#I'm unfortunately probably going to have to reach out to the meet director about being moved into the lower weight class cause idk if I can

[pettyprocrastination]

just got my shipment of powerlifting gear for my first meet that's in a month and holy fuck people werent joking about how much effort it takes to get knee sleeves on and off

[l4v3nd3rv01d]

☆ SMG4's Afterlife After Show Post-"New Director" / 1-up AU shenanigans and late night concepts/thoughts (talking in circles)

Since the Aftershow Cast have spent so much time together, despite their grievances with each others past actions and occasional butting of heads, since none of them could every cause much harm in the afterlife they were all very calm and still do seem to be really calm around each other. Unfortunately, the rest of the SMG4 Crew still need to get used to this

Axol and Niles butt heads a lot but never in a very serious manner. Usually one of them is just trying to provoke a reaction out of the other. They start doing this while around the others and don't really think about the fact they look like they're seriously fighting. Axol jabs Niles and he goes to hit him back which promptly causes Melony to panic and pull her sword on him. Axol was startled and confused before he properly registered why she did that and tried to calm her down and Niles js kinda,,, stood there having his own realization. He fucked up so much, so many people, how the hell is he supposed to coexist with them? They know he's the monster that nearly destroyed them, that killed their friend, destroyed their other friends universe, they have no reasons to so much as tolerate him. Niles spent the rest of that day hovering around Zero and Zero only.

Yk what probably didn't help? Being fully returned to the realm of the living restored some of Niles' previous power, to which his body was still regulating and readjusting to. Niles' eye has always flashed to red with the 0 pupil whenever he gets really upset/annoyed/angry/etc but I like to think while his powers were re-regulating this became a much more common occurrence and since him and Axols bickering does still in part come from a place of resentment I'm certain that jab mixed with whatever remark Axol made annoyed Niles to the point his eye begin flashing or js flat out fully changed. So seeing that and then immediately seeing Niles reach towards Axol in any attempt to hurt him, no matter how playful, probably set off several sets of danger alarms in Melony's head.

Luckily I doubt situations like this will happen often as Niles doesn't leave Zero's side very much. He's the only one other than Fred that actually likes him but even then he still feels awkward around Fred sometimes.

Niles feels really out of place, his head is much clearer but now he's surrounded by people who don't trust him and expect him to slip up or cause trouble. Not to mention he's in a whole new location all over again. He's in an unfamiliar place, with unwelcoming inhabitants, and unregulated powers trying to readjust themselves to his body. So yea, he's sticking to the one sense of familiarity he has: his best friend.

This isn't to say Niles won't occasionally wander on his own though. Zero is really fond of and really likes talking to the other SMGs and as you can imagine that gets awkward FAST so there have been some times where Niles will leave Zero to go meet with them on his own while he tries to find something else to do. Niles hates being alone so he tries to find someone else who can at least tolerate having him around for a while and who he can tolerate being around. Fred is with Spudnick most of the time and the both of them like staying by their respective SMGs. Niles doesn't want to deal with Spudnick (or Mario who usually ALWAYS ends up running into the other two avatars somehow) so that plus the aforementioned awkwardness puts Fred out of the question 95% of the time. He just moves down the list of Aftershow Cast members with the next two options being Wren and Desti, both of whom are typically around Meggy. Wren is trying to apologize and reconcile with her and Meggy is open to trying to move on from everything (Desti helped a little with this. Meggy and subsequently Tari were very hesitant about Wren for a while. But then Desti pointed out that she's been around stuck with him for a while now he's practically harmless so- Yay! Friendship!! Kinda!!) Being around Meggy leads to being around a lot of people who are outright afraid of Niles which also tends to be frustrating.

Niles doesn't go to Axol or at least tries not to. Axol is practically always with Melony which isn't,,, great for Niles whole awkward "guilt" he feels anytime he's around literally anyone. I mean would you wanna hang out with the two people you severely traumatized? Would you wanna ask them to HANG OUT?? But his hate of being alone leads him to just sometimes hover around the same area as them. He won't really talk to them unless they talk to him first, which they typically don't but they leave him be and just hang out in his own bubble. Even if Axol isn't around her, Niles sometimes just hangs out in the same area Melony is in. She's really the only other familiar person he feels comfortable being around. He keeps his distance and doesn't interact with or bother her much but every now and then they'll have a brief exchange.

Niles hates being alone because that means he's got no one there to keep him distracted which just leaves him all alone with his thoughts. Sure there's no cosmic voice driving him insane, but there's his own voice now. When left alone and in the quiet for too long his thoughts start to spin and blur and stress him the HELL out. To combat this, if he is alone he keeps moving. If he's constantly walking around he can find something new to focus on instead of his owns thoughts. Sometimes he'll just opt to go straight for a walk somewhere if he's particularly stressed. He hates when Zero sees him stressing over this new situation. This is a good thing, he's not gonna let his inability to pull himself together be the reason Zero doesn't enjoy his well deserved 2nd chance.

[candiedsour]

How Genshin Impact characters would react to someone flirting with you || (Liyue)

Hello everyone! I apologize for the wait but I finally finished the Liyue version ٩( ᐛ )و I was originally supposed to divide it into 2 parts but then I decided against it ( ͡°³ ͡°). Part 3 will probably be uploaded in 3 days. But in the meantime, enjouy reading! o(〃＾▽＾〃)o

-E <3

Zhongli ❌💸

How he'd react to someone flirting with you really just depends on his mood

He doesn't really interfere because he knows you can handle it yourself

You two have had the person flirting with you pay or discount something you both bought on more than one occasion and he's not even ashamed of it

"Ah, my lady. Your beauty is simply etheral."

The shop owner said as you examined the jade.

You looked up from the Noctilucous Jade and met Zhongli's eyes. Completely ignoring the owner.

Zhongli's put the Jade onto the table and reached into his pouch for Mora.

Though, once he opened it; he grimaced. Once you saw his expression you realized that neither of you had enough Mora to pay for the Jade.

You cringed as you saw the amount of Mora in the pouch and looked back at the shop owner to apologize.

That was, before an idea clicked into your mind.

You then berought forth the most charming and flirtatious face you could muster and smiled at the shop owner.

"My deepest apologies Sir, but I don't think we'll be able to buy from you today. " You sighed.

The owner widened his eyes at your statement and quickly replied with

"Oh no, it's fine your can just pay any amount you have now and come back to pay for the rest! "

"Thank you so much Sir, I am forever in your debt for this. " You said as you grabbed his hands.

The owner was completely smothered by now, he had completely forgotten Zhongli's presence and was looking at you with completely entranced eyes.

If it wasn't for Zhongli's years of experience in concealing his expressions, he would probably be laughing out loud by now.

"That was quite the show my dear, I doubt that he would have noticed anything even if we had robbed his whole stall. "

Beidou 🏴‍☠️♀️

Just like with Kaeya, no one would really flirt with you since they know about your relationship with the captain of The Crux unless they're clueless

And Beidou being Beidou, would not take shit from anyone. Clueless or not

If the other person is being persistent, she doesn't really mind throwing hands

"It's a shame that you have a lover, otherwise i'd have made you mine by now. " The creep said as he grabbed both of your hands.

You leaned backwards, trying to get away from the man. You desperately scanned the area for anyone who would help you.

You then met Beido's eyes with a look that clearly read "please help me".

Once she saw you, Beido walked over and tapped the man on the shoulder.

"She's mine, now let her go." She said as she glared at the man who was holding onto your hands.

"And if I don't?"

The person didn't even register anything before Beido's fist collided with his jaw.

"I ain't scared of fines, I'll fight whoever disrespects my partner"

Xiao 🔪👺

Doesn't really care if the other person is flirting with you or not

If it gets to the point of harassment he will give them a whack with his polearm

He looks like he doesn't care about you but that's just because he knows who you're going back home with

"Would you like to accompany me on my travels, my fair lady? " The traveler said as he loaded his belongings onto his cart.

"I'd have to decline the offer. I already have a lover I am devoted to. " You said with a smile as you passed him the packed food you had bought from the inn.

Xiao watched you two from the distance, he sat on the balcony if the Inn as he waited for you to bid him farewell on his missions as well.

"Were you watching me? " You said you peek at him from behind.

"I was simply making sure he was not a dangerous individual. " Xiao replied, stotic as usual.

"Are you here to bid me goodbye?" He asked as he gazed at you.

"Goodbye? Oh no, I'm going with you! "

"Even though you are hundreds of years old does not mean you are invincible. Therefore, you should refrain from fighting recklessly. "

Xingqiu ⚔📚

He usually just tells the person bothering you to back off, politely. Of course

Though, he doesn't really mind if the other person is rude or persistent; it's just an excuse for him to have a little 'fun' behind the scenes

If they're rude, they'll most likely find themselves having a number of minor inconveniences

"Sir, please let go of my partner." Xingqiu confronted the creep.

You quickly ran to his side. Not wanting to be near the man for a millisecond longer.

"And what's the pretty boy going to do to me?" He jabbed at the blue haired boy.

Although he was slightly irritated. Xingqiu paid no mind to him and walked you back to your house.

"Y/n do you recall the creep from yesterday afternoon? Yes, I received a notice that he is trying to buy brass for his stall. I convinced every merchant selling fish in Liyue to not sell him any, I also bought some brass. Would you like some? "

Chongyun ❄🍦

He doesn't really like confronting people so he'd just make up an excuse to take you away from them

If the other person decides to be start an argument, he'd try to keep his cool. Not wanting to go into the manic state he usually gets into once his body overheats

Sadly, on more than one occasion; he has lost his cool and completely and ends up causing chaos to anyone who's unfortunate enough to be nearby

It's been at least a solid 15 minutes since the guy sitting next to you have been pestering you about going with him to the Lantern Rite festival.

And for what felt like the 30th time, you declined.

You really wanted this person gone before you meet up with Chongyun but he kept following you so you just plopped down somewhere on the stone ground.

Unfortunately for you, the other person did not take the cue for him to leave but instead; had taken it as an invitation to sit down and talk with you instead.

At some point, you considered kicking him in the face but refrainwd from doing so. But now, you're regretting that decision.

"Y/n! Me and Xingqiu were looking all over for you. " Chongyun said as he ran over to you two.

The guy looked surprised as the two boys walked over you where you were sitting.

"Who are these people? " He said. As if they were the ones invading into someone's personal space.

Chongyun instantly realised the situation and whispered something to Xingqiu. He then gave you the hand signal for "Run for it" And pointed to behind him.

Almost in a flash, all of you three started sprinting away, leaving behind a very confused person.

"Thank Rex Lapis we didn't actually get into a fight this time"

Hu Tao 👻🔥

Whenever she sees someone flirting with you, she'd ask them about their health

She'd then weird them out by introducing her as the 77th director of Wangsheng funeral parlour

The person flirting with you would probably be very uncomfortable at this point and leave, but if they don't Hu Tao would hand then one of her buy 1 get 1 funeral coupons

"I simply cannot resist your beauty. " The man said as he leaned in closer to your face.

"Hello there good Sir! How is your health? " Hu Tao asked as she appeared seemingly out of nowhere and before you.

The man seemed confused at her question.

"Pardon? " He asked.

"Ah, I have forgotten that I have yet to introduce myself. Please call me Hu Tao. 77th director of the Wangsheng funeral parlour! " She introduced herself and took out her hand for him to shake.

He seemed a bit uncomfortable at the mention of funerals but nevertheless he ignored Hu Tao and went back to your conversation.

"What do you say to dinner at Wanmin Restaurant? " He pressed on, flat out ignoring Hu Tao's whole existence all together.

"Here's a coupon, it's buy one funeral, get one free. I hope I'll see you soon! " She said as she dragged you away. Leaving behind a very disturbed man.

"I should've said 'I hope to see you again businesses-wise. ' "

[pettyvxbes]

FUCKLUST (18 +) - {COLSON BAKER x READER }

Y'all, I got a little carried away on this one. 🙈🥵💦

Warnings: Smut (18+), cursing.

FUCKLUST

Intransitive verb: an insatiable sexual desire to fuck the hell out of that one particular special someone you think about all the time.

Colson towered over you, his strong arms pinning your hands over your head. Leaning down, he captured your lips in a heated kiss. You could feel his hard cock against your thigh, making heat pool in your center. You gasped as Colson pushed his body against yours, sliding his bare length between your folds. You could feel his hot breath on yours as a groan escaped his lips.

Colson took your bottom lip between his teeth, biting hard. You wanted to pull him closer, but he kept a firm grip on your arms which were still positioned above your head. You instinctively wrapped your legs around his waist, pulling him as close to you as possible.

"I'm going to fuck you so good you won't be able to remember another man has been inside you, you won't ever want another cock." Colson growled, reaching down to position himself. You could feel the head of his cock pressing at your entrance.

A jolt shuddered through you, making you jump. Your eyes shot open as you awoke from your accidental nap. You were immediately met with the familiar pair of baby blues that belonged to your co-star, Colson Baker.

You two had been working on a movie together for the last three months, and you were set to film your very first kissing scene, which you ultimately blamed for the naughty dream, even though you knew deep down it was much more than that. From the moment you stepped on set, the chemistry between you was undeniable, and the sexual tension was consuming. Colson was always making you laugh uncontrollably or making you wish you were underneath him. Unfortunately, you had both decided for the sake of the film that you would keep it professional. The closer it got to wrapping the first film, the harder it was to resist wrapping yourselves around each other.

"Y/n, are you okay?" Colson asked. Your cheeks flushed red, remembering the dream you were just in the middle of. Colson smirked at you once he noticed the rosy tint to your cheeks. "You were dreaming about me, weren't you?" He joked but had no idea how accurate he was.

You quickly tried to regain your composure, ignoring the intense need for his hands on your body. It took everything in you to not jump him right there in the lounge.

"Yeah, actually," You admitted, catching him off guard at your candor.

"Guys, we need you on set." One of the crew members popped their head in the room, interrupting your conversation. You got up from the chair that you had fallen asleep in, stopping in the doorway, you turned back around to face the handsome man.

"Thank you for the sex. It was mind-blowing." You smirked, making Colson's jaw drop. Although your dream hadn't gone quite that far, you knew it would have been amazing.

It sucked. Liking someone you couldn't have. Seeing Colson every day but knowing that he'd never be yours because of your stupid agreement. It was the worst feeling in the world. All you could do was dream about him and the things that he'd do to you. . .

