”; he was always curious and searching in the way his hands and mouth roamed, and he seemed to get the most pleasure when he figured out exactly what you needed and did that--and he was much more often than not oh so very right.

While Wanda felt wild, Vision felt grounding. When you were kissing Wanda, you were so focused on her body and yours and the energy that wrapped the two of you up in a magical cocoon that you felt like you could start bursting at the seams at any moment. Kissing Vision got you much more out of your head, to the point where you were merely exploring him as much as he was you, which led to the occasional knocking of teeth or finding a ticklish spot that caused the kiss to break into giggles and teasing; maybe you would go back to kissing or maybe the two of you would slip into a conversation so seamlessly that you wouldn’t even notice until a couple of hours had already passed.

You often wondered if, when you weren’t around and your partners kissed each other, if either of them felt the same thing that you did. You wondered even more often how Wanda and Vision felt kissing you.

This time, though, it was Wanda’s voice from a couple of rooms away, muffled but noticeable, that finally broke the two of you apart.

“Any day now,” she hollered, although there was no trace of irritation in her tone. “It’s not like we only have a few hours left to celebrate Valentine’s Day or anything.”

Vision’s face scrunched up and he eyed the wall that separated the kitchen and bedroom via another room in between. “Mm, she’s got a point.”

You pursed your lips and squinted at the wall as if you would see red magic permeating it if you did so for long enough. “Do you think she X-rayed us?”

Your partner let out a short little chortle as he disentangled himself from you and looked over the box he’d managed to hang onto during your kissing session. “Even if she did, not like it’s going to be any different once we’re all in the same room together.”

“Good point,” you said. “Mm, more kisses.” You were still curious, though, so you hollered back to Wanda, “Hey, magical girl, did ya see me kiss your husband?”

All you got was a laugh back, which had you smiling.

Then you turned back to Vision, who was toying with the box’s bow, and said, “Alright, Vis, happy Valentine’s Day. Now give me your tie and your pants.”

You and Vision joined Wanda in the dining area shortly, Vision now dressed in a dark blue set of silky pajamas that matched your own shorts of the same shimmery fabric. Wanda had lit the candles not only at the dinner table but also around the rest of the house and she’d set proper places for three at the dinner table, although only two of the places had been served with simple dinner and various sweet, gaudy treats. After the three of you sat, Wanda gave Vision his cards: a beautifully designed one with a poem on the front and a lengthy handwritten letter on the inside from Wanda, a handmade one with bad Valentine’s Day puns and flustered ramblings all over it from you, and a “hand-drawn” one from Tommy and Billy that had really been drawn childishly by Wanda again as the babies were still too young to do so themselves. As he’d mentioned earlier, Vision had gifts of his own, which included a Valentine’s Day cupcake of your favorite flavor that he had snuck from work for you, cards and flowers for each of you, and a pair of inversely colored, Valentine’s Day themed stuffed puppies for the twins. With Tommy and Billy mentioned, Vision questioned their whereabouts and was surprised that Wanda had even let them out of her sight, though somewhat appreciative.

Dinner was next and went fairly quickly. You and Wanda ate a late dinner while the three of you conversed, mainly about Vision’s day and overall week but also you and Wanda explaining how you’d planned and prepared for the date without Vision being any the wiser. Vision made a comment that he, as an incredibly smart individual with a very expansive range of knowledge, should have noticed something sooner, which led to another bout of teasing from primarily you about how he’d fried his batteries when he saw his partners dressed up in pretty clothing and one of his shirts. Then topic conversations bounced around aimlessly for the rest of the time until both you and Wanda had cleaned your plates and even helped yourselves to some of the other goodies. Vision absolutely refused to let either of you do cleanup work, so you convinced Wanda to go change into something a little comfier--“At least take off those pearls and heels. Don’t really mind the rest of the outfit, though.”--and then went over to prepare the living room for movies by bringing over a few more treats to snack on, cleaning off an area for Wanda to magically project movies on the wall without clutter, and turning the couch into less of a decorative scene and more of a nest of red, white, and pink pillows and blankets.

Finally, the three of you settled onto the couch with Vision in the middle. That wouldn’t last for long, though, as you each grabbed a blanket or pillow and shifted yourselves into a big, fluffy, snuggle pile. You and Wanda managed to end up squished between Vision’s arms, where both of you could comfortably rest your heads on his chest. You could also slip an arm around Wanda and absentmindedly run your fingertips underneath the hem of the pajama shirt she now wore--another of Vision’s; it was a light blue and white striped button-down--and over the rose patterns of the sheer fabric hugging her hips. Instead of starting the movies right away, the three of you laid in comfortable silence for a while, enjoying each other’s company.

Vision briefly had to unwrap his arms to stretch and yawn, the yawn something that wasn’t entirely necessary for him. After placing them back, he murmured, “We don’t normally celebrate these types of things, do we, Wanda?”

Wanda’s eyes fluttered open; you had been watching her lay in quiet, cozy peace and she smiled sweetly at you when she caught you. “Goodness, no. We’ve proven time and time again we’re not exactly the remembering type when it comes to holidays. Holidays, events--”

“Anniversaries,” you offered with a little grin. “Especially those that coincide with meetings with bosses.”

Vision groaned softly. “A minor disaster.”

“Ended well though,” Wanda pointed out.

“And provided the idea for this whole thing,” you added.

Vision hummed thoughtfully and you felt his hand run down your back. “That so?”

“You getting flustered over sexy nightwear?” you said. “What potential.”

Wanda snickered. “What potential indeed. We broke the man.”

“Well,” Vision grumbled, his arms tightening slightly around both of you, “I assure you I’m doing fine now.”

You whispered into his chest, “Only because Wanda put on a shirt.”

Your trio broke into tired chuckles, which then faded into warm silence. It continued for a few moments before Vision pointed out that the movie-watching part of the night didn’t necessarily need to happen.”

