#I can try again next year but I would also have to arrange travel to come back to china and then leave again lmao and like

[riverfigs]

my school is hosting a conference and I was thinking of submitting something, but I honestly haven't written a lot this year and the one idea I have is too large and I haven't done nearly enough research for it. also it is not actually written lmao

[pensat-i-fet]

All yours (Rúben Dias x Reader)

**So I got a couple of requests to write about being on holiday with Rúben after he posted some holiday content. And a more specific one involved this sort of fwb situation with some jealousy in the mix that inspired me a lot. And this is what I came up with. I always appreciate any feedback but this time it'd be interesting to know your thoughts since the tone and vibe (not the topic itself completely) of this is similar to a Rúben series I need to continue working on. So it'd be amazing to know how you guys feel about it. Enjoy reading!! ❤️**

Word count: 2947

Masterlist

Wattpad

"You're coming with us to our holiday, right?", asked Rúben when you got out of the shower.

"I don't know".

"What do you mean you don't know? You've travelled with us for the last 5 years. Do you have better plans?"

"I just…I don't know if it's the best idea now that…you know".

He got closer to you, smirking. "I might be having memory problems. Now that what?"

"You'll have other problems if you don't remove that annoying smug grin from your ugly face", you said, rolling your eyes and making him laugh.

When you tried to walk towards your closet, he stopped you wrapping his arms around your waist.

"Do you mean", he said, leaving kisses on your neck, "now that we stay in each other's beds instead of the guest rooms during our sleepovers? Because I only see that as a bigger reason for you to be there. I'm sure we'll find a way to have some alone time".

"But this is just something casual, Rúben. You’ve said it many times. What if I cockblock you? Or worse…you cockblock me!"

You noticed his arms holding you tighter for a heartbeat before he let go of you.

"We'll be fine. Please come with us, the boys always want you there. I want you there. You know that".

There was something in his tone that made you stop. Did he sound a bit…sad? But why would he? It’s just the summer holidays.

“Where are you going anyway? Same as always?”

“No, we’re going to Miami”.

He looked at your reaction, knowing you’d wanted to visit Miami for years. That was actually one of the reasons why he suggested that place as an option in the first place.

“I mean…”.

“I’ll send you the info when I finish booking everything”.

“I didn’t say yes, Rúben”.

“You said it with your eyes”.

“Oh yeah? What are my eyes saying now?”, you asked, glaring at him. “Stop smirking! You’re so annoying!”

"We are going to have so much fun!"

"Nothing is going to happen there. No one can know about this…arrangement. Or we'll never hear the end of it".

"Try and be a bit more quiet, then".

He was still laughing when the pillow hit his face and you took that opportunity to go get dressed. And to start planning what to pack for Miami.

                                      **

"I'm so hungover", you said when your little group of friends was waiting at the airport for your flight to the US.

"You sit with Rúben, then. He's probably still hungover too from the celebrations".

"As long as he doesn't puke again…".

"You're all so funny", said Rúben, rolling his eyes. He wasn't hungover but really tired after such a long season.

"You take the window seat. I'll be sleeping most of the time, anyway".

"Ok".

Trying to get comfortable, you started to notice it was a bit chilly on the plane.

"I need my jacket and your brother has my bag. I'll be right back", you said, trying to get up but Rúben stopped you.

"Just wear my hoodie", he took it off and put it in your lap, but instead of taking it you just stared at it. "What?"

"It's just that, wearing your clothes…that’s like couple stuff. And we’re not a couple".

"It's something you've done your entire life. Don't try to make it weird just because we are sleeping together now".

"Rúben!", your eyes widened and you also noticed the man sitting to your left staring at you two.

But he just shrugged and put his headphones on, ready to watch a movie. So you took the hoodie and put it on before trying to fall asleep quickly. But seeing Rúben sitting next to you made it harder to sleep. This whole friends with benefits thing was fun. I mean, it was Rúben you got to sleep with. But it was also…weird. You had always been friends and how were you supposed to go back to just friends once one of you found a partner? And why did that idea feel so wrong right now?

"Can't sleep?", he asked when he looked at you and saw you staring at his movie.

You shook your head, sighing.

"Come here".

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. Come closer so you can cuddle me. You'll fall asleep quicker".

"You think so highly of yourself, Dias…".

But you did as he said, moving closer so you could put your arms around his waist and place your head on his chest. His arm was around your shoulder and his hand kept caressing the top of your arm. And even if you were overanalyzing a gesture that was so normal for you two, in just a couple of minutes, you were already sleeping.

                                          **

Sleeping on the plane meant you were ready to enjoy the rest of the day once you landed in Miami. Everyone else just wanted to go to the beach and rest but you were itching to go out to explore the city.

"Come on!! It's so early. Let's go find somewhere to eat and then we can walk around the area".

"I'll go with you".

When Rúben spoke, everyone looked at him and you started to worry about them suspecting something. He was always volunteering to be with you, no matter what you suggested.

"Cool, Rúben can go with you and be your bodyguard for tonight".

"Bodyguard?"

"We aren't going to let you run around all alone in a foreign country…and at night".

"You don't even let me run around my hometown", you muttered, rolling your eyes at how overprotective they all were.

"You are like a little sister to us. We have to protect you. So off you go with big bro Rúben".

Shaking your head, you turned to leave the hotel, noticing Rúben right behind you.

For the first couple of minutes, you two walked in silence. You were too busy staring at your surroundings to say anything. And then you noticed Rúben putting his arm around your shoulders.

"What are you doing?"

"There are some weird guys looking at you".

"Thank you, big brother. What would I do without your protection?"

Rúben didn't find your sarcasm funny and when you were walking past an alley a couple of seconds later, he made you both walk inside it so he could push you against the wall and kiss you.

"I'm not your brother".

"You aren't my boyfriend either".

He shook his head, looking like he wanted to say more but not doing it. "Let's keep walking".

When you got back to the hotel, a part of you was hoping he would ask you to go to his room. Or that he would follow you to yours but he only wished you a goodnight and left you outside of the lift.

That's where you found him and the rest of the gang the next morning.

"Ready for today?"

"What's the plan?", you asked, hoping they didn't just plan on staying at the beach all day.

"Breakfast, beach, sightseeing and night out".

"I love that plan", you said, clapping your hands. "Maybe we can go shopping too".

After you had some breakfast, you moved to the private area of the beach so you could relax on the sunbeds for a couple of hours.

"I need sunscreen on my back!", you said, lifting your arm that held the bottle until someone grabbed it. You didn't even know who did, but when you placed your head on the sunbed, you saw Rúben sitting a couple of sunbeds away from you. So it wasn't him.

You closed your eyes, trying to relax. But anyone who bothered looking at Rúben's face would have noticed the tension in his features. He knew neither his brother nor his friends were interested in you in that way. They really meant it when they said you were like a sister to them. But still, seeing another man's hands on your body filled him with rage. He wanted to be the one putting the cream on your back and shoulders, leaving kisses all over your body while he applied it. But he had to look from afar. And it ruined his mood for the whole day.

By the time you made it to the hotel, you only had 30 minutes to get ready. But you already planned some cute outfits for the nights out so you ended up getting ready in less than half an hour.

"You're wearing that?"

His friend's words made Rúben look up.

"We are not doing this, boys. It's just a dress".

"One of us by your side the whole time, yeah", they joked.

"You'll have to catch me first!", you laughed, running outside of the hotel and making all your friends get up quickly to follow you.

You were so busy looking behind you that you didn't notice someone walking in front of you until you bumped into him.

"Oh my God! Sorry".

"It's ok", he said, holding your arm to steady you. "Are you ok? Were you running away from someone?"

His concern made you smile. And the fact that he was cute didn't hurt. "My friends but as a joke. They are alright…and right there".

"And they are all men".

"Yeah", you laughed. "But they act like little boys most of the time".

When they got to where you, and a stranger, were, they didn't know what to do. It was always hilarious to you how they didn't understand the concept of you talking to other men. You were one of the lads to them, but in moments like that, they realized you weren't a lad.

"We were going to grab a drink at a bar, do you want to come with us?"

"Sure", the guy, Sean, said. And you introduced him to everyone before making your way to the bar.

To say that Rúben wasn't happy would be an understatement. He just kept staring at you and Sean, while you were laughing and dancing. It should be him doing that with you, not a random dude whose last name you didn't even know.

"Another drink? How obvious".

"What are you muttering, grumpy?", asked his brother, who knew more than you and Rúben thought.

"Nothing…but I mean, what's that? The third drink he buys for her? We all know what he's trying to do".

"We are here to avoid that, stop worrying. No one is hurting her while we are around".

"I don't know. Maybe she wants it. Maybe she wants him".

Everyone could hear the bitterness in Rúben's voice.

"When she should want you, right?"

Rúben cleared his throat, not wanting to look at his brother after being so obvious.

"Do you think I don't know about you two?"

That made him look. "How would you…".

"You're not as discreet as you think you are but I get you wanted to keep it a secret so whatever", he shrugged. "What I didn't know was that there was more".

"More?"

"You couldn't be more jealous, Rúben".

"It's just something casual. But she's my friend…".

"No, she's my friend. That's why I'm careful to look her way every once in a while just in case she needs me. You are just looking at him and fantasizing about breaking his nose, probably".

Rúben shook his head and left to go to the bathroom. He just needed to splash some cold water on his face to hopefully get his common sense back. You were just friends with benefits. He didn't get to be jealous.

"Hey, bro".

Of course, it had to be Sean who he found in the bathroom. "Hey! Having a good time?"

"Do you have to ask?", he laughed, and Rúben didn't like that laugh at all. "Your friend is so hot. Is she good in bed too? She has to be, right?"

"How would I know? She's just my friend".

"Right…if my group of friends had a hot chick like her in it, we would all be just friends. Of course".

"What are you insinuating about her?".

Sean didn't realise how much bigger than him Rúben was until they were almost face to face.

"The way you all joke, the way she dresses…and she just invited me to buy her drinks before she even asked my name. Do you want me to believe you haven't all at least tried it once? I know girls like her".

Rúben pushed Sean against the wall, lowering his voice to try to not make a scene. But making sure his voice was menacing enough for Sean to get the message that he could break his nose, like his brother suggested, very easily.

"You don't know her at all. And what you're going to do is go out and excuse yourself and leave. Or you'll regret every word you've said about her…and all the ones you thought but didn't say out loud. Am I clear?"

Sean swallowed and nodded. And Rúben moved back just enough to allow him to leave the bathroom but to also take note of how strong Rúben really was.

He took a couple of deep breaths before going out and when he did, he couldn't believe what he saw. Not only was Sean still there, one of his hands was on your waist and he was whispering things in your ear.

Without saying a word to anyone, he walked towards you two and when Sean saw him, he just smiled.

"You don't want to make a scene here, do you?"

"What are you talking about?", you asked, looking from Sean to Rúben, confused about the whole situation.

"We are leaving", said Rúben, grabbing your hand so you can follow him.

"What? No! Why would I leave? I'm chatting with Sean".

"The guy who calls you a whore the moment you're not around? No, you are coming with me".

"He called her a what?"

All of your friends were now surrounding Sean. But you didn't care about any of them, tired of their overprotective nature towards you. So you let go of Rúben's hand and got out of the bar.

Rúben followed you, worried about your reaction.

"Wait! Stop walking. You're not even going in the right direction!"

"Maybe I'm going in the right direction because I'm going as far away from you as possible!"

"You didn't hear what he said about you. It was disgusting".

"If I want to be with a disgusting guy, it's my problem!"

"Now you're being ridiculous. Should we let you be taken advantage of?"

You finally stopped walking and turned to look at Rúben.

"What do you want from me? You are confusing me so much that my head is fucking spinning! First, you want us to just be fuck buddies and nothing else. Then you act all jealous whenever I talk to a guy but you keep on going out with girls so…how does that work? Do I get to be jealous too? Or it's only you who can?"

Rúben didn't know what to say. Because he was the first one confused by what he felt.

"What is it, Rúben? Because I don't know. And now you do what? Defend my honour? As if you were my boyfriend".

"You didn't hear what he said about you", he repeated, still mad at Sean's words.

"Let me guess. He thinks I'm fucking all of you, right? Like literally every man I meet that finds out I have a group of friends with only men in it", when you saw Rúben's face, you let out a sad laugh. "He was going to be a one-night stand, Rúben. Not my future husband. Who cares what he thinks about me?"

"I do! Hearing him say those things about you…".

"I said it the other day and I'll say it again. Rúben, you aren't my boyfriend. Stop acting like you are".

He swore under his breath when you started to walk again.

"Let's change that, then".

"Change what?"

"Let me be your boyfriend".

This time you stopped walking but feared turning to face him. Those were the words you had been dying to hear since the day you kissed while watching a movie months ago. You expected him to tell you he felt the same way about you. That he had been in love with you for years too. But he just proposed the stupid friends with benefits arrangement. And you said yes because at least you got to have him in some way. But it wasn't enough. You kept pushing him, telling him you weren’t a couple when he acted like your boyfriend. You wanted him to react. And he finally did.

"Don't just say it because you are angry at a dude calling me names, Rúben. You don't get to play with my feelings like that".

"I'm not playing. I thought I was scared of losing you as a friend but…I was just scared of facing my feelings. Of telling you how I felt and seeing you rejecting me".

"How do you feel?"

"I love you. And I know it's not the first time I tell you that but …I don't mean love as a friend. I mean, that too, of course. But I'm also in love with you. And I have been for a while"

He didn't know how to interpret the tears in your eyes. But a hug was always a good option, right?

"I love you too. But I need all of you, Rúben. Not just the little bits I've been getting these past months. It’s all or nothing".

"You have it all. All of it. I'm all yours. And I need you to be mine".

"I already am".

[jerzwriter]

Welcome Brooke Vivian Carrick!

In my headcanon for Tobias & Casey, little Brooke joins the family on August 30, 2025. But I'm delivering this incredible artwork to you one year earlier! This lovely commission is from none other than the incomparable @/artbyainna on Instagram. I've run out of amazing things to say about her, but she never, ever disappoints.

I had hoped to write more about Brooke's birth story—and maybe one day I will—but I really wanted to share this before the end of August. Some HCs about Casey's pregnancy and Brooke's birth can be found below. Maybe I'll write a little more about them one day. I sure do love this little family!

You can find some stories about this time in Round Two and more about Tobas x Casey on Tobias x Casey's Masterlist.

Caption Pietro (the cat): To me, he's saying "Not impressed!" 😂

Pregnancy/Birth Headcanons:

As with her first pregnancy with Sammy, poor Casey was pretty much nauseous for the first three months. That was even more challenging with a toddler underfoot. Fortunately, Tobias was always quick to tell her to rest, and grandmas Vivian and Rose were all too happy to step in when needed.

The minute morning sickness ends - Casey is famished and has tons of cravings. Tobias was better prepared for that this time. This time around, she wanted Greek salads and French fries most of all. See a little Insta edit about that below.

Tobias made it clear he wanted a big family; Casey made it clear she was the one who had the babies, and he agreed; it was her call. They never said definitively that this was their last, but they both believed it was. They really took time to cherish every moment of this special time.

Casey and Tobias were happy to see her sex drive was insane during this pregnancy, their friends asked how they noticed a difference? lol

Tobias arranged a 'babymoon' vacation when Casey was seven months pregnant. He wanted to go to one of their favorite islands in the Pacific, but he wasn't keen on Casey traveling so far from home while pregnant. He also wasn't about to take her to any states that could jeopardize her life if she were to have complications, so that limited his choices. They ended up at a luxury hotel in Cape May, New Jersey. He got a suite on a separate floor for Vivian and Rose, too. This way they got some relaxation and they could all spend time with Sammy - but Mom & Dad got plenty of alone time, too.

Once again, Tobias insisted they were having a daughter, so he never even looked at boy's names. Girl's names were also a challenge; neither could come up with anything they loved. Finally, his Aunt Cher suggested Eden or Brooke for Edenbrook. They loved the idea and decided to wait until the baby was born to see if she looked more like an Eden or a Brooke. Obviously, Brooke won! She was given Tobias's mother's name, Vivian, as a middle name.

For most of Casey's pregnancy, Sammy was unimpressed about the idea of a new baby, but toward the end, she decided it would be fun. So she was eager to meet her little sister, and when they brought Brooke home, Sammy really thought it was a present just for her.

Pietro, their cat, was obsessed with her baby bump throughout her pregnancy but had no interest in Brooke once she was born. Casey and Tobias joked it was an odd way to learn their cat was a Republican.

Like her sister, Brooke was anxious to enter the world and came a little earlier than expected. Her due date of September 20th became a birthdate of August 30th. Casey was in labor for 5 1/2 hours, but there were complications, and it was decided it would be best to have a C-section. Tobias was at her side through it all (and she was telling him to get a vasectomy most of that time....)

They were overjoyed when little Brooke was safely delivered, and they spent the next few days in the hospital suite marveling over her and trying to wrap their heads around the fact that they now had two little girls. Tobias was outnumbered, and he loved it.

Here's a little edit about Casey's cravings - well, at least the food cravings - this pregnancy lol

[a-reader-and-a-writer-for-all]

Difference of Opinions (Part 2)

Fandom: Spider-Man, Spider-Verse, Across the Spider-Verse, Miguel O'Hara, f!Reader Summary: Miguel left you for dead but you don't give up so easily. And with a little help from a friend, you soon find yourself safe at home. But your relief is short-lived as you are faced with some skeptical Spiders and the fact you will soon have to confront Miguel... Word Count: 4811 TW: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Glitching, Left for Dead, Betrayal Notes: Sorry that Miguel doesn't physically show up in this chapter, but he plays a major part in both the next chapter and the prequel!

Prequel, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Series Masterlist

*Spoilers for Across the Spider-Verse*

The glitching was getting worse. By the time you made it to your lab on the other side of the building, it was happening every thirty seconds or so. You stumbled through the door and crashed into one of the computer consoles as you lost your balance. Every inch of your body ached and felt as fragile as glass. It seemed as if the chemical bonds that held your atoms together were about to shatter leading to you basically vaporizing down to the atomic level. Which you guessed was what was about to happen. 

Another glitch hit causing you to crumple to the floor. Once your body realigned itself, you tried to climb back to your feet but you just didn’t have the strength to anymore. Instead, you rolled over to your stomach and began to drag yourself over to your desk. It wasn’t far, but by the time you reached it, you were barely able to lift yourself up to find the hidden compartment underneath. You pressed your thumb to the biometric lock and gave a huge sigh of relief when the drawer popped open. Reaching inside, you pulled out the small cloth bag and held it against your chest.

You knew you had to hurry before another glitch occurred, but you were so exhausted that your fingers were clumsy and fumbled as you tried to untie the bag. It took about three times as long as it should have, but you finally managed to open it up and you slid the contents into your hand. 

It had been over a year since you had last held the red amulet but it instantly made you feel stronger. Running your thumb across the spider carved in the stone, you couldn’t help but smile. This little piece of your homeworld didn’t contain any powers on its own, but it helped boost your powers and would hopefully ward off the glitches long enough to send your message. 

Sliding back to the floor and laying on your side, you pressed the amulet to your lips as you closed your eyes and concentrated. Your eyes rolled back in your head behind your eyelids and you felt your mind slip into the space where the intricate web of dimensions existed.

