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plaidbooks · 3 years ago

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The Future Is Now

A/N: This is...a weird one. I don’t have much of a description except to suspend your disbelief for a little bit; there’s magic that doesn’t really get explained. It’s a Mike Dodds x reader fic, and covers the Time Travel square in @adarafaelbarba moodboard bingo!

Disclaimer: I know the moodboard has time travel to the past, but this is the future and I got it okayed!

Tags: mentions of trying for kids, mentions of infertility

Words: 2570

Taglist: @witches-unruly-heart @beccabarba @thatesqcrush @itsjustmyfantasyroom @permanentlydizzy @ben-c-group-therapy @infiniteoddball @glowingmess @whimsicallymad @lv7867 @storiesofsvu @cycat4077 @alwaysachorusgirl @glimmerglittergirl @joanofarkansass @caracalwithchips @berniesilvas @qvid-pro-qvo @averyhotchner @imalostredheadinablondeworld

When Mike proposed to you, you were over the moon, excited to declare your love to the world. Plus, he was yours now, for the rest of your lives. You were absolutely proud to be called Mrs. Dodds. And then a week later, you both purchased your dream house.

Soon after the purchase, you both started trying for kids. It was no secret that you wanted children, and while you debated waiting until you were married, you were both ready and thought it wouldn’t hurt to at least try now. But after months of trying, you decided to make a doctor’s appointment, just to make sure things were okay.

As it turned out, Mike was considered healthy and fertile. You, however, were not. “There’s no chance of you getting pregnant. I’m so sorry,” your doctor told you. Mike held you as you cried and cried into his chest.

“We’ll figure it out, darling. We can find someone to carry a baby for us, or adopt, or—”

“I want a biological baby, Mike. I want to carry my own child,” you sobbed. There was nothing wrong with his suggestions, they just weren’t for you. You feared that you and Mike should just…not get married. Let him find a woman who could have his child.

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

About a week later with the dark cloud still over your head, Mike decided to take you out for lunch; just a cute date to try and cheer you up. You didn’t think that was possible, but as he held your hand, walking down the streets of New York City, you found yourself smiling softly at him.

“Come on; this is a shortcut,” he urged, pulling you towards a short alley. It was bizarre, the sidewalk made with cobblestone rather than the cement that filled the city streets. There was a strange feeling in your gut as you walked with him; it was like the sensation you get when falling, your stomach jumping and twisting into knots. You glanced up at Mike as you gripped his hand tighter, and he grimaced as if he, too, felt the weirdness. Finally, you exited the other side of the alley.

“Did you feel…strange in there, too?” you asked softly.

Mike turned around to look at the alley, make sure you weren’t being followed. “Y—yeah…that was weird.” You continued walking, though you huddled a little closer to Mike as you went. But you froze when you walked past an ad posted in a window. He stopped a little ahead of you, glancing back.

“What is it?” he asked in confusion.

But your eyes were locked to the ad, and you pointed. It was just an ad for an upcoming Broadway show, but that’s not what caught your eyes. No, you were stuck staring at the date.

“Isn’t it 2015?” you breathed.

Mike followed your finger to the date, seeing 2020 written in bold font. He shrugged, “someone just made a typo; nothing to freak out about.”

You nodded; that had to be it, right? Just to be sure, though, you pulled your phone from your pocket. But it refused to turn on, even though you knew it was fully charged. Mike checked his phone, too, seeing the black screen staring back at him.

“Fuck; we gotta go home, Mike. I feel weird about this,” you said, turning back to where you came from.

He followed, agreeing that something was off. Especially when you couldn’t find that alley again. Shaking with nerves, you hurried home, Mike trailing a step behind you. But you froze hallway up to your front door; there were people inside. Mike saw it too, and motioned for you to follow.

Crouching, you shuffled as quietly as you could behind him, making your way to the living room window. There was no explaining what you saw when you both glanced in.

“Is that…us?” Mike asked, voice hushed.

Indeed, it was you and Mike—though, maybe slightly older, slightly more lined—with three children. There was a boy about seven, another boy around five, and a little girl in Mike’s arms, maybe two. None of the children looked alike, nor resembled either of you; they must be adopted.

“What the actual fuck,” you muttered. “What the fuck?!”

Mike quickly shuffled away, dragging you with him. Once you were a little ways away, he turned to face you. “Okay, scenario one; this is all a dream, none of it real. Scenario two; we’re hallucinating, whether because of stress, grief, or something else. Scenario three, and I hesitate to list it but…we traveled forward in time by five years.”

“Absolutely not! We did not travel through time! That’s just—that’s not possible!” you replied.

He placed a hand on your shoulder gently, to help ground you. “I agree. Let’s just…maybe we should head to the hospital.”

“That’s a good idea…” you trailed off. Then you jumped in the air, disappointed when you hit the ground again. Mike rose an eyebrow and you sheepishly said, “I was hoping that if this was a dream, I could fly.”

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

It wasn’t a long walk to the hospital, but along the way, you and Mike ran into that damned alley again, still lined with cobblestones. You don’t know why it felt like the same one, even though it was in a completely different part of the city, but you knew it was the same. After pointing it out, you went through it again, dragging Mike with you and hoping to gain more information. But once on the other side, you noticed that things looked…different. Not overtly so, but the buildings had changed slightly. Looking back showed that the alley was gone once more.

The first thing Mike did was check his phone, to no avail. You followed his lead, but your phone was bricked, too. So instead, you headed for a window in a shop, littered with ads. And you let out a gasp as you saw that the date had changed again. But instead of being your time—

“2030?!” you yelled. “What the hell is happening?!”

Mike’s eyes were wide as he tried to work through this new information. “I bet that alley has some sort of gas or toxin leaking into it, making us hallucinate—”

“It doesn’t matter; we have to go to the hospital!” you replied, heading in that direction. He quickly caught up with you, and you wandered the city streets of Manhattan.

“Shit,” he cursed under his breath before he grabbed your hand and dragged you into a little alcove. You looked up at him, giving him a look and he quickly explained, “I just saw…I saw us again. And though I don’t think we actually traveled through time, I don’t want to fuck anything up on the small off chance we did.”

You rose an eyebrow. “I thought that was only messing with the past?”

“Look, I don’t know! I just know this is all very weird, okay!”

You had to agree there, so you watched as you and Mike—older, 60-year-old you and Mike—made their way to a fancy restaurant. They were seated outside, the table having two extra chairs. Soon enough, a man and wife joined them. You were too far to hear, but you saw the woman show off her left hand, saw the proud smile on the man’s face. Something pulled you towards them, and you found yourself walking closer.

Mike’s eyes went wide, but he was too slow to stop you. So instead, he wrapped his arm around your shoulders, hurrying you closer. You both leaned against the wall of the restaurant, facing each other so that they wouldn’t see your faces.

“So, have you told your siblings yet?” a voice that could only be yours, though aged with time, asked. “I’m sure they’ll be so proud that their brother is finally getting married.”

“Not yet; I wanted you and dad to know first. As well as…Lydia’s pregnant!” a man exclaimed, excitement lacing his voice.

“Congratulations,” older Mike said, and you could hear the smile and pride in his voice, even at this age. “You know we love being grandparents.”

There was an awkward silence before the man quietly asked, “that’s okay, right mom?”

“Of course it is, dear. You know that I love you and your siblings as if I had given birth to you. You’re my children, and I will love you and my grandchildren until the day I die,” older you replied.

You had heard enough, and you took Mike’s hand, tugging him gently away. There were tears in your eyes, and you noticed them in his before he had a chance to blink them away.

“Maybe…maybe adoption is a viable option for us, Mike,” you mumbled. It no longer mattered if this was real or a dream; either way, it was a clear sign that you and Mike would get past your infertility, that you had so much love to give both to each other and to your children, adopted or not.

“We can look into it once we’re both deemed okay mentally,” he replied, his arm coming back around your shoulders, holding you to him. He kissed the top of your head, and you shoved your face into his chest as you walked.

You had been wandering, not paying attention as you left the restaurant, but you heard hard rock under your shoe. Glancing down, you saw cobblestone. No, you thought, looking up, panicked. Once again, you and Mike were in the alleyway.

“How does this keep happening?” you asked, your voice echoing unnaturally around you.

Mike gripped your hand. “I don’t know, but we’re getting out of here,” he said, dragging you to the entrance…or exit—it was hard to tell where you came from. Once out, you both checked your phones; still dead. When you looked around you, though, you found yourselves on the outskirts of the city. There was no telling what year it was anymore, and in a bout of fear and panic, you started to run.

Mike let out a yelp before he followed. You didn’t know where you were going; it’s like your feet knew where to go, intent on showing you something, leading you somewhere.

He caught up to you after your lungs were burning, your knees buckling. “What are you doing? We have to remain calm,” he said, panting.

You were gasping down lungsful of air, trying to calm your rapidly beating heart. You gave Mike an apologetic look, about to tell him you had no idea what was going on, when you glanced over his shoulder. There was a large field behind you, an assortment of tombstones in neat rows. You were on the edge of a cemetery.

“About time you two showed up,” a man’s voice said, and you jumped. Turning, you found an elderly man sitting on a bench a little ways away. Upon a closer look, you noticed that he looked familiar.

“Excuse me?” Mike asked, walking closer. He jolted in surprise, and it connected a moment later for you; it was elderly Mike Dodds.

Old Mike chuckled softly. “This one was a little harder to figure out, since we never saw a date. But I knew I was 93, so I decided to come here every day until I saw you two,” he explained.

“But—but how did you know—? What’s happening?” you asked, bewildered.

He nodded. “It’s confusing, I know. But I knew you’d be here because, well—” he looked at his younger self— “because I’ve been here in my youth. My wife and I never did find out what it was, a dream or—or hallucination. All we knew was that it was somehow real; it predicted our future.”

“How do we get back?” Mike asked.

The old man gave Mike a long look. “You must cherish your fiancée, Mike. Even when she becomes your wife, you must always cherish her.”

Mike blinked. “Y—yeah, I will, I promise. But how do we—”

“My lovely wife is gone now. We had our ups and our downs, our ridiculous fights over nothing. But at the end of the day, I loved her with my whole heart and soul, just as she loved me. We knew we could make it through anything, as long as we had each other.” He looked at you, and you saw such adoration in his eyes that your breath caught. “There’s still days where I miss her: her voice, her laugh, her love. But we both knew it was her time when she went, and she was happy. Now I find happiness in our kids and grandkids, and in knowing that I wouldn’t change a damn thing about the past 50 years, not one bit of it. And I know I’ll see her again soon, that she’s waiting for me.”

You didn’t notice the tears until they were trailing down your cheeks. You looked at Mike, and he, too, was crying. He opened his mouth, but elderly Mike spoke over him.

“The only way back is to go back to the beginning,” he muttered, suddenly tired.

“But we can’t find the alleyway—”

“Not the damn alleyway! Go back further, to where it all began!”

You and Mike looked at each other with your watery eyes in confusion, but when you turned back, the old Mike was gone.

“What now?” you asked softly.

Mike came up to you, cupping your face in his hands and brushing away your tears. “We’ll figure it out, darling. I promise.”

He kissed your forehead before moving to grab your hand. You both started walking, unsure of where to go but following your feet…your hearts. You walked for what seemed like forever before you noticed where you were.

“This is where we had our first date,” you muttered, looking at the little restaurant, still here after so many years of changes.

Mike’s eyes lit up and he pulled you a few buildings down. There was a white archway, roses along the bottom and wisteria wrapped around the top. Your heart fluttered at the sight, just like the first time; you always found this fixture odd, sitting in the middle of a bustling city, so out of place. And just like that first date, Mike tugged you to stand underneath it.

“Back to the beginning,” he muttered as he turned to face you. You were pressed up against his chest, looking up into his kind face, and all those feelings from the first night slammed into you: the nerves, the excitement, and the love.

“May I kiss you?” he asked, his voice echoing through time. You nodded shyly, biting your bottom lip, and he slowly leaned in. The moment his lips touched yours, you knew you never wanted to pull away. You lifted to your tiptoes, kissing him back with passion, his shirt balled in your fists. He smiled against your lips, and you grinned. As you gently pulled away, he let out a little huff of a laugh, just like he did the first time.

“I love you, Mike Dodds,” you whispered, staring into those bright eyes of his.

His grin broadened. “I love you, too. And I cannot wait to grow old with you.”

You could’ve stayed like that forever, in his arms, looking into that handsome face. But the silence around you was broken by your phone ringing.

#mike dodds x reader #law and order svu #law and order svu fanfic #fanfic #my fanfic #adarafaelbarbaseptemberbingo

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avengerscompound · 4 years ago

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The Surrogate - Chapter 8

The Surrogate: A Clintasha Fanfic

Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing: Clint Barton x Natasha Romanoff x F!Reader

Word Count: 1789

Rating: E

Warnings: Pregnancy, talk of miscarriage, medical proceedures

Synopsis: A freak end of the world incident leads to meeting your two best friends, Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff. While your friendship with the two Avengers is anything but conventional, they are your all-time favorite people. When you find out that Clint and Natasha want to start a family but have exhausted all their options, you realize your powerset might allow you to give them what they want. Having your best friends’ baby might seem like a good idea on paper, but when you are as close as you, Clint, and Natasha are, will doing something so intimate mean feelings get a little mixed up?

Chapter 8

Everyone had told you there was nothing to worry about. The embryo implantation was one of the easiest parts of the whole surrogacy process. No harder than a pap smear and there was nothing you needed to really worry about doing differently. You just had to wait and see if it worked. Yet, as you say in the chair with your feet in stirrups and the doctor crouched between your legs you were filled with intense anxiety.

It was strange really. Natasha seemed to have deployed the self-preservation technique of expecting the worst so she wouldn't be hurt when the worst happened. She'd gone in to have her eggs harvested saying there probably wouldn't be any. When she was told they were happy with the number they harvested, she decided that none would become viable embryos and when she was told they had at least five good looking embryos to implant, she decided that none of the three they were using would take. You assumed that if they did take she'd start saying there would be a miscarriage just to prepare herself for the potentially bad news.

Clint on the other hand seemed to be cheerily optimistic about it. You weren't sure if that was just his way of trying to balance Natasha out. He had his moments where he was so sure it was going to work that he'd start freaking out about the idea of being anyone's dad that seemed genuine. Otherwise, it did just seem like he was trying to get Natasha's head out of the dark cloud that was surrounding her.

You knew it was going to work. It had to. Everything made sense and this was going to happen and they were going to be parents and you were going to give that to them. You knew it was the truth, right down to your core. Yet, as you sat in the chair as vulnerable as you’ve ever been, you couldn’t help but think; what if you were wrong?

You clung to Natasha’s hand and she held it close to her chest as Clint stood with his arm wrapped around her waist, his eyes darting everywhere like he was trying not to look directly at your vag on display, as if he hadn’t been all up in it before.

“Okay,” the doctor said, pulling the catheter and then speculum out. “All done. You can get redressed. You don’t have to do anything special today. Take it easy but you shouldn’t just go home and get into bed. Get up. Walk around. Watch TV. Use the bathroom if you need to. Just no vigorous exercise.”

“Are you sure? There’s nothing we can do to increase the odds?” Clint asked.

She shook her head as she began to clean up. “Now it’s just a waiting game. But you’ll be back in two days for a blood test and we’ll know if it worked, so this stress of the unknown you’re all feeling will be over soon and you can hopefully have the stress of preparing for a baby instead.”

Clint laughed. “Yeah, that’s much better, isn’t it, Nat?”

Natasha forced a smile and you got up. “Make an appointment for two weeks for a blood test and when we know the result we’ll work out what appointment to make next.”

“Will, do,” Clint said. “Thanks, doc.”

I went and redressed and met Clint and Natasha out in the waiting room. “Alright?” Clint said.

“Yep,” you agreed.

“We made an appointment for two weeks,” Natasha said. The way she spoke was stiff and forced. Almost as if she was afraid that saying too much would cause the embryos to fail their implantation.

“Great,” you said, with a nod.

Clint slung his arm around your shoulders and pulled Natasha close. “Can I tell you both a secret?” He whispered conspiratorially as the three of you headed out to the hospital parking lot.

“What is it?” You asked.

“I hate being the together one,” he said. “Come on you two, let’s try not to think about it, and in two days we’ll know right?”

You nodded. “I just… I know this is going to work. This is what I do. But if I’m wrong, I don’t want to hurt either of you.”

“Oh, babe,” Clint sighed.

Natasha stopped walking and stepped in front of you, she looked directly into your eyes. The green of eyes seemed to pierce right into you. “If this doesn’t work, it’s not your fault. I’m not going to pretend it won’t hurt, because it will. But I will always be grateful that you even gave it a go. This is our only chance to have kids, and the fact you were willing to give it to us, however small it is, is the greatest gift anyone has ever given to me.”

By the time she had finished talking you were weeping. She pulled you into her arms and you buried your face in her neck. You felt an overwhelming urge to tell her you loved her but the fact you didn’t even know what that meant right now made you hold it back. Maybe it was just that you loved her because she was your best friend, but the more time you spent with her and Clint the more you felt it wasn’t just friends.

“Alright,” Clint said, rubbing both of your backs. “Let’s get easy-bake back home, we’ve got doctor's orders sloth happening. We don’t want to waste it.”

You spent the next couple of days taking it easy. You had taken the week off because of the doctor’s appointments taking up so much time. So you just caught up with tv shows and ate food that was probably very bad for you.

Two days later Clint and Natasha took you in for the blood test, and then you just went back to work as usual. Not that there was a lot going on. There were a few agents out in deep cover and Steve and Tony had some appearances to make. So for you, it was just honing your skills.

You were on the firing ranging trying to improve your accuracy with a handgun when you felt your phone vibrate. You flicked the safety on your gun and holstered it before answering. Unfortunately, the room was still full of the sound of gunfire and it wasn't until you got into the armory that you could hear the other person on the line.

“Shit, sorry,” you apologized. “Noisy room.”

The woman on the other end told you she was from the doctor's office and confirmed it was you as you bounce nervously from foot to foot and went about the procedure for locking your weapon back up while juggling your phone.

“We have the results of your pregnancy test,” the woman said.

“Yes,” you replied. “What…? Is it…? Am I…?”

“The results are positive,” she said. “Congratulations…”

The receptionist kept talking but you didn't hear anything past that point. It was all white noise as your excitement took you over and all you could think about was putting the god damned gun away so you could tell your best friends they were going to be parents.

“Sorry,” you said, quickly. “Sorry, what was that?”

“You were transferring your care to… Uh… The Avengers facility?” She repeated.

“Yes, right,” you said. “In-house.”

“Okay, well we’ll forward all the records on to them. You should have your first appointment in four weeks with an ultrasound. Then they'll go from there.”

“Thank you,” you babbled. “Yeah, thank you very much. I'll go speak to them.”

“You're very welcome,” she said. “Congratulations again.”

You disconnected the call and shoved your phone in your pocket as you hurriedly locked the gun back up and dashed out of the armory.

“FRIDAY,” you said as you sped out of the hallway and across the grounds. “Where are Natasha and Clint?”

“Agent Barton is training behind building C with Miss Bishop,” the AI replied. “And Agent Romanoff is in combat room three with Miss Maximoff.”

“Ah, shit,” you cursed, stopping dead in your tracks. They were in two different directions and if you went and collected Clint before you went to get Natasha, which would be the most logical thing to do, he'd just bug you for the results the whole way. “Tell them to come to the function room.”

You changed direction and headed to the main building. The top floor was a function room that was primarily where parties were held and contained a full bar. You took the elevator up and took out a bottle of champagne and hid it so it was sitting in the sink under a dish towel the foil already removed so you could easily pop the cork, and quickly poured yourself a drink that would look like a cocktail without being one using grenadine and orange juice.

You were sipping on the slightly too sweet drink when Natasha rushed into the room and stopped dead. Her eyes darted from your face to the drink in your hand and her face fell. Right away you regretted the ruse. “No, no, no,” you babbled, putting the glass down. Clint skidded into the room behind Natasha and stopped dead.

“What? What's going on? You got the results?” He asked looking around the room for some clue as to whether you were pregnant or not.

“I did,” you said, quickly trying to waylay the sadness that had struck Natasha so suddenly. “I am. Pregnant that is. You're going to be parents.”

“What?” Natasha said, blinking at you. “But the drink…?”

“It's orange juice and grenadine,” you said, getting out the champagne from the sink. “I got this out for the two of you to celebrate.”

“Oh my god!” Natasha exclaimed. “You little… I'm gonna kill you!”

“After the baby’s born right?” You asked as she and Clint approached you.

“Immediately after,” she said, wrapping her arms around you and pulling you close. Clint wrapped his arms around both of you and squeezed you both into a huge bearhug.

“Congratulations, guys,” you said, softly. “You're gonna be parents.”

“Thank you,” Natasha whispered.

The three of you stayed like that for what felt like an eternity before slowly pulling apart. Clint kept his hands on Natasha’s hips and you popped the cork on the champagne. “You guys should celebrate.”

Natasha looked up into Clint’s blue eyes and smiled. “Hey, Nat,” Clint said. “You're gonna be a mommy.”

Natasha made a soft sound and he leaned in and kissed her. You grabbed two glasses and poured the drink. Even though this was their moment and you planned to leave them to it, you couldn't remember ever feeling this happy before.

// NEXT

#natasha romanoff #clint barton #natasha romanoff x reader #clint barton x reader #clint barton x natasha romanoff #clint barton x natasha romanoff x reader #clintasha #clintasha x reader #black widow #hawkeye #black widow fanfic #hawkeye fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #reader insert #pregnancy #the surrogate

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ghosttotheparty · 4 years ago

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while the world ends around us (make believe with me)

6. I can’t even leave my room so I keep pouring AO3

And I've been looking for someone to put up with my bullshit I can't even leave my bedroom so I keep pouring And I ain't seen a light of day since, well, that's not important It's been long - Feeling Whitney // Post Malone

Lucas actually wakes up this morning.

It’s nice. Much better than laying against his wall all through the night, his eyes stuck on his laptop, watching Netflix or Youtube, or on his sketchbook, watching his pencil or pen or paint trailing across the page, leaving lines and smudges in its wake. And then looking up blearily when he realises he can see across his dark room because the sun is peeking through his blinds.

Today he wakes up when his phone starts buzzing and chiming next to his head, half under his pillow. It startles him, and he gasps as his eyes fly open, sitting up and muttering, “Jesus…” as he shuts off his alarm and tosses it to the floor next to him. It clatters against the wood and he winces, looking up at his door and running a hand through his hair.