That you sitting up and reaching for a movie list you’d compiled much earlier in the day.

“We must watch at least one movie,” you demanded, “and that movie is Grease.”

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pilgrimbenham · 4 years ago

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My Daily Morning Routine

Every day is indeed a gift from God. I have been learning how to live my life “coram Deo” - before the face of God. Knowing that we have an opportunity with each and every sunrise to “redeem the time, for the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16), how we manage the firstfruits of our daily lives matters. If we lack intentionality, we will allow the loudest alarms and what is most pressing to command our attention and order our day. There is a better way - a purposed, consistent, intentional daily routine.

A Few Caveats

Now before I share my routine - here’s a few caveats: -I don’t follow this routine on Sundays - because I consider “the Lord’s day” a very unique and distinct day of the week which starts with reflection, worship, and gathering with God’s fellowship of the redeemed to both express our gratitude for our Triune God, as well as to be equipped for the work of ministry as we grow in the Gospel of grace through the proclamation of God’s Word from Genesis to Revelation. So I begin with a different time of prayer, worship, and Bible reading.

-I don’t follow this routine on my day off (which is not Sunday - I’m a pastor!). I like to start the week strong getting much work done on Mondays and then take Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoons off to rest and recharge with my family. Not following my daily routine on my off day means spending more time resting and leaning into recreation, relationships, and responsibilities.

-I don’t follow this routine on days I wake up feeling unwell or when on vacation. The focus on those days is restoration and health.

My Daily Routine

Those aside, here is my daily routine: -I wake up between 5:30 - 6:00am with my Apple Watch alarm (which has been charging on my night stand - our phones are not in our bedroom at night but are charging in the living room). -I first drink a large glass of water to prepare my day hydrated, and do some basic stretching and breathing exercises. -I wake my children up between 6 and 6:30 to help them get a jumpstart on preparing for their day (they leave by 7am and my older son drives them to school. Life these days is great!). Often 6:30-7:15am is sheer chaos and thus my “quiet” time is not so quiet...but I still do my routine around them (not separated in a study or separate room) to show them I am available to help as needed. -I do my best to not check social media or emails - but if a text message has been sent overnight I do confirm there aren’t any urgent messages lingering. -I use an app called “DayOne” which is a journaling app. I write down 3 things I am thankful for - including one specific characteristic/trait about my wife that I love and appreciate at the moment. Then I take a few moments to pray for my family, confess sin, and yield my heart to Christ as I open my Bible. -I read a portion of Scripture. Currently I am in seminary so we are reading through the entire Bible, which is a practice I try to maintain annually/daily. As of writing this, I am reading through the book of Acts three chapters a morning. I try to notice anything that stands out in the text and always journal that verse in the DayOne app, along with some personal thoughts on the verse(s). -I will often supplement my Bible reading with a prayer from the Valley of Vision prayer book, a Morning Devotion from Charles Spurgeon, and the daily reading from Paul Tripp’s “New Morning Mercies”. Often these latter three are done on Fridays with my wife as we read a few psalms and a chapter from Proverbs (which corresponds to whatever day of the month we are in). -I then review my current goals. I always have 3 Big Monthly Goals (which I set once a quarter and at the end of the previous month), my 3 Big Weekly Goals, and list what I have ahead of me that day. I take a few minutes to pray through my schedule and intercede for any people we know or in our church who have urgent prayer needs. -Depending on the day, I then go for a run (more like a jog!) or bike ride, while listening to an audiobook. Listening to books for an hour a day allows me to “read” (or ‘listen’, if you asked my wife!) at least a book every week. By the time I am home it is time to cool down, shower and head to our church office to begin my day - usually by 9am! -When I get to the office, I start with a series of tasks that start each day out the same (prayer, email, daily tasks, scripture memory, and more). Mondays I work on a lot of administrative tasks, prayer, followup from our weekend gathering, as well as reading through the text I’ll be teaching that Sunday and outlining the sermon. Tuesdays I do a “deep dive” and prepare most of the sermon content (introduction, main points from the exposition, application, and conclusion). Tuesday is my heavy-reading/study day. Wednesdays I write and have discipleship and leadership meetings, along with prayer. Thursday we have an admin team meeting and I do counseling, then do some final weekend service prep on our order of service and communication. -This morning routine lasts from 5:30-8:30 but doesn’t always include the run/bike ride. Not everyone has the time to devote to personal/consistent growth but as a pastor and community leader, I don’t have time not to!

Having a daily routine does not have to be as long or as structured as mine - the key is to wake up around the same time, start with gratitude, exercise, and reading. For Christians, it is key to start the day in prayer and studying God’s Word and considering how we can live our lives to the fullest, for God’s glory. As we live “coram Deo”, may we submit our schedules to honoring and glorifying the King!

What does your morning routine look like? Is there any consistency, intentionality, and routine? What is holding you back from spending at least a few minutes starting your day right?

#routine #daily #morning #prayer #bible study #quiet time #reflection #journal #journaling

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canadian-buckbeaver · 6 years ago

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(The Ultimate Sneak Peek) What is Mine - Ch. 2

(aka: Bucky got tired, tried to write, got distracted with food and trying to recharge her battery, and now has to work the morning)

Please remember that I do have a Ko-Fi account, a Patreon (I love my Patreons so much, thank you for being patient as I battle the writer’s block) and a Pillowfort!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Eddie was standing in his little bedroom. Paint was peeling from the corner, the window was dirty and dingy, the carpet thin under his feet. The air was thick and warm, holding that signature dream-like quality to it making Eddie sigh. If he was going to dream, why couldn’t he dream that he was at Hawaii or something? Didn’t he deserve a vacation after all the shit that he and Venom had been through?

“I HAVEN’T SEEN HAWAII YET. MAYBE NEXT TIME WE WILL DREAM OF IT.”