This was your power. This was what set you apart from every other Spider-Person and how you had helped Miguel build the Society in the first place. You had the ability to gaze through the veil and see the interconnected web that made up the Acracnoid Humanoid Poly Multiverse. It was also how you got the name Spider-Gazer, or Gaze. It was with this ability you first contacted Miguel’s dimension, traveled to different dimensions without a watch, mapped out hundreds of different Earths and their differences, discovered the Canon and helped Miguel and Lyla design a model so everyone could understand, and how you learned the dangers of trying to change the Canon. None of this would have been possible without you, and now all of your work had been turned against you. 

Once you sensed who you were looking for, you whispered, “Hobie, I know you can hear me. I need your help. Please. Come get me before it’s too late. I just want to help Miles. I promise. I–”

A glitch cut you off and you dropped the amulet as your body was once again torn apart and reassembled by this dimension trying to arrange your atoms to fit its unique configuration. As everything somehow managed to right itself once more, a small sob of pain slipped from your lips. Whatever strength or stability you had gotten from the amulet was now gone, and you felt yourself returning to this dimension as you no longer had the strength to continue reaching out across the multiverse. It was all over. This lab that you had built with Miguel and where you spent countless hours lovingly by his side was going to be your final resting place. 

You were about to die alone and abandoned. 

Your eyes returned to normal as you stabilized but you kept them closed, resigned to just giving in to the encroaching darkness. However, a moment later you heard the familiar crackle of a portal opening up and you peeled your eyes open to see the soft glow of a portal in front of you and a pair of heavy gray-scale boots appeared in your field of vision. 

There was the sound of a soft tongue click before a heavily-accented voice said, “Well, lookit here. The queen’s decided to join the rebellion, eh.”

Using the last of your strength to roll over slightly, you looked up at Hobie and gave him a weak smile. “Damn straight.”

His muted palette flickered back to the full-color spectrum as he nodded. “‘Bout bloody time.”

He reached out his hand to help you up but just before his fingers brushed yours, you were hit with a massive glitch and everything went black.

Even before you opened your eyes, you knew where you were. No matter how many dimensions you had traveled to or what sort of protection you used against glitches, no other world made you feel this sense of belonging and inner peace. You were home.

Someone had placed you on a bed and you ran your palm across the sheets beneath you, savoring the feel of the muted faded edges against your skin. It was such a welcome comfort after so long of nothing but hard lines and definitive boundaries surrounding you. You had missed being the only thing around that looked or felt like you.

Every universe was different in at least one way. Sometimes those differences were instantaneously recognizable like obvious aesthetic differences while others might be something so minute it was almost impossible to pinpoint (such as the Earth without the element protactinium or the one where all hummingbirds fly 2% faster than on other Earths). 

Though you hadn’t known it until you began to visit other dimensions, the main thing that set your world apart from others was the edges of everything. There was no sharp cut-off or firm line around you. Instead, your outline sort of dissolved away to nothing. It had been a terrifying encounter the first time you met Miguel with his pronounced angular cheekbones and well-defined figure. Though to be fair, he was just as perturbed by your appearance.

Miguel had once described it as if someone had smudged your edges until they were all blurred and hazy. Recently, Gwen had found a more artistic way of describing it. She compared most universes to art with sharp edges while yours was more of a soft edge, like the background of a watercolor or oil painting. But regardless of how others described you, the fact was you and those from your universe weren’t as solid or stable as most.

It was why the glitches hit you so much harder and more frequently than any of the other Spider-People. Your genetic structure was already less tightly bound than those from other dimensions which made you more susceptible to the glitches. That plus the fact your powers were connected to the multiverse and attracted multidimensional energy whenever you left your home meant that you couldn’t survive outside of your own universe without the stabilizers for very long. Something you had once learned the hard way.

Opening your eyes, you glanced around the room and were shocked to find it wasn’t just any room. It was your room. The one you had lived in a few years ago as you were learning how to traverse the multiverse. Back before you had left your world to help build the Spider Society. You wondered how Hobie knew to bring you here.

You were still in your Spider-Gazer costume though you spotted your mask laying on the table next to the bed. And right beside it was your amulet. Thankfully, Hobie must have grabbed it from where you had dropped it before he brought you here. You reached over and picked it up, a fresh wave of energy flowing through you as you did. For a moment, you had thought you might have lost it forever and that thought had devastated you. After all, it had been in your family for more generations than anyone could remember and it was what had originally helped connect you to the Acracnoid Humanoid Poly Multiverse. Your powers might not have come from it, but it amplified them which had allowed you and Miguel to accomplish all the things you had thus far. In fact, without the amulet, you never would have been able to reach out to Miguel in the first place. 

Miguel….

Honestly, you weren’t sure how to feel about what had happened or what he did to you. Loyalty and commitment to him and your mission to protect the multiverse meant everything to him and you had gone against both to try and help Miles. After everything he had been through, you could understand why Miguel was so devastated by your betrayal. However, that didn’t excuse the fact he left you caged and glitching on your own with only one possible outcome….

You were pulled from your train of thought as the door opened and Pavitr walked in holding a cup of water. But when he saw you looking back at him, he dropped the cup– spilling water across the floor –and run from the room hollering, “Guys! She finally woke up!”

A minute later, he returned with Gwen, Peter B. Parker, and Mayday trailing behind. As you struggled to sit up slightly, Mayday shot a web above your head and swung over to land directly in your lap. Before Peter could snatch her away, you drew her close and snuggled your face into the top of her knit spider-hat. She hugged you back as you cooed, “Hey there, little one.”

“Mayday…” her father muttered as he held out his arms, but you shook your head.

“It’s fine, Peter. I’m okay.” However, you noticed the nervous look that he exchanged with Gwen and you felt a deep pit open up in your stomach as you realized their concern. “Ah. You’re not worried about me. You’re worried about her with me.”

Peter shifted uncomfortably as he rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s nothing against you, Gaze. It’s just we don’t really know where you stand right now.”

“Well, I seem to recall the last time I saw you, you were heading back to your dimension while I was left glitching out of existence in a cage,” you snapped. “But I can see why I would be the one whose loyalty is being questioned.”

Peter stared at the floor, unable to meet your eye. “You’re right. You helped Miles, even when most of us tried to follow Miguel’s plan. But Gaze, you’re Miguel’s girl. I’ve known the two of you longer than almost any other member of the Society and I’ve seen what you are both willing to do for the other. How do we know you aren’t going to tell him we’re all here, what we are planning, and have him come to this universe to stop us?”

“First of all, may I repeat that he left me in a cage to glitch into nothing?” There was more venom in your voice than you intended and you felt Mayday cower slightly in your arms. Instantly regretting your tone, you kissed her softly on the top of her hat and released her to return to her father’s arms. She smiled up at you before she swung away, and you were glad at least she seemed to have forgiven you.

Taking a deep breath, you continued in a softer, calmer tone. “Second of all, Miguel can’t come to this dimension even if I wanted him to. We had a fight once and he kept following me across dimensions when I tried to walk away. After that, we decided that this– my home dimension –would be a safe place for me to go where he couldn’t follow when I needed some space. So I used my powers to ward it so he can’t enter this dimension. Even with his watch.

“And third of all, I love Miguel deeply, but in this case, he’s too blinded by his pain and loss to really look at this situation objectively. So you need me because I may be the only one who can get through to him and make him see that.”

Peter caught Mayday as he exchanged a look with Gwen. They both still seemed slightly skeptical of you and your motives and you tried to keep your frustration from coming back. They had been just as involved in Miguel’s plan to stop Miles as you had been, maybe even more so seeing as they were his friends. And you had tried to help Miles even as they had continued to try and make him see the logic of Miguel’s actions. They may not have agreed with how Miguel went about it, but they were full supporters of not letting Miles try to save his dad. Only you and Hobie had originally wanted to let him try and go against the Canon. Yet you were still the one who was considered a threat to Miles. The hypocrisy was unbelievable. 

But as Gwen opened her mouth to say something, Pavitr jumped in. “Guys, come on! Just trust her already!”

Gwen shook her head. “Pav, I’m sorry but you weren’t there. It’s more complicated than that.”

“No, but Hobie was and he trusts her. He never would’ve brought all of us here otherwise. And if Hobie’s willing to trust someone, that’s good enough for me.” He gave you a bright smile and you almost burst into tears.

“Thanks, Pav.” You glanced around at the other Spiders in front of you. “Well? He’s right. You either trust me and we start working together to save Miles or you don’t and you should get the hell out of my apartment and let me rest.”

Gwen shot Peter another look. After a moment’s hesitation, he shrugged in her direction as he placed Mayday in her carrier. “It’s up to you. You’re the one who gathered us all here and you’re the one who knows Miles the best. If you think we can trust her…”

Chewing on her lip, Gwen considered the situation. The longer she stared at you, the more the anger and frustration began to build in your chest once more. But just as you were about to tell them all to forget it and to get out of your dimension, Gwen said, “Pav’s right. Hobie doesn’t trust people easily so if he trusts her, then we should too.”

Peter sighed and held up his hands. “Whatever you say. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you if this goes sideways.”

“Yeah, Peter, because it’s never your fault is it?” you ruefully chuckled, ashamed by the way it caught in your throat. Seeing him still doubt you even now hurt more than you wanted to admit. Glaring at him, you spat, “It’s true what you said. I’ve known you for longer than almost anyone else, and yet you still turned your back on me and walked away when I needed you most.”

Peter’s face darkened as he looked away. Gwen must have noticed whatever fragile peace your group had settled on was at risk of falling apart already because she said, “Um, can I speak to Gaze on my own?”

Pavitr –who had been anxiously watching your back and forth with Peter– sighed in relief and nodded. With another wide smile in your direction, he hurried from the room. 

Peter began to follow him, but he hesitated at the door. Without looking back at you, he muttered, “I’m sorry. You were right. I left you there in that cage knowing what would probably happen. I wanted so badly to help you but I had Mayday and I couldn’t…. I couldn’t risk what Miguel might do to her if I tried to interfere.”

Your glare softened a bit at the pain and regret in Peter’s voice. You knew he was right. If Miguel was angry enough to turn on you, there was no telling what he would have done to anyone else who tried to cross him at that moment. And you would never want Mayday to be put in danger, despite what that meant for your own safety. 

So, you sighed, “It’s okay, I get it. Your daughter comes first. Always. And that’s how it should be.” You squeezed your amulet still in your fist tighter and tried not to think of your own family or what they had done to keep you safe. “Regardless of how I feel about what happened, you should know I think you’re a fantastic father and Mayday is so lucky to have you.”

Peter’s head whipped around to face you and you saw tears welling up in his eyes as his lips began to tremble. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something but then closed it again without a sound. Then he nodded once and hurried from the room.

Gwen watched him walk away for a moment before she shut the door. “That was really sweet of you to say.”

“He tries so hard with that kid, he deserves to know it isn’t in vain.” You pushed yourself up so you were in more of a sitting position and asked, “So now that we trust each other, where’s Hobie? I want to thank him for coming to get me.”

“He’s out looking for parts to build more watches. I have a few other friends I want to bring with us to look for Miles but we’re afraid that if we use Miguel’s watches, he’ll be able to track us.”

You nodded. “He can, so that’s good thinking. That’s why I called Hobie for help instead of any of you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I taught him how the watches worked a few months ago. I was tinkering with a broken one and he kept looking over my shoulder so I walked him through how they worked. Then I noticed him swiping equipment and parts ever since you all arrived at HQ earlier today. So when I needed help, I figured he would have assembled his own untrackable watch by now… Or at least, I hoped he had.”

Gwen shook her head. “But if you knew he was building his own watch before everything went wrong, why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’t you stop him?”

“Since when does Hobie listen to anything anyone tells him?” you chuckled. “If I would have told him to stop, it wouldn’t have made a difference. Besides, after seeing how worked up Miguel was getting over Miles already, I had a feeling it wasn’t a terrible idea for there to be a non-Society watch out there somewhere. Turns out, I was right.”

“So you did know Miguel was going to do that to Miles.”

Sighing, you said, “We all knew what he was planning, Gwen. And we all agreed to it so we could uphold the Canon. I just…. I never thought Miguel would take things that far.”

Gwen hesitated for a moment before she asked, “It can’t be true, can it? Did Miguel really leave you imprisoned without a watch knowing what that would mean? Did he…. Did he really leave you to die? I just can’t believe it. He loves you. Everyone knows that.”

You stared down at the amulet in your hands, unable to look her in the face. In a small voice, you said, “Miguel isn’t a bad man. He’s just been hurt in the past like all of us. And like all of us, he’s found ways to cope with his pain and loss. One of those ways is cutting out anyone or anything that he feels may hurt him again or betray him. And I did both.”

“But what Miguel was doing was wrong!”

“You didn’t see it that way at first.” You lifted your eyes to stare at Gwen and it was her turn to look away. “I’m not judging you, Gwen. I know how hard it had to be to lie to Miles about what was about to happen and to try to keep him from stopping it. We’ve all had to accept the losses that come with being a Spider–” Your mind once again flashed to your mother and late fiance, but you quickly push them from your thoughts “– but Miles is new to this. He may have lost his uncle a while ago, but finding out he was also about to lose his father was never going to be an easy thing to accept.” You gave her a soft but pointed look. “Just like you refusing to go home because you can’t accept your own father’s impending death.”

“But that’s just it…” Gwen came and sat on the edge of your bed. “I did go home. Miguel sent me there and I saw my dad. He’s quitting his job which means he’ll no longer be a captain. He doesn’t have to die anymore! The Canon of my universe changed! So, maybe Miles can change his dad’s fate too!” 

You didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth. Canon events had shifted in the past, switched from one person to another, but they never failed to come to pass. Or if they did, it led to the potential collapse of that universe. Her father may no longer be the captain she was close to who would die, but that didn’t mean another captain wouldn’t take his place eventually. However, that was a conversation for another time. 

So instead, you gave her a small smile and nodded. “I’m glad, Gwen. Really, I am. And I agree that Miles has a chance to change the Canon. It’s why I tried to stop all of this before things got so out of hand. Miles is unlike anyone I have ever seen before. It’s true he’s an anomaly but he’s not a fatal one. I can see that he’s connected to the multiverse and the Canon and yet is also separated from it. I’ve never encountered anything like it before. I just wish I would have realized it sooner. Then maybe I could have convinced Miguel to let Miles at least try to save his father. Maybe then Miguel wouldn’t have… wouldn’t have–”

You shook your head, unable to finish the words that were too painful to say out loud. It had been one thing when you had snapped them in anger at Peter, but now, when you were calm and able to fully face what Miguel had done to you, it was different. You just kept seeing that dead expression on his face and the cold gleam in his red eyes just before he hurled you across the room. The sound of his complete lack of emotion as he snapped, “She made her bed, now she can die in it.”

You and Miguel had been in each other’s lives for so long. Even before you started your romantic relationship, the two of you had been extremely close friends and partners. Sure, you had had your ups and downs, but nothing anywhere close to this. At that moment, he truly hadn’t cared what happened to you. And even if there was a chance he changed his mind and tried to come back for you, it didn’t undo what he had done or said. But while your head continued to scream these things at you, your heart couldn’t let him go– at least not yet. 

However, if there was any hope of reconciling with Miguel, what you had planned next would obliterate that sliver of a chance. But it was the right thing to do.

Taking a deep breath, you said, “I know how to find Miles.”

Gwen stared at you in surprise. “What? How? I already checked Earth-1610 and he’s not there which means the Go Home machine messed up and he could literally be in any other universe.”

“How do you think?” you scoffed as you let your eyes roll back into your head and the room around you melted away into the familiar glow of the multiverse. “I just need something of his to tune into.”

“Here!” You felt Gwen jump off the bed and out the door. A moment later, you heard her return and place a soft piece of clothing in your hand. “It’s his jacket. I took this when I visited his place on Earth-1610. It’s pretty worn out so I’m guessing he wore it a lot.”

Feeling the residual energy radiating from it, you nodded. “Yeah, this should work. Just give me a few minutes.”

Mentally, you reached out into the tangled web of dimensions as you searched for the person who matched the feel of the jacket in your hand. You found several who were close– Miles Morales’s from other Earths –but not the one you were looking for. Finally, you were drawn to a cluster of Earths to your left and headed in that direction. A moment later, you caught a hint of what you were looking for. And what was more, your Miles didn’t seem to be alone….

Leaving the dimensional void, you sagged back heavily on your pillow with a soft sigh of exhaustion. Normally, a search like that would have barely registered to you, but you were still drained from being almost glitched out of existence. 

After collecting yourself, you nodded at Gwen. “I got him. He’s on Earth-42. And it seems he’s found the Miles of that universe.” 

“Oh!” Gwen said in surprise. “What does that mean?”

“Potentially nothing, but meeting your doppelganger from another dimension isn’t always easy to accept. You’ll need to approach the situation carefully when you go get him.”

“Me? What about you?”

“I’m going after Miguel.” You saw the skepticism spark on Gwen’s face. “It’s okay. I’m not going to tell him where Miles is. But while you guys go find Miles, get him home, and try to stop Spot so you can save his dad, I need to try and stall Miguel. Maybe I can finally talk some reason into him.”

At that, Gwen’s skepticism shifted to worry. “The last time you tried that, he left you for dead.”

“True, but I wasn’t prepared because I never imagined he would stoop to that level. Now that I know the extent he’s willing to go, I’m ready for him. I know Miguel better than anyone else. I know his strengths and weaknesses, and I know how to stop him if I have to. And if nothing else, I can buy you guys some time.”

“He could kill you. For real this time.”

“Yeah, he could.” You looked down at your amulet. You could still back out. Go with Gwen and the others instead of trying to face Miguel. But you knew this was their best chance for success, even if that meant you might not be there to see it. 

Sliding your amulet over your head and letting it fall to its rightful place on your neck, you said, “I should already be dead, but Hobie saved me. The least I can do is try to use that life I was given back to save my friends.”

Gwen took your hand and gave it a tight squeeze. “Thank you.”

You smiled and squeezed her hand back. “I just need a little more time to regain my strength. What I need to do takes a lot of energy and I’m just not there yet. But I should be ready by the time Hobie finishes the watches and you get your other friends on board. Then we’ll each go do what we have to in order to set things right.”

This wasn’t going to be easy. You still loved Miguel and you knew despite what he did that you would love him until your last breath. But this was no longer about the two of you. In fact, it never really was. Miles was different– special –and he might be the key to discovering a way to change the Canon for all Spider-People. No more destined loss, no more unavoidable pain. But only if Miguel will listen to you and what you have seen. And that was a really big what if.

As Gwen left the room to fill everyone else in and let you rest, you picked up your amulet from where it rested on your chest and placed a soft kiss on the cold stone. Sending out a small tendril of power through the multiverse in the hopes he might hear you, you thought, I’m coming, my love. Whether you’re happy to see me or not.