. . . but you couldn't jeopardize the success of the film, your career, you worked so hard to get to where you were. You refused to be like all of the other Hollywood cliches. Two beautiful people playing two beautiful lovers who accidentally fall for each other in real life but eventually go up in flames. Completely ruining the on-screen chemistry in the sequels or worst-case scenario, one of them being re-casted, which you knew would end up being you.

Not long after stepping on set, you found yourself standing in the middle of a faux lingerie store next to Colson, who was helping your character pick out something to wear.

"Let me guess. You like garters and silk stockings?" You delivered your lines perfectly as you thumbed through the garments on the rack in front of you.

"Two for two, although I'd like you in anything you put on… or take off," Colson smirked, handing you a hanger adorned with a very sexy lace bustier set. You glanced towards the dressing rooms, then back at Colson with a scandalous glimmer in your eye.

"Help me try it on? Just to make sure it fits, of course."

"Of course." Colson mimicked you before following you towards the dressing rooms. After quickly switching scenes on set, you resumed filming in the tiny room.

You pushed Colson toward the bench in the dressing room, forcing him to sit. Looking him straight in the eye, you reached for the hem of your clothes, lifting slowly, exposing your bare skin inch by inch. Colson sat in front of you, clenching his fists in his lap, clearly holding himself back from reaching for you as you stepped out of the last of your clothes and into the lingerie.

"Well?" Does it live up to your imagination?" Your character asked as you looked at yourself in the mirror, adjusting the straps on the bustier and garter belt. Colson's body was pressed up against yours in an instant, meeting your gaze in the mirror. He planted a kiss on your neck, sending shivers down your spine as his hands found their way to your hips. You could feel him growing hard against you. In the moment, you almost forget that you were filming, clearing your throat to break the trance.

"I hope you like this one because I'm pretty sure I have to buy these panties now." You blurted. Those weren't your lines; You had no idea where that came from. You could feel Colson grin against the nape of your neck. Your face flushed in embarrassment, but before anyone could notice, Colson spun you around, threading his fingers through your hair pulling you into a fierce kiss.

You knew this wasn't how the scene was supposed to go, but even as you tried to remind yourself to stick to the script, you found yourself pulling him closer. After the last few months of tension and self-restraint, Colson's mouth, hot and insistent on yours, was a relief.

"Tell me to stop, and I will," Colson whispered against your lips.

"Don't." Was the only word you were able to get out before you melted into his arms. Wrapping your body around his. The kiss grew passionate and intense quickly. You both forgot where you were and what you were doing until the director screamed cut, startling both of you.

"That was phenomenal," the director complimented you two on your improv. The rest of the day was spent filming fill-in scenes with your other castmates; in fact, you hadn't seen Colson once since your little rendezvous in the dressing room. This was probably a good thing because, after that heated kiss, you were sure you wouldn't be able to resist.

Once filming had wrapped for the day, you made your way back to the dressing rooms, still replaying the kiss from earlier in your mind. You were so caught up in your thoughts out hadn't even realized that you walked right past your dressing room door, opening your co-workers as your own.

You were startled to find Colson standing in front of you. Freshly showered in nothing but a small white towel. You could see the outline of his cock through the cotton fabric. It was enough to make you salivate. His eyes locked with yours, the look of lust on your face was apparent, and he reciprocated. The desire absorbed you; you knew that resisting him was no longer an option. That no matter how hard you tried, you wouldn't be able to curb the ache you felt for him until it was satisfied.

Before you could make the first move, Colson's lips were on yours. His kiss was hard as his arms wrapped around you, holding you close to him. His passion was contagious and electrifying. Colson pressed his body flush with yours, sucking on your lower lip as he ran his fingers roughly through your hair.

"Stop teasing and touch me," You demanded. With a smirk, Colsons' hands found your backside lifting you up. You wrapped your legs around his back as he pressed you hard into the wall.

"It's about damn time." He breathed. With his free hand, Colson wrapped your hair around his fist, pulling your head back with a slight yank. He took a second, admiring the view before leaning forward to press a soft kiss to your mouth, so lingering that it made your knees week.

"If we're finally going to do this, I want to hear you say it, y/n." Colson said, looking into your eyes, and without hesitation, you spoke.

"Colson, I need you."

You had a moment to catch Colson's groan before he crashed his lips into yours. You moved frantically together, hands roaming each other's bodies and tongues exploring each other's mouths. Your dress was hiked up around your waist as Colson's hands wandered, feeling every inch of your body. His lips moved down your jaw, his hips grinding into yours. The rub of his bulge against the fabric of the lingerie you had taken from set sent a rush of need to your core, causing you to buck your hips into him.

"Do you feel what you do to me y/n?" Colson growled as he grabbed your hand, guiding it down to the space between you both. "What have you done to me every single goddamn night since I've met you?" He asked, rock hard against your palm. Colson let out an agonizingly sexy groan in response to your touch. You rubbed your hand up and down the length of him, straining hard against the fabric of the towel around his hips. You squeezed your hand around him, stroking slowly. Colson's groans quickly turned to grunts, deep and sexy, until his hand abruptly stopped yours.

"Y/n, you're going to make cum before I even get you naked." He admitted with a slight chuckle. With one smooth move Colson hoisted you into his arms, shifting your weight away from the wall. You locked your ankles around his back, and he carried you across the room. His mouth latched to the skin of your neck.

"Are you marking me, Colson Baker?" You asked seductively. Colson growled low in his throat.

"You haven't seen anything yet, princess." He avowed, tossing you on the chaise lounge. His eyes roamed the curves of your body, still covered in the fabric of your sheer dress. You leaned back on the chair, your skirt hiked up enough to show a peek of the panties beneath. Colson groaned as he dropped to one knee on the lounge so he could lean over you. His eyes were electric as he took in your body. Eyes locked with his, you slowly removed your clothes, tugging your dress over your head and letting it fall to the floor. Colson took in the lingerie that he had picked out for you, his eyes traveling hungrily over your body.

"Seeing you laid out like this in the lingerie that I picked out, it's hard not to feel like. . ." Colson trailed off in thought.

"Like you have a claim on me?" You guessed what he was thinking, and Colsons eyes darkened.

"Exactly like that. It's not a feeling I want to let go of." He remarked. "As much as I love it. . . let me see you without it."

You slipped the straps off your shoulders, watching Colsons eyes follow the movement. You slowly removed the lingerie as he watched your every move. Once you were completely naked, you leaned back on your elbows, biting your lip while looking up at him, waiting to see what he'd do. Colson leaned forward, his eyes locked with yours. His hands framing your body on either side of the lounge chair.

"I want to mark every part of your beautiful body," Colson went on, "after all of that teasing and waiting. . . I want you to think of me every time you look in the mirror." He said, running his finger gently down your neck, your chest, over your nipples. "I want you to see the places I've touched you."

"Do it." You begged.

Colson let out a deep, wild growl that sent a shiver down your body. He dipped down, running his tongue over your collarbone, punctuating the movement with a nip to your shoulder. He pressed a line of soft kisses over the line of your shoulder before his mouth slid up to leave another bite mark on your neck. You gasped at the feeling of his teeth sinking into the curve of your neck. Before the pain could register, Colson licked over the same spot, peppering your skin with kisses. You could feel the trail of marks he was leaving on your neck and down your chest. It stung with pleasure and a hint of pain. He slowly made his way down your body, biting the edge of your hip, almost hard enough to draw blood. A moan escaped your mouth, and you instinctively lifted your hips to meet him.

"Colson"

"Fuck y/n, you're better than any fantasy I could ever have." He marveled as he pulled back to look at you, his gaze full of lust and wonder. Colson tugged on your knees, dragging you to the edge of the lounge chair, your bent legs framed his hips. "I can't wait to taste you. Have you thought about that? What it'd be like to have my mouth on you?"

"I may have considered what it'd be like. . . or how good you'd be. . ." You admitted coyly.

"Trust me, I'm not one to disappoint." He promised. "I can't even tell you how long I've been waiting for this. How many dreams I've had with me between your thighs. . ." desire dripping from every word he spoke.

Colson hovered over you, connecting his lips with yours as your fingers moved down his back. He moved his lips down your body - your neck, your collar bone, your breasts - he left a trail of kisses down your stomach, over your hips, until he reached the place where you craved him most. You arched into his touch, wanting to get closer. Colson lifted his head, grinning wide.

"Eager, are we?" He smirked. Before you could even catch your breath, Colson'sColson's tongue was between your folds, licking you slowly. He looked up to meet your eyes, holding down your hips as his mouth found your bundle of nerves. He sucked your clit like a starved man, enjoying each moan and gasp that he pulled from you. Within seconds you were writhing underneath him as his tongue continued making you sing.

"Oh my god," you moaned, your hand finding its way into his hair. Colson slid a single finger inside of you, working perfectly in time with his mouth against your bud. It sent shockwaves down your body. The rush of pleasure pushing you over the edge.

"Fuck Colson!" You moaned.

"That's it, say my name." He coaxed you. Pulling back enough to speak, Colson used his hand to rub your clit in sharp circles, hard enough to drive you crazy. "Cum for me." He ordered, and your orgasm hit you like a wave, the pleasure shaking through you as you finally let go. You fell back onto the chaise lounge, spent.

Colson climbed on top of you, kissing you passionately. His fingers found their way between your thighs, teasing at your entrance before slipping, not one but two fingers inside. You gasped at the sensation. Colson rocked his hand in smooth, firm strokes, making you moan. He curled his fingers to reach the spot inside that makes fireworks explode behind your eyes. He pumped his fingers in and out of you at a faster pace leaving you breathless, hitting that particular spot every time.

You couldn't take it any longer. You ran your nails down his tattooed back, stopping at the only piece of fabric separating his naked body from yours. In one swift motion, you yanked the towel from his hips, making him grin.

"Since the day I met you, all I wanted to do was make you come undone around me," He said, sliding the underside of his cock over your wet center, giving your clit just a hint of the friction that you craved.

Colson pressed his cock over your clit one last time, making you moan before he positioned it against your entrance. He slowly pushed himself inside of you, one pleasurable, tantalizing inch at a time until you were completely full. Visibly restraining himself, Colson stayed still, letting you get used to the size of him. Both of you breathing heavily as you became familiar with the feel of each other. You rocked your hips up, pulling him in deeper. Tipping his head back in pleasure, Colson let out a groan.

"You're going to be the death of me," Colson mumbled before starting to move agonizingly slow, using all of his self-control. He slowly rolled his hips, pressing his pelvis down against your clit, making you moan.

"Do you want me to go faster?" He asked as he slowly pushed himself deep inside of you, brushing against that perfect spot.

"Y-yes," You stammered in between breaths.

"Tell me what you want," Colson demanded. You could see the tension in his shoulders; it was getting difficult for him to hold himself back. His strokes were slow and hard, sending electric sparks through your body - hot, but not enough. He was driving you crazy, and he loved it; you could tell by the smirk he was wearing.

"Want to hear your beg for it." He growled, sliding slowly into you again, stretching you, sending white-hot pleasure through your body. You could swear you saw stars.

"Please fuck me harder," You moaned. It was precisely what he wanted to hear. In a split second, Colson's self-restraint snapped. His hips moving faster, thrusting deep inside you. You let out a moan as you attempted to bring your hips down to meet his, but he set a frenzied pace, so hard that it took your breath away.

You gripped his shoulders, raking your nails down his tattooed back, hard enough to leave a mark. Colson let out a low growl as the knot in your stomach grew taut; you were so close. You closed your eyes, overwhelmed by the sensation.

"Open your eyes. Look at me while you cum on my cock." Colson's nails dug into your hips, and the mixture of pain and pleasure made that knot unravel. Your eyes shot open, meeting those familiar baby blues again.

Colson slammed into you hard and deep, making you scream his name as you fell off the edge, pleasure cascading through your entire body. Colson's lips found their way to yours, swallowing every sound you gave him. The feeling of your release around him causing him to cum even harder, your mouth engulfing his groans. He pulsed inside of you, releasing himself and all the built-up tension from his body until the only thing left between you was heavy breathing.

"Fuck." Colson groaned, lying motionless on top of you for a moment, too fatigued to move. Once he caught his bearings, he rolled off of you, laying on his back next to you. A quiet chuckle escaped his lips.

"What's so funny?" you probed.

"Before you walked in here, I was trying to figure out how I was going to keep myself from accidentally busting while filming our sex scene next week." He answered, still chuckling to himself. His response made you laugh out loud.

"And what makes you think you won't? The sexual tension could easily build back up by then." You challenged him.

"Oh, I have every intention of doing this again" He pointed between you two.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah," He responded, placing a gentle kiss on your cheek, "I thought that your laugh was my favorite. . ." He continued, moving to gently kiss your lips. "but now that I've made you moan. . ." He trailed off, moving down to kiss your neck, sucking just enough to draw a quiet moan from your lips. ". . .I plan on hearing it many times before then" He smirked, and just like that, the insatiable sexual desire to fuck the hell out of Colson Baker returned.

[amaya-chwan]

Takeaways from Therapy Game Restart 14 + Illustration Book Release Date

Hello again everyone! ❤️💛💜

It's finally here... chapter 14! In all its glory! 😍🥰✨

Before we get to our takeaways, just some news I missed in the last post!

🎉 SENSEI'S ILLUSTRATION BOOK WILL BE RELEASED AROUND THURSDAY, 23RD SEPTEMBER! 🎉

Image taken from this Twitter post from Dear+!

It is titled "日ノ原巡イラスト集　DARLING" and boasts a collection of illustrations from Sensei's works so far: Secret XXX, Therapy Game, and Kamisama no Uroko.

The current price is ¥2970 with tax (¥2700 without tax). If you'd like to preorder it on your proxy shopping service, I've found it on the Comi Comi Studios website here! The bonus for purchasing it on this website is a B5 clear file~ I haven't seen it on Animate just yet, so fingers crossed it'll appear on their website soon with another (different) bonus! ❤️💛

Alright, with this amazing news done, let's move onto our takeaways, the long awaited takeaways! Thank you for being so patient with me! 💜

My short life update: currently in week 8 of lockdown and I haven't left my house in a long time other than for exercise or groceries. But I do have my vaccination appointment booked so YAY! 🎉

Here are our takeaways for this chapter:

Oh man, we pick right up from the last page of chapter 13. MINATO, BB, YOU LOOK SO PAINED! 😭

Sensei is the BIGGEST tease... that's all we got of that Minato and Shizuma scene...👀😭

The female staff at the veterinary hospital have really mellowed out! They're not bad, after all. ☺️

Oh dear, Nakajou-sensei, please get better ASAP!

