#Now that you’re up to speed on what’s been going down in footwear

[freshthoughts2020]

[mrwinterr]

Over & Over

Pairing: Pornstar!Bucky Barnes AU x Pornstar!Female Reader

Summary: You’re an up-and-coming adult film star secretly eager to work with the popular Bucky Barnes, and with just the right connections, your paths cross much sooner than later.

Warnings: Adult themes. Smut 18+ (unprotected sex, vaginal penetration and instructional fingering, oral [male & female receiving], size kink, spit & cum play, a smudge of male dominance), dirty talk and language.

Disclaimer: I don’t know how the porn industry works; this was just written for fun.

Title Inspiration: “Over & Over” by Smallpools

A/N: After doping up on strong painkillers wasn’t enough, I thought releasing endorphins would help ease my headache, so once again watching porn inspired another fic. Idk. I’m a mess. Enjoy!

Slipping on your oversized sunglasses, you walk along the rectangular outline of the hotel’s lavish pool, to one of the vacant lounge chairs next to the redheaded goddess, whose wings you were taken under and could gratefully call a close friend. You hadn’t known a single soul when you packed up and moved west to Los Angeles at 18, but you knew you were destined for more than what your humdrum life back at home could offer.

The porn industry wasn’t your first choice at a career in entertainment, but the starving profession wasn’t paying the bills fast enough. You weren’t going to survive in L.A. another year juggling to pay for tuition and stay enrolled in acting school from the income of working menial jobs and booking small gigs. However, one minor role as an extra in a one-night stand sex scene of a TV show, you catch the eye of the multitalented adult film actress Natasha Romanoff.

It was pure coincidence she was also casted, playing a bigger role, of the same episode, but she saw more in you in your less than 15 seconds of fame than most casting agents did before offering you a chance to shadow her. You knew she looked familiar and you were no stranger to watching porn, but when you’re as down on your luck as you were, you went all in and soon enough countless scenes now under your belt within a year, you’re porn’s best female newcomer.

“There’s this year’s Best New Starlet!” Natasha proclaims loudly for almost everyone around to hear.

Lucky for you, the shades conceal the roll of your eyes at her comment as you kick off your flip-flops and remove the thin cover up to reveal your skimpy bikini. You dare look over at her in time to catch her mocking reaction, jaw dropped from your attitude.

“After all I’ve done for you,” she says, placing a hand to her heart, feigning hurt.

The pair of you laugh at your nonsense and after she helps you with applying the appropriate amount of sun care protection, you recline in your seats and attempt to soak up some sun. It was a much-needed break with the long stressful week of the award show now behind everyone. Your hard work had paid off and after all you did learn from the best.

Your predecessor before you, Natasha was also a former Best New Starlet, and now is a household name in pornography. She didn’t welcome a lot of people into her inner circle, but she had plans to one day direct and knew she had to find the next big thing before anyone else to take her place.

“Hello, ladies,” comes from the voice of this year’s Director of the Year and other close friend Wanda Maximoff.

“Hey Wanda,” you greet her by sitting up to give her a proper hug.

You met her through her twin brother, Pietro, who happened to be your first co-star and was very welcoming and caring to you. The twins took care of you during your first few months starting out. Much like Natasha did for you, you help her administer the same amount of sunscreen on her body.

“Congrats on your achievement,” she says wholeheartedly, looking over her shoulder at you as you finish up on her back, and even under the heat of the sun, she could still see the blush creep up on your face.

“She’s a natural, isn’t she?” Natasha comments casually, to which Wanda nods enthusiastically, only speeding up the process of the rose tints on your cheeks to spread all over your face. They were your biggest fans and supporters; you were so happy you could make them proud.

“I owe it all to the queen herself,” you say, downplaying your achievement and turning the attention to your mentor in Natasha. She scoffs at that and teases you about just taking the damn compliment. You put in the work; it was all you.

“Seriously, you deserved it,” Wanda says honestly, and you finally accept the praise.

“So, what’s next for miss Director of the Year?” Natasha asks leaning on a propped elbow, body facing towards you and Wanda.

“Well, I managed to finally book Bucky Barnes in an upcoming project…” she starts out, but the moment you heard his name slip from her lips, the rest almost didn’t matter.

Bucky Barnes was somewhat of a legend. There wasn’t a model or director that didn’t want to work with him. The man was downright gifted in every aspect and his work speaks for itself. Before you broke onto the scene, you’d gotten off to his videos, and only dreamed of one day starring in a scene with him, but you were still new to this world.

As a promising star, you had a long way to go and tons of plots, positions and people to still experience, so landing a role with someone like Bucky Barnes wasn’t entirely written in your plans any time soon. Then again, your first girl-on-girl scene was with your mentor herself, so anything could happen, right?

“I just haven’t found my girl yet,” was the next thing you pick up Wanda say the moment your head comes back from the clouds, “...I have all this momentum now that I want this to blow everyone away, especially Stark.”

Tony Stark was her rival. It was a friendly competition amongst friends. You hadn’t gotten the chance to work for him yet. He was a playful character and had directed some of the best adult films out there, Wanda just happened to be the better of the two this year…

“Sorry, I’m retired,” Natasha reminds her and repositions herself on her back.

“Fuck you,” Wanda says playfully to which Natasha responds with a finger in the air before she clarifies, “I was hinting at this year’s Best New Starlet…” and slyly looking in your directly.

“Me?” You ask incredulously. Your head can’t even start processing that you’re finally getting the opportunity to work with Bucky.

Wanda rolls her eyes at your obliviousness, “no, last year’s Best New Starlet. Hell no! Of course, you!” You respond in the same manner as your mentor, who is more than amused at you also following her lead, and flip Wanda off. Wanda snatches your hand to bring it away from her face, “I’m serious!”

“I-I don’t know, Wan,” a part of you is a little scared that you’re not going to be able to keep up with someone as established and with the star power as Bucky, “...like you said, you have all this momentum behind you. I don’t want to fuck this scene up because I don’t have a lot of experience.”

“Are you fucking kidding?” Natasha pipes up on the other side of you. “This is the perfect role for you!” She sees the questionable look on your face and sighs before explaining. “You’re a fresh face and rising star! People are lining up to book you, Stark included.”

“Nat is right. You’re a hot commodity now! I need someone who is a little inexperienced to mix with someone that is,” Wanda further explains her premise, “let him take the lead, but at your pace. I need it to be raw and passionate. People love that shit!” They were right, he had all the experience, and you were a fresh loveable face. It was the perfect combination.

You remain quiet for several seconds before Natasha rats you out, “and don’t even try to act like you don’t want to work with Barnes. This is your fantasy come to life.” Way to throw you under the bus like that…

There’s no denying your goal to work with him. He’d been in this business much longer than you had, you didn’t think your paths would ever cross on a set, but the opportunity couldn’t have presented itself in a more perfect point in your career.

The room is very pristine. White walls with a king size bed, also adorned in white sheets, fluffy pillows scattered at the top, minimal furniture around to make it look realistic, and the lighting was just right. Wanda had received a hefty budget after her recognition that’s for sure.

“Alright, girly, let’s get you on the bed!” Wanda happily directs.

You nod silently, remove your footwear and plop down on the center of the large mattress. You decide to leave your legs sprawled on one side of your body, settling on a bashful position. It’s not hard for you because although you agreed to do this and have done several scenes, internally, you’re freaking the fuck out. Unbeknownst to you, it’s all part of your charm; the innocence you somehow still radiated was an all too endearing quality and actually sexy.

Even your attire was pretty modest, opting for a more casual look with black leggings and a tight long sleeve that accentuates your figure and shows off the right amount of cleavage. It was something that you could easily wear out in public, which again was a part of your brand in being as natural as possible, but come the right circumstances, when it was time to roll you could turn on the right switch.

“We’ll start off like a typical casting interview before we bring Bucky in and then we’ll go from there. Sounds good?” She runs down the plan with you, fixing a few strands of flyaway hairs on your head before back away from the bed. With a thumbs up and a smile from you, she starts recording.

“Welcome, Best New Starlet of the Year!” Wanda greets from behind the camera.

“Hi,” you politely reply with your signature sweet smile and a wave to the screen.

These scenes start off with a small interview recounting your tale into the porn industry leading up to your recent achievement and even delving a bit into your personal life before the topic changes to your co-star.

“So, how excited are you to work with Bucky today?”

No matter how hard you practiced at keeping a straight poker face, that was something you were unable to master from Natasha, and the blush couldn’t be contained.

Fidgeting at the hem of your top, you open and close your mouth, trying to find the right words. You’re overly flustered at the thought of Bucky and he wasn’t even in front of you yet. You don’t want to sound like a fool and ruin the atmosphere. Wanda mouths words of advice from where she sat in the director’s chair, “be honest.”

“Um, I’m...nervous,” you say truthfully.

“Nervous?” She questions, urging you to elaborate.

“Yeah, he’s Bucky Barnes! He’s hot and he’s got so much experience. I’m kind of scared I’ll be boring,” you finish explaining and hope to God that Natasha doesn’t kill you afterwards, or with that answer let Wanda down, but the smile on her face sends you a wave of assurance.

Maybe you could do this...

Earlier that day, Bucky had already recorded his little opening scene. Wanda had called him to report on set before you were scheduled to arrive.

On the contrary, Bucky was also a tab bit anxious to work with you. He’d seen some of your work and more so heard about your talent from his own best friend, Steve Rogers.

He didn’t deny it, he was very much attracted to you and he wanted a chance to work with you too. Bucky wasn’t a jealous person, which made working in the porn industry easy for him, but when he had to hear Steve recount his scenes with you, he couldn’t help but want to sock his own childhood friend. He didn’t of course, but the rage was evident and his other friend, Sam Wilson, took some sick pleasure in teasing him over it. In fact, the eccentric personality of the trio of friends, decided to tag along with Bucky to introduce himself to you and get under his skin a little more.

“What’s going on in that nasty head of yours?” Sam poked at Bucky as they made their way over to Wanda, who was by the camera setup going over a script with another stagehand. When Bucky doesn’t respond, it provokes Sam even more, “no way, you’re nervous!”

Bucky sighs fed up with dealing with the anxiety brewing ever since he found out he was going to star in this film with you. “Shut the fuck up, will you? Of course, I’m nervous,” he says, trying to remain calm.

“Dude, you’ve slept with some of the hottest people in the world and millions of people have seen you naked. Why is one girl any different?” Sam wonders.

“I don’t know, ok. She just seems so down-to-earth and normal?” Bucky attempts to explain. You were real. His work was just that, it was a work, and he was afraid that it would be different with you. He could say he was almost intimidated by you.

“Yeah, as if I don’t have to hear that enough from Rogers…” Sam chimed in. Steve had nothing but high praise for your performance. In fact, his testimony helped expose you a little further. He was an honorable performer and a respected one, so they took his word on you. “Maybe, I’ll be her next co-star,” and just like that Sam ruined a moment.

“God, I hate you,” was the last thing exchanged between the two friends as they finally reached Wanda. She warned Sam to behave and gave Bucky a quick rundown before instructing him to hop on the bed.

Bucky’s interview starts a little differently than yours. Having already been a more established performer than yourself, no one needed his background story. The only thing Wanda wanted out of him was his plans and opinion on you.

“Well, I don’t know too much about her, personally speaking...but everyone seems to love her,” Bucky’s answer was a bit bland for Wanda.

“She’s a great person to work with,” she comments and that’s a tactic most directors used to get talent to keep talking.

“That’s what Steve keeps saying,” he says with somewhat of an awkward light laugh. He could see Sam facepalming next to Wanda at that lame answer.

“Yeah, you don’t win best female newcomer for nothing,” Wanda points out. If anyone was the lucky one here, it was Bucky. He was climbing up in age and you were the next big thing. You were the real star of this film not Bucky. She was counting more on you to deliver than him.

“That’s right. She’s a very talented performer,” Bucky says, and this small comment opens up a can of worms for Wanda to build up on.

“Oh, so you’ve seen some of her work?” Bam! He was caught.

Bucky’s mouth starts twitching slightly and Wanda and Sam are smirking from their spots as they watch the gears in Bucky’s mind start turning faster trying to think of something. The only piece of advice Wanda gives is “be honest.”

He sighs, the jig was up. Smooth Bucky Barnes was caught red-handed, “yeah, I’ve watched some scenes. I’ve seen her in person a few times too…”

“Wait,” Wanda interrupts him abruptly. She knew you were attracted to Bucky, but never knew of any encounters between you two, “when did you meet her?”

“I haven’t,” Bucky starts, which causes a look of mass confusion on Wanda’s face before he follows up, “formally. I haven’t met her formally, but I’ve seen her at a few parties and at the award show...I was just nervous to walk up to her,” the words just kept flowing out of his mouth and he inwardly cringed at how awkward he might’ve sounded.

Sam was amused by his embarrassment, but Wanda was pleased with this result. Bucky was good at what he did and that included him trying to play it cool, which he did well on screen, sometimes.

“You know she was actually thrilled to find out she would be working with you,” Wanda said, stretching the truth. The truth was, you hadn’t verbally confessed that, at least not yet.

“Really?” Bucky asks all too hopeful, his mood noticeably perking up.

“Yup! Ever since she won Best New Starlet of the Year, people have been lining up to book her, but she chose this project. You were the deal breaker, Barnes,” she fabricated and hoped this all worked out for you two in the end.

“Wow, who would’ve thought this has-been still had it in him?” He jokes at himself. His humility would get the best of him in every situation.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself! You didn’t win Best Male Performer of the Year again for nothing!” Wanda says and then steers the interview to a close.

After wrapping up Bucky’s scene, he’s allowed to stay in another room with a monitor. At first, he thinks it’s to help him prep for the scene, but to his surprise it’s a live feed of your interview and he starts clinging onto your every word. Enthralled by your journey, work ethic and he gets flustered all over again hearing you talk about your equal eagerness to work with him.

“You know, if anyone is the lucky one in this situation, it’s Barnes,” Wanda reminds as your interview comes to an end.

“Right,” you sarcastically remark.

“Are you ready for us to bring Bucky in?” She asks.

“It’s now or never,” you reply. 

You watch the doorknob twist and the door open to slowly reveal Bucky. Where do you even start with him? He just looked like the total package. His gaze immediately on yours. As he makes his way towards the bed you’re still sitting on, when his knee comes in contact to the edge, you maneuver your body in his direction, sit up on your knees to meet him halfway and welcome him in a hug.

“Hi, it’s nice to finally meet you,” he says when you pull apart. The both of you don’t break away completely. Your arms are still wrapped around his neck, his hands placed just above your waist, you can feel his fingers that slipped under the fabric rub your skin.

“It’s nice to meet you,” you respond, giving him a genuine smile and can’t help but stare at his pretty face. You had to remind yourself he’s just another guy, except he wasn’t. You didn’t know how he felt, but you wanted this, wanted him. You also don’t know if you’ll ever work him again after today, so he was going to get the real you.

A small, subtle clearing of someone’s throat shatters the staring contest between you and Bucky causing you both to sheepishly break away from the other, not realizing you’d both allowed dreaded dead airtime to pass by. You scoot over to make room for him next to you on the bed. After he pulls his footwear off, he sits cross legged in front of you, you have one leg tucked in and the other extended in front.

Bucky’s not entirely oblivious. He not only witnessed you backstage reveal you were actually nervous to work with him, he could feel it, so at an attempt to help ease both your nerves, he places a hand on your shin and absentmindedly run his hand up and down the fabric, fingers sometimes stopping to mess with the cuff of your leggings and at the skin of your ankle, while he listened to you speak.

He congratulated you on your achievement as you did with him, both a blushing mess before diving into different topics like traveling and other interests.

Wanda stood proudly behind the camera watching the scene unfold. Everything was so candid and real between you and Bucky, the chemistry was clearly evident, she didn’t foresee there would be much directing on her part today, which was going to make her job easy.

“Wanda said you were excited to work with me,” Bucky teases, wanting to see if what you said was just for the cameras or if it was really true, but also, he found out he liked to see you get all hot and bothered in more than one way.

Your jaw drops and you look directly into the camera, breaking the fourth wall, calling out to Wanda. You playfully chastise and curse at her for revealing your secret. She tells you it was going to come out anyways, and while that was true, you’d hoped it was later and much after you’ve slept with him, hoping it doesn’t ruin the shoot, but Bucky assures you that it’s actually a flattering to hear or in his words, “assuring” for someone like him.

“Are you kidding?” You say, lightly shoving him back, “you’re like a legend! Of course, I was excited! I’m surprised you agreed to work with a rookie like me!” Now that the cat was out of the bag, you might as well own up to your secret.

“Everyone wants to work with you,” he makes clear, leaning in closer. Fuck, he didn’t even need to initiate foreplay because with the way he was looking at you right now, you could come swear you’d come undone for him in an instant.

“Oh really?” You challenge, your body gravitating like a magnet towards his.

“Yup, Steve wouldn’t shut up about you and even Sam said he can’t wait to someday work with you,” he said, voice slowly dropping in decibels and his hands sliding up your thighs.

“Did he?” You ask, but you don’t really care about Sam as your eyes look dead into Bucky’s blue ones, swirling into a darker shade full of deep want and desire.

“Yeah, but let’s see if he still wants to try to outdo me after I’m done with you,” he whispers, finally closing the gap between your lips in a sweet kiss. It was about as sweet as it could last because after just one taste of your lips, he was a starved man, hungry for more. You tried your best to match his pace and the kiss turned sloppy very quick.

You moaned at the pressure of his lips pressed roughly against yours, and you do your best to keep up, but you’re already finding yourself short of breath. However, the more you try to pull back to regain some oxygen, the more he’s unwilling to part as he grasps your face in both hands to keep you still, so you lightly squeeze at his biceps as a warning in hope he gets the message.

Lucky for you, he does and lets up. He’s also noticeably breathless, his warm breath fanning against your kiss-swollen lips, his forehead resting against yours. Bucky’s hands are still on your face.

“Sorry,” he apologizes, and you let out a small chuckle at the sincerity. He was cute.

You take his hands in yours and bring them back down to begin undressing him starting by helping him slip his shirt over his head, the fashionable dog tags around his neck clank as it slaps against his toned chest, you let him keep them on though.

Bucky sits up on his knees as he watches you settle on your stomach, propped up by your elbows, hands getting ready to work on his lower half. He patiently watches as you unbuckle his belt, pop the button of his jeans off, and drag the zipper down.

With his pants hanging loose off his hips, you begin to plant soft kisses along his navel down the defined lines that lead to his cock. Each contact of your lips sends a ghostly tingle and the blood to rush even quicker down his lower region. The imprint of his endowed member doesn’t leave much to your imagination, you can already see the stain where the tip is through his tight boxer briefs. It gives you a little boost of confidence knowing you’d caused this and would get to take care of it.

You hook your fingers into the undergarment and tug them down his muscular thighs. His cock springs out, almost hitting you in the face causing you to jolt back a little and a smile to spread across Bucky’s.

Your clumsiness was also a part of your charm. It wasn’t on purpose, you were still learning after all, and that’s what made it so unique and fun to work with you. Your partners just felt a real, genuine connection, citing it felt less choreographed and of a porno with you.

A little embarrassed about that move, you’d watched what he can do with that cock, but nothing could’ve prepared you for it face-to-face. You don’t waste any time on getting your hands on him and wrap your fingers around his half-hard cock and start pumping him sensually.

He’s hot and soft in your hands before getting gradually heavy. The look in your eyes grows more predatory as you watch him grow and feel him getting harder with each pump causing more and more pre-cum to ooze out. You spread it all over the head of his cock with your thumb then daring to look up at him, hoping he was indeed enjoying your work, before you pucker your lips and kiss at the crown. Bucky curses when he sees your lips shining, coated in his pre-cum, with a string connecting you to his cock.

You gather the fluid up in your hand before spreading it all over his length, when it’s not enough you start not only pumping him faster, but also licking up and down, from the base to the tip, hoping to effectively slick him up. The way your tongue scrapes along over Bucky’s sensitive flesh stirs him up. Your other hand joins in to fondle with his neglected balls, massaging and pulling at them in the right moments, sometimes you travel a little south and take them in your mouth. It all but drives Bucky wild and it’s confirmed with each swear that leaves his mouth.

Bucky wants nothing more than to lodge himself deep in your throat, but he remembers he needs to go at your pace, and once you’re broken in a little more, you could follow his, so he’ll bide his time for now and watch you work.

When you’re ready to take him in, you regain his attention and he watches you slowly take in his inches down your mouth, stopping halfway before your wide-open mouth hollows out. Your full mouth immediately waters around him and it doesn’t take long before you’re a drooling mess all over his cock. You pull back torturously slow, looking back down watching his cock reappear and loving the way it disappears back in, and especially how it feels when it drags through your mouth, taking note of the veins and unique ridges.

