#Nat's Monster In The Box

[19thsentry-blog]

Contact: Age of the Reckless

MLB Fanfic | Feluka Endgame | Rated M | Ongoing: AO3 Link

"I didn't think you'd be up so soon," Luka admitted, coming to sit in front of Félix–Colt–whoever. 

"I'm not good at resting." 

"Yeah–" Luka's little laugh was stilted, the words' Adrien told me about that' caught in his throat momentarily. "I'm starting to see that's a thing with you," he said, shaking the pause off by pretending his bag's zipper had gotten stuck and needed some convincing to open. 

Luka pulled out two dented soup cans from the bag, flipping them in the air before catching them again. He wiggled them in front of Félix's face, the liquid sloshing cheerfully inside. "So. Your pick. Beef stew or chicken noodle." 

Félix tilted his head with birdlike exactness, and for a second, Luka thought he'd unwittingly offended a vegan, but instead, Félix laughed a dry chuckle of his own. "You know who I am." 

"Was the soup question a giveaway somehow?" Luka asked, frowning at the labels. 

"If you'd have chucked one at my head, perhaps." 

[woso-dreamzzz]

Visit II

Fridolina Rolfö x Child!Reader

Mapi Leon x Ingrid Engen x Hardersson!Reader

Part of The Big Adventures Universe

Summary: You go to a Barcelona match

With Momma and Morsa in Madrid and you in Barcelona, Frido takes you to one of her games. Or, her team’s game because she’s got a little injury that keeps her off the squad for the week so she sits up in the box with you.

It’s not your first time at one of moster Frido’s games but it’s your first time at a Barcelona game. You like the jersey, you decide. It’s blue which is a Not-Wolfsburg colour but it’s also got red and that’s an Arsenal colour. The badge is cool too and you decide that Arsenal can be your English team and Barcelona can be your Spanish team like how Wolfsburg is your German team and Linköping is your Swedish team because that’s where Momma and Morsa first met.

Moster Frido isn’t playing today so you wear an Ingrid jersey instead. She’s starting today and, strangely, so is Mapi. That confuses you a little but you figure with Frido injured that Barcelona don’t have enough defenders to go around.

“It’s nice that Ingrid lets Mapi play with her,” You say as the whistle blows for the first half to begin,” Ingrid’s a good girlfriend.”

Frido laughs. “Don’t ever change, little monster,” She says. You don’t understand what’s funny but you assume it’s an adult thing that you’re still too little to know about.

Barcelona, you think, are much better than Arsenal. Not that Arsenal isn’t good but Barcelona is a lot more organised. They always know where each other are and they’re playing this first half like they actually know how to play football rather than having to settle into it like Arsenal do.

You cheer when Mapi passes the ball off to Ingrid, who weaves through the other team and passes it off to someone else. You don’t really remember much about the Barcelona team from the final against Not-Wolfsburg, not really. You don’t really know the players well but you know you’ll learn.

You’re good at learning. Morsa says it’s a good skill to have.

The person in goal is called Paños and you mark that in your brain because she’s very good. You prefer Zećira obviously but you think v is really good too and you want to watch a few more matches with her.

Barcelona scores while you think about it, some girl with Guijarro on her back.

The crowd goes wild, as does another little girl in the box. She’s wearing a Guijarro jersey like how you’re wearing an Engen one. She goes absolutely crazy. She waves a little flag and jumps up and down in joy.

“That’s little Nat,” Moster Frido says in her ear,” She’s Patri’s cousin.”

“Who’s Patri?”

Frido laughs. “The girl who just scored.”

Little Nat, as moster Frido calls her, keeps cheering and jumping around. You smile at that. That’s how you react when Momma scores.

“Do you want to go say hi?” Frido asks you and you think about it for a moment.

You could go say hi but you just move a bit closer to Frido, suddenly feeling shy. “I don’t speak Spanish,” You whisper to her.

“That’s okay,” She says,” Little Nat speaks some English too. She’s very nice.”

You think about it again but the shy feeling doesn’t go away. “Maybe later.”

“Okay,” Frido says,” Later then.”

You settle more firmly at her side, though your eyes track Little Nat all the way back to her seat. You think, if you were a little braver and you spoke Spanish, you would talk to her. But you’re shy and you don’t speak Spanish so you don’t.

You focus back on the match and watch as Mapi makes a very good save for someone that doesn’t play football. It’s nice that she’s come out to support Ingrid and is on the pitch even though her job is to get tattoos and be a good girlfriend.

Every time you tell Frido that, she laughs and cuddles you nice and close in amusement.

The match ends with a very impressive score line for Barcelona and you cheer like everyone else when it’s over.

Frido takes you down onto the pitch.

Little Nat from earlier is there too, with her parents – though she abandons them to sprint to her cousin who scored the goal earlier.

You end up with Mapi and Ingrid. “Hi, Ingrid! Hi, Mapi!” You chirp, giving them both big hugs.

“Is that my jersey?” Ingrid teases and you nod.

“Uh-huh! It’s so cool! I like Barcelona.”

“That’s great!” Ingrid high fives you and you giggle.

You turn to Mapi. “It’s nice that Ingrid let you play with her. Say thank you, Mapi.”

“Ingrid didn’t let me play with her!” Mapi says,” This is my job! I play football!”

You give her a weird look. “Playing in the park isn’t the same as playing on the pitch,” You tell her,” But you’re a very good girlfriend for helping Ingrid on the pitch today. If you keep practicing really hard then maybe you can join a proper team one day too.”

“Guys!” Mapi complains,” Come on, help me out here! Tell her I’m a footballer!”

Ingrid and Frido are too busy laughing at Mapi’s outrage to help her out.

You’re insistent on your view that Mapi exists to get tattoos and be Ingrid’s girlfriend. There’s no way she’s a footballer and you refuse to accept any other alternative except maybe that her job is feeding the stray cats in the neighbourhood. That could be her job too.

Her cat, Bagheera, is very sweet. You think you might want a cat when you’re older though you think you also want a puppy too. You don’t know if they can live in the same house but you hope so because you like both cats and dogs.

You know Morsa doesn’t want any pets right now but you do so you’ll try to convince her to let you have a pet when you go back to London. That gives you enough time to think of a plan to convince her.

“Hey,” Mapi says,” Did you go and talk to Little Nat during the match? I think you’d really get on with her.”

You shake your head. You spare a glance over your shoulder at her. She’s on her feet now, her cousin having put her down but still keeps holding her hand. She’s staring back at you with a smile and waves.

You wave back to be polite but still feel a little shy and duck to hide behind Frido’s legs.

“Someone's a little shy,” Frido says to Mapi, looking down at you,” But that’s okay. I’m sure they can make friends another time.”

(You never get to make friends with Little Nat as a child but, one day, you make a girlfriend and then a wife of Talia).

“Next time then,” Mapi says,” I’m serious. I think you and Little Nat will be great friends one day.”

You peak out from Frido’s legs.

Little Nat is still looking at you. She waves again and you wave back before you spot someone off to the side.

You gasp and grab Frido’s hand, pulling her with you.

“It’s Caro!”

Caro is standing by the water cooler, drinking from a bottle but she turns at the sound of her name. She spots Frido, who indicates downwards to where you’re dragging her over.

Caro lets a small smile appear on her face and she drops into a crouch right as you barrel into her arms. There’s something about you being older now that puts Caro at ease. She remembers when you were just a tiny baby and how scared she was to drop you.

It’s harder to drop you now and Caro’s much more comfortable. Her arms wrap around your little body and you hug her back so tightly that she’s a little shocked at how much strength is in your tiny body.

“Hi, Caro!” You say, panting from how quickly you go to her side.

“Hello, y/n.”

“You played so good!” You tell her,” Just like at Wolfsburg! You score so much! You’re so cool, Caro!” You chatter on and on about Caro’s two earlier goals.

Caro nods along to you and Frido only pulls you away when you start yawning, completely shattered by your long day in the sun.

“Alright, little monster,” She says,” Say goodbye to Caro then we’ll say bye to Ingrid and Mapi. We need to head home.”

You whine but do as you’re told, giving a hug to Caro before running off to do the same with Ingrid and Mapi.

You’re practically asleep by the time Frido straps you into your car seat. You keep yawning and your head lulls to the side. It’s adorable and Frido snaps a quick picture, sending it off to Pernille and Magda, who she knows are eagerly awaiting an update from her after the game.

[figueroths]

okay so this is long and likely impacted by my poor memory but I wrote a lot of it down friday night so it’s still somewhat accurate!! but here are my favorite things that went down during gauntlet at the garden (which is still so crazy to not only play msg but sell it out!!)

she’s already famous but still worth mentioning: the brennan murph kiss

lou genuinely in distress about the pyrotechnics because brennan repeatedly chose violence hitting them without warning

siobhan rolling a giant dice for world’s biggest box of doom marked out on the floor plus getting the front audience to get their luck all over it

luck failing and rowan having to help out with the roll anyway!

getting to do a re-roll chant

business dragon as thee recurring bit from jump

telling wealth by nail beds + siobhan’s unnoticed callback to this mid-show

oil tycoon family money energy

kug having friends in the 80s who called themselves business dragons

kug ranking his friends without hesitation

sofia ranking a new rat in the crew as her number one and kug being soooo offended because he put sofia as his number one

the new rat’s name is parker and he has a car but they can’t use it because it doesn’t work and emily running with it saying of course she assumed he had a car because his name is parker and brennan adding that if it did work they’d call him driver and then doing cute little chin hands or smth like that

murph having his starstruck hair 🥰

siobhan looking so good in the yellow outfit and just not having these monster’s bullshit

ally trying to cast fireball on a dragon and then arguing can it be dream sparkles - successfully!

emily looking like a snack and at some point referring to herself as one - oh because calroy asked what kind of food they were

defeating junkmother by befriending her

lou jumping in when brennan had more than one character tell sofia that she reminds them of someone and being like “who reminds you of someone is it me???? is it me????”

the lighting being off when they swapped places post-intermission and then murph decided to play to the crowd and the whole group got in on an impromptu battle royal where lou hit murph with a stone cold stunner - brennan letting them go on (including siobhan with a steel chair) only to be like “and now im being told you need to be in your seats for them to adjust the lighting”

gilear being there at all

gilear dying immediately (yogurt related ofc)

audience participation on rolling for support

nat 20 roll to get ayda (i got a nat 20 on that roll but didn’t even think to screenshot it 😔)

ayda saying she’s gay as hell

ayda being there to protect her paramour’s father 🥺

ayda saving gilear’s ass from getting roasted

ally calling themself out about including pete’s medical bracelet in the character design for it to specifically be carrying testosterone but it doesn’t come in pill form so pete was just walking around with an empty medical bracelet that whole campaign (but now it has adhd meds I think)

wally showing up to shit talk staten island

zac getting the third highest roll on initiative during one fight and then getting the crowd to chant “third highest roll”

kalvaxus getting applauded for ending a crypto bro’s life (literally)

kalvaxus getting polymorphed into a rat and gilear then claiming the mantle of the chosen one and beating the shit out of him

P90X dvds and anachronisms

plug

coronitas on the staten island ferry

making plans they will Not be keeping about hanging out more and living healthier lifestyles

pete giving gilear jaeger from a flask

pete saying plug and gilear have a similar energy

genuinely just the delighted cheers at every gay thing and there were so many gay things

parker the rival rat doing the baby dance correctly but kalvaxus as a dirty little rat does it all wrong and they all start kinda doing it

murph living out his wrestling dreams and doing a heel turn just for the fun of getting booed

there was a shoutout to the two crew but I forgot now if it was murph or emily who rolled it (I think murph but with no confidence behind this thought)

grenade arm sofie!!!!!!!!!

K2 mention

ricky fail flirting with esther

kug magically communicating with the cockroaches across town but everyone starts treating it like a phone call so sofia has her ear pressed up against his chest and then when she asks for visuals (again this is not a phone call) brennan asks how does that work and someone (ally??) said “like teletubbies” agdjsks

emily genuinely sharing staten island facts

back to gilear dying immediately - kingston revivifying him (or a similar spell), someone else also did something I think but I forget because then sofia said she’s giving him a makeover and then proceeded to do semipermanent makeup with the most insane eyebrows

lou wasting his turn doing a bit with gilear just for kalvaxus to have a legendary action next

the kalvaxus battle starting with pete casting a cantrip during a handshake (shocking grasp) for FIVE points of damage ally why are you like this (never change)

junkmother letting ricky get away with a weak reason he counts as discarded (something like he discards his legs when he doesn’t work out enough lmao) while the party attempted to endear themselves to her but not before saying she can tell he’s the fitness expert because that was a stretch

so many closeups of emily like whoever handled the screens you’re so me

brennan (idr which npc) saying quangle and emily laughing through her own joke about pelvic floors pretending sofia heard him say kegel lmfaooo

kug getting charmed into thinking he’s doing audience participation for the nutcracker while tin soldiers try to kill him

all of it! it was all such a great experience and they are so talented and giving and I just had a lot of fun 💕🌸

[albatris]

I need you to know it’s been like 12 hours since I saw that post and Jasper is Still living rent free inside my head. Do you have an excerpt about him? A sketch? A fun fact??? Tell me more about him PWEEZ

"Nathaniel Finch was a person," Jasper said slowly. "And I understand how… confusing this all must be for you. But you’re not Nathaniel Finch anymore, you’re—"

"I’m Nathaniel Finch," Nat cut in, starting to panic. "I never stopped being Nat. I’m still—you know I'm a person, right?"

