#Sue Storm One Shot

[itsthestutterforme]

Just Try (A Johnny Storm Drabble)

Summary: You and Sue grew up together and Johnny has always been on the sidelines in your mind. Until one day, he gives you a hypothetical.

Notes: GIF is not mine, this is not a beta’d read, mentions of Ari Levinson, allusions to sex

—

“Johnny’s been in his head a lot lately. Have you noticed?” Sue questions, applying her mascara in the vanity mirror next to you while you brushed your lash extensions with a spoolie.

“I mean, he has been more quiet than usual. But I didn’t think much of it. What could Johnny possibly think so hard about?”

“Do you think he’s talking to someone?” You stopped brushing your lashes and looked at her. “Are we talking about the same Johnny Storm?”

She nudges your side with her hip, causing the two of you to chuckle.

“Can you at least try to talk to him? He talks to you more than he does with me.” You leaned against the vanity table and took the mascara wand out of her hand.

“Hey, none of that. There is no sad talk allowed on your birthday.” “I’m not sad. I just.. I know I’m hard on him, but that’s because I want what’s best for him. And now he doesn’t trust me.”

“Of course he trusts you, Sue. You’re his big sister. He just doesn’t want to disappoint you.”

“And I said enough of that,” you set the mascara on the table and pulled her to her feet. “You’ve been playing big sister all day. Now it’s time to let loose and shake some ass.”

A knock on the door brings your attention from the mirror. Johnny leans his body against the door, giving you a quick once over.

He wore a simple black t-shirt and some jeans. But he felt a little underdressed once he saw what you and Sue were wearing.

“The limo’s here,” he states. He spun on his heel to wait by the front door when you called his name.

“How does she look?” You motioned to Sue but his eyes was trained on you.

“Beautiful- she looks beautiful. You better not bring anybody home.” He says, finally shifting his glance from you to Sue.

“As if. That’s something I should be saying to the two of you,” Sue snorts, pushing past him with her coat and purse in hand.

“Hey, I haven’t brought a guy home in a while.” You called after her. Johnny’s gaze fell to the floor at your words.

“Yeah, yeah.” She calls back. You spared yourself one last look in the mirror when you noticed Johnny meeting your gaze through the mirror.

“Everything okay?” You ask slowly, hugging your trench coat close to your chest. You had closed the gap between you.

Despite the fact you were wearing heels, you still had to lean back a little to look him in his eyes.

The scent of your perfume eased his nerves but your gaze combated that eased feeling, making his heart stutter in his chest.

“Johnny?” “Uh, yeah- yes, I’m fine.” “Are you sure?“ he opens his mouth to say something when Sue reenters the room.

“You guys ready?” Sue asks. “Yep, ready when you are.” You answer with a smile. You and Johnny follow Sue to the front door and took the elevator down to the lobby.

His eyes were glued to his phone the entire limo ride to the club, despite the music and Sue opening all of the windows and climbing through the sun roof to shout after a couple shots of tequila. A few people walking on the street wished her a happy birthday.

You had closed your eyes, relishing how the wind kissed your cheeks and smoothed over your silk pressed hair.

The music drowned out and it was just you and the wind. Johnny notices your silence and lifts his gaze to you. Time slowed when he watches your features relax, your head leaning further out the window.

Every night he thinks of what life would be like if he was with you. Not just with you in bed but with you. Loving you.

Things he never gave the time of day was now flooding his mind every chance it gets. Truth was, the thoughts were always there.

He suppressed them.

He turned his attention towards motocross and being a womanizer. But none of that stopped him of seeing you smiling when he would close his eyes at night.

He hasn’t been on his A game in months. He complete disappeared from the media. No instagram posts. No interviews. No special appearances. Nothing.

He felt like a love sick puppy.

He could tell by how limp your neck was that you were falling asleep. He hesitantly reached over the seat and touched your knee, refusing to acknowledge your dress was riding up your thighs.

Your eyes slowly peeled open at the touch, meeting Johnny’s concerned gaze.

“You okay?” He asks. “Oh God. Did I fall asleep?” You sat up straight at the realization. “You did.”

“Please tell me she didn’t notice,” the two of you looked to Sue shouting something about an apartment key through the sunroof. Mostly likely something about Reed.

Then she mumbled something about fuck men, which was definitely about Reed.

“I doubt it,” Johnny states, making the two of you chuckle. “Doesn’t take much to get her drunk, huh?”

“No, I guess not.” You met his gaze again, the warmth of his hand remained on your skin. There that feeling was again, a thrumming under your skin at the connection.

What was happening right now?

“We’re here!” Sue squeals, dropping back down into the limo.

Johnny hand pulls away from you and you cleared your throat, adjusting your dress as Sue opens the car door.

Johnny gets out first to help you and Sue out of the car.

You made an effort to avoid eye contact with Johnny throughout the night. You don’t know what is going on but it’ll stop if you ignore it long enough. Right?

Johnny watches as a man weeds his way through the crowd to where you and Sue were dancing.

