#I’m gonna fuck this TV so hard the city power dies out

[estinesstories]

𝓛𝓪𝓽𝓮 𝓝𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓼

𝙑𝙤𝙭 𝙭 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧

𝙎𝙤 𝙄’𝙢, 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚, 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝘽𝘼𝘿 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙛 𝙏𝙑 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙃𝙖𝙯𝙗𝙞𝙣 𝙃𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙, “𝙝𝙚𝙮, 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙗𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙗𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙤”?

𝙉𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨: 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙑𝙤𝙭 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 (𝙣𝙤 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙙)

𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙮: 𝙑𝙤𝙭 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮, 𝙨𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙖 𝙗𝙞𝙩.

𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨: 𝙖 𝙗𝙞𝙩 𝙉𝙎𝙁𝙒, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙎𝙁𝙒, 𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙, 𝙣𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙑𝙤𝙭 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙢, 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧’𝙨 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙙, 𝙨𝙤 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚.

(𝙃𝘼𝙕𝘽𝙄𝙉 𝙃𝙊𝙏𝙀𝙇 𝘿𝙊𝙀𝙎𝙉𝙏 𝘽𝙀𝙇𝙊𝙉𝙂 𝙏𝙊 𝙈𝙀! 𝘾𝙍𝙀𝘿𝙄𝙏𝙎 𝙏𝙊 𝘿𝙄𝙑𝙄𝘿𝙀𝙍𝙎 𝙂𝙊 𝙏𝙊 @𝙘𝙖𝙛𝙚𝙠𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙪𝙣𝙚! 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙮 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚, 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙨𝙤 𝙩𝙤𝙤!💗)

You walked up to Vox, who was currently watching over his security cameras intently in his chair. He had been very stressed with work lately, so you decided to let him… relax a little bit. He didn’t seem to know you were there yet, so you softly placed your hands on his shoulders, causing him to jump a bit before hearing your soothing voice. “Hey, baby…” He sighed deeply and leaned into your touch as you massaged the muscle. “Hey.” “You’ve been working for a while..” you spoke softly, slowly moving your lips closer to the side of his screen, causing him to tense, till you were right next to his head. “I bet I could help you relax.” Vox’s breath hitched as he felt his pants get tighter. He felt you kiss slowly on the side of his screen, before moving down to his neck, moving his collar out of the way. His breathing became heavy, and he finally felt you smile against his neck. “What,” you started softly, innocently, Starting to move away from him. “Do you want me to sto-” “No,” he breathed, grabbing uselessly onto the hand on his shoulder, finally turning his chair to face you. He swiftly placed your legs in between his own and guided your hands to his chest, your fingers already teasing his nipples. You smirked at his state, watching his screen already glitch under your touch. “Stay, please.”

𝘿𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙗𝙞𝙩, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜!💗

[fandom-imagination-ss]

Clark Kent imagine

Author note: I cannot remeber writing this..and since i haven’t wrote anything for a while. I figure hey why not!!!!! So Sorry if it doesn’t make sense LOL 😂😂 I will be posting more soon promise.!!

Did i proof read: .... I honestly dont remember writing this soo.. you BET your tooth i didn’t proof read

Rating: fluffy!

Fandom: DC

God your such a big Dork!”

Laughing loudly your sides hurt , Clark just tripped and slide right into a lamp and somehow managed for the shade too be on. His head. You reached over helping him chuckling softly tracing your hands over his broad shoulders making sure he wasn’t hurt. Those Hurting Clark was physically impossible. You still worry.

He chuckled softly saying sorry, you just laughed giving him a quick kiss on the shoulder as you shifted too move too your sofa.

Loving Superman had it’s perks and downsides, the biggest one was that Loris Lane was Furious that you “stole” her profit. Clark always said that Louis never abused their relationship too get articles or too gain more popularity. But she was literally the Only reporter in the entire City that Had Full access too the most talked about man in the entire world.Getting raises left and right when She got a “in-depth “ conversation with Superman and ally he deets on a attack. Whatever way Clark spelt it out. You hated that she abused her relationship for gain at work. It felt wrong. She was literally Sleepign with the subject too information.

It didn’t help that your relationship with her was tense even before you knew she knew about Clarks double life. You were one of the few humans too know about Clarks ability before he became Superman. You grew up right down the road from Clark, same grade, best friends all thru school. Clark would show off his powers too you when you were younger and you were the only one outside he’s family too know. After he left and ran off too find himself you stayed and helped his mom and then Superman arrived and you reconnected with your oldest friend and you moved toot he city after a awful breakup and you just always were around. And Louis hated it. You tried too be friendly towards her. But once Clark discovered she was In bed with lex Luther. (Right in the middle of the Act.) he was furious And heartbroken and he broke up with her and you were secretly glade you didn’t have too pretend too be friends with her anymore.

Dating the man of steel happened so naturally you can’t even remember when it started or how it started who made the first move it just felt Right. Clark was smiling cupping your face looking at you “what you thinking about?”

Poking his stoumch you look up at him grinning, “how I’m so lucky too have my Dork.” He chuckled reaching over kissing your head. “I have too go surveillance with Bruce you be alright tonight?”

Nodding your head weakly. You were use too having too share Clark with the world. Honestly how can you complain when he’s Saving the literally world?

“Oh Ask Bruce How The Hell do you connect the light too the speakers? Too do that flashy thing.he’s instructions Suck!”

He chuckled saying okay.

He walked off. As you grinned excited too have the apartment too yourself. You walked over too your room getting out of your Jeans and into Shorts and a shirt of clarks you always steal it had he’s favourite football team. Making dinner for you, and a dessert. You grabbed your Tablet (making sure too put sticky tack on both lenses after reading how easily the cameras’ are hacked you always put Sticky tack on it if your gonna watch something in the tub.

Getting the Tub ready you started binge watching a the musketeers. When you finished having a relaxing bath you got into your cloths again and watched it on the tv. The actors were Hot as Hell. And the voices. Melting! Clark had that affect on you. He’s voice was smooth and deep and Hot. Those every aspect of your boyfriend is Hot.

You looked around realizing the place was empty as you went too the freezer as you pulled out your container of Icing. Before retuning too the sofa and warming it up as you had your spoon from your ice cream and mixed it as you watched tv. An hour passed when jumped gasping at some scenes. Then you heard the deep chuckle of your boyfriend.

“what are you doing?” You turned looking at Clark seeing him in his uniform as you had a spoon sticking out of your mouth as you spoke, “I’m- what are you doing here? I thought you were going too be late?”

“I came too check on you- what are you watching?” Getting up as you grabbed the icing container as you spoke, “Mustkeers.- what- aren’t you suppose too be hanging with a bat?” He chuckled walking over pulling you into a deep kiss it was unexpected as he pulled back as he spoke, “good icing.” You laughed hitting his softly as he grinned holding your head. “You smell nice.”

“had a bath with my good stuff.” He chuckled softly rubbing your cheek with his thumb.

“thank you.”

“For. Bathing?”

Clark chuckled kissing your forehead as he spoke, “No for being you.”

“thank you?”

He kissed you again before dashing off as you got ready for bed.

Standing in the shower in the morning getting cleaned you turned seeing Clark standing in the bathroom smiling as you spoke ‘what?”

Seeing him pulling off his Shirt, which even after a year of dating. Still left you breathless seeing him shirtless. He was curved and caved from the Gods! It still took you back that he was yours. That this guy. Who looks like a god, has powers As if he was one. Was your you giggled seeing him quickly undress and Joining you in the shower. Quickly pulling you into a deep Kiss,

Perfection can only last for so Long.

It was wrong place at the wrong time. You were In a Church helping your friend choose a location for her wedding when a machine came Crashing into the Chapel destroying it. And the impact flung you backwards and you were pierced thru the stoumch by a pipe it slipped thru you like butter. You were pinned too the wall as you looked up seeing Lex Luther appear from the robotic machine he laughed loudly seeing you.

Superman arrived instantly you saw him just in time too loose vision from loosing so much blood. You heard him screaming No! As you drift.

Clark Dashed over too you seeing you impaled and pinned too the wall. He’s screams broke windows of the church as he fell down onto his knees realizing that you were gone. The girl who Never treated him like anything then a boy. The boy she has known her whole life. Who once learning about everything about him. Simply asked if she kissed him could she get the ability too be super strong. The girl who use too help him practice how too control who would sneak over too play with him. Who was his first kiss. The women who idea of a fun night in is. Watching a fantasy show and be bare legged and as comfy as possible. Clark felt his soul breaking seeing you. The Girl he was going too marry.have a family with.

“Opps.”

Luther said giddy seeing Clark in so much pain. Before Clark could find the strength too move. Luther dissapeared.

Clark screamed NO. You were gone..

Weeks passed with No sighting of Luther, Bruce ended up going toot he funeral, so did Diana , and Berry who you once meeting the flash instantly wanted too bet that Clark was faster. And you and him would have in debut conversations about Harry Potter. Wonder women was close with you also. You worked in a museum , and she would telly you stories a bout the greek gods. And the Amazon women. Cyborg was amazed a girl of this time. Couldn’t figure out how too do anything technical. You were as clueless as a 80 year old man trying too make a call on a smart phone.

Arther arrived toot he funeral with the others as he stood up too talk.the funeral was beauitful, and the wake was Sad. Clark’s Mom invited all the justice league too her house. Where Clark was staying since Luther has been MIA.

“when I first met that feisty women. She asked if I could really talk too whales and asked what they liked talking about. Then she told me I this insane theory of whales being fictional. Apparently that girl lived on the coast for two years. And Never saw a whale.Clark took her too my dads lighthouse and I got a few too pop up too show them off. I never seen a happier person in my life. She acted like a kid on Christmas Day .she was- something special.”

They all chuckled as Clark was silent holding his hands tightly as Diana stood up. “When I first met Y/N. she was covered head too toe in dirt and Mud. She was playing football with Clark.- She looked like the happiest girl in the world. I knew excatly at that moment she was madly in love. I remember looking like that at Steve. She asked me too help scare Clark it was- apparently her mission in life too scare him Once.-“ Diana went quite Seeing Clark was stiff. She knew excatly how he felt. Hallow inside with going thru the motion.

Bruce was about too speak when the front door opened. Seeing Y/N covered in dirt. You stood in the front entrance covered in dirt wearing the dress you were buried in. You coughed loudly as Clark Rushed over too you griping your face tightly, “how- How is this possible?”

“what the hell happened?”

Everyone looked at each other stunned as Diana heard a fast beating sound.

“Y/N? Is that you?” Clark was crying too hard too hear anything as Diana stepped over as she kneeled down pressing her ear too your stomach.

“it’s a heartbeat.”

“WHAT?” Gasping loudly as Clark was too stunned too take any of that information in. But your ears were working. “Shut up no it’s not! I- I was. In the church wasn’t I when that bastered- how- I woke up in the graveyard what the fuck! Is going on?!”

“how did you get out of the grave.. you were just Barried this morning.”

Rolling your shoulders you shook your head, “I woke up up above ground.. I wans’t- you buried me? What the Hell why!” You hit Clark as he gripped your face tightly as he spoke, “you scared the Shit outta me! How- I don’t understand you were died.”

You rolled your shoulders, “Don’t look at me! The last thing I remember was being in the church.. what- what happened?”

“you died..But I think your baby protected you.”

That’s when Clarks ears started working as he turned too wonderwomen. “Excuse me? Baby?”

“Oh Boy..’

[captaincartervalues]

"I'll Crawl Home to Her" for the fic title thing? (gotta love Hozier)

I’ll Crawl Home to Her

Kara has a pretty rough, gruesome fight that day. She took one particularly hard blow that knocked her down and the people around watched her stay down. Cameras remained fixed on the still body of Supergirl surrounded by rubble. She wouldn’t admit it to anyone, especially not Alex, but she could feel how close she was to death’s edge. She couldn’t get up. Kara was never one to give up but she’d be lying to herself if she denied a small part of her didn’t want to get up. That getting beaten down physically was pretty fitting to how she felt after getting beaten down emotionally over and over in the past 6 months. After everything she’s endured with Krypton and Lena and Crisis and Lena and Lex and Lena and Lena, Lena, Lena, she’s never felt more drained and exhausted.

But Kara didn’t get up. Alex screamed in her earpiece to get up and she didn’t. Nia yelled for Kara to get up while trying to hold her attacker off and she didn’t. Brainy told her if she didn’t get up, the villain would have a 99.98% chance of destroying National City and she didn’t. The bystanders pleaded for her to get up and she didn’t. The little girl cried for Supergirl to get up and she didn’t. There was silence and she didn’t get up. She didn’t get up. She didn’t get up. And then. She did.

And with every ounce of her strength she had left, Kara unleashed her powers and they defeated the villain to cheers from all across National City as her win was broadcasted live. But Kara didn’t hear any of the cheers or congratulations; she only heard her sigh of relief before passing out.

Kara wakes up in the Tower under sun lamps. Her wounds are fresh and she’s sore. She’s blown out her powers before but she’s never felt this weak. She tries lifting her body out of bed when she feels Alex push her back down. “You’re not going anywhere. You need rest, Kara.” Alex deadpans. Kara mumbles something Alex can’t make out as she struggles to fight against her sister. “Why are you always so stubborn?” Alex asks “Don’t make me strap you to this gurney” she teases. Kara manages to grunt out “fine” and “potstickers please” and Alex shakes her head in disbelief of her sister’s unwaivering appetite. “Nia you’re in charge while I get this loser food” Alex shouts as she leaves.

Nia is preoccupied with something on the monitor when Kara attempts to roll out of bed and ends up falling out onto the floor with a loud thud. Kara stops from the pain but also bc she’s sure Nia heard that but to her surprise Nia’s headphones are blaring rock music as she continues to type. Kara slowly but surely manages to crawl to the elevator and sneak out of the building. Nia looks back to check on Kara later and noticed she’s gone. “Shit. Alex is going fucking to kill me.” She curses to herself.

Lena walks out of the elevator onto her floor and as she gets her keys out to open her apartment, she notices a hooded figure slouched by her door. As she cautiously approaches, she notices bloodied bruises and blonde hair. “Kara?” She gasps as she kneels down quickly. Kara opens her eyes and whispers a small hi.

Lena half carries Kara into her apartment and places her on the couch.

“What are you doing here, Kara?” Lena says softly.

“I was in a fight.”

“I know”

“I almost died.”

“I know.”

“But I didn’t.”

“I know.”

“But you don’t know why.”

“Because National City needed Supergirl”

“No. Because you needed Kara.”

“What?” Lena poorly feigns mild confusion.

“I heard you, Lena.” Kara says as she looks Lena dead in the eye.

Lena stays quiet at that.

“I couldn’t get up. Everyone was yelling, telling me to get up. It was so loud and I was so tired. I couldn’t get up. Everything went quiet and I thought it was the end. But. But then I heard you. I heard you say my name. I heard you say ‘Kara.’ I heard you tell me ‘Kara, get up!’

Lena flashes back to a few hours ago when she was in her office standing in front of her flatscreen watching Kara lie motionless in the street. Tears welled in her eyes as her name crossed her lips, “Kara. Kara, get up. Get up, Kara.” Her pleas turned to anger “No! No, you don’t get to die like this. You don’t get to die thinking I hate you. You don’t get to die without me telling you! Kara! Get up!” Lena crumpled to the ground sobbing “Kara, please. Please, get up. Please.” Lena sat there crying at the floor. She couldn’t bare to watch the screen any longer. Then she heard the cheers from her tv. Lena chanced a glance up and she saw Kara standing triumphant swaying meekly on the rubble. Lena let out a sigh that rippled through her entire body. She knew she would be okay.

Lena was pulled back to the present when she felt Kara’s hand on top of hers.

“I couldn’t die without telling you either. I love you, Lena. I’m sorry that I ever made you feel like I didn’t. I love you and I’m in love with you and I will always come home to you.” Kara let out. “If you want me to.” She added.

Lena stared in shock at the woman in front of her for a beat before gently cupping her face and kissing her best friend.

Kara kissed her back as long as she could before whimpering “ow.” Lena apologized profusely. “It was worth it.” Kara said as she smiled.

Lena took care of Kara the rest of the night and texted Alex and Nia to let them know she was safe. Alex wanted to come get her but Lena insisted she had it handled. Alex acquiesced but told Lena to tell Kara she was gonna kill her once she recovered. She did and Kara groaned. “Alex is so dramatic” Kara whined. “Her? You’re the one who snuck out to come tell me something that easily could have waited until the morning, considering your state.” Lena teased. “It most certainly could not have waited! And I for one am offended you think my undying love for you was not worth the arduous journey here.” Kara retorted. “How did you get here by the way?” Lena asked. “I walked.” Kara paused. “Well it may have resembled more of a crawl at times.” They both laughed before Lena replied. “Well next time you won’t have to crawl, because I’ll already be beside you.”

[aclosetfan]

if you are still taking prompts

may i suggest

“he focused the sound of her feet walking towards him. damn, he is so fucked”

@over-under-through1 (Lol you don’t even have to request stuff btw, Id literally just write stuff for you b/c youre so nice)

I thought of a few ways I could go with your prompt, but everything was coming up either hella boring or too predictable. I can’t say I’m too happy with what I wrote, but I know you like the greens so I settled on fleshing out a scene from a never written fic about Bubbles and Boomer’s engagement, and Bubbles forcing their families to meet (against Boomer’s recommendation). The twist is that everyone already knows each other, and unsurprisingly, no one likes their bridal party counterpart. (no powers au)

For the sake of context: Butch and BC are both the kid-siblings in this story. They know each other because they go to the same high school. Butch is one strike away from being sent back to juvie, and BC has the incredible (self-imposed) pressure of living up to her amazingly successful older sisters. Prior to the blue’s engagement, none of the green’s interactions had been particularly positive b/c Butch is considered a bully and BC’s best friend (only friend) Elmer is often bullied. BC’s personality is very closed off and Butch thinks she’s creepy. (lol I could go on forever about the potential outline of this story, but this is enough for a dumb excerpt)  

 -------

Prompt: He focused on the sound of her feet walking towards him. Damn, he was so fucked.

Summary: Butch needs a hero, he’s holding out for a hero—wait no, not that one! He wants another hero; he’s holding out for literally any other hero. Buttercup would just like one night of normal jogging.

Pairings: greens (but not romantic more like the very, very beginning of a positive relationship)

Genre: friendship/action

Rating: like 18+ for language and violence; t/w: thinly veiled sexual harassment (just threats, NO action—located towards middle) My warning/rating is just precautionary. Honestly, didn’t write anything that wouldn’t be shown on TV.  

He was slammed against the fence by the scruff of his collar, and it was the first time that night that Butch thought, maybe, things weren't going to work out in his favor. "Come on, guys." He coughed, still recoiling from the punch to his gut, "Three of you, one of me? You may want to call the rest of your friends over and make it a fair fight."  

The smart and playful banter was neither appreciated nor reciprocated, as another jab connected with his stomach. He gagged, and they allowed him to drop to his knees.

 "What?" He coughed, as bile burned the back of his throat, "Skipping the dirty talk? Got somewhere better to be?"

"Do you ever sssshut up?" Snake, one of Ace's fave little goblins, growled.

"My incredible wit is half my charm, and you want me to s-s-s-sssshut up?" Butch argued back, mocking Snake's ever-present lisp. It wasn't the smartest move, but the way Snake's face contorted into something uglier, Butch believed his inability to keep his fucking mouth shut had been worth it. Snake kicked him fully to the ground and pinned him there. Face smooshed in the dirt, he cursed at them, and Snake pulled his hair, peeling his head off the pavement.

"What you sssay, kid?" He hissed.

"I said," Butch spit, "how's it feel to finally be the guy on top?"   

Snake smashed his head down hard onto the pavement, and Butch saw a wave of stars.

"Piece of sssshit!"

"Takes one to know one, right?" He groaned as his vision became less and less spotty.

"I jussst," Snake chuckled, "I jussst can't fucking wait to sssee you get taken out."

"Like murder? Or on a date, because, like, you're not my type."

That earned him a punch to the back.

"Ssshut the fuck up, man!" Snake huffed, shoving his face back into the dirt.

"Fuck thisss kid." Snake said to the other two idiots, "Billy, hold him down. I'm gonna get Ace. Tell him we found him."  

Butch tried to break away, as soon as Snake had let him go, but Big Billy, the biggest, dumbest, motherfucker that Ace probably kept around for his size and his size alone, stomped down on his back, replacing Snake, and effectively keeping Butch in his place on the concert.

"Yeah! That's right, pillow princess! Run home to daddy!" Butch barked after Snake's fleeing form, before a foot connected with his head. This time his abuser wasn't Snake or even Billy. No, this painful encounter was best accredited to Grubber. Grubber was another one of Ace's favorite minions. He was a short ugly man who, Butch swore, was suffering from some thyroid disease that made his ugly eyes bulge.

Butch couldn't tell if Grubber was dumb or smart. Butch couldn't even tell if Grubber was human. He looked more like the reanimated corpse of a dog-troll with the way he hunched and let his tongue lull out of his mouth. Regardless, the guy haunted his nightmares.

Butch let his head drop back to the ground in a daze and cried out when Billy applied more and more of his weight onto his back with a giggle. Butch was sure he'd end up snapping in half.

Mentally, he pleaded with the universe for a miracle. He had never been much of a believer in anything before. He figured when he died, he'd just die. Really nothing more to it. What he had not figured on, in all of his existential wonderings, was his death taking place in the middle of an abandoned McFatties parking lot, and frankly, he found the whole ordeal a little unfair. An abandoned McFatties parking lot was possibly one of the worst places he could think of to die in, and that was coming from him, a kid who had been forced to visit the state of Ohio once. So, mentally, he pleaded with the universe for a miracle.

"Hey!" A voice cried out, and because he was 99.9% sure he knew that voice, Butch filled with even more dread, taking back his pleas to the universe that had only happened mere seconds ago. He actually didn't need a miracle. He needed the sweet release of death.

Please. Please. The Death. Please! Not this! I don't want this! He mentally chanted, Death, death, death!

"Duuuh, hello?" Billy asked the parking lot, and Butch lifted his head a bit to get a look. When no one presented themselves, Grubber and Billy shared a look before shrugging, and they continued to bounce on his back until a brick sailed through the air and hit Grubber on his head. The shock of it caused Grubber to bite down on his tongue, and he cried out in pain.

"Grubber?" Billy asked, his voice thick with worry.

"Get off that guy!" The “mystery” voice rang out, and another brick flew through the air and hit Billy on the shoulder.

Big Billy stumbled off of him and looked around, "Who threw that!"

"Go!" The voice was closer, and Butch could hear the sound of running, "I'll call the police!"

The threat was enough for Grubber, who was still clutching his mouth. He grabbed Big Billy by the shirt, and they took off.

"We're telling!" Billy cried out like a five-year-old as another brick made contact with his back, "We're gonna tell on you!"

"Yeah! Keep running!" The "stranger’s" running came to a halt a little away from him, and yep, he 100% knew that voice. He groaned, his eyes screwing shut with pain, as he laid out on the pavement. He focused on the sound of her feet walking towards him and groaned again. Damn, he was so fucked.

"Shit are you ok—wait, Butch?" Buttercup asked, barely masking her surprise.

"Don't tell my brothers." He cracked an eye open when he felt her standing over him.  

"I could care less." She scoffed at his weak begging, "Are you dying?"

He flexed and wiggled, but besides some major bruising, he seemed to be functioning well enough.

"Like," he grimaced, "not physically."

There was a shout, and Buttercup bristled above him. "Good enough, now get up," She huffed, yanking him up and his knees locked in pain.

"I take it back." He bent over, clutching his stomach, "I take it back, I'm dying."

"They were over here, bosssss!" The Snake called from around the corner.

"Well, now's not the time." Buttercup hissed at him and threw one of his arms over her shoulder to help drag him along, "I'm really gonna need you to get your shit together."

"Give me a minute." He hissed back, gritting his teeth, as he tried to get his legs to corporate, "Internal damage doesn't just fix itself. I don't have fucking superpowers."

"Consider getting some," She huffed back as they hobbled along in the shadows, ducking into a random alleyway.

He scoffed, "What are you even doing here?"

"What are you even doing here?" She echoed as they exited the alley and took a random right. She was moving them towards a bus stop. The street lamps shone over the bus stop bench like a spotlight, and the seat sang to him like a siren. His head was still reeling from the blow Grubber had dealt, and sitting down was exactly what he needed to stop the world from spinning.

"Touché." He said after a moment. Her business was her business. His was his. He was fine keeping it that way.

They made it to the bench, and Buttercup set him down. He slumped, holding his head in his hands as she paced around, peering into the shadows that the bus stop lights couldn't reach.

"Buses aren't coming anymore." He mumbled, and she looked back over at him with a frown, "Obviously, I know that."

"Then can you stop pacing.” He demanded, “You're giving me a headache."

"I'm giving you a headache?" She scoffed, "Listen, get up. We need to get somewhere with more people."

She was right; he knew that. The street they were on was desolate. They were still too far from both the City's hustle and bustle and the neighborhood cop patrols in the outlining suburbs. This was an awesome no-man land for shitheads like Ace and Co. to hangout.

At the same time, though, it hurt to move.

"Are you suggesting we run away?" He snorted, putting on a brave face, "Not my style, cupcake."

"Don't call me that." She shot back without missing a beat, "And I'd say this is more of a tactical retreat. I can't spend the rest of the night saving your ass. There are better things to do to waste my time with."

He stood up with the full intention to say something witty and badass back, but he moved too quickly and swayed. Little black dots filled his vision, and he plopped right back down onto the bench with a grimace.

"Five more seconds," He ended up spitting out as he gripped his head in his hands.  

"Okay, for real, are you going to be okay?" Buttercup asked, kneeling in front of him, "Your head's bleeding."

He brought a hand to his forehead and tried to swallow the wince as his fingers brushed the wound. He frowned and examined the blood on his hands, "Well, that explains a few things."

She frowned back at him, "You could have a concussion. We need to get help."

"Probably not." He waved away her concern, cracking a smile, as he thought back to a particular conversation they had had in the school cafeteria not too long ago, "I've been told I've got a thick head."  