Jasper took a moment. Sighed again. He spoke in the same special, delicate tone therapists used to use on him when he’d taken a skip out of reality. When they were compromising on the language they used and not the ideas.

"Yes. Of course," Jasper said. "What I mean to say is… well, you’re aware by now you’re not alone in there. The… entity, known colloquially as the Garble, makes you an exceptional danger to yourself and others." He added with a sharp look, "Mostly others."

"Come on," Nat protested. "I had things under control just fine."

"You think this life is what Nathaniel Finch wants?" Jasper raised his eyebrows. "You think hunting and consuming other human beings counts as under control?"

"Yes," Nat said. "I mean, no, but I—they were bad people. I’m doing my best. I’m making the best choices I can!"

"This is what I mean," Jasper said. "Listen to yourself! Healthy, well-adjusted humans don’t think like this, don’t crave the things you crave. You want to justify what you’re doing! You’re trying to convince me it’s normal! You’re convinced it’s normal! I know you don’t feel like you’ve changed, but you're someone else now."

"No. No, you don’t—you don’t know what you’re talking about," Nat said. "Of course I’ve changed. Fuck, I know I’m not human anymore, but I’m not not myself, though, I—I just adjusted! I adapted!"

Jasper lifted both his hands, placating. "Now, now. It’s normal to feel nervous. It’s normal to feel defensive," he said. "The vampiric instinct for self-preservation is an especially strong one, haven’t you found? I'm not trying to start a fight."

"I’m the only one here," Nat snapped. "It’s all the same. I’m all the same. Something—something new got added but it’s not separate from me and—"

"It’s alright," Jasper said. "You don’t have to justify yourself to me, really. I just wanted to set something straight, alright? No one here is going to lay a hand on Nathaniel Finch." He offered a tight-lipped smile. "So if you're Nat, you have nothing at all to worry about."

JASPER! he's such a horrible little man

I've toyed with the idea of a tragic backstory for Jasper, some capital R Reason he does what he does, but honestly

while March is in this for the money and the fame, Jasper's mostly in it because he genuinely loves it! he's fascinated by what the human body is capable of but he restrains himself from dissecting other humans, so when the opportunity arises for him to dissect something human-shaped that he can neatly box away as A Soulless Monster, he jumps at the chance. Jasper's not in it for the greater good, he's in it because it's a good time!

at the same time, though, Jasper TELLS himself it's for the greater good. he constructs this image of vampires as creatures that do not have human emotions nor the capacity for love and friendship... vampires manipulate humans and play with their food and enjoy inflicting pain..... any "positive" relationship a vampire has with a human is just a manipulation tactic to either kill that human or gain access to other humans to kill. vampires deserve to hurt! vampires deserve to be punished! there's no moral issue with harming a vampire, in fact, you'd be doing the world a favour! and since March insists this is for the greater good, it's an easy narrative for Jasper to slip into

Jasper is a person who wants to hurt people, and Jasper, I think, conceives of others as primarily selfish beings who want to hurt people, too. he thinks this of humans as well, deep down, but it's more socially acceptable to speak about that belief when you're dealing with a monster :)

so ya March is the guy who orchestrates all of it, but Jasper is the hands-on one, he's the one Nat has the most contact with and who performs the experiments. these include, in no particular order, infecting Nat with Australian Bat Lyssavirus (a cousin of rabies) and cancer cells, puncturing his lungs, removing his pancreas and heart, cutting off his fingers, starving him of blood, and frying him over the course of several weeks with constant UV radiation, resulting in raw skin, delayed healing, and blindness :)

he's a menace. he cannot be reasoned with because he thinks of everything Nat says as a manipulation tactic. Nat crying and begging? Nat refusing to kill an innocent person? Nat talking about his human friends? Nat desperately trying to prove his, for lack of a better word, humanity? manipulation, baby

fun fact! Nat eventually rips Jasper's heart out and uses it to replace his own missing heart <3

second fun fact! Jasper runs into Nat at a gala March is hosting in the chapter I'm writing right now and is this (THIS) close to just drugging him and kidnapping him there, and only doesn't because Nat is too socially anxious to "step outside" with him for a drink and a chat

anyway thank u for reading and I hope you enjoy this ramble about my horrible guy!

[cosmichorrorsarestillnicerthanme]

Supply Run-Natasha X Reader

Special Thanks to @tragedy-of-commons for looking over the fight scene!

You ran through the streets of rivet town, dodging past the Fragentum corrupted creature’s as best you can, avoiding them where you could, and blocking their path when possible.

You had to get these supplies back to Wildfire.

Nat needed them for the sick and the injured.

One of the robots swung its chainsaw, narrowly avoiding taking your head off as you slid under it.

Thinking quickly, you knocked over a stack of boxes, blocking your path as you continued to run.

You were close, all you had to do was get across the bridge.

The stairs were right in front of you, you just needed to get up them and get across the bridge then you were home free.

Getting up the stairs was easy, you were up them in a flash.

However, getting across… not so much.

There was a Fragentum monster at the other end.

It was made of glowing blue ice that, even from across the bridge, radiated a cold that cut through your clothes. Not to mention, the dangerous looking halberd that could cut you in two if you made the wrong move.

But you had to get past it.

The only other way off the bridge was to jump and… well, you liked being able to walk.

So, that left you with one option.

You walked towards the creature, removing the satchel Nat gave you and gently placing it on the ground.

The beast began to march towards you, Halberd at the ready and the bone chilling cold growing sharper and sharper with every step you took towards it.

You closed your fists tight.

Time to see if growing up down here and those pointers Oleg gave you paid off.

You began to run at the creature.

It did the same.

This was a gamble.

You readied yourself for what you hoped would come next.

These types of Fragentumn creatures had a pattern they liked to follow.

A pattern this one followed to a T.

The Fragentum monster swung its down halberd, in response you sidestepped the strike, the weapon burying itself in the ground. Acting quickly, you stepped on the haft of the weapon, keeping it in place as you pulled back a powerful left overhand and then fired it into the icy creature's face, sending it spinning away without its weapon and leaving your hand covered in frost. You did not have time to care about this as the monster was stunned, giving you the perfect opportunity to capitalize on its weakness.

Rushing the beast you dodge under the wild strike it made with its fist and hit it with an uppercut, sending cracks spider webbing across its face and sending it stumbling back where you kick it in the side of its ribs, forcing it to crash into the railings of the bridge over the entrance of rivet town. Next you pulled the monster of the railing before grabbing it by the head and slamming it into the side of the railing, creating even more cracks and sending into the ground in a heap before following up with a vicious kick to the chin that sent it to the ground before stomping on the head, shattering it like glass under your boot.

As the creature faded away you leaned on the railing, panting.

“That was way too close.” You muttered to yourself through panted breaths as you leaned on the railing, ignoring the stabbing feeling in your hands.

Still, you had Nat her supplies.

Now all you needed was to get back to town, then you can get checked out.

And probably chewed out, but it always came from a place of love.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“-And that, my good friends in The Moles, is why I am- OW! -Sitting here, having pieces of ice taken out of my hands. Now, what did we learn?” you asked the group as Natasha continued to remove the shards of ice from your hands.

They were not particularly deep, barely piercing the skin, however, the cold of them mixed with the heat of Natasha’s clinic, made your hands feel especially tender.

Hook was the first to speak.

“You should be ready to sacrifice life n’ limb for the greater good!”

Immediately you and Natasha both made a very clear buzzer sound and said “Try again!”

“To get better at fighting monsters?” Hook asked.

Another buzzer sound came from you and Nat.

Hook sighed.

“Is it not to go to Rivet Town and not to pick fights with monsters?”

“Correct! That is one gold star for you!” you and Natasha exclaimed with a smile.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Soon after, Hook and her gang left the clinic. Though, not without extorting some candy from Natasha first.

“You really let those little rascals run roughshod all over the place, don’t you?” you asked as Natasha tenderly wrapped your hands in bandages.

“It's better they cause chaos where I can see them as opposed to where I can’t.” Natasha responded with a slight smile.

“Heh, can’t argue with that line of thinking, love.” you muttered as the good doctor finished bandaging your wounds.

“Good, because I’m right.” Nat said before kissing you on the cheek and pulling you up from the chair where you managed to take a few steps before beginning to stumble and almost falling.

Luckily, Natasha caught you before you did.

“Ugh, I feel terrible. What was in that ice?” you asked her as a sudden wave of nausea and tiredness came over you.

“An extremely concentrated amount of Fragentum Energy which you were exposed to for several hours.

“That’ll do it…” you muttered as you followed Natasha’s lead.

“You need a good night’s rest, you’ll feel right as rain in the morning.” Natasha told you as she shuffled along while holding you up.

“What even is rain?” you asked in your barely lucid state.

“The old stories say it's water that falls from the sky, much like snow.”

“Sounds weird.” you muttered as Natasha opened the door to the room the two of you shared.

“I agree.” Natasha responded as she dropped you onto the bed.

“Now then, you need to get some rest. I’ll be back to check on you in- WHOA!” Natasha exclaimed as she was pulled into bed with you and into a hug.

For a moment, the two of you were silent.

“Did you plan this?” Nat asked as she wrapped her hands around you.

“Fistfighting a Fragentum Monster? No. Getting you into bed so you get sleep? Yes.” you muttered as your tiredness began to take you.

“Dear, we’re still in our day clothes.” Natasha muttered as she began to grow tired as well.

She received no response save for soft snores.

“Sigh I guess… it’ll be… fine…” Natasha thought to herself as her thoughts began to grow sluggish and her eyes began to shut.

[darkdemeter]

☾ phases collection issue #2 IN THE ARMS OF YOUR ENEMY

⚤ Wanda Maximoff x GN/Female/Male Werewolf!Reader SMUT 18+ MINORS DNI — light bondage — MxF version pairing — FxF version pairing — unprotected sex — P in V sex — profanity — pet name "Lamb" — usage of the term "slut" amidst sex — light/alluded breeding kink — reader receiving (male and female variants) — bit of excessive cum — mention of marking — possessive reader — slight stalkerish reader — Hydra agent! reader — enemies/lovers with benefits — I think that's it? ✎ 3.9k Once again, Wanda will find that she can't exactly keep the wolf out, and she'll find herself back in your arms; no matter how much she detests the idea you're an agent of Hydra.

✎

↳ MASTERLIST | ↳ TAGLISTS ────────────────────────

II.  Any wolf can forego the hunt of its prey. It takes a particular beast to continue hunting the single lamb that escaped it once. A sickening delight in the torment it brings upon the victim. And no matter what, the lamb’s scent only draws the wolf closer. 

   New locks, new keys to accompany those new locks, new means of security. Whatever she could get her hands on. Was she wrong to leave the compound, in search of a place of independence? 

  It’s grown quiet the past two weeks, going on three. She can hope, and only hope, that this means she is finally free. But she has plenty of reasons to doubt. 

  Keys in hand she plugs it into the lock and twists, entering her apartment. Simple, the floorplan didn’t mess around in trying to make the space something it’s not. Cosy but simple and within budget. Immediately to her right is the open concept kitchen, an L shaped counter anchored to the wall, the basic appliances with it and an island countertop at its centre, completing the design. 

  To her left, the curtains are almost drawn to the close, leaving only a spying gap open above the small dining table and beige coloured booth seats. Ahead of her is a wooden beamed door frame, twice the size of her front one. It enters the modest lounge room, where a boxed fireplace sits idly in the corner, unlit until the nearing winter begins to settle in. For her piece of mind, a TV sits on a dark cherry wooden cabinet, a box of old, collected sitcom discs and a dvd player go hand in hand together. 

  She’d taken to making the space truly her own. Here, she isn’t the experimented girl Hydra made her to be. Here, she isn’t a woman who’s feared for her abilities. In this apartment, she is just Wanda Maximoff. A normal, young woman who enjoys cooking heritage meals for dinner - with a recent habit of having takeout at least once a fortnight - going out shopping towards the weekend with Natasha and watching her favourite sitcoms.