Taglist: @zebralover, @covenlovenn, @amecchii, @gram-cracker24, @keenzinemugstudent, @cubaton1551, @multifan-bitch, @princessbarnes19, @horneybeach1, @mellovespasta, @corpsebridenightamare, @leiosvnii, @littlefreakymunson, @newearth5s, @wokpokerface, @nickey-diano, @scoobdoobdoob, @froyoshow, @erensbbg, @nataliahemsworth, @bontensbabygirl, @freeingrebels, @g-on-ef, @123lmao123, @midnight-the-shadow-wolf, @elizabeth-von-winken-universe, @namjooningera, @owaowaowawa, @mizu-san, @daemonlover, @gullible-diamond, @unavoidabledirewolf, @freeingrebels, @antiherocorn101, @mintqueenjo, @eccedentesiast-sapphic

[crystalandparrot]

The Hardest Trial: Pt. 2

Learning Curve

This is SUNSPOT!! Or how I envision her. She's wearing a clip on bow tie and shorts that are WAY too big on her. I named her Mary, but again, I'll keep it a reader insert if thats what the people want. I dont mind changing it.

It's been three years since Bill arrived in his current predicament: stuck roaming a family's house like a ghost with only the smallest human to actually talk to.

Sure it wasn't the same as talking to Sixer, but the questions never got boring. It turned out that not only could this child see him, they could interact with them. Bill could touch and be touched...unfortunately only by one person and that person was a child, but better than nothing. Bill had yet to discover if his powers grew over his time in this state or if he was simply relearning how to use them, but Bill began releasing small bits of power he did not have in the Mindscape previously. Bill could lift things, with about as much grace and strength as a Poltergeist run on molasses, but he could lift things!

Over his time in the past, Bill also realized something was drawing him back to this child. A magnet? A string? A pull of some kind always, always, ALWAYS, brought Bill back to her. He could travel as far as the city's boundary, then POOF back home. It was only annoying a few times, then Bill got the gist.

Bill found it odd just how much time the little Sunspot's parents spent with her, he was almost positive a normal set of parents was next to their child almost 24/7. But they seemed to avoid her! Heck, Bill was the one to potty train her. Bill took it upon himself to teach the kid how to be a less annoying human (to him at least), taking the time to teach them to talk in English, backwards English, and Latin (a fun trick at parties), he made sure they could walk, crawl, and crab/exorcist walk (also hilarious), and was even starting to teach them the alphabets! Y'know, the English alphabet, his alphabet, Sixer's code, and of course the Caesar Cipher alphabet (how could he not?). Over time Bill began to realize that he was having...fun? It was almost like making a mini version of him! And the best part was that Sunspot took to all of it like it was as easy as breathing! It's true what they say, kids are like sponges.

"Why do lizards grow back their tails?"

A voice startled Bill out of his thoughts and he glanced down at the four year old human sitting on the floor from his spot on the dresser — yes it was his spot. When he expressed pain (in a display of acting that would have absolutely won an award) in his back from the sleeping arrangements, the cute little Sunspot immediately made a makeshift bedroom with items around the house, two paper towel rolls, a ripped fishnet stocking she stole, and an empty jewelry box she dumped on the floor before giving to Bill (she made sure to keep the gold as per Bill's wishes). It was fitted with a small mirror, a netted hammock, and a small chest to put any items of his (he humored it for the kid, even though he can make anything appear with the snap of his fingers).

"It's so when predators try to eat them and grab their tail, they can just—" Bill snapped his fingers for emphasis and an image of a wiggling lizards' tail appeared next to him, "—pop it right off. Then its muscles spasm to trick the predator into thinking it's alive so it eats the tail instead of chasing the lizard."

The child looked up at Bill in wonder, "Can all of its body parts do that?"

Bill leaned forward with a gleeful expression, "Do you wanna find out?"

"I don't know what to do, sir. She was such a happy kid. Always laughing and giggling..."

"And then what?"

"Then...she started talking."

"That's typically normal for most toddlers—"

"You don't understand. She said her first word at ten months, then she never stopped talking. Always asking questions, but getting the answer before we told her, like she was testing us!"

"Then what?"

"Then it was...the games."

"Can you expand a little more on that?"

"She would claim her friend was asking her to do things. Like cutting off the arms and legs of a lizard, breaking glass to build a prism, throwing an aerosol can into the fire place —luckily the fire was dying out and we were able to take it out before something bad could happen."

"And who's this friend?"

"The same as her first word—Bill."

"Do you need to be extracted, agent?"

"No! No...no, sir. There's still some things to finish here."

"Fine. But you will be removed should anything detrimental occur, understand?"

"Yes, sir."

FINALLY! Lake day! Bill had been waiting a month for this! He had his inner tube ready and waiting for that lazy river, and it was time to relax. Being a dream demon to a four year old was hard work.

Bill lazily floated in his tube, the water moving in perfect circles around him. He kept his eye open slightly to keep an eye on everyone, but was otherwise relaxed. The little Sunspot was playing in the shallow water, picking up rocks and throwing them back into the water to try and hit the fish. Her parents were sitting underneath the open trunk door of their minivan, talking quietly and glancing at Sunspot briefly now and then.

"Bill! That fish has a mustache!!" Sunspot pointed at a Catfish swimming nearby in the tall grass.

"That's a Catfish, the mustache helps it taste." Bill educated calmly and shut his eye.

"Ooh, tasting mustache..."

Bill gave a small chuckle. Everything was peaceful and quiet...until—

SPLASH

Bill's eye flashed open and he looked around briefly to see what could have made the splash. The answer was found quickly when he saw a large, round boy standing over Sunspot, who was sitting in the water, soaking wet. Bill's body quickly flashed red before turning back to his signature yellow. With a snap, his swim trucks and baseball cap were replaced by his bowtie and top hat. Bill quickly flew over to the confrontation.

"Did this kid push you?" Bill asked the soaking child. Bill glanced over at her parents, who were still talking. She gently nodded, tears welling in her eyes. "Do you wanna do something about it?" Bill outstretched his hand, void of blue fire.

The little Sunspot thought for a moment, then grabbed Bill's hand.

"Aww, is the little baby gonna cry? Wah wah wah!" The bully taunted, his group of patsy's giggling behind him. It shocked them when they heard more giggling, and it was coming from the small child in the water. "What's so funny?"

The girl looked up, one eye bright yellow with a thin pupil, the other was her signature shade of (e/c) and had a round pupil. "I'm just thinking how funny it would be to see how your arms and legs work backwards."

Oddly enough, it wasn't the first or second scream that got the attention of the parents in the area, but rather the sudden psychotic laughter that echoed around the river.

The Sunspot's parents finally walked over to investigate and were horrified to see two children wallowing on the ground in pain. One child had a broken arm and the other had a broken leg. There was also a third child that was rocking back and forth and gripping his head a couple of feet away, his eyes were dilated and distant.

In the water, crouching down and poking at a salamander, was (Y/n), the little Sunspot.

"You know some salamanders have tongues ten times the length of their body." Bill poked at the salamander's eye, causing it to blink and look around for the perpetrator.

"Does this one?"

"Wanna find out?"

[the-ace-with-spades]

Another unhinged buddie fic idea - amnesia Eddie at his best and dumbest

So Eddie gets hurt, hits his head, is unconscious for like two weeks and when he finally wakes up, he thinks it's 2018, he's almost finishing fire academy and his parents are still saying he should let them take Chris away permanently.

To say he panics is an understatement — his muscles are weak after the lack of stimuli but he still puts a fight with the nurse that's trying to take his blood pressure.

He keeps on asking about where he is and where is Chris, only gets a you're in Cedars Sinai MC in Los Angeles and doesn't take for answer anything that tells him to stay still or to be careful with the IV, until the nurse says, "Your partner is right outside, I'm sure he's arranged something for your son."

He freezes. "My partner? I don't have a partner. Who is taking care of my kid?"

The nurse's face changes and there are suddenly more and more questions about what he remembers last, what year he thinks is, and does he remember his partner's name. He tells her - he fell asleep in his bed, 2018, he doesn't have a partner because he's been separated from his wife for a few years now.

Apparently, the year is 2023, he was on a call with his fire crew and got hurt, his partner is definitely his partner because he's his power of attorney, next of kin, and has been taking care of his kid.

So the nurse leaves to talk to the doctor and his partner who is still outside, with said doctor.

(Eddie doesn't know that but the nurse was either absolutely sure this is what Buck is because there are assumptions and there are legal medical documents or she is sure this is the mythical firefighters' bond and they're just very close work partners - your pick. Either way, Eddie thinks she means romantic life partner.)

Meanwhile, Eddie goes through all stages of grief because his apparent partner he acquired in the past five years is a he and apparently such a sure thing he's in all of Eddie's medical documents.

A guy. What kind of a guy he would have to be for Eddie to choose him as his partner?

Then the nurse comes back with a very tall, very handsome guy built like a brick wall but also making a face that makes him look like an eager but sad golden retriever and—

Oh. That explains some stuff. If just looking at him makes Eddie feel like it, then he can't even phantom what being with him feels like.

The guy stops mid-room, not going for a hug like Eddie expected him to. "Heard you don't remember me."

And he sounds so sad that Eddie reaches his hand out and the guy — his partner — is instantly at his side, gripping his hand, and Eddie doesn't let him go until he gets the point and pulls a chair closer and sits with him.

"I don't. So a name would be nice."

"Buck. Well, Evan Buckley, but everyone calls me Buck."

And like, Eddie's never been big for pet names but even in this short moment Buck seems so bright he wants to call him mi sol. "I call you Buck?"

Buck chuckles. "Yeah, you call me Buck. Unless you're really serious, then you call me, you call me Evan."

"Evan," he tests out. "Sounds like you're in trouble."

And Buck smiles at him so softly Eddie is melting in that bed, warmth hitting him where he's still holding Buck's hand hostage and traveling up. "Not to me."

Bobby, who is apparently their captain — even though Eddie has a feeling like he's talking to his in-laws again the whole time he is there — brings Chris to the hospital and he's so big, already eleven, and so sassy with Eddie.

He's also very, very familiar with Buck, which calms him down - he talks about the funny sandwich cutters Buck's been using the whole time Eddie was in the hospital to cheer him up and tentatively admits how they slept in the same bed the first week because Chris had nightmares.

And even though his dad landed in the hospital — again, apparently? — Chris seems very, well, very well-adjusted to the situation at hand, even if Eddie can see he's being a bit clingy with both Eddie and Buck. Like the adults in his life are doing a good job at shielding him.

Buck is the one who has all the hard conversations with him, about Shanon, about his parents, about his abuela moving to Texas because of a whole pandemic, about the accident he had at work, and what will happen once he leaves the hospital.

It's really reassuring, that it's Buck telling him all that.

If he had any doubts about Buck being a very, very good and very, very close partner, all of it disappears when they go back home from the hospital.

His whole house has signs of Buck living their best lives in there — there are photos, cookbooks, cooking utensils Eddie doesn't even know the names of, Buck's clothes mixed in his wardrobe, cards from Chris for the both of them. It's very clear Buck is not only a big part of their life but also lives with them full-time, too.

He knows where everything in the kitchen is — "I have a system, Eddie" — and he knows where all Eddie's insurance paperwork is, knows the PINs to his phone, his cards and accounts, he knows all about Chris' medical needs. He knows how Eddie likes his coffee, how Chirs likes his toasts, which shaving cream Eddie likes, which toothbrush is Eddie's, which pair of shoes Eddie's only bought because they were on discount and never worn, which of Christopher's notebooks is the one for math.

He doesn't remember the past five years but he can't imagine not having Buck as his partner. Knowing he is there doesn't make him anxious like he thought it would — it makes him calm, settled.

So he's offended when the first night comes and Buck tries to bring spare blankets onto their couch. He wants him in their bed.

He gets that Buck is trying to give him space since Eddie doesn't really remember all the years they've been together, but that's a bit much. They're partners, and pretty solid ones at that, not just a new couple figuring stuff out, they must have slept together a million times.

So Eddie tells him to go off the couch and sleep in bed with him. It takes some convincing but eventually, Buck agrees. They lie down, Buck is being unnecessarily awkward, turning his back on Eddie in the dark. Eddie is not having this — turns towards him and spoons him, holding him in his arms. He's pretty sure Eddie getting hurt and forgetting five years is stressful on Buck, too, even if he doesn't show it. He deserves the comfort of his partner, even if said partner doesn't remember all of their life together.

It happens again the night after, and the night after that, until Buck stops tensing up whenever Eddie wraps his arms around him.

Because Eddie was unconscious for so long, he still needs PT, and Buck somehow manages to arrange that Eddie's and Chris' PT is at the same time and Buck oscillates between staying with either of them for the duration. There's one time when the receptionist at the therapy center asks him why he comes in so often when he looks fine — she's flirting with him, Eddie knows, which makes him glare at her, and Buck just tells her, "I'm just the chauffer for my boys." And Eddie calms down.

They assessed him at the hospital and he's supposed to have someone's handheld assistance or use a stick or a frame when he walks, until the PT gets his legs to the state from before. Using either the stick or the frame makes him feel like an old man, and the feeling doubles when Buck, the hunk of a man that he is, is nearby, so he refuses to use it when Buck is around. Which ends with Buck helping him around by placing an arm around his back and holding his hand with the other whenever Eddie needs to move.

Which is an absolutely amazing feeling because Buck is both the gentlest of giants, always knowing when Eddie needs reassurance and so freaking fit and big, Eddie can just rest against his chest whenever he feels wobbly or needs comfort from the embarrassment. It's a very contrasting feeling because it makes Eddie want to be held and pecked all over his face and thrown into the wall to make out.

Eddie's physical fitness improves and he misses Buck's touch the second his therapist says he can start moving without assistance.

That's the only problem Eddie has — Buck refuses to touch him. Again, he knows it's a bit weird with Eddie not remembering. At first, he thought it was just Buck giving him the lead on how much he wants them to do but then Buck keeps on ducking out any time Eddie initiates something.

He goes in for a kiss when Buck is drinking coffee and he dodges, standing up before Eddie can try again. Eddie gives Chris a kiss goodbye and goes to give Buck one, where he's standing next to their kid, and Buck skips out the door, telling him he's going to start the AC in the car. He tries to curl up against his side on the couch and Buck gets up with an excuse of making popcorn or tea or anything else possible. When Eddie slips into the shower while Buck is brushing his teeth, he leaves the bathroom with the toothbrush still in hand. Buck pretends to be asleep when he kisses his neck and swats Eddie's hands off when he moves them under his t-shirt when they're spooning, always calls out Eddie in the dark, like he isn't sure Eddie is comprehending what he's doing.

(Buck is pretty sure Eddie is trying to kill him — just make him have a heart attack or something — even if not deliberately. He isn't suspecting a thing about Eddie's partners assumption.)

It's like Eddie has a partner that loves him but without the bits that are funny. Like, he thought life-affirming sex is a thing and he is cleared for physical activity now and still out of work and going stir-crazy.

He doesn't get it and he can't talk about this with Buck because it almost feels like Buck is rejecting him, every time he ducks away from Eddie's affection or doesn't reciprocate it.

"Buck is—He loves me, right? He hasn't stopped after the accident, he's—He finds me attractive, he wants me, right?"

(Hen, sweet Hen, thinks he figured out Buck is in love with him now that he has a bit of an outsider perspective, and mutters, "Oh boy," cursing in her head because it's too early for this conversation. She isn't even suspecting Eddie heard partners once and ran wild with it.)

"I don't see where you're going with this," Hen says diplomatically.

"It's just, he's not doing anything about it," he explains. "It feels like he's barely touching me."

Hen is freaking out because of all times, Eddie had to realize now—"Do you... want him to touch you?"

"Have you seen him?" Eddie asks and then frowns. "Oh, right, playing for a different team."

"You just had a brain injury," she points out, hoping Eddie will find his brain somewhere, actually, and think.

"It's been almost two months, the doctors say I'm fine, memories aside," he says stubbornly.

"Eddie, I don't think Buck is going to make any first moves when you don't remember the past five years you guys—" She needs to change the track because she's saying too much. "Why don't you just talk to him about it?"

"And say what? Please bend me over our kitchen table? Please shower with me? Please give me kisses goodbye? Please hold me at night?"

"You probably should start with something more...tame," Hen suggests.

He's tried tame — he's tried initiating kisses and hugs and Buck doesn't respond. It's like he is afraid to touch him and Eddie isn't made of glass.

He needs to do something drastic.

So at night, he waits for Buck to come to bed, lights dimmed, and when Buck pulls the covers away to slide into bed with him, Eddie is naked — he can't be more blunt, if this flies over Buck's head, he'll be worried.

"Oh my god," Buck keeps on repeating, not looking at Eddie, blindly trying to put the covers over Eddie.

"Oh, come on, I can't be more obvious," he complains. "Why can't you just touch me, Evan?"

He's taking deep breaths, not looking at Eddie at all and this is the opposite of what he aimed for. "You don't want me, Eddie, you don't even know me."

"I definitely want you," he protests, irritated. He knows what he wants, it's Buck who's been missing the signals right and left. "And I know you, you're my partner, my Buck—I know you want this, too."

It's the truth — when he thinks Eddie can't notice, he looks at him like Eddie is everything he could ask for. He wants him to look at him like that now, too. He knows Buck, even if memories aren't there.

"We're not doing anything until you get your memories back and you actually know who I am."

"What if I never get my memories back?"

Buck doesn't reply and for a second Eddie think he got him, but then Buck stands up from the bed and says, "I think I should move out."

"What?" Eddie protests because that's definitely not what he was aiming for. Buck's place is with them, even if things in their relationship are a bit dry or stilled. "And where exactly would you go?"

"I do actually have my own place, you know?"

And how Eddie was supposed to know? He lives with them. He should not have a back-up place to go.

"I think I'm sending you mixed signals and you obviously don't remember enough to interpret them with clarity in your head," he tells Eddie and leaves.

He actually leaves the house, too, no matter how much he's asking to just sit down and listen to him. He spends the night trashing from side to side, expecting Buck to be back any moment but never getting him back.

(Meanwhile, Buck doesn't go to the loft because everything is dusty in there since he's moved into Eddie's place when he had to take care of Chris when he was still unconscious. Instead, he goes to Maddie's and complains to her over a glass of wine, aiming to stay on her couch overnight. "You didn't see him, Maddie, he was just lying there like a starfish, completely naked, going all, now you can touch me all you want—" and Chim wakes up Jee with how hard he drops the pans he was pretending to clean while eavesdropping.)

Buck comes back in the morning to take Chris to school — he doesn't offer Eddie to take him together and they don't talk at all.

Eddie needs to talk to someone about this because he might have somehow ruined the relationship with the man he's pretty sure he'd like to marry one day. By wanting him to touch him, of all things. But everyone is at work.

Pepa is retired, though. The problem is, Eddie isn't about to tell her Buck had threatened to move out because Eddie wanted him to fuck him.

So he asks the more appropriate question, "Why are we not married yet, actually?"

Maybe if they were married, Buck wouldn't have some secret place to escape. Maybe he'd feel like he can touch Eddie because Eddie is his on paper, too.

Pepa gives him a look that says he's crazy. "Who?"

"Buck and I, obviously." Forget crazy, Pepa stares at him like he's insane. "What? Does Buck—not want to get married? Did I say anything about this to you?"

"Mijo," she says, sounding like it pains her to do so. "You and Buck are not—you're not together, Eddie."