She opened her mouth to retort, but somewhere in the shadows, there was a scuffle, like the sound of a can being kicked, that made her snap her mouth shut. She stood, whipping her head in every which direction looking for something terrible to appear.

"You're gonna have to walk faster." She looked back at him, "You're too heavy to carry."

"Excuse me, ma'am, it's not very polite to comment on a person's weight."

Buttercup glared down at him, "Do you really think right now is the best time to be a smart-ass?"

"Yes, in fact, I do. It's how I cope, thanks."

"You cope with humor?" Buttercup blinked with a dry stare, "Why?"

"Well, Ms. Doom-and-Gloom, I know this may be hard for you of all people to understand, but laughter is the best medicine."

"No," She snorted, rolling her eyes, "I'm aware. I just don't get how it works for you since, you know, you're not funny."  

Butch opened his mouth to retort, but a hand shot out of the shadows and gripped Buttercup by the shoulder. She gasped in surprise, and he shot up a little straighter, ignoring his headache.

"Gotta say, Butcie-pal, I agree with the girl. I neva thought you were too funny either." Ace leered, "Who's ya pretty little friend, anyway, hmm? I don't think we've ever been introduced."

"Oh," Buttercup grimaced, shaking her head as she flicked Ace's hand from her shoulder, "no. No. Touching me won't be necessary."

"Fancy seeing you here, Ace." He gritted out through a forced smile, "A little birdy told me you got out of the joint early."

"Good behavior." Ace's face split into an equally condescending smile, "Did ya miss me, kid?"

"I've been countin' the seconds, buddy."

"Wait, Ace?" Buttercup's eyes went wide with recognition, "The Ace? From the Gang Green Gang?"

"The very same." Ace winked down at Buttercup, his sunglasses slid down his face as he checked her out, "I see my reputation proceeds me."  

Buttercup ignored Ace, and whipped back around to glare at him, "Seriously, Butch? You were fighting with the Gang Green Gang?"

He rolled his eyes, "Oh, I'm sorry, did I not get around to telling you that, Buttercup? I've been a bit preoccupied."

"Buttercup?" This time Ace froze with recognition, and jabbed a slim, long finger in Buttercup's face, "Now, hold on. I know you."

Buttercup's lips pursed as she hit his hand away, "No, no, you don't."

"Yes, yes, I do." Ace continued to wag his finger in her personal space, "You're that prissy prosecutor's sister, ain'tcha, the one who had the pleasure of locking me up for three years?"

Buttercup's eyes darted over to Butch before going back to Ace, "Can't say exactly. The City has a lot of prosecutors."

Ace's face broke back out into a smile, "Yeah, yeah. I remembers seeing you in the paper, right next to ya sista."  

Buttercup frowned, "Not ringing any bells."

"Aw, come on, don't play dumb with me. We're all friends here. Your sister, she's the one with the red hair, wears a ribbon, funky eyes. What was her name again? Tulip? Rose?" He snapped his fingers in though a few times, "Something floral."

"Blosssssom?" Snake suggested from behind.

"Ah!" Ace's smile grew, "Blossom! Yes! Thank you, Snake!" He grabbed Buttercup by the shirt and dragged her close. Practically nose to nose with her, he smirked, "Ringing any bells now?"

"Just a few." She glowered, no longer feigning cluelessness.

Ace threw his head back with a laugh, "This is the night that just keeps giving, boys! We've caught this shitbag." He jabbed a finger back at him on the bench, "And now we've got Blossom's pretty little sister to play with." He pulled her closer by the sleeve of her shirt, smashing her against his chest, "The only thing that would make this better is a beer! You drink, sweetheart?"

Butch scoffed because even though Buttercup was obviously a secret witch necromancer in her spare time, he wasn't a fucking degenerate who enjoyed watching men scaring girls, "Your issue's with me Ace, leave her out of this."

Ace threw Buttercup away, pivoted on his heels, and stalked back over, "Oh, oh, don't worry 'bout nothing Butch. I haven't forgotten about you. Sees after me and the boys get done having a little fun with your girlfriend, I'll be taking care of you."

Butch bristled in sync with Buttercup, "Oh—"

"—no—"

"—Wait!"

"Time out!" Buttercup cried, forming a 'T' with her hands, "I'm—"'

"—She's—"

"—not his—"

"—girlfriend!" They denied simultaneously.

Ace blinked, "I'm threatening both your dignities and your lives, and that's what you're choosing to focus on?"

"Yes!"

"Alright." Ace conceded, shrugging. "Say, fellas, get Butch's. . .acquaintance?" Ace asked, looking at him for confirmation.

"Eh, sure—" He conceded with a shrug, as Buttercup huffed from behind Ace, crossing her arms.

"—I wouldn't even say that."

"Yeah, okay then," Ace corrected himself, ignoring Buttercup, "Fellas, get his acquaintance nice and ready for me while I have a few words with the kid. Don't rough her up too much, though. You know how I like to work with a clean canvas."

"Ssssure thing bossss,"

"Oh, hell, no." He heard Buttercup growl, but his view of her was cut off by Ace, who pulled him up by the scruff of his collar. The adrenaline was pumping once more through his veins, so this time, standing at least didn't hurt.

"Seriously, dude, I don't think you wanna fuck with me like this." He threatened, but even he knew how empty it sounded.

"Seriously, dude," Ace mocked with a smile, "I don't think I give a fuck. Gotta admire your balls, though, kid. Takes a lot of guts to talk to me like that."

"What's your fucking deal anyway? I did what you asked for, I—"

Ace, a cheap bastard who fought dirty, kneed him hard in the groin. Butch let out a strangled gasp, and Ace laughed, letting him drop to the ground.

"It's that fucking mouth of yours." Ace answered, squatting down to get in his face. His breath smelt like cigarettes, weed, and rat piss, "Anyone ever told you it ain't becoming cussing in front of your elders all the time?" Ace reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pack. Taking a cigarette, Ace offered it up, "Want one?"

"I don't smoke." He replied curtly. It was a semi-lie. He smoked. He just wasn't an avid cigarette smoker. Considering his family, though, he did, in fact, fancy himself a professional second-hand smoker. Brick chained-smoked. Boomer was always in a perceptual state of "I'm quitting tomorrow." Mojo could typically be found puffing on some pipe or cigar. And HIM was more of a social smoker, but a smoker nonetheless, since he liked using the cigarette sticks that made him look like Audrey Hepburn too much not to smoke.  

If he died, Butch had always figured, it'd be lung cancer that took him out.

"That's smart." Ace nodded, chuckling, "It's shit for ya anyway, but what vice isn't, right?"

Butch watched Ace wearily as he searched around for his lighter. The pain in his groin had subsided into a dull ache, but he stayed on the ground. With Ace, he had to play it smart. Five against one weren't numbers in his favor, and there was Buttercup to consider, unfortunately. The little priss was probably scared shitless.

Ace flicked his lighter on a few times before it caught light and puffed his cigarette for a moment. Finally, he looked back down at Butch and exhaled a cloud of smoke in his face. It didn't bug Butch, but Ace seemed to think it was pretty funny.

"Now, kid, these manner problems you seem to be still having, I think, you know, that someones gotta teach you a thing or two. Seems like your shitbag brothers ain't doing too good a job, huh?"

"Don't talk to me about my brothers."

"Yeah?" Ace smiled, the cigarette hanging loosely from his mouth, "And whatcha gonna do, huh, do I gotta remind you about the position youse in?" Ace stood up and kicked his foot hard into Butch's gut. Again, he lost the air in his lungs.

"Fuck you." He coughed, and Ace shook his head.

"See again with the cussing." Ace sighed, "Figured since your brothers are too good for us now, that they'd do a little better by you, but I guess somethings neva change. Once a rat, always a rat, right?"

Butch opened his mouth to retort, but the commotion behind Ace caught his attention. Ace didn't seem to notice as he continued to lecture Butch on manners, respect, and a bunch of other things gang-bangers seemed to believe they automatically deserved. Through the gaps of Ace's legs, he watched as Grubber hit the ground hard.

His eyes widened as Buttercup swooped in on the fallen man, stomping down onto his back to keep him still. The taser in her left hand sparked to life as she spun around and lodged the offending weapon into Snake's neck. Snake cried out and made a swipe for her arm, but she ducked down, invading his hold. Squatting on the ground, Buttercup jabbed the taser into Snake's crotch, and the noise he made was finally enough to get Ace's attention.

"Wha—" Ace started, his sunglasses sliding down his nose in shock. Butch probably didn't look any better.

Buttercup ignored Snake's pleas for mercy and kicked his feet out from under him. He collapsed to the ground, still holding himself in his hands, and Buttercup smirked. Using her hands to launch herself into the air, she flipped away from Big Billy, who had been clambering up behind her, without a second glance. Billy’s nose was already bleeding, and based on the feral way Buttercup was taking the gang out, Butch would have placed money that a good headbutt had caused it.

Billy was too slow for Buttercup. Butch didn't have a clue where Arturo was, but if she kept bolting, he was pretty sure she had a clean and clear shot out of danger's way. To his surprise, though, Buttercup didn't run away. After landing her flip, she slid to a halt and turned back towards Billy. Squatting down low, like a sprinter, she took off back towards him at top speeds. Butch knew Buttercup was fast since she was always running everywhere like a madwoman, but he didn't think she could go that fast. She was on a high-speed collision course with Billy, a guy four times bigger than her, and it was the first time in his life that Butch had ever seen her smile like that.

Billy was ready for her, though. His arms were opened up wide as he got ready to grab her. Butch almost called out to her in warning, but instead, he watched in astonishment as she collided with Billy at a nearly perpendicular angle. She jumped slightly up before impact and threw her weight down onto Big Billy, using her shoulder to break his block and knock him off balance. The force of her momentum caused the big guy to stumble off to the side. He cried out in surprise as he tried to steady himself, but Buttercup didn't give him a chance. Like Snake, she dropped to the ground so that she could kick his unsteady feet from out underneath him. And like on Snake, it was quite effective.

Billy hit the ground with a loud crash and Buttercup stood over him, clapping the dust off her hands as she shot Ace a look.

Butch shared a bewildered look with Ace for a moment, before they both turned back to the fight.

"Billy!" Ace cried out, "Get up, you lug!"  

Billy didn't get up, but he did start crying, and Butch laughed, "Ah, come on Ace, the bigger they are, the harder they fall, right?"

Ace glowered at him and called out to both Snake and Grubber, who both, in turn, moaned from their spots on the ground.

"Arturo!" Ace shouted, "Where the fuck are you?"

"Here, boss!" Arturo cried, sprinting out of the shadows and towards Buttercup with a battle cry. He lunged for her, but Buttercup seemed unfazed as she reached into her hoodie and pulled out a can. She sprayed whatever it was into Arturo's face, and he dropped mid-lunge to the ground with a horrible cry. She sprayed his face two extra times for good measure and then pocketed the can of mace like it was as unimportant as Chapstick.

She whipped her head back around towards them and again shot Ace a death glare.

"Holy shit." Butch blinked and then let out another short laugh, looking back up at Ace, "Like damn, dude, you're so fucked."  

Ace balked, taking a few steps back. He began to root around in his pockets before pulling out a switchblade and flicking it open, "Don't take another step!"

Buttercup brushed some dirt off her jacket as she continued to advance, "What, Ace? Is the canvas not clean enough for you?"

Without his lackey's, Ace trembled with fear, "I said, not another move."

"Cute knife," Buttercup shrugged, nonplussed, as she reached back into her pocket, "Wanna see mine?"

Ace looked between the two of them, as Butch began to find his footing once more, then at his fallen minions. He dropped his hands and backed further away.

"This ain't over!" He sneered and took off running.

Buttercup pulled her hand out of her pocket, sans knife, and dropped to her knees to inspect him.

"Do you just piss everyone off for fun?" She asked, helping him up.

"Something like that," he shrugged.

Behind them, Billy began to groan as he attempted to pick himself off the ground. Buttercup's eyes went wide.

"Let's go." She hissed and pushed him into a run. She pulled him along for a moment as she ran before letting him go and taking off on her own. He tried his best to keep up, but the beating he had been put through quickly caught up with him. He slowed to a stop and watched her disappear into the distance. Taking a few deep, heavy breaths, Butch bent over and put his hands on his knees.

In. Out. Wince. In. Out. Wince.

He wanted to call out to Buttercup, but she was long gone, and, for once, he couldn't find his voice. 

What a fucking night, though, he ended up thinking to himself. 

There was nothing else that the world could throw at him that would surprise him at this point.

But right on cue, the world took him up on that because immediately after he spoke the challenge into existence, red and blue lights flashed behind him. A cop car chirped, its siren turning on and off once to get his attention. Butch slumped further down with a sigh, because of fucking course. He should have known better.

Jumped and thrown back into juvie all in one night—it was a new personal record! He couldn't wait to hear the opinions his family would have. With another heavy sigh, he threw his hands into the air and turned around to face the officer since he wasn't too particularly keen on adding "racially profiled and shot in the back" to his long list of shitty sob stories.

"Well, well." The officer stepped out of his car, but Butch couldn't see which one since the officer had neglected to turn off the headlights shining right in his face, "What do we have here?"

He kept quiet because he knew his fucking rights. The cop stalked up to him and blinded him with a flashlight. He didn't quite understand why that had been necessary given the patrol car's headlights, but cops were a different breed of stupid in this City.

"Now, if it isn't the most illustrious Butch Jojo. I've heard about you, kid."

Butch grunted back.

"Hmm, not much of a talker?" The cop asked conversationally, and Butch twitched with annoyance. He didn't get why everyone—especially adults—always wanted to do the small talk bullshit.

"That's fine. I'll get to the point—" Butch already knew he actually wouldn't, "—where are you coming from looking like that?" The cop flashed his flashlight up and down, emphasizing the tears and bloodstains on his clothes. "Are you aware of a robbery that took place on 5th tonight?"

Butch seized up, knowing exactly what the cop was implying. "That's like forty minutes from here on foot!" He protested.

"I wasn't asking for directions, son."  

"I don't know anything about a robbery on 5th." Butch spat back, and the cop's mouth curled into a sneer.

"Then, care to explain what you were running from?"

Taking a deep breath, Butch glared at the officer, "I don't have to say anything."

The cop chuckled, "Well, maybe you'll change your mind at the station."

"What!" Butch yelled, "I—"

"—Calm down, kid, I'm not playing games!"

"Wait, officer, wait! He's with me." Buttercup ran forward, reappearing from the shadows and linking their arms together. Slightly, she pulled him away from the officer and his blinding lights, "I was showing him the loop I run, and he tripped. I—I was doubling back to bring him a—uh, a bandaid?" She (poorly) lied.

"Buttercup Utonium?" The cop blinked, and she offered a strained smile.

"Hey, Officer Smith."

The officer's face contorted, and he jabbed the end of his flashlight toward Butch's face, "He's with you?"

"Uh, yeah." Buttercup shrugged, stepping slightly in front of him like a barrier, "His brother is engaged to my sister."

The officer lowered the flashlight and blinked in surprise, "Blossom's engaged? I just saw her the other day."

"Not Blossom." Buttercup shook her head, "Bubbles."

"Bubbles! Engaged?" The officer exclaimed, blowing air from his lips, "Time flies! I remember you being this tall—" He indicated a little past his knee, "—when your sister starting working for the Prosecutor."

Buttercup nodded her head, curtly, "Yep."

The officer smiled at her and reholstered his flashlight, "Well, you tell Ms. Bubbles I said congrats, ya hear me?"

"Alright, no problem." Buttercup nodded again, nudging into him, so he'd start backing away. The officer shot him a quick look before turning back to Buttercup. "And you keep this one in line, ya hear me." He told her as he wagged a finger in his direction. "It's about time you found some decent friends to hang out with." Officer Smith lectured, staring him down, before he addressed both of them, "Now, it's past curfew, you two need to head home."

Butch kept his mouth screwed shut, but Buttercup seemed to read his body language loud and clear because she threw him a nasty look before turning back to the officer.

"Sure, sorry, Officer Smith, we lost track of time." She apologized to the officer as she elbowed him into walking away, "I'll tell my sisters you said hi."  

"Goodbye, Buttercup." The officer waved as he made his way back to his patrol car. "Butch." The officer nodded at him, giving him the once over again.

 He rolled his eyes, turning away. "Fucking cops." He grunted, but when he looked over to his right, Buttercup was gone. "Hey, where—" He spun around looking for her, only to find that she was practically halfway down the block, "—Hey!"  

Ignoring how sore he was, he jogged after her. She didn't bother to look at him as he knocked into her.

"Okay, three things—" He started, as he kept in step with her, and Buttercup heaved a heavy sigh. "One, how do you three know everyone in this fucking city?"

She shrugged, "Just do."

"Two, why do you just have a taser and mace on hand?"

"Because I'm a teenage girl, and I run at night."

"Yeah, soooo…"

"Sooo," Buttercup emphasized slowly with a dry look, "sex trafficking, rape. Teenage girls always seem to be a pretty hot commodity. Recent events should have probably tipped you off to that."  

Butch stopped dead in his tracks for a moment and blinked, dumbfounded, "Oh right. Cause you're a chick. I, like, forgot about that."

"Yep." She agreed over her shoulder since she hadn't stopped to wait for him to process the obvious.

He jogged to catch up with her with a nod, "Guess that's smart then."

"Guess so." She muttered back and took a sharp left down a pathway he hadn't even known existed.

"And three," He slowed them down, rubbing the back of his neck, "uh, thanks, I guess, for back there."

"Which part?"

"All of it."

Buttercup looked past him towards where the cop car had been and then back at him with a shrug, "Don't mention it. Like, seriously, don't."

He nodded, and she turned away, going back to fast walking speed. He stumbled after her.

"So, where we going?"

"I'm going home. I don't know where you're going."

"Going home?" He repeated.

"Yep."

"But why—how! You can't just go home! Not after all that shit back there!" He speculated out loud, "Aren't you, like, pumped up?"

She sighed, "Nope. Are you going to keep following me?"

"Buttercup." He huffed, running in front of her to block her way, "dude, that shit back there was fucking badass, and I don't say that kind of shit lightly. I don't know whatever fucking voodoo god you're praying to every night, but it's working. You gotta—" he scrambled for anything his mind could come up with, "—you gotta, like, at least get something to eat with me for like, like, closure."

Buttercup stared up at him, her eyebrows pulling together, "Did…did you just ask me to hang-out?" She paused before clarifying, "With you?"  

"Uhhh…" He frowned, his own eyebrows pulling together as he mulled over his previous statement, "huh?" He shrugged, "I guess I did."

Her frown deepened, and she pushed past him, "You should probably go to the hospital. Thick head or not, it was obviously hit a lot harder than you've let on."

He snorted and turned around to catch up with her, "I think I'm serious, though."

She looked him over again, "Seriously, you're starting to freak me out. Should I call 911?"

They made it out of the alley and emerged near a little corner before Townsville blended into the surrounding Pokey Oak County. There, like a beacon in the night, was Pops, a burger joint that he liked.

"Ha!" He proclaimed, pointing towards the 24/7 diner, "Come on!" He grabbed her by the elbow and began to drag her with him.

"Hey!" She protested, digging her heels into the ground as she tried to wriggle out of his grasp, "Cut it out!"

"Listen. We're getting a burger, whether you like it or not. Brick's treat."

She stopped her struggling and a raised eyebrow, "Your brother's paying?"

He rolled his eyes with a smirk before he pulled his older brother's debit card that he had stolen earlier that night from his back pocket and waved it in the air, "Duh."

She looked back over her shoulder towards the direction of her home, then over again towards him and the burger joint, "Welllll, if he's paying," She hummed, shrugging, "sure, why the hell not."

He laughed and dropped her elbow, "Good choice, Butterfingers, let's go."

 ---------------------

 I’m sorry if you hate it—I know the pacing’s a bit off and my dialogue punctuation needs work, but it’s been a crazy few days lmao and I just wanted to get this out ☹ if it’s absolute shit let me know and I’ll try writing you something else! Also, the body slam BC used on Big Billy is a move Jammers use in roller derby to get past blockers because, hint, in this world BC is “secretly” in roller derby. ((“Secretly” because her fam and Elmer knows, but no one else.)) I just suck at action scenes so it doesn’t come across well

[sapphicmsmarvel]

SG: Livewire JR

masterlist

the first story in my livewire jr series! 

Okay so this is a marvel x dc crossover, the reader is an inhuman (as well as Leslie because you two are sisters in this) and instead of the terrigen crystals transforming the inhuman person, the electrocution and supergirls DNA helped transform Leslie. 

And you, transformed before Leslie so she hates you. You are also more powerful than her. 

(For those who never watched Agents of SHIELD, inhumans are a breed of humans who have alien DNA in them. And the powers get awakened by terrigen crystals, terrigen crystals can get attached to any person, but only inhumans survive. And they will survive as a normal person with powers or become a monster)

The reader is also related to Lincoln from AOS. Spoiler warning for those who have not watched the entirety of season 3 of AOS. 

Idk i just think this backstory is cool! And it was really freaking fun to write! This story has been in my head for (not joking) three years and i finally got to write it!! 

(also im totally rewriting the end of the livewire episode, it fits my story better😂)

You learned to be invisible. 

Being an Inhuman with a psycho power hungry family that abused you both physically and mentally as well as emotionally; you learned to hide in plain sight. 

Your brother, the only person you loved in your shithole family died. His girlfriend, Daisy, went AWOL after and then you left SHIELD.

There was nothing without Lincoln, you wanted a fresh start so you moved to National City. Fitzsimmons had tried reaching out but you told them you’d come back if they needed help but you couldn’t be around somewhere that Lincoln lived. 

Your parents told you to keep an eye on Leslie, so you went to National City and that was your version of following your parents rules. 

Once Leslie fucked up and you could send her away, you would be from your helicopter parents. 

Leslie was the loose canon that always listened to mommy and daddy. You listened and followed what they said, and you were good at it. Being evil. Lincoln….Lincoln challenged and then broke away when he was eighteen and took you with him. Showed you that being evil wasn’t okay and neither was hurting innocents. Then years and years later, Daisy taught you more good morals to have. 

She became the sister you were proud to have, she still called you sister-in-law even though Lincoln was gone and they didn’t get married. 

Your heart sank, you flipped over your phone, it had a clear case and there was a polaroid of you, Lincoln and Daisy. Gemma took it, you three were smiling cheesily. 

You looked up at National City’s version of Times Square. It was your sister’s photo.The headline read, “Radio star injured in near helicopter crash, Supergirl saves the day.” You sighed. 

Damnit. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You hated hospitals, the smell, the suffocating walls and feeling of death. You would need to take about five showers after this. 

You walked passed a cute girl in glasses with Leslie’s boss. She was blonde and had adorable blushy cheeks. They went redder when you smiled at her, and when you walked away you looked over your shoulder and caught her staring at you. You winked as you turned the corner. 

Your dating life in National City has been scarce. It was fun to flirt, it made you feel happy that somebody paid attention to you since your parents didn’t. 

That happy feeling diminished when you walked into her room. 

Leslie was gone. 

You walked around the room, the thing about having lightning as your power and in your DNA was that you could detect amounts in the air, like static. And there was a smell to you, it was metal. 

It reeked of metal and the static choked your throat. You quickly fled the room and walked as quickly as you could down the halls. Trying to follow the smell like a dog. Leslie was considered a disappointment in your family. 

The terrigen didn’t work for her, she was considered a dud. But you guess this crash awakened something. Something powerful in a horrible person.

You had work to do. 

---------------------------------------------------------

Daisy had taught you a few things about hacking. You traced her cell signal all day, random power surges in the city, her credit and debit cards. Anything.

It was late at night when she started heading towards CatCo. You raced to get there, if you didn’t, Cat was gonna die. 

You hacked into the security cameras at CatCo from your phone, Supergirl and Cat were in Cat’s office. Cat Grant was most likely the first target on Leslie’s list. Supergirl might be next, you knew that Supergirl would be hard to kill but Leslie was hellbent on hating her. 

Even sexualized her on her radio show, it was disgusting. Especially coming from another woman. 

You traveled through the electric wired through the building and popped in at the doorway of the office. But with Supergirls hearing, she heard you. She spun around, her cape following dramatically. She pushed Cat Grant behind her. Her eyes, glowing. 

“Easy, laser eyes, relax. I’m not a threat.” You held out your hands, showing you had no visible weapons, she didn’t know of what ran in your veins just yet. 

“Who are you and why are you here? Office hours are closed.” Cat said. 

“If you think I work for your office, you truly are unobservant for a boss. I would think someone of your social status would make sure she knew everyone in her building to insure your own safety.” 

“You really aren’t helping your case, as far as I’m concerned you are a threat.” Supergirl stood her ground, which wasn’t surprising to you. 

You sighed. “I’m Leslie’s sister.” You said to Supergirl. “And I want her locked up as much as you do.” 

They both stopped in their tracks and spun around, shock coloring their faces. Cat Grant walked towards you. “What? Leslie doesn’t have a sister. She never mentioned one to me and I was her mentor.” 

“Yeah, Les doesn’t enjoy the fact that we share a father so it’s not shocking that she never mentioned me.” You shrugged then stepped closer to Cat, Supergirl eyed you. “Relax, I’m here to stop Leslie.” 

“You knew about her powers?!” 

“Yeah, in fact, Supergirl, I have the same exact powers Leslie has.” You swallowed, ignoring nerves. 

“How is that possible?” Supergirl asked. 

“I’m what they call an Inhuman. Thousands of years ago aliens came to earth and mated with humans. There are thousands, possibly millions of Inhumans out there who have no idea what they are.”

“And your point?” Cat asked. 

“My point is, we aren’t well known. But, my other point was, use me to lure Leslie or something.” “Use you?” “Leslie has always had a problem with me. She was desperate for not only our parents approval but our brothers. Then, he died. She moved to National City, I followed because she’s got a lot of anger issues and sooner or later, she’d come in contact with terrigen and maybe it would work this time.” You stepped closer to Supergirl, “or some other alien component that reformed her DNA and made her a monster with anger problems.”

“Am I supposed to apologize for saving peoples lives?” Kara asked, getting in your face. 

“No, but if you would’ve let her die then my life would be a hell of a lot easier.” You hissed.