  But over the last few months, this spot has also attracted something far more sinister. Something that stalks her from the dark alleyways and winding streets. A monster who she knows to be the enemy of the Avengers. Her enemy. An agent of Hydra. 

  Still… she found herself in your arms again and again. She recalls the reverberting moans trapped within the confines of these very walls. The lengths of pleasurable extortion you’d go to for her to reveal secrets and confidential information.

  And in turn, you kept her out of Hydra’s reach, away from getting their hands on her again. Under your protection, her freedom remained intact. 

  Wanda strips herself of her coat and bag, eyes scanning the lounge room and catching an obscured form occupying the armchair. 

  “Hey Nat,” she greets, tone calm and unaltered by concern. Natasha had mentioned she was going to stop by for a visit sometime that week. 

  “Hey, Wanda,” Natasha’s voice replies, voice slightly tuned with a friendly purr. 

  “What you been up to?” Wanda asks. She grabs the bag of groceries and places them on the island, caught in her own world until the colour in her cheeks drains, the warmth grows cold and in her stomach grows an ominous pit. 

  “Been watching– you.”

  Wanda feels as though the floor will swallow her at any moment, and at this point, that would be a relief. Her eyes land back on the mistaken identity’s form, elbow propped up on the chair’s arm, a small device sits in the palm of a gloved hand. Your gloved hand. 

  With a roll of your thumb, you click the device off and let your arm drop, manoeuvring yourself to shift in your place. 

  Wanda finds the hellish pits of amber that reside brightly in her dark lounge room, the day itself looming with stormy clouds. Now with the late evening, darkness settled in far more quickly. 

  Your lips stretch wide, almost ear to ear like the cheeky cheshire, but Wanda is not amused one bit by your visit in particular. Anyone else would have been fine. Just not you. 

  “Been ignoring my calls, little Lamb. Just came by to… check in,” you purr, voice deeply seated in its obsessive fever. 

  “U–uh huh…” 

  Your chin turns on its axis, brows knitting in your faux confusion. “You sound concerned.”

  “Wishful thinking is all.” The words came out before she could even process them. Her hand claps over her mouth, taken aback with a gasp.

  Your tongue clicks to the roof of your mouth as you pull yourself from the chair, height now towering over Wanda, even at a distance. “Sweetheart, I’ve been worried. It’s as though you’ve been trying to keep me out.”

  Wanda offers in showing kind a pearly smile, flustered and seemingly dumbfounded by the absurdity of your question. As if she was trying to keep you out… she can’t let you catch on. 

  “Keep you out? What?" Her arms fold over her chest. A nervous tactic, one she often defects to whenever she’s plagued by doubt or fear. You duck your chin in indication towards her front door. 

  “New locks,” you scoff with a shake of your head, “if you’re really going through these measures, at least amuse me by making it just a little bit hard.”

  Wanda’s jaw grows slack, eyes bearing into yours with that radiant flare of fear. The trait one that often arouses you. She portrays it well. Makes the hunt more fun for you. 

  “I… I don’t…” She cannot bring a single reason to mouth, her tongue tied with the thread of deceit so easily discernible, it shouldn’t be as funny as you find it. 

  With little else, her fingers move, taut and rigid in their slow, methodical dance but you catch on far too quickly than she can begin to halt.

  Hand loosening the cord of your leather belt, you swiftly disarm her crafty hands before she could work to send you flying back. 

  You scold her with a haughty tut, “Ah, ah, ah!” You grin widely as you bind her hands above her head and force her back against the front door with a booming thud. 

  “I’ll be the one using my hand, little Lamb.” Your coo is a sickening coil of sinister delight, taken away in your sheer excitement of the hunt she has become accustomed to seeing in the reflective glint of your eyes. 

  With one hand, you continue to pin her tied wrists over her, your other raises towards your mouth where your fanged canines nip teasingly at the leathery texture, stripping your bare hand free, you toss the glove onto the countertop. 

  “So I wanna know,” you sigh deeply, “what’s this all about? Hm?”

  With every movement of your fingers, she feels her pants loosen, the button and zip to her jeans failing to keep your touch out of reach, soon enough you’re snaking beneath her panties. She moans when your coarse thumb pad drags over her clit, excitement fills her blood and heat brims under her skin. 

  Her cheeks grow flushed and her folds slicken in the tormenting delight you bring her. The dangerous allure she finds herself drawn to. Back in the arms of her enemy. Incapable to be free of. 

  She squirms against the door when you roll her clit in slow, firm circles, growling against the shell of her ear. 

  “If you want to cum, you’ll need to answer a few questions for me.” 

  Her hips jerk forward suddenly, instinctively, buckling under the coursing pleasure flowing through her body. Unable to deny the flood of desire you bring her to. She moans lowly. “I… I just wanted– to keep you out.”

  “Why?”

  “Because–” she hisses as your fingers run the line of her aroused, wet folds. “Because you’re my enemy.”

  You hum lowly at her answer. “And this concerns you now?”

  “The Avengers will catch on. We can’t—”

  She freezes instantly at the baring of your teeth, throat coiled with a deep, throaty snarl. “If anyone thinks they’ll come between us, I’ll fucking kill them.”

  “Please…” Her voice is shattered by her broken resolve to remain strong and defiant to the effects of your carnal activity, fingers drawing your sharpened claws from their nail beds, you drag them slowly over the lips of her soaking entrance. She pushes her hips forward again with her simple plea.

  “Ah, ah,” you hiss coldly, “you’ve been ignoring my calls and messages, Lamb. Very foolish of you.”

  “I-I’m sorry.”

  You scoff now and your thumb stops in toying with her sensitive bulb, bringing her to whine loudly, giving away just how needy she was. 

  “I think you can do better than that.”

  “I can, I can.” Her words are breathlessly urgent in their tone, it almost takes you by surprise by the way her green eyes traverse downwards between you. Yet her eyes don’t plead her case to continue getting her off; the lustful glaze in her eyes offer to get you off. 

FEMALE

 Wanda sinks to her knees, her arms raised high above her and still in your hold, she stares up at you with anticipation. She’s hellbent on this little mission of hers. Amused, you chuckle and with expert navigation, you unbuckle the front of your pants and tug down enough to reveal your cunt. Wanda aches her head forward, her tongue balances the line of anticipation that leaves you in its wake. 

  With a soft, melodic noise, she moves her tongue to curl and lick at your clit, your muscles tense and your core tightens, uttering curses under your breath, it takes everything in you not to pull her head forward and bury her between your strong legs. Still, your hand curls tightly around the leather strap of your belt in warning and restraint. 

  “Better get that mouth working, Lamb,” you growl deeply, the sound causing a shiver to wrack her spine visibly and she bows her head forward more. Her lips and tongue work in tandem to each other, sliding over the aroused slickness of your folds, clit tormented pleasantly by her mouth, every so often her warm beth beats against your pussy. 

  “Fuck, girl,” you rasp to hide the otherwise pitiful whine clawing its way up your throat. “C’mon, give it to me like the good slut you are.”

  She mewls against your cunt. She’s teasing you, just easing her tongue along the sliver of your entrance but not delving any further than that, overall she pays more attention to your clit, every so often her nose nuzzling it playfully. 

  Any other time, you’d enjoy and be amused by her little game, but right now she’s fucking toying with you. 

  You buck your hips aggressively with a sharp hiss as her teeth nip dangerously close. “Oh, you want to go about it that way?” you rumble and she coos, tone innocent despite the eyes saying something else. Spelling mischief. 

  You hoist her up by the tied juncture of her hands and drag her over to the lonesome kitchen island. 

  If she was going to play games then so were you. It’s effortless the way you slam her atop the counter, her body squirming and writhing, but you pin her down and she freezes, breath ceasing to exist in her lungs. 

  “You cornered yourself, Lamb. Now you gotta lie down and take it. And I won’t be kind.”

  You can feel in the way her throat bobs that she swallows both pride and realisation, to come to the new revelation and the error of her ways. If only she’d been a little kinder. A little bit more merciful. Because she knew you were never one of true mercy.

  She breathes deeply as you seize hold of her legging and rip them down, panties along with them and drop them to the floor. She won’t be needing them anytime soon. 

  “W-wait,” she gasps only for her words to die on her begging tongue, her back arcs up, body coiling to the ignition of your touch, fingers rough against the cove between her thighs, she moans for more. 

  But much like her, you refuse to give her exactly what she wants. Her clit is the subject of your torture, thumb rolling in slower circles you’d used before and your other fingers trace the moist line of her pussy that clenches with excitement; with hope of them sinking into her depths. 

 She says your name then, your attention drawn to the pronunciation of it and you groan with a twisted smirk. 

  “Please, d-don’t do this,” she sighs lowly, “I-I need you. Badly…”

  “Mm, should have thought about that before you decided to be a cheeky lil’ slut.”

  You slip your middle finger into her without warning, her face contorted in brutal pleasure, she arches further and bounces her hips, breath growing hot and quicker. “Y–es! Yes!”   You add a second finger and then your ring finger, each one touching her spongy walls and stretching her. Each touch stokes the fire of her growing orgasm and she chases it with everything she has; however you’re not going to allow her to revel in the sweetened high of her release. 

  If she wants to cum around your fingers, she’s going to have to really, really beg for it this time. She curses you and praises you, your name a sultry chant playing on repeat and its a song you will never tire of hearing. If her hands weren’t restrained by your belt, she’d be digging her fingers into your arms like a cat clawing a scratching post, her legs spread further for your touch to exceed beyond the bounds they reach now.

  “Right there, r-right there! O–oh fuck!” She’s crying out, streams of tears pave the way to her euphoric torture. 

  You know she’s getting close. Her body, each a telltale sign, she thinks you’re going to let her cum.

  “You wanna cum, Lamb?”

  “Yes… yes, yes…”

  Your teeth graze the curve of her neck and elicit a shocked gasp from her throat, though her hips keep rocking to the motion of your thrusting fingers, claws scraping the length of her hot, tight walls.

  “Then let me mark you, Sweetheart.”

  “Wh-what?”

  You groan at this, eyes rolling with a snarl. “C’mon, I know you want to. Quit being a fucking tease and let me have one bite.”

  Her voice is weak, wheezing on the teetering of her arousal and shock.

  “We can’t— fuck, Wolf! L-let me cum!” 

Pushing her body further into your fingers, you pull your hand away, fingers on the verge of retracting completely and your thumb flicks her clit until she yelps.

  “I don’t think you’re being very fair, Wanda Maximoff,” you growl, amber eyes burning with the intensity of a third degree. 

  It’s little wonder why you feel this dark seed of possessiveness fester inside your soul. At first, you thought it naught but Hydra’s doing that fucked up the natural wiring of your brain, scrappng way the wolf’s more tame and pack orientated habits, only to leave the rabid nature to maim and kill. 

  But now you’re so that those natural instincts are there still. Fried and seriously altered into some twisted version, but still there. 

  You came to recognise that your little obsession was more in depth than you originally predicted. Wanda Maximoff, Hydra’s once experiment and now enemy, is your fated mate. A wild night of desperately relieving yourself over and over again, like a drug had poisoned your body, all you could think about was Wanda. 

  Now she wasn’t giving you what you wanted. To mark her, to show that whoever fucked around would find out. That if anyone touched her, they were dead.

 You withdraw your thrusting fingers right as she is about to be delivered to her sweet release, denied, she almost screams in protest. 

  “I was… I was so close,” she seethes, “Why’d you stop?”

   With a wolfish huff, you push your fingers inside her to a still and she swears you drag her down the counter. 

  “If you refuse to let me mark you, Lamb, then I’ll find a way for you to have my pups. And you’ll have no choice but be sent into the arms of your enemy.”

MALE

  Wanda sinks to her knees, her arms raised high above her and still in your hold, she stares up at you with anticipation. She’s hellbent on this little mission of hers. Amused, you chuckle and with expert navigation, you loosen the constraining pressure around your hardened cock, letting it spring free. Already, your beady tip grazes across her plump lips, swollen with your feverish need, you hoarsely grunt. “Get to it, Lamb.”

  Her tongue brushes the underside of your cock and you groan, eyes screwing tightly together the further along her breath comes over you, slowly sinking your length between her parted lips. Her cheeks hollow to accommodate your girth, moaning a muffled sound. 

  She pauses halfway, throat tightening around your intruding tip and your hips stutter, the force of willpower to not cum down her throat right then bringing a pleasured grimace to form over your face. “Look at you,” you grin widely, “on your knees like a go little slut.”

