#I needed to get it out because the other part was killing me

[urno1luv]

squid game (s1) aespa x reader🫣?? ningning is the only sane member + gets a happy ending tho😭

(as for the asks, don't worry!! i saw them all and i'm working on posting them!!)

tags: saebyeok's murder mentioned (😔), yandere behaviour, drugging, noncon, sadism, suicide mentioned once (reader), audiz are written together

🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪

KARINA and GISELLE, the VIPs

- flew over with giselle from japan just to watch this event, her perversion evident on her sharp features. she's definitely gonna have the time of her life

- her bets were placed on player 101, seeing how he was one of the most brutal players in the games, but giselle advised her to chose number 067 instead, citing her agility and her supposedly "callous" behaviour as a force to be reckoned with. aeri, after all, is one to listen to🙂‍↕️

- however, when both players have died and the only ones left are 456, 218, and you, 457, karina becomes pretty annoyed with giselle's guesses. "yah, uchinaga. we lost a million already, so choose a better player, don't make me lose more."

- luckily for rina, giselle already had her eyes on the cutest thing ever!!! your beautiful doe eyes glistening and filled with fear from player 218's sudden killing of your friend saebyeok. "hmm.... how about you bet on 456 and I bet on 457?" aeri suggests, smirking. "i feel like they might team up against 218, and the other VIPs are betting on him to win. let's divide our chances?" through a lot of coaxing, jimin agrees, her eyes following your every move.

- giselle and karina are pleasantly shocked once you suddenly use that brain of yours and successfully kill player 456 while he's occupied with the other player. with tears in your eyes, your knife enters his throat, giving him a quick death. though you cared about him very much, you couldn't afford to go against him in the next game when you were the finalists. rina tuts once you kill her pick, but it doesn't matter, bc the other VIPs now owe the girls their money since you won!!

- the guards escort you out of the arena, your legs weak with fatigue and guilt. aeri, however, has other plans for you ♡ "unnie, why don't we have some fun before we leave? think of it as a final parting gift!" jimin scoffs, but after thinking about it, why not?

- after being knocked out by gas during the ride in the lift, you wake up rather painfully, two slender but long fingers rammed into your cunt, pounding deep. you can't move your head to see who it is, but you feel woman's chest pressed against your back, her hot tongue on your neck, lips acting like a suction. your fingers twitch weakly, whimpering softly. your brain is too fried to realise that there's another woman sat beside you, smoking a cigarette, her deep voice ringing in your ears. "aeri, you made a good decision. she'll be pretty fun to play with," and she ended with small chuckle, hand snaking around your thigh. seems like you won't rest well tonight...

WINTER, the frontman

- she's by far the most evil, depraved, person out of all. her love for violence stems from an incident that happened when she was younger, in which her father got murdered before her eyes, and that changed her. it seemed as if her prayers were answered, bc he was not a good person to her at all. from then on, she grew up to believe violence was the answer, and violence was needed in order to get what she wanted

- she first saw you while watching players get their id photos taken, and your anxious and hesitant manner got her attention. what is this feeling she's experiencing right now...?

- her eyes gravitate towards you, even in a crowded room. minjeong feels a strange sense of protectiveness over you as you find a bed to sleep on, away from the others. her eyes gloss over with want as she obsessively watches you sleeping, chest rising up and down in your deep slumber. you must've cursed her because she stood in the security room all night, rooted to her spot. she's come to a conclusion, she has to have you.

- during the game where you had to take the marbles away from another player, using no force, you find yourself feeling sorry for the old man you were playing against. i mean, you only joined these games as a final resort, so if you die, it's what you would have wanted anyway. winter, on the other hand, was NOT going to let that happen.

- she orders the guard to not kill you, but after the game finished, bring you to her instead. her heart is pounding quickly, and her breathing has quickened. she would finally get what she wanted. a taste of you, your touch, your beautiful voice and your compassion for others, minjeong was ecstatic that she would have it ALL to herself..

NINGNING, □

- the detective who snuck in when she found out that her sister went missing. she killed a guard and took his clothing so she can investigate the place

- her plans quickly go to waste when she sees you while watching the cameras, your purity shining bright amongst the other players. she finds out that you came here to find the money to pay for your brother's university and for the massive debt you had, and ning makes it her mission to protect you <3

- quickly becomes hooked onto you, cooing as she sees you cowering from the guards whose guns point to your heads as you try to carve the designated shapes in the honeycomb cookies. she totally forgot her original mission, now she's here just for you

- once the night comes, she watches, in pain, as you scream and run from the mob who tries to kill as many players as they could, her fist shaking, fingernails drawing blood from her palm. she wishes she could help, but has to wait for orders from the head

- she decides that it's time for her to leave, but not without you. when the right time comes, she slips you a note, saying that she could help you escape, with the money, if you wanted. the two of you make a quick plan during your trips to the toilet, and you can't help but feel an immense gratitude for ningning. whatever would you do without her?

- once ning murders all the VIPs in cold blood, disgusting etched into her soft features, she quickly secures a suitcase containing millions of won. though it might not be the billions that were promised, it's better than nothing. she throws in some expensive items that the VIPs owned, and knocks twice on the room where the players stayed. successful in your joint mission, you both go through a secret pathway, and hop onto a boat that harboured nearby.

- fast forward to 2 years from now, ningning has won your love as well. after escaping to jeju island, she was surprised to see that you seemed to reciprocate her feelings, your plump lips landing on hers. not only has she secured a generation of money, but she also earned your affections <33

in case anyone wants the pictures, here they are!!!

ning is so baby here.. she cannot look intimidating for the life of her

[jame7t]

Hi timblr. Rare #Serious ask from me: how would you introduce a third cat to an existing pair of cats?

My existing cats, keyes and Misty, don’t really get along, but they’re not trying to kill each other or anything. They’re mostly just annoyed by each others presence. They play chase sometimes and scream meow, but for the most part that’s just because Misty starts shit she can’t finish.

(Keyes on the left, Misty on the right- keyes is a snuggler.)

Unfortunately for me, the other night I discovered a very cute and friendly kitty named Pickup Truuuck

This little beastie is very cute and soft and soft. Incredibly friendly too. Potential snuggler, not sure yet. However he is now safely contained at the vet, having been dropped off. Tuesday, if he has no owners, we can call back and adopt him.

SO: my plan, is to keep Pickup in my room downstairs, closed off from the rest of the house: and slowly associate each cat’s smell with positive experiences with each other. Giving them treats when showing them toys the other player with, working up to having them eat outside the door to each others room.

Eventually, after a week or two, I’d introduce them with supervision (and a cage between them I think) giving them both treats when they hang out politely. I feel like this is the safest and best way to introduce a new lil beastie?

The additional bonus is that my cats usually aren’t allowed in my rooms anyway- it won’t really register as an intruder on their territory at first, im hoping. I mainly need to convince them all they’re buddies and nobody is a threat to anyone, and I think pickup and keyes might really get along. All cats are neutered so there should be no pee pee boy incidents.

Any additional tips ?

[bookofbonnie]

SUNSHINE, SILVER LINING & LIGHTHOUSE - VI ARCANE.

Characters: Vi x Reader.

Warnings/Content: NOT EDITED. Incorrect spelling. Bad grammar. Tense mix-ups. Weird double spaces. AU. Boxer!Vi. College!Reader. Vi's a famous boxer so, she's rolling in the dough but her being a boxer isn’t really a focal point. Swearing.

Summary: Vi is your best friend. You love her. You don't love some of her choices. YALL I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DESCRIBE THIS LMAO. Just read it if you want to lol or don't.

Word Count: 3.1k+.

A/N: So... I did not write this with the intention of a second part. I thought I'd let y'all know now so, I don't get your hopes up. Ha, ha, enjoy! Oh and idk if seeing your friends naked is controversial to other people but, it's not to me and my friends lol. Also, the titles kinda dramatic, I just didn't know what to name it.

You wake with a groan, body overheating and skin sticky with a thin sheen of sweat. Lying belly-down in bed with your face half-pressed into your pillow, you pop an eye open, vision slightly blurry as you peer at the alarm clock sitting on your bedside drawer; red, angry numbers glare 05:58 at you. You hadn’t even managed a half hour of sleep before being woken.

A whine leaves your lips and you attempt to curl your body into yourself so you can roll over and go back to sleep but, there’s a heavy weight on your back; a heavy weight that was also the reason you were overheating. 

“Morning sleepyhead,” Vi chuckles from where she’s draped herself across your back.

You didn’t even hear her come into your apartment let alone your room but, you sure as shit felt it when she threw herself backwards over you; one of her elbows now digging into your back. You really needed to take your spare key off of her.

“No, Vi,” you protest with another groan, trying to buck her off so you can roll over. “Go away.”

You love Vi, you really do. She’s your best friend. The one person who probably knew you better than you knew yourself. She made what was an otherwise rough childhood good. She was a ray of sunshine on a rainy day, silver lining on a cloudy day, lighthouse on a stormy night and all that other good shit that a best friend is. But today? Today she was the nightmare disrupting your much needed sleep.

“Go away?” Vi repeats and you don’t have to see her face to know she probably has her eyebrow raised. “Did you forget what’s on tonight?” 

“No-” you grunt and finally shove her off of you. 

“Hey-” Vi shouts when you send her tumbling to the ground.

You finally roll over and pull the blanket over your head, “I didn’t forget, Violet, it’s just way too early to go.” 

Vi finds her feet and stares at you incredulously.

“Too early?” Vi pulls at the blanket but your grip is iron-clad. “It’s- it’s six- six-o-clockintheevening-” 

Your blankets are ripped off of you and you half-groan half-scream, yanking your pillow from under your head and putting it over your head. Vi puffs her chest out, it didn’t matter how strong your grip was, she was stronger.

“-and Powder’s gonna kill you if we ruin her surprise for Ekko because we’re late,” Vi reminds you, patiently waiting for you to process everything she had just said.

“Fuck-” you groan - again - rolling off of the side of your bed and almost tripping over your own feet in your haste to get to the bathroom.

You weren’t sure where the time had gone because the twelve hour sleep you apparently got felt closer to none. But, the feeling of time escaping you was not unfamiliar since you’d spent the majority of your summer so far doing as many back-to-back shifts where you could. 

“Atta girl,” Vi grins, plopping herself down on the seat of your vanity. “And you’re welcome for waking you up.”

You catch a glimpse of the smug look on her face in the reflection of your bathroom mirror and flick her a complimentary middle-finger for her services before slamming the bathroom door closed.

-

A quick three minute shower is all you have time for and the rush to towel yourself dry leaves you feeling just as hot as when you woke up. You may as well have not showered at all.

Pulling the bathroom door back open, Vi’s eyes meet yours for a split second before they’re back on her phone, fingers moving at lightning speed across the screen.

The sight of you wrapped only in a towel was nothing new. Hell. Vi had seen you as naked as the day you were born on more than one occasion in the fifteen years she'd known you and vice versa.

Making a beeline for your chest of drawers, you pull out a clean set of underwear. You’re still pulling the straps of your bra over your shoulders when you’re met with a low whistle. Looking over your shoulder, you meet Vi’s gaze and she makes a point of dramatically looking you up and down. 

“Matching set,” she waggles her eyebrows suggestively at your baby blue set. “Expecting someone else to see that tonight?”

You scoff and fling your towel at her head, “only your pink head.” 

Vi ducks out of its path but catches the fabric; she wasn’t about to let your towel touch the floor. 

“Good,” she smiles triumphantly. 

-

It’s 6:26 by the time the two of you leave your apartment and get into Vi’s shiny black pick up truck. The short drive + parking would mean you’d arrive at The Last Drop at about 6:40- five minutes before Powder expected everyone to be there with Ekko expected to arrive at 7. The timing couldn’t have worked out better considering your generous sleep in.

The drive to The Last Drop is quiet, save for the music playing quietly through the speaker - Vi hums softly along to it. Between that and the feeling of the cool glass against the warm skin of your temple, your eyelids begin to droop, exhaustion dragging you back to sleep. 

Casting a quick side-ways glance at you, concern marks Vi’s forehead at the sight of you falling asleep within minutes of the drive. 

“Hey-” she calls your name softly, calloused hand reaching over to rub your arm.

“Hm?” you jerk slightly, looking over at her with heavy eyelids. The back-to-back shifts you had been pulling were taking their toll.

“We gonna talk about why you were still sleeping at six in the evening?” 

You shrug, dismissing her concern, “worked the closing shift at last drop last night,” you mumble.

Vi peers at you quickly from the corner of her eye, brow furrowing and frown lines deepening as she adjusts herself in her seat, unsure if she had heard you correctly. 

“What? I thought you were working the closing shift at The Apothecary.”

“I did-” you confirm before, a yawn forces its way out of you. “-and then I called Vander and asked to pick up the closing shift at The Last Drop.”

“He shouldn’t have given it to you.”

“I need the money, Vi.” 

“So, I’ll give it to you-”

“Do we have to do this every time?” you snap.

“I’m just saying-”

“Well stop saying it. I’m not taking your money, Vi. It’s one more semester of placement and then things go back to normal because classes go back to normal for my final semester then I’m done. Finished. Graduation. And you won’t have to worry about it anymore.”

You release a shaky breath through your nose, fingers pinching at the bridge and back straight. You were wide awake now. Wide awake and frustrated. 

This wasn’t the first time you had had this conversation with Vi and it probably wouldn’t be the last. She had a habit of trying to pay the rent for the apartment you lived in in Piltover during the school year. It had gotten worse since you had reached the placement year of your degree since it had you working full-time hours without pay; Vi constantly bringing up the offer at any opportunity that she could and why wouldn’t she try?

At 23, Vi was a highly-decorated and well-respected Champion in the Boxing world. Fighting under the moniker ‘The Hound of the Underground’, she was a 2 x time Runeterra Middleweight Champion by 21 and the reigning, undisputed Middleweight Champion of the Piltover Boxing League. Her illustrious boxing career was putting more money than she could count in her pockets. Money that she was eager to hand out to all of her loved ones to ensure they were living life comfortably. She just wanted to help- 

She just wanted to help. 

The reminder is cold water in the face of your annoyance at her.

“I always worry about you,” Vi tells you quietly. “I can’t help it.”

Looking over at her, you slump in your seat and whatever annoyance you feel, disappears.

“I know but, you don’t need to. I’ll be fine, Vi,” you mumble, turning your body to face her. “Besides, you need that money to pay for all those medical bills since you insist on getting beaten up every few weeks.”

Vi snorts a laugh, “I don’t get beat, I do the beating and you don’t need to worry about that baby girl, I have those bills covered.” 

“Well you might have those covered now but you’ll need to consider your future as well and how you’re gonna afford me when I inevitably have to become your carer because of one too many knocks to your head,” you tease.

Vi chuckles, pulling into a spot and parking.

Turning the engine off, she also angles her body to face you, one arm leaning against the steering wheel but, you don’t notice she’s facing you because your eyes are closed, breath becoming shallow. 

Vi watches you with an amused grin but she falters because she’s been looking at you for a little too long and when your eyelashes flutter as you open your eyes and meet her gaze, she’s suddenly transported back in time to when she was fifteen and had stolen Vander’s car so the two of you could go to the drive-in to see that really bad R18+ movie that the two of you had no business watching but, no one checks ID at the drive-in. 

It hits Vi all at once and- 

She’s fifteen and realising just how in love with you she is.

She’s fifteen and confessing her feelings for you.  

She’s fifteen and you’re telling her you feel the same way. 