“Don’t be like that, doll,” he says, wiping some of the hair away from your face, “come on and show me why they don’t stop talking about you,” he coaxes, now gathering some of your locks in his hand to completely give you both a clear view. He tries his best to not take the lead, but you don’t disappoint as your mouth works faster on him. The gagging and sucking, mixed with Bucky’s moans of pleasure soon become the soundtrack.

You’d gradually take him more and more in, close to deep throating him, and you’re just ready to let up, but he can’t help it and before your last round, he holds your head in place.

“Don’t quit now, baby,” he encourages you, placing his other hand on the back of your head, keeping you still and carefully starts to thrust his hips, urging you to take him all the way, “...that’s it, you can do it, you can take it,” he releases a big sigh feeling the tip of your nose bump his lower abdomen. The moisture builds up in the inner corner of your eyes and you do your best to mind your breathing and not choke.

“Fuck!” He can’t help but shout when he feels your throat contract around him. You just looked so divine, mouth full of his cock. He keeps you there for a few seconds, before releasing his hold, and you immediately pull back, drool dribbles down your chin, and you’re desperate for oxygen to return back into your system. He grabs your face by your chin forcing you to look up at him.

He uses his fingers to scoop up some of the mixed fluids of his arousal and your saliva at your chin before presenting it in front of you. You easily read his mind, look up at him with big, watery eyes, and take his coated digits in your abused mouth sucking the juices clean off him. 

He growls and commends you, “...such a good girl.” When he slips his fingers out of your mouth, a small pop could faintly be heard, he gently yanks at your hair, craning your head back further, it’s almost painful but you don’t care, “do it again,” he demands.

You bite your lip and reposition yourself. Bucky settles in a more comfortable position on his back, completely rid of his pants and underwear, his legs spread open for you to lie between them. Before you get back to the job, you slip your tight top off, all-natural breasts spilling out and on display for him. His cock twitches at the sight and he lets his head fall back when he’s once more fully encased in the warm, wet cavern of your mouth.

When he finally starts begging you to let up, you pull back slowly pumping him and watch his every move, the rise of his chest as it heaves from the activity, the way he runs his hands over his face. He’s absolutely stunned by your performance so far.

“On your back,” he says, and you do as he commands, and forget who is supposed to really be in charge. He yanks your leggings and panties all the way down, chucking them behind him somewhere in the corner of the room.

“You’re so sexy,” he compliments, eyes taking in every inch of your naked body, hands getting their fill. His body dips, lips latching onto your breasts, kissing at the skin and sucking on each nipple before they make their way up the juncture of your neck and claim your lips again.

You feel his tongue run along your bottom lip, and they part to grant him full access. You barely notice how he takes a hold of one of your hands, he pulls his face away to bring the hand in his grasp up to your face, using your fingers to trace the outline of your lips. You see him inaudibly instruct you to open your mouth, you do as you’re told.

“That’s right get those fingers nice and wet,” he coaxes you to suck on your own digits until he deems you ready for the next move. When he finally does pull your fingers out from your mouth, he extends your arm, ghosting them just over your pussy.

“Play with that clit,” he tells you and you don’t need to be told twice. Your pussy was begging for any kind of attention. You let your wet fingers roll over the bundle of nerves, puffs of breath escape your body as you’re finally attending to your own needs.

Bucky sits back and watches you intently, fascinated by your every move. He instructs you to close your eyes and listen to his voice, instructing you to go slow at first, “does that feel good?” the only reply he gets is a fast nod, “yeah? Make yourself feel good...that’s it,” his words only encourage your fingers to soon work faster, “let me hear how good it feels,” he demands, and you moan and whine like the true pornstar you are, your circular motions speed up, the lewd noises egg him on and soon enough he wants a taste.

“Let me help you out,” and you feel the bed shift a bit, “spread those wet lips for me,” he requests. You use both hands to invite him into your wet, glistening hole. You pick your head up to see his face buried between your thighs, you watch just long enough until each broad lick up and down your pussy sends you close to the edge.

He no longer needs the support of your hands, and they find purchase in his dark, fluffy hair as he starts sucking on your clit and tonguing your folds. At first, you’re doing a good job keeping your legs apart to accommodate him, but it gets harder and harder for them to not clamp around his head, with every nudge the tip of his nose makes at your clit and it doesn’t help your case when he inserts a finger inside you. With a good curl, his finger scratches dangerously close to your sweet spot, causing your legs to start quivering.

The sudden hitch in your breathing catches his attention, and Bucky tests the waters more by digging in deeper and curling in further. He notices the increasing agitation and knows he’s found the trigger.

“Bucky,” you whine, hoping he doesn’t push you over just yet. You want to last longer, and so you reluctantly attempt to scoot back further away, but the sudden strong grip  he has around your leg locks you in place. You pick your head back up and find Bucky’s eyes trained on you. You see the stoic look in his eyes laced with determination. Oh no, he wanted you to come now. You feel a hum from his full mouth, only pushing you further.  

“Don’t hold back,” he says against your pussy, “let go,” and the gruff in his voice, vibrating against you, his thick digits still curled deep inside you, you can’t hold back the floodgates from bursting any longer.

He laps up your arousal as you desperately try to regain composure. He really pulled one out of you, proving he was as every bit good as he put out and you’re not even close to the end of this scene.  

“Come here,” he says, getting back on his knees and pulling you up by your arms so you’re in an up-right sitting position once again, but with Bucky still towering over you, “open up.”

You comply and open your mouth wide, tongue out, not understanding his motive, and you’re met with full surprise when he spits in your mouth, a firm grip on your face, he holds you still.

“Don’t swallow,” he gravely warns. You feel and probably look stupid not knowing what he wants you to do with your mouth open wide and full of his spit mingling with your arousal, just trying to keep it all contained. Bucky was testing your patience and obedience and you passed every test so far. You were just the right amount of submissive, absolutely perfect.

You can feel his hard cock pressing up against your sensitive pussy, it slides up between your folds and the base rests on top of your mound. “Drool it out...on my cock,” he instructs. Oh. He guides your gaze down between your bodies, you purse your lips, and both watch as the liquid cascades down onto his erect member. He uses it to lube himself up before he pushes you down to lie flat on your back.

Bucky slowly but easily slips inside your wet channel but notices your slight struggle. He was big, and he gets it. The way your eyes are tightly shut, hands pulling at the sheets, you struggle to breath and your walls cruelly grip him tight. Normally, he’d just pound away until his partner got used to him, but he didn’t want to do that with you. He wanted you to enjoy feeling him.

He tries to help you relax by rubbing your thighs a little with soothing motions, when they fall limp on either side, he leans down, you feel the cool metal of his dog tags against your heated skin, his weight sort of comforting on yours, and arms entrapping your head. He lovingly calls out your name, and your eyes flutter open, your attention refocusing on him.

“We’ll go at your pace, alright?” he assures you. You curse yourself for allowing your heart to swell at his concern, but you nod giving him permission to move slowly. Your whimpers soon transition into pleasurable moans, the more your body begins to adjust to his.

“Damn, you’re so tight. You’ve never been stretched out like this by anyone before have you?” he dares ask, once he sees it’s a safe playing field once more, his hips moving slow, his cock sliding in and out of you. You attempt at a laugh between your ragged breathing and the intense sensation coursing through you.

“No,” you respond and kiss at his chin, the light stubble pricking your soft lips, “you’re so big.” You feel his cock twitch inside and you want to curse yourself again at the comment that unintentionally riles him up because he was nestled close to your spot again. Fuck, he could reach just the right depth in you.

“Fuck, Bucky,” you don’t want to go slow anymore. Fuck Wanda and this movie, you wanted all of Bucky now, “please fuck me,” you resort to begging. He inwardly growls and his hips start snapping forward, thrusts growing hard and uncalculated. You just lie there and allow him to use your pussy for his pleasure.

Bucky’s movements falter a bit in this position, so he steers both your bodies on their sides, still facing each other, he slings your leg high up over his hips, and resumes his task. His cock glides right back in your pussy and the new angle causes you to yelp and walls to clench around him.

“You feel so good,” his voice riddled with so much lust as he brings your body closer to his with a hand behind, full of your plushest asset. Your head rests on the bicep of his other arm that was underneath it.

Bucky’s expressive eyes ask you if you're close, and the more your walls continue to grip him, he starts begging for you to come with him. “I’m gonna cum,” he warns, giving up and letting you take the rest of the lead.

“Yeah?” you huff out, your fingers digging into the side of his hips, “you want to cum inside me?” You know he does; you can feel and see it written all over him, but you want to just poke at him like he had with you, “I want you to...I want all your cum inside me, Bucky,” and you wanted him to cum hard, deep inside, “fill my tight pussy up, please,” you plead.

With one more jab of his hips, your back arches and head is thrown back, you can’t help but let out a scream as your orgasm rips right through you like it’s never before. Bucky’s body on the other hand caves into yours, feeling almost paralyzed as your tight walls hold him in place and all he can do is bury his face into the sweaty skin of your neck.

His mouth hangs open, a plethora of profanities coming out of him, and he waits for his cock to finish spewing ropes of his hot, thick cum into you. Your walls can’t help but to involuntarily contract in small aftershocks, especially when he’s still coming.

Bucky continues to moan as he does as you hoped, he came hard and deep inside you. When you’ve both finally come down from the high, it’s silent, and even though you’d both long forgotten you were on a set with multiple people watching you two, they were also quiet, completely taken back by the performance.

Incoherent cries come out of each of you, when Bucky agonizingly pulls his cock out. For the most part you’re able to keep him inside, but he’d proven to come so much some of it seeps out and runs down in streak fashion along your thigh, staining the bed sheets.

In your last act, as your gazes meet each other again, your fingers dip inside your soaked cunt and coat them. Hypnotized by you, Bucky watches as you greedily suck off his essence from your digits, and you evoke a small hum in his favor at the taste bursting in your mouth.  

Bucky bites at his bottom lip, trying to not lose it again. When your hand disappears, he tenderly wipes the matted hair away from your face, smoothing your hair back before pulling your body close again, swooping your lips for a deep kiss.

“Shit, you’re good,” he admits, when he pulls away, effectively breaking the blissful silence. You bust out in a fit of giggles beside him and it’s the cutest thing he’s ever seen. He’s not sure what he’s feeling, but it’s not something you’re supposed to feel towards your co-star, especially in the porn industry.    

He smiles at you, basking in your afterglow and all he knows is that he wants to feel this high with you over and over, so he decides to risk it all, “I hope this doesn’t ruin the moment, but can I take you out some time?”

You try your best to read him, wondering if he was just still in the heat of the moment. Either he’s really good or he’s being sincere, you can’t tell and you’re hoping you’re not overthinking it, but his eyes, this whole time, were what gave him away. He performed with them and he definitely spoke through them.

Before you could accept and give him a definite answer, you’re both brought back to reality, “we’re still rolling here!” Wanda reminds.

A/N: Thank the pain meds for this. I think I effectively used up my vacation days the right way, won’t you agree? Likes, reblogs and comments/emojis are appreciated! 

[obae-me]

Recently found your blog and I absolutely love your writing!! Could I request head cannons of the brothers reacting to an MC who suddenly cries in front of them but is over it in a minute and acts as if nothing happened?

Thank you for your request, and I’m so flattered you like my writing! 

So...I’ll admit got a little carried away with Lucifer’s part, and I always do my best to try to make each brother’s part of somewhat equal length, but if I did that...there would be about 21 pages of words in one post, so, to make it easier for me to post and everyone to read, I will be doing your request in parts. I hope that’s okay! 

Part 2 (Mammon)      Part 3 (Levi)

The Demons Inside- Part 1

Word Count: 2070

He had requested MC’s presence in his study while he finished up his work for the night. The day had been particularly tedious, and while he wouldn’t mention it offhand, their presence calmed him and motivated him to always be at the peak of his performance. 

MC happily came down to give him some support, a sweet smile on their face, dressed up in comfortable clothes, ready for bed. Their eyes were bright as they talked about their day and gave him praise as well as compliments to drive him towards his lofty goal. He took them gladly, although he wouldn’t say it. But despite the attention, these last few worksheets and reports were giving him a migraine. So, he kindly asked if MC could bring him one of his special bottles of Demonus. 

MC didn’t quite approve of him drinking to help his problems, but he tended to be aware of how much he was taking. As long as he was responsible--which he always was--MC didn’t mind. They got up from their chair, one of the luxurious red ones in the middle of the room. They chose the seat closest to where Lucifer’s desk was, but they didn’t dare move it any closer, he liked to have everything neatly in its place after all. Like his furniture, all his bottles and glasses were neatly organized, each one sleek and pristine, much like the demon himself. 

“Which one would you like?” They asked him, scouring the many labels, many of them written in a language MC couldn’t even begin to identify. 

Lucifer sat hunched over his desk, so focused on his report that he almost missed MC’s query. “Whatever catches your eye, I’m not going to be picky about it tonight.” He bit his lip and almost cursed as he made a small mistake on his report. He questioned why he always wrote in pen, fixing mistakes in ink was such a hassle. “But make it quick,” he grumbled. 

He wasn’t ready for the sound of shattering glass, almost jumping in his seat. He immediately straightened, his instinct ready to yell and scold whoever dared to be so careless. The name ‘Mammon’ almost formed on his lips, but then he affixed his gaze to his invited company. MC had accidentally lost their grip on the bottle, shards and alcohol scattered on the floor. One look at their face showed silent tears flowing down their cheeks, unable to peel their eyes away from the ground where the mess pooled around their feet. 

He had never really seen them cry before, they had always kept their guard up, refusing to show signs of vulnerability. He had thought it was an endearing trait, one he often had himself. So, having them cry before him now filled him with panic. He was worried their sudden emotion was due to the fact that they were hurt. After all, they weren’t wearing any shoes at this hour, what if they had been pierced with the glass? 

He rushed to his feet, sweeping them up into his arms, placing them in a chair away from the hazard. Tears still fell from their eyes, and now MC covered up their face with their hands to cover their small sobs. He got on one knee and quickly checked their feet and legs for any signs of cuts, not having the heart tonight to tell them how klutzy they were. 

There were no apparent signs of injury, and he allowed himself a moment to breathe in relief. When he looked back up at MC, ready to comfort and calm them, they now appeared fine. Their eyes were dry, albeit a bit red, and they gently shooed Lucifer away from their body. 

“I’m so so sorry, it was a complete accident.” MC refused to look into his eyes. 

He got back onto his own two feet, lips pursed together in a thin line of worry. He was aware it was an accident, but for the life of him, he didn’t know why MC would cry over something like that. Perhaps, they were scared of getting yelled by him? Or was there something deeper, the accident causing their emotional wall to crack poetically alongside the glass bottle. He opened his mouth to address the issue, but barely managed to let a syllable out before MC interrupted him. 

“I’ll go get something to clean it up,” they assured him, preparing to make a run for it. He hesitated for a moment too long, his mind running on fumes from being overworked. His reactions dulled, distracted by the lingering pain in his chest as the image of MC’s tears refused to leave his eyes. By the time he called out their name, they were already gone. 

He sighed, almost falling into the chair he had placed MC in, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “This human…” He sighed. He tilted his head back, his eyelids shutting. The heaviness of them refused to open back up till he heard the sound of glass pieces clinking together as they collided and scraped across his polished floor. 

He raised himself out of his seat, his body groaning, gravity working against him as his very being ached to continue resting. But he couldn’t just idly stand by as MC swept up the glass by themselves. He only needed to take a few long steps over to them, grabbing the broom handle with one hand. It wouldn’t budge in his tight grip. 

“MC, allow me, with all the glass around I fear for your safety. You forgot to bring proper footwear.” Both he and MC glanced down at their bare feet. MC worked on tugging the broom back to their possession. 

“No- I mean thank you, but, it’s my mess, I need to clean it up regardless.” 

“MC-” 

“Please!” Their loud tone stunned him. It was a plea of desperation, their voice cracking. His hold on the item loosened, and they tore the broom away from him without giving him the opportunity to fully let go. They immediately went back to work, brushing shards across the floor as they glinted, the light from the fireplace shining off of them. He was again reminded of their shimmering tears, but the expression of budding despair had left MC’s face a while ago. Now they just appeared as exhausted as he was. 

“Very well…” He couldn’t afford to spend the last of his energy pushing them any longer. Sitting back behind his desk, Lucifer forced himself to finish the last of his work. More often than not, he kept looking back up at MC. Their eyelids were low over their eyes as they focused on clearing away the mess. Never once did they look back at him. Their usual smiling mouth now waned. He watched them sweep away the big chunks of glass into a pan, pulling out a clean rag as they got to their hands and knees to wipe away the excess liquid. “MC?” The sound of his own voice almost sounded distant to him. 

“Hm?” They hummed, turning more in his direction but keeping their gaze from him. 

“Has anything been bothering you as of late?” He rested his chin in his hand as he leaned forward, his arm crooked on the surface of his desk. They turned their head away from him, resuming the cleaning. Their nose crinkled a little as the strong scent of his Demonus filled their nose. 

“No, I’ve been fine.” 

“And the crying earlier?” He found himself asking, unable to ease his own worries. “Are you sure you’re unharmed?” He found MC staring at the soaked rag, losing themselves in the sight of it. But it wasn’t the fabric they were paying attention to. 

“It was nothing.”  They had said it so quietly, he almost didn’t hear their answer. Lying always rubbed him the wrong way, it always insulted him. Yet, this lie didn’t quite seem to be directed towards him, he was getting the impression that they were mostly trying to lie to themselves. As if to further encourage this idea of his, MC repeated themselves. “It was nothing…” 

Lucifer examined the last of his work. There was still a bit left to finish, and he couldn’t remember the last time he brushed off his duties, no matter how minimal. Tonight, just for tonight, he thought. Maybe it would be alright. The papers on his desk he put aside, at the same time MC disposed of the trash, the floor as pristine as it had been a few moments before. 

“It is one of my duties as a member of the student council to make sure your needs are met.” He wasn’t wrong, this was true. It was a known job of everyone looking after MC to make sure their stay was as comfortable as possible. It would reflect positively towards the program. MC had heard the line before, and while he truly meant it, the words almost sounded empty to their ears. Lucifer had to swallow some of his pride, it tasted like his own personal poison. “So, you can talk to me about anything. I am...here for you.” 

For the first time since they descended down here, Lucifer finally got a glimpse of their protective walls falling completely. Their eyes threatened to start crying again, but Lucifer saw as their throat strained to push it back. 

“That’s part of the problem,” they croaked. 

He blinked in confusion, caught off guard by the answer. “P-pardon?” He was unaware his support and protection could be undesirable. 

“You and everyone else is always there for me, always strong, always helping me. And-” Their voice broke again as a single tear broke free from the struggle and rolled down their cheek. They only blinked once and he was right in front of them. The papers on his desk rustled and fluttered from the speed of his movement. His hand raised from his side for a second only to lower in disappointment as MC brushed their own tear away. “And I hate being a--being a burden. A weak and powerless human.” 

His mouth parted, open in mild shock as he processed slowly the words they were telling him. “MC…” 

“How...how am I supposed to make you proud when I can’t even hold a bottle correctly?” With the last words, the dam conjured of pure will that had been holding the river of tears at bay, broke, and once more they were crying in front of him. 

No more hesitation, no more prideful priorities, he held MC’s face with both hands, guiding them close to his body as he gave them a hug. They felt so small in his arms. He almost let out a laugh, but kept it to just a puff in his chest. He had no idea that the reason why they were so flustered was because their pride was wounded. He should’ve been one to know. He would’ve been upset too were he to be in their shoes. 

He found himself stroking their head, enveloping them in his embrace as he looked absentmindedly at the clean spot where all this had started in the first place. How much longer would MC have kept this from him had they not accidentally lost their grip? How much longer would he have unknowingly put pressure on their shoulders? 

“I am proud,” he told them, and MC’s shuddering shoulders started to halt. “Proud of your strength. Proud of your patience to deal with my...eccentric siblings. Proud of your stubbornness...even if it does sometimes drive me mad.” He swore he almost felt them laugh against his body, it brought a small smile to his face that he was thankful MC couldn't see. “You are not a burden,” he assured them sternly. “There are things that, even without magic, you’ve been able to accomplish where no other living being has.” He took them by the shoulders and moved them back so he could look at their face. “Be prideful of the things you’ve done, of the person you are. And if you cannot…” He lifted their chin with one hand, and then pressed his lips to their forehead. His lips were warm, almost even warmer than the words that spilled from them. It left MC’s mind fluttering. They couldn’t remember why they thought he was ever so cold. He parted from them, but the touch from his lips still felt like it lingered. “At least know I forever will be.”