With a groan, Eddie shook his head. They must be in Venom’s dream again. Last time that happened it hadn’t been pleasant. It had took weeks to stop dreaming of gore and blood, of how easy it was to rip people’s heads from their body. “I swear Venom if we step out of this room and land on your planet full of oozing creatures again, I will have a heart attack.”

Dark, dripping hands clasped his shoulders as a large tongue licked up his cheek. “DON’T WORRY, LOVE. I HAVE NO INTENTION OF KILLING YOU.” The symbiote purred before spinning Eddie around, forcing him to face him.

There was something different about the symbiote though. “How… why are you free?” Eddie demanded as he took in the creature. He had seen Venom reflected in mirrors and windows, and the odd photo of him in the newspaper, but never like this. Without in some way being attached to Eddie. Free-standing, Venom stood an impressive seven, eight feet tall of bulking, glistening muscle. He was built like a hulking tank. And those teeth…

Well, they made Eddie shiver in many different ways.

Venom chuckled. “THIS IS JUST A DREAM, EDDIE. WE CAN DO WHATEVER WE WANT IN A DREAM.” His tongue flicked over his teeth, staring at the much smaller Eddie.

There was something about how he said “we” that made Eddie’s heart skip a beat.

Venom didn’t pause. As if sensing Eddie’s confused arousal, he took a step forward to Eddie, some of his tendrils already reaching out to him. “I KNOW THAT YOU WANT THIS AS MUCH AS I DO.” Venom told him. “I HAVE SEEN GLIMPSES OF YOUR DREAMS. MY TONGUE TASTING EVERY INCH OF YOU, MY TENTACLES MULTIPLYING AND PINNING YOU DOWN, TYING YOU TO THE BED. TRAPPING YOUR HELPLESS BODY UNDER ME. YOU BEING SLOWLY IMPALED ON MY DRIPPING COCK…” Venom’s already deep voice dropped into a smooth, low growl. One that sent pleasant waves down Eddie’s spine.

The growl managed to distract him for a moment, allowing Venom to take another step towards him, and for Eddie to process what Venom had just said. The human’s mouth opened and closed, his eyes widening with the realization that his most private of dreams had been viewed, and judged, by a live audience.

And the said live audience who also happened to be the star of the vivid dream.

“Venom…. Listen. I know that you said that you wanted to mate with a human, but you don’t have to mate with me just because I am the only current option available.” Eddie told him, taking a quick step back. “I’ll have everything sorted out within the next couple days for us.” He winced at how it all sounded. It was like he was asking his boss for an extension on a project.

Venom was not interested in his bargain though. “I HAVE THOUGHT YOUR WORDS OVER CAREFULLY AND, AS YOU HUMANS SAY, I HAVE DETERMINED THAT YOU HAVE A POINT.”

Well that was as clear as mud. “You’re going to have to be a little clearer there,” Eddie told him, “I talk to you all the time. Which point finally sunk in?”

“TONIGHT, BEFORE YOU FELL ASLEEP.” Venom’s eyes narrowed as he watched Eddie skirt around him. “I HAVE BEEN OVERLY PICKY WITH THE HUMAN FEMALES BECAUSE I DO NOT WANT THEM… I ONLY WANT YOU, EDDIE. YOU CHANGED MY MIND ABOUT THE USELESSNESS OF THIS PLANET YOU CALLED HOME. YOU MADE US INTO A TEAM… I WOULD LIKE TO EXPLORE A DEEPER CONNECTION OF OUR ‘TEAMWORK’, IF YOU WILL.”

Great, now the big, tall, scary alien dude was making sexy puns. What else could go wrong in this dream? Eddie sighed and pinched the base of his nose. “Venom. Even if you really wanted to, acting on this, acting on my dreams,” he paused for a moment. How could he explain it to a horny alien monster? “It... it isn’t right.”

“HOW ISN’T IT RIGHT?” Venom demanded of him. “THIS ISN’T A CRIMINAL ACT, NOR IS IT WHAT YOU HUMANS CALL INCEST OR BESTIALITY. AND WE LOVE EACH OTHER, RIGHT?” He sounded like he was challenging the human.

“Well… yes, yes we do love each other…” Eddie told him quickly, trying to placate the creature.

“THEN WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?”

Eddie didn’t have a clever answer for that. His mouth opened and closed but no words escaped him. He was speechless.

That was when Venom decided to attack.

Clawed hands seized his shirt, pulling him towards the giant alien.

#veddie #symbrock #veddie x eddie #marvel #suggestive #fanfic #sfw #i am very tired #i am very broke #send love #eddie brock #venom

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n3rdybird · 6 years ago

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Let’s be lonely together.

James “Bucky” Barnes x Reader

Takes place post Winter Soldier when Bucky is laying low in Europe/Romania. Written for @izawrites 6k follower challenge, using the prompt “Let’s be lonely together.” Hope you enjoy and congrats to Iza for her follower milestone. Follow her for some excellent writing.

"Let's be lonely together." Bucky Barnes x Reader Written for Izawrites 6k follower challenge

The first time your eyes met, it was just a brief second. You were two cocktails into your evening. You sat at the bar alone, sipping your drink and letting your eyes wash over the other patrons. It was a fairly quiet place, a few boisterous groups, but for the most part, everyone seemed to be talking quietly. When you saw him, sitting alone, you felt a bit better that you weren't the only one drinking solo.

Your friends had bailed on you, leaving you to travel by yourself. It had been a "long time planning, never seemed it was gonna happen" trip. After college, when you all started your different post graduate lives, your friends and you had made a pact. To keep in touch, and that in five years, you all would go on a trip abroad. The trip you all dreamed about, but being broke college kids, could never afford.