Whoa... did Onodera just...?? I'm starting to think back to that Onodera discussion we had a couple of months ago... 🤔

Poor Shizuma, always roped into Onodera's workplace stuff! IT'S BECAUSE YOU HAVE GREAT PEOPLE SKILLS, SHIZUMA! PROUD OF YOU! 😍🙌

Man, Onodera has a really... blunt way of saying things to her human clients. Wow, brave. 😲

But I will say, Onodera really is good with animals. 🙌

Yet again, I think about that Onodera discussion we had... 🤔🤔

And that’s it for this chapter’s takeaways! For a more detailed breakdown/summary of this chapter, please continue after the cut! There may or may not be a surprise scene (or two) there. Please keep reading if you want to see~  😉✨

Our chapter begins where we left off in chapter 13--Minato pinning Shizuma down on the bed. Shizuma looks up at Minato and reflects on his actions that caused the pained look he is seeing.

Image taken from this Dear+ Twitter post!

On the next page (title page), the dialogue reads: Shizuma wants to understand what it is about his director (Onodera) that is making Minato uneasy. // However, that beautiful liar hides it well...

(I believe we are taken back to the morning before Shizuma and Minato meet up for their date.)

The title page features Onodera walking back to the clinic, bread in hand, with a cat cozying up on her leg. We are then brought to the clinic's lunchroom, with the female staff and Shizuma on break. The roster in the room shows that Onodera is extremely busy, Nakajou-sensei has afternoon house call appointments, Tatsumi is Nakajou-sensei's support for these appointments, and Shizuma has a half day and finishes in the afternoon in lieu of working on his scheduled day off.

Shizuma asks his coworkers what presents they like from their partners and takes note of their answers. One of the female nurses asks if it's Minato's birthday. Shizuma confesses that their relationship has been affected by the various things happening lately, so he wants to get Minato a gift before seeing him later that day.

The nurses quickly pick up that the gift is a "tribute" of sorts as this line of work means a lot of missed appointments and dates, and Shizuma confirms their suspicions. While the nurses realise male-male relationships and male-female relationships aren't that different in this aspect, everyone in the lunchroom is alerted to someone shouting Nakajou-sensei's name.

Shizuma and a nurse see Tatsumi with Nakajou-sensei, who has collapsed on the floor. While the staff are concerned about Nakajou's well-being, she brushes it off as a dizzy spell. Before they can help her up, Onodera sweeps her off her feet and carries Nakajou to her (Onodera's) office. While Nakajou asks Onodera to put her down out of sheer embarrassment, Shizuma and Tatsumi are in shock, with Tatsumi commenting on Onodera's manliness in that moment. One of the other nurses gently smacks Shizuma's shoulder and tells the two to grab a blanket and a drink for Nakajou.

In her office, Onodera asks Nakajou why she's been overworking herself to the point of collapsing. The nurse (who gave the gentle smack) very obviously hints to Onodera that it is her fault. As Nakajou calms the nurse by saying that's just how the director is, Tatsumi asks Nakajou about their afternoon appointments. She says she'll be fine to go after a little rest, but the nurse says she mustn't overexert herself.

After a few back and forths about who should go and the clients' needs/personality (picky about the vet, had a pet that doesn't like men, etc), Onodera says she will go. The nurses are shocked and reminisce about all the issues they've had when Onodera interacts with the owners. Tatsumi and Shizuma stand there, and can very clearly imagine those situations happening.

While Onodera rearranges and informs the nurses of the shift changes to accommodate Nakajou-sensei, Shizuma has a terrible premonition that unfortunately comes true: he is appointed as Onodera's support for the afternoon house calls.

Wearing a sulky expression, Shizuma packs the necessary equipment in Onodera's car and reminds her that he has a very important engagement that night that he cannot miss, and as such will leave immediately after the house call appointments are done. Onodera bursts his bubble, and tells him to give up on those plans while he can since this is the line of work he's chosen.

As Shizuma reads the client files, he questions Onodera on why he is her support when he's never attended to these clients before. While Onodera tells him that good coordination is important with a physician's support and that he's the only one she can rely on to give her an honest opinion and calm the clients, Shizuma realises that he's basically the mediator between her and the owners. She confirms that this is his strong point, has great expectations for him, and proceeds to drive. Shizuma then reads the patient files at lightning speed, realising there's a threatening 'something' that Minato has sensed, but that's just how the director is. He then vows to make it to their meeting tonight, no matter what.

The first three house calls, as expected, involve Onodera insulting and angering the owners--Onodera tells the first client that his insistence on seeing Nakajou rather than a 'young' director is having a negative effect on his pet who needs immediate medical care; Onodera offends the second client, inferring from their conversation that her pet's appearance is more important than the need to shave their fur and get an ultrasound done; Onodera accuses the third client of being irresponsible in caring for his exotic animals and asks for more effort on his part. In all three scenarios, Shizuma awkwardly smiles while trying to ease the tension.

The scene skips to Onodera and Shizuma arriving at their fourth and final house call for the day. Just as Onodera explains to Shizuma that she must check a whole host of things at house calls (and indirectly be too blunt about it with the owners), Shizuma asks her to consider the owner's feelings and change when and how she says things. She glares ahead in silence, and Shizuma is just glad that she is now aware of it. He again reminds her to talk with the owner nicely and gently as he probably won't be able to help with the next client as their pet dislikes men. Onodera tells him to just sit in the corner and witness the client become furious while he doesn't help, making him feel slightly guilty for saying that. He is now adament on not helping her.

They reach the owner's home and we meet an elderly woman named Shiratori and her 9-year-old male cat, Tono. Shiratori apologises to Shizuma as her cat doesn't like men. Tono hisses at them as Onodera opens his cage, but is then coaxed into submission by Onodera who covers his vision with a towel and takes him into her lap to calm down. Shiratori and Shizuma are surprised at his sudden docile nature, with Shizuma witnessing how well she deals with animals.

As Shizuma looks on at Onodera while she completes a check on Tono, he sees she is crumbling at the friendliness and talkative nature of Shiratori, who sings nothing but praise for Onodera and how her family must be proud to have such an amazing daughter. Aiming to ease her troubles and remembering the earlier guilt-trip she gave him, he redirects Shiratori's attention to her broken fly screen and offers to fix that plus everything else that needs repair in her home.

Onodera watches as the two leave the room for a bit before apologising to Tono for ignoring him. Tono looks on at Onodera happily while she asks him how he can live with such a lively human and to tell her his secret to this. She brings him into her arms once more to check his limbs, and as Tono looks up smiling at Onodera, Onodera sees her reflection in Tono's eyes, and both seem to realise something.

BG Text: Stare...

Suddenly, Shizuma and Shiratori, who are busy fixing the window, hear a loud crash and rush into the room to find Tono atop the cabinet and Onodera on the floor, with her hair in disarray. In the next panel, Tono is shown to be hiding in the bookshelf, looking on irritatingly at the humans. Shiratori apologises to Onodera, who shakes it off and says it's nothing to worry about and no harm's been done.

Shiratori asks if Onodera will fix/tie her hair up again, but when Onodera says her hair tie was broken when Tono used her as a launchpad to get on the cabinet, Shiratori runs to get her a new one. As Shiratori gushes over the 3 piece dopey looking character hair tie set she received as a present from her grandchild (and lets Onodera pick one), a greatly displeased look is plastered on Onodera's face. Shizuma, in shock, notices her displeasure and hopes she just thanks Shiratori for it. And Onodera does, bringing a great big smile to Shiratori's face.

As Onodera and Shizuma leave, Shiratori says she's glad to have talked with Onodera and invites her to come over again. As she says this, we see Onodera looking back with a blank look in her eyes.

And that’s it for this chapter! THANK YOU FOR READING THIS FAR! 💜 While I was surprised at the lack of Minato in this chapter (Sensei legit is such a tease, LOL 🤣), I'm happy we can learn more about Onodera. Ngl, I'm starting to really question if Onodera is male or female now, given what transpired in this chapter. I guess we shall see in the next one!

I also changed the formatting a bit and removed the bullet points. Please let me know which format is better/easier to read! Ahah!

EDIT: Spelling and grammar checks are done! Didn't change a lot, but hope it reads better! 💜

📢 As always, please support Hinohara-sensei by purchasing her books and CDs! 📢

And please also refrain from resharing these translations and images outside of this post! Thank you for understanding! ❤️💛

There won't be a chapter in next month's (September release) Dear+, so I shall see you in two months for the next chapter (Dear+ November Issue, to be released in October).

As always, stay safe during these turbulent times and look out for each other and for your loved ones! 💜❤️💛

[xneens]

thank u, next (ft. loki) - part two

Warnings: angst, swearing, jealousy, mentions of sex, violence

Word count: 5.7k

Summary: A mission goes wrong, leaving you stranded with the two men who despise each other, competing for your attention.

Or: In which Steve breaks up with Sharon after realizing how much he loves you, only to be put on hold while you spend time with Loki.

Tony kept glancing at you, his eyes narrowing as if he was trying to figure out what kind of mind manipulation Loki had hexed you with. Natasha was torn between proud and shock. Clint had been positive it was a prank on his behalf until he had learned it was true, the archer studying you, wondering if you were under Loki's influence. And Bruce—well, he still couldn't get over the shock to actually word his opinion.

Steve, on the other hand, wasted no time blaming Loki, accusing him of using his magic to manipulate you into bed. When Thor has came back with news that Loki hadn't—with Heimdell being all knowing and watching—it had made Steve go to Fury, who had shown emotion on his face other than boredom and disappointment. Yet the surprise wore off and the director found it not relevant as the issue had not broken one of the rules Loki had agreed to.

The super soldier had hit the gym in a hurry, pounding the sandbag, probably wishing it was Loki. And Thor, like everyone else, it took him time to process it but unlike everyone, he barely gave it a thought. With word from Heimdell, knowing that his brother wasn't planning anything to harm you or the others, he was at peace with the situation as long as it was two consenting adults.

As you sat in the conference room, waiting for Steve and Loki to show up for the meeting, you wondered why he thought it was okay to overreact to something so...normal. People have sex, he must've known that you weren't any different. And unfortunately, Fury has picked the same day to spring a mission on the team, forcing all of you into a room, not caring about the act you committed with Loki.

Loki came in first, dressed in his usual black color, a suit almost identical to the one he wore the day before. Even from across the room, you could easily spot the hickeys he kept, a bunch peeking out from under the suit. It had given you a sense of pride and embarrassment, going down on the God of Mischief.

He caught your eye, the corner of his lips turned up, twitching without their permission. Loki wouldn't admit it out loud but he liked you to the point of sacrificing everyone in the room to save the one decent person who hadn't judge him. Everyone had turned to look at him, following his every move whilst he moved to the empty seat besides you.

The one that everyone knew was Steve's. Yet, no one said a word, secretly enjoying the show.

"Greetings," he said curtly, nodding once to everyone with an expressionless face. They all nodded back to him, Tony covering the smile that was trying to force itself on his face. Loki turned to you, sitting down in Steve seat as he gave you a smirk, amused by your attempt to cover up his marks. "Hello, angel."

The nickname alone wanted to make you want to ditch the meeting for a dick appointment with the Asgardian, the name slipping from his tongue. The same name he had whispered into you ear as he thrusted into you. Instead, you gave him a small smile, unconsciously rubbing your thighs together. "Hey."

Loki noticed the motion, his smirk widening. Pulling the chair closer to your own, his arm leaning up against yours. Leaning in, he put his lips to your ears, ignoring everyone's stares, including his brother's. "Your attempt to cover my hard work is very amusing, love."

"Loki..." you warned, using the same tone you had last night when he teased you too far, wishing for release. There was a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. "Shut up, not everyone has magic."

"All you have to do is ask, although I prefer to see them on your skin." Loki whispered, not caring how many people team members had subconsciously leaned in, straining to hear what the raven-haired God had to say.

Before you could answer, the door opened, Steve and Fury entering. The super soldier had an exhausted look on his face while Fury kept his emotionless facade up. Steve started walking towards his seat, so distracted by the uncovered hickeys on your neck to notice it had been taken. The blond did a double take, seeing Loki in his chair. If it wasn't for the barely contained anger in his eyes, you would've bursted out laughing at his comical expression.

The team stayed quiet, their eyes glued on the silent war between the two men. Loki nonchalantly looked up, his lips brushing against your hair as he pulled away, smirking at Steve. The silence was broken by Fury's tired sigh.

"Well, hello, Captain." Loki sneered, not having any intention of getting up. Steve's eyes stormed with anger, a tick away from letting loose. The God of Mischief pointed to the chair across from you, the one next to Tony, giving the super soldier a pointed look. "You should take your seat."

Tony muffled a snort at Steve's scowl, yet America's Sweetheart didn't move a muscle, glaring at Loki. Fury rolled his eyes, taking a deep breath. "Rogers, take a seat next to Stark. Loki, stop being an asshole. Back to business."

Steve followed Fury's order, sitting down besides Tony, his angry expression turning blank, waiting for whatever Fury had to say. Yet, his eyes still looked murderous, often glancing at the lack of space between you and Loki. Tony didn't hide his amusement, biting back a laugh, and trying to focus on whatever Fury was saying while the rest of the team kept looking at Steve, expecting him to reach across the table and punch Loki back to Asgard.

"While you agents were partying, drinking all your problems away, SHIELD got a tip from an undercover agent." Fury started, sliding your folders across the table, giving you something to look at other than the tension between Steve and Loki. You opened the folder to find pictures of blood-covered bodies. "Normally, we wouldn't bring the Avengers into a mafia-related crimes but this one's different.

"The Chinese Mafia is after a USB flash drive, one that we suspect, contains secrets that could bring down the American government. Emphasis on could; SHIELD isn't that well informed on what exactly the flash drive holds." Fury continued. Looking at you, he called your name. "Along with Rogers and Laufeyson. I'm assigning the three of you on the mission. You'll get the mission details as soon as Agent Hill gets here. The rest of you are irrelevant. Everyone go away now."

He left the room before anyone could even move a muscle. The team glanced between Loki and Steve, trying to figure out what they felt. It was clear neither of them were too happy about going on a mission together but the photographs of dead bodies made them bury their resentment down, for the sake of the government and all, but mostly for your sake.

Tony cleared his throat, trying not to burst out laughing. "So, Cap—"

Steve called out your name, standing up from his seat. "Can I talk to you for a minute? Alone? It's urgent."