“What a sweet sentiment sissy,” you heard that bitches voice, you all spun to face the many, many TV screens on Cats wall.

“Leslie, the people you’re hurting are innocent.” You said, 

“Innocent?!” She laughed, “you’re standing with Cat Grant, she is not innocent.” 

You looked at Cat Grant, “I feel like Cat was more nurturing to you than our own mother.” You deadpanned. 

“I gave her one hug.” Cat recalled. 

“Yeah, that makes you more nurturing than our mother.” You said. 

Then Leslie let out a blast. You all flew back, you bashed into the glass wall, Supergirl went flying out the doorway and then Cat fell onto the couch. Then Leslie went for Cat. 

You pulled energy from the lightbulbs in the room, and then shot in front of Cat, putting a forcefield in front of her. “Oh my God,” Cat said, gasping at the sight of you in front of her. You heard Supergirl walk closer and then pause. 

The room was lit up in purple and blue. Leslie’s powers were blue, yours were purple. Your eyes glowed like hers. It was a terrifying sight, and you knew it.

You used your leg strength to push her back, she flew into Cat’s desk. You leaned down and gently but quickly got Cat back on her feet. You rushed towards Supergirl who was still staring at you in shock at your powers, “I told you, I wasn’t a threat to you.” 

Then Leslie threw a bolt at Supergirl, and while you knew that she could handle herself, you wouldn’t let her get hurt. Or anyone get hurt at the hands of Leslie ever again. You pushed Supergirl and Cat Grant out of the way as you shot out at Leslie. You kept the power streaming at her powerfully as she got pushed back, “negative on negative, sista.” You said, “doesn’t work out too well.” 

She screamed in agony as you pushed her further into the floor, you pushed her further into the ground, “call your friends.” You said to Supergirl. “She’s getting locked up, for good.” 

“Too much of a pussy to kill me.” Leslie choked. 

You gritted your teeth, and used your free hand to deck her. 

She fell to the floor with a thud, your knuckles throbbed as you watched blood come out of her mouth. You sighed, then used your electricity to form a net around her to hold her. 

“I called someone to come get her,” Supergirl said. “I didn’t know...her powers could do that.” She said, gesturing to the net. 

“She can’t.” You said, kicking the bottom of her boot. “I can because I’m stronger than her.” 

Supergirl nodded, “respect.” 

Cat went to the hospital (with a lot of pushing) while you guys waited for Leslie to be taken away. Your makeshift jail cell glowing as Supergirl asked you, “how’d you take her down?” 

You folded your arms, “science. Negative on negative energy never goes well.”

“And you seriously want her put away?” Her head cocked, it was adorable. She was like a cute puppy.

You nodded, “my family sucks ass.” You deadpanned, “Leslie was the worst of them, the only relative I got along with was my brother.” 

“You said he died.” 

You nodded, “he saved the freaking world and nobody knew it.” Tears rimmed your eyes, Lincoln was always a sore subject. “He’s a hero, and I promised him once that I’d take down Leslie if her powers ever happened.” You sighed, wiping away your tears. “I guess I have no purpose now,” you shrugged, chuckling to yourself out of sadness. “My parents are psychopaths, my brother is dead and my sister is locked up forever.” 

“Do you want another purpose?” She asked walking up to you as DEO people came up the elevator with tech to transport her. 

You looked at her, “yeah, I do.” 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three months later: 

Kara and you were having a platonic (to your sadness) picnic on the top of CatCo. Cat Grant knew of your abilities and your superhero name, Sparks.

In your opinion, you thought it was cheesy, but you’re starting to enjoy Cat and she has kept your secret. You had a mask on your face now when you were Sparks. So you could still walk around without having a disguise.

You also knew that Kara was Supergirl because you two worked together. She told you the second you signed on to the role of being the darker hero of National City. 

Yes, they called you ‘the night to Supergirl’s day.’ People said you were ‘the ‘evil’ version of Supergirl’. To be fair, you did have different attack methods than Kara did and you did admit that you were not as kind-hearted as Kara was. You did not believe everyone was good like she did. 

It was one of the things you loved about her. Her good soul. You were surrounded in darkness your entire life, as well as sheer evil, your parents were not kind people. 

“So,” Kara said munching on cheese. “You never told me something.” 

“Hmm?” You asked, you thought you had told Kara everything.  

“How did your brother save the world?” 

You scoffed, looking at the sunset, “there was this creature, Hive, he was a sort of virus thing I guess. I’m honestly not too sure what he was. Nothing could kill him, guns, superpowers, lethal injection, absolutely nothing. He could adapt to any planet but he needed a planet for his power.  So, Lincoln trapped him in a space shuttle, then drove them both into space and blew it up. He kept Hive from making this world into something horrible. Nobody will ever know. Our parents found out and said he was a disgrace for killing something like that. They said Hive was amazing.” You wiped your tears. 

“You never talk about your parents,” Kara said fiddling with her glasses, she did that whenever she was anxious. 

“That’s for a reason.” You said, eating the baguette with homemade pizza deep. Cooking helped you cope. 

“You can talk about it with me if you want.” She offered. 

You smiled lightly, “my parents are cruel people Kara. The thing with our lineage is that we are perceived as villains. Even at the refugee camp that my brother and I sought solace at, those people feared us because of our ancestors. They had a right to, my family did awful things. My parents raised me to be evil, Leslie is the only one who turned out how they wanted but she was messy.” You grimaced, “they said she did things sloppy, and brash. I was neat, I did what mommy and daddy said until Lincoln showed me the issues.” 

“What were the issues?” 

“Killed anyone who went against them. I thought, since I was raised that way, it was normal. Then I met a woman named Daisy, she showed me that killing willing nilly was bad-don’t look at me like that, I was raised way and I fixed my attitude when I was thirteen.” You scolded as she gave you a look. 

“My parents….they think I’ll come around, but I will never be that way again. I hated it. It always felt wrong to me, but my parents called me broken, stupid, ignorant. They’d beat me around if I didn’t hurt someone.” 

“How many have you hurt?” 

“I used words not violence, I killed two people and I still know their names, I still know how it felt. It was awful. I still think I’m a bad person, isn’t that crazy? I think I’m crazy for not being a sociopath or psychopath.” 

“It shows you have a soul.” Kara answered, “it shows you are no longer that person, that you’ve not only grown from your mistakes, but you learned from them.” 

You shuddered a breath, “I never want to kill again, I can fight to defend with no problem but I will not kill again if I don’t have to. But I will kill if someone's safety is in jeopardy, no problem.” 

Kara grabbed your hand, “you give me hope.” 

You scoffed, “I give you hope? Babygirl you need a new role model.” 

She blushed at the nickname, it made you feel better to flirt with her, but at the same time broke your heart because you were falling hard for her. You didn’t flirt with anyone. You flirted with the girl you really, really liked. 

The girl who stuck her neck out for you. Who vouched for you and gave you this amazing life. You couldn’t mess this up.

[valeriethepussycats]

Assemble

Chapter 5

Pairing- Loki x Reader x Steve (one side)

Warning- cursing 

Your thoughts and other characters are in italics.

Flashbacks are in bold

Your favorite TV show- y/tv

Your Harry potter house- y/h

After Ororo kisses Y/n’s forehead she starts running away trying to make it out of the woods so she wouldn’t be Capture by the Weapon X Program. When Ororo makes it out the woods she comes across a  small town.

What have I done I left her when they after me was

This was Ororo’s only thought.  She had to fight the impulse to run back into the woods and save her daughter. Apart of her knew that her daughter was already gone. What is the point of both of us getting taking said  a darker another part of her. Feeling conflicted about everything Ororo starts to cry.

“You should listen to yourself it would’ve been pointless if you both would have gotten caught.” Said a voice behind Ororo.

Turning around Ororo see a man in a wheelchair. “Who are you?” Ororo questioned.

“I’m Charles Xavier and when came out the store I felt  overwhelmed  sadness coming from you I wanted to make sure cyou were ok but clearly you’re not....what is the matter?” Charles asked.

“These people they were after me and now they have my daughter. They experiment on mutants..... I have to do something to find her.” Ororo explained.

“How would you do it? If you had the power to stop them you would’ve.” Charles stated.

“May you can. Can you help me save my daughter please I’ll do anything.” Ororo pleaded as she wipes her face.  

“There’s not much I can do I’m just a man in a wheelchair who want to create a world were mutant can walk outside without fear.” Charles declared.

“What about my daughter I’ll never see her again.” Ororo sobbed.

Charles lay a comforting hand on Storm’s shoulder. “You never had a daughter Ororo your here because you want to help with your Mutant abilities.” Charles lied as he planted a thought inside  Ororo’s head.

Ororo stops sobbing and looks at Charles In curiosity.

“My school is for mutants who can’t control their powers or want to be around other  people of their kind.” Charles informed Ororo. “Does that seem like a place where you want to be?”

“Yes it does sound like a place I would want to be.” Ororo said with a smile.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

On the Helicarrier Tony and Bruce are working on their monitors to find the Location of the Tesseract.

“That’s the guy my dad never shut up about? Wondering if they shouldn’t have kept him on ice.” Tony remarked.

“The guy’s not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us.” Bruce agreed with Steve.

“What he’s got is an ACME dynamite kit.”  Tony mocked. “It's gonna blow up in his face, and I'm gonna be there when it does.”

“And I'll read all about it.” Bruce replied.

“Uh-huh. Or you'll be suiting up like the rest of us.” Tony disclosed.

“Ah, see. I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed, like a nerve. It's a nightmare.” Bruce  explained.

“You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart. Tony started then points at the mini arc reactor in his chest. “This stops it. This little circle of light. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a... terrible privilege.”

“But you can control it.” Bruce pointed out.

“Because I learned how.”

“It's different.” Banner tries to read the computer screen, but Tony slides the  data aside with his finger so the two can see face-to-face.

“Hey, I've read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have  killed you.” Tony put forth.”

“So you're saying that The Hulk... the other guy... saved my life?” Bruce asked. “That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?”

“I guess we'll find out.” Tony replied.

Banner and Stark get back to work at their respective computers.

“You might not like that.”

“You just might.”

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Y/n walks into the room and uses her powers to cover up the cameras with a small little cloud she walks over to Loki so he has his back to her and waits for her to speak.

“Where is the Tesseract?”  Y/n question.

“35 minutes that’s how long it taken you to finally come in here. Loki announced. “See me you felt some thing when you first saw me like your world slow down and all you saw was me.”

How the hell does he know that .....ignore his question that’s what he wants to take the tension off of him

“Where is the Tesseract.” Y/n repeated her question.

“I don’t know where is but if you want to take a look inside my mind I wouldn’t object.” Loki said with a smirk daring wanting Y/n to do it.

Not trying to show her shock she starts to walks around Loki’s cell.

“So you don’t know where it is when you’re the one who took it.”

“Yes.” Loki said Dead serious.

“You’re a real piece of work you know that. Why did you let yourself be captured come on let’s be honest if Thor and his friends can hold their own in a fight I damn well you can.” Y/n proclaimed.

“It was a fair match I was over powered.” Loki lied.

“Bullshit. You expect me to believe that you got caught nah. You want this to happen you want to be here and I wanna know why because your prize possession ain’t here.” Y/n pointed out.

“You got me.  Something told me that you were going to be here I let myself get caught so I could finally met you in person.” Loki answered.

“Why would you do that?”  Y/n wondered.

“You are beautiful beyond measures and you’re nothing like anyone I ever met before You’re different like me.” Loki announced.

“You don’t know me.” Y/n informed sassily.

“I know everything there is to know about you Y/n L. Munroe.  I also know that you want information about what truly happened that night.” Loki commented.

“How do you know that.” Y/n questioned walking up to the glass of the cell.

“A trickster never reveals his tricks.” Loki answered with a smirk.

“Why do I feel this pull towards.....like everything inside of me is screaming to break this glass just to be close to you.” Y/n said touching the glass.

“Then why don’t you.” Loki whispered as he placed his hand where Y/n is on the glass.

“Because your the enemy. You want war.” Y/n Replied as searches Loki mind for the Tesseract.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

“What do you know of Agent Munroe?” Loki asked Clint.

“She is a powerful mutant that can control the weather and read minds.” Clint answered.

Loki calls over two Shield agents. “I want you to tell Dr. Selvig to take the Tesseract and find his opening.” Loki ordered then walks out the underground to get an eyeball.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Damn it he doesn’t know where the Tesseract is.

“I want to be a King and every King needs a Queen.” Loki breathed his words at Y/n.

I understand why eve ate that Fucking Apple

“I need to go.” Y/n rushes out the room and bumps into Thor.

“ You. Me. Talk. Now.” Y/n pulls Thor into The nearest room and close the door.

“What the hell you mean he’s here because of me?”

“I forgot you could read minds.”  Thor stated.

“It’s not like I’m doing it on purpose.” Y/n assured Thor.

“You and my brother are meant to be it’s been written in the stars of Asgard it’s a great honor.” Thor explained.

“What!?”

“My mother told me after Loki died or least we thought he did. She created a spell to find Loki a true love and it’s you.”

Is that’s why I feel the way I feel about him.

“Enough about Loki tell me about you how have you been. Have you seen Jane yet .” Y/n asked taking a sit on on the couch.

“No I haven’t I don’t think I will.” Thor answered taking a sit next to Y/n.

“Because after you leave here you have to go back home.”  Y/n expressed.

“It will be to hard.” Thor replied with a sad smile.

“I understand  it’s ok buddy.” Y/n said as she lays her head on Thor’s shoulder.

“How about you anything interesting happened after our last encounter?” Thor asked.

“I found out my mother is alive.” Y/n answered dryly.

“That’s........Amazing.” Thor proclaimed.

“She left me at the hands of people who hunt and experimented on mutants.”

“My.... apologies”

“I was five I loved her she was my world. All we had was each other. I.....I blamed myself for her death I thought if I would’ve just stayed awake or kept running....” Y/n trailed  off.

“Things would’ve ended differently.” Thor finished for Y/n.

“Ya.....what are we gonna do about Loki.” Y/n said getting up from the couch to pace back-and-forth.

“I was hoping you do something.” Thor proposed.

“I read his mind he gave the cube to Erik and told him to find an opening.”  Y/n answered.

“How did he know about your powers?” Thor questioned.

“Agent Barton told him.....Look I’m gonna go get some sleep I’m over working my brain.” Y/n said in a tired voice.

“Already.”

“I really did miss you Thor.” Y/n said with a smile.

“And I you.” Thor returned the smile.

Y/n walks out the room to her Temporary quarters Y/n lays down in her room she closes her eyes and drift off into a deep sleep.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Y/n wakes up and see she’s not in her bed she gets out of the bed and walks to the nearest window and pull back the curtains and see a city made of gold.

Asgard

Y/n smiles as she looks at every detail. Seemingly built into the rock, large structures with sweeping terraces top many of the cliffs; gleaming pyramids, statues, and columns surround Odin's palace. Another notable feature in Asgard is the-

“The Rainbow Bridge.” Y/n Announced.

“Actually it’s called The Bifrost Bridge.” Said a voice behind Y/n making turn around fast.

It’s Loki. But he looks different he doesn’t have that evil look in his eyes there soft.

“Loki.” Y/n whispered his name. “What are you doing here? What am I doing here.”

“You’re in my mind,when you saw me for the first time we became linked.” Loki explained.

“Oh.”

“Will you have breakfast with me?” Loki asked.

“Breakfast?” Y/n said with a smile.

“You must change.”

Just then two ladies comes walking in the room with to dress then they lay them on the bed and bow at Y/n.

“Don’t you think this is a little too formal. It’s just breakfast.”  Y/n stressed.

“These are Asgard customs.” Loki Informed Y/n.

“Ok I’ll be down in few minutes.”

Loki bow his head then walks out the room.

Why are they bowing at me

Y/n  walks over to the dress on the bed. The one on the left is a long and green with cross stitching on the chest. But the one on the right was long and tan light with red sugar Maple Leafs climbing from the bottom of the dress to around the neck leaving the upper chest expose. Y/n  picks up the dress and smiles.

I not really a dress girl but who could deny this one

Y/n  puts the dress on and walks over to the mirror.

Damn I look good

Y/n walks out the room not bother to fix her hair but it was already in her favorite hair style. The ladies that brought the dresses in the room walks Y/n  to the dining hall. When she gets there she see Loki waiting for her. Loki take Y/n’s hand and walks her to her sit.

“This is all so much.” Y/n  said taking a sit.

“Nonsense anything for you.” Loki said pushing Y/n’s sit in.

”Thank you...I’ve only seen Asgard from Thor’s memories but this is beautiful.” Y/n

“This is my memories.” Loki told Y/n as he takes his sit.

Y/n looks around the Grate Hall in  amazement. There’s two tables a shorter one thats the one Loki and Y/n are at then it’s the longer one where Loki has every earth breakfast food on it.  As Y/n is distracted by the architectural structure of the Castle Loki is looking at her noticing every detail of her face.

“This is really beautiful Loki.” Y/n Praised.

“Not beautiful then you.” Loki remarked.

When Y/n finally looks at Loki she see that he’s giving her the “looks” you know the see into your soul look.

“Loki, what am I doing here?” Y/n wondered.

“I want to know you better is that a crime.”  Loki answered.

“No it is not but I know there’s more to it.” Y/n disclosed.

“I want to know everything about you in exchange I’ll tell you about the night your mother disappeared.” Loki proposed.

“Ok. What do you want to know?” Y/n asked.

“Anything.” Loki breathed.

“Well I find nature relaxing, best years of my life was when I lived in New Orleans with  Gambit, November 18  is the day I control my power l just remember this overwhelming sadness that I couldn’t control.  I caused a state wide earthquake and black out even some city in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut had black outs. Think I care to much. I’m passionate about everything I do. When I’m losing control of my powers I think of my time with Gambit and it always seem to work. I think I watch y/tv  to much.  My house is y/h . You remain me of Professor Snape a good guy in disguise.

“Who’s Professor Snape is he someone important to you?” Loki asked.

“He’s important to everyone who reads Harry Potter. You see Professor Snape was portrayed to be a bad guy but he never was he was an asshole yes  but not a bad guy. He cared for Harry because he was a piece of the woman he loved.....I’m sorry I really the loved books and movies Gambit used to read them to me.” Y/n stated with a smile.

“No it’s fine you said you were passionate about everything.”  Loki said with an fond look.

Y/n  smiles and starts to eat her pancakes. As Y/n is eating some syrup gets on the corner of Y/n’s mouth. Loki looks Y/n in the eyes as he reaches over and slowly wipes the syrup away from Y/n’s mouth with his thumb. He  then puts the pad of this thumb into his mouth. Y/n is shocked by Loki sudden movement.

“You had syrup on your cheek.” Loki told Y/n

“Um....thanks....Um the view is amazing.” Y/n  gets up and walks over to the balcony needing to put space between her and Loki. But it was in vane Loki walks up behind her.

“I’ve seen something far more amazing.” Loki

“Why are you doing this are trying to put me under your spell?” Y/n wondered.

“No I would never.” Loki said serious voice.

“Then what’s going on.”  

“I just want to be here with you.”

And in that moment Y/n  knew that Loki  was serious even asked all the times he told her he was she finally believed.  Y/n turns around and smiles at Loki she ledes in and kisses him. She then starts to get flashes of Loki’s childhood and smiles into the kiss.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Steve, with all his might, slides the heavy iron door and stealthily walks in. Secure storage 10-C is a large warehouse, filled with Metal crates stacked. Steve looks up, seeing another level. He leaps up high and holds onto the catwalk railing. Steve continues to move forward.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Inside this particular van, Selvig and a few other soldiers are  driving inside a long tunnel. With the CMS device inside, Selvig carefully picks up the small cylinder shape Iridium with metal prongs and lightly places it a slot within the CMS. The CMS Accepts it and Selvig looks at it, devilishly smiling.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

After “accepting” Charles offer to be be apart of this school Ororo went on to be known as the X-Men Storm somewhat of a caretaker of the children at Charles’s school. This was every day routine for Ororo waking up teaching children taking care of them and then probably go out scouting for more mutants with Jean or Scott but this time Charles had a different approach he paired her up with Logan. Yes you heard right the mutant with an unstoppable healing power, adamantium metal claws and no-nonsense attitude and one of the most ferocious heroes in the universe.

Logan and Ororo walk into Cerebro and see Charles. “You wanted to see us Chuck?” Logan  asked.

“There’s this mutant in Manhattan with a the power that can take the potential energy stored in an object and convert it to kinetic energy thus “charging” that item with explosive results. I need you to find him he has information on a mutant that  I need to find.” Charles informed Ororo and Logan.

“What’s he’s name Professor?” Ororo asked.

“Remy LeBeau but he also goes by Gambit.” Charles answered.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Gambit is at a bar late night drowning his sorrows in whiskey. Thinking about all the choices that led to him being here at a bar in Manhattan drinking he’s life away. He missed Y/n more then anything she was his daughter.

Gambit nod at Nick then  walks over to Y/n. “I guess is the end of the road.” Gambit commented.

“Can you promise me one thing?” Y/n Asked.

“What is it?” Gambit wondered with a curious tone.

“Don’t forget about me.” Y/n said with a sad smile.

“Never in a million years.” Gambit promised in a fatherly way.

Y/n hugs Gambit like her life depended on it.

“I love you.” Y/n sniffled.

Gambit pulls back from the hug to wipe Y/n’s tears “I love you too petit.” Gambit replied.“ This isn’t goodbye you’re gonna see me.”

Gambit shakes his head not wanting to remember what he said it makes him feel like a liar. He hasn’t seen her in years apart of him wonders if she would see him would she remember him? Gambit didn’t want to think about that he didn’t want that to be a Possibility. Gambit orders and another glass of whiskey and just when the bartender hands him he’s drinking two people approach him.

“I’m in no mood to fight so whatever business you have with me can it wait.” Gambit announced.

“You Remy LeBeau?”  Logan asked.

“That depends on who’s asking.”  Gambit stated.

“Charles Xavier he wants to know what happened in Canada with you and a mutant.”Ororo explained.

“And who might you be?” Gambit questioned as he turns around and see Logan and Ororo.

“Storm.”

“Stormy. You know my real name but I don’t know your.”

“And that’s how we like bub.” Logan Chimed in.

“No it’s fine I’m Ororo Munroe.”  Ororo told Gambit.

“I figure you were.” Gambit  downs his drink then pays for it and walks out the bar with  Ororo and Logan following closely.

“You asked nice now it’s my turn.”

Gambit pulls out a deck of cards and charge them. “Looks not looking for a fight ok you want to know what happened in Canada.  A little girl woke up in a cell across from mine crying out for her ma. Experimented on her and made her into a powerful mutant. The black out that happened on November 18 her I no doubt.” Gambit explained. “If you came here thinking I know where your daughter is you are mistaken.”

“What’s he talking about?” Logan questioned.

“I don’t know? I have a daughter?”

“I would seem that the good old Professor did more then help you crop. Look I’m not mad at you because you’ve getting me something I never knew I wanted.” Gambit said walks away.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

On a Shield monitor is a photo and record of Jane Foster. Thor looks at her, remembering all the moments they had together.

“As soon as Loki took the doctor we moved Jane Foster. We've got an excellent observatory in Traunsee. She was asked to consult there very

suddenly yesterday. Handsome fee, private plane, very remote. She'll be safe.” Agent Coulson informed Thor.

“Thank you. It's no accident Loki taking Erik Selvig. I dread what he plans for him once he's done. Erik is a good man.” Thor declared.

“He talks about you a lot. You changed his life. You changed everything around here.” Agent Coulson told Thor.

“They were better as they were. We pretend on Asgard that we're more advanced, but we...we come here battling like Bilchsteim.” Thor replied.

“Like what?” Agent Coulson asked.

“Bilchsteim? You know; huge, scaly, big antlers. You don't have those?” Thor wondered.

“Don't think so.”  Agent Coulson answered.                      

“They are repulsive, and they trample everything in their path.” Thor walks over to the side of the ship and looks out the window, lamenting about what has happened and what may come. “When I first came to earth, Loki's rage  followed me here and your people paid the price. And now again. In my youth I courted war.”          

“War hasn't started yet. Nick Chimed. “You think you can make Loki tell us what the Tesseract is?

“I do not know. Loki's mind is far afield, it's not just power he craves,it's vengeance upon me. There's no pain hat would prize his need from him.” Thor explained.

“Loki is a prisoner he can’t do anything to here I won’t let it happen.” Thor proclaimed.

“Then why do I feel like he's the only person on this boat that wants to be here?” Nick questioned.

Thor doesn't answer.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

When Y/n woke up from the dream world she was both relieved and upset. Loki had her flustered and that’s what made her upset. So Y/n walked to the combat room and turns one one of the drone.

“Who would you like to fight?” The drone asked.

“Surprises me.” Y/n answered.

The combat room changes into a living room of a middle class family house.

“Not the living room scenario.” Y/n protested.

The drone takes form of Sabretooth. A feral mutant named Victor Creed, his an animalistic mutant who possesses superhuman strength, mobility and cat-like claws and teeth and  He’s also Wolverine's brother.

You got to be kidding me I fought him one time

Without warning Sabretooth throws Y/n crashing her coffe table in front of the sofa.

“Why is it always the table and never the sofa.”

Y/n kicks Sabretooth in the chest,knocking the big man into a table on the right wall, where he crashes into the  Vases and slides to the floor in a tumult of glass shards and water. Y/n springs to her feet and swings at Sabretooth, again and again, her fist whooshing through the air. Sabretooth grabs Y/n's right wrist. With no room to dodge, Y/n drives her head forward,smashing Sabretooth's face with a glorious headbutt.  As Sabretooth staggers back, Y/n picks up a broken leg from the table and points it at Sabretooth’s neck.

“You know there’s an easier way with dealing with-“Natasha turns off the simulator and the table leg disappears out of Y/n’s hand “Anger.”

“I’m Frustrated Nat. Loki knew I could read minds so he had the cube sent somewhere without him knowing.” Y/n explained.

A red glow starts to form around Y/n. Masking her worry Natasha walks over to Y/n. “You know what’s happens when that part of you takes over.”

“But what if the Phoenix taking over stops Loki and no one gets hurt?” Y/n questioned.

