#I don’t remember what sparked this post but it’s been sitting in my drafts for a while

[bi-buckrights]

Bucktommy shippers I love you

[jaythes1mp]

Your secrets are ours, kid

Yandere BatFam x Reader — CH10 -> CH9 -> CH8 -> CH7 -> CH6 -> CH5 -> CH4 -> CH3 -> CH2 -> CH1

6121 words, 34869 characters, 314 sentences, 203 paragraphs, 24.4 pages.

I apologise for the abrupt ending to this chapter, I would’ve posted this yesterday but my draft deleted and I had to re-write everything. So I kind of rushed😔

You slowly blink your eyes open, the haze of sleep still lingering as you take in your surroundings. The room is lit by a soft morning light filtering through the curtains, casting a warm glow on the surroundings.

Confused, you look around and realize you have no recollection of falling asleep on the couch. The last thing you remember is talking to Jason, then nothing. You frown, the grogginess still fogging your thoughts.

You stir, pushing yourself up on the couch, the blanket that had been draped over you now half-sprawled across the floor. Still a bit disoriented, you rub your eyes and look around. When did you fall asleep? The question echoes in your mind, a befuddled frown on your face.

Your thoughts are abruptly interrupted by a sudden knock on the door, the sound cutting through the quiet morning air and echoing through the apartment. You blink, momentarily startled as you sit up straighter on the couch.

Who the hell could be knocking at this hour? You think groggily, rubbing the sleep from your eyes. You glance over at the digital clock on the wall, the white numbers flashing a bright 01:24 PM.

Oh. — it’s past one in the afternoon. Your eyes widen a bit as the realisation sinks in; you can’t remember the last time you’ve slept in this late, if ever.

With a groan, you push yourself up from the couch, sitting up, the stiffness of sleep evident in your muscles as you stretch out your limbs.

Another knock sounds through the apartment, louder and more insistent this time. Grumbling under your breath, you swing your legs off the couch and stand up, the last traces of sleep slowly fading as curiosity and annoyance take over.

You wince slightly as your feet hit the cold floor, the lack of socks making you feel the chill of the unheated air creeping up your legs. You take a moment to shake away the remnants of sleep, your mind slowly clearing as you move towards the door.

You unlock the door and swing it open, the sight of the taller man leaning against the frame meeting your tired eyes. Dick’s expression shifts, the impatient frown on his face morphing into a more eager smile as he spots you. His grin is oddly comforting.

"Hey," he addresses you, his voice now tinged with a teasing sort of affection. Your tired brain takes a moment to process the words, but you simply roll your eyes and huff softly. Not bothering to hold back the fond smile.

“What are you doing here so early, Grayson?” You don’t remember ever mentioning to him where you lived. Wait, why was he here?

"It's already past one. It's not that early," Dick’s voice cuts through your sleepy thoughts, a playful lilt in his tone. He notices the slightly confused and bewildered look on your face and grins.

"I came to see how you’re doing," he replies, his eyes gleaming with a hint of mischief. Before you can even ask, he adds, "Jason gave me the address."

A pang of curiosity mixed with confusion sparks in your mind at Dick’s words. Jason gave him the address? The unexpected revelation that the two know each other causes your eyebrows to furrow. A flood of questions instantly runs through your brain. How did they know each other? For how long?

You narrow your eyes slightly as you regard Dick, the realisation of this new information sinking in. "You know Jason?"

Dick stiffens slightly, his shoulders straightening as he realises his slip. A soft chuckle escapes his lips, the nervous tone revealing that there’s more to this than he’s letting off.

"You could... definitely say that," he responds, his tone a touch cryptic. The brief flash of unease in his eyes betrays his nonchalant demeanor.

Before you can even react, Dick swiftly brushes past you, stepping into the apartment and moving deeper into the living area. His sudden movement leaves you momentarily speechless. You blink in surprise, your mouth opening to question him as he moves by.

"We’ve got a reservation in an hour," he throws over his shoulder as he continues forward. The sense of urgency in his words spurs you into movement, chasing after him into the room.

Your mind races as you follow Dick further into the apartment. A reservation? You weren't expecting any plans today, least of all with Dick. Questions dance on the tip of your tongue, waiting to be asked, but the time constraint and the sense of urgency in his words makes it impossible to voice them.

"Dick, what –” you attempt to say, but he cuts you off with a firm glance and an impatient wave of his hand. You’ve never seen him so serious, you almost giggle.

"No time for questions," he mumbles, cutting you off, his eyes sharp and focused. The intensity in his gaze only increases as he swiftly starts to move around your apartment, seemingly on a mission. You watch as he makes his way around, his movements swift and purposeful, as if he's looking for something. The grin never leaves his lips.

You open your mouth to protest, but an impatient glance from Dick silences you. The look on his face instantly clues you in that something important is happening.

As he moves around the living area, Dick quickly and efficiently starts to scoop up various items of clothing. A hoodie, a pair of shoes, a jacket. You watch as he gathers them up, placing them beside him, as if he's already planning your entire outfit for the day.

You were almost impressed. Every piece of clothing he had picked up was yours, and there was 10x more of Jason’s things scattered around the room.

Unbeknownst to you he’d memorised every article of clothing in your wardrobe. They all had. Needing everything to be perfect for when their plan finally comes into play.

Without pausing, Dick slings the now neatly folded stack of clothing over your shoulder, the soft fabric landing with a small puff of air. With a quick move, he turns away and begins searching the room for a bag.

You sigh, catching the clothes before they fall to the floor and raise a silent brow. “Is this you asking me to change?”

He shoots you a small smile, it’s apologetic.

Dick glances back at you as he continues searching the room for a bag, a sly smile on his lips. "Not particularly asking," he replies, his tone playful but firm. "It's more of a gentle suggestion."

He pauses for a moment, his eyes flickering over your current clothing, lingering on the items of Jason's strewn around the room. He rolls his eyes internally at the sight, knowing all too well who they belonged to.

Returning his focus back to his search, he suddenly spots a small backpack shoved underneath a chair in the corner. Triumphant, he moves over and picks it up, the familiar canvas material gripped in his hand.

He turns back to you, holding up the backpack with a triumphant smile. "Found the bag," he announces, tossing it towards you before resuming his search. His eyes scan the room with methodical precision, leaving no spot unchecked.

Despite the confusion and the thousand questions racing through your mind, you remain standing in the middle of the room, a nervous yet puzzled smile on your face. You glance down at the clothes in your arms, the soft fabric pooling in your grip. Your gaze then flickers over to Dick, watching as he searches through the space.

"Why do we need a bag?" you finally ask, your voice betraying your bewildered state. The sound of your words hangs in the air, waiting for an answer.

Dick pauses in his movements, his fingers curling around the strap of a jacket. He looks over at you, a hint of hesitance in his eyes. He can sense the confusion and worry in your voice, the unease in the way your body has gone tense.

He lets out a slow breath, his shoulders relaxing just a fraction. He walks over to where you stand, a few steps away, and leans against the back of a chair, his gaze meeting yours.

“We just do.” His voice is soft, an attempt at reassurance.

“Don’t worry about it,” he adds, his tone shifting to a more gentle, soothing one.

The answer is vague, unsatisfying. With a soft huff of impatience, you spin on your heel and march down the corridor, disappearing into your bedroom and shutting the door with an audible click. Dick remains behind in the room, watching your hasty departure with an amused twinkle in his eye.

He moves forward and leans back against the side of the couch, a fond smile on his face as he listens to the soft rustle of you changing behind the closed door. It’s an illusion of privacy. If any of them were really interested they could just watch over the cameras.

After a few moments, the sound of the door handle turning catches his attention. He glances up to see you emerge from the bedroom, now dressed in the clothes he had gathered for you. The clothes fit perfectly, just as he had envisioned.

He pushes himself away from the couch, his gaze sweeping appreciatively over your form. His smile widens as he crosses the room towards you, stopping just a step away.

"See, didn't I pick the best outfit?" he teases, his voice gentle. He lifts his hand to give the sleeve of your hoodie a light tug, the material soft under his fingers.

He tilts his head slightly, his gaze roaming over your face, taking in every feature. It's a subtle study, an unconscious way of reassuring himself that you're okay, that you're here and safe.

You stand with crossed arms, a small frown on your face as you regard Dick. Your irritation is evident, your annoyance at his presence and the lack of answers growing with each passing moment.

Dick glances up, immediately sensing the irritation in your stance. A sheepish smile twitches at the corners of his mouth. "What's that look for?" he teases, trying to lighten the mood.

You narrow your eyes slightly, your irritation deepening at Dick’s attempt to play it off lightly. You can’t help the small sigh that escapes your lips as you shift uncomfortably on your feet. The silence hanging in the air only adds to your growing annoyance.

"Dick, seriously," you say abruptly, cutting through his banter. Your voice is firm, demanding an answer. "Why am I changing? Where are we going? You’re being ridiculously vague."

Dick sighs as your tone washes over him, his smile faltering slightly. He had hoped to avoid this for just a little longer, but he knows you’ll never relent until you get answers.

He runs a hand through his hair, tousling the dark locks slightly. His expression is serious as he stares back at you.

"We’re going out.” it’s a simple statement, one that doesn’t provide any further explanation or context.

Your frown deepens, the vague answer doing nothing to quell your frustration. You open your mouth to speak, ready to press for more information, but Dick cuts you off.

“And before you ask,” he begins, holding up a hand, “I can't tell you where.”

His voice is steady and firm. There’s a flicker of something in his eyes as he gazes at you, a mixture of concern and determination. He knows he can’t reveal too much, not yet at least.

You sigh softly and approach him, your arms held outward. There's a slight pout on your face, the expression betraying your annoyance. You're surprised that Dick didn't immediately embrace you as is his usual habit upon seeing you. You can't even remember the last time he hadn't.

Dick grins at your pout, recognizing the familiar gesture of annoyance. He chuckles softly as he pushes off the couch and steps forward, wrapping his arms immediately around your waist.

He pulls you closer, drawing you into the comforting warmth of his embrace. Under different circumstances, he would take a moment to tease you further, the pout always a favourite of his, but right now there's a sense of urgency weighing on his shoulders.

His arms tighten around you, holding you against him firmly. The solid planes of his chest press against yours, the familiar scent of him enveloping you entirely.

He can feel the tension in your body, the frustration and confusion still evident in the way you hold yourself. He rubs his hands gently up and down your back, trying to soothe the tension away. His fingers press softly into your skin, their familiar touch reassuring.

Dick rests his chin on the top of your head, his eyes closing for a moment. He can feel the rise and fall of your chest against his, the rhythm of your breathing, the steady beat of your heart. He memorizes each sensation, committing them to memory.

He takes a deep breath, the scent of your shampoo filling his nose. He inhales deeply, the familiar fragrance calming his nerves. He can hear your own steadying breaths, the soft exhale against his chest.

With his arms still wrapped around you, he murmurs into your hair, the words almost lost in the soft locks. "Trust me, okay?" His voice is firm, leaving no room for argument.

You respond immediately to his warm embrace, wrapping your arms around his waist and pulling him closer. You squeeze gently, your grip firm yet gentle on his body. As you look up at him, a small smile begins to form on your face. The annoyance from moments before begins to slowly melt away under the comfort of his closeness.

Your gaze meets his, and Dick watches as the furrow between your brows smoothes out, a small smile tugging at the corners of your mouth. He feels the tension in your body easing, the frustration slowly fading under his touch.

A familiar fondness blossoms in his chest. He brushes a strand of hair out of your eyes. His hand then cups your cheek, thumb gently tracing the curve of your skin. “Ready to go?” He doesn’t want to ever forget this image. His little bird...

A giddy grin spreads across his face.

You roll your eyes, but the gesture is playful rather than irritated. You tilt your head into his touch, your expression softening

"I guess," you respond, a hint of sarcasm lacing your voice. Despite the uncertainty and the lack of answers, you feel a sense of reassurance in being with him. You trust him implicitly.

You push against his chest lightly, breaking the embrace just enough to look at him properly. Your gaze is scrutinizing, trying to decipher the secret he's holding back.

Dick grins as you pull away, his arms falling back to his sides. He knows that look in your eyes all too well. He can see the curiosity and the underlying trust mixed with a hint of annoyance. He's almost amused by the sight.

He returns your gaze, his eyes sparkling with that familiar mischief. “You'll find out soon enough, don't worry.”

He turns away, picking his jacket up from the back of a chair. He slings it over his shoulder, gesturing towards the door. “C'mon, we've got a reservation to catch.”

You huff in annoyance but concede, silently resigning yourself to the secret for now. You grab your jacket and follow Dick to the door.

"Alright, but I hope you know I'm grilling you as soon as we're done," you warn, your tone playful.

Dick chuckles, a low, deep sound that sends a shiver down your spine. He holds the door open for you, gesturing for you to step through first.

"Oh, I have no doubt," he replies, his voice filled with a hint of amusement. As you walk past him, he reaches for your hand, intertwining his fingers with yours.

The unexpected action catches you off guard, and you turn to look at him in surprise. The small gesture is so like him, and yet... something feels different. His grip is a little more firm than usual, the touch laced with a sense of protectiveness.

Something feels off but you just can’t put your finger on it.

Sure, Grayson was an affectionate person, you’d be more surprised if he didn’t have his hands on you in some way, it’s something you’ve grown familiar with. But something just seemed different today.

He feels you looking at him, your gaze piercing. Dick gives your hand a reassuring squeeze, his thumb caressing your skin in a gentle pattern. He smiles down at you, but the smile doesn't quite reach his eyes.

He leads you out of the apartment and into the hallway, his stride purposeful yet measured. The light in the corridor is harsh, casting shadows on his face, making his features appear sharper than usual.

As he continues guiding you down the hallway, you keep glancing at him. Each time, your gaze traces his profile. His face looks slightly tired, the usual brightness in his eyes less vibrant than you're used to. The shadows cast by the hallway lights accentuate the hard lines on his face, making his jaw and shoulders appear tenser than usual.

The silence between you feels heavier than normal, and you can't shake the feeling that something is off, despite his attempts at normalcy. It's unnerving, and the unease nags at you.

Dick glances at you out of the corner of his eye, noticing the frequent glances and the growing unease on your face. He can sense your tension, the subtle signs of your increasing worry. He squeezes your hand again, trying to provide a small reassurance, but it doesn't seem to ease your concern.

He takes a deep breath, his thoughts racing as he tries to find the right words, a way to reassure you without giving anything away. He knows he can't tell you the truth, not yet, but the look on your face twists something in his chest.

Dick opens his mouth to speak, to offer some reassurance, an assurance that everything is fine, that you have nothing to worry about. But the words get stuck in his throat, the lie refusing to come out. The silence between you grows heavier, the air thick with the unsaid words.

He can feel your hand trembling slightly in his grasp, a stark contrast to the firm grip he's holding onto. He doesn't want to see that look of worry on your face, he hates it, the sight making his heart ache.

He quickens his pace, his strides becoming longer, more determined. He's not sure if it's to escape your searching gaze or to get to their destination quicker. Maybe a bit of both.

The silence continues, and the tension between you only seems to grow. The walls of the hallway close in around you, the shadows becoming sharper with every step. You're about to break the silence when Dick suddenly stops, causing you to almost stumble into his back.

You catch yourself just in time, blinking in surprise. You look around to find that he's stopped in front of an elevator at the end of the hallway.

Dick reaches out and hits the elevator call button without looking at you. His gaze remains fixed straight ahead. The silence is deafening, the only sound being the steady beat of your heart in your ears and the soft hum of the elevator as it approaches.

The elevator doors slide open with a soft "ding," breaking the stillness. Dick steps forward, pulling you along.

He leads you into the elevator, his hand still firmly grasping yours. As the doors slide closed, sealing you both inside, Dick turns to face you.

His gaze is intense, the shadows on his face seeming even more pronounced in the harsh lighting of the elevator. For a moment, he doesn’t speak, his eyes roaming over your face. It’s almost as if he’s trying to memorise every detail, every contour, every look of anxiety on your expression.

You clearly your throat, trying to get rid of the tension and have your usual banter back. Rather than this... whatever this is.

The sound of your voice snaps him out of his thoughts. He blinks, his mind momentarily lost in the maze of worries and what-ifs. He focuses on you, refocusing his attention on you and the current situation.

A small smile tugs at the corners of his mouth, an attempt to ease the tension. It’s a poor imitation of his usual grin, the familiar comfort not fully reaching his eyes. He lifts your hand to his lips, brushing a soft kiss over your knuckles.

Your cheeks would’ve tinged a soft pink under normal circumstances, but the look in Dick’s eyes instantly extinguishes any hint of such a reaction. It’s a look more reminiscent of an older brother or a friend, not a lover. It was almost... dark. You weren’t sure how to feel.

“You’re worrying too much," He tells you, his voice low and rough.

As he speaks, he begins to trace his fingers gently up and down the inside of your wrist, the pad of his thumb brushing against your pulse point. It's an action he does often, a habit he has formed over the years to soothe you, help you calm down. But now, it feels different. The action, though familiar, feels forced, like he's going through the motions rather than genuinely trying to ease your anxiety.

He looks into your eyes, concern etched into every feature. "Trust me," he reassures, albeit in a strangely empty tone.

The elevator dings again, signifying your arrival on the ground floor. The sound feels like a release from some untold tension.

Dick gives your hand a final squeeze before dropping your hand to open the elevator door. The cool breeze caresses your face as the fresh, outdoor air hits your lungs. It's a relief to be out of the small, claustrophobic space of the elevator. But the tension still hangs between you like a thick veil, unseen but undeniable.

As you step out of the elevator side by side, you can't help but glance back at him.

His gaze is fixed straight ahead, his jaw set in a tight line. You've never seen him like this, so... stiff, if that's the right word. It's unnerving, the contrast between his usual laid-back demeanor and the current brooding aura surrounding him.

Dick's shoulders are tense under his leather jacket, and his hands are shoved deep into the pockets. He looks like he's carrying the weight of the world, a stark contradiction to the playful man you know.

You shake your head. You’re probably reading too much into things.

You remind yourself that Dick is nothing but expressive, his emotions always written right across his face. He’s never been one to keep things bottled up, always preferring to let out whatever he’s feeling with a healthy dose of charm and wit. But the man walking next to you is the opposite of that.

Dick takes a sudden left turn, leading you onto the main street. The bustling city life greets you, the usual sounds of traffic and chatter providing a stark contrast to the tension between you two.

You let out a shaky breath and move a little faster to match his pace, your hand wrapping around his shoulder. A small smile dancing on your lips. “Cmon then. Can’t be late to your little mystery, now can we?”