[lunaserenade]

Cloak and Dagger

Masterlist

Author’s Note: The fic that no one asked for and took me a month to write 😂 Thank you to @reddead-trash, @toomanystoriessolittletime, @icanbeyourjedi, and @sugarontherims​ for enduring my ramblings and reading through my MANY drafts. Also I threw straight up shade to my Florida senator Rick Scott in this. *chef’s kiss*

Paring: James ‘Bucky’ Barnes x F!Reader

Words:  2.2k

Warnings: None

Summary: To stop a corrupt politician you and Bucky must go undercover at a campaign fundraiser.

***

It was a warm and humid summer afternoon in Delacroix, Louisiana as Sam Wilson and James 'Bucky' Barnes worked idly on giving the ‘Paul and Darlene’ a fresh paint job. Bucky had come down to visit for the weekend, helping out wherever he could while he and Sam worked on finding new leads about a disturbing rumor they had been hearing. There were whispers of a scientist who was attempting to recreate the super soldier serum, although there had been attempts over the decades it was looking like this one was credible. The shrill ring of Sam's phone cut into the tranquil silence by the water, Bucky watched Sam Wilson with mild interest as he spoke quickly on the phone.

“Well I haven’t heard from you in a while. ” Sam said, an impish smile on his lips as he looked at Bucky. “That’s great news. I think I have the perfect person for you. We’ll be there tomorrow night.”

“... what did you just sign me up for?” Bucky said with a sigh as Sam hung up. 

“We’re going to DC to help a friend out. You’re going to need a suit.” Sam replied, entirely too amused for Bucky’s liking. 

***

True to his word the next evening Sam was knocking on your apartment door, greeting you with a huge hug and introducing you to his tall, dark, and very handsome friend.

“This is Bucky, he’s the one I mentioned. He’ll be fantastic back up.” Sam said, clearly getting great joy out of the situation.

“What exactly are we doing anyway?” Bucky said with a raised eyebrow.

“Sam told me to keep an ear to the ground about any rumors of someone trying to recreate the super soldier serum, while I was gathering intelligence on a possible corrupt senator from Florida I found out he’s funding it. Tomorrow night is a fundraiser for his reelection campaign, I need to sneak into his office and get the name of the scientist he’s funding so we can squash his reelection and this new attempt at the serum.” You explained as you took a seat in your living room with them.

“Too many people can recognize me on The Hill, I’ll be spotted easily. That’s why she needs you, someone who can go a little more unnoticed when needed.” Sam affirmed.

“And you’re positive this senator is the one masterminding the whole thing?” Bucky queried.

“Absolutely, he bounced the money through several dummy accounts, but we managed to track it back to him. I need you to meet me here tomorrow night, we’ll be going into the event as Mr and Mrs. Sandoval. I had a contact intercept their invitation so we could get in.” You said matter-of-factly. As you studied Bucky you found yourself suddenly looking forward to the event tomorrow night, having a gorgeous man in a suit by your side was definitely a perk. Especially one who you knew could keep up in a fight if needed, from what Sam had told you about him. You had heard of The Winter Soldier, hell who hadn’t, but you were never one to judge someone by their past. If Sam said he was solid, he was solid. 

“Sounds like you have this pretty planned out, what if something goes sideways?” Bucky asked

“I think both of us can handle thinking on our feet.” You said with an arched eyebrow. “Unless you’re having cold feet.”

“... I’ll be here at seven.” Bucky said with a small huff, slightly offended by your implication, much to your amusement. Sometimes a kick in the pride was all you need to get a man motivated.

***

You were attempting to zip up your dress when you heard the sharp raps on your apartment door, holding it closed with one hand you opened the door for Bucky with the other. It would be a blatant lie to say that the sight of him in the well-fitted suit didn’t make your mouth water and as you took in the full view of him with greedy eyes you saw he was smiling as he walked into the living room.

“Does the suit pass your inspection?” Bucky mused.

“You clean up well, sir.”  You replied with a coy smile. “Can you help me with this zipper, I can’t get it for the life of me.” 

“I-... of course.” Bucky stammered, slightly flustered as you turned around, your dress unzipped until right above the swell of your ass. Ever so careful he reached out and slowly dragged the zipper of your dress up, his fingers lightly grazing your back, giving you goosebumps. 

“Thank you.” You said, a faint blush creeping across your cheeks, as you turned to face him.

“What’s your plan for tonight?” Bucky asked as he attempted to adjust his tie.

“We need to get into his office, my contact said there is a folder with all the information I need in his desk.” You smirked and arching an eyebrow at Bucky.

“Sounds fairly straightforward. What’s the catch?” He queried.

“He is starting to suspect someone has been poking into his new ‘business venture’ so there is increased security on the office floors.” You gave him a sly grin “We need to get in and out without being seen. Although I’m not opposed to light violence if it comes to that.”

“Duly noted,” Bucky said with a laugh and he offered you his arm. “Are you ready for this?”

“Let’s take this bastard down.” You said, slipping your arm in his and headed out of the apartment.

***

The building had a beautiful conference center was absolutely gorgeous, you had to admit. High vaulted ceilings with the soft glowing light of chandeliers hung overhead as you and Bucky walked arm in arm, the click clack of your stilettos' on the tile echoing in the lobby with each step. A well dressed young man stood just in front of the entrance, taking invitations from the various guests as they entered. Bucky reached into his suit pocket and presented the gold leaf embellished invitation to him.

“Mr and Mrs Sandoval?” He asked as he checked his list.

“Indeed.” You replied and wrapped an arm around Bucky’s waist, tucking yourself into his side. You had to be convincing, or at least that was the excuse you were going to use.

“Senator Scott thanks you for attending, enjoy your evening.” The young man stated as he gestured toward the room and stood to the side.

Bucky led you around the conference room, his hand resting on your lower back, as you both surveyed the room. You gave his side a light squeeze and nodded towards an ‘Employees Only’ door.

“There is supposed to be a stairwell through there. The senator’s office is on the seventh floor.” You said softly and Bucky nodded.

“Security looks light down here, mostly around the Senator, we should be able to slip through easily enough.”

“Famous last words.” You grinned and made your way towards the door, waiting for a moment outside before quietly slipping through. The two of you made your way quickly down the hall and into the stairwell. You quickly regretted your choice in footwear as you climbed the seven flights with Bucky, but managed to keep pace with him. Just as you were about to open the door to the seventh floor corridor Bucky reached out to stop you.

“Someone’s coming.” His voice barely above a whisper, he pulled you close and stepped behind the door. “I can knock him out but it won’t give us much time in the senator’s office before someone finds him”

"You know this is a stupid idea, right?" You said as you peered around him.

"I do." Bucky affirmed

"And that it could fail spectacularly, probably ending in injury?" You pinched the bridge of your nose in frustration.

"More likely his than mine, but yes." Bucky gave you a grin that could only lead to trouble.

"... alright let’s do this." You said, squaring your shoulders as you heard security approach the door. The poor security guard never stood a chance. As soon as the door shut behind him Bucky had him in a choke hold, a hand over his mouth to stop any cries for help. You were impressed, the ease and speed with which Bucky took him down was almost elegant. He lowered the now unconscious guard to the ground, just behind the door, and reached for your hand.

“Ready?” He grinned, clearly pleased with himself.

“Always.” His goofy confidence and glee rubbing off on you as you hurried down the hall hand in hand with him.

“This is his office, cover me.” You said quickly, hiking your dress up to reveal a thigh gun holster and a lock pick set tucked behind the gun against your leg. Bucky’s eyes raked over your body and he felt an expected surge of lust run through him as he turned to block you from view and keep a lookout. Within a minute you had the lock picked and held the door open for him.

“Age before beauty.” You grinned at him and gave a wink, earning an eye roll in return. 

The office was large, a wall of books sitting behind the senator’s desk,

“How long do you think we have?” You muttered as you began to pick the lock of the desk.

“Three or four minutes, tops.” He replied, listening closely at the door for any sounds of movement outside the office.

“Good, I only need two.” The lock turned with a click and you quickly riffled through the drawer. “Ah ha! I’ve got it. Let’s get the hell out of here before we get caught.”

The pair of you quickly exited the office, Bucky’s hand lingering on your lower back as you walked out together. You weren’t sure if it was the cool metal of his hand on your lower back giving you goosebumps or being so close to him, but there was no time to sort through that as you heard voices coming from down the hall.

“Have you seen Brady? I didn’t see him on the rounds on the sixth floor.” A male voice said and you felt your heart race. There was no way to sneak out without being seen and you needed to think quickly. You backed up against the wall and tugged Bucky close, his chest bumping lightly against yours as he steadied himself.

“What are you doing?” He whispered as you pulled him tightly against your body.

“Trust me, this is the only way we’re getting out without fighting our way out.” You said quickly and reached for his face, crushing your lips to his. You could feel him stiffen in shock at first but as he wrapped his arms around you he eagerly responded, parting your lips with his tongue to deepen the kiss. For a moment the world around you faded away as you tugged him closer, fingers threading through his hair until you heard security shout.

“HEY! YOU TWO! This is a restricted floor!” The guard shouted, as he stomped his way down the hall towards both of you. You pulled away from Bucky reluctantly, staring up into his blue eyes.

“I’mmmm sorry, We got a bit lost, didn't we baby?” You slurred your words dramatically, slipping into the role of a drunken couple who couldn’t keep their hands off each other.

“Mmm, yes we did.” Bucky pulled you close, pressing a sloppy kiss to your hair. “Let’s go get another drink, honey.”

“I think you both have had more than enough.” The guard rolled his eyes, clearly fooled, and gestured to the elevator. “Come on, I think it’s time for the pair of you to leave.”

“Alriggggght alright, damn man. No need to get in a huff.” Bucky slurred, holding his hands up in ‘defeat’. Wrapping an arm around your shoulders he guided you to the elevator.

“Buzzkill.” You muttered at the guard as the door slid shut. The moment you were alone you rested your head on Bucky’s chest, his heart beating wildly and it wasn’t because of the guard. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

***

“Do you do this a lot?” Bucky murmured as you exited the building, a full moon hanging overhead in the evening sky.

“Break into government officials' offices for dirt or kiss gorgeous men to get out of a sticky situation?” You replied with an impish grin and shivering in the night air.

“Both.” He laughed as he tugged off his suit jacket and draped it over your shoulders.

“I do what I need to to get the job done. As for the second part? You could always give me a call and find out.” You bit your lip, feeling bold.

“Maybe I will.” Bucky grinned and slipped a vibranium arm around your waist.

Bucky called the next night.

***

tagged: @diva-1992, @yespolkadotkitty , @sarahjkl82-blog, @seasonschange-butpeopledont, @mrsparknuts , @disgruntledspacedad, @mrschiltoncat, @giselatropicana , @sugarontherims , @cynic-spirit , @supernaturalgirl, @farfromjustordinary, @buckstaposition , @evelynseventyr,  @emesispo, @theamuz , @keeper0fthestars

[random-imagines-blog]

Hysteria {Henry Wu x Reader}

Requested by: Anonymous Wordcount: 2793 Summary: You’re an up and coming scientist hand chosen by Henry Wu to be a part of his team at Jurassic World. But you feel for him in ways more than a boss and a team member should. Warnings: Contains spoilers of Jurassic World; and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

You had the feeling that something bad was going to happen the whole time that you were working on the top secret project with Dr. Henry Wu. But you wanted to trust it because you trusted him whole-heartedly. The Indominus Rex was really a huge innovation in genetics, and you were honored to be a part of it. Being one of the younger scientists working inside of Jurassic World meant that you were often skipped over, considered to be too youthful to have the experience needed. But Dr. Henry Wu took a chance on you, and you had proved yourself, becoming one of the head scientists on the project. And you were very grateful to him for doing that. Maybe grateful wasn’t the right word. You weren’t an English major, but perhaps the word you were looking for was smitten. That seemed to fit the ticket.

Who wouldn’t be attracted to an older, very intelligent and handsome mentor? You admired his brain as well as that crooked smile that he rarely had in the lab but seemed to give to you a couple of times a month. With his serious demeanor, you couldn’t ask for much more than that. The only thing that you didn’t fully admire was his constant need to put the work in front of lives. Not only those of the other scientists, working you day and night on little sleep to get a project done and not alerting others to what sort of DNA he was extracting. But those of the patrons of the park. He wasn’t in it for the people, the fame, the money. He was in it for the creativity. The mad genius, some of your colleagues would call him behind his back.

But as long as things continued on smoothly, things should be fine. As long as the Indominus Rex remained in it’s area, things would be okay. As long as nothing in the slightest went wrong... things should be okay.

But chaos started to happen. Voices came over the loud speaker that the project you had been working on with Henry, the very dangerous dinosaur that you had created - it was loose.

Henry didn’t want to go. After he had been told that there was a helicopter ready to take you and him off to safety, he stayed standing around, watching the chaos. “Dr. Henry, we really should go,” You said, putting your bag with your few personal belongings and some scientific equipment over your shoulder. It seemed unlikely that you would ever be returning here. All of your work - and it was just going to get killed. You couldn’t bear to watch, though you understood how much of a danger the Indominus Rex could be if out of its confines. Safety first, science second.

“All of this ... exists because of me,” He said, looking at the monitors which would probably be shut down very soon. “And now, it will be gone.”

“But think of what else that you could create out there,” You said, watching as the last of the other scientists left. You would be missing the flight if you stayed much longer. And this was not a place you wanted to be if your creation was still wandering around. “But you’re not going to have a chance to if you don’t get your butt on that chopper!”

He sighed, but he did eventually give you a smile. “Go and save me a seat,” He asked and you nodded, taking his permission to leave. But as you walked through the white halls, then ascended the staircases, you wondered if he was going to pull some sort of stunt. Try to stay behind and save all of his work. The chopper was almost filled, and you jogged towards it, a man extending his hand to help you aboard. You took it and took your seat, noticing that there was only one left. You put your bag on your lap, secured your seatbelt and waited, just hoping, just hoping...

Eventually the door to the roof opened, and Wu came jogging, only a single bag with him. He seemed a little out of breath as he approached the chopper, and this time you were the one that got up and offered your hand, pulling him aboard. He collapsed next to you, wiping a bit of sweat off of his forehead. “Thanks,” He said, and you nodded in response.

-

You continued to work with Dr Wu on many different projects, but most of them concerned dinosaurs. You had different agendas, him wanting to see how far that he could take science, and you having an actual love of the dinosaurs. You grew very invested in each and every one, so the events that happened at Jurassic World had broken your heart. But at least you still had your specimens, your DNA, all of it, in the lab. You practically lived there now, as did Henry. Living off of take out and taking turns sleeping on a small couch took a bit of a toll but you wouldn’t change where you were for the world.

“Did you finish the chinese food?” Henry asked. You looked over to see that he was deep in the only fridge that was for personal use, his rear sticking out beyond the door. You gave a grin at that, took out your cellphone and snapped a picture because the image was just a little too adorable for the otherwise-grumpy scientist. “Y/N?”

“Yeah, I did, sorry,” You said, putting your camera into the pocket of your ever-present white coat before he caught a glimpse of it. “Maybe we should go out for dinner tonight. How long has it been since you’ve set foot outside?”

The fact that Henry was silent, and actually had to think about it, made up your mind. “There’s an Italian place just down the street, we could walk? I know I need the exercise.”

“I guess I could use a break,” Henry said, and his stomach gurgled in response making you laugh. “I’ll be ready in .. twenty minutes?”

“Sounds good to me,” You said with a nod, and went to your own personal little cubby where you kept your belongings. Your heart was beating fast as you looked through your clothes to find something a little more special than what you usually threw on to be around the lab. Pushing past all of the white clothing, you spotted a bit of color. The blue dress that you wore to the opening of Jurassic Park years ago, still in it’s dry-cleaning bag. You unzipped it and took a look at the fabric, feeling it between your fingers, wondering if it still fit. Would it even be appropriate for something like this? Would Henry even notice that you were wearing something that wasn’t your usual lab attire?

So many questions went through your mind, and cut through a big chunk of time. Henry would be ready soon. So, as they say in science - fuck it. You pulled your coat off, and put on the dress, only to find that it fit absolutely perfectly, just like it had all of those years ago. You weren’t even sure why you had kept it for so long. You never had reason to dress up anymore - but then along came Henry, and though he wasn’t concerned much about what humans looked like, you wanted to have something just in case there was a chance. This was that chance.

You didn’t have the right footwear to go with it though, so you went with your walking shoes. They were better than your bulky lab boots anyway. A quick brush of the hair, a touch of chapstick, and you met up with him in the hallway. And to your surprise, he had dressed up somewhat as well. And if you didn’t know any better, you might think that he was blushing, just a little. “Are you ready?” He asked, in his usual upfront and business like manner, making you snap out of any hopes that you had. You gave a nod, and together, went out to the restaurant, staying close for warmth against the wind that had picked up in the last few minutes.

The dinner had gone well, and for the first time, he seemed to open up about things other than work. You’ve never heard about his childhood before, but he was giving you little glimpses into it. He had always had an affinity for science, and had originally thought about becoming an actual MD. But a trip to a museum and seeing the pictures of dinosaurs had opened up something in his brain, had started him on that course. You opened up a little about yourself as well, but you had never been as guarded about your life before work as he had been. Your own love of dinosaurs had come when you had heard about Jurassic Park. And you had made it your mission since then to work under the highly esteemed Dr. Henry Wu, and you completed that mission.

“It’s been an honor working with you,” He said, lifting his glass of wine to you.

“The honor is all mine,” You said, lifting your glass.

--

Things didn’t change with your new job. You followed Henry, as you would have to the ends of the Earth since you were completely crazy about him against your better judgment, to work for a private company. Creating dinosaurs for auction. God, it felt so wrong. You thought that every time that you ran tests, or experimented with the DNA. You were creating things that could destroy the world as you know it. Not just an island. Not just a park. But the entire world since you were on the mainland.

And things went wrong. The prototype was apparently sold, but then the dinosaurs began to escape because of a couple of former co-workers, and people around you were dying. Again.

“I think we need to stop, Henry,” You said from the driver’s side of the car that you stole, speeding away from the mansion, probably breaking about fifty laws while peeling out of there. And your heart broke at all of the lives that had been lost because of you and Henry. Because of what you had created. “All that we’re doing is killing people. We’re creating life, and then it’s getting destroyed so it’s barely even life at all.”

Henry remained silent for a couple of minutes, his head against the window, looking out in front of you. You knew you were lucky to have even gotten him out of there. All he wanted to do was run to the basement, where the dinosaurs were, and get the samples. But when you heard the bidding for the prototype, your brain had just completely given up on all of the work. You just couldn’t put yourself, or other people, in that position anymore.

“Pull over,” Henry requested, pulling you out of your thoughts. You still figured you were too close to the mansion to be anywhere near safe, but you moved the car to the shoulder of the road  nonetheless. You kept the key in the ignition but you turned the engine off to save gas. Or electricity, you didn’t even know - you didn’t check what kind of car it was.

“What is it?” You asked, looking over at him. His face was awash with orange light from the streetlight above him. He looked stressed, he looked a bit angry even.

“Without my work, I am nothing. That is something that you could never understand-”

“No, you’re right,” You interrupted. “That is something that I just - can’t understand. And I don’t even want to try. You put work above everything else, including the lives of other people. Including your own life. Like, Henry, do you not understand how lucky we are that we just got out of there? So many people didn’t make it.”

“I realize that-” Henry said, then it was like the enormity of the situation hit him. “They’ll be loose.”

“And it’s going to be a whole different world because of that,” You said with a frown. “And as the creator of these things... we’re probably going to be hunted down and put before the grumpiest jury to ever exist.”

“Fuck,” He said, rubbing his lips, running his hands through his hair. He was jittery, and it wasn’t from coffee. It was from the realization of what he, and you, had done.

“So we really need to get out of here and find somewhere to bunker down for a while,” You sighed. You wished you knew of a place where you could go, but nowhere would be welcoming to you right now. Your only intention was to drive and drive and drive and hope that the police were too busy with dinosaurs to realize that you were in a stolen car. As far away from here as possible.

“Shouldn’t we separate?” Henry asked. “It’s me they’re going to be coming for. You can still get out of this...”

“I’m just as responsible as you are - and I don’t have anyone else, Henry. And - I don’t want to be with anyone else. I’ve gotten quite adjusted to your company,” You admitted.

He looked at you for a long while. You could feel the weight and the intensity of that gaze, and it made you feel uncomfortable. Your fingers tapped against the steering wheel, waiting for him to say something.

“Let’s drive,” He said, and you nodded. It wasn’t what you had wanted to hear, but it was better than nothing. You started the car back up and continued along the road, watching as the sun started to come up on the horizon. People would be waking up and turning on the news soon. And their lives would be changed forever.