She’s fifteen and kissing you for the first time- her first kiss. 

She’s fifteen and you're telling her that she's your sunshine, silver lining and lighthouse and she never really understood what you meant by that but, it means everything to her.

But, now? Now, she's twenty-three and the lid she’d placed on the box that she had buried her feelings for you in is off and it slams into her ribcage, heart trying to beat out of her chest and she can vaguely hear her phone’s message tone going off in her pocket but, she can only concentrate on you. 

“Is that so? You gonna look after me?” Vi whispers, reaching a hand out to brush your hair from your face, hand lingering on your cheek.

“Always have, haven’t I?” you smile that smile that lets her know everything's going to be okay.

Vi’s mouth goes dry and her eyes are flickering between your eyes and your lips and they're lingering on you lips and she’s fifteen and-

And the moment is interrupted with a sharp- “HEY!”

Vi snatches her hand back like you’ve burnt her, her head whipping forward to see a furious Powder standing in front of her car.

“Shit-” you curse, quickly undoing your seatbelt and getting out of the car. Vi watches as you make your way to her annoyed little sister with your hands held out and coming to Vi’s defence because you know Powder is going to blame Vi. “Sorry, Pow, it’s my fault.”

Powder’s annoyance doesn’t last long, her resolve immediately breaking so she can throw her arms around you for a hug. 

Taking a ragged breath, Vi runs a rough hand through her hair before undoing her own seatbelt and getting out. 

Powder starts on her as soon as the car door closes. 

“You-” Powder pulls on Vi’s arm, pushing her towards the entrance of The Last Drop. “I need you to go inside- quick, quick, quick and help dad bring the rest of the kegs in. Stupid delivery driver forgot half our order this morning and only just delivered it now. Go-go-go.” Powder chases Vi in.

You laugh at the face Vi makes at her little sister but, as soon as she disappears through the entrance, Powder’s in your face.

“Yes, Pow?” you laugh, taking a step back but, she moves with you.

Placing her hands on your shoulders and taking a deep breath, Powder sends a quick look over her shoulder, checking for any stragglers before she looks back at you with a quizzical look on her face.

“What was that?” she whispers. 

“What was what?” you whisper back. 

“That-” she waves her hand behind you at Vi’s truck. “-in the car.”

You tilt your head, confused, “what do you mean? We were just chatting about uni and stuff.”

“Oh come on-” Powder deadpans, hands moving from your shoulders to her hips. “Vi looked like she was about to eat your face.” 

You snort at the insinuation with a shake of your head. 

“You really need to let that go, Pow. Besides, I highly doubt that's what she was wanting to do.”

“What? Why?” Powder pouts. 

“Because,” you glance back at where you had just been sitting with Vi in her truck. “Her phone wouldn’t stop going off.”

Powder’s brow furrows, taking a second to pick up what you were putting down before, a knowing look crosses her face; her lips pursing into a thin, straight line and you make a sound of agreement.

-

Ekko’s surprise birthday party goes off without a hitch, the night ending perfectly with the freshly minted 18-year-old being carried out by his father; a giggling powder-blue haired girlfriend trailing closely behind the pair and snapping a quick selfie to show him in the morning.

He wasn’t the only one who needed to be carried out of the party however. 

When you wake the next morning, you feel fine until memories of the previous night come back to you in fragments including Vi carrying you up to your apartment. 

You groan in embarrassment. It didn’t matter how well or how long you knew her, you would always be embarrassed by whatever antics you got up to when drunk. Although, you weren't sure if drunk was the right word to use when you had a grand total of two and a half drinks. Two and a half drinks that went straight to your head- you blame the lack of sleep and your empty stomach. You really needed to thank Vi for cutting you off when she did because it saved you a hangover. 

Padding out of your bedroom, the smell of freshly made food hits you all at once and makes your mouth water.

When you reach the living area, breakfast is already made and laid out on your small dining table. There’s a small flutter in your stomach at the gesture, a smile pulling at the corner of your lips but it falls when you realise how quiet it is in your apartment. You could’ve sworn you had heard Vi’s phone going off earlier. Looking around the small space with a frown, you almost miss the mess of pink hair peeking out from one end of your couch until the head it belongs to moves. 

Without a second thought you cross the space to the couch and climb over the back of it-

“Oof-” the air expels from Vi lungs when you land on top of her, slapping a hand down on her blanket-covered leg.

“Really?” she scowls at you. 

You shrug your shoulders with a grin.

“Just payback for yesterday, now you know how it feels when you’re just trying to relax and something heavy just lands on you.”

“You’re not even heavy,” Vi scoffs. 

“Yeah? Well, you are.”

“You calling me fat?” Vi raises an eyebrow at you. 

You roll your eyes at her words, pinching at the taut muscle of her exposed stomach. She wore nothing but a sports bra and boxers. 

“Calling you heavy, muscle man,” you mock her tone then flick her forehead. 

“Hey-” she swats a hand at yours.

You laugh as she tries to grab at you but you're quicker than she is and hop off the couch before she can catch you.

Stomach growling, you make a beeline for the dining table, “you coming?”

Vi makes a show of sighing dramatically in response but she's seated across from you only seconds later. 

With a mouthful of food, you wave your fork at her, waiting for a beat to swallow before you speak, “so, who were you texting earlier?”

Vi’s hand pauses in the air, a piece of bacon dangling between her fork and eyes wide when they meet yours. She was not expecting you to ask her anything of that sort. 

“Oh come on,” you roll your eyes. “Don't play dumb. Your phone’s been going off like crazy since yesterday. Who is she?”

Vi shoves the piece of bacon in her mouth along with a spoonful of eggs when she says a name you can barely make out. 

“What?” 

Vi swallows roughly before, repeating herself.

“Caitlyn,” she says, pushing her food around her plate and not looking at you. 

“How long has this been going on?”

Vi takes a second to think, “just under two months.”

“What?” you say, eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. “And where have I been for all of this?” you demand with a pout. “How come I didn’t know…”

“Well, you just… never have time for me anymore,” Vi breathes melodramatically. 

“That is so not true! Miss I’m in a different city every other weekend.” 

“Hey- that’s for work!”

“And placement is compulsory,” you throw a berry at her. 

It bounces off her chest and she catches it before it falls into her lap, throwing it in her mouth with a laugh. 

“But, seriously, Vi,” you lean forward on the table, elbow resting against the table-top, and head resting in your palm. “Tell me about her. You have like two months of your girl-crush to catch me up on.” 

And Vi does.

She tells you everything there is to know about Caitlyn and you can’t focus on what she’s saying because of the blood rushing in your ears. You can't focus on what she's saying because you're trying to swallow the green-eyed monster that’s threatening to rear its ugly head because there’s a sparkle in Vi’s eye while she tells you all about Caitlyn, that’s never been there before with her other relationships. 

It sticks with you for weeks to come and makes you feel sick every time you think about it because Vi asks you not to tell anyone about her potential new relationship just yet because even thought Vi isn’t a big deal to you, she’s a pretty big deal to the rest of the world.

-

All fics are my own work - I have not posted my work anywhere else.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/places mentioned above.

Do not copy. Do not translate. Do not repost.

bookofbonnie 2025. All rights reserved.

[oifaaa]

honestly pit madness is just an insult to jason and his motives at this point. he can be a hurt teen desperately acting out for his father's attention and love and still do awful things. that's part of what makes his complicated relationship with bruce so fun- they still love each other but their philosophies are so irreconcilably different that they should NEVER make up! bruce will never kill the joker because then he'll stop being bruce and jason will never stop needing his dad to kill him because that's the way he needs to be loved

and pit madness...... that takes away all of jason's calculated motivations. in a way it's a form of absolution because it wasn't REALLY jason who beat up robin to get to bruce. it wasn't REALLY jason who dressed up as dick and killed in his suit. it wasn't REALLY jason who spiraled and then killed all those kids and prisoners-

Jason and Bruce really have your basic toxic parent child relationship but turned up to 11 parental and child relationships are already so uniquly weird before you add on all the vigilantee self sacrificing dying nonsense and then some people will turn around and go "Jason's out of his mind there's no way he'd do this without pit madness" which I'm happy for you sounds like you and your parents have a nice relationship me on the other hand I get it Jason I too would do that and I wouldn't even have to die first

[leonastarry]

hiii! could i request civilian!wife!reader going with jinwoo during the international guild conference arc? and it’s okay to not add this, but could you also include a part where reader gets kidnapped by dongsoo instead? thank you so much!!

p.s. i love your recent works! it’s all so cute and fluffy🥺 honestly been needing more fics of him😫

[ Req 3 ] A lesson. ✧. ┊    husband!jinwoo x civilian!wife!reader

A Korean plane landed at the airport. The reporters and hunters all turned their eyes to the plane, waiting for a certain famous Korean hunter to come out.

And when Sung Jinwoo stepped out, the hunters immediately felt his outstanding power. And even the German S-rank hunter had to back down because he felt hundreds of shadow soldiers in his shadow.

And then suddenly everyone noticed the small figure walking next to Jinwoo with his arm around her waist. They all knew that Ahjin had a vice-president named Jinho, but they didn't know who this person was. Looking at the way Jinwoo held her tightly and the way he looked down at her with gentle eyes, everyone could guess their relationship.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Seeing Jinwoo constantly turning his head as if he was searching for something, you turned around and asked.

"Husband? Are you looking for someone?"

"No. It’s just… why do those foreigners keep following me?"

Yoo Jinho laughed heartily.

"Hyung's so famous, you have a lot of fans. I bet they just want an autograph or two from you."

That made sense.

Jinwoo laughed and continued walking, not forgetting to pull you closer to him. He needed to make sure his wife wouldn’t get into any trouble.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

"Oh, there he is!"

"Sung Jinwoo!"

The reporters found him and began to shower him with questions. He didn't answer any, until someone asked.

"Hunter Sung! Who is the woman that beside you?"

He turned to the camera and narrowed his eyes.

"She is my wife. That's all you can be able to know, and stop asking anything about her."

SNAP-! SNAP-!

The camera flashed, over and over again. Woo Jinchul reached out to grab his sunglasses and put them on his face to avoid the flash. Seeing Jinchul fumble, you and Jinho looked at each other and smiled wickedly.

"Huh, what are you doing here??"

"I’m… responsible for Hunter Sung Jinwoo’s safety."

It was an answer that required a lot of courage. Unfortunately, the bustling atmosphere of the airport drowned out his voice. Whether it was intentional or not, Jinho picked his ear with his pinky finger and asked again.

"Excuse me, can you repeat that?"

"Whose safety are you responsible for?"

You and Jinho kept teasing Jinchul, making him blush, so Jinwoo stopped you two and pinched your cheeks, making you pout in displeasure. Then everyone was interrupted by Adams White's appearance. He said he would take you, Jinchul, and Jinho back to the hotel, while Sung Jinwoo would go somewhere else. At first, Jinwoo didn't agree with you and he separated, but you reassured him.

"It's okay, husband. I'll see you at the hotel."

He looked at you for a moment, then kissed you lightly on the lips.

"Be careful."

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Jinwoo returned to the hotel in a bad mood. Now he just wanted to rush into his friend's arms to find comfort. But all he got from Jinchul was that his wife and Jinho had followed Hwang Dongsoo after hearing him say that Jinwoo was looking for both of them.

Anger filled Jinwoo. He immediately rushed out and ordered his soldiers.

"Immediately, find me the location of your queen and Jinho!"

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

“What are you thinking? Do you have something to say to me?” Jinho’s lips moved, but his voice was too small for Hwang Dongsoo to hear. “What?”

Hwang Dongsoo tilted his head, then brought his ear closer. Yoo Jinho then whispered into Hwang’s ear. “SON OF A B-TCH”

Hearing that, Hwang’s face darkened. Unable to hold back, he reached out and pressed Jinho’s head hard against the floor. Jinho passed out and collapsed. “Fck. Did I kill him?”

“Jinho!”, you shouted, “BASTARD”

“You’re that Sung Jinwoo’s little wife, right? Your face looks pretty, I’ll let you off if you tell me everything.”

You spat in his face. “Keep dreaming,” Hwang got angry, grabbed your hair, and kicked you in the stomach. “B-tch!” You fell to your knees in pain.

Suddenly a High Orc appeared, causing Hwang and his companions to look over. Just as Hwang was about to attack, he heard someone's voice ringing in the wind.

"Shadow Exchange."

The High Orc disappeared and Jinwoo appeared in its place. Seeing your husband, you immediately cheered with joy. When Jinwoo saw the image of you kneeling on the ground with messy hair and arms holding your stomach with Jinho lying motionless with a bloody head, his anger reached its peak. He quickly hugged you and examined you, when he saw the bruises on your body, he immediately wanted to kill someone.

He rushed to attack Hwang, and when Thomas came to stop him, he showed an indifferent attitude. He summoned Igris, Iron, and Kaisel, handed you and Jinho to two soldiers, and rushed into battle with Thomas.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

You woke up from a nap after being treated, you saw your beloved husband sitting beside the bed and holding your hand. Jinwoo saw you awake, he immediately asked.

"How are you feeling? Does it hurt anywhere?"

You smiled to reassure him. "I'm fine now."

He breathed a sigh of relief and lowered his head. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I shouldn't have left you alone, I should have brought you-"

You interrupted him. "Okay, it's over now, I don't blame you, don't apologize."

"But-"

"Shh, no buts. Instead of apologizing, why don't you go buy me something to eat? I'm hungry."

He smiled and kissed you on the lips. "Okay, I can't let my wife go hungry, right?"

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

"Woa, did you see the news?" "What's news?"

"Sung Jinwoo has defeat Hwang Dongsoo and Thomas Andrew!" "Really!? How did that happen?" "It seemed like they has messed with the wrong person. I heard that Hwang Dongsoo kidnapped Sung Jinwoo's wife and vice master of Ahjin."

"Serves them right, who told them to provoke first. Lesson learned is never touch Sung Jinwoo's people."

Need to reread the manhwa 'cause I don't remember the whole story. 😅

Hope you like it ❤

Thanks for loving my stories. ❤❤❤❤

[cwritesforfun]

Emperor Geta x Fem!Reader: Escape pt 2

Link to Part One ~> READ FIRST!!!

Y/N = Your First Name & L/N = Your Last Name

They will not follow the Roman style of speech - it will be written in modern language.

*I do not own the Gladiator 2 characters or plot* I do change some of the plot!!!

Masterlist

GIF from @freckledjoes - thx! @helsa3942 had some good ideas, too!

Y/N’s POV

You lead Emperor Geta to the bedroom and help him undress as you fill the bathtub with warm water. You have him wait in the bathroom as you request night clothes for him, food for both of you, and his things to be delivered to your room. You also ask for privacy. You have no idea if Geta will divulge any other information or what you two will be up to.

You receive a scroll with the latest news at night if something bad occurs. You open and read the words, "Emperor Calla has died. Macrinus seized power shortly after. Hanno, who is actually Lucius Verus Aurelius, has taken control and now leads Rome." You need to tell Geta, but when? He seems so fragile, and what if he wishes to return to Rome?

You walk back into the bathroom and see Geta in the bathtub. You walk over, bend down next to him, and say, “You look peaceful, Geta.” He looks at you, softly smiles, and says, “You should get in with me.” You reply, "Fine, since you asked nicely." You feel his eyes tracking your movements as you change and step into the tub with him. You lean your back against his chest, and he wraps his arms around you. You both talk softly before you wash each other. You notice small cuts and bruises across his skin, but you don't ask him about them yet.