He practically croons when you initiate the touch, a small real grin tugs at his lips.

The familiarity of your voice eases some of the tension in his shoulders, and for a moment, he looks almost like his usual self.

He reaches up to wrap an arm around your waist, pulling you a little closer against his side. "Don’t worry," he assures, the familiar playfulness finally returning to his tone. "I’ve got everything under control. We’ll be just on time, and you’ll have all your answers soon."

His grip on you is firm, almost possessive, as if making sure you’re as close to him as possible.

Your smile widens at his response, some of the earlier unease melting away under his touch. This is more like the Dick you know; relaxed, charming, comforting. You lean into him, your body molding against his.

The atmosphere between you is still tense, an undercurrent of unspoken words lingering in the air. But his casual tone and reassuring words are doing their job. For now, at least.

“See?” he grins as you lean into him, his hand tracing small circles on your hip. “Nothing to worry about."

He glances down at you, his eyes taking in your slightly more relaxed form. For a brief moment, the mask slips, and a flash of concern flickers across his face. But it's gone before you can fully register it, replaced once again by that confident, charming grin.

He steers you down the street, effortlessly navigating the crowded sidewalks. People move out of his way without even realising, his presence exuding a subtle power and authority.

He keeps you close as you walk, his hand still holding onto your hip, guiding you along.

"You’ll like tonight," he reassures, his voice low as he leans down to speak softly into your ear. "I promise."

The evening has arrived, and the night sky is like a canvas splashed with deep blues and purples. The city’s lights glitter like thousands of stars, casting a warm glow over the streets.

Dick leads you down a quieter street, away from the hustle and bustle of the main road. The ambiance of the area is distinctly more upscale, the shops and restaurants here a noticeable step above the rest of the city.

He finally stops in front of a quaint little bistro, the soft glow of the outdoor lanterns casting shadows on his face.

The bistro is quaint and unassuming, but the soft glow of the outdoor lanterns betrays the upscale nature of the establishment. The menu is displayed in the front, the words written in an elegant script. It’s clear that this isn’t your typical fast food joint.

Dick turns to you, a smug smile on his face, clearly pleased with himself. "Told you I’ve got this under control," he grins, motioning towards the entrance. "C’mon."

He holds the door open for you, ushering you into the restaurant. The interior is just as upscale as you’d expect, the walls painted in warm, soothing creams and golds, the hardwood flooring shining softly in the ambient lighting. Soft, instrumental music plays in the background, creating a cozy atmosphere.

A sharp, crisply dressed host approaches you almost immediately, his back straight, chin held high. "Reservation for Grayson," Dick tells him, his tone confident and casual.

The waitress blinks in surprise, a grin stretching across her painted red lips. “The four in one show?”

You tilt your head in confusion, not quite understanding the reference. However, Dick grins back, a twinkle in his eye. "That’s the one," he replies casually.

The waitress nods in understanding and leads you to the reserved area. As you follow her, you notice Dick’s hand instinctively finds its way back to your waist, a possessive yet comforting gesture.

The reserved area is tucked away in the corner of the restaurant, secluded from the rest of the dining area. It's a cozy, intimate space, with soft lighting, a small, circular table, and comfortable, inviting chairs.

Dick pulls out your chair for you, waiting until you're settled before sitting down himself.

"What the hell was the waitress talking about?" you ask, leaning your cheek against your palm.

Dick chuckles as he takes his seat across from you, a sly smile playing upon his lips. "You’ll see," he replies evasively, picking up the leather-bound menu sitting in front of him.

He scans the menu listlessly, clearly not really paying attention to the words. His gaze drifts towards you occasionally, watching your every move like a hawk.

You’re preoccupied with staring down at the menu, a frown of concentration on your face and a slight tilt to your head. The elegant, tiny cursive script seems almost illegible to you, making you squint down at it with increasing frustration. After a moment, you huff and turn the menu onto its side, hoping that a different angle may help you decipher the elusive words.

Dick, who had been watching you struggle for the past few minutes, can't help but let out a soft chuckle at your antics.

"You struggling there?" he teases with a smirk.

“How can anyone read this?” You huff, putting the styled paper down in front of you and slouching back in the chair.

Dick grins warmly at your disgruntled expression, finding it amusing and endearing.

"You get used to it," he replies, his tone laced with a hint of amusement. "Reading fancy menus is part of the experience, you know."

He leans back in his own chair, his hands folding on the table in front of him. He watches as you continue to grumble under your breath, clearly not appreciating the overly-stylised fonts. He wanted to coo at how cute you looked with that expression on your face.

"Whoever designed these is a sadist," you mutter half-heartedly as you continue to glare at the menu, as if you could force the words to make sense through sheer will alone.

Dick laughs again, a deep, rich sound that fills the small, intimate space you’re in.

"You’re not wrong," he comments. "But don’t worry, I’ll help you read the rest of it if you need." He grins.

You look up, your eyes narrowing. “I’m not a child. I don’t need help to read.”

Dick holds up his hands in surrender, a smirk still playing at the corners of his lips. "Hey, I never said you did," he responds, that charming tone still in his voice.

But there’s a hint of something else in his eyes, a mix of mockery, amusement, and something else you can’t quite place. Love. It fades almost as soon as it appears, leaving you to wonder if it was even there in the first place.

"I was just offering my services as a personal menu translator," he teases.

Dick's smirk deepens as you roll your eyes playfully, clearly enjoying your little bit of banter.

"You're cute when you're stubborn," he comments, the compliment slipping out almost effortlessly, like it's something he says every day.

He leans back in his seat, sipping at his glass of water. There’s a brief pause in the conversation, both of you silently surveying the menu before you speak up again.

"So, finding anything interesting on there? Or is it all just gibberish to you?"

“Oh, shut up.” you hiss.

Dick laughs again. He can’t help it. Your defiant, grumpy expression is just so adorable. It’s a complete 180 from your usual self.

"Hey, it’s not my fault you can’t read fancy, tiny writing," he retorts, clearly enjoying your little pout.

He leans forward, resting his forearms on the table. "Seriously, though, find anything you want? I’ll order for us if you want," he offers, the suggestion a small peace offering.

You shoot him a half-hearted glare, though it lacks any real heat. The corner of your lip is still tugged up in a half-smile.

"I’ve got my eye on a few things," you reply, finally relenting and putting the menu down. You lean back in your seat, crossing your arms over your chest.

"Alright, Mr. Fancy Menu Translator," you say dramatically. "Surprise me."

Dick grins at your response, clearly taking pleasure in your surrender.

"Surprise it is then," he chuckles, his gaze sweeping over the menu again, though his focus is clearly on you rather than the list of items.

He flags down a nearby waiter and places your orders, his voice confident and suave as he converses with him. When the waiter departs, he turns his attention back to you, a smug expression on his face.

"Alright, you're in my hands now," he smirks. Your name rolling off his tongue naturally at the end.

You roll your eyes dramatically at his cockiness, though you can't deny that you secretly enjoy it. Dick always knew how to make things interesting and entertaining.

"In your hands, huh?" you muse, arching an eyebrow. "Should I be worried?"

You lean forward, resting your chin on your palm, watching him closely.

Dick smirks back, a hint of a challenge in his eyes. "Oh, I think you should be very worried," he teases, his tone dripping with playful menace.

He leans forward as well, his forearms resting on the edge of the table. He watches you with those piercing blue eyes, that familiar, charming smile still on his face.

"But don’t worry," he adds, his tone shifting into something slightly more genuine. "I’ll take good care of you."

You grimace and let out a mock gag, dramatically clutching your stomach as a playful response. Your voice drips with sarcasm as you shoot back, “What, did you steal that from a soap opera?”

Dick feigns offence, a hand dramatically flying to his chest as he gasps dramatically. "Me? Steal from a soap opera? I’m wounded," he grins, his tone equally as sarcastic as yours.

"You’re supposed to swoon, by the way. That’s usually the natural response to such declarations," he teases. Matching your humor.

Despite your sarcastic banter, there’s a hint of a smile on your face. Dick’s easy-going, sarcastic demeanor is something you appreciate about him. It makes even the most mundane situations more enjoyable, and it’s a stark contrast to his more broody, serious moods.

"Sorry to disappoint," you reply dryly. "I’ll be sure to swoon next time. Maybe I’ll even swoon so hard I fall out of my seat."

Dick chuckles heartily at your retort, the sound deep and genuine. He’s enjoying this little back-and-forth.

"Careful there," he teases. "I’d hate for you to give yourself a concussion. I’m still enjoying my night."

He reaches out to gently pinch your cheek before pulling his hand away, his smile still firmly in place.

You scoff at the action, leaning back in your chair and rubbing your cheek. A soft glare thrown his way.

"Stop it," you warn, though your tone lacks any real seriousness. "You’re such a child sometimes."

Dick grins unrepentantly, clearly unworried about your 'warning.'

"You love it," he says, his tone cocky as ever. He has the smug expression of someone who knows exactly how true his statement is.

"I do not," you say petulantly, though your tone betrays your words. You try to glare at him, but your lips are twitching with suppressed laughter. It’s impossible to stay annoyed when Dick is in one of his playful moods like this.

"You're infuriating, you know that?"

Dick grins wider, clearly satisfied with your response. He leans back in his seat, his arms crossing over his chest.

"Oh, I know," he replies, his tone smug. "But you love it, admit it."

The atmosphere between you two is still lightly playful, the tension from earlier having lifted. It feels like things are back to normal, banter and all.

“It sounds like you’re just trying to get me to tell you that.” You shoot him an unimpressed look.

Dick chuckles, not denying your accusation. "And if I am?" he responds, that cocky grin still on his face.

He leans forward again, his gaze never leaving yours. "Admit that you love it when I tease you, and I’ll stop."

There’s a hint of challenge in his tone, as if he’s certain that you’ll give in.

In his head, Dick's heart is practically soaring. The thought of you telling him first, before any of the others, that you love him is sending his emotions spiraling. Giddy, elated, and a bit overwhelmed, he can barely contain the sheer joy that's overwhelming him. His baby bird. Please, just say it.

“Yeah, alright. Whatever. So what if I do?” You relent, leaning back in the chair.

Dick can barely contain his emotions. He wants to leap across the table and scoop you into his arms, to shower you with praise and declarations of platonic love.

But he manages to maintain his composure, schooling his features into a smug smile.

"See? Was that so hard?" he grins, the triumph in his voice clear. "Admitting that you love my teasing."

He leans his elbow on the table and rests his chin in the palm of his hand, watching you intently. His gaze is almost smoldering, an intensity behind the playfulness.

"I knew you couldn’t resist my charm," he adds, his voice dropping an octave lower.

You snort.

No use of y/n, no descriptive features relating to the reader’s appearance, no gender mentioned.

Tag list: @zero-s-tea @chemicalsandghosts @yandere-enthusiast @starsdotalk @small-mushroom-fae @wpdarlingpan @dhanyasri @tojislvrr @phoenixgurl030 @mel-star636 @lilyalone @lavender-moony @nickey-diano @sociallyakwardpanda @obsessedwithromance @thickerthanthieves @nckcn @xxrougefangxx @th0rn118 @gaozorous-rex-blog @lyl-3 @wtf-am-i-doing-with-my-life-help

Kind of hate this, but oh well!🥰

[pnutbutter-n-j-elyy]

Lee Know | Cuts and Bruises

Just a little drabble I found in my drafts (and technically my first actual post :0) Friends to Lovers Warnings: Slight suggestiveness at the end

“Minho!” You rushed to your friend’s side. “What-what…happened?!” You couldn’t help the tears that started to form in your eyes, and immediately Minho grasped your shoulders.

“Y/N…why are you crying? It's just a few cuts and bruises.”

You pound your fist against his chest in a weak attempt to scold him. “How could I not? It's cuts and bruises! On you!”

You turn your back to him to hide the large stream of tears falling down your face.

“Y/N, please don’t cry. You don’t have to worry about me. I was just boxing. It just…got a little rough this time. I was sparring with an amateur and he was a little reckless.”

You didn’t answer him, your lip still trembling too much to move in anyway that would form coherent words.

“Y/N…” Minho said softly as he came up behind you, his arms wrapping around you, and his chin landing softly into the crook of your neck and shoulder.

His breath was soft and calming, enough so that you were able to still your bottom lip.

“Are you really that worried for me?” He asked quietly.

“Yes.” You nod. “I don't like seeing you hurt. Don’t you remember how I felt when you fell during your performance a few weeks ago?”

You could feel Minho’s cheek warm up as it was pressed against your neck. “You really do have such a nonchalant way of bringing up my past embarrassments, don’t you.” He said lightly, trying to get the smallest of smiles out of you. He chuckles and sighed, burying his nose into your neck. “You smell good.” He mumbled. “It makes it even harder for me to resist.”

That sent a spark up your spine, and the feel of his warm breath on any inch of your skin was enough to light your body on fire.

“Resist what?”

“You.” He said simply. You felt his soft, yet slightly sweat dampened hair tickle your face. Your heart raced in anticipation.

Did he really just say what you thought he said?

“Minho…?”

He ignored your questioning tone and held out his hand in front of the both of you. “The worst cut is here. I came over because I figured you could help me clean it and patch it up. I highly doubt Chan would be happy with me arriving home in this state.”

You quickly rushed to get your first aid kit and came back to Minho sitting back on your couch. He had taken off the sweatshirt he was wearing, and a black form fitting tank top showcased all the lines of muscle you had imagined would be on your friend’s body.

You worked in silence, but you could feel Minho’s brown eyes on you as you worked.

“I always loved how your tongue sticks out slightly when you're focused.” He comments. “It makes you even cuter than you naturally are.”

You look up and Minho has a sly smirk on his face, and soon enough you are looking at that smirk up close.

“Min…ho?”

He continues to come closer until you're pinned up against the edge of the coffee table. 

“Jisung told me something funny today…”

You felt a fire burn in your stomach. It must have been caused by how fast the butterflies were swarming in there.

“He said that a certain someone…loved me…” All the playfulness left his voice, and a strange sense of longing was becoming of his smile. “Is it true?”

You looked at him but was distracted by a small bruise by his mouth. It hurt to think he’d gotten hit so close to his lips.

Instinctively you reached out to trace the small purple mark tenderly, with such a feather light softness he had no doubts about what Jisung had told him.

Immediately he reached out to tuck a strand of your hair behind your ear.

“He was telling the truth.” His voice held no questions. Only answers.

His mouth tore at the seams into a beaming smile, and he rested his forehead against yours. “Say it.”

You look up. “Say what?” Your voice wavered slightly.

His eyes were closed and a peaceful smile was painted on his face. “Tell me you love me. I want to hear you say it.”

“I love you, Lee Minho.”

Although he thought he was prepared to hear you vocalize your feelings, the reality was that he wasn’t in any capacity.

The feeling that surged in his chest was something completely different than what he expected he would ever feel in this life.

The amount of joy and fear and excitement and love that hit him like a ton of bricks was too intense for him to put in words. 

So all he could manage to mutter was, “I love you, Y/N L/N. I’ve just been waiting for you to reciprocate my affections.”’

The smile mixed with surprise, shock, and a twinge of disbelief was humorous and adorable to Minho, and he couldn’t help but place a small kiss below your left eye.

You pouted. “Why not the lips?” You mumbled.

Lee Minho chuckled. “Trust me, Y/N…once this bruise heals, I’ll gladly allow you to replace it for me.”

[lalluviadeanoche]

This was sitting in my drafts for idk how long and I don’t remember where I was going with it but here is it anyway:)

I had a cute little idea of Merlin throughout the years having several degrees and professions in all sorts of things. Once he feels he’s mastered one field he goes on to start a career in said field then move on to the next. Every now and then he’ll go back to refresh and update his knowledge bc everything continues evolve so much since when he first started.

Imagine post Camlann Merlin taking a greater interest in medicine bc had he known just a little more, been a little better.. then maybe that, mixed with his magic, would’ve been enough to save Arthur. And he just goes on for a few years learning everything and then taking up after Gaius once he passes. Then further down when Camelot is long gone he leaves and becomes a dr/physician somewhere else that needs it and that leads to him teaching someone else. All of a sudden he has quite a few ppl eager to have Merlin as a teacher, which sparks his career in education.

He learns of schools and specialists of who are more than okay with sharing their time and knowledge of their life’s work. He studies and learns and experiences and experiments. His nose constantly in a new book and writing out papers. Once he’s deemed himself good enough he goes off to wherever his new found knowledge leads him. Over the years he has grown his skills and knowledge in all sorts of things. Science, literature, arts, philosophy, history (which he excels at the most considering he’s lived through it all), architecture, phycology, linguistics.

Now imagine he’s in our modern day working in a museum. He’s specifically looking over the mythology section and of course that means hyper focusing on Arthurian mythology. Some of the things here are different than what he remembers, which is only natural after so many years, and others he remembers clearly as if time hadn’t touched either of them. For instance, they just so happened to have the very sword Sir Leon used to wield.. huh, he’s actually been looking for that for some time now (he’d have to ask his friend how he managed to lose track of it for this long).

~*~*~*

If I happen to remember where this was heading I’ll continue it but this is it for now😅

[fountainpenguin]

FOP Fic News

Overview

I’ve always had table of contents docs for projects like Origin and Knots, and since I’m returning from hiatus, I recently moved them to a spreadsheet and mapped out what dates I should plan to upload chapters on and how long it will take me to finish these stories. I went through lots of docs with a critical eye and combined or cut chapters to get a better idea of how things are looking.

Posting at my current schedule of one chapter every other week, it looks like  Origin and Knots will come to an end in 2025 (if I stay on top of my buffer) and although that feels so far away, there’s a certain relief in it since my combining and cutting helped me bring that down from 2026.

That schedule doesn’t leave wiggle room for other projects like Come What May, the 130 Prompts, and work for my other fandoms that I’ve been drafting over the years. I don’t really like the idea that if I wrap up Origin and Knots in 2.5 years, I’ll still have another several years of Prompts left to go. I always knew these were big projects and working on them made the long years of school more fun, but it’s always been my intention to finish them, and I’d rather do that sooner than later. After all, I’m still sitting on pieces I wrote in 2016 about Cavatina, and 2026 isn’t as far away as it seems... The idea that the 10-year anniversary of his arc might hit before I actually post it leaves me shook, my dude.

I’ve given it some thought and realized that if I post 130 Prompts on the weeks between Origin and Knots chapters, I can wrap the series up in 2026, maybe 2027. I can live with that a lot more than I can live with the idea of working on this project past 2030, ha ha.