Eddie laughs because that's—that's not possible, they're partners, Buck's been taking care of him and Chris since Eddie woke up, and long, long before that even if Eddie doesn't remember it. He's Eddie's power of attorney and next of kin and he's in Eddie's will, he's all but a step away from adopting Chris, knows all of Chris' and Eddie's medical history, their allergies, their likes and dislikes. He's Eddie's partner.

Pepa is not laughing, just looking at him with that pitying expression on her face,

"But—he loves me, he loves Chris, he loves us," he says dumbly.

"Believe me, I know, we all know," she says. "We've tried stirring you in the right way but you're very stubborn, mijo."

[thechaoticdruid]

[The Spawn Vs The Ascendant] (3)

Pairing: Astarion (s) x Tav

Plot: We get a look at Ascended Astarion and M! Tav's complicated past. Meanwhile in F!Tav's world, she has a close call with The Vampire Ascendant himself all the while Spawn Astarion and Karlach prepare to attack the Crimson palace.

Content/Warnings: MDNI, THERE IS SMUT IN THIS CHAPTER! M/m smut, oral and anal sex, I'll put some little red diving lines so you can skip it because it's not TOO important to the plot, but I just thought since y'all have been waiting forever for the next part I might as well treat you. Both a male and female Tav, alternate timeline shenanigans, Ascended Astarion is a toxic asshole as usual, emotional manipulation, verbal abuse, threats, etc, slight choking, there's also a lot of blood and gore in this part, lots of violence and action.

Part One

Part Two

Part Four

The Spawn Vs Tav Vs The Ascendant

[Savegame 2: Somewhere, A year post game]

Tav let out a sigh as he felt a cool breeze hit his face, the scent of the forest washing over his heightened senses. He could smell the blood of a deer who was leaping through the grass.  He turned his head to look at it, tongue flicking over his newfound fangs. It had only been a year since his undeath, but everything had already changed so much. 

The young vampire had finally convinced his master to allow him to travel outside of Baldur's Gate. Tav needed to get away from the city so he could enjoy the comforts of nature once again even though many of his fellow druids would sneer at what he'd become. An undead abomination.  He was able to convince The Vampire Ascendant to allow him to leave their city, insisting that this would be a romantic getaway for the two of them. 

They had left Baldur's Gate and used the fortune they acquired to purchase a lovely little holiday home on an island off the Sword Coast. 

Their villa sat on the border of the ocean shore and the luscious woodlands that stood behind it.

Tav sat crisscrossed in the sand, the warmth of the sun danced up on his skin. He was quite fortunate to still be able to enjoy it, given what he was. 

“Little Love, what are you doing out here alone?” His master's voice purred out. 

“Just enjoying the peace.” Tav replied calmly. He didn't feel like looking his master in the eyes. Things had been distant between them now. Tav did his best to try and keep Astarion from turning Baldur's Gate into a slaughterhouse, but occasionally he slipped up, like with the incident at Sharess's Caress.  

There were so many days he wished he could just go back and convince his love not to go through with the ritual. Then maybe the warmth they once shared wouldn't have gone out. But he'd been terrified at the time. They both had. Astarion was afraid of losing his freedom. And Tav was afraid so desperately afraid of losing him. If only he'd known he would have lost him anyway. 

Now Astarion was the worst version of himself, all of his darkness let loose for the entire world to see. And Tav was merely a plaything that he refused to give up. The vampling’s red eyes blinked as his master’s clawed finger tilted his chin up to look at him.

“Pet, you know I don't like when you avoid me. It makes me so very unhappy.” The Ascendant pouted, making a painfully fake sad face. It made Tav’s blood boil. Tav jerked his head away from his master's touch.

“I am at your side day and night. You sit me on your lap every day like a glorified pup for all your guests to see. Am I not even entitled to my own space just for a moment!?” Tav suddenly snapped, fangs bared as he narrowed his eyes. 

“You're the one who suggested this ‘romantic getaway’ and now you have the audacity to accuse me of not giving you space!? How dare you! You ungrateful little wretch!” Astarion snarled at him. “If you want your fucking space so badly I can arrange a nice dark cell for you back at the palace.” His master threatened.

“No….I-I…Please….I'm sorry!” Tav's face suddenly filled with fear.  “….I'm sorry…. I'm sorry…I'm sorry…” Tav grabbed hold of Astarion’s leg, his head hung as he begged. Astarion glared down at him, his expression unimpressed. 

“You will make this up to me.” Astarion tilted Tav’s chin back up.  

“Yes. I will….I promise…” Tav nodded. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NSFW~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Appeasing his master had become a regular routine of Tav's.  He pretty much had it down to a science. Beg, grovel, flatter, pleasure, usually one or a combination of them would do the trick to calm the beast. Funny how Astarion seemingly had no regrets about turning Tav into the very thing he despised being for so many years. 

The only saving grace was Astarion was far too possessive to share Tav’s body with anyone else. 

“I love you Tav. I can't fathom why you're determined to make things so difficult between us.” Astarion pushed Tav down on the bed with one hand. The spawn frowned. His master's words felt empty despite how much Astarion may have believed them himself; there was little proof to back them up. Tav removed his shirt, deciding it would be best to just give in and lose himself in pleasure if only for a little while. He slid down his trousers and drawers, completely exposing himself in front of the other male. 

Astarion lifted his own shirt up and over his head before discarding it to the side. He then climbed onto the bed and slowly straddled his spawn. He leaned down, getting very close. 

“Kiss me.” He ordered. Tav leaned up and pressed his lips against Astarion's, wrapped his arms around his neck as his master began to grind himself against Tav's unclothed groin.

Tav moaned against Astarion's lips, letting the vampire lord slip his tongue inside. Astarion tastes Tav’s mouth, the flavors of wine and blood intertwining as their tongues dance.  Astarion pulls back and pins Tav’s wrists above his head before slowly shifting down and licking the spawn’s nipples. 

“A-Astarion!” Tav let out a whine, feeling the elven male teasing his sensitive buds, grazing them with his fangs all the while grinding himself down against Tav's hardening member. Astarion began to nibble and suck his way down Tav's body leaving a trail of bright red hickies as he went. 

Astarion moved back, hand grasping Tav's cock as he licked his lips, looking down at his pet’s leaking tip. 

“So hard for me already?~” Astarion teased gently, squeezing Tav’s length as he pumped it back and forth in his hand.  

“Ngh!” Tav groaned and dug his claws into the bed.  Astarion leaned down to lick up the precum dribbling down from Tav's tip, before slowly proceeding to begin sucking the younger man’s cock into his mouth.  Tav's eyes rolled back into his head as he felt his master swallow his length with ease. Astarion’s hand moved to grab hold and massage Tav's balls as he bobbed his head.

Tav groaned and panted, resisting the urge to thrust into his master's mouth lest he gets punished for it like last time. Astarion pulled back with wet pop before rubbing Tav's cock a few more times and dropping his own trousers. 

Tav's red eyes trail over his lover’s body as the silver haired male began to suck his fingers into his mouth, coating them thoroughly in saliva before he reached behind himself and stuck two fingers up his ass. 

“Ahh…Ahh…” Astarion moaned, pumping his fingers in and out. Tav bit his lips, he could feel himself twitch at the sound of his master's moans. 

Gods it sounded so heavenly. The pale elf continued to prepare himself scissoring before then shoving his middle finger in knuckle deep. 

Once he was ready, he shifted over Tav's cock, grasping it and slowly guiding the tip to his hole. 

Astarion lets out a low moan, an open mouth smirk forming on his face as he sits down, taking the spawn's cock deep inside. 

“G-Gods….” Tav gasped, feeling his lover clench tightly around him. Astarion stared down at Tav, a pleased look appeared on his face as he noticed his pet squirming under him. Tav reached over to grab Astarion's hips, but the vampire lord stopped, gripping his hands.

“Tut, tut, tut, bad boy. You don't get to touch me.” Astarion clicked his tongue. “Keep your hands to yourself unless I tell you otherwise.” He ordered, before releasing him and placing his hands on Tav's chest. Slowly he began to move up and down, sliding Tav’s cock in and out of his ass.

“A-Astarion….” Tav whimpered, his nails gripping the sheets as Astarion kept up the same pace, bouncing on top of him. He eventually began to move up slowly before quickly slamming his ass back down on Tav's hips, making a satisfying slap sound and causing Tav to squeak in surprise. 

“Mmmm…..You feel good inside me…” He lets out a breathy side before moving up and slamming back down.  He could feel Tav's cock leaking, coating his insides, it made movement much easier.  Astarion began to pick up his pace repeatedly slamming down on Tav with enough force that it almost felt like he was about to break his pelvis!

“Please…I..ahhh!”  Tav cried out, looking up at his master with pleading eyes as his cock began twitching inside of him. 

“What is it, pet? Do you want to move, hm?” Astarion pushed down hard against his lover, taking him in deep. He bit his lip, smirking down at Tav. “I…. might let you…” He said, playfully taking hold of Tav’s nipples and tugging on them. 

“A-Ahh!” The spawn cried out. 

“Say you're mine.” He said. Tav groaned as Astarion slowed his movement, hips sliding up and down at a much slower pace, the room was almost silent aside from the slick wet sound of Astarion riding Tav's weeping cock.

“Say you're mine.” The Ascendant repeated. There was no compulsion, no glow of red eyes, no force. Astarion wanted Tav to say it all on his own. 

“I…I…I'm yours…” Tav breathed out, making his master grin widely. 

“Again.” Astarion slammed himself down on Tav. 

“I'm yours!” Tav said more confidently.

“Good boy! ~ You may move…mmm…” As soon as Astarion gave him permission Tav began to buck his hips upwards, cock repeatedly plunging up into his master's asshole. Astarion rode Tav in time, masterfully matching his pace. He grabbed hold of the back of his spawn's head, gripping his hair as he pulled him in for a rough, sloppy kiss.  It took little time from there for Tav to reach his peak, especially with his master's ass threatening to break him.   

The two of them relaxed for a while shortly afterwards until eventually Astarion had Tav pinned face down in the pillows, balls deep in his ass. However, the second round was eventually cut short by a disturbance in the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NSFW-END~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Masters! Masters!” A charmed servant called beating on the door to their bedroom. His face was full of fear, hands shaky. 

There was some muttering, and scuffling coming from the other end of the door, before eventually it opened revealing Astarion shirtless in only his pants. Tav laid on the bed behind him, only a sheet covering his dazed form as he panted, body covered in his master's love bites.

“What the hells do you want!?” Astarion snapped, very annoyed by the interruption. 

“M-My lord! Theres a-a…It's t-terrible.. I-I….” The poor terrified man.

“You have ten seconds to speak before I splatter your innards all over the floor.” The sliver haired vampire lord hissed out.

“M-Monster hunters! T-They're on the island! They're harassing the locals and burning down their homes in hopes to find you, master!” 

“Determined little shits, aren't they? I don't quite care what happens to the peasants on this little speck of land, but they do pay me rent so...”Astarion sighed in annoyance.

“We have to help them.” Tav said, putting his clothes on and fixing his hair. 

“Oh, not this again! You know your little hero act gets so tiresome, love.” Astarion rolled his eyes, “protect the cattle if you must, but my only concern will be slaughtering these vagabonds for even thinking about setting foot on my property.” 

Tav kept quiet but glared at him harshly. The way he talked about the people on this island honestly made Tav's stomach turn. 

“As you wish, master.” Tav said coldly, the title spoken with pure disgust.  Astarion glanced back at Tav with a surprised look. Tav had never addressed Astarion as ‘master’ before. Astarion, despite all his arrogance, pride, and determination to remind Tav who he belonged to on a regular basis, had never once compelled or ordered him to to refer to himself as such. Mostly because the way Tav had always said the vampire lord’s name had been music to his pointed ears. Astarion quickly brushed off these sickening feelings. He was not weak any longer. Such sentimentalities were beneath him.  

“Hmm…Perhaps I should put their heads on spikes, leave some of them impaled out in the fields to send a message to any of their brethren.” Astarion chuckled darkly. His ruby red eyes glanced back over at Tav who refused to look him in the eyes. It felt infuriating.

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The roads ran red with blood, houses shot up in a blaze and a mother ran across the scene, desperately dragging her children along with her. Tav and Astarion slowly approached the chaos. Complete and utter horror flashed over the vampire spawn’s face. His undead heart breaks to pieces at the site of villagers being slaughtered all for the sake of killing two vampires.  

“This chaos has to end Magnus!” An elven woman shouted at a human man. Both of them appeared to be amongst the monster hunters.

“There are children on this island for fucks sake!” 

“They had their chance! These people are servants to the undead! They will suffer the same fate as their masters!!!” 

“My love, please!” She begged, getting on her knees. “These people did not kill your brother! They're not in control of their minds! It's the vampire’s doing! You must forgive them!”

“Osha…I-I…” The man suddenly froze. He coughed, blood pouring out of his mouth before suddenly he fell flat on his face. Blood leaked from an open wound in his back as he laid in the dirt.

“MAGNUS!!!!” The elven woman shrieked in horror.

The silver haired vampire lord stood behind the man's corpse, a wicked grin as he held Magnus’s still beating heart in the palm of his hand. He slowly crushed it right in front of the elven woman, the blood dripping through his fingers before he licked them clean. 

“Mm…Not bad.” Astarion purred.

“You…. YOU KILLED MY HUSBAND!” Osha screeched. Astarion looked back at her slightly amused. 

“Oh, was that what he was? Apologies, he was making a mess of my things.” The Vampire Ascendant merely chuckled. 

“I'll…. I'll KILL YOU!!” Osha screamed, grabbing hold of a wooden stake from her dead husband's body and rushing for Astarion head on. But before she could even make contact Tav moved in front of her and kicked her away with enough force to send her flying into one of the houses.  Tav huffed before looking around at the villagers who were utterly terrified. Astarion blinked and looked back at Tav, a slight warmth flashing through his eyes.

He still loves me….

Before Astarion could say a word Tav ran off, unsheathing scimitars from his back and cutting down any monster hunter who dared to try and stop him.  The elven monster hunter’s eyes follow him as she lays on the ground, seemingly broken and lifeless.

“Glacious!” He shouted, shooting an ice knife right at the nearby burning building before kicking his way through the door. 

“Everyone out now!” He ordered. A mother pushed her daughters through the door. 

“My son! He's still in his crib!” She cried and pointed over to a blocked door. 

Tav quickly pushed past her and smashed his way through the blocked off door with vampiric strength. He quickly charged in and scooped up the baby boy, thanking the gods he didn't need to breathe any longer. Tav quickly came back out and handed the woman her baby. 

“Thank you, my lord, thank you!” The woman said, tearing up.  Tav gave a small smile before suddenly he heard the sound of crying coming from somewhere nearby.  Tav rushed over to the scene. It was yet another smoking home. 

“Glacious!” He shot another ice knife at the fire in order to put it out. Tav quickly rushed over, a look of confusion covered his face as he noticed the front door had already been open. 

Inside was a little half elf girl with long curly blonde hair. The child knelt down by some debris, crying as a pair of motionless legs poked out from under it. Shaky sobs left her mouth as Tav moved closer.

“Come on darling, we need to get you out of here.” Tav said, kneeling down beside her. 

“I'm not leaving without my momma!” She snapped; eyes puffy as she broke down into another fit of sobs. Tav shushed the child before placing a comforting hand in her hair and pulling her into a hug. 

“It's not safe here, little one.” Tav said, “where is your papa?” 

“He got sick a long time ago….He went to sleep and n-never woke up….” She sniffed.  

“Come with me and I'll take you somewhere safe and we'll get you something to eat.” Tav eventually was able to convince the little girl to follow after him. He took her by the hand and guided her out of the house. 

“What's your name sweetie?” Tav asked as he led her back through the village. He made sure to steer her away from the sight of any corpses in hopes to keep from terrifying the poor little thing.

“I'm Abigail.” She said softly, “momma used to always call me Abby.” 

“Abigail is a beautiful name.” Tav smiled softly. He then suddenly heard footsteps and turned to see Astarion approaching. 

“There you are, I was wondering where you'd run off to.” Tav’s master licked over the edge of his mouth, a little bit of blood dribbling down his chin. “And what's this? Have you brought me a snack?” Tav glared at the other male before protectively standing in front of the small child. 

“No. Stay away from her Astarion.” Tav said sternly.

Astarion clicked his tongue, “lighten up. It was only a joke. Gods.” The pale elf sauntered over to his beloved spawn, glancing over his shoulder without a care. 

“Pretty little thing…Perhaps this is just what we need.” Astarion smirked, an idea began to form in his mind. Tav's eyes widened, he knew exactly what he was thinking. 

“Astarion no! I'm taking her to an orphanage.” 

“Love, don't be ridiculous. Think about how much better off she'd be with us as her fathers.” Astarion took hold of Tav's chin and made the shorter male look up at him. “Isn't that what you want? To have a family with me…?”

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

[Save game 1: Act 3, Crimson Palace.] 

Tav bit her lip, holding back a whimper as gripped the wooden comb tightly in her hand. She needed to move fast before the vampire lord drank enough to weaken her. She held the comb high, preparing to plunge it down into his heart from behind but before she could make contact she felt a tight grip around her wrist.  Her lover's look alike pulled back from her neck, his blood stained lips forming a frown.

“Trying to kill me already are we? Pity.” His grip around her wrist tightened, threatening to bruise. Tav whimpered, dropping the comb from hand and letting it clatter into the floor below.

“You honestly thought that dull piece of wood would actually stab me!? Ha! Desperation doesn't suit you my dear.” The vampire releases her wrist only to grasp her throat, not as tightly, but still firm enough to make her worry. “I don't want to hurt you darling, but I cannot have you misbehaving.”

“Let me go!” Tav shouted as Astarion stood, yanking her up by the collar around her neck.  The Vampire Ascendant seemed to be keeping himself rather composed despite Tav's attempt on his life.

“Oh, I will, you'll go right down into the dungeon to think about what you've done.” Astarion hissed, dragging her out of the study. “Honestly, how can you be so ungrateful! I am giving you everything you could ever want!”  

Tav screamed and fought as she was dragged down the hall like wild cat, eventually her survival instincts kicked in and she slung her head around and sank her teeth right down onto the vampire lord’s groin. 

“FUCK!” He shouted and crippled down in pain, releasing his grip and Tav and allowing her to turn tail and run like her life depended on it. She darted through a door and quickly down the hall, spotting that strange half-elf girl, Abigail staring at her as she passed. 

I need to get this godsdamned collar off of me!

Tav fled further into the palace hearing some footsteps as she came closer towards the ballroom. Swiftly she climbed into a wardrobe off to the side and closed the doors. Peaking out through the cracks as two figures approached. A glowing red eyed Shadowheart and Lae'zel entered the hallway.

“Source of my bruises, are you still in pain?” Lae'zel spoke up, placing her hand on the other female’s cheek. Shadowheart simply shook her head. It appeared the wounds their master inflicted on her had already healed. Tav calmed her breathing, hoping neither of them would detect her presence here. Thankfully however the two of them appeared more concerned with one another. Eventually the two of them walked off, leaving Tav to let out a long sigh of relief.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

[Save Game 1: Act 3, Upper City.]

“Ooh looks like he's called some guard dogs to do his bidding.” Karlach said as she and Astarion stood onto one the of the nearby buildings adjacent to Cazador’s old palace. 