And you all stuck to the pact. For the most part. Weekly conversations had turned to monthly check-ins. Lunch dates and girl's nights seemed few and far between, and even the one's that had everyone's RSVP sometimes got cancelled due to family or work priorities. You had tried your best to keep everyone together, to be the one to initiate plans, being the one to call rather than wait for them to call you.

This trip was supposed to change all that. Planning was going well, everyone seemed onboard, sharing ideas for excursions or pinning restaurants that had to be tried. It was going to be a reunion trip to remember. But as time went by, your friends began to waffle. Saying they weren't sure if it was a good time, or that their bosses may not allow for time off.

So when you were the only one boarding the flight, you knew in your heart, that it would never be the same again.

Although bummed, you decided that the trip was going to be all about you. One of those cheesy life changing Lifetime-movie types of trips. You were gonna discover yourself and hidden passions, maybe have a whirlwind romance. You took in museums and architecture and ruins. You sipped ridiculously complicated coffee orders and people watched. You wandered down streets and backroads and took in gardens and parks. It was great. You did things on your schedule and didn't have to wait on anyone else or compromise about what you ate or what you did.

But now, two weeks later, travelers fatigue was setting in. You were tired of seeing all these amazing things and not having anyone to share it with. Discovering a shop you know one of your friends would love, and have them not be with you. And if one more waiter gave you pitying look when you said table for one, you might have to hit someone.

So you found yourself scanning the bar for anyone to talk to. You scanned the room again, when you noticed someone. It might have been his blue eyes peaking out from under shaggy brown locks. Or his impressive physique, even if it was slightly hidden due to his hunched shoulders. It was the familiar loneliness you saw hanging over him like a cloud. The same cloud that currently muddled your thoughts.

With a deep breath, you swiped your drink off the counter, the condensation making it a little difficult to hold onto the glass. You slid between tables, maneuvering around the other patrons before coming to a stop in front of his table.

"Can I sit here?" you blurted out.

The man froze, as if he was surprised you even spoke to him. He looked away, gripping his drink tightly. You chewed your lip. Obviously your plan wasn't a good one, and you nodded your head in apology. For all you knew, he didn't understand English, and he had no idea what you were saying.

"I'm sorry to bother you, I'll just-" and you motioned back to the bar as you turned away. His arm shot out, and he touched your elbow gently. When you looked at him, he seemed to be staring at his own hand in shock. As if his hand reached for you without his knowledge.

"Why?" he questioned softly, though he may have been asking himself and not you. You had barely heard him over the din of the bar. You cleared your throat, setting your drink down.

"Why what?"

"Why do you want to sit here?" he asked, keeping his eyes on you warily. You let out sigh and sat across from him, pulling your drink to your lips. You swallowed a mouthful and tried not to stare directly at him.

"I'm gonna just say it. I'm lonely and probably about this close," you started, putting your thumb and index finger about an inch apart. "This close, to drinking myself into oblivion. And you... you seemed lonely too. And I figured," you said, swirling the ice in your drink.

"Why not come sit with you. Let's be lonely together," you explained, finishing your drink, and waving down a waitress to bring you another drink.

"If you don't want the company, you can just walk away. Or I can just sit here and be quiet. But let me just share one drink with you. Let me pretend for a few minutes."

His gaze was still wary, and he stared at you for a few moments, not saying anything. Finally, he threw his head back and let out a short laugh.

"So I look lonely huh? Is it that obvious?"

You shrugged, giving him a wry smile.

"It's not a bad thing, per say, but I guess it takes one to know one." The waitress reappeared with a new drink for you and a fresh beer for your new friend.

"And why would young gal like be lonely? You're obviously on vacation."

"You're right. I should be having the time of my life. It's my dream vacation. But the why is a long and very boring story. Much too long of a story for one drink," you said, waving off his question.

He seemed to take your answer as is, and nodded.

"So what shall two lonely people talk about then?"

You pursed your lips as you wracked your brain for anything to talk about.

"If you were stuck on a deserted island with a beautiful woman," you paused taking in his expression. "Or man, no judgement. Would you rather their top half be fish? Or their bottom half?"

His laughter rang out at your weird question, and you felt a real smile come to your face.

Over the next few hours, it was like a dam had spilled and all you could do was talk. You relished in even the silliest conversations, and your drinking partner was a saint for putting up with you. Eventually your reason for loneliness had come out, how you felt left behind and stagnant in your life.

"I don't blame them. They all have lives," you explained. "Families, great jobs, 10 year goals, mortgages. The plan was for all of us to have fun, to recharge, get away from everyday life. But the only one who needed this trip, was me."

You blinked rapidly, not wanting your eyes to betray you and start sending tears down your cheek. You looked at him, and he gazed back, your feelings reflecting in his eyes. You shrugged, throwing up an "I'm fine, whatever" smile.

"No wonder they ditched me. I've been awful, just laying all this shit on you. And you've said barely a word of your own life. I'm a self-centered asshole, and I apologize. So tell me stranger, do you regularly allow trainwrecks to park themselves at your table, or is this a first time thing? Cause you're doing great."

Your propped your chin on your hand and nearly headbutted the table when your elbow slipped off the table. He snorted into his beer as you resituated your arm and again took on the appearance of an enraptured listener.

"Maybe another time doll, you look about ready to pass out," he said, the endearment slipping off his tongue easily. He slid out of his side of the booth and helped you to your feet. You tucked some money under an empty glass, covering both yours and your stranger's drinks. When he tried to argue, you silenced him, telling him to consider it as his therapist's fee for listening to you ramble all night.

As you made your way into the crisp late night or extremely early morning air, you paused while sliding into your sweater.

"Did you mean what you said?" you asked. When he looked at you quizzically, you clarified.

"I asked you about your reason, and you said another time. Did you mean it? I don't even know your name, but-" you stopped and plucked up the courage to continue.

"But I'd like to see you again. If that's possible."