He grabs food from the kitchen and eats it during his first class, scribbling the homework on a piece of paper he finds on the floor and doodling flowers and eyes as he forgets to pay attention. The teacher's voice turns into white noise.

- - -

He drifts off again in another class, and wakes up to a chorus of voices saying “Thank you,” and “Goodbye.” He doesn’t bother joining them, instead just clicking the hang up button and dropping his head to his arm, sighing and closing his eyes for a second before pushing himself up and groaning.

It’s the third red button he’s pressed just today.

He thinks about how many he presses a day.

Five classes, five red buttons.

Five days a week.

For weeks and weeks.

And weeks.

Christ.

Lucas huffs and pushes himself to sit cross-legged in front of the computer. He pushes it out of his mind, the remembrance that this is… it. All he has. This and a few texts from Kes and Jayden, usually about school or other kids from school, often complaining. Usually complaining. Sometimes he gets texts from Isa, silly selfies or pictures of birds. She knows he likes birds. Sometimes he gets texts from Noah, pictures of his art, drawings and paintings and doodles, or texts from Janna, which are never expected but always make him laugh. Sometimes Liv texts him just to check in.

It.

Homework and classes and red buttons and once-in-a-while texts from people he doesn’t see anymore.

And Jens, he remembers as his phone buzzes. And he smiles, but he really shouldn’t, so he pushes it away as he reaches to the floor and grabs the phone, reading.

guess what i’m making… 🥚🍳👨🏻🍳

He lets the smile push its way back onto his face (there’s no one to see anyway) as he shakes his head.

you didn’t give me time to guess, dummy

He lays on his back and holds his phone above his head, sighing as the bubble appears on his screen.

i’m impatient

Lucas scoffs, shaking his head again.

anyway good morning 😌, Jens texts a few seconds later.

good morning 🌞, Lucas responds even though it’s not really that sunny out. how are you today

well i woke up to my sisters arm hitting me in the face and i just burned an egg so that’s just kind of how it’s going so far you?

Lucas smiles again.

pretty dry so far but who knows

Like it’s a trigger, Lucas’s door swings open loudly and he tilts his head back, looking at his father upside down.

“...Yes?”

“You have to do the dishes, yeah?” he says flatly.

“But I did them last night,” Lucas says, still holding his phone above his head. He doesn’t look at it, even as it gives a short buzz with Jens’s response.

“And I brought dinner for you.”

“You brought chicken home and I cooked it.”

It’s true. Lucas had to Google how to do it, and it was the blandest, driest chicken he’s ever had, but it sufficed. There was nothing else in the kitchen he could have made. Back home, there’s usually things in the cupboard to micwave.

“Lucas—” His dad pinches the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes, huffing. Exasperated, like Lucas is the issue here. “Just do it.”

“Fine, whatever,” Lucas mutters, looking at his phone, but he doesn’t get to read the message before his dad snaps at him.

“Don’t whatever me,” he says sharply.

“Fine,” Lucas says, stopping him. “Yes. I will.”

He leaves without shutting Lucas’s door.

Lucas takes a second, huffing at the open hallway. He hates him. And he knows he Shouldn’t, because He’s His Father, but he can’t not. It’s his face. Even before Lucas knew about how much of a dick he is, his face told Lucas everything. Always angry, disappointed. Always bitter, like he tried to sue the universe and lost. His eyes always look pinched. Especially when he looks at Lucas.

He doesn’t know why, honestly. It’s not like he even really knows Lucas. Anything about Lucas that’s actually important. Not that Lucas would tell him anything important.

(He has a list of things he doesn’t ever plan on telling him. His being gay is the top one. He’s never heard his father talk about queer people, but he doesn’t have to to know that he’s probably a bigot. His art is another thing. He doesn’t want to listen to his father talk about how it’s not a Viable Career Option, or how it’s a Waste of Time.)

He looks at his phone after a second.

😔 boring days suck wanna call later and do hw together?

Lucas exhales, trying to sigh away his frustration.

yes ofc you said you can do math right?

He shuts the door (quietly) while he waits for Jens’s answer.

i’m a math genius call me fuckin newton

Lucas scoffs, shaking his head as he sits back on his mattress, leaning back so his head falls off the edge, upside down.

great so that means you’ll do my hw for me

Lucas bites his lip, trying to suppress the smile that appears in anticipation as Jens types.

hmmmm what’s in it for me?🤔

uhhhhh moral support

Lucas grins as you amaze me appears on his screen, followed by oh i can teach you math, which promptly makes him roll his eyes and reply with an exaggerated uuuuuuggggggghhhhhhhhh.

Jens replies with oop i gotta go, and then, as Lucas prepares to send the eye-rolling emoji, see you after school🙃.

Lucas sends the emoji anyway, along with you’re the worst.

A few seconds later, his phone buzzes with love you too <3 , and his lingering smile falters. He sits up, swallowing and setting the phone down.

Because the pause in him, the skipped beat of his heart, the way the words tug at him even as he reads and rereads and rereads them, even as his brain knows the irony, the playfulness, the mindlessness in Jens’s saying it, can only mean one thing, and he hates himself for it.

Lucas is fucked.

- - -

So he ignores it, of course. It can’t be happening. It can’t. He’s known Jens for a few days. There’s no reason for his stomach to flutter the way it does when he gets a text from him, or when his name lights up his computer screen on Google Meets.

“He-ey,” Jens sings when Lucas answers, and a smile flickers across Lucas’s face involuntarily.

“Hey.”

“How you doing?”

“Fine,” Lucas answers, neglecting to mention the rest of his day, which was absolutely not fine. The door slams are still ringing in his head. “You?”

“Eh.”

“Hm,” Lucas chuckles. “Hey, who's your maths teacher?”

“Clark,” Jens says, looking at Lucas with his pixelated eyes. Even glitchy and blurry, Lucas can see that he’s beautiful.

“Great,” he says, ignoring it. “Have you done homework for lesson seven?”

“I absolutely have not,” Jens chirps. “I can do it and show you how to solve the problems.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Mhmm.” Jens puckers his lips, nodding and furrowing his brows. “Mhmm, mhmm. Well. I could do it and send you the answers.”

“That sounds great,” Lucas says, sarcastically sweet.

Jens snickers, reaching past his laptop, and Lucas watches as the collar of his shirt falls, a section of his skin exposed before he sits back, pulling a messy notebook, loose papers hanging out of it, and calculator with him.

“Wanna read while I work?” Jens asks, oblivious to the heat in Lucas's chest.

“Oh, yeah, I can do that.”

Lucas barely even processes the words he reads to Jens, his brain somehow paying more attention to the quiet, hushed murmurs of numbers coming from Jens.

He hears Jens mutter, “Divide by six…” and click his tongue in thought a few times just as Lucas reads, “‘...like moths against the whispering and the champagne and the stars.’”

He listens to Jens intently, even though half (or maybe just a quarter) of his mind is on the book, and even though he only catches every few words. Some words, sixty, sixteen, seventy seven, are sharp and cut right through their connection. His murmurs are nearly completely unintelligible, but Lucas listens like he’s actually trying to learn something.

It’s not until Jens says, “Lu?” softly, that Lucas realises he’s stopped reading completely, the book fallen shut in his lap with his index finger holding the page loosely, and he startles, looking directly into Jens’s eyes. His face burns up at the nickname, and at the fact that he had been so enraptured by Jens muttering maths to himself that he had forgotten completely to read.

“I— Yeah, sorry,” he says, looking away and opening the book, hoping Jens can’t see how hot his face is.

“Why’d you stop?” A smile is spread across Jens’s face. Like he knows.

“I—” Lucas stutters again. “You seemed to focussed, I didn’t wanna distract you.”

“Aw.” Jens tilts his head. “That’s sweet.” There’s a pause, and he looks down, flipping a paper that’s out of Lucases sight, before he says, “I’m almost done, I can send you pictures after so do this one.”

“Yeah,” Lucas says, trying not to let out another stammer. His face burns again. He hadn’t realised how long he’d been listening.

Jens clicks his tongue as he thinks again, and Lucas hears the clicking of his calculator and the scratch of his pencil on paper.

“Add on both sides,” he says quietly, and then, “Oh, that’s not right,” flipping his pencil over to erase it.

Lucas snickers.

“Don’t you laugh at me,” Jens says, a smile playing at his lips. “You know you can’t do better.”

“You’re not wrong.”

When Jens finally finishes the problem (he has to try again two more times; he’d skipped the problem to leave it for the end when he’d started) he texts pictures of it to Lucas, and Lucas closes the book, folding the corner of the page.

He can feel Jens watching him as he copies down the answers.

“Number four is seventy three?” he says, zooming in on the photo.

“Thirteen,” Jens says, his voice softer than Lucas expected.

“Oh, that makes more sense.” Lucas writes it. “Why the hell do your ones look like sevens?”

“I don’t know,” Jen says defensively, making a face. “It’s never been a problem before.”

“It’s weird.” He’s met with silence. “If you’re making a face at me, I can’t see it.”

Jens lets out a laugh, and Lucas grins. If sunshine made a sound, it would be Jens’s laughter.

“How do you know me so well?” Jens asks, still laughing.

Lucas giggles, snorting and shaking his head as he looks up to see Jens’s face brightening even more.

“That was so cute,” Jens says lightly, and Lucas feels like he’s on fire.

“Shut up. What’s number seven? It’s cut off in the picture.”

“Oh, shit, sorry. That’s…” Jens’s brows furrow. “Six, four… one—”

“You thought it was a seven, didn’t you?”

“Shut up. One point three two.”

“Thank you-u-u.”

Jens is quiet as Lucas copies the rest of the answers. He shakes his head at how messy Jens’s work is, shocked and honestly impressed with how his brian works, numbers and lines scattered across the page, the answers in neat, little boxes.

“Do any new drawings?” Jens asks abruptly as Lucas copies the last one.

“Huh?”

“Have you drawn anything new?”

“Uh..” Lucas finishes writing the final answer and boxing it like Jens’s. “Yes?”

“Oh?” When he looks up, Jens is resting his chin on his hands, smiling. “Tell me.”

Lucas pauses, biting his lip. He’s only done one, and it’s ripped and crumpled and shredded in the corner of his room in a plastic bin.

“I did one, but it was shit, so it’s in the trash—”

“What was it?”

“Uh, that’s not important.”

“...Okay.” He says it softly. Lucas is grateful. “Can you show me a drawing? Or like a sketch, or…”

Lucas smiles. Jens is clearly out of his element. But he’s trying.

“I might have a picture,” he says, moving the maths homework away. “Most of my sketchbooks are still in boxes.”

“You haven’t unpacked yet?” Jens asks as Lucas scrolls though his camera roll, photos of Utrecht mainly, with a few of homework and screenshots of messages from the guys scattered in there.

“No,” he says simply.

“Why?”

“Eh.” Lucas finds one of a drawing and looks at it, contemplating. It’s a sketch of Noah that he did a little after moving. He’d meant to send it to him, even considered mailing it with a little letter and some Antwerp souvenirs like a post card or something, but he never did. He sends it to Jens. “I don’t really plan on staying here that long, just until this summer.”

“Oh. Oh, woah.”

Lucas beams without wanting to, watching Jens’s head duck as he looks at his phone.

“That’s so good, Lucas.”

“Thank you,” Lucas responds, his voice small. He shifts in his seat on the mattress, fidgeting as Jens looks up at him.

“That’s so good.”

“Who is it?” Jens looks back down, moving his fingers across the screen, and Lucas can tell he’s zooming in on the photo.

“My friend from Utrecht, he’s an artist too.”

“Oh!” Jens looks up again. “Speaking of artists. I have a friend I think you’ll like.”

“You think I’ll like him because he’s an artist?”

Jens drops his phone.

“I think you’ll like him because he’s a cool guy, and you already have something in common.”

“Okay, that’s fair.”

“You wanna meet him?” Jens asks, almost excitedly.

Lucas stares at him, tilting his head.

“Not in person,” Jens says. “Obviously.” He makes a face. “Sometimes we have, like, a group Zoom call with the guys, do you wanna join sometime?”

Lucas pauses, hoping Jens can see the despair in his face.

The guys.

“Uh— Yeah, why not?”

Jens beams.

It makes the screen glow brighter.

#hes in looooooove #:')#remember to drink water yall #and eat something #and take your meds #stretch your wrists and neck #i love you #<3 #wtfock #skam nl #wtfock fic #skam nl fic #jens stoffels #lucas van der heijden #vds #van der stoffels #while the world ends around us

11 notes · View notes

snkpolls · 4 years ago

Text

SnK Chapter 135 Poll Results

This month’s poll closed with 2,264 entries. The poll results were compiled by momtaku, /u/_Puppet_, /u/berthototototo, u/staraves

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,980 responses

Volume 34 started off on a high note with “Battle of Heaven and Earth” being our 7th highest rated chapter with an average of 4.61.

Easily the best action based chapter post timeskip

Very action dominated chapter this time. Just pure adrenaline, not many answers. Not complaining though, great chapter!

Best chapter since 122, hype levels were great, pacing was great, just overall great really.

What I loved about this chapter is that this was the first time I REALLY felt the suspense, the kind of suspense where it looks our heroes can not win the fight and all hope is lost. It was a very similar feeling I experienced in the first chapters of Attack on Titan where the fight against Pure Titans always felt like the enemy had the upper hand and our heroes were fighting a losing battle that they could only fight to mitigate the losses as low as possible

A chapter will less talk more fight. It's been a while.

I loved this chapter immensely. For months, this was the first I could finally rate the highest.

We are near the end, oh god, this was a a hell of a journey from 2013 as a manga reader it is for me one of the best manga I have ever read

Everything about this was awesome from bucket girl Ymir to all the previous titan shifters to bird Falco. There was so much I had to wrap my head around, so I’m going to have to read this a couple more times.

So many mysteries I just don’t want it to be rushes uwu and for us to only be getting a chapter per MONTH can you throw us some bones PLEASE

I’m rethinking everything I thought I knew about the manga

We're hanging on a razor's edge between masterpiece and ruin. Whatever happens, please let it be well executed. . .

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE OVERALL MOMENT?

2,001 responses

This chapter was filled with lore, action and great individual character moments but seeing the fantastical forms of titans past brought into the fight was our favorite moment with 31.4% of the total. “Mikasa carrying the whole damn team” was second with 24.7%. The arrival of the flying titan (10.6%), the vision of Bertholt Hoover (10%) and Pieck rushing forward with the bombs (6.9%) round out the top five.

One of my all-time favourites probably, I absolutely loved all the character interactions as well as the amazing new titan designs.

Bert back! Bert back! Bert back!!! <333333

I really did like it, all those previous titans forms are interesting and see that the manga is very soon to end, I can't wait to know the end.

The chapter hasn't changed anything fundamentally but was exited to see OG Ymir

A demonstration of the despair and hopelessness of fighting Ymir

Bird!!! Falco!!! And!!! Ghost!!! Bertholdt!!! YES! YES! YES!

Really liked Jean and Reiners moments this chapter,

Bringing back old titans was really badass and intimidating.

Tentacle porn. That is all.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE COMRADE-RELATED MOMENT? 1,969 responses

With a battle involving Alliance teamwork and some visits from old friends, this chapter had many moments between current and former comrades. The wholesome scene between Jean and Reiner packed with an Armored Titan joke garnered the majority of votes (50.2%), with others favoring Armin’s vision of Bertolt (15.9%), and Annie’s reunion at the end of the chapter (14.1%).

jean saving reiner really moved me i really love these characters and after seeing them fighting it was nice seeing one saving the other. i mean jean had a really good reason to hate reiner and he previously said that he would never forgive him but he did and it was nice

Loved that scene between Jean and Reiner. Jean came a long way since his selfish oppotunistic days: Not letting Reiner fall, even though he really hated him. Actually willing to die. Great character development.

I'm curious to see, what effect this might have on Reiner: I mean he was being called a member of the survey corps again and therefore he was kind of being ""forgiven"".

Jean-Reiner-Bromance!

Connie x Levi canon

Ngl, I felt a great satisfaction as ghost Bertolt looked down on Armin who was suffocating from that giant tongue lmao

at this point I think that the ackertalk is sadly never happening. A missed opportunity.

WHO WAS THIS CHAPTER’S MVP? 1,973 responses

It’s Mikasa nation domination with 52.4% of the vote. There were a lot of great character moments but it’s hard to beat the one who stopped the manga ending prematurely! There was also appreciation for Ymir (12.8%) who brought in some interesting Titan designs and a great fight. 11.8% gave the nod to Falco for swooping in for the last minute save. 6.3% were hyped for Pieck’s no-nonsense charge, and 4.1% liked seeing Levi push himself in battle despite needing another couple of months in bed.

Levi has been severely injured for not even a week, yet he held his own and saved Connie AND Jean. I don't ever want to hear any whiny criticisms about this man ever again.

If Pieck dies we riot

Jean is best

Love Mikasa sm

MIKASA SUPREMACYYY GO BEST GIRL

Loved Reiner and Jean moment as well as Mikasa’s bad assery!

Mikasa was amazing this chapter

Pieck, the only one to make a move against Eren directly while the rest are too much up in their feelings. Best girl moment right there <3

Mikasa was so badass!! Love to see it

Mikasa was the BOMB in this chapter, loved that winged panel of hers.

My God I loved it, Mikasa was so badass, especially in that speech scene with her wings, Falco is best boy, I loved the interactions and everyone saving each other

THE CHAPTER IS TITLED “BATTLE OF HEAVEN AND EARTH”, WHAT DOES THIS REFER TO? 1,942 responses

The most popular interpretation of the title “Battle of Heaven and Earth” seems to be designating Ymir as the Heaven, and the Alliance as the Earth (42.6%), with the reverse of that being the second most popular (27.8%). In third came the idea that it relates to Ymir using the titans of deceased Eldians (20.9%).

A battle that people might die in (Heaven) or survive (Earth)

A battle which has consequences for both Heaven (Paths) and Earth (The World)

The alliance fighting in the heavens while the colossal titans destroy the earth.

It is a reference to Ragnarok.

multiple viable interpretations. the ascended vs descended, the heavenly winged mikasa vs the now devil of all earth ymir, the winged titan against the earthly titans.

Probably a weird take, but it reminds me 131. Eren being in the Heaven as his coping mechanism and Ymir being on the ground (earth)

I’m not sure but it’s in reference to the 4th chapter titled First Battle. Just like last chapter referenced the 5th chapter.

Heaven: Paradis. Earth: beyond the sea.

all of the above- YOU GET SYMBOLIC METAPHORS, AND YOU GET SYMBOLIC METAPHORS

because the battles are in the sky while on earth the colosus step down on earth

***ohhh heaven is a place on earth***

WE’D PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT YMIR WAS UNJUSTIFIABLY FRAMED BY HER PEERS. DOES LEARNING THAT SHE FREED THE PIGS AFFECT HOW YOU VIEW HER? 1,952 responses

Ymir apparently freeing the pigs was an unexpected opening for the chapter. For 34.4% this action meant that Ymir has always been #TeamFreedom. A sizable 18.8% think this relatively minor reveal makes her way more suspicious. Closely following that, 18% think it means nothing at all. It’s just a cool detail that resolved a mystery.

It's trying to say that since Ymir freed the pigs, she created this whole mess which I heavily dislike since it goes against what her character was in 122

When back in 122 everyone was foaming about tHe FuCkInG pIgS, I was rolling my eyes so hard, because to me the pigs were insignificant: it does not matter who set them free, they might have just run away on their own, what matters is that Ymir is the one they blame, which started the whole story. NOW, huh, the pigs might be important, or at least it really might have been Ymir who let them go, set them free. She couldn't get free herself, so she granted freedom to the poor animals.

I always just assumed Ymir set the pigs free, I didn't realize it was something people saw as ambiguous until now…

I wasn't expecting any of that sh*t, and now I'm certain that Ymir is the real baddie here

Peppa Pig is free

WHAT IS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN YMIR FREEING THE PIGS AND LOOKING DOWN AT THE ALLIANCE? 1,835 responses

The chapter opens with Ymir after freeing the pigs from the pen, but what does this mean? It’s close, but the most popular option is that Ymir is recalling that the last time she prioritised the idea of freedom the suffering was not worth it (29.9%), followed by the assertion there’s no deeper meaning (22.3%). A close third place of votes believe the connection is that Ymir has given up acts of selflessness as she doubles down on the rumbling (21.8%) and an even closer fourth place see it as her looking down on the Alliance as if they were the caged animals (21.4%).

Did she free the pigs out of compassion, or to spite her master? Is the rumbling everything to put the pigs back in the pen, or to get revenge on those who scorned Eldians?

How it started versus where it's ended up. All this torment and death because of something so minuscule because of human cruelty towards each other.

It seems like a parallel between Ymir freeing the pigs and Ymir freeing the past titans.

It shows she's an actor with agency and motivations, whether in her slave-like state or her god-like position

It was her first act of free will, and her routing the scouts it technically her third, so in a way they are parallel actions.

She looks at humans like pigs

She wants freedom, and the only way to obtain it is to kill the alliance

She's still in a cage, represented by the bones of Eren

She has been stewing in everything she has gone through for 2000 years and that might've turned her hateful.

it is possible that after looking at humanity for hundreds of years that she believes that it is not human's nature to be compassionate like her, but to fight each other until no one remains, and she has decided to speed up to what she feels is the inevitable conclusion so that her ghost can be gone for good.

WHY IS YMIR THE ONE ACTIVELY FIGHTING BACK AGAINST THE ALLIANCE? 1,919 responses

Armin notes that Ymir seems to be the one in control of the titans, why is this? The large majority at 54.5% believe her to be working side by side with Eren. About ¼, at 24.8% think she’s stepping in for Eren while she’s unconscious, while the minority at 20.7% think she’s overpowered Eren and is the real big bad of the story.

If she really wants the whole humanity to perish, then it means she lost all hope in humanity and is like an empty shell who has never experienced any drop of love. I feel that Ymir doesn't really care about protecting or helping Eren. She just wants to see an empty world - without humans.

The chapter was really well drawn. Also I see lots of new possibilities to happen, as Eren being a slave, Ymir perhaps becoming the final villain. it also makes to recall back to chapter 1 when I see Eren crying in front of Mikasa after some sort of "dream". This makes me think that Eren will eventually come to regret his actions but it's gonna be too late. thus he receives this dream but he is never able to see it through. Quite a sad fate. Although that's just a speculation on my part.

Armin questioning Ymir's role has me hoping for an Armin talk no jutsu with Ymir.