“Y/n there will always be collateral damage in anything that involves saving someone or saving everyone.” Natasha told Y/n.

“Your right......I’m gonna go check on Bruce and Tony in they lab.” Y/n about to walk out the room but Natasha’s voice stops her.

“I was told to find you and give you this.” Natasha hands Y/n a folded piece of paper.

“It’s your Remy LeBeau.”

“Thank you.”  

“Don’t thank me thank Director Fury.”

Y/n smiles at Natasha then walks out the combat room.

Part 6

[bibibuckleyy]

my thoughts on ‘The taking of Dispach 9-1-1′

this was SUCH a good episode from start to finish! *pulls out a slide show* Now i’ll show you breaking down every. single. scene-

jk lmao...unless?

spoilers below the cut!

lord. have. mercy.

these hoes are givin me major heist vibes

tiffany bby ur the driver but for me to acknowledge you as such you better be Letty Ortiz good hun

wow these thugs are a lot my organized than i first thought like i know they was carryin guns but i aint know they was packin this much like damn

Oceans 8 who?

so i wanna know where they just...got a cop car???

OH HELL NAH Y’ALL BEST NOT MESS WITH TERRY

I MEAN ANA MAY BE HIS SISTER

AND  SHE MAY BE MAKIN MOVES ON EDDIE 

BUT IN THIS HOUSE WE LOVE TERRY FLORES SO YOU GET YOUR GUN AWAY FROM SUNSHINE BBY

it’s kinda funny rewatching this scene when you know what’s about to go down

like i’m cacklin like ‘oh shooooot dramaaaa’

but i’m also like ‘SOMEONE GRAB JOSH AND RUN’

“temporary maintenance, happens all the time” cool cool cool 

i’m not freakin out you’re freakin out

josh and maddie are like friend goals i love their dynamic like yoooo

hi yes could you please get that gun away from terry’s head i would really appreciate it.

OMG SECURITY DUDE NOOOO

wow ur like the only line of defense in the dispatch center and they just kicked ur ass

is this where our tax dollars are goin??

fly high josh’s mug, fly high

that absolute look of fear on his face tho, still breaks my heart

josh russo defense squad post up homies

“i love you, howie” nope nope nope didn’t like it the second time either

when that gun went off

LET ME TELL YOU

i just,,,waited for the blood to start comin out of terry

thank god it wasn’t him

good scene lmaooo 9-1-1 writers i hate you all lmao lmao

“bees are the least of your troubles here, sweetheart” I HATE YOU DUDE

someone call mama grant please

“we’ve got dispatch” i do not like this ma’am i’d like to speak to the manager

“you’ll shoot us” man shut the hell up-

“no, we’ll shoot the person next you you” this dude is insane

lookin like mr.clean’s evil cousin LMAOOOOO

“you only do something like this so you can do something...worse”

um whAT-

“you’re being paranoid, she’s fine” CHIMNEY NO NO NO

i don’t think i’ve ever thrown this much popcorn at my tv in my life

as chimney said “don’t do it man” just picture a 5′5 lightskinned girl tripping over her blanket while yelling “DO IT CHIM, DO IT!” and you’ll have me

“sorry, we are experiencing a high call volume” BITCH MORE LIKE A HIGH CRIME VOLUME SOMEBODY GET MAMA GRANT DAMNIT-

*screams* BUUUUUUUUCK 

HI BBY

ooh nice shirt, i guess pink isn’t the only color that suits ya

he looks good in all the colors

whole damn snaaaaack

not to be an idiot on main but seriously, who watches the watchmen?

“i miss like an earthquake or something?” lmao chim is a whole vibe

“wait....why are you calling 9-1-1, is everything ok?” paired with that cute adorable concerned face he made is making me cry ok we don’t deserve buck T-T

“she’s at the call center, what could happen?” AT LOT ACTUALLY

OH THANK YOU JESUS IT’S ATHENA FUCKIN FINALLY 

*cries* mama grant you won’t believe the day i’ve had

“he’s my husband” LMAOOOOO WHAT

whoa tiffany we’ve already had our fair share of mail bombs here that bet’ not be what i think it is

THE PACKAGE IS VIBRATING AND BLINKING TAKE COVER-

ohhhhhhhhhh

it’s just takin out the security systems lmao 

“technical difficulties” BITCH MORE  LIKE CRIMINAL DIFFICULTIES

“i bet this woman really thinks you’re...worthwhile.” JOSH BBY DON’T LISTEN TO A WORD HE SAYS EVERYONE LOVES YOU

ahaha thanks i did not need those flashbacks it hurt enough the first time 

“a woman called about an omelet, i dispatched an officer”

“to the restaurant?”

“not exactly”

???

“i tried calling josh, but no answer” aww josh and buck are friendssssss :)

JOSH HAS BEEN ADOPTED BY THE FIREFAM PASS IT ON

:0

JOSH YOU GENIUS

YOU SMART SMART CINNAMON ROLL

MAMA GRANT IT’S TIME TO MAKE SOME MOVES

“nO NO CHIMNEY DON’T HANG UP!” i shouldn’t have laughed so hard

oh great he’s hastily grabbing his jacket. he’s about to do something rash and irresponsible

....someone call eddie.

that’s some good heist music right there

the bad guys look stressed....good.

“you’re here so i can keep an eye on you and make sure you don’t do anything foolish” BUT YOU LEFT BUCK

OK BUCK I LOVE YOU BBY

BUT YOU HAVE THIS HABIT OF TURNIN INTO SPECIAL AGENT 007 REAL FAST WHEN YOUR FRIENDS ARE IN TROUBLE MAN

LIKE

HE’S THE ‘EVERYONE BEFORE ME’ MEMBER OF THE FIREFAM

mama grant i ain’t questionin your authority or nun but like???

WHY WOULD YOU NOT KEEP AN EYE ON BUCK TOO?

HE’S THE MOST LIKELY CANDIDATE TO DO SOMETHIN STUPID

thats some reckless drivin there buckaroo

buck who were you tryna fool tho

athena only knows one golden retriever dude in this city who drives a grey and black jeep

“ok now, don’t be mad” LMAOOOOOOOO

HANDS DOWN ONE OF MY FAVE SCENES

HE KNEW HIS MOM WAS PISSED TOO LMAOOOO

athena’s look is sending meeeeee 😂😂

omg my god😭😂

“hey buck”

“...hey chim”

athena has some dumbass kids yo

the best part is, she knows it

the way mr. clean broke his neck when dude said ‘police cruiser’ LMAOOOO

“and if it’s not normal?”

“we’ll find out”

*blasts boss bitch*

i love the way buck is kinda concerned for his mom tho

and athena’s just like ‘it’s no sweat sweetie i do this every day’

“shoot her”

BITCH I HOPE THE FUCK YOU DO

YOU’LL BE A DEAD SON OF A BITCH

I’LL TELL YOU THAT

“shoot her, now”

try her bitch, see what happens to yo ass. 

the 118

the call center

the entire fandom 

we will collectively end you

“we got a report of a code 77″

THANK GOD THAT GOT ATHENA OUT OF THERE

what is a code 77 you say?

“ambush, proceed with caution”

well it sure nuff aint indecent exposure

*boss bitch keeps playing cause that was super smart for her to give out a code 77*

“maddie is smart, she can take care of herself until help gets there”

HELL YEA SHE CAN

SHE KICKED DOUG’S ASS SHE’LL KICK YOURS TOO

“they’re not gonna wanna leave behind a room full of witnesses”

i’m-i’m fine, i swear-

“killing people, your solution to every problem”

excuse me? do i hear morals??

they’re really fighting each other

they some grade a stupid right there 

there’s no way they are pullin this off

terry

terry what are you doing

TERRY

RUN TERRY RUN GO GO GO

OH SHIT

JOSHHHHHHHH

i thought they were gonna shoot terry

BUT JOSH CAME THROUGH IN THE CLUTCH

wowwwwww dispatch is a lot more badass than i thought

these dudes are hard core

OH

OH JOSH NO BBY

THAT LOOKS LIKE IT HURT

aii square tf up mr. clean we don’t hit josh here and you gon have to pay for that one

the way everyone is just quietly sobbing tho

it saddens me

“I need another thirty minutes”

i’m really enjoying watching this dude’s plan crumble around him

swat posted up aii i see yall

“we’ll try to get eyes in a damn windowless room”

well when you put it that way it sounds like this is hopeless

“i’m sorry i thought you were crazy”

“i’m sorry i wasn’t”

wow i don’t think i was supposed to laugh at that

and chim bein concerned for maddie is literally one if the best things ever y’all.

completely unrelated note, anybody else see bad boys for life?

“yeah i’m ok, my ears are just ringing a little” with the TEARS and the SNIFFLES and him SMILING THROUGH THE PAIN JOSH IS TOO PURE FOR THIS 

“why do you think we asked for so many RA units?” BITCH I KNOW YOU FUCKIN LYIN

for those of y’all that ain’t kno, RA units are rescue ambulance units

way to reassure people, lady

it’s like she said ‘everyone might be lightly shot by the time this is all over’

“so you are worried. it makes sense, cause all your friends keep dissappearing are they even in the same building?” WITH THAT LOOK OF STRAIGHT SPITE DAMN MADDIE BUCKLEY, DAMNNN

we stan the BAMF BUCKLEYS

“oh my god, LINDA??” lo key thought this was real for a second

“latex! is there latex in your gloves?” greg come on man you planned a heist you can’t be this stupid

SURPRISE! LINDA IS ALLERGIC TO BEES

ENJOY YOUR EPINEPHRINE ASSHOLE

OH

OH WOW

WOW DISPATCH

Y’ALL JUST-

WOW

EVERYONES GOT GUNS AND EVERYTHING OH MY GODDDDD

GIVE IT UP FOR DISPATCH 

you know it’s really funny, cause tiffany ain’t nowhere to be found

“next one goes in your head” OOOOOOOOOOOH SHE’S A BOSS ASS BITCH BROOO YESSSSSSS

(i know, two different songs, but ya gotta admit, it applies)

“you don’t get to die” 

i just-

hands down, most powerful line in the whole episode.

it’s an odd form of vengeance, saving the man that attacked you multiple times from the release of death

 that’s what it would’ve been tho

a release

he would’ve died, and he wouldn’t of had to pay for any of his actions

but instead, josh saved his sorry ass

so he gets to pay for this in the land of the living

the best revenge, actually

and, josh saved a life

he’s worthwhile

“i’m not goin back” well i knew mr. clean was gonna die from the beginning sooooooo

“we’ve got dispatch”  and it’s finally over

i’m kinda bummed that we didn’t get to see SEAL!buck or the rest of the firefam but we got  BAMF!dispatch and that was enough lmao

kudos to those off duty dispatches as well, like y’all just walked past the dead body and moved on from the whole hostage situation to do your already stressful job

CHIM’S FACE WHEN HE SEES MADDIE I AM SOBBING

THEY SAID MADNEY RIGHTS Y’ALL😭😭😭

this hug is everythinggggg 

lo key buck watching from afar breaks my heart ahaha

“she already has everything she needs”

....this is tea for another day, but...

buck, you do know people need you as much as you need them, right?

....right?

still not over that hug tho

ayeeee wassup bobby!

how was the camping trip i was extremely against?

oooooh i love the crime recaps!

i may or may not have been like buck in the bank episode when he said ‘i’m some confused, can you start over’

...ahem....

“wait....you didn’t round her up too?”

ok listen....

while i don’t condone stealing and and the extreme amount of violence they used,

i do condone outsmarting men that think less of you because you are a woman

you are a boss tiffany, and i’m actually kind of sad you got caught

“tiffany was the real mastermind” can i just.....

*BLASTS BOSS BITCH FROM THE ROOFTOPS CAUSE WOMEN OWNED THIS EPISODE! THEY WERE SO DAMN BADASS*

thanks 9-1-1 writers for that, btw. 

gotta admit, as much as they rip out our hearts and stomp on em, they know what they are doin

jake you shady shady bitch

ngl tho both plans were solid 

maybe if it was done completely by women it would’ve worked :)

“looks  like your trip’s been delayed...by about 5 to 15 years” athena you got the best lines yo

jake f’ed up the other plan too lmaoo

like i said, if it was all women, they would’ve pulled this off

and they end it with madney

gosh i loved this episode

So! These were my thoughts on 3x14! Let me know what you think, and hit up my ask box if you want me to post my thoughts on another episode! Later taters!

Oh yeah, if you liked this you can find my thoughts on ‘Pinned’ here!

[shannygoatgruff]

Lovecraft Country - yet another great book fucked up by being turned into a TV show!

- Rant ahead, be warned: Spoiler alert!

Bitch, I’m spitting fire, right now! So, I finally finished episode 2 of Lovecraft Country and I just need to know whose ass do I need to kick? 

Okay, so I know that if you’re going to turn a book into a movie or a TV show you have to take some creative license, but if you rewrite the whole damn thing just to put it on the screen then why not change the fucking name, slap some new shit in it and claim it to be an original project? Don’t gas me up and tell me it’s the TV show of a book I fucking love, you lying bastards, not without a disclaimer that this shit was fan-fucking-fiction!

HBO is singlehandedly doing to Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff, what Starz did to American Gods by Neil Gaiman, rewriting one of my favorite books for a piss-poor TV rendition! I’m used to everyone doing this shit with Stephen King’s work, but I won’t stand for this shit, HBO & Jordan Peele & that mark-ass J.J. Abrams (I don’t trust him)...not with this gem of a novel! I can’t sleep on that.

To start, who the fuck is Dee? Uncle George and Hippolyta have a 12-year-old SON named Horrace who writes comic books. Not a girl - but I’ll let that slide, cause girl power and all. But, what the hell do you mean that Hippolyta doesn’t travel and write for the Safe Negro Travel Guide? She has a MAJOR plotline later in the book in one of her travels! How the fuck is she supposed to do it, if this Uncle George won’t let her travel? Who the fuck was going to stop her? Not Uncle George’s bitch ass!

Then, since when is Ruby a singer? Ruby is a stuck up, goodie-two-shoes bitch, that’s about it. Who the fuck this is woman jamming on stage? And judging from what they’ve shown of her in the beginning I don’t see this Ruby taking the deal that she’s offered later in the book... 

When did Leticia get so hyper-sexualized? Leticia was a hard-working woman who had big dreams, but she wasn’t this vixen that they’ve made her out to be. Granted, she could hold her own and she didn’t take much shit, but this version? How Sway? When did Marvin (the brother) get cured of Polio? I’d really like to fucking know!

And that whole scene in the woods with the Sheriff - that’s NOT how that happened! OMG, I know what it’s like when you want to insert your vision into story canon when you’re writing fan fiction, but not on my watch HBO, you schmucks! I would leave it alone except they killed the fucking sheriff; so now he can’t come back.  

Um, Hello - Caller? Who the fuck is Christina Braithwhite? This bitch doesn’t exist! Samuel Braithwhite has a son, named CALEB BRAITHWHITE, who is the main antagonist! How you gonna write out the antagonist? And he’s a bad motherfucker! Is Caleb supposed to be Jordan Patrick Smith’s character or is he supposed to be the light-skinned butler that greets them when they get to the mansion, cause William doesn’t exist either? It would be kinda cool if Jordan was Caleb, I won’t lie, though. 

And while we’re at it, why didn’t Christina/fake Caleb tell Atticus (I don’t who the hell Tic is) tell them how to defeat Samuel? What happened to the really cool magic scene on the bridge? How & why did Leticia AND Uncle George gets shot? It was Pop that got shot, not them! And Uncle George dies? Get the fuck out of here! He plays an intricate role at the end of the book!  

OMG, HBO, Peele & Abrams you suck and you’re seriously chapping my ass here! What the fuck are you doing? It is only 2 episodes in and I’m already having a stroke on how much you have fucked up this book! At this point, just stop! Stop! Just take the wig off of Jordan and have him walk around with no shirt on and sit with Jurnee by the pool and let them give me gardening tips. That’s all the eye candy I need, not this foolishness and shenanigans that you’re doing a great piece of American literature!

I have to say the actors are making the most out of what they were given, but Jesus wept!

I might have 1 more episode in me before I completely give up on it. I need to see what they are going to do with the Winthrope story-line before I completely blow a gasket! I’m trying to stick it out to support Jordan, but they are fucking with my emotions here! I stopped watching American Gods for the same reason - they completely ruined a book a love. 

But, I will tell you this...if anyone EVER thinks about adapting Clive Barker’s The Abarat for the screen, they better run that shit by me first, or there’s gonna be smoke in the city...cause I’m fucking them up on sight! 

Thank you for joining my Ted Talk!

@xbellaxcarolinax​

[cherrincity]

Cherrin City Soundbytes Casting Call

Hi all! I’m making a new podcast and I’d love to get some voice actors in it! Tag a friend you think would be interested!

Cherrin City Soundbytes is an anthology series about the lives of people living in the world's most prominent city of superheroes. Ranging from annoyingly mundane to cosmically fantastic, these stories try to capture the reality of this world's average. What get to be mundane when a bug alien from outer space saves your life? What is moral when a laid off employee tries to drown only the financial district? Most people are just trying to get by, and this is what we get to hear. As the name implies, these episodes will mostly be short. The show focuses on the humanity of people, despite their fantastical environment. The episodes will tend to be kind of... somber, but not devoid of hope.

Cherrin City Soundbytes is a Piece of Cake Podcasting Network Production! As such, we highly encourage Black, Indigenous and Mixed voice actors, as well as other actors of colour to audition, though others may do so as long as they respect the listed identities of the characters. Again to reiterate: please audition for parts that reflect your identity. For example, if you are not South Asian, do not audition for the specifically South Asian roles. If you are not nonbinary, please do not audition for the specifically nonbinary roles. Alternatively, if a role has its gender listed as open, that means any person of any gender may audition for that role. There are 17 different roles, so please stick to the ones that fit you or can accommodate you! In addition to this, please be 18 years of age or older to audition.

For each audition, you may do up to three takes of each line. Please compile them all into a single .mp3 or .wav file. If you are accepted for this podcast, we will be doing remote recordings with mandatory synchronous table reads. Please audition with the recording space you will use if hired. These roles will be paid $40 CAD over paypal.

Content warnings for this year of production include: violence, foul language, body horror, death, kidnapping, manipulation, body dysphoria and large insects. Not all warnings apply for every role; please feel free to send an email to cherrincity@gmail.com for more information or for any other questions you may have. Auditions will be open until October 31st, 2020.

Please note that all auditions must be sent through the google form link below. Any auditions sent to the email will be invalid.  Feel free to audition for as many roles as you are able to fulfill, but please submit a new form and audio file for each role you

In summary:

17 roles open for auditions

Only audition for roles that fit your identity or can accommodate you

Be 18 years of age or older

Send us up to 3 takes per each line, all in one file

This podcast will be remotely recorded

These roles will be paid $40 CAD over paypal

Auditions open until October 31st, 2020

Please only send auditions through this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc2kVXIFTY9IOiNvRSQWvIrB8LiIrI46xFOeFtuq2sb6xBlVA/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&gxids=7628

Roles

The Cherrin University Radio Host

Gender: Written as a cis woman, but trans and nonbinary people who are comfortable with she/her pronouns may audition

Ethnicity: South Asian

Age: Late teens, early twenties

Description: The Cherrin university radio host is an anonymous young woman who feels passionately for under discussed causes. Whether or not she does anything for them outside of ranting on a late night radio show is a bit of a sore spot, but no matter the issue she takes it seriously.

Lines:

It is 2:55 am, which means that it is technically the Cherrin City day of Super Powered Individuals Remembrance. Created by the city about 4 years ago, on paper the day exists to remember every super powered individual who has died. In action, the city uses it to lionize the dead members of their private task force and coerce more people into joining it.

The problem with being perceivable is that people look at you. And when people look at you, and they keep looking at you, you start to get recognized. (long pause) That has not always been a pleasant thing, in my experience.

Solla

Gender: Written as an alien who identifies as Female, but trans and nonbinary people who are comfortable with she/her pronouns may audition

Ethnicity: Black

Age: several thousand years old, but doesn't really show it

Description: Solla is a dedicated member to the Cherrin City Starlight Watchers Squad, and is accustomed to working with her team both in bringing down extra terrestrial villains and tackling the enthusiastic and seemingly-ceaseless questions of the Cherrin City press. Polite, patient to a fault and kind of the mom of her group.

Lines:

Yes, I am Solla of the Cherrin City Starlight Watchers Squad. Yes I am an alien, and yes I know English, among several other languages. I appreciate all nice comments, but if you'd like to say something more in depth, you can email the city.

I am so sorry, but I have to go.

Henry Austin Bolte

Gender: Written as a cis man, but trans and nonbinary people comfortable with he/him pronouns may audition

Ethnicity: Open

Age: Mid twenties

Description: A gay, recently graduated costume designer trying to make it in Cherrin in the early 2000s. Also recently dumped, and kinda lonely. Very good at what he does, but uncomfortable with discussions of money.

Lines:

(sighs) Look, Vee, I don't care if this is some sex thing or whatever, I just need to know how you intend to use the suit so I can make it appropriately. You don't want some combo of kevlar and body armour if you're trying to fuck someone, right?

You did it. You're the one who did it. Oh my god.

V

Gender: Nonbinary (using he/they pronouns)

Ethnicity: Open

Age: Mid twenties

Description: An ambitious young person, also recently graduated. He's got big plans for his future and is not above manipulating other people to get what he wants. Hates being called desperate. Out of all the morally gray characters in this casting call, this person is the most 'super villain' out of all of them.

Lines:

I am not desperate. I am not a lucky, hapless fool. I am deliberate and calculating, and clever!

If you do anything to lose that respect... well. I know where to express my concerns.

Devon Milligan

Gender: Written as a cis man, but trans and nonbinary people comfortable with he/him pronouns may audition

Ethnicity: Black

Age: Mid teens to early twenties

Description: Devon is a loyal young man part of the Cherrin City East End Exemplars. He has difficulty reacting decisively to surprises and can be slightly stubborn. But he appreciates honesty.

Lines:

How does getting up at 5am help out your scheme?

So you're all about making life better for yourself and no one else?

I-SPI

Gender: Written as a cis woman, but trans and nonbinary people who are comfortable with she/her pronouns may audition

Ethnicity: Black

Age: late teens to mid twenties. Older than Devon

Description: Less a supervillain and more a regular criminal or henchwoman who happens to have very passive super powers. Skilled and clever, she only feels like opening up when she is most desperate. Extremely cynical.

Lines:

C'mon. You're a superhero, aren't you? Shouldn't you stay in top physical form in case another supervillain wants to fall into your lap?

If that's what it has to be; if that's the only choice I'm offered, then I sure as hell'll take it. Who else is gonna care for me? You?

Bernard North

Gender: Written as a cis man, but trans and nonbinary people comfortable with he/him pronouns may audition

Ethnicity: Open

Age: Early thirties

Description: Has had a small taste of power and now refuses to give it up. Has stopped caring about the feelings of others. Please note that this character has only one line.

Line:

Feel free to exhaust yourself, I-SPI. You've already proven yourself incorrigible. But it doesn't matter, now that I have you in my possession. You and I are going to go very far together.

Hannah Nathan

Gender: Written as a cis woman, but trans and nonbinary people who are comfortable with she/her pronouns may audition

Ethnicity: Open

Age: Late thirties

Description: The host of Musicity, a tv show about local musicians in Cherrin City, Hannah has worked very hard to be in this position. While she carries herself as having seen it all, she still cares about the comfort and state of her guests.

Lines:

Hello everyone! Welcome to another episode of Musiciscity! I'm your host, Hannah Nathan, and today, we here in the studio are joined by Cherrin City's very own, Alta Reyes!

Oh my god, Alta! Alta, are you alright? Can we get a doctor on set?

Alta Reyes

Gender: Written as a cis woman, but trans and nonbinary people who are comfortable with she/her pronouns may audition

Ethnicity: Latina

Age: Early twenties

Description: The lead singer of Raise The Population, she currently finds herself in the wrong body, and in the wrong world. Despite these strange circumstances, she's doing her best to get her group back home.

Lines:

Me and my band mates, we were just working at getting known and getting better at making music. We crawled our way up from being nobodies begging for views on our music video to finally, actually getting a hit song!

The further I get away from the life I knew, the harder I cling to the things I do know, even as they keep changing. This place honestly feels the closest to home so far.

Brandi

Gender: Trans woman

Ethnicity: Open

Age: Open

Description: The host of Public! This! Closure!, a new radio show about people hashing out their interpersonal problems on the airwaves. She is always very composed and attempts to be impartial. (She also really wants this show to be a success and is always on the lookout for more people to have on it.)

Lines:

Wait, you kissed her?

And it looks like that's all the show we have time for today, folks! Join us again next time, here on Cherrin City's very own c98.7 for more Public! This! Closure!

Virginia 'Gina' Jones

Gender: Written as a cis woman, but trans and nonbinary people who are comfortable with she/her pronouns may audition

Ethnicity: Open

Age: Mid twenties, early thirties

Description: She went on a lovely date with Josephine, and decided to go on, Public! This! Closure! the new radio show about people hashing out their interpersonal problems on the airwaves. She hopes this show will be able to reconnect her with Josephine and that she can find out why Josephine ghosted her after their date.

Lines:

...So you could remember the show you were watching, but not the woman you went out with?

Well, I hope you do. I mean, I don't know much about you, but even despite that, I... I want to see you again.

Josephine Georges

Gender: Written as a cis woman, but trans and nonbinary people who are comfortable with she/her pronouns may audition

Ethnicity: Black

Age: Mid twenties, early thirties

Description: Went on a nice date with Gina, but almost immediately afterward, had her whole world upended. Is currently distracted with other pressing matters, but is absolutely willing to continue dating Gina.

Lines:

I've listened to the show before. (sighs) So, who else has beef with me?

And I didn't think I would be meeting a lot of potential Sparker dates on an alien planet!

TE

Gender: Nonbinary (any pronouns, but initially presents as male)

Ethnicity: Open

Age: 15

Description: An orphaned young person looking for his place in the world. Goes on a very emotional journey, but has extremely villanous tendencies. Is very good at using his super power. Kinda lonely.