You dress in new clothes, and Geta takes your hand as you walk to the bedroom. You see the food and lead him to the couch so you can eat a little. He sits next to you, and you both eat some food.

You lay down on your bed and pat the space next to you for Geta. He climbs in bed and collapses with his head on your chest. He picks it up to kiss you on your hand and says, "Let's never be parted again, love. I don't think I can bear it. You complete me." You reply, "You can stay as long as you wish. You're always welcome here." He softly asks, "And what if I never want to leave?"

You ask, "What really happened in Rome, Geta? You told me that you faked your death and how your brother thought he killed you. But, I also see the cuts and bruises on you that tell another story." He answers, "It started a few months ago when General Acacius came home after taking over Numidia for Calla & I. I could tell it was different this time because I could see we were losing the support of the General. However, I didn't voice these opinions to Calla because he had enough on his plate, or I thought he did... I needed a release, and I was tired of everything, so I invited a girl back to my bedroom. She was a nobody, and I accidentally confided in her. I don't know what I was thinking. The next morning, I woke up to Calla and Dundus standing there. They attacked me, and the guards did nothing. I should have left and come here then ... but I hoped there was still some good in my brother. I was wrong. The fights at the Coliseum were getting louder, and the Romans were rooting for this guy named Hanno." He takes a deep breath and continues, "I heard rumors that General Acacius and others were plotting against my brother and me. We locked him up for treason, and Calla started acting out more. I tried to keep the peace, but it just wasn't working. This man, Macrinus, started showing up and whispering in Calla's ear about me. That's when I set my escape plan in motion. One of the good things about being Emperor is the endless resources that you have at your disposal. At first, I wanted to make my head out of cake, and he's crazy enough that he'd think it was real. But I knew Macrinus would know something was up. So, I did something that I'm not proud of. I found a guy who looked like me who was up to compete in the Coliseum, and I told him to just sleep in my bed to pretend to be me. I told him all he had to do was sleep there, and I'd pay him handsomely. I gave him some of my clothes, and that night, I snuck out. I threw on a brown cloak that some soldiers wear, and I went near the water to the safe house you told me about. The man, Titus, kept me hidden for the rest of that night and the next day in his small home. We set sail the next night, and by then, we'd heard that everyone was claiming I was dead and that my head was brought to the Senate meeting. I feel horrible for the guy in my place, but he was going to die anyway in the arena... You know the rest. The journey was long and cold, but I'm here."

You're shocked. Horrified. Terrified. Stressed. Sad. Angry.

Geta sits up and asks, "Hey uh Y/N, is everything okay?" You answer, "Uh I have something upsetting to tell you." He asks, "What?" You grab the scroll and hand it to him to read. His eyes widen, and he looks in shock. You say, "I um... I understand if you have to return home." He asks, "What's left for me in Rome but my enemies and a land of disease? You are my home and my future. Rome means nothing to me, especially now that you're in my life." You place your hand in his and ask, "When did you get so romantic?" He moves closer to you and answers, "When I realized I let the love of my life return to her home, and we were not together. I had to read poetry and other works to better express my love for you." You reply, "Well I love you too, Geta. I always have." He leans in and you both kiss.

You stay up late talking until you're both yawning.

At some point, in the cold, dark night, you wake up to feel fidgeting next to you, and Geta seems to be fighting a nightmare. He is whispering out loud, "Stay back. Don't hurt me. Don't hurt her." You lightly shake Geta and say, "Geta, love, you're safe." He turns quickly and you say, "Geta, love, everything is okay." He pulls you close to him and says, "I thought someone was going to execute us together for loving each other. Everyone was mad at you for liking me and they were mad at me for Rome." You softly rub the back of his hand in circles and reply, "You're okay, and I'm okay. No one will be mad at us for loving each other. Even if they are, I'm the Queen, and they cannot influence who I choose to love. My guards are loyal to me and always working, so we're safe. I take several precautions for my safety, and the safety of my guests." He replies, "I bet your people love you as the Queen." You reply, "They do, and they will learn to love you with time. We can talk about that after you get to rest, though. You had a long journey and need to sleep more." He replies, "I love you." You say, "I love you too."

Taglist: @ziggeddie & @helsa3942

Should I write a part three after he adjusts to a new land and new position ???

[admirationandromantics]

Could you please write something about Chris or Josh with a virgin reader? How they'd react when they found out? How their first time would be like? Both of them strike me as virgins as well but idk🤷‍♀️

Yes, I also imagine both of them as virgins. Josh seems like he’s been all talk, no action. And Chris? Well, I feel that one is obvious. Anyways, I’ll do both in this post, and for the sake of the writing, the reader is the only virgin, not the guys. They’ve both had sex before. Just because it’s easier to work with. Anyway, enjoy <3 

Chris

He’s not surprised when you tell him, he did not think you were, but the reveal gives him a little comfort as well. Why, you ask? Because he doesn’t need to match himself up to someone else. He’s confident in his ways, and that he can make you feel good, but at the same time, this guy will never stop being insecure, and that small part of it relieved him a little. 

What he also does feel anxious about is the fact that he’ll be your first. And what do people say about their first time? Awkward, weird, nothing went as planned… He wants to make sure that your first time goes well, and that it was a good experience. “I promise, as long as I’m with you, I’ll be happy” “Yeah, yeah. But I’m gonna make you happy for another reason than that too” 

If you are the VERY romantic type, he’ll set everything up. A nice dinner, candles, music etc. He wants you to remember this, and trust me, remember you will. 

One of his goals is to drag out the foreplay as long as possible, wanting you to be drenched and needy for him. Better to go too slow than too quick. This makes the makeout session last way longer than necessary, and you’re starting to get impatient. “C-Chris, I need you now” “No, no, just a little bit longer” he whispers, hand in your hair, pulling you towards him. 

It’s firstly when you start unconsciously grinding on his thigh that he finally understands how down-bad you are, and he starts working on your clothing. He’s fast and gentle with his hands, easily unclasping and removing your bra. 

The cold air hitting your nipples while he admires you, hands groping and lips sucking. You can’t do anything but throw your head back, gripping his shoulders for support as he continues his assault. 

You guys move on, getting each other's clothes off, and him getting on top of you, fingers digging into your heat as you whimper. He continuously asks if you’re okay, if you’re in pain or uncomfortable. 

“You sure you want to keep going?” “Y-yes” “I can stop if-” “I swear, I’ll kill you if you stop now” “Oh? well then” a smile creeping on his lips as he drags out his fingers. 

He positions himself, using your juices as lube as he slowly moves up and down, getting ready. “Okay, we’re gonna take this slow, okay?” You nod, taking a deep breath as he fills you up, small moans leaving your mouth. He leans over you, meeting your lips in a sweet kiss, swallowing each of your sounds while pressing into you. 

“How’re you feeling?” “Fuck, just give me a couple of seconds” you whisper, adjusting and comprehending. He smiles, nodding and spending the time kissing your upper body, everything from your lips down to your breasts. 

After a while, you give him the signal, urging him to start moving. He obliges, always watching your reactions attentively to be sure you’re okay. 

As the night draws to a close, you spend the night in his arms, sleeping and cuddling. Of course, when you were done, he had a glass of water ready for you, packing you deep into the sheets and caressing your hair. 

Josh

Josh is not surprised that you’re a virgin. His suggestive comments here and there getting you so riled up that he only made the assumption. He does not feel that much pressure, only wanting your time with him to go well. 

He can be really romantic, each touch he makes both attentive and calculated. When you’re making out, he’s respectful until you ask him not to be, causing a rougher man to grope and bite you. He still doesn’t go the full way, wanting to be careful and make sure that some type of trust is established before going to second base. 

One day, you’re laying on his bed, a movie playing in the background when your attention turns to each other. This leads to a long make out session, clothes thrown across the room, but still not going further than your underwear. 

You’re hot and bothered, wanting him to take you right now. You smile as you feel him growing hard beneath you, reciprocating that craving. Thighs around his torso, ass on his pelvis, you lean down, leaving kisses on his neck and asking. “Josh, I want you” “Right now? Are you sure?” “Yes” 

He spins you around, making you gasp from your back hitting the mattress. His hands wander over your chest, going behind and unclasping your bra. You sit up a bit, helping him take it off, throwing the garment on the floor. 

“And you want to do this?” “Yes, I do” “Right now” “Are you not up for it?” “Holy fuck, I’m holding back with every fiber of my being” “Stop holding back” 

He watches you while pushing himself into you, making sure that you’re not getting hurt, and can stop at any time. He captures your lips in his, both of your moans filling the room every time you stop for air. 

“Fucking hell, you’re so tight” You can only whimper in reply, feeling him fill you up, struggling to control himself as he wants to ravage you. He gives you time to adjust, letting you signal to him when he can start moving. 

When you’re done, he holds you, praising you and asking how it was. He’s attentive and sweet, asking if you would like a bath or a shower.

[kesadoll]

♡ RACE ON !

♡ CWS. MDNI fem!reader, black!coded reader & yuji, reader x geto, size kink, unprotected, c♡nnilingus, "he can't find out," praise kink, slight degredation, starts off gentle but he can't help himself, fingering, squirting, oral fixation (?), drool, spanking, d♡ggystyle, missi♡nary, slight ch♡king, geto gets called daddy once or thrice wc! 3.8k

♡ sum. yuji is your older brother and you two share some street racing friends. your night is going pretty normal until geto has to take you home...

kesa's note ♡ late night & straight off the dome...its my first time writing like this in years tips are welcome (needed) ! lots exposition but gets right to it TRUST ~ there will be a part two :) enjoy !!! :D

“y/n, you coming?” yuji called out to you from downstairs. he was your older brother by a couple of years, but you two remained close and he brought you almost everywhere with him. yuji was a street racer with your mutual college friends: geto suguru, choso kamo, nobara kugisaki, and gojo satoru. though you didn’t race yourself, you found it fun to watch, especially when geto won. as much as your brother’s best friend would tease everyone after winning, he’d buy dinner for everyone.

“yeah, give me a sec!” you hurriedly grabbed your phone, making sure your hair looked okay before going downstairs. you walked past yuji and to his car, texting nobara who eagerly asked if you would finally race today. being the only girl she wanted you to give it a try, especially since she wanted the two of you to have matching cars. 

you hadn’t given it much thought as to why you haven’t started yourself. probably because you know yuji, though with good intent, would be up your ass about being safe when he’s far from that himself. you’d also have a lot to work towards, being surrounded by experienced racers it’d be embarrassing to fuck up. as the two of you got closer to the start of the “track” you saw groups of people walking, big lights ahead lighting up the start. there were already 4 cars there, yuji pulling into the 2nd spot on the left. to his left was geto, his car in such a deep navy it looked black. he sat with the windows rolled down, his one hand on the steering wheel, the lights above him lighting up the tattoos he had going up starting from his left hand. you couldn’t really tell but it looked like they connected to the tattoo he had on the right his neck…

“yo y/n, where we goin’ for dinner after i beat jiji?” his voice cut through your oogling at him like the finest of blades, the sound of his voice alone making your stomach flutter. he thought he was slick with the smile on his face, though he was a car away it felt like he was right there with you.

“oh- uh..” you weren’t prepared for a question like that, especially not like that. usually, you’d have time to prepare for geto’s fine ass to say anything to you. before you could say anything, yuji butt in followed by a loud giggle from nobara who was in a light blue and white car on your right.

“aye, you ain’t winnin’ shit, dinner’s on me.” yuji pointed a finger and geto as he spoke, and while he did so you slipped out the car seeing the race was due to start soon.

“well..while you two get that figured out, me and nobara will choose later, yeah?” you cooed at the boys, then turned towards nobara who gave you her usual smile.

“i’ll make sure they won’t kill each other. but i'm thinkin’ barbecue this time? if they’re paying we might as well make it worth itt~” she said only loud enough for you to hear, which of course you agreed. 

seeing nanami, another friend of yours except he worked at the body shop everyone went to rather than him being a racer himself, walking to the start with the bright green flag tucked in his pocket was your signal to hurry up and get out of the way. as you went to your usual spot against a temporary railing you noticed a car pulling up beside nobara..it belonged to sukuna.

without skipping a beat you could see your brother and geto look over and then back at each other, yuji’s chest rising and falling faster than before. yuji turned back forward, glancing towards you and the best you could do was offer him a comforting smile. 

sukuna was akin to your brother’s worst enemy..to say the least. you never really got the full story, but it was something along the lines of some drama with a girl that led to yuji finding out that sukuna has done more than a handful of unsavory and illegal things that everyone seems adamant about leaving you out of.  

regardless, you knew this race would be very serious for everyone. nanami lifted the flag, and instantly, a splash of colors zoomed past him. his eyes closed slightly, this race meant just as much to him as it did to others.  ever since he had that injury that ended his career while he played baseball, he busied himself working on everyone’s cars whether it was a true hobby or it was just something to distract him from the loss of a sport he had done since he was a kid. 

realizing you were staring at the poor man you turned your attention to one of the tvs with drone footage of the race. It wasn’t surprising at all that the boys, including sukuna this time, were in the front. nobara wasn’t far behind but you knew that it was on purpose especially with the look on their faces..they weren’t playing around. As if it was some kind of twisted fate right when you went to look towards the finish line knowing they were close, loud “ooooh!”s  and “oh shit!”s could be heard. your eyes immediately jumped to the screen. sukuna intentionally veered into yuji’s lane, causing yuji’s car to hit the side of geto’s car while he slammed on his brakes and spun out of control. 

you hadn’t noticed the scream you let out before your hand covered your mouth, everyone else’s shock turned into cheers as sukuna’s car rolled into view, coming to a stop a little bit past the finish line. he had won. 

after a couple minutes everyone else came into view, the reactions from the crowd being mixed, but that’s not what mattered to you. once they came to a stop you couldn’t help but run up to yuji and geto, nobara following suit. nanami was already amongst them expecting the damage, telling geto to ride with someone since the windshield and passenger side of the car were completely shattered.

“that son of a bitch. i’m so fuckin’ sorry ‘eto.” yuji’s voice was shaken as was the rest of him, the adrenaline from potentially almost killing his friend combined with sukuna’s presence alone was starting to hit him like a train.

geto gave yuji a smile despite the discomfort his own body was in, putting a hand on yuji’s shoulder, “hey, i’m alive aight? calm your ass down before you pass out on us.” yuji nodded and said something under a shaky breath. you rubbed his arm gently, leading him over to the curb to sit while someone else brought over some waters. you did your best to comfort him for some time, giving him some space you went back over to nobara and geto who were talking off to the side. as you got closer you could hear nobara chewing him out.

“i told your ass, the both of you at that, to stay a little bit further behind him until the last stretch. the both of you could’ve passed him AND you wouldn’t be out of a fucking car,” her arms were crossed, and despite geto having the longer end of the stick when it came to height, he seemed like a little kid being reprimanded by his mother. when she realized you standing there her voice immediately softened, a simile growing on her face, “heyyy y/n! you coming with us to choso’s? i know we all feel a little piss-poor right now, but he and gojo are having a party!” you couldn’t help but laugh, “damn girl! i was actually coming over here to ask if one of you could take me home. i have a morning class tomorrow or else i really would go. apparently my prof is a bitch about attendance.”