  She moans louder, the sound bouncing your cock in her mouth. You sink deeper until she’s taken all she can, almost swallowing your entire cock. In her eyes, the brimming of tears well into a glossy curtain that spill over at the first thrust, slow but hard, she chokes around your size. 

  “That’s right– fuck! Take it, fucking hell, you’re mouth is hot.” You’re panting heavily as your thrusts grow in punctuated speed, hand coiling around her bound wrists tightly, your other finds itself around her throat, feeling each time your cock delve down the tunnel of her throat. 

  She mewls, either in protest or plea, her thighs clench together in her position, tearful eyes blurred between complete darkness and the illuminated view of your hips driving forward, your cock moving up and down her throat with rapid succession as you chase your high. 

  “S-s-so b-big…” Her words come out muffled, barely audible as she gulps around your length, moans growing higher in pitch into whines. 

  “Yeah,” you rasp, “fucking so big, you’re choking ‘round me.”

  She nods eagerly and groans when you piston your hips harder, the swelling in your balls giving away that the fun is almost over. 

  With a grunt you withdraw from Wanda’s mouth, lips parted wide and strings of saliva and precum coat the edges of her mouth. Her eyes find yours burning a thousand degrees hotter into her soul, scorching it with such intensity, it took everything in her not to squirm beneath you with need.

  “As much as I’d love to see you swallow my load, I’d rather have your cunt do that.”

  You can smell the sweet nectar between her legs, her core undoubtedly soaked, you pull her up by the leather instrument around her wrists. You push her legging and panties down her legs until they pool at her ankles, ushering her to kick away the unnecessary clothing. 

  She shivers, voice hoarse as you back her against the door again, the whisper of your name is softened by the feathery texture of her lust. She’s fucking drenching you tip that lines her awaiting entrance, greedily, she squeezes around nothing and pouts, whining for you to hurry up, to fuck her hard and raw until she’s dripping with your cum. 

  “Shh, Lamb,” you coo through a bite of clenching teeth, pushing inside her pussy with a relieved sigh, for a second time, you have to fight to keep yourself from blowing your load. 

  She moans deeply into the side of your neck. Looping her arms around your neck, she’s caged between you and the door, and you begin to eagerly rut your hips. 

  The modest apartment’s four walls once again are the cells containing your time of ecstasy together, moans bouncing off the balls and heavy bouts of panted breath and slapping skin drive you each to the edge of your own insanity. 

  There Is only the need for more. None of you want to stop this arrangement no matter how conflicting it can be to your respective parties. The Avengers and Hydra can war and raise fire with one another all they want, you’re just taking what’s yours at this point. 

  And if this is the end of your time, you’re going to fucking enjoy every bit of it that’s Wanda before you’re put six feet under. 

  “Fuck- f-fuck, don’t stop,” Wanda breathlessly chants, “right there, oh shit— don’t–”

  You moa deeply and pick up the pace behind your thrusts that ruthlessly rut Wanda back against the door with loud patterns of thumps. 

  “Fuck, Baby– you’re so tight…”

  “I’m so close!” she mewls lousy in her announcement, her head tilted to the side and the juncture of her neck exposed. Your teeth graze it and she gasps. 

  “C’mon, I know you want to,” you growl with a jerk of your hips, your tip kissing her cervix roughly to press the air from her lungs. 

  “But–” She’s cut off by the new, brutal angle you choose, viciously you rock her hips upwards until she’s practically sliding up and down against the door, her nails bite into the leather of the belt and her legs encircle your waist, momentarily losing balance and following the pace of your movement. 

  “Wolf, please!” 

  “Shit, cum for me, Wanda, cum for me.” 

  She breaks for your command and cries out in a flurry of stringed curses, her orgasm a crashing flood that engulfs and squeezes around your cock. “That’s it, Sweetheart… that’s it.”

  She relaxes against you while you aid her in riding out her high, eyes dazed in her post-orgasmic state, she hiccups and gasps with each wave of thrusts that continue to surge through her. 

  Again, you tease her, teeth bared against the flesh of her exposed neck. “One little bite…”

  “W-we can’t—”

  Groaning lowly, you retort, “You’re such a fucking tease.”

  It’s little wonder why you feel this dark seed of possessiveness fester inside your soul. At first, you thought it naught but Hydra’s doing that fucked up the natural wiring of your brain, scrappng way the wolf’s more tame and pack orientated habits, only to leave the rabid nature to maim and kill. 

  But now you’re so that those natural instincts are there still. Fried and seriously altered into some twisted version, but still there. 

  You came to recognise that your little obsession was more in depth than you originally predicted. Wanda Maximoff, Hydra’s once experiment and now enemy, is your fated mate. A wild night of desperately relieving yourself over and over again, like a drug had poisoned your body, all you could think about was Wanda. 

  Now she wasn’t giving you what you wanted. To mark her, to show that whoever fucked around would find out. That if anyone touched her, they were dead. 

  Your thrusts grew sloppy, the rhythm lost to your desperation to the swelling knot as your release came upon you, you whine lowly. The tip of your cock erupts violently with spurted rivers of your cum, far exceeding that of the average, human male, Wanda’s womb becomes heavy with your seed. 

  “Sh–shit!” Wanda moans quietly with a hiccup when your knot ties against her entrance, locking you in place inside her tight cunt. 

  “If you refuse to let me mark you, Lamb, then you’ll mother my pups. And you’ll have no choice but be sent into the arms of your enemy.”

@alexawynters @alyciaddict @simpforlizzie @literaturedog

[kaunis-sielu]

Dangerous Places: 8

You don’t see Steve for almost a week. You meet several of the women, they seem nice enough and happy, but you’d seemed happy too.

Wanda had taken your grocery list and bought everything you’d needed, no hesitation. She was a soft woman, and the one you felt most comfortable around. You knew that Nat was reporting back to Steve on you. Those piercing green eyes of hers seemed to notice everything and it’s unnerving.

Your feet have healed well, the Doctor, a soft spoken man they call Hulk, had come by and checked in on you. He’d also offered to get you a system that would test your blood so you didn’t have to do your finger all the time, something that sounded more than a little appealing.

You’re a little surprised to see Steve enter after he knocks on the main door. You’ve got some music playing from an old radio you’d found and are reading a book. One that Carol had lent you.

“Hi Bunny.” He says putting a box on the counter. “Got you some sugar free cookies from a bakery I like.”

“Thank you.” You’re surprisingly touched by this.

“I hope they’re good.” He says dropping down into the arm chair with a heavy sigh. “How’s your week been?” When you level him with a look that pretty much screams really? “Right, sorry. Things have been interesting, hectic but I’m getting closer to destroying Hydra.”

“Good.”

“Good?” He seems surprised, “there’s no one there you were friends with?”

“No. Friends don’t help a monster keep you prisoner.”

“Will you tell me what happened?”

“No.” You tell him with a racing heart. Last time you’d said no to Brock he’d beaten you so badly you couldn’t sit comfortably for days.

“Okay, will you at least think about it?” He asks and you nod, you’ll think about it. “Thanks Bunny.”

“You can use my real name if you want.” You offer, not looking up from your book.

“I know.” You glance over at him and see a little smile on his face, “what are you reading?”

“Something from Carol.”

“Ah, sexy book then.” He says and your eyes nearly pop out of your head.

“Wh-what?”

“Sexy book. Carol makes us all read them, is that the one about the baker and the doctor?”

“Um, yes.” You know he can see the embarrassment on your face.

“Nice. Some things in that one I’ve wanted to try for a while. Let me know if you’re interested.” He flirts but you can’t even look at him. He turns on the tv and you continue to read for a while, you’re reading a more, spicy, part when he hums and you look up at him.

“You’re at the part in the kitchen aren’t you?”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“The look on your face, and how far along you are in the book. I just read that one.” You snap the book shut, keeping one finger in between the pages so you don’t lose your spot. “Aw, come on Bunny. Keep readin’ for me.”

“No more comments.” You tell him attempting to make it sound like a question while it’s really a request.

“Alright, but I’m watchin’ still.” You sigh heavily but don’t argue, you open the book again and start reading.

The scene is hot. There’s no arguing that, and annoyingly now you can’t get the vision of Steve as the male character out of your head.

He lets you read in peace for a half an hour before he says, “what should we do for dinner?”

“I was going to do leftovers.”

“Ah, what if I cook for you?” You bite your lower lip and look down into your lap,

“I have so many leftovers, I don’t want anything to go bad.” You close your eyes waiting for the anger.

“Good girl Bunny.” He practically purrs and butterflies dance in your stomach. “I love when you set boundaries with me. Do you mind if I just find something?”

“That’s fine.”

“Thanks. Hulk said he was going to get you set up with some other stuff for your diabetes. Has he done that yet?” He asks as he makes his way to the fridge.

“No, I think he ordered it.”

“Good, anything else you want to do?”

“Leave.”

“Bunny.” He warns lowly and you glare at your book.

“The brand.” You say after a few more minutes of silence.

“Hmm?” He hums from where he’s looking into the fridge,

“I’d like my brand removed.”

“Did you talk to Bruce about it?”

“Who?”

“Oh, right Hulk.”

“Um, no. I don’t even know if it’s possible.”

“We can ask him, I can’t imagine it’s going to be pleasant.”

“I think that’s why he does it. Brock’s a monster. He likes inflicting pain on other people then,” you take a deep shaky breath, “he blames you for your pain.” You whisper and you hear Steve moving quickly.

“I’ll be right back Bunny.” He says through clenched teeth. The door slams shut and after a few seconds you hear the sound of something shattering. When he comes back into the house, his body is tight like he’s angry. He stalks over to you but freezes when he sees how you curl in on yourself.

“I’m coming over there Bunny. I’m not mad at you, you need to know that okay?” You nod and he comes over and crouches in front of you on the floor. “I need to know the things he did to you. I need to know so I can punish him when I destroy Hydra and I need to know so I can help you heal.” He says softly, “I am furious with how you were treated. It’s unacceptable.”

“It’s hard to talk about.” You whisper as tears fill your eyes.

“Maybe I could bring in a therapist for you?”

“You’d do that?”

“Yea Bunny. You’re mine to protect and that means from everything, past trauma included.”

“But why?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why me?”

“I don’t know. When I figure it out I’ll let you know.”

Tag list:

@andahugaroundtheneck @connie326 @also-fangirlinsweden @lumar014 @loving-life-my-way @pagina16ps @emdying @dumblani @valsworldofcreativity @blackwidownat2814 @vicmc624 @abschaffer2 @patzammit @inkedaztec @sophham

[therealdisneyfan2319]

Mission Impossible Part 2 | Natasha Romanoff

Summary: Four months ago a mission went horribly wrong.  Natasha’s learning to live with the consequences.  Just when she thinks things can’t get any worse, they do.

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Male Reader

Warnings: Minors DNI, graphic description of injuries, blood, violence, medical procedures, mentions of death, mild suicidal ideation, language, cheating

Word Count: 5.6K

Masterlist

A/N: This is the long-awaited part 2 to Mission Impossible.  I’ve taken little bits and pieces from different comments on the first part to create this pile of angst.  You’ve been warned 🫠

Nearly four months had passed since the mission that ultimately destroyed Y/N and Natasha’s relationship.  After Y/N left their apartment he didn’t return.  He didn’t even go back to get his things.  Pietro had done that, muttering and cursing Natasha out under his breath as he shoved clothes and books into cardboard boxes while she watched everything that reminded her of her favorite person disappear right before her eyes.  Y/N stayed with Pietro for a couple of weeks while Tony pulled some strings to get him another place.  He ultimately ended up letting him stay in his New York penthouse, as Y/N had also requested a leave of absence.  He was in no shape to be going on missions, let alone spend  all of his working hours with the woman who tore his heart into a million pieces.  Natasha had also been placed on administrative leave by Fury while he tried to sort out what exactly had gone wrong that night.  She resigned herself to Yelena’s apartment most days, not wanting to spend time in the place that she once shared with Y/N.

 She awoke one morning to her phone ringing: it was Fury.  

“Hello?” she croaked into the phone.

“I need you to come to the office now.”

“I’m still on leave.”

“That’s an order, Romanoff,” he repeated sternly.  “You’ve got ten minutes.”  The phone clicked as Fury abruptly hung up.  

Groaning, Natasha sat up.  She’d spent the night crying herself to sleep like she did most nights.  She rubbed her bloodshot eyes, sighing as she contemplated skipping out on meeting with Fury and going back to bed.  Consequences didn’t bother her anymore.  Nothing bothered her anymore because nothing mattered to her anymore.  Most of the Avengers gave her the cold shoulder.  They didn’t go out of their way to explicitly exclude her, but they didn’t make any effort to include her either.  She was grateful to still have Yelena and Clint, but even they were upset with her.  Whether she meant it or not Natasha hurt Y/N and her mistake affected more than just him.