“I don’t know where we’re going,” You said, as you came to a stop at a red light. You looked over at Henry again only to find that he was still looking at you. He looked like he wanted to say something, which was an odd expression because he rarely ever took the time to stop and think about what was going to come out of his mouth. “What are you thinking?”

“That it doesn’t matter where we go,” He said, slowly. “I want you there.”

Your heart started to beat again, quickly, though it had just started to slow down to a normal pace. I want you there - those words would be echoing through your mind forever. “I love you.”

You hadn’t even meant to say it but it slipped out. Everything was coming out tonight. Dinosaurs, the disgusting and greedy nature of men to own everything - and the truth.

“You’re young,” Henry said after a moment’s silence. “I am nearly twice your age.”

“Exactly. I’m young, and you still took a chance on taking me on as a part of your team. That means that you saw something in me that a lot of people just refused to look at. But it’s okay if you don’t love me back, Henry, I can live with that. But I guess I couldn’t live without not telling you.”

Henry was not an emotional person. In fact, he was either very concentrated on his work, or he was frustrated from not being consumed by his work. It was one or the other, so you weren’t expecting much to come from him. He had even tried to give you a logical reason not to care about him. But love wasn’t the most logical thing in the world. He knew that from experience. You were in diapers while he was getting his PhD. He had no reason to be feeling things things for you. But yet...

“I love you too.” He said. And he reached out and put his hand on top of yours on the center console, his rough hands - cut up from broken beakers over the years - felt warm against yours. You took a glance over at him, feeling touched that he made even that little move.

The light turned green. You kept looking at Henry, up until there was an angry honk from a car behind you. You laughed and pressed down on the gas pedal, running away from your problems, and going towards the brand new world.

[15-dogs]

flustered |c.d.|

pairing: cedric diggory x reader (fem!reader)

summary: you’re cedric’s best friend and you realize you have feelings for him so you want to ask him to the yule ball !!

warnings: none

guide: (Y/N) = your name, (Y/L/N) = your last name

word count: 1949

One week. One week until the Yule Ball and you still hadn’t mustered up the courage to ask Cedric. It was a little bit pathetic in your opinion seeing as he was your best friend, but you just couldn’t do it.

A couple months prior, Cedric casually mentioned that he’d be entering the Triwizard Tournament. Naturally, you freaked out on him, begging him not to enter. Every single moment of every single day you would hound him about it, saying you couldn’t see him risk his life to prove something. Fortunately, he relented and decided not to put his name in.

However, what he said to you that night after your wave of relief had struck worry in your heart: “Merlin, (Y/N), if I didn’t know any better I’d say you fancy me.”

His teasing was like a slap in the face. How could you not have noticed before? You were mad about the boy! But instead of admitting that to him and giving him the satisfaction, you simply let out a nervous laugh.

It was a known fact to all of your friends that you got easily flustered. An over-talker, if you will. Like in your 2nd year you had fallen madly in love with the Head Boy. So one day when you got lost on your way to classes, he offered to help you and you told him that you got new shoes that you were almost too excited to break in and you were really happy with the uniform’s choice in footwear and what brand are these anyway? Needless to say, it wasn’t your proudest moment.

That fear was the reason why you were absolutely not excited in any way, shape, or form to sit with Cedric during History of Magic. Your heart pounded in your chest, increasing speed as you settled in next to him.

“What took you so long?” he asked. “I haven’t seen you all day!” You rolled your eyes at him as you fished your parchment from your bag.

“One class, Cedric. It was one class that we didn’t have together.”

“Your point being?”

A smirk tugged at your lips as you turned to look at him, but his close proximity to your face had your breath catching in your throat. You clenched your jaw, hoping not to say something stupid. Unfortunately, you weren’t so lucky.

“Well, you see, before I had Divination prior to this― a class which you don’t have― and that is about 45 minutes long on Mondays. On Wednesdays, however, that is quite the different story! I have a double then so-”

“Do I make you nervous?”

Your body froze. Why couldn’t you be quiet for once? You slowly turned your head towards Cedric who eyed you lazily, his chin resting in his palm, a grin on his face. You internally groaned at his handsomeness, scolding yourself for not just telling him straight out how you felt.

Instead, you cleared your throat and said, “What would give you the impression?”

Cedric chuckled and sat up, shaking his head. “Nothing, love, nothing.”

Only five more days and you still hadn’t said a word about the Yule Ball to Cedric. No, rather than risking you running your mouth at him again, you had taken to avoiding him and you did it like a champ. Switching seats in classes, picking up extra credit assignments, eating your meals in the kitchens. It was all fine and dandy until Cedric picked up on it by the second day; and you really thought that you were in the clear.

You spoke to Professor McGonagall about an essay that you didn’t do quite well on after class, assuming that Cedric had filed out with the rest of the group.

“I think that you could use some extra help,” McGonagall claimed. She looked over your shoulder, waving someone on from behind you. You wished you hadn’t turned around. “Mr. Diggory is one of my top students and I’m sure that he’d be willing to provide tutoring to you, wouldn’t you, Mr. Diggory?”

Cedric nodded profusely. “Absolutely, professor. You know, with classes over for the day, we can get started now. Do you mind if Miss (Y/L/N) and I use the classroom, professor?”

“I’m actually busy!” you practically shouted. McGonagall jumped while Cedric eyed you with confusion, causing you to cringe. “Sorry, I, um, am helping Professor Trelawney with some of her younger students today. Maybe another time.”

Your eyes glued to the floor as you scurried from the room, blocking out Cedric’s cries after you. It wasn’t until you made it to Trelawney’s room that you felt like you could breathe again.

“Three days!” your friend Beatrice reminded you. “If I have to see you pine over Diggory three more days then I might as well lose it. Ship me off to Azkaban!”

“Be quiet, would you!” you whispered hotly, tugging at her robe sleeve. “Anyone could hear you!”

“Merlin, that would be a miracle! Then someone could solve this for you― they could just tell the boy that you fancy him instead of going back and forth on an obvious decision.”

You scoffed. “Obvious decision? And what would that be?”

“Are you being thick on purpose? Just tell him how you feel! Poor boy is mad about you anyway.” You stopped Beatrice midstride.

“Mad about me? Really?” Rings of blush formed on your cheeks. “What makes you think so?”

“He only really listens to you. Do you think if I asked him not to enter the tournament that he would’ve listened? Absolutely not!”

You scuffed your heeled feet on the stone tiling. “Yeah, but I’m persuasive. I haven’t known him half as long as you have.”

Beatrice moved her hands erratically to emphasize her words. “That’s exactly my point! Diggory has been friends with you for what? 3 years, maybe? And he acts like he’s known you your whole life. Don’t stand here and pretend that the boy doesn’t like you even a little.”

Your heart swelled. Maybe Beatrice had a point. Even if he did like you, you were still nervous about asking him to the ball. Beatrice seemed to sense that uncertainty in you and placed a comforting hand on your shoulder.

“Worst he’ll do is say no. And if he does say no, pretend like you were asking him as a friend.”

Ah, Beatrice. Always with the sage wisdom.

Her words were the reason that you darted into the Hufflepuff common room in hopes of spotting a familiar mop of blond curls. However, he was nowhere to be seen. You huffed, exiting the common room. As soon as you stepped out, you heard voices down the hall. You hated eavesdropping but you felt as if your feet were bolted the floor, leaving you no choice but to listen.

“I know why you’re so nervous around me,” Cedric’s voice sounded, echoing all around you.

“Why’s that?” an unfamiliar girl’s voice replied.

“You fancy me, don’t you?”

“I...what?”

Your heart dropped into your stomach. You felt as if you were going to be sick. Every part of your body screamed for you to run but you still couldn’t move.

“I fancy you, too,” admitted Cedric. “Would you go to the ball with me?”

Hot tears pooled in your eyes and you finally were able to pull yourself away, darting back into the common room. You marched up the stairs to your dorm, cheeks turning red from embarrassment at all the eyes on you. Once you made it to your bed, you drew the curtains, reprimanding yourself for being so foolish to think Cedric Diggory would ever like you back.

The Yule Ball was tomorrow and you weren’t going. Not with Cedric, not with your friends, not by your lonesome. You just wouldn’t do it. You didn’t think you could bear the sight of Cedric with another girl. It was unfair to him, really, because you should be happy for him― he was your friend! But you knew it would hurt too much which is why you were in a rotten mood for the day.

“Professor McGonagall, I can work on my essay myself-” you begged. McGonagall tutted, shaking her head.

“Miss (Y/L/N), you don’t get that option anymore. Mr. Diggory and yourself will be working together in my classroom now. I will be in my office if you need me but I expect you two to be working. If this essay is not finished by tonight, you won’t receive a grade for it.”

Your eyes trailed after McGonagall as she left the room, your gaze locking on Cedric at the back. You felt a pit form in your stomach and your mind began to race for an excuse but there was no point; you couldn’t risk failing an essay just because you had a stupidly huge crush on your best friend.

“Hi-” 

You barely managed to get your words before Cedric blurted, “I know why you’re so nervous around me!”

You blinked in shock. Wait, didn’t Cedric say that to the girl last night? You pushed down that memory, not wanting to dredge up your sorrows in front of the person who caused them. Everything that was going on was a whole new range of terrible. So instead of focusing on how awful and anxious you felt, you cleared your throat and asked, “Why’s that?”

Way to avoid the topic, you scolded yourself.

You swore you saw Cedric let out a sigh of relief. He sucked in a sharp breath, exhaling as if he were trying to calm himself down.

“You fancy me, don’t you?”

Nope, time to run. In fight or flight, you were almost always flight. As you ran towards the door and pushed past Cedric, your body went rigid recalling the memory from two nights ago. You slowly turned around, cocking your hip as you studied the boy in front of you.

“Okay, what is this? Some sort of prank?” you hissed. Now it was Cedric’s turn to be shocked.

“Pardon?”

“I heard you with some girl the other night saying the exact same thing. I’m not a practice dummy, Cedric. You could really hurt someone’s feelings.”

“You heard me?”

“Not by choice,” you grumbled.

“I was practicing asking you out! Cho was pretending to be you.”

You scoffed. “Yeah, and next thing you’ll be saying is you want to take me to the Yule Ball, too.”

“Yes!” he exclaimed. 

He walked up to you so your faces were only inches apart. You held your breath at the closeness, feeling his own breath fan over your face. The way he smelled drove you absolutely crazy: it was like fresh laundry and grass stains, like vanilla and sandalwood. It overloaded your senses but you feigned calm, acting like it didn’t have you weak in the knees.

“You know, (Y/N),” he whispered, “I get nervous around you, too.”

Before you could respond, Cedric leaned in to place a chaste kiss against your lips. Your eyes were wide with shock. As Cedric pulled away, he began to laugh at your expression.

“Data shows that first kisses typically happen on the first date, but it never gets any more heated than a peck, really, but we haven’t even been on a-”

Cedric silenced your anxious chatter with another kiss and your eyes fluttered shut at the sensation. You finally relaxed into his arms, your own hands snaking around the back of his neck. When he pulled away, you met his eyes with a soft smile.

“Are you a little less nervous now?” he asked. You bit your lip in thought, tilting your head.

“One more for good measure?”

[darlingpetao3]

One of Those Days (Harry Wells x Reader)

Rating: G

Summary: How many times can you be embarrassed in one day? Pop, rip, and stumble -- just another one of those days at S.T.A.R. Labs!

A/N: Luckily, in real life, I only ripped my jeans when no one was around me and it was in a place no one could see XD

Taglist: @fandomdancer​ @bluesclues-1234​ @pinkdiamond1016​ @crissymadlock @ensign-tilly

Of course this had to happen to you today.

You hadn’t noticed previously, but now, as you scramble to get ready for work, it’s pretty obvious that your blouse has shrunk a bit in the wash. Have all of your clothes shrunk? There’s no time to check -- this one will have to do. At least it covers my body, you think.

As you rush to make it to work at the Labs, you wish that you could’ve been the one to get hit with lightning amongst various chemicals. Super speed would be super appreciated right now.

Also abs.

Abs would be super appreciated, too.

You stride into the Cortex in as large and fast steps as possible right on the top of the hour.

Success!

“Aww,” Cisco whines, “I was really looking forward to teasing you about being late again today. I had a great line all locked and loaded.”

“Ha! You’ll just have to keep it to yourself,” you reply. Cisco’s teasing was starting to annoy you immensely as of recently. If you had been late today, and had to hear whatever jab the engineer had ready for you, there’s no doubt the rest of Team Flash would have to lock you in the pipeline to avoid committing a serious beat-down.

You raise your palm into the air. “Talk to the hand, Ramon. But good morning to Caitlin and Barry!” The latter two come out from the testing room.

“Hey, you’re here!” Barry exclaims but immediately seems to regret his choice of words. “I mean, ready for the workplace safety briefing?”

“Ugh,” you, Cisco, and Caitlin complain in unison. At least that’s something you can all agree upon. “I guess so, but where’s Harry?”

“I’m here.”

Speak of the devil -- Harry enters the Cortex with photocopies of the supposed safety manual you’re all meant to study.

“I took the liberty of…” he trails off. “(Y/L/N), there’s something different about you…”

“If it’s that I’m on time, yeah, we’re all amazed.”

But Harry’s eyes drop slightly. Oh hell, the shirt is that noticeably tight, isn’t-

POP.

Suddenly, the buttons on your blouse give up in their fight to keep everything closed and secure. They betray you and reveal your bra to the object of your affection.

“Ah-” is the only awkward noise Harry can make. He stares but a second longer, and in that time, his face turns the colour of a tomato before turning his whole body around.

“Oh God, oh God, oh God!” You can’t help but freak out. Instead of jumping out of your skin, you flee the Cortex, but not before shouting, “Carry on the briefing without me!”

The workday has barely started. Are you kidding me?

I guess it’s going to be one of those days, then.

***

After waiting a calculated amount of time and tracking down the stash of wearable S.T.A.R. Labs paraphernalia, you found that the team safety meeting had concluded. Everyone was back to their respective tasks, and you wandered into the medical lab to work with Caitlin. She’s the last one who would tease you.

“So, do you want to talk about what happened this morning?” Caitlin asks you without looking up.

“Oh what, you mean my horribly embarrassing mishap? I can’t believe that happened. In front of Harry no less!”           

After all, Caitlin knows about your giant crush on the scientist. You’re always confiding in her about your hopeless attraction. And you’re certain the others know about the way you feel about Harry, too, just by looking at how you react when you’re around him. The only person whom you suspect is still clueless is Harry himself.

“Yeah, talk about bad luck. He left you a copy of the manual on your desk, by the way.”

You sigh.

“If you’re going to stay in here and avoid Harry all day,” Caitlin continues, “would you mind grabbing me two beakers from the bottom shelf there?”

“Sure thing.”

You sidestep towards the cabinet Caitlin indicated, but when you crouch down, you hear the most frightening sound.

RIIIIIP.

As if every mischievous god in the universe has zoned in on you today, you realize that a huge hole has ripped in the crotch of your jeans. Dammit!! These suckers must have shrunk too!

And wouldn’t you know it, Harry enters the room at this very freaking moment. Your eyes go wide, and Caitlin witnesses your reaction. She understands what has happened and tactically throws you her own S.T.A.R. Labs sweatshirt which had been sitting on the back of a chair.

You catch it expertly and tie it around your waist to hide the colossal tear like your life depends on it.

Harry stops in place, brow furrowed. “What’s with…?” he starts. It must look ridiculous - a S.T.A.R. Labs sweatshirt on top and another identical one tied haphazardly and not in the typical fashion around your waist.

“It’s called style, Wells,” you snap. “What do you want?”

He frowns. “Copper wire. Do you have any spare-?”

A tied band of wire hurtles toward Harry, who grapples at trying to catch the equipment.

“Do I need to remind you of the workplace safety manual, section B?”

“Just go, Wells.”

The perplexed scientist grumbles to himself on his way out of the room.

“Gah, why do my clothes seem to want to destroy themselves every time we’re in the same room?” you ask Caitlin rhetorically. She offers a sympathetic laugh in response.

Later in the day, after you’ve gotten some paperwork and testing done, changed into a full-on walking S.T.A.R. Labs promotion (the joggers are quite nice), and mentally regrouped, you brave a trip to the Workshop.

“Hey,” you say to get Harry’s attention from tinkering with his new gadget. As a reflex, he stands up from his desk at your one, quiet syllable. “I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

“Eh, it’s alright,” he replies, in what you perceive as a fake-gruff voice. He’s not that grumpy all the time. Sometimes you think he feigns it to keep up appearances. Harry moves a little closer in your direction but stops to lean back against his desk. “It’s not like I haven’t snapped at everyone else before. Including yourself.”

“Ha, yeah. It’s just been a weird day.”

“We all have those.”

“Yeah…”

You take a step forward, but the heel of your shoe breaks off and you topple over and into his arms.

“Whoa!”

You look up at Harry, with your face burning like a thousand suns.

“Thanks…” you say a bit breathlessly.

“Not-” he clears his throat, “not a problem.”

“Harry?”

“Yes?”

“I can stand now.”

You purposefully hadn’t uttered the words, You can let go of me, because you didn’t necessarily want that. In all honesty, you could have stayed like that for much longer than the ten long seconds it really was.

“Right, sorry.”

Taking off your shoes, you’re about to make another break for it when Harry says something else.

“(Y/L/N)? You might want to have a look at section C of the manual… improper and mildly dangerous footwear.”

[magpie-scribbles]

Bunny and Flower

Soulmate AU for the server collab!

Pairing: Miruko X F!Reader

Rating: G

Warnings: None, fluff

Honestly you really didn't like to work out late, you were already tired from the day and wanted to go home but...you knew that you would be less stressed and sleep better even if you just got in a thirty minute exercise in. 

So you took the train one stop further and hopped off ready to run and lift all your problems away...maybe even punch them out on one of the boxing dummies.

To be honest you had never planned on going to the gym this late, but a big project was due at the end of the week and your boss was really pushing everyone to put their work in. Ugh...you hated crunch time...and you hated it even more when some of your colleagues didn't pull their weight and you had to stay 4 hours late to pick up their slack. At least your gym was in a nice part of town so you never had to worry about any creeps slinking around; even during the later hours.

Sighing you adjust your duffel bag and your work bag, fingers crossed you had remembered to bring your gym shoes...there was no way they'd let you workout in your office shoes. 

Lucky for you, your early morning self was together enough to remember the proper footwear and you breathe a sigh of relief as you pull your gear out of your bag when you reached the changing room. 

Changing into to your gym clothes you pause to itch at the inside of your wrist...it had been warm and itchy all day, you had hoped that it was just dry skin and not some sort of insect bite; your rather not have some sort of creepy crawly hanging out around your office space or apartment. 

Slathering a little hand lotion on the tender spot you grabbed your water bottle and made your way out of the locker room.

Well at least the one nice thing about the gym at night was nobody was really there. You could hear someone on the upper level moving some weights around but that was it...you had the whole place to yourself.

You itch your wrist on the material of your gym shorts, you really hope it isn't a bug bite…

You walk over to treadmills, deciding a short jog would be the best warm up tonight, not too much and not too little. It also meant you didn't have to focus on anything but running, and honestly, just running and listening to your jams was one of your favorite things about the gym.

Turning the treadmill up to an agreeable speed and popping your earbuds in you started your warm up, falling into the mood easily; already feeling more at ease and less stressed. 

You scratch at the spot again; it didn't help but you continue to ignore it. 

...After twenty more minutes though, it had gone from a tingle to a burn, and it was nearly impossible to ignore it at this point.

Ripping your headphones out and slowing down the treadmill, you get ready to go back into the locker room to get a good look at whatever was going on with your wrist.

"Fucking hell!" You nearly jump out of your skin when you hear a shout followed by the loud clank of weights being dropped.

A pause.

"...Are you okay?" You ask after a moment and a few more unintelligible curses from the upper level reach your ears. And then silence.

You don't receive a further response; that makes you nervous, what if they really hurt themselves?

Grabbing your water bottle you leave the machine and jog towards the stairs to the upper level, hoping that that person using the weights hadn't dropped a bunch of plates on themselves. Maybe you should get one of the staff members first? No you were already halfway up the stairs, you'd just be wasting time at this point. 

The pain in your wrist spiked, your skin feeling like it was burning, but you fight through it as you climb the last step.

It took you a moment to realize who you were staring at; that they were real, in the flesh, in front of you. 

Miruko the rabbit hero, No. 5 on the charts was standing by a loaded up barbell, a displeased look on her face as she rubs at her bicep. Her ears flick when you opened your mouth to say something, what, you weren't even sure at this point. She turns, her look of displeasure falling into a neutral one and then her eyes widen.

"Ummmm…" great you didn't even know what to say to her at this point and you feel like a fool for it. 

"Looks like we got the same problem." She says finally a smirk growing on her face. 