In other words, I’m setting a goal of a ‘fic update every Friday, starting soon (I’ve got the next Prompt done, but I’m sitting on it for a sec to build the buffer out farther). There might be some Fridays where there’s nothing, but keep your eyes out for things that interest you. I hope you enjoy :)

--

130 Prompt Details

So, many of you are probably familiar with my FOP one-shot series, 130 Reasons Why I’m Fairy Trash. I've had all the 130 Prompts planned out for years, but I lost interest in some of those plans as time went on (Not the big plot stuff, that's still the same, but some minor standalones).

I recently went through my docs to refresh my memory on what’s to come. I had some vague ideas that I never fleshed out and realized that I never will, so I’ve scrapped those. I also had stuff I scrapped years ago, but fell in love with the drafts all over again and am eager to see them finished off.

In 2022, I took an FOP and Tumblr hiatus to focus on other things like my IRL job and personal projects, and I couldn’t maintain the spark of inspiration for FOP at the same time. Mostly, the reason for that was just that I was busy and was putting my time and creative energy into other projects, and I simply didn’t have time for both. I didn’t realize until now, but I think I also felt pressure to create something big and meaningful with what I submitted, and I became paralyzed with thoughts of putting out something “boring” or “weird” and facing critique that my work was confusing or unenjoyable.

Anyway, while recently looking through my WIPs, I remembered the 130 Prompts were always meant to be a series of short side stories and that there’s nothing wrong with dorky little one-offs. I don’t need to put pressure on myself to turn everything into a polished 10k+ story when just a few thousand words will do, or overthink the humor and flow to the point I talk myself out of doing something.

I spent some time a bit ago looking over my stuff and making a new plan for the order I want to post things in, and it feels much more achievable to me now. I’m excited to get back to it. Hoping to post some dumb and silly things more often because “I had an idea and it made me laugh” is valid.

--

Stuff Getting Scrapped / Kept

I’ve realized that I���m not going to write Identity Theft and Acacia Arcadia as standalone ‘fics. I scrapped some scenes and the rest will be recycled into 130 Prompts to replace the ones I cut. I’ve set my plan up so that the next Prompts in line are ones that have solid drafts and I’m excited to work on, so I’m hoping to get on a regular posting schedule with those soon, alternating weeks with Origin and Knots.

Hawthorn Haven and Devil’s Backbone will prrrobably still exist as their own ‘fics someday when the time is right, as when I first made their outlines, I was already prepared to work on them “when I’m older.” I don’t feel the same pressure to finish them. I’m still looking forward to them, but they’re in “Can’t talk about these things until we’re in that point of the timeline” jail. I’ve always intended for Devil’s Backbone to be the end of my FOP writing days, so it’s on the backburner for obvious reasons, but when the time does come to close out all the stories and wonderful worldbuilding, I hope it’ll be a blast.

I do still have a draft for a ‘fic called Along the Cherry Lane which focuses on Timmy and his friends growing up, marrying, having kids, etc. but that’s on the backburner for now too. I’m not sure if I want to keep it, but also not ready to let it go. If I do let it go, I’ll find a place for the scenes I liked within the Prompts or I’ll post one or two one-shots instead of the whole ‘fic. I do intend to get back to Come What May once I get the spark back for it and I might even return to Snips and Snails... who knows.

--

Tl;dr

I still have several years of FOP content that I plan to release, as I’ve never wanted to abandon these stories I love. I knew I was starting big projects and I knew they would take me years to finish, but as my 10-year anniversary of writing FOP ‘fics creeps nearer and nearer... Yeah, there’s a certain part of me that's ready to jump back into a schedule and see if I can wrap up all three of these big projects by the time I hit that mark. Crazy how it’s been so long.

Currently I have an Origin / Knots ‘fic buffer through the end of June. We’re entering the phase of the story where the drafts are pretty solid, which means they hopefully won’t take long to polish. Exciting!

--

The Schedule

Throughout 2023, you can expect Origin and Knots to alternate weeks. These two ‘fics are main priority in my ‘fic-writing life, so they get buffer priority and I intend to keep up with this goal as best I can. If all goes according to plan, we should be wrapping up towards the end of 2025. I hope to see y’all there :)

I’ll be sprinkling in updates to other projects throughout the “off” weeks. Sometimes there might be no update at all, and I’m okay with that because the “off” weeks are simply meant to be “If there is something, it can be shared” weeks. I’m not holding myself to posting at those times in the same way I’m holding myself to keeping Origin and Knots on schedule, but I look forward to getting to share some fun things like 130 Prompts, more Come What May chapters, miscellaneous one-shots, and content for other fandoms.

Even if I stay consistent, I definitely don’t expect to wrap up the 130 Prompts until 2026 or 2027, and that’s okay. These next few years will be busy, but I’m looking forward to forming a healthy work-life balance- there’s a certain value that a scheduled writing system has in helping you look forward to the next creation you get to share... It makes the work week a little bit nicer.

--

Closing

As a reader, your interest in silly fairy fanfics might come and go, but thank you so much to those who’ve loved my work over the years, reblogged posts, left reviews, sent Asks, chatted with me, and so much more.

Also, thank you to those who’ve left me kudos on AO3. I still get emails every time there are kudos, and while I don’t track how many kudos my little stories receive in this old, quiet fandom, it is really cool to see how much love has been given to some of the short pieces I wrote 6 or 7 years ago.

As the years have gone by, it’s been a good reminder that people have really liked some of those pieces that I don’t think about as often as my longer stuff. I don’t need to psych myself out worrying that my quick one-shots aren’t good enough... I’m looking forward to posting some short things again soon.

Thank you for the love and support! I hope you enjoy what’s next <3

[a-d-nox]

hi💓 i just wanted to know your thoughts on asteroid Medusa in Capricorn at 29° in the 12H conjunct my ascendant in Aquarius? thank you in advance

medusa (asteroid 149), what’s her sign/degree, where she sits in a chart, and her aspects

lol i feel like jigsaw from the movie saw when i write these long posts: “i want to play a game.” hold on to your hats for this one, guys. ALSO mini apologies for the amount of time you’ve all waited for this post and how may times i say “you” in it HAHA i’m tired - been going for so long… this draft is from JULY TENTH like it just needed to get wrapped up and sent out but moving, my health, and now school has gotten in my way so we are rolling with it.

after receiving an influx of questions regarding everyone's medusa placements (ask alert: @dddssd, @aryahviolet, @imonehundredpercentgodly) i decide to continue with a post similar to my aphrodite signs, degrees, houses, and aspects post.

all of this is in my opinion. some of it you may be like how tf did she come up with this. my answer: intuition and experience with other people’s charts that i have available to me. warning i can be harsh: please don’t take everything i say as predestined, astrology is possible outcomes not guaranteed ones. plus let’s not forget orbs matter, dominance matters, etc. it’s never just medusa. this is just a starting place for when examining a single asteroid in an entire galaxy. take what resonates and leave what doesn’t!

*all of these observations are based on a natal chart - solar return and persona charts will change all these observations because the context is different*

!!! RETROGRADE MAKES ALL OF THESE THINGS LISTED BELOW SUPER STRESSFUL OR SLOW TO APPEAR IN YOUR LIFE !!!

signs/degrees

aries (1°, 13°, 25°): you may notice that people are drawn to you energetically. like medusa, you may have a passion for something and may not recognize that not everyone around you shares the same level of passion but rather they are there to be around you. you are meant to be a leader. there is a high probability that you may be accused of false passion and loyalty due to this. people may accuse you has faking your interests simply to get attention from others or to outshine another. you may have a bit of nervous energy that makes you fear like others are out to get you and you might just be spot on - it may be a medusa and poseidon type of deal: “he’s following me, he wants to hurt me, where do i go?!” sometimes when you take action in moments like this it gets misconstrued as a malicious attempt to spite someone close to you. she wasn't trying to lure poseidon into athena's temple but that is what the goddess assumed. since aries rules the eyes, you like may have piercing eyes just like the asteroid’s namesake. i implore you to read the mars aspects to see what resonates!

taurus (2°, 14°, 26°): you entrance those around you in the same way medusa did. she was beautiful - her hair flowed in the breeze, and everyone around her was simply enchanted. in other words, she stood on stage worshipping athena and was admired for her beauty and devotion. you may find where you devote a lot of time and emotional energy that you are often quickly dismissed and punished after one misstep similar to medusa. you may get overly anxious when things do not go as planned: medusa was out for water when poseidon appeared and everything spiraled out of control. you like may feel insecure as you grow older and change - you may cut yourself off from others. but do remember she is still an iconic figure even after she changes. you could unconsciously put off strangers simply due to sensitivity - the asteroid’s namesake sparked a lot of fear from the masses after her transformation because of misguided displays of emotion. on the plus side, you may have nice hair, a stunning face, and piercing eyes. i implore you to read the venus aspects to see what resonates!

gemini (3°, 15°, 27°): you are likely the prettiest and most adored of the group. medusa was a favorite of her congregation before she was adored by the people. she won the congregation over with her thoughts and ideas of worship then drew people in based on her looks. word may travel quickly about your presence alerting everyone where you are. lucky you are rather attuned to your environment and have the ability to adjust accordingly. you may also project onto others as they project onto you. medusa was scared and upset over her new circumstance, and others were scared of her appearance as well - she reacted to them, and they reacted to her by turning to stone. the same projection and reaction circumstances/interactions may occur in your life. i implore you to read the mercury aspects as well to see what resonates!

cancer (4°, 16°, 28°): your presence is rather alluring: it is calm, cool, and collected though underneath all that you experience medusa's transformed state and her feelings of being inadequate and insecure. you have a motherly quality that makes everyone look up to you hoping to hear your wisdom or supportive words. you may be a bit of a pessimist, planning for the doom in most scenarios - you'd be the version of medusa who felt unsettled getting water feeling that something was wrong. those moments of unsettling emotions don't stop you from pushing through. i implore you to read the moon aspects to see what resonates!

leo (5°, 17°, 29°): you have a way of standing out to those around you - it’s a mystical air - everything about you demands attention! you seem like the person that others would follow anywhere - this famous gorgon had so many people show up at her ceremonies just to watch her on stage. you may not notice the beauty you have because you are fully invested in your role. you are someone who reacts - you like this famed gorgon would never go down without a fight. she ran, she kicked, she screamed, etc. she didn't give up; she did what she could in the moments leading up to her rape. moments like athena disapproving of her and her getting angry then finding her way back to athena, may be familiar to you. you may find that you have something to prove - it is often to someone bigger than those around you and that is yourself. you like medusa may fight for a lifetime to prove to yourself that you are priceless. i implore you to read the sun aspects to see what resonates!

virgo (6°, 18°): medusa was athena's loyal servant and was committed entirely to her worship. you too may experience this type of servitude - blocking out everything that happens around you in order for you to focus on your interests. the asteroid’s namesake was also very knowledgeable regarding worship - so it is likely you have a deep knowledge of the area in which you commit. you may also wish to have a ritual or routine in this area that help you feel more organized. you may feel as though no one knows you that well, similar to how medusa had many admirers but none of them knew her. they simply knew of her and lusted for her. you like to care for things: people, places, objects. this gorgon, even post-transformation, went on to recover the wisdom goddess’s temple. i implore you to read the mercury aspects to see what resonates!

libra (7°, 19°): you are likely a people pleaser, and this, of course, makes you captivating. medusa dedicated the majority of her life to athena and made sure the goddess felt respected and thus pleased. she pleasing the goddess and worshiping her caught everyone's attention. you may find that you too gain a lot of praise and attention when you do things for others or put their needs first. you may have trouble sticking up for yourself - she didn't try to make her case known to athena, she simply accepted the punishment that she didn't deserve. don't grin and bare things, it does nothing good for you. you should work on accepting and gratifying yourself over looking for that from others. medusa wanted peace. i'll tell you what: you too may want peace but there wasn't peace in ancient greece and peace is nowhere in sight even now, so do what is right for you - tell the poseidons in your life "no" and tell the athenas that you "weren't intending harm." do not fear that taking action will only cause more trouble - my grandmother often asks "would you rather that you - the person living your life - be unhappy? or everyone else?" choose your joy first. on the plus side, you may have really nice hair, a stunning face, and piercing eyes. i implore you to read the venus aspects to see what resonates!

scorpio (8°, 20°): you likely shield your emotions and passions from others, preferring to look stoic over emotional. your passions shine through with intense emotion like medusa and her worship. if you are a writer, you may write what you never say, if you are an artist, you may show emotion you never would otherwise, etc. you enjoy being the best at everything you do. you may be divinely connected to the spirit realm. you may feel like fate has guided you somewhere, quite often into the spotlight in both good and bad ways. you may fear the spotlight due to a fear of failure, but i'll let you in on a secret: you will not fail - the asteroid’s namesake was the head of the congregation, and then when she felt like all hope was lost and she died, she was still a symbol of safety and protection. you never have to fear, you always be known/remembered. you may face isolation from society as this gorgon did, but that's just how it is being special and different you don't always fit in. i implore you to read the mars and pluto aspects to see what resonates!

sagittarius (9°, 21°): not to be annie-like but, "there is always tomorrow" - you must keep in mind that one bad day is not a bad lifetime, tomorrow is another day. you decide what happens next. find confidence in the future and surely nothing will go wrong. you likely will attract and meet people from all over just like medusa did. the only way you are not the usual asteroid character’s placement is that you are easily bored. she was a dedicated worshipper of athena, but you need more options to flourish. so make sure you are always experiencing more - you may find that you enjoy worshipping deities from across many other cultures. don't be afraid to explore, if/when you feel irritable. i implore you to read the jupiter aspects to see what resonates!

capricorn (10°, 22°): you share medusa's air of seriousness - she was always too focused on the task at hand rather than noticing the room around her. she was really into the ceremony and didn’t realize she was the only one. you may be most concerned with fulfilling your responsibilities and whether you are achieving goals! this could be an area in which you are insecure - feeling as though you need to be achieving things to be loved. when things become disorganized or they don’t go as planned, you may be prone to doubting your abilities in controlling the situation. part of this may be divine intervention - if athena granted medusa, her most dedicated follower, the ability to recognize others' intentions, she would have been extremely powerful and possibly a goddess on earth. so have no fear if you feel doubt; tell yourself it’s because if you didn’t have those moments, you’d be unstoppable/inhuman. i implore you to read the saturn aspects to see what resonates!

aquarius (11°, 23°): you'd be the medusa that athena had the right to be suspicious over. you don't follow without question - you ask why. and you certainly know what makes a person tick. it is deliberate - in some versions (not the version i believe) medusa willfully slept with poseidon in athena's worship hall. this would be something you'd do - everything you do is with thought and purpose. you may be seen as a godly presence on earth - people trust that you know all the answers, and that's why they follow you. and you love it - you love knowing a lot of different types of people, and nothing feels better to you than helping someone in need. funnily enough, you are likely not a crowd person - it likely makes you rather uncomfortable to have so much attention. you, like the transformed medusa, tend to flee from the eyes of others. it is likely due to a fear of what others think - i feel like asteroid’s namesake thought she was a monster and was afraid of what she had done to those she turned to stone, and that is the true reason she hid. you should realize that "monsters" are just misunderstood, unique people - there lies a healthy balance in believing you are a god or a monster. and that is being a human. try not to get too into your head both in terms of ego and superego. i implore you to read the uranus and saturn aspects to see what resonates!

pisces (12°, 24°): you may be rather clueless as to what is going on in the world around you. medusa didn't feel like everyone was there for her - she thought everyone was simply there for athena. WRONG. you likely misconstrue the intentions and emotions of those around you - not everything is what it seems. you may be prone to thinking the best of everyone, but you should realize that not everyone is the good guy. you may be emotionally in tune with everything around you. i suspect that when medusa's rage was over, she did feel sorry or pain regarding turning people to stone. but you are tough, just like her. in some versions, she repairs an abandoned temple of the wisdom goddess before perseus kills her. she had the strength to move on from hatred and reground herself. doesn't matter how far you fall you will always rise from the ashes - even in death she lived on. your greatest strength is this giving and restorative nature. i implore you to read the neptune and jupiter aspects to see what resonates!

houses

1h: you, like medusa, may have great hair, and, if you don't believe so, it may just be a bit wild and curly. at first glance, you may look a bit like someone locked into society - you do what you are supposed to, when you are supposed to, and how you are supposed to. internally, you may feel like you are doing everything right - you aren't too egotistical, you are devoted, etc. you have a humble personality, and yet you likely get punished for your behavior based on an outsider's perceptions. sadly, the spotlight you stand in may cause others to make assumptions about you and your intentions - nowhere near all are true. but you do your best to live a conscious and mindful life. you may have a lot of dignity about your social status, making you a grateful person. your charisma also attracts a lot of interesting people into your world. you may have really nice hair, a stunning face, and piercing eyes.

2h: you likely have a very devoted work life, and, like medusa, it may not be all about the money - you just want to spread awareness and create a haven for those in need. your routines and rituals may get a lot of admiration from others - you may even influence a lot of other people to use your technique or helpful habit. you may be very routine and ritual oriented - you likely get into a zone where you stop paying attention to everything around you and focus solely on what the task is. your focus usually aligns with your values - if you are working somewhere where your values don't align, you likely will take over until the workplace aligns. you may also live a very simple life, in which you do not overindulge in food, substances, or other monetarily inclined things. you may find that your mood is very stoic until something life-changing occurs - the saying "when it rains it pours" may resonate with you. medusa was viewed as emotionally remote until poseidon happened, then she was constantly emoting.

3h: you have a powerful mind - like medusa you have power that requires very little effort. she had an emotion, and it simply got taken care of. humble? attracted adoration. anger? turned people to stone without a single bat of an eye. to communicate she didn't need words - things were said without actually saying a thing. so you too may be someone who speaks with your eyes and your body. though you may not be the best at picking up on the social cues given around you. you likely are a bit too stuck in your mind to focus on the body language around you. having a busy mind like yours, like I said, causes your thoughts to be read by others in a nonverbal manner. you may participate in some sort of club that takes up a lot of your time - medusa participated in the worship group for athena. so you too may be in a group that is women-only or worship related. you like the asteroid’s namesake may be a walker especially when you are getting stuff done or when you are upset - this gorgon wandered all around greece post-transformation in a blind rage. wandering around may help you to work through your strained thoughts to gain perspective. you may be rather misunderstood in the social realm similar to medusa - everyone thought she was a goody-goody, a monster, manipulative, and other extremes... you may find that your image gets misconstrued most through technology.