Eren and Ymir are unbeatable

Ymir/Eren are the only ones who can build titans right now. They baited Falco and Annie to return to get all of the 9 shifters near the founder again and they are planning something.

It warmed my heart seeing Ymir protecting her otosan as a thank you for bringing her with him on Take Your Daughters to Work Day 🥺

WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO ARMIN BEING FRENCHED BY A TITAN? 1,957 responses

In one of the weirdest moments in recent memory, Armin gets french kissed by a titan of the past. 42% of fans think it makes sense, as it was the only way to stop him from biting himself to transform. 36.1% feel bad for Armin as he’s gotten molested and now this, he just can’t catch a break. 14.2% are scared to ask if this constitutes fanservice, and 7.8% are too grossed out to think about it any longer.

When I wanted a non-Annie pairing for Armin, I wasn't expecting this. Stop harrassing my poor boy.

the chapter has already spawned Armin tentacle hentai and that makes it the best chapter in the whole manga

Armin capture thing was a little weird but makes sense IMO.

I know Armin being captured in that way has a narrative purpose, but that was disturbing in the end and i hate people will/ and are joking about it.

It didn't cross my mind that the frenching was to prevent Armin from transforming until I saw the vote option. Thank you.

WILL THE CANNONS AT FORT SALTA DO BETTER OR WORSE THAN THE BLIMPS? 1,920 responses

Fort Salta’s own forces don’t seem very effective as of yet, with the blimps almost completely failing, and now they turn to three cannons. Not a single respondent thinks they’ll do anything (Not that we gave them the option), though more think they’ll do nothing in red.

Them cannons, it will be effective.

They’ll get hit by the fort’s cannons but they probably won’t be very effective

KARINA SAW THE ARMORED TITAN GET CHOMPED IN FRONT OF HER VERY EYES. HOW WILL THIS AFFECT HER? 1,924 responses

Even though the Plot-Armored Titan escaped death yet again, all Karina saw was her son’s flesh mecha being chomped from afar. 37.3% are finding it hard to care about Karina’s struggle, but of the ones who did have an answer, 31.2% think the purpose of the death fake-out is so she can better appreciate when Reiner is alive and well later. Just under a fifth at 19.3% think she’ll do something rash while thinking her son is dead, unsurprisingly more than the 12.2% who think Karina would do something nice for once.

fuck karina

reiner always manages to escape death

JEAN POINTS OUT THAT THE SPAWNING TITANS ARE NOT MINDLESS. WHAT IS THEIR TRUE NATURE? 1,933 responses

It was a close one, but a plurality of respondents (38.1%) thought that the shifters brought forth by Ymir were the real deal, their souls controlled in death. Or their spirits? Their essences? Their… PATHS GHOSTS? Slightly fewer respondents (36.8%) think they’re just empty clones, Ymir simply not bothering with creating new forms since that would probably take a fuckton more years. 23.7% are somewhere between the two other options – maybe these shifters aren’t really present, but some of their will remains.

The fact that Armin saw Bertolt tells me that a part of the titan's "souls" still exist within them and they're being forced to do Ymir's bidding

The founding titan powers give her complete control over sentient shifters, and the attack titan powers (utilized by the founding titan) lets Ymir reach back in time and utilize the shifter's "essence" (maybe they all had a weird dream they don't remember), and obviously the warhammer titan is what allows them to take form. Beast titan go brrrrr

I have a small theory about souls of past shifters being imprisoned in some paths area or insubconscious mind of current titan shifters.

I’m conflicted between the two first answers but I hope there empty clones

At first, I thought it would be like Zeke's titans in Ragako (the anime showed their weird coordinated dance). But looking at Bertholdt, it seems they're not acting on free will but are still a bit conscious.

If you chomp one, do you get its power?

They are empty vessel's resurrected the only reason Armin saw Bertolt was becuase armin was the holder of the collosal titan! In my opinion of course

They are ghost/ spirits of the past shifter, which have a limited consciousness like zombies

They are moving according to the old users skills, like a saved “data”

They are the ones who volunteered to be in the walls when the Eldians escaped to Paradis. They sympathise with Eren and are fighting for him.

They are the real shifters working with Ymir

We see Bert crying right before we see his titan try to eat Reiner ��— maybe he’s being forces by Ymir.

The souls of the previous titan holders can see what is happening though paths but they don't have control over it

Ymir created them via the shifters' own memories respectively. The Beetholdt panel might show hesitation of wanting to grab Reiner for example and emphasizes on the theme of Slavery. How to achieve freedom you must steal freedom (Erwn said he stole the world's freedom to achieve his own) or enslave/oppress someone or a group.

Ymir created them while eren is using them

souls being completely controlled but can be revoked original consciousness back,cringe naruto shit.

Through PATHS all is possible

ISAYAMA WENT ALL OUT WITH TITAN DESIGNS. WHICH ANCIENT TITANS DID YOU MOST ENJOY SEEING? 1,926 responses

The most popular design in Isayama’s titan showcase by a decent margin was the “Faceless Titan” (45.8%), with “The Thing Titan” coming in second (34.4%). In third was the “Minotaur Titan” (32.4%) and narrowly in fourth, the “Mummified Titan” (31.3%). Interestingly, 2/4 of the top designs appear to be previous Warhammer Titans, which is fitting with it being one of the most popular titan designs. Well, except for the one we saw in Ymir’s backstory that had hair. We all agreed that thing was atrocious.

I loved the previous titan shifters.

croco titan best boi

There's a lot of titans missing, so I'll say here that I love the dinosaur titan, the bearded titan and the ghost-like titan as well.

that 'wolverine' titan is actually a deer. It kind of blends in with Reiner's armor but you can see the antlers if you look closely.

always wanted to see ancient titan designs since learning about the inheritance and such, so this is a dream come true for a fanartist

Previously, it was left to our imagination what all these past Titan Shifters looked like, but thanks to this chapter (through the power of PATHS!), we got to see many of them for ourselves. A nice treat from Isayama, but also a mind-blowing one, especially with how they intervened in the fight.

Seeing all these past Titan Shifters appear like that was so interesting to me that it made me analyze each one and try to identify which was an old Jaw Titan, an old Beast Titan, an old Cart Titan, an old Warhammer Titan, and so on, so this chapter also felt like a fun guessing game in that regard!

Adding animals to the mix just feels like a try hard to make them scary. If he wanted them to have some real crazy powers it could've been done better imo, having these many animals just thrown around didn't make sense to me, we already got the beast titan and that bird titan. It's enough animals for me, especially since initially what made titans so scary in the first place was how identical they are to humans, only differing in their mounstrous size.

I never liked the idea of animal titans, it just feels so weird and out of place with no explanation for why or how they are animal-like. That being said, some of the other titan designs were pretty rad.

Show us Kruger's titan though

WHICH RETURNING TITAN DID YOU MOST ENJOY SEEING? 1,925 responses

In a chapter filled with new titans of the past we also saw some classic designs. By far the most hype-inducing one among fans was the Colossal Titan at 66.6%, followed by the War Hammer at 19.6%, Porco’s Jaw at 12.2%, and Marcel’s Jaw at 1.5%.

I loved how the one, true and only OG Colossal Titan of Bertholdt descended upon them like a fucking God

since there was no ""Other"" option in the ""favourite moment"" question, I'll say it here: Marcel's titan was my favourite moment.

Last chapter I was wondering if there'll be "another Beast Titan clone". We end up getting the entire museum lmao

The Colossal Titan, the God of the SnK world, appeared as the judge (while aldo not being himself, ironically) seriously, it was amazing

The Colossal Titan's entrance was like sweet karma, after how the SC murdered Bertold brutally and never cared one bit, they still couldn't get rid of him. SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKERS kekekek

THERE’S BEEN SOME DEBATE BUT IT SEEMS FRECKLED YMIR WASN’T THERE. IS THIS SIGNIFICANT? 1,900 responses

Ah, the innocent days of our freckled goddess… she may have turned out to be a regular girl, but where was she when our other old friends were running around? There were a couple of Titans who looked a bit like her, but none with both her little gremlin body and her distinctive nose and teeth. Does it matter? 63.8% of you don’t think there’s anything to it. Maybe she’ll be in the next chapter, or maybe Yams forgot her… maybe she’s chilling with Grisha and Kruger. 36.2% think there could be something more to her absence so far.

i hope freckled ymir came back ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ

I think it's highkey sus that we didn't see freckled Ymir's titan and that really gives me hope that Historia really will have an important part in the finale since it feels like Yams is saving freckled Ymir for a Historia moment

about freckles... i think her titan was the one that was gonna try and eat reiner/jean. dark hair, thin arms, small facial features.

I feel like her foreground omission isn't a big deal, since we're already two Jaws in, both of whom have more impactful connections to those present.

I want freckled Ymir back

ymir freckles did make an appearance, wasn’t she the titan attacking reiner as he was holding onto jean that mikasa slashed?

I believe Freckeld Ymir's Jaw Titan is shown when Bertholdt's Colossal Titan attempts to eat Reiner. It's very small though so it's hardly noticeable and I can't even confirm that it was indeed her Titan but it seemed like it.

YOU GAVE ME HOPE ABOUT FRECKLED YMIR DAMN YOU and thank you

SINCE ALL THE TITAN OTHER SHIFTERS SUMMONED THIS CHAPTER WERE DECEASED, DOES THIS MEAN ZEKE IS DEAD? 1,953 responses

Ymir summoned titans of the past according to Pieck, does that mean Zeke is of the past now too? The fandom is overall undecided on this one, as about half don’t know, at 48.5%. 32.7% are confident Zeke is still around, and 18.8% take this as confirmation of his death.

Zeke may not be dead, because the beast titan summoned last chapter could be Xavier's beast titan too. Because in one earlier Marley arc chapter, someone mentioned that "The beast titan is the same as ever". Meaning, Xavier's beast titan was also monke.

IF Zeke is alive, it means that Pieck is once again somehow "faking" her defeat and goes for the detonator but then she somehow runs into Zeke. They have a lot of history and too much stuff unresolved between them and because of eren/armin and zeke/pieck dynamics is that those 2 stayed on the founding titan..

I think Zeke and Bertolt are both stuck in paths, unable to properly die. I hope Zeke is just shackled making titans like we saw him in 120. That would be poetic, for the one who hates his Eldian blood so much to be forced to enact the one thing that made him hate himself (the existence of titans).

I just realized that in the last chapter I thought Zeke was there but it was the shot of the Marleyan general saying ""I am sorry""... I was writing about how Zeke cannot be dead, what are you all talking about, he is right there, then went and checked 134. Now I'm just sitting here with no answers at all. Zeke could be anywhere, alive or dead, no clue...

CHEKHOV’S EXPLOSIVES CONTINUE, AND THIS CHAPTER PIECK ENSURED THEY WERE RIGHT NEXT TO EREN. WHO WILL DETONATE THEM? WILL THEY BE EFFECTIVE? 1,121 responses

We asked what you think would come of the explosives that have been built up for eight chapters now, and collated your responses. First, who will detonate them?

Pieck: 182

Mikasa: 140

Armin: 134

Reiner: 99

Gabi: 81

Levi: 71

Connie: 38

Jean: 29

Annie: 23

Falco: 14

Eren: 6

Ymir: 2

Zeke/Onyankopon/Bertholdt: 1

There were also 7 mentions of the cannons that the Marleyans got ready to use this chapter actually coming in handy, and setting off the explosives. It’s also noteworthy that Pieck is thought of more than any other character to be likely to sacrifice her life to get it done. Additionally, many people who put forth Armin detonating them suggested this occurs through his titan transformation igniting them, not just him using the detonator.

In terms of success, 255 said that the explosives would either do nothing or overall be ineffective, with the most commonly given reason being that Eren is not in the nape. 250 said that the explosives will be helpful one way or another, including 7 who said they would end Eren’s life (Most of these involved Mikasa as the detonator). 9 people specified that they hope the bombs don’t do anything, 25 said nobody will detonate them at all, and 2 said it will be effective but will make things worse.

They will play an important role in the Climax, one way or another

warhammer can just throw the explosive after it deals with pieck

His neck is covered with more bones and the blimps didn't hurt them, but the explosives are as close as possible, so I think maybe they could work.

100% those explosives will be used in one way or an other, but i have a feeling that eren is not even there ;)

Annie will likely be able to get close to Pieck, as her titan is very agile and will activate the explosives that will be able to get Eren out of her giant's head

Could be anyone. The way they're set up, they must have some effect.

Could be Jean or Connie and maybe the rumbling will be paused or the Eren's skeleton will collapse as the story continues..

Connie and he will die doing so, doing few damage but someone will be like "hey he gave us a weakness we can exploit"

if they are effective, mikasa but if they arent it will be connie or jean

Doesn’t matter who detonates them it won’t be effective

Eren better pull a Reiner and transfer his consciousness. Isayama introduced that shit on purpose. Peick probably playing dead and will try to detonate to no avail.

Gabi is going to detonate them and save Pieck too. The explosion might help in the fight, but I doubt Eren is in the neck, my bet its Zeke who is in there.

Eren, once all the shifters are dead he will detonate it killing himself and ensuring all titans are reborn in Historias baby, truly freeing ymir and ending the curse of the titans.

Fort Salta Cannons will detonate them. They wont be effective because Eren is hiding in Paradis with the Warhammer Titan power (or he can transfer his consciousness to the rest of his spine in case he really is there).

Levi will detonate them to kill Zeke who is actually the one in the nape

Levi will give up on his dream of killing Zeke and die sacrificing himself to detonate it

Pieck will sacrifice herself to detonate the fuse and when she does she will fall to her doom. She will be content in knowing that it will work. She lits it up and falls at the same time. When shes falling she feels a great sense of acceptance, but all of a sudden Falco swoops in to save her with everyone on his back. As they watch it blow up the body keeps moving for eren was not there to begin with.

I think Ymir will use them against the alliance

Oyankopon drops a flying knee into the plunger in an act of self-sacrifice.

titanfolk: Kaboom?

Isayama: Yes titanfolk, kaboom.

WHY IS ARMIN HAVING THE VISION OF BERTOLT? 1,928 responses

In one of the more confusing panels of this crazy chapter, we see Bertolt standing over Armin. 39.6% believe it to be a fragment of Berthold brought back through the Colossal Ymir summoned, 25.5% think Bertoto has awareness in an afterlife, 25.1% think Armin is having a memory from his predecessor Burrito, and 7.3% think Ymir is just messing with Armin.

Grabbing Armin allowed Ymir to access Bertolt's titan, similar to how they have Zeke captive for his Beast titan

It's some kind of twist that's coming related to the whole predecessor memory stuff.

Some kind of PTSD vision brought on by being put in a Titans mouth

Since this was an ongoing issue how Armin didn't seem to have access to Berth's memories, he'll probably will see some of them soon. And especially the one, where Eren says to Levi that Armin will save humanity, not him. That will give him the last push to do whatever.

The scene with Bertholdt was a direct recall of when Armin woke up after eating him, and seeing him crying in the form of the Colossal Titan's skull and saying "it hurts" in chapter 85. My poor boy :( He was probably suffering from eternal torment in an afterlife/paths related place. Shifters' Hell would be a good word, as Ymir Fritz kinda had the same experience being enslaved for eternity

Him seeing Bertolt for the second time makes me think these two are going to switch places at some point. That being said it's not the end-end for Armin, and Eren is definitely reserving him a seat in whatever path underground there is.

I thought Armin was feeling the despair/hopelessness that Bertolt did while the warriors were undercover in Paradis. The paralyzing dread of the task before him, even though he is the "strongest titan"

Bertolt's individual "soul" still exists as a singular entity, that lives within Paths. Armin as his inheritor has a soul-link to him, can see him, recall his memories and even feel some of his feelings. However his presence here will serve for Armin to make some kind of realisation that will help conclude the battle.

YOUR THOUGHTS ON MIKASA IN THIS CHAPTER? 1,942 responses

We knew Mikasa would likely be chapter MVP but we wanted to give her an extra shoutout for a great chapter. Only 9.1% percent refused to play along. A majority of nearly 60% agreed with all our gushing about her performance, selecting all of the above. Of the individual entries, “Bless those ackergenes” (10.2%), “They were goners without her” (8.8%) and “She was unbelievable” (7.9%) were top selections.

Isayama in November said mikasa character is coming and this chapter felt like the start of it and hoo was this Mikasa's chapter. We have known that Mikasa is one of three main MCs, and isayama had been foreshadowing Mikasa's role in the finale so much. I'm excited to read the final 3 chapters.

goat mikasaaaa

HEAD EMPTY JUST MIKASA SUPREMACy

I LOVE MIKASA

Loving all the Mikasa scenes. It’s about damn time,

Mikasa going "Fuck it. Fight me. All of you, I don't care if you're shifter clones, I'll kick your ass." was a great bit of dark humour and a really well done character beat. If she has to go down she'll go down fighting with pride.

THIS CHAPTER MIKASA FOUGHT TO THE END AFTER LEVI DELEGATED THE ATTACKING ROLE TO HER, A REVERSAL FROM FEMALE TITAN ARC. IS MIKASA HUMANITY'S NEW STRONGEST SOLDIER? 1,940 responses

Levi has always been humanity’s strongest soldier, but this chapter had Mikasa being the only one fighting till the end. This being temporary due to Levi’s worn down body is the consensus, with 49.3% affirming its brief nature while 34.3% venture that Mikasa will one day take on this mantle permanently.13.8% believe she has surpassed even what a healed Levi would be capable of, and 2.7% do not think she’s surpassed him in any way.

I’m glad to see a lot more female empowerment with Mikasa being a major hit in this chapter. I got very worried with the amount of saving Levi had to go through and avoiding near deaths at some points.

Let the Humanity’s Strongest go down like a badass he’s always been, stop making him this pitiful please

LEVI NEEDS IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION HE MIGHT BE HAVING INTERNAL BLEEDING FROM THAT EXPLOSION AND HIS LEG BEING BITTEN MAKES IT EVEN WORSE FUCK

I BELIEVE IN LEVI'S SUPREMACY

Mikasa Ackerman supremacy

that wings really said mikasa is the most freest person now

I’d love it if isayama would stop crippling Levi. I know its to get him out of the fight but cmon

NOW THAT WE SEE IT IN ACTION, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF FALCO’S BIRD TITAN? 1,944 responses

Most fans are behind this controversial development at this point, with 46.8% loving it, and 29.3% not loving it but feeling that it fits in the chapter. 17.4% have changed their mind from negative to positive after seeing it in this chapter, and 6.5% will always hate this.

Falco's titan is amazing. He saved everyone and it's his second transformation, he is goat.

I liked Falco saving the day :) It doesn't matter to me how he learnt to fly and control his titan so fast. Maybe Zeke helped him via sending visions? Or maybe Falco is talented? I don't know and I think we have more important thing to read about

Falco Being able to fly a few hours after Hange's death makes this chapter less good.

The Flying Titan is questionable but everything else are great

the design of Bird Titan is kinda cringe

Porco must be very proud of his son

KIYOMI AND YELENA ARE NOT ON THE FLYING TITAN, ALONG WITH THE AZUMABITO ENGINEERS. ANY PREDICTIONS? 1,911 responses

After Kiyomi forebodingly accepted the risk of the ship sinking that also contained Yelena and the Azumabito engineers two chapters ago, she has not been seen since despite Falco now arriving. The majority of you (70.2%) believe they’re fine, with the ship surviving Falco’s transformation, while just under a quarter (23.2%) believing both drowned on the sinking ship, and a slim minority (6.6%) believe they are with our main crew on the Flying Titan.

Yelena better be okay

I wonder where is yelena

I just want to learn how the rest of the Azumabito family are doing after Falco transformed into the Titan.

ISAYAMA’S DONE IT AGAIN! WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE THROWBACK THIS CHAPTER? 1,936 responses

Isayama loves himself some throwbacks and this chapter was no exception. Mikasa giving a speech reminiscent of her Trost speech was the most popular option at 32.9%, with Armin dreaming of Bertolt crying similar to his dream of the Colossal Titan was a close second at 28.2%. Rounding out the top three was Falco taking a bird form in parallel with the Fort Slava scene we just saw in the anime.

It was like going back to Trost arc amazing wise... It was really a good one full of quotes from previous memorable moments of the series, while reading it i thought "wow, it really is ending

I think it significantly has to do with his memory of the colossal crying after RtS so perhaps it's a near death state experience of his predecessor for Armin

I'm also interested to see what Armin is going to do next. He seems to think back to Erwin whenever he gets himself into a pickle. I'm excited to see how he will use his titan in this battle.

Based on the parallels with Trost the only bomb that's blowing Eren out of his titan is Armin's Colossal Titan.

DO YOU AGREE WITH ANY OF THESE CRITICISMS ABOUT THE CHAPTER? 1,428 responses

No chapter is free from criticism, so we scoured discord, twitter and reddit looking for the most common complaints. The lack of character deaths seemed to be on many minds. “There was too much plot armor” and “Eren and OG Ymir are too OP” were the two options that got over 30%. Grumblings about the flying titan (26.1%) and Mikasa with a winged background (23.9%) were also common selections. I think what’s most telling is that ⅓ of respondents skipped this question entirely indicating that they had no major complaints at all

Everything was going 10/10 until the flying titan came and saved everyone. Another chapter with 0 deaths this late in the story.

I really love that mikasa with wings so much. It means for me she's the hope of humanity.she's ackerman so ymir can't control her... she will have a big roll at the end!

Being able to recreate old Titans is too OP

not too sold on the whole spawning in Titans and a flying bird that just recently got their power swooping in to save everyone

I'm completely sold on the idea of past shifters being summoned. Some people may say it's quite an asspull, but honestly, I've had a little problem with this series, which is that the Coordinate has been teased as the power of God itself but we've never seen that in action, so I'm satisfied. I'm not a big fan of the flying titan (teasing things is not the same as justifiying things) and the lack of character deaths made me think Hanji could have died this chapter, which would've been more meaningful honestly. Still, I'm very happy to say Isayama has surprised me once again.

WAYYYYYYYYYY TOO MUCH PLOT ARMOR

I know people are getting stomped on right now, but was expecting at least someone to die.

I don't mind the flying titan, but I would've liked just another hint that the beast titan can be any animal. The very first one in Ymir's flashback was an ape, could've been a dinosaur or something!

You never wanted to accept that this series was a shounen manga aimed at little boys, did you?

DOES THIS CHAPTER ADD EVIDENCE TO THE THEORY THAT HANGE’S VISION WAS REAL? 1,929 responses

On the poll team, our first step in preparing results is looking for spam. We identify that primarily by looking at timestamps and bursts of entries that choose to answer only a single question in rapid succession. Typically we see this behavior on shippy questions and those involving Gabi, so it’s been puzzling that in the last year the only questions to get significant spam are those involving Hange’s vision. Clearly someone, or maybe a few someones, are very afraid of ghosts.