“i’ll take her in yuji’s car. i live down the street i want to go home and change clothes anyway.” geto finally spoke up, looking at you the same way he did before the race had even started.

oh god..

~~~~

you were home now. upstairs in your bathroom you found yourself in a situation. right outside your bathroom sitting at the foot of your bed was geto, waiting for you to come out with the bandages you promised to give him.

while in the car you noticed the amount of scrapes and bruises he had, though some of them looked only but a couple days old you didn’t ask too many questions. he already had a makeshift ice pack you gave him, but the thought of him being so close, it was a lot. 

something about the way he had let his hair down when he sat on your bed, the messy dark locks framing his handsome face. the way that his shirt hugged his chest and biceps, his tattoos peeking from underneath and decorating his left arm and even the right side of his neck. you always knew how incredibly attractive he was, but he was sitting on your bed now, waiting for you, his head resting in his large hands. you needed to focus, this was your brother's best friend after all.

you took a deep breath before you stepped out of the bathroom, but that didn’t really suppress the fireworks of your inner panic. sitting down beside him your heartbeat rang through your ears. you gently picked up his arm, and him immediately resting it in your lap. 

“y’know what you’re doin’?” he teased, prompting an eye roll from you.

“yes, boy, shut up,” you said back to him teasingly, wiping whatever was bleeding with a teeny cotton pad + peroxide. 

geto hissed a little at the sting, only relaxing once you blew on it, the cool air soothing him. being this close the size difference was insane. yes, he was taller than you that was quite obvious. but his forearm alone was almost the size of your thigh. your thigh.

you laughed at yourself, putting a couple of bandaids on his arm, him humming in amusement at your giggles. 

“what’s funny?” he asked, you leaning over him to grab the icepack that was more water than ice at this point.

“nothing, don’t worry ab-” you stopped mid-sentence, even freezing in place. you and geto locked eyes and your stomach lit up once more. 

there were so many unspoken words in that moment, the only sound filling the room being the quickened, but still slightly labored, breaths from the both of you. you’d had a moment like this before when you both ended up alone cleaning up after a party. ‘we can’t..' you thought to yourself, knowing that if yuji found out he would have a meltdown.

his eyes glanced toward your lips, your body betraying your thoughts as your lips slightly parted, wanting to kiss the man in front of you with every fiber of your being. you blinked away your feelings, clearing your throat. you knew better and better was to get this man out of your house.

“i’m…uh i’m gonna go throw this away.” you spoke in a whisper, geto nodding in response, the look on his face telling you not to move but you did anyway. you picked up the icepack and stood, throwing it away in the trash you had in front of your room. with your back turned to him you could feel his eyes burning holes into the back of your head.

before you could even turn around you felt his presence which was followed by a hand making its way around your waist, the other, placed gently beneath your chin, turning your head to face him. you couldn’t help but melt into his touch, the scent of his fading cologne and natural scent almost sending you into overdrive. 

“g-geto..” you couldn’t hide the neediness in your voice. it almost embarasses that you even sound like that off just his touch alone.

“i know y/n..” he said against your lips before pulling you into a deep kiss. you let his tongue explore your mouth, tangling it with yours, wanting more of his taste.

the hand beneath your chin traveled down your body and slipped beneath your shirt, cupping one of your breasts, beginning to prod at the sensitive bud that was hardening with every moment, beckoning for his touch. you couldn’t help but to moan against his lips and push your ass back against his growing bulge. 

a grunt resonated from within his lungs and in a swift motion he had you in his arms, carrying you over to the bed and laying you down. he crawled between your legs, your lips parted for just a moment longer while he took his shirt off, your lips meeting once more. your hands traveled up the deep muscles of his back and up to his hair, tangling your fingers in it. 

“you’re so fuckin’ pretty baby.” geto said with a new husk in his voice as he kissed down your neck, taking in your scent before stripping you down naked in front of him. 

when he sat up, you couldn’t help but feel a heat flush in your cheeks, knowing full well he could now see the slick that had been brewing between your legs since he had stepped foot into your bedroom. He noticed it too and god did he fucking love it. he wasted no time running a hand down your belly, watching how your back arched up into his hand as he reached your clit and down to your entrance, toying with the wet folds that were screaming his name. 

“and look how fuckin’ wet y’are..you wanted this didn’t you?” he cooed at you, and oh it made you sick. sick because you knew he was right and there was no denying how worked up you were, especially since your hips involuntarily began to rock into his hand. seeing him in front of you like this you were able to see how his tattoos were connected by a big chest piece, and the muscles that were once barely hidden making it all the better.

your little, shaky breaths weren’t enough of an answer for him. he began to rub slow, little circles around your aching clit. a moan you didn’t even know you could make escaped your puffy lips, warranting a smile plastered across geto’s face.

“yeah? it feels that good?” he leaned over you, your lips so close to his you can feel his warmth, “tell me how good it feels, baby.” 

letting out a whorish moan once you feel his middle and ring finger hit the inner walls of your needy cunt, you could only manage to get out a small “eto~..” in response to his words full of greed. the pads of his thick fingers poked and prodded at your puffy inner walls, his rough palm bouncing off your clit with every thrust he made. 

you already were pretty much completely undone. your thick thighs beginning to tremble, each moan you let out coming from the pit of your stomach. geto loved you like this. his hand had a firm grip on your curls, tilting your head slightly away as he left hungry kisses and bites along your neck and collarbone, making sure to give attention to your nipples, rewarding him with your beautiful moans.

geto’s hand sped up, his thumb now rubbing quick and deep circles on your clit. the sound of your sopping wet pussy filling the air along with your precious mewls. a rising heat began to build in the pit og your stomach, your pussy clenching around geto’s fingers. 

“e-eto i’m gonn- ahhh~”

cut off by your own moan, your body jolts and shudders as a flood erupts from in between your legs, soaking the bed beneath you and geto’s fingers. you could feel a grin against your neck as he sat up, moving his hand slower while you rode out your orgasm, your hips bucking into his hand slower and slower. 

“goooood girl,” he praised you, puffing out his bottom lip to tease you in the process. you watched him, whining when he removed his fingers from inside you. seeing him lift his fingers to his mouth to taste you on them, only made you hornier, that aching sensation rising from deep inside you. 

he moaned at the taste of you, rubbing his cock that was begging to be freed. you were drawn to it like a magnet, catching geto off guard when he felt his pants unzip, you looking up at him on all fours with your watery eager eyes.

“you gonna take all of it angel?” he groaned while you pulled down his jeans and his underwear, mewling when you see just how big his cock was. his muscles tensed at your touch, each vein acting as big shining arrows begging for more.

not only was it long, but it was wide and you couldn’t even begin to fathom how it would fit inside you. you rubbed your thumb over a pulsating vein, geto’s hand pushing your hair out of your face. you bite your lip before taking his tip between your swollen lips, geto letting out a deep sigh as his head lolls back. 

his hips bucked into your mouth, and you gagged once his tip hit the back of your throat. he wrapped his other hand around your neck and tightened the grip on your hair, you poking your ass out for him to see.

“fuck- i want you to relax for me, yeah? m’gonna fuck your pretty throat it feels too good.”

his words were addicting, only making you squeeze your thighs together. without hesitation he had begun to thrust into your mouth, letting out his own strings of groans and curses, praising you all in the process.

you gagged and sputtered, little moans escaping as he continued on. tasting and smelling his warmth your eyes rolled to the back of your head, giving geto a pornographic view of your slutty and drooly face. 

“such a pretty fuckin’ girl hmm? takin’ daddy’s dick down your fuckin’ throat so fuckin’ good? ngh-” a guttural moan escaped his lips and went straight to your aching clit, your hand following suit. 

before you had got your fill, he pulled out your mouth with a plop, your drool coating his cock and dripping from your chin. you whined at the lack of your mouth being filled, trying to get it back in before you were turned around with ease. you felt a little shy with your ass up in the air towards him so you pushed your hips down, but your ass was left with a smack and your hips lifted back up how they were before. 

“nah keep your ass just like that for me,” he leaned over you, sliding his hand up to the underside of your neck. he made sure his mouth was right next to your ear, watching your expression as he rubbed his warm tip up and down your slit, your hips pushing back in responsne.

“p-please i w-wan’ it~” you sobbed incoherently, repeating yourself a couple of times. 

your pleas were met with a single thrust, your eyes shooting to the back of your head as both you and geto let out a slutty moan. he breathed against your cheek, slipping the fingers he once had inside you into your mouth. you could faintly taste yourself as you suckled on the large digits, the want for something in your mouth being satiated.

geto started off with slow, deep strokes. the noises you made making it harder for him not to pummel into you right then and there, but he knew that type of onslaught on your pussy so soon would be too much for you. with every motion your cunt sucked him in deeper and deeper, wanting more.

“you’re doing so good for me. so. fuckin.’ good.” he grunted, each word coordinating with a thrust. you moaned around his fingers, his thrusts starting to speed up. you couldn’t help yourself squeezing around him, your mind not filled with many thoughts besides the cock burrowing itself inside your yearning cunt. 

you were completely blissed out and though you couldn’t see geto’s face you knew he was feeling just as good as you were. once he heard your moans get breathier and longer he pulled out and flipped you over, tossing your legs over his shoulders, resuming this thrust but leaning over you again, and his hands on either side of your head. 

you almost choked on your own moans, this angle making it easier for him to not only hit the entrance of your womb but that sweet spot that drives you absolutely crazy. your legs trembled, you barely able to reach your arms up to wrap around his neck, you were absolutely weak. so close to finishing and geto knew this. “cum for me so i can paint your pretty face,” he leaned closer so that your noses were almost touching, “fucking do it for daddy.” he spoke through gritted teeth, trying to stop his own self from filling you up right then and there. 

you did exactly as he said, your whole body tensing up. squeezing down around him your cunt gushed once more. you let out a breath, that really sounded like a moan, that you hadn’t realized you’d been holding, panting as your body began its trembling.

geto wasn’t that far behind you, your squeezing barely allowing him to get any words out as he let out a gutteral moan, quickly pulling out and releasing your legs, jerking himself off while his white ribbons shot all over your face and chest. you compliantly stuck out your tongue, swallowing whatever hit it when he was done.

your lips were met with his, his humming filling your cheeks while he tasted himself in your mouth. he rolled off you and laid beside you, the room filled with the sound of both of your pants combined. you laid your head on his chest and geto moved your curls out of your face, his voice gentle when he spoke. “you okay y/n? i’m sorry if i got carried away, you’re just so pretty i couldn’t help it.”

you nod your head and giggle, turning over to face him, “it’s okay, i-i actually liked it! but you should probably hurry and go, that party started well over an hour ago and i don’t want anyone to get suspicious.”

geto grumbled and sighed, reluctantly standing up before grabbing his things, “you’re right..text me yeah? if you need me i’ll come back.”

“yeah,” you nodded once more and waved, geto coming back over and kissing you on the forehead before leaving.

~~~~

you were fresh out the shower and you couldn’t help but smile, falling onto your back, almost tempted to kick your feet. ‘i really hope it wasn’t just a one time thing..’

[kradogsrats]

Okay, so: I have a theory.

Aaravos doesn't know everything. (That's not the theory.) If he knew in exact detail how everything would play out, that would undermine the story's overall central theme that the world (destiny) can be changed. Most of his actual advantage is millennia of observing mortal behavior—he's very, very good at predicting how elves and humans will react when put in situations. He can also, however, be surprised.

Now, that isn't to say he doesn't definitely have some degree of cosmic foresight/timeblindness. (That's also not the theory.) However, even the Cosmic Council in its entirety doesn't seem to necessarily see things in detail, since they obviously see "humans gaining primal magic starts the spiral into chaos" but not "because you then execute a child, prompting her father to personally oversee that spiral." So when Aaravos says things like this:

I don't think he necessarily knows exactly what role Claudia will play, besides that she is important—even necessary—to his plan. It would be chef's kiss irony if what he's actually seeing is that she will become important to him, personally. (That is also not the theory. I'm getting there.)

Despite his general foresight Aaravos can be surprised, and he's specifically surprised by Rayla making a second attempt at killing Viren despite being disarmed, sacrificing herself to stop him. So: did he know Viren was going to die, just not at that moment? Did he prepare a multi-year Worm Plan specifically to resurrect Viren? Or was there another purpose he had in mind?

This isn't the theory, either, but: I do think the plan from the beginning was for The Worm to, uh... pupate(?) into Sir Sparklepuff, and then to lead Viren (and Claudia) to the other archdragons and the clues to Aaravos's prison (or at least the one clue they actually need). The Worm begins to grow aggressively right as/after Aaravos and Viren corrupt the Sunforge, like it's preparing for an imminent new stage. I suspect that after hatching and once in proximity to the prison, Aaravos had every intent to use Sir Sparklepuff in some way to re-manifest in the world. After all, he's tied by blood to Aaravos just as much as he is to Viren—if he can be used to "restore [Viren's] life and future," there's no reason he can't serve the same purpose for Aaravos.

Of course, that all gets derailed, and instead we wind up where we wind up, which is with Aaravos being surprised:

He's surprised enough that, if it isn't in itself responsible for his hold on Avizandum weakening enough to be broken, he's at least distracted enough to be ambushed and physically overpowered. Someone has asked the "what's Sir Sparklepuff's unfinished business?" question, but I don't think that's actually what's at play, here.

Because this, finally, is my theory: Aaravos is surprised because this creature, this little homunculus puppet made a living battery, isn't supposed to have a soul.

He shouldn't be there at all—in the In-Between, or anywhere else. The essence put into him when the chrysalis was opened gives him a rudimentary consciousness, but if there was even enough there to persist, it should have been consumed to finalize Viren's resurrection. Aaravos is looking at something that should be impossible, and yet here it is.

Which makes me wonder... I had kind of dismissed the fairly extreme difference between the symbol for infantis sanguine in Aaravos's book and what is shown after the fact:

Like, that's a lot to draw in the sand. Maybe what's in the book is actually a more functional diagram or instructions of some kind, and Claudia has drawn the actual functional part?

However, because the rune Claudia has drawn is the same as the one on the cursed coins, I have to question. The assumption, I think, has been that Aaravos instructed Claudia in the infantis sanguine ritual to save Viren. I took that for granted because a) it makes sense, and b) it's funny to imagine Claudia's unhinged little "Blood of Child" giggle in s6e1 as "unfortunately for both of us, I do know you fucked the sparkly elf." However, depending on how quickly Callum and the others depart for Katolis, Aaravos is potentially moving away fairly quickly—maybe not so quickly that he can't contact Claudia and give her the ritual before being cut off, but still.

We also know Claudia knows about the cursed coins, including a good grasp of what they entail:

It's not clear if she understands it in the way Lujanne explains, with the coins containing only a piece of the soul and the rest being trapped elsewhere, in the In-Between:

Aaravos may have given her a different ritual (maybe infantis sanguine itself can only be self-targeted) that works more like that. Maybe, if Sir Sparklepuff had enough of a soul, only part of it was enough to anchor/revitalize Viren (essentially "stored" in him as the coin) and the rest went to languish in the In-Between.

Anyway, if Sir Sparklepuff is not meant to have a soul, but does... that raises some interesting possibilities, both thematically (depersonalization/what is a monster) and narratively. What if Sir Sparklepuff needs his soul completed to pass on, like Rayla's parents? Could he be after a piece of Aaravos's? Or, what if Sir Sparklepuff didn't have enough of a soul, but what he had entered the In-Between rather than being consumed because it was actually a piece of Claudia's that broke off to save Viren?

idek man this is just the shit I think about like constantly

[beifong-brainrot]

I might talk about it myself at some point, but I feel like if Suyin was a man, she'd be heralded as one of the best characters in the series.