He smooths a hand over your waist and you looked over your shoulder at him. He flashed you an award winning smile that immediately made you weak in the knees.

“I’m Ari,” he says into your ear, smiling when you said your name in return.

Johnny’s jaw clenched at the sight, taking a long swig of his beer. Ari drapes his arms over your shoulders, his hips rolling against your backside as he whispers something in your ear to make you laugh.

Why were you laughing with him? He doesn’t know you, Johnny thought to himself.

“Hey Johnny,” a woman greets, sliding into the space next to him. “You here with someone?” She asks, sliding her hands up his clothed chest.

Johnny looked to see if you noticed her touching him, only to see your eyes closed as Ari kissed the side of your neck.

“Fuck it,” Johnny says allowed, cupping the blonde woman’s cheeks before kissing her.

“Gross, get a room you two!” Sue shouted at you and Ari over the music. “And leave you? No way!”

“I’m sure Johnny will take me home.” Sue mediates. The two of you looked over to Johnny who had his tongue down some blonde’s throat.

“Looks like that’s not happening. Let me take you home.” You told her. “No. I’ll call an Uber. It’s okay.”

“I don’t like the idea of leaving you here drunk and alone while you wait for your Uber to get here.”

The two of you continued to bicker until Ari stepped in.

“I can take drop her off if you’d like,” “No, Ari. You don’t have to do that.”

“It’s really no problem. I don’t like the idea of any woman being alone and drunk either. People don’t exactly have the best intentions.” Ari explains.

“And after you drop her off?” You asked, his gaze darkening at your words.

“Well that’s entirely up to you, sweetheart.”

**

The morning after wasn’t anything like you expected. Typical, the morning after consisted of getting dressed and doing the walk of shame out of their apartment.

Except the morning with Ari meant morning sex with you on top, him drilling into you from below.

His arms encircling you so you couldn’t writhe away from him. He wanted you to take every inch.

While you were fucked out on his bed, he made you Belgian waffles and poured you some orange juice.

He offered to drive you home but you strongly insisted against it. Instead you called yourself an Uber to take you home, reminiscing at how Ari knew your body like the back of his hand.

You knew that meant that he was a fuck boy like Johnny was, but that didn’t take away from the fact that he made you feel like you were on Cloud 9.

You bit your lip as you reminisced on Ari’s hips slotted between yours. The smile fell from your face when the Uber driver pulled up to the curb in front of your apartment.

You thanked him before taking your heels in your hands and stepped onto the curb. You unlocked the front door, sighing when you closed it behind you.

“It’s almost noon,” a voice states behind you.

A yelp leaves your lips when you spun around, grabbing the nearest thing you could. You held the umbrella tightly in your hands until you slowly recognized the man in front of you.

“Damn it, Johnny! What the fuck!” “You really should have better security,”

“I had security. No one knows where my spare key is and I have a ring camera,” you explain, setting the umbrella back on the rack.

“A ring camera that would work better if you didn’t mute the notifications,” he retorts. “I’d got annoying after a while, okay. It’s a busy street.”

“What are you doing here, Johnny? Did something happen to Sue?” You added, changing the topic of conversation.

“No, Sue is fine. I thought something happened to you,” “You thought- why?” Your gaze fell to the blanket sprawled out on the couch. “You spent the night here?”

It wasn’t the first time he’s slept over your place. Most of the time it was because he was hung over from the night before and needed a place to sober up. You hadn’t thought much of it until now.

“Yes. I told you I was worried.” “Why?” He disappears into the kitchen and came back with some coffee and ibuprofen. You graciously took the cup of coffee and tossed the two pills on your tongue.

“Something felt off about the guy you were with last night,” he said, watching you take a careful sip of your coffee.

“Right, like you could make such an observation when you’re too busy making out with some blonde chick.”

“Didn’t think you cared much. Considering you let that guy fondle you in the middle of the club.”

“I did not let him fondle me,” you pointed, annoyed with his accusation.

What was this? Why were you bickering like you were.. a couple?

“Look, I don’t care about who you take home. So why do you care about who I take home?”

“I didn’t take her home, alright? She tried to take me back to her place but.. I couldn’t.” “Why not?”

“Let’s just picture something for a second, okay? A hypothetical. Me having a girlfriend. An amazing, smart, independent, long term girlfriend. We go on trips together and do interviews together. And just be happy together.”

“I’m sorry but I’m having trouble figuring out where all this is coming from, Johnny? If you have a crush on someone, just ask them out. You’re Johnny Storm. Talking to woman is as easy as breathing at this point.”

You take another sip of your coffee and Johnny stuffs his hands in his pockets.

“Not this woman. She makes me freeze every time she looks at me. I can’t think straight. It’s like I’m back in grade school all over again.”

“Wow. She really has you in the palm of her hand, huh? Who is she?”

You take a longer sip of your coffee once you felt the coffee had cooled down a bit. You wait for his response but he simply stares at you, waiting for you catch on.