4h: you may find that you are nothing like your family in the same way that medusa was not like her family either both in looks and mannerisms. but similar to this mythical character when something negative occurs you may find that people who know your family compare you to a member (most often it will be your mother); "you are just like your father," "you're your mother's daughter alright," etc. you may even find yourself saying things that others in your family have said when upset. you may have grown up feeling like you did not belong - which causes/caused you to leave home when you get/got the chance to. you may find yourself working in an area where you help to house or care for women: you may be a cleaner for postpartum women, a hairdresser for depressed women, a director of safe housing for battered women, etc. any creature comfort zones that involve you entering the space of another woman may be your thing - you may personally have experience in settings like those and wish to give back. you may have the goal of creating security and safety for other women.

5h: you aren’t a romantic - chances are something happened, typically traumatic, in your life that made you believe romance doesn’t exist. on the other hand, you may not be a romantic due to your values system similar to medusa's system of beliefs. you simply have higher priorities. all that being said you may have an odd relationship with motherhood - whether it is your mother or you that caused distance is the big question. you may find that in motherhood there is absence in your life - this gorgon left home, she never wanted children, and when she had them, she died (you may not die but perhaps an abortion or adoption is involved). you’d likely be the gorgon who is aware of her crowd, willing to let people be around you for the wrong or right reason - it matters little to you. no matter what though you have a strong stage presence.

6h: you may find you are rather particular about your routines. you too may have methodical habits in your work life - maybe it is particularly times you check for updates or how you go about responding to emails. similar to medusa, you may work for a group in which you feel there is an important foundation and message present. it is likely very important to you that you feel like you are useful and doing something of meaning - making you someone who often performs acts of service. you love having a duty or task which you must perform for others - it adds to feeling useful. you may be the type of person to go over to another person's home and then find yourself cleaning or cooking for them.

7h: i feel as though, for this asteroid, this house is not about marriage. this house is likely to reflect long-term relationships with those you find like-minded. this could reflect those who medusa worked with in the athenian temple. they were co-workers/partners in sharing the wisdom goddess’s message. speaking of athena - you may find yourself in an unspoken agreement with a powerful entity - you may just sign over your soul and forsake your life before. you may find yourself being concerned for others but not speaking to them one-on-one. lastly, you may have someone in your life you feel hates you. that person you just thought of? yep, you aren’t wrong lol.

8h: let’s get the triggering portion cleared - this is the house of sex and medusa was raped. she was very unlikely to have been sexually active before poseidon because she was a member of a virginal goddess’s temple. so you like this gorgon may have a traumatic first experience with sex or may experience rape. please always be on guard - you like this asteroid’s namesake know when something is off - trust your instincts. in the case of a traumatic experience, please do not keep it to yourself - it’s not okay, and you may be in shock or feel embarrassed that it happened but please know that it is sadly common. the sooner you report it, the more likely that justice can be served. another point of medusa's story that is emphasized is transformation. you like this gorgon may experience a physical change that you find undeserved. you may be angry or scared due to this sudden change - realize that it is okay to feel and express emotions but not to lash out at others. the 8h is also slightly spiritual, so you may find that you are a devoted subject just like this gorgon in terms of a cause or being.

9h: you may travel away from where you were born to start a journey involving higher thinking, wisdom, and/or religion. she was religious before and after her transformation; some may deem that it was the only thing that kept her grounded. you, like medusa, may have a sudden realization that the “foreign” environment you are in no longer feels safe in because of bad press. she got a lot of hate for the change that was forced on her, but no one stopped to wonder if she was okay - no one questioned, is she scared? angry? while people thought she lashed out because she was a monster, no one thought she was a person before the transformation (or rather they disassociated the two versions of this character from one another - priestess and gorgon) and likely didn’t mean to target anyone in particular. no matter what happens to you, remember that you are human, and not everything is deserved - that applies to taking angry/fear out on those who don’t deserve it.

10h: you may have long-term goals to spread awareness in a similar way to medusa - whether it be religious or in terms of victims of assault. your reputation is likely to revolve around what you preach and share with the world. your presence is a hard one to forget, so ensure you use it wisely. this placement may have issues with men - whether it is masculinity, a father, or men, in general, is up for grabs. also you may have strife with your higher-up because this house rules over bosses - they don’t have to be a masculine because athena and medusa had a strained relationship post-transformation. you may find yourself being punished by a higher-up for something someone else did - this causes damage to both your reputation and profession. you may find yourself back at square one but have no fear - you have the ambition to rise from the ashes.

11h: you may find that you don’t have a lot of close friends, rather you have a lot of people who you share space and common interests with. medusa lived in the temple of athena with fellow worshippers - they all had mutual respect but not much is written about friendship or “sisterhood” so one could assume it was mostly respect and common ideals that bonded them and not much else. you like this mythical character may be involved in some kind of community service program. this program could be to bring awareness to a cause (could be about religion or sexual abuse). you could get a lot of attention online for being pretty but also a lot of hate that comes seemingly out of nowhere or seems to come when you are at your lowest point.

12h: you may have a rather memorable death. medusa's head was lobbed off by perseus and then used as a talisman to ward off evil. not long after, poseidon’s children crawled out of her served neck. it’s a bit much, yes? whelp, think of it this way: even after death, she gets her redemption and is viewed as iconic. so you may get that similar spiel - sleep easy knowing that you’ll be remembered by all. you may find that when others cry it’s like rain, but for you, it’s like you pour. medusa was living a pretty great, stoic life until suddenly everything went sideways. she was anything but stoic then - she created stoic statues, yes, but she had so much repressed emotional energy plus hatred and fear over what was happening to her… she just popped - you too may have those moments when the world just goes dark and you rampage, sulk, or whatever you need to do to let it ALL out. you may find you isolate yourself from others in tumultuous times. after all, you like medusa may not realize you worship your greatest hidden enemy… on the opposite end and a brighter note, you may symbolize safety for others - you may find yourself housing/helping people who experience injustices. you likely don’t realize that your greatest strength is your empathy for others. you have such a deep, understanding personality that others can’t help but feel safe at last in your arms.

aspects from medusa to

sun: you may feel safest in a leadership role, around your father/a masculine figures, and/or expressing yourself, but these situations may cause you danger. positive aspects: you may resonate with medusa’s origin story - you too may come from a family whom you aren’t very similar in looks or share values with. you may not be very egotistical and prefer a modest approach though you receive a lot of attention and admiration. you may be the unspoken ruler/leader of your circle of people. you may be a publicly known figure. negative aspects: you could resonate with medusa’s fall from grace with athena - you too may understand what it is like to be punished for something you didn’t do. you could be determined to prove others wrong about you but end up proving much of the same - she wanted to prove she didn't do anything wrong yet froze a lot of people with her gaze. not to mention her determination still ended up getting her killed - athena still planned to have perseus kill medusa through she was restoring a temple for athena. on the plus side, you likely have piercing eyes just like the famed gorgon herself.

moon: you may feel safest in your family, at the ocean, with your mother/feminine figures, at home, and/or in the middle of nowhere (farmland), but these situations may cause you danger. positive aspects: you may find security in a feminine group like medusa did at the temple of athena. you may have grown up going to the sea often or living near a body of water like this mythical character. you could be(come) a public figure adored by those who watch you in a self-nurturing environment. you likely are quick to adapt to the situations at hand. negative aspects: you may be a very stoic person who doesn’t show a lot of emotion until suddenly the world around you shifts a millimeter too much. you like medusa may explode emotionally when life takes a turn for the worse - some may even say you freeze people with your anger and sadness. you *might* experience a rape in which you find yourself with a child. you may find home doesn’t really feel like home to you. you likely quickly reaction to situations where you are in danger but may find the place you feel safest and most protected is actually not.

mercury: you may feel safest in educational settings, libraries, gossiping around those you know, and/or traveling, but these situations may cause you danger. positive aspects: you may be a very stabilizing person in terms of reason. medusa used her logic to escape poseidon on the beach and she logistically explained to others how they could better worship athena. you may have a world that pays close attention to your hand gestures and graceful actions. your change of fate and lifestyle may await you across the water - the asteroid’s namesake just had to hop on a boat to get to the athenian temple. negative aspects: you may not be mentally aware of what goes on around you - medusa had no clue the athenian worshipers were worshipping her. you may not speak up for yourself all that often - she didn’t even try to explain what happened with poseidon to athena. thus, your perspective may be rather unpopular or otherwise ignored by those around you. there is likely nasty gossip surrounding your intentions - athena thought medusa was distracting people intentionally and that she lured poseidon into the temple to have sex with him as well.

venus: you may feel safest when surrounded by your possessions, with feminines, at social events, and/or in romance, but these situations may cause you danger. positive aspects: you could have a very muted style used to hide your sexuality, yet still attract a lot of attention. you may have a very specific set of values. you likely surround yourself with a lot of feminine power - uniting for a common goal: to preach and/or protect! you may be viewed as incredibly charming and graceful. negative aspects: your beauty may attract a bad kind of attention that cause you a lot of fear, anxiety, and/or trauma. a feminine figure in your life may betray you in the worse way possible. you may feel at some point in your life that your looks have completely changed and that you are ugly. remember that medusa wasn’t ugly - her look became an icon of protection. you may be rather introverted and find yourself doing very little socializing.

mars: you may feel safest surrounded by masculine energy, at social events, in romance, competitive environments (ex: simone biles has a medusa bi-quintile mars), independent atmospheres, and/or in leadership roles, but these situations may case you danger. positive aspects: you may have a lot of sex appeal without even trying. you likely have a hyper-specific passion that drives your world. something may be modeled after you that is rather permanent - medusa's face is often featured on shields. another very odd example is currency; even those who are famous with minor aspects between this asteroid and mars have been featured on coins! you may be a leader and not know it. negative aspects: you will likely find yourself being aggressively pursued by masculine figures during your lifetime. you may be prone to committing acts of violence when you find life unfair. you may find that people do not respect your sexuality or preferences - you may find yourself in a situation of rape similar to medusa. you may struggle with asserting yourself to those around you or those you hold in high regard due to a fear of rejection.

jupiter: you may feel safest when you feel like you have received a lot of luck recently, in religious settings, around your husband, at university, when traveling, and/or when indulging in life, but these situations may cause you danger. positive aspects: you may receive a fresh start or opportunity in the environment that you’ve always dreamed about (could be aboard or for schooling). you may feel complete or like you are understood when in a religious institution because everyone shares similar values. you may be extremely successful and popular when you change your location. negative aspects: you may have trouble expanding your perception of what occurs around you. religion may be very important to you, until you feel betrayed by your god(s) - my only reminder here: we are here, they are there - too much of a “good thing” becomes a bad thing. you may put too much stock into religion being able to save or help you with certain situations. after this, you may find every ounce of optimism disappear from you - you may have a dark period similar to medusa’s in which you hurt many people around you purposely or unknowingly. all because you feel as if you faced your judgment early and you lost.

saturn: you may feel safest in your old age, when thinking about your past, when alone, when conserving something you feel is important (ex: virginity for medusa), and/or around your father but these situations may cause you danger. positive aspects: you may like a lot of boundaries in your life. your birthing experience may feel rather easy or be a cesarean section. you may find yourself in a poverty-stricken area reviving old things to be new once more. you likely enjoy a lot of routines and have a lot of habits. you may be conserving your virginity just like this famous gorgon. negative aspects: you may feel as though karma tends to hit you the hardest in life. you may feel feared throughout life, which leads to your confinement or isolation from others. you may become more like your past than you had wished - the family member(s) you always thought you were so different from may now seem rather familiar. you may face a chronic change in your appearance/health. you may be prone to depression - especially in situations where you feel betrayed by those around you. you may also be prone to losing your self-control when upset. you feel you do not receive the justice you seek.

uranus: you may feel safest when rebelling or activist pledging, alone, practicing the occult, and/or when your curiosity is peaked, but these situations may cause you danger. positive aspects: you may receive a lot of independence and freedom in your lifetime. you may have attributions of a devotee attached to the occult - this could appear unconventional to the outsider. negative aspects: you may experience a physical change that takes a toll on your social life and mental health. you may be estranged from your family due to differences in values/opinions. you may experience a lot of unexpected life changes just when you start feeling comfortable. your appearance may paralyze others.

neptune: you may feel safest when daydreaming, drinking or indulging in substances, in your safe space, when disguised, and/or surrounded by religion, but these situations may cause you danger. positive aspects: you may have daydreamed a lot about your ideal life when you were younger, only to find yourself living that life later in life. you might provide asylum for those who faced similar circumstances to yours. you could be seen as glamorous by onlookers. you are likely very religiously devoted. negative aspects: you may be deceived easily by those you respect or those you initially view as harmless. you may find that you nearly escape most terrible things that happen to you but "nearly" isn’t an escape. your asylum may not be as safe as you first perceive it to be. you may attract a lot of obsessive people - definitely not in a good way.

pluto: you may feel safest when working late and/or motivating others, but these situations may cause you danger. positive aspects: you promote sexuality without trying. after your death, you may be revived in other people's memory in a more positive light. you likely aren’t as power-hungry as people assume you to be - you do what you do just because you love it. negative aspects: you may have sexual trauma and attract obsessive people. you could find yourself eliminating and acting rather ruthlessly towards people when you get extremely upset.

chiron: positive aspects: you may be the expert or the most knowledgeable person in the area of life that your medusa sits (ex: 9h could be religion just like the asteroid’s namesake). you are likely a genuine person whom doesn’t do things because they want power, rather because they care. negative aspects: you may carry a lot of trauma - could be related to childhood isolation, religion, or sexuality. you likely are focused to deal with your faults and other people's. you may be viewed as different in a very harsh way that causes ostracizing and exile.

asc: positive aspects: you may be beautiful to others though you do very little at first glance - viewed more so as an ornament. you may forget in moments of solitude, your physical changes and feel more like yourself again. your temperament could promote ease and stoicism. negative aspects: you could be despised for your looks and find yourself punished/ostracized by the one who despises them the most - others may fear/avoid you after this. others may find your temperament to be belligerent - you may take your emotions out on the undeserving. be sure to read the house in which your medusa aspects from!

mc: positive aspects: you may be seen as someone to look up to in terms of your values. you likely will attract a lot of the public’s attention. negative aspects: you may be seen as the person who betrayed someone in a higher position of power. you may cause people in a public setting to step back or flee from your presence.

algol: positive aspects: you may feel as though someone you don’t know shows you a sign of mercy from the universe. a stranger may help you become to show your abilities to provide safety or showcase your positive attributes after showing others that you are dangerous and/or possess a lot of negative qualities. negative aspects: you face off with someone you don’t know who comes into your environment with intentions to harm you though you were doing nothing wrong in the moment. you may find yourself acting in self-defense and siding back into a negative version of yourself.

athene (881) / pallas (2): positive aspects: you may find yourself feeling at home in a feminine’s space. you may show that you wish to repay them for all that they have given you - this act of service may make you feel whole. you may find yourself working for a feminine icon. negative aspects: a feminine may be jealous or even paranoid over your presents around them. you may find yourself going to a feminine when you need help and them betraying you.

ceto (65489): positive aspects: you may be a strong feminine figure similar to your mother. your relationship with your mother may have been tense due to differing beliefs though your mother respected you and let you explore your thoughts and ideas. negative aspects: you may not have wanted to become like your mother, but it happened/happens. you may have viewed your mother as monstrous or cold only to become very similar to her.

poseidon (4341 / h47): positive aspects: you likely attract powerful men - tempting them to double-cross people whom they already have an iffy relationship with. you could easily attract someone without trying. negative aspects: you may attract people who like to use people - this could indicate sexual assault or manipulation. you may find yourself being punished for the wrongdoings of this person.

please let know if you all enjoyed this - if you would like me to revisit any of the asteroids i have already covered and do something similar.

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[okashiras]

wrote a long-ass embarrassing semi-incoherent draft that i’m just gonna summarize for everyone’s (mostly my own) sake. 

this is the first season where the writing didn’t have an intent to make us root against steve as nancy’s love interest. 

season 1: the last scene with steve begins with a shot of the ever useless ted wheeler dozing on a couch then the camera pans to reveal steve waiting on the other couch for nancy, with the intent of making them mirror each other (which doesn’t even make sense but anyway). and nancy staying with him reinforces what is repeatedly said about her in s1 (and 2? idr) about her need to retreat to safety, and the audience is expected to groan at this and to stay tuned for the next part of the story where she can finally get with the other guy.

season 2: rushed (and badly written and much debated in fandom) breakup. the writing made steve call himself a “pretty shitty boyfriend” so nancy can finally get with jonathan. he gives one last lingering look at nancy -- probably regret, probably longing, probably moving on. maybe we’ll pick this storyline up again. who knows! we don’t really know what to do with steve anymore so we’re just putting him in these side storylines. what do you mean he got popular?

season 3: steve loser era! working minimum wage and couldn’t get chicks. also said he didn’t love nancy anymore, so that’s over! but the new girl he finds himself liking turns out to be gay so who knows! we didn’t really mean for him to get this far. that’s why he’s in these little side quests. we can’t really make him interact with nancy because how will that even go down? wait, he got even more popular? even with the ridiculous outfit? anyway, jonathan/nancy is a great partnership, right? a relationship built on “shared trauma” is good and not weird.

season 4: steve has finally beat the loser allegation and is ready for love now. nancy pretends to be fine but is having relationship troubles. they team up and the sparks are still there. a few important characters hint that maybe they should get back together. moreover, eddie tells steve he is a good guy, that dustin thinks he’s a badass, and that nancy loves him. 

coming into s4, i’ve posted about my suspicion that the writers have been doing retcons and course corrections in order to set up the final season. and that includes cutting their losses and refocusing on what actually works in the series. and because steve is arguably the breakout character of the show, it seems to me like they finally allowed steve to take his place as a central part of the story. that entails tackling his original tie to the story in the first place: nancy. which means the writers had to take his feelings for nancy seriously this time. 

i think the resistance to make steve a proper contender for love interest is that the duffers did not even intend to keep him alive past season 1. (sidebar: i remember in beyond stranger things, when the cast members were saying which ship they’re rooting for, millie bobby brown said “stancy, all the way” then i think one of the brothers replied “bold”?? lol!) but this interview also suggests they’re open to allowing the story evolve as informed by the characters’ journey, etc. i think it’s very telling that they mentioned steve as the perfect example here and even called him a “lead” in season 4, supporting what i said about them maybe taking steve more seriously this season lol.

there are definitely pros and cons to sticking to an original vision vs adapting according to what’s happening in the story. but i’m not here to let myself get bothered about that!! i’m just here to sit like a hunched little gargoyle and eat my meal!!!! 🖕😜🖕

[tricksters-captain]

Helmut Zemo imagines - Hostage Part 1

AN: I came up with this idea for a series in the shower and I hope you guys are as intrigued by it as I am. Also I’m aware it’s posted later than I said but I’m a perfectionist and couldn’t post it until I was happy with it!! To make up for it, I have some Laszlo Kreizler smut coming up soon for you Alienist fans. 