"Wha?" Wow that definitely would impress her.

"Look at your wrist dummy!" She laughs, but her words don't hold any real bite to them...rather, she sounds somewhat excited.

Slowly you look down at your wrist...which wasn't burning in pain anymore...but now, your eyes widen...you can hardly believe it. 

There on your wrist was a small golden bunny, shimmering warmly against your skin.

You stammer and gape at it, you had started to believe that you would never find your soulmate...to be honest you had kind of given up, there were so many people in the world after all. But there it was...your mark, glowing on your wrist...and your soulmate…

Your head snaps back up to look at the rabbit hero before you. She grins back and slides her hand away from her bicep; and there glowing against her dark skin is a golden flower...your favorite.

"You're my...we're soul-" you start, barely able to process the information. 

"Looks like it." She replies and walks over to you with a confidence you could only dream of processing. "Took you long enough to find me!" She teases.

Unsure of how to respond you blurt out the first thing that pops into your head.

"You're really pretty!" Oh my god...you want to crawl into a hole…

Miruko laughs, but it wasn't cruel...in fact it sounded fond.

"You're pretty too." She looks back over to the weights and then back to you. "You wanna be my spotter? And then maybe afterwards we can grab some grub."

After a moment your brain finally powers back up and for the first time in what felt like forever you responded the way you wanted to.

"That would be amazing."

[heysoup]

Fluffy February Day 1 - Fishing

Howdy folks! I’m taking part in the Fallout Fluffy February prompt list this month, hosted by @fluffyfebruary

Every day of this month I’ll be posting my finished prompts under the community tag #fluffyfebruary and on my own blog as #fluffyfeb. I’ll also be cross posting to Ao3, which I’ll link to in each post - so feel free to follow me over there, too!

Chapter 1: A Fisher of Men

Pairing: Butch/Male Lone Wanderer

Summary: Jamie takes Butch out on the Potomac for a fishing trip in the same spot his father had taken him a year prior. What seems to be an uneventful few hours turns into anything but when they find a monster on the other end of their line. Takes place after the events of Broken Steel.

Ao3 Link

“This is fucking boring.”

Jamie shoots Butch an irritated look from where he’s sitting across from the other man in the canoe, his brows drawn together as he tries his damnedest to untangle his fishing line from the third piece of driftwood he’s ‘caught’ that day.

“No shit,” he grumbles, spitting out some mud as he tries to break the line off the wood with his teeth. He lets out a frustrated huff, gripping his rod in both hands as he raises it up and fights the urge to just chuck the whole damn thing into the Potomac. He hears Butch snicker, and he whips his head up.

“You’re like a goddamn feral,” Butch teases with a laugh, reaching over and snatching the rod from Jamie’s grip. He digs in the pocket of his jeans and pulls out his switchblade, flicking it open and carefully beginning to cut the line away from where it’s tangled in the driftwood to try and save as much of it as he can.

He kicks his boots playfully against Jamie’s sneakers, noticing how the canvas high-tops are completely soaked through from the puddle of water they’d managed to slosh into the canoe earlier as they tried ungracefully to board it from the shore. He just shakes his head, a smile on his face, knowing that if he brings up the topic of appropriate footwear to the younger man it’ll just earn him a bruised shoulder.

“This was supposed to be like… meditative or some shit,” Jamie says with a sigh. He rubs his hands over his freckled face and ruffles some of the dust out of his sun-warmed hair. Butch just gives him an incredulous look.

“Where the hell did you get that idea from?” He finishes cutting the driftwood free and tosses it behind him into their small pile of ‘catches’ – which is really just a collection of junk at this point – before reattaching the hook and bobber and handing the rod back to the other man. He leans over and grabs his own fishing pole, squinting against the reflective ripples in the water to check on his bobber. Still absolutely no bites.

Jamie shrugs, suddenly looking a little bashful. “I dunno,” he admits. He reaches back into the salvaged can of cram they were using as bait, tears a chunk out, and works on preparing his hook again. Not like it matters much, he tells himself. He can continue to go through the motions perfectly and not catch a single thing. A little bit like everything else in his life, he thinks bitterly. His fucking bad luck.

After a moment of silence, Jamie continues. “Apparently my family came from a long line of fishermen on my dad’s side. He passed down some stories about it. Told me they were tradition or something.” Jamie shrugs. “Anyway, he taught me that you were s’posed to reflect on yourself out here. Get some peace and quiet.” Jamie finally says. He sucks the excess cram off his fingers, his tongue burning at the sudden saltiness, and casts his line out again, his bobber floating a few feet from Butch’s. Butch looks up at him, snapped out of his own thoughts.

“Huh… like, Wasteland fisherman?” Butch asks, deliberately choosing not to tell him how he thinks the whole ‘peace and quiet’ schtick is a load of brahmin shit and instead focusing on the first part of what he said. He’s always intrigued whenever Jamie tells him about his family, at least after they’d learned that he wasn’t born in the vault. The idea of generations of Arroyo’s managing to survive out here long enough to pop out the rascally kid he sits across from kind of amazes him. He sets his fishing pole back down against the side of the canoe, sure that it would be fine – he hasn’t gotten a single nibble in the past three hours.

“Nah. I’m sure some of them might’ve been, but we don’t really know much about closer generations of my family. We only really knew about some of my prewar family – something about some records my dad’s dad had kept on his terminals after searching our surname through databases in some place that used to process immigrations, or some shit. The occupation listed there was fisherman, apparently.” Jamie finishes and Butch hums thoughtfully, trying to imagine what Jamie’s granddad might have looked like.

Jamie winces when he thinks of his dad and has to shake the thoughts from his head. As if his face reflecting back at him from the clear surface of the clean water isn’t enough of a reminder of what he’s lost of his family and himself to of Project Purity – he looks like his own father’s ghost and even carries his name.

Butch’s fishing pole snapping against the side of the boat brings him back out of his thoughts, and he flinches back away from the canoe’s edge, the quick motion causing him to almost tumble out the other side as the boat sways dangerously.

“I got one!” Butch practically shouts and lunges for the pole, straddling the seat of the canoe and bracing his legs against the floor as he begins an awkward tug-of-war match with whatever is on the other end of his line. Jamie perks up with a huge grin on his face, all thoughts of his troubles momentarily forgotten, and hovers over Butch nervously.

“Make sure you don’t reel in when he’s pulling on the line! And try to give it some slack!” Jamie parrots what his father had taught him on their one and only fishing trip in the Wastes months back and digs around in their mess of a canoe for the rickety net they brought with them. Butch just gives an annoyed grunt, his face crinkled in concentration as he pulls on the line.

“This bastard is fuckin’ heavy!” He complains, giving the rod a yank that rocks their canoe again. Whatever they have hooked is pulling them ever so slightly to the opposite shore and splashing like crazy beneath the water.

“Scoot,” Jamie orders. He tosses the net aside – it’s obvious that whatever’s on the other side of the line won’t fit in it now - and moves on unsteady legs to sit behind Butch, reaching his arms around the other man’s waist and grabbing the fishing pole to help him pull. What the hell are they dealing with here?

By the time they begin to make some progress in reeling the fish in, they’re about halfway to the shore and completely out of breath. Butch laughs hysterically between pulls, his eyes squeezed shut in glee, and Jamie can’t help but laugh in return. His palms are sweaty, his white-knuckle grip on the fishing pole beginning to slip.

“Is it trying to pull us out of the water?!” Butch says suddenly, elbowing Jamie to look at the swiftly approaching shore. They’re hauling ass at this point, almost as if… whatever they hooked had suddenly caught some footing in the shallower water. Jamie’s eyes widen and he immediately lets go of the pole to root around in their bags. As he does, Butch careens forward from the sudden lack of support and just barely catches himself with his elbows against the edge of the canoe. He curses, “CHRIST, Nosebleed! Some warning next time!”

Jamie has only just gotten his hands on Butch’s shotgun when they finally catch a glimpse of their ‘fish’ as it breaks the surface of the water. At this point, they’ve reeled it in pretty close and the wake left behind the huge creature emerging from the stagnant part of the river capsizes their canoe just as they crash into the sandy shore.

With a chorus of yells both men topple over into the shallows. Jamie squeezes his eyes shut and lands on his back with a thud, his arms stretched up over his head holding the shotgun out of the river. The water feels like a cold slap to his face, and he comes back up gasping for air. He looks over to where Butch has landed hard on his ass, noting that the fishing pole is being tugged out of his hands and quickly away from him. He looks and sees the fruits of their labor – an albino Mirelurk with the fishing line wrapped around one claw.

“MIRELURK!” Butch yells, scrambling to his feet and running over to Jamie. He pulls the other man up and grabs the shotgun from him just as the Mirelurk turns toward them and begins clambering over the old canoe that groans and splinters beneath its weight.

“Shoot it! Shoot it!” Jamie practically shrieks and pushes against Butch’s arm, urging him to hurry when the Mirelurk picks up speed and barrels toward them. Butch nods and fights the urge to run, taking a breath and bracing for the recoil as he lines up his shot. Jamie flinches when he hears the crack! of the rounds exploding from the gun and shattering the vulnerable part of the Mirelurk’s fragile front shell. His ears ring from the close proximity of the shot and he grimaces, about to cover them until he realizes the monster is still running full speed toward them. Shit!

He grabs Butch and tackles him to the ground, shoving them out of the way as the huge, mutated crab stumbles past them at an alarming speed and crashes hard into the shore. It lies there face-first in a mound in the sand and they watch it with wild eyes from their position on the ground, ready to book it at any hint of movement, but it’s motionless and quiet – dead.

Jamie rolls off of Butch and flops down next to him, both of them looking up at the endless expanse of bright blue sky as they struggle to catch their breaths.

“Still think fishing is boring?” Jamie snaps and Butch begins to laugh again, the sound starting as a snort and bubbling slowly from his chest before he’s full-on wheezing with laughter. Jamie sits up and looks down at him like he’s insane.

“What about this was funny?!” He asks, shaking Butch’s shoulder. He can’t help but return the grin, though. Seeing Butch happy always manages to make him smile. Butch wipes his hand down his face as he sits up, slinging the shotgun over his shoulder and hopping to his feet. He reaches down to pull Jamie up with him, a huge shit-eating grin on his face.

Jamie’s ears suddenly feel hot as he watches Butch, noticing the endearing gap between his two front teeth and the splash of sun freckles over his now sand-dusted face. He swallows, his heart racing. “What?” He repeats again, his throat dry.

“I caught a motherfucking fish.” Butch beams even more and looks incredibly proud of himself as they turn and walk over to his ‘catch.’ He kicks it with the toe of his boot a few times just to ease his own worries of it springing back to life.

“It’s not a fish! It’s a crab, they’re different.” Jamie argues and crouches down, grabbing the edge of the Mirelurk’s shell with Butch as they flip it over with a heave. Jamie doesn’t mention that technically he did catch it with a fishing pole, and that technically they are going to have it for dinner. He doesn’t want to give Butch the satisfaction, especially considering the only thing he got out of this trip is his collection of stones and driftwood that was currently crushed under their broken canoe.

“It counts.” Butch says, the grin still plastered on his face. He pulls a combat knife out of a holster on his belt and settles down on his knees in the sand, tapping the sharp edge of it against the shell. “Look at this bad boy. You ever see a white one before?”

“It’s an albino, I guess.” Jamie says, leaning close to inspect it. He lifts the claw that’s tangled in their fishing line. “What a mess, we aren’t salvaging this.” He drops it back into the sand with a thud.

“The fuck’s an albino?” Butch asks as he cuts into their prize, grimacing and holding back a gag as he begins to butcher it. Mirelurk is good meat, but it reeks when it’s fresh.

“You know, like that one story Brotch made us read in like 8th grade, Moby Dick? It was about that sea captain and the giant albino whale.” Jamie snickers and walks the few paces back to their canoe. He flips it right-side-up with some effort and drags their valuables out of the muddy water, clicking his tongue in disappointment when he notices their bags are completely soaked through. “You’re lucky he didn’t eat your leg.” He teases.

Butch looks back at him and pouts, blowing a messy curl of his hair out of his eyes. “Yeah, I never read anything ol’ Brotch assigned. Waste of time. Like it would’ve taught me anything useful out here.” He grumbles.

Jamie laughs and drops their stuff next to a rock outcropping near their canoe. It looks like it would provide some decent shelter against the wind and by the looks of their soaking clothes and supplies, they’ll have to stay the night unless they want to catch hypothermia. “Maybe it could’ve taught ya how to catch a real fish.”

“It still counts as a catch!” Butch whines.

“It’s not a fish.” Jamie shoots back in a sing-song voice, biting his tongue to hold back the huge grin that threatens to break through. Butch jumps up from what he’s doing and turns to him, his face red, but mirroring the same smile that Jamie is trying so hard to hold back.

“It. Counts.” Butch grits between clenched teeth puts his combat knife away, buttoning the sheathe into place against his hip. They stare at each other for a moment, their eyes locked in a staring match. Jamie’s grin finally breaks free.

“Does no-“he cuts himself off with a yelp as Butch lunges for him playfully. He laughs so hard he thinks his chest might burst as he takes off in a run down the beach, Butch hot on his heels as he begins to chase him.

He knows Butch’s legs are much longer than his, but he can hold his own – at least for a little while. And even though the inevitable ending is Butch catching him in a tackle, he can’t say he doesn’t enjoy it. It’s something they’ve done since they were boys stumbling around in the grey fluorescence of the vault, constantly finding their way back to each other like it was fate, and it feels like home.

[atamagaii]

medieval au || yoichi && lucy

Footsteps echoed throughout the large chamber as Prince Yoichi paced back and forth; he would occasionally look outside to watch the sky, a pause in his movements as he seemed to consider something.  The minutes seemed to be passing more slowly the more he paced and it was clear he was growing agitated.  His tutor watched him carefully as he flipped through a large tome; he didn’t appear to actually be reading it.  Eventually Prince Yoichi stopped in his tracks and turned to face his tutor.

“Clooney, you must surely have something better to do than sit around and watch me.”

“I do.  However, your incessant pacing, twisted mouth, and overall demeanor tell me that you’re up to something.  As your tutor I thought it best to keep an eye on you before you do something…”  Clooney flipped another page in his large book, glancing down at the words printed on the page for a moment before clapping it shut.  “Utterly and completely stupid.”  He stood up and tucked the book under his arm.  “As you are prone to doing during your bouts of boredom.”  Yoichi scoffed.

“I’ve never done anything even remotely stupid in my entire life.”  He folded his arms across his chest but a rather carefree smile spread across his face.  “Well, perhaps I’ve done a few stupid things, but nothing that requires babysitting.  Did my uncle put you up to this?”  He was no longer joking; his tone was carefully disguised as nonchalance, but Clooney knew better.  The tutor let out a sigh.

“No, he didn't.  I’m keeping an eye on you of my own accord.  You’ve been quite scatterbrained this week.  I noticed you didn’t even try to look at astronomy charts I gave you last Friday.  Usually you at least pretend to study.”  Yoichi bit the inside of his cheek.  Clooney was too observant for his own good.  “You can tell me what’s going on you know; you, in fact, employ me, not the King and Queen.”  Yoichi’s brain moved at lightning speed as he tried to come up with a cover.  He needed Clooney off his ass, and fast.  The sun was just about to set on the horizon -- he needed to get leaving soon.

“Ah, well, since you’re a good friend Clooney, I suppose I’ll tell you.”  Yoichi collapsed onto a lounge couch and draped a hand across his forehead.  “I’m just absolutely lovesick.”  He paused for dramatic affect.  Clooney raised an eyebrow and dropped back into his chair; he crossed one leg over the other to place the book in his lap.

“Go on.”

“Princess Esta -- the beauty herself -- hasn’t written to me in over a week.  I’m just so stricken.  I can’t go on without seeing her wondrous, looping handwriting as she tells me about her week.  I can imagine her delicate hands as she rolls up the parchment -- I’m sure she places a kiss on the seal -- before tying it to her fantastic hawk, who so diligently carries her words to my very bedroom.  When I read them I--”

“Stop, stop, I get the picture.  Have you perhaps considered writing her a letter to see what’s going on?  Maybe she’s waiting to hear from you.  Or she could simply be busy, I’m sure--”

“You know what Clooney, that’s a genius idea.  I’m going to go get some parchment right now and cook up a love poem.  Would you like to help?  You’re quite the wordsmith after all.”

“No, I think I’ll pass on that fascinating opportunity.”  Clooney stood up and tucked the book under his arm once again.  “I suppose I’ll leave you to it then.  Once you’re done composing the love poem of the ages I request you look at the astronomy charts.  I borrowed them from the royal library and I’m sure they’d like them back sooner rather than later.”

“Of course Clooney, anything for you.”  Yoichi watched his tutor let out a small sigh before he approached the archway that led into the main hall.  He continued to lay on the couch until Clooney’s footsteps sounded far enough away that he could escape himself.  Hopefully the other didn’t take it upon himself to write the Princess Esta, who would have no idea what he was talking about.  While Yoichi was quite good friends with the Princess from the neighboring kingdom of Aboolis, he surely wasn’t pursuing any sort of romantic relationship with her.

Once he was sure Clooney was long gone, Yoichi made his way to the entrance to make sure there were no other staff hanging around to bother him.  One of the scullery maids was walking past; Yoichi flashed her a grin as they made eye contact and she giggled.  She scurried off to tell the other maids of her chance encounter.  It appeared he was in the clear as he was careful to creep down the hallway while making as little noise as possible.  He eventually made it to an alcove tucked away in a corner of the castle that few people passed through; there he had stored some clothing for this late evening adventure.

Yoichi traded his fine silken clothing and leather footwear for a beaten traveling cloak, as well as some worn shoes.  He poked his head out of the window to check for anyone below.  There was one person, a knight, readying for nighttime patrol.

“Well met, Sir Luciel!”  He made sure his clothing wasn’t visible as he waved to the knight in question.  Sir Luciel looked up; his visor was, as always, covering his face, so his expression was unreadable, but Yoichi knew he likely looked quite irritated.  That was generally Sir Luciel’s mood around Prince Yoichi.  What exactly the knight disliked about the Prince, Yoichi wasn’t unsure.  There were about a thousand reasons he could think of, but none of them quite stood out.  Luciel gave Yoichi a salute before moving further along the castle wall, each footstep a deafening clunk of pure steel.  The Prince waited for him to turn the corner before descending from the window.  He knew the ivy wasn’t going to hold his weight many more times, so he was going to have to figure out a new way to escape the castle the next time he needed to leave.  That was a problem for another day.

Yoichi was cautious as he attempted to slip into the nearby forest.  Ideally he would use the road to make it to the small village adjacent to the castle, but he couldn’t risk someone recognizing him.  Going through the woods took longer, but only enough that he simply had to pick up the pace.  He expertly navigated through the bramble bushes and the old tree roots that jutted from the forest floor; Yoichi had made this same trip every month for the past two years -- he knew where he was going.

The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon by the time Yoichi made it to the village.  Shops were in the process of closing up; the owners locked the doors as they made their way to the tavern.  This was instrumental to Yoichi’s plan.  He hid in the shadows as he walked towards the village’s main hall -- this was his target.  The treasurer’s emissary exited the main hall and tipped his hat at the knight guarding the front door.

“All done, sir?”  The knight asked.

“Yes, all the money is accounted for.  Tomorrow we’ll load the wagons and head back to the castle.  Keep it safe.”

“As is my duty.”  The knight placed his fist to his chest and bowed his head.  Yoichi rolled his eyes as he watched the exchange.  They were both so full of shit he could hardly stand it.  The emissary finally left; likely returning to his coach for the night.  It didn’t take long for the knight to leave his post.  As every tax day, he would leave for the tavern and come back after a few drinks.  This was Yoichi’s cue.

Once the knight was safely out of sight, Yoichi picked the front lock and slowly opened the front door to the hall, before he quietly closed it behind him.  Concealed within his traveling cloak he had a large sack, which was filled with many smaller sacks.  It was time to go to work.

The Prince opened up the chests that were loaded with the villagers' money; he very deliberately filled each sack with exactly 12 gold coins, 5 silver coins, and 15 copper pieces.  Clooney never gave him enough credit -- his math was excellent.  After filling each small sack, he placed them back in the larger sack and hefted it over his shoulder.  He locked the front door from the inside and exited through the back window.  No one would notice that it was unlocked.

Yoichi slid back into the shadows and waited for the knight to return to his post.  Now it was time to wait for the tavern to close shop; there was never an exact time -- it simply depended on how everyone’s day had been.  He placed the bag against the wall in an alleyway and leaned his back into it as he sat on the ground.  Yoichi was beginning to doze off when he suddenly heard rapid footsteps heading his way.  He barely had time to react before he was pushed on his back with a sword at his throat.