She threw on a pair of slippers and started for Fury’s office.  She was still in her pajamas, but she didn’t care.  When the elevator opened, she was surprised to see Steve standing there holding two cups of coffee.

“Morning,” he said, handing her a cup.

“Hi,” she mumbled as she tentatively accepted the drink.  Steve wasn’t one of the Avengers who was outwardly hostile towards Natasha.  While he in no way approved of the way she handled the situation, he understood that she needed a bit of compassion.  They never talked about what happened that night.  Steve never pushed and Natasha never offered, but many nights they sat in silence together in the common room.

“Looks like you’re back on the team then.”

“I guess,” Natasha shrugged.  “Maybe I’ll just quit.”

“Nat-”

“I’m serious, Steve.  I don’t know if I want to do this anymore.”  She stared straight ahead as she sipped her coffee.  Steve sighed, knowing it was futile to try and talk any sense into the assassin.  “What’s this about anyways?”

“No idea.  All Fury told me was that it’s important.”  The duo stepped off the elevator as the doors opened right in front of Fury’s office.

“Nice of you to dress up for the occasion,” Fury joked as Nat entered the office.  She looked down at her fuzzy Cookie Monster pajama pants and grey tank top somewhat abashedly.  “Have a seat.”  He motioned to the two chairs sitting across from his desk.  

“What’s this about?” Steve asked as he sat down.

Fury sighed, rubbing his goatee as he paced behind his desk.  “Four months ago Romanoff was tasked with retrieving intel that’s critical to SHIELD’s assault on the vibranium black market.  Her target was a man by the name of Oliver Parker.”  A picture of Parker appeared on the holographic screen behind the desk.  Natasha immediately lowered her gaze from the tall, dark, handsome man looming larger than life in front of her.  The mere thought of him churned her stomach.  

“Parker,” Fury continued, “is only one of many aliases the man assumes.  His real name?  Pyotr Larionovich.  Spent his formative years working for one General Dreykov as a recruiter essentially.”

“Dreykov?”  The name sent a chill down Natasha’s spine.

“He’s since moved on and now works as an independent contractor for all sorts of underground dealings…has contacts all over the world.  We didn’t learn this until well after the mission.  But the fact of the matter is that he knew exactly who Romanoff was.  He played us big time.  The microchip was a dead end.  Sent us on a wild goose chase.”

“I’m guessing you want us to find him and bring him in?” Steve asked as he walked around examining the various pictures and pieces of intel that appeared holographically.  

Fury’s face wove itself into a look of unease as he clicked the remote in hand.  “We need you to recover Y/N.  He’s been abducted.”  A picture of Natasha and Y/N flickered into view: it was the one Natasha kept in her wallet.  

“Where did you get that picture?” She’d never shared that picture with anyone.

“What happened to the black handbag you brought with you that night, Romanoff?”  She thought back to that night, trying to remember what she did with the handbag.  She definitely had it with her while she was down at the party, but what did she do with it afterwards?  She hadn’t left the hotel with it.  As she put the pieces together, she slowly realized her error: she left it on the bar.

“I left it on the bar,” she whispered.  She was so distracted, drunk, and wrapped up in the moment that she completely forgot about it.

“And we have video footage of him picking it up and putting it in his coat pocket.  We figure he went through it, found the picture, and figured out who he was.”

“Is this a hostage negotiation situation?” Steve asked.

“Negative.  He doesn’t know that we know about Y/N.  We’re sure he’ll be demanding a ransom shortly, but we’d like to avoid that.”

“Are we sure about the intel on this, Fury?”

“Unfortunately, yes.  He’s being held in a cargo storage unit just outside of Atlanta.  It’s an old Red Room extraction site.  They haven’t used it in a number of years, but everything is still there.”

Natasha barely heard a word either man said.  She was lost in the depths of her mind, spiraling as she realized the extent of her carelessness.  First she lost her relationship.  Now it could potentially cost Y/N his life.  Grief crashed over her like a wave, threatening to swallow her whole before spitting her back out.  

“Romanoff?” Fury’s gruff voice snapped her back to reality.  

“I can’t do this, Nick.  Send somebody else.”  She stood up to leave, not wanting any part of the mission.

“Absolutely not.  You started this, you’re going to see it through to the end.”  Natasha paused.  He had a point.  She sighed as she realized that he wasn’t going to give her another option.

“He won’t want to see me,” she muttered.

“That’s beside the point, Natasha.  You’re the only one who has extensive experience with the Red Room.  Just get it done.”  The screens flicked off as the lights came back on.  Steve looked over at Natasha, his hands in his pockets as he shrugged.  

“I’m ready when you are unless you plan on going in your pajamas,” he joked.  Natasha groaned, rolling her eyes as she stormed out of the office.

*******************************************************************************************

They sat in silence as Steve piloted the Quinjet.  Natasha stared out the window and watched the world fly by.  Steve looked over at her.  He gave a slight cough, indicating that he wanted to speak.  

“What?” she snapped.

“Nothing.  Just wanted to ask how you’re doing?”

“I’m fine,” she sniffled, rubbing her nose as she turned to look back out the window.

“Nat-”

“I’m FINE, Steve.  Drop it.”

“Okay.”  He adjusted his shoulders as he sat back in his chair.  An awkward tension hung in the air as the silence filled the cockpit.

“I messed a lot of things up that night, didn’t I?” she whispered as she put her feet on the chair and hugged her knees to her chest.

Steve didn’t answer immediately.  He thought for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly to say.  “Yeah, yeah you did,” he finally admitted.  “What were you thinking?  I can’t understand how you came to the solution that-”

“I don’t know.  I don’t know, Steve, I don’t know.  I was drunk and I know that’s not an excuse but I got wrapped up in his charm, okay?”  Her voice cracked as she spoke as all the emotions from that night bubbled up inside of her.  “It was dumb and if I could take it all back I would.”

Steve sighed as he looked over at her.  “He’s a mess, you know.  I went over to visit him right after he moved in and…you really hurt him.  He wanted to quit, you know?  I managed to talk him into sticking with the leave of absence instead.  That was after I convinced him to take a shower for the first time in almost a week and actually eat something other than pizza.” Natasha hung her head in shame.  She’d been beating herself up over cheating on Y/N for months now.  There was no doubt in her mind that he was suffering, but hearing just how distraught he was broke her heart.  

“I miss him so much,” she began to sob as she pictured a depressed Y/N, a shell of the vibrant, loveable man he once was.  “He told me not to do anything dumb before I left.  I know how he gets when I go out on missions alone and I thought it was just another stupid thing he said to make himself feel better.  I told him he worries too much and that nothing would happen.  And then I went and fucked it up.”

“You made a mistake, Nat.  Everyone makes mistakes.”

“Yeah, but not everyone cheats on their boyfriend.”

“Look,” Steve sighed.  “I won’t sit here and tell you I’m not mad at you because I am.  In my book what you did is inexcusable.  Not only did you put the entire mission at risk, you hurt one of my teammates.  The team is broken, Nat.  That’s on you.  I don’t know how I can trust you again.  I’d like to, but I can’t right now.”

“I know.  I’m sorry.  I know that doesn’t cut it, but I am.  I just want to tell him that.”  She wiped her eyes with her sleeve.  “Let’s get this over with, okay?”

“ETA is about 70 minutes,” he noted as he looked over at one of the screens off to the side.  “Fury should be sending the last of the intel soon if you want to give that a look.”  Nat sniffled as she nodded, pulling up the last-minute SHIELD intel on the small screen in front of her.

*******************************************************************************************

“Y/N?!” Natasha yelled as she cleared the door of the storage unit.  “Are you in here?”  Her voice echoed around the empty unit, bouncing off the walls as she struggled to see in the pitch black.  “Damn it,” she muttered under her breath as she slammed the door shut.  

The Red Room base was a complex of old warehouses full of storage units.  Overwhelmed by the sheer number of units to check, Steve and Natasha quickly agreed to split up.  She carefully checked and cleared every unit.  Every rusted door filled her with dread and apprehension.   Gruesome images of a mangled body flashed through her mind and for the first time in years she prayed to whatever higher being would answer first that Y/N would be alive and in one piece.  

“Southwest sector is clear, Nat.  He’s not here.  Anything yet?” Steve’s voice crackled over her earpiece.

“No.  I’ve still got a few units left up here,” Nat murmured into the microphone.

“I’ll head to the southeast sector.  He’s gotta be here.  All the signs point to it.”

“I know,” she sighed.  She shivered against the cold dampness of the warehouse.  The bleakness of it all chilled her to the bone, physically and emotionally.  Her hope of finding Y/N alive was quickly dwindling and the thought of finding him dead made her want to curl up into a ball and scream.  Of course she knew this was all her fault.  If she hadn’t let her guard down on that damn mission none of this would be happening, but there was no changing the past.  The best she could do would be to find him and bring him home safely.  

“Y/N?!” Natasha shouted as she kicked the next door in.  Her eyes scanned the room robotically, not anticipating to find anything worth noting.  As she turned to let the door slam shut once again, her ears perked up at a soft scraping sound.  It was barely audible, but the fact she hadn’t heard any sort of noise in any of the other units gave her reason to pause.  Reaching for the flashlight on her belt, she heard the noise again.  She shined the bright beam directly in front of her and nearly dropped it as she saw her worst nightmare in front of her.

“OH GOD NO!” she screamed, tossing the flashlight to the side as she sprinted toward the back of the metal box.  She nearly slipped in the pools of blood that surrounded the chair Y/N was tied to.  He was blindfolded with a bloody rag, slumped over as thick ropes cut into his wrists and ankles.  Blood, both dried and fresh, coated the exposed parts of his face and matted his hair to his forehead.  His hands were bruised and broken while deep lacerations drew whimsical patterns up and down his arms.  

“Nat, we’ve got movement in the northwest sector not too far from where you are.”  Steve’s voice interrupted the screams that pierced the darkness of the rusted unit.  “Natasha?  Natasha, are you there?”

“HELP ME!” she wailed into the microphone.  The anguish in her voice cut into the deepest parts of Steve’s soul as she cried out like a wounded animal.

“I’m on my way.”

Tears clouded Natasha’s vision as she carefully untied the blindfold knotted at the back of his head.  As it slipped down, part of her wished she’d kept it on.  His beautiful face was bruised and bloodied.  His eyes were blackened and swollen shut and his nose was more crooked than she remembered.  Blood streamed down his nose and lips, staining his face a dark crimson.

“Oh baby, I’m so sorry,  This is all my fault.  It’s all my fault,” she cried as she held his face in her hands, stroking his cheek with her thumb as she smeared more blood around his face.  “I’m so, so sorry.”  She leaned forward and rested her forehead on his, tears silently streaming down her face as she held him close.  She missed the way his body felt under her touch, the way he used to smile into her lips as he kissed her, the way his hands rested perfectly on her waist whenever he pulled her close.  Closing her eyes, she tried to remember the way it felt when he hugged her for the last time and she smiled at the thought of their last happy memory together.

A sharp, groaning intake of breath snapped her back to reality.  Y/N coughed and painted Natasha’s face with specks of blood.  He was awake.  He was alive.

“Nat?”  His voice was garbled and his mouth full of blood.  His swollen eyes barely fluttered open as he attempted to make out the redhead kneeling in front of him.  

“It’s me, baby.  I’m right here.  Steve’s on his way and we’ll get you out of here and back home in no time.”  She ran her fingers through his bloodied hair as his eyes struggled to focus.

“Hi,” he grinned weakly.  Blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth.

“Don’t try to talk, okay?  Just rest.  You’re safe now.”  She wiped up the small trail with her thumb. 

“ ‘M sorry,” he mumbled as tears began to roll down his bloody face.

Without any hesitation Natasha pressed her lips firmly against Y/N’s.  The salty, metallic taste of his lips against hers brought her back to a time where none of this nightmare was real.  For a fleeting second everything was as it was supposed to be.  

“Don’t you dare apologize, mister.  This is all my fault.  I messed everything up and I’m so, so sorry I hurt you.  Okay, Y/N?  I’m sorry.  I wish I could take it all back and I know I can’t so I’m going to spend the rest of my life making it up to you.  I promise.”  She kissed the top of his head as Steve kicked the door open.  

*******************************************************************************************

Natasha was grateful she had a super soldier with her as Steve picked Y/N up effortlessly and sprinted toward the Quinjet at a superhuman speed.  She followed close behind, making sure that the Red Room agents that were lurking in the area weren’t following them.  