“What is up with evil arseholes and always refusing to get their hands dirty?” Karlach huffed as she peeked down below. 

“They’d claim It's beneath them, but truthfully it's all over calculated foolish paranoia.” Astarion looked over the side of the roof, eyes trailing over the large werewolves that stocked over the grounds. 

“Does he honestly believe no one is going notice all his pets running around?” 

“Well this is technically you we're talking about….What do you think?” Karlach asked.

“I would never have been this stupid! Perhaps overconfident, but this it just ridiculous!”

“Hmm…Maybe he just doesn't care if anyone sees them.” Karlach hummed, “oh wait did you remember to bring the bomb arrows?” 

“Naturally.” Astarion smirked, pulling out an arrow and notching it slowly. 

“Hells yes! Let's blow these fuckers up!” The tiefling cheered.  Astarion quickly shot an arrow which flew through the air hitting one of the wolves right between the eyes. It exploded upon impact, splattering brains, blood and pieces of skull over the cobblestones. 

“Gross. Do it again!” The tiefling barbarian’s tail swatted back and forth, eyes locked on the chaos below. The vampire spawn quickly notched another arrow and hit another wolf sending bloody severed limbs flying all over the streets. He then proceeded to shoot a couple more, clearing out the frontline security.

“That should give the others an opportunity to rush the front door. Now we just sneak in through the roof.” Astarion explained.

“Got it! Leave it to mama K!” The barbarian grinned before looking back at Astarion.

“Oh no, whatever you're thinking-”

“No time! We need to get in there and save Tav!” The fiery devil insisted before grabbing hold of the smaller elf, throwing his long slender body over her muscular shoulder. 

“Karlach! Gods-dammit! Put me down this instant!” The little vampire hissed. 

“We're coming, Tav!” She exclaimed, before backing up and rushing over the building leaping across the sky while Astarion clung to her wide eyed, fingernails digging into her like a scared cat. 

The vampire Ascendant never would have guessed his windows would have been shattered by a big red beefy barbarian lady and a cat-like rogue, but here we are.

Note From TheChaoticDruid: I am so sorry for the for the wait! Honestly, I didn't really feel like too many people were invested in this story and 'This Bites' had really become my main focus multi-part fanfic wise. I'm hoping to finish up this story in about two more parts. The Spawn and the Ascendant WILL start showing down next part. Also, I usually don't add a little divider for my smut, but I felt like I just randomly decided there was going to be smut in this part (kinda spur of the moment thing), so I added the Nsfw heads up in case someone reading was not ready for it in this story. Please leave a comment or a reblog down below it really helps motivate me to write! See you guys next time!

[navybrat817]

Hope the Sunday is treating you well! 🍹

The month has just begun yet and you’re already out of money. So you turn to the sugar baby website your friend told you about! At the end of the week, you have four requests waiting for you. (And no you can’t have all of them because the one you choose will require your whole attention!)

Mafia Bucky: He wants someone that he can drench in gifts. It’s just something about seeing you wear a pair of earrings or a dress that he got you that makes his pulse quicken. He would move you into one of his penthouses so that you’d be extra secure.

CEO Nick: With all the traveling he does it’s hard to find someone who understands how demanding his job is. You would come with him basically everywhere, traveling, dinners, galas. Of course, he would ensure you have the appropriate things needed wherever you go.

Mountain man Andy: He built the grand house he lives in with his own hands and has made a lot of money over the years, and now he just wants someone to spend it on. He’ll get you a new car so that you can effortlessly travel to and from his place, or he’ll come to pick you up himself for a long weekend.

DILF Hal: His kids are getting ready to leave the nest and he’s finding himself with free time on his hands, that he wants to spend with you. Luxury hotel weekends. Going to spas. Taking you on dates to ice cream shops or expensive restaurants, whatever you’re in the mood for.

Who becomes your new sugar daddy?

This has been sitting in my inbox and I'm sorry it took me so long to respond. It also isn't fair that I can't pick more than one. Not. Fair. At. All. Because it's me, I'm going to say there are alternate universes where I'm living out my best life with each man.

If I had to pick one though, I'd have to go with mafia!Bucky.

Specifically because he's mafia, I automatically view him as possessive. I can't help it. I don't feel like he'd leave me a choice or even let me entertain another sugar daddy trying to move in on something he wants. I'm fine with that.

And moving me into a penthouse so I'm extra safe and spoiling me with gifts? I feel like the arrangement would turn into a marriage proposal any day.

But can we talk about how amazing the others are

Nick jetting me around all over the world?

Andy having a fire ready for me because I get cold easily?

Hal basically ready to make me his next wife? I feel like he has a breeding kink.

Again, I'm living all of these lives in other worlds.

Not me wanting to do a whole AU with multiple readers living their best lives.

Who would you choose?

Love and thanks! ❤️

[a-reader-and-a-writer]

Difference of Opinions (Part 2)

Fandom: Spider-Man, Spider-Verse, Across the Spider-Verse, Miguel O'Hara, f!Reader Summary: Miguel left you for dead but you don't give up so easily. And with a little help from a friend, you soon find yourself safe at home. But your relief is short-lived as you are faced with some skeptical Spiders and the fact you will soon have to confront Miguel... Word Count: 4811 TW: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Glitching, Left for Dead, Betrayal Notes: Sorry that Miguel doesn't physically show up in this chapter, but he plays a major part in both the next chapter and the prequel!

Prequel, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Series Masterlist

*Spoilers for Across the Spider-Verse*

The glitching was getting worse. By the time you made it to your lab on the other side of the building, it was happening every thirty seconds or so. You stumbled through the door and crashed into one of the computer consoles as you lost your balance. Every inch of your body ached and felt as fragile as glass. It seemed as if the chemical bonds that held your atoms together were about to shatter leading to you basically vaporizing down to the atomic level. Which you guessed was what was about to happen. 

Another glitch hit causing you to crumple to the floor. Once your body realigned itself, you tried to climb back to your feet but you just didn’t have the strength to anymore. Instead, you rolled over to your stomach and began to drag yourself over to your desk. It wasn’t far, but by the time you reached it, you were barely able to lift yourself up to find the hidden compartment underneath. You pressed your thumb to the biometric lock and gave a huge sigh of relief when the drawer popped open. Reaching inside, you pulled out the small cloth bag and held it against your chest.

You knew you had to hurry before another glitch occurred, but you were so exhausted that your fingers were clumsy and fumbled as you tried to untie the bag. It took about three times as long as it should have, but you finally managed to open it up and you slid the contents into your hand. 

It had been over a year since you had last held the red amulet but it instantly made you feel stronger. Running your thumb across the spider carved in the stone, you couldn’t help but smile. This little piece of your homeworld didn’t contain any powers on its own, but it helped boost your powers and would hopefully ward off the glitches long enough to send your message. 

Sliding back to the floor and laying on your side, you pressed the amulet to your lips as you closed your eyes and concentrated. Your eyes rolled back in your head behind your eyelids and you felt your mind slip into the space where the intricate web of dimensions existed.

This was your power. This was what set you apart from every other Spider-Person and how you had helped Miguel build the Society in the first place. You had the ability to gaze through the veil and see the interconnected web that made up the Acracnoid Humanoid Poly Multiverse. It was also how you got the name Spider-Gazer, or Gaze. It was with this ability you first contacted Miguel’s dimension, traveled to different dimensions without a watch, mapped out hundreds of different Earths and their differences, discovered the Canon and helped Miguel and Lyla design a model so everyone could understand, and how you learned the dangers of trying to change the Canon. None of this would have been possible without you, and now all of your work had been turned against you. 

Once you sensed who you were looking for, you whispered, “Hobie, I know you can hear me. I need your help. Please. Come get me before it’s too late. I just want to help Miles. I promise. I–”

A glitch cut you off and you dropped the amulet as your body was once again torn apart and reassembled by this dimension trying to arrange your atoms to fit its unique configuration. As everything somehow managed to right itself once more, a small sob of pain slipped from your lips. Whatever strength or stability you had gotten from the amulet was now gone, and you felt yourself returning to this dimension as you no longer had the strength to continue reaching out across the multiverse. It was all over. This lab that you had built with Miguel and where you spent countless hours lovingly by his side was going to be your final resting place. 

You were about to die alone and abandoned. 

Your eyes returned to normal as you stabilized but you kept them closed, resigned to just giving in to the encroaching darkness. However, a moment later you heard the familiar crackle of a portal opening up and you peeled your eyes open to see the soft glow of a portal in front of you and a pair of heavy gray-scale boots appeared in your field of vision. 

There was the sound of a soft tongue click before a heavily-accented voice said, “Well, lookit here. The queen’s decided to join the rebellion, eh.”

Using the last of your strength to roll over slightly, you looked up at Hobie and gave him a weak smile. “Damn straight.”

His muted palette flickered back to the full-color spectrum as he nodded. “‘Bout bloody time.”

He reached out his hand to help you up but just before his fingers brushed yours, you were hit with a massive glitch and everything went black.

Even before you opened your eyes, you knew where you were. No matter how many dimensions you had traveled to or what sort of protection you used against glitches, no other world made you feel this sense of belonging and inner peace. You were home.

Someone had placed you on a bed and you ran your palm across the sheets beneath you, savoring the feel of the muted faded edges against your skin. It was such a welcome comfort after so long of nothing but hard lines and definitive boundaries surrounding you. You had missed being the only thing around that looked or felt like you.

Every universe was different in at least one way. Sometimes those differences were instantaneously recognizable like obvious aesthetic differences while others might be something so minute it was almost impossible to pinpoint (such as the Earth without the element protactinium or the one where all hummingbirds fly 2% faster than on other Earths). 

Though you hadn’t known it until you began to visit other dimensions, the main thing that set your world apart from others was the edges of everything. There was no sharp cut-off or firm line around you. Instead, your outline sort of dissolved away to nothing. It had been a terrifying encounter the first time you met Miguel with his pronounced angular cheekbones and well-defined figure. Though to be fair, he was just as perturbed by your appearance.

Miguel had once described it as if someone had smudged your edges until they were all blurred and hazy. Recently, Gwen had found a more artistic way of describing it. She compared most universes to art with sharp edges while yours was more of a soft edge, like the background of a watercolor or oil painting. But regardless of how others described you, the fact was you and those from your universe weren’t as solid or stable as most.

It was why the glitches hit you so much harder and more frequently than any of the other Spider-People. Your genetic structure was already less tightly bound than those from other dimensions which made you more susceptible to the glitches. That plus the fact your powers were connected to the multiverse and attracted multidimensional energy whenever you left your home meant that you couldn’t survive outside of your own universe without the stabilizers for very long. Something you had once learned the hard way.

Opening your eyes, you glanced around the room and were shocked to find it wasn’t just any room. It was your room. The one you had lived in a few years ago as you were learning how to traverse the multiverse. Back before you had left your world to help build the Spider Society. You wondered how Hobie knew to bring you here.

You were still in your Spider-Gazer costume though you spotted your mask laying on the table next to the bed. And right beside it was your amulet. Thankfully, Hobie must have grabbed it from where you had dropped it before he brought you here. You reached over and picked it up, a fresh wave of energy flowing through you as you did. For a moment, you had thought you might have lost it forever and that thought had devastated you. After all, it had been in your family for more generations than anyone could remember and it was what had originally helped connect you to the Acracnoid Humanoid Poly Multiverse. Your powers might not have come from it, but it amplified them which had allowed you and Miguel to accomplish all the things you had thus far. In fact, without the amulet, you never would have been able to reach out to Miguel in the first place. 

Miguel….

Honestly, you weren’t sure how to feel about what had happened or what he did to you. Loyalty and commitment to him and your mission to protect the multiverse meant everything to him and you had gone against both to try and help Miles. After everything he had been through, you could understand why Miguel was so devastated by your betrayal. However, that didn’t excuse the fact he left you caged and glitching on your own with only one possible outcome….

You were pulled from your train of thought as the door opened and Pavitr walked in holding a cup of water. But when he saw you looking back at him, he dropped the cup– spilling water across the floor –and run from the room hollering, “Guys! She finally woke up!”

A minute later, he returned with Gwen, Peter B. Parker, and Mayday trailing behind. As you struggled to sit up slightly, Mayday shot a web above your head and swung over to land directly in your lap. Before Peter could snatch her away, you drew her close and snuggled your face into the top of her knit spider-hat. She hugged you back as you cooed, “Hey there, little one.”

“Mayday…” her father muttered as he held out his arms, but you shook your head.

“It’s fine, Peter. I’m okay.” However, you noticed the nervous look that he exchanged with Gwen and you felt a deep pit open up in your stomach as you realized their concern. “Ah. You’re not worried about me. You’re worried about her with me.”

Peter shifted uncomfortably as he rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s nothing against you, Gaze. It’s just we don’t really know where you stand right now.”

“Well, I seem to recall the last time I saw you, you were heading back to your dimension while I was left glitching out of existence in a cage,” you snapped. “But I can see why I would be the one whose loyalty is being questioned.”

Peter stared at the floor, unable to meet your eye. “You’re right. You helped Miles, even when most of us tried to follow Miguel’s plan. But Gaze, you’re Miguel’s girl. I’ve known the two of you longer than almost any other member of the Society and I’ve seen what you are both willing to do for the other. How do we know you aren’t going to tell him we’re all here, what we are planning, and have him come to this universe to stop us?”

“First of all, may I repeat that he left me in a cage to glitch into nothing?” There was more venom in your voice than you intended and you felt Mayday cower slightly in your arms. Instantly regretting your tone, you kissed her softly on the top of her hat and released her to return to her father’s arms. She smiled up at you before she swung away, and you were glad at least she seemed to have forgiven you.

Taking a deep breath, you continued in a softer, calmer tone. “Second of all, Miguel can’t come to this dimension even if I wanted him to. We had a fight once and he kept following me across dimensions when I tried to walk away. After that, we decided that this– my home dimension –would be a safe place for me to go where he couldn’t follow when I needed some space. So I used my powers to ward it so he can’t enter this dimension. Even with his watch.

“And third of all, I love Miguel deeply, but in this case, he’s too blinded by his pain and loss to really look at this situation objectively. So you need me because I may be the only one who can get through to him and make him see that.”

Peter caught Mayday as he exchanged a look with Gwen. They both still seemed slightly skeptical of you and your motives and you tried to keep your frustration from coming back. They had been just as involved in Miguel’s plan to stop Miles as you had been, maybe even more so seeing as they were his friends. And you had tried to help Miles even as they had continued to try and make him see the logic of Miguel’s actions. They may not have agreed with how Miguel went about it, but they were full supporters of not letting Miles try to save his dad. Only you and Hobie had originally wanted to let him try and go against the Canon. Yet you were still the one who was considered a threat to Miles. The hypocrisy was unbelievable. 

But as Gwen opened her mouth to say something, Pavitr jumped in. “Guys, come on! Just trust her already!”

Gwen shook her head. “Pav, I’m sorry but you weren’t there. It’s more complicated than that.”

“No, but Hobie was and he trusts her. He never would’ve brought all of us here otherwise. And if Hobie’s willing to trust someone, that’s good enough for me.” He gave you a bright smile and you almost burst into tears.

“Thanks, Pav.” You glanced around at the other Spiders in front of you. “Well? He’s right. You either trust me and we start working together to save Miles or you don’t and you should get the hell out of my apartment and let me rest.”

Gwen shot Peter another look. After a moment’s hesitation, he shrugged in her direction as he placed Mayday in her carrier. “It’s up to you. You’re the one who gathered us all here and you’re the one who knows Miles the best. If you think we can trust her…”

Chewing on her lip, Gwen considered the situation. The longer she stared at you, the more the anger and frustration began to build in your chest once more. But just as you were about to tell them all to forget it and to get out of your dimension, Gwen said, “Pav’s right. Hobie doesn’t trust people easily so if he trusts her, then we should too.”

Peter sighed and held up his hands. “Whatever you say. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you if this goes sideways.”

“Yeah, Peter, because it’s never your fault is it?” you ruefully chuckled, ashamed by the way it caught in your throat. Seeing him still doubt you even now hurt more than you wanted to admit. Glaring at him, you spat, “It’s true what you said. I’ve known you for longer than almost anyone else, and yet you still turned your back on me and walked away when I needed you most.”

Peter’s face darkened as he looked away. Gwen must have noticed whatever fragile peace your group had settled on was at risk of falling apart already because she said, “Um, can I speak to Gaze on my own?”

Pavitr –who had been anxiously watching your back and forth with Peter– sighed in relief and nodded. With another wide smile in your direction, he hurried from the room. 

Peter began to follow him, but he hesitated at the door. Without looking back at you, he muttered, “I’m sorry. You were right. I left you there in that cage knowing what would probably happen. I wanted so badly to help you but I had Mayday and I couldn’t…. I couldn’t risk what Miguel might do to her if I tried to interfere.”

Your glare softened a bit at the pain and regret in Peter’s voice. You knew he was right. If Miguel was angry enough to turn on you, there was no telling what he would have done to anyone else who tried to cross him at that moment. And you would never want Mayday to be put in danger, despite what that meant for your own safety. 

So, you sighed, “It’s okay, I get it. Your daughter comes first. Always. And that’s how it should be.” You squeezed your amulet still in your fist tighter and tried not to think of your own family or what they had done to keep you safe. “Regardless of how I feel about what happened, you should know I think you’re a fantastic father and Mayday is so lucky to have you.”

Peter’s head whipped around to face you and you saw tears welling up in his eyes as his lips began to tremble. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something but then closed it again without a sound. Then he nodded once and hurried from the room.

Gwen watched him walk away for a moment before she shut the door. “That was really sweet of you to say.”

“He tries so hard with that kid, he deserves to know it isn’t in vain.” You pushed yourself up so you were in more of a sitting position and asked, “So now that we trust each other, where’s Hobie? I want to thank him for coming to get me.”

“He’s out looking for parts to build more watches. I have a few other friends I want to bring with us to look for Miles but we’re afraid that if we use Miguel’s watches, he’ll be able to track us.”

You nodded. “He can, so that’s good thinking. That’s why I called Hobie for help instead of any of you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I taught him how the watches worked a few months ago. I was tinkering with a broken one and he kept looking over my shoulder so I walked him through how they worked. Then I noticed him swiping equipment and parts ever since you all arrived at HQ earlier today. So when I needed help, I figured he would have assembled his own untrackable watch by now… Or at least, I hoped he had.”

Gwen shook her head. “But if you knew he was building his own watch before everything went wrong, why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’t you stop him?”

“Since when does Hobie listen to anything anyone tells him?” you chuckled. “If I would have told him to stop, it wouldn’t have made a difference. Besides, after seeing how worked up Miguel was getting over Miles already, I had a feeling it wasn’t a terrible idea for there to be a non-Society watch out there somewhere. Turns out, I was right.”

“So you did know Miguel was going to do that to Miles.”

Sighing, you said, “We all knew what he was planning, Gwen. And we all agreed to it so we could uphold the Canon. I just…. I never thought Miguel would take things that far.”

Gwen hesitated for a moment before she asked, “It can’t be true, can it? Did Miguel really leave you imprisoned without a watch knowing what that would mean? Did he…. Did he really leave you to die? I just can’t believe it. He loves you. Everyone knows that.”