With the spam entries removed, the Yes’s outweighed the No’s by 54-46 percent on the question of whether or not this chapter added evidence to the theory that Hange’s vision was real.

The ghosts of Eldians past are definitely going to feature in the endgame I think. The shifters are the most important but Hange's vision makes it clear that they're all "alive" in Paths somehow. Let freckled Ymir talk to Historia once more!!

I hate conscious development

I bet Hanji is screaming in the afterlife, wanting to be on top of Falco's titan

HAS THE FOCUS ON BIRDS IN THE ANIME OP/ED ADDED EVIDENCE THAT THE BIRDS IN PREVIOUS CHAPTERS ARE SIGNIFICANT? 1,913 responses

Bird theory (/birds being significant in some large way) has been gaining traction recently in the manga already, and then the anime made a whole ED theme about them and had them in focus in the OP as well. In one of the most one sided poll results in recent memory, almost 90% of the fandom feels this is evidence of birds being significant, while 10.7% say no.

birb

Birb

bird

Bird

bird

birds

DESCRIBE THE CHAPTER IN ONE WORD 1,330 responses

This month’s top 5 chosen words bear a resemblance to last month’s, specifically with 1-3 being in last month’s and 1 & 3 being in the last two months. “Chaos” is one more on the original side for this chapter.

Amazing [96]

Epic [50]

Awesome [48]

Chaos/Good/Great [27]

Cool [26]

And in a shocking turn of events, this question is being used to concoct recipes again? Well, it’s a bit of a stretch, but it doesn’t sound half bad.

Nuts

Lasagna

Goat

Cheesy

Chicken

Bertholdt

Chomp

Juicy

Exquisite

ISAYAMA RECENTLY ESTIMATED THERE IS 1-2% LEFT OF THE STORY. WHAT CHAPTER DO YOU THINK THE MANGA WILL END AT? 1,941 responses

I don’t know why Isayama does it, but he keeps assuring us the end is near. But we’ve guessed the end is near since… oh, RTS? Then Marley? Then when the Rumbling started? Remember when chapter 130 was the max? Don’t worry, the ride will end someday. 35.5% think chapter 139 will be the last, giving the final volume five chapters. 33% are sticking with 138, the classic four chapter volume. 28.7% think we’re strapped in for a little longer at 140+ chapters. 2.5% think we’re wrapping up in just two chapters. And 6 respondents think the next chapter is the last! Gonna guess you’re either hoping for Falco to crash into a tree or you’re just tired of this ride. (Sorry, the ride never ends.)

I'm worried about the pacing. While I was glad to have a glimpse of Bert (and Erwin) again, his appearance is long overdue. Along with a whole bag of other characters who need resolutions. I don't know how Isayama will delegate worthwhile endings to this huge cast and themes in 3-4 chapters.

Each chapter makes me feel there's 3 chapters left (and there has passed more than 3 chapters since I thought that for the first time xd)

Another amazing chapter. I see the story ending at Chapter 139. Three more chapters of action, deaths and twists, and one more epilogue chapter.

There's apparently not much of the series left but this chapter still doesn't feel like we're that near the end :/

I was expecting a lot of people to die this time around, but I guess that'll happen later considering we seem to have one more volume left after this one. That actually raises my hopes a bit on the ending not being as rushed as we were afraid it would be. And the return of the anime on top of that? Man, I'm not ready to say goodbye. :(

I'm worried if Isayama will be able to end every character arc. I mean, we're left with 1 or 2% of manga and there is this quite a lot of things to end. I just hope ending won't be rushed.

...it just added a lot of questions like Yams has to give us 5 chapters for the last volume at this point lol.

dunno how this ends with everyone being satisfied. Estimating that 3 chapters are left we need a conclusion to Reiner, Mikasa and the promised Eren and Armin confrontation. While there's mysteries like Zeke's whereabouts, what's going on w Historia, why can ymir manifest herself in the real world, what did eren mean by saying "you haven't gotten to the part where I eat our old man", Bertholdt shard of him getting spared by Dina and Mikasa's see you later scene. Not to mention an epilogue where if alliance wins we get to see how the world treats the eldians now. Im already losing faith that minor characters might be just cannon fodder and I find myself saying "Its Isayama. one chapter where it feels nothing happened doesn't meant we're getting a rushed ending" too often these days.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,960 responses

It feels like there’s a lot to accomplish with so few chapters remaining. While Eren’s POV is still top on our wishlist (29%), “I don’t care just resolve a mystery, any of them” was the number two (19%). The third most common response was for Armin to come up with a plan (14%). Historia, Zeke and the more specific options all scored in single digits.

We need answers. NOW.

I liked this chapter but I’m getting tired of the mystery. We’ve been lead on for too long and there’s too many loose ends that need to be tied up already.

can we get eren’s pov now

Yes ! More Bertholdt please !!! I missed my big sweaty boy !

Where’s Freckled Ymir!!????!?!???!! Is Pieck okay!?!?!!!?!!

When will Levi die lol

Where armin

What happened to Armin!?? And does peick survive?

WHERE IS MONKE?!

Where the hell is eren?

I hope I can see Eren again

i hope isayama let levi kill zeke before he died , i want him to reunite with erwin and proudly tell him that he accomplish the mission

I just hope that Pieck and Armin are okay :((

i just want armin to be okay

I just want Eren/Mikasa, not all this shit(((

I just want to see Bertolt in the next chapter too

Wonder what is going on inside Ymir's head. Would also love to see Paradis' reaction to the ongoing massacre (if I didn't miss it somehow)

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,811 responses

While Reddit has historically stayed consistent, it’s been incredible to see the rise of Twitter and the fall of Tumblr as a dominant fandom platform. A year ago only 8% selected Twitter as their primary place for Attack on Titan discussion now that number is nearing 50%. Last month it became the most selected platform, surpassing Reddit, and this month proves it was no fluke.

wish i had irl friends who read the manga oof

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER? 526 responses

🧐

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Hentai

10/10 again !!! Isayama knows what he’s doing and I trust him with the ending❤️

2/10

GOOD chapter, definitely some eclipse vibes lol, Armin seemed to have realized Ymir is the one with the power and that they'll have to deal with her sooner or later to stop the rumbling. Next step is realizing Eren is 100% ready to kill him if he needs to. Maybe they'll stop trying to kill poor Zook for no reason now at least.

I loved seeing the alliance get there asses clapped

I hope Eren Yeager doesn’t love anyone from “Attack on Titan”.

But it's weird, I thought best Ymir was in the chapter too? She owes us so much, even more if SnK's afterlife is canon (Hange couldn't have known of Keith's death otherwise). And technically, Zeke could be dead like the others. First I was so bored by his constant plot armor but now...

The titan designs were got tier. Isayama came in clutch with these designs

There are still a lot of mysteries unsolved about the Titans and Eren's whereabouts is unknown. Would love to know more about the Ackerman blood too.

This poll is biased for not including statements against Mikasa and the Alliance.

If ymir creates the bodies of titan shifters, why did she give falco a bird form if she wants to stop them? Not saying it's a plot hole yet, but I hope there's a reason for it.

The title reminds me of the chinese saying of “天人交戰” which literally translates as battle between the heaven and human but means ones inner struggle. Maybe it is referring to eren’s inner struggle of wanting freedom and having to kill everything standing between him and freedom. Idk.

A lot of people have been trying to make sense why we're learning about Ymir freeing the pigs here of all places, but rather than it being evidence that she's some evil mastermind I think it's a representation of how devastating this cycle of hatred has been. In that first scene we see Ymir as a kind and empathetic girl who decides that though she can't free herself, she can still help these simple animals who she saw earlier also wanted to escape. But in the present, after suffering greatly for her kindness and being forced into servitude that lasted for countless years and even into death, we see Ymir not just as willing to commit a brutal omnicide on the rest of the world but as someone who is seemingly enslaving others in the pursuit of that goal - in many ways, she might be repeating the same crimes that were done to her by King Fritz.

After seeing the first episode of the new anime season and how well Mappa delivered on that, I cannot *wait* to see the crazy battle action of this chapter animated.

Armin, as expected, ended up a failure yet again. This is what Bertholdt, Erwin and Hange died for -_-

GIVE 👏 ARMIN 👏 A 👏GODDAMN 👏 BREAK

Armin is beginning to understand this always was about Ymir. After seeing her twice.

I really wish Armin could do something besides being tortured with doubt and getting captured.

BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK

can levi die already let this old man reunite with his homies in shingeki no heaven. at this point death is like the only peace and/or freedom anyone can get in this series which is kind of a shitty message

I'm a fan of how fucking OP Eren and Ancestor Ymir, which is honestly how it should be. I never expected The Alliance to stand a chance, and they all got fucking wrecked. I'm completely surprised nobody died, I feel like that'll be changed next chapter, though; unfortunately. My main question is: What the fuck do The Alliance plan to do next without Armin and Pieck? Also, seeing the past shifters was fucking amazing and I didn't expect that shit.

Decent chapter. I gave it a 3/5, because it was a purely action, set-up chapter with not so great action scenes, at least compared to other great fight scenes in the series. Still, we got quite a few nice panels and interesting powers, so i will be looking foreard to the payoff.

eren better be in the next chapter idc 🙄‼️

Eren is trying to kill his friends, Ymir is not controling him, he is FREE. Accept it already.

FALCO WILL EAT EREN LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I need this tension between mikasa and Eren resolved in the following chapters....these two are the only characters regarding whom I'm totally not sure what tf will end up happening to them.

Hange would've loved to see all the different types of titans from bygone times. I wish they were still alive, I miss them.

I can't believe that best boy Bertholdt Hoover, the one true God of Destruction, is back, and as usual, the first thing Isayama does is make him cry. Absolutely incredible. This is all I'll think of this month.

I think the Ymir revelation was huge but other than that it was an anxiety-inducing rollercoaster of will they, won't they (die). Nothing much happened. I feel antsy

I think there is a possibility that eren and ymir brought back the shifters because they agree (mostly) with the rumbling and bert is crying because he knows what he has to do to ensure it

I wonder if Ymir regrets setting those pigs free. It was the act that set her life into further misery. I think it's beautiful but tragic how Eren really gave her back the will to fight.

I'm blown away

I'm honestly shocked at how incredible this story has become. Much like Bertholt I feel like I'm fine with whatever happens, because this whole journey and the world are incredibly cruel. And that does not make it bad by any means, it makes it more meaningful.

I'm not a huge fan of the fight scenes so I'd just like to see a satisfying climax and conclusion to the fight soon. Looking forward to Levi killing Zeke and all the reunions.

I'm really optimistic about Bertholdt possibly coming back, oh gods I hope he comes back.

I'm scared because this chapter didn't progress a lot of the story and we only have 3 or maybe 4 chapters left.

Isayama really got to flex his ability to design terrifying monstrous titans again.

It was an interesting chapter. It really works well if you think about it. Regular humans who are humanity's last hope, the strongest soldiers left are against two literal gods. Of course it will not be easy at all, Ymir summoning all those titans and everyone nearly dying multiple times is proof that you cannot defeat such gods that easily. Very excited for the next chapter to see how everything else plays out.

Maybe Anni can use her female titan powers and attract all of the former titan shifters - so that Mikasa detonates the Bombs.

Mikasa deserves a fuckn BREAK. like God she saw her family get butchered TWICE, first by humans, then by titans and now fckn Eren took away the one family she was desperately trying to protect. If anyone should've gone crazy like Eren it's mikasa. She does seem to be at her wit's end and ready to go above and beyond after saving everyone in this chapter and seeing the harm Ymir/Eren is causing. But since she's always done what she believed in, no matter what she does, I just want Mikasa's character to get some sort of happiness by the end of it. Is that too much to ask :/

Nobody said “The Eagles are coming” bad chapter 0/10. I’m kidding. But in all seriousness I really just want to see the ending already. I’m going to imagine it ends with the remnants of humanity rebuilding and promising to never be turbo-racist ever again while a tired Historia looks on with her baby saying “You are free” or something.

PIECK DONT DIE I LOVE YOU!!!!!

PIECK GREATNESS NEXT EPISODE

Reibert pandering for this chapter. It was a tad too fast but I love the focus on Reiner reacting to the CT attacking him. reiner could ALMOST die of the gayest way possible had Jean not butted in.

Screamed when Annie came on

Sets up for a super exciting finale

spare eren POV crumbs? dunno what this man been thinking since chapter 86

stanning bertholdt hoover isn't just a hobby, it's a lifestyle, a reason to breathe, he's also an art, the first gift you open on xmas, a hug from a loved one, he is everything I have ever wanted, and everything I needed.

hOLY FUCKING SH—

I cant see when or how it'll end

I did NOT expect Armin to get tongue porn'd. It's hilarious to imagine Annie seeing that HAHAHAHAHA

I really miss eren so much...AoT without him...it's long time we didn't see him pls isayama):

I rlly don’t see Ymir the same way and I hope it won’t affect the way I see Eren

I still miss Hange :(

I think Bertholdt was crying because his Titan was forced to attack and eat Reiner, against his own will

I think Connie will be the one to help Levi take down Zeke. Levi will live!!!

I thought it was very good. Not peak AOT but great! There was to many saves before death , reminded me of bleach. Seeing the old Titans was really cool and the action was great also.

I want armin and annie flashback in next chapter

i want EMA meet again):

I want Mikasa to choke Eren with the scarf

I want monke boi back :(

I want more Eren

I want more!!!!!!!

I wanted see Historia

I was really excited to hear we were getting more bertholdt

I was vey hyped because of this chapter and it delivered. During all the chapter i was like "someone's gonna die someone's gonna die" and when Berthold's titan appears and eats reiner's titan I screamed, but that son of a bitch is inmortal hahah.

idc idc come back to save pieck and armin please

It gives the idea of how powerful that titan god is, i think it lives up to Rod's description of titam god and how powerful it felt during Ymir's backstory (her form)

It got really hype when all the past shifters came over but Pieck’s bomb failing could be seen a mile away. Over amazing with some nice moments.

it is really, life and death situation. still, looking forward to this especially the ending. how will aot end? surely, it will be a legacy. a great masterpiece made by isayama-sensei.

it maintains a nice pace

It sucks. Manga went downhill since chap 105. The shit needs to end.

It was a classic high tension action chapter which I loved

IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯

It was amazing and full of a lot of lore!

It was amazing! I'd say this could be one of the best chapters written! So much action went on to the point where I hope MAPPA has a decent sized budget to animate it all. I'm really eager to see what the next chapter has in store. The main thing I'm looking forward to that wasn't listed here is basically what will happen to Levi. Is he going to survive through all this, or is he going to succumb to his wounds? Is he going to pair up with Zeke to take down Eren? Or is he going to stay on the "sidelines" untill the war is over?

It was fun, but somewhat inconsequential aside from Falco

It was good, i just need some answeres. Ymirs ability was so sudden.

It was great to finally see previous titan shifter forms, especially the beast titans.

It was just overall so epic

It was really great in terms of action but disappointing as well since there was too much plot armour - I was expecting at least one death.

it was really nice before the episode, it's all getting so intense and i didn't expect ymir to go in with a bang like this

It was really nice, all the symbolism, along with Mikasa with the wings was amazing.

it was super crazy

It'll probably be more enjoyable in the anime (if MAPPA even tackles this). Straight battles have never been this manga's strong suit.

Jean, dare to die and I won't love you anymore >:'(

Its up to ho wmany chapters we have left, if we have like 10 it was a very good one, if we have smt like 3 ( that i dont think so ) it was waste of time

Levi is almost certainly dead/dying

Levi might be a ‘slave’ to being a hero but he’s a victim of his own popularity which is preventing Isayama from killing him off. We know he’s not gonna fulfill his promise to Erwin because Levi never gets what he really wants, surprise surprise. But if he keeps getting injured and left out of action he’ll live the rest of his life with nothing but regrets.

levi please don't die

LEVI PLEASE SURVIVE :(

levi u ok buddy

Levi's leg is not daijobu,,, is he even alive

Lol who TF cares about Bert? He killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Eldians alongside Reiner and Annie. I still say he deserved what he got and is not worthy of any kind of sympathy, no matter how many angsty teardrops Isayama draws on his stupid face.

looking forward to seeing it animated.

Lots of weirdness, but still great

man the titan battles were great, seeing all the previous titans fight was pretty awesome seeing the hopelessness form the alliance really showed the reality of it all, now they lost 2 additional titans leaving Eren with 6 and the alliance down to 3

MAPPA gon be hurting

not enough lesbians

Not for the chapter but, All the openings and endings(lyrics and images) of the series have some details of the things we are experiencing with the latest chapters

That being said that Annie scene was pretty cringe. I expected that, but it was so cliché it's ridiculous.

ONLY BERT & PIECK HAVE RIGHTS

overall good! it was alot to process but im on board and excited for the next one

Pls end it Mikasa, you can do it.

Plz yams don't give me hope like this

Professor X vs. Magneto soon

really crazy. You have to admit that Isayama doesn't stop when it comes to creativity.

Really curious about Bertolt apparition

Pretty good. As much as I want the Alliance to win in the end, their utter defeat this chapter felt more realistic, than if they managed to actually do anything.

Really liked Jean and Reiners moments this chapter, overall a good chapter that flew by. Hope quickly turned into desperation but Falcons teams arrival means they got one more chance. Armin capture thing was a little weird but more or less makes sense.

Since the rumbling started, this series has became more dull and predictable. Loads of plot armor, stupid teosts only for shock value and weird pacing are major problems in this arc. Too bad, because the post timeskip portion of this manga up until the rumbling was one of the best pieces of media I had seen. But now I am only expecting the boring cliche shonen ending.

Still hate Annie being back, she can still go.

Still think Mikasa is gonna be the one to either kill Eren or bring him back to his senses somehow

The afterlife thing still hasn't answered and I wanna know how's the corps doing T_T

The Alliance got dumpsterd yet no one died. They'll probably die in all in one chapter.

the art, as usual, was really good

There are still some mysteries to solve and things to do (like EMA final convo, which I don't think will last just 2 or 3 pages) in so little time, I'm kinda worried to be honest.

This chapter is full of plot twists, I didn't even expect the storyline to turn out like this.

This chapter is painfull and more action at the same time and i hope there are still chances that there old happy days will be back

This chapter was actually exciting! And thank goodness Bertolt is finally back!!!!! So many people assumed he was finished and forgotten, but a small group of us knew Isayama wouldn't leave us hanging without his closure. I'm looking forward to learning why we're seeing him now and whatever's going to happen to Armin

This chapter was breathtaking and hard to continue due to the speculations that someone was going to die. I feel like the next few chapters is where things start to get serious if not already. I found it very enjoyable yet nervous at some moments.

This was so crazy and hopeless like it's peak apocalypse even more than rumbling. It's a nightmare I love Isayama

Too many last-seconds saves kinda ruins the tension.

umm it would've been better

Ummm this chapter had too much suspense

uuuuuuuhhh nothing else i guess

Very PogChamp

We are going to get the best manga ending ever.

Nobody is free yet...

MAN WTF IS HAPPENING I READ TBE MANGA BHT HAVENT REREAD IT AND I FORGOT WVERYTHING MAN WTF

#snk polls #snk poll #snk poll results #snk 135 #snk chapter 135

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thinkingaboutitalittle · 4 years ago

Text

ｔｉｇｈｔｒｏｐｅ

summary: “It’s capital, this tightrope that the two of you walk between harsh discipline and sweet indulgence.”

pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

warnings: mentions of violence, red room, implied age gap-ish, it’s a little angsty? kinda hurt comfort but there’s plot

a/n: hi again! I really like the concept of this one! I hope you like it too, feedback is definitely welcome

word count: 2.2k ish

When he’d first met you, you were the antithesis to what he’d expected. Prepped with the information that you were a recruit found in one of the last scattered branches of HYDRA’S Red Room and trained to have the strength and endurance of a skilled olympian, when you’d been introduced all wide-eyed and with a bright smile that had a smear of peanut butter at its corner, Bucky was floored. Fresh from Wakanda and losing his best friend, he didn’t think it’d work, the two of you running together.

And at first he was right, things were rough. Technically, you were and still are his apprentice, obligated to attend general training and conditioning sessions with him as your guide. You’d had an impeccable persistence and the skill set that HYDRA engraved into your physicality was more than enough to get you through, but Bucky had the experience. You were strong and good at taking direction, but HYDRA had trained the instinct and critical thinking out of you, and the process of finding your footing with your newfound freedom was difficult.

There were arguments over the ungodly hours that he’d chosen scheduled for sparring sessions (“Are you shitting me Barnes? You want me to wake up at five in the morning to get decked in the face?”), about whether or not certain techniques were viable in fighting situations (“Biting into someones arm while they’ve got you in a headlock isn’t reliable option doll, especially if the arm is made out of vibranium”), and when the two of you were extra frustrated, eating habits were also up for debate (“You cannot only eat pop tarts the week before a mission!” “I’ll stop eating pop tarts the day you give Sam a compliment,”).

But eventually, when the two of you’d finally realized that your distaste for each other may have stemmed for a repressed attraction towards one another, you made it work. You Learn to fight without actually aiming to hurt the other person and you manage to communicate with one another with the exclusion of screaming matches and elongated lectures. (You also learn how to sneak into each others rooms without waking up other shield officers on your shared floor in the middle of the night, but that’s something neither of you care to define)

The two of you are sparring together late this afternoon after you’d convinced him of the fact that you’re far better suited to give him your focus after you’d fully awakened and consumed a healthy portion of your daily allotment of junk food.

“I already told you your elbows are too loose, don’t give me that shit again,”

You tighten your stance against the previously acclaimed Winter Soldier, and throw another, albeit cleaner, punch. A grunt of approval from Bucky and your movements continue to present themselves with precise stability.

“Christ, Barnes you’re stricter than my babysitters at camp HYDRA,” He smirks, appreciates the value of making light of a shitty situation, and then retorts,

“I’m prettier to look at though, huh?”

It’s capital, this tightrope that the two of you walk between harsh discipline and sweet indulgence.

You square your shoulders and dip your head in an attempt to seem more menacing, “Only in the dark, baby. I’m gonna kick your ass,”

Again he responds with a practiced snort, “Good fighters don’t reveal their strategy before they’ve done it, keep that chin up or I’m going to knock it next time you come near me,”

Somehow, amongst all the near misses and successful jabs to the stomach, a small smirk manages its way onto your face. Before you’d started to train with Bucky, fighting was a commitment you had no choice in deciding. You’d go through endless hours of getting beaten down, only to be forced back onto your feet and beaten again; bulldozed into compliance. Training with Bucky is different; dares you to test the boundaries and willingly push yourself to your limit, not because you have to but because you want to.