[skybird13]

My Thoughts on Clover’s Introductory Scenes in RWBY vol. 7

Ask and ye shall receive.  

@fairgame-is-endgame​ actually requested that I go off on another long-ass ramble about Clover Ebi. (Okay, full honesty, I don’t know if he was actually expecting another massive post but... it’s happening anyway. Such is life 😉 ). Rambling about Clover and Qrow has been my favorite thing to do since they came on screen together so how could I possibly say no? As the title states, I’ll be focusing primarily on Clover’s introductory scenes back in volume 7 chapter 1, the narrative decisions made by CRWBY in framing and animating those scenes, and whatever other little tidbits I can coax out in the process. 

But first, a quick shoutout to @lady-branwen​ who made an awesome post about these same scenes a few weeks ago I think? You can check it out here and you should definitely check it out. It’s fantastic and we touch on a lot of the same things.

[vol. 7 spoilers ahead]

Also, this thing is freakishly long so I’m going to put it under a cut. Happy reading y’all!

The Lead-In

I was going to start this post off with the first glimpses we get of Clover Ebi’s character, but I think the moments leading up to his arrival are pretty damn important to this analysis, so let’s take a look at how this whole thing is set up. 

The events just before teams RWBY, JNOR, and Qrow are captured by the Ace Ops is one completely focused on the “kids” (Ruby in particular) and their reunion with Penny. Qrow is there but he’s mostly uninvolved in the whole thing, hanging in the background.

The scene shifts focus on to Qrow a little when we get to see his actual reaction to Penny’s return, but he’s still being portrayed in the context of something that doesn’t have a whole lot to do with him personally:

That’s not the best still shot of his somewhat goofy smile but he’s clearly very happy for Ruby and pleased overall with how things are going in Mantle so far. He says something to the effect of Penny’s arrival is a surprise “but not unwelcome. I was honestly expecting things to go a lot rougher.” That line right there is a pretty classic narrative device to signal to the audience that some type of shit is about to go down. The fact that it is said by Qrow himself is pretty significant. This interaction could have been played out by Weiss, Blake, and Yang, and it would have accomplished that same tip-off, foreshadowing effect. Instead, through his delivery of the line, the narrative focus is very subtly shifted to Qrow. This accomplishes a few things: 

1) It reminds us of Qrow’s Semblance and his base-level expectations for just about anything in his life (as if any of us could forget, but this is relevant to a point I’m going to make later). 

2) It transitions Qrow from background to foreground in a narrative sense. Again, Penny’s arrival had very little to do with him personally. He didn’t know her, never interacted with her, and probably would have only heard about her from Ruby (or potentially James, though considering the nature of their relationship in vol 3, I find that highly unlikely). Thus, this shift offers the audience another clue: whatever is about to happen, it will have a lot to do with Qrow specifically. 

3) It establishes the grounds for the subversion of expectations. Point #1 ties into this. Because we are reminded of Qrow’s Semblance and his own personal expectations, we are fully set up to believe that whatever is going to happen next is going to be bad. We expect this because he expects this, and because we have been conditioned to expect the worst when it comes to Qrow. CRWBY absolutely leans against, plays with, and then subverts those expectations entirely, which I will get into when Clover actually shows up. 

4) Closely related to #3 is the fact that it brings out a line of tension surrounding Qrow specifically. What that tension is going to be as of this moment, we have no idea, but we know that it’s going to be closely tied to (if not revolve entirely around) Qrow himself.

5) Because of the shift in focus, it smooths the way for what happens next.

Narrative Focus Shifts Fully to Qrow

This scene right here is where the narrative shift to Qrow reaches completion. The line delivery right before this, which is the last thing said before they are captured, functions as a sort of transitional phase. It does bring Qrow back into the forefront but doesn’t put him center stage. This scene, however, does do that.

Now, from a character’s perspective (i.e. the incoming Ace Ops), if you’re going to make an arrest on a large group of people, subduing the most dangerous member of the group first is probably the best way to go. We can see in this shot where Qrow is standing in relation to the others:

Qrow is by far the most physically imposing and the oldest of the group, which sort of makes him the de facto leader, at least from outward appearances. He’s not out of reach or significantly distanced from any of the kids. The sensible thing would have been to take him out first and then deal with teams RWBY and JNOR. Instead, we get these progressive shots of team JNOR being targeted followed closely by team RWBY.

Then there is a pause in the action. Qrow is left standing alone, as depicted in the header image above, weapon drawn, ready to fight. This pause, like everything else in these scenes, operates on a couple of different levels: 

1) It gives the audience a chance to absorb what’s happening and sets up the Ace Ops to enter the scene. We know from the relatively “gentle” nature of the take-down that whatever is happening, while not ideal, probably isn’t going to be as bad as we (and Qrow) would normally expect. Salem’s agents sure as hell aren’t going to try to capture them all with some fancy bolas; they would just kill them all on sight, with the exception of Ruby. It’s also not Grimm. So the subversion of our expectations starts here.

2) It also functions to completely divert any errant scraps of our attention onto Qrow. Again, the narrative shift is completed in this shot.

3) It reinforces the fact that the following events are going to have a lot to do with Qrow personally. He’s alone in the frame here, the sole center of narrative focus and attention. 

4) Again, this focus paves the way for what happens next.

The Arrival of the Ace Ops and Clover Ebi

With our focus fully resting on Qrow now, he is able to function as the lens through which the audience is meant to experience the next sequence of events. We’re with him when he gets snared. We’re with him when he hits the ground. And we’re with him when the camera pans out to show the kids around him and the arrival of the Ace Ops behind him.

Here is where things get fun.

The first glimpse of the Ace Ops is another massive step in the subversion of expectations. They’re about the furthest thing from threatening that we can probably get while still maintaining some level of weight in the scene. They’re uninformed, which is typically not a bad thing (it lets the audience know that they’re likely some sort of official Atlas patrol force) and their postures are not aggressive in the slightest. It’s made pretty clear that we’re not meant to be overly concerned with them, which means that the tension of our main cast being in any sort of danger disintegrates almost instantaneously.

So where does the tension go, you may ask?

To the dramatic entrance of Clover Ebi, of course! More specifically, it goes to the fact that while all of the other Ace Ops are introduced as a group, Clover is deliberately and carefully singled out, just as Qrow was singled out in the scenes directly preceding this. 

Remember that Qrow is supposed to be the lens for the audience in this whole sequence. Now take a look at the way that Clover’s damn boot is framed. Remind you of anything? 

(This man and his whole portrayal by CRWBY is so deliciously extra, I swear.)

From the very beginning, the scenes between Qrow and Clover are framed in such a way that, even when not spatially close to one another, they are still depicted as being together. Connected. And it all starts with the hilariously deliberate placement of that damn boot.

Now, I’m not saying this is where the romantic tension begins (that comes in chapter 3). It’s a little hard to introduce it when Qrow is tied up on the ground and all we have is some footwear from Clover (unless you’re that kind of person, in which case... god’s speed to you). But it does set it up to come into play later in the volume. 

The fact that we don’t get to see Clover directly is also pretty significant and, once again, this decision does more than one thing for the story. 

1) As I stated, Clover is singled out. This is accomplished not only by his delayed entrance into the scene and the fact that he enters from the complete opposite direction of his team, but also because we don’t get to see him right away. You know who sees him first? Qrow. And because we’re meant to experience the scene through Qrow, our attention and curiosity are immediately piqued because we’re being denied something that he already has: a view of Clover.

2) It kicks up dramatic tension, which at this point I’m pretty sure is almost a necessity to Clover the way oxygen is for the rest of us, but on a narrative level it really works out. Despite the fact that everyone has just been apprehended, in these moments of Clover’s appearance and Qrow’s reaction, the Teams and the Ace Ops are 100% in the background. The narrative focus at this point has not only shifted but has completely inverted from the norm, putting full focus on these two characters as opposed to Ruby or any of the others or even the group as a whole. This is, by the way, the nature of nearly all of Qrow’s and Clover’s scenes together, no matter how brief. CRWBY bookends them out (usually through key visual cues, such as the not-quite-over-the-shoulder thing), lingers exclusively on them for a time, and then shifts right back into the main narrative structure. This is not something that can be achieved accidentally.

3) It really does this amazing thing where the focus is bounced around between Clover and Qrow until we realize that we’re supposed to be focusing on them together. We get Qrow in this shot and Clover’s entrance as a sort of disruption. Literally, the man walks into Qrow’s shot the way he walks into his life, and we the audience are meant to feel the impact of this.

4) It answers the question put into our minds during the post-Penny build-up to these scenes: if the next events after Penny’s departure are going to revolve around Qrow in some way, how? What exactly is the big impact going to be? Clover’s entrance, and particularly the way it was handled by CRWBY, gives us that answer. It’s not the things that are happening or anyone in the scene behind Qrow. The significant missing part of the equation is Clover himself. 

5) Continues to subvert expectations. Remember waaaay up there where I said that the subtle reminder of Qrow’s Semblance and his typical mindset was important? Well, here would be why. I’m not sure what I was expecting on my first viewing of this episode, honestly. But that nudge at Qrow’s Semblance amped up my nerves a little and I’m pretty sure that was entirely on purpose. At first we the audience see the arrest as a potential side-effect of Qrow’s Semblance (again, we’ve been conditioned to accept this correlation). But the fact that it’s Clover we’re meant to focus on, and not the arrest itself, takes that off the table. This scene isn’t about Qrow’s Semblance screwing him over again. It’s about this particular man being introduced into his life.

Clover’s Full Introduction

That right there is the second glimpse we get of Clover. Again... THE FRAMING!!!!! But I’ve said enough about that in this and other posts, so I’ll go into some other details that get laid out in the following interaction. 

First of all, Clover walks right up to Qrow (completely bypassing Ruby, which I’ll get to in a second), further cementing the fact that we are meant to be focused on him through Qrow as a lens. If you have doubts, look at where Qrow’s focus is. We get a little more of Clover in this shot and, honestly, I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but I find the fact that we get a glimpse of Clover’s long coat (something that directly echoes Qrow’s own coattails/cape) at least worthy of note. Especially in light of the next shot that shows us just a little more:

*cough* Framing *cough* (Seriously. This might be a drinking game next volume where I fully expect them to get some more screentime together.) 

The lucky rabbit’s foot offers a pretty significant clue to who exactly is standing in front of Qrow. It’s this slow piecemealing out of Clover’s appearance that leads me to believe that the shot where we can see his coat wasn’t 100% by chance.

This shot also totally removes all others from the scene, thereby keeping them in the background and Clover and Qrow in the narrative foreground. 

And then, finally:

In the previous shot, Qrow tries to offer some explanation that he hopes will get him out of the bolas and off the ground: “Hey, pal, I’m a licensed Huntsman. Just helped save everyone?”

And this right here is the shot we are given in direct response: Clover Ebi in all his glory. Lucky rabbit’s foot, four-leaf clover on his chest, horseshoe... everything that we would pretty much identify as the antithesis of Qrow’s character. 

Now. I will fully and completely admit that there are a large number of ways CRWBY could have taken this whole scene and everything that comes after. He and Qrow were clearly framed together in the shots leading up to this, but as of this moment, it could have just as easily leaned towards a rivalry rather than a romance. Clover could have done any number of things that would have established him as an ass-hole that we all would have hated right along with Qrow. But he doesn’t do that. He doesn’t gloat or give off any malicious vibes. The guy is cocky and at ease, but that’s part of what we all love about him.

Also worth noting is the fact that this is the first look he gives Qrow. This is the established baseline right before he bends down to pick up Harbinger. He’s not hostile or off-putting or smug (at least not overly so). He’s professional with a healthy dash of confidence and a hell of a lot of presence. 

We’re still with Qrow here, obviously, and the steep angle of this shot makes it clear: we are meant to see Clover Ebi the way Qrow does at this moment. Inherent in this perspective is the line of tension that we are meant to be following. (A quick clarification: the word ‘tension’ here carries no negative connotations. I’m talking about narrative tension, the forward movement of a story, the thing that makes the audience perk up and go “Oh? What’s this?” And I would say these scenes accomplish that extraordinarily well.)

The Harbinger Moment

*cough cough* FraMInG!!!!!!! *cough cough*

Funny story. This particular shot where Clover picks up Harbinger is the one I was actually asked to comment on. But as no scene exists in a vacuum, I think the analysis for this relies heavily on everything I’ve already said. It’s all about the build-up, the already established framing, the line of tension that we are meant to be following (namely, who is this guy going to be to Qrow?), and the way that Clover again enters the scene as a sort of disruption into Qrow’s space.

Now, if Clover had done any of those things I mentioned above (gloated, smirked in a hostile way, sneered, etc.) that’s all it would have taken for this disruption to be coded as negative. Setting them up as rivals would have literally been that simple. But because he didn’t we’re left in an area of... comfortable curiosity, is the phrase I’m gonna go with. The first disruptive entrance into Qrow’s scene (with the boot) introduces Clover as a character, and the second (this one) makes sure to let us know that, while CRWBY isn’t making it entirely clear what exactly these two are going to be to each other just yet, their relationship is going to be far more nuanced than the obvious antagonistic crap they could have gone with.

As far as the event itself (Clover picking up Harbinger), this is absolutely meant to resonate on an emotional level with the audience. We watch this unfold, again with Qrow as our lens, and knowing what he has been through with that weapon, we know what it probably means to have another person handle it. Clover does so respectfully and carefully and without comment. Also notice that while Clover seems to be ambidextrous for the most part, he wields his own weapon almost exclusively with his left hand, which is the same hand he picks up Harbinger with. If anyone wants to get into deep psychoanalysis of the implications behind that, I will love you forever, but if you don’t I’ll probably circle back to it at some point XD

Worthy of note here too, though I’m not entirely certain what to make of it just yet, is the fact that Clover’s armband is fully visible in this shot. And we all know how CRWBY loves their armbands. 

Choices

And that pretty much wraps up the extent of the interactions between Clover and Qrow in this scene. This shot above just illustrates something @lady-branwen​ pointed out, which I find incredibly funny. 

Upon entering the scene, Clover has two obvious options as to who he approaches first. Even if he comes down from a roof, he is either approaching from the front (top of the image), in which case he had to bypass Ruby (and the relic!) entirely to reach Qrow. Or he comes from that side street off to the left side of the image, in which case he is probably equidistant from Qrow and Ruby (and the relic! which he knows about!) and still chooses to approach Qrow first.

Intent, people. None of it is accidental.

Bonus:

The remainder of the scene does a pretty fantastic job of shifting the focus to Clover and establishing who he is. He’s charming, professional, a people person, and definitely lawful good. All of this further draws out that line of narrative tension between him and Qrow, leaves us wondering where exactly this is going to go, and perfectly sets us up for all of their scenes after this.

[junquisite]

Fated to love : Introduction + Preview

PAIRING : Park Junhee X OC X Kim Wooseok

GENRE : Fluff, Angst, future mature content. Further warning for each chapter would be provided.

WORD COUNT : 1.8k

PARTS :  I+P  1  2

“You deserve this break more than anyone Bora” Aerin said and Seri agreed.

“I think so.” Bora whispered as they were called in for the training.

“Everything is cool but please tell me again why is the first thing you wanna do as we landed in switzerland is paragliding?” Aerin asked as they saw their instructor approaching.

“He's cute.” Seri mumbled and Bora rolled her eyes at her.

“Hello, I'll be your instructor for now and my name is Park Junhee, if you can just give me your consent forms.” he said and they handed it to him. “Aaah I can't believe I met Koreans on my last day as my last customers.” he said and they laughed.

“It's your last day?” Seri asked and he nodded. “I’ll still be here for a couple of days but the last few days before leaving I want to spend time appreciating this country. I'm gonna miss it.”

“Where are you from in korea?”

“Seoul. You?” he asked.

“We’re from Seoul too.”

Soon  they were standing on the edge, Bora about to take off (after Seri asking her own trainer if she could switch hers with Bora’s who had Junhee), did Aerin come to her.

“Think about it Bora, if i die during this your marriage might get postponed.” and Bora laughed.

“Trust me, she would like it”, Seri said as she dragged Aerin away and the next thing Bora knew, she was in the air with Junhee guiding the sail behind her.

Too soon for her, she was on the ground and waiting for Aerin and Seri when Junhee came and stood up beside her.

“I can't believe the girl that caught my eyes for the first time in almost a month here is korean AND engaged.” and she looked at him.

“Who's engaged?” 

Junhee gave her a confused stare,”Aren't you?”

“Well..” she trailed off. “I'm not per se engaged but I am supposed to marry someone when i get back home.”

“So not engaged yet?” he asked her as he bent to stare in her eyes and smile at her.

“Not yet.You never know though. I might be engaged when i go back 2 weeks later or i might get a text message tonight saying I'm engaged. But not engaged yet.” something in his smile made her tell him that. And it was the truth. She wasn't exactly engaged yet.

“So this is like a pre wedding trip for yourself?” he asked again, she felt him taking a step closer towards her and she hid her face behind the scarf around her neck.

“Sort of.”

“Why not sure? Parents against it?” he asked and the way he laughed when he looked at her, he knew he got the bullseye.

“You can't even imagine.”

They saw as Aerin and Seri’s sail was going in circles meaning they’ll be landing soon enough.

“Try me.” he said as he turned to face her completely.

“Okay..you know how they come to check your permanent address for verification before issuing your visa?” she asked and he nodded.

“My father denied I lived there when they came because he did not want me to come on this trip.”

They saw how the girls landed with loud cheers but Junhee had his eyes set on her, wide open.

“You win. Oh god how did you come here?” he asked her and she giggled.

“I ended up giving my apartment address as my permanent address. And here I am.” 

Seri and Aerin were loudly calling her name as they were coming to her.

“I'm happy you're here.” he said with such a  soft smile that she hated to admit that it made her heart flutter. It was all so new to her.

“It wasn't that scary and i'm happy i tried it bora.” Aerin said as soon as they reached them and Bora smiled at her.

They were called by the people from the paragliding company staff and Bora turned around all too suddenly without realising she was still tied up with Junhee over the string and ended up falling down taking him with her - they ended up with her over him and she heard her friends giggle as Junhee held her softly.

“I don't give in before the third date, Miss. You gotta take me out thrice to get me into bed with you.” he said and laughed loudly at how quickly she turned red.

“Oh please take her out Junhee-ssi. She deserves at least one good date and getting laid before her marriage.” Seri said as they both stood up and the glare Bora threw her way could have been scary if Seri was one fo those who got scared of her.

“You have never been on a date before?” he asked her and she turned away from him.

“That's not true.”

“High school doesn't count Bora.” Seri spoke again and Aerin mumbled how she had no fears.

“Lass mich dich auf ein Date Mitnehmen.” he said and Seri cursed out loud.

“Ja.” bora said with a smile, giggling at how seri cried about not knowing what he asked because she wasn't a language nerd like Bora.

~

“I think we can announce our engagement today.” Wooseok said as Bora ended her call and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“I have no objection if it's okay with both of you.” Her father said.

“We won't be announcing my engagement at my company’s party organised for possible collaborations.” she said with certainty, “we can hold another party for our engagement.” she added and her father nodded as she turned to bow and leave.

“At Least wear the ring.” Wooseok asked before she could leave though and she stopped to level him with a cold gaze. She extended her hand to him and he tried to put the ring on her finger but she took it from his hand instead.

“I’ll do it myself. It's not like we have been properly engaged. You don't have to do this.” she said as she turned to leave.

“But we’re engaged still. I’ll see you at the party.”

~

“As the Chairwoman of ‘Neverland’ fashion, I'm proud to announce that it’s been a year since my company has been listed and I’m extremely thankful to each and everyone of you who have chosen to consider the idea of collaborating  with us. I truly wish i can find a chance to work with all of you at some point of time and as always, I'm extremely thankful for the support. Please enjoy the party!” Bora said as she bowed and everyone clapped. She was proud of what her company has come to and nothing could make her happier. And a lot of companies she has been interested in were here for a chance to work with her company. The time to prioritize the needs of her company and the demand of products was now.

“”Miss Kang?” someone called her and she turned to come face to face with a smiling face.

“Im Lee Donghun from JD Footwears. I was hoping to get a chance to talk to you.”

She smiled. JD footwears - a rising company giving even established brands a run for their money - a company founded by two friends which was reaching new heights every month. According to Bora, with the speed they were rising, she was expecting them to come on her level in a few months. JD footwears - a company she has been keeping an eye on for months now and would probably be her first choice to work with.

“Aaah I have been meaning to get a chance to talk to you.” she said with a smile.

“That's a pleasure to hear from you.” Donghun said as he bowed and she did the same.

“I thought you have a partner too?” she asked and he nodded.