“STEVE!  Let’s go!” she shouted as she sprinted up the ramp.

“Already ahead of you-F.R.I.D.A.Y.!  Take us home!”  The ramp closed and the ship began to hover as Steve placed Y/N on the medical fabricator Stark engineered specifically for the Quinjet.  “How’s he doing, F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

“Mr. L/N has received multiple critical injuries to his head and torso.  Current body temperature is 100.4, heart rate is 50 BPM, blood pressure is 77/50.”

“Can you keep him stable until we get back to the Compound?  And call Dr. Cho.  We’ll need her to be ready the second we land.”

“Anything else, Captain?”

“Don’t let him die,” Steve gritted through his teeth as he took over the manual controls.

Natasha stood by the wayside as robotic arms started IVs, suctioned blood, injected various antibiotics, and monitored Y/N’s vitals.  An oxygen mask was placed over his face as an incubator cover encapsulated him from the outside world.  She watched while a sedative was injected directly into his IV.  The effect was instant: he fell into a state of unconsciousness that permitted him a moment’s respite from the excruciating pain of his injuries.  He struggled to breathe even with the oxygen mask.

“His lung collapsed as a result of his broken ribs, Agent Romanoff,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. informed her.  

“What’s the odds of survival here, F.R.I.D.A.Y?” she asked, crossing her arms as she walked to the fabricator.

“In his current condition, Mr. L/N has a 37% chance of survival.”

“Shit,” Natasha cursed.  Y/N looked completely helpless as he laid there with tubes and wires sticking out of him.  A lump grew in her throat at the thought of him not not being alive by the time they got back to the Compound.  She wiped her eye with the back of her hand, struggling to not completely break down.  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so scared.  More than that she was overcome with guilt.  This was all her fault.  If he died, his blood was on her hands.  She’d been responsible for countless deaths in her lifetime, but his death would be different.  He wasn’t supposed to die.  Not like this, not because of her.  

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

“Yes, Agent Romanoff?”

“C-can I hold his hand?”

“Seeing as he has 24 broken bones in his left hand, I would advise against that.  I would recommend perhaps his forearm or his elbow.”

Natasha exhaled a laugh as the AI suggested she hold his elbow.  Carefully reaching out, she placed her hand on his arm just above his wrist.  His entire arm was bandaged from the wrist to the shoulder.  Her sweaty palms stuck to the neat white bandage.

“You can’t leave yet.  Not when I still need you,” she whispered over his unconscious body.  “I’ll make this right, Y/N.  I will be here every step of the way and I’ll do anything and everything to fix us.  I miss you so much.  I know I messed up.  That night went wrong in so many ways and I think about how badly I hurt you every single day.  I know it’s not enough to say sorry, but it’s all I have.  I’m sorry.  I’m so, so sorry.  I’m such an idiot for throwing it away.  But I’m going to fix this.  Because I still love you.”

*******************************************************************************************

No sooner had the Quinjet landed that an entire medical team was waiting for Y/N on the landing dock.

“Cho’s on her way, but it’s going to be a while.  We’ll keep him stable in the meantime.  F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s been sending us real-time updates on his condition,” Sam yelled as he helped a team of medical officers run him into the Compound.  

Natasha’s jog slowed to a stop as the glass doors slammed shut in front of her.  Her chest heaved as she watched the team hang an abrupt right to lead Y/N toward the medical bay.  With Cho on the way and the Compound’s medical team watching over him, she knew Y/N was in good hands.  They were his best shot at survival.

Steve called out to her from the Quinjet.  She strained to hear through the whirring of the engine shutting down.  As she turned to ask him to repeat himself, she felt herself being lifted into the air and tossed like a rag doll.  She crumpled to the ground, rolling back toward Steve.  Instinctively he raised his shield against the unknown assailant, only lowering it when he saw the grief-stricken brunette witch hurtling toward Natasha.

“Wanda,” he warned.

“Don’t stop me, Steve,” Wanda threatened.  Red orbs of magic hovered between her hands as she conjured another spell.

“Wanda-“

“SHE KILLED HIM, I’LL KILL HER!” she screamed as tears streamed down her face.  “I CAN’T LOSE HIM, TOO.”

“Do it.”  Natasha’s voice was small yet firm as she pushed herself to her knees.  “Please.”

“What?” Steve dropped his shield in disbelief while Wanda continued to sob.

“It’s my fault he’s dead.  I deserve it.  Please.”  She choked back a sob as she thought about Y/N’s final moments, how he died a shell of the wonderful man she fell in love with so long ago and how he’d never light up her life again.

Before Wanda could respond, utterly dumbfounded herself, one of Clint’s stun arrows whistled by, landing on her forehead before she shook violently and collapsed.

“Both of you need to relax right damn now,” Clint grumbled as he passed Wanda.  “Relax, he’s not dead.  They’ve stabilized him enough so that Cho can put him in the regeneration cradle when she gets here.  Wanda misheard something and got a little upset.”

“That’s an understatement,” Steve replied as he picked up his shield.

“And you.  Nat, come on.  Come on.  This is ridiculous.  Get up.  Up, up, up, let’s go.”  He extended his hands to her, which she reluctantly accepted.  “Can you grab her?” he yelled at Steve.

“Why-?”

“Did Wanda get so upset?”  He sighed, shaking his head as he pulled her to her feet.  “They’re dating, Nat.”

Natasha didn’t realize that her heart was capable of breaking any more , but Clint’s words shattered it into a million more pieces.  While she spent the last few months wallowing in self-pity and loathing, he moved on.  Her head spun with a million different thoughts and questions as she started to process what she’d just been told.  She looked up at the clear night sky, not wanting Clint to watch as tears started to stream down her face.  The stars offered little comfort to her overwhelming grief. 

“Nat-” Clint placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.  She pulled away at his touch.

“Don’t,” Natasha begged.  “Please don’t.  I can’t deal with this right now.”  She wiped the snot from her nose with her sleeve as she stormed off, surpassing Steve as he carried an unconscious Wanda toward the Compound, for Yelena’s apartment.

*******************************************************************************************

“He wants to talk to you.”

Natasha groaned as she rolled over under the covers, pulling the comforter over her head.  The early afternoon glow of the sun peeked through the blinds and landed on her face.  After spending most of the night crying, she had no interest in being up so early.  Clint and Yelena spent the rest of the night waiting up in the med bay for any updates on Y/N’s condition.  Sam and the team were able to keep him stable until Dr. Cho arrived in the wee hours of the morning and got him in her regeneration cradle.  Once he was in there, everything seemed to turn around for him.  He was in rough shape and recovery would be tough, but it looked like he was going to pull through.

“I don’t care.  I don’t want to see him.”  Her eyes screwed shut as she willed herself to go back to sleep.  A sudden rush of light and cool air pulled her from the feigned sense of relaxation.

“You’re going.  I don’t care if I have to drag you.  He wants to see you!” Yelena ordered as she pulled the covers off her sister.

“What am I going to say to him, Yelena?  Sorry I messed up our relationship and nearly got you killed and then asked your new girlfriend to kill me?”

Yelena shrugged.  “I don’t know, just see what he says.”

“Fine.”  She rolled out of bed, throwing her slippers on as she headed down to the med bay.  The long walk felt even longer as her heart pounded in her chest.  The butterflies she once felt at the thought of him turned to knots that suffocated every inch of her body while the sterile smell of the hospital wing loomed closer with every step.

When Natasha came to his room, she paused as she looked through the window.  Y/N was wrapped in bandages from head to toe, casts on both arms and tubes hanging out from every inch of exposed skin.  Wanda sat in the lone chair next to his bed, her hand holding his plaster-wrapped one through the rails of the bed.  She gazed lovingly over him as he reclined on the mountain of pillows behind him.  Her fingers trailed through the tufts of hair that poked through the weaves of his head bandages.  Natasha could almost feel the way his hair used to slide through her fingers as she watched Wanda soothe him.  She almost felt embarrassed at the way she invaded such an intimate moment between the two.  Taking a deep breath as she grabbed the door handle, she gave a soft knock as she opened it.  Wanda’s neck snapped toward the door as it creaked open.

“Get out,” she growled, her eyes glowing bright red as she lifted her hand threateningly.  Natasha froze as little red bursts of magic danced around her fingers.

“Hey,” Y/N croaked as he struggled to lift his arm.  “It’s okay.  Let us talk.”

“Are you sure, baby?”  He nodded weakly.  “Fine,” she huffed, leaning down to plant a chaste kiss on his swollen lips.  “Try anything and you’ll regret it,” Wanda whispered as she walked past Natasha, who gulped rather loudly.  

Once Wanda left, Natasha cautiously walked over to Y/N’s bed.  At first glance, he didn’t look as bad as he did the night before, but he still looked awful.  The swelling around his eyes had gone down, but they were still black and blue.  His nose had been reset and his lip had been stitched up.  Blood and iodine stained the exposed parts of his face and arms.  Small spots of blood were starting to soak through his arm bandages even though Cho had focused a considerable amount of energy repairing the flayed skin.  

“Hi.”  His voice was hoarse from the breathing tube that was recently removed.

“Hi,” Natasha whispered in a weak voice as she sat down in the stiff chair.  “How are you feeling?”

“Shitty.  The meds make it a little better.”  He winced as he laughed at his own joke.  “You ever broken a rib before?”

“Yeah,” she nodded.  “Hurts like hell, doesn’t it?”

“I’ll never take breathing for granted again.”  Natasha smiled weakly.  It was just like Y/N to crack a joke in the midst of a horrible situation.  “Listen-”

“How long?”

“What?”

“You and Wanda.  How long?”

Y/N sighed.  “About three months.”

“That’s a little fast.”

“I know, but it just sort of happened.  She came with Pietro to help me move and that…that was that.”

“She’s too emotional.”

“She listens to me, Nat.  I can talk to her about anything.  She tells me when things are bothering her.  We don’t have anything that we keep from each other.”

“It’s been three months, Y/N-”

“And in those three months we’ve had more important conversations than you and I ever had in three years.”  His Y/E/C eyes stared deep into hers as innumerable indescribable feelings bubbled up inside Natasha.  “She never brushes aside my anxiety.  She helps me cope with it, Natasha.  I never realized that a partner could do that before I met her.”

Natasha stared down at her slippers.  So many moments from their relationship came flooding back into her mind.  Moments where she brushed him off.  Moments where she kept her true feelings to herself because she didn’t know how to bring them up.  Moments where she simply went through the motions for the sake of the stability of their relationship.  She loved him, but love wasn’t enough.

“The night of the mission…I don’t know what happened.  I never meant for it to go so wrong.  I got drunk, he was handsome, and I messed up.”  She continued to look at her shoes as she recounted the events of that night, too embarrassed to look him in the eye.  “The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you.  I’m sorry.  I wish I could take it all back.  And I’m sorry about this.  I should be the one in that bed right now, not you.  If anything I should’ve died.  I don’t deserve to be here after all of this.”

“Don’t say that.  Don’t ever say that again.  Natasha, look at me.”  She looked up as he strained to look at her.  “You hurt me and I can never forgive you for that.  I don’t think you can ever understand just how much you broke me that night.  That doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to live.  You deserve love and happiness and a good life.  It just won’t be with me.”  He lifted his arm slightly, carefully reaching out to her.  She gingerly wrapped her hand around his.

“I still love you,” she choked out through the lump that was forming in her throat.  “I was so scared you were dead and that I’d never be able to tell you that again.”

“A part of me will always love you, Natty, but I’ve moved on.”  

“Shit,” she whispered as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes.  “I hate this.”

“Me too,” he nodded.  “But we’ll be okay, okay?  I’ve got Wanda, you’ll find someone, we’ll move on.”

Natasha nodded tearfully, unable to get any words out.  Her heart was breaking again and again.  Y/N moved on.  There was no chance that the two of them would ever get back together.  All of the hopes and dreams she’d been sitting on since he walked out were officially gone forever.  Now all that was left for her to do was to pick up the broken pieces and try to start over.  

“Go back to work, okay?  It’ll help.  And be civil with Wanda.  I don’t need you two threatening to kill each other all the time.”

“What about you?”

“Well, once I get healed up I’d like to come back.  I miss the team.”

“Do you really think we can work together again?”

“I don’t know,” Y/N shrugged.  “The only thing I do know is that you should probably get out of here before Wanda gets back.  She’s still a little heated about the whole thing.  I’ll work on her, don’t worry.”

“Thanks,” she chuckled.

As Natasha left Y/N’s room, she felt an overwhelming sense of sadness and guilt.  One mistake cost her the love of her life.  There was no way she could possibly forgive herself for that.  Yet in the darkest depths of her soul, she felt something reaching for a glimmer of hope.  Maybe Y/N was right.  Maybe she would find someone else and move on.  But she knew herself all too well.  There was no coming back from that fateful night.  The best she could do would be to soldier on, getting through every day the best she could while pretending that she wasn’t completely broken on the inside. 