Summary: You were chosen as one of Karli’s elite. You became a super soldier to help your cause, make the world a better place but taking the serum came with a price. After being cornered one day, you’re taken by the famous Helmut Zemo to give him answers or face the consequences. 

In This Chapter: Introductions. You are sent on a mission for Karli, only for it to turn bad. 

Pairing(s): Zemo x Fem!Reader, Karli Morganthau x Platonic!Reader

Word Count: 2,703

Warnings: Spoilers for TFATWS, violence, strong language 

You stared back at the burning building as the truck pulled away. 

Despite the rumbling of the thick tires on the tarmac beneath you, you could hear the screaming. 

“Hey.” DeeDee placed a hand on your shoulder and tugged you round. “Don’t look.” 

You could see in her eyes that she was just as shocked as you were but was trying to hide it.

The task had been to remove as many supplies as possible from the GRC depot to take back to the camps in Riga. There had been no mention of bombing the place. 

Lennox’s eyes met yours in the rear-view mirror. You were all thinking the same thing. 

Why would Karli go through with something that hadn’t even been discussed?

“Turn here. It’s faster.” DeeDee leant forward pointing towards a more narrow alley as fire engine sirens echoed up ahead. 

Lennox did as suggested and the others followed close behind. 

It wasn’t a long drive from Vilnius to Riga but you all stopped when daylight broke to take some time to eat something. 

You sat down beside Diego, your eyes flickering to Karli every few minutes as she dished out supplies for you all. 

She noticed. 

“(Y/n).” Karli remained standing as she handed out the last can to Dovich. 

You took the hint and rose to your feet. 

You followed her to the side of the abandoned structure as the others tried to tune the radio. 

“What’s the problem?” Karli asked you, a hard expression across her features.

“What’s the problem?” You couldn’t help but scoff at the question. “Karli, you blew up a building with people still tied up inside.” 

“I did what I had to do. It’s the only language these people understand. You saw just how much food, water and medicine they were sitting on. If we had a fraction of that just a few months ago Mama Donya might still be alive.” You could see the tears Karli was trying to suppress as she spoke of Mama Donya.

“You still should’ve consulted us before you went ahead with it. We’re better than an eye for an eye and you know that.” You cautiously took her hand into yours to try and comfort her. “We’re trying to make a difference here.”

“And that is how we do it.” She dropped your hand as she defended her actions. You shook your head but didn’t retaliate. You knew there was no use in arguing with her in that moment. 

“There’s something I need you to do after Mama Donya’s funeral today.” Karli was quick to change the topic. “A mission for you and DeeDee.” 

“What is it?” You asked, folding your arms across your chest. 

“I need you to go to these coordinates immediately after the funeral. One of our allies will be expecting you both. He has information and something I need. It’ll be a parcel, small enough to conceal so you can make your way back to us without any suspicion.” Karli texted over the coordinates and the information on the contact. 

“How can you be sure it’s safe?” You asked as you studied his profile. 

“I wouldn’t send you if it wasn’t.” Karli paused before she wrapped her hand around the back of your neck and brought your forehead to hers. “We have to stick together now more than ever.” 

You closed your eyes and exhaled a shaky breath. 

“One world.” You muttered. 

“One people.”Karli pulled away just as Dovich called over to you both. 

They had managed to get the radio to work. 

You sat down and opened a can of fruit slices to try and quench your hunger. 

“The depot that was bombed was funded and run by the GRC, the Global Repatriation Council. One of the workers killed was the father of two and had only been on the job for one week. After condemning this latest action by the radical group known as the Flag Smashers, the GRC formally began drafting legislation known as The Patch Act, which would seek to restore traditional border regulations and fast-track the return to normalcy. The act of violence has also brought attention and followers to the Flag Smasher cause. No one can deny the world-wide reach of this group is growing, as is the danger.”

You shared a look with Gigi and Dovich as you listened to the broadcast. Your stomach churned at the mention of the father. You swallowed hard as you placed your food down. 

Karli parted from the group again, feeling the pressure of the eyes on her, but you chose not to follow. 

You had known Karli for 3 years. You met in Riga and became close quickly. You both had lost everything and then you had each other. When she took off to Madripoor, you followed. She always knew how to get people to see things her way, she had a spark inside of her that drew in those who wanted to fight for something; she was powerful for 19. She only grew more powerful with the serums. 

You had backed her and supported her from the start but something was twisting. Something was going sour. You had never killed innocents before but in Karli’s eyes; was anyone on the side of the GRC innocent?

“Finish up. We need to get to the border in time to meet our contact.” Karli strode past the group and didn’t stop until she climbed into one of the cars. 

You cleaned up after yourselves, leaving no trace that you were there, before you got back on the road. 

You were back in Riga soon enough, your contact at the border let you through without any issues and you made it to the checkpoint with all the supplies safely. 

Fortunately, you still had time to spare before Donya’s funeral. 

You remained hidden, on the low, whilst Karli went with Nico to pick up the leftover serums. 

You had previously spoken about creating more super soldiers. You had been against it. There were more than enough of you for the moment and the process of turning into one was beyond any pain you’d ever felt. You didn’t think more people needed to go through that. However, the vote passed and more were to be created. 

“You ready?” Karli asked you as she returned. You nodded. 

You headed to the secret location of Mama Donya’s funeral and fell into the crowd as the body came into sight. Mama Donya had been important to Karli and therefore important to you. She had been a kind woman. Kind to you. But Karli had a bond with her that you didn’t. This was Karli’s time to heal, to grieve, to help those who also relied on Donya. 

You watched Karli step up to say a few words. 

“I don’t remember my mother or my father. Same goes for siblings, grandparents, cousins. What I do remember is being alone. Worse than being hungry or cold or scared. I was alone. Until Mama Donya. Like a lot of you here, Mama Donya saved me. She clothed me, fed me, loved me.” You followed Karli’s eye line when she gasped softly. 

It was Sam Wilson. Avenger. 

You felt your blood go cold. Usually where there was one avenger, there were sure to be more. 

“She taught me that we have to do for each other because they won’t. And we know who they are. They imposed struggle and hardship on us, then labeled us as criminals for pushing back. But the struggle is what brings us all together. People who have nothin’ in common. For we are, after all, simply one world and one people. So live accordingly.”

As you stepped forward and placed your bouquet of flowers down beside Donya, Karli clasped hold on your wrist. 

“Go now.” She whispered under her breath. 

“What about you?” You asked. 

“I’ll be fine. Get to the contact.” Karli tried to assure you but you weren’t certain on leaving her. Dovich guided you away to stop you from arguing with Karli about it. He told you that he was going to stay behind to help Karli and that you had a more important job to do right now. 

You had to give in and leave. 

As you made your exit, you grabbed DeeDee and the keys to the motorbike outside. 

“We gotta make a detour. Make sure we aren’t being followed.” You announced as you climbed onto the motorbike. 

“Karli said our guy would wait for us so it’s better to be safe than sorry. We can’t mess this up.” DeeDee agreed with you as she placed herself behind you. 

You took off down the street and did your best to lose any tails. 

You ended up ditching the bike and moving underground once you were sure you were alone. 

You were either really lucky or they had only brought enough backup to deal with Karli. 

“We should be close.” You checked your phone to read the GPS before placing on your mask. 

DeeDee held the flashlight up as you worked your way through the empty tunnel. 

“You’d think Karli could organise a rendezvous point somewhere a little less musty.” DeeDee grimaced as a trio of rats scattered past you both. 

“This is the safest way. We may have gained a lot of supporters above ground but we have a lot of enemies too.” You tried to defend Karli’s choice but even you had to admit that the sewers were a low point for you all. 

“You think she got away okay?” DeeDee asked, the concern obvious in her voice despite her blank expression. 

“I think Karli’s smart and she wouldn’t stick around if she knew she couldn’t win.” You may have been anxious for her but you rarely had doubts with Karli. Even without the serum she always managed to slip through the cracks. 

As you continued to make your way through the tunnels, you spotted a silhouette up ahead. 

You narrowed your eyes as DeeDee shone her light on him. 

Fortautely, it was your contact.

“Greetings.” The man smiled widely at you both. He wore a bright head torch that stopped you from looking him in the eye and a large forest green coat. 

“We’re here to collect the parcel and information for Karli.” DeeDee informed him, shading her eyes from his light as she tried to lift her gaze. 

“Yes. Yes. I know.” The short man pulled out a small object wrapped in brown paper from under his coat. “Karli said you would be coming.” 

As the man spoke, you heard something splash in the water behind you. 

“What was that?” You asked, looking back to see if you could spot anything. 

“It was probably just one of the rats.” DeeDee tried to assure you but the hairs on the back of your neck began to stand up. 

You had a bad feeling about it. 

“I’m going to check it out.” You whispered to her. “Better safe than sorry.” You repeated what she had said earlier. 

“Be careful.” DeeDee handed you her flashlight before letting you go. 

You crept back round the corner from whence you had came. You remained close to the wall to avoid any oncoming intruders head on. Peering down into the water, you saw that it had been in fact just a rat that was now paddling through the sewage. 

“It's okay.” You relaxed, shouting ahead so they could hear you. “It was just a ra–––” You were cut short by a gloved hand covering your mouth. 

You sent your elbow backwards instinctively which threw your attacker into the wall. 

You spun around to see a figure dressed in a lavish coat with a purple mask covering his face. You furrowed your eyebrows at his appearance. You didn’t recognise him as an Avenger. 

He came towards you, sending a fist to the side of your head. You managed to block his attack, kicking him in the chest. 

You thought he’d be no match for you with your enhanced powers but he managed to put up a good fight. 

He wrestled with you against the wall as he gained the advantage. You resorted in head butting him to get him off you. 

You sent your leg up into his side but he wrapped his arm around your calf and yanked you forward. You lost your balance as he grip moved, hooking under your knee. He squeezed your thigh against him as he pulled out a rather large syringe. 

“DEE! RUN!” You managed to howl before the needle sunk into your thigh. 

You tried to fight again as he dropped your leg but your vision became patchy and your balance began to sway. 

Not to your knowledge, he had injected as much tranquilliser into you as one would a tiger. Your enhanced abilities wouldn’t help you with that, you were soon out cold. 

--

The stars shone above you as you and Karli laid back on the bonnet of the car. 

“I genuinely believe that you could be the one to change things, Karl.” You said as you munched down on the chocolate bar she had gifted you. 

“What are you on about?” Karli furrowed her eyebrows through her smile as she turned her head to face you. 

“I mean look what you did for my birthday, just using your powers of persuasion.” You smirked.

“Persuasion isn’t enough to change things.” Karli disagreed. 

“You’re right but right now, people need someone to look up to. Half the world is gone and hope isn’t something that's easy to come by anymore.” You stated. 

“And you think that person could be me?” Karli scoffed at the idea. 

“I think you could do anything you wanted if you put your mind to it.” You broke off a piece of chocolate and handed it to her. 

“I think you’re spending too much time around Mama Donya.” Karli took the chocolate and popped it in her mouth. 

“We’ll see who’s right one day.” You mused with a small smile. Karli rolled her eyes before trying to steal another piece. “Hey! It’s my birthday present!” 

--

When your eyes finally opened, you realised you were no longer in the sewers. 

You were standing but your hands were up above your head, chained to the wall behind you and a large metal strip was around your neck also. You desperately tried to search your surroundings through your mask but the restraints stopped you from moving much. 

The room was dark, no windows, a few dim lights dotted around caused the room to seem almost a brown colour and there was little furniture. 

You would’ve been a fool if you didn’t noticed the gun on a small table off to the side as well as the medical equipment glistening on a tall metal cart. 

Your head throbbed and your mouth held the metallic taste of blood. You tugged at your wrist restraints to test their strength and to your luck they were holding. 

“You’re awake.” You heard a thick accented voice when you stopped rattling your chains. “Good.” 

The possessor of the voice, your kidnapper, stepped into light and you clocked who it was immediately. 

It was Baron Helmut Zemo. 

Zemo could not see your face as he had left the mask on you but he could tell from your eyes that you knew who he was. 

“I bet you are wondering why you are here. Tied up in this basement.” Zemo started. “Let’s start with introductions, shall we?” 

You remained silent.

“My name is Helmut Zemo––”

“––I know who you are.” You retorted. 

“Then you know what I am capable of.” Zemo glared at you for the interruption. His hands finding his pockets as his eyes settled on your own. 

“I know you’re going to kill me.” You knew of what happened with the Avengers. You knew of Siberia and the destroyed soldiers. You knew of his hate. 

“I’m not going to kill you.” Zemo wagged his finger at you. “Not yet at least. No. We have a few things I’d like to discuss first.”

“Like what?” You scowled at the man. 

“Like the whereabouts of Karli Morgenthau.” 

(PART 2 HERE)

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[anzynai]

Natural Curiosity

Genshin Impact (Xingqiu x Chongyun)

a/n: hiyaaa it’s my birthday ahhhh so i’ve decided to write xingyun as a present for myself (this is actually my first xingyun tickle fic) but wooo! this has been sitting in my drafts for a bit but it’s finally getting posted! i really enjoyed writing it too so i hope y’all enjoy it~

word count: 1.8k (my longest fic so far!!)

summary: xingqiu is curious about whether chongyun is ticklish or not and he’s going to satisfy his curiosity.

——

Today, in particular, was a perfect summer’s day in Liyue. Xingqiu and Chongyun would be fools to not take advantage of it. The weather conditions were just cool enough for Chongyun’s congenital positivity, but not too hot. The sun was out, but it did not shine on them.

Xingqiu and Chongyun were leaning on a tree, each doing their own thing but in each other’s presence. Xingqiu was invested in a book he had purchased from Wanwen Bookstore a few days earlier, while Chongyun, on the other hand, was happily munching on a popsicle he had picked up from Wanmin Restaurant.

Xingqiu’s focus was all on his book, eating every word, analyzing every paragraph. Some may say doing so would be boring, too much work, but it’s what Xingqiu enjoyed most about reading. He had an avid imagination, and he loved feeling as if he was in the book alongside those characters.

Then came a paragraph that most people would probably skim over and think nothing much of, but it piqued Xingqiu’s curiousity and he decided to read over it once more.

She giggled nervously as he grabbed her wrists with impressive force, pinning her arms above her head and immobilizing her completely. “W-wait, we can talk about this?” The man in front of her barked out a laugh.

“Sorry, I don’t think so.” He spoke, before moving one of his hands to her exposed armpit, scratching at it without warning. He grinned as she immediately burst into laughter.

Xingqiu thought about it. The concept of tickling. The majority of his family thought tickling to be a childish, unprofessional thing. Xingqiu couldn’t even remember the last time he was tickled, only ever being poked in the side by his older brother ever so often. To be honest, he had nearly forgotten about it completely. But this arose another question, something the curious boy was itching to find out.

He peeked his head over the book, eying Chongyun, who was still eating his popsicle like he had been before. Was Chongyun ticklish?

Xingqiu was polite. He had to be when he was the second son of the Feiyun Commerce Guild. People who didn’t know him well would never describe him as blunt. However, those who he was close to, who he truly trusted, that may as well be the first word they would come up with. His ‘true self’ was someone who spoke his mind, almost never hesitating to say what he wants to say.

“Dear Chongyun,” he started, watching the exorcist turn his head to Xingqiu, tilting his head in confusion. Xingqiu took that as a sign to continue. “are you ticklish?”

Chongyun very obviously did not expect that question, breaking out into a sputter of him trying to contain his thoughts while simultaneously trying to respond to Xingqiu. It was adorable, really, but that question and what the answer was was all that clouded Xingqiu’s mind.

“W-what? T-ticklish? Me? Uh. Huh? W-why are you asking me that?” He managed to get out. Xingqiu put a hand to his mouth in a poor attempt to suppress a snicker.

“Only natural curiousity, Chongyun dearest. What’s gotten you so flustered?” He teased, feeling a spark of pride at the ever growing blush rising on Chongyun’s cheeks.

“I-I mean, yes!” He admits at last, albeit a little loudly, coming off as a shout. It would seem that the embarrassment had finally gotten to him. He shook his arms, even dropping his popsicle. Xingqiu might’ve felt bad if Chongyun even noticed. “I’m a little ticklish.” He muttered awkwardly, staring at the ground before finally noticing the fallen popsicle. He didn’t say anything about it though, awaiting Xingqiu’s response.

“Oh? Only a little ticklish?” Xingqiu smirked, an idea popping into his head. He crawled closer to Chongyun, who was growing nervous.

“Y-yes..? Why?” He asked, not liking where this was going. Knowing Xingqiu, he was planning something and it made Chongyun very tense. Xingqiu didn’t say anything, only getting closer and closer to Chongyun. Chongyun gulped as a crooked smile found it’s way onto his face, sliding away from Xingqiu with every inch he got towards him. It was then when Xingqiu decided to pounce on Chongyun.

Chongyun yelped, startled but Xingqiu didn’t even give him any time to recover before fingers were shoved in his sides, squeezing mercilessly. The startled exorcist bursted into giggles immediately, and Xingqiu smiled, almost maliciously.

“W-wahahait, Xingqiu! Why ahahare youhuhu doing thihihis?!”

“My, my, Dear Chongyun. I just wanted to confirm whether your claim was correct or not! Just ‘a little ticklish’, you say?” Xingqiu mocked him, as Chongyun keeps giggling and flailing wildly, almost shocked for his inability to free himself. He was stronger than Xingqiu and yet he couldn’t get away at all! It seemed Xingqiu noticed too by the way he spoke his next words. “I’m surprised. I never knew such a strong claymore user like you could be reduced to a giggling mess from just a few squeezes to your hips~”

“Shuhuhut uhuhup!” Chongyun tried to say, glaring at him. Though, it just looked more like a wobbly smile and was not intimidating in the least.

“That’s rude of you to say, Chongyun! I think you ought to be punished for that! Now where should I tickle you next?” The reader feigned offense, putting a finger to his chin, thinking thoughtfully where to go next. Luckily for Chongyun, it gave him a moment to catch his breath. “Aha! I got it!”