"Yeah, sure." you said, following him out the door without looking back at the rest. You didn't notice the way Loki oozed with madness, his eyes deadly. Steve led you away from the view of room, stopping in the middle of a private hallway. It was secluded enough, yet Steve kept fidgeting like someone was listening. "Steve, I know you aren't particularly fond of Loki but he's a good—"

"I broke up with Sharon." Steve blurted. You stopped talking, your mouth open from your earlier words. The blond ran a hand through his hair. "I broke up with her last night, just before the party started ... before you walked in with Loki."

"That's not what it looked like."

"I was trying to be her friend, just like I'm trying to be yours." Steve explained, almost begging. "I never got the chance to apologize for hurting you. When you came back from Asgard, it had been too long for me to even mention it without it being awkward. So, I didn't. I wanted to but you didn't want to spend time with me anymore. And that's my fault, I'm not blaming you for being hurt. I understand what I did was so selfish, and wrong. It was wrong and if I could go back in time, I would've never done it."

You closed your gaping mouth, a little surprised by the apology. Rocking back on your heels, you awkwardly looked everywhere but at him. "Okay, um, thanks?"

Dejected, Steve nodded, his head hanging from the lack of sympathy in your voice. "Yeah. I wanted you to know. That's what I was coming to tell you this morning, but instead found you in bed with .... him."

"Uh," it was all you could say. Clueless of how to respond, you started to back away slowly, like there was a bear coming towards you. "Okay. So ... I'm gonna go. Get prepared for the mission or whatever. I'll see you later."

Before he could utter another word, you walked away,  feeling completely numb by the news. There was a part of you that wanted to forgive him, another part was feeling satisfied for his pain, and the last was confused. If he had been telling the truth—breaking up with Sharon before the party—then why hadn't he told you or apologized when he came to talk to you? It made you question whether he was just jealous or genuinely sorry for hurting you.

You weren't ready to forgive him yet, not after he made you doubt your self worth. Thor had made you feel better when you had came to him, showering you with golden gifts, shoes, and brotherly love. Despite popular belief, Loki wasn't that much different than his brother. Yes, he wasn't a people person, but he was gruffer, rougher, meaner...sexier. He knew what it was like to feel unwanted, feeling the need to show how powerful he was. If you had been in his situation—and you practically almost were if it hadn't been for Natasha—you would've taken the same road he had.

Speak of the devil, you bumped right into him, his chest only covered by a black silk sweater. With all the heavy thinking you hadn't realized you had walked back to your room. Gathering your thoughts, you looked up at his blue eyes. "Shit, sorry."

"Are you well, angel?" Loki asked, genuinely concerned. He had heard every word Steve had said, and to Loki's dismay, they had all been true. Loki hated Steve as much as Steve hated him, Steve had a reason and so did the God of Lies. The main reason? You.

You nodded, seeing how your room was messy. Books and blankets were on the ground, a broken glass scattered on the floor near your bedside table, a lamp covered in feathers, and last night's clothes strewn around the room. "I'm fine. But my room isn't, holy fuck."

With a wave of his hand, Loki cleared the room, the disastrous mess cleaned up before your eyes. He gave you a smile. "There. Director Cyclops wanted me to inform you and Sleeping Beauty that Maria Hill is in the building. She's ready if we are."

"Great. One thing before we step out this room: be nice."

"I'll try."

—

The mission was far easier than you originally thought. It was less than 24 hours, meaning you wouldn't be trapped in a designated safe house with them, or would you be in any kind of trouble. Just like Fury had said, it was an extract mission. Get the flash drive, get out.

Unfortunately, we'd be forced to go to a gala, one of those unnecessarily fancy parties where the champagne was watered down and the men showed how powerful they were with girls clinging onto their arm. It was a pre-kidnapped Tony Stark kind of party. Thankfully, you had more than a few practice with walking in heels.

The two men were able to put their hatred aside to focus on the job, Loki's magic still restrained even with the urgency of the mission. Maria Hill had filled you in, giving you all the details, the layout of the building, and all the places they suspected the drive to be. The plan was to fly to Hong Kong, get dressed for the party in the Quinjet, attend the gala long enough to find Zhang Wei, and run with the USB flash drive. Simple enough.

The flight from New York to Hong Kong was tiring, even with the eight hour slumber you had, finding yourself in Loki's arms once again. Fortunately, Steve hadn't seen you with Thor's brother, knocking this time and finding you alone, reading the mission file for the millionth time. He had smiled, probably happy he didn't see Loki in your room. That smile didn't last, dropping as soon as he stepped in the Quinjet, greeted Loki and saw the quick smile you sent the raven-haired God. It tugged on his heartstrings; you used to smile at him like that.

At least they kept their snide comments to themselves, only sending the other a glare when you weren't looking. As soon as you looked up, a slightly perplexed expression would come on their face, like they were trying to think of a word that rhymes with orange. Yet, you didn't dare question it, leaving the topic alone and quietly stewing in the testosterone-filled aircraft.

When the Quinjet finally reached Hong Kong, you had already changed into your formal wear. Loki didn't have to move to change his clothes; instead he used his magic, making him look presentable in a blink of an eye. Steve had frowned on that, but decided to let it go considering he had a lot to make up to you. Getting into a fight with your ... whatever Loki was, would not be a great start.

Getting ready for the party had been easy, the dress fit you just right, your hair being in the mood to cooperate, and even your makeup was flawless. The reaction from Steve and Loki certainly didn't help your ego, their comical reactions to your beauty had been amusing and slightly embarrassing.

Steve's mouth has hung open, his jaw unwilling to close while he stared at you. "Wow. Y-you look gorgeous. Wow."

"Truly breathtaking, love." Loki added, licking his lips in appreciation. If there was one thing both he and Steve could agree on, was the way you always turned heads. If anything, Loki wanted to make you his goddess—he just didn't want to admit it to himself just yet.

And since you were too emotionally invested, you took the easy way out and rolled your eyes. Dressed in their tuxes, they looked like they stepped out of a Hugo Boss ad. "Thanks. You guys clean up well."

Steve was too busy admiring you to notice Loki pull out a diamond encrusted ring, not exactly a engagement ring from Jared but one of those rings you get with friends during a drunken girl's night out. Loki stepped up to you, bringing your right hand, placing the ring on your index finger.

"The ring ... goes well with your dress." Loki explained, watching you stare at the ring he had placed. Steve's wonderment has turned sour, a little sad by the gesture. "It was my mother's."

"Loki," you gasped softly, knowing the how special their relationship had been. Thor had explained how Loki spent most his childhood with Frigga, spending his time learning magic, being a mama's boy. With Frigga dead, Loki must've felt some resentment to those dark elves that had been responsible for her death. "I can't— I can't take this."

Loki shrugged, brushing away a stray hair on your cheek. "Yes, you can. You will. It looks beautiful on you. Don't you agree, Captain?"

To be completely honest, Loki had forgotten Steve had existed until his heart faltered at the mention of Frigga. Steve didn't like the way the ring looked like it belonged on you, almost like it had been made specially for you. He nodded, agreeing with Loki once again. "Looks beautiful."

Before it could get any more awkward or embarrassing, an alarm had sounded, the noise saying you from any further feels. All three of you moved to the front, seeing how you hovered a few feet off the landing spot assigned for the Quinjet. With the many SHIELD headquarters, it wasn't a surprise they had in Tokyo just as modernly technical like the one in New York.

The limo ride that took you to the party was tense. Maybe it was the mission that was about to go down, or that awkward moment in the Quinjet. The navy blue, floor-length dress was silky, the fabric soft against your skin. The one-inch straps that came together at the back of your neck accentuated your cleavage, brining them to look bigger than they were. It clung to your curves, but not tight like the dress you had worn the yesterday. This one was far more elegant.

Wrapped in your thoughts, you hadn't noticed when the limo had stopped, the crowded building to your right. The doors opened, both Steve and Loki reaching out a hand to help you out of the limo. Taking them both, you snaked an arm around both of theirs, letting others know you had two dates. You thought the red carpet leading to the entrance was a bit much, even for the Chinese mafia.

Two suited men opened the double glass doors, revealing the fancy gala. Dangerous men and mafia families filled the large room, eyes flickering to your entrance, widening when they realized who had entered. They knew your dates, but SHIELD had made sure to keep your place on the team a secret for missions like this one. No criminal would trust an Avenger, but they might be dumb—or arrogant—enough to be manipulated by a "mole" in SHIELD.

The talking stopped briefly, only to turn to hushed murmurs before they continued as they had before. Both Steve and Loki turned down the campaign, not trusting whatever was put in the liquid. Looking around the room, there was nothing out of the ordinary, well, for a party held by a mafia of course.

"Should we proceed as planned?" Loki confirmed, surveying the room as he tried to find his own target. He locked eyes with the man he needed to distract while Steve and you would sneak away and find Zhang Wei and the flash drive.

Steve nodded, slyly touching his earpiece hidden by his growing hair. You had no idea how Tony convinced him how to grow it out but you were going to thank him later. "Yes. Keep in contact and check in every ten minutes. Be careful."

Loki nodded, heading off to his target but not before giving you a reassuring smile, tiny enough for no one else to notice but it was enough to ease your worries. Yes, he's an all-powerful god but that didn't mean he couldn't die.

Turning to Steve, you smiled at him, almost naughtily. Eyes twinkling with evilness, you hold out your free hand, challenging him with your eyebrows. "Would you like to dance, Stevie?"

You've never seen so much fear in someone's eyes come in such a short time. Steve's contained so much fear you were worried he was going to combust. "Um, I d-don't really know how."

"Why, that's a shame, Captain." a man behind you said. Turning around, you found yourself only a foot away from the mafia leader himself, Zhang Wei. Steve's jaw clenched at the unprepared confrontation. Zhang turned to you, holding his unnaturally thin hand out. You could see the bones through the thin skin, shivering at the sight. "Would you like to dance, darling?"

Taking the opportunity, you nodded, taking his hand, hoping Steve would get the hint to not look so stiff. "I would love to."

Zhang took you to the almost empty dance floor, the music starting as soon as his foot hit the designated area. Smiling maliciously, he tugged on your waist, pulling you close for a proper dance. "You look beautiful, my dear. I'm certain your date is jealous I stole you away."

"He doesn't mind." you answered, returning the smile. Glancing at Steve, you saw him glaring at the back of Zhang's head, burning a hole. "Steve is rather hesitant when it comes to dancing, so, I'm sure he doesn't mind you helping a lady out."

The mafia leader's smiled widened. His eyes briefly landed on Loki, narrowing slightly at the way he interacted with his second in command. You took the brief amount of time to inspect him, noticing how much thinner he looked. With eye bags under his eyes, bones peeking through his hands, and the way his footsteps faltered ever so slightly made you realize he isn't going to be hard to take down. He may be the big bad criminal but from the looks of it, he was dying.

Zhang Wei nodded. "You look familiar. Have I seen you before?"

"I'm an escort. You may or may not have seen me on a bunch of powerful men's arms." you lied, flashing him your most charming smile. Zhang raised an eyebrow, gesturing towards Steve with a tilt of his head. "Steve's the same, poor baby was too shy to ask anyone to be his date."

"Didn't think Captain America would have such a hard time finding a date." Zhang mumbled aloud. He kept the false smile on his face. "If the time came, would you tell me your name, in case I can't find myself a date?"

"Tatia Sinclair." you lied, twirling in his arms.

The mafia leader nodded. The dance floor had filled up, nearly overcrowding. It took you a second to find Steve with all the bodies in the way. Zhang cleared his throat. "What a lovely name. Tatia, darling, would you accompany me to my study? I have to fetch something special of mine and would like you pleasant company."

Steve snarled your name through the earpiece, Loki's growl following along. Again, the super soldier and the god agreed. Steve murmured your name. "Don't."

Ignoring his order—and unnecessary concern—you grinned, taking Zhang outstretched arm. "I would love to."

He led you to the elegant stairs while you discreetly turned off your earpiece, no longer wanting to hear Steve's overprotective ass grumbling about sticking to the plan. If he had checked his folder, he would've seen you were sticking to the plan, just not the way he wanted.

The walk to his office was a slow one, considering how sick the mafia leader was, you weren't surprised when he was out of breath just from climbing the stairs. You didn't comment, instead helping him out and pointing out random things a dumb escort would say. Your personal plan was to make this guy underestimate you, and with the way he was looking at you, he was convinced you were just a body with no brains.

He opened the door to his mahogany office, the room was just as elegant as the party below, oozing power and money. Zhang went to his desk, opening his cabinet. From where he left you, you couldn't see what considering how he held it in his hand without opening his palm. A knock at the door stopped you from asking.

Surprisingly his right hand man came in, the one Loki was supposed to be distracting, at least long enough for us to figure out where the flash drive was. And guessing from the amount of evidence, you were guessing the flash drive was in the mafia leader's hand. He glanced at you, tilting his head at Zhang before speaking.

They talked in Chinese--surprise, surprise--a bit fast for you to fully decipher but the gist of the conversation had been finding a safe, more guarded location for the drive considering both Steve Rogers and Loki Laufeyson were in the building, just a floor below them. The two men paid you no attention as you tried to look clueless, bored, and in all, dumb. In their eyes, you were just checking out the room when actually you had been trying to find more dirt. If it wasn't the drive in his hand, it had to be close by.

"Tatia." Zhang called out, using the fake name you had given him. You turned around, a little glass globe in your hand. You raised an eyebrow, twirling the little sphere. "Would you excuse me? I have some rather pressing issues that need to be dealt with."

And once again, the door opened before you could answer the question. This time, at the door stood Steve and Loki, a man laying on the floor between the two. From the way both their suits were a little ruffled, they had enough waiting and decided to take action. A few appeared out of knowhere, tacking the two but you were left alone to deal with the men in the room. Zhang reached under his desk, where you had discreetly took the hidden gun while they had been talking.

Zhang's second in command quickly pointed his loaded gun at you, and you at him, your eyes reflecting the same emotion: hate. The man spoke to Zhang, keeping his gun steady while Zhang tried to get away. Even for a dying man, he moved fast, leaving you the choice of shooting his second in command in the knee. He cried out, firing his gun out of anguish but you were faster, quickly following Zhang, leaving a big group of men to fight Loki and Steve. They would be able to handle it.

Running in heels was always an annoyance to you, considering how unnecessary they were on missions. They looked hot but the fact that you were forced to wear them was a little sexist. You'd have to talk with Fury about that.

The halls were lit up with chanderliers dangling from the ceiling, all of them shining brightly. For someone who had been limping out of the room, he had been fast, or was hiding but the fact was that you lost him. You could still hear the grunts from where Loki and Steve were punching the fuck out of those mafia men.