Your face fell when the silence set in the room. “No,” Shaking your head, you step around him and walk into the kitchen.

“Y/N,” he calls after you. “No, Johnny.” You said, lifting your hand not wanting to make eye contact.

“Come on. Is this so far fetched? You know me better than anybody. I know you better than anybody. Definitely better than that guy from last night,”

You rounded the counter top to put some distance between you, sighing in disbelief. You couldn’t believe what you were hearing.

“You are a fuck boy and I have serious commitment issues. Not to mention, you’re my best friend’s little brother. It’s not going to work.”

“Aren’t relationships about work? Wanting to better yourself for someone else?” “Change because of someone else never lasts,”

“Just give me a chance,” he rounds the countertop to near you. He huffs when you backpedal away from him.

“Is this why you’ve been acting different? To get my attention?” “Not exactly. I just made the decision to work on myself and shy away from the optics for now.”

“Don’t you hear how insane that sounds coming out of your mouth? The motocross playboy wants to shy away from the optics.”

“I know it sounds insane.” He takes another step to see if you would move away. When you don’t, he slides into the space next to you, resting his elbows on the counter top.

And I know you feel the same way from the way you looked at me last night,” “I was buzzed so that doesn’t count,”

“Oh yeah?” He starts, encroaching in your space.

Placing a hand on either side of you, bowing his head until he was at eye level with you. The tip of his nose grazed the bridge of yours.

The smell of his cologne enveloped you, forcing you to resist leaning into him.

“And how about now?” He smiles when you lifted your head in defiance, you tense when you feel his leg brush against yours.

You couldn’t make any movements with touching some part of his body.

“I feel absolutely nothing,” “Liar,” he leans in to whisper in your ear.

“It’s lust at best,” you crossed your arms, using your body weight to nudge him away from you. He nods in understanding, smoothing a hand over the back of your head.

He pressed a gentle kiss to your temple. Your eyes fluttered at the gesture, meeting his gaze for the hundredth time since last night.

“Then it looks like I’ll have to convince you otherwise,”

He pulls away from you entirely, crossing through the kitchen back into the living room to put on his shoes. He doesn’t say anything else before he strolled out of your apartment, leaving you in silence.

“What the fuck?” You said aloud, taking your phone into your hands to call Sue.

[psychewritesbs]

Chapter 236: Go South—JJK is generational

Gosh. Can we pleeeease just like... have a moment of silence for the one and only...THE Man, Gojo Satoru.

Ok, time's up.

Moving on.

Word vomit under the cut.

The process of reading this chapter was a very interesting one this week because the fandom got really noisy as soon as the leaks dropped.

Between allegations of bad writing and the utter sense of grief Gojo fans were expressing, it was quite the 💩 storm.

And then the actual scanlations started dropping, and little by little they replaced most of the noise with the utter sense of calm and peace and satisfaction that Gojo felt in his last moments in this plane of existence.

I gotta say that I just absolutely loved how Gege depicted those emotions (outside of Gojo's "dream") through shots of the devastated Shinjuku district.

The remnants of the battle of The Strongest, as if the landscape and the buildings themselves represented the end of an era, the devastation of the structure of Jujutsu society itself.

After all, as The Strongest sorcerer in the modern era, Gojo represented the very system he was trying to destroy.

Gege loves his irony.

Now, I would normally say that the words in the speech bubbles are superfluous because Gege creates such a beautiful atmosphere through the setting alone. But it is the words themselves that re-contextualize not just the battle, but also shed more light on Sukuna's interest in Megumi, which I feel we haven't seen the extent of what he had in mind.

Now I'm hoping this isn't a dream

Listen, I must admit I've never cared for Gojo.

I don't hate him, I don't love him, I simply never really cared for him.

That, of course, changed with this chapter.

And it is perhaps Gojo's death that really solidified in my mind the idea that one of the underlying themes in jjk is... dun dun dun... DEATH.

Yeah, I know. Sue me, I'm late to the party lmao.

But it's not just death itself that is a theme, but rather the face we put on when death comes knocking at the door.

There aren't many things that we can be certain of in this life, but death is one of them. So how we confront death and our mortality shapes the sense of self.

I know a lot of people were dissatisfied with the transition from 235 to 236 and Gege not showing how/when Gojo got slashed in half, but I find the abrupt transition makes sense, and I even dare say was... quite poetic.

For one, now knowing that Gojo knew Sukuna was holding back, a lot of incidents throughout the battle are given new meaning. Like that look of confidence on Gojo's face as he "thinks" he's finally managed to "get through" to Sukuna.

So I have to say that I loved that Gege starts the chapter with Gojo becoming aware that he has died or is dying.

In other words, Sukuna's attack was so sudden that Gojo's next moment of awareness as "Gojo Satoru" is in what we would normally think of as "the light at the end of the tunnel" where he is greeted by people who were of significance to him in his youth.

And can we please just talk about how Geto is the first person he sees when he becomes aware that he is dying?

Please. This is fucking poetry!