He slowly moved his finger closer to his body, feeling satisfied at Chongyun’s anticipating stare, trying to figure out where he would get him next. He paused, waiting for Chongyun to grow confused. Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait very long.

“Xingqiu?” He asked, hesitantly, questioning as to why Xingqiu wasn’t.. tickling him? What was Xingqiu doing?

“Yes~?” Xingqiu replied, innocently as if he didn’t have a finger pointed directly at Chongyun, frozen in place.

“W-why aren’t you…?” Chongyun stuttered on his words, unable to find his voice as the embarrassment of the question overtook him once more.

“Hm? Why aren’t I tickling you? Is that what you’re asking?” Xingqiu smirked when Chongyun nodded, defeatedly though quite flustered. “Ah, I’m not quite sure actually. Adrenaline, perhaps? Though, I can’t lie. Part of the reason was to make sure I didn’t push you too far..” Xingqiu trailed off, getting a good look at the state Chongyun is in.

Chongyun’s hair was a mess, not that it wasn’t already, but even more so. His cheeks were bright red, and he was just beginning to have finally caught his breath. However, any discomfort was easily overpowered by the relaxed state and the excited look in Chongyun’s eyes and even the ghost of a genuine soft smile nor did it seem like his congenital positivity was going to trigger soon.

“But,” Xingqiu observed, a mischievous grin taking over his features, replacing the concerned look he wore a second earlier. “It seems you are enjoying it.”

If Chongyun’s face wasn’t red enough, it went aflame at that absolutely correct accusation. Still, he shook his head wildly, determined to hide that fact.

“Denying it now, Dear Chongyun? Your efforts will be fruitless, you know~” At that, Xingqiu finally brought his hand to Chongyun’s ribs. He poked at the sensitive spots, causing Chongyun to begin laughing.

“I ahaham nohahahat e-enjOYing ihihut!” Xingqiu clicked his tongue, shaking his head in faux disappointment.

“Oh, dear Chongyun, why do you keep lying. I won’t make fun of you~”

“Liahahar!” Chongyun accused, though the reader made no attempt to deny it, sticking out his tongue.

“Got me~” Xingqiu brought his hands further up, noticing the way Chongyun’s laughter became more frantic the closer he got to his armpits. “Hm? What’s this? Are your armpits ticklish?”

“No!” Chongyun shouted. It was a stupid idea but Chongyun hoped that if he told you Xingqiu would give up, or at least spare him a little mercy. Yeah, right.

“Surely, you know me a little better than that?” Xingqiu rolled his eyes, having had apparently read his mind and learned his intentions. Xingqiu shook his head, staring down at him. He lifted Chongyun’s arm up, though it took quite a bit of effort with all of his moving and flailing. He circled a single finger around Chongyun’s armpit, letting the exorcist’s nerves and anticipation from the gentle touch arise.

“Plehehease!” Chongyun pleaded, one last time. Xingqiu paused, yet not stopping the light graze of his finger on Chongyun’s skin.

“Hmmm… no.” He hummed. With that, he brought his hand to the exorcist’s armpit, scribbling all five of his fingers inside the sensitive spot. From the scream Chongyun let out, Xingqiu, for a moment, thought of covering his ears. After his initial shock though, he had no trouble teasing Chongyun for his girlish squeal. “Oh my, you’re quite the loud one, aren’t you?”

Chongyun couldn’t think, his mind swirling around all at once. Xingqiu. Tickling. Teasing. Escaping. Popsicles. Congenital Positivity. Oh right, his congenital positivity! He could feel it about to trigger and he tried to tell Xingqiu but he couldn’t get the words out clear enough so Xingqiu could understand.

“w-wAhAHAH X-XIHIHINGQIU! M-MAHAHA YAHAHANG ah- ehehenERGY!” Xingqiu only gave him a puzzled look, unable to translate his words, before it quickly turned into a look of worry when he saw Chongyun’s eyes glaze over. He hadn’t noticed that Chongyun had reached his limit.

Instantly, Xingqiu pulled his hands away from the exorcist’s poor armpits. He examined him for a moment, checking exactly which stage of his yang state he was in. When Xingqiu realized it wasn’t one of the serious ones, his usual excessive passion state, he let out a deep exhale, relieved. It could have been worse and he could have triggered his.. aggressive, more violent states and that would not be fun.

“Oh, it seems I’ve unintentionally triggered your yang energy. I do apologize for that, dear Chongyun.” Xingqiu apologized, half heartedly, despite knowing that Chongyun was far too out of it to comprehend any words he would be speaking.

Chongyun grabbed his fallen popsicle off the grass. It was now was half-melted and whatever was left of the treat was covered with grass and even a few insects, mainly ants. Xingqiu grimaced upon seeing the exorcist attempt to put it back in his mouth. The exorcist apparently had not seen all the grime imbedded into the frozen snack so would make sense that Chongyun was not happy about Xingqiu slapping the popsicle out of his hand. He stood up, pouting and threw a temper tantrum, stomping, kicking, and bawling his eyes out as if he were a child.

“That was my popsicle! That wasn’t yours! Why did you do that!?” He whined, crossing his arms and glaring at Xingqiu like he was the worst person in the world. Xingqiu ignored it, though, used to Chongyun’s tantrums when he was in his yang state.

“Well, I suppose this is my karma for tickling you.” Xingqiu sighed, though a soft smile planted on his face. Xingqiu stood up as well, holding his hand out for Chongyun to hold, to which he reluctantly accepted. “Ah, Yun, let’s go get you another popsicle, shall we?”

[c-is-writing]

sticky notes

pairing: wandanat x gn!reader

genre: fluff as per usual

word count: 1588

warnings: polyamory (reader’s girlfriends are wanda and natasha)

a/n: ahhhhh my first request :’DDD i’ve actually had this sitting in my drafts for a while but never decided on the pairing until now lmao. also! for once i am posting this at a decent hour for me. i hope you all enjoy it uwu

original request

Ughhhh, I can’t wait to go home in a few minutes. I really want a break just to spend some time with my girlfriends. You begin to clean up your work area, tidying your papers and organizing your filing cabinets. Just as you grab your bag, a co-worker of yours rushes into your office frantically. 

“Y/N! I need you right now.”

“Huh? Why? What’s up?”

“I just got called into a family emergency and I really need someone to finish my paperwork. Do you think you can do it for me?”

You pause, thinking it over. Do you do your friend’s paperwork or refuse and go home? You’d feel bad if you said no because your co-worker is one of your closest friends but you don’t want to keep your girlfriends waiting. After considering your options, you sigh and place your bag back down, “Yeah, I can do the paperwork. Take care, I hope everything is alright”. She lets out a sigh of relief and thanks you as she hands you the paperwork. Looking it over, it seemed like it would take at least two hours to complete. Oh well, looks like my break will be delayed.

You were wrong about the paperwork. There were so many issues and miscalculations with the paperwork that you had to redo all of it and go search for past files to ensure the information was correct. At this point, your girlfriends were getting worried as you were never the one to come home late without telling them. Three hours had passed since you were originally supposed to get home and out of worry and concern, Wanda calls you.

Breaking your concentration, your phone goes off. As you reach for the phone, you rub the tiredness out of your eyes and answer in a quiet voice, “Hey, Wans.”

“Y/N, baby, is everything okay?”

“Hm? Oh yeah, I should’ve texted you two earlier but my co-worker just had to leave for an emergency and I’m doing her paperwork, right now.”

“Oh, how much longer will you be there? You sound really tired, you’ve been working hard for the past month and you deserve a break.”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. I’ve been redoing the calculations and double-checking the information again because there were so many issues with it. I just ca-”

“Okay..okay. Just take a deep breath and try to finish up the work soon, alright? Tasha and I miss you.”

You let out a light chuckle, “Mhmm, okay. I’ll try to be home soon. Love you.”

As Wanda bids her goodbye, you can hear Natasha’s faint voice in the background telling you to come home soon and that she loves you. Pressing the red button on your phone, you let your shoulders sag forward and rest your head on the table. Before grabbing your pen and going back to work, you groan and think about your girlfriends, both of them waiting for you to get home. That gives you a spark of motivation as now you are more determined to finish your work and get back to them as soon as possible.

Finally, after another two hours of work, you finished the paperwork. Letting out a yawn and listening to the pops from your back as you stretch it, you decide to grab your bag and leave. I’ll give her the paperwork and reorganize my office later. Heading to your car, you check the time on your watch, only for it to read “12:10am”. Once you get into the car, you lean your head against the steering wheel, wanting to go to sleep. You turn on some music in the hopes that it can keep you awake as you start the car and begin the journey home.

Upon arriving at the compound, you notice that most of the lights on your floor are turned off and your girlfriends are nowhere to be found. You assume that they’re probably in your shared bedroom, fast asleep considering how late it is. As you open the door, you find nothing; your girlfriends are still missing and there’s clothing on the bed. Turning on the lights, you make your way to the pile of clothing with a sticky note attached to it. “We’re sure you’re tired so change into these clothes and get comfy. Then, go to the place where we spend our late nights ;)” A small laugh escapes you as you think about how caring your girlfriends are. Within the next few minutes, you’re out of your work clothes and wearing Natasha’s hoodie paired up with Wanda’s sweatshirt. Both articles of clothing slightly baggy on you because they were always the type to have oversized clothes since “it provided maximum comfort” according to them. The stress slowly leaves your body as you make your way to the kitchen.

The overhead lights turn on and illuminate the kitchen to reveal a mess that resulted from impulsive baking, again, and a tray of brownies with another sticky note. Giggling to yourself, you think about all of the times the three of you shared late night baking sessions that always resulted in big messes and a lot of dirty dishes. Lost in your thoughts, you realize that you haven’t been able to bake with Wanda and Natasha due to all of the stress and work you’ve had for the past month. Shaking away those thoughts, you eye the brownies and pick up the sticky note reading, “Hey Y/N, you’re as sweet as these brownies <3. Bring a small container of them and go to the place where we had our first date.” Upon further inspection, you see a small scribble in Wanda’s handwriting, “PS. I made the brownies, don’t worry.” Laughing at the note and smiling fondly, you grab a couple brownies, put them into a container, and make your way to the living room.

Running your hand along the couch cushions, feeling the soft but slightly coarse texture on your fingertip, you remember your first date with Wanda and Natasha. What started out as a movie night with Natasha became a cuddling session with you sandwiched between your two favorite girls as Wanda joined you two. At this time, you were quickly coming to the realization that you had a crush on both of the women and that movie night solidified it. Once the movie had finished, the three of you had a talk and wanted to pursue a relationship together as three. Sitting on the couch, reminiscing in the memories, you notice a small yellow square on the coffee table in front of you. It captures your attention as you sit upright and reach to grab it. Tracing the words with your fingers, smiling at the small conversation happening on the paper.

*Wanda’s handwriting* “You know I always gave the best cuddles” 

*Natasha’s handwriting* “Hey! No, I did!!” 

*Wanda’s handwriting* “Hmm surrree Tasha. Anyways, come up to the roof, we have something for you :)”

Feeling your heart soar with happiness and adoration for the both of them, you push the sticky note into your hoodie pocket, hearing it crinkle against the other notes, and starting walking towards the staircase with the container of brownies in hand.

Within a few minutes, you reach the door to the roof and place your hand on the handle, unsure of what to expect. Taking a deep breath, you slowly push against the door and crane your head around it. This was not at all what you expected. The roof was softly illuminated by the string lights draped around a large picnic blanket with pillows, pasta, and best of all, your two lovely girlfriends: Natasha and Wanda. As you soak in the scene in front of you with eyes full of awe, Natasha gets up and quietly makes her way over to you. The red hair blocks your view as you feel Natasha’s hands grasp your shoulders. In a gentle voice, almost afraid to disturb the peacefulness, she tells you, “Hey, lyubov moya, we know you’ve been working hard and pulling late hours at the office for the past month. And I’m sure you were tired from having to stay late so Wanda and I wanted to prepare a relaxing evening for you, so you can destress and enjoy your long weekend.”

You look at her with watery eyes and bury your face into her shoulder, pulling her into a hug. Shocked by the sudden action, Natasha recovers and wraps her arms around you, gently stroking your hair as you mumble about how much you love them. At some point during the hug, Wanda joins in as you feel her chest pressing against your back. The two whisper words of praise as you take in the love that radiates from them. Freeing yourself from the sandwich and moving to hold their hands, you look at the both of them, overwhelmed with happiness and love, and say in a quiet voice, “Thank you both for doing all of this. I will never understand how lucky I am to have you two in my life. I love you, Wanda and Natasha.” They give you a fond smile, understanding how stressed you’ve been for the past month and knowing that this break was well deserved. Your girlfriends share a look as Natasha says, “Alright, let’s just cuddle and eat some pasta that Wanda cooked” and guide you to the picnic blanket. Settling in and sighing contently, you let your shoulders relax and forget about all of your stress and worries.

tag list (marvel): @imnotasuperhero​ @peggycarter-steverogers​

[theliteraryarchitect]

Concept: Maybe Your First Draft DOESN’T Suck

Hear me out on this one. There’s a lot of advice out there (I’ve given it myself) about being okay with writing a shitty first draft, and I basically agree with the premise. Too many new writers get paralyzed with the expectation that they should be able to sit down and barf out a flawless masterpiece, when in actuality good stuff usually requires a TON of editing in the post-first-draft stages.

However. As someone who has been writing and editing my shit for 20 years now, I must say that, more and more, when I get lost in the weeds in a writing project, when I get so far down a theoretical rabbit hole I can’t remember what the fuck my story is even supposed to be about, when I get to that point where I feel like the more I write the worse it gets... it’s the first draft I return to for clues about the real essence of what it is I’m trying to write. And it never, ever lets me down.

Your first draft has magic in it.

That initial spark, that thread of a story, that excitement you had that made you want to start this project... it’s living somewhere inside your first draft, and it’s precious as fuck. And it’s a sad truth that, sometimes, the more you edit, the more that spark gets lost. So you may need to return to your first draft to find it again.

I’m not saying don’t edit. I’m not saying that your first draft is a genius work of art that’s ready to publish. I’m saying there’s SOMETHING in there which is true and magical and important, and in the long run it may do you a disservice to think of it as “shitty,” crappy, useless, garbage, etc. You may miss out on what it has to offer you.

Things you might discover in your first draft that can get your project back on track (and/or get you excited again about a piece that's started to make you cranky):

A particular character you love who you decided “wasn’t important” and cut from your story

An important emotion that’s being conveyed

A unique rhythm or style that got lost after too much editing

A fun story thread

An atmosphere, place, or description that excites you

A general feeling in the writing or the story

A sense of why you wanted to write this in the first place 

What do you all think? Has this happened to you? Do you ever go back to your first draft and realize it’s NOT garbage? That it has something special you want to keep and develop throughout your editing process?

[soft-for-them]

Doctor ❀ Captain Rex x Nonbinary reader ❀ Headcanons

anon: 👉👈 maybe a Captain Rex x NonBinary!Reader going out to 79's on a 'first date' type thing together? 🥺🥺

Not proof read.

. Now the day Captain Rex asked you out you were completely surprised. . For one thing it was out of the blue. . You see you’re a doctor who was drafted in from you home planet so you’re quite a different face from the mass of blank faced nurses and alien doctors who looked after the clone troopers. . From day one you have garnered attention from your patients wanting to know about you. . Actually, a couple clone troopers have already asked you out. . However, you have declines them all partly because you’re new but also because you they are only asking you out due to curiosity. . Anyway, you don’t know what’s so special about yourself, despite being a brilliant doctor, but you hope everything will calm down so you can settle in. . Most of the time you hang around the med bay whilst the more senior doctors’ boss around everyone. . Normally the more mundane things are left to you to do. . Mostly clone trooper come in but the odd Jedi do wonder in. . That’s how you meet Rex. . Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano and exceedingly handsome Rex had walked in one day when most people were on their breaks. . You know of Skywalker and Tano for they often come by with childish scrapes from each other that you keep quiet about so you don’t tarnish the Jedis reputations. . (I can imagine just Ahsoka and Anakin messing around like siblings and just accidentally hurting each other, like scrapped knees and sprained ankles.) . You were just patching up Anakin’s bleeding elbow whilst Ahsoka laughed her ass off and all you could do was steal looks at the all too pretty clone trying not to laugh too. . He stood a littles way off, a grin ghosted over his face, he clearly found the moment entertaining. . Some antiseptic and a big plaster later (with some more stolen glances at Rex) you had finished up patching up Anakin. . “All done master Skywalker, I hope that boo boo will heal very quickly.” You half joke making Ashoka laugh even more and Anakin pouting like a child. . But what gets you is the deeps laugh that rings out through out echoing around the room. . Rex was chuckling at your joke. . This man you had just met and started crushing on straight away. . If Anakin and Ahsoka where like little siblings play fighting all the time then you are certienly like a love sick teenager falling for some one just for their looks. . It’s like the first time you’d met Obi-Wan Kenobi all over again. . (I’d imagined that most people have had a thing for Kenobi…) . Tano and Skywalker mush have seen your flustered face as the man chuckled because both of them had given each other a knowing look. . A look of a plan forming. . As soon as all three where ushered out into the hallways by an impatient nurse complaining about their ‘too loud’ laughs did the two Jedis’ pounce. . Apparently for the next half an hour they both bugged Rex with anecdotes and complements towards you. . Everything from “Doctor (l/n) is probably the most intelligent person I know.” to “I’m surprised no one has asked them out yet.” to even “I heard one of the Jedi like likes them.” . So not even a hour later did Rex walk to you small desk and ask you out. . Obviously, you said yes but you were still shocked. . Very shocked indeed. . So shocked that now as you walk into the 79’s you look like a deer in headlights. . The two of you still in your work uniforms Rex leads to the bar. . He does a thing where he carries on standing, almost shielding you, as you pick a seat to sit in. . Only then does he sit next to you. . “Do you want a drink?” you are asking hoping that the nervousness between the two of you will go away. . He smiles, a word stuck on the tip of his tough, he seems like he wants to say something long but instead he just says something simple. . “I’ll have what you’re having.” . Rex knows what he likes to drink. . He could have easily just said what he wanted and be done with it but his curiosity and internal nervousness has gotten the better of him. . He remembers someone telling him that ‘you can tell a lot about someone about the drink they order at a bar.’ . You see he has

heard of your way before Anakin and Ahsoka had dragged him to you. . You’re the new doctor who has rejected three clones trying to ask you out. . You’re the quieter doctor who looks like they’d fit better in a doctor’s surgery handing out prescriptions and being a family doctor rather than being thrown into a war. . He has been curious about you for a while but finally meeting you, finally putting the face to the stories had urged him to ask you out (that with the two annoying Jedis coaxing him to also do it.) . You and Rex raise you hands to signal the waiter. . “Um- Can I have a (drink).” You half shout to the person behind the bar. . “Same for me.” He turns to you fully, “That’s actually a very good drink.” . “Well, I have good taste in things.” You try to flirt. . You might think the silly line falls flat but Rex faces sparks up, you did say yes to this, so surly you do have good taste. . Before he can get a half flirty quip out the barkeep comes over with your identical drinks. . Rex gets his drink first then the barkeep places a coaster in front of you place a drink on it. . “Sir?-Ma’am?-“ the barkeep begins. There’s no malice in their tone they are just a bit confused. . “Doctor.” You correct pointing down at you work uniform. . “Do you often use that?” Rex asks whilst sipping his drink. . “Use what, the doctor thing?” . He nods. . “It’s much harder trying to explain to every new person who I’m going to say one word to that I’m nonbinary, it’s much easier to say I’m a doctor.” . “I better not be just one of those new people you say one word too.” .You raise you drink up prompting Rex to clink his glass with yours and then you take a sip the lukewarm beverage that really shouldn’t be lukewarm. . “Please don’t call me doctor, call me (y/n).”