You slowed, looking at the painting-decorated walls in search of some kind of secret door, maybe a fake wall. It sounded ridiculous but at the compound, Tony had a bunch of hiding spots, a few you knew and others you didn't. It was infuriating.

The hallway must've lasted forever, and you were convinced he had vanished into thin air. Then you spotted a cracked door, it was enough to be left opened on accident, but that didn't mean it was. With caution, you walked slowly, holding your gun in front of you. With your foot, you cracked the door open, entering a room of complete darkness. From what you could tell, there were no windows, and most likely a fake safe room.

Still, you flipped the light switch on, the room lighting up with it's obnoxiously bright white paint reflecting even brighter with the light. Scanning the room, you noticed how it smelled slightly sweet, the sweetness making you slightly dizzy. You shook your head, trying to find something wrong, like a hidden wall, or maybe another escape route from inside the room.

It didn't take long for you to realize the sweet scent was toxic, the side effect making you dizzier, the room spinning under your feet. As soon as you grasped the wall for support, Zhang came from the wall beside you, the little door opening to reveal the mafia leader holding his own gun, the flash drive in his hand as he taunted you with it.

He laughed at your weakened state, aiming his gun at your heart. It triggered your fight or flight and even with the side effect, you decided to fight. He was weaker than you, slower, his aged brain not processing you running at him. His gun dropped on the ground, along with the USB drive as your hand wrapped around his neck, pushing him against the wall with all your remaining strength.

Zhang had to been immune to the fast-acting toxin while you crumbled, unable to hold your body with the dizziness and fatigue bringing you down. Taking the upper hand, he knocked you over, his fist colliding with your jaw. You grunted, pouncing for the gun and flash drive, hiding the latter in your bra while the mafia leader shook his hand in pain.

Just as you had wrapped your fingers around the barrel of the gun, you heard the gunshot, and felt it hit your shoulder. Your hand was useless, your body way too weak from the toxins to defend yourself against the man, at this point just hoping they would find the flash drive in your bra when they autopsied you.

Another bullet was fired, and this one right on your arm, the pain numb. Maybe this was the way you were going to die, but at least it wasn't painful. That was the best you could've hoped for. And then another bullet was fired, but you didn't feel it, the fire inside you too hot for you to even register the pain. You laid on the ground, eyes drifting close. Zhang dropped dead a couple of feet next to you, his head bleeding out.

Your vision had already blackened when you felt Steve knelt down to you, pulling you into his arms. You were unconscious by the the time you figured out Steve had killed.

—

You woke up to the sound of the irritating beat of your heart of the monitor, and heavy breathing. Despite the very difficult task, you opened your eyes, instantly regretting it when you were met with a blinding light. Thankfully, it went away, revealing where you were in the Medbay, laying on the stiff bed with needles pierced into your skin.

Steve got up from his seat beside you, instantly hovering over you with a worried look on his face. If you hadn't felt like shit, you would've thought his face was permanently like that. "Hey, hey. Are you okay? How do you feel?"

"Am I in hell?"

He let out a strained chuckle, taking your hand with the both of his. His furrowed eyebrows remained furrowed, his forehead filled with crinkles. "Sweetheart? How do you feel? Are you in pain? Do you need anything?"

"Holy fuck, you're spitting in my face. Steve, I feel like shit but I promise I'm fine. Come on, don't you don't have to worry so much." you replied, wishing you could do something other than lie in pain.

"You're fine? I watched you get shot, held you in my arms while you bled out in front of me. If it wasn't for Loki, you'd be dead. Don't you understand how not fine that is? What the hell were you thinking?" Steve raged, letting go of your hand to pace around the room. Judging from the lack of sunlight coming from the windows, it was nighttime, the whole compound barely lit.

"Did you find the drive? I had it—"

"Are you actually worrying about the flash drive when you almost died? Do you not care whether or not you live?" Steve blurted, throwing his hands up in the air, clearly frustrated with how the conversation was going.

"Where's Loki?" you whispered, your eyes slowly closing. You fought to keep them open, hoping for an answer and wishing you could postpone this argument with Steve until morning when you finally could argue back.

Steve calmed down, appreciating the God of Mischief a lot more when he saved your life. "He's filling out Fury on the whole situation. And we found the flash drive, which made Fury gleam with glee."

"Good." you yawned, letting your eyes close knowing Loki was safe and found the flash drive. Steve whispered something but you were already too far gone, falling asleep as soon as your eyes closed.

Loki came into the room a few minutes after you fell asleep, stepping up next to Steve who had been staring your sleeping form. The raven-haired God pulled up a chair, his eyes never leaving your face. "How is she?"

"More worried about the aftermath of the mission more than herself." Steve answered, his voice wavering for a second at the thought of losing you. The super soldier turned to Loki. "Thank you for going against the rules and using your magic to save her. I think it's safe to say you won't get into any trouble, especially with her fighting Tony about it."

Loki shrugged, waving away the compliment. "You would've done the same if you could've."

A beat of silence passed before Steve spoke again, more determined than ever to win back your trust. "I like her, you know?"

"I care for her, too." Loki replied. "And I know that you care for her but don't you understand that I'm far better for her than you ever will? You hurt her. You broke her trust. I may only know her for a few days but I know breaking trust is important to her. To earn it back—"

"Would almost be impossible." Steve finished, his eyes dropping to the bed. "But I have to try. I really like her."

"As do I. And I'm not giving up."

"Neither will I."

< previous next >

[doiedreams]

an insect ambush leaves you in camp counselor!Johnny’s care

fluff ద

1.5k words

warnings: none

[4:02pm] s.jn

“Did you take them on their bathroom break yet?” Johnny asks you, as the both of you set up an activity outside for the kids at your summer camp. 

You look at your watch before answering. “Nope. They have about 10 more minutes until their bathroom break. For now, they’re just playing around.” 

Johnny raises his eyebrows and looks at you. “Aren’t our groups on the same schedule?” 

You stop what you're doing for a moment to think, and check your phone for the schedule. Turns out, Johnny is right.

“Geez, I'm terrible at time management...” you say.

“Don’t you have to be good at that to be a camp counselor?” Johnny snickers.

“Whatever. I’ve been doing this for long enough and no one’s fired me for it.”

He laughs at you and returns to his preparations. “Right. Well, some of the other groups are probably having their bathroom break right now so get over there before it gets crowded.”

You take your water bottle, leaving Johnny with the activities to go find your group of campers and take them to the bathroom.

You eventually notify your group of campers about the mix-up and lead them to the bathrooms. The closer you get, you start to hear loud children’s voices, running faucets, and toilets flushing. You then see kids and counselors crowding the hallway in front of the bathrooms.

“This is not gonna work...” you mutter to yourself.

“Sorry, but you're gonna have to take them to the outdoor bathrooms. We've got too many over here.” One of the camp counselors say to you. You nod, turning around to redirect your group of kids outside.

Catching sight of the path leading to the old park bathroom, you groan to yourself. Outside of the bathroom, you would be met with flies and mosquitoes while the inside was smelly, laced with cobwebs around the toilets, and littered with dead bugs and used paper towels.

You come to a stop once you've reached the old bathroom. It’s a small, wooden building with two doors - one on the left for boys, one on the right for girls - and had a small crooked drinking fountain in between them. You can hear the noises of various insects singing from the multitude of trees and bushes behind it.

“Alright, ” you sigh, turning towards the campers. “Who needs to go?”

“Took you long enough,” Johnny says to you as you take a seat at his table with the other counselors. “You missed the bean bag toss competition. It was intense.” His expression was one of seriousness, but his sarcasm was easy to detect. 

“What a shame…” you mutter, shaking your head in disappointment, mirroring his sarcasm. “We had to reroute to the outdoor bathroom.”

“Ew.”

“Exactly.”

Your conversation with Johnny and fellow counselors is disrupted when the site director approaches you. 

“Hey y/n, one of the kids in your group is leaving early and she said she left her bag in the bathroom,” she says. You sigh, knowing you'll be asked to go back to that bathroom again. “Would you mind grabbing it real quick?”

You smile and nod, masking the disgust you feel at the request. Johnny waves you off as you leave.

It’s darker now, and the buzzes and whining of various insects are heard when you get to the bathroom. You shudder as you brace yourself for whatever you may meet on the other end of the door.

Cautiously, you open the heavy door and peek into the bathroom, searching for the bag without fully entering. Paranoid at the buzzing sounds outside of the bathroom, you subconsciously duck your head as you enter. The last thing you want is to come across a bug of any kind.

You find the pink, dirty bag in the third, and last, stall of the bathroom, grab it, and rush out the door. When you step out of the bathroom, you sigh in relief but soon detect a faint odor coming from the bag.

You can hear more buzzing.

You unzip the bag and peak into it, revealing an overripe banana as well as some crackers and brown napkins.

Caught off guard by a buzzing sound right next to your ear, you swat at the air next to your ear and zip the bag back up. God, how you hate insects.

You can now hear an even louder buzzing on both sides of your head. You shake your head, just as a puppy would after taking a bath, and wave at your ears hoping to blow away whatever was bothering you.

The exposed skin on your legs begins to itch, and now you're beginning to freak out. Looking down at your legs, you find the source of itching. Pesky mosquitoes.

The itching quickly spread to your arms and face, and now, you’re beyond freaked out. 

You let out a shriek, frantically running back to the camp building, clutching onto the bag.

“Woah woah woah! Are you okay?” You hear a counselor ask as you run toward the building. 

You pant for air as you swipe at your itchy skin, trying to get rid of any mosquitoes that may still be on you.

“No, I'm not!” you cry. You drop the bag to the ground and kick it in front of you as you cover your face. “Just give this to the site director, please.”

Before your fellow camp counselor can say anything else, the site director comes out of the building and gasps. 

“Goodness, y/n, what happened to you?” She takes the bag from the ground and hands it to the other counselor. “Take this to the kid with her mom, would you?” The counselor hurries off with the bag.

The site director takes your hand and leads you into the building. You pass the table Johnny’s sitting at and your wounded state immediately grabs his attention. 

“Y/n, what happened to you?” he asks, hopping out of his seat worriedly .

“Take her to first-aid, please,” the site director orders.

Without any hesitation, Johnny takes your hand and guides you to the first-aid office.

You and Johnny enter the office and he closes the door behind you. Seeing as it’s the staff’s lunch break, the office is empty and Johnny helps himself to cupboards and cabinets with ointments and bandages.

The multitude of mosquito bites on your body has begun to swell up, and you wince at the sting when you reach up to touch your face.

“Careful, there. I don't want you irritating the bites more.” Johnny says gently. “Sit.”

You take a seat and watch as Johnny looks for something to heal you up. He pulls down a first-aid kit, inspecting a tube of ointment, before pulling up a seat in front of you.

“You look like you know what you're doing,” you remark. Johnny laughs, bringing a small smile to your face despite the ache.

“I really don’t.” He pulls out his phone and types something. “I just choose to trust Google.”

With the guidance of the Internet, he instructs you to wash your face, arms, and legs, before using an ice pack to reduce the swelling. As you wait for the swelling to go down, you explain the series of unfortunate events to Johnny, getting cut off every now and then by his jokes and teasing making the atmosphere a lot lighter for both of you.

“I think it’s time to put this on now,” you say, reaching for the ointment and putting down your ice pack. 

“Here, let me do it,” Johnny says, grabbing the tube before you could. You cock an eyebrow at him, then comply. He takes your arm and applies the cream on spots of your arm, muttering a soft apology each time you hiss at the sting. Fiddling with your lanyard, you watch him attend to your needs quietly with your arm in his hands.

Before he could move on to your other limbs, the door opens, revealing the nurse of the camp.

“I heard one of the counselor’s needed my attention.” She smiles at you before glancing over at Johnny. “But it looks like you're already being attended to.”

Johnny smiles shyly at the ground and lets out a laugh.

“You should make him your assistant. He’s really good at this,” you tease.

Johnny puts down the first-aid supplies and stands up. “I’ll let you take it from here,” he tells the nurse. Before leaving, he turns back to you and says, ”Tell me when you’re done. I’ll get some of the others to form your personal Insect Defense Squad.”

“How thoughtful of you,” you say, rolling your eyes. ”Thanks, I’ll definitely need it.”

“You’re very welcome.” Johnny says smugly.

And with that, he leaves you with the nurse to get your bites healed. You seem to forget the itch and sting of the bug bites, instead dwelling on the lasting touch his fingers left on your skin.

a/n: Inspired by @philosopher-of-fandoms​ :

This was just for fun I couldn’t help myself 😭 I saw the post and said screw it why not lmao.

proofread by: @sleepyyangyang​ and @give-seconds​ <33

[wwhitewwolff]

Good morning

Bucky Barnes X Reader

Warnings: cheating, insecurities, lies, angst, misleading storyline?? This one is long

Summary: when Bucky stops texting his long distance girlfriend good mornings each morning she gets suspicious, going back to America to visit him she's in for a surprise she had never expected.

A/N: guess who's writing again? No one because no one guessed because like 3 people will read this and it will be dead forever *shrug* I feel like this storyline is really misleading so, sorry? Also AOS is a main theme for this but if you don't watch the show it really doesn't matter

This is Bobbie btw for anyone who wants to know what she looks like for this

It had been over a year since you had seen your boyfriend, well properly seen your boyfriend, moving back to England was a hard decision for you but you knew it was the best one, you knew that taking the promotion was the best thing you could do but your mind was still constantly plagued with insecurities and worries, but you knew Bucky wasn't like that, he could never? Could he?

It had started about 3 months ago, his usually cheerful morning texts which never failed to bring a smile to your face had stopped, almost ceased to exist, from his constant hey, baby! How's my gorgeous girl? To his babyyy! Wake uupp! It's been too long! Facetime me when you're free my pretty doll. his morning texts had fallen to a simple hey or I'm busy we'll talk later and the main fact he never bothered to text first anymore had caused your usual insecurities to skyrocket, why did he never have time to send you a simple hello anymore? Or more importantly who meant he didn't have the time?

Your phone buzzed as you say in bed, mind plagued by thoughts, you immediately shot up, hopefully Bucky had gone back to usual? Opening your phone you had found a simple text from your boss Phil 'meet me in the headquarters at 10', why was Phil in England? More importantly why did he need to see you?

Standing up you prepared yourself for the day to come.

"Hey y/n/n!" Your good friend and teammate Bobbi chirped as she brought you your regular morning drink

"mornin' Bob" you slurred out as you wrapped your coat around your frame tightly, shivering as you took in the very open windows.

"someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. Argh! No! Stop throwing things at me!" Hunter shrieked as Bobbi began throwing pillows at him.