Insert keyboard smash.

Screaming in jjk.

Go South

I literally lack the words to explain why I love this whole chapter so much. Which is a lot to say because I am about to word vomit about it. But like...

Again, hindsight is 20/20.

I always thought of the panel above as Geto being jealous of Gojo surpassing him in strength but, in retrospect, I think Geto's disappointment had more to do with Gojo's sense of self over-identifying with the title "the strongest" and how that made him harder to relate to, which is one of the main themes in this chapter. I'll come back to this in a sec.

But first...

Quick depth psych segway. I think I've said this before, but it bears repeating again that an overwhelming sense of self is all ego. There's nothing wrong with ego per se.

The problem is that an over-identification with ego means inherent separateness because, as an organ of the psyche, the ego sense of self is what gives us a separate identity from the collective.

On the other hand, soul/heart (another organ in the psyche) is the principle of relatedness--love, the single energy that can bring us all together as a collective.

But as we already know, the stronger the sorcerer, the more overwhelming the sense of self.

Unfortunately, because an overwhelming sense of self = separateness, this also means the person in question can't relate to others.

And is this not thematically perfect for a sorcerer whose perfected cursed technique was meant to render others unable to "reach him"?

In other words, Gojo saw himself as separate (because he was "The Strongest") and that made it harder for him to relate to others, but only because he self-identified as "The Strongest".

Infinity ∞, in this sense, is also about the self-fulfilling prophecy Gojo was stuck playing out in his life in regards to seeing himself as "The Strongest".

But like a serpent eating its own tail, Gojo came back full circle, and in the moments before his death, learned that what really mattered to him was not strength for the sake of strength, but rather the connections he had fostered with others.

PLEASE. GEGE. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCKING FUCK?!!!!!!!!!!!

To bring it back to "Satoru became 'The Strongest'"...

I just loved so much that seeing Geto as soon as he becomes aware he's died felt like an encounter that meant Gojo had returned to the person he was before he self-identified as "The Strongest".

But more importantly, Gojo's imagination of himself as back when he was young also speaks both to how much he cherished that period of his life, and to how he was emotionally frozen in time due to his encounter with Toji.

It makes me wonder whether Gojo was afraid of dying alone when Toji almost killed him. So it's almost like what he took away from that battle was that he was always alone, and so he sought to push others away.

The kicker is that he simultaneously feared his existential isolation and yet craved the very source of his fear--human relations.

But in choosing self-preservation, he was a selfish to the very end.

What an idiot (tragically affectionate).

Anyways. How much of this is hc? Someone tell me please 😂. I feel like I went off the deep end in the last few paragraphs.

Like everyone else in this fandom I've lost all objectivity when it comes to Gojo because his departure from the story was truly one of the most heartbreaking moments in jjk.

I understand people's complaints about the "execution," but I think the world-wide phenomena that Gojo's death has spurred speaks to Gege's ability to elicit deeply archetypal emotional responses as a story teller.

With Gojo's death, a part of our own psyche too has died. And what's most significant about this death is that it was, true to Gojo's character, "something that needed to die because it represented the very thing it sought to destroy."

And this would be why I love Gege's writing.

A fitting way for Gojo to go out

I know not everyone agrees, but I really appreciated that he was satisfied and at peace in the very end.

He got his cake (battle to death with Sukuna) and got to eat it too (reconnected with his loved ones).

Sukuna

But we can't talk about Gojo without talking about Sukuna as the one who liberated Gojo from the burden of his existential isolation.

Sukuna gave Gojo a fun battle, but if it weren't because Sukuna figured out how to cut through Gojo's metaphorical defenses by learning to cut through space-time itself--the very fabric of reality, Gojo might not have found his humanity once again.

The outcome of this battle spells out in no uncertain terms how dire the situation is as Sukuna has proven himself to be the uncontested "Strongest".

But in a sense, the end is a new beginning, and this time, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

JJK is generational

I get the feeling that everyone will remember where they were when this panel dropped.

I was in bed. It was 6 am and Tasokare, my miniature panther, was demanding attention.

A moot was on the way to the gym. They never made it out of the house after seeing the panel.

Another moot was completely avoiding Twitter to avoid leaks, but her brother, who does not even read jjk, saw the panel on Facebook and showed it to her.

Yet another moot was on vacation at the beach.

JJK is generational like that and there's just so much more I can say about this chapter and its implications (like the idea that Sukuna can now cut through space-time, why?! what does he want to get out of this ability?), but I just don't even know what more I can say right now.

Anyways, thanks for reading. I'm looking forward to any thoughts you might have. Just a heads up, I'm very, very slow at replying.

[spiderman2099sleftnipplepiercing]

Dropping snippets of SpidermanAU! because I can…. Yes, I reuse poses sue me. Pose thief here 🫣

From Earth 1985

Johnny Lawrence is the Valley's one and only Spiderman. (I know it's cringe okay, but couldn't decide between Encino or Reseda.)

His biological Father split, but he continues to live with his Mother and ass hat step-dad.