You stared down at the amulet in your hands, unable to look her in the face. In a small voice, you said, “Miguel isn’t a bad man. He’s just been hurt in the past like all of us. And like all of us, he’s found ways to cope with his pain and loss. One of those ways is cutting out anyone or anything that he feels may hurt him again or betray him. And I did both.”

“But what Miguel was doing was wrong!”

“You didn’t see it that way at first.” You lifted your eyes to stare at Gwen and it was her turn to look away. “I’m not judging you, Gwen. I know how hard it had to be to lie to Miles about what was about to happen and to try to keep him from stopping it. We’ve all had to accept the losses that come with being a Spider–” Your mind once again flashed to your mother and late fiance, but you quickly push them from your thoughts “– but Miles is new to this. He may have lost his uncle a while ago, but finding out he was also about to lose his father was never going to be an easy thing to accept.” You gave her a soft but pointed look. “Just like you refusing to go home because you can’t accept your own father’s impending death.”

“But that’s just it…” Gwen came and sat on the edge of your bed. “I did go home. Miguel sent me there and I saw my dad. He’s quitting his job which means he’ll no longer be a captain. He doesn’t have to die anymore! The Canon of my universe changed! So, maybe Miles can change his dad’s fate too!” 

You didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth. Canon events had shifted in the past, switched from one person to another, but they never failed to come to pass. Or if they did, it led to the potential collapse of that universe. Her father may no longer be the captain she was close to who would die, but that didn’t mean another captain wouldn’t take his place eventually. However, that was a conversation for another time. 

So instead, you gave her a small smile and nodded. “I’m glad, Gwen. Really, I am. And I agree that Miles has a chance to change the Canon. It’s why I tried to stop all of this before things got so out of hand. Miles is unlike anyone I have ever seen before. It’s true he’s an anomaly but he’s not a fatal one. I can see that he’s connected to the multiverse and the Canon and yet is also separated from it. I’ve never encountered anything like it before. I just wish I would have realized it sooner. Then maybe I could have convinced Miguel to let Miles at least try to save his father. Maybe then Miguel wouldn’t have… wouldn’t have–”

You shook your head, unable to finish the words that were too painful to say out loud. It had been one thing when you had snapped them in anger at Peter, but now, when you were calm and able to fully face what Miguel had done to you, it was different. You just kept seeing that dead expression on his face and the cold gleam in his red eyes just before he hurled you across the room. The sound of his complete lack of emotion as he snapped, “She made her bed, now she can die in it.”

You and Miguel had been in each other’s lives for so long. Even before you started your romantic relationship, the two of you had been extremely close friends and partners. Sure, you had had your ups and downs, but nothing anywhere close to this. At that moment, he truly hadn’t cared what happened to you. And even if there was a chance he changed his mind and tried to come back for you, it didn’t undo what he had done or said. But while your head continued to scream these things at you, your heart couldn’t let him go– at least not yet. 

However, if there was any hope of reconciling with Miguel, what you had planned next would obliterate that sliver of a chance. But it was the right thing to do.

Taking a deep breath, you said, “I know how to find Miles.”

Gwen stared at you in surprise. “What? How? I already checked Earth-1610 and he’s not there which means the Go Home machine messed up and he could literally be in any other universe.”

“How do you think?” you scoffed as you let your eyes roll back into your head and the room around you melted away into the familiar glow of the multiverse. “I just need something of his to tune into.”

“Here!” You felt Gwen jump off the bed and out the door. A moment later, you heard her return and place a soft piece of clothing in your hand. “It’s his jacket. I took this when I visited his place on Earth-1610. It’s pretty worn out so I’m guessing he wore it a lot.”

Feeling the residual energy radiating from it, you nodded. “Yeah, this should work. Just give me a few minutes.”

Mentally, you reached out into the tangled web of dimensions as you searched for the person who matched the feel of the jacket in your hand. You found several who were close– Miles Morales’s from other Earths –but not the one you were looking for. Finally, you were drawn to a cluster of Earths to your left and headed in that direction. A moment later, you caught a hint of what you were looking for. And what was more, your Miles didn’t seem to be alone….

Leaving the dimensional void, you sagged back heavily on your pillow with a soft sigh of exhaustion. Normally, a search like that would have barely registered to you, but you were still drained from being almost glitched out of existence. 

After collecting yourself, you nodded at Gwen. “I got him. He’s on Earth-42. And it seems he’s found the Miles of that universe.” 

“Oh!” Gwen said in surprise. “What does that mean?”

“Potentially nothing, but meeting your doppelganger from another dimension isn’t always easy to accept. You’ll need to approach the situation carefully when you go get him.”

“Me? What about you?”

“I’m going after Miguel.” You saw the skepticism spark on Gwen’s face. “It’s okay. I’m not going to tell him where Miles is. But while you guys go find Miles, get him home, and try to stop Spot so you can save his dad, I need to try and stall Miguel. Maybe I can finally talk some reason into him.”

At that, Gwen’s skepticism shifted to worry. “The last time you tried that, he left you for dead.”

“True, but I wasn’t prepared because I never imagined he would stoop to that level. Now that I know the extent he’s willing to go, I’m ready for him. I know Miguel better than anyone else. I know his strengths and weaknesses, and I know how to stop him if I have to. And if nothing else, I can buy you guys some time.”

“He could kill you. For real this time.”

“Yeah, he could.” You looked down at your amulet. You could still back out. Go with Gwen and the others instead of trying to face Miguel. But you knew this was their best chance for success, even if that meant you might not be there to see it. 

Sliding your amulet over your head and letting it fall to its rightful place on your neck, you said, “I should already be dead, but Hobie saved me. The least I can do is try to use that life I was given back to save my friends.”

Gwen took your hand and gave it a tight squeeze. “Thank you.”

You smiled and squeezed her hand back. “I just need a little more time to regain my strength. What I need to do takes a lot of energy and I’m just not there yet. But I should be ready by the time Hobie finishes the watches and you get your other friends on board. Then we’ll each go do what we have to in order to set things right.”

This wasn’t going to be easy. You still loved Miguel and you knew despite what he did that you would love him until your last breath. But this was no longer about the two of you. In fact, it never really was. Miles was different– special –and he might be the key to discovering a way to change the Canon for all Spider-People. No more destined loss, no more unavoidable pain. But only if Miguel will listen to you and what you have seen. And that was a really big what if.

As Gwen left the room to fill everyone else in and let you rest, you picked up your amulet from where it rested on your chest and placed a soft kiss on the cold stone. Sending out a small tendril of power through the multiverse in the hopes he might hear you, you thought, I’m coming, my love. Whether you’re happy to see me or not.

Taglist: @lorecraft, @mayhem24-7forever, @writercole, @arraxthatsonjah, @cloudystarsog, @agomeangelcat, @melovetitties, @leonphi @smoxthife, @spiritndrain, @uniquecroissant

[genshin-squabbles-and-wobbles]

The Enraged Inferno || Part 3

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Character: Diluc

Type: Angst, tragedy, Revenge and Reader in her villian era

Tags: Fem!Reader

About being Taglisted in my stories: Here

Requester: @sailorstar9

Content: You traveled to Mondstadt to deliver a medicine order for Baizhu. You decided to stay in Mondstadt and expand his buisness there. You just met with Jean and treated her like the way she treated you but worse, but then...you met Diluc, he was all over the place, as his facade fell apart immediately once he saw you. It was like the light of his life was brighten again, only that...you were...different.

Trigger Warning: I might be a little violent in this story to stress the Villain Era the reader is in, and also, dealing with trauma so please proceed with caution. I might add cursing a bit, please let me know if you can feel the idea of the reader without the cursing. I might've also like included something about the idea of lobotomy in there so please, be careful.

Part 1: Here Part 2: Here

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[ 9 Years ago, 12 year old ]

"Aha Luc! Look! Look! I found wild grapes!" You smiled as you showed him healthy fully grown grapes.

Diluc smiled and blushed at you. "Those look pretty...would you want to maybe...grow a large grape farm together...?"

You widen your eyes and jumped happily. "Yes! That is sooo cool! Imagine all the grape juice we can give to everyone!?" You hugged Diluc. "You keep being so smart, Luc!"

Diluc smiled and blushed more. He hugged you back, as he imagined a future where you and him would grow grapes together, and sunbathed under the sun together. Then drink grape juice, laying in the grass under the moon.

Kaeya then joined in on the hug. "Hey guys, why not do wine? Dad says it cost money and we can have a lot fo money!"

You looked at him. "Oh wow. That is so true!"

You three laughed together, in ignorant bliss.

[ 5 Years ago, 17 year old ]

"Hey Luc." You slumped down next to him and handed him a grape juice box. You poked a hole in yours and took a sip.

Diluc looked at you. "Something wrong?" He did the same, as he took a bigger sip.

"Nah, I am okay." You smiled at him, kindly.

"I know you better then that, don’t lie to me now." Diluc leaned back and stared straight. He didn’t need to try and guess your emotions. You became second hand nature for him to read.

You chuckled. "What gave it away?"

He shrugged. "I just know...what's wrong..?"

You smiled and sighed. "I..."

Diluc interrupted. "You saw adventures and the monsters fought brutally and you feel troubled. You want everyone to get along and live in peace?"

You looked at him shocked. "H-How did you...!!"

Diluc laughed. "Haha you are too cute, of course I'll know. You are such a gentle soul, with a kind heart. I could never get over that. I can indulge you in that forever." He smiled at you.

You blushed and looked away.

[ Current ]

Diluc was looking down at you, at your dead face. You pushed his away from your chin, and sighed. "Diluc, please sign the receipt so I can leave, I have things to do." You spoke coldy to him.

He looked at you, dumbstrucked once more. "Diluc...? You won't call me Luc anymore??". However, as a defense mechanism of his he will pretend this didn’t bother him, despite the mess he was right now. He sighed and nodded slowly and turned, pulled a pen from his desk and sighed the receipt. He then turned to you, and handed you the receipt.

You then turned and walked away, no goodbye, no nothing. Diluc tried to watch you walk away, however this was too much for him, he immediately put his head in his hand, desperate once more. He immediately ran ahead of you and came in front of you, preventing you from leaving his office.

"I-I love you!" Diluc said desperately. "I have always loved you! I left that stupid arrange marriage for you, I left Jean for you, I love you! Please just listen to me! I've always loved you, since we were young! Your smile, your playful natu-"

"Diluc move." You spoke sternly with a red glint in your eyes. You pushed him aside, and opened the door, left. You had no time for some dumb romantic shit. You had no space in your heart for it, anyways. But at the moment, you didn’t care.

Diluc obediently let you pushed him aside and he stood, watching you leave his vicinity. He slowly clenched his fist, with trembling jaw. Small tears streaming down his face. Perhaps...it was still the same tragedies in his life, nothing changed.

You walked out, and sighed. You had one goal in mind, revenge. You walked back to your new home in Mondstadt, and mailed the letter to Baizhu. You began cleaning up your new home, and throwing things away. Keeping somethings. You began turning the living room into a pharmacy with shelves and turning some rooms into patient rooms. After all, you were a dendro healer like your uncle. Just, without that cursed snake.

You were success, you made the place look homey and decent. You made one room your office, and kept the upstairs part as your home. A kitchen, a bedroom, and a smaller living room. You didn’t need much. You didn’t have much anyways. Not anymore. That version of you was lost long ago.

Next week, you stocked shelves and made proper arrangement for patient rooms, with tools and necessary items, thanks to Baizhu. He approved, and everything was shipped. You now deal with orders coming from Mondstatd, and anyone who needs assistance. You created a partnership with the church, specifically Barbara, who was happy to be in a partnership with you.

As she can bring her patience over, or be the doctor in charge if she liked, while you handle pharmaceutical things. You can send your customers to her, if you notice something serious within their health. This was perfect, as now that you had two sponsors, that were certified healers and doctors, you felt confident enough to open.

You were about to start a new life, on your own. This was a first step towards healing, as you never knew it at first. That was until you saw that face. The one you wanted to strangle. Immediately, you had eyes on her. This was the first servant, the phase one servant you called it, that one that lured you. She lured you to the area of the supposed accident. You lifted your sleeve up looking at the scars and back at her through the window.

Your face darken immediately, you walked to the window, and used your nails to scratch at the window.

The noise caught the servant's attention and turns towards you, as her blood ran cold. All she saw was your darken angry face, with scratch marks at the window. At first, she assumed she was being haunted, but once she realize you were real...you were alive...immediately, she turned and walked away. Running away.

Immediately you followed after her, you had a dog collar, a syringe and other medicinals on you. Pondering what to do to this little shit stain here. Strangle her? Comatose her? Keep her as a pet in the basement? Naked or rotten clothed? Poison? You wanted to give this women hell like no other, worse than death even. Maybe you can lobotomize her, make her bedridden, see how she likes it if her family relied on your pharmacy to get medicine for her.

All of a sudden you bumped into someone.

"My My...it has been a while, and it looks like you are on your way to d some..."business"..."

You looked up and widen your eyes. "Kaeya.." You muttered and slowly backed away.

"It has been quite a while...I knew you weren’t dead but I am actually glad to see you in the flesh again, old friend." Kaeya had a teasing smile, but you know it was genuine. He placed his hand on your back.

"I don’t know what is going on in that head of yours...but everyone has been telling me how scary you have become...what happened to you?"

"What happened to you? And your eye?" You made a rebuttal, as you remember Kaeya as a shy cry baby, who would always ask you or Diluc for help. But this man is entirely independent and ferocious. Manipulative and sly. He smelled like he drinks alcohol on a daily basis and...he was a knight.

Kaeya chuckled. "I guess we both have some explaining to do...let's have a drink. On me. We can do it at your place, since you have it empty right now." You looked at him and sighed. For some reason, Kaeya brings out a different side of you, a more vulnerable side, as if, he see right through you. He wasn’t like this before, however, it seems he can tell, or you are just showing your emotions too much and he can read them like a book.

As you Kaeya walked in your new home, and pharmacy, Diluc watched you both from a distance, as he was in the middle of entering Angel Share for his Shift. He tightened his grip on the door knob, as he was jealous. Why did he get such a cold treatment but you welcomed Kaeya with open arms...has he brainwashed you? He had an angry glare as he watched the door shut with the two of you in there, alone.

One thing for sure, you two were getting closer while he was in the sidelines watching.

[lemonhemlock]

https://twitter.com/itadorimaid/status/1618940932812083200?t=fbHXYyIphhYCxL5CDQ_1Og&s=19

Greetings , any thoughts on this? I do think there are some contradictions in Daemon's actions so you could argue either side.

Another old ask and I'm gonna try and answer this as indulgently as possible for the sake of old man GRRM who really wants us to like Daemon. So there's a lot of (insufferable) narrative bias with which GRRM surrounds Daemon, while insisting that he is equal parts light and dark and whatever. IMO that may be true for the Daemon that lives inside GRRM's head, but when it comes to what he actually wrote on the page, things get a lot murkier.

Nevertheless, I do not think there was authorial intent into making Daemon an absolute monster, a sociopath, a sadist, a villain and a devil, like ChatGPT would say if you were to piss it off. But, in that vein, it would be a fair assessment to assert Daemon is a schemer. A plot hatcher. He can reasonably construct plans for the short and medium term. However, they are often foiled in some way. So he regroups and tries again. He can't get out of his first marriage, tries to take a second wife, is denied, so he kills Rhea and frees himself. He can't get Rhaenyra for his wife, so he marries Laena, the next best thing. He is denied as heir, so he marries Rhaenyra, the heir. If you listen to Ryan Condal, he can't be with his brother, so he gets together with his niece instead, etc.

However, I don't think Daemon is the best at long-term planning. He is not a Littlefinger/Varys type of character to sit pen-in-hand and painstakingly plan out an entire plot spanning years and years, carefully moving each piece on the board at the opportune moment, constantly calculating several scenarios playing out. He truly is an agent of chaos. He's more come-as-you-are, take-it-as-it-goes, more of an improviser.

It's also important to note that in the books, Daemon is linked to 4 ? different murders: Rhea, the son of the Sealord of Braavos, Harwin and Laenor. They had him outright murder Rhea in the show, but I hear people contesting this for the books. I wouldn't bet all my money on it. Yes, he is fighting in the Stepstones when Rhea dies, but that doesn't mean he couldn't have hired an assassin. I say this because he is fighting in a literal war, his own war, and he drops everything to rush to the Vale to claim Rhea's inheritance, an act so outright rude that Lady Jeyne has to literally kick him out of the Vale. Now, this is a woman he deeply dislikes, whom he hasn't seen in ages. I am not buying this whole idea that he came to Runestone to arrange her funeral. Rhea has her own family for that, she doesn't need Daemon. News also doesn't travel instantly in Westeros, so somehow Daemon got to the Vale just in time for Lady Jeyne to still be settling the Royce succession. It's at least a little fishy.

The son of the Sealord of Braavos he openly kills in a duel for Laena's hand. With Harwin and Laenor's deaths he is linked. Now, I'm not even saying the author necessarily intended for Daemon to be responsible for all of these people's deaths, but it's very suspicious that all these events are so convenient for Daemon and he profits so much off them. So, I definitely think it was authorial intent for us to become aware this is a dangerous person, an ambitious character, and most likely even a ruthless one, who will go all the way if he needs to. I really, really don't think we were supposed to look at this context and conclude Daemon is a poor misunderstood malewife, done dirty by historians.

Perhaps Daemon's PR image in the fandom would have been different had he outright killed Laenor, instead of becoming the most unlikely gay rights activist. But his stans' insistence that Jace, Luke and Joffrey would be 100% safe in Daemon's hands and not even take this possibility into account is absurd.

I'm not of the belief that Daemon was plotting to have them murdered since they were babes at Rhaenyra's breast or even ever since he married her. But does he really have to? I do believe that he does love Rhaenyra as much as he understands love and wouldn't outright do something as awful until he absolutely had to or at least he would try to postpone it. A lot of things can happen until Rhaenyra ascends, that he might not even have to get his hands dirty in the first place. Her bastards might get outed somehow. They might die somehow, without Daemon's intervention. Rhaenyra herself might die in childbed or by disease. Daemon might die, in which case he doesn't have to worry himself further. Maybe Daemon and Rhaenyra only have girl children, etc. As it happened, the war killed off the Strong boys and Daemon didn't even have to do anything.

However, if Rhaenyra were crowned and they came to the problem of her heir - I think this is the time Daemon might start plotting. They've had their honeymoon holiday period, but I very much doubt Daemon would sit idle while a bastard takes the throne away from his firstborn, who just so happens to be Rhaenyra's actual legal heir. Now, I think murder would be a last resort for Daemon, but I don't think he'd shy away from it, though I could see him trying to subversively work behind the scenes to create unrest at the idea of the Strong boys being in the line of succession as obvious bastards. Rhaenyra could somehow be forced by the political situation to disinherit them and name Aegon the Younger heir. Problem solved. If not, well, accidents can happen. Assassins can be hired. Luke, for example, would be in Driftmark surrounded by Velaryon "cousins" who have every reason to hate his guts. Maybe he falls down the stairs one day. Maybe a combination of all of these things.