"Wow, adorable couple" you mumbled as you took in the pair, after getting remarried the pair had fallen deeply in love once again, you wished you could have that but unfortunately being the director of S.A.B, shield associations Britain you barely had the time to speak to Bucky, yet alone the time to break up with him or move on, whereas normal couples may have fallen apart you were way to busy to even think about dating or parties or even making new friends, you stuck to your own lane.

"hunter! Barbra!" A familiar, fatherly voice boomed as the familiar figure of Phil Coulson stepped into the office, taking in the pair he hadn't seen since Russia "I thought you two were never coming back to shield?" He grinned happily

"we could never leave our dear y/n alone in a country! She's so far into work she hasn't even been shopping yet!" Bobbie exasperated "and please, Phil! Dont call me Barbra! Barbra is far worse than any possible nickname you could give me!" The blonde grinned cheekily

"Bobbie, stop being so dramatic, we went shopping last month!" You shook your head playfully as you took a seat at your desk, gesturing for Phil to sit opposite you beside Hunter -who had perched himself happily onto one of the plush leather chairs-

"I need you to come back to New York for a while" Phil stated softly

"what? Really? Ohmygosh nofreakingway!" You shrieked happily

"English, y/n/n!" Hunter playfully chided, wagging a finger at you as you practically glowed, you had missed your friends and especially Bucky.

"when?" You asked excitedly

"next month, I'm sending agent Piper to hold things down till you get back here" Phil smiled at the young woman, barely reached her late 20's and still so experienced yet full of life. A small smile graced his lips as he watched the h/c girl jump up and start rambling.

• time skipy•

The buzz of the quinjet filled your ears as you stepped off, e/c orbs wandered as you took in the familiar tower in which your boyfriend and some of your closest friends lived, sighing deeply you grabbed Bobbi's hand and quickly guided her to the doors

"nervous?" She asks over the low rumble of the quinjet ascending back into the air and back to the main s.h.i.e.l.d base. Turning your head to face Bobbi you opened your mouth to deny but quickly remembered how useless it would be- you knew the spy since s.h.i.e.l.d academy! She knows you better than you do and vice versa

"I don't know why, b! I mean I'm going to see some of my best friends AND my boyfriend!' you blurted out exasperated, anyone walking past might have looked at you like you're crazy but Barbara Morse was your best friend in the entire world and she had seen much worse than you screaming out into the rough winds.

"y/f/n" she stopped walking abruptly piping your linked arms backwards with her "has Bucky been acting weird with you?" She asked inquisitively, shrugging you immediately regretted not speaking to her about Bucky before, she would have helped. "Oh y/n/n; you didn't you tell me? No wonder you're so skitterish today! Whatever it is I'm sure it's nothing too big, Bucky loves you and I can even tell that without meeting the man! He's probably on a mission or something, he IS an avenger" Bobbi calmly rubbed your back as she spoke, guiding your hand to the identification scanners.

"thanks Bob, you always know how to make me feel so much better. I love you" you sighed dreamily, aiming to annoy the woman "oh you cow! Stop being so corny!" The blonde laughed aloud and she lightly smacked your hand, walking into the escalators you began calming your nerves, you felt like a giddy teenager going to her first date. And you hated it. The fact that a few stupid texts had lead you into this trivial paranoid stage had fully set into your mind. It was Bucky for god's sake! James Buchanan Barnes, the same James who stumbled over his words when asking you out, the same bucky who arrived an hour early to pick you up for said date and almost died when he realised, the same Mr Barnes who quit the avengers (although for 10 minutes) to be with you. He was your Bucky and you don't need texts to know that.

As the elevator doors pinged open you and Bobbie stepped out and into the large lounge which occupied the avengers.

Looking up Steve's mouth gaped open before jumping up and accidentally flipping the table over as he ran towards you "Y/N/N! YOU'RE HERE OH MY! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN SO LONG! I MISSED YOU!! AND IM SO SORRY ABOUT HOW HE-" Steve blabbered out as he squeezed hugged you tightly, barley taking in anything he was saying you were quick to end his ramblings

"'tevie! I've missed you and all but shhhh inside voices remember" you laughed as the soldier nodded looking like a lost puppy

"sorry y/n/n but I've missed my best friend so-" this was when Bobbie felt to make her presence known "hold up! Wait a minute! If anyone is y/f/n's best friend; it's ME. So sit down mate, she's mine" bobbie stated proudly, reminding you of your (then) puppy when meeting Bucky

Shaking your head you introduced Bobbie and greeted everyone else, sitting down inbetween Pietro and Wanda you looked around the room, the obvious man who wasn't in the room still plagued your mind "hey,guys where Bucky?" You asked with a small smile, the avengers a looked at you as if you'd grown 2 heads "what? Can't I see my boyfriend?" You laughed, greeted with silence you stood up "I check I'll check his room then?" You asked wearily before all but sprinting our the room, barely noticing how the room erupted and bob and Steve had run after you.

The elevator door closed as soon as you stepped inside, you were so confused, why was everyone so shocked? Especially when you called him your boyfriend? And Steve looked mortified! Taking a deep breath you stepped out and walked to your "boyfriends" door

"hmm yes buck!" A feminine voice sighed from the room as you neared it, stopping about a step away from the door you could almost feel the tears gathering in your e/c orbs, pushing them away you stopped to listen...not a sound came out, your mind must have been playing tricks surely!

Gulping a big breath of air you stepped forwards and opened the door quickly "Bucky! Surprise! I'm- Oh my god" your playful tone turned quiet and lifeless and you took in the scene Infront of you, bucky laying almost naked ontop of a scantily clad Natasha

•

Steve knew something was wrong the moment you asked for Bucky, why would she ask where Bucky is? Bucky had told the team he broke up with her to date Natasha MONTHS ago, then y/n called him her boyfriend and the entire team was stunned as it dawned onto steve.

Bucky didn't break up with his girlfriend, he was cheating on her with Natasha whilst the girl was off being a good person in England.

Steve quickly ran after his friend, Bobbie following shortly after as they attempted to keep up with the h/c girl, when the elevator doors closed quickly the man knew he was far too late.

"Rogers? Care to explain?!" Morse snapped as she stared up at the giant of a man

"buck...no" too in shock to believe Bucky, HIS Bucky would do this, words Jumbled and the man leaned against the wall awaiting the lift to come

"spit it out Rogers! If something is wrong with my best friend I need to know!" Barbara placed a hand onto the blondes arm, staring into his eyes as she searched for answers

"Bucky said they broke up, he's been seeing natasha since October"

•

Bucky knew he'd messed up, quickly scrambling off of natasha and throwing the blanket over her barely clothes body the ex assassin stared up at his girlfriend...well ex now he guessed

"you... little...I can't even.." you gasped out as you stepped back into the hallway

"y/n! Baby no!" He cried running after you

"OH FUCK OFF BARNES" your calm yet betrayed tone turned Malicious as you turned too him in a rage and screamed, the other avengers at this point had caught up and we're watching shocked, they had seen your angry side of the field or in life or death situations (or scariest of all, during monopoly) but never had you ever screamed or raised your voice at any of them and here you were fists clenched and body shaking as you stated at the man Infront of you.

"YOU ARE HONESTLY THE MOST EVIL MAN I'VE EVER MET! WHILST IM OUT THERE WORKING SO HARD FOR SHIELD YOURE WHORING AROUND WITH THAT SLAG?!" You screamed, natahsa at this point had stepped out and stared at you in shock

"Hey! You want a punch, bitch?!"

"she's not a slag!" The pair yelled at the same time, this just fueled your rage.

"OH FUCK OF! DON'T KID ANY OF US NATASHA YOU SLEEP YPUR WAY THROUGH LIFE AND YOU BARNES IM SURPRISED YOU EVEN GOT NATASHA SEEING AS YOURE SO FUCKED UP I'M EVEN SURPRISED YOU GOT ME!" you had no idea where this was coming from but rage and pain from all these few months had come crashing down on you

Feeling a familiar and protective arm wrap around your shoulders you expected the figure to pull you away, or hug you, or calm you but no- Barbra Mose does NOT tolerate betrayal and most certainly not when it's directed at her best friend

"you're surprised? Babes, the whore has probably slept around with half the world, i mean the cheap cunt probably had to flash her saggy boobs and that bitch ran to her with open arms" Bobbie stated, her voice strong and insulting yet everyone without even knowing this woman could tell that she was about to commit a murder.

"let's go, hun" bobbie stated, your energy gone as you pushed through the team behind you, however you stopped and turned to see that Bucky and natasha, although looking guitly had traveled to eachother, you turned back to face them and took menacing steps towards them, as soon as you were in range of the pair you cocked your fist back and bought it to the throat of your boy- your ex.

"bye Barnes, rot in hell with this demon of a woman"

And with that you called Phil, you wanted to disconnect the avengers from the S.A.B and told him that you would be extending your trip; it was time to step up as director, you were here now and your job was to make sure Sheild is at the top, and no sex obsessed dick of an ex is gonna break you.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Okay it's so bad I know but the first parts were in my drafts for so long and I need to start writing again, I accidentally deleted my Steve imagine AND the first Bucky imagine so I'm trying to get those back but I'm also trying to actually right again. No one's gonna read this I know but it was a fun idea I had that strayed far, plus as long as I like my writing I'll keep doing it and maybe I'll do a part 2? Idk

[dukereviewsmovies]

Duke Reviews: Fast & Furious

Hi Everyone, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews, Where Today We're Continuing Our Look At The 3rd Film, The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo...

Drift...I Mean The Fourth Film, Fast And Furious?

Let Me Explain, When The Sixth Film Came Out It Created A New Timeline That Moved The 3rd Film After 6th So, Yeah We're Doing This One Next...

This Movie Sees Dominic Toretto (Played Again By Vin Diesel) Being Reunited With Now FBI Agent Brian O'Connor (Played Again By Paul Walker) As They Work Together To Get A Known Drug Lord Named Arturo Braga Who Is Involved In The "Murder" Of Dom's Longtime Girlfriend, Letty Ortiz (Played Again By Michelle Rodriguez In Case You're Wondering Why I Have Emphasized Murder That's Because Surprise Letty Is Not Dead But Instead Gets Amnesia And Ends Up Working With Gaston From Beauty And The Beast) Will Braga Face Brian Or Dom's Brand Of Justice?

Let's Find Out As We Watch Fast And Furious...

Now Before We Begin We Have Another Short That Ties Into The Movie (Thank God It's The Last One ) And It's Called Los Bandeleros Which I Am Briefly Go Over Basically Giving The Short Short Version Since Half Of It Is In Spanish Now...

It Starts In The Dominican Republic Where Dom (Played Again By Vin Diesel) Is Planning On Doing A New Job So He Hires Han Lue (Played By Sung Kang, Who Has Played The Character In Another Film Done By Director Justin Lin Called Better Luck Tomorrow, (Which Has No Connection To These Movies Whatsoever But I'm Just Mentioning It As It's Necessary) Before The Character Appeared In The 3rd Film Of The Series, Tokyo Drift Where He Died At The Hands Of Someone That I'm Not Going To Talk About Now) And Leo Tego And Rico Santos, (Who Don't Speak A Word Of English But Expect To See Them In This Movie And The Next One Fast 5) To Do The Job

But Dom Needs One More Member To Complete His New Crew And That Surprisingly Goes To Letty (Played Again By Michelle Rodriguez) Who Gets Back Together With Dom And Become More Than Just Partners But Husband And Wife Which We Don't Find Out Till Another Movie...

I Would Place The Prelude Up Here Like I Did The 2 Fast 2 Furious One But Unfortunately I Can't Find The Whole Short On YouTube, So Let's Move Onto The Film...

The Film Starts With Cars Driven By Dom, Letty, Han With His Girlfriend? And Leo And Rico As They Go After A Gas Truck, With Letty Hopping On, Han's Girlfriend Places On A Hook So They Can Tow It Once Lefty Uses Liquid Nitrogen To Break It Off Of The Truck (Which She Does) With Leo And Rico About To Place The Hook On And Letty About To Do The Same Thing She Did, The Driver Spots Her On Top Of One Of The Gas Tanks...

Falling Off When The Driver Hits Dom (Who's In Front Of The Truck), Letty Falls, Hanging On For Dear Life, Telling Leo To Unhitch His Hook, The Driver Shoots At Dom As He Goes To Get Letty Who Managed To Get Up. Dom Tells Her To Spray The End With Liquid Nitrogen But She Lost Her Hammer When She Fell So Instead Dom Breaks It Lose By Sideswiping His Car Into It, Now The Only Thing Left To Do Is To Get Letty...

Reaching A Dangerous Cliff, The Driver Jumps As Dom Gets Letty Just In Time As The Truck Turns Over Causing A Dangerous Gastank To Come Right At Them!

Dom!

(Start At 2:06, End At 2:12)

Driving Off, We Get A Brief Seizure Inducing Intro, As We See Dom And His Crew Celebrate At A Street Race Party Where Dom Talks Briefly With Leo And Rico Before Talking With Han Who Says That The Cops Raided Their Garage And That It's Probably Best If They Separated For Now But Dom Disagrees Saying They're After Him And Anyone With Him...

Telling Letty This, She Has No Intention Of Living Without Him Saying That They'll Figure It Out They Always Do While Also Saying The Phrase That'll Be Said From Now On In The Films "Ride Or Die" But Dom Doesn't Want To Figure It Out And Leaves In The Middle Of The Night While Letty Is Sleeping...

With Another Few Years Passing We Catch Up With Brian (Played Again By Paul Walker) Who Is Now An FBI Agent That Is Trying To Catch A Criminal With Connections To Known Drug Lord Arturo Braga. Eventually Capturing His Man, He Gives Brian A Name, David Park Telling His Superiors About Park, Brian Tells Them That Park Is A Scout That Recruits Street Racers To Be Mules For The Braga Cartel Or In Other Words If They Find Park, They Get Braga...

Meanwhile In Panama...

Dom Gets A Call From Mia (Played Again By Jordana Brewster) Who Tells Him That Letty Has Died. With Both Brian and Mia At The Funeral, We See That Dom Has Returned To LA But Does Not Attend Funeral Because The FBI Is There, Believing That Dom Will Show But You Can Tell In Brian's Eyes That He Knows Different...

Returning Home After The Funeral, Mia Finds Dom In The Garage Despite Her Telling Him Not To Come As The Authorities Are Monitoring The House, But He Had To See Her. Dom Also Notices His Father's Wrecked Charger That He Destroyed All Those Years Ago At The Railroad Track With Brian With Mia Telling Him That Letty Wouldn't Let The Authorities Touch It And That Whenever She Was Around She Was In Here...