[19thsentry-blog]

Contact: The Run and Go

MLB Fanfic | Feluka Endgame | Rated M | Ongoing: AO3 Link

Viperion's feet slipped–barely, but perceptibly. The world viciously shook beneath them, like the underground StarTrain he sometimes rode from Britain to France was plowing away at full speed beneath their feet. Already desecrated skyscrapers and cathedrals sunk several more meters into the ground, Feast's innards hungrily pulling more of the ruin toward its center. 

"I think things are just...settling," Viperion said, eyes darting warily around the landscape. 

The cataclysmic downpour and flash flood slowed to a light summer's drizzle as the tail end of the storm dragged over them. Félix felt Viperion hold his breath while they both tracked the retreating clouds until, eventually, the earthquake settled to a far-off rumble, and the rain finally soothed to a stop. 

Viperion breathed out, his head thunking against the billboard for emphasis. "We should be okay now."

A fine thing to say from someone who hadn't been hit by lightning. 

[songbird-oracle]

Live thoughts watching Fantasy High Junior Year episode 5

Spoilers ahead

Im so nervous already about Cassandra

These dudes getting swole

It IS spicy tonight in the dome

Screaming

I WANT A BOGGY KISS

OH FUCK SHES HOLD MONSTERING KRISTEN

THE SECURITY COMING THROUGH OH SHIT

“Do you want me to kill that guy for you 👀” vibes

OH NO PLEASE NO NIGHTMARE KING OH NO OH NO

I’m Shittering my pants rn

No not the girlies!

Located in the astral mall, This place has *everything*. Ripped valley girls, a goddess and prophet and familiar going through a very tumultuous time in their relationship, a frog wearing a paper hat, and a weird ass clock

I live for the hangman banter

Oml I love the Yarrbucks coffee art

LOU HOLY SHIT

BOX OF DOOM DC5!? The stakes are seriously so high though

Okaaaaaaaay 13 works ig

“Does she need scratchies?”

Wooo Murph!!

THE STAR TALKS!?

I love Emily’s reaction to “banging out a 1st level spell”

Riz sadly flossing

Oh no Kristen oh no Cassandra!

No stop attacking Cassandra!!!!

🎶non-a-crits🎶

Thank goodness no failures

Break it up guys come ooooooooon

Damn, man needs strudel with sauce at a time like this

Profiling the minis 🤣

NOT THE TAP DANCING

“I don’t think you’re scared, I think you’re mad. And that’s okay” I’m sobbing

YES THE FUCKING SECURITY DETAIL

Kristen is so low, oh no

A 0 initiative 🥲

FUCK THIS IS WHAT RAGHS MOM ABSORBED!?!? Gorgug is the greatest wizard of our time

Abjurative grammar is prescriptive. Iykyk.

I knew the DC would be high

NAT 20 BEARDSLEY IN THE FUCKING HOUUUUUUUSE

YESSSSS HEALED CASSANDRA 😭

Oh fuck oh fuck bad stars

Let it out Cassandra, feel your feelings

Oh my goodness, philosophers scone

OOP PAUL BLART INTERGALACTIC MALL COP

It’s not the nightmare king??????

41 damage each, damn Adaine

We aren’t even half way through guys

BAHAHAHAHAHHA playful picking on Riz

Mass dispelling?? Damn

????? TUMMY ACHE SURVIVOR????

THE SHRIMP!!!!!!

Why is Fig a walking embodiment of Murphy’s law rn???

WHAT THE FUCK

NO NO NO DID GILEAR STEAL HER LUCK??????

IS THIS QUADRANGLE FUCKERY??????

Okay it’s just a curse

WAIT WHAT???

Cloaca why 😂

Whoopsies, shattered the shatter star

Oh fuck, rage Adaine is scary dude

Is this some rage and revenge deity??

Anyone but Conor

BAHAHAHAHAHA “no no, this is gonna happen”

“Stay hot Conor”

NOT KALINA NO

RAGH??????

Not the shimmy

WHAT IS KALINAS AC

44 DAMAGE??

Old Fabian

Legend has it the wizard is still waiting for his strudel with sauce

WHAT THE FUCK NO NOT CASSANDRA NO NO NO

“Unfortunately stop flossing”

COMPELLED DUEL ON KALINA OH FUCK

3!!!!! Woooooo!!!!!

Worst mall cop ever, Paul Blart would never

🤣 “is that not property damage??”

I’m so scared for Cassandra guys

Kristen and Cassandra are down oh no 🥲

BARDIC SHRIMPSPIRATION

NO NAT ONE NO NOOOOOOOO

Somewhere Katja Cleaver is raging because Conor Counterspell said he hates horses

A ball. Not *the* ball

ARMOR ZOMBIE AND LICH IM LIVING FIR THESE NAMES

Bards and Noble 🤣

Kristen coming in with the hugs

Box of doom has been working hard this episode

Shake out the bad ones

Screaming crying throwing up

I can’t look

Dammit Murph

Ecaf again

“What are you talking about girlieeeee?”

Brendan’s stare scares me

FUCK

Strudel for the win Girlie!!!

“One more roll girlie 🤪”

Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no circle of death oh no

COUNTERSPELL MY BELOVED

“How old are you” “45” “gross”

WAIT WHAT TIME REVERSE TO- TEN SECONDS

Conor, you’re the best secret service agent ever

WHAT????? WHERES CASSANDRA??????

WHAT????????

I’m so fucking scared right now

Wait is Cassandra a triple goddess? Like how Hekate is a triple goddess, is Cassandra one? Cause Cassandra, Nightmare king, and a divine thing that isn’t a different divinity?

I want to enjoy “we got that bad boy buttered” but I can’t 🥲

Dead stare 🥲

I love Hangman 🥹

Feral Murph

NAT 20 SHRIMP JUMP

Thousand yard stare

Best shrimp jump ever

Maximum legend

That’s right, kick flip the system

Fuck KandyKorn Lullaby

See you at Basrars, I’ll be sobbing into my ice cream

[sodaa-enby]

no i dont know anyone that plays dnd sadly :( what do you mean by character sheet? /genq

ok this is goingt o be a long read. jusr a warning . im about to explain dnd fully to you.

VERY LONG POST YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

!!!!!NEW DND PLAYERS OR PEOPLE WANTING TO PLAY SHOULD READ THIS!!!!!! ITS USEFUL I PROMISE AND PROBABLY EASIER TO READ THAN THE OFICCIAL BOOKS. IT ALSO HAS AN EXAMPLE

the basic things needed for dnd are a DM, some dice and a player. the dm is like the storyteller- they act all of the npcs and run and prepare your story. you would be the player and you only have one character to take care of which you rp and play as.

the dice are used to randomly determine things like attacks, damage, and how well you can do stuff. dice are named with "d"and the number of sides they have- so d10 would be a 10 sided dice, d4 is a 4 sided dice etc. a standard set has dice with 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 20, and 10 sides. the most commonly used dice is a d20 or a 20 sided dice.

so when ur playing dnd the thing u make first is a character sheet. this contains information about the characters general appearance and their skills and abilities. most of them look like this (its quite complex but hopefully i can explain it)

im going to use this character as an example cause im sure this post will be useful for other people as well :)

so this is the character nat

and here is a blank character sheet (linked is a fillable pdf)

and here is the sheet that has boxes which ill be using to explain

when you make a dnd character you have to pick a class and a race.

your race is basically What you are so it could be something like human elf dawrf gnome etc. from what ive seen of ur character she would probably be an elf or an aasimar (people with holy/divine blood which explains the wings and halo). your race gives you certain things like a speed, special moves/abilities (like flying) and specific things you can do. throwing your halo or using your feathers as daggers would be considered a race ability because it comes from your genetic makeup and body and has nothing to do with things youve learned.

the next thing you choose is a class. a class determines more of what you can do that isnt based on how youre born (well. sometimes it is). some examples of classes are fighters(they. fight), wizards (who get their magic from study) and druids (they use the magic of plants and the earth). the character nat is absolutely a druid because these guys' main thing is plant magic, creature summoning and healing which sounds like her from the description. as you progress in the game, you gain levels in your class and become more powerful.

you write your class and race in the yellow box

the rest of the yellow box:

background

backgrounds are short descriptors of what your character has already lived through. they can give you minor bonuses that are different for each one but they are very situational

alignment

alignments are a measure of your characters morality or lack thereof. tthey are often not used by DMS and im pretty sure the rules are being changed in the next edition so i wont go into too much detail but heres a link to a website that explains them

experience points

every time your character kills a monster or completes a goal they gain a set number of exp. at certain amounts of exp the character gains a level which means more abilities and spells etc. the levels in dnd can range from 1-20, and most players start at level 1.

all of the classes + their main abilities (and linked info) are:

barbarian (uses their emotions and rage for powerful attacks), bard (casts spells through performance, usually singing. also inspires others), cleric (gets their magic through worshipping a god), druid (gets their magic from nature), fighter (they fight), monks (devoted to life in a monestary. they are incredibly fast and hard hitters, and mostly martial artists), paladins (they get their power from an oath to a cause), rangers (hunters, sometimes use nature magic too), rogues (bounty hunters and criminals who use stealth to get their way), sorcerers (people born with magic in their blood), warlocks (people who make a pact with an entity for power), and wizards, people who have spent their days studying and mastering spells.

so. the things in the red box are called ability scores.

they are a number from 1-20 that demonstrates how well you can do certain things. 10 is an average score, 1 is incredibly low, and 20 is very high. each number from 1-20 is given a modifier. for example, 10=+0, 20=+5, and 1=-5.

heres the full table:

1= -5

2-3=-4

4-5=-3

6-7=-2

8-9=-1

10-11=+0

12-13=+1

14-15=+2

16-17=+3

18-19=+4

20= +5

the different scores are:

strength (how strong you are) strength rolls are usually made to lift things or complete athletic feats. a character with high strength would be. well. strong

dexterity (how agile and stealthy you are) dex rolls are used when youre sneaking somewhere trying something acrobatic or stealing stuff. a character with high dexterity would be fast, not clumsy, and have very good reflexes

constitution (basically how strong your immune system is) you might roll for constitution if you walk through a hot desert or drink lots of alcohol. a person with high constitution would have lots of stamina and be able to endure quite extreme climates. they also wouldn't get drunk easily.

charisma (social skills and character) cha rolls are made to persuade, influence or rally people. a character with high intelligence probably has a large social circle and may friends.

intelligence (general knowledge and logic skills) int rolls are made to decipher codes, recall patterns and understand other languages. a character with high intelligence might have an extensive vocabulary and good memory, and theyd probably know many languages.

wisdom (perception, gut feeling and alertness). a character with high wisdom would notice small details, have good instincts and be able to provide good insights.

so if you had a character with a charisma score of 15 the modifier tied to it would be +3. these are important cause you will regularly have to roll for things, and the bonuses are what you add to these rolls. for example- you try to do something with your character that is charisma based (persuading someone to let you into a hotel etc etc) and you roll a d20 (20 sided dice) and add the number tied to your charisma score, which in this case is plus 3.

the next things (in the green box) are called skills.

theyre basically more refined versions of abilities, and you can pick 3 of them that you get an extra bonus with. usually your dm (the person who runs the game) will tell you to roll with skills instead of ability scores. so if you want to do the same thing as before (persuading someone to let you in to a place) youd roll persuasion instead of just charisma. if you dont have the skill of persuasion you just add your normal modifier but if you do you get an extra +2 as well as the normal one.

the purple box has some important small things

first up is your HP which is basically just a measure of your health. if this is decreased to 0 you drop unconscious. when you create a character you roll dice to create your characters HP

the next thing is your speed (pretty self explanatory this shows how fast your character is). speed is a measure of how far you can move in one turn or 6 seconds and its mainly used for combat.

the last thing in this box is your armour class. this is a score that shows basically how hard you are to hit. if someone wants to attack you they have to roll higher than this number on the d20 otherwise it misses. this number can be increased by wearing armour, but the base number is 10 plus your dexterity modifier

next up: light blue box

this box contains space for you to flesh out your character. personality traits are, well- personality traits, and ideals are things your character might strive for or want to achieve (for example a character with the ideal of freedom might advocate for oppressed people and try to help someone running from the law because they think everyone deserves to be free.). Bonds are things, concepts or people that your character has an attachment to in some way. bonds are usually very relevant to the characters backstory- for example the bond of a character whose town was destroyed might be something about how they want to avenge the raiders and find any survivors. flaws are also pretty self explanatory, but they are sometimes hard to play. A flaw should be something that influences the characters choices but also lets them develop.

more will be explained in another post about spells and combat but this is the basics for now :)

[buckets-and-trees]

Hot Bucky Summer 2023 Masterlist

hosted by @buckybarnesevents

I can't believe those thirteen weeks are gone! This was my first longer event, and although a new job/life things interfered with finishing all thirteen weeks before the deadline, I completed TEN (and am close to finishing the other three, so I will get those out soon).