“He was supposed to be here but there was an emergency at the shooting site for our new product’s advertisement so he had to be there. Regarding that, i have request for you?”

She raised an eyebrow at him, a request?

“What is it?” 

“How about we have dinner tomorrow night? A meeting to discuss potential collaboration and get to know each other. Since we would be working together soon enough.'' Donghun ended with a smile and she was impressed. There was a subtle flirting in his tone with enough pinch of professionalism which was a fresh surprise. His smile was adding it to it showing he knew there was a very small chance she might deny it -that confidence was something she found attractive, not necessarily in a romantic way but in a general sense.

“I don't think i appreciate you talking to my fiance like this.” she heard from behind her as Wooseok came and picked up her left hand to show the ring to Donghun.

“Oh I apologize I had no clue you were engaged. I swear it was all harmless flirting, I was just trying to make you feel comfortable Bora-ssi.” Donghun said as he bowed to her and Bora waved her hand as she smiled, “it's fine Donghun-ssi. I understand.” Then she pulled out her card from her coat’s pocket and a pen, scribbled her personal number on the card and handed it to him, “Feel free to message me the details for the dinner. Does tomorrow night works for you?” She asked as Donghun nodded at her.

“Then i hope to see you and your partner tomorrow night. Please send me the place you’ll be comfortable to meet at and let’s discuss the possible collaboration in detail.” she said and bowed as he bowed back and turned around as Wooseok tugged at her arm.

“I don't like the idea of you dining with him.” Wooseok said as they walked in the party hall, smiling and waving at people.

“It's not only him. His partner will be there too.” she said.

“What if he’s like him too?” Wooseok mumbled.

She turned to look straight at him at that and as he saw her cold expression, he realised how much she has changed from the Bora he used to know since middle school. 

“Don't act like you care for me Wooseok. I don't care whether you like me having dinner with them or not, I am going and nothing is going to change that decision.” 

It’s the trip. That changed her. Wooseok thought.

“I knew it was a bad idea letting you go on that trip to swiss.” he mumbled and saw how she narrowed her eyes at him - he had been seeing that look on her too much recently.

“Stop trying to control my life. You're marrying me, not buying me.” she said and she pulled her hand away from his and left him standing along at that party hall.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

Speak No Evil (Part 14)

Azula supposes that mercies come in small forms; Seicho doesn’t mention the night before. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t still on her mind. That it isn’t making her feel jittery and out of sorts.

Last night had been a fluke, that’s what she swears to herself. It had to be. She had let Seicho hold her with a promise that it was a one off thing. And yet it had felt so warm, she hasn’t felt warm in so long.  Not since the last time TyLee had held her. She grits her teeth, Agni how she wishes she could purge the woman from her mind. Purge TyLee and Seicho both.

How can she when she can still feel the weight of Seicho’s arms around her? When she can still feel the flutters of...comfort? Whatever it had been, it had taken the edge off of her distress. For just a moment, with Seicho squeezing her perhaps a little too tightly, she had felt like things might be alright. She had felt like she wasn’t completely unlovable.

Though she can’t shake the shame that comes with having been caught so vulnerable. Seicho has seen more than she should have. The woman is lucky that Azula has a volcano waiting for her, otherwise she would have to take her down.

She doesn’t think that she could if she wanted to. The woman and her chatter are both so dreadfully annoying. And yet it is the only thing that interrupts her rather steady flow of dark and depressive thoughts.

Seicho pauses, puts her hands on her hips, and holds her chin high. “We made it!”

Azula tilts her head, she doesn’t see the ruins.

“That was the steepest incline.” Seicho clarifies. “It should be smooth sailing...hiking from here on out!”  She slings her arm around over Azula’s shoulders. “Just think, no more foot pain, no more sore calves.”

Azula supposes that the prospect is nice. But she can’t imagine that the throbbing that has already worked its way into her muscles will subside just because they are on flatter ground. She decides that she won’t sully the woman’s mood by saying as much.

.oOo.

Clever. Cheerful, good spirited. Resourceful. TyLee would have never thought herself resourceful and spirits does it make her feel light and fluttery to hear it. Smart, she realizes. It makes her feel smart. To finally have a mind of her own and use it.

“You’re a natural at this.” Tayul winks.

“Guess we can’t make any firebender in the snow jokes on this expedition.” Keyhyun chuckles.

“You can!” TyLee giggles. “As long as I get to make earthbender jokes.”

She looks at her handiwork, Tuya’s shoes look good as new. An hour or so into their trek, the woman’s crampons had snapped. She’d insisted that she would be perfectly fine without them, but the truth was that it had slowed her down significantly. She had no traction and her slipping and sliding wasn’t ideal especially when they were nearing a formation that Natuk called ‘the crevice’.

Tanak had brought them to a halt. The man had declared that he wasn’t willing to approach the crevice with Tuya so unsteady on her feet. The murmur of disappoint met shimmered bleakly through everyone’s auras. And guilt had stained Tuya’s to an unbearable degree.

TyLee found herself looking all about the glacier and then her eyes had fallen upon a rock formation. “Keyhyun, can you earthbend new crampons for her? You can make the...uh…” she gestured to the bottoms of her own footwear.

“Soles?”

TyLee had nodded. “Soles! You can shape new soles that fit around her old ones and you can leave the rocks rough like spikes!”

It probably isn’t the most ideal thing in the world, but Tuya treks on with as much speed and stability as before. Just as quickly as the disappointment had sullied their auras, it dissipated into delight.

And, in this moment, nothing is more delightful than the world around her. She has never seen anything like it at all in the Fire Nation. She had thought that her first step into the glacier had been thrilling. This...this is something new entirely. Something otherworldly! Something extraordinary enchanting! From floor to ceiling, everything is ice. It is perfectly polished and smooth along the walls of the frigid tunnel and bumpy like large, frozen bubbles on the ceiling. The ground is more or less rocky with patches of ice here and there, thicker in some spots than in others. It is slick and wet and rocky. The ice above, depending on thickness, comes in different shades of teal and blue and when enough light hits it, a glowing white. And when chatter comes to a stop, she can hear the glacier whispering to her. The hisses and pops of the ice all around speak to her like a forlorn spirit. It is haunting and mystifying all at once.  

It has been like this for an hour now but she still isn’t over its majesty. The world itself has an aura and it is clean as only ice and frost can be. Coming to the tower of icicles is nothing like she could ever hope to describe. She could go home and gush to Zuko about it right now but no words could convey just what looking at the structure induced in her soul. It is many tiered and glittering with a razorlike beauty. Like perfectly spread frosting on a well sculpted and baked cake. She wonders how it had come to take shape.

She closes her eyes and breaths the glacier in. Savors the cold. Listens to the ghostly hum of the tunnel. She thinks that it is spiriting her trepidations away. Purifying and rejuvenating her aura. Spirits, she hadn’t realized how grey her aura had become until the glacier touched it with its icy fingers.

.oOo.

The ruins are far less impressive than she had anticipated and she hadn’t anticipated them being impressive to begin with. It is little more than a small, collapsed, and overgrown shrine. Jungle weeds and vines weep from its stony orifices. Tattered banners flap in the entry way while  broken wind chimes clack against one another. Several of them have fallen to the floor and cracked in half.

“The spirits usually hang out by the statue.” She points to an aged rock lionturtle. Moss crawls over its stone shell and creates green tears down its eyes.

‘I don’t see any.’ She etches into the ground with a stick.

Seicho taps her chin. “Well I did spot them during a full moon. Maybe it needs to be a full moon? Or nightfall?”

Wind howls through the dilapidated doorway of the shrine.

“Or maybe they’re inside?”

Azula shrugs and takes the first step towards the shrine. It isn’t the weather that chills her so much as the atmosphere of the place. It is gloomy and dank as Mai. She scowls, even this place has more joy than Mai. Her face bunches at the face conjured in her mind.

Next to her Seicho shivers.

‘Was it this dismal when you visited the first time?’

Seicho thinks for a moment. “I didn’t get this close to it, I was watching the spirits from a distance so I never really got a feeling for their energy.

Just perfect. The woman has led her here not knowing what to expect. ‘Spirits don’t like me as it is, Seicho…’

“You’ll be fine. It’s not like they can steal your voice again.”

‘I still have working eyes and ears. I would like to keep those.’ She wipes that message away. ‘And besides, the one that took my voice isn’t here.’

“How do you know!? We haven’t even gone inside.”

‘Don’t need to. Can’t feel that spirit’s energy.’ She taps the stick before continuing. ‘It had a distinct energy, I would know it.’

Seicho nods. “Well you don’t want to go in and have a look around?”

Azula rolls her eyes. ‘Do you make a hobby of making spirits angry?’

She chuckles. “You think that I have a hobby of making spirits angry? You’re the one who can’t…”

Azula scowls and her grip tightens around the stick, it nearly snaps and she very nearly chucks it at the woman. She keeps herself composed, at least somewhat. She tosses the stick aside with more force than she ought and turns back the way they came.

“Wait!” Seicho calls. “It was a joke, I was joking. It was a stupid joke.”

Azula doesn’t slow, she has wasted enough time anyhow. It is time to get to her real objective.

“Where are you going?” Seicho calls again, panting as she hastens her pace to catch up. “You really aren’t going to try to see if the spirit that took your voice is in there?”

Even if she hadn’t tossed her sticks she sees no point in explaining that she had never intended to find the damn thing at all. Instead she digs out her parchment and writes a heavy handed, ‘go home.’

Seicho flinches. “We are.”

‘We aren’t doing anything.’ She is going to the volcano. Seicho’s lower lip quivers and Azula has a decent feeling that the woman will be following her to the volcano. Decidedly, it is her own fault if she sees something that she can’t handle.

“I was hoping that, maybe we can go to Chan’s beach party. This expedition went a lot quicker than I thought it would…”

And yet it seemed to drag on and on for her.

“We can probably make it back on time to go. And this time I can walk you through it so it won’t be as awkward.”

She couldn’t be any less interested. ‘No.’

Seicho swallows. “Okay we can just, uh, stroll through the jungle.”

‘Leave me.’

Seicho shakes her head, she is getting teary eyed and Azula can’t possibly imagine why.

‘Fine, follow me.’ She fixes her eyes upon the volcano, it is much closer to the ruins than she had anticipated. At least she has that going for her.

[lady-divine-writes]

ACITW AU Inspired fic - “The Vacation Ultimatum” (Rated PG13)

Summary:

Sebastian wants to go somewhere different for summer vacation this year, but Kurt has his heart set on the beach house. He promises Sebastian he'll at least entertain other options. ... In his defense, he finds something very entertaining. (2316 words)

Notes: This is an ACITW inspired fic I started writing last summer before my computer died on me.

Read on AO3.

“So, babe, I was thinking …” Sebastian leaps over the back of the sofa to sit beside Kurt scanning the pages of the latest Vogue magazine.

“That’s dangerous. Real dangerous,” Kurt comments, not lifting his eyes from an ad for Gucci footwear. Kurt seems particularly interested in a pair of blue-and-black brocade loafers, checking the fine print for price and sizing information. Sebastian, knowing by now what Kurt’s long, thoughtful look (narrowed eyelids, scrunched nose, sucked in lips) means, takes note. “Didn’t we talk about that?”

“Ha … ha … ha. Anyway, what if this year, instead of going to the beach house for the summer …?”

Sebastian doesn’t get farther than that before Kurt drops his magazine and glares at him with the ice-cold burn of a lover scorned.

“Wh-what!? Not go to the …! Why!?”

“Babe…” Sebastian knew there was a chance Kurt would react this way from the second he opened his mouth. Kurt is always at his most deadly when he won’t let Sebastian finish a sentence. But Sebastian had hoped he might be persuaded to listen to reason, especially since he’d mentioned wanting to go on a pilgrimage to the House of Alexander this year. If anything could break them out of their summer vacay rut, it should have been McQueen. A jaunt across the pond would have been a welcome change from their usual trip to North Carolina. But apparently Kurt is too sentimental to break from their routine, even for a journey to the temple of his idol.

Sebastian had been hoping against hope … and he lost.

“Because we go to the beach house every summer!”

Kurt’s eyes shift left and right, waiting for a more compelling argument. “Yeah, and …?”

“And aren’t you getting a little tired of it? Don’t you think it’s getting old?”

Kurt’s jaw drops in silent gasp. “Who … who are you right now? How … how can you say that!?”

“Because over a decade of summers at the same beach house can get kind of stale, Kurt!”

Kurt shakes his head slowly, disbelief deepening fine lines around his mouth and the corners of his eyes. “You’ve known me for over a decade! Am I getting stale?”

“Do you really want an answer to that?” Sebastian jokes before self-preservation and common sense have the chance to shove his size nines in his mouth and stop him. Kurt’s mouth snaps shut with frightening speed, his teeth making a sound when they meet like the cracking of bone.

“If that’s how you feel,” he says, words short, over-enunciated, clipped at the ends as if with razor-sharp shears, “then I can go to the beach house alone this summer, and you can go somewhere fresher!”

Sebastian sighs. He should have known he wasn’t going to win this one. He was defeated before he began. “Kurt …”

“And while you’re there, maybe you can find yourself someone less hard and crusty since I’m becoming so stale!”

“Jesus Christ, Kurt!” Sebastian’s hands find his hair and pull in frustration. “Stop twisting things around! That’s not what I meant! Arguing about the same thing over and over is getting stale!”

“Then stop arguing,” Kurt poses with a wicked grin. “There. Problem solved.”

“I happen to have good reasons for not wanting to go to the beach house this summer!”

“And those are …?”

“For one thing, it’s nowhere near private.”

Kurt chuckles humorlessly. “It’s on a private beach! That your family owns!”

“Olivia and Brian drop in with the kids all the time, unannounced.”

“So? I love Olivia and Brian! And the kids!”

“So do I! But I also love being able to walk around naked and fuck in the kitchen!”

“No one ever stops you walking around naked here at home! And we’ve fucked in the kitchen so many times, we’ve worn ass marks onto the floor, the island, and the table! You can’t throw a robe over yourself and fuck in a bed like a normal person for one month?”

“Kurt! Don’t you think it’s nice to do something new every once in a while?”

Kurt carefully picks up his dropped magazine so that he has something to toss sassily aside and crosses his arms over his chest. “Have you met me?”

“Uh, yeah,” Sebastian says, mirroring the gesture … minus having anything to throw. Not that he didn’t look around him for something suitable, but the only things within reach are coffee mugs and Yankee Candles, and he doesn’t want to accidentally give Kurt a concussion. “You’re stubborn and annoying!”

“Exactly!”

Sebastian snorts at the word Kurt wasn’t quick enough to catch before it flew out of his mouth, turned around, and slapped him in the face.

Kurt closes his eyes on his own faux pas and shakes it from his head. “I mean, about being stubborn. How many times do I stray from the familiar? I wear the same designers all the time, I order the same dish at every restaurant, I’ve driven the same Navigator since high school …”

“Yeah …” Sebastian clears his throat before he accidentally guffaws “… by the way, that’s something we really need to talk about ...”

Kurt’s offended face becomes comically dramatic. “My life is stressful, Sebastian!”

Sebastian pauses his argument to look Kurt over from head to toe - his significant other reclining on the sofa in his pajamas and robe with his feet propped up … at three on a Thursday afternoon.

“Yeah …” He leans over, catches the end of Kurt’s untied belt, and flips it across his waist. “The rigors of your life must be crippling!”

“It’s my afternoon off, you deranged kumquat!” Kurt snaps, tossing the belt back and smacking Sebastian on the chin. “The point is I value our summer together. Most of all, I value the fact that I don’t have to stress out about it because I don’t have to put any energy into thinking about doing something different! It’s a no-brainer!”

“So you’re saying it suits you.”

Kurt points at Sebastian, very reminiscent of a circa 2000 Cooper Anderson. “Watch your step, Smythe, or you’re sleeping alone tonight.”

“Yeah, okay,” Sebastian relents, putting his hands up in surrender. “I’m sorry. That one went a bit too far.”

Kurt breathes in deep, exhales long. “Look, when we first got together and divvied up responsibilities, you put me in charge of planning summer vacation.”

“Because I thought you’d send us to all sorts of exotic locales with clothing optional activities.”

“We do those over spring break! And on our birthdays! And over New Year’s! We’ve flashed more people than Tara Reid! I like going to the beach house in the summer! It’s tradition!”

“But we can go anywhere in the world!”

“I don’t wanna go anywhere in the world!” Kurt parrots in a whiny voice. “I wanna go to the beach house!”

Sebastian slaps his hands on his thighs and pushes up to his feet. “Fine. Whatevs. Just do me a favor. For me. Because you supposedly love me.”

Kurt rolls his eyes so far back in his head he glimpses his soul. “I guess …”

“Get on your phone and check out some other spots that you might want to go to. Any spot, regardless of distance or cost. Then we’ll compare, list pros and cons, and together we’ll make an educated decision. That way we’ll know one hundred percent for certain that there isn’t somewhere else that tickles your fancy.”

“I already know …”

“Just this once,” Sebastian says, cutting into Kurt’s grousing, “and again, because you love me.”

Kurt’s face pinches, his lips pulled tight to avoid creasing. He drops his head back on his shoulders in exasperation and reaches in his robe pocket for his phone. “All right, all right. But shoo. I don’t need any distractions.”

Sebastian leans in to give Kurt a kiss, grinning when he swats him away like an irritating insect. “Your wish is my command, oh benevolent dictator.”

“That’s Expedia God to you.”

***

Sebastian makes himself scarce for more than an hour running odd errands - one of which includes buying Kurt his favorite cheesecake from the bakery down the block. He’s both encouraged and relieved when he returns home to find Kurt still in the living room when he should be at yoga, bent over his phone, staring intently at something on his screen.

He missed yoga for this, Sebastian thinks. He must be taking it seriously.

Even more than that, Kurt is smiling, lower lip pinched between his teeth, his eyes positively glowing.

‘Yes!’ Sebastian cheers silently, slipping into the kitchen to put away the cheesecake while allowing himself a moment to daydream about spending this upcoming summer vacation on the French Riviera, which they admittedly did last Christmas. Or in Jamaica, where they’d gone two falls ago. Or, like he’d thought, London, which is where they’d spent Fashion Week. Sebastian stops with his hand on the refrigerator door, chewing his own lower lip in thought. Looking back on their lives together as a couple, they have done their share of traveling around the world, even if they do spend every summer in North Carolina. So … spending another one there isn’t exactly a big deal. They’d recently booked a flight to Rio to coincide with the start of the school year, winging over after the egress of promiscuous co-eds vying for one final fling before hitting the books.

Jesus Christmas!

Is he being a jerk about nothing!?

Sebastian pulls out his cell phone and checks his calendar. Nearly every box of every month is filled with meetings, assignments, appointments. But aside from that, it’s cluttered with trips they’ve planned - the Cape for their anniversary; the Poconos for Kurt’s dad and stepmom’s anniversary; Munich for Oktoberfest, which happens to be a tradition that Sebastian started - one that Kurt hasn’t always been so fond of. He can appreciate the food. He can appreciate the beer. He can appreciate the authentic costumes and the lively music and dancing.

But the second people start hugging and slapping each other, he gets a little skittish.

Last year, Sebastian flew Kurt to Milan last minute for Arbor Day, just to give him a reason to make the stupid day memorable. Thus is one of the perks of being rich. He’d planned on making that a tradition.

So that’s two of Sebastian’s traditions to one of Kurt’s.

Sebastian sticks his head in the fridge, smacking his forehead against the butter dish, and groans.

If Kurt wants to spend this summer - and every summer until the day they die - in North Carolina, is it really such a big deal?

But seeing Kurt stare at his phone with a huge smile on his face intrigues Sebastian. Even after everything, their whole argument, he did what Sebastian asked. He gave it a chance. What if he actually found somewhere else he wants to go? Skydiving? Spelunking? Scuba diving? Another hot air balloon ride?

Sebastian swallows hard remembering …

… they can do all those things in North Carolina.

He removes his head from the dairy section and closes the door. Then he strolls back into the living room, nonchalant smile on his face.

“You’re looking pretty focused there, babe. Did you find something you like?”

“Yup.”

Sebastian’s spine tingles with the possibilities. “Willing to share?”

“Well, in order for you to appreciate where I ended up on my journey, I’ll need to walk you through my process.”

“Do tell …”

“I didn’t have any particular locale in mind, but I knew I wanted to go to the beach, so I started looking up beaches.”

Sebastian nods. “Not venturing too far from the comfortable, I see, but still promising.”

“Tropical beaches, exclusive beaches, private beaches, beach resorts, islands …”

“A-ha …”

“I saw a link for this beach in San Diego called Dog Beach.”

“Very nice. Quaint. I’ve been there once or twice. Lots of nice little communities with bungalows …”

“I thought so, too. But I was clicking through the website and I saw the most amazing thing. Something I wouldn’t mind seeing in person.”