Back At The FBI, Brian's Superior Tells Everyone Including Brian That If They Don't Get Anything On The Braga Case In 72 Hours, It's Over Because It's Been 2 Years And The Last 3 Agents That They Sent In To Braga's Organization Died From There We Gets Some Exposition On Braga Including The Fact That They Have Nothing On Him No Fingerprints, No Date Of Birth It's Like This Guy's A Member Of The Men In Black. But While We Listen To This, We Discover That Letty Had Connections With Braga.

Asking About David Park, They're Running Names Through City And Country Databases But There Are Too Many Possibilities Right Now. With Another Agent Named Stasiak Saying That Park May Be A Dead End, Brian Thinks That It's Not As Without Him, Braga Wouldn't Have Drivers Search Records And They'll Find Him...

Going To The Crime Scene With Mia, Dom Visualizes The Entire Incident In His Head...

Taking Mia Home, Mia Knows He Found Something At The Crime Scene, Saying That He Found Burn Marks On The Ground That Could Only Be Caused By Nitrometh And Surprisingly He Knows The One Guy That Sells It In LA. However, Mia Tells Him That Doing This Will Not Bring Letty Back And If She Was Here She Would Ask Him To Let It Go...

Oh, Dear God, No! GET THAT OUT OF HERE!

Just The Mention Of Those 3 Words Get That Song Going...

But Saying He Can't, Mia Says She Loves Him Before Getting Out Of The Car...

Getting Some Food, Brian Goes Through Various Files On David Parks As Stasiak Brings In Mia For Questioning...

The Next Morning, Brian Gets Rid Of Satsiak So, He Can Get Mia Away From The FBI While They Try To Find David Park...

Meanwhile, Dom Questions Some Guy We Never Get A Name On Who The Guy Who Killed Letty Is But He Says This Ain't Your Neighborhood Anymore Blah Blah Blah Which Leads To Dom Torturing His Ass!

But The Guy Talks Saying David Park Brought It In And It's A Green Ford Torino...

Having Coffee With Mia, Brian Says That He Doesn't Want Her To Get Tangled Up In Whatever Dom Is Involved In And To Stay Away From Him, But With Mia Bringing Up Their Past, Brian Tells Mia That He Never Meant To Hurt Her And That It Was The Hardest Thing He Ever Had To Do, But Being A Liar Got Him His Job At The FBI...

No, I Think It Was Your Connection With Bilkins That Got You Into The FBI, Brian...

But Then Mia Points Out Something Insightful, Maybe Brian's Lying To Himself, Maybe He's Not The Good Guy Pretending To Be The Bad Guy But The Bad Guy Pretending To Be A Good Guy...

Whoa, That's Deep...

Before She Leaves, Mia Asks Brian One Last Thing, Why Did He Let Dom Go All Those Years Ago? But He Says He Doesn't...

Heading Back To The FBI, They Have A List Of Possibles On David Park By Reading Off A List Of Cars But Eventually Hearing A 98 Nissan 240 With An Illegal Mod, Brian's Got His Man...

Meanwhile At Park's Address, Dom Drops By His House To Ask Park About Who Killed Letty, In The Interrogation Style Of Batman. As Brian Arrives, Park Is Hanging Out The Window, Which Leads To Brian Running Upstairs Where Both Him And Dom Are Reunited...

Telling Dom That Letty Was Running For Braga Till It All Went South, Brian Promises Dom That He Will Get Braga However Dom Promises To Brian That He'll Kill Braga And Anyone Who Tries To Stop Him From Getting His Revenge...

Taking Park Back To The FBI, Brian Gets Attacked By Stasiak For Taking Mia Out Of His Custody To Which Brian Slams His Face In...

No, You Did, You Asshole!

With His Superior Telling Brian To Keep His Attitude In Line, Brian Chats With Park Who Tells Them That Braga's Number 2, Ramon Campos Is Holding A Street Race In Koreatown Tomorrow Night To Fill A Slot On His Team To Which Brian Is Going To. Picking Out A Car, It's Just Like Old Times As He Chooses 3 Cars To Which He Makes His Own Car Out Of...

They Give Brian A Tracking Device To Know Where He Is At All Times As He Finishes Up His Car. That Night, Brian, Dom And 2 Other Racers (Who I'll Just Call Guy 1 And Guy 2) Meet With Braga's Second Hand Man, Ramon Campos And His 2 Henchmen, Fenix Or As Sly Stallone Would Call Him Fenix!!!!!!! And Giselle Yashar....

Who Looks Strangely Familiar To Me

Though I Can't Quite Put My Finger On It...

Yes, Before She Had Her Breakout Role As Wonder Woman In Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice, Gal Gadot Was In This Series As Giselle Yashar, A Villain Who Ends Up Reforming Herself And Joins Dom's Family So, Expect To See More Of Her After This Movie...

Anyway, Campos Tells Them That Braga Is Looking For Real Drivers With Dom Asking What Are They Hauling? Campos Tells Them That They Don't Need To Know But Dom Makes A Point Stating That A Real Driver Knows What's In His Car Liking What He Says, Campos States That Whoever Wins The Race, Gets The Info...

With Giselle Giving Them A GPS, The Drivers Go To Their Cars As The Race Is About To Begin...

With The Race Beginning, Dom Takes An Early Lead Where With The Others You Can't Really Tell Who's In Second, 3rd Or 4th Place As There Are Other Cars In The Road, So. To Make This As Short As Possible I'm Just Going To Say Who Wins And It's Dom With Brian In Second...

So, Yeah, Brian Loses But That Doesn't Stop Him From Going After One Of Braga's Other Drivers So That He Can Take His Place...

Going To A Club With Dom And Campos, Dom Asks Brian What's To Stop Him From Telling Campos That He's A Cop, With Brian Telling That It's The Same Thing That's Keeping Him From Telling Campos Why He's Really Here...

They Have Some Friendly Banter With Campos, To The Point That Dom Mentions That Brian Dated Mia...

Asking What Braga Is About, Campos Gives Somewhat Of A Little History Hinting That He Grew Up From The Streets But Now He Calls The Shots And Is Basically The Boss Of Bosses...

With Both Of Them Going Undercover, Brian Goes Upstairs To See Campos Talking With An Old Man Who He Believes To Be Braga, While Dom Goes Downstair Where He Finds The Car That Matches The Car That Was After Letty And Giselle, Tells Dom That The Car Belonged To Fenix...

Well, I Guess Dom Has A Reason To Say Fenix!!!!!! Now..

Before She Flirts With Him...

The Next Day At The FBI, Brian Brings The Shot Glasses Of Campos And The Guy Who Is Probably Braga To The Girl In Charge Of Forensic Evidence Telling Her To Run The Fingerprints To All Agencies Even Those Beyond Interpol, But As The Girl Says That That Could Take Weeks, Brian's GPS Starts To Buzz Which Means He's Got To Go...

Taking The Car Into A Wherehouse, They Scan The Cars For Trackers (Which Forces Brian To Kill His) And They End Up Loading The Cars With The Racers Inside Them Into A Truck For Mexico Where Giselle Guides Them To The Area, Once There, Dom Confronts Fenix On Letty's Death To Which He Admits That He Killed Her...

Asking What Dom Will Do Now That He Knows This Information, Turns Out Nothing Right Now As Dom Created An Escape Plan Before Leaving His Car By Unscrewing The Main Nozzle Of His Nos Tank And Pressing His Lighter, Which In Turn Causes Not Just His Car But All The Cars To Blow Up...

Despite All Of Fenix's Men And The Other Drivers Being Dealt Fenix Gets Away While Brian And An Injured Dom Also Get Away With A Hummer Filled With $60 Million Dollars Worth Of Heroin. Contacting The FBI, They Know That Brian Has Dom With Him And The Shipment And They Expect Him To Turn Both Of Them In. Deciding To Hide The Shipment, Brian Hides It At The FBI Impound Lot Cause That's The Last Place They'll Check It, Right?

They're The FBI, They're Not Stupid, If They're Looking For Someone I'm Sure That Guy In The Parking Lot Will Be Like "Yeah I Saw Someone Who Matched That Description Last Night, He Was Here With A Hummer" And They'll Find The Shipment!

Anyway, This Leads To A Joke By Brian Saying That When Dom Blew His Car Up, He Blew Up Brian's As Well So Now He Owes HIM A 10 Second Car...

Contacting Mia, She Heals Dom And The 3 Of Them Have Dinner Together Even Down To The First Person That Touches The Plate Gets To Say Grace Tradition...

Talking With Mia While Dom Looks At Some Of Letty's Stuff, Brian Tells Mia, Why He Let Dom Go, And It's Because He Respected Him More Than He Did Himself, Learning That Nothing Really Matters Unless You Have A Code...

Finding Letty's Cellphone Which Still Has Power In It Dom Calls The Last Number She Called And Unfortunately It's Brian's...

Punching Brian, He Eventually Explains That Letty Made A Deal With The Feds, In Exchange For Clearing Dom's Name, She'd Give Them Braga...

Wow, If I Didn't Know Letty Was Coming Back For Another Sequel, This Would Be Really Sad...

Returning To The FBI, With Everyone Looking At Him In Disgust...

Brian Tells Them The Shipment Is Safe But Instead Of Parading It In Front Of The Media Maybe They Should Use It To Try To Lure Braga Out In An Attempt To Cut The Head Off Of The Snake If You Get My Gist By Doing An Exchange With Braga Brian Has A Plan But There's A Price

Of Course...

They Nab Braga But In Return They Let Dom Walk...

With Dom Calling Giselle, She Hands The Phone Off To Campos So He Can Tell Him That He Wants A Trade Off But Campos Tells Dom That Braga Doesn't Negotiate But Then Dom Tells Campos To Explain To Braga How $60 Million Dollars Of Product Goes Missing...

Asking What Dom Wants, He Tells Campos He Wants 60 Million Dollars In Cash Delivered By Braga However, Campos Says That Braga Will Never Go For It, Which Leads Dom To Say That Either He Deals With Braga Or Campos Does...

Meeting Campos, Giselle, Fenix And Braga, They Get 2 Million And The Rest Will Be Delivered Once They Have The Items However, Before They Can Make The Trade, The Fingerprint Match Comes Through And It Turns Out Campos Is Braga...

With Gunfire Going On, Braga And Fenix Get Away, Giselle Is Saved By Dom...

Huh, Never Through I'd See The Day That Wonder Woman Was Saved By A Tree...

Who Gets Her To Safety, While Brian Captures The Fake Braga...

With Braga Beyond FBI Jurisdiction, Brian Is Taken Off Of Both Active Duty And The Assignment By People Higher Up, Brian Decides To Visit The Toretto House Where He Finds Dom Working In The Garage On The Charger And To Say That He's Going With Him To Get Braga...

Seeing Brian And Dom Working Together, Brian Goes To See Mia Who He Kisses And Makes Out With, Rekindling Their Old Relationship...

Driving Off In The Charger With Brian Beside Him In Another Car To Deal With Braga, They Eventually Reach Mexico Where They Reunite With Gisele Who's Returning The Favor For Dom Saving Her By Giving Braga To Them...

Hey, Dom, I Didn't Know Her Car Could Turn Into An Invisible Jet....

Heading To A Church, Braga Delivers Money To A Priest Who Gives Him A Blessing, He's Confronted By Dom And Brian With Braga Telling Dom That They're Not So Different But Dom Beg To Differ, Deciding To Let Brian Have Braga However, Fenix Is His...

With Fenix Hearing That Braga Is Gone, Fenix And Braga's Henchmen Catch Up To Dom And Brian...

One By One Cars Are Eliminated Until It's Brian, Dom And Fenix Who Destroys Brian's Car In An Attempt To Get Braga But Dom Kills Fenix When He Rams His Car Right Into Him...

With Fenix Dead, Brian Is Injured And The FBI Are On Their Way, Telling Dom To Run, Dom Says He's Not Running Anymore...

So, Being Arrested, Dom Faces Justice For What He Has Done But Despite A Good Word From Brian The Judge Believes That One Right Does Not Make Up For A Lifetime Of Wrongs And Therefore Sentences Dom To 25 Years To Life At Lompoc Maximum Security Prison With No Possibility Of Parole...

But Do You Honestly Believe That Brian Will Accept That?

(As Balki) Of Course Not...

Him, Mia, And Leo And Rico Decide To Break Dom Out Of The Prison Bus...

Which Is Where This Movie Ends...

And That's Fast And Furious And It's A Good Movie!

For A Reunion Movie, It's Good The Story Is Good, The Cast Is Great, The Cars While Not As Well-Designed As The Last 2 Movie Are Good And While There's Only One Race Scene I Still Like The Scenes With The Cars So, Yeah, In My Opinion, This Is Probably One Of The Best Fast And Furious Movies Of The Series And I Definitely Say See It...

Till Next Time, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

[imaginetonyandbucky]

I'm not sure if you've already done something similar, but I would love to read a fic where Steve fell off the train and Bucky crashed the plane, so Tony and Bucky meet when Bucky is defrosted and how they cope with finding Steve alive.

Written by @xtaticpearl​

A/N: There are two chapters to this story due to its length. Warnings for mention of dark thoughts, mild swearing, dubious morality in tracking someone.

A Home Of Mourners

Chapter 1:

They met in a maelstrom of gods.

If Tony were a poet, he would have described it as that, with the irony of seventy years in a single sentence. If Bucky were an artist he would have appreciated the imagery of that description, a quiet afterthought of a violent past in a new future. Unfortunately, neither was either, and they both described their first meeting as a mess, in maybe varying words.

Bucky had a shadow to fill, of his dead best friend, and Tony had a legend of myths to stand up to. Neither had been in the best mindsets and it had shown when Bucky had called Tony a cheaper Howard and Tony had scoffed at Bucky as a mockery of Captain America. It had been ugly, a vicious fest of anger and bottled grief in outpour, and Loki’s scepter hadn’t helped in the least. Still, Bucky had called the shots and Tony had pushed a nuke into a wormhole. They had saved a city and become a planet’s heroes.

They hadn’t become friends. So it wasn’t high on Bucky’s mind to call on Tony Stark when he discovered the true identity of the Winter Soldier in DC and was told to stop him rather than save him.

“It’s not an option,” Bucky snarled quietly with cold seeping into his tone, staring down Fury in an abandoned bunker as his hands shook and mind reeled, “Taking him down is not an option. This isn’t Steve, this is someone, something else. I’m not going to abandon him.”