You solidify your strategy in your head before moving to deliver a swift kick to Bucky’s ankles. He dodges it, as expected, and plants himself on top of you, restraining your legs between his own and digging his enormous forearms into your biceps.

“I already told you, this shit won’t fly on anyone bigger than you, princess, you’re going to have to tap,” and boy, if only you’d had a body camera to record the way that his face slackens when you retaliate with, “C’mon Buck, you’re telling me it doesn’t get you off to be on top of a dame like me?”

It’s a low blow to use your unspecified status outside of the gym to your advantage, but what was it that he’d told you in your first training session? Ah yes, use whatever advantage you have to your benefit.

You were only following directions.

Quickly, you move his practically limp limbs from your body and force yourself onto his front, resting your knees atop his flesh and alloyed forearms (because goodness knows you wouldn’t be able to hold them down with your hands) and the rest of your weight on his torso. And he looks so helplessly confused in this position you can’t help yourself from speaking through a smug smile, “Never took you for a bottom, princess.”

Buckys going to crack your head like a walnut. He jerks upward to catch your head between his fists, but a sudden rush of alarms stops him in his tracks. All of the sudden, the shield compound is doused in red lights and an automated voice is eerily repeating there has been a breach in the compound, agents follow evacuation protocol. However, the warning comes late because only a few seconds after you and Bucky have detangled yourselves from each other, the doors to the training hall are bursting open with what has to be a group of wanna-be HYDRA affiliates demanding information and files about some secret mission that neither of you were a part of.

Regardless, Bucky is on his feet immediately and ushering you to stand behind his immense form, his tone gritting out a stiff, “Y/N. Behind me. Now.”. Though your developing sense of instinct is telling you that this situation is one that Bucky shouldn’t be handling alone, your feet move before your brain can catch up, eager to comply with his demands instead of challenging them.

The infiltrators are small in number but waste no time zeroing in on Bucky as soon as they realize his presence as the Winter Soldier. He pushes you into a locker, spitting out something about staying there until he handles them and direct orders, agent but you can’t help but crack the door open, fearing Bucky’s well being.

Surprising no one, Bucky can mostly handle himself against a group of middle-aged men who are scarcely trained and even more scarcely armed. However, in his struggle with one of the larger men in the group, Bucky fails to notice that one of the other Hydra members has managed to snatch a particularly large knife from his belt loop and is getting ready to dig it into his back in an attempt to save his comrade.

Emerging from the locker, you move to kick the knife out of the enemy’s hand, knocking it somewhere across the gym, and landing yourself in the middle of the brawl. In your haste, the agent swings a punch to your jaw, but you recover quickly. You knock the agent twice and before you can move to disable him further, Bucky finds his way to you and heaves the man a generous amount of yards away.

Before either of the chance to say anything to each other, the room is rushed by Shield agents searching to apprehend the HYDRA men and to find out any information regarding the infiltration.

It’s a couple of hours before you get to see Bucky again.

Between all of the shield officers asking painfully specific questions and their obnoxious insistence that things like this never happen, by the time Barnes finds you sitting in the compound kitchen, legs dangling from the center island and fingers wrapped around a lukewarm cup of tea, you’ve both had enough time to sit with previous events.

You’re ambivalent, a tricky mixture of guilt and pride making a home in the form of a lump in your throat. Part of you knows what you did was the right thing; if you’d have let Bucky get hurt, the other offender would have used the advantage to gang up on him and you’d’ve had to take on the both of them instead of just one. But there’s still a lingering part of you that feels an immense sense of shame for not wholly complying.

Maybe it’s just leftover conditioning from your time with HYDRA, the remaining indents from the ideals they’d ingrained into your mentality, but disobeying direct orders, no matter how irrelevant they may have proven themselves to be, left you with a bitter taste in your mouth and frustrating tears in your eyes. Even after training with Bucky for so long and recognizing the difference between appropriate and inappropriate times to act on your own volition, you still maneuver on a fine line between overwhelming shame and practiced action.

He moves in front of you, between your legs, and when he notices your refusal to look him in the eyes, Buck slips his thumb and forefinger under your chin lifting your misty eyes to his worried gaze. There’s a rush of bile rising in your throat that you know can only be remedied by a salve of words, “Bucky I- I’m so sorry I didn’t l-listen to y-,”

“If you finish that apology, I’m going to give you another shiner, princess,”

He stills you, maneuvering the hand that’s not holding your face to shift the tea out of your hands and then to rest on your bicep. Save for a handful of your sniffles and the soft noises Bucky makes in the back of his throat when his eyes focus on a particularly darkened or swollen segment of skin, the two of you maintain a quietness as he looks you over.

And - no matter how long he’s been fighting with you by his side and no matter how many times he’s scolded himself for feeling self-pity when others, you are in pain - this part never get easier; swallowing his pride and accepting the fact that not everyone can make it out unscathed.

He moves away from you to fish an icepack from the door of the fridge, holding it in his hand for a few seconds before setting it back in its spot and pressing his now cool metal palm to the side of your face. You sigh in relief, starting to come down from your thoughts, leaning into Bucky.

Finally, he speaks, “You didn’t do anything wrong,” you suck in a breath and he knows you’re preparing to refute his claim, so he cuts you off swiftly, “I know you think you fucked it up because that’s what they want you to think, but you acted on your instinct doll, you did good.”

Your breathing slows back down to its normal pace, and his thumb moves to wipe the tears off of your cheeks. It’s almost laughable how easily he gets you calm; how he’s managed to keep you from falling off of the tightrope and now rests on it with you, an unspoken in equilibrium. He nudges his nose to yours and smoothes a kiss to your lips, a final attempt at calming whatever stray nerves remain.

When he pulls away, you can’t help but chuckle. “What is it, sweetheart?”

Recovering with a weak smile you respond, “I get knocked twice for your ass and all I get is a little kiss?”

His smirk is cheeky as he presses another to your lips, this time deeper and more intentional, “You’re telling me this isn’t enough to get you off, princess?”

#bucky barnes #bucky x reader #marvel #eve wrote this #bucky barnes oneshot #winter soldier x reader #avengers #tfatws #bucky barnes x you #Bucky barnes x y/n #bucky one shot #bucky x you #bucky

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strangcrdoctor · 4 years ago

Text

∞So here’s a headcanon that I’ve been meaning to put into words for a long while but have never taken the time to. But I’m going to put it under a cut because it has to do with the details of Stephen’s accident and the medical trauma he survived therein.

This is specifically based off of the 2016 film (which I also think did a spectacular job of justifying the crash, btw - road conditions, model of car, impact points and all), but I’ll toss in a few cents about how comic iterations in previous generations might be different just for shits ad giggles and because I love shit like this.

First and foremost, especially working from the earliest DS comic canon, the cars were of the age and variety of “screaming metal death-trap.” Seatbelts weren’t required by law in the 1960s, and in fact many cars didn’t even come with them from the manufacturers because they weren’t considered a safety requirement. Granted they were made of hard body steel and could take impacts well by virtue of being fucking tanks, but the tire quality and torque ratios were... not made for the speeds they could suddenly get to, which did top out at 80-110 mph (in luxury models) with suspensions that were not clement for sustaining speed and road grip at the same time. It was statistically common that even non-reckless driving could result in horrible injuries under the wrong circumstances, therefore. Add in a 1960s inflated male ego, and frankly it’s amazing Stephen didn’t just die. Which is the entire plot point, I’ll grant. I also headcanon that in that era (and even regarding modern Stephen’s collector’s dream cars) Stephen would likely have been in a Rolls Royce Phantom or a Cadillac Coupe de Ville. He would definitely have his eye on a Jaguar E-Type (still does), but back in the 1960s maintaining one would have been more trouble than it was worth even by his standards and budget.

All that aside, let’s talk about the crash in the 2016 Doctor Strange movie. First and foremost, the overall accident itself is totally feasible for the model of car Stephen was driving. Lamborghini and other luxury super-car manufacturers have exceedingly specific impact testing, which is focused - unfortunately - more for track condition impacts than civilian driving conditions. In essence, super cars are built to handle rolling and lateral shear impacts to frankly insane degrees. They are not, however, well built for head-on collisions by nature of the priority of aerodynamics in the design. This feeds into why the Lamborghini in particular was undoubtedly an active choice on behalf of the producers. What’s notable about the crash is that in spite of the glance off of the side of the other car, the Lamborghini stays relatively solidly on the road surface which is design accurate. (There’s actually an entire other tangent I could get off on about this, but I will refrain.) Where things go haywire, however, is where that glancing blow hit on the vehicle. Now with many super-car companies, they mount the engine in the “trunk” of the vehicle, which improves traction and opens up space for the frankly insanely large engine blocks that, oh, I don’t know, V12s require. This pushes the cabin toward the front of the vehicle, and leaves the “trunk” space on the front end where most standard cars keep the engine. This makes the front light, but because of air intake and drag it maintains traction via the aerodynamics of the front grille. The back also has improved traction from the weight of the engine sitting over the rear axel, which is a big additive benefit because most sports cars are rear-wheel drive, and in front-engine vehicles this makes the back axel lighter and prone to fish-tailing on tight corners. Not so with Stephen’s Lamborghini. In essence, the weight of the vehicle sits on the axel that bears the drivetrain.

That rear traction is precisely what makes everything go wrong for this particular crash. Because the weight of the vehicle and the wheel drive are all centered in the back, having that portion of the vehicle get bumped is like flicking a coin to get it spinning. The front end of the vehicle, which is substantially lighter and only has the steering column and brakes to counter the inertia of that rear engine, is abjectly disadvantaged for regaining control of the vehicle. Even the most experienced racer doesn’t have the reaction time to regain control on a two-lane mountain highway, in the rain, at night, from an accident that realistically takes less than 10 seconds from impact to exit through the guard rail. In essence, there was zero chance of Stephen being able to recover as soon as the front end of the vehicle impacted the rock wall and put the car’s trajectory onto “death frisbee” instead of “manageable swerve.”

This is also the second instance where the super-car design seals Stephen’s fate. So because Lamborghinis have an empty front end - again the “trunk” is where the engine is on most other cars, so essentially empty, un-structured, un-reinforced space - head on collisions absolutely crush the front ends. This also explains and in fact makes viable why Stephen’s hands go through the dash in the compound impacts: the front end is getting folded in like a tin can.

Now we get to the dark and scary medical part of the accident. Obviously the accident was catastrophically bad considering the car careened off of a steep mountain slope and impacted all the way down until it reached the river at the bottom of the ravine. But as we saw from the post-accident scenes, Stephen’s injuries weren’t isolated to his hands only. As was made clear from the state of his face, he definitely had cranial trauma - to the point that it seems very lucky he didn’t lose his left eye - which involved contusions at least to the orbit of his left eye and very probably a concussion, and it seems all but impossible that he didn’t also have thoracic and potentially leg trauma as well. Thoracic either from directly impacting the steering column (which I find very likely), or impacting the door (feasible, and does feed into why I think his left hand is worse off than his right, given from the production stills his left hand has eight - five pins and three plates - of the eleven in his hands). He definitely would have had broken ribs and internal bruising or bleeding from those impacts. The leg injuries are also probable for drivers especially because of impact against the dash and steering column.

Now we start getting to the painful part. Yes, just now. So as Christine mentions after Stephen regains consciousness (probably not for the first time but probably the first time cogently), the “Golden Hours” passed while he was in the car waiting for the mercy flight crew to find him. Now, the Golden Hours is actually the Golden Hour - it’s the span of 60 minutes immediately following intense trauma and injury. So not only was Stephen upside down, in and out of consciousness, alone, half-submerged in a river, in a car that could blow at any moment, for more than an hour, it surpassed the hour that was most vital to his potential for nerve recovery. It’s also frankly astounding that Stephen didn’t die from shock, hypovolemia, or hypothermia during the hours it took for them to find him. I will also just mention in passing that jaws of life situations are touchy enough as is with cars, but with someone as injured as Stephen was, in the exceedingly precarious position his car was in, the emergency responders would have had a hard fucking time getting him out alive at all.

But wait, there’s more! So after all of this, he has to get flown back to New York where the actual work of saving his ass begins. And again, I will emphasize that it’s unavoidable that Stephen - who was canonically on the table for ELEVEN HOURS - was not only in surgery for his hands. As a matter of fact, medically his hands would have been the lesser of many priorities. They would have spent some preliminary time trying to make sure his circulation was intact, but to be frank, amputation is a safer, viable option for hands, and they would have openly made that choice on his behalf and prioritized any cranial or thoracic injury. Hell, even prioritize saving his eye, because the trauma of eye removal/optic nerve disruption has a greater chance for fatality than amputation. So Stephen’s hands didn’t just lose the Golden Hour, but would not have gotten operated on for up to three to five additional hours, and that’s under-estimating the complexity his other, higher priority traumas.

Put it all together and what do you get? A man that, by rights, shouldn’t be alive at all. And who, rather than valuing the life that he got to still have, held it against himself that he could no longer inhabit the life he’d had.

Secondarily, in light of all of the above and the seven consecutive surgeries that Stephen put himself through, you can absolutely bet your lunch money that this man developed an addiction to pain medication. It takes the body up to six months to filter out anesthetic, and given Stephen surely pushed his surgery scheduling to be more quick than advisable for recovery, his endocrine system would have been in free fall. To say nothing of the fact that the only way to deal with that much invasive surgery isn’t just eating healthy and hydrating...

Also please never forget that Stephen’s intern, Billy, was on the phone with him when the crash happened. So Billy was absolutely the one that made the call, and was undoubtedly sitting there, watching the clock as the Golden Hour slipped by and Stephen’s chances of survival dwindled by the second.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.∞

#''CV #:')#medical trauma tw #substance abuse tw

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sanderssidesfanfiction · 4 years ago

Text

If There’s a Place I Could Be - Chapter Fifty Eight

If There’s a Place I Could Be Tag

November 8th, 1998

“Emile, I told you you’d worry yourself sick if you didn’t take a break,” his mother sighed as she tried to force Emile back into bed. “You need to rest.”

“I need to make sure Faith is okay!” he protested. “Resting can wait!”

“Emile, you’re running a medium-grade fever and you’re shaking like you’re going to pass out at any moment,” his mother said, gently pushing Emile back onto the bed. “You need to rest if you have any hope of continuing to help your friends later.”

Emile pouted. “As soon as you let me leave the house again I’ll be checking up on her.”

“Then you’re not leaving the house until you’re better,” his mother said simply. “Rest up, honey, please. You’ll feel so much better if you do.”

March 16th, 2002

“Remy, this is really unnecessary—”

“—No, Emile, I’m not arguing with you on this,” Remy insisted, leveling Emile with a glare as he pulled the blankets over Emile’s shivering form. “You worked all of last weekend helping friends with mental health issues, and then you take five shifts at Target all because one of your coworkers gave you those puppy dog eyes, and you still did all your school work on top of that, and now you’re exhausted and running a fever. You are staying in bed and you will not be pushing yourself that hard ever. Again. Or else you will be getting an earful from me. Understood?”

Emile coughed and tried to glare right back at Remy, but the effect was dampened by the sheer amount of shaking Emile was doing. When Remy arched an eyebrow, Emile sighed. “Fine,” he groaned. “I won’t push myself that far. I’ll take a day’s break next time.”

“No, there is no ‘next time,’ Emile!” Remy exclaimed. He started pacing the length of the bedroom and all Emile could do was watch. “You always do this! You’re always pushing yourself to be faster, or smarter, or stronger, so that you can do more work, help more people, do whatever needs to be done. And inevitably you almost pass out, or you actually do pass out, or you injure yourself, or you literally work yourself sick. You are staying in bed, and there will not be a ‘next time.’”

Emile sighed. He appreciated that Remy cared. Really, he did. But he couldn’t just stop. “Rem, my friends need me, and we need the extra money from Target, and my classes have to be passed if I want to keep my financial aid. I have to keep up with all of those things.”

“We don’t need the extra money so bad that you work yourself sick,” Remy insisted. “Now we’re just gonna be spending the extra cash on cold medicine, or antibiotics from the doctor’s if you keep this up. And just because none of your friends were suicidal doesn’t mean they weren’t hurting you with those problems. No one has to be my level of extreme before they start causing damage. And a B is a passing grade, Emile. You don’t need a four-point-oh GPA in order to go to grad school to become a therapist.”

Emile leaned into the pillows and groaned. “You don’t understand, Rem. They need me.”

“And they need other people, too. You can’t just have one person as your entire support system. That’s not healthy. I should know. I put that burden on Toby and later on you. And it didn’t end well for anyone involved,” Remy said, crossing his arms and glaring at Emile. “Take a break.”

Emile searched Remy’s face, looking for any crack in his resolve to exploit. Normally he wouldn’t, but these were not normal circumstances. When he found none, he sighed. “You don’t want me to do this again, but...I have to, Rem. I have to make sure they’re okay.”

Remy shook his head. “No, Emile. I’m not arguing with you on this. You’re not going to push yourself past your limits again.”

Emile made a disgruntled noise. “Remy—”

“—No.”

“But Rem—”

“—I said. No.” When Emile opened his mouth to speak again, Remy beat him to the punch. “Every time you push yourself past your limits, I get scared. I’m legitimately terrified that whatever pushed you past those limits is going to wind up hurting or killing you. Ever since I found out you were pushing past your limits to try and help me before you found me a therapist, I’ve wanted to make sure that you don’t get hurt. But you make that a near-impossible job, Emile. For all your talk about not endangering your health, you certainly do it often.

“You pushed past your limits for way longer than you should have before you directed me to a therapist. You go out of your way to help your friends, even if you feel dead on your feet. When you took your friend to the local audition and wound up having a part to play yourself? You nearly passed out—more than once, might I add—after the show was over. Even with your grandfather. If I hadn’t stepped in, you would have taken every last hit your grandfather dished out. Silently. Not showing any hurt, to anyone, but especially not to me, because you wouldn’t want me to feel guilty over you taking that hit for me. In your desire to protect your friends, you’re left damaging yourself, don’t you see that?!”

Emile turned red. Since when could Remy read him so easily? “Okay, okay. You’ve proved your point that this hurts me,” Emile sighed. “But...how do I just...stop? I can’t just cut them off or ignore them when they’re struggling and I have the capacity to help.”

“You wouldn’t be doing either of those things. If someone calls you, or texts you, asking if you can help, all you say is, ‘I’m not in a position where I can help you right now. Can we talk later?’ It’s that easy.” Remy shrugged. “Look, they’re my friends too, Emile. I care about them, however reluctant I may have been to accept that fact at first. But I can’t help them twenty-four-seven, and neither can you. The only difference is that I stop when I know I’ve pushed myself too far. You realize that you’re approaching your limit, or that you’ve passed your limit, and you keep going, because people still need your help, in your mind.”

“They do need my help—”

“—They need help, period. Not your help specifically. Isn’t that why you took me to a therapist? You couldn’t do it on your own and you knew that if I kept pushing you it would end ugly for both of us. You could refer them to a therapist or a psych if it gets bad enough, or just say that you need to focus on yourself for a bit. That’s not bad, it’s not selfish. It’s self-preservation. And frankly, honey, you need a hell of a lot more of that than you already have.”

Emile pulled a face. He knew Remy had a point, but he didn’t want to admit that fact. “What if they get hurt because I didn’t help them?” he asked. “What if they hurt themselves because I didn’t help them?”

“That’s not on you, honey,” Remy said, sitting down on the side of the bed and putting his hand on Emile’s shoulder. “Taking care of yourself and your own needs every once in a while is more than healthy, it’s necessary.”

Emile groaned. “I just...I worry. I can’t help it. I worry about them.”

“I know you do,” Remy said. “So do they. Everyone you’re friends with knows you care about them. Which is why they won’t be concerned you’re blowing them off if you say you need some time to yourself.”

“Remy...” Emile could feel his frustration building. Remy had a point, but couldn’t he see that this mattered to Emile? That he was willing to make the sacrifices necessary to keep his friends safe? “You don’t understand.”

Remy crossed his arms and huffed. “I understand that you’re concerned about your friends. I understand that you’ve lost more of them than you’d care to count. I understand that you’re scared of losing more. I understand your reluctance to take time for yourself when you perceive that you’re needed elsewhere. I understand that when you feel backed up against a wall with all your responsibilities looming overhead, you're more likely to disregard your safety in favor of getting rid of some of those problems. Because you don’t want to worry. But don’t you understand? I worry about you when you push yourself too far. Theo called earlier asking if you were okay because you looked feverish when you talked yesterday. Everyone worries about you when you push yourself too far.”

“But—”

“—Honey, everyone will be relieved if you say you’re taking time to focus on yourself. Trust me. No one will be mad, no one will do anything hasty just because you say you need rest.” Remy shook his head. “You need to stop pushing yourself so much.”

Emile sighed. Remy had all the logical points on his side, and Emile had none. Didn’t mean that he was going to be happy about it, though. “Fine,” he grumbled. “I’ll rest a little more often.”

“All I ask is that you rest when you’re pushing your limits,” Remy said. “The rest of the time, you can worry yourself sick over your friends.”

“I’m already sick,” Emile said weakly.

“Yeah, I know, and I was genuinely worried about this continuing for a hot minute,” Remy said.

Emile sighed. “You know...this is completely off topic, but I think we should upgrade to a Queen. Or a King.”

“As in...” Remy paused. Stood. “As in with beds?”

“Yeah,” Emile said, looking up at Remy. “We cuddle in each others’ beds so much, and we’ve shared tiny beds together before. Upgrading to a Queen would mean we both have space and we don’t have to worry about someone falling off the bed when cuddling. Do you think it’s too soon?”

“Not particularly,” Remy said. “You just...took me off guard, is all.”

“The other good thing about that is that you could force me to relax by cuddling me aggressively in bed until I do what you say,” Emile joked.

Remy actually perked up at that and Emile regretted giving Remy ideas like this from his jokes. He never learned, even though he should have come to expect this sort of thing from Remy. Taking jokes seriously and actually using them as if they were a viable option. “That’s a good idea.”

“That was a joke, Rem.”

“A joke that I will turn into reality,” Remy said definitively. “We’re getting a Queen. Slightly cheaper than a King, and both of us can still fit comfortably, and I can cuddle you until the sun goes away.”