Yeah I can see that, or she'd at least be treated more kindly. Though I think I could say that about a lot of female characters, like Korra.

As for Suyin being a beloved character if she were a male character, well, Iroh from atla is well regarded as a great character, an amazing father figure and a wholesome mentor figure. And I love Iroh, but we forget that he is an established war criminal who killed tons of Ba Sing Se citizens. And remember, it was when Zuko was 11. Zuko is 16 years old in atla. Iroh was a fullblown violent colonizer like 5 years before the show started and we talk about how wonderful it is that he became redeemed by *checks notes* enabling his misguided nephew and doing the bare minimum to stop a fourth genocide his country has committed.

Suyin acted out as a 16 year old and spent almost the next 30 years bettering herself yet we still act like she's the devil for wanting a relationship with her sister.

Iroh encouraged Zuko to 'take down' his 14 year old niece who is being used as by the adult fascists around her, without ever trying to reason with her.

Meanwhile Suyin's grown ass adopted daughter decided to become a fascist with seemingly no pressure from the outside, attempted to dissuade Kuvira several times, and only resorted to 'taking Kuvira down' when Kuvira actively threatened Suyin's home, family and people.

Suyin definetly has traits that align with many respected and beloved male characters. Father characters who struggle to do the right thing and don't always know how to care for the kid in their care are often beloved. Brothers who have difficult relations with their siblings are recognised as complex, even if they have moments of assholery. Men who do the wrong thing for the right reason (in Suyin and Boromir's cases it was desperation to protect their home from an invasion good for them.) are sympathised with and often treared as tragic.

Suyin carries similarities to beloved characters in the Avatar franchise, like the aforementioned Iroh, but she seldom gets the accolades they do. Part of me theorises that this boils down to the inherent femininity of Suyin's character.

Suyin is, arguably, the first character in the franchise whose role as a mother is central to her character who is directly active in the story. While Ursa, Kya the og, Naoki and Yasuko are casually hanging out in the fridge, and Poppy, Pema and Senna are on the sidelines, Suyin is a proud tiger mom who is often right alongside the main cast.

Suyin's role as a mother is important, not just to her, as it is one of the 'titles' she gives herself, but also to all the storylines surrounding her. The main reason the Krew stayed in Zaofu in the first place is because Suyin was a protective mom who was nervous about letting her daughter leave home to join a different culture. Her relationship to Kuvira and Baatar Jr is a centerpiece in their storylines.

Now, this may be a shocker to the genral public, but mothers are, like all humans, complex. But I find that often, mothers in media are either placed upon a pedestal, or made out to be complete villains (this is also probably why Ursa is such a contentious character btw).

We often see mother figures either being presented as these saint-like beings of pure devotion and unconditional love, or as manipulative, abusive and downright monstrous (a lot of horror movies use motherhood and mothers for a reason)

And when it comes to these archetypes, Suyin is... neither. She is a mother who cares for her children, but has her flaws in how she raises them. She seems overly protective, and wants to keep her family close, she wasn't equipped to deal with caring for a child like Kuvira. But she was caring, she was loving, she was supportive of her children (and other kids in general), she opened her home to a child in need. I think we often act like a mother is meant to instinctively know how to parent perfectly, but that is just not the case. Mothers, especially mothers like Suyin, who have their own boatload of trauma will make mistakes.

But, since Suyin obviously isn't a perfect mother/mother figure, she is immediately moved to the other side of the spectrum and presented as a bad mother, particularly to Kuvira. Which feels objectively false. Suyin wasn't a perfect mother figure to Kuvira, I'll give you that much, but it is shown to us in flashbacks that Suyin was doing her best to reach Kuvira in a gentle way thay doesn't violate her boundaries. And these are Kuvira's flashbacks, so there's little possibility for there to be bias from Su in there.

And I genuinely feel like if Suyin were a male character, we would feel like she'd done enough. But because we have such high expectations of mothers, we berate Suyin and brand her an evil, sometimes even abusive mother to Kuvira.

And this is all before Suyin actually tried anything against Kuvira, which she only did after asking Kuvira multiple times to stand down and being threatened with an imminent attack.

This dichotomy isn't a new thing and it also strikes Suyin in her youth too. Teenage boys who act out or 'rebel' in media are often coddled and carefully guided back onto the beaten path. But teen girls are rarely afforded the same luxury.

I strongly remember the indiscriminate hatered towards Chloe Price from Life is Strange for the grave crime of being an emotional teenage girl dealing with a bunch of shit. But we can even look at Avatar's very own Katara and Korra and how fandom treated them. Bryan Konietzko said it best:

"I was surprised at anything, it may have been that it seemed like people were less willing to let Korra make mistakes than they were with Aang"

[I notice that this phenomenon seems to be especially prevolent with characters who are on the darker side than the others, but Mai and Azula also get similar hate in similar quantities so you really can't get away from it.]

Society hates teen girls with a passion. And sixteen year old Suyin acting out is an excellent excuse to pile hate on her. Despite the fact that 'had trouble with the law' is an extremely normal backstory for a male character. I strongly remember getting a bitchy ask in which the anon called Su a 'pick-me' and 'spoilt and entitled', and a 'teenager who deserved to be reprimanded'. Instead of, you know, a kid who wanted friends because her mom wasn't around and her sister was mean to her. God forbid girls do anything 🙄

This takes me back to the idea that the reason Suyin is so disliked is because she embodies two tropes that often draw unreasonable amounts of ire- the imperfect mother and the rebellious teen girl. Furthermore, Suyin's role as a matriarch of a clan, someone who travelled, and a more 'spiritual' person, may make those who bought into the whole Jordan Peterson raised "chaotic feminine" bullshit feel uneasy.

She also subverts our expectations of the character archetypes we expect her to embody. She is a mother of 5 + 1 Kuvira, yet she is not domestic, and seems to be more in charge in the relationship, not being the 'tradiotional' mother or wife, yet defining herself with these labels anyway. On the flipside, she is a political leader, but she heavily values family and home over personal ambition.

Suyin embodies a lot of what we've been taught to find 'bad' - annoying, disingenuous, or downright malicious. But in male characters these traits could very well be celebrated. But Suyin is a character who is very intriguing and compelling as she is and it is a shame that it feels like so much hate comes from people not being familiar/comfortable with characters like her.

[lunaroserites]

What Couldn’t Be

Paring: Established Bucky X Fem!Reader (Sugar)

Summery: Just a snippet Sugar and Bucky. Part of the Sugar AU. Bucky has some pretty jarring thoughts about the future. Steve is a good friend. Bucky is absolutely smitten for Sugar. This is at the start of their relationship taking place before Too Sweet and Does Heaven Even Know You're Missing, and the Christmas Saga

Warnings: Bucky's POV, Talks of infertility (Male), Hydra, fluff, swearing, drinking, no use of Y/N, Not beta'd all mistakes are my own

This has been something I wanted to try writing about, I don't see many fics about Bucky being infertile, I feel Hydra would sterilize him, especially after that scene in TFATWS with Zemo.

Word Count: ~1000

Likes, comments and reblogs are appreciated! <3

Catch up with Bucky and Sugar: Read Too Sweet here and Does Heaven Even Know You’re Missing here

Part One of the Christmas Saga here, Part Two here

Tags: @hisredheadedgoddess28

Divider by @cafekitsune

Hydra had done a lot of shitty things to him in the 70 plus years they had control of him. Some worse than others, some that in the grand scheme of things didn’t really matter to him. Sterilization being at the bottom of the list of shitty things they did. They did it because they would sell his body for intel and they didn’t want any unhappy accidents coming from that. 

It was at the bottom of the list because he honestly never thought he would have kids, never thought he’d find someone he would even dream of a future with. But here he was nursing a warm beer imagining owning a house upstate, a couple kids, Alpine and a dog all because he met you. His Sugar, the sweetest, kindest, drop dead gorgeous girl he was lucky enough to breathe the same air as. Who for some reason reciprocates those feelings. 

He was brooding, stewing in his own self pity at the bar in the tower after they got back from a mission. Steve could sense something was off with his friend, but wasn’t quite sure how to approach the situation. A glass of Tony’s finest whiskey was laid down in front of Bucky and Steve sat beside him. 

“Wanna tell me why you’re here nursing that warm piss water and not going home and crawling into bed with that sweet, pretty little thing that’s got you wrapped around her fingers,” Steve asked, sipping his own beer. Bucky’s phone buzzed as if in queue, you texted him wishing him a good night, telling him to be safe. He hadn’t told you he was back from his mission yet. 

“Can’t face her right now,” Bucky said solemnly, Steve raised an eyebrow and waited for him to elaborate. Bucky sighed and tipped the whiskey back, the day before he left for the mission, you two had been out enjoying a peaceful afternoon when you passed a baby and me shop, you had stopped and went inside, saying you needed to get a birthday gift for your best friends daughter who was turning 3 in a few weeks. You looked so happy and couldn’t stop smiling, picking up little outfits, before moving on, you found this toy thing that your god daughter wanted and said you’d be the number one auntie for getting it for her. 

Your family was also larger and you loved seeing your little cousins, watching them when you visited. He had seen pictures, and he saw how your face lit up when you would FaceTime them, or when you would see a baby in public, there was always a smile on your face. It killed him inside that he couldn’t give you a baby of your own that wasn’t at least half his. That earned sterilization a top spot on the list of shitty things Hydra did to him. 

“I can’t give her a family, a baby,” Steve’s eyebrows shot up at his friend's confession. The two of you had only been dating a couple months, but Steve knew Bucky was dead serious on locking you down if you’d have him. 

“Why not?” Steve asked, and the look Bucky gave him had his hands up in a placating manner. “Right, right,” Steve back tracked. 

“They had to take more from me,” Bucky wallowed. 

“Does she even want a baby of her own?” Steve, ever the pragmatic one, asked Bucky. Bucky looked at his friend, his brows furrowed. 

“What young woman doesn’t?” Bucky regretted the words as they came out. 

“A lot of new age gals don’t Buck, maybe she’s happy with just being an auntie,” Steve said. “Have you even asked her if she wants a baby in the future?” Bucky shook his head. 

“But I see the way her face lights up when she sees one, how happy she is to take care of them,” Bucky’s voice was sad. 

“She could just love kids, but might not want to have one of her own,” Steve reasoned. Bucky looked down at his hands and Steve clicked in on what was really bothering him. “You want one, with her,” Steve stated. 

Bucky nodded, his grip tightening on the whiskey glass in his metal hand, “never thought I would, but here I am, wanting one.” 

“Maybe Hydra stored some of your stuff before sterilizing you,” Steve said, Bucky looked at him like he was insane. “The government stored some of mine after the serum,” Steve’s cheeks flamed red, Bucky couldn’t help the laugh that left his lips. 

“Good to know punk,” Bucky mused, finishing his beer. 

“No, what I’m saying is, maybe Hydra stored some of yours for experimenting or some other fucked up shit,” Steve muttered, it was a long shot, but if it brought peace of mind to his friend he was willing to look into it. Bucky shook his head. 

“I won’t get my hopes up,” but he did appreciate Steve for trying. “I really should talk to her,” he said and Steve nodded. Bucky sighed and picked up his phone, dialling your number. “Hey Sugar, I’m back,” Steve could hear the happy squeal that left your lips as you chattered to Bucky, asking him if he was coming back to his apartment tonight. You were there watching Alpine for him. Steve could see the look of contentment and affection wash over Bucky’s face and it made his heart happy that his friend was happy. 

“I’ll be home soon Sugar, we’ll snuggle and eat some take away,” Bucky said softly, Steve was beaming at his friend and Bucky shot him a pitched look, mouthing ‘shut up.” Buvky hung up and sighed softly. 

“Talk to her, figure it out before it’s too late,” Steve said softly.

“I’m afraid it is too late, I’m in love with her, god I want to give her the world, watch her walk through it beaming as sunshine does,” Bucky said, standing and grabbing his coat. “See ya later punk.” 

Please let me know if you want more, have questions or thoughts about Sugar and Bucky.

Search the tag sugar!au on the blog to find anything relating to Sugar and Bucky!

[kierongillen]

HEY GILLEN!! i have a few questions for you, if you don't mind answering them! what was in your mind for S.W.O.R.D's ending? abigail brand is one of my favorite characters and i just need to know what you had planned for her and beast -- and unit too, honestly.

also -- which pheonix host is your personal favorite? if you have an opinion on that!

It's hard, as the things which got us there never happened and so the emotional through line isn't there.

Excuse the roughness of this. There's a lot more, and I'm always aware whenever I describe a half idea, what's missing is the craft in executing it.

The final scene would have been Brand with UNIT back in his cell, while Beast has packed his bags and is leaving SWORD forever.

The context: UNIT had escaped, as another UNIT turned up, and been the big bad. The story seemed to reveal that our UNIT was actually a penitent war weapon who wanted to be punished, while this other UNIT was the real unrepentant monster. UNIT and SWORD have to stop him, and they do.

In the moment when the other UNIT is defeated and is killed, there's a mind to mind conversation between the UNITs - where basically the other UNIT reveals this is all about buying the original UNIT cover. They'll trust you now. This is all for the greater good. These two UNITs were old lovers (for those who have read the battleworld SHIELD mini may see what I was riffing on there - the idea of SHIELD was, in part, me doing fanfic versions of stories you never read. Me writing a happier ending for the two UNITs)

In short, for the greater good, UNIT forsakes his great love. Anyway - Brand and Beast had split up, because Brand was always putting the work first, and generally pushing Beast away. There was a whole lot along the way (the basic plot of the book was it was beauty and the beast - but Beast is the beauty and Brand is the beast.) She was closing him off, at every chance we got, as she had to protect the earth.

When this meeting is going on, Beast is leaving SWORD, out the station, back to Earth.

Brand and UNIT are doing a normal meeting, and everything is by the book.

At one point, UNIT just breaks off from the serious briefing and tells her: It's not worth it.

This throws her. She doesn't understand what he means. Your whole thing is about the greater good, UNIT. What do you mean?

To sacrifice love for duty? If you were an immortal being like I am... perhaps it's worth it. The dividends are larger. But your life is very short, Agent Brand. It's not worth it.

So it's a big moment for UNIT in terms of that awful bittersweetness of him clearly thinking he's made a mistake... and also for Brand. This robot, which she still distrusts to some level, who she views as a cold and calculating thing... is telling her this.

Unit is basically her. She is turning herself into a robot. She doesn't want to be a robot. She doesn't know it, but senses the truth - even the robot doesn't really want to be the robot.

It gets through to her.

She runs through the Sword Station.

We have the full "stopping Beast boarding the plane" scene, and we end on the big kiss.

Aww.

I think of that Beast and Brand a lot. There was a fork in the timeline for them, and I didn't realise when writing SWORD we were already past it - the Beast who became a genocidal monster was already appearing in another thread of Marvel's tapestry. I think that timeline as the one where Brand influenced Beast more than Beast influenced Brand - or maybe better phrased as the SWORD timeline was one where the relationship made them better, rather than making them both worse.

(I sort of allude to this briefly in Immortal X-men issue 1.)

They were great stories - Brand and Beast were two of Krakoa's greatest villains - but I'm still a little sad for them. Brand and Beast were the first couple in the MU who were briefly "mine", so I can't pine a little for that timeline where they kissed.