This doesn't preclude Daemon for feeling regret for his actions, but he has already done many things he would regret later (like his fights with Viserys, his many exiles), but still went through with them because, in his head, he believed he was doing the right thing. And putting a pure, legitimate Targaryen prince on the throne would definitely feel like doing the right thing to Daemon.

Also? He could still kill those three and feel sorry afterwards! Those things are not mutually exclusive. And it would fall into the whole conflict of the human heart, because he would be doing it for his own son. The motive is there and it's very alluring.

There's also the argument that he wouldn't need to, because his blood would already be on the throne, with Baela as Queen. But being the Queen's father isn't the same as being the King's father. And!! He could be both! What's to say he couldn't marry Baela to Aegon III? Baela was born in 116 AC and Aegon in 120 AC - there's a 4 year age difference between them in the books.

So to address the points in that tweet:

"brother legitimize lucerys claim to the driftmark throne" - It would look mighty strange if, at that point in time, he wouldn't be supporting his own wife in hiding her sons' illegitimacy from the world. 🤷‍♀️ Luke is, honestly, the easiest target. By all means, let him rule over Driftmark and let his Velaryon "relatives" assassinate him themselves. Daemon doesn't even have to lift a finger for this one.

"an eye for an eye, a son for a son. lucerys shall be avenged." + k words toddlers for lucerys - This honestly feeds into Daemon's disposition towards cruelty more than anything. If he were truly seeking retributive justice, he would have targeted Aemond, Luke's actual killer. Anything else is not justice, regardless of how Daemon tries to paint it. Not to mention that the actual retribution was way disproportionate to the crime.

k words aemond - But Aemond wasn't killed for Luke, that's the whole point, that's what makes B&C so atrocious and evil. By that time, Aemond was a military threat for the blacks that Daemon was neutralizing. To think that Daemon went to God's Eye set on avenging Luke yet again (even though he had already done that once, inordinately, too?) is a spurious reading.

[hellbentrapture]

Gone

I did not think my first eulogy would be for my best friend. I did not think we would not grow old together, geriatrics doing movie nights. I did not think I would not always be cooking and sharing meals with him, so candid and excited about each one. I did not think he would let go. I did not think he would not be there. Ever. Again.

CW/TW: suicide, grief, loss, depression, mental illness, abusive and manipulative family, funeral arrangements, C-PTSD/PTSD, OCD.

My best friend committed suicide on February the 7th of this year (2024), I learned about it on the 10th after myself and my other best friend filed a missing persons report for him on the 9th. He had been struggling only a few days prior with an episode that involved C-PTSD and a flashback - I cannot divulge more than this, only that it was so complicated and there is so much more to it. He did go to the hospital, on Sunday the 4th. He did spend the night. He went home Monday the 5th.

Myself, he, and my other best friend had a group call. We talked for awhile and he was genuinely hopeful for the future. He had plans, he was talking to people, he was reaching out.

Wednesday the 7th was the last time anyone heard from him - it was me and my other best friend, at 10am. We were told he likely died around 4:30pm/5pm. A matter of hours, lessened when you account for him writing the letter and travelling. We were informed it was a train. I will never look at trains the same ever again, I do not know when I will be able to truly look at them yet...

The space between the 7th and the 10th is because he was unidentified, and was only discovered and connections made because I insisted we check on him. I insisted we make calls on Friday, we go to his apartment, we involve local health, we involve the police. Had we not filed that missings, who knows how long it would have been.

Worse yet, his abusive and estranged mother is his legal next of kin. So she gets to make all the calls on his arrangements and care. He had technically cut off his sister 8 months ago, but she is our only ally and is the far far lesser of the two evils. Working with her has not been as bad as it could be - without her, my other best friend and I would have no power nor legal recourse anywhere.

Before his mother intervened, we had picked a lovely funeral home to have him cremated at, that even said they could arrange a viewing for us. Instead, he will be going to literally the cheapest crematorium in the city (that actually advertises as such) and does not do viewings. His mother has been withholding what belongings she has gotten and has threatened to withhold all of his ashes if his sister does not see her for them. His mother, and her partner, have also threatened to keep the ashes out of spite. Luckily, the crematorium has promised us half the ashes that we can pick up separately.

I am trying not to fret that She will intervene once more...

I have not been fully processing or feeling it all yet - I don't think I will be able to until we are done planning the official service (that anyone who knew him is welcome to) and the wake (the tight circle). So a big part of me feels like I am in wait mode still.

But I do feel it every now and then, the deep cavernous sadness. The utter despair. The loss. The denial. The anger. Grief. More grief.

I loved him so very much. We were two struggling souls caught in a ruthless and relentless storm, gripping each other's hands, terrified but knowing we could make it together. I had so many visions of my future, and he was always going to be there with us.

In the end, as he told me in his letter, it was the OCD. I am angry that he gave into the impulse to find only the worst stories of OCD, where he believes those to be the all. I am deeply hurt, wishing I had known it felt so bad for him. And I am mortally terrified, for I did not know OCD could take you down like that - and I have OCD.

And you know what this all needs? Therapy. Do you know what I cannot access? Therapy.

I am so lucky and thankful for the Tight Circle I still have, we are supporting each other so much right now and I am so glad for it. I know I have others. I know this awful, awful pain will pass eventually, with time.

Time...

[my-watch-begins]

A match for love. Part XVII

Pairing: Harwin Strong x Female!OC.

Words: 5 k

Warnings: things get spicy again, and also a little angsty.

MASTERLIST.

4 years later.

Ayla scribbled on a piece of parchment. Her eyes landed briefly at the Lord sitting in front of her.

"I'm afraid if you don't agree to these terms, you will be sanctioned, Lord Rogers. The blockade you've established to House Wylde can no longer stand"

"I wish to speak to the Hand about this. His sons killed my only one in a jousting competition in a heavy unsportsmanlike manner"

Ayla left the feather in the ink and moved from her seat to one of the drawers.

"The Hand has already sanctioned and signed your efforts in this blockade. You are to replenish the loss of stock the Wylde suffered and the food that went to waste because you blocked their path from the rest of the Stormlands. I thought you had come to see me to even further your generosity over House Wylde and offer a marriage between one of your daughters and one of his sons. For peace keeping sake"

Ayla had left a parchment signed and marked with the Hand's sigil, Lord Rogers had read it as she spoke.

"You do, after all, need a new heir to your House"

The Lord pondered, then folded the parchment on itself and placed it back on the desk.

"Do try to arrange this as soon as possible, the sanction is affected by interests if you stall"

The Lord didn't seemed convinced, but he would also never speak with the Hand. He accepted his rendition and left the office, albeit a little angry.

"Next" Ayla called, looking at the front door of the office of the Hand. Her jaw tightened when she saw Lord Everan walk in.

"Lady Ayla" he saluted, his hand took the chair and pulled it back to sit in front of her.

"Lord Connington" she addressed, eager to find out why would he need to speak with the Hand.

"I hear you are the one that needs to be addressed these days"

"The Hand is much too busy with other matters and leaves these ones to me" she explained shortly. "I hope I can be of service"

"I have no doubt you will be My Lady" Ayla stared shortly at his face. Even after all those years, seeing Lord Everan too much might confirm the suspicions she had from day one, the ones that the Princess Rhaenyra, despite their continued and growing close friendship, had never confirmed nor denied "I would like to arrange travel security, the lootings are becoming more and more common these days"

Ayla grabbed a clean piece of parchment and got ready to write.

"We are aware, where to?"

"The Stormlands, to my seat in Griffin's Roost, my entire party will be leaving, total of six" as Ayla wrote down the destination and her mind quickly began to swirl with questions. 

"It can be arranged from the Red Keep until the Fellwood, I believe Baratheon forces could take the rest of the detail the rest of the way. I'll send a raven right away"

"I don't believe that would be necessary, I am in quite a hurry to leave on the morrow"

"Oh" she muttered "very well then, I'll arrange this with my husband as soon as possible"

"Ah yes, the Lord Commander" both Ayla and Lord Everan stood from their seats, Ayla held the piece of parchment she had just written "I believe I am in good hands then" she somehow didn't like the way Lord Everan pronounced the words. She smiled and motioned at the door.

"We will have to trust your past judgment Lord Everan, you did vouch for him when it was time to name a Lord Commander"

They smiled at each other, Ayla with a more condescending undertone and Lord Everan out of a little embarrassment.

After Ayla saw that there was no one outside the office of the Hand, she closed and locked it before heading to the office of the Lord Commander, an office she argued was more fit to the post rather than a desk in the barracks.

When she reached the office, she knocked and entered, her eyes meeting the broad of his back as he stored things away.

"You can leave it on the desk" he said, not turning to address her.

She left the folded parchment in his desk as she spoke "that's no way to talk to your Lady wife" she teased. Harwin spun on his heels and instantly gave her an apologetic twist of his eyebrows as he walked to her.

"I was expecting someone else, apologies my love" he kissed her on the forehead and rounded her waist with one of his arms, instantly trapping her "that is absolutely no way to speak to my bountiful lady wife" his large hand cupped fully one of her ass cheeks and he leaned in for a hungry kiss. Ayla chuckled and rounded his neck, pulling herself up on her tiptoes to kiss him properly. The door knocked again and Harwin replied over her lips.

"I'm busy"

"No he's not, come in" she countered, her hands now pushing his hand away from her ass and slipping from his grip.

One of the captains entered and without other words other than acknowledging the two of them by their tittles, left more parchments on the table.

Ayla waited until the captain left and closed the door behind him.

"This is of a bigger priority I'm afraid" she pointed at her piece of parchment and left it on top of the others

"I will get to it right away" his hand found hers and led it to his lips for a quick kiss "the Princess wishes to see us tonight" he said in a low voice.

Unwillingly Ayla connected the dots. Her mind wandered around with what the missing information could be until mid-day, at which point her thoughts switched quickly to wonder why were her children being scolded by the Septa.

She quickened her steps and when she neared them she called for their attention.

"Septa Noelle" the first ones to react to the words were her children, who quickly left the Septa's side and rushed over to hide behind her "what would be the matter?"

The Septa sighed in exasperation and held her hands together at her front.

"Lady Ayla, as you are aware, there's a new curricula supported by the Queen to teach the children the Faith of the Seven"

"I am aware"

"Your children I'm afraid do not posses the base knowledge to be with the other children in the lessons and will need to reinforce their knowledge with extra classes"

"I will see to that personally" she concluded, her hands searched and found her sons clammy and sweaty ones, specially Kiran's who was not used to being scolded so harshly.

"I'm afraid that the knowledge you might be able to teach them will not be enough, your children repeat words and sayings I'm certain they haven't heard from anywhere else but you, as I have often personally hear you curse at the Gods and besmirch their miracles and good graces"

"My dislike for the Gods is not unwarranted"

"Still, I believe that as a mother, you should-"

"Sadly I'm not taking any comments or suggestions about my parenting at this time Septa Noelle. With your permission"

Ayla turned on her heels and pressed a hand to each of her sons' shoulders, leading them away from the teaching room and from the Septa. The Strong boys ushered words to each other and Ayla kept a close eye on them until they reached the Tower of the Hand.

"I'm going to see if your aunt Grayce needs anything, you can either come with me or head down to the baracks, your uncle might be there finishing with his training" she offered. The boys didn't look up at her to reply or gave her any of their words. She crouched to meet their gaze and placed her hands at either side of their cheeks. "What is it my boys?"

"Are we in trouble?"

"Will you tell father?"

They asked, Ayla pulled their faces up by their chins and held their gaze to hers.

"You are not in trouble, and I will tell your father about this but not to scold you, but to protect you, as it is our job"

"Kylian said you hated the Gods" Kiran explained in a accusatorial tone.

"I do not care who did what, Kiran. But maybe next time we don't repeat things we hear at home, I have my reasons for having spoken those words, and most people often judge unknowingly. That's why we always hold out judgement until we have all the information, right my boys?"

Both of them nodded dutifully and somewhat remorseful, she kissed them each on the forehead, moving their curls away and then ordered them to the barracks.

In the Tower of the Hand now only one family resided. Ayla and Harwin had given their large quarters and adjacent room to Grayce after her marriage. Grayce's husband was a rather charming second son of the Lord of House Rykker who had attended the name day celebration of one of the Targaryen Princes. Far from being a good swordsman, Terren Rykker appeared to be the exact opposite of Ayla's brother Adrian. Leaning more to books, organization, straying from taverns and most importantly being a gentleman, Terren had approached Grayce and Adrian as they danced in the celebration for Prince Aegon's name day and asked to dance with Grayce.

That was the first time Terren had showed and proved his courage to win Grayce's favor. The second time was when he personally headed to the office of the Hand to ask for Grayce's hand.

Since their marriage, Grayce and Terren had welcomed two little girls, one of now two years old and the other one of three months old. Despite having interrupted their dance, Terren was blissfully unaware of the past that Adrian and Grayce shared. Ayla tried to make deaf ears and blind eyes to the fact that two dark haired parents had dark brown hair children that could either be attributed to their grand sire's heritage or...

Ayla tried not to think about the other option. Adrian did not show exceptional interest on the girls other than the occasional praise on their beauty and even then it wasn't enough of a reason for Ayla to doubt them.

Ayla made time almost every day to visit her nieces in the Tower of the Hand either to help with the girls or to talk with Grayce about the tribulations of being a mother, not to mention the two little girls had drawn Ayla and she very much enjoyed holding them, soothing them, feeding them and seeing them grow.

At night, when Ayla put her sons to bed, Ayla and Harwin walked to their bedroom and opened the side door behind a painting, entering the hidden passages and closing the entrance behind them.

Harwin knew the path like the back of his hand, so he just held Ayla's hand and guided her in the dark as they spoke.

"I'm sure tomorrow you will hear a thing or two about my insolence with the Septa and the words we said to each other today"

"What about?"

"About how my words affect the children's willingness to learn about the Gods. I can only imagine the things Kylian repeats. I got angry at her judgment of my work as a mother"

"As you should my love. I'll make deaf ears to any complaint"

"Perhaps you should look stunned-"

"I will not" Harwin interrupted, then held her hand tighter and pulled her to his side, their bodies meeting in the dark "we are a united front, you and I. I will never undermine you because you have never undermined me" Ayla felt a kiss at the top of her head and Harwin's steps came to a halt, making her stop as well "or do I have to remind you that I married you to always defend you in your insolences?"

Light peaked from the little creak between the wall and the hidden door long enough for Harwin to see Ayla's pleased smirk, then Harwin pushed and moved to let Ayla in first. She squinted her eyes at the harsh light from many candlelights lit all over the room. Ayla noticed the back of the Princess' head and how it moved before she stood up.

Ayla had gotten to know the Princess over their years of acquaintance and realized instantly that she had been crying and attempted to compose herself before turning to meet the couple. Ayla gave her a smile and extended her hands to her. The Princess quickly took them and hardened her features.

"Princess" she saluted. Rhaenyra nodded in their direction and headed to the table on the other side of the room. Ayla and the Princess sat across each other with the table to the side of them, Harwin had to stand behind Ayla pacing out of nervousness.

"As our lives have been linked through the years for some regrettable reasons, I wanted to speak with you before the morning" Ayla's back unconsciously straightened at the direction of the conversation "I am with child"

The only thing in Ayla's mind from that moment until she found herself laying in bed was just one phrase.

What a cunt.

From what she suspected; Lord Everan had been told the news of the Princess' state and had proceeded to pack his things and leave King's Landing before the announcement and posterior birth, that was presumably the reason why she had been crying before they entered the room.

Ayla had assured the Princess that, as always, they would disparage the rumors, deny them, and defend their honor as they had done the two previous times. The Princess seemed relieved and thankful for their words.

Upon looking at her husband as awake as her next to him. She turned to her side and sighed to call for his attention, even though she already had it.

"What do you think?" Harwin asked, his eyes not leaving the ceiling above them.

"I think of the children. They're definitely old enough now to make sense of words"

"Do you think we should prepare them?" He turned his head to her, Ayla gave him a twist of her lips.

"I believe we should, love"

Harwin sighed and pressed a hand to his eyes in frustration.

"What do you think they'll think of me?" Ayla moved to lean over him, one of her hands came to his neck and she kissed his forehead. Harwin's hand rounded her back and landed in between her shoulder blades, keeping her secured over him

"They'll think of you what they already think of you. That you are a dedicated father and a good man, and you saw two little boys and cared for them in the distance. That is the truth, anything else they should disregard"

Harwin squeezed Ayla's shoulder and she leaned back to look at him.

"When Grayce fell with child, both times, you were a little sensitive after the news, how are you about these ones?"

Ayla appreciated that Harwin still threaded carefully about the subject of children. After they had agreed to wait, even though Harwin had followed the advice and lately he rarely spilled inside of her, the fewer times he did had never resulted in not even a scare of being pregnant too early.

"I'm strangely hopeful" she admitted "the Princess said it herself, our lives have been linked over the years. The last time the Princess fell with child so did I shortly after" Ayla saw no ready reply on his part, he just stared at her "it's also been five years" she excused.

"You only need to ask"

"Do I now?" She teased, her body inching more and more until she laid on top of him with her legs at either side of him. Her mouth descended to his for a hot kiss, his big hands landed at her waist and inched lower and lower to her glutes. His fingers worked the fabric of her nightgown to scrunch it over her waist, slowly unveiling her long legs and quickly pulsating sex.

"What does my Lady wife want from me?" He teased. Ayla smiled over his lips and nipped at his lower lip with her teeth.

"I want you to put a babe in me" her teeth nipped at his lips again and Harwin's hand left Ayla's glutes momentarily "I want you to fill me with your seed and-" her sentence got caught in her throat and replaced with a gasp and a moan. Her hands fisted Harwin's shirt as Harwin's thick and hard cock slipped inside of her in a quick thrust.

Ayla's hips rocked back and Harwin's rocked upwards, their efforts meeting and resulting in heavy breaths and restraining grunts from Harwin and free and long moans of pleasure from Ayla. The sight of her full breasts bouncing under the soft silks of her nightgown and her head falling back at the pleasure drove Harwin mad.

His feet made leverage and he pounded upwards to Ayla's needy sex rapidly, as Ayla's hands left bruising scratches on his chest as she held on to whatever she could, Harwin's fingers dug into her waist pushing her down as he thrusted upwards.

Ayla's body trembled and she barely held herself up as the orgasm ripped through her, long and leaving her legs numb at the effort of keeping them bent at either side of her husband's unforgiving hips.

She felt her world turn as Harwin flipped her to the bed, now kneeling in between her legs and positioning his member to her pulsating middle. Without waiting for her to come down from her high, he slipped into her again and grabbed one of her legs, hooking his arm beneath it and pulling her leg up to meet his shoulder.

She felt the most open she'd ever felt, every inch of his cock touched a perfect spot, his soft grunts and sighs were music to her ears as much as her string of moans and wantonly mentions of his name. She felt free and relaxed on the bed and under the arms of her lover.

Under the spell of the peace and pleasure she felt in his arms and as her hands held onto his forearms as some kind of support she blurted out an I love you. The response from Harwin was to crash his lips with hers and make his hips snap faster, Ayla screamed in pleasure drowned by his lips, her back arched to meet his still clothed chest and Harwin's last efforts to make her wife reach other orgasm were quickly achieved when he kneeled back on his heels, placed both hands at her waist and pulled her off the bed, snapping his hips faster and faster until Ayla lost control of her body and Harwin of his, spilling his seed inside of her and her hips moving up and down on his cock, milking every last bit of him.