Emile groaned. “Remy, I’m sick, go easy on me, please.”

“All right, all right, I won’t give away all my evil plans to get yourself to give you a break. Besides, it might help to keep a thing or two up my sleeve, anyway,” Remy said.

Emile patted the bed. “You afraid of germs? Or are you willing to cuddle?”

“We live in the same apartment, mio amore. Something tells me that if I’m going to get sick it’s not going to matter whether I cuddle you or not,” Remy said. He took off his socks and lifted up the covers, saying, “Scoot over.”

Emile rolled his eyes but complied and he and Remy just snuggled for a while. He sighed. “What are we gonna do about whichever room is no longer one of ours?” Emile mumbled.

“I dunno,” Remy admitted. “Some point or another it might become an office, when you’re a therapist and you need somewhere to work at home. Until then...uh...guest room?”

“I guess,” Emile said. The gears were whirring in his head, and it might have just been because he was sick, but he was thinking about an office that both of them might use. “What if you started your own shop?”

Remy laughed. “That old pipe dream? I’ve given up hope on getting the money for a property, Emile. I can buy the food, the advertising, hire people, and all that, if I save my money properly. But I can’t afford to rent, let alone buy, a property where I could start my own coffee shop.”

“Y’know, we should probably start saving more money anyway,” Emile mused. “Emergency funds, retirement, all that good stuff.”

“I guess,” Remy sighed. “I do like getting to go on dates with you, though.”

“So let’s make it a once a month thing, instead of twice, and go to places that don’t charge too much,” Emile reasoned. “Saving our money is important. Especially if we’re going to be splurging on a bed.”

Remy laughed. “True.”

Emile grinned. He was getting a crazy idea, and it might have been because he was sick, but Remy had been passed on promotions before. And if they saved properly, he knew they could get a shop off the ground.

#if there's a place i could be #sanders sides fanfiction #remile #emile picani #ts sleep

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suckerforsmylex · 4 years ago

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Ripe Peach - Pt. 7

Peaches pulled away from The Joker’s kiss reluctantly and lay back, with the blanket pulled up around her body. She looked around the room and noticed all of the masked party goers, still knocked out from the gas J had put them to sleep with earlier, during their public display of affection. They mingled in with the bodies of the dead Olympians and their lifeless leader Maxie Zeus.

“Wow, what a mess. Clean up in aisle 7!” Harley yawned as she spoke, and Peaches couldn’t help but feel a small sense of guilt about how everything went down. Mister J pulled put his fingers in his mouth and whistled and the high-pitched sound echoed throughout the room, bouncing off the cool marble. No one came forward. Harley unsuccessfully tried to stifle a snicker and J turned sharply, glaring at her. Digging into his pocket, he quickly pulled out his phone and opened up an app that pulled up every camera, in every room of the club. Every room contained sleeping party goers.

He came upon members of his security team, but they were all knocked out too, slumped over and sleeping like babies. “DAMN IT!” The Joker ended his phone call abruptly and Harley started cracking up. “Forgot to give them the little white pills? Sweet dreams to your security detail!” Harley could barely keep her composure and she laughed, shaking her head as her body convulsed with glee.

“What the hell are you laughing at? If you think I’m cleaning up this mess myself the peroxide has seeped its way into what’s left of what you call a brain!” J pulled his gun out and let out five, rapid fire shots into the ceiling. Harley grabbed Peaches and they both huddled together, protecting each other from being hit with shrapnel and stray bullets. J threw his phone across the room like a disobedient child, breaking a large sculpture in its path.

“Why don’t you call Frawwwst, Mistah J? Don’t cha’ make him earn his keep around here anymore?” Harley tilted her head and put her arm around Peaches, pulling her close and squeezing. The Joker grumbled, after realizing that Harley’s suggestion was a viable and he reluctantly, but swiftly, leapt up to retrieve his phone and call Frost. Surprisingly, it survived the throw with only minor nicks. “Frost, I need you to come down to our little party at the club. Bring backup, there’s a mess to clean up.”

Click

The Joker turned on his heels, directing all of his attention to Peaches. With a nod, followed by a snap of the fingers, he spoke. “Come to Daddy. It’s time to go home.” He extended his arms, waiting for her to run into them. Peaches, unsure of herself, hesitated, talking softly and looking down at the ground. “I don’t have anything to wear.” He threw his head back and laughed loudly. “Nothing stopped you from running into the middle of a knife fight, in all your naked glory.” J walked towards Peaches and started to remove his jacket, but Harley stood up and stopped him in his tracks. “No, I got this.” Harley sounded blue as she spoke but piped herself back up into a broad smile. “We had a good run, Mistah J.” She reached over and touched him on his shoulder and then turned to Peaches. “I’m Deadshot’s girl now and I can’t wear these anymore. You take em’ sweetie.”

Before Peaches could respond, Harley was stripping off her ‘Daddy’s Little Monster’ shirt and ‘Property of Mister J’ jacket. She stood there in her bra, shorts and boots holding the clothes out toward her. “I honestly don’t even know why I was still wearing them. I’m a sentimental sap at heart, I guess,” Harley remarked with a flip of her hand. Peaches reached out unenthusiastically and grabbed the items. Harley was about three times smaller than her and there was no way that her clothes would fit. It was a sweet gesture but she wrinkled her nose and gulped as she accepted them.

She held the shirt and jacket out and her suspicions were confirmed. They would be uncomfortably snug. Thinking quickly, Peaches took the shirt up by the sleeves and tied them around her neck, fashioning a halter top with it. The fabric reading ‘Daddy’s Little Monster’ added a thick layer over her breasts. She found that her sheer, black panties were still intact and slipped them on and then took Harley’s newly gifted jacket and wrapped it around her waist, making the ‘Property of Joker’ message bubble over her butt. Finally, she slipped her black stilettos on, thread her fingers into her hair and shook it out wildly. She felt insecure but instead of asking do I look ok, as she was dying to inquire, she sauntered over to J, bit her lip and stuck her hand out, palm upward. “I’ll take that Jacket now, Daddy.”

Harley beamed from ear to ear as Mister J stood motionless for a moment, his mouth turning up into a wicked grin. He began to pace around her in a circle, admiring her entire body, taking it in completely. J wrapped his arms around Peaches from behind and kissed her neck, following the kiss with a deep bite that made her squeal and whispered into her ear. “I like the way you look when you wear my name.” His breath was warm and inviting at the shell of her ear, tickling as he let his hands wander, despite Harley standing there as a witness to his uninhibited lust.

“I like it more when you don’t wear anything. Let’s make that happen again.” His left hand caressed under the tee shirt, making direct contact with her stiff nipples. His right hand moved up slowly, feeling cool against the warm, sensitive skin of Peaches’ neck. He gripped hard while continuing to grope her and Peaches moaned with her eyes squeezed shut and in complete compliance.

Harley clapped her hands rapidly and made a squeaking sound and Peaches’ eyes fluttered open. “This is soooo hot, you guuuuuyyyyss! I’m having flashbacks of the good ol’ days.” She walked up close to Peaches, and leaned in, inhaling in the space between her shoulder and neck. ��Mmmm! You smell so good!” She reached out to caress Peaches, but The Joker suddenly pinned both of Peaches’ hands behind her back and pulled her backward and towards him, making her stumble in her heels. “MINE. She belongs to me, Harl. Get your own toys.” J buried his face in Peaches’ hair, inhaling and exhaling dramatically.

“Awww, come on, Puddin’! No fair! Didn’t anybody ever tell you that sharing is caring? I promise I’ll put her back the same way I got her.” Mister J didn’t respond. He had Peaches’ hair pulled into a makeshift ponytail and was purring loudly while lacing her with bites, some that were beginning to break the skin and draw blood. Harley was growing impatient, stomping her foot and pouting. “Come on, you can watch!” Harley advanced again on her hands and knees, trying to entice The Joker into accepting her proposition. She was dangerously close to grabbing for Peaches’ ankle when he pulled her backwards again with a grunt and growling in anger. He was still pinning Peaches’ wrists in place with his left hand, as he pulled out his gun and aimed it at Harley.

Harley stopped squirming and her face pulled back in complete shock. “Hey, Mistah J, I’m sorry, I just wanted a little taste is all. She’s all yours.” He cocked the gun with his finger on the trigger and Peaches was pressed against him so tightly that she could feel his erection against her ass. In fact, she could feel his arousal intensifying, in real time, as he held Harley at gunpoint. His phone rang loudly, interrupting the thick, palpable tension that had filled the room and he kept the gun aimed at Harley as she continued to plead on her knees. “Puddin’, please! Gentle reminder that I saved you and Princess Peach from being brutally murdered by Maxie Zeus and his New Olympians.” The Joker rolled his eyes in disgust. “Don’t call me Puddin’!” Harley put her hands up and apologized. “Sorry J, force of habit.” The phone rang again, cutting through the second awkward silence of the night, as he pushed up against Peaches with a discrete thrust. Peaches could feel herself slick with arousal as she shifted on her heels. It was a secret and unavoidable pleasure as her folds slid against themselves and she sighed softly as The Joker answered the call.

“What?!” Mister J yelled into the phone so hard that his entire body shook and tensed. He didn’t appreciate the additional intrusion. It was Frost with the cleanup crew and J barked out directions before turning his attention back to Harley and the gun he had pointed in her direction. Chest heaving and panting, he turned to Peaches suddenly before posing a question, while nibbling at her ear. “Ok, sweetheart. Tell Daddy. Should I spare Harley? “Or, should I blow her brains out the back of her skull?” He said the last option as he let his hand roam over her, pulling up her jacket to access the waistband of her panties. The band stretched as he shoved his hand inside. He let his hand lay against her, motionless and then pressed each finger against her, playing her tummy like a piano. It was clear which option he preferred.

“Let’s spare her,” Peaches said in an innocent voice and he pushed himself against her, bending his knees, as he laughed loudly. “You’re always so good. Don’t you ever want to just cut loose?” He locked eyes with Harley and then put the gun back into its holster reluctantly. “Always a pleasure, Harl. Give Deadshot my best.” J rolled his eyes and waved and much to Peaches’ surprise, Harley was giddy at his farewell. “Thanks J, don’t be a stranger, we should set up a double date. We can all go after Batsy together!”

“Who’s Batsy? Is she talking about Batman,” Peaches asked, as he finally placed his blazer around her shoulders. J’s face turned up into a snarl. “Don’t bring up The Bat. I’m still cooking up some ways to kill him, but right now, I’m more interested in murdering you in bed.” He led Peaches by the back of the neck into an unmarked, black, four door and threw her into the back seat. “Lay down.” She obeyed his request and heard the soft thud of the door slamming behind him, as he jumped into the front seat. He turned the car on and started driving in his usual erratic manner. “Are you Daddy’s good girl or Daddy’s bad girl?” Peaches thought about the question and moaned. “I’m whatever you say I should be, Daddy.” The Joker purred and shifted gears sharply. “That’s a perfect answer. Daddy wants to you be a bad girl right now. Take off your clothes, but leave your panties and heels on.”

Peaches tore off the blazer, jacket and shirt and lay with her bare skin against the leather of the rear seats. He continued weaving in traffic and looked up to glimpse at her in the rear-view mirror. “Spread your legs and touch yourself. Don’t you dare cum. Say, ‘Yes, Daddy.’” Peached spread her legs, her left on the seat and her right sliding onto the floor and began exploring herself gingerly, with her fingertips. “Yes, Daddy J.”

#leto joker #the joker #joker #jared leto joker #leto joker fanfiction #joker fanfiction #Plus Size #ripe peach #Harley Quinn #revised and much darker

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askkrenko · 4 years ago

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Krenko’s Pokemon Guide: Tentacool Line

Last time was vore, now we have the tentacle monsters. DESIGN: Tentacool is clearly a Jellyfish and yet at the same time... clearly its own thing. It doesn’t have the ethereal, floaty nature of the Jellyfish, instead solid and heavy, and with big red head bumps. I’m not actually sure what those are supposed to be, but they are interesting and cool. They look a bit buggy, or a bit alien, just adding more cool factor to tentacool. I honestly like everything about this design. It’s a Jellyfish but also clearly not a Jellyfish. It’s familiar but still alien. And even though there’s far too many of them in the ocean, they’re still interesting. Tentacruel takes all these traits and turns it to eleven. There’s no doubt that it’s some sort of Jellyfish like creature with all those hanging tentacles, but the huge red bulbs and the general shape make it look like something that could be from outer space, a mixture of alien and spaceship. And then there’s those huge, pinchy mandibles at the bottom. Tentacruel is terrifying and unique and yet I still fully understand that it’s a Jellyfish Monster that lives in the sea and floats about.

EVOLUTIONS: Tentacool to Tentacruel is a straightforward two stage evolution at level 30. This is fine. While Tentacool’s on par with something that would evolve at 20 or so, Tentacruel is absolutely in the range of something the player shouldn’t get a hold of until level 30. If I was to add something to the line, there could potentially be a middle evolution to carry it through the 20s, but otherwise there’s no issue here. TYPING: Poison is a good defensive type. Water is a good defensive type. Combined, Tentacruel’s typing is insane on the defensive side. Tentacruel has EIGHT resistances compared to a mere three weaknesses. It’s Super Effective STAB options are a bit low for a two-type pokemon, only hitting a combined five types, but honestly? That’s fine. It’s still more than most mono-types get.

STATS: Tentacruel’s primary stat is its special defense. With average HP, 120 special combined with eight resistances makes it a particularly tanky Pokemon. 65 physical defense is a bit low, but not so low that Tentacruel can’t take a hit, and there’s so few physical Electric or Psychic attacks that the only thing it needs to be truly terrified of is Earthquake. Its attack stats are both decidedly average, but Speed of 100 is actually rather good. It’s not top-tier, but it’s more than enough to outspeed the average opponent. ABILITIES: Liquid Ooze is the weakest of Tentacruel’s three abilities, but it’s not useless. While Tentacruel doesn’t resist Grass types, Giga Drain, Horn Leech, and Strength Sap are all real moves, and Liquid Ooze makes them harm the enemy instead of healing them. Drain Punch and Leech Life are also competent moves, but as Tentacruel resists both of those, punishing people for using them on it is not quite as potent. Still, this is really only useful if for some reason your team doesn’t have a better thing to throw at grass-type attackers. Clear Body is Tentacruel’s more default ability, and most people using Tentacruel are going to want that. Clear Body prevents Tentacruel’s stats from being reduced by other Pokemon. It’s not splashy, but it’s useful against a large number of things, and makes Tentacruel a more resilient tank as it can’t be debuffed. Tentacruel’s most powerful, but most circumstantial ability is Rain Dish. Rain Dish recovers HP every turn in the rain, and can combine with Black Sludge or Leftovers for some serious healing. This is the strongest Tentacruel option, but does require building a rain team, and frankly, Tentacruel doesn’t actually need that to be good. A Clear Body Tentacruel is perfectly viable.

MOVES: Look, if you just want to have your Tentacruel attack people and be able to take a hit, give it Hydro Pump and Sludge Bomb, teach it Ice Beam for Coverage, and then go nuts. Its Special Attack is fine, you can do this as an option. But it’s not the best use of Tentacruel. The best use of Tentacruel is to tank. This means instead of going for the super heavy hitting Hydro Pump, take Scald for the chance to drastically reduce an opponent’s attack and inflict damage over time. Then take Toxic Spikes so when they switch something in, that’ll start taking damage over time, too. Of course, your opponent might want to take the time to set up, too... But through proper use of breeding, Tentacruel can get both Rapid Spin and Haze to completely negate an opponent’s attempts to set anything up. Some combination of Scald, Sludge Bomb, Toxic Spikes, Rapid Spin, and Haze gets you your tank, with Knock Off also a reasonable option just to stop an opponent’s item from being mean to you. And like anything that has a weather-based ability, you might want to use one of Tentacruel’s move slots on weather if you’re using the Rain Dish build. But then... there’s an entirely other Tentacruel option. Though 70 attack isn’t what we’d call ‘good’, Tentacruel’s speed and defenses mean it often safely gets a round to set up, and Tentacruel can learn Swords Dance. With Clear Body and Black Sludge or Leftovers, Tentacruel has the bulk to take a turn or two to Swords Dance into a sweeper that’s hard to stop. Its physical moveset isn’t quite as good as its special, but Poison Jab and Waterfall are fine STAB moves, and the first hit of Knock Off is generally pretty strong. Or instead of Knock Off you can take Rapid Spin. It won’t do damage that matters, but it’s still useful just to have someone on the team who can do it.

OVERALL: Everything is right about Tentacruel. It has a good design, it has interesting things that it can do and a type combination only shared with a few other Pokemon. Its big competition is Toxapex, but the fact that it hits harder and has an actual speed stat means it’s not always clear which of the two you want. With three useful abilities, the ability to be built for offense or defense, and some interesting tech moves, I think Tentacruel’s mostly in a good place. My only real complaint is that both Haze and Rapid Spin both require jumping through serious breeding hoops to get on Tentacruel. I don’t mind egg moves, but Haze has to be chain bred from Wooper/Quagsire to Galarian Corsola to Tentacool, and Rapid Spin has to be bred from a Squirtle to a Kabuto to a Shellder to a Tentacool.... and Kabuto’s not even in Gen 8 yet. Honestly, it’s just ridiculous.

#Krenko's Pokemon Guide #Tentacool #Tentacruel

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pomrania · 5 years ago

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Halloween monster races

Ever want to play as a monster? Of course you do, it'd be fun. But the statblocks you find for "monsters" aren't designed to work for player characters, and some of them are, well... "dumb as bricks" is one way of putting it. Here's a better alternative: reflavour the various PC races to get something that's nice and monster, and then stat up your monster character with class and background, as you wish.

This is specifically for D&D 5E; I looked at the mechanics of each race, to find ones that could fit well for the concepts. With different gaming systems, those exact things would probably not work; but hopefully this can provide inspiration.

Werewolf: shifter This isn't even sporting, as shifters are designed, both in mechanics and in flavour, as Lycanthrope Lite.

Ghost: eladrin or shadar-kai So they're not intangible, but teleportation can mimic that effect, somewhat; and the Dexterity bonus from elves also makes them harder to hit in general.

Zombie: half-orc You know how sometimes zombies get back up after you've killed them? Half-orcs have a thing that's pretty close to that.

Skeleton: any Listen, mechanics-wise, skeletons in D&D are pretty boring; pick whatever race you want, just say "and also this character has no flesh and their body is just bones".

Vampire: tiefling The "standard" tiefling gets Drama: The Cantrip at first level, which is great for any gothic mood-setting; but the different tiefling variants also fit with different vampire "focuses". Other races to consider, minimal-to-no reflavouring needed: changeling kenku tabaxi lizardfolk warforged Further details below the cut. Trans rights are human rights, and black lives matter.

((Also posted on Pillowfort, here.))

Werewolf (shifter)

The only thing difficult about using this, is getting the sourcebook; the shifter race is found in the Eberron stuff, and not the more setting-agnostic books. But once you have access to that, it's so easy it's barely worth going through. Depending on what type of "werewolf" you're basing this off of, it could be any of the subraces.

Suggested change/s: Maybe add something to the flavour, that the character looks barely humanoid while shifted? That's about it.

Ghost (eladrin or shadar-kai)

Both of these options are from Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, and they're elf subraces. Let's start with the "elf" bit first. Bonus to Dexterity makes them harder to hit, not sleeping is a pretty ghostly trait, and advantage on saves against being charmed could be played as "I'm dead, why would I care".

Both potential subraces have teleportation, but shadar-kai can only do that once per long rest while eladrin have it once per short rest. (However, shadar-kai resist necrotic damage, which is a very ghostly thing to do.) At third level, both of them get nice extras when they teleport; shadar-kai get more ghostly, with resistance to ALL damage, while for eladrin it depends on essentially their emotional state. It all depends on what type of ghost you want to play.

Suggested change/s: Swap the Elvish language proficiency for another language the character learned in life, or after death, if necessary. Describe the "teleportation" as going intangible and quickly moving.

Zombie (half-orc)

"Relentless Endurance" is the main mechanic draw to this race. Once per long rest, if they'd drop to 0hp, they can drop to 1hp instead. The bonus to Strength and Constitution also fit nicely with undead toughness. Proficiency in Intimidation is easily explained as being a creepy-looking dead thing.

Suggested change/s: swap the Orc language proficiency for any other languages that might fit better with the setting; if that happens to still be Orc, so be it. If you want to better represent how durable zombies are, swap the stat bonuses so it's +2 to Constitution and +1 to Strength.

Skeleton (any)

As stated above, skeletons in 5E are mechanically BORING. The only thing to distinguish them, really, is that they're vulnerable to bludgeoning damage, and that's not something that any race has, for the very good reason that it would make a character easy to kill at low levels. Focus on the descriptive aspects of this instead; describe how any blow resonates through the character's exposed bones.

Vampire (tiefling)

This one is a little involved, so bear with me here. As I said, Thaumaturgy is basically Gothic Drama in cantrip form; if you just want to use the PHB tiefling, this is a very good reason, and also the Charisma increase fits well with vampiric charm.

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes however has tiefling variants, some of which might fit better with the kind of vampire you want to play. The Fierna variant is what you'd want if your vampiric vision is more about controlling others; it swaps out Thaumaturgy for Friends, and its spells are Charm Person and Suggestion. The Baalzebul, Dispater, and Zariel variants all keep Thaumaturgy as their cantrip, and only change the non-Charisma ability increase and the spells at levels three and five; since those traits weren't very vampire-centric to begin with, they're all just as viable as the "standard" tiefling. As for the others... listen, there's a LOT of vampire fiction out there, I can GUARANTEE that someone has published a book where ANY of those abilities are given as "standard vampiric traits".

Suggested change/s: Alter Hellish Resistance so it gives resistance to cold, instead of fire, damage; the undead are more known for going out in winter without a coat, than they are for their ability to be set on fire and not harmed. (Both fire and cold are "elemental" damage types, so it shouldn't mess with the balance.) Instead of "dies in sunlight", take the drow Sunlight Sensitivity; and bring Superior Darkvision along with it, to keep it from being too much of a burden. Have the unarmed attack deal one point of piercing damage, as opposed to bludgeoning damage, from the character's fangs; those are for feeding on prey, not killing their foe. Adjust the "racial" languages as appropriate.

Other stuff

Now, onto the other player races that work quite well as "monsters", without having to really do anything to them. (I know that "shifter" probably belonged here, but werewolves are too iconic to relegate to "and also" status.)

Changeling: They can change their physical features whenever they want. Off the top of my head, I can think of three completely different movies which have that as the gimmick of the main villain, and I don't watch that many movies.