Watch out for the break

“I don’t think you’ll find another choice, Captain,” Fury shot back, never one to back down from an intimidation even if he was in terrible shape, “If he stops you, he’s not going to think it’s a choice. Are you ready to risk a million lives on a bet that won’t take?”

Bucky opened his mouth to tell Fury where to shove his bet when another voice spoke up.

“There’s no need to be so dramatic, Nick,” Tony called out as he handed over the decoder chips to Hill, eyeing the Director of SHIELD with fake amusement, “Honestly, we all know that I’m the gambler in this team. Cap here is pretty much a surety, and that’s probably one of the reasons you decided to finally grace us with this information.”

“We can’t carry any more complications to this mission,” Fury shot Tony a quelling look, “We’re already on the weaker ground right now.”

“Wouldn’t exactly say that,” Tony shrugged and shot Natasha a quick grin, danger lacing it. Bucky didn’t know how much actual friendship Natasha and Tony shared but they had a level of strange understanding that had led Natasha calling on Tony for the mission, despite Bucky having said otherwise.

“Sir,” Hill interrupted before Fury could blow a fuse and Bucky focused on their conversation, putting any thoughts of Tony Stark defending him away.

The mission was a disaster of high proportions, and Bucky knew that well enough without Sam trying to subtly call attention to it on the comm. Natasha and Fury had taken care of Pierce and Sam had been taken down by Steve after the first chip had been replaced. Iron Man was still keeping the SHIELD weapons at bay and holding fort in the air, giving Bucky time to replace the last chip. It sounded easy, but as Bucky stared at a blank-faced Steve ready to kill him, he knew that it was anything but that.

“Don’t make me do this, Steve,” he pleaded without moving an inch from the mainframe, blocking it even as his heart choked his throat, “I don’t want to hurt you, punk, but I can’t let you hurt others too.”

Steve had never listened even before the war but now that he was this, this machine that Hydra had created, it didn’t even register. They fought in circles, Bucky using every last dirty trick he knew to push Steve off without actually hurting him and Steve using every trick to actually hurt Bucky. When Steve’s hand clenched around his throat, Bucky let the shield fall and tried to get a word in, anything to get his best friend back. He fell with a crash for the second time in his life, calling out for a forgotten memory as he blacked out.

When he came to consciousness, Sam was by his side and a shield rested against the wall.

“Stark dropped it off in the morning,” Sam said without asking, peeling an orange lazily, “Said they didn’t need another frozen fossil for seventy years.”

“Funny guy,” Bucky rasped, swallowing the dryness from disuse and winced when his jaw hurt, “What happened?”

“We saved DC,” Sam shrugged a shoulder and shot Bucky a smirk, “No thanks to your dumb ass, really.”

“Everyone’s a critic,” Bucky huffed before he sobered and eyed Sam carefully, “You know where he is?”

“Who, Stark?”

“Sam -”

“Rogers, yeah, I know,” Sam nodded, meeting Bucky’s eyes with a pause, “He’s safe.”

“Safe,” Bucky repeats, mind whirring over implications, “Safe, what does that mean? Where is he?”

It hurt viscerally, a twisting burn of hot metal in his gut, when Bucky learnt of Steve leaving without meeting him. It made him want to tear down the world in anger and pain, a toxic mix of guilt and shame. It made him want to shred everyone around him but he couldn’t do that, wouldn’t do that.

It was easier to shred into Tony alone.

“You had no right!” Bucky yelled and they had been yelling for hours or minutes, some terrifying amount of anger period in the workshop that Bucky had stormed into right after getting discharged from the hospital. “You had no right to send him away, you bastard!”

“What did you want me to do? Put him in the Hulk room? Cage him?” Tony demanded, not giving an inch even in the face of a furious supersoldier, “He needed space, and you almost died trying to drag him back through some weird stubborn belief of memory triggers -”

“He recognized me! I could see it!” Bucky spat, “He is my friend!”

“He didn’t want to stay, James!” Tony yelled, finally pitching his voice over Bucky’s and Bucky stopped, a horrible crash to his thoughts. They were both red-faced, clutching at control with nails and Bucky felt his breath leave in a rush.

“Fuck, this is why I shouldn’t be allowed to play interference,” Tony ran a hand through his hair, taking a shaky breath and loosened his shoulders as he looked back at Bucky with a slightly calmer expression.

“When I reached the shore, you were completely out. You had a pulse but nothing else,” Tony breathed out and caught Bucky’s eyes, “He was there, either guarding you or making sure you didn’t wake up, I don’t -”

“Steve wouldn’t -”

“I don’t know,” Tony stressed, quiet and considerably softer but firm, “I really don’t know, but yes, maybe he wouldn’t. But I saw him and I tried to bring you both back. He refused, Barnes. I don’t know why even though I can make a pretty good guess, but he refused to come back with you. The only way I could have brought him was by knocking him out.”

“Why didn’t you do it?” Bucky grunted and Tony shook his head with a small smirk.

“Apart from the reason that you would kill me?” he snorted, waving it off with a hand, “No, forget that. It’s like you said, I didn’t have the right.”

“Never stopped you before,” Bucky raised an eyebrow and Tony nodded acquiesingly.

“True, but this wasn’t like before,” he shrugged, eyeing the suit he was working on, “Look, I’m not the leading expert on mind-control or brainwashing but I know a thing or two about kidnapping. You know how long he’s been gone but you don’t know who he has been when he was gone. In your head you see him as Steve Rogers, the first Captain America, your best friend. But to him? He hasn’t had the chance to be that guy in years, in decades. You make him come here without giving him a choice, and you’re taking away any chance of him finding out who he is.”

“I just want to help him,” Bucky exhaled hard and leaned back against the work-table, feeling an untold age in his bones, “God, Steve.”

Tony didn’t say anything, letting the silence stay as Bucky tried to focus on breathing without air hurting his lungs.

“You’re sure he’s safe?” he asked after a while, quieter than before, and looked at Tony who was doing a good job of pretending not to watch Bucky.

“I put a tracker in his arm,” Tony shrugged at the look Bucky shot him, “What? I can give a guy some space, not let a ‘maybe assassin’ run around the country without knowing where he is.”

“Bastard,” Bucky reiterated but Tony grinned unapologetically this time, the deviousness not affecting him in the least.

It didn’t get easier, even with knowing where Steve was and that he wasn’t involved in any incidents. Sam had volunteered to shadow him to his best and Bucky had hated it but Natasha had been right when she explained that it was safest for everyone. Feeling useless had never sat right with Bucky, even if it wasn’t to Steve’s old level of restless itch. It probably wasn’t surprising then that he had taken to taking his frustration out with either Natasha or Clint, since he wasn’t sure about Tony yet. Or maybe he was and that confused him. It worked fine, despite Clint’s insistence that he wasn’t fine with being moped at, till it wasn’t.

“Wonder twins off on mission?” Tony asked as he walked into the common kitchen, a low hanging sweatpant and black tanktop showing that he had been in a workshop binge.

“Potts off on a business trip?” Bucky asked in return without looking up from the tablet he was reading on.

“Touché,” Tony hummed and came around the counter to pull out a pan, rummaging around the cupboards for ingredients.

“You’re making food?” Bucky raised an eyebrow when he finally made sense of the ingredients and Tony shot him a dry look before nodding.

“Shocking, I know, but survival demands sustenance,” he quipped as he cracked eggs into a bowl, pausing a second before shooting Bucky a glance, “You want some?”

“Some?”

“Food. Scrambled egg sandwiches,” Tony pointed to the loaf of bread he had picked, “You want some?”

“Burnt sandwiches?” Bucky snorted and bit back a wince when Tony’s shoulders tensed as he turned away to gather tomatoes. He knew that he was not much of a charmer at times and Tony seemed to bear the brunt of his worst sarcasm often, even if he gave as good as he got. It wasn’t really fun and Bucky scrambled to salvage the conversation.

“Want a hand?” he offered and got up, moving around to pick up the bread, “I’ll do the toast and you can do the eggs.”

Tony didn’t reply but Bucky was fluent in his silences by now and he knew that the tension had lessened to mild suspicion.

Nothing was burnt, more or less, and Bucky didn’t really know how he went from making sandwiches to sitting with Tony for a Star Trek marathon but it was the first time in months that his head wasn’t buzzing with the need to do something. He didn’t know if he was being selfish by taking the reprieve but Tony was warm beside him and the screen was bright enough to dull some dark thoughts. Tony shuffled and his elbow nudged Bucky’s arm. Bucky leaned back a little into the couch and let it stay.

Between keeping an eye out for Steve, re-forming the Avengers, and handling the backlash from SHIELD’s fall, Bucky hadn’t been surprised when his tentative romance with Natasha had fizzled out. He was still in awe of her, and still felt his heart clench for a minute when she did something particularly simple but he had seen the looks she exchanged with Bruce. It didn’t hurt much after a while and he had gotten used to the idea of her as his friend. Sharon, whenever she came to the Tower, shot him pointed looks sometimes but even she let it go when she caught sight of Bruce making Natasha smile easily. Things were rocky but he was getting a hang of it, especially with Tony, when Sam called.

“He caught up with me a week ago. I think he wants to meet you. We’re at Bucharest.”

Clint had assigned himself to join Bucky on the trip and Bucky didn’t know if he was annoyed or relieved, but he let it go with the latter.

“Told you he’d just need space,” Tony smiled softly, the way he did nowadays when there was no broken glass to tread on, and Bucky rolled his eyes as he packed but felt his shoulders relax at Tony’s presence.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re a real Cassandra,” he grinned and caught the phone that Tony threw at him easily, raising an eyebrow as he glanced at it, “I distinctly remember something else being my phone yesterday.”

“Something you won’t let me upgrade but let’s save your travesty for another day,” Tony rolled his eyes and walked into the room, “This is similar to a burner phone but with more...me. It’ll keep your communication secure and also send signal to JARVIS in case you need help.”

“My comm works just fine, Tony,” Bucky reminded but Tony simply picked up a leather jacket Bucky had folded and dumped it into his duffel.

“Who’s the genius here, exactly?” he countered with a smug look and didn’t bat an eye when Bucky pulled the finger, “It’s for in case your comm doesn’t work. You’re not exactly taking a cavalry with you and you won’t take the Quinjet.”

“The jet works just fine, smugass,” Bucky laughed and Tony threw his hands in the air.

“Don’t blame me when you can’t call me,” he said with a mock-haughty sniff and Bucky dropped a towel on his head to hear him make indignant noises.

“Don’t do anything stupid when I’m gone, okay?” he warned lightly, zipping up the duffel and slinging it over his shoulder, eyeing the genius who had become his good friend over the madness of time.

“You do remember that you won’t be here, right? All the stupid is gonna happen with you, God, maybe I should warn the Bucharest government about you” Tony pointed out, pushing Bucky away when he moved to swat his head, “Get out, you jackass. I bet Rogers is a better guest than you. Bring him home. I need better people on my side.”

“Who told you he’d be on your side?” Bucky teased but threw his arm around Tony’s shoulder, dragging him out of the room when the genius started on a rant about Steve obviously having common sense.

He met Pepper on his way out and she smiled at him but Bucky felt something wrong with her smile, something tight and unhappy about her posture. He didn’t have time to think about it though and he got into the jet, waving away to his team, his last visual of Pepper and Tony standing stiffly next to each other but not touching.

It felt off but Bucky didn’t get to think much of it with Clint setting course to Bucharest.

Meeting Steve again was anticlimactic at best and uneventful at worst. Bucky had a list of ideas of what to expect, of how he would react or how Steve would react, but none of them involved Steve quietly showing him to a room in a shabby apartment and then shutting himself up in the adjacent room. Clint had simply shrugged at Bucky and had dragged a tired Sam out to go get some food. For three days, Steve would come out of the room for breakfast, go out to buy a newspaper and come back to go straight back into his room. The first day Bucky wasn’t sure if he was allowed to follow but when he tried it the second day, Steve didn’t say anything so he figured it was alright. The meals were awkward and Clint would try to make as much conversation as possible, Sam going along with it, but Steve didn’t say a word.

When he did speak, it wasn’t anything Bucky thought he would speak about.

“Stark,” he said on the fourth day, between Clint’s wild gesticulation of some story and Sam’s snort. Clint didn’t pause entirely but the noise did dial down and Bucky was caught between freezing up or prompting a continuation.

“I met him,” Steve said finally, eyes on the soup he was ladling into his bowl, “When I -”

The pause was deliberate this time and Bucky felt invisible guns trained on him.

“Yeah, he - he leaves an impression,” he settled on finally, kicking at Clint’s ankle when the archer stifled a laugh.

Steve ignored that but took two sips of his soup before looking up at Bucky, face devoid of any particular emotion.

“He anything like Howard?” he asked and this time Clint stopped muffling laughter. This was a landmine and Bucky had always tried to burrow away from them, preferring targets he could see.

“He makes things fly better,” he replied finally and imagined that Steve’s lips quirked at the sides but then he was nodding.

“He doesn’t need to track me anymore,” Steve said and Bucky wanted to yell, wanted to lean forward and grab the punk into a hug or whack him over his head. Sam nudged his feet under the table and Bucky swallowed twice before he exhaled.

“Alright,” he said, not asking if it meant Steve was coming home or if he wanted Bucky to stay. Maybe it was the familiar watered down soup or an actual conversation with his presumed dead friend, but Bucky was good with what he got in that moment.

“I’ll tell him,” he told Steve and felt a giddy feeling in his head as he had the urge to call Tony immediately. If he brushed a hand over the phone Tony had given him during the rest of the meal, then it wasn’t something he was willing to discuss out loud or in his mind yet.

That night he called Tony and was grateful for the silence around him when his words turned into choked sobs over the phone, chaotic words and curses mingling with names as he clung to the phone tight. Tony didn’t stop him or give him meaningless platitudes but let him speak, offering quiet answers whenever Bucky asked desperate questions.

“It’ll all work out, James,” Tony promised softly, a confidence that was born from defiance and defeat, “Everybody will come home in time, you’ll see. We’ll all get home eventually, I promise.”

“Tony?”

“Hmm?”

Bucky didn’t know what he wanted to say. Didn’t know if it was gratitude or longing or happiness or grief; there were too many emotions to convey but he huddled the phone closer to his ear and whispered.

“Don’t do anything stupid till I get back.”

“I’ll wait for you then,” Tony replied, warm and without missing a beat, and everything Bucky wanted to hear.

He went to sleep with Tony’s ramble about Dum-E and JARVIS conspiring against him, and felt the dreams hurt less.