Kreese is the one who gets shot when Johnny storms out the Cobra Kai dojo one night. (Uncle Ben styled canon event)

His boyfriend Daniel Larusso, whom he failed to save when he was thrown from the clock tower. By none other, then his ex-best friend, turned green goblin Tommy. (Cry about it- Gwen Stacy who?)

These are just notes. Please hath mercy.

(Waiting for YA'LL to say NO MERCY.)

[reallyromealone]

Based off an idea @demonicpansexual came up with

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

(Name) laid on the couch grumpy, he was craving snacks but all the snacks in the house were usually the ones Mikey enjoyed ((name) did too before the pregnancy) but now that he was VERY pregnant, all the foods made him nauseous.

"Jiro... Please don't eat that by me" (name) mumbled already feeling queasy at the smell of Mikey's parfait and the Alpha looked annoyed before standing and just before he got an ear shot (name) heard him mumble the last dumbest shit he could ever utter.

"Can't stand the smell of good food...is that even my kid?"

And like that (name)s fairly calm and content scent turned the foulest Mikey bad ever smelt it "what did you say?" (Name) mumbled to Mikey who though realized he fucked up, couldn't keep his foot out of his mouth as he continued "it doesn't like Taiyaki or anything!"

"You did not just refer to our PUP AS AN IT! HOW DARE YOU SAY THIS SHIT!" (Name) roared out as he shakily stood up "to even consider that!"

Mikey watched as (name) began crying but when he stepped closer (name) stepped back.

(Name) hid in the main bathroom for three hours before bedtime, staring at Mikey who lay on the bed almost expectantly at his mate.

Only to look shocked when his Omega turned around and stomped off to the guest room, the sound of the door locking could be heard.

(Name) sighed as he did the laundry the next morning, sorting the clothes to put in the washing machine when he smelt something.... off about Mikey's clothes.

It smelt like an Omega.

But not him.

(Name) proceeded to sniff nearly two weeks of Mikey's clothes (he's behind on laundry, sue him) and began hyperventilating when more than half smelt of this Omega.

Mikeys cheating on him?

Did he even want the pup?

Is that why he tried saying it wasn't his? For an out?

(Name) slipped on his shoes and left the penthouse, the guards not sure if they should stop him as he left without any jacket teary eyed and clearly distressed.

Draken was surprised to see his brother, well not really as his brother visits often but surprised to see him shaking and crying.

(Name) was hyperventilating when he finished telling Draken everything and the Alpha was ready to throttle Mikey, his brother devoted everything to him since they were young teens and this is what he does?

Draken thinks he may have to clean the storage room out.

"Ken..." (Name) mumbled, looking down to see a wet spot on the floor "no no! It's too early!" (Name) practically screamed and Draken was already calling the paramedics while comforting his brother.

Mikey came home to an empty house.

He looked high and low before demanding a guard tell him where he went "and you just LET HIM!"

Mikey unloaded half a clip onto him before gripping his hair stressed "my pregnant mate is out there with my pup! FIND HIM!"

his pup.

Mikey halted as a lump in his throat began forming, he really did that to (name)? Accused him of cheating when Mikey had let an Omegan whore get close to him at one of Bontens's many clubs.

God he was the worst.

Bzzzt

Bzzzt

"Speak"

"Hi, is this Manjiro Sano?" A voice spoke out and Mikey was suspicious "why do you ask?"

"This number is on the emergency contact sheet for (name) Sano, he is currently in labor"

Mikey hung up the phone as he bolted out.

Draken stood as Mikey stormed in, the shorter man looking frantic and hissed when Draken got in his way "do you really think he wants to see you?! You fucking sack of shit!"

Security pushed them apart with the threat of being removed from the hospital and Draken glared "I would be amazed if he wanted to see you after this"

It took four hours but (sons name) was born, (name) being moved to a room with the incubator so he could feed him better.

Mikey came into the room as (name) slept to see his squirmy son who had pitch black eyes like himself.

Despite being premature the baby looked identical to him.

This was his son.

Mikey slept beside (name) the entire night as he recovered, holding his hand gently.

(Name) woke hours later and just stared at Mikey with rage, slightly pulling his hand away and waking Mikey "baby--"

"Don't"

"Please I'm so fucking sorry"

"You fucking hurt me Mikey"

No jiro or even Manjiro.

Just Mikey.

That was basically calling him by his formal name.

"Please... Let me make this right"

"I will give you this chance but I'm staying at my brother's with our son"

[thevindicativevordan]

Since you read all of Ultimate Fantastic Four, what do you think of the series?