“Really?” Sebastian says hopefully.

“A-ha. It had pictures of a surf dog competition …”

Sebastian’s smile dips at the corners. His voice becomes a little tight. “Okay …”

“I clicked on it and …”

“Let me guess …” Sebastian drops his head into his hands, blunt nails digging into the cold spot on his forehead “… you’ve been watching videos of surfing dogs.”

“Yup.”

“For how long?”

“Oh, I don’t know. When was the last time you were in here?”

Sebastian’s arms drop to his side revealing his disgruntled expression. “You’ve been watching videos of dogs surfing for two hours!?”

“I guess. Time’s just … flown by …”

Sebastian watches in agony as Kurt switches to another tab on his phone, bringing up a YouTube video of a bulldog riding a skateboard. Kurt chuckles and shakes his head.

“How’d you learn how to do that?” he baby talks the screen. “You’re the goodest boy, aren’t you? 12 out of 10.” He scrolls down to the comment section to type that in.

Sebastian slaps his forehead. He turns on his heel and heads for the bedroom before he has the chance to go insane. To be honest, he should have known better. He walked into this one, what with his cockimamey ideas about going somewhere else over the summer. “Beach house it is.”

“If that’s what you think is best, dear,” Kurt mutters to Sebastian’s retreating back, deeply enthralled in another dog video. He waits till he hears Sebastian open the door to the bathroom, then closes out the video and composes a text:

To: Olivia

False alarm! We’re on for the beach house!

He giggles conspiratorially when a message immediately pops up.

From: Olivia

Thank God! See you there!

[loyally-unfaithful]

—; now i know i have met an angel in person

word count: 2329

pairing: kara/gn!reader

genre: fluff

summary: winter in canada was cold. beautiful, but cold. it was the perfect time to tuck back in bed, warm mug of hot cocoa on one hand and a good book on the other. the plan was to spend the frigid day in the warm indoors, but there was last minute change: there was a frozen lake that looked relatively safe, so you, kara, and alice decided to ice skate while luther supervised. but hey, if you got to show off while spending time with your loved ones, then who are you to complain?

a/n: figure skating is my guilty pleasure uwu lmfao to be quite honest i used to be able to skate quite good and even managed to spin (badly but hey i spun) when i was younger, but it’s been such a long time that i’ve forgotten how to even move forwards lol so if it wasn’t clear, reader is a figure skater and they’re going to enjoy the winter wonderland w their wonderful girlfriend: kara.

also alice is a human because i said so,,

any and all feedbacks are appreciated ^^

you laid reposefully in your bed, wrapped by a multitude of blankets, as you unhurriedly flipped the pages of your book, taking full advantage of this uneventful day. you were leisurely reading when a weight plopped itself on your abdomen, pulling a small « oof » out of you. lifting your book, you found alice sprawled on you, grinning from ear to ear. she called out your name repeatedly, excitement clear in her tone. you couldn’t help but smile with her as you addressed the young girl: « hey kid. what got you so excited? you chuckled. – kara said we could go out ice skating today! she beamed. – oh yeah? sounds fun, you mused, diving back into your book. not the answer she was looking for so the brunette pressed on. – will you come with us? please, please please? pretty please with a cherry on top? she begged, puppy eyes conquering you every time. – okay, okay. i’ll come with. you chuckled, slipping yourself off of the bed. » the child bounced up cheerfully with a gleeful « yay! », and scurried off somewhere, probably to get ready.

after putting on a warmer set of clothings instead of your pajamas, you made your way to the living room where you found luther who was making sure that alice was fully protected from the elements. you walked to the kitchen where you found kara. you sneaked behind her and wrapped your arms around her waist, placing your chin on your shoulders, startling her. « hey. you greeted. she exclaimed your name, commenting how you startled her. – sorry, sorry, you laughed. so, we’re going ice skating? – uh huh. you’re coming too, right? – you know i’m weak against those puppy eyes! you defended yourself. » you snuggled into the crook of her neck, asking her if there was anything you could help her with. to which she replied that you could make sure that alice didn’t forget to wear her gloves and then wait for her outside while she gathered the equipment. you complied, placing a quick kiss on her cheeks before peeling yourself off and went to search for young girl. once you did and made sure she was properly dressed, you corralled her to the shoebox to grab your respective footwears (you  also grabbed your figure skates along with your boots from the shoe box) and went to wait for kara outside.

shifting your weight from one foot to the other, you fiddled with your beanie as you watched over alice, who’s playing with the snow. « so… your first time ice skating ever? – uh huh. will you teach me how? i wanna learn how to do cool stuff like you! she hopped excitedly. you smiled, her enthusiasm endearing. – i’m sure you’ll do just fine kid. you’re a fast learner. » you both turned your head towards the front door as you heard it swing open, luther and kara emerging from the house, meaning it’s time to head out.

on your walk there, alice scampered up ahead with luther no too far away behind her, while you and kara walked unhurriedly at the back. « so where are we going exactly? you asked. – luther and i found a frozen lake a few days ago and we thought that we might as well bring alice. she seems really interested in ice skating these past few weeks. – are you sure it’s safe? you wondered worriedly. she nodded her head. – i’m sure. » you hummed and you two walked in silence once more, the soft crunching of snow under your boot the only sound audible. once at your destination, alice quickly plopped down and rushed to put on her ice skates, while the three of you settled down to put your belongings. you casually caught up to her and sat down, clearly not in any hurry to put on your skates which prompted her to rush you (you complied). taking a few moments before standing up, you asked luther if he was planning to join in, to which he declined. you didn’t press further and glanced at kara, nodding your head towards the frigid lake. she told you that she’ll join you briefly so you decided to lead alice unto the ice, calm facade hiding how excited you truly are.

gliding on the ice, you swerved slightly to turn and face the brunette. the girl carefully treaded the ice, wobbling slightly before regaining balance, and looked at you expectantly: « ooh, are you going to teach me how to do tricks? please, please, please? – slow down there kid, you chuckled, you gotta know how to move forwards first. – and when i do, then you’re gonna show me how? she looked up hopefully. » you were sure that alice would pick the sport up quickly, but you were hesitant about teaching her the tricky stuff during her first time: you didn’t want her to potentially hurt herself. you responded with a final « we’ll see. »

with that, you went to teach her the basics: first, learning how to fall correctly to minimise the pain, « because you’re gonna fall at some point kid, everyone does. – even you? – yes, even me, you reassured her. », and how to get back up. next, the correct stance: « bend the knees slightly. lean slightly forwards, don’t put your weight back or you’ll fall on your bum ». it was quite comical how she quickly bent down and shifted her weight forward as soon as those words left your mouth. « oop, not that far forwards. » once satisfied with the position, you beckoned her to start trying to move forwards. seeing that she was a bit hesitant—nervous? we’ve all been there you told her—you reached for her hands and told her that she could hold on to you as you moved around until she felt confident enough to try and go on her own. you slowly started moving, making sure to not scare her off by the speed, while she gets used to the feel. at some point, she started to push forwards on her own and you slowly slipped your hand out of hers, a few metres behind her just in case.

she stopped and simply glided—you didn’t even have to teach her, you thought proudly. though she wobbled slightly, she quickly recovered before turning her head to find yours, wide smile etched on her face: « i can skate!!! she announced, delighted. – you sure can kid! » you caught up to her and taught her how to stop, which she did as easily. « see? told ya’ you’d take it up quickly. just like a duck to water! you hummed approvingly before continuing. now for the last and most important lesson… she watched you attentively. – it’s to have fun! so enjoy your time here, you admitted. »

she dashed away, energetic little sport. judging from the wows and the cheering from your right, she was showing off her new skills. understandably so, she had the right to be proud of herself. you let her have her fun as you found your way to a small space quite a distance  away from them: close enough that you could still see them and hear the more raucous cheers—luther—but far enough that you won’t accidentally run into the little girl. you were feeling a tad lazy earlier in the day, but being on the ice felt so right, so natural. it wouldn’t hurt to practice a bit, right?

you took a few moments to warm up before you decided to start the performance. you stood still for a few moments. inhale, exhale. hands in position, feet ready. you’re poised for action. you breathed in slowly, visualising the rink, the people watching and the multiple spotlights on your form. you imagine the music in your head, a rhythm, a tempo, that you could follow as you recounted the choreography. the violin hummed ever so softly, the show started, time to impress the judges and give it your all. you let the ice guide you, the movements flowing out of you instinctively. a series of elegant movements, one move after the other, so fluidly it almost looked easy, serene, passive. step. death drop. you have to focus on the connecting steps as they are the backbone to the artistic quality of your display. spiral. lutz. the wind on your face and against your clothes feels amazing, the speed, everything, it’s exhilarating. a  series of quick jumps. you faltered slightly but quickly recovered, moving past it as you focused on the next half of the choreography. step. this is it. you were nearing the end of this dance. you preparers yourself for the coup de grâce. you did it once. you can do it again you tell yourself. building momentum, you take off: triple axel, 31/2 turns. the spin feels so natural, so incredible. 31/2 revolutions. you landed gracefully, letting go of a breath you didn’t realise you were holding in, and smiled wildly. you felt like you were on top of the world. step. a series of flamboyant spins as the violins from the musical piece you chose would swell, before you dipped and kneeled, arms spreaded out, as the majestic swan would extend its wings. brilliant as the creature’s shimmering white feathers. you took quick breaths as you slowly rose up, a huge smile splayed on your face. you really did it, huh?

accomplishments of the day: teach alice how to skate and execute the choreography.

you casually glided your way back to the group and was tackled by an excited alice. « that was so cool!!! can you show me how to do that? pretty please? she grinned, missing teeth and all. – it was very beautiful, kara vouched. you were incredible there, love. you were about to respond modestly when alice brought back your attention. – you promised you’ll teach me a cool trick? – ehhh… i’m not sure… you fumbled. you were still unsure about the whole safety aspect. what if she got injured? your mind could only imagine the worst case scenarios. – it’s fine. kara assured you. we got her the proper skates, a quick glance reveals that the skates did have toepicks, and she has a reliable teacher. – see? kara says it’s fine! – trying to butter me up? you laughed. tell you what, if you can prove to me that you can go around from here to that tree i’ll think about showing you a cool trick. – okay, so just here to that tree right? – going forwards and going backwards 5 times each. and then i’ll show you a cool spin. – okay! she exclaimed jovially, before she zoomed off. »

you both watch her dash back and forth, kara holding on your arm in a death grip—though you didn’t pay any mind. « i wonder why she’s so interested in figure skating all of the sudden… you thought out loud. – you inspire her. your partner revealed. – but why? you chuckled, surprised. i’m not that impressive. – don’t sell yourself short, she scolded. you’re incredibly talented, and she looks up to you. – not as amazing as her mother though! you claimed. » you turned around to face her « so, what about you? any good on the ice? » you started. she shook her head with a sheepish smile. « no, not at all. ».

« oh come on, you can’t be that bad. you smiled. come on, i’ll guide you. you said, as you held both her hands and slided her forwards. »

just like alice was at first, she was hesitant and let herself be carried around. she didn’t however, start stepping on her own, so once you were both at a good distance away from the edge, you carefully took your hands from hers and stepped a few metres back. you didn’t miss the quick panic that etched on her face as she jerked up to stay upright. she swayed gently, seeming somewhat balanced, before you extended an arm towards her.

« ok, now slowly side forwards, push back almost like your pushing on a scooter, see if you can get to me. – i don’t know about this... she admitted. – it’s okay, i’ve got you. i’ll catch you if anything happens ok? she still looks conflicted. – i believe in you, love. i’ve got you. she took in a shaky breath, one she technically didn’t need. – okay… here i go… »

just as quickly she took an uncertain step, it quickly fell apart. she slipped almost immediately and you rushed forwards to try and catch her which caused carnage. you both tumbled down onto the ice, heads were hit against each other and you knew your ass was gonna hurt come next morning. but you’re concerns are currently on the person splayed on top of you: « are you okay? you gasped concernedly, hands coming up to support her back. she giggled as she playfully slapped you. her quips meant that she was perfectly fine. – thanks for getting us into this mess! – you’re too adorable! you cooed, pressing a soft kiss at the top of her head. – you’re really dumb sometimes, you know that? she choked out between laughs. » you answered her with an affirmative « yup! » as you wrapped your arms tighter around her, holding her as you nuzzled nose on hers. her skin was cold and tinted a slight pink due to the cold temperatures, while yours was warm. you both relished in the action however, her pleasant laugh making you feel fuzzy inside.

alice soon rushed over to where you both fell down, concern on her face but was soon relieved when you told her that you were both okay. once back on your feet, alice gave you back your beanie (that must’ve fallen off during the altercation) before she swooshed around between you two, proudly telling you how she did exactly what you asked so can you please teach her a spin now? you complied, keeping your promise.

« alright kid, here’s how you do a two-foot spin, you introduced. if you can do it before school starts again, you get bragging rights for the entire semester. »

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[viego-build]

How To Build Viktor Like An LEC Pro

It is the preseason, the time where League of Legends gets flipped upside down along with a massive collection of changes have been made to the match, and also this preseason is all about item varies. Some champions also obtained a ton of modifications in their own, such as Viktor. Nowadays, we're having a peek at what is changed for Viktor, not just with his kit, but also Viktor build and ability order too.

Viktor Abilities

Viktor has obtained a rework to his or her passive. He no longer has his Hexcore thing, which he utilized to update by spending gold onto it, in turn enabling him to fortify his abilities. Glorious Evolution now rather allows Viktor to fortify his skills, giving them distinct results and making them stronger. To fortify an authority, Viktor should collect 100 Hex Fragments. He gains these items by murdering minionscreatures, and winners. Minions provide one fragment every, while shooting down an enemy winner awards Viktor using 25 fragments. This makes searching for kills very beneficial, and will enable Viktor to snowball whether he receives a kill or two.

Siphon Power is a point-and-click capacity that deals damage to the goal and protects Viktor. The upcoming standard strike that Viktor casts in just a couple of seconds is enabled, coping additional magic damage to your goal. After reinforced, Viktor build profits movement rate upon casting Siphon Power and raises its protecting powers. This is a powerful capability for trading with competitions, dealing a nice chunk of harm to them while protecting yourself from injury.

Viktor can deploy Gravity Field, which continues for a couple of seconds. Any enemy status inside the gravity field are slowed and also develop a pile. Upon reaching three piles, they're stunned. After reinforced, Gravity Field grants Viktor's other skills (excluding his supreme) a slowing effect. Gravity Field is a superb subject of impact ability that simplifies your competitors options for engaging or escaping in that region. Should they attempt to run through it, then they will be amazed, leaving them vulnerable to you along with your staff and allowing you a opportunity to reposition.

Death Ray is Viktors E in his build. It fires a ray at a lineup, dealing a great quantity of damage to any enemy that it moves through. After reinforced, an explosion follows another following Death Ray is throw, dealing damage to the exact same area again. That is Viktor's key waveclear and trickle harm. A couple of points to Death Ray, together with an augment, turns Viktor into among the most powerful wave clearing winners from the sport.

For his supreme, build of Viktor summons that a Chaos Storm, interrupting enemies on spawning and coping damage in the region for its length. Viktor can opt to move Chaos Storm in almost any way, allowing him to keep damage on tripping enemies. Upon bolstering the rest of the skills, Chaos Storm also gains an augment. This fortify enables Chaos Storm to move quicker, which makes it much simpler to stick onto opponents.

Max Order

Death Ray is your priority ability to maximum for Viktor Build. As stated previously, this really is his principal waveclear and poking instrument. Once maxed and fortified, Death Ray deals unbelievable harm, permitting Viktor to make short work of incoming minion waves and enemy wellbeing bars equally.

Next up is Siphon Power. The damage and protect scaling with points in Siphon Power should not be underrated, and will give Viktor a great deal of additional survivability and burst harm in the game.

At length, Gravity Field is left for the last. This is largely because of how the excess damage and usefulness from both of the other spells are more powerful and much more frequently utilised compared to Gravity Field. The enhanced slow is fine, but maybe not game-changing, and also the other skills being on a shorter cooldown is considerably more significant than having Gravity Field on a shorter cooldown, because it is not likely to be cast over twice in a struggle. Put points to Chaos Storm at levels 6, 11, and 16.

Augment purchase is very static for many players. Death Ray is really the most optimal fortify for your own first, as Death Ray is Viktor build’s main spell for nearly all the game. Siphon Power follows that, with Gravity Field abandoned for last.

Runes

It appears like the vast majority of top Elo gamers, and our specialists from the LEC, have consented that Phase Rush is your ideal keystone rune to operate on Viktor. Stage Rush provides more flexibility and choices to weave in and out of risk, which can be helpful in this situation since that is basically Viktor's most important playstyle. This is normally followed by accepting Manaflow Band for extra mana and mana maintain, Transcendence for a few more Ability Haste, and Gathering Storm for your late match insurance.

There's some debate around the finest secondary tree. This is normally personal taste, or altered based on the opponent you are facing. Utilizing former Fnatic midlaner Fnatic Tim "Nemesis" Lipovšek for instance, he conducts the Inspiration shrub with Magical Footwear and Biscuit Delivery.

The former allows for more gold to be funneled to your center products, granting you marginally magic boots of speed to get free after a time. The latter supplies sustain throughout the laning stage, awarding several snacks which, upon usage, restore some of lost health and mana while at the same time boosting your max mana. There are a few people who operate the Precision and Domination trees, however, Inspiration appears to be the most ordinary at right now.

Viktor Item Build

There are whispers going about a super secret OP construct for several mid lane mages at this time, but that appears to be getting addressed from the equilibrium group, therefore we will not be adding that in the item section. Rather, we are going to be focusing on a more conventional build that lots of gamers are finding success with at this time.

Start out using a Doran's Ring and two Health Potions for its laning stage. This will give you all of the stats you need early on, while making certain that you can top your health up in the event that you take a few transactions or will need to endure a gank in the enemy jungler. Upon your initial remember, you need to attempt and pick up a Lost Chapter, which will develop into your very first core thing, Luden's Echo. Following that, work towards updating into Sorcerer's Shoes, followed closely with a Lich Bane as the following center thing. These core things allow Viktor the capability to waveclear efficiently, and possess very potent trading and skirmishing power.

Following those, there is a little more of a decision to be made. If in need of usefulness, Zhonya's Hourglass may be a strong consideration, but in the event that you're able to forgo the defensives, Rabadon's Deathcap will permit you to pack a great deal more of a punch with your damage output, which will feel good once you're getting into the group battling phase of this match. After having a Void Staff to negate some of your competitor's magic fight will surely assist in melting through these gyms.

If you did not elect to your Zhonya's Hourglass sooner, today could be a fantastic time to receive it. If you are not needing the armour, or you're not taking much aggro out of your competitors, you may select a more competitive thing for example Morellonimicon to attempt to cut back on the competitions recovery, Cosmic Drive for more movement rate, or possibly a Banshee's Veil in case the enemy group has a great deal of magical damage.

Laning Phase

Focusing on past hitting as many minions as possible is very critical for any midlaner. This is particularly true for Viktor, because every previous strike makes him closer to attaining an authority fortify. Your intention is to consume as numerous hex objects as you can, hopefully attaining an update or two prior to the mid game begins.

Start looking for chances to punish your competition with the unbelievably large range supplied from Death Ray. Many champions do not have means of fitting its own range, letting you essentially exchange damage at no cost. Attempt to work together with your jungler for times to ramble or gank. Obtaining a takedown will help you in receiving a historical augment, enabling you to take charge of your lane which much earlier.

Team Fights

Viktor is among those sins of AoE in League of Legends. Your work is to nuke everyone down you can in a place, particularly the squisher aims. The sheer quantity of area control supplied by Chaos Storm, Gravity Field, and Death Ray will put fear in the hearts of each squishy member of the opposing group seeking to walk your choice.

The motion rate increases supplied by both your apparel and out of Phase Rush should help you in kiting from these posing a hazard for you, while letting you discount their wellness bars out of range. These motion speed fans may also help you in pursuing down goals, or permit you to get to a priority goal who is not expecting you to become so quickly.

People who dismiss Viktor's damage output will probably suffer the identical destiny that Yiliang"Doublelift" Peng failed in everybody's favourite clip. Hopefully your competitors will be rescuing Flash to their next game also.

Conclusion - Viktor Build

In conclusion, Viktor is a remarkably strong AoE mage who will absolutely ruin anything in his path if performed properly. He's among those greater skill-capped champions from the sport, requiring both robust understanding of the sport and powerful mechanical ability to pull off properly. This permits for rewarding gameplay which makes Viktor build both enjoyable to understand and main. We would recommend anybody aspiring to find out a new mage at the mid lane to provide Viktor an attempt!