.

.

.

Oof, Tumblr has been annoying all day, I think it's because I'm formatting on BETA editor sooo yeah, I just want to get this posted and done, I'll go back later and edit it.

I could re write this as a one shot if people like the concept because this isn't my best (but not my worst lol).

[asthmark]

❝ comfortable ❞ l.mk

synopsis → “oh, i’m mark. mark lee.” he gives her a lop-sided grin, reminding you of a high school boy. the kind you would have a crush on.

word count → 3k

a/n → instead of admitting to the fact that this has been in my drafts since october what if i just said i was watching superm interviews and got inspired.. would anyone believe that??? anyway superm on the ellen show was a fever dream lol

your leg bounces nervously as your makeup artist touches up your look and you stare at the tv screen in anticipation. you were finally making your television debut. you knew you were blessed for the wonderful opportunity, especially for how new you were to the music industry.

you had started like nearly every other artist; posting covers on youtube. these were well received and gained a good amount of views and likes but your career really took off when you began creating original content. every time you would release a single, it would make it on the trending page thanks to your growing fanbase and exposure to the general public, who seemed to like you. soon enough, requests to interview you whether it be on radio, tv, or magazines were high and, thanks to your managers, you found yourself in los angeles, backstage in a studio, waiting for the ellen degeneres to introduce you to her live audience and thousands of viewers at home.

“don’t move so much, miss l/n,” the woman trying to apply your highlighter comments. “you’re smudging your makeup.”

you force yourself to sit still as you apologize. “sorry. pre-show jitters.”

the woman smiles, emphatically. “i understand, sweetheart. i would be nervous too.”

you’re quiet for a moment, debating if you should continue conversing with her. “can i be honest?”

she hums as she dabs a beauty blender into your cheek. “go ahead.”

“i am so nervous that i’ll mess up or say something stupid. the only thing close to an interview i’ve ever done was a q&a on my youtube channel. and at least i could edit stuff out then.” you huff. “if i make some kind of mistake on my tv debut, my career will be over before it even started.”

“well, think of it this way,” she says. “you went from a moderately popular youtube channel to the ellen show. that doesn’t happen for no reason. there are people out there who really admire you.”

you chuckle in disbelief. “it’s crazy to think about people actually wanting to see me. i still can't believe it.”

she giggles, softly. “they know there's something worth seeing.” at seeing your small smile, almost as if you were barely realizing your own star status, she laughs. “you seriously gotta wake up, girl. you’re famous!”

you smile at her, finding humor in her words. “thanks for the wake up call.”

you both direct your attention to the tv placed backstage that broadcasted what was happening on stage. you listen in to ellen’s monologue as she tells jokes and addresses current topics. before long, there’s a knock on the doorframe. you half expect a staff member to let you know that you’ll be on soon but instead you hear a quiet, “hello?”

you and your makeup artist both turn to the boy standing in the doorway. he's wearing a black jacket paired with dark, ripped jeans held up by a belt. he goes to bow, then remembers that korean etiquette does not apply and decides to wave as a greeting instead. you reciprocate the gesture. he stands with only one foot inside the room, almost as if he’s too polite to enter without being given the okay.

“did they send you to get your makeup done?” the woman who had done yours says.

he nods. “they said something about concealer and bb cream, i think?”

she smiles. “yeah, it’s basic stuff. come on in. what’s your name, dear?”

“oh, i’m mark. mark lee.” he gives her a lop-sided grin, reminding you of a high school boy. the kind you would have a crush on.

“well, mark lee, i’m lily. i’ll be doing your makeup, making sure you look pretty for the cameras.” she motions to you. “i'm just about done here so i’ll be right with you.”

“okay, thank you.” he shuffles in, his eyes glued to you and you hold his stare. he nods, a wordless greeting as he settles in next to you. in return, you throw up a peace sign and he smiles at your casual behavior.

“you know what? somebody used all the setting spray. i’ll be right back, i’m just going to steal some from my co-workers.” with that, lily darts out of the room.

it’s pure silence between the two of you until you spark conversation. “i didn't get to introduce myself but i'm y/n.”

“i know,” he responds, quickly. “i'm kind of a fan, actually. i mean, it’s practically impossible to not be. you’re all over the place. especially with the new single you dropped... which is a bop, by the way.”

you smile at his simply-worded praise. it was a nice switch up from the professional reviews you received from critics. “that’s so cute. i’m honored.” you miss the way mark’s ears turn slightly pink at your words. “but enough about me, what do you do, mark?”

“oh, me? i’m in the k-pop scene.”

you hum. “that’s a good genre to be in. which group?”

“right now i’m promoting with superm, it’s kind of like a side project. but originally, i’m in a band called nct.”

you lean forward at hearing the familiar name. “nct? as in, nct 127?”

mark’s eyes light up. “yeah! you know us?”

you nod, enthusiastically. “oh my god, yes! you collabed with ava, right?”

“we sure did. are you guys close?”

“i help her write lyrics sometimes.” you lower your voice down to a whisper for dramatic effect. “i wrote the chorus to ‘sweet but psycho’.”

the way mark’s jaw drops is almost comedic. “no way! that song got her famous, dude!” his lips curve into a playful smirk. “just because of that i’m gonna have to get you in the studio.”

you return the mischievous look. “is that a promise?”

“i’m back!” lily announces, giving mark no time to respond. she gives no warning as she spritzs you with the bottle she had gone to retrieve.

you cough, choking on the mist. “no heads up?”

“sorry, dear. you’re on in two minutes, no time to waste.”

you feel a chill go up your spine. it was finally time.

mark nudges your arm. “you okay?”

“a little nervous.” that proves to be the biggest understatement of all time because in reality your heart is doing somersaults.

“hey.” you stare at him, his brown eyes boring into you. “you’ll be fine. there’s nothing to worry about. you got this!”

you smile at his words of encouragement. he cared about you and you find that your heart is pounding for an entirely different reason now.

“i'll be here to cheer you on while you’re out there and i’ll be back when you’re done to tell you how amazing you did, okay?”

you nod.

“now get out there!”

“well, we have a great show for y’all today,” ellen says, clasping her hands together, having just finished her monologue. “i mean, it’s always great but the exciting thing is we have two musical guests today.”

the audience that cheered wildly is shown on screen. you almost forget about the knot in your stomach when you see some people in the crowd wearing shirts with the cover art and quoted lyrics of your last single.

“i see you guys are ready so, without further ado... let’s get started. our first guest is a soloist who has made quite a big name for herself in such a short period of time. she currently has three singles on the billboard charts, her most recent music video is number one trending on youtube, and she has a new ep coming out soon. here for her television debut, please welcome y/n l/n.”

you walk out from behind the stage, a huge smile on your face. the crowd screams and you wave to them until your hands become too occupied hugging the hostess who greets you with open arms and a proud smile. once the hype dies down and your entrance music fades out, you take a seat, opposite of ellen.

“how have you been y/n?”

“amazing,” you respond, letting your hands fall neatly in your lap.

“and why is that?”

you sigh, wistfully. “everything has been going so well for me lately. i mean, i feel like all these doors are opening up for me all of a sudden. i think i finally made it.”

“you’re just barely realizing that?” ellen exclaims.

you laugh, along with the audience. “kind of, yeah. it just all happened so fast.”

“is there an experience that comes to mind where you finally realized how famous you are?”

you try to think for a few moments before your eyes light up. “okay so, i was at a mcdonald’s like, last month and i went through the drive thru and ordered some nuggets and fries. so, i pull up to the window to pay and it’s around 2 a.m. so the cashier guy is super out of it, like he’s not even paying attention to me. finally, he goes to grab my card and he gets a good look at me and just freezes. like, full on shuts down. so i ask him if he’s okay and he nods so i try to hand him my card again but he goes, ‘no, you’re famous, you don’t have to pay’. and in that moment i just knew.”

“hold on, pause,” ellen announces, dramatically. “you’re telling me that you have been nominated as artist of the year, gained over ten million followers on social media and made your national television debut but the thing that really made you say ‘wow, i’m famous’ was a couple of chicken nuggets?”

“ellen, c’mon,” you begin, seriously. “it was a twenty piece.”

“oh, well, that changes everything,” she says, playing along with you, as the audience erupts into laughter.

the rest of the interview goes smoothly, running on jokes and sarcastic energy. you discuss your young age (thus resulting in some of your baby pictures finally being revealed to the world), millennial culture (the crowd went wild when you explained terms such as netflix and chill to ellen who claimed she didn’t understand yet her sly smirk said otherwise) and your upcoming ep (that you would be giving a sneak peek of later on in the show).

you continue chatting once the commercial break is announced and ellen showers you with praises, commenting how young talent never failed to amaze her, although it did make her feel old. you get to thank the hostess and tell her how much you appreciated her sweet words and the opportunity she had given you before the crew is dragging you backstage so you can prep for your upcoming performance.

you’re greeted by a “that was awesome!” and a high five one you get backstage.

you flash mark a full smile. “couldn’t have done it without my hype man.”

just then lily walks in to touch up your makeup.

“and my hype woman!”

she just rolls her eyes and chuckles as she reapplies gloss to your lips. 

“seriously though, y/n. why did you have to be so perfect? the bar is all the way up here now.” to emphasize his point, mark raises his arm as high as it will go.

“hey, i only tried hard because you’re up next. you’re a hard act to beat, mark lee. i mean, you’re charismatic, charming, witty; basically every talk show host’s dream.”

he scoffs yet you see how he avoids your gaze, your compliments obviously flattering him to the extreme.

a staff member walks by, cutting your conversation short. “y/n, you’re back on in one. superm is on right after.”

you and mark turn back to each other, speaking the same two words at the same time.

“good luck.”

ellen introduces you again, only this time you hold a guitar and stand in front of a microphone once you’re back on the stage. you perform a never before heard song but judging by the roaring applause and standing ovation you receive by the end of it, it’s another successful hit.

you bask in the amazing response and then you’re ushered backstage for the last time. you catch sight of the staff placing more seats on the stage as you exit and you smile eagerly, knowing exactly what’s to come. you search the hallways for your new friend, hoping you can catch him before the show goes back on air. you’re almost about to give up when you hear your name being called.

you lock eyes with mark who stands a couple feet away, barely hidden from the audience’s view. even from where you stand you can tell he has a nervous smile on his face. you jog towards him and to your surprise, he envelops your figure without a second thought. in return, you tentatively wrap your arms around him.

“great job,” he murmurs, breath fanning your ear. “i really did cheer you on.”

“i’ll make sure to do the same.” you hesitantly pull away from his embrace, holding him at an arm’s length away. “go get ‘em.”

he gives you a determined nod and you watch him rush on stage, the audience’s wild cheering increasing. their energy didn’t fade once throughout the interview and just as you had suspected, mark was doing wonderfully. he clearly thrived in interviews; his awkward, boyish nature enchanting everyone in the studio, yourself included.

ellen crosses her legs and clears her throat. “so, i have to ask you something, you know, for the fans.”

the group leaned forward in anticipation, awaiting her next words.

“are any of you dating?”

the crowd released noises of amusement at hearing the very personal question. you can’t help but feel intrigued although you knew ellen has always been quite the invasive person. you watched as the seven boys looked around at each other, unsure what to say but before their silence can become suspiciously long, mark ends up taking the question.

“why are you always so curious about this, though?” he blurts.

the audience absolutely eats up his response, cheering at his bluntness. even you find it humorous, shoulders shaking with a chuckle. that’s definitely gonna become a meme, you think.

“it’s my job!” counters ellen. “why are you so defensive?”

the crowd is very responsive to ellen’s rebuttal, ‘ooh’ing in amusement.

mark’s silence only pushes the hostess to continue teasing him.

“does it maybe have anything to do with y/n?”

your smile drops. had she seen you two? you’re not sure why you feel so exposed; after all, you had just been talking.

ellen’s lips adorn a sly smile at mark’s stunned reaction. “you seemed to be getting very comfortable with each other backstage.”

the black haired male stumbles over his words before he gets a semi-coherent sentence out. “we just, um—we just met.”

“oh really? you two looked like you had known each other forever.”

mark chuckles breathlessly, eyes glued to his lap, obviously at a loss for words. ellen stares at him expectantly so he mutters, “i like making friends.”

ellen, the audience, and even some of the band members laugh at his response.

“well, i’m sure there’s a lot of fans out there that wish they were your ‘friend’.” her tone makes it clear she doesn’t buy his excuse but she prods him no further, instead turning to stare into the main camera. “when we get back superm will be performing their title track ‘jopping’. during the commercial break, please feel free to place your bets as to how long mark and y/n will remain ‘friends’.”

the camera pans to mark for a couple seconds; his ears are bright red and his cheeks are dusted light pink, his makeup doing nothing to help hide the blush. his eyes dart around, anxiously and then they cut to commercials.

you shake your head, smiling at the entire situation and just how big of a dork mark was.

you attentively watch superm’s two performances, eyes mostly glued to a certain rapper. you sit patiently in the makeup room, waiting for mark to return backstage so you can congratulate him but he never appears. you try to conceal your disappointment, even when lily enters the room, smiling brightly.

“well, the show’s over, doll.” she removes her makeup stained apron and glances at you as she places it on a nearby rack. “hey, why the long face?”

you stare at your reflection in the mirror, no longer bothering to hide your pout now that your frustration had been made known.

“you did great, if that’s what you’re worried about. just ask mark.”

“he left,” you mumble. “i thought i’d be able to catch him before he left and we could… i don’t know, talk a bit more? i just really—” you trail off.

“like him?” lily suggests, too loudly for your liking.

your head snaps towards her, eyes wide, only confirming your feelings.

“don’t worry, dear, you can say it. i won’t tell ellen,” she jokes.

you sigh and slump down in your seat. “yeah. i like him.”

“well, then, i have good news for you.”

you half-heartedly hum, allowing her to continue.

she waves a piece of crumpled paper in front of your face. you grab it from her, staring at it curiously.

“what’s this?”

she nods her head at it, encouraging you to find out for yourself. “open it and see.”  

you obey, unfolding the tiny item. your eyes struggle to read the words inside but if you squint, they become clearer.

please call, me i would love to become closer ‘friends’.

(xxx) xxx-xxxx

it’s mark btw :)

you can’t contain your smile at the cute little note.

“he’s adorable,” you say, mostly to yourself but lily audibly agrees.

“he ran into me as he was leaving and begged me to deliver that message to you. which reminds me, i’m supposed to let you know that he wishes he could have stuck around but his schedule is ‘crazy tight’ so he had to ‘dip’. his words not mine.”

you nod, grin widening. “thanks, lily.”

“my pleasure. nothing like young love.”

you give her a glare although it’s all but threatening.

she folds her arms, teasingly. “so, are you going to give him a call or what?”

you’re sure she sees the phone in your hand and the way your fingers press the numbers on the keypad, excitedly but nevertheless, you decide to answer.

“i’d be crazy not to.”

[setsureadsshit]

Lost At Sea: A List of WIP’s I am finally letting go of [ Part 5 ]

[ Part 1 ] [ Post 2 ] [ Post 3 ] [ Post 4 ]

*see posts 1-4*

I’ve had this sitting in my drafts for.....probably half a year now, it was a project I took up at the start of the Covid and then I, like the rest of the world, sort of lost interest in everything for a little while. And then I threw myself into projects I could do around the house and hanging out with my housemates and slowly mourning our lost year. So, here’s THE LIST. And uh. Yeah.

The Soldier In The House Of Birds by Bonnie131313

Summary: A young acolyte finds himself paired with a young soldier

Last Update: 2018

Fandom & Main Pairing: Person Of Interest ; Rinch

Personal Notes: I really wanted to like this fic, I really wanted to but just...something about the style of the writing just doesn’t grab me. But like, I KNOW it’s really good, I can tell it’s well thought out even if it’s not finished but I just can’t...get into it and I’m letting it go.

Sucker For The Classics by nisolex

Summary: Scott was such a bad friend. Stiles only agreed to go on this stupid "pack bonding" trip so he and Scott could spend some time togehter. And what does Scott do? He invites Allison: and he gives her Stiles' seat in the car. Now Stiles is stuck in the Camaro for a 6 hour car ride with Derek Hale. This is gonna be a long week.

**With the show coming to an end, I wanted to write a Sterek fic to take us back to the beginning. This is an ode to the classic Teen Wolf fanfics. It will feature tropes as old as time, and is set sometime around season 3. If nothing else, get ready for some nostalgia, angst, and eventual sexy times.

Last Update: 2018

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Sterek

Personal Notes: Ah man, this fic is so good and tbh it leaves off at a moderately satisfying spot so still worth a read.

Where the lost get found by Ninjanervana

Summary:  The Nogitsune took a lot of things from Stiles: Allison, his peace of mind, his consent, his sanity, even his Spark. Maybe it’s time for Stiles to start taking things back.

Last Update: 2019

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Sterek

Personal Notes: I’d hold onto this - if all 7 chapters hadn’t all been posted at the same time and there hasn’t been so much as a peep since. Which is sad because it’s REALLY good but I have a harder time holding onto things that don’t have an update track record I can fall back on you know?

Can’t Hide From The Moonlight by Flarrow

Summary: The semi-unintended sequel to Might As Well Be the Sun, by reader request. One take, a potential telling of part of their married life together.