[kaeso4ka]

You're Optimus' Spark now. Literally

Pairing: yandere! Optimus Prime x human! reader

That you were being prepared for something was a fact. Washing her, drawing strange Cybertronian symbols on her body. Cybertron was a breeding ground for the strangest traditions and rituals, but there was no way not to be surprised: it all seemed too serious.

You were choked with anxiety. Optimus never did anything for nothing. But what did he need this little performance for? You had long been imprisoned in his compartment on Cybertron, with no possibility of escape. So the time for cyberforming had come…?

The vast halls of the Prime palace were astounding. Even the average Cybertronian could get lost in its corridors, let alone a human. But you never paid attention to this beauty, even though Optimus assured you that you were the rightful owner of this place.

No, you owned nothing on this planet, not even your own freedom, and I don't care what Optimus told you in his love delirium.

“What kind of show are you putting on?” you stopped right in front of Prime. Even in his massively displaced form, it was like he was taller than the tallest statues in the place. “I'm surprised I'm not in the medical bay right now.”

“You are as kind to me as ever, my Spark,” Optimus smiled faintly at you ”your worries are no longer valid. There will be no cyberforming.”

You raised your eyebrows in surprise.

“I don't believe it.”

“I no longer see the point in forcing you to do something you do not wish to do. I have been unfair to you. Now I will give you what you desire most.”

“You're going to finish me off?” you smirked.

“Yes. Now I need to kill you,” Optimus' manipulator transformed into a blade.

Everything that followed happened too quickly. First the coldness of the metal rained down on his chest, piercing the thin skin, the flesh, the sternum. The cold was immediately replaced by a hot torrent of blood. You frowned: the pain throbbed, but surprise overrode it.

A question lodged in your throat as blood spurted from your mouth, and you instinctively grabbed the blade. A moment later, it came out of the flesh with a slurping sound and traveled down your neck. The way your head rolled across the floor was beyond your perception.

***

You couldn't feel your body, and it was as if your own consciousness didn't just belong to you. It was strange. Not alive.

“My Spark,” Optimus' voice came from everywhere and nowhere, ”you're safe.”

You were overcome with a sense of security and calm, but… They didn't belong to you. They were someone else's feelings.

“Where are we?”

“Our sparks have merged. This is the mind. Our common mind.”

“You cyberformed me after all…”

“I gave you a Spark, and you became my Spark… In every way.”

You trembled, and with it, the space around you shook. Your frantic attempt to shake off the other's influence didn't work: you realized with terrifying clarity that it would always be like this. Because you were part of Optimus, and Optimus was part of you.

“I need a body. I'm not going to live my whole life Being. Here. Your second personality in your sick head.”

Optimus didn't say anything back, though you could feel it: he was thinking about your words.

“Perhaps later.”

“When?”

“In millions of years, when you've stopped experiencing rejection. You won't be able to hide behind a mask of lies now. Never again.”

[corviiids]

If i ask nicely, would you consider writing the core of Light and L character like you did for Shuake? (IT'S BRILLIANT BTW!! You're so galazy brain. I love reading any meta or just silly posts you posted here <3) because you mention Light a couple time in Akechi's part and now i need to know your thought on him and L.

(Also, about the death note wip you're cooking right now, is it a oneshot or multiple chapters fic? Im super excited for it!)

i ABSOLUTELY would thank you so much for asking and for your lovely kind words. and im sorry this took me seven years to get to i just kept psyching myself out.

here's the ren & goro post this ask refers to for anyone wondering. the 'core' refers to my answer to a writing meme:

26. What would you describe as OOC? [...] it's the same approach i take to language tbh particularly in pronunciation. once you understand how a language forms its sounds at a base level, you dont struggle with the accent on particular words, and you can encounter words you've never seen before and understand how they're likely to be said/spelled/etc. so once i learn to 'speak' a character they come more naturally. idk if that comparison makes sense to anyone else but it does to meeeee all this to say i think a character is ooc if they do or say something i cant reconcile with that core!

the death note wip is a multichap!! thank you for your interest!!! ill talk about it more once i've stopped tying myself in knots plotting it!! broadly it's a what-if type au which has led me to replot an entire series from scratch dont look at me

anyway lawlight below. i will say ive been really desperately wanting to do like a video essay or something about death note which would be a lot about L and light specifically and how i interpret their characters so ill try and not go toooooo insane in this post but maybe ill go more insane later. in a video. with my human voice.

(edit: i failed i went insane)

light - one-way road to the sky

ok let's talk about one of my favourite scenes of the entire series, which i think is widely not super well understood but honestly to me holds the key to light's entire character. it's right there in volume 1

sorry, the only digital copy ive got on hand is the scanlation. for comparison the official print copy reads:

bubble 1: hey, maki, wanna party tomorrow with some guys from s. college? ten o'clock. bubble 2: yeah, totally! bubble 3: hey, can i go too? bubble 4: my mom isn't here yet? what's that nag doing, geez! light (thinking): damn... light (thinking): start looking around you... light (thinking): and all you see are people the world would be better off without.

this happens within the first 40 pages of the first volume. and it's like. haha hey light what the fuck? this is a totally normal scene in everyday life. people are talking about living their lives. nobody's done anything remotely reprehensible in this scene. and light's just walking through the streets experiencing apparently unprompted and quite extreme misanthropy. what's wrong with him

ok let's have a quick look at the first time we meet light in the anime.

[...]

[...]

cool cool cool im gonna pivot again let's look at the first song (besides the overture) in the musical.

ok rook! we get it! light yagami is out here like damn we live in a society time to kill people about it. this is news to nobody! we all know this!! that's what the series is about! why are we rehashing all of this

great. cool. awesome. let's look at all those scenes one more time. but this time don't look at light. instead let's look at the people around him

in the opening shots of the anime (after the shinigami world, which actually is much the same theme): news of brutal murder is narrated over establishing shots of tokyo. light is shown dead-eyed, going about his ordinary life, surrounded by random other civilians doing the same thing.

in the musical, light isn't angry that murders happen. he's angry about the inaction and complicity of the ordinary people around him.

these scenes aren't highlighting that light thinks crime is bad. we all know crime is bad. the point of these scenes is to contrast light's frustration and fury against the reactions of the people around him. here's what light yagami is seeing: we're surrounded with rot. but nobody's reacting. and then life just goes on. so suddenly all those completely normal scenes of people being concerned with the superficial details of their life aren't just normality, they're complicity. day in, day out. so the world is rotting, and to light, it seems that everyone is completely ok with that. that's just the way things are. and that disgusts and depresses him. on top of than that, it isolates him: he feels like he's the only one who sees or cares about this, that everyone dismisses him as naive, that no one else can be trusted, that everyone else is able to ignore something he sees as inexcusable. this is a sentiment he repeats again and again. it reads as arrogance, and it is, but it's also isolation - after all it's lonely at the top and just as lonely to feel like you're at the top even if you arent

can i talk about the iliad again? is that ok with everyone. im gonna talk about the iliad again

in book 1 of the iliad, the commander of the greek army insults achilles by publicly and unlawfully taking a prize (the girl briseis) who rightfully belonged to achilles. achilles reacts by withdrawing his troops from the army, dooming the greeks' campaign. achilles had a lot of friends in the army, so why would he essentially sentence them all to death for something that only agamemnon did? well, (because agamemnon did something publicly that everyone knew was wrong, and yet nobody was willing (or at least able) to stand up for achilles and stop it from happening. achilles, disgusted by the inaction of the bystanders, turned his back on all of them. fun fact i nearly wrote a mini thesis (an academic one not just a long post on tumblr) about the intersection btwn this book of the iliad and legal theory but law+classics is such a niche interdisciplinary field my professor couldnt find anyone who could supervise me so i couldnt do it. anyway that's not the point

is this right or fair? who cares, not the point. what im interested in is what that kind of behaviour says about the individual. light, like achilles, is a highly idealistic person. we all know that in the abstract, but take a second to really really dig into it, because it's actually quite an interesting fact about a character who is popularly understood as being cold and unfeeling or flatly psychotic and on a power trip. idealism isn't naivety, it's not optimism, it's not even really a happy thing. idealism is simply a firm belief in the way things should be at the cost of refusing or being unable to accept what is.

this is the core of light yagami to me. light doesn't become kira because he's cold or destructive or crazy. he doesn't actually even do it because he's spiteful or misanthropic. it's very much the opposite. he's misanthropic because he believes in the world so much. isn't that a great contradiction! ok here i'll show you some proof.

in an early scene (also in volume 1), light describes himself as an optimist and ryuk finds that interesting.

so light is an optimist. he believes in a bright future for humanity. he wants to protect humanity. he likes humanity. no, he doesn't believe that people are inherently good, but he does believe in some goodness as a part of humanity and wants to protect the best of people, in an egotistical way:

how do we reconcile that with a young man who walks through the streets listening to completely ordinary conversations by ordinary people and reacts by wishing death on everyone talking?

let's split out what's going on here. remember what's happening in light's head. light yagami is 17 years old. he grew up with a police chief for a father (in a fictional world where the police are the literary stand-in for law as justice so just pretend for a second that police are good im sorry), watching his father work tirelessly to fight crime - but crime continues, making this an endless, thankless task. and while crime continues, so does the world around him. every day light sees atrocities on the news, and he sees atrocities brought home, and then he lives his ordinary life and watches the people around him apparently not give a shit, only concerned with the petty details of their own little lives. bystanders watching wrong happen, selfishly unaffected. day in, day out. that idealism is getting colder the longer this unendurable injustice goes on. so achilles condemns his friends to death.

what human trait is being exhibited? realistically it's helplessness. would being miserable about crime help to end crime? of course not. people have to go on with their lives, that's a fact, it's even a strength. even light begins the series completely unable to do a thing about the rot he sees around him, which is part of why he's so depressed. but that's not what light is seeing. light is seeing ordinary people appear to choose not to give a fuck about injustice. the thing that's sparking his disgust is apathy, real or apparent. light yagami is an idealist. he wants a better future - a utopia that only he can imagine - something that can only happen if either everyone becomes as good as he is, or he takes control.

if you leave an idealist in an unwinnable situation for too long, their pure belief will start to curdle. it will not turn to realism. they will not accept what is. they will only become more and more bitter that what should be, isn't. they will become a cynicist. this is really the heart of my argument and ive made it a million times and ill make it again. idealism and cynicism are not opposites, they're not even two sides of a coin. they are two points on the same line which moves very quickly in only one direction. this is where i start when im writing him: how do i make someone who believes so hard that it's killing him? someone who believes so hard it makes him believe in nothing?

then we find the third point on that line, which someone can reach by gaining sudden power - for example, a magic notebook that kills people: radicalisation.

how do we reconcile his desire to protect humanity with the fact that what he's trying to protect against is also humanity? how can i say light loves humanity when he has such disdain for them? easy peasy: light sees himself as the messiah. my bumper sticker that says ask me about light's martyr complex PLEASE ask me about light's martyr complex i wrote a song about it ask me about light seeing himself as the sacrificial lamb on the (and then the bumper sticker cuts off)

light loves humanity the way a twisted shepherd might love his sheep. something to be protected, but something beneath you that can't be trusted to know what's best for them. humanity is something he loves because it's endearingly pathetic, something to pity and save. repeatedly he refers to becoming kira as a personal sacrifice, something that costs him his soul but that he has to do. it's a delusion of grandeur driven by dual purposes of ego and some desperate wish to change a status quo he's been despairing about for years.

tl;dr: light believes with all his soul in something he thinks is impossible, and it's killing him slowly, and then a chance to change the world just falls out of the sky

L - isolate yourself until you can make believe it's just a game

steeples fingers. i have Things to Say about L Lawliet.

ok listen. listen. Listen. listen. are you listening? listen. in general i think people kind of misunderstand characters who are hyper-intellectual and/or behave unconventionally in social settings. you're all going to fucking kill me for this but i think there's a tendency to like... accidentally turn any character who falls vaguely in this broad category into sheldon cooper. god im sorry i feel like i just shot everyone's collective dog

specifically what i mean by that is that 'awkward' gets flanderised in a way that eventually becomes a caricature of itself, because there is so much nuance to actual social awkwardness that it's very easy to kind of pick a template and stick to it without really thinking about what makes that character 'awkward' and what the root and type of awkwardness is, unique to them. so instead we just get, like... generic big word user. generic driven by logic and logic alone guy. generic guy who doesn't Do Well with other people, for Smart Reasons.

here's a list of true things about L which i think are safe to say are uncontroversial

intuitive

logical, master of deductive reasoning

competitive

behaves in an odd way that draws attention

is aware of that fact

focuses extremely hard on his cases and only cares about being a detective not anything else

isolates himself and doesn't like talking to people partly for his own safety partly because it's boring to him

here are things i have seen in characterisation of L which i would like to dispute

makes decisions and draws conclusions based solely on logic and evidence

doesn't understand social cues

here's a list of alternate interpretations which i would like to propose and that i am willing to back up with evidence and/or by physically fighting over them

is driven primarily not by logic or evidence, but by incredible intuition which is supported by logic and evidence when it suits him

has a keen understanding of people, interpersonal relationships, and social norms

leverages that understanding frequently to his benefit

feels that he is not capable of / not a part of emotions that he sees as being typically human (see his speech about being a monster)

and yet in an abstract and self-contradictory and low-priority way still kind of desires connection, leaving him emotionally isolated

chooses to behave oddly on purpose, not because he doesn't realise he's behaving oddly, but because it is not a priority for him

those might seem like fine distinctions at some points, but stray slightly off the mark and his characterisation begins to vary wildly. for example, interpret L as being bemused or unaware of social cues, and one possible characterisation that may stem from that understanding (which i have seen) is that L doesn't understand sarcasm or jokes - which is demonstrably untrue. L demonstrates weak social skills because social skills aren't a priority for him, not because he doesn't understand social norms. after all he does a reasonably convincing 'i am a normal dudeguy' voice on at least two occasions (suzuki the information line guy and asahi the calling matsuda for drinks guy). even with the taskforce, when his behaviour is more of his usual bizarre self, he still makes the effort to treat them respectfully and meet them where they are, explaining himself when they ask, chatting with them, holding ordinary conversations. you can read this any number of ways but my point is that he can do all of this with relatively little struggle

it's also very much not the case that L doesn't have feelings or care about other people. he's ruthless and he's cool with causing people to die if he has to, but he reacts with visible distress to the deaths of the FBI agents, to ukita's death, to the prospect of other members of the taskforce dying. he does care, he's just not morally driven as a priority.

ok but if he can cosplay as Normal Dudeguy with no trouble then why doesn't he. why does he conduct all his business in dark rooms apart from the entire world forever. is it gauche to use a section of my own fic to explain my point? im going to do it anyway

It is easy to identify in Light what he has long known in himself. That little pearl of disruption, grown around an irritating grain of something just unique and tremendous enough to be uncomfortable to the more ordinary around them. L has hidden it by hiding himself. Light has hidden it by hiding within himself. L's black letter is to Light’s vapid smile is to Kira's invisible bullet.