Kenku: Mostly this is just that their lore is Messed Up, and I think they would be really cool as an Igor type of mad scientist's assistant. Also there's that potential plague doctor aesthetic.

Tabaxi: ...listen. Cat-people weren't always considered to be PRIMARILY the vehicle of furry fetishes.

Lizardfolk: They look like lizards and they come from swamps, you do the math.

Warforged: Let's get one thing straight: warforged are not robots. However, they fill many of the same ROLES as robots. Created for a specific purpose, not needing to eat or drink or sleep or breathe, tough physical form.... There's also some similarities to Frankenstein's Monster, if you want to go that way.

#gaming #monsters and others #original content #not a reblog

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iron--spider · 6 years ago

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“oh calm down, we have ten seconds left”

this goes out to @irondadz, who was my randomly selected blog from the 3000 follower post I made!

The Iron Man suit is open about fifteen feet away from them, arms extended like a prolonged invitation to hug. Tony sits, hands gripping the chair he’s been placed in, and he keeps having the inclination to tap his foot. Not for any want of dancing. He’s not fucking drunk, and there’s no music. It’s nerves setting in, racing from the base of his skull down to the tips of his toes, fraying off into his close surroundings and gathering around Peter Parker’s working hands.

Tony’s nerves aren’t for himself. Death is like his shadow, the possibility of it tapping him on the shoulder like little jokes in a high school hallway. He doesn’t want it, he doesn’t want to meet it, but he knows, for him, it could be looming around any corner. No, Tony’s nerves are for the kid. The kid trying to deactivate a bomb.

And then the kid says shit and Tony’s nerves rocket sky high.

“What?” Tony asks, trying to peer around and look at the top of Peter’s head. He’s all bright blues and reds in here—here, which is sewer and dripping and black mold concrete. They’re in what looks like a World War II bunker if it was built into the subway line, except there’s what looks like an exit just behind the suit, standing there like that. If he could only fucking get to it.

“Nothing,” Peter says. “Totally cool, we’re good.”

“We’re not good,” Tony says, that inclination to start tapping his foot in a panic returning tenfold. But his limbs are asleep, legs worse than arms, and it’s pins and needles everywhere. He’s been sitting here for too long, and shit’s about to get real. “We’re fifty leagues from good. I’m strapped to a chair—”

“—you are not strapped to a chair, you’re just sitting in a chair—”

“—I am metaphorically strapped to a chair because I cannot get out of said chair without the goddamn bomb going—okay, I’m sitting in a chair with a bomb strapped to it, triggered to go off if I get up. Good? Better syntax for Spider Spell Check?”

“Way better and like, way more accurate,” Peter says. Tony looks down at him again just in time to see Peter grin up at him. The grin, somehow, sets off a few tripwires in Tony’s head, and he must have a wild, horrified expression on his face or something, because Peter balks. “What? Calm down. We still have ten seconds.”

A heart attack. All the blood drained from his body. Ripped limb from limb. “We—we have—”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” Peter says, and looks away from him before Tony can breathe fire. “It’s still...it's still counting down. Three minutes and forty-eight seconds. I actually don’t think it’s triggered to go off immediately if you get up, I think—I think it might do a quick five second countdown before it blows up. Looks like it, from the way the numbers twitch when you move too much. So we’re good.”

“You’re the worst,” Tony says. “Is this how you always do it? Is this how you embody Spider-Man from day to day? Pretending life-threatening situations are no big deal?”

“Yeah,” Peter says. “Oh yeah. Like that time I almost got shot? I was just pretending I was playing this arcade game, Twist and Block—”

“Oh my God,” Tony breathes.

“I brought you there!” Peter exclaims, probably too loud for someone who is trying to disable a bomb. “Remember? You didn’t like all the neon lights. I think you played that game.”

Tony sighs, closing his eyes tight. Peter could pull the wrong damn wire and kill himself. Tony knows the kid is smart, knows the kid deals with shit like this a lot, has probably seen a bomb before, but he doesn’t know if he’s ever had to disable one. They don’t know shit about the asshole that set this whole cat and mouse game up, and Tony opens his eyes again, looks at the suit. He knows it could withstand the blast.

This is a damn game. Purposeful, chess pieces arranged just so.

“You said they were all black, right? The wires?” Tony asks.

Peter hums to himself. “Maybe a grayish color? Definitely more grayish.”

“Semantics, Parker.”

“I’ve seen a few devices like this before,” Peter says. “That lizard guy—”

“Lizard Guy could not make something like this and knock both of us the hell out while setting his plan in motion,” Tony says.

“He had a lot of passion,” Peter says. “You know, for his, uh, craft.”

“Don’t describe the villains as passionate,” Tony says, shaking his head. He squeezes the arms of the chair and feels like such a goddamn idiot. He’s the reason why the kid is here. He’s only been working with Spider-Man publicly for a little while now, and people are already pegging the connection. Realizing that Peter will do anything to make sure Tony doesn’t die, consequences for himself be damned.

Why are they both like that? Doesn’t it cancel out, in some way? Shouldn’t one override the other? Tony should be able to demand the kid go home, let him deal with it on his own. He’s older, he’s more experienced. He should be able to make those calls. But he knows it’s useless—Peter would just look at him, raise his eyebrows, and continue on with his own plans. Because that’s how Peter is. No Iron Asshole left behind.

“I don’t think it’s possible to defuse it,” Tony says. “I think he made it that way on purpose. He knows us both, he knows we can do this kinda shit, and from what I’m hearing and what you’re seeing, this isn’t a normal bomb.”

“What’s a normal bomb?”

“Peter.”

Peter sighs. “Yeah,” he says, drawing out the word. “Yeah, I...I think you’re right. Because I unplugged what should have been the power source and it’s still counting down.”

Tony’s heart constricts. “Yeah? The thick wire?”

“Yeah,” Peter says, and Tony can see him shift a little out of the corner of his eye. “The one in the middle should come next, should be like the proverbial red wire, but it—when I start to take it out, the numbers shift, kind of—looks like it might set it off right away. Like full tilt zero, boom.”

Tony tries to think fast, tries to sift through viable options. “You said...if I get up, you think it’ll do a five second countdown?”

“I think so,” Peter says. “When you moved too much earlier it did that quick twitch but reverted back as soon as you were back in place. Looked like five seconds on the clock.”

The corner of Tony’s mouth twitches and he looks around, traces over all the details in the room. If this could be called a room. There’s no goddamn exit save for the one behind the suit, and five seconds—if Peter’s right about that, if they actually get five seconds and not instant, explody death, they still probably wouldn’t be able to make it to safety behind that wall.

But the suit. Standing there, arms wide open.

It feels ridiculously set up, down to the shitty ass bomb that clearly can’t be diffused, the suit ready for him to get in it.

Or...someone. Ready for someone to get in it.

“Okay, I’m gonna figure this out,” Peter says, and he moves, the first signs of nervousness rising up in his voice. The same nerves that have been plaguing Tony since all this bullshit started. Jumping from him to Peter like a virus. “Just, gimme a couple—well, okay, you’re not in charge of the timeframe here—”

“I have an idea,” Tony says, trying to plan for their upcoming moments in crackling freeze frames in his head. Only the good scenarios. Only the ones where things turn up right in the end. He tries to swat the nerves away.

“Awesome, we need one of those.”

“I want you to go over to the suit and get inside of it,” Tony says. “You’re already coded to it—”

“Wait, really?”

“Yes,” Tony says, drawing out the word. “I need you to—”

“No, I’m coded to the suit?” Peter asks. He’s looking up at Tony again, incredulously, brows furrowed like he doesn’t actually believe him.

Tony doesn’t have time for embarrassment. “Yes, I—plan ahead, for when shit goes south, especially when shit goes south and you’re involved. Grill me later, yeah?”

Peter nods at him, seemingly biting back a smile, and he doesn’t say anything else. He turns, sits on the ground, one hand resting on the arm of the chair close to Tony’s elbow.

“Now, I’m banking on the fact that we’re gonna have five seconds,” Tony says. He locks eyes with Peter, tries to ignore the slow but still too fast clicking on the bomb. “How sure are you?”

“Pretty sure,” Peter says. “From what I saw, yeah.”

Tony swallows hard, listening to the waver of the kid’s voice. He’s not sure, and Tony can’t really expect him to be sure, and he prays, God, he prays that some low level lunatic isn’t the one to send him to his grave. But nothing’s gonna happen to Peter. That he’s gonna make sure of.

“Okay,” he says, building a monument to five seconds in his head and hoping that’s enough to make it true. “Okay, you’re gonna get in the suit. You’re gonna come over here, we’re gonna do our own little countdown, then you’re gonna grab me, and fly us both to safety right over there behind that wall. Hopefully it’s a way out.”

Tony motions to it with his head, then meets Peter’s eyes again. “Boot repulsors have a real kick—pardon the pun, focus up, Parker—and Friday’s definitely still active with the suit like that, she’s probably already mapped out our trajectory from the chair to our spot behind the wall over there. I think—these walls can withstand a blast. Suit definitely can.”

“So I just need to cover you,” Peter says, his throat bobbing. “And...move really fast.”

Tony tries to read his mind. “I don’t want to put too much on you—”

“Mr. Stark, I do more dangerous things in gym class—”

“God, I need to call that school—”

“No, I mean. I can do it. I can.”

Tony looks at him for what feels like a long moment. “Suit is primarily for your safety, because I know you won’t leave and let me try to get into it on my own.”

Peter’s eyes flash angry, and he stands up, looking down at Tony. “You’d never make it.”

“Never say never.”

“No,” Peter says. “Me in the suit is better. Me in the suit makes more sense.” He walks over towards it, and looks back at Tony. “Of course I wouldn’t leave. You’re crazy.”

“You’re stubborn.”

“You’re crazy and stubborn.”

Tony sighs. “Okay, let’s do it before I lose all feeling in my legs.”

Peter points over to him. “Another reason why you can’t do it on your own. Pins and needles, remember that time you collapsed moving from the couch to the—”

“Okay, spiderling, memory lane’s too long when a bomb’s involved,” Tony says, clearing his throat.

He tries not to think about their plan too hard. Peter will be safe. He’ll be safe. That’s what really matters here.

Peter backs up towards the suit, a mix of excitement and trepidation on his face. “What do I do?” he asks. “Just put my arms out?”

“And step up,” Tony says, watching him.

“Okay,” Peter says, tentatively. He looks down at his feet, holds his arms out, overextending his fingers like some warped version of jazz hands. Tony doesn’t laugh at him, because he promises himself he’ll be able to laugh about it later.

Peter watches as he steps up with his right foot, then his left, and once he’s clear, the suit closes around him. The last thing Tony sees is Peter’s surprised eyes, and then the faceplate closes. And the suit stands stagnant.

Tony waits. He narrows his eyes. Waits some more.

“Uh, Peter?” Tony asks. “You in there? Did the suit consume you?”

Another brief silence, and then a loud gasp. The suit stumbles forward a little bit, arms falling down to a more normal position. “Oh my God, Mr. Stark,” Peter’s voice says. He turns his hands over, looks at them. “Wow. Okay.”

“You good?” Tony asks.

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Peter says. The suit stands on uneasy feet. “Okay.”

“Friday know what to do?” Tony asks. He tries to ignore the way his heart speeds up, worry pumping in his blood. Nerves like electric shocks.

“Yeah, she’s got it,” Peter says.

His voice sounds weird coming from the suit, but Tony doesn’t comment on it, because he knows they need to get this done. He nods, and Peter walks over, stops right in front of him. Iron Man stares down at Tony Stark and yeah, it’s one hundred percent weird whenever someone else is in the suit, absolutely. Peter Parker is now a member of an exclusive club. Something else to tell him later.

“Tony,” Peter says.

Tony isn’t really used to Peter using his first name. It definitely amps up the nerves, even though he’s sure Peter intended for it to have the opposite effect.

The kid keeps talking. “It’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna—it’s gonna be fine.”

Tony nods at him, manages a smile. “Definitely,” he says. “No doubts, not here, not me.”

“Okay,” Peter says. He leans over, and hooks his arms under Tony’s, and Tony braces his hands on the suit’s shoulders. “Okay, uh—you count,” Peter says.

“Okay,” Tony says, hoping to God this isn’t it. Isn’t that moment where his heart stops, where he’s ripped to shreds, languishing in death throes that’ll traumatize the kid for life.

He makes himself squash those thoughts, and puts his trust in Peter Parker. The kid is gonna get him home.

“Okay, ready?” Tony asks.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Okay,” Tony says, not thinking of the bomb, of the danger, of that shadow hanging around his throat. He only thinks of the future. “Okay, one. Two. Three.”

He feels Peter lift him up out of the chair, the pins and needles racing up and down his legs. He grimaces, holding onto the suit for dear life, and hears the bomb let out a high pitched sound. Peter activates the repulsors as the beeping speeds up, gets louder, and they shoot forward, crashing down behind the wall just as the blast goes off.

It’s a wave of gargantuan sound and energy, and pieces of the chair fly every which way.

Tony feels the reverberations as they hit the wall, and he hears a new leak spring somewhere, a spray of water. Rocks tumbling, falling, and for a second he worries the whole damn place is gonna cave in. Peter is completely covering him, cold metal everywhere, and Tony pops one eye open once all the noise and movement stops.

His hearing is muted, but he can hear Peter’s voice calling to him.

“Tony! Are you okay?” Peter asks. “Are you okay?”

“Uh, seems that way,” Tony says. He can still barely feel his legs, but he can’t discern any major injuries. No bleeding. He’s just a little dizzy.

“Friday,” Peter says. “Uh—stats on the—surroundings, can we—can we get out? Are we good to move?”

He’s quiet, listening to Friday’s response. “Okay,” Peter says, finally. He moves back, and the faceplate flips open. “Can you walk? You were sitting for like, a really long time. And we just evaded an explosion, so...there’s that.”

They did it. They did it. Tony’s elation covers up his nerves, softens their edges.

“Sure I can, Iron Man,” Tony says, grinning at him.

“Um, please.”

Peter helps him to his feet, and the walls are still crackling, dust and debris falling.

“Okay,” Tony says, flexing his toes in his shoes. “Stay in the suit for now, just in case. Let’s get the hell out of here and find this asshole. Though, how we’re gonna do that, I’ve got no goddamn clue.”

Peter keeps one metal arm around Tony’s waist, the faceplate snapping back down. “Oh, I totally snapped a tracker on that guy before he knocked us out, I just gotta give Friday the codes.”

Tony’s heart does a little leap, and he beams at Peter. Well, Iron Man Peter. “Yeah, you’re—you make a pretty good partner, kid. Gonna give Rhodey a run for his money.”

“Ah, I’m definitely telling him that,” Peter says, as they turn a corner.

“I’ll deny it.”

“I’m totally recording everything right now.”

Tony snorts. “Typical,” he says. “Okay, let’s go get the dickhead who trapped me in a goddamn bomb chair.”

“Yes,” Peter says. “And on the way you can tell me what other tech I’m coded to. Jets? Oh! Do I have a special lab somewhere I can get into?”

“You’re just gonna have to see,” Tony says. “Process of elimination.”

The kid groans, and they follow the trickling water out of wherever the hell they are.

#tony stark #peter parker #iron man #spider-man #spiderman #my fics #iron dad

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artificialqueens · 5 years ago

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The same damn hunger (to be touched, to be loved, to be anything at all) (branjie) - writworm42

A/N: Vanessa is the CEO of a hotel chain, in town for the night. When she goes back to her bartender roots, an intriguing guest just happens to catch her eye.

Title from Strangers by Halsey & Lauren Jauregui. For Holtz, who is also a champ who beta-ed and consistently challenges me to be better <3

Before she’d bought the first hotel, before she’d expanded it into a chain, before she’d even thought about getting into the hospitality industry at all, Vanessa had been a bartender. It was how she’d gotten her start, in a way; twenty years old but lying on her resume, mixing drinks and batting her lashes for the patrons of that first little inn, the budget place trying to be bigger than itself with a cash bar stocked pretty much exclusively with vodka, rum, and gin, plus whatever soda was in the lobby’s dispenser that day.

It was funny what you could do with vodka, rum, and a charming smile. What a shitty boss could motivate you to do. So when Vanessa had saved up her tips, took out a loan, saved the slowly-failing inn and turned it around with help from a few friends she’d made with deeper pockets than she’d ever had, it was no surprise that she’d caught the bug. She’d gotten more and more ideas, more and more cash to keep pushing them forward.

Fast forward eight years and business at Mateo Hotels is booming, rocketing Vanessa towards a very comfortable place within orbit of the Top 30 Under 30.

Still, every once in a while, it’s nice to shed the businesswoman persona, reconnect with that twenty-year-old googling how to make a white Russian with milk she’d stolen from the breakfast bar. The twenty-year-old that had brought in a lot of business by herself, because when all you have is vodka, rum, gin, and your own boredom, of course you’re going to start mixing your own cocktails.

Which is exactly how she winds up behind the bar in one of her Nashville chains, taking a break from her most recent inspection-slash-business-meeting to test her skills, make sure she’s still got it. The executives don’t mind–after all, what are they gonna say, no, miss CEO, you can’t make us some extra money with some of the drinks you coined the recipes for? And anyway, it’s not like any of the other staff would know who she is–she’s never been one of those old white ‘from-the-ground-up’ phonies who puts up pictures of herself shaking hands with a mayor in her lobby. So she lets her hair down, shakes it out a little, slides out of her business suit and into a black top like all the other bartenders wear, and starts working her magic.

When she’s mixing drinks, she’s in the zone–nothing can knock her off her focus, take her eyes away from the glasses she’s working on, stop her hands from moving. She’s a professional, after all, and what’s more than that, an artist, hell bent on not just creating a good final product but also putting on a wonderful show.

Usually, at least. Tonight, it’s a little different–because when Vanessa looks up from the drink she’s sliding to a patron, she catches eyes with someone just behind him, a blonde woman who meets her gaze with a challenging smirk and a brief, but all-too-noticeable wink.

Vanessa can’t help but look up and try to make sure the blonde is watching almost every five seconds after that, hoping for an approving look or another wink or just another flash of that gorgeous, red-framed smile. She gets it every time, and within five minutes, she can’t focus anymore–her fingers wind up in a drink by accident, and she makes up her mind then and there that she’s in no condition to keep playing bartender right now.

No, the only thing she wants to do is slide out from behind the bar, lick the flavoured tonic from her fingers, and walk right up to the blonde, who’s still watching with a satisfied smirk.

“Took you long enough.” The blonde muses when Vanessa finally comes up to her, takes the other woman’s cue to sit down next to her. “I was starting to think you’d never get the hint.”

“Oh, I got the hint.” Vanessa licks her lips, suddenly breathless, because the woman is even better up close–Vanessa can tell her skin is soft and smooth just from looking at it, and her face is cool, confident, painted with the smug knowledge of her own irresistibility. Her fingers tap on the table in a mesmerizing, somehow graceful rhythm, and when Vanessa watches them, she can’t help but notice that even though the nails are painted a deep purple, they’re cut short and filed smooth.

This woman didn’t come to play, and Vanessa?

She’s completely taken by it.

“Name’s Brooke.” The blonde’s voice drops to a silky whisper, those perfect hands sliding towards Vanessa’s own, fingertips brushing against hers. “What’s yours, sweetheart?“

There’s a beat, a moment where Vanessa seizes, because a sudden thought flashes through her mind with a sudden risk presenting itself. If she says her name, the woman might put two and two together. While that might be fine, it may also make Vanessa vulnerable - or worse, make the woman feel like she’s got to fuck Vanessa, because otherwise she’s brushing someone important off. At the same time, what’s she going to do, come up with a fake name? It’s a viable option, sure, but if the woman wants to fuck again after, or if someone recognizes her and calls out her name, then it’s all over.

“Vanessa.” She finally decides, her name coming out on the heels of one gasping breath, because fuck it, she’ll take the chance–there’s enough Vanessas in the world, after all, and if the blonde hasn’t recognized her by now, then there’s a low chance a first name will make anything click.

“Your friends gonna notice if you’re gone, Vanessa?” Brooke smiles, leans back a little, because she knows, already knows what Vanessa’s answer is going to be, what’s inevitably going to happen next.

“Don’t you worry about that, sweetheart, I’m just here for the night.” Vanessa licks her lips, and for a moment, she’s almost sure that she can see Brooke blush. But if she did, then she regains her composure awfully fast, because that predatory look comes back in her eyes, gleams with approval and excitement at the thought of her prize.

“Then what d’you say we get out of here, make use of that one night you got?” Brooke purrs, and her hand is back on Vanessa’s, this time gripping it tightly.

“Sounds like it’s about time, baby.” Vanessa smiles. “Let’s go.”

Brooke chuckles a little to herself, gestures for Vanessa to get up from her chair.

“After you.”

–

Vanessa’s overcome with a rare shyness when she swipes the key in her door, lets Brooke into her room. It’s a pretty standard suite–Mateo Hotels may not be a bargain chain, but it certainly isn’t the Ritz, either. Still, there’s something vulnerable about letting Brooke into the space, this space that’s hers but not really. One she hasn’t even unpacked in yet, only dropped her suitcase, because she doesn’t plan on staying for more than the night before traveling back to HQ in LA.

Come to think of it, if it were anyone else, Vanessa probably wouldn’t think twice about the whole arrangement, about what they could gather from the way her room looks like it has no occupants at all. But Brooke is taking her time getting in behind her, scanning the room with eyes that pick it apart, flitting from surface to surface, all around the floor.

“You weren’t shitting me when you said just for the night.” Brooke whistles. “I wish I was this clean.”

Fuck. Vanessa probably looks strange now, uptight or square or something–definitely not the kind of girl someone as confident, as sure of herself as Brooke seems would want.

All is not lost, though; if there’s one thing the industry has taught her, it’s how to problem-solve, be flexible. In the crudest of terms–how to sell a room and make sure someone wants to spend the night in it.

“Y’know, I got in and didn’t have no time to rest.” Vanessa puts on a sigh, closes the distance between herself and Brooke by grabbing the blonde’s waist, stroking her sides. “Ain’t even had time to test the bed.”

“Yeah?” Brooke snorts, but smiles despite herself.

“Yeah.” Vanessa gets up on her toes, presses a light kiss to Brooke’s cheek. “‘S’okay, though. You’re gonna help with that, ain’t you?”

“Not if you keep going with cheesy lines.” Brooke deadpans, but it’s a lost cause–because she’s already gripping Vanessa back, pushing her closer as the smaller woman kisses along her jawline, down to her neck, teasing pecks that make Brooke’s breath hitch already.