If you thought he was handsome before, the soft smile he gave made him beyond drop dead gorgeous. He pushed his hair away from his face, fidgeting a little. He held out his hand to you, hesitantly. When you took it, his warm hand clasped yours gently.

"James. My name is James."

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #izas6k #bucky barnes one shot #marvel one shot #bucky barnes

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toriroze · 3 years ago

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*Wellness Wednesday* Stagnancy, Stillness, and Self-Reinventing It’s in the air - we ALL feel it - that desire for something MORE…to be BIGGER, BADDER, more BOLD…LOUDER, PROUDER, more UNAPOLOGETIC…PRODUCTIVE, GREATER, and more SUCCESSFUL. Especially when you see the whole world around you whizzing by at lightning speed; it begins to feel like a giant game of “Frogger” where you can’t seem to make it to the other side without getting run over or drowning. Stagnancy or feeling “stuck” - it’s frustrating at best - and I know the feeling because it crosses my own path MULTIPLE times a year. Productivity is SUBJECTIVE. What one person defines as productive is not the same as another. The same goes for success. Life is NOT a competition - it is meant to be explored, lived, and individually experienced. Live your life well FOR YOURSELF - impress YOURSELF - WRITE your own life story by LIVING it. Remember: it is IN these differences where we complement each other by filling in the gaps FOR each other AND this is where the beauty of life truly exists. For a person who pushes the limit of personal productivity themself, this is one of the hardest things to just sit with: BEING STILL. Being still can mean a plethora of things: self-care, putting on a face mask, exercise, breathing exercises, writing, reading, going on a vacation, doing nothing, meditating, unplugging, laying in the sun, hiking, sitting in nature, watching a movie, etc. The point is that you’re doing said thing for YOURSELF only. When internal stillness occurs - that inner voice gets louder; clarity and ideas come; problems suddenly become solve-able; difficult tasks become manageable with alternative solutions; gratitude & self-reflection come to the forefront; and your mind + body + soul have a moment to RECHARGE & RECALIBRATE to work more optimally FOR you. Stagnancy is then removed while you become ACTIVATED towards your own definition of productive. This is now an opportunity to reassess & REINVENT your own life. (Continued in Comments) #RozeWellness #WellnessWednesday #SelfCare #Healing #Healer #Reiki #Stillness #Stagnancy #ReinventYourself https://www.instagram.com/p/CU-W_fslj0_/?utm_medium=tumblr

#rozewellness #wellnesswednesday #selfcare #healing #healer #reiki #stillness #stagnancy #reinventyourself

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lightinalexandria · 3 years ago

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Leaving Alexandria, Last Week Reflecting and Recharging in the Sinai

August 29th, 2021

It feels too close still to be properly reflective, writing here in my last week from the Sinai. But I know when I move to Senegal next week, I’ll want to make a clean break. In fact, I don’t know that a whole summer’s reflection is needed or even possible right now, just the current snapshot. I’m back in the little seaside town of Dahab for the second time, part hippie backpacker, part Bedouin, part place for young Egyptians to cut loose. Experiencing that last part is my favorite. That and all the water sports. I came here this time to learn windsurfing, to clear my head before moving to Senegal, to give my language learning brain a break and practice speaking English. Some of those are going spectacularly well, and some are challenging.

Windsurfing is a joy, every bit the learning experience and adrenaline rush I hoped it’d be. The lagoon where everyone kite surfs and windsurfs is about a 15 minute bike ride to the south side of town. Most of the customers are Russian or Swedish; the place is run by a guy from Moldovia who speaks Russian, and next to a Swedish hotel, so go figure. The Swedes smile and talk with me, the Russians don’t. Oh well. No time to talk on the water anyway. The wind is amazingly consistent and strong; this is supposed to be one of the best places in the world for windsurfing and kitesurfing. I still pal around the protected lagoon, not yet with the big boys out past the reef break, but it’s plenty big for me in here. The thrill of being pulled along, balancing just so! I feel the wind and water as omnipresent and sometimes mischievous elementals when I leave the shore. It feels like the 3 of us in conversation together, never lonely. I whoop and shout and laugh and joke, to myself, to them, to who-ever. I can appreciate the magnitude of skills now needed to skim along, leaning all the way back and barely touching the water. The balance and core strength and technique required to not pull your back when leaning back in the harness, and also not to fly forward and bash into the mast if a strong wind blows your sail over. Part of the joy (and frustration) of beginning anything is seeing as an “insider” the steps to mastery. That’s not happening on this vacation, but I am having a blast. It’s my favorite part of the day, and a good chunk of it. Training new muscles and poor technique means my back is ACHING after a few hours, but I hope to build up the endurance. Yalla.

The other goals are more slippery. Speaking English here with Egyptians feels so strange, after months of only speaking Arabic with Egyptians in Alexandria. It feels like giving up this skill that I worked so hard to practice, but the culture here has visitors and many locals close to bilingual. My Egyptian windsurfing teacher told me he prefers to teach in English. I’m having to consciously tell myself in my head that’s it’s okay to speak English, that it’s not a cop-out, that the thoughts are just as valid in English, that I deserve a one week break between language learning.

It would make sense, then, to speak English with foreigners, but that feels even stronger than speaking English with Egyptians. For the last few months the only foreigners I knew were Arabic language students, and we either spoke in Arabic, or about Arabic, or about life in Alexandria. Here in Dahab it’s the good-times vibe, and I’m having trouble adjusting to the vacationing expat strike-up-a-conversation maneuver. That might sound strange to anyone who knows me, but…we’re different people in different languages and places, and finding my way back to that version of myself is harder than expected. Well, after that last sentence I just took a 30 minute break to chat with a French traveller at the table next to mine, so apparently it’s trickling back. Anyway, the goal is getting mind, body and soul in tip top shape for whatever comes next in Dakar.