(honestly a lot of what i have discussed here is also covered in this fic so in case this fucking three thousand word essay is not enough for you you can go read that.)

something L and light significantly have in common is that their intellect and unique way of thinking really set them apart from everyone in the world, which is incredibly isolating. but while L has the 'benefit' (arguably could be a detriment but i think he sees it as a benefit) of a unique upbringing which allows him to use his skills to their full extent without worrying about really anything else, light is very much trapped by social convention. while light's life is privileged and materially perfect, he's stuck inside what society expects of him, while L is able to exist completely outside that paradigm. the result is that light has retreated within himself and spends all day playing a part, barely tolerating the monotony and apathy of the world around him by mechanically performing as expected while smothering the part of him that never has an opportunity to truly come out until kira. L, on the other hand, has no reason to put up with a society that is, for lack of a better term, really just beneath him. so he retreats. remember that the first volume/chapter of the manga is called 'boredom'.

you can see that even in his comparatively limited interactions with the task force, he is having to exercise a level of patience to explain to them what he's thinking at every stage, to have to defend his methods, his instincts, his decisions, etc, needing to step through every stage of his reasoning so that the others can follow and won't object. this is NOT just about masking his odd behaviour, it's also very much about having to step through his morals and his process, which is second nature to him but is new to everyone else and needs explaining. it is visibly exhausting to him, and this is with people he actually seems to like well enough. eg during yotsuba arc when light and soichiro keep raising moral concerns, and he has those little "here we go again" moments (which i love SO much and are so telling of him to me) even though he doesn't let his frustration show. which is why he usually does not bother with it and prefers to work alone. he sits the way he does even though he knows it's odd, because he feels he need to sit that way. when light calls it out, he doesn't question that people will think he's strange, so he's clearly aware. he just explains himself.

but if he were out with people on the regular, he'd need to defend himself constantly. the things L does are not conventional. yes the sitting is just an oddity of his so it's a good example, but it's not just the things that are odd that cause a problem: he frequently makes decisions which seem to make massive leaps of logic nobody else (except light) can follow, and often his actions are morally questionable or even reprehensible. all that is because L is extremely pragmatic and results-focused. it kind of doesn't matter to him how he gets from A to B as long as he gets to B. but the way his mind works is that he makes big jumps that make perfect sense to him but would draw curiosity or objection from anyone who doesn't think the way he does. it would be absolutely exhausting to have to constantly defend every strange or questionable thing he did, so he just retreats.

when he works with other people, i think it's worth noting that the team dynamic never actually struggles for L's awkwardness. this is something i really like about death note honestly - L is quirky and strange, but the series doesn't do that thing where it's like He's A Genius Of Course He's Rude To Everyone. he's actually not. for the most part, L is courteous, patient, and polite. he's sometimes blunt or abrupt, but he very rarely does the thing where he's obliviously cruel or brushes people off. he's considerate of people's needs, he's visibly compassionate of other people's emotional difficulties, and he very rarely loses his patience. when matsuda tries to tell the locked-up light about kira resuming activity, L snaps "Matsuda!" to stop him, and then immediately corrects himself to go "I mean, Matsuda-san." it would have been really easy for the series to do that tropey shit where he's so smart that he doesn't bother with politeness, but he factually does. he makes the effort to treat people politely even when he's not actually being kind. when he's asked to explain himself, the reader can see he's tired and annoyed, but he doesn't take it out on people. on the odd occasion he does make fun of someone for being slow, he does so in mostly light-hearted ways. so he is very capable of dealing with other people directly. his lack of social skills aren't for lack of understanding. he just can't be bothered. it's a waste of energy to try and behave 'normally' or to do things that other people find acceptable, whether that's due to social norm or common morality. it is so, so much easier for L to do things alone. without the need to explain or defend his behaviour to anyone, his isolation turns real world problems into something almost purely theoretical. so it really is like a game for him, at least at first.

whatever

i think it's really important for a character like L to not be fooled by the surface-level categorisation of 'smart awkward character'. we really need to find what's driving his awkwardness. it's not ignorance, it's not even really disdain, it's exasperation. he's tired of being surrounded by people who just can't keep up with him, and he does not have enough energy or interest to spend his time handholding everyone through his process, so he just does whatever the hell he wants and avoids people as much as possible so he doesn't have to deal with it.

look i know this is a really long way to say stuff that people mostly already know, but i think L is one of the most finely nuanced characters in the series because he looks like such a simple expression of a known archetype and the ways in which he subverts expectations are so granular that it's easy to completely miss them even while appreciating how interesting he is. the way this translates into how i write him is that he's polite and has a lot of patience until he simply doesn't, at which point he'll inwardly or subtly express that he wishes he didn't have to bother with this shit, that he picks up on fine social and emotional details that other people will totally miss, but that he'll always put his own whims and plans before anything else.

tl;dr: L behaves like someone who is constantly moving at his own pace and for whom dealing with people is rarely worth the effort, but this does not make him inept or unkind.

[livesincerely]

there’s no escape (i can’t wait) - ch. 1

Rated E, A/B/O. The next entry in my burning up variations series (see tag below).

Also on ao3

00000

Later, Eddie will think that he knew, somehow, before he actually knew.

He’s finishing up in the locker room, about to head into a 24-hour shift, when a rush of… something sweeps over him. There’s a prickle of anticipation at the nape of his neck, goosebumps sprouting all over his arms, and he glances up, nose twitching, right as Buck comes shuffling in.

“Hey,” Buck greets him in a low, gravelly voice, tossing his duffle down onto the bench. 

On any other day, Eddie would worry that he’d had a bad night. Today, he knows the exact reason for that rough rasp, and it sends a thrill of heat sparking up his spine.

“H-hey,” Eddie manages, blinking rapidly. “Uh, aren’t you supposed to be on leave?”

”Bobby called,” Buck explains, tugging off his t-shirt and rubbing sleepily at his eyes.

There’s a soft, gorgeous flush to his skin—his cheeks, neck, and chest painted a perfect, rosy shade of pink—and as he starts to shrug into his uniform there’s the faintest whiff of something delicious.

Something mouthwatering.

Eddie’s heart stutters traitorously against his ribs, and he forces himself to look away before Buck catches him staring. 

“Whittler’s partner went into labor last night,” Buck continues, oblivious to his plight. “This morning? Whichever, and Ginsburg’s still in Cabo until Tuesday.”

“That sucks,” Eddie says, in what he hopes is a nice, even, totally normal tone. “You gonna be okay?” 

“Yeah, I’ll be okay,” Buck assures him. “I was gonna use today to prep and get ahead on laundry, but one last shift won’t kill me. My ruts tend to be pretty tame for the most part, but I’ve got extra blockers and scent neutralizing spray in my bag just in case.”

Tame? There’s not a damn thing tame about Eddie’s sudden need to plaster himself against Buck’s front and swirl his tongue around the hollow of his throat, but maybe that’s just him.

Mine, his instincts purr. All mine, and that’s Eddie’s cue to make a strategic retreat.

He jolts to his feet. “Well, let me know if you need anything.”

“Actually,” Buck calls out before he can make it more than a couple steps, sounding a touch sheepish. “Would you mind…?”

And he ducks his chin and tips his head to the side, exposing the long line of his throat.

Eddie’s mouth goes dry. 

“You want me to scent mark you?” he asks, voice tight. 

It probably shouldn’t come as such a surprise. Buck’s about as tactile as they come, and the two of them spend so much time together that they constantly smell at least a little of each other—a fact that definitely doesn’t make Eddie want to preen like a possessive peacock, thank you very much.

But a proper, deliberate scenting, right on the cusp of Buck’s rut? 

That feels different. 

Feels special. 

Mine, his hindbrain insists once again.

Naturally, Buck chooses this exact second to finally notice Eddie’s reaction to his… everything. 

“Um, yeah?” he says, brow furrowed and nostrils flaring as he takes him in. “Why, what’s…”

He takes in a deep inhale, then his expression clears all at once.

”Oh. Oh, you… Wait, really?”

Eddie’s cheeks heat. “Shut up.”

“I… Did I know this already?” Buck marvels, a smug sort of delight starting to curl over his lips. But just beneath it there’s a softer, more earnest sort of elation—like he’s just been offered a dream come true on a silver platter. “Because this feels like the sort of thing I should’ve been made aware of. Edmundo Diaz, have you been holding out on me?”

“Shut up,” Eddie huffs again, but there’s no real feeling behind it. He’s too busy fighting a smile, hope lighting him up inside like the best kind of vertigo. “It’s not like I can really keep anything from you when you keep sniffing me out like a fucking bloodhound. If it’s taken you this long to notice, that’s on you.”

“Actually, did you know that an alpha’s olfactory senses can become up to eighty percent stronger in the three days leading up to their rut?” Buck tells him cheerfully. “To help them stay in tune with the needs of their pack, and especially their mate, throughout their cycle.”

Of course, this fun fact does nothing to disguise the fact that he’s closing in on Eddie like a predator stalking its prey, swaggering towards him with his shoulders rolled back and his thumbs tucked into his belt, the cocky, beautiful bastard.

Eddie holds his ground, lets Buck approach until they’re standing toe to toe, chest to chest.

“Is that so? And what are you picking up from my scent, then, alpha?” he murmurs, meeting the challenge with one of his own. He can almost see the way the word lands, the way Buck’s spine straightens like he’s got something to prove. “Any interesting insights?”

Buck gives him a long, considering once-over.

“That’s definitely not something I can get into without causing a workplace incident,” he eventually admits, gazing at him from under his lashes.

Oh, fuck.

“Keep looking at me like that and I’m going to cause a workplace incident,” Eddie warns him, swaying closer despite himself.

“To be perfectly honest, Eds, that’s really not much of a deterrent.”

“This is going to be a long fucking shift if you don’t reel it in,” Eddie says wryly, fond exasperation and bone-deep desire inextricably twined. “A long, frustrating shift.”

“Or, a very, very short one,” Buck counters, because he’s never found a line he’s not willing to toe. “God, you smell good.”

Eddie flicks him on the nose. 

“Stop it, he orders.

They’re standing close enough together that Eddie can see the way Buck’s pupils dilate, his gaze turning half-lidded and hungry.

“I’ll behave,” he promises, but it sounds more like a threat. Eddie valiantly resists a shiver

The moment lingers—a static charge that only needs a touch of friction to burst into flame—then slowly dissipates; no, is carefully set aside to be explored later. 

Eddie reaches up to squeeze Buck’s shoulder, then lets his hand trail higher to cup around the back of his neck.

“You still gunning for that scent mark? Or is it going to make things worse?” 

Strong, warm hands land on either side of his waist, fingers splayed wide enough to cover the small of his back.

”I want it,” Buck insists, which isn’t exactly an answer, but Eddie doesn’t have it in him to deny him.

“C’mere,” he murmurs, reeling him in.

Buck melts into the touch like he’d just been waiting for permission, nuzzling in to rub his face against Eddie’s throat. He lets out a quiet, contented noise, wrapping himself around him like he’s planning to make a home in the curve of his neck, his chest rumbling all the while.

Eddie chuffs back instinctively, threading his fingers through the curls at the nape of Buck’s neck. He pulls him closer, craning up on his toes and tucking his nose into the space behind Buck’s ear before he can stop himself. 

He just smells so good: all toasty and golden and a little sweet, like freshly baked sunshine drizzled in honey, with just a slight undertone of sharp-ember-smoke to indicate his approaching rut.

Eddie wants to wallow in that scent, wants to lick the taste of it right out of Buck’s mouth, wants to just bare his teeth and bite, sink his teeth in so deep that no one would dare to doubt his claim—

The bell ringing overhead stops him before he can do anything that might cost him his job, and he’s honestly not sure if he’s relieved or disappointed. There’s still another twenty or so minutes before their shift so this call isn’t their problem, thank god, because Eddie’s brain is too busy chanting Buck, Buck, yes, mine, Buck, alpha, mine, to be responsible for anyone’s health and wellbeing.

They slowly peel apart, both a little dazed.

“How’s that?” Eddie asks, brushing a piece of hair out of his face to give himself something to do with his hands that’s not sticking them down Buck’s pants. “Better?”

”Better,” Buck says. “Thanks, Eds.”

”Don’t mention it,” Eddie says, not really thinking about it, and Buck immediately frowns.

”But, we will, right? Talk about it, I mean,” he asks quietly, taking Eddie’s hand gently in his own and lacing their fingers together. “I know we can’t really get into it right now, but I don’t want this to be one of those things we just… brush past and not talk about. Because I want us. I want you. And I’m tired of pretending like I don’t.”

Eddie hadn’t realized he was still holding onto some worry until the last of it finally bleeds away. Of course they’re on the same page about this, about them, about the twinkling, wondrous inevitability of Buck-and-Eddie. Of course they’re in this together.

Aren’t they always, when it comes to the important things?

”Let’s get through this shift,” Eddie says. “After that, I’m all yours.”

It comes out more honest than he means it to, a wealth of emotion embedded within his words. With anyone else, he’d think it was too much. But he’s not sure there’s any such thing when it comes to Buck.

”I’ll hold you to that,” Buck replies, and he lifts their joined hands to his lips, pressing a kiss first to Eddie’s knuckles, and then to the fluttering pulse point on the inside of his wrist, never once dropping his gaze from his own. “And, uh, fair warning? Once I’ve got you, I’m not planning on letting you go.”

Eddie flushes from head to toe.

“You— I told you to stop looking at me like that,” he hisses as he snatches his hand back, distinctly hot under the collar. 

Buck just laughs: low and raspy. “I make no promises.”

”Por dios,” Eddie mutters under his breath, begging anyone listening for strength.

He’s already in completely over his head and there’s nowhere he’d rather be.

”Later,” he reminds them both.

”Later,” Buck agrees.

On the way to their first call, Buck ends up in the middle seat, sandwiched between Eddie on one side and Hen on the other, and is visibly delighted to be there.

Eddie watches fondly as he adds to his collection of scent marks, wheedling a hair ruffle out of Hen and a pat on the back from Chimney. He even gets a friendly nudge from Ravi, who then rolls his eyes and makes a face when Buck uses the opening to lock their ankles together like a pair of middle schoolers kicking each other under the table in the cafeteria, grinning from ear to ear.

Though, Eddie can’t help but notice that, while full of affection, the touches stay light—fleeting, even. Besides that side hug from Bobby before they loaded out, not a single one lingers longer than a second or two, and none of them come anywhere close to the length of Eddie’s.

Good, that little voice purrs smugly. Mine.

They arrive on scene—a grassy, fenced-in playground teeming with children and families—and are immediately met by a frantic young woman.

“Oh, thank god,” she says, a huge diaper bag thrown over one shoulder and her arms filled with screaming toddler. “I swear, I looked away for, like, two seconds, Jaime was crying and I couldn’t figure out where their mom packed the juice boxes and when I looked back, she was halfway up—“

“What’s her name?” Bobby interrupts.

“Harper,” she says. “She’s right over here—“

And sure enough, there in the far corner of the playground is a tall oak tree, and about twenty feet up that tree is a little girl. She’s maybe seven or eight at the most and clinging tightly to a branch, her face streaked with tears.

“Hey, Harper,” Bobby calls, calm and steady. “What’re you doing up there?”

“I’m stuck!” she wails. 

“I can see that,” Bobby says. “Are you hurt at all?”

“‘M okay,” she sniffles. “But it’s too far, I can’t get down!”

“Hey, that’s alright, we’re gonna send someone up to come get you. You just sit tight and keep holding on, okay?” Bobby tells her. “We’ll get you down from there in no time.”

“No way we get the ladder in here,” Chim observes, pulling off his sunglasses. “We’re fenced in on all sides and the trees are too close together to get a good angle from the curb.”

“How’d she even get up there?” Ravi wonders, squinting up at her. “No way she’s tall enough to make the jump up to that first branch. I’m not tall enough to make that jump.”

“Never underestimate the ingenuity of a determined elementary schooler,” Hen says wisely.

“I can climb up to her,” Eddie volunteers. 