Ayla sat at the maester's chair as he poured his thoughts over the numbered days. She glanced at Harwin standing in the archway of the door with his arms crossed at his chest, his leg bounced in nervousness as he stared at the Maester.

"Today, you are four moons with child, my Lady"

Ayla wanted to reply with an angry 'I know', she didn't not need a reminder that it had taken her four months to conceive another child and then another four worrying and praying over it's health to see the pregnancy through. She held her tongue to allow the Maester to continue with his thoughts.

"In my experience and most recorded evidence over the years, there should not be a reason for this pregnancy to not come to full term after this month, the only reasons why it would be possible for you to loose the child would be of a physical nature" at the sight of Ayla's frown in wonder the Maester kept talking "direct hits to the midsection and back, a fall, horse riding. I beg for you carefulness"

"Of course" Ayla nodded, Harwin extended his hand to Ayla and she took it as she stood up.

"We will still have visits every two weeks, otherwise put a smile on your face, it'll do the babe well"

Ayla left the pleasantry of thanking the Maester to Harwin, she slipped past him and out the door, being met with Harwin later in a few strides to catch up with her.

"Put a smile on your face he says, luckily for him he'll never know what it's like to be ripped from the inside at the loss of a child" she spat angrily, her hand pressing at the base of her slowly rounding stomach "as if it were that easy"

When they reached the path that led to the office of the Hand at one side and the office of the Lord Commander in the opposite direction, only then Ayla stopped and looked up at Harwin.

"Oh, Harwin" she sighed, tendered at the sight of her husband running a hand over his eyes. She reached for him and rounded his shoulders with her arms. Harwin hugged her, his arms reached around her whole back and landed on her ribs, his face hid in her neck. Ayla rubbed his neck soothingly "I apologize if I'm a little pessimistic. I don't mean to bring you down with it" she pulled back and cupped his cheek, their foreheads meeting "you can be as happy and overjoyed and show it as much as you want"

"I want you to be it too"

Ayla kissed him tenderly.

"When we have our little one at arms I will be"

They shared another kiss, then before parting Harwin took Ayla's hands and kissed them.

As she walked to the office of the Hand, both kinds of thoughts battled in her mind. Ones about worried about seeing the pregnancy to it's end battled with the implications not seeing it to it's end knowing that she would never welcome another child if she did.

At the sight of her, Lord Lyonel asked firstly about their visit with the Maester. Ayla related that it seemed to be coming along well.

"Harwin was moved by the news, I'm still more on the frightful side"

"It's normal after what you've been through. But you should trust the words of the maesters"

Ayla kept her thoughts about the maesters to herself and changed the subject "how is the King?"

"Better, by the grace of the Gods. Though his health is on a spinning wheel, sometimes at the highest and sometimes at the lowest. For now I will not absent myself from the office of the Hand, but I will let you know when I would need you to take over" 

Ayla nodded and stared at Lord Lyonel, writing and signing things over his desk.

"I'm afraid I won't be of much help today after the visit, but I'll be better tomorrow" Ayla confessed, she could hardly think if anything else other than her babe.

"Understandable. You should go and rest" Ayla took the dismissal with a nod and walked from the office of the hand.

Instead of going to the quarters of the Lord Commander where they now resided, she headed to the gardens.

At the sight of her, the Princess walked briskly, as if she wasn't carrying the extra weight of her big stomach with her child threatening to be born at any moment.

"I'll have a table set up for us and you can tell me everything" she said, holding Ayla's hands in hers.

Once they were sitting, Ayla barely touched any of the food, she just drank tea and watched the Princess eat to it's entirely a bowl of candied lemons.

"I just can't bring myself to be happy about it. I'm fearful that one of this days I will wake up and loose it" the Princess gave her a sympathetic twist of her eyebrows "and this time will be worst than the last because I am farther along and will be damaged irreversibly"

"It will not be, it's not a certainty and you shouldn't speak as if it's something that will happen inevitably" Rhaenyra's hands search for Ayla's as she spoke. "The Gods wouldn't be so cruel"

"They can and they have been with me. Otherwise I wouldn't have had to wait five years to conceive a child knowing how much I want it, how much we want it" Ayla stared at their held hands "truth be told, the news about your child gave me strength enough to ask Harwin to try again"

The Princess smiled widely tendered at Ayla's words. She reached for her and her hand landed on her stomach.

"I, Rhaenyra of House Targaryen, first of my name will personally seek the Gods in the clouds and far beyond and set them aflame with my dragon if they dare to take this child from you" she declared.

At night, as Ayla laid on the bed with a little more carefulness than she usually did, she was quickly enveloped by Harwin's arm around her middle and his lips came to her bump.

"How have you felt today?" He asked.

"Normal, thoughtful, though lacking appetite"

Harwin twisted his mouth in a scolding matter.

"I did eat, just haven't indulged much other than what was necessary"

Harwin pressed his hand over her bump and then a slow kiss, leaving his forehead on it.

Even over Ayla's distaste for the Gods, Harwin often prayed for the health of the babe to the Mother before going to bed. When he finished with his prayer he kissed her stomach again and lifted his eyes to hers.

"The Princess' labors are nearing. I do not wish for you to get into fights with people who speak ill of us"

"If they say them to my face I will" she quickly defended.

"Ayla, I'm begging you" she couldn't stand her husband's big and pleading eyes on her. She gave a defeated sigh and pressed her hand on top of his "If anything, point a finger at someone and I'll deal with it"

"You drain the fun out of everything" she complained.

"Just after the birth" he negotiated, his hand took hers and gave her a kiss "I'd missed seeing you like this" he admitted, his hand laying again on top of her stomach, his fingers rubbing lightly.

"I'd missed being like this" she followed "despite the pains that come with it, I very much like bearing your children"

"They are ours"

"Those two boys we have do not have a drop of my blood in them, your seed is much too strong"

"This one will"

Ayla turned her lips in a little scowl.

"I'd like my own personal army of Strong boys" Harwin smiled and kissed her stomach again.

The Princess closed her eyes and held both of her hands to the sides of her stomach, the chairs of the garden arrangements definitely did not help to make her comfortable during her pains.

"The pains have already started" she commented to Ayla. " The maesters predict the birth will happen this week"

"You will do well in it, Rhaenyra, it's nothing you haven't done two times before"

"That's not what I'm worried about, its the implications of the birth, they will show themselves even quicker than before"

"The Queen is surely going to bring up the matter to the King again" Ayla commented.

"She surely will" she lamented "and two times... It was excusable. Not it's undeniable"

Ayla pressed her lips tightly.

"What do think I should do to mitigate them?" the Princess asked, tilting her head to the side.

Ayla stared blankly at the Princess, her words stunned her and she didn't give her an answer quick enough making the Princess justify her request.

"My father has the Hand to advise him, by your own words the Queen has Larys Strong to advise her, who do I have? My husband is woefully blind to our troubles, the only other person whose advise I would trust I haven't seen in ten years" she complained "and you have been under the tutoring of the Hand for years as well, you must have learned"

"I have" Ayla wearily began. His hands held each other tightly "though I feel like I don't have all the information to properly advise you" Ayla saw the initial glint of disappointment in Rhaenyra's eyes, but she spoke quickly to revert it "the only advise I could give you would be to propose a marriage between your oldest, Prince Jacaerys, and your sister Haelena"

"They would never agree to such a thing"

"I beg to differ, out of his own accord the King will agree. The Queen might disagree at first, and the betrothal should be made official before the Queen's father becomes aware of it and he tries to dissuade her. I also believe that it's a good exit for your sister. Based on what you've told me, she's the only one of your half siblings with who you have a good relationship with. I believe she'll be better with your side of the family"

Rhaenyra pondered. It was expected of her to start making alliances with her sons, the boys had Targaryen blood and their options were limited to keep the bloodline pure.

She closed her eyes and pressed her hands at the base of her stomach.

"Perhaps we should head to your bedroom to rest" Ayla offered, seeing that the Princess was much too uncomfortable. As soon as her pains stopped, they walked arms linked to the Princess' quarters.

Harwin was walking down the corridor of the Keep when he saw the two Princes. He doubled back to double check if they were in fact Jace and Luke. He then rounded the castle figuring what their destination was and luckily came up in front of them. The boys halted at the interruption of their walk but relaxed when they realize it was only him.

"Where are you two headed without supervision?" He said sternly, the boys were far too familiarized with the Lord Commander to feel intimidated by him.

"Our mother is in labor"

taglist: @her-fandom-sanctum @evyiione @stitchattacks @grimistangel @mostlyskateboarding @mostclevermiss @agentstarkid @throughgoeshamilton

[legobiwan]

As many of you who follow me know by now, I have regressed into a state of Luigi brain rot over the past few weeks. Blame the Mario Brothers movie trailer and my deep, deep need for stress relief after a batshit three months of total overwork and travel. 

Part of my coping mechanism has involved a head-first dive into the Mario fanfiction realm, the quality of which can be wildly unpredictable (especially given that there is a significant chunk of it living on good old ff.net). This being said, there are a handful of gems out there that I’d like to highlight here, if for no other reason then providing myself a resource to come back to when my life inevitably goes off the rails at the start of the next calendar year.

And so without further ado, please enjoy legobiwan’s Mario Brothers (starring Luigi, of course) fic rec list.

Gray Lies by SnowyFrostShadow (gen)

There are surprisingly few fics dealing with the Mr. L debacle during Super Paper Mario, and even fewer that explore the headspace that Mario would be in upon figuring out Mr. L’s true identity during the game. Of those stories, this one is definitely my favorite, allowing Mr. L/Luigi to interact with the other heroes with his asshole persona as he ends up tagging along with the hero gang instead of returning to Count Bleck’s castle. Single chapter, but definitely room to grow after the gang ends up in the Underwhere.

The Man In Green by bitwise_encryption (incomplete, gen)

This fic is Super Paper Mario adjacent, in that much of its plot derives from the events of the aforementioned game. Luigi is thrust into a reality where he doesn’t exist and in addition to trying to form a relationship with his brother and the Princess, must track down the Dark Prognosticus without being arrested (or worse!) for crimes against the Mushroom Kingdom State. I always enjoy stories that take the frankly absurd concept of the Mushroom Kingdom and treat its politics and and economy as one would any other more realistic (albeit fictional) nation-state.

Wicked Game by Jayyydez (incomplete, eventual Bowser/Luigi)

Speaking of politics, this fic gets deep into the weeds of treaty negations and diplomatic relations between the Mushroom Kingdom and the Darklands. Oh yeah, and Luigi volunteers himself to be one half of an arranged marriage with Bowser for said treaty purposes. (No, I’m not wholly immune to Bowuigi, I’m ashamed to say). 

Cutting Costs by gatag (gen)

A fun short story that turns the Princess-kidnapping trope on its head. Guest starring tinfoil-hat Mario in front of a cork board with strings.

Fool's Paradise by Mable (Luigi/Dimentio)

I cannot stress enough how in love I am with this story. I am an absolute sucker for my favorite characters wrestling with their morality and repressed dark tendencies, and Dimentio plucks every last one of Luigi’s strings at a time he’s at his most vulnerable. There’s likely little hope for a follow-up to this, but I am honestly tempted to try and pen one myself. (For those averse to shipping, this story is really all about manipulation. The physical contact is brief, but in my mind, quite important and quite in-character).

Spotlight by SilentCoru (gen)

Short but devastating. An exploration of Luigi and Mario’s relationship that sees our favorite plumber in green pull back the curtain on some of his darkest thoughts.

Fragments by Verran (gen)

Buckle up for this one, friends. A fifty-one chapter monster dealing the fallout from the events of Super Paper Mario. Everyone returns to the Mushroom Kingdom with some massive PTSD, but poor Luigi also has to deal with the ramifications of being split into two personalities. If you’re looking for a story that ends happily with the two brothers once again best friends, this is not the one, but what a journey it is.

[coruscantiprincess]

📚

Okay, so one I've idea I have running around in my head is a time travel fic, where sometime after the events of ROTS Obi-Wan finds himself waking about the time just before Qui-Gon finally takes him as his padawan. But Obi-Wan decides that since he has this chance he is going to do everything in his power to really help Anakin and with the Force to guide him he decides not to be a Jedi and telling Qui-Gon that he would see him on Naboo. He leaves and finds work and saves as much money as he can (It's seventeen years I think before the POM and about 8 before Anakin is born. Not 100% sure my math is right.) he goes to Tatooine probably around when Anakin is 4 or 5. He would have Gone sooner, but he had to make sure he would have enough money to free both Anakin and Shmi.

He somehow arranges with Watto for Qui-Gon to get the parts he will need in the future.

He does end up telling Shmi some of the truth as to why he came, but I don't know how much. They all move to Naboo and Obi-wan and Anakin become like brothers. (Obi-Wan accidentally call Shmi Mom at some point and she loves it.)

Obi-Wan does teach Anakin some things about the Force. One thing I came up with is that He teaches Anakin to meditate while fixing droids, because the force helps him realized that Anakin focuses better when his hands our busy. He also let Anakin fly his ship. He is trying really hard to help Anakin learn to let go, but he has Shmi to help and a better environment which helps. (Oh, maybe he should get Anakin a pet.)

Well the time for the whole invasion is coming and by this point they have moved next door to Padme's family (Obi-Wan didn't know they lived there.) and have become friends with them. They know Padme a little bit, but not well since she's been busy with her campaign and then becoming Queen.

Anyway, just before the invasion Obi-Wan tells Anakin a little more about his past, (Anakin may have known there was something about Obi-Wan's past he wasn't sharing, but he never pressed to know what it was.) mostly that he traveled through time and is trying to stop bad things from happening again and he'll explain more later, but right now they have to go hide in the swamps.

Qui-Gon is sent to Naboo and Obi-Wan's words keep coming to the forefront of his mind, but he gets the Queen off plant without encountering Obi-Wan and then on Tatooine Watto tells him the part is already paid for and he is really confused.

When he is sent back to Naboo with the Queen he thinks about Obi-Wan's words again and is not surprised when Obi-Wan shows up in the swamp with a kid (Okay, so maybe the kid is a surprise.) Padme knows Obi-Wan and Anakin a bit and is happy to have their help. (Shmi stayed in hiding at Obi-Wan's request. She probably joins the camp later once they've made peace with the Gungans.)

Obi-Wan did build himself a lightsaber at some point because he want's to save Qui-Gon since he's fought Mual so much now he is prepared.

He makes sure Anakin can take out the blockade and saves Qui-Gon making sure Mual is truly dead.

They save Naboo and Qui-Gon offers to let Anakin become a Jedi.

Obi-Wan tells him it's his choice, but makes sure Anakin understands what it means to be a Jedi. In the end Anakin decides to stay with Obi-Wan and his mother.

Obi-Wan began to train him more in the ways of the Force and tells him more about the past and the Sith and how Palpatine is one and he is the person they are trying to stop.

Because of this Palpatine can never get his claws into Anakin because Anakin doesn't trust him.

I'm a little foggy on details now, but I know that Obi-Wan and Anakin get to know Padme more and stay in touch. I think if Anakin ever did have a crush on her it didn't last because he had a different environment and she saw him grow up and kept seeing him as little boy she first meet and then as a brother. (I could chance this later,) I've also thought about her falling for Obi-Wan (Which would take him by surprise) I don't know that is up in the air.

The war still happens and Obi-Wan Anakin still fight in it but not as generals or anything cause they are not Jedi, but they are always ready to help with relief missions.

Somehow they defeat Palpatine, but I don't know how yet.

Sorry this is so long, I didn't realize how many words my daydreaming would take up.

Put "📘" or some other version of a book emoji into my inbox and I'll explain the plot of a fanfiction that I haven't written but daydream about.

[formulatrash]

Hello Hazel!

Everyone on twitter is talking about the 4 races in 5 weeks/6 races in 8 weeks thing and I saw that thread by Joe Pompliano about how teams are jumping to and from all these continents (i.e. Baku then Miami, only to go to the US again later) and so was wondering about how F1 said they were trying to arrange a region based calendar for next year since the current calendar isn’t sustainable.

So I was thinking, are the travel/hotel costs of the teams part of the cost cap? Because if they are, wouldn’t F1/the teams just decide to have a triple headers all around so that they don’t have to pay the costs that come with flying their employees back or paying for hotels for the extra week when there isn’t a race if it’s overseas? Sorry, I feel like I can’t articulate what I mean that well but I hope my point is coming across.

I know they’re still doing double and triple headers even if the races aren’t in the same continent but the frequency of them would be waaay more and I feel like that still wouldn’t be a sustainable way of living for the people working in this industry, even if it is more sustainable for the planet that they aren’t having to go back the same continent 2-3 times and only having to go there once.

Thanks!

F1 sort of mumbled about a regionalised calendar but it doesn't seem to be happening. there's feeling that having a European or say, North American leg of the calendar would create a situation where less popular races lost out to more popular ones and the event bosses are keen not to have direct geographic competition next to their event.

that is, of course, rubbish. F1 traditionally had a European chunk of the calendar and despite the exorbitant price of events, people often do chain them together as a road trip, when they can. home crowds will go to 'their' race regardless - and in the Americas, Montreal and Sao Paulo are a pretty goddamned long way away from each other, while Vegas and Miami only exist as premium events that dont share a market with the others.

teams do pay for their logistics and freight out of the cost cap; last year when the price of freight quadrupled there was a cost cap increase to reflect the fact it was impossible to have allowed the right amount, under massive price hikes. this didn't just affect F1, it was all global logistics; some freight was up as much as 800% and logistics costs remain sky-high, as well as very unreliable, I wrote a load about it here if you're interested.

so: human and freight logistics are one of the hardest puzzles to solve in F1 generally and made harder by the complicated calendar. would untangling it somewhat help? yeah, probably; it's not totally straightforward because there are times when events need to be held because of weather (like, good luck moving Silverstone and expecting anything other than freezing sleet and Jeddah clearly can't be held in summer) but there are definitely efficiencies that can be made.

proportional to freight, people movement is relatively less of a problem. F1 uses charter jets most of the time so the costs are pretty different to just putting everyone on a British Airways flight and honestly, the finances of it aren't the issue.

the problem, both for trackside and factory staff, is that it's not possible to perform at an F1 level 30 weeks a year. a grand prix isn't the Sunday race, it's prep work that starts months in advance, it's hours of programming an computer development, tooling, parts coordination and design, it's running a garage and fluid lab and IT operation trackside and the operations and simulator back at the factory for five days straight for each event. it's just not possible to make that work to a high enough level for the sport for that much of the year.

F1 isn't a spec series, it is a development race and it is ludicrous but there's also a reason it's so popular whereas the series with objectively better racing that are more spec, running on lower budgets and with less setup time and resources across a weekend, just aren't. I'm the last person to buy into the mythology about F1's pinnacle of technology - it's the pinnacle of the sport of F1, not automotive tech - but the reason people like it is because it does what it does at an unbelievable, impossibly high level.

you can't do that if either no one wants to work in it because it's basically a hotel jail sentence or there's no time to do the development that lets F1 teams play the game as well as they do.