Gave me an understanding of why shows like Keeping Up With The Kardashians are popular. Something about following trashy people can be oddly compelling and entertaining. Ellis and Millar’s sections were the strongest of the run, with Carey only getting good towards the end. Ellis spends a lot of time “realistically” explaining how the powers of the Four work, and used that same approach to the Ultimate takes on Doom and the Negative Zone too. Millar in contrast is throwing out cool ideas to see what sticks (zombie F4, everyone gets superpowers, spiders that eat time travelers, Doom pulls a Superior Spider-Man on Reed) and doesn’t particularly care to explain in depth how any of it works. His is the most entertaining section of the UFF and the one where the premise really shines. You get to see the potential of a less squeaky clean F4 in terms of what stories can be told, all of the Four get character focus even if in the case of Sue and Johnny it only makes them more unlikable.

I already talked about Reed but regarding the other three:

Ben is more or less the same as his 616 counterpart. Pissed at Reed for his transformation, angsts over it and is terminally depressed, but when his team or world needs him he brings the clobbering. Thing’s best moments are ironically in the President Thor arc where he has no powers. Scene at that end where he beats the Super Skrull to death for genociding Earth is peak Thing. Ben Grimm rules no matter the reality.

Ultimate Johnny is a moron. A well-meaning moron with a (small) heart of gold to compensate for having no brains to be fair. He has some good moments like clueing Reed in that Sue likes him at the start of the series, and being willing to give up his powers if it means curing Ben as an apology for an incredibly asshole “joke” he plays on Ben earlier. But he remains a shallow fratbro for the entire run, with only the death of his father at the end of the series (thanks to Ultimatum) pushing him towards bettering himself. Bendis’ usage of him in USM is superior to how he’s used in UFF imo.

Another unintentional foreshadowing here that I loved. Sue goes on a mission to Siberia alone after Reed alienated himself from the rest of the team because he was obsessed with shooting the Cube. Sue gets shot down and Johnny blames Reed for it, threatening to burn Reed to death if Sue dies. Follows through on that threat after Reed DOES hurt Sue in Ultimate Doom! Within the arc itself Johnny comes across as an unstable prick, but people probably feel more inclined to side with him knowing what Reed will become. I however saw how you could feasibly make Johnny a bad guy, imagine a world where Sue does die and Johnny is the one to go off the deep end. Can’t see 616 Johnny ever breaking like that, but this guy could have.

Sue… is much, much worse than her 616 counterpart. Most writers, even great ones like Hickman, don’t know what to do with Sue. At best she’s the “mom” and that’s her entire character. She takes care of the kids and nags the rest of the team. Ultimate Sue being unmarried means that they can’t fall back on that so instead they make her whole personality being a woman. Mole Man and Namor are sex pests towards her, she gets kidnapped because one villain wants to use her to resurrect his wife and the other villain wants to steal her powers because she thinks they’re wasted on Sue. Everything about her revolves around the men in her life, even breaking her and Reed up merely leads to a new permanent relationship between her and Ben.

Sue’s biggest fear is becoming her mom, who is a selfish asshole who abandoned the Storm family because she valued her career more than them. Suppose that means she’s attracted to Reed initially because her mommy issues made her think she could get Reed to pick her over science where she failed with her mom. She’s constantly showing off skin to titillate the readership. Arcs focused on her were the worst of the run, and that breakup scene at the end of UFF: Requiem managed to make her shooting down a marriage proposal at her dad’s funeral unsympathetic. All these legit reasons to break Sue and Reed up for good, and they went for the one that makes Sue as unlikable as possible. Yeah how dare Reed not prioritize saving you over saving the planet!

If UFF exists on a spectrum with Reed being morally sketchy even prior to his breakdown, and Ben essentially being the same as his 616 counterpart, Johnny and Sue are right in the middle with Johnny edging towards the heroic side and Sue leaning towards villainy. People have forgotten this but Ultimate Sue had two evil futures where she broke bad. One where she becomes Kang which was Fialkov trying to justify Reed’s transformation into Maker, and the other in a completely forgotten F4/X-Men crossover where she becomes an evil dictator in an alternate future after Johnny gets killed in Ultimatum, with Reed opposing her. God that entire story was a fever dream, on its own it’s mediocre as hell but every goddamn reveal hits ten times harder when you know what’s coming.

Damnit this was a punch straight to the gut. In said future Reed becomes Nihl, no matter what it seems he was destined to emulate one of the Four’s foes. Biggest takeaway from UFF for me is that I could buy Ultimate Reed, Sue, or Johnny breaking bad. All three are shitty people with poor emotional control and narcissistic elements to their personalities. Reed simply had the misfortune to be the one Bendis chose to shove into the deep end.

Ultimate X-Men is the only Ultimate series I haven’t read yet but right now I rate UFF as the weakest of the ones I have. It’s not bad by any means! Actually I quite enjoyed it depending on the arc. Unlike USM and Ultimates however I don’t think UFF does anything better than the mainline FF book. Tellingly that while MCU adaptions of Spider-Man and Avengers borrowed a lot from their Ultimate counterparts, the FF seem to be drawing entirely from 616. UFF works better as a contrast with the mainline rather than as an entry point to the franchise for new readers.