Lines:

You steal. That's what you do, isn't it? I mean, the only way anyone gets easy money is by stealing it.

I said, are you fucking kidding me? We literally live in a world where people get to call themselves whatever the hell they want, stupid shit like Resolute and Nightlight and SuperStar and you draw the line at The End?

Isabella

Gender: Written as a cis woman, but trans and nonbinary people who are comfortable with she/her pronouns may audition

Ethnicity: Open

Age: 19

Description: An orphan who lived in the same group home as TE but aged out of it. Had a good relationship with TE, sees him as a younger sibling. Is struggling to find satisfaction with her own life, in terms of her (illegal) career, her (nonexistent) love life, and her (nonexistent) social life. Also has a superpower, but it's rather weak.

Lines:

Well, it can get a little more hostile than that, but never more complicated. And you seem pretty capable with your power. We could use someone as capable as you.

Look, I've been tolerating a lot of your... you-ness because I got it, sort of. We lived together, we had the same traumatic experiences... and I care about you, I really do.

Guiltmaster

Gender: Written as a cis man, but trans and nonbinary people comfortable with he/him pronouns may audition

Ethnicity: Open

Age: Late twenties

Description: He's a villain with the power to make people feel extreme amounts of guilt and perhaps other things as well. An intelligent man who has lost interest in trying to make it in life through legal methods, but someone who never lost his deep sense of empathy for others.

Lines:

I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to help him at all. So we waited, hoping for someone to find us. But, by the time they finally found us, there was no more us.

What you feel is what you feel. It's real and worthy and you cannot make it stop by assuming that because worse things have happened, what happened to you is not valid.

Pat

Gender: Open

Ethnicity: East Asian

Age: Open

Description: Someone who is going to therapy and trying to get over their guilt. Uncomfortable opening up to others, but is also unwilling to deny strangers' questions.

Lines:

Yeah? Did you ever kill your entire family?

All of them died, because I thought they didn't care about what I cared about.

The Interviewer

Gender: Open

Ethnicity: Open

Age: Open

Description: Despite the fact that filming is all but banned in Cherrin City, this interviewer is an out-of-towner attempting to make a documentary about super powered individuals. They're hoping that a certain real estate agent will be able to provide juicy and shocking details about her super powered clientele.

Lines:

Sounds horrific.

Oh my god, Larry you would not believe the waste of time I just had.

[imdoingthismspaintadventure]

Worm 1.6 - In which we meet futuristic techno Dredd

II heard the cape arrive on his souped up motorcycle.  I didn’t want to be seen fleeing the scene of a fight, and risk being labeled one of the bad guys by yet another person, but I wasn’t about to get closer to the street either, in case Lung was feeling better.  Since there was nowhere to go, I just stayed put.  Just resting felt good.

Yeah it’s better you stay and try to explain what went down. Fleeing after all this..wouldn’t be a good look. And let’s try to stay far away from  the knocked-out fire demon while we’re at it.

If you’d asked me just a few hours ago about how I thought I would feel meeting a big name superhero, I would have used words like excited and giddy.  The reality was that I was almost too exhausted to care.

You have experienced a loooot of things just today girl. It’s not everyday you get into a life or death fight and then meet some people of dubious character, all in the span of like 20 minutes. Shame your first encounter with a bona-fide superhero is in a situation like this.

It looked as though he flew up onto the roof, but the six-foot long weapon the man held kind of jerked as he landed.  I was pretty sure I saw the tines of a grappling hook retreating back into the end of the weapon.  So this was what Armsmaster looked like in person, I thought.

Armsmaster! So...master of weapons? He seems to have a pretty badass one in one arm, which seems to have multiple uses. Good old Grappling Hooks! The way for grounded super heroes to keep up with flight-types!

The largest superhero organization in the world was the Protectorate, spanning Canada and the States, with ongoing talks about including Mexico in the deal.  It was a government sponsored league of superheroes with a base in each ‘cape city’.  That is, they had a team set up in each city with a sizable population of heroes and villains.  Brockton Bay’s team was officially ‘The Protectorate East-North-East’, and were headquartered in the floating, forcefield-shrouded island that you could see from the Boardwalk.  This guy, Armsmaster, was the guy in charge of the local team.  When the core group of the top Protectorate members from around Canada and the States assembled in that classic ‘v’ formation for the photo shoots, Armsmaster was one of the guys in the wings.  This was a guy who had his own action figures.  Poseable Armsmaster with interchangeable Halberd parts.

Wooaaah. So he’s a really big shot! Leader of the local Protectorate which seems to be this universe’s version of the Avengers/Justice League/big main hero organization. He lives in that badass flying fortess! And seems to be pretty marketable as well. Meeting him in the flesh like this in your first day, woah .

He really did look like a superhero, not like some guy in a costume.  It was an important distinction.  He wore body armor, dark blue with silver highlights, had a sharply angled v-shaped visor covering his eyes and nose.  With only the lower half of his face exposed, I could see a beard trimmed to trace the edges of his jaw.  If I had to judge, with only the lower half of his face to go by, I’d guess he was in his late twenties or early thirties.

High-tech superhero armor and professional gear! Sweet!

He’s giving me a mix of iron man and judge dredd vibes with that costume. Either way he seems to exude “veteran and skilled super” a lot.

His trademark and weapon was his Halberd, which was basically a spear with an axe head on the end, souped up with gadgets and the kind of technology you generally only saw in science fiction.  He was the kind of guy who appeared on magazine covers and did interviews on TV, so you could find almost anything about Armsmaster through various media, short of his secret identity.  I knew his weapon could cut through steel as though it was butter, that it had plasma injectors for stuff that the blade alone couldn’t cut and that he could fire off directed electromagnetic pulses to shut down forcefields and mechanical devices.

HE HAS A MASTER WEAPON WHICH CAN ACT AS ALL OF THE WEAPONS AT THE SAME TIME. THAT’S SO AWESOME

I knew he was gonna be technologically-focused, with that badass floating island and all!

A spear-axe hybrid strong enough to cut through steel, with plasma injectors and EMP blasts?? Fucking sweet.

“You gonna fight me?” He called out.

“I’m a good guy,” I said.

Stepping closer to me, he tilted his head, “You don’t look like one.”

Oof. That’s true. Miss looking-like-a-living-bug with dark colors and yellow lenses doesn’t seem very heroic at... all

Also I really like how that line was delivered for some reason. You don’t look like one

That stung, especially coming from him.  It was like Michael Jordan saying you sucked at basketball.  “That’s… not intentional,” I responded, not a little defensively, “I was more than halfway done putting the costume together when I realized it was already looking more edgy than I’d intended, and I couldn’t do anything about it by then.”

Your power is very hard to use in a kid-friendly way! You command a swarm of biting, stinging, maybe-venomous, maybe-flesh eating bugs! That grimdark look is actually apropiate

I wonder if this work will explore heroes who want to do good things but have characteristically “evil powers”. Taylor could easily be one!

There was a long pause.  Nervously, I turned my eyes from that opaque visor.  I glanced at his chest emblem, a silhouette of his visor in blue against a silver background, and was struck with the ridiculous thought that I had once owned a pair of underpants with his emblem on the front.

Pfft! Taylor your young fangirl self is adorable

Also gave me Deku flashbacks, as with the hero journals

“You’re telling the truth,” he said.  It was a definitive statement, which startled me.  I wanted to ask how he knew, but I wasn’t about to do or say anything that might change his mind. 

Lie-detector?? God his suit just has everything

I love technology based powers by the way. When a hero stacks himself up to the teeth in sweet tech it’s a sight to behold

He approached closer, looking me over as I sat there with my arms around my knees, he asked, “You need a hospital?”

“No,” I said. “Don’t think so.  I’m as surprised as you are.”

“You’re a new face,” he said.

“I haven’t even come up with a name yet.  You know how hard it is to come up with a bug-themed name that doesn’t make me sound like a supervillain or a complete dork?”

Hmm that’s true! Swarm sounds villanous, same with Plague, Sting, Hivemind, Pestilence...

Bug is probably too simple. (Insect) Queen maybe? Eh Queen is so general that it’s probably taken already. Control? Probably taken  and sounds villanous.

He chuckled, and it sounded warm, very normal, “I wouldn’t know.  I got into the game early enough that I didn’t have to worry about missing out on all of the good names.”

There was a pause in the conversation.  I suddenly felt awkward.  I don’t know why, but I admitted to him, “I almost died.”

“That’s why we have the Ward program,” he said.  There was no judgement in his tone, no pressure.  Just a statement.

Hmm, what is that? Some sort of superhero training?

I nodded, more to give a response than out of any agreement with the answer.  The Wards were the under-eighteen subdivision of the Protectorate, and Brockton Bay did have its own team of Wards, with the same naming convention as the Protectorate; The Wards East-North-East.  I had considered applying to join, but the notion of escaping the stresses of high school by flinging myself into a mess of teenage drama, adult oversight and schedules seemed self-defeating.

Oooh so it’s like the Teen Titans, and other young superhero groups! Young teenage superheroes! Nice!

Also yeah, that would probably be similar to school, and you wanted escapism with this. I don’t think you would get bullied though, but I understand your reticence.

“You get Lung?” I asked, to change the subject from the Wards.  I was pretty sure that he was obligated to try and induct new heroes into either the Protectorate or the Wards, depending on their age, to promote the whole agenda of organized heroes who are accountable for their actions, and I really didn’t want him to get on my case about joining.

He probably is obligated to ask, yeah. I suppose they don’t condone vigilantism. So changing the subject to the dragon man is probably a good idea!

“Lung was unconscious, beaten and battered when I arrived.  I pumped him full of tranquilizers to be safe and temporarily restrained him under a steel cage I welded to the sidewalk.  I’ll pick him up on my way back.”

“Good,” I said, “With him in jail, I’ll feel like I accomplished something today.  Only reason I started the fight was because I overheard him telling his men to shoot some kids.  Only realized later that he was talking about some other villains.”

Armsmaster turned to look at me.  So I told him, walking him through the fight in general, the arrival of the teenage bad guys, and their general descriptions.  Before I finished, he was pacing back and forth on the roof.

“These guys.  They knew I was coming?”

Yeeah that was a pretty epic misunderstanding there.

Also they probably knew you were coming thanks to the kinda-omniscient know-it-all in their team soooo yeah.

I nodded, once.  As much respect as I had for Armsmaster, I wasn’t in much of a mood to repeat myself.

“That explains a lot,” he said, staring off into the distance.  After a few moments, he went on to explain, “They’re slippery.  On those few occasions we do manage to get in a toe to toe fight with them, they either win, or they get away more or less unscathed, or both.  We know so little about them.  Grue and Hellhound were working on their own before they joined the group, so there’s some information there, but the other two?  They’re nonentities.  If the girl Tattletale has some way of detecting or tracking us, it would go a long way towards explaining why they’re doing as well as they are.”

Insteresting! So Regent and Tattletale are very well hidden! I imagine it must be easy for Tattletale to do so, but I still don’t know what Regent does... He’s definitely the most misterious of them all at the moment.

Heh, and he uses Hellhound for Bitch, he’s a hero so of course

It kind of surprised me to hear one of the top level heroes admitting to being anything less than perfectly on top of things.

“It’s funny,” I said, after a few moment’s thought, “They didn’t seem that hardcore.  Grue said they were kind of panicking when they heard Lung was coming after them, and they were casually joking around while the fight was going on.  Grue was making fun of Regent.”

“They said all this in front of you?” he asked.

I shrugged, “I think they thought I was helping them out.  The way Tattletale talked, I think she thought I was a bad guy too or something.”  With a touch of bitterness, I said, “Dunno, I guess it was the costume that led them to that assumption.”

“Could you have taken them in a fight?” Armsmaster asked me.

I started to shrug, and winced a little.  I was feeling a little sore in the shoulder, where I’d tumbled on the roof after being blasted by Lung’s flames.  I said, “Like you said, we don’t know a lot about them, but I think that girl with the dogs-”

“Hellhound,” Armsmaster said.

“I think she could have kicked my ass on her own, so no.  I probably couldn’t have fought them.”

Yeah they didn’t really seem evil per se, they were pretty nice to us! Maybe because they confused us for a villain...

And yeah I don’t think you could have beaten them. Of the two powers I sorta know of them, hellbeasts and kinda-omniscience beat bugs, I’m pretty sure. So yeah.

“Then count it as a good thing that they got the wrong impression,” Armsmaster said.

“I’ll try to look at it that way,” I said, struck by how he easily he was able to employ the whole ‘take a negative and turn it into a positive’ mindset I’d been trying to maintain.  I envied that.

Heroes tends to be more optimistic than most.

“That a girl,” he said, “And while we’re looking forward, we need to decide where we go from here.”

My heart sank.  I knew he was going to bring up the Wards again.

Yeaah and he’ll put you in an awkward spot again...

What do you want to do Taylor? Start as a standalone hero and then work your way up through your acts and deeds? Could you even do that and still be well-regarded by the Protectorate?

“Who gets the credit for Lung?”

Caught off guard, I looked up at him.  I started to speak, but he held up his hand.

“Hear me out.  What you’ve done tonight is spectacular.  You played a part in getting a major villain into custody.  You just need to consider the consequences.”

“Consequences,” I muttered, even as the word spectacular rang in my ears.

Oh, so he wants to talk about who gets the credit? Huh, didn’t expect that. It could be a good first step for her hero career, but it could also be dangerous to let villains know about her existence, especially if she’s going solo

“Lung has an extensive gang throughout Brockton Bay and neighboring cities.  More than that, he has two superpowered flunkies.  Oni Lee and Bakuda.”

I shook my head, “I know about Oni Lee, and Grue mentioned fighting him.  I’ve never heard of Bakuda.”

So he has two liutenants with powers! Oni Lee was mentioned before and now... Bakuda. Baku- makes me think explosions from Bakuha, so it could be explosions-based?

Seems to be a new member, anyways.

Armsmaster nodded, “Not surprising.  She’s new.  What we know about her is limited.  She made her first appearance and demonstration of her powers by way of a drawn out terrorism campaign against Cornell University.  Lung apparently recruited her and brought her to Brockton Bay after her plans were foiled by the New York Protectorate.  This is… something of a concern.”

Damn, terrorism against a University and a conforntation with the New York Protectorate? She seems to have some infamy even before joining

“What are her powers?”

“Are you aware of the Tinker classification?”

I started to shrug, but remembered my sore shoulder and nodded instead.  It was probably more polite, too.  I said, “Covers anyone with powers that give them an advanced grasp of science.  Lets them make technology years ahead of its time.  Ray guns, ice blasters, mechanized suits of armor, advanced computers.”

Oh sweet

So tinkers are the inventors, the tech-based superheroes who use futuristic technology and all kinds of high-specs gear, and that is their superpower?

Oh I love technology-based powers so much.

“Close enough,” Armsmaster said.  It struck me he would be a Tinker, if his Halberd and armor were any indication.  That, or he got his stuff from someone else.  He elaborated,  “Well, most Tinkers have a specialty or a special trick.  Something they’re particualrly good at or something that they can do, which other Tinkers can’t.  Bakuda’s specialty is bombs.”

I stared at him.  A woman with a power that let her make bombs that were technologically decades ahead of their time.  No wonder he saw it as a concern.

So Armsmaster is a tinker! Makes sense with his impossibly-amazing plasma spear-axe, lie detector and super armor. I suppose a tinker’s threat can vary a lot depending on prep time and current gear. I like them!

Super-advanced explosives? Oh boy, that sounds like potencially a fucking nightmare

“Now I want you to consider the danger involved in taking the credit for Lung’s capture.  Without a doubt, Oni Lee and Bakuda will be looking to accomplish two goals.  Freeing their boss and getting vengeance on the one responsible.  I suspect you’re now aware… these are scary people.  Scarier in some ways than their boss.”

“You’re saying I shouldn’t take the credit,” I said.

“I’m saying you have two options.  Option one is to join the Wards, where you’ll have support and protection in the event of an altercation.  Option two is to keep your head down.  Don’t take the credit.  Fly under the radar.”

Yeah I could see how Taylor could become the target of these two underlings, which would probably be more than she can handle.

So Armsmaster is offering her the possibilities of

a) Joining the teenage super-squad and take the credit for Lung or

b)Keep going solo but maintain your involvment in this a secret

I wasn’t prepared to make a decision like that.  Usually, I went to sleep at eleven or so, waking up at six thirty to get ready for my morning run.  At my best guess, it was somewhere between one and two in the morning.  I was emotionally exhausted from the highs and lows of the evening, and I could barely wrap my head around the complications and headaches that would come from joining the Wards, let alone having two insanely dangerous sociopaths coming after me. 

Aand one of those options is already giving Taylor a headache

On top of that, I wasn’t so ignorant as to miss Armsmaster’s motives. If I opted to not take the credit for Lung’s capture, Armsmaster would, I was sure.  I didn’t want to get on the bad side of a major player.

....True, politics could be at play here

Athough I don’t know if Taylor has just a bad view of power structures in general, considering she thought that autobiographical book she read was probably all propaganda

...Which could be true, and the whole system could be corrupt at least a little, and Armsmaster is offering her two options where he hopes he gets the credit and the glory

“Please keep my involvement in Lung’s capture secret,” I told him, painfully disappointed to have to say it, even as I knew it made the most sense.

He smiled, which I hadn’t expected.  He had a nice smile.  It made me think that he could win the hearts of a lot of women, whatever the top two-thirds of his face looked like.  “I think you’ll look back and see this was a smart decision,” Armsmaster said, turning to walk to the other end of the roof, “Call me at the PHQ if you’re ever in a pinch.” He stepped off the edge of the roof and dropped out of sight.

He seems very pleased at her decision, which reinforces my belief that he did want to get the credit after all. Or he’s happy she doesn’t get in trouble. Or both.

Armsmaster seems like an ok guy, probably a little vain, or glory-seeking, but in a way, all superheroes are a bit like that. I have defintely seen much worse examples.

You get a thumbs-up, cool plasma-spear man

Call me if you’re ever in a pinch.  He’d been saying, without openly admitting, that he owed me one.  He would take the lion’s share of the credit for Lung’s capture, but he owed me one.

Before I was all the way down the fire escape, I heard the thrum of his motorcycle, presumably carrying Lung towards a life of confinement. I could hope.

Oh true! Nice, you can call in a favour of a team leader of the superhero mega-alliance! Good start to your superhero career, Taylor!

And he just took away Lung so it seems she was indeed the push the situation needed to get him into custody! Yes!

It would take me a half hour to get home.  On the way, I would stop and pull on the sweatshirt and jeans I had hidden.  I knew my dad went to sleep even earlier than I did, and he slept like a log, so I had nothing to worry about as far as wrapping up the night.

It could have gone worse.  Strange as it sounds, those words were a security blanket I wrapped around myself to keep myself from dwelling on the fact that tomorrow was a school day.

It could have gone worse is a good mentality to have!

Let’s hope the three bitches aren’t too insufferable tomorrow.

[mockky]

A sad story how Russo bros reminded us about the crappy world we live in

Disclaimer (kinda). Preventing the arguments like “read the comic-book to understand the movie”. First of all I've never read the comics and never will. I shouldn't do that to watch a movie. It's the director's job to tell me a story. It can be changed a bit, but it still has to have a logic. This is author's priority.

I guess there's no need to run through the movie again and get to details, it's too many of them. Just a few big ones. Firstly, the time travel idea is pretty lame by itself. Every time-travel-movie does the same mistakes – PARADOXES, no one managed to escape it. So if you can solve your problem only by time travel – please don't do the movie, this job is not for you.

It's like the creators don't know the rules of their own universe. Nebula translates her thoughts to Past-Nebula, they're connected somehow even being far from each other, killing Past-Nebula literally doesn't do anything. How does it work? All this plan just fucked up the previous movies. And then some random rat actually saves the universe? Seriously? I don't know but I think it’s called “lazy writing”.

OK, there's no movie without a sin. But what's really important is the screwed up characters. No one did or got anything what one was supposed to.

Loki. His extremely stupid, reckless and suicidal lunge actually was extremely stupid, reckless and suicidal. The God of Guile threw himself with a toothpick against titan and dropped dead. Bravo!

Thor. I never really was a fan of him. But this is officially the worst comic-relief ever. Why he should be like some sort of that whiny drunk dumbass, especially after him being so cool and strong in Infinity war? Gods saved us from fart-jokes and slow-mo-food-fight. Thor lost his parents, lost his brother and Asgard. He's broken and crushed, and Marvel just points finger at him and laughs. Very mature.

Doctor Strange showed up to show us a very important finger.

Captain Marvel is a whole new level of pain in the ass. Skip the Boring-IMBP-part. Though it's hard to forget how they just shoved her in fan's throats, and expected them to have the same empathy for her as for Tony or Cap. But we know them for 10 damn years! The biggest problem that she's not a person, she is God ex machine with magic GPS in her head, invincible, strong-independent-woman and all. With that cockish face of hers, kicked Thanos's ass, but when it comes to the gauntlet, it's up to Hulk and Tony. What da hell? All that power, it's the only thing she could help with. And don't give me that "it's a big universe, not only you've got problems" crap. Thanos's snap affected THE WHOLE universe. Isn't he the main threat here and now?

And what really pissed me of is the ending and the way it fucked up the most interesting and deep part of it all – Steve and Bucky.

Allow me to remind you few points.

CATFA

We see Steve as this tiny subtle guy with heart of gold and strong will, he is hero inside. I can do this all day. He wanted to go to war, he took the serum, he's like walking embodiment of self-sacrifice and heroism. But he became “the chorus girl”, this empty symbol, a fake. Actual soldiers don't believe and don't respect him, cuz he’s never been in real fight. He does not respect himself anymore. But when his friend got in danger in the blink of an eye Steve transforms into this Rambo, alone against the world, flipped like a switch. He dashed headlong to the enemy's base just for tiny possibility his friend might be alive. At that very moment Steve becomes what he meant to be – the real Captain America.

CATWS

Steve managed to get through 70 years of brainwashing with only one phrase, and refused to fight Winter soldier hoping that there was still Bucky somewhere. The entire movie revolves around two of them.

CATCW

Some fans said that Cap and Tony should switch sides on this one, but it doesn't feel right for me. Cap's got a point. What if there's somewhere we need to go, and they don't let us. Obviously it is CATFA reference, where he goes against orders to save Bucky. And he's afraid cuz he knows that it could cost lives. And now he's running around the city protecting Bucky from the government and T'Chala. He fights Tony, bloodily, everything to protect Bucky.

What a lovely deep drama! It's a comic-book story here we’re talking about. I bet in CATFA no one really noticed sweet little Bucky. But the Winter soldier just stole the movie and fan's hearts. Steve and Bucky have this strong almost cosmic bonds, it's stronger than brotherhood or friendship, it was so since 40s. After all this freezing thing they became totally unique for each other. You can smash vibranium shield with that bonds (which Cap actually does symbolically when gives up the shield TWICE, both times for Bucky). It's unbelievable that after all he did for Bucky Cap could ditch Bucky for anyone or anything. Creators teased the fans and encouraged that bromance. It was openly a queer-baiting, it was a canon, and you can't stop the shippers.

Three movies were built up on this relationship. It was work of art if you ask me – so many details, so much depth, and the amaizing acting, I mean you can watch it over and over, and every time you find something new in their eyes or words. And they not just talk, they actually do anything to proof their devotion to each other. It's absolutely beautiful. And it's Bucky who made Steve interesting and alive as a movie character and a real hero as a person.

And what we get in the end? Bucky turned into dust in front of Steve, but on the group meeting Steve talks about... Peggy? Where did it come from? He doesn't mention Bucky the whole movie. Steve goes to return the Infinity stones and comes back an old man. For us, for Bucky, it was 5 sec, but for Steve it was 70+ years. He left Bucky and lived 70+ years without him. Besides he never said Bucky about his plan (or just desire or whatever), didn't say a proper goodbye, didn't consider it as a betrayal. He just decided to live for himself. By the way Bucky reacted as if it was a big surprise for him and even bigger disappointment. He was anxious during that scene when Steve suddenly didn't show up on the platform. And if you wanna say “Bucky knew it was gonna happen and was happy for his friend” then it's the great time to keep your mouth shut. He obviously wasn't happy with it, and he didn't know. Post-movie interviews don’t count! Don’t tell me that it was off-screen. It’s a MOVIE! If something is important – it’s on the screen and it becomes a canon. Stupid scene in a cafe with selfie and kids IS on the screen, apparently it’s important af and it’s a canon. Fat greasy-haired Thor yells at some gamer in chat – that’s VERY important and it’s a canon. But a talk between best friends when one of them decided to leave the other for good and go to the past doesn’t deserve screen time. Are you sure you set your priorities right? By the way Sebastian asked Russo about this. He thought there would be some dialogue between Steve and Bucky, but director said No, you already had that conversation.

No wonder Bucky didn't approach to Steve and only looked from distance. What can you possibly say to the man who claimed himself your best friend and then easily abandoned you just like that, lived without you for 70+ years and apparently was OK with it.

Steve just goes to Peggy. Because that's how it must be, that's natural, that's happiness. This cliché stuck so deep in the people minds, so they can't see anything behind it. I'm sure that not so many people knows what it actually means, but they believe that it's the right thing.

I might blow few minds now. Here it goes – the closest person is the one who shares with you your life experience, not the bed. NO WAY! I'm not saying than your partner can't be your friend. Spouses are not always the closest friends and the closest friends are not always spouses. You just can't screw up all Steve's emotional baggage that related to Bucky just for Peggy, which was in Steve's life, what, like 15 minutes? Steve knows Bucky since childhood, they were best friends, they supported each other, lived together, protected and saved each other many times. They share the same fate (war, serum, man out of time), there's no one who can be closer. “He loves her so much!” arguments can't erase too much of a history. It just doesn't work that way! You can't exchange one for another. A loved one can't replace your best friend, cuz of damn emotional baggage! You can have both, you can have none, but you can't trade it!

And what about Peggy? CATFA-Peggy was not a good person actually. She's whimsical and eccentric damsel. For example she shoots 1) at the experimental read not properly tested shield 2) with a chance to kill someone by ricochet 3) in enclosed space without ears protection for her or everyone else; she punches a soldier for an inappropriate commentary. And the scene in the bar shows Peggy as a simply impolite person – she ignores the soldier who just got back from captivity, it's very rude, especially when Bucky was polite with her. And on top of this I think she picked interest in Steve only after the serum. I bet Pre-serum-Steve was friendzoned for the rest of his life.