Perfect.

“Why don’t you go sit on the bed, pretty girl?” Vanessa pulls back suddenly, a flash of satisfaction running through her when Brooke fails to stifle a quiet whine at the loss of contact. “Mami’s gotta get ready, so sit tight.”

A wink, a little wave, and Vanessa’s off to the bathroom, acutely aware of and perfectly content with how Brooke is watching her as she goes.

Truth be told, Vanessa doesn’t actually have to get ready, not really–she takes off her jacket and pants, untucks her shirt so that it can fall just below her ass. Takes a second to play around with her hair. Mostly, she wants to build the suspense–get Brooke thinking about what’s going to happen, maybe even scheming in her own right. Vanessa can’t wait to see what Brooke is coming up with, almost as much as she can’t wait to see how she can turn those expectations on their head. And when she finally re-emerges from the bathroom, she’s not disappointed.

“My, my.” Vanessa tsks as she walks towards Brooke, who’s stripped down to her underwear and is waiting with a smirk on her face.

“You aren’t the only one who had to get ready, Mami.” Brooke purrs. “But I have to say, I’m disappointed,” she looks Vanessa up and down, her eyes stopping at the hem of the younger woman’s shirt, “seems I’m underdressed.”

“For now.” Vanessa winks, and Brooke laughs, scooting over to make room for Vanessa on the bed.

“Can I kiss you?” Vanessa drops her voice to a whisper, leaning in as she brings a hand to rest on Brooke’s thigh, thumb stroking at the pale, smooth skin.

Brooke doesn’t answer; only brings her hands up to Vanessa’s cheeks, pulls her in to close the distance between them completely. Brooke tastes like lipstick and cigarettes, and the minute Vanessa’s lips touch hers, she can’t get enough. They keep making out even as Brooke’s hands snake to Vanessa’s front, hurrying to undo the buttons of her shirt. Vanessa, for her part, lets her hands travel over Brooke’s sides, nails leaving light scratches that make the blonde shiver. Finally, Vanessa’s shirt is open, and Brooke’s hands are on her tits, and–

Vanessa pulls herself away, and then there’s that whine again, that pitiful, frustrated noise Brooke lets out and that Vanessa wants to hear again and again. Because riling Brooke up, making her desperate–it’s absolutely intoxicating.

“Lie down on the bed, baby girl.” Vanessa orders, but Brooke frowns.

“You’re not–but you–Are you saying you want to top?” Brooke looks down at Vanessa’s hands, at the long, perfectly-manicured acrylics that frame her nails, and it’s cute, really, that Brooke thinks Vanessa wouldn’t have thought this far ahead. So she licks her lips, looks directly at Brooke, and takes each press-on nail off one by one, grin getting wider with every finger.

“Any more problems?”

“No.” Brooke squeaks, looking from Vanessa’s hands to her eyes before the blonde’s face melts into an excited smile. “No problems at all.”

“Good.” Vanessa laughs, leaning down to plant a soft, slow kiss on Brooke’s lips, “That’s what I like to hear.”

Brooke gasps into Vanessa’s lips as the kiss deepens, little sighs and whimpers sounding in Vanessa’s ears as she eases the taller woman back onto the bed, brings her hands to her face and strokes her cheeks with her thumbs. It’s adorable, absolutely addicting, and only spurs Vanessa on further as arousal lights between her legs, her panties already starting to become slick and damp as she continues to play with Brooke, find out what makes her tick.

“Remember how you said you were underdressed?” Vanessa moves her kisses away from Brooke’s mouth, trailing them instead down her neck, licking and sucking over the sharp line of her collarbone.

“Yeah?” Brooke’s voice is breathless, and Vanessa can’t help but giggle against Brooke’s skin because it’s cute, how worked up she already is, absolutely adorable.

“I think it’s quite the opposite.”

Brooke barely has time to react before Vanessa is pulling her up, grabbing her bra and undoing it to replace the cups with her hands, kneading and grabbing and rolling Brooke’s already-hardening nipples between her fingers.

“That feel good, sweetheart?” Vanessa grins when Brooke sighs in relief, leans into her touch. She nods, and Vanessa can’t help but feel a surge of happiness in her chest, because she’s proud of herself, she really is, that she can make Brooke feel so good, make her come undone so fast. And Brooke, for her part, seems to be enjoying it just as much.

“More, please, I need your mouth, fuck .” Brooke grabs Vanessa by the waist, holds her down with a firm grip that makes Vanessa’s skin burn with need.

And Vanessa can’t resist–she leans down, sucks a nipple into her mouth, swirls her tongue around it and grazes it with her teeth, reveling in each tiny gasp or moan the movements elicit from Brooke. And then Brooke’s hands are knotted in Vanessa’s hair, tugging just a little, spurring Vanessa on, and she’s completely gone, unable to hold back anymore.

“Lie back down.” Vanessa kisses her way across Brooke’s chest, darts her tongue over the blonde’s other nipple. “I wanna take care of you.”

“ Please. ”

Vanessa travels down the rest of Brooke’s body with an uncontrolled hunger, kissing and licking and nipping skin without knowing what it is, where her mouth is falling, because she doesn’t care. It’s not important, because no matter where her lips land, they’re on Brooke, and that’s all Vanessa needs.

“So wet.” Vanessa chuckles when she finally reaches Brooke’s hips, slides a hand between her legs to stroke along her slit. “Are you already that horny, baby? Already such a mess for me? Awww, that’s so cute.” Vanessa emphasizes the statement with a flick towards Brooke’s clit, grins when the blonde’s hips twitch in response.

“Please, Vanessa, please, just take them off–”

“Aw, but I’m having so much fun.” Vanessa pouts, resuming stroking over Brooke’s pussy through her panties, adding more pressure little by little. “Besides, I think you could be more desperate, don’t you?” Vanessa brings her fingers to Brooke’s clit, presses down and circles it lightly, and Brooke moans, shakes her head.

“Please, holy fuck, please…”

Well, the teasing was fun while it lasted.

Vanessa takes Brooke’s panties off slowly, one last bit of torture that makes her squirm and whine with impatience before Vanessa finally plants a kiss at the top of her slit, licks along it and around her folds.

“ Fuck ,” Vanessa moans up against Brooke’s cunt, making her shiver, “You taste so fucking good.”

Vanessa kitten-licks around her clit, finally sliding home with just the slightest flick of her tongue and smirking when it elicits a moan from Brooke, her hips bucking and hand once again snaking into Vanessa’s hair. It’s enough to make a flash of heat run through Vanessa’s whole body as she sucks a kiss on Brooke’s cunt, take her breath away as she licks a slow circle around it.

“God, you’re good at that.” Brooke lets out a breathless laugh as Vanessa continues to lap at her pussy, tease her clit.

“Hmm.” Vanessa hums, picking up her pace a little and feeling a surge of pride when Brooke goes rigid, whimpers and moans and presses Vanessa’s face closer.

“You want me to do even better, sweetheart?”

The idea comes to Vanessa’s mind in a split second, but it sticks there, seeming better and better with every heartbeat that pounds against her chest. She slides a hand away from its resting place on Brooke’s leg, trails it down her inner thigh, brings it to her entrance, and she knows in an instant she made the right choice, because Brooke is coming to life, her movements against Vanessa’s face suddenly frenetic and the grip in her hair getting that much tighter.

“Please, want your fingers, please…”

“How many?” Vanessa asks, although she’s already teasing at Brooke’s cunt with two fingers, waiting to push them inside.

“I can take three.”

God, this is gonna be fun .

Vanessa pushes inside with two fingers first, slow and shallow pumps to warm Brooke up and feel her out, find out what makes her tick. As it turns out, it’s easy to find Brooke’s spot–it’s nice and shallow, and the minute Vanessa hits it, Brooke moans, her legs trembling as Vanessa continues to suck at her clit, hooking her fingers over her spot to tease at it all the while. A few more kisses, a few more licks, and she pulls out just a little, adds a third finger amidst babbling pleas to hurry up, more, more, God, please, I need more.

Vanessa’s always been relentless when topping, but Brooke is by far the most responsive girl she’s ever fucked, and it’s amazing, it really is, how loud she’s getting, how much she’s shaking, how hard she’s begging for Vanessa to make her come. And when she finally gets her wish, finally gets pushed over the edge with a final thrust, a final kiss over her clit, her moans are probably the most satisfying sounds Vanessa’s ever had the privilege of hearing. She licks and fucks Brooke through her orgasm, gradually decreasing her pace before pulling out, and when she finally comes back up, licks her fingers clean and pulls Brooke in for a kiss, Brooke is still shaking, still panting, still whispering.

“That was amazing, baby.” Brooke sighs, sated, as she settles back down on the bed, opening her arms for Vanessa to move in closer, nestle into her embrace. “You’re always so fucking good, you know that?”

“Why else would you marry me?” Vanessa winks, and Brooke laughs, plants a kiss on top of her head.

“I liked the stranger game though, it was fun.” Brooke smiles, her eyes twinkling, and fuck, Vanessa could stare at those eyes forever, she really could. Especially now that she’s revisited such an exciting time in her past, a time where she was seeing them for the first time.

“Play it again next week?” Vanessa suggests, and Brooke nods, smiling.

“It’s a date.”

#rpdr fanfiction #brooke lynn hytes #vanessa vanjie mateo #branjie #lesbian au #smut #writworm42 #tw mommy kink

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dobrienbabe · 6 years ago

Text

Remember Us || Stiles Stilinski

Pairing: Stiles Stilinski x pregnant!reader

Word Count: 2720

Summary: You are pregnant with Stiles child during season 6a. Enough said.

Warnings: 6a spoilers, teen pregnancy, pregnant in high school

Request: oh gosh I can’t believe i forgot! prompt 43 with Stiles Stilinski. i’m so sorry!

Prompt: 43. “Do you think it’s possible that I…might be… pregnant?”

Note: Thank You for requesting this! This is set season 6a. It was kinda a fun thing for me to write. I hope you like it and Thank you for re-requesting.

So this was supposed to be posted yesterday, But i wanted to add something more to it. I think it flows better now. I hope you like it.

This is obviously already been posted, but since I started my smaller blogs, I wanted all my work for each fandom in one place. Instead of just reblogging everything I figured that I would repost it.

Request/Taglist

Masterlist

“Stiles,” you called from your sleepy daze. You reached to the other side of the bed feeling around for your boyfriend. You found his clothed chest beside and he laced his fingers in yours pressing a kiss to your knuckles.

You had stayed over at his place the night before after some freak supernatural incident in the woods. Stiles and Scott came across a car that only held a little boy; his parents were missing without a trace of them anywhere beside a hole in the windshield. Stiles was freaking out really bad and had insisted that you come over and spend the night claiming he just needed to hold you.

You didn’t fight him. He was too worried. You just got in the car and drove over to his place after the meeting in the junkyard. He had gotten there first and greeted you with a warm hug before he dragged you to his room. The two of you had stayed up into the early hours of the morning just talking about your future and the rest of your senior year.

“Morning,” Stiles voice whispered sending chills up your spine. You opened your eyes to be greeted with the bright light coming through the blinds and Stiles’s sleepy gaze.

Your hand rested on his chest sliding closer to him.

“How did you sleep?” Stiles asked.

“Pretty good,” you said rubbing his clothes chest. “What about you?”

A lazy smile creeped its way onto Stiles face. He intertwined his fingers in yours. His other arm found its away around your waist pulling you closer to him. He pressed a quick peck to your lips.

“Better with you here,” he said. “Are you feeling well enough to eat? Do you want breakfast?”

You let a smile creep onto your face as well. You moved to snuggle your face into his neck. You weren’t really in the mood for food. Mornings were the worst and had been for about three weeks now. You had gone to the doctor questioning why only to find out that you were pregnant.

You told Stiles right away, and he was beyond happy. It wasn’t really the best time in either of your lives to have a baby, but that didn’t change the joy you felt over it.

You had told your parents and Noah. Neither Noah nor your parents were too excited about it, but they were still super supportive of the two of you. You hadn’t told your friends yet knowing how they would react, but you were planning to soon.

“I don’t think it’d be a good idea to eat,” you said stifling a laugh. “I don’t need to puke it back up in math.”

Stiles laughed and pressed a kiss to your temple before he got up out of bed. You watched as the half-asleep teen dragged his feet over to his dresser, and started to get ready for the day. You rolled onto your back as you starred up at the ceiling above you. The opening and closing of drawers was the only sound that you could here.

You sat up in bed and watched as Stiles changed his clothes. You crawled out of Stiles’s bed after he pulled on his jeans and walked over to him. You wrapped your arms around his waist as he pulled off his bed shirt.

You put your head on his shoulder. You could feel him smile as he rubbed the top of your arms.

“Babe, you need get ready,” he said. “We have to go to school soon.”

You just groaned and buried your face into his shoulder. His rough hands ran gently and soothingly over your arms. Stiles turned around to face you. Looking up at him, he placed a kiss sweetly on your lips and rubbed your arms.

“Okay, go so I can get dressed,” you said pushing him away. He let out a hearty chuckle before walking out closing the door behind him.

You stood off to the side watching as your boyfriend kept walking into Malia’s senior picture to add something more about his theories about last night. You couldn’t help but laugh at his always so enthusiastic behavior.

“You’d think he’d just realize to wait,” Scott said beside you.

“I don’t think he will ever realize,” you said shaking your head.

“I’m going to have to agree with Y/N on that one,” Lydia said just laughing with you as Stiles interrupted yet another take of the picture.

You just walked around to sit at a table. Lydia and Scott got books out of their bags right away and got to work as you just watched Stiles continue to get into Malia’s photo. You sat in between the banshee and the werewolf. Eventually, she gave up and came over to join the group.

“Why would I want to ruin your yearbook photo?” Stiles said trailing behind the were-coyote. Malia moved to sit on the table behind Lydia before she spoke again.

“Maybe because you haven’t signed up for your own photo yet?” Malia said like she just came up with the best explanation the world had to offer. You stood up from your seat to wrap your arm around your boyfriend’s waist. He rested his arm around your shoulder loosely as he pulled you closer to his side.

“Yes, he did,” you said nudging stiles. He dug around in his pocket looking for the small paper. He finally found it and pulled it out to show her. Stiles struggled to unfold the paper from it’s small square with one hand. He offered it to her.

“See,” he said not even looking at it. You caught a brief glance. It was completely blank. You furrowed your eyebrows. You sat there and filled out the paper with him.

“It’s blank,” Malia said glancing between you, Stiles and the paper. You turned to Lydia see she was still seemingly uninterestedly starring at her book.

“Or maybe you’re sublimating the stress of graduating by avoiding key milestones,” Scott said. The words coming from Scott’s mouth had caused even Lydia to turn to him shocked. You had been helping Scott with his school work, so it wasn’t really a surprise for you, but for everyone else it was life changing.

“Psych paper,” Scott said. Everyone just had a moment of realization. You patted Scott’s shoulder. A resounding Oh filled the air from your friends.

“Hey, the deputy searched the car,” Stiles said bringing the attention back to him. “No slugs, no exit holes. And the addresses Alex gave my dad, it’s an abandoned house.”

No one said anything. They all just stared at him. You weren’t sure where he was going with it either. You slipped out from under his arm to return to your spot on the bench.

“Come on!” Stiles was getting frustrated as he tried to make his point. “Missing parents, suspicious guy on horseback, magic bullet. Who’s comin’ with me?”

“I’ve got to retake my photos,” Malia said shaking her head.

“Yeah, not interested,” Lydia said causing you to laugh a little.

“I’m free,” you said waving at Stiles. He just frowned and shock his head as Scott spoke up next.

“I cannot miss any more class,” Scott said.

“Scott, Scott,” Stiles said looking at his best friend pleadingly.

“I missed 38 last semester,” Scott said. “And Lydia’s mom is the only reason I’m still in school. I can go after school.”

You looked at him with wide eyes. 38 was way more than you had thought. Everyone else shared the same look. Lydia almost had a smug look on her face in reference to her mother’s power at this school. You thought Scott’s proposal though was reasonable.

“You know what?” Stiles was frustrated at this point. “Forget it. I’ll take Liam.”

Stiles let out a deep sign. You stood up and pressed a sweet kiss to his lips. His shoulders relaxed. He put his arm around your waist again and turned to look for Liam. His gaze quickly found the young teen and he pursed his lips in disgust.

You looked over to see him making out with Hayden. You scrunched your nose up and you looked to your friends you were also staring at the young teens with a look og disgust.

“Yeah, I’m not taking Liam,” Stiles said.

“Mmhmm,” Scott said.

“Sorry babe,” you mumbled to him. You were willing to go, but Stiles was in no way planning on taking his pregnant girlfriend leaving him with no viable options until after school.

“hey can I get a candid?” the yearbook photographer asked.

“Uh, no,” Stiles said as Scott agreed and pulled Stiles to the bench. Stiles pulled you along with him landing in his lap.

You leaned into your boyfriend as his arms circled your waist.

“Okay fine,” Stiles started in a hush whisper to Scott. “If you can explain to me why this is blue, I’ll let it go.”

You turned to see the piece of glass that Stiles had taken from the broken windshield of the car last night. Stiles turned to the camera as you looked over Scott’s face as he analyzed the shard. You knew that look.

“Everyone smile,” the photographer said bringing your attention back to her. You smiled widely as she snapped a picture of the five of you.

Everything had been going just fine. The past month nothing had really happened. Everything had been complaining that something felt off, but there was no real indication that anything was different.

It was odd that you had gone so long without any sort of supernatural occurrence. You were trying to not let it bug you.

You walked down the school hallway to your locker at a leisurely pace. You weren’t feeling good as of late, but you were pushing through. You figured it was some sort of lingering stomach bug which was luckily calming down as of lately.

“Hey, Y/N,” Lydia called out to you. You turned to see her walking with Malia as you got to your locker.

“We were thinking,” Malia started excitedly.

“You haven’t been out on a date in a while,” Lydia said cutting off Malia’s suspenseful draw. “You need to get back out there.”

“Are you saying you are trying to set me up?” you said raising an eyebrow at the grinning teens in front of you.

“Exactly,” Malia said emphasizing by pointing at you aggressively. It looked out of place for the conversation, but you brushed it off as her social awkwardness.

“I was thinking Dave,” Lydia said. She had a wide smile on her face. You were gawked at the strawberry blonde girl. Malia took a moment and mirrored your look.

“Isn’t he with that Audrey girl?” Malia asked. Lydia didn’t seem phased a bit by mention of Dave’s girlfriend.

“Aubrey,” you said nodding. “They’ve been dating for four months.”

“Whatever, he’s still cute,” she said waving her hand in front of your face.

The bell rang alerting you that it was time for class. You were glad for the opportunity for escape.

“Remember we have a pack meeting at Scott’s house after school,” You said as you grabbed your math textbook out of your locker.

“Yeah, yeah,” Lydia said. Turning and walking away. “I’ll see you later.”

You closed your locker as Malia still watched you move around. There felt like something you needed to say to you, but you weren’t sure what it was.

“Bye,” you said without another word the both of you turned around and walked in opposite directions.

You stood in Scott’s room pacing back and forth practically making a rut in the carpet below your feet. Scott, Malia, and Lydia sat on your bed looking at you expectedly. You had called a pack meeting to talk to them, but you weren’t sure how to actually tell them what was going on.

You looked over to them. Malia seemed to be getting annoyed as you all just sat there, but Lydia was on her phone passing the time. Scott just kept looking at you trying to figure out what to say to make this better.

“So, I’ve been sick a lot lately,” you said nervously picking up your pace. Lydia set her phone down and diverted her attention to you.

“Is that why you always seem to smell like vomit in the mornings?” Malia asked with no shame. You looked down embarrassed. You loved the girl but you really wished she would understand why it was mean to be so blunt all the time.

“Yes, and I’ve been trying to come with all the possible things that could cause that,” you said looking into all your friends’ eyes as you spoke.

Scott nodded along while Lydia actually looked intrigued about where you were going with this. Malia looked more confused than anything else.

“Do you think it’s possible that I…might be… pregnant?” you said. You started playing with your fingers nervously. Scott looked more shocked than you had seen him in a long time, but Lydia seemed like she already knew.

“Okay, not to be completely oblivious or anything, but how would that work?” Malia said. “Last time I checked, you have to have sex to get pregnant, and honey I’m pretty sure you’re a virgin.”

Malia had a point. You couldn’t recall a single time in your life that you had had sex. Sure, you had kissed boys and gone on dates, but you had never taken it that far. You just had this feeling like something in your gut was telling you that you were pregnant.

“I know it sounds crazy,” you said looking at the baffled faces, “But I just feel like we need to check. I’ve been feeling like there’s something greater that’s off. I f I can prove this then maybe I’m right.”

You were practically pleading to your friends as they all looked at you like you were a complete lunatic. You looked to Scott. You knew he was feeling a little off to. You and him had had an conversation at length about it just yesterday.

“Come on, Scott. I know you feel it too,” there were tears budding at the corners of your eyes as you spoke. You just pleaded with him not breaking eye contact.

“Okay,” Scott said after a moment. “it wouldn’t hurt for you to take a test.”

You perked up at that. You made the three long strides across the room to your bag where you pulled out a pregnancy test you had purchased earlier that day.

“I guess it couldn’t hurt,” Lydia said skeptically.

“Okay, you realize how crazy this is, right?” Malia said. Lydia elbowed her in the side causing the girl to let out a small screech. “Fine whatever.”

“I’ll just got take this,” you said heading in the direction of the bathroom.

Sitting on the side of Scott’s tub you looked down at the picture of you with your three best friends. It felt like something was missing though. You turned the picture over in your hands and read the inscription on the back. ‘Remember Us’ is read in scribbled quick handwriting that you didn’t recognize, but it strangely brought comfort to your upset stomach.

The timer went off and Scott knocked on the door as he pushed it open enough to see you inside. He leaned on the door frame looking at you. He shared the same expression of scared that you did.

“Want me to be here while you check it?” Scott said. His eyes were soft as he looked you over.

“Please,” you said turning to collect the pregnancy test from beside you playing careful attention to not look at it. Scott sat down beside you and placed his large hand on your knee.

You took a deep breath as you looked to Scott. He was looking at your hand that was wrapped tightly around plastic device. Your fingers were turning white as you sat there not moving taking deep breaths to keep from hyperventilating.

“Ready?” he said. He squeezed your knee. You just nodded as you moved your hand to reveal the results.

Positive

“Now, we just have to figure out who the father is,” Scott said. Looking into your panicked eyes. Shit things just got more complicated.

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