Edit at the end of my week in Dahab. It worked. The sea, the people, the wind, the salt, something. Maybe it was the anchor of windsurfing. Maybe it was the little bakery community I sat with every morning to talk about life over coffee. Maybe it was changing the place I stayed, out of a cramped and dim hostel in the tourist center of town, accepting the invitation of a wonderful traveller to stay in their light-filled beach house outside of town for these last few days.

I saw a friend last night who runs trips at one of the camps here, and remembered the first night I came here, when he looked at me closely after five minutes to ask if I was okay. I wasn’t really, overwhelmed with the goodbye’s from Alexandria, overwhelmed with the new languages and clothing and faces I was seeing in Dahab, wanting to save my energy for the next chapter and also knowing I draw energy from others. One day at a time, with the same friendly human faces at the cafe and the same friendly fish faces at the reef, and the wind and the water as anchors, I’m feeling centered again.

#dahabegypt #windsurfing

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nowtravel · 3 years ago

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Back in mid-April, I packed my bags, filled my car with books, said goodbye to my apartment, and headed west for a six-week road trip through seven states.

Last week, four thousand miles, ten books, and 67 hours of driving later, after a route that took me west to the Grand Canyon, north to Boise, west to Portland, and down the coast to Los Angeles, my fifth US road trip came to an end.

Road trips give me a chance to not only see the country but recharge my batteries. As I drive, I listen to audiobooks and music and call friends. In destinations where I’m not visiting friends, I sightsee, eat, read, write, and go to bed early.

On these road trips, I drink less, sleep more, reflect more, and chill out more. They’re my “me time.”

Especially because I visit as many national parks as possible. And lots of time alone in nature is good for the soul.

This road trip was no different (though at six weeks, it was one of the shorter ones I’ve done). I revisited the Grand Canyon, saw Zion, Bryce Canyon, Yosemite, and some other parks for the first time.

The Grand Canyon was just as grand as I remembered it. During my first visit, I hiked to the bottom, but, due to COVID, that wasn’t possible now. I just did an out-and-back to Skeleton Point and took in the view from the rim.

(Tip: Take Rt. 64 to enter and exit the park. This takes you to the eastern part of the canyon, where there are tons of lookouts, and over a super scenic road. It’s way better than driving from Flagstaff via 180. It takes longer but the drive is way more majestic. Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monument are also along the way.)

Then there was Utah, which was the highlight of my entire trip. I never realized that the state had so many national parks in it — nor that it was so beautiful.

I only visited Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks this trip. Zion was everything I dreamed it to be. The rocks and peaks all are so massive — it truly makes you feel small.

However, I liked Bryce a lot more. I found the trails less crowded and the landscape, with its pastel reds and oranges, prettier. There was just something about those hoodoos (tall, thin spires of rock), wide canyons, and colors that did it for me more. There seemed to be more trails there too, especially further down the canyon.

And then there was Salt Lake City. I’ll write more about why I loved it as much as I did later on, but for now, I’ll just say that there was way more stuff to do there than I thought. Lots of art, hikes you can access right from downtown, and grade A beer gardens.

But the real fun was when I ran into a reader at one of those beer gardens and they took me to a house party filled with twentysomethings employed at ski resorts nearby or transplants working for one of the new tech companies in town (SLC has a growing tech scene as people leave California). It was kind of cool to be at a party with strangers again, and even though I’m way past my twenties, everyone was pretty welcoming (though they did kick my butt at beer pong!).

Some other highlights:

Mt. Hood, Oregon

Sonoma (If you visit, get Three Fat Guys wines. They are delicious.)

The entire Oregon coast (an article on it is coming)

The Redwoods

Los Angeles (always)

Flagstaff, Arizona (a fun college town with a good brewery scene)

Yosemite National Park

And the lowlight? Roswell, New Mexico. There just wasn’t much to do there and the alien stuff is just terribly done! It’s not even fun kitschy. There is one really awesome contemporary art museum there though.

No matter how many road trips I make, I’m still blown away by how big this country is. Despite spending the past year just road-tripping around the country (and not counting all the shorter trips here and there or vacations to places like Hawaii over my lifetime, which probably add up to a couple of years as well), I’ve only seen a fraction of the land I grew up in.

It boggles my mind that I have seen so much yet still so little.

On the whole, this trip was a bit more sedate than my previous ones. Though COVID cases were declining, more people were getting vaccinated and getting outside, and there was more of a lively atmosphere than last summer, a lot of things were still closed, restrictions were still in place, and some people were still weird about meeting strangers.

The longer my road trip went on, though, the more positive energy there was in the air. It’s made me super excited for this summer and all my Europe travels!

Travel is a battery that needs to be recharged, and, with many COVID restrictions loosening up, my battery is at 110% right now. This trip gave me a taste, but I’m ready for hostels, Greek beaches, fellow travelers, and seeing where the road takes me.

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truc0nfessionz · 4 years ago

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i need to make more time to hear myself think

honestly, i realized i have stimuli from screens or sound (music / audiobooks) basically every moment that i'm awake. i need to have more practice being non-digital.

what can i do with my hands or express with my body?

what form of self care would feel so overindulgent it would seem sinful?

maybe i should act, write or stretch

i could go on a lavish beach vacation - lay my ass in the sand, breathe salty air and go shopping to my hearts content

i could turn my phone off and disappear from the grid for a while

hang out in nature, smoke js, be by myself and hear natural sounds

i realize i need to recharge, do more reflecting

i hold a lot of anxiety in my being and i need to do more to address it instead of appease it

i will get sick and die if i don't

what are you scared of right now?