I want to thank the BBE mods for their support throughout the summer and for HOSTING SUCH A FUN EVENT! It was low stress, no pressure, and having so many different prompts got my muse to be very creative. I ended up writing some things totally new and out of my norm, and that produced some of my (and YOUR) favorite new stories!

1 June 1st - June 7th | “What should I wear?” / Lingerie Sacrificial Minotaur!Bucky x Reader, smut/monster fucking

2 June 8th - June 14th | “What should I call you?” / Sir] Talk Pleasure Dom!Bucky x Reader, BDSM AU, smut

3 June 15th - 21st | “Where do you want me?” / Kneeling, In My Lap Perfectionists Bucky x Reader, Gamer AU, smut

4 June 22nd - June 28th | FREE WEEK | Optional prompts: “C” Cock Warming Test Play Bucky x Reader, Gamer AU, smut

5 June 29th - July 5th | “When I first met you…” / Fireworks, Electricity Buck's Eleven Bucky, Steve, referenced Bucky x Reader, referenced smutty activities

6 July 6th - July 12th | “How do you want me?” / Spread Open Devour, pt. 2: FAT Mob Boss!Bucky x Reader, smut

7 July 13th - July 19th | “Who’s this?” / My Pet He Bought a Studio Bucky x Nat, AU where Steve stays and Nat's alive post-Endgame, smut and fluff

8 July 20th - July 26th | “How did you meet?” / Undercover Mission, High Stakes Op The Pool Party Op Bucky x Reader, post-TFATWS, smut

9 July 27th - August 2nd | FREE WEEK | Optional Prompts: “S” - Sex Pollen Desperate Bucky x Reader, smut, angst

10 August 3rd - August 9th | “Long day at work?” Devour, pt. 3: ACID

11 August 10th - August 16th | “Give me a colour.” | [Red | Yellow | Green] soon to be finished Devour, pt. 4: HEAT

12 August 17th - August 23rd | “Who’s my ____?” | [Good Boy/Girl | Perfect Fuckhole | Little Slut] soon to be finished Bucky x Reader

13 August 24th - August 30th | FREE WEEK | [Optional Prompts: “B” - Belly Bulge, Bossy Saturday Night Movie Marathon Bucky x Reader, smut and fluff

Masterlist | Aspen's Ask Box | Field Guide to the Forest

HBS Official EVENT PAGE

BBE's Discord

[halevren]

FHJY Spoilers || my live thoughts as I watch the premiere

NIGHT YORBBBBBB!!!!

A NEW BATTLE MAP ALREADY?!??!?!?!!!??

Fig bard / warlock multi class is so real. Also 20 charisma. Same girl who kissed Ayda and skate boarded away

THE HANG VAN MINI IS THE SAME AS THE VAN IN THE TEENAGE REBELLION I'M CRYING

The character card background is so cute I love it. What if I made a meet the Tumblr user using the same background

Gorgug and his little gadgets and things 😭😭😭😭

BOGGY MINIIIIII I'M CRYING SO HARD

I WOULD DIE FOR MOGGY THE DOGGY

SO MANY MINIS!!!!!!!

FABIAN FIGHTER / BARD REAL!!!!!!!!

SEATED MINIS??!?!?

First roll is fucking whether or not Fabian's reflection on the mirror when he's flirting with Ecaf

Kristen not multi classing and still being jacked is so real. I need more buff clerics

THERE'S A QUESTION MARK ON THE BACK OF KRISTEN'S TRACK SUIT?!???!?!??!!??

Ring guy Riz, I love him

SUN GUN 🔥🔥🔥

yorbies 😭

Riz trying to justify his jewelry is so me. When I started wearing jewelry all of the sudden I felt like I had to explain it (now idk)

Inspector Gadget Riz this is going to be a great season

From falling over to tables to standing on a moving vehicle. We have improved

Riz having to sit through Fabian flirting with Ecaf has to be his own personal hell

A NAT ONE ALREADY?!!??!??!???? LOU WILSON....

FABIAN GETTING HIT BY THE HANG VAN 😭😭😭

THIS IS STILL THE FIRST ROLL INITIATIVE 😭😭😭😭

MORE MINIS?!?!????

Teen Wolf mention. Teen Wolf is canon in Fantasy High

ALLY BEARDSLEY NAT 20 BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EMILY AXFORD NAT 20!!!!!

MONSTER VAPE

NEW SEASON NEW MURPH!!! A BEAUTIFUL ROLL!!!!!! 45 DAMAGE OUT OF 50

Lesson of this episode: don't stand in the road when a van is gassing it

Yerba Mate in protein powder....

NEW CASSANDRA ART SHE'S SO PRETTY

Kristen ignoring Cassandra is so heartbreaking that's your god she's so lovely you're her only cleric Kristen pls

Gorgug fishing the Night Yorb

Ally and Lou trying to convince Zac to trade Rick Perry dice as Emily does math all while whispering. I love this season

I genuinely don't remember Squeem this issue so embarrassing.

Your sacrifice will be remembered Squeem I love you

YORBIE ON MY LEFT, YORBIE ON MY RIGHT 🔥🗣️💯

I need a Moggy the Doggy plush to go with my two Boggy plushies

HOW MANY DICE IS HE ROLLING WHAT THE FUCK

At least boggy survived

ADAINE DOWN.....

ALLY BOUGHT THE BOOK!!

I am loving new Kristen

So much feet touching

THE DRY GUYS

Kristen Loves "Speed"

I love the ongoing tea-based cortado bit

Vulture

hya!

FANDRANGOR

There is so much sexual tension between Fabian and Ecaf

Fabian Narcissus arc

Rip Balthazar </3

Pour one out for Balthazar and who ever has to take care of his 6th month parrots

Squeem is so resourceful I love him

yaaath maaaags

Murph and Brennan bonding <3

I feel like Ragh and Kristen would be besties after her more fitness oriented life style

ANOTHER ALLY BEARDSLEY NAT 20!!!!!!!

BOX OF DOOM!!!!!!!! BEANS!!!!

WHAT IS BRENNAN MONOLOGUING......

WHAT IS HAPPENING..... FIG...??

WHO IS FIG'S PATRON???

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO A CLIFF HANGER ALREADY??!?!!???!!???!???!???! BRENNAN LEE MULLIGAN...... 😭

THE PREVIEWS ARE MAKING ME SO EXCITED... I HAVE TO WAIT A WEEK NOW 😭😭😭😭

[laseratingfist]

Luka didn't remember much from before he woke up in the Snow Plains. He didn't even remember, or rather, know that's what they were called. He only knew that he was cold, and something was broken, and he didn't know where he was. 

The most upsetting thing was the cold. 

In a sort of way, his body remembered — it remembered warmth, and light, and laughter. None of which was to be found where he lay in the snow. Under the dark moon and stars. Silence, a blanket over his ears.

"And then the Silvermanes arrested you," Hook sighs. "You've told me this story before! I don't want to hear about something sad and boring again." 

Luka laughs, "Sorry. I guess you've heard all my stories now."

Hook soon wandered away. Luka was in the clinic for a checkup of sorts with Natasha, but she was busy today — he had to wait for her, and that's when Hook popped in to bother him. Hook would've gone sooner or later, though, so he wasn't offended. He was hiding out in one of the spare rooms, the one that served as Nat's office. Hook was probably looking for Seele's comic books....

The door opens, breaking Luka out of his thoughts. He stands upright, pushing off the bookcase he was leaning against. It's Natasha in the doorway, with a stack of Wildfire pamphlets. 

"Hey, Nat...." Luka starts, already feeling guilty.

She gives him a tired smile, sets the papers on her desk. 

"I tore the stitches in my shoulder," he smiles sheepishly. "Could you patch me up again? I'll pass out those flyers— um, I can watch Hook for you tomorrow, too."

Natasha is already pulling a sewing kit out from one of the many drawers in the room. She directs Luka to sit at her desk chair. He keeps talking even as she does, even as he shirks the cloak from his shoulders and unbuttons his shirt. Like he can't stop himself from filling the air with sound—

"I don't know if I'll be able to get the usual supplies to you any faster, though. It's hard to source them right now, the supply lines are backed up because of some new bureaucracy, paperwork thing. The tram line is under maintenance, too—"

Natasha tunes him out. Luka's worrying, right now, which isn't that unusual. A lot of people can't catch up with their mouths when they're anxious. She can go over again with him what she expects in return for being a bad patient — hopefully, rest and recovery for once so he won't ruin her handiwork for the hundredth time. She was sure, if he could reach back there, he would've tried to sew himself back up on his own — that's why he was so jittery right now. Luka, likely, only trusted her with this because she had seen it before.

The wound on his back could only be called that because it was a lesion in the skin — a four inch gash above his right shoulder blade. Or, where a shoulder blade was presumed to be, because underneath the layer of skin was nothing that should've been there. Not blood, tissue, or bone, but.... something. It was hard to look at. Firm, but it gave under the pressure of the needlepoint — she had to be careful not to sew up anything more than the skin to itself. It was more like repairing a stuffed animal than a normal patient. 

When Luka had lost his arm — a handful of years ago, and several years since she first met him — the poor thing had been found in a ruined house in a neighboring town. He'd been defending a small child from a Fragmentum monster, which wasn't unusual due to the increasing rate of attacks — what was unusual was the wound itself. He'd tried to hide away, to run like a wounded, stray dog. Oleg was able to bring him back to the clinic after he'd passed out. 

When Natasha saw the wound, she swore it must've been sleep deprivation. Second look, Fragmentum corruption. Third look didn't help much in diagnosis — she still had to disinfect and bandage the wound to the best of her ability. 

When Natasha was young, her parents gifted her a music box with a dancing ballerina inside. Her brother, one day, when had a childish fight, had thrown the box on the ground to get an upper hand. It shattered, gears and porcelain and brass strewn all over the floor. The inside of Luka's wound looked like that, glittering and fragile beneath the scraps of skin. 

[manslaught]

@calypsode: did you love me?

maybe it makes her a bad person, but a part of mikayla was hoping not to have to deal with calypso in person again. in the days after she'd first left, mikayla kept trying to reach out— texting, calling, only to receive absolutely no answer. all of that abruptly ended the moment taissa showed up on her door, and everything just spiraled from there. she's had to deal with so much since then — some things good, most things horrible — that she can't handle this interaction on top of it, but she knows she has to. nat died trying to be a better person, and while mikayla can't promise to always do the same thing, she knows there's an opportunity to do the right thing now, and that's give calypso some kind of closure— mikayla knows better than anyone how hard it is to go without it.

she scowls down at the moving boxes in front of her, because it's easier to focus on that than the woman she spent the last seven years of her life married to, knowing that she's about to make herself look like a terrible person by admitting the truth— but that's what she's always been. she's always been a monster, just not in the ways the public is convinced she is. “ of course i did. ” that's the truth, and mikayla's tempted to leave it at that, because it makes her sound better, but she knows calypso deserves more than that. “ i just— i was never in love with you. ”

mikayla doesn't want to admit calypso was right about all the things she accused her of the night she left, but it doesn't feel like as much of a defeat as it had that night— because now, she knows she can have the person she really wants, packing all of her things to move back to new jersey for her right now. that night, she'd been terrified of being left again, of starting over, but she doesn't have to worry about that anymore— hopefully. “ it's not, like— i wasn't waiting for her. you weren't some placeholder. ” waiting for taissa would have meant she still had hope that they could be together again, but all of that died so many years ago. “ i thought i could be in love with you. i wanted to be. i just— ” her eyes fall closed, nose scrunching, because this is where she has to admit calypso was right. “ i never fell out of it with her. ”

[tusks-and-claws]

about/masterlist

call me nat. 28. she/her

i like writing smut in my spare time, monster fics and sometimes fanfics. my ask box is always open but i don't typically take requests. links under the cut! <3

original monster fics

fae king x human female reader

orc x elf female reader (links to part 3, previous parts linked on post)

orc x human female reader (links to part 2, previous part linked on post)

miguel o'hara fics

Cold Love/Hot Blood (dubcon, you've been warned)

I'm Not What You Need (But I Am)

The Death of Peace of Mind

domestic headcanons

~

anything else tagged as my writing