[aegor-bamfsteel]

from what I remember. quick summary

In the battle of the mill we see 2 boys (OC of the series) with each one their group of people, Aeron Bracken shows off his sword with his friends, then Davos Blackwood comes to complain about the issue of the limits and accuses him of moving the stones of this one. They try to intimidate Davos telling him that he is the false king that his house supports, Aeron says that his side is a baby killer (because of Jaehaerys and his public funeral accusing Rhaenyra that Otto did) so they are going to face each other and both die (fight off camera)

So far so good. but the council comments that the Bracken attacked the Blackwoods (?

Then Daemon goes to Harrenhal and among the people who meet is Willian (the Blackwood child from the first season) who says he is loyal to Rhaenyra and asks for the land that the Bracken took from him

when Daemon goes to threaten the Bracken with his dragon and William (on a random hill) tells him to change sides or they will face the dragon and Amos Bracken says: we choose fire, turning around on horseback with the others while Caraxes prepares to attack (in a great shot I must say) and then Daemon defeated saying admiring that they did not let themselves be intimidated by a dragon and when William tells him to finish them off for that, Daemon says that men like that (like the Bracken) he needs in his army, and tells William that there are other ways to convince him, an implicit suggestion

Then in Harrenhal Daemon receives the news that Bracken have surrendered but because the Blackwoods attacked their lands, looting their food, septs, abusing women and killing children, which makes the houses of the rivers go to claim him horrified by what William is doing under a flag of Rhaenyra and that they are not going to do led by a tyrant

Then in the last chapter Oscar who is already lord of the trident after the death of his grandfather (they removed Kermit and killed Elmo) tells him that they will honor their oath no matter how unpleasant their leader is (Daemon) but that a damage and an affront to the land of the rivers must be repaired, William says that the Bracken have already surrendered and that is their purpose, but Oscar manipulating makes Daemon behead William for his crimes or he does not give him the army of the rivers

…That’s it?

From the way fandom talked about it, you’d think they had the Brackens, provoked by the Blackwoods (including their lord and his sister Alysanne, since they were in the raiding party Amos chased before getting surprised at the Burning Mill) defeat the Blackwoods in honorable combat (which incidentally happened in the book twice between Amos Bracken and Samwell Blackwood, both of whom are pretty unrecognizable here) and only surrendered because Daemon forced their hand by threatening the lives of their kids. I heard that the writers were supposed to be biased against the Brackens, instead of the Blackwoods committing war-crimes (also in the book) just…being acknowledged as terrible in-universe and apparently facing consequences for it?

From what you’ve written, the Brackens only “”look”” better because of what they didn’t include:

No Brackens being victim to the most obvious chevauchée ploy ever. It’s completely ridiculous in F&B that Amos Bracken would’ve taken too many men to chase away a raiding party so his own castle (and he couldn’t rely on the other Greens for support) got invaded and taken over by the time he (or rather his brother Raylon Rivers) got back. I’m not great at military tactics, but even I know GRRM made the Brackens get plot induced stupidity to make the Blackwoods look better

No Aly Sue Blackwood allegedly killing Amos Bracken with a magic arrow to the eye slit in his helmet after Amos killed her war criminal brother in single combat. Amos gets to live (and he’s not a bad dude, but the pettiness isn’t book canon at all) so at least no glorification of Blackwoods there.

No Daemon storming Stone Hedge and taking the Brackens hostage means we don’t hear about how his “third wife and baseborn paramour” were also captured, which is a cheap ripoff of Jonos Bracken in ADWD and an unnecessary detail to show how “eevil misogynists” the Bracken men are. No Raylon Rivers also contributes, as his existence implies Humfrey Bracken was siring illegitimate children decades back

No Daemon taking Brackens hostage also means the Brackens surrendered so as to not see their smallfolk come to further harm from the Blackwoods, rather than Raylon Rivers kneeling to not see the rest of his family (RIP Amos) get slaughtered. At least someone cares about civilian casualties Hess insists “don’t count”. But it also makes Daemon look better by not having him openly threaten innocent women and children

The only thing I liked that they added (other than the Blackwoods committing war crimes on Bracken lands actually acknowledged and had consequences) was the Brackens actually have a reason to support Aegon II other than “well the Blackwoods went for Rhaenyra and we don’t like them”: they think Rhaenyra had something to do with Jaehaerys’ murder (which…she did, considering Daemon had men paid to kill a “son for a son”) and are disgusted

But then the Blackwoods end up looking better because:

Apparently in the show the Brackens started the fight? Because the Blackwoods accuse them of moving rocks? When in the book it’s the Blackwoods who draw first blood when: “In the riverlands, raiders out of Raventree, flying Rhaenyra's banners, crossed into the lands of House Bracken, burning crops, driving off sheep and cattle, sacking villages, and despoiling every sept they came on (the Blackwoods were one of the last houses south of the Neck who still followed the old gods).” which, as I’ve said many times before, are war crimes even in universe. The Brackens only fought back after the fact, as was their right. This is another example of the show inventing petty actions for the Greens so the Blacks look more justified