work wise - seeing jess tomorrow for this presentation and hearing her feedback on my stuff when i havent in a while

i'm scared the topic of the growth plan will come up and how CS's headcount is ahead of hiring

to which i will say that i got a piece of advice last quarter that said we are going to blow out the growth, you need to be prepared and i listened

i will say that i got another piece of advice recently that showed i could exit 7 people in the department this month, but realistically, i know i'd have to hire them back in the next 3-6 months and i don't think its necessary to do that to the morale of the team

overall - cs is doing well. we have a lot going on, and continuously, i'm pushing the team to do more. improve the metrics even further, take on more non-traditional CS projects & contribute back to the company in a meaningful way. it takes time to build those muscles in my team but as always they're built on hustle. q1 was the first quarter we've tried to take on non-CS initiatives and so far, they haven't gone terribly. next quarter we'll do even more, and i'm excited to see where we'll be next year.

but first, my q2 okrs are here and i look forward to y'alls feedback.

personally, i feel anxious about my relationship. today is a better day, but it's been a hard week and a hard year. since i'm back on my meds, it feels like i woke up suddenly after being asleep for 6 months and i'm not sure what's going on. sometimes it feels like she can barely look at me. when i bring up our issues, she's so tired she can't even muster the energy to deal with them. but every day i try because i know this isn't over for me. not yet. i hope it's not over for her, but a part of me acknowledges i would deserve that if it was the case. so still i try, and so does she. and we're doing alright. i have hope that we'll continuously improve.

in every way, i am growing. there is pain, but i'm growing and it's surely better than not growing. may i give myself grace to stumble and be wrong and the inspiration, courage and love to improve and continuously reinvent what it means to succeed.

love & light & wonderful things, sash

#3.23.21 #this is a reflection #personal thoughts

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superspunarticle · 6 years ago

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14 Inspiring Quotes Content Marketers Are Thankful They Heard

SEO tutorials.

Latest article freshly produced by Content Marketing Institute. Quite likely among the leading creators of free tutorials on-line.

Happy Thanksgiving to all those in the United States who celebrate!

Whether you are spending the day with your friends and loved ones, helping others in your community, or taking a little “me” time to relax and recharge, here’s something to ponder during those tryptophan-induced moments of self-reflection:

If today were to be the last day of your content marketing career, would you feel that you left a meaningful mark on your industry – or at least made a positive influence on those who came across your work?

As content marketers, we are always reminded of the need to focus on our audience and their needs. In a way, this relationship gives each marketer the privilege of mentoring consumers by the thousands. Think about it: You use your skills and experiences to guide their journeys; you deliver useful advice and information that might ease their struggles; and you celebrate your connections with them as they reach the milestones of success you designated for each campaign.

With this vision of mentorship in mind, our editorial team asked a few influential experts in the Content Marketing World community to share the best piece of advice they received from someone whom they look up to in the industry or someone who has inspired their content marketing career. Their favorite nuggets of wisdom are noted below, along with some encouragements our CMI team members have considered invaluable to their own career success.

If you document it, you can achieve it

“Just write down what it is you’re trying to achieve. Document your content marketing mission statement.”

CMI founder Joe Pulizzi gave me that piece of advice. And he showed me the survey results showing that the companies effective at content marketing are five times more likely, not just to have a mission statement, but to document it and define it. And now, that’s what I help brands do: document what they’re doing, their mission statement.

Michael Brenner, keynote speaker; author; CEO, Marketing Insider Group; chief marketing officer, Concured

“When you’re stuck trying to create content, one thing you should do is document your journey.”

I recall Gary Vaynerchuk saying that. You really don’t need to have a strategy. It’s simply opening up your phone, taking pictures, recording video about your journey because seeing your journey helps people feel invested in you. They will want to work with you because people do business with people they know, like, and trust. Documenting your journey enables you to establish that trust with your potential customer or client.

Juntae DeLane, founder/CEO, Digital DeLane/Digital Branding Group

Don’t get paralyzed by the pursuit of perfection

“Push the damn button. Go push the button, go make the thing, press record, publish the piece.”

A colleague of mine and good friend Brian Fanzo lately has been using that phrase. It’s easy, especially if you are a creative, to get hung up in your process or to want everything to be perfect. And that is wonderful; but sometimes it can keep you from putting things out. I’m trying to adopt that mindset and just push the button and put more things out.

Melanie Deziel, founder, StoryFuel

Push the damn button. Make the thing. Press Record. Publish the piece by @isocialfanz via @mdeziel. Click To Tweet

Always-on is kind of a turn-off

“You’re no good to me if you come back tired. I need you to rest up, because we have work to do when you get back.”

One of the best tips I received was from Pam Pulizzi. I had a horrible habit of checking emails while on vacation and was doing so one morning when I was in the Outer Banks with my family. Pam noticed I was checking emails and told me she was being selfish, but she couldn’t have me coming back tired. For the first time in my 20-plus-year career, I totally unplugged. And since then, I’ve gotten really good at it.

Cathy McPhillips, vice president of marketing, Content Marketing Institute

Give yourself permission to break things

“There aren’t any rules to follow. You’ve got a goal, and you figure out how to do it by any means necessary.”

A gentleman named Tom Clarkson shared this big piece of news with me. When you’re working with a small budget and limited staff, you’ve got to get super creative to punch above your weight class. That little nugget from Tom is helping me do that. He gave me the permission to break some rules in a space that wasn’t really used to breaking rules. It was an academic environment, so they were very conservative. He gave me the space to really explore, and it was extremely helpful.

Vishal Khanna, director of marketing and communications, HealthPrize Technologies

“You will make a mistake. And when you do, come to me, and we will solve it.”

On the very first day of my very first job out of college, my manager said that. It provided relief to just know that yeah, I’m OK and I’m allowed to make mistakes. As long as we recover, make that change together, communicate, it’s going to be OK.

Anne Hrach, strategist, Convince & Convert

To thine own self, be true

We all are a direct marketer at heart.

A mentor, Heather Lloyd-Martin, told me from day one she was a direct marketer at heart and that we all are. The value is really in getting that this is business and bringing the context of lead generation sales to everything that you do.