Last Update: 2016

Fandom & Main Pairing: The Flash ; Flarrow

Personal Notes: I just recently reblogged the first part of this series because I didn’t realize I hadn’t until I checked this, lol. The first one is really good, you should read it! A bummer this second part has kind fallen to the wayside but you know how it goes.

carpe diem by imadoki

Summary: The trials and tribulations that one Tsukishima Kei faces in the events leading up to spring graduation.(aka they're all third years and Tsukishima just wants to give Hinata his second gakuran button but there's a whole bunch of feelings in the way)

Last Update: 2015

Fandom & Main Pairing: Haikyuu!! ; Tsukihina

Personal Notes: I really love this idiot pairing. There...aren’t really any Hinata pairings I don’t like, he’s just so shippable, lmao. It’s a bummer that this one didn’t really get off the ground, it’s always so interesting seeing this pairing from Tsuki’s side of things.

Condo In The Woods by Strangeredlantern

Summary:  Scott gets here in four weeks, hopefully bringing some supernatural answers with him. That leaves Stiles four weeks to figure out Isaac. Why he’s here in Bear Valley, why he’s a werewolf, and why his eyes changed from blue to gold and back again not fifteen hours ago over Camden Lahey’s dog tags.

Last Update: 2014

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Stisaac

Personal Notes: I HAVE HELD ONTO THIS FIC. FOR SO FUCKING LONG. IF YOU CAN’T TELL. I REALLY FUCKING LOVE IT, I HAVE HOPED AND HOPED AND HOPED FOR SO LONG AND I AM SO GUTTED TO FINALLY BE GIVING UP ON IT. I LOVED IT. I STILL LOVE IT. STRANGEREDLANTERN, IF YOU’RE OUT THERE, IF YOU SEE THIS, KNOW THAT THERE IS ONE PERSON ON THIS EARTH WHO LOVED YOUR STORY. WHO STILL LOVES YOUR STORY. WHO HOPES YOU’RE HAVING A GOOD LIFE AND STILL WRITING SOMEWHERE.

Dead To Rights by askanasshole

Summary: Stiles is picky when he chooses his jobs. Can't hurt anyone, can't end the world, can't end with him a different species or trapped in an alternate dimension. Can't be face to face. Simple. Easy. Necessary. 

Of course his entire life goes to shit when he's forced into a face to face with a werewolf pack stupid enough to get their Second's heart stolen by a witch. Now if their Alpha would stop being so stupidly hot and he could get this job over with, that'd be great.

Last Update: 2015

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Sterek

Personal Notes: I really enjoyed this, it was such a wildly different take on things, I was really interested to see where it was gonna go. Sad to be finally throwing in the towel on it.

Destiny Knows Best by TaliskerMortem

Summary: It was supposed to be just an ordinary one-night stand. A quick tumble in the sheets and then good-bye. Derek’s wolf however, had other plans.

OR: The one in which Derek and Stiles do the do and a certain part of Derek’s wolfish anatomy decides they should be bonded for life.

Last Update: 2018

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Sterek

Personal Notes: Again, the start was pretty promising and it kinda leaves off in a satisfactory way even unfinished but I’m not interested in it enough to keep holding on it.

Dirty Dealing by lookslikenico, winglesswarrior

Summary:  Stiles had a plan for his final summer before college. He was going to intern at the Sheriff's station, get ahead on the plans for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, his dad had some hazy idea of him having 'one last summer' as a lazy teenager. Now, he's stuck cooling his heels and feeling very out of place at some stuck up country club, where he feel he has more in common with the staff than the other members. Of course, that could be because the staff include his new 'how have we never met before' best friend Scott and the 'it should be physically impossible for someone to be that perfect' new crush, Derek. Who apparently hates him - but not enough that he won't swallow his pride and put up with Stiles' presence when he's needed to help get Erica out of trouble...

Last Update: 2016

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Sterek

Personal Notes: I honestly don’t remember anything about this fic. So. Enter at your own risk.

[gayenerd]

I just realized I didn’t post that 2007 Rolling Stone article I posted about here. 

Billie Joe Armstrong

The Green Day leader talks Bush, Britney and being a middle-aged punk for our 40th anniversary.

DAVID FRICKE

Posted Nov 01, 2007 8:19 AM

You have two young sons. What kind of America will they inherit?

This war has to finish before something new blossoms. There's no draft — that's why none of the kids give a shit. They'd rather watch videos on YouTube. It's hard to tell what's next — there is so much information out there with no power to it. Everything is in transition, including our government. Next year, it's someone else in the White House. There's no way to define anything. It's Generation Zero. But you gotta start at zero to get to something.

Is there anyone now running for president who gives you hope for the future?

Barack Obama, but it's a bit early to tell if this is the guy I like. I get sick of the religious-figure thing. People don't question their rulers, these political figures, just as they don't question their ministers and priests. They're not going to question George Bush, especially if he goes around talking about God — "I'm going to let God decide this for me. He's going to give me the answer." The fear of God keeps people silent.

When did you first vote in a presidential election?

In 1992. I was twenty. I voted for Clinton.

Did you feel like you made a difference?

Yeah. The Eighties sucked. There was so much bullshit that went along with that decade. I felt like Clinton was a fresh face with fresh ideas. There were times when he was dropping bombs, and I'm thinking, "What the fuck are you doing?" But he became a target. We have this puritanical vision of what a leader is supposed to be, and that's what makes us the biggest hypocrites in the world. We got so inside this guy's sexual habits. Now we have a president going around, killing in the name of what? In the name of nothing.

What did you accomplish with your 2004 anti-Bush album, "American Idiot"? He was re-elected anyway, and the war in Iraq is still going on.

I found a voice. There may have been people disenfranchised by it. People have a hard time with that kind of writing: "Why are you preaching to me?" It does sound preachy, a bit. I'm a musician, and I want to say positive things. If it's about self-indulgent depression or overthrowing the government, it's gotta come from my heart. And when you say "Fuck George W. Bush" in a packed arena in Texas, that's an accomplishment, because you're saying it to the unconverted.

Do you think selling nearly 6 million copies of that album might have an effect on the 2008 election? A kid who bought it at fifteen will be voting age next year.

I hope so. I made it to give people a reason to think for themselves. It was supposed to be a catalyst. Maybe that's one reason why it's difficult for me to write about politics now. A lot of things on that record are still relevant. It's like we have this monarchy in politics — the passing of the baton between the Clintons and the Bushes. That's frightening. What needs to happen is a complete change, a person coming from the outside with a new perspective on all the fucked-up problems we have.

How would you describe the state of pop culture?

People want blood. They want to see other people thrown to the lions. Do audiences want rock stars? I can't tell. You have information coming at you from so many areas — YouTube, the Internet, tabloids. Watching Britney Spears the other night [on the MTV Video Music Awards] was like watching a public execution. How could the people at MTV, the people around her, not know this girl was fucked up? People came in expecting a train wreck, and they got more than they bargained for.

She was a willing conspirator. She didn't say no.

She is a manufactured child. She has come up through this Disney perspective, thinking that all life is about is to be the most ridiculous star you could be. But it's also about what we look at as entertainment — watching somebody go through that.

How do you decide what your children can see on TV or the Internet? As a dad, even a punk-rock dad, that can make you conservative in your choices.

I want to protect them from garbage. It's not necessarily the sex and drugs. It's bad drugs and bad sex, the violence you see on television and in the news. I want to protect them from being desensitized. I want them to realize this is real life, not a video game.

The main thing I want them to have is a good education, because that's something I never had. Get smart. Educate yourself as much as you can, and get as much out of it, even if the teacher is an asshole.

Do you regret dropping out of high school?

Life in high school sucks. I bucked the system. I also got lucky. My wife has a degree in sociology, and there are conversations she has — I don't have a fucking clue what they're talking about. College — I could have learned from that.

But I was the last of six kids. At that point, my mother was fifty-eight, and she threw up her hands — "I'm through with this parenting thing." Also, I could not handle authority figures. But I wouldn't say I'm an authority figure for my kids. I provide guidelines, not rules.

What is it like being a middle-aged punk? Isn't that a contradiction in terms?

It's about the energy you bring with you, the pulse inside your head. I want to get older. I don't want to be twenty-one again. Screw that. My twenties were a difficult time — where my band was at, getting married, having a child. I remember walking out of a gig in Chicago, past these screaming kids. There were these punks, real ones, sitting outside our tour bus. One girl had a forty-ouncer, and she goes, "Billie Joe, come drink with us." I said, "I can't, I've got my family on the bus." She goes, "Well, fuck you then." I get on the bus, and my wife says, "Did that bitch just tell you to fuck off? I'm gonna kick her ass right now." I'm holding her back, while my child is naked, jumping on the couch: "Hi, Daddy!" That was my whole life right there — screaming kids, punks telling me to fuck off, my wife getting pissed, my naked son waiting to get into his pajamas.

There's nothing wrong with being twenty-one. It's the lessons you learn. At thirty, you think, "Why did I worry so much about this shit?" When I hit forty, I'll say the same thing: "Why did I worry about this shit in my thirties?"

What have you learned about yourself?

There is more to life than trying to find your way through self-destruction or throwing yourself into the fire all the time. Nihilism in punk rock can be a cliché. I need to give myself more room to breathe, to allow my thoughts to catch up with the rest of me.

Before Dookie, I wasn't married and I didn't have kids. I had a guitar, a bag of clothes and a four-track recorder. There are ways you don't want to change. You don't want to lose your spark. But I need silence more than I did before. I need to get away from the static and noise, whereas before, I thrived on it.

Are you ready for the end of the music business? The technology and its effect on sales have changed dramatically since Green Days' debut EP — on vinyl — in 1989.

Technology now and the way people put out records — everything comes at you so fast, you don't know what you're investigating. You can't identify with it — at least I can't. With American Idiot, we made a conscious effort to give people an experience they could remember for the rest of their lives. It wasn't just the content. It was the artwork, the three acts — the way you could read it all like someone's story.

Is music simply not important to young people now the way it was to you as a kid?

People get addicted to garbage they don't need. At shows, they gotta talk on their phones to their friend who's in the next aisle. I was watching this documentary on Jeff Tweedy of Wilco [Sunken Treasure]. He was playing acoustic, and he ends up screaming at the audience: "Your fucking conversation can wait. I'm up here singing a song — get involved." He wasn't being an asshole. He was like, "Leave your bullshit behind. Let's celebrate what's happening now."

We need music, and we need it good. I took it very seriously. There's a side of me where music will always send chills up my spine, make me cry, make me want to get up and do Pete Townshend windmills. In a lot of ways, I was in a minority when I was young. There are people who go, "Oh, that's a snappy tune." I listen to it and go, "That's the greatest fucking song ever. That is the song I want played at my funeral."

Now that you've brought it up, what song do you want played at your funeral?

It keeps changing. "Life on Mars?" by David Bowie. "In My Life," by the Beatles. "Love," by John Lennon.

Those are all reflective ballads, not punk.

I disagree. They are all honest in their reflection. The punk bands I liked were the ones who didn't fall into clichés — the Clash, the Ramones. The Ramones wrote beautiful love songs. They also invented punk rock. I'd have to add "Blitzkrieg Bop" to the list.

What is the future of punk rock? Will it still be a voice of rebellion in twenty years?

It's categorized in so many different ways. You've got the MySpace punks. But there is always the subculture of it — the rats in the walls, pounding the pavement and booking their own live shows. It comes down to the people who are willing to do something different from everybody else.

You are in a different, platinum-album world now. What makes you so sure that spirit survives?

I'm going on faith — because I was there. Gilman Street [the Berkeley, California, club where Green Day played early shows] is still around. And that's a hard task, because there is no bar — it's a nonprofit cooperative. It's like a commune — this feeling of bucking the system together, surviving and thriving on art. Punk, as an underground, pushes for the generation gap. As soon as you're twenty-five years old, there's a group of sixteen-year-olds coming to kick your ass. And you have to pass the torch on. It's a trip to have seen it happen so many times. It gives me goose bumps — punk is something that survives on its own.

[yoonia]

❥ Content Creator Year in Review

☞ tagged by @yeoldontknow, @chillingkoo, @inkedtae, @onherwings, @moononthejoon, @kpopfanfictrash (my precious, talented bubs. I love you! Happy almost New Year!) and retagged by @flurrys-creativity @jimlingss 

⇀ first creation and most recent creation of 2020: I kicked off 2020 with the release of Carousel Epilogue (Yoongi). That was a defining moment for me because it truly felt like I was ending one specific era to start another. Which was true, by the way, because Carousel had marked the rise of my blog at one point and it had been a part of my long journey in writing fanfiction that releasing that epilogue and ending the series then had become a true turning point for me and my blog. My most recent creation was Blurred Lines (Seokjin, ongoing). I never meant this one to be a series, but somewhere in the middle of writing it, I felt like the story needed to progress in small paces to build up the momentum. I have always had a hard time writing for Seokjin, seeing the actual person himself has multiple layers that we tend to misidentify him with the persona he normally shows us in public. I simply wanted to show that part of him in this story, while creating a new persona for Seokjin that I’ve had in mind since way back then when I wrote Hazy. 

⇀ one of your favourite creations from 2020: I’ve mentioned a few favourites a while ago, but the one that sticks to me the most personally was Spotless Minds (Hoseok). I wrote this based on my favourite movie, Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Minds, taking the original idea of introducing two characters who erased a part of their past but giving it a more in-depth backstory compared to the movie itself. I still added a few elements that you may find from the movie but written here differently: the beach house, the waiting room, the stages where Hoseok was slowly losing his memory, and I added a few things that may help readers who haven't watched the movie to understand the aspects of the story a bit better without having to go back and watch the movie first. What pleases me most about this fic was the writing style that I used then — the sequences of the scenes, the back and forth between the timeline to reveal all the twists and turns — and then putting them all together. It was just fun creating this one.

⇀ a creation you’re really proud of: Oh, this one is the hardest to decide. I can’t choose between We Are All Dreamers (Jungkook) and Never Falling (Jimin). WAAD was a bit challenging to me. I love soulmate aus and I believe I had gotten stuck on this story right in the middle of it until I decided to add Jungkook’s pov in it to help with the story’s progression. I’m proud of how it came to be (and I can’t wait to share the continuing story for it) and how I’d gotten through the process of writing it. NF took me quite a while to finish, but I love every single thing about it. The story building, the tension, the momentum, and I think the characters I created in this story have become the pairing that I have grown to care the most this year aside from Strip!Jimin and his OC.  

⇀ a creation that took you forever: The Half-Lycan (Taehyung) and Of Bears and Bonds (Seokjin). Both stories took a while to work on due to their part in the Shifters series, which required me to take my time in planning and working things together to make sure that the story and the timeline would line up perfectly with its origin story, Blood Moon Rising. THL was actually planned to be posted on Tae’s birthday last year, but it took me 6 months to finish. OBB was planned to be posted immediately as both stories correlated between each other, but then things happened and what was planned to be an extremely long one-shot had ended up becoming a trilogy (the original word count was 69k words lol). 

⇀ a creation from 2020 that received the most notes: The Half-Lycan, I think? I know it went over 2k notes while the others remain somewhere around 1k or less lol Idk man, I don’t keep up with notes. I’m grateful for all the feedback, the reblogs, and the comments, so I remember those the most compared to the numbers. 

⇀ a creation you think deserved more notes: Ravished by Two (Namjoon, Seokjin), Spotless Minds (Hoseok), Red Series (Yoongi). Seriously, I love writing for Hyung line, but they don’t get enough love from everyone :( I must add Bed & Boyfriend(s) (Taehyung, Yoonkook) too because I worked hard on that one and I need it to get some more love lol

⇀ a new fandom you joined and a creation you made for it: I’m starting to get into Stray Kidz and Ateez more lately. I haven’t made any creation for them aside from adding Wooyoung (Ateez) as a side character in Spotless Minds haha I did write Simon Says for Simon Dominic though. 

⇀ a creation you made that breaks your heart: Slow and Steady (Jungkook) took the front seat on this one. I’ve fallen in love with the original idea when it was sent to me for a commission. I knew it would cause a lot of heartbreak and it did spark some reactions from my readers that I enjoyed reading through once the fic was up. I just didn’t think it would hurt ME in the process as well :/

⇀ a ‘simple’ creation that you really love: Let’s see… Pay By Play (Jungkook), Red Lipstick (Yoongi, from the Red Series), the drabbles I’ve made this year for Carousel and The Stand-In. Can I really call these ‘simple’ tho? Hahaha 

⇀ a creation that was inspired by another one: Strip! (Jimin) was a spin-off for Bad For You. Though I had originally started this series since October the year before, I still have to mention this one because I only began working on the final chapter after I was done with Carousel at the beginning of the year. The Half-Lycan was actually inspired by its drabbles. I’d never intended to expand Blood Moon Rising’s universe into the series you are seeing now, but when I was writing Rapture during NaNoWriMo 2019, I began to imagine Taehyung and his wolf pack to become a part of Jimin’s story. Since I was already planning to introduce the members as a pack in BMR in future chapters, I decided to link the two universes together and have Taehyung from Rapture to have his own story before I get to introduce the others. This decision was what had led me to create the entire Shifter series universe. 

⇀ a favourite creation created by someone else: umm...I haven’t had a chance to actually read a lot of fanfics this year as I have gotten into original stories more and the year has been crazy busy. The ones that I’ve read and shared are listed in my side blog, @diaficrecs. But here are a few that I’ve read but haven’t gotten a chance to write down my comment or feedback on and they are now sitting on my rec blog’s draft until the day I can get my thoughts together T^T — Inner Needs by @avveh, Divine Intervention by @opaljm, Third Wheeling by @untaemedqueen, Molotov Cocktail by @yeoldontknow, Aphrodite in War by @jungblue, Always Trust In Pixie Dust by @readyplayerhobi, daechwita by @ironicarmy, and I have to mention the one I’ve been re-reading the most, When You Watch by @gardentulips 

⇀ some of your favorite content creators from the year: aside from the beautiful people mentioned above, here are my beloved, talented friends — @jamaisjoons @suqakoo @softyoongiionly @randombtsprincessa @hungline @guktro @underthejoon @gukslut @gukyi @floralseokjin @ladyartemesia @baebae-goodnight @hobidreams

⇀ and for good measure, another couple more creations of yours that you love: omg I don’t think I can mention them one by one so let me just drop my masterlist here, here, and here :) 

⇀ tagging: everyone mentioned above who hasn’t done this yet...and if you don’t see your name here, feel free to do this if you want to and add me so I can add new stuff on my to-read-list :))