In TV-series though she appears to have a strong personality. She is an interesting character and not just love interest for Steve. She founded the S.H.I.E.L.D., had a happy fulfilled life. She let Steve go. And when she died, Steve let her go. I don't believe for a one second she is the love of his life. Staring at the photo is NOT a depiction of love. Not in my book. It's just a woman Steve once kissed.

So what went wrong? They made such a great Steve's character development, they put so much in his relationship with Bucky. Countless details, shades and layers. Every scene, every dialogue. An all of it just... puff... vanished.

Actually it wasn't so sudden as it seems. First signs of it appeared in Civil war. Did you noticed how the creators put the distance between Bucky and Steve? It's like “Hey guys! You know this whole story gets kinda pansy. We stand for cliché, for heteronormativity and happy ends! Every man got a girl! You can't have best friend, not the same sex, only hetero! So quit with the hugs end eye-fucking, more masculinity! Sebastian, you must get as thick as you can, so nobody could say you're gay. And Steve's gonna make out with a girl, just to be safe”. And this kissing scene is the most awkward I've ever seen. This weird kiss out of the blue, the fact that Sam and Bucky are watching (BTW how often do you stare at your friends kissing? Please, share at the comment section). Even actors call this scene awkward and weird, they basically hate it. And in fact that this scene wasn't it the script, it was added much later.

Then the forced friendship between Bucky and Sam. Moreover, they tried to replace Steve'n'Bucky's friendship with it. Sam rather has a chemistry with Steve, not Bucky. And the way Mackie and Stan here and there together on comic-cons where Mackie acts like he's Stan's BBF and Stan's just embarrassed. This whole all of a sudden friendship thing feels so unnatural and stretched. It's not like I don't wanna Bucky has friends and all, adaptation and stuff, But it doesn't mean Bucky doesn't need Steve, no one can replace him. And it all was only to make their friendship NO HOMO. But the way I see it, there wasn't anything gay about them (BTW I'm not a shipper and not homophobic), just some people have dead opossum's emotional range. In their head the man wants either bang you or kill you, nothing in between. I'm sure nobody took seriously the idea that they make them gay, or that they look like gay. It's just bromance. But noooooooo. They must've done this to them, cuz Happily ever after.

Eventually we got what we got. In Endgame Steve and Bucky are barely shares the screen together, even if they actually next to each other, they don't hug, don't talk, don't even look. Even after Bucky got back from the dust. It's like they never cared for each other.

Steve considered Bucky recovered after being tortured and brainwashed for 70 (it still blows my mind how long it is!) years, he's OK. No one said he's OK though, even Bucky himself. He's still the same wrecked man lost in time and his own head with tremendous weight of guilt and torn apart personality. It's not the same Bucky from 40es, and he never will be. Steve’s the only one who could break through to him, for Bucky Steve is like the ground he stands, the only guide light in this chaos that left of his life. According to Stan – Steve is the only thing that keeps Bucky alive. Well, Bucky, sorry pal, gun or rope?

Steve is an asshole. He thinks he's so special and good enough to rewrite Peggy's life (which was good for Peggy without Steve) just because he wants it. Abandons Bucky, who has nothing but Steve, abandons the world he fought for and called his home, and the friends called family. All this for the woman, who was almost nothing to him especially compared with Bucky and the others. All the things Peggy said in a hospital, all the character development and his words about the man died in the ice, new home and new family – all of it was fucked up, buried under that shit. You need to move on. Until you get a time machine. Then you can go back. So what is it? Maybe Steve never was a hero and hence he doesn't deserve our respect. Or, what is the most likely, creators think we are idiots.

Steve gives the shield to Sam. And I wouldn't mind. Why not. This job definitely is not for Bucky. He's tired, he's semi-stable 100 years old man, he had enough of war for two lifetimes. It's too much for him, it would be cruel for Bucky. Symbolism is a cool thing, but life doesn't work that way. Pep-talks don't heal. Get real, OK? Sam is a new Cap, fine, it's logical. But it's always about the How, not What.

From the moment Bucky sees the old man on the bench til the end of the movie Bucky didn't even think about to approach Steve, he sent Sam instead. They didn't talk, Steve didn't even look at him. This entire scene Bucky has this endless sadness in his eyes. There's a glimpse of a smile when he looks at Sam, but in the moment it's gone. And then it's pain and sorrow on his face again. I don't really see happy Bucky. 

Just look at his eyes and tell me you look the same when you’re happy

And actually Steve doesn't sparkle with joy either. He kinda lived his “happy life”, but there's no sign of it, especially that he refused to talk about her. 

But it's confirmed information – Peggy's mysterious husband IS Steve Rogers.In the end Bucky got this last slap on his face. Bucky asked himself if he worth all of it. NO. No, Bucky, fuck you.

I find it funny (seriously I don't) that it's the same directors and screenwriters, who did Winter soldier and Civil war. How could they screw it up? One might say “Cuz there's TV-series Falcon and Winter soldier coming, it needs to be this way”.

A few little ideas for ending that wouldn't do any harm.

Behold!

1.  If they want Steve out of it, why don't kill him? Canonic, right?

1.1 In final battle Steve is dying. He tried to shield Bucky and dying on his arms. He can give the shield to Bucky, so his broken and lost friend could have purpose in life that helps him to move on. Or he can just die and Bucky takes the shield as something in memory of Steve. And then Bucky gives the shield to Sam, like saying “I've lost it all, I've lost my friend, but you're a good guy and maybe we can become friends sometime”. If it happened like this I could in time accept Sam as a new Cap and Bucky's friend.

1.2 Or perhaps Steve, still dying, gives the shield to Sam.

2. This one is not so good idea, but OK. Steve goes to the past, his a douche. But if you want a TV-series he can’t take Bucky with him. And it's still the same – Steve gives the shield, doesn't matter who would it be (pick anyone you like). But Steve can’t leave without saying goodbye.

Oh my god! It's two of it and we still got the TV show! Fascinating! And there is more of it.

3. Oh that's the good one. The one with the Steve we know and love. Steve stays. Steve goes to the past to return the infinity stones. Steve could allow himself just a moment to be selfish and have that dance with Peggy, or stay for not so long, a year maybe. And then he must go back, knowing that there are people who need him more, than Peggy. Of course if Steve is young, fit and tight, he won't retire. But Sam and Bucky are still with us, they're cool enough to have a TV-show.      

4. And what if like this? Shuri did the research to find a way to clear Bucky's head from the Hydra's code. What if she did? Or what if with Hydra's code some memories are gone too? Maybe Bucky could be an antagonist.

And just for me. We don't care about the money, and give Steve and Bucky the final they deserve.

1. Bucky and Steve dying fighting together. The most obvious and sad final. Till the end of the line

2. Bucky dies. It's tragic for Steve and he could say “I've lost it all”, and goes to Peggy. A little OOC, but not so bad.

3. What if we go back to that brain-cleaning option? Steve dies, but Bucky's so broken he can't stand it, and he goes to Shuri so she could wipe up his memory. Tragically and symbolically, cuz first time he was forced to forget Steve's alive, and now he does it voluntarily to forget Steve's dead.

I'm not a screenwriter, and my head's not crowded with ideas. But this is still better than what we've got in the Endgame. I could step on my own throat and accept the Endgame only if Bucky says that Steve is a traitor and he hates him. I'm not saying that Steve doesn't deserve this dance or happy ending. He does. Everybody Does. Everybody've suffered enough. But Steve doesn't deserve to become such an asshole. Bucky doesn't deserve to be forsaken in such a way. 

Honestly, I don't care about forced bromance with Sam, or Sharon, even love interest for Bucky (it would be kinda specific I guess). They could do anything, but they can't throw away Bucky and Steve. These characters are alive, their world is real. Sometimes happy ending is impossible. And if you force it, you can ruin everything. And this is what they actually did.

And it just bugs me – why, why did they do this? Maybe it's too much pressure and they screwed up. Or maybe it's Big studio' bosses. You know maybe if they just shut up about it.. time heals you know. But it gets worse. On the interview directors says one thing and screenwriters say the other, they all can't string sentense together. And only Bucky's face speaks for himself. I mean did you see this fresh Sebastian's panel at London comic-con? I’ll show you few moments, but you've got to watch the whole thing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=-KQpzG49exM). When he asks the audience did they like the movie, many people say “No!”, when he approves the final of Endgame one shout “Liar!”. Look at the body language. You'll see how he sincerely and emotionally talks about anything.  As soon as it comes to Endgame, he is immediately clamped, his leg begins to twitch.

The previous question was that he was interested in - what kind of heroes he wants to play. Therefore, he sits on the edge of the couch, leaning over to the public. The next question about the final and Steve going to Peggy. He immediately moves and leans back, he covers his belly with hand. The question is unpleasant to him.

Then the speech becomes confused, although before that it flowed freely, he literally gasps as if he doesn't know what to say, his micro-mimic denies his words.

He says he agrees with the final, Bucky is happy, Steve deserves it. But his body screams just the opposite - a sharp wave of his hand and chin say "no"

And this is the worst one. On the words “He (Bucky) was happy,” his whole pose just screams “NO!”. This insincere smile, this tilt of the head and a slight denying swaying. All this says more than any words

It's so obvious that he so tired of it. I bet that under the contract, he has no right to scold the movie and must promote the policy of the studio. But when he said that “Bucky was happy for Steve” .... This is the most forced smile I've ever seen. This is the most unconvincing lie in my memory. You can see just right through it, it's like an open book. But he has to do it, because crossing with the Big Studio Boss when your career just went uphill is not the best idea. The truth is important, but the dream is too. He started the career since the age of 15, which is quite long, considering this is not such a brilliant career, but he definitely worked so hard for it. So he caught between the hammer and an anvil now. On the one hand, acting career is the only thing for him, on the other hand studio bosses who can bury the dream, and on top of it the fans who are looking for his support. So "Steve is happy, Bucky is happy, awesome film, kill me, please!". By the way where is his best buddy Mackie? Why Seb's cleaning this mess all by himself? Seeing him like this just breaks my heart

And I honestly do not understand the people who liked it. How can you not see all this?? And there are those who claim that we didn’t like Endgame because we didn’t see any movies at all and didn’t read comic-books. There are Stucky fans who liked Endgame. Are the clichés so strong that people just don’t see all this... The story of Bucky and Steve was way too deep. Bucky is too tragic and well-developed character for a superhero comic-book story. All this deserved so much more. And the creators simply could not finish the job; mass cinema is simple and flat and it's made that way on purpose. They pull the most primitive triggers, so that people do not have to think. The most simple patterns help to reach more people. In other words, they are doing everything to raise more money. And it works. Thus we’ll get more of it in the future. No doubt about that.

For me, Endgame marked the victory of the corporate moneymaking machine over creativity. And the box office speaks for itself. It's an awful world to live in...

[bellarkefanfiction]

Let Your Heart Be Right 

2 Sleeps until Christmas ❄

written by: Josefine / @selflessbellamy

summary: Two people who have a one night stand are snowed-in and have to spend Christmas Eve together.

word count: 2231

Though Clarke hasn’t had the most colorful sex life, she’s fairly certain that it’s not common to have hot chocolate before a one night stand — Nevermind the fact that there was a bit of alcohol in the beverage; it’s still weird, but in a good kind of way. The stranger’s dark eyes had a dreamy look to them, which drew her in faster than she anticipated. For some reason, she’d been set on playing hard to get, tease him a little bit before taking him home, yet that’s not how the night turned out. And now, he — Bellamy, she recalls — is lying next to her in bed, sleeping soundly on his stomach, which would’ve been an unsettling sight if she didn’t remember telling him to stay last night.

Not because she would’ve been lonely otherwise. Bellamy, she discovered, is actually great fucking company. He made her laugh out loud with weird, sarcastic jokes that were right up her alley and at some point she just had to know if the chemistry that she was feeling between them would intensify in bed.

Spoiler alert: it did.

After a couple of minutes, being the only one awake becomes a little boring, so she pokes his foot with hers, causing him to grunt. “Jesus, your feet are like blocks of ice. Put some fuzzy socks on them, dammit,” but she only chuckles.

Then he slowly opens his eyes, his long eyelashes fluttering a bit. When a warm smile grows on his lips, she feels heat rise to her cheeks without warning. “Thanks for last night, Princess… Hope you had fun.”

Clarke laughs and dares to run her hand up his spine. “Don’t worry, you know I did. Do you want breakfast before you leave? Coffee? Oh my God, we need coffee.”

At that, his eyes crinkle at the corners. “I thought you told me last night that you can’t cook?”

She huffs. “It’s microwavable oatmeal, Bellamy. It’s not that difficult.”

Chuckling, he moves out of bed, giving her a nice view of his ass as he stands to pull his boxer briefs back on. Although she tries to be discreet about looking, he catches her and winks. Then, he questions, “What’s with the frown? Were you hoping for a second round?”

“You weren’t?”

Licking his lower lip, Bellamy seems to think about it for a minute before he reminds her that that’s not exactly how one night stands work, and she rolls her eyes. Even though she admittedly isn’t the most experienced person when it comes to casual sex, she did have a few hookups in college until she started dating Finn.

Out of habit, Clarke turns on the radio in the kitchen to listen to some music while she “prepares” the microwavable oatmeal. Before she can switch on Bluetooth, however, a radio news host has something important to say.

“A lot of new yorkers seem to have had quite the surprise this morning, because a sudden yet powerful blizzard last night has left most of the city covered in a thick layer of snow. Some buildings have also experienced problems with electricity. This is bound to cause a lot of unpredictable issues for people who wanted to spend Christmas Eve away from home.”

Bellamy looks at her, his brow furrowed in confusion, but then his eyes widen as the realization appears to dawn on him.

“Are we… snowed in, do you think?”

Right away, they go down to check the front door of the apartment building, and yeah… the snow has it blocked, sealed shut so that not even a man as strong as Bellamy is able to push it open. After his fifth try, Clarke sighs, “Come on. It’s not gonna work. Let’s just go back and listen to the news. See if any help is coming soon.”

But of course not. It’s Christmas Eve day, meaning that no one is around to operate the machines that can clear the snow. As the morning progresses with little promising news, Bellamy and Clarke — two strangers who were just looking for a hookup before Christmas — flop onto the couch with heavy sighs. “Who are you spending the day with tomorrow?” she asks, turning to look at him, and he offers her a tiny smile.

“Friends from college… Not the TV-show, though. That would be too depressing.”

In spite of everything, those words manage to make her laugh, but then he asks her the same question and she frowns again. “I don’t know,” is her admission. “My mom doesn’t celebrate the holiday anymore, and… she’s the—she’s the only family I have left.”

Wow, this got heavy real fast. Yet somehow Clarke had the feeling that she wouldn’t be able to lie to Bellamy; he has this empathetic spark in his eyes, which has her believing that he’d be able to see right through her — through anybody, as a matter of fact. Some people have that gift. Wells and her dad had it, too, but they’re both gone.

Carefully, Bellamy reaches out to touch her shoulder. If she didn’t know better, it’d be easy to forget that she had sex with him last night and that he is actually a stranger as opposed to someone who’s known her for years — at least long enough to know what soothes her. Then, to her utter surprise, he replies, his voice quiet, “My friends are the only family I have… You want some hot chocolate? I’ll make it for you.”

Clarke manages a slight smile at his offer. “Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks.”

There was no forgettable aspect of last night, his hot chocolate included. Still, even though she kindly asks for it, he refuses to give her a copy of his recipe, stating that it’s a “Christmas secret,” which is most certainly bullshit but she’ll let him get away with it, if only because he lets her taste it off the spoon after he’s stirred it all together in the pot.

Closing her eyes at the taste, nostalgia hits her like a train. Of course, it’s not a complete replica of the hot chocolate her dad used to make, but it has the same amazing richness. “That’s delicious…”

He beams at her, pours the beverage into her two Christmas-themed mugs; one of them has Rudolf on it, the other a snowman and she remembers them from her childhood. “Are you a marshmallow person? It’s crucial information. You didn’t have any last night.” Bellamy states, making her chuckle.

“A couple is okay.”

For some reason she didn’t have him pecked as a person who enjoys adding extra sweetness to hot chocolate, but last night she found out that he puts numerous marshmallows — even more than she does — into his own cup. “I drink black coffee. I need some sugar in my life,” was his reasoning when she’d questioned it. He’d winked at her as he said it, and despite the cheesiness of it, she found his flirting quite endearing.

“Why doesn’t your mom celebrate Christmas? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t—“

Clarke smiles a little. “No, it’s fine. My dad loved Christmas so much; it was his favorite holiday, and that was evident in our house during December — decorations everywhere, jolly music playing all day, but he died a few years ago and my mom’s heart hasn’t… well, she can’t bring herself to enjoy it anymore. I’ve tried to tell her that that isn’t what dad would’ve wanted, but… um.”

Before she can tear up, Bellamy moves a piece of her behind her ear, distracting her with his gentleness. When she asks him about why he only celebrates Christmas with his friends, he tells her that his parents passed away many years ago and that he’s estranged from his little sister, which makes her feel sad for a moment until he shrugs. “Well, my friends are amazing. They’re the only family I need. You’d like them… Hey.”

At his sudden change of voice that clearly indicates that an idea has formed in his mind, Clarke chuckles.

“You could join us tomorrow! I’m sure they won’t mind. If we ever get out of here, that is.”

In spite of the kindness of the proposal, she still isn’t sure. “Bellamy, we met last night. We had sex, you don’t think your friends will find it a bit weird if I join your little Christmas celebration?” He had been the one to draw up the unwritten rules of the one night stand a couple hours ago, and she’s pretty sure that you’re not supposed to extend the time you spend with your hookup for longer than necessary, but right now they don’t have a choice. Tomorrow they might — and he’s going to decide to introduce her to his friends? Seems a bit untraditional. Still, he appears unfazed by it, shrugging.

“We don’t have to mention the sex. I’ll just tell them that you’re a friend that I haven’t told them about.”

She grins. “Are you a good liar?”

“No, I’m terrible.”

At that deadpan response, Clarke throws her head back in warm laughter. “Well, we’ll be just fine then.”

To her surprise, hanging out with Bellamy for the rest of the day is far from awkward. Last night in the bar she’d recognized that they had chemistry from the moment their eyes found one another, but she never guessed that spending the day with him would be so… natural. Because they’re tired of hearing the same messages on the radio regarding the blizzard, they turn it off and decide to watch the worst Christmas movies on Netflix together, just to laugh at the horrible scripts and bland plotlines. In the end, it proves to be a very good way of passing time, because when the second bad movie is done, the sky outside has been dressed in black velvet.

“Are you hungry? I can make us something,” Bellamy offers while she tries not to fixate on how his fingers have inched closer to her thigh.

“I think I have some pasta in the fridge. And some wine.”

At the last part, Bellamy’s smile grows to a bright grin. “Perfect, Princess.”

Oh, right. The nickname… It had started last night in the because of the tiny crown that’s glued to the top of her iPhone. To her relief, he didn’t call her ‘baby’ like Finn loved to do; it’s safe to say that she likes this pet name better somehow. One thing she neglected to tell Bellamy last night is that right before she went into the bar, she’d thrown her old engagement ring into the sewer — after two months, she was sick of holding onto it, even though she wasn’t wearing it. Now that there’s a nice, handsome man cooking dinner in her kitchen and humming the melody of ‘Last Christmas’ the decision to let go of the past couldn’t be more liberating.

“How much cheese do you want on your pasta?” Bellamy asks, causing her to chuckle a little.

“LOTS.”

And that’s what she gets. Honestly, he is amazing. Finally, a person who understands with the perfect sauce-to-cheese ratio is without having to ask. Though he could probably be a cook (he could certainly cook for her anytime), he’s already told her that he’s a freelance journalist and historian.

Basically, out of all the people in the bar that night she definitely chose to talk to the right one. This is especially true when you consider that he’s invited her to spend Christmas morning with him and his friends, just so that she won’t be alone.

Then a thought hits her. “Does you inviting me to celebrate Christmas with you tomorrow mean that you want to continue seeing me? Or did I… misunderstand? Are you just being the nicest person ever, and I—“

Blood rushes to her cheeks in embarrassment, but then he releases a warm laugh as he grabs her hand. When his eyes meet hers, there are thousands of twinkling sparks within the dark brown shades of them, which makes relief surge through her. A smile pulling at his lips, Bellamy replies, “If I didn’t want to continue seeing you, I probably wouldn’t have approached you in the bar at all. My days of casual sex have been over since college, but I was willing to do it if you didn’t want more than that.”

“But you didn’t wanna sleep with me again this morning,” she says, a skeptic eyebrow raised.

Grinning, Bellamy moves his hands up in defense. “Okay, I admit it. I was trying to play hard to get. It didn’t work, did it?”

“No, but your Christmas invitation did.”  

His grin morphs into a confident smirk as he puts his arm around her shoulders, but they haven’t been sitting like that for long before he challenges her at a game of cards, which is another thing that reminds her of the Christmases she had while her dad was alive. Every time she glances at Bellamy he beams, golden like the sun — and she is brought to think that tomorrow will be the best Christmas she’s had in years.

(Luckily, it is far from the last one they get to spend together)

[ageeksnerdyworld]

Guy’s Night

Characters: Jett Leach, Emery Becker, Kelly Ronan O’Connor

Word Count: 6,386

Trigger Warning: Swearing, Drinking, Bar Fight

Notes: Wrote out another one of those random ideas that often get stuck in my head. As always the Cyber World and the viruses therein belong to @voiceoflarka

Summary: One night the boys find themselves alone in the dorm. Instead of spending the night in the trio decides to go out. Drinks are drained, laughs are had, and shenanigans ensue. Confessions are said and long awaited secrets are spilled. Click the read more if you’d like.

~~~

The day was slowly bleeding into night as the sun began to set. Streams of sunlight, that came through the windows, diminished with the movement. On any given night like this the place was practically packed with its eight residents and various visitors. All manner of raucous from inside could be heard far down the hall. Time and again the group had been harassed by their downstairs neighbors. But on this night the dorm was far too quiet. Quiet and strangely empty. Only two members of the group, who called this place a second home, were inside its walls.

As far as they knew they were the only ones who didn’t have another place to call home.

Jett sat on the couch in front of the TV.

Sitting was putting it lightly.

His body was half on the couch cushion and half on the floor. Slumped in heap of boredom. His tail swished idly at his side. Both of his arms hung down on either side of him. Even the way his clothes, black jeans, a gray and red hoodie, hung off his body echoed his deep boredom. He didn’t even bother to put his hair up so it gathered around his shoulders. It was an odd sight to see. But the strangest part of Jett’s appearance was the fact that he was upside-down.

Emery sat next to him; cross-legged on the cushion.

His mohawk was bright, shockingly so, purple. A light gray tee, with the sleeves haphazardly cut off and a skeletal looking butterfly, covered his torso. He wore a pair of red tartan patterned pants. Mismatched patches, clearly from other articles of clothing, were sewn over the various sized holes. The jean jacket he had worn earlier was hanging on the back of the sofa. His collection of tattoos that covered his shoulders and arms were on full display. Emery’s face was a crinkled mess of confusion and concentration. A controller sat in his hands and he aggressively pushed its buttons.

"Bored."

"Shuddup bro," Emery snapped. "I'm trying to kill this boss."

"Booooooored," he continued to drone on as he slowly slid off the couch.

Suddenly the front door of the dorm slammed open with a loud bang. Kelly stormed through the door; fuming mad. He wore a dark burgundy bomber jacket, a white tee, and blue jeans. His brows furrowed deeply and red colored his normally pale cheeks. Kelly's dark gray veins pulsed brightly with the angry energy. He paced the floor in front of the door before slamming it closed. Leaning his back against the door his left leg bounced up and down.

"Fuckity fuckin' fuck fuck!"

"What's got your panties in a twist, Irish?" Emery asked; eyes still focused on the screen in front of him.

"Avia's gone."

Jett shot up and moved into a regular sitting position. He felt the sudden rush of confusion, worry, and fear. That mix of emotions made Kelly shake his head and put his hands. As he did so he explained the situation as best he could at a rapid pace. Halfway through his lengthy ramble he pulled his beanie off and ruffled his hair.

"No, no, no. It's not like that, Je. She is gone because she’s not here ‘least I don’t think so but it’s not in the way ye thinkin'. She's not abducted or anythin'. Well... technically she’s alright. Maybe? Yes. Wait... No? All I know is she didn't want to go, ye understand? She wanted me to come along but, ye know, it's her da. Éan beag can't say no."

Jett sighed and sunk back into the couch.

Kelly twisted his beanie in his hands as he took up the pacing once more. He mindlessly started to walk to the kitchen. Halfway there he stopped and backtracked to Avia’s room. But he didn’t go in. Instead he stood there for a minute; staring off into space. Fiddling with the zipper of his jacket he pulled it up and down repeatedly. Eventually he swore under his breath and turned around.

He walked to the others and plopped down in the empty space on the sofa.

The three teenage boys sat in almost total silence, save for the sounds from the TV, for quite some time. Emery was too focused on his game to care about anything else. Jett was half watching the gameplay and half checking his social media accounts. Kelly sat with his arms crossed, an angry scowl on his face, and his leg restlessly bouncing. Every once in a while he'd pull out his phone and look through it. But each time there was nothing new. He returned it to his jacket pocket and went back to fuming.

To no one's surprise Kelly broke the silence first.

"Where's everybody else?"

"It's date night for Holl and Kal, remember? And..." Jett said.

"Shit!" Emery shouted in frustration, as his character died yet again, breaking Jett's train of thought. He tossed the controller onto the coffee table with an annoyed sigh.

"Scribe dragged Isabelle to some boring ass lecture 'bout, uh, paleontology or whatever."

Jett nodded; "Yeah and Walker Texas Ranger's... Well, uh, I have no clue what they're doing."

"So," Kelly said with a mischievously raised eyebrow, "it's just us three?"

"Fucking obviously, Irish."

Kelly ignored the comment and slammed his hands on his knees. He stood up with an excited fervor. The others looked at him with slight confusion. Kelly was always a beanpole of energy, but, this was sudden. Not to mention the fact that he busted through the door furious.

"Off yer arses, boys," he said loudly.

They both rose off the couch with confused hesitation. Jett looked to Emery who only shrugged in response. So he turned his attention to Kelly; the source of his confusion. He could sense that the three of them were heading out and even though he didn’t know where, or why, Jett reached into the left hand pocket of his jeans and pulled out a thin, red, ribbon. As he gathered his hair together and tied the ribbon around it he gave Kelly a sideways glance.

"Where’re we going? What’s this about?"

"You'll see," he said with a smile and a wink.