Leslie Carruthers, president, The Search Guru

“You need to know yourself. Know yourself well.”

For the longest time, my job title defined who I was. But when I left that job, I had to stand on my own two feet and explore what else defined who I am. It’s a lot of reflection and soul searching to find out what defines “me” and who I am. When I decided to leave the corporate world and become an independent consultant, one of my mentors asked, “What do you want to do? What do you want to sell? What kind of service are you providing?” I was like, “OK, that’s a good question, I can do a lot of things.” Then she said, “You need to know yourself. Know yourself well.” And I think that was very important.

Pam Didner, author, Global Content Marketing

Best business advice heard by @PamDidner? “You need to know yourself. Know yourself well.” Click To Tweet

“Remember your value and your values.”

This advice came from a high school teacher of mine. It radically affected how I approach my career (and life in general). He told me not to underestimate my value. Don’t accept being treated as less than my worth. Some people wave away praise as if what they have done means nothing. Don’t let this be the case. But if it does happen and you find yourself upset, remember the golden rule. Kindness can reap unexpected rewards.

Monina Wagner, community manager, Content Marketing Institute

“Remember, just because you’re good at a thing doesn’t mean you have to do the thing. And just because you don’t know how to do a thing doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.”

I’m grateful for something my grandfather taught me – and that, interestingly, business leader Peter Drucker would remind me of years later in his book Management Challenges for the 21st Century with what he called the “value conflict.” Peter writes, “What one does well – even very well – and successfully may not fit with one’s value system.” My grandfather used to say something similar: “Remember, just because you’re good at a thing, doesn’t mean you have to do the thing. And just because you don’t know how to do a thing doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.”

Peter’s is a story of change. He quit his job as a successful investment banker because it didn’t match his personal values. He said, ‘I saw no point in being the richest man in the cemetery.’

Now, the range of our freedom to change direction in our lives depends on so many things: confidence, talents, skills, and yes, certainly privilege. But I do agree with Peter when he writes, “Values should be our ultimate test.” And per my grandfather, I’d add interest and passion.

Don’t get stuck on one idealized form of your career, but rather focus on constantly increasing the range of options you have to change your career based on your values, your interests, and your passions.

Robert Rose, chief strategy advisor, Content Marketing Institute

Let your “why” be your guide

Before you get to the who and the what, know why you’re doing what you’re doing.

Simon Sinek’s book, Start With Why, made a huge impact on me. He said you need to know why you’re doing something to help feed the who, what, how, and where of content. Who is your audience? What do you want to say to them? How are you going to say it to them? Where are you going to say it? If you don’t know the why in the first place, there’s no sense of going down the rest of the path.

Michael Weiss, vice president, consulting, services, and solutions, Creative Circle

Before you get to the who & what, know WHY you’re doing what you’re doing by @SimonSinek via @mikepweiss. Click To Tweet

Everything old will be new again

“Focus on what doesn’t change.”

An old Japanese idiom translates to “study something old to learn something new.” When you’re looking for ideas, when you’re looking for inspiration, when you’re looking to see what has worked, looking back at what has been (especially in other cultures) is a really great way to also look forward.

As marketers, we have hundreds of years of books, of theater, of plays, of oratory and rhetoric to draw upon if you want to learn something new. See what has worked for generations in the past. Jeff Bezos has a great expression: “Focus on what doesn’t change.” In content marketing, you always want to be educated, engaged, and entertained. Focus on those things. Look to the old ideas, and you will create brand new things that will amaze people.

Chris Penn, co-founder and chief innovator, Brain+Trust Insights

Look to the old ideas, and you will create brand new things that will amaze people, says @cspenn. Click To Tweet

If you aren’t willing to innovate, accept that you will stagnate

And before I conclude, I want to share the best advice I’ve witnessed, “Don’t be afraid to zig when others are zagging.”

I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the best minds in this industry – people who are crazy smart, wonderfully creative, dedicated to their craft, and just plain inspiring. And one thing most of them have had in common is that they weren’t afraid to follow their instincts and forge their own path – even when their chosen direction defied conventional wisdom or lacked an established framework. Collectively, they’ve shown me that content marketing is not rocket science. There’s no single, definitive formula for success in this industry (or anywhere else in life). No one has it all figured out (and anyone who claims they do is probably being paid on commission). Experiment with new ideas, techniques, and approaches. Listen to and learn from others, but don’t let their opinions sublimate your personal drive to innovate.

Don’t be afraid to zig when others are zagging, says @joderama. #contentmarketing Click To Tweet

Embrace the power of possibility

After his inspiring keynote address at Content Marketing World 2018, Robert Rose asked world-renowned National Geographic photographer Dewitt Jones what advice he had for those beginning their journey as storytellers. As he did in his presentation, Dewitt emphasized the value of experimentation, and shared one of the techniques he uses to discover new creative possibilities:

“I’ll shoot 50 to 100 shots a day, just to keep my chops up, I’m just playing. I went for a walk yesterday before dinner, and shot 50, 60 photographs – didn’t matter what they were, just things that moved me … they’re not going anywhere, they’re just for me to play. And play is an incredible way to be creative – where you have no goal, no expected outcome, you’re just playing with it. You just keep saying, ‘Well what if I did this? Well that’s cool; but what if I did this? Oh, that’d mess it all up! What if I did this?’ You’re playing and allowing yourself to go down paths that you never would’ve thought of, otherwise.”

Dewitt’s words – like his gorgeous works of art – should inspire us all to be more open to the possibilities and use our positions as influencers to “celebrate what’s right with the world.” As you reflect on the things you are grateful for today, I hope you take a minute to be mindful of the mark that your positive experiences and perspectives can make – not just on your audiences and your fellow practitioners but on the world at large.

Have advice or insight you would like to share with your fellow content marketers? Consider submitting a proposal to be a speaker at Content Marketing World 2019 by December 14, 2018.

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