Daemon seems (it’s implied) like he gives Willem the idea to abuse Bracken smallfolk in order to get the Brackens to surrender, rather than the Blackwoods coming up with the idea themselves because they hate the Brackens and those who live on their lands. This again undermines how awful the Blackwoods were, because the chevauchee wasn’t to force a surrender, it was to punish the Brackens so they could draw them out to kill them and give Daemon enough time to take Stone Hedge by force. Once again, Daemon’s cruelty (just like with Blood and Cheese, and his reaction to Baelon’s death) is left unsaid and his participation in the coordinated attack on Stone Hedge seems to be negligible

The Bracken men are weak fighters in the show. Amos Bracken beat Samwell Blackwood twice in the book, once over a duel for Rhaenyra and the other during the Burning Mill battle. In Season 1, Willam fights Jerrell (ofc Jerrell provokes him 🙄 ) and stabs him to death nonsensically (sure a dude with a knife is going to win against a dude with a sword. Wth); in Season 2, Davos fights Aeron (again apparently the Brackens are the aggressors) and they kill each other. Blackwoods win or draw in duels in the show, Brackens sweep in the book. This is contradictory for the show because wouldn’t the better fighters be the ones to attack? But you can’t have that, because the Blackwoods need to be the wronged party and only escalate because the Brackens are stubborn

Basically, the changes the show made to the Bracken/Blackwood conflict aren’t “Bracken bias”, but more of a mixed bag that makes both families look better or worse, because the show doesn’t really care about them; they care about Daemon Targaryen (who in the book only shows up at the end of the conflict) and how he acts and reacts to his Blackwood Allies and Bracken opponents. Amos’ refusal to surrender to Daemon (never happened in the book; his half brother Raylon agreed to surrender after Daemon threatened to hurt his family) wasn’t about the Brackens being brave but how Daemon would respond to an outnumbered enemy who would rather be burned alive with his men (I hope he asked them if they agreed beforehand) than surrender to him. Him admiring their bravery and saying they were worthy soldiers is more about softening his character, since in the books neither he nor the other Targs care about the Brackens (although the Brackens later fight the Green army led by Borros Baratheon, so maybe this is show foreshadowing for why). As this is Daemon, his reaction is to do something underhanded by insinuating Willem commit atrocities against Bracken smallfolk (although clearly he was eager to do it and wasn’t sorry at all) to force their hand…but then consequences come for him…or at least Willem, who he’s forced to execute because the Riverlords are disgusted by the atrocities done under Rhaenyra’s banner. But as stated, this conflict is made about Daemon, so Willem’s death is pretty inconsequential, and it’s just another crime to taunt him about in Harrenhal I guess, as well as to make the Blacks look better (war crimes are not sanctioned and we execute the perpetrators I promise!). I did find Daemon apparently coming to admire the enemy Brackens while having to punish the Blackwood Allies an amusing inversion of Jaime’s interactions with them in ADWD, though.

tl;dr I still don’t have nearly enough time to watch this show due to a personal emergency. It sounds like the show acknowledged that the Blackwoods committed atrocities against people on Bracken lands, and had one Blackwood be executed for it; however, I believe that’s more to make the Blacks look better than to denigrate the Blackwoods, who initially are made out to be the “wronged party” and superior fighters against the Brackens anyway. What happened doesn’t seem to be “Bracken bias”, but to highlight contradictions in Daemon’s character at admiring an enemy’s courage but also being willing to sign off on unjust violence to bring them down (I guess there’s that “blend of light and dark” the Rogue Prince keeps blathering about, even though no such lightness was seen in the book).

You’ve made it to the end; Horse House appreciates your patience.

[lezzballer]

I'm sharing a preview of my story and I'd like to hear your feedback on it!

I don't have a title for it yet so the working title is Lauren Jackson x Reader Meet Cute. The story is set in 2003 in Connecticut because I love writing retro ball. Storm Head Coach Ann Donovan made Sue and Lauren train together before the 2003 season because they didn't get along. This story takes place during that time.

It's the end of February in Connecticut. The winter snow is melting and the campus stress is mounting. Academic and athletic stress keeps you up at night. So rather than waste your time lying awake staring at the ceiling, you party.

There's a basketball party tonight and it's a big one. The conference tournament starts in a few days and Sue is in Storrs again to see the games. It's been a year since she was drafted but she's still a god here. So whenever she comes back here, you throw her an absolute rager.

You're a few shots in when Sue walks through the front door. She runs over and wraps you in a big hug. "I've missed you, dude!" she yells in your ear. You've missed her a lot. Your heart broke when she was drafted to Seattle. Everything is harder without Sue around.

As you and Sue get reacquainted, someone else walks through the door behind her. A giant. You recognize her immediately but there's no way she could possibly be in Storrs. This must be a dream.

"I told you I had a surprise for you, remember?" Sue says. "Well, here's your surprise."

Ever since Sue left Storrs for Seattle, she's been complaining to you about Lauren Jackson. Every time you'd call her, she'd tell you "Lauren is a problem." And