~~~

Kelly led the others through the dark city streets. He dodged every question that was tossed his way. Eventually both of them gave up and let the man keep his secrets. Every so often he'd look back at them; smiling wide. His intense blue eyes shone brightly with overflowing energy that was also reflected in the glow of his dark gray veins.

After some time the trio reached their destination.

"Shit on a shiitake my feet hurt," Emery whined when they approached the bar.

The bar sat peacefully on the corner of an intersection. A pair of bouncers stood on either side of the front entrance. Sharp and almost blindingly bright lights hung high above the entrance. The flashy colors cut through the dark. Lights that formed the name of the bar; The Corner Pocket.

The bouncer nodded to Kelly and let the three teens in. Emery shot him a confused look. Kelly just shrugged and continued on in. While the other two began looking for an open table Jett pushed past them.

Clearly searching for an exit.

"Dude, where you going? We basically just fucking got here, man." Emery said.

"Heading out for a smoke," Jett replied as he pulled a carton from the hidden zipper pocket in his hoodie.

"We'll save ye a seat," Kelly said. "If we ever find one. Shite, this place is packed tighter than a whore's arse runnin’ a bloody two for one special on a Friday."

"Hurry back, dude," Emery said with an annoyed look on his face.

While Jett made his way to the rear exit the others looked for a place to sit. The bar was crowded with patrons, waiters, and a couple security people. Even though most of the patrons were seated throughout the bar the front was still crowded. It was very obvious that the three bartenders on staff were having a hard time keeping up with everything. Kelly looked above the crowds; scanning the area. Emery took a more hands on approach and weaseled his way through the crowds.

Kelly was exactly where he left him when Emery came back a few minutes later.

"Found an empty booth sorta in the back. It's shitty but it's probably as good as we're gonna get."

Meanwhile Jett was now outside; having made it out the back exit. The night was dark but he wasn't taking any chances so he moved some hair over his eyes. Just as an extra precaution he flipped his hood up. In recent months he felt better obscuring his face from strangers. People didn't approach him that way. People didn't try to make small talk or crowd around him.

Tapping the carton against his open palm he nudged a cigarette out of the box. Grabbing it with two fingers he immediately put the filtered end in his mouth.

Digging into his pocket he returned the carton. Jett thought about lighting the cigarette himself. He could create fire, after all, so why not? Just as he was about to try he thought better of it. There was no telling what could happen. He could do what he wanted; light a small flame on his finger.

Or nothing happens, his conscious whispered.

Maybe you shoot out a massive fireball and hurt a lot of people. Maybe somebody dies. Again. Or you set yourself on fire and burn all your clothes off. Then you'd be buck naked, in an alley, outside a bar, alone, in the middle of the night.

Despite everything he still didn't have a good handle on his power. No. Because of everything that happened, and the nightmares that followed, he couldn't control it. There were too many risks.

So he reached back into the pocket inside his hoodie and pulled out a lighter. It was one of the cheap plastic ones grocery stores sell at an insane discount. The plastic was blue and semi-translucent so he could see the lighter fluid inside. There wasn't much left.

Hope this works.

Luckily he managed to get a flame going on the second try. Lighting the cigarette he took a long drag. When he pulled the cigarette out of his mouth he let the smoke flow from his lips. Just before the smoke dissipated into the night he took a sharp inhale. The small cloud of smoke filled his nostrils and his lungs. He sighed and returned the cigarette to his mouth. Standing with his back against the wall he stared out into the night.

Back inside Kelly followed Emery through the mass of bodies. His eyes darted around; looking for a waiter or waitress. There were quite a few around thanks to the obviously busy night. He tried to get the attention of whoever made the slightest bit of eye contact. Just before they reached the booth in question Kelly managed to flag down someone.

He ordered a vodka tonic for himself and a beer for Emery.

Just as the two teens sat at their table a loud, male, voice cut through the music. It sounded close by. Or at least close enough to be heard.

"Lemme get you another drink," the voice said.

Emery heard the voice first and nudged Kelly with his elbow. Across from where they sat, at one of the tables, was a pair of young women. One had tan skin, long brown hair, and an intricate tattoo on her shoulder. The other had a silvery dress on and a short, angled, pastel purple bob.

A male satyr virus was standing in between the ladies. It was obvious that he was the voice they had heard. It seemed as if the man didn’t care to hide his unwanted flirtations from the other patrons. He had long, curved, black horns on either side of his head. They were a sharp contrast from his blonde hair and goatee. The sleeves of his dress shirt were rolled up haphazardly and a large wine stain splattered the front. Despite his clear drunkenness he somehow managed to stay standing. He had a clear look of lust in his eyes and his bright pineapple yellow veins pulsed with anticipation. And even though the women weren't having it he wouldn't back off.

"Fucking creep should leave 'em alone," Emery muttered to Kelly just as the waiter set their drinks down.

"You know," the satyr loudly whispered to the lady with the bob, "If you wanna get out of here I--"

"She clearly ain't interested creep!" Emery cupped his hands together and yelled.

"This don't involve you, punk."

The man went back to bothering the women. He leaned over again and began playing with the brunette's hair. Kelly pursed his lips together in anger as he watched the disgusting display. He bobbed up and down where he sat; filled with restless, furious, energy. Looking around he saw that no one else was seeing this. Or they did and just didn't care.

Acting instead of thinking he rushed over. Stopping just short of where the guy stood Kelly made sure that the ladies could see him but their harasser could not. He stood right behind the satyr, who barely came up to Kelly's chest, and waited. When the man didn't turn around Kelly tapped his shoulder.

"The fuck you want?"

"Ye better leave these women alone," he threatened. "Otherwise yer gonna regret it."

People began to gather around the two; itching for the obvious fight to breakout. Some of the onlookers began quietly whispering bets to one another. Quick exchanges of cash passed between hands. Emery chuckled and downed his beer before hopping off the booth. Once he was on the floor he pushed his way to the front of the growing crowd.

"Ha! Run back to your friend, kid."

"What's the matter," Kelly taunted. "Too scared ta fight? Makes sense seein' ye pick on these nice ladies."

The satyr virus groaned and then swung at Kelly.

He moved out of way barely quick enough to avoid the full effect of the punch. The left hook did connect. But, the impact wasn't as much as the satyr virus was hoping for.

Kelly smirked and backed up again. Holding his hands out he motioned towards himself; egging the satyr to follow. He wanted to get the creep away from the two women as quickly as possible. The virus grit his teeth and his rushed at Kelly.

But he saw that coming and already had his hands up. If the guy was going to try his left hook again Kelly was ready for it. Instead the man kicked with as much force as he could muster. The attack landed and slammed into Kelly's shin.

Immediately after Kelly returned the attack with a hard punch to the man's stomach. A loud gasp of air escaped the satyr’s lungs from the impact. He staggered a bit and Kelly used the advantage to hit him again. He managed to punch the man twice more before the satyr virus caught his third swing.

He bent Kelly's hand backward with all he had.

It hurt like hell. The satyr was trying his damnedest to break Kelly’s wrist. Kelly tried to hit the guy with his free hand. But the man's quick reflexes were even faster than he thought. The satyr grabbed Kelly's other hand just as quickly as he did the first. Before he let go of his grip on Kelly he kicked the teen in the stomach. Kelly slid back from the force of the kick and the crowd winced.

Kelly stood up, put his hands up once more, and waited. The satyr virus shot him a deadly look but didn’t move. He smirked and scoffed. With an annoyed air he turned around and waved a hand; dismissing Kelly.

"I don’t have time to deal with children."

Kelly said nothing.

Instead he turned around and snatched a beer bottle from the closest onlooker. He downed the rest and flipped the bottle in his hand. He was now holding it by the neck. Without any hesitation he swung the empty bottle at the man's head. The force was enough to shatter the glass on impact.

The satyr hit the ground not two seconds later.

The small crowd around him cheered; shouting to be heard above the music. Emery gave him a proud, and clearly impressed, nod. Jett walked in on the scene and had no clue about what was happening. Across the way the two female viruses who were harassed mouthed their thanks.

Kelly simply nodded.

"I leave for a smoke and I miss everything, huh?" Jett asked as the trio made their way back to their table.

Emery smirked; "Yeah, bro, looks like it."

~~~

The trio settled into some semblance of calm after the fight. As calm as they could’ve been under the circumstances. It helped that the bar had began to empty somewhat. Emery gave Jett a loud, somewhat exaggerated, play by play of the fight. Jett listened intently completely taken by each and every word. Kelly just sat there; drinking his vodka tonic and shaking his head at each new embellishment. At some point Jett flagged down a waitress and ordered a rum and coke. She brought it back swiftly thanks to the lull in bar patrons.

When the story was over they got to talking about other things.

Jett decided to order pizza for whenever they got home. The others agreed. They showed each other funny videos that were on a whole new level of comedy thanks to the alcohol. Emery found a marker on the booth and began drawing a faux tattoo on Jett’s hand. Kelly switched entirely to Gaelic halfway through the conversation and didn’t notice. He finally realized it when he tried to order a round of whisky shots and the waiter couldn’t understand him.

While that was happening Emery finished the tattoo. Jett took a picture of it and sent it to the team’s group chat. He also sent it to Mazarin; hoping she’d get a laugh out of it.

“You think Walker’ll even get it?” Emery sincerely asked. “They might not have signal wherever the fuck they are.”

“Maybe, maybe not, guess we’ll have to see when they get back,” Jett replied.

"And what happens then? When Walker gets back from whatever? They'll go right back to all this being secretive and distant shite again."

At that moment the shots arrived. Kelly told the waiter to go back and bring the bottle over. The man nodded but gave him a suspicious look before leaving. A few minutes passed before he dutifully returned with bottle in hand.

"They said they weren't doing that anymore," Jett said shooting Kelly a sideways glance as he reached for his shot. He winced against the burn of the liquor as it hit the back of his throat. The tinge of disbelief was obvious in his voice. None of them knew Walker like they knew each other that much was true. No one could be sure that they’d do good on their promise.

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't blame ye for questionin' it, after everythin's that's happened, like." Kelly said before taking a shot and slamming the glass on the table.

"What's that supposed to mean, Irish?" Emery asked after he downed his shot.

Kelly twisted the cap off the bottle and refilled the three shot glasses. He immediately took his second before filling it up a third time. Setting the bottle down he looked at the others; waiting for them to take their shots. Jett shook his head but ultimately gave into Kelly’s pleading stare. Emery downed his quickly, with an angry glare, before continuing.

"Don’t get me wrong, dude, I get they're shady as fuck but c'mon! They gotta be attending the Academy, and in Dashland, trying to doing some decent shit with their life. Ain't that what we're all trying to do?"

"It means I just -- I've got a little leery of listenin' to all the bloody lies Walker tells us, of feckin' waitin' around like a bomb's gonna go off, of actin' like this shite is normal. Know what I mean?"

Kelly groaned as he pulled his beanie off and ran his hands through both sides of his hair. His left leg bounced aggressively under the table. He poured himself another shot and quickly knocked it back.

"You sure this isn't about something else, Kell?" Jett asked; shooting a suspicious glance at Kelly.

"I'm not the weird one here, ye bloody eejit!"

Emery laughed. It was jarringly loud and shook his whole body. His form buckled forward and he set his beer down on the table. Pounding on the table with his fist he continued to laugh. Jett and Kelly both stared at him with identical looks of confusion. When the laughing fit was over Emery sighed and wiped a tear from his right eye.

"We're all fucking weird, Irish. That's why we fit together dude. We're just a big ol' group of misfit fuck-ups. Ain't nothing wrong with that."

Kelly downed the rest of his vodka tonic and said nothing. Motioning for a refill he handed his glass to the nearest waiter.

The trio fell into a strange, and very uncomfortable, silence. Kelly touched his cheek with his fingers and winced a tiny bit. He muttered something about going to check his injuries and left. When he did the awkward silence left with him.

"The fuck's gotten into him?"

Jett shrugged; "I don't know, Beck. Could be the whole thing with his dad. Maybe it’s ‘cause Av isn’t here. Might be something totally different."

“Pretty sure Princess is ninety percent of his impulse control.”

Emery shook his head and sighed. He looked around the bar as if looking for someone or something. He started tapping his fingers on his beer bottle in perfect sync with the music. He watched the rhythmic movement of his own fingers before turning to Jett. Emery's bright purple eyes were filled with worry.

"And you?" he asked. "How're you holding up?"

Jett shrugged again; "Fine."

Emery shot him a look of disbelief. The two knew each far too well, and for far too long, to not catch one another's lies. "You sure?"

"Course I am," Jett said before taking a sip of his drink.

"Liar"

"No, I'm not."

Emery looked at Jett out of the corner of his eye and smirked; "Oh, so you're saying you're not okay?"

"I said I'm fine, bro. Just drop it alright?"

Emery put his hands up in defense; signifying that he was indeed dropping it. The two sat in an awkward, strange, silence for some time. This kind of silence was unfamiliar to them but neither knew how to fix it. In that lull Jett got a text from his sister about his “tattoo”.

You can’t be serious.

Serious as a heart attack, little lady.

Mom’s gonna kill you, dumbass.

His smile disappeared when he read her reply. Instinctively his hand flew to cover his mouth. Her words were a normal reaction under normal circumstances but they were far past normal. Even though it hurt he couldn’t blame her for forgetting. He did too sometimes. Just before Jett texted her back Mazarin sent him one.

Sorry. I forgot...

Don’t worry it’s alright. It’s just Sharpie anyway.

:P

“Something wrong with Maz?” Emery asked seeing his friend’s face.

Jett shook his head and wiped his eye with the back of his hand. Showing Emery his phone he bit his bottom lip to hold back the tears. He took a deep breath before explaining.

“I’m not mad or anything, you know, ‘cause I forget too. Hell, I do a lot more than just forget. Sometimes I text them stuff that’s going on. They would’ve wanted to know when they were here so... But, there’s times... There’s times where I call mom just to hear her voice ‘cause I haven’t talked to her in so long and then I get that pre-recorded out of service message and...”

The tears fell despite his best efforts and his eyes stung from crying. His breathing was shaky. He wiped his hand across his mouth and chin. Both ears were flat against his head.

“And then it hits me all over again. Sometimes I don’t believe it and I try to call dad but I just get that same stupid robot voice telling me the exact same thing.”

Emery took Jett’s hand in his own and squeezed it. Scooting closer to him Emery reached a hand behind Jett’s back. He slowly rubbed his hand against Jett’s back to reassure him. Emery told him that it was okay. What he did wasn’t anything wrong. It didn’t mean that he was going crazy. It was nothing different than people who talked to their loved ones at their graves.

Jett instinctively laid his head against his best friend’s shoulder.

The pair sat that way until they both found it too awkward.

Kelly arrived at the table a few minutes later. He no longer wore the black beanie on his head and his hair was slightly wet. Small beads of water clung to his eyelashes and made his left eye twitch. He rubbed it away with the back of his hand. It seemed like the bruises on his face, and his hand, darkened. It could’ve been shadows from the lights above but it was hard to tell.

He sat and chugged the vodka tonic before signaling for another.

“You alright, Irish?”

“Aye. Fuckin’ bastard’s gone though. He bloody disappeared.”

Jett spit his drink out in shock. Emery didn’t try to hide his laughter.

“I’m fuckin’ serious! Look!” he protested; pointing to the area where the satyr virus lie on the floor not too long ago. The spot was indeed empty.

“Dammit!” Emery shouted; pounding his fist on the table.

“Maybe he ran with his tail between his legs?” Jett offered.

But his hopes were dashed by the sound of approaching footsteps. A virus in a dark suit and sunglasses walked up to the table. With the lighting of the bar it was hard to tell if the person was male or female or neither. The only part of their appearance the trio could make out was the dull, pale, chartreuse colored veins that crawled along their neck and face. Whoever they were they stood with an intimidating air.

“Who’s in charge here?”

The three teens looked at each in confusion and surprise. Jett gave the others a questioning look and a shrug. Emery nodded; seriously. Kelly quickly peeked at the mysterious visitor before nodding as well. Jett held his fist out over an open palm. The others followed suit. Jett counted to three and the trio hit their fists against their palms in perfect unison with the count and each other. On three they simultaneously revealed their hand.

Both Emery and Kelly had two fingers out; forming a pair of scissors. Jett was the only one with paper.

“Shoulda just gone with you from the start, bro,” Emery said with a chuckle.

Jett rolled his eyes and gave Emery a friendly shove. Then he turned his attention to the mysterious stranger in front of them.

“So you’re it, huh?”

“Looks like it.”

“The boss wanted me to talk to you. Care to step outside, little man?”

“And who might your boss be?”

“That’s for me to know and you to figure out.”

Jett held his finger up; signaling the virus to wait. He picked up his drink and slowly drained the rest of it. He hoped that it wasn’t obvious that he was buying time. That this person couldn’t sense the fear bubbling inside him. When the rum and coke was gone he set the empty glass down.

“They’re coming too,” he said as he got off the booth.

The stranger shrugged; “Fine by me.”

Emery and Kelly got off the booth and followed Jett around the table. Jett motioned for the stranger to lead the way. They chuckled and turned around. Before the group left the table Kelly swiped the bottle of whisky from the table. He shoved it in the hidden pocket of his long, army green, coat. The three teens followed the mysterious virus out the back door.

“The fuck are ye doin’ eejit? This guy’s definitely with that satyr whose ass I kicked.”

Jett nodded; “Yeah, I know.”

“The fuck?”

“Don’t worry, Irish,” Emery said; clapping his hand on Kelly’s shoulder. “Je’s got a plan.”

~~~

As it turned out Jett did have a plan. Even though it worked, and they caught the stranger off guard, the virus was prepared to fight. To no one’s surprise the mysterious stranger didn’t go down easily. It seemed that the virus didn’t feel anything they hit them with. Emery’s sonic screams didn’t even affect them. And yet the trio somehow came out the victor. When the fight was over the three teenage boys were bruised and beaten. They held onto one another as they stumbled home.

“You think he went easy on us?”

“‘Cause we’re kids?” Jett replied.

Emery nodded.

“Don’t think they cared, bro. I think they just ran outta gas.”

As they walked Jett ordered pizza as he promised earlier. Kelly told him not to order any anchovies on the pizza. Jett jokingly threatened to order only anchovy pizzas just because he complained. Emery quietly sang some nonsensical made up lyrics to himself. Kelly pulled his beanie down so that it covered his eyes a bit and obscured his vision. Jett noticed but before he could say anything Emery bumped into him. Emery saw that something was up and rushed over to Kelly.

“Irish, Irish, Irish,” he said wrapping his arm around Kelly’s neck and pulling him closer.

“Your sadness is pouring off you, man. Wha’s up, bro?”

“Nothing.”

“Liar,” Emery and Jett yelled in unison.

“Let’s just go home an’ eat some pizza, yeah?” he said; clearly deflecting.

The others shrugged and went on their way.

When the trio arrived at the dorm they stumbled up the stairs. As they ascended the stairs they both held onto Kelly. For the time being he couldn’t stand very well on his own. He had secretly been drinking ever since they left the bar. The other two weren’t that surprised. Everyone knew that he owned a flask and often filled it with hard liquor. Even so neither Jett or Emery thought he’d bring it to a bar.

Or that he’d steal a bottle from the bar either.

Jett let go of Kelly when they reached the dorm. He fumbled about for his key. As he was about to admit that he might’ve lost them Emery told him to check his shoes. Confused and somewhat impressed he did as he was told. Pulling off his left shoe he overturned it. Smacking the bottom with his palm he hoped the key would fall out.

It didn’t.

He did the same thing with his right.

Sure enough the key was there.

“Heh, forgot about that,” he said with a chuckle.

When he finally got the door opened the three boys stumbled into the dorm. Emery half dropped Kelly onto the couch. He gave Kelly a light slap on the cheek to make sure he was still awake. Kelly muttered a couple obscenities and Emery laughed. He assured Jett that Kelly was fine. Jett suddenly remembered that he still had the Sharpie tattoo on his hand.

He rushed to the bathroom to attempt to wash it off.

“Gotta use nail polish remover bro,” Emery called out as he popped in a movie.

“What?” Jett yelled back.

“Dude trust me, alright. That shit doesn’t come off any other way.”

“Beck,” Jett called out; the worry getting heavy in his voice. “You sure? I--I don’t think we got any, bro.”

“Gotcha dude, no worries. Gimme a sec.”

“I can’t have this freaking jacked Kit-Kat on my hand forever.”

“I said I got it!” Emery screamed as he raced to kitchen pantry.

Kelly ignored all of this as he took out his phone and, for the umpteenth time that night, checked his messages. Once again there weren’t any. Scrolling through for a second or two he looked for the last reply. It was right after. He sighed and pressed the phone icon that sat in the top right hand corner. Putting the phone to his ear he bit his bottom lip in anticipation. His right leg bounced up and down. The phone rang and rang before going to voicemail.

He didn’t leave a message.

Instead of closing his phone he walked out into the hallway and made two other phone calls.

Meanwhile, back inside, Emery reached up to the top shelf and began pushing various boxes and cans around. A hidden section of wall was revealed. He knew exactly where the space was and so he put his fingers on either side and pulled it away. Inside the secret compartment were a series of bottles of nail polish remover. He snatched one and set it on the shelf before returning the false section of wall. Before taking the bottle he quickly shoved the boxes and cans back to where they were before. He ran over to the bathroom and tossed the bottle at Jett. Jett was in the middle of trying to scrub the Sharpie off with soap and water. He caught it with one hand and then immediately dropped it.

“Nice.”

“Shuddup! It’s your fault I gotta do this anyway, Em!”

Emery laughed; “You asked for it, man. None of this is my fault.”

“I was drunk dumbass!”

“So was I bro!”

The stupidity of the situation made them suddenly burst into laughter. Jett cupped some water in his hand and splashed Emery in the face. Emery gasped in surprise. Jett chuckled, covering his mouth to hide it, and went to shut the faucet off. But he was laughing too much and Emery’s reflexes were faster. He slammed his hand against the spout and sprayed water all over Jett. When the impromptu water fight was all said and done both boys were practically soaked.

After drying off as best they could Jett went back to removing the Sharpie from his skin.

Emery went back to the couch and waited for the others so he could start the movie. There was no telling how long it stayed on the title screen. When Jett emerged from the bathroom he tossed the nail polish back to Emery. He stood up and caught it effortlessly. As he went to return it to its proper hiding spot Jett sat on the couch.

“Hey, uh, Beck?” he shouted.

“Yeah?”

“Why do have nail polish remover in the first place? Why’re you hiding it?”

“Oh, you know,” he said; response muffled by the walls. As he made his way back into the living room area his voice got louder. “That stuff’s good for a lot of things. Cleaning paint off windows, getting sticker gunk off pretty much everything, and whatever.”

At that moment Kelly walked back into the dorm.

“Doesn’t tell me why you’re hiding it.”

Kelly, who had missed the rest of the conversation, assumed that the others were talking about him.

“God, Mary, and the wee baby Jaysus, ye were right!” he shouted.

“Huh?”

“Earlier in the bar when ye asked if me rant was about somethin’ else. It was. Guess it’s a bunch of things. Me da’s one like always. But it’s been worse ‘cause me brother. He always says da’s a deadbeat and we’re better without him. That I’m away with the faeries when I talk about da. Avia gettin’ dragged away by her da was just the last straw. Made me feel I’m on me tod and needin’ some craic. Don’t why I fought that guy though honest. Ye know, ma always said I suffer from a double-dose of original sin.”

Silence fell when Kelly finally stopped talking.

Jett and Emery exchanged confused looks.

“I’m hiding it ‘cause acetone’s fucking flammable, and I’d rather be caught dead than have it anywhere that could have you burning the building down,” Emery shouted in exasperation.

A loud knock at the door made the boys jump.

“Delivery for, uh, Jett,” a voice called from behind the door.

Jett hopped off the couch and went to the door. Upon opening it he saw that it was the pizza that he had ordered. Digging into the back pocket of his pants he pulled out his wallet. Taking out just enough cash to pay he handed the money to the delivery man. The man handed the pizzas over and Jett went to close the door with his elbow.

But there was another pizza delivery person at the door.

“I only ordered these two,” he said lifting the boxes up for emphasis.

“Aye. I ordered those,” Kelly said as he went to pay the delivery person.

As Jett set his boxes down on the coffee table Kelly called for help. Emery rushed over and was immediately handed a series of boxes. It took some time to bring in everything but eventually the other pizza delivery person left. The teens were now looking at eight large pizzas, two orders of cinnamon sticks, an insane amount of dipping sauces and a few two-liters of soda. And that was just what Kelly ordered. In total they had ten pizzas.

“You never said you were getting pizza, Kell!”

“What can I say?” Kelly replied with a shrug. “I was really drunk and Avia’s pretty much all my impulse control.”

They all laughed and started on one of the pizzas. Emery rushed to the cupboards and took out three glasses. He filled each with some ice from the fridge before returning to the others. Jett poured the drinks when he brought the glasses over. Kelly opened a couple containers of marinara and ranch. Taking one for himself he dipped the end of his pizza into the ranch. Jett grabbed the remote and finally played the movie. When that movie ended they put in another.

The trio stayed there until the sodas were empty and all the pizza was gone.

[reesewestonarchive]

last night I was sneaky but this morning I am sleepy so have the thing with nakoa and @reining-in-the-fire-writing​‘s ezra, who I love and adore and you can read more about here, and a very brief mention of @indecentpause​‘s jen and kylie, who I also adore and you can find more about here

a brief content warning for hospitals and drug overdoses, so avoid if you need to!