He moves closer to the trunk, knocking against the bark to check for soft spots, but it seems simple enough, as far as he can tell. It’s a healthy tree with lots of thick, sturdy branches—plenty big enough to hold steady beneath his weight

“You sure?” Bobby asks.

Eddie shrugs. “Yeah, I got it. I just need a— a boost or a chair or something to get started, but I’ll be fine after that. Then she can hold on to me while I climb back down.” 

He glances around, searching.

“Maybe we can drag that picnic table over and—“

“Here,” Buck says, stepping up behind him. 

He fits his hands around Eddie’s hips, a long line of heat against his back.

“What are you—?”

Eddie’s feet leave the ground and all thoughts leave his head. 

Buck lifts him like it’s not even hard, like he could do this all day, not a hint of strain in those massive biceps. Eddie fumbles clumsily for the branch, all the blood in his body rushing south so quickly he almost goes dizzy with it. 

“Eddie?” Buck prompts, lifting him just a little higher—like maybe the problem is that Eddie can’t quite reach. Jesus, he doesn’t even sound winded.

“Right,” Eddie mutters, pulling himself the rest of the way up. “Uh huh, yep.”

Once he gets his head in the game, the rest of the rescue goes smoothly. He has Harper clamber onto his back, then together, they carefully make their way back down. 

It’s when they’re standing on that lowest branch that they run into a snag. The ground around the tree is uneven enough that attempting the jump down is just asking for a sprained ankle, and that’s not even accounting for Harper’s extra weight.

They’re going to have to lower her down somehow, Eddie realizes. Either, lower her down or convince her to—

“It’s okay, you can jump now,” Buck tells her in a gentle, encouraging voice, already on the same page, his arms outstretched. “I’m gonna catch you.”

Harper shakes her little head, pigtails flying. “I’m gonna fall!”

“You won’t fall,” Buck assures her, and he’s so earnest about it that it’s impossible not to believe him. “I’ll catch you.”

Harper looks from Buck to Eddie then back again, her lip wobbling.

“You promise?” she asks.

Buck’s expression turns incredibly soft. “I promise. Big jump on three, okay? One, two—“

Harper jumps. Buck catches her—of course he fucking does—tucking her protectively into that broad chest.

“Great job!” he cheers. He runs a soothing hand down her back, then swings her up in a careful arc over his head and sets her down on her feet, earning a watery giggle. “I know that was really scary, thank you for being so brave.”

“I didn’t feel very brave,” Harper tells him, wiping at her face.

“Well, that’s the best part,” Buck replies, couching down to meet her at her level. “You don’t have to feel brave to be brave. But, uh, maybe next time we only climb trees when there’s a grown up watching to make sure we’re staying safe, alright?”

Harper gives a shy nod, looking up at Buck with teary, trusting eyes, and Jesus, it’s so easy to imagine Buck having a similar conversation with another little girl. Maybe one with dark, curly hair and a wide, toothy grin, a kiss of pink haloing one of her doe brown eyes—

“—ddie? Eddie!”

Eddie checks back in to find Buck grinning up at him expectantly, Harper having toddled off at some point during his daydream to get checked over by Hen. 

He holds out his arms and calls, “Sometime today, Diaz!”

Oh, this asshole.

“What, are you gonna catch me too?” Eddie snarks.

Buck’s grin only grows.

“Sure,” he says confidently. “Why, you got a better idea?”

Eddie’s stomach flutters, but not with nerves.

“You are not gonna catch me,” he insists, but he’s already shifting into position, bracing to jump. “Buck—“

“Of course, I am,” Buck says, and his tone stays light but his eyes turn serious as he holds Eddie’s gaze—like doing anything else, anything less, is simply unfathomable. “On three, yeah?”

And what can Eddie do, except listen? It’s Buck.

“One, two—“

There’s a split-second on weightlessness, then he’s in Buck’s arms. His legs lock around his waist and his arms circle his neck, all of his limbs sliding into place so naturally that it’s almost as though they already knew the way, as perfectly in-sync as they always are. 

Buck doesn’t so much as flinch, taking Eddie’s weight with a spine-tingling, toe-curling kind of ease. 

An arm around his back. An arm cradled under his ass.

The bluest eyes imaginable.

“Told you I’d catch you,” Buck rumbles.

“Never had a doubt,” Eddie breathes back.

Their lips are only inches apart.

“The rituals,” Chimney announces, loudly, from somewhere not nearly far enough away. “They are intricate.”

The moment pops like a soap bubble. Eddie rears back, startled, but Buck’s grip only tightens, a hint of that cinnamon-sunshine scent tickling at his nose.

“You— Buck!” he hisses, starting to squirm. “Put me down!”

“Bossy,” Buck teases, but obliges without fanfare.

And if it takes Eddie a couple tries to find his footing, enjoying the feeling of Buck’s body squeezed between his thighs for a second longer, that’s between him and god.

Bobby’s still talking with the babysitter and Hen’s coaxing a smile out of Harper as she tends to her scrapes, so it’s just Chim and Ravi left behind to witness Eddie’s horny circle of hell, which is two people too many.

Ravi mutters something that sounds like “…owes me twenty bucks,” then pulls an abrupt about-face and speed walks away when Eddie gives him a pointed look.

Chimney—distinctly harder to intimidate, god damn it—pops his gum, his eyes wide with glee.

“Shut up,” Eddie grouses, hoping his face isn’t as red as it feels, stalking back towards the ladder truck. “Not a word.”

“Not even one? I think I deserve at least one.”

“I know where you sleep,” Eddie threatens, and walks faster. 

“LAFD, make a hole,” Bobby says, shouting to be heard over the music.

The crowd of thirty-or-so sorority sisters can barely stop gawking long enough to part, whispering and giggling amongst themselves with half-finished mimosas in-hand.

“Where is he?”

“Right over here,” the young woman they’re following tells them, pointing clumsily—tipsily—towards the pool.

There’s another college-aged kid kicking and splashing in the water, his arm stuck all the way to the shoulder inside the narrow opening that leads to the filter. 

“Please, get me out of this thing,” he gasps out as they approach. He’s in the deepest end and is clearly struggling to keep his head above the water, though whether that’s due to exhaustion, injury, or inexperience is hard to say. “I’ve been treading water for, like, ever.”

“Buck, in the pool,” Bobby says. “Hen, Chim, crack open that cover. Ravi, get them to power down the system if they haven’t already.”

“Shoulder is still in the socket but there’s a lot of strain on the joint,” Hen determines, peering down into the filter from the opening embedded into the pool deck itself. “And I’m really not liking the look of his wrist.”

“Let’s get him floating on his back, but keep him nice and still,” Chim decides. “And keep as much weight off the arm as possible.”

Buck finishes kicking out of his boots and dives in. He positions himself behind the victim—Jordan, he tells them, between flailing, heaving breaths—and scoops him up in an almost bridal carry, the kid’s head and shoulders resting against one arm and his legs hooked over the other. Then Buck carefully inches forward until he can grab onto the lip of the pool with his hands, keeping them steady and in-place.

“Oh my god,” Jordan squeaks, tucked snuggly in the cradle of two huge biceps and a broad expanse of chest. Same, kid.

“Just relax, I’ve got you,” Buck assures him, perfectly competent and perfectly oblivious. “How’s that, guys?”

“That’s great, Buck, can you raise him up just a little— Right there, stop.”

“There’s some kind of chain jammed in the mechanism,” Eddie calls, angling his flashlight for a better look. “Looks like a piece of jewelry he was wearing got caught, then his hand got trapped against the sidewall when it pulled him in.”

“Can you see the clasp? Is it accessible?”

“There isn’t a clasp,” Jordan tells them. “It’s welded on.”

The team turns to stare at him as one.

“You have a chain permanently welded around your wrist?” Hen asks, incredulous.

“I’ve got three of them, actually.”

“What?” Chim exclaims. “Why?”

“My alpha got them for me,” Jordan informs them. “They’re forever bracelets. It’s like an engagement ring, but for mating instead of marriage.”

Eddie pauses, schooling his expression into something less judgmental. “Your alpha made you weld a bunch of jewelry around your wrist?”

“He didn’t make me. They were a gift.”

“And does he wear a bunch of chains around his wrist, too?” Hen asks, in her most patient, most pointed mom-voice.

Jordan flushes—though admittedly, it’s a little hard to tell, given that he’s probably cold from being in the pool for so long.

“Don’t say it like that,” he complains. “It's supposed to be romantic.”

“Uh,” Buck starts, looking perplexed. “Um, but… What if you break up? Or, like, need to take it off for work or something?”

Jordan stares at him like he’s the crazy one for asking. “Did you miss the part where it’s called a forever bracelet?”

Bobby sighs. It’s a deep one.  

“Ravi, pliers.”

“On it.”

Ten minutes of careful clipping and cutting, and they finally get Jordan extracted from the filter, arm intact. He’s more sore and exhausted than injured—and adamant about refusing a ride to the hospital—so Chim gets him fixed up with a sling and strict instructions to follow up at an urgent care as soon as possible.

Still, the kid looks a little miserable where he’s sitting off to the side, wet and shivering, with a towel someone found for him tucked over his shoulders, and Eddie finds himself wandering over to check on him.

“Hey, Jordan, right?” he calls out as he approaches. “You all set? Someone gonna give you a ride?”

“Yeah,” Jordan mumbles, pulling his towel tighter around himself. “My roommate's gonna take me when she gets back from class. And, um, thanks, again, for getting me out of there.”

“It’s what we’re here for,” Eddie says lightly, sitting down next to him. “But, uh, listen. I’ve never met the guy, and maybe it’s none of my business but, my two cents, one omega to another? It’s never a good sign if the person you’re dating is asking something of you that they’re not willing to do themselves. No matter what their designation is.”

Jordan deflates. 

“I think I knew that, somewhere in the back of my mind,” he admits. “Becca—my roommate—she’s been telling me for weeks that I can do better, but… I don’t know. I feel like I’m supposed to have things figured out by now. Find The One, start a life together, all that jazz…”

“Kid, no one your age has it figured out,” Eddie tells him with a laugh. “And I hate to break it to you, but no one ever has it all figured out. Anyone who seems like they do is just better at faking it.”

“Joy,” Jordan mutters. “Just what I wanted to hear: a lifetime of aimless, existential dread.”

“It’s a big world out there,” Eddie tells him. “You’ll find your person. Maybe you won’t even realize you’ve found them at first, but you’ll know they’re the one because they’ll make the bad times less lonely and the good times better than they’ve ever been, just by being there with you. And they won’t be perfect— They won’t know what the hell they’re doing any more than you do, but you’ll be in it together, and that will make it all worth it. Don’t settle for less.”

Jordan levels him with an extremely skeptical look, which, okay, fair enough. 

Eddie has a hard time believing it himself most days, even with the evidence to the contrary standing shoulder to shoulder with him, humming tunelessly to the radio, leaving his socks between his couch cushions, eating the last of the cereal, and replacing his laundry detergent with a fancy, ‘for sensitive skin’ variety because I know lavender makes you sneeze, Eddie, literally why would you lie about that? And! This one’s way better for the environment, so it’s a win either way. I was actually doing some research last night and did you know that Procter and Gamble is personally responsible for massive amounts of deforestation in vulnerable rainforest ecosystems around the world? What’s Procter and— Eddie! They’re the company that makes Tide!

He’s been there, is all he’s saying.

“Yeah?” Jordan scoffs. “And is this mystical unicorn of a person going to pop out of the ground or…?

As if summoned by the Greek god of Taking Your Cue, here comes Buck, walking past like a literal wet dream. He’s still dripping from the pool, his curls plastered to his forehead and the fabric of his uniform clinging to every delicious inch of him. He’s hauling a bunch of gear back to the engine so he doesn’t stop to talk, but he does flash one of those megawatt grins in their direction, wiggling the halligan at them in lieu of a wave, the fucking dweebus. 

Eddie adores him.

“Nevermind,” Jordan breathes, gaze transfixed on Buck’s retreating back. “I think I found him.”

“Put your eyes back in your head, kid,” Eddie says, chuckling. “He’s not on the market.”

Jordan heaves a massive sigh, grumbling, “Of course he isn’t. And I bet his omega’s absolutely gorgeous, too.”

“Eh.” Eddie gives a casual shrug, his mouth twitching around the start of a smile. “I’m alright, I guess.”

“You two are…?” Jordan lets out a low whistle. “Damn, nice job, man. How long have you been together?”

“Either seven years, or about four hours, depending on how you want to count it,” Eddie tells him, and he laughs again when the kid’s mouth falls open. “It’s a long story.”

“But, he’s your person?”

“That man would do anything for me,” Eddie says, and that’s a truth that lives deep in the heart of him, tucked between his lungs and carved into his skeleton, an intrinsic part of his being. “He’d follow me through hell and back, because he wouldn’t want me to go there alone. He’s my best friend. He’s the love of my life.”

“Dude,” Jordan says, eyes wide. “You’re kinda, like… making me believe in true love again or some shit.”

“Eddie!” Bobby calls over suddenly, one arm raised to catch his eye. “We’re about to roll out, let’s go.”

“That’s me, then,” Eddie says, pushing himself to his feet. “Good luck with the shoulder. And the boyfriend.”

“Thanks. Good luck with yours.”

“Nah, man,” Eddie corrects with just a hint of smirk. “He’s gonna be my husband.”

[howdoyousleep3]

I’ve been going crazy about this thought so I need to make other people crazy too

So the senator…

Usually very much in control, smug bastard, always one step ahead

But tonight they had a small mingling event and the intern is just killing it, practically the star of the evening. He’s charming people left and right, leaving the other interns in the dust. The best part is that the intern is not even aware of it.

It really gets the senator going. He wants to crawl out of his skin, half hard all evening. It’s possessive. Yeah, look at my boy.

Later when they are FINALLY alone the senator can barely get out of their clothes before he’s inside the intern. He has bucky against his chest, arms so tight around him while he takes him from the back. He can’t even run his mouth like usually. He’s just groaning and moaning into bucky’s ear, hips moving desperately like they have a mind of their own. Eyes squeezed tight like he’s in pain

It’s a little confusing for the intern as he has no idea what has gotten steve so out of his mind but he will gladly give himself to the hands of this newly feral version of him. He’s definitely going to jerk off thinking about this later

Oh my god, this is perfect.

I think about this all the time, the tables turning and Steve being in way too deep without realizing it and Bucky just soaking it all up. I mainly think about the angst of it all because it definitely turns into a breaking point but this is way better lol.

The thought of Steve being so enamored, so enraptured and aroused by Bucky and not his Intern, can honestly make me giggle and kick my feet sometimes. Like he fucked up so bad!! He fell in love and this was supposed to be pretty much contractual!! And sex would totally translate that way. Just totally consumed, not in as much control. Feeling it.

Yeah, look at my boy.

Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Steve would be addicted to this. He'd want everyone to know his Intern, his Bucky, is just that– his. He made him into the man he's become. He's the one that's guided and sculpted and perfected Bucky into this charming, damn near seductive politician.

He's going to rule the world, Steve sometimes thinks.

Sex would get way too serious, way too hot and heavy. And they'd be like "oh my god yes" and not even realize that this isn't fucking anymore. This is relationship sex, sex with ownership that isn't on paper but is inside of them, between them.

A couple of dumbasses, honestly.

But the sex is fire, so good for them. 😂🤪

(Steve groaning in Bucky's ear while taking him from the back is my ALL TIME favorite and I think about it daily, I swear)