Fuck, Nakoa hates hospitals. Too many times stuck in ICU after overdoses--the incessant beeping, the eeriness of it all. Uncomfortable chairs and blood draws and--

...he's not the one in there, though. His back aches from sitting in this fucking chair, he's got a knot in his neck and he's so fucking thirsty, this room is unbearably warm to keep Ezra warm, but fuck.

He rubs at his eyes, stretches his arms above his head and means to turn over, go back to sleep, because Ezra's eyes are still closed, but the shelf across the room catches his eye.

Ryan brought the first bunch of flowers, last night, along with a shooter of whiskey for Nakoa to take the edge of his anxiety, but the other two are new. One holds a tiny teddy bear, black light Ezra's hair, with a tiny earring through its nose and a box of chocolates that reads 'FROM JEN AND KYLIE GET BETTER EZRA' in big block letters. White and blue roses with a card sticking out that says 'love from Aero and Aarav' and Nakoa smiles to himself--Ezra's gonna hate this.

"The fuck are you here for?"

Nakoa spins on his heel, though, and the relief that spreads through him is visceral. There's a flash in his mind, of Ezra lying on the floor of a bathroom in city city, so fucking pale, and--

He swallows. Returns to the bed on shaky legs and reaches for Ezra's hand. With a scowl, half-hearted and tired, Ezra tries to pull away--only for his hand to get caught on the cuff. "What the hell's this?"

"You tried to take out the nurse," Nakoa says, reaching for his hand again, gripping tight in spite of Ezra’s frowning face. “Figured it was the best idea for safety reasons.”

A dark look crosses his face, but Nakoa watches as he closes his eyes, takes a few deep breaths, and says, “What happened?” His voice is flat, scared, and Nakoa draws a finger across the back of his hand, thinks about how close he came to losing him, and hates it. A small part of him wonders if this is, ever, how his own father felt, the day Nakoa was taken away from him, but—no. There’s no love lost when it comes to their relationship.

“You sure you wanna know?”

“I can just ask the doctors.” But his voice is tight and clipped. He wants to hear it from Nakoa.

“Overdose,” Nakoa says, keeping his voice as light as he can, under the circumstances. “I didn’t know you were using.”

One second, two. Ten. Nakoa’s not sure how long he sits there, brushing his fingers over the top of Ezra’s hand, feeling the heartbeat on the underside of his wrist.

“Didn’t want you to know.”

And, that’s stupid. Incredibly stupid, because, fuck—this is a Nakoa hasn’t just been down, it’s a road Nakoa knows, intimately, from being a jealous, heartbroken idiot at nineteen and using heroin to cope, and. He closes his eyes. “You could’ve came to me. You should’ve came to me.”

“So you could lecture me? Pass.”

There’s no lecture on Nakoa’s lips, though, just—fuck, all he wants is to find some way to tell Ezra how happy he is he’s okay without saying the words, without making Ezra wish he had died. Nothing seems right, though, too little or not enough, and finally, Ezra speaks again, his voice just as hard and unforgiving as always.

“Get those out of here.”

He’s talking about the flowers. Nakoa licks his lips, says, “The others, they—“

“They weren’t here, were they?”

At least Nakoa doesn’t have to lie about that. “No. No. They actually wouldn’t let anyone but family in.”

Finally, finally, Ezra turns to him. “Which brings me back to my first question. What the fuck are you here for?”

The words hurt—not as much as they should, probably not as much as Ezra intends for them to, but his eyes are drooping with sleep, again, his words slurring. Nakoa shrugs, tries to play this off as cool, and says, “Told them I was your father.”

His expression goes dark, then, and he fists his fingers in the sheets. “Get the fuck out.”

“Ezra—“ Nakoa pulls back, gives him space. More than Nakoa’s comfortable with, but he knows his father’s always been a sore spot, the entirety of his family is, and Nakoa gets it—and just wants this stupid jackass to know how much it terrified him to see him like that. But Ezra says nothing else, lips a tight, closed line, and even if Nakoa stayed, he wouldn’t get anything else from him. Nakoa nods, rubs at the back of his neck, and says, “Okay. Yeah. You need rest anyway, so…” He shrugs. “I’ll let the nurse know you’re awake.”

He’s almost to the door when Ezra speaks again. Softer, not by much. “The flowers.”

So Nakoa takes those, too.

Ryan’s in the hallway when Nakoa leaves, waiting. He smiles, looks to the potted plants in Nakoa’s arms and says, “You okay?”

“Can you take these home?” Nakoa asks.

Ryan stands there, blinking, confused, before he says, “Oh. Right. Yeah.” Then, “Is he okay?” and finally, “Are you okay?” His expression is wide open, concerned, and Nakoa says nothing, just sets the flowers on the chair, lifts his arms out for a hug. He’s so tired. Ryan doesn’t hesitate, pulls Nakoa against him, and—

He smells like home, like the humid air and fresh paint of their house. Nakoa hasn’t seen home in three days, and he’s living in the same shirt he did from the party, but every time he thinks about leaving, he thinks about Ezra, choking on his own vomit.

Ryan's voice is a soft murmur against Nakoa's ear, pressed close, his arms tight around Nakoa's shoulder. They stand there, swaying, for a second or two before Nakoa pulls back. "Gotta let a nurse know he's awake," he says. "Or--was awake." He’s probably passed out again, if pure rage hasn’t managed to power him through.

Nakoa waits for the nurse to return, but when she opens the door, Ezra makes eye contact--and demands, in a loud voice, that he get the fuck away.

After the door closes, Ryan says, "He's as charming as ever," but there's something like fondness in his voice. "I used to think you were a handful."

Nakoa makes a noise. They settle into one of the couches in the waiting room. Nakoa leans his head on Ryan's shoulder. It's all very quiet and calm, relaxing, after the last few nights he's had. "Thank you for coming."

A brush of lips across the top of his head settles some of the nerves, just not enough of them. “He'll be okay, Nakoa."

"Mm." In a sense. Nakoa can't help but think, though. What if. "How'd you feel? When I OD'd?"

Silence, save for the tv across the room, settles around them. For a second, Nakoa wonders if Ryan's even going to answer him, then he says, "I'm kind of ashamed of myself. How I handled it wasn’t—” He trails off. Taps his foot against the floor. He’s wearing a pair of Nakoa’s jeans, rolled up at the ankles. One’s already drooping, falling open so Ryan will walk on the edges.

"I'm not going to get mad at you," Nakoa says, "I just... feel like..." He clenches his teeth, makes a frustrated noise. Ryan reaches to intertwine their hands. "I can't do anything else for him. Like... everything I've said to him didn't make any kind of fucking difference. If I walked away, right now, would he even care? Or would he be grateful I finally left him the fuck alone?"

Another kiss to the top of his head. "I left you. I had Thom, and things were weird between us, and, you know, you had Jen. I figured if you were gonna kill yourself, it wouldn't matter if I was there or not. At least I could save myself the heartbreak."

He thinks about leaving, again, and something tightens in his chest. Nakoa sniffles, runs a hand under his nose. Feels stupid. "I'm crying about a kid that couldn't care less if I left or not."

"He cares, Nakoa. In his own way."

"He'd've thrown me from the window, if he could've." He sighs. He hurts, so much, feels his age in every limb, and says, "He's never going to forgive me. Not after what I said.”

“What, that you cared about him?”

Nakoa laughs, but it’s an empty one. At his shoulder, Ryan draws small circles against his shirt with the pads of his fingers. “Had to tell the hospital staff that I was his father, remember?”

A soft noise comes from Ryan’s throat, sympathetic, and Nakoa curls against his chest a little more. His stomach gives a loud rumble, and Ryan says, “Let me take you out to dinner.”

“After he’s stable,” Nakoa says. “I want to make sure—“

“Mr. Jackson?” a nurse says, and both Nakoa and Ryan lift their heads. She gives them a smile, and nods to Nakoa. “A doctor’s chatting with your son—“ Nakoa’s entire chest feels like it swells with happiness at that, and, fuck, if Ezra could see him now. “—and he requested that you be in the room.”

“Ezra’s of age,” Nakoa says. “I don’t need to be with him.”

“Not the doctor, sir. Your son requested your presence.”

His son. His son. Does that mean what Nakoa thinks it means, that those words fell from his lips? If they did, is he going to be surprised to see Nakoa, or is he expecting his father back home?

And—

He disentangles himself from Ryan and says, “I’ll be back in a bit, yeah? Hang around?”

Ryan nods, taps his fingers against the back of the couch, and nudges Nakoa with the back of his shoe. “Yeah. Yeah, go, check on him. I’ll be here.”

Part of him wants to invite Ryan back, wants to tell him Ezra’ll have to understand why he’s there, but they got off on bad footing, and Nakoa’s not sure Ezra wouldn’t see it as a punishment. Wouldn’t take back what slight ease he’s given Nakoa on the ‘family’ front.

He wipes his palms on his jeans as he follows the nurse back to the room. He wants to ask, ‘How did he say it?’, but the words dissolve on his tongue. In the room, Ezra’s handcuffs are gone, and he stares at his lap, picking at his nails.

Nakoa’s heart lodges itself in his throat again.

“Ah, Mr. Jackson, you’re here,” the doctor says, and nods to Ezra. “I was just telling him how well he’s doing.”

His throat is dry, too tight to speak, so Nakoa offers a tiny wave from the doorway. Ezra glowers at him, then, rolling his eyes, flops one of his hands out beside him, palm up, and wiggles his fingers.

An invitation, an apology—a white flag? Nakoa’s not sure. He’ll take it anyway. He steps forward, to Ezra’s bed, and reaches for his hand, glad to see that, already, some of the color is coming back to Ezra’s skin.

“You okay?” Nakoa asks, squeezing his hand. Ezra glowers at him.

“Bite me,” Ezra says, his words no longer slurring, a little of the heat back, with something else. Nakoa smiles, lopsided and all-too pleased, and, once the doctor starts explaining what Ezra needs to do next, he feels the lightest of squeezes against his fingers.

[softspideys]

Time After Time (Part IX) (Peter Parker x reader)

summary: peter parker is your worst enemy, but he’s also your soulmate. life is funny that way.

warnings: none

words: 1.6k

pairings: peter parker x reader

a/n: HELLA flirty so brace yourselves. for the sake of this story let’s pretend the last scene of homecoming never happened and may doesn’t know about spidey ok thanks!!! enjoy

And now Peter Parker was staring at you, his hair sticking up in all directions.

For a second, the two of you just looked at each other. Part of you wanted to believe that this was just a silly costume, but you knew it wasn’t.

“This is why I’ve been missing all those decathlon practices, and why I quit band, and why I got that busted lip,” Peter said, his voice a little shaky. “This is the Stark Internship. I’m Spider-Man,” he added, like that wasn’t obvious enough already.

You didn’t say anything, still struggling to process everything that had just been thrown at you. Slowly, everything began to make sense.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I didn’t want to lie to you anymore.”

You could feel several powerful emotions radiating off of him, emotions he was trying to show you: fear of his identity being discovered, fear of getting hurt, of others getting hurt, the anxiety of balancing school and being a superhero, the loneliness of not being able to tell anyone his secret, the guilt and the hatred he felt whenever he couldn’t save someone. It was so much you could barely stand it.

But you could also feel that he was afraid of you: afraid you’d hate him for dragging you into this, putting you in danger, making this a part of your life forever now. Afraid you’d never want to see him again after this. Afraid he’d just ruined everything.

Finally, you found your voice. “Peter,” you said. You were still in shock, but your voice came out steady. “It’s okay. It’s all okay.”

He blinked at you before looking at the ground, and you could see tears glistening in his eyes. You hesitated for a second before you moved forward and hugged him.

Peter went stiff with surprise, but you refused to let go, and eventually he relaxed, his arms slowly coming around your back. You stood silently like that for a while, and it wasn’t lost on you that this was the first time you and Peter had ever been close like this. And you liked it.

“You’re not mad?” he asked, his voice muffed into your shoulder.

“No,” you said. It was strange because you knew you should be mad, and you knew you had every right to be. But you weren’t.

“I do have a lot of questions though,” you continued. “If you’re up for answering them.”

“Yeah,” Peter said, lifting his head and wiping his nose. “Yeah, of course. Just . . . can we go somewhere else?”

“Sure,” you said. “Wherever you want.”

* * *

“I didn’t mean here,” you squeaked, squeezing your eyes shut.

Peter had led you out of the subway to a huge apartment building, so tall you had to crane your neck to see the top. “What are we doing here?” you’d asked.

“You’ll see,” was all Peter had said. He’d put his mask back on so you couldn’t see his face, and it just made you even more nervous. He’d beckoned you over with a short wave of his hand.

You’d reluctantly moved closer to him, but were caught off guard when he put one arm around you and shot out a web. “Wait a second,” you’d said, realizing just a little too late what he was about to do.

And then there was nothing below you anymore, just open air, and you were being lifted higher and higher off the ground. “Oh, fuck!” you’d shrieked before you could stop yourself, clinging to Peter even tighter. Everything passed by you in a blur, which was good, as you didn’t want to know how high up you were or what would happen if Peter were to let go. You didn’t breathe until you felt solid ground beneath your feet again, and even then you’d only let out a short breath before you saw where you were and immediately closed your eyes. 

“C’mon, open your eyes,” Peter coaxed now. He was sitting on the ledge of the building, but you’d remained where you were, refusing to even look at your surroundings.

“You brought me to the top of a fucking building,” you accused him, shaking your head. “Are you insane? I told you I don’t like heights!”

“Would you just come sit down? Please?”

Slowly, you opened your eyes and saw he was looking back at you, motioning for you to come over. “I am not coming over there,” you insisted. “I’m gonna fall.”

“If you fall I’ll catch you,” he said simply. “I promise.”

With a sigh, you took tiny steps to where he was, taking his hand and cautiously lowering yourself next to him. As long as you didn’t look down, you were okay. In fact, staring out at the city skyline, it was actually really pretty.

“See? You’re fine,” Peter said.

“For now.”

He laughed. You glanced over and saw he still had his mask on. “Take that thing off,” you said.

“Why?”

“’Cause I wanna see your face, that’s why.”

“You’d rather look at Peter Parker than at Spider-Man?” His tone was sarcastic on the surface, but you could read him easily.

“Yeah. I would,” was all you said.

There was a pause. And then Peter pulled off his mask, crumpling it up in his hand. “You’re the only one,” he said finally.

You shrugged. “Does anyone else really matter, though?”

You’d been half-joking, but to your surprise Peter said, “No.” You glanced over at him in time to see him look away, his cheeks tinged the lightest shade of pink.

The two of you sat there in embarrassed silence until you finally said, “Wait a second. When I was at your house for dinner and we were eating ice cream, they did a story about Spider-Man on TV. And I said that it would be cool to meet him. That was you?”

The smallest trace of a smirk was beginning to creep its way onto his face. “Yeah.”

“So you literally listened to me fangirl to you . . . about you?”

“Yup.”

“Oh my God.” Now it was your turn to flush. “I might have to jump off this building now. That’s so embarrassing.”

“I didn’t think it was,” Peter said, though his shit-eating grin said otherwise. “I thought it was cute.”

Cute. He thought you were cute. God, what was the matter with you? He was your frenemy; friend, even. What he thought about you didn’t mean anything in the slightest. So why was there warmth spreading through you from head to toe? Why was he smiling? And more importantly, why were you?

“How long have you been . . . this?” you asked to change the subject.

“Since freshman year,” he answered, glad to do the same.

“Was that before or after . . .” You trailed off, unsure if the question you wanted to ask was appropriate or not.

“Before,” he answered. “I mean, I got the powers before. But I was scared, you know? I didn’t know what to do. But after he died, I realized that I could stop stuff like that from happening to someone else. So I do.”

You looked at him almost in awe. “That’s really brave of you.”

“You think?”

“Yeah. I can’t imagine how hard that must’ve been,” you said quietly. “For you or your aunt.”

“He really was her soulmate,” Peter said, staring at something in the distance. “They did everything together. When he died, it was like a part of her died too. And it’s only just started to get better.”

“I’m sorry,” you said.

“She doesn’t know,” he said. “About this, I mean. Me.”

You raised your eyebrows. “You’ve been keeping this from her for two years?”

“Yeah,” he said. “It hasn’t been easy, believe me. But it would crush her if she found out. She’d flip.”

“Can’t imagine why,” you said dryly.

He ignored you. “She’s been through enough. If she knew, all she’d do was try to stop me.”

“But that wouldn’t work.”

He smiled. “No. So she’d just worry. And then it would worry me. So it’s just better if she doesn’t know.” He blinked, almost like he was forcing himself to come back. “I’m sorry for springing all of this on you. I know it’s a lot.”

“Yeah, kind of,” you agreed.

“I just . . . you said that I didn’t trust you. I wanted to show you that I do.” He laughed a little. “And you’re actually taking it way better than I thought you would.”

“Honestly? I’m pretty freaked out, dude,” you said. “You just told me that you’re Spider-Man and that you go around fighting crime and putting your life on the line every day. And that there are tons of bad guys out there that want to kill you who could find out your identity and then potentially find out mine. So I mean yeah, that kind of scares me.”

Peter furrowed his eyebrows as you continued. “But . . . you’re my soulmate. So I’m kind of stuck with it no matter what, right?”

“You don’t have to be,” Peter said, his voice low as he suddenly became very interested in his feet.

You let the silence hang over you for a second before you reached out and took his hand. He quickly looked at you, eyes wide. “Maybe I want to be,” you said quietly.

Slowly, a smile grew on Peter’s face. He went back to staring out at the horizon. You did the same, and you stayed like that until the sun was setting and it was time to go home.

After that day, something changed. It just took you a while to see it.

taglist: @tohollandback @what-the-heck-life @curlycals @rudegrungegirlxx @dontmeanlove @hufflepuffbitch @fanboyswhereare-you @hollandroos @twentyjuanwinchesterz @space1boy @peteparke @peterp-peterq @theguildenark @ravenclawnerdfromnarnia @thisisthetragicstoryofme @peteparkly @imaginingadifferentlife @infamous-webhead @1enchantedfantasy1 @spider-quackson @draqcnheartstrinq @ariii271 @artistic22dragon @sammy-holland @5-seconds-of-sarcasmm @komunyska @acciomarvel @nycspidey @princess-shurii @avesagittarius @converseskyline @unicorn-sparkles123 @m4df4n @bluemaximoff @thebookwormfairy @hi-mishamigos @queenophelia @stephie-senpai @whystopkeepon @qtest-trash @onxybunny22 @prettygirlonatrain @im-meant-to-be-bi-myself @itsallthesame @xabihailx @4-a-m @embrel @thumper-darling @akigaskarth @lightrain-loudmind @1happygir1

[honey-and-rats]

The Boys Are Back In Town

The idea came from @charilework, I hope you like it :))

So basically Charlie, Dee, Mac and Dennis are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and Frank is God...somehow

Philadelphia 1798

“God damn it, Charlie, this is all your fault!”

“I'm sorry, ok? I can't help myself, Dee!”

Dennis turned around to shout at them. “Both of you, shut up and run faster!”

“I can't run faster, do you know how hard it is not to trip over this awful dress?” Dee snapped back.

“God, I can't take your constant complaining any more!” Dennis screamed.

“I would appreciate it if you could stop using my name in vain, guys.”

They all turned their had to see a small man running behind them.

Charlie flashed him a smile. “Oh hey, Frank, when did you arrive?”

“Just a few seconds ago. What did I tell you about not making a scene?”

They took a sharp turn into a dark alley. All of them were breathing heavily except for Frank who was looking at them with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Dennis had to lean against the wall, he looked like he was about to faint. “This is all Charlie's fault!”

Frank raised an eyebrow and looked expectantly at Charlie.

“I – no, ok, guys, this is not fair, you never get in trouble for the things you do, why am I always the bad guy?”

Dee rolled her eyes. “Because we're smart about what we do, you're not!”

Charlie started to get irritated. “How are you smart about what you do? People drop like flies wherever you go, the only thing you've got going for you is that people die all the time one way or another.”

Dee shrugged. “Yeah I guess being Death has it's perks.”

Dennis was still breathing heavily. “I swear I will strangle both of you for making me run!”

Frank waved his hands in front of them. “Enough!” He turned to Mac. “Stop making them fight!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about...”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about, I literally created you so don’t give me that bullshit.”

“Uh ok, well, excuse me, Frank, I'm War, this is my job! Maybe stop complaining, you’re the one who made me like this.””

Frank pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “What happened here? I told you you could stay if you do not make a scene, that was 22 years ago! It's like I can't leave you alone for literally two seconds! You're not on duty so behave for fuck's sake! I don't even know what I expected from you. You might be a few thousand years old but you act like little children!”

Dee pointed her finger at Charlie. “He infected the whole city with yellow fever!”

Charlie put his hands up in defence. “Ok, Dee, you're exaggerating, barely 5.000 people died, that is not 'the whole city'!”

Frank looked from Dee to Charlie and back. “But how did they find out it was you?”

Dee laughed bitterly. “Well this is where Mac comes in. Apparently he and Charlie went out and Charlie got into a fight with some people and the whole thing came out somehow. It doesn't really make sense to blame a single person for an epidemic that severe but they don't know what caused it and they need a scapegoat. Come to think of it, this reminds me a bit of the whole witch burning thing from last century.”

Mac laughed. “That was hilarious, remember when they tried to burn you at the stake that one time?”

Dee punched him in the ribs. “Yeah I remember how you sold me out to that village just so you could have a laugh! I will get my revenge for that!”

“Dee, it’s been over a hundred years, stop lying to yourself it won’t happen.”

Finally Dennis found his way back into the conversation. “Frank, listen, I suggest you punish only Charlie as we clearly have nothing to do with this, take him and leave us in peace.”

Charlie furrowed his brows. “Shut up, Dennis, you wouldn't know how hard life is when you have actual powers.”

“Excuse me, what!?”

“Come on, Famine? That has to be the lamest of the four of us.”

“That is not true, at least I make people look good when they haven't eaten in forever and they're thin and beautiful. How the hell is Pestilence better then that?”

Charlie shrugged. “I don't know man, starving people sounds pretty lame to me.”

Dennis looked around to get support from Dee and Mac but they nodded.

“Yeah, he's right.”

“Yeah he has a point.”

“Enough!” Frank's face was slightly red. “I've heard enough! Charlie, how the hell do you infect 5.000 people with yellow fever? And the rest of you, you should have looked out for him!”

Charlie grinned. “Actually it was more than 5.000 people, that's only the ones that died. Guys, I can't be tamed, I'm your wild card!”

Frank groaned. “This is not something to be proud of! You're all punished, you come home with me and maybe I change my mind in a few hundred years, until then, you're all grounded!”

A collective eye rolling, groaning and complaining began when a few armed soldiers appeared in the alley.

“There they are, get them!”

But before the soldiers could reach them, Frank snapped his fingers and they were gone. The soldiers stared at the empty ally in front of them.

207 Years Later

Philadelphia 2005

“Guys, am I the only one or are people staring at us?” Dee looked around uncomfortably while Dennis was on her right side, head held up high and with a smirk on his lips.

“They're admiring me, you're just not used to the attention.”

Mac shook his head. “No, I think Dee's right, they're definitely staring.”

“Do you think it's because of the horses?” Charlie asked. He was riding between Dennis and Mac.

Mac seemed to think about it for a second. “No...no I don't think it's the horses.”  

Dee shook her head. “Definitely not the horses.”

Dennis, irritated by the fact that the conversation had shifted from him to their horses, cleared his throat. “It doesn't matter, lets just go to the pub where Frank wanted to meet us.”

And like that they rode on their white, black, red and pale horses through Philadelphia on a sunny monday afternoon without a care in the world. After 207 years of being grounded, Frank had finally changed his mind and allowed them to come back.

The city had changed drastically and it took them a while to find their way to the bar but when they finally arrived at the familiar old brick building they all had small smiles on their faces. Finally they were back.

Frank was sitting at the wooden counter, waiting for them. “I guess you recognise this place?”

“Yeah, this is the bar we bought back in 1776...”  Mac looked around. “What's with these glowing things?”

Frank scanned him for a moment, trying to figure out if he was joking or not. “Those are neon signs.”

“Cool...and that?”

“Are you kidding me?” Frank rubbed his temples.

“No, I'm dead serious –“

“No, I'm Death –“

“Shut up, Dee, you know what I meant! So, Frank, what's that?”

“It's a TV, Mac. Jesus Christ, is it gonna be like this until you catch up with everything that happened the last 200 years?”

They nodded.

“Yeah, probably.”

“Definitely.”

Frank groaned. “I can't take this. Ok, here's the rules, you get to stay here, run the bar if you want to, don't cause drama and try not to kill everyone, you're not on duty, the Apocalypse isn't scheduled for at least the next 600 years so behave or I'll take you back with me! If there is anything you need, don't ask me just figure it out by yourselves!”

A snap and he was gone.

The first few weeks were tough. Dee had killed a guy that had started a fight with her after she'd served him the wrong drink. She'd insisted that it had been completely by accident and that her anger had gotten the better of her but Charlie had seen the satisfied smile she tried to hide.

Mac had started a total of 153 bar fights. He had made himself head of security which gave him the perfect excuse to challenge every single person stepping foot into the bar. As opposed to Dee he didn't even try to hide what he was doing, according to him it just was in his nature ‘to be that bad-ass'.

Dennis was trying to get costumers by doing what he, as Famine, did best but his plan had backfired spectacularly. The problem was that Dennis did not know what moderation meant so almost all of his victims ended up needing to go to a hospital or died right then and there from starvation.

Charlie was the only one who tried to keep his distance from people, still feeling guilty about the yellow fever epidemic in 1798. It hadn't taken long before he discovered that rats were impressively resistant to sickness so he rescued one from the basement and befriended it. However, he hadn't taken into consideration that a living rat in the bar would spread even more disease and after a few costumers had gotten really sick Dennis had him get rid of the rat, to Charlie's great disappointment.

Slowly but surely they got used to the new era and the bar became their home again. Frank spent his free time with them when he didn't have to answer prayers or cause natural disasters somewhere in the world.

The Four Horsemen were back in Philadelphia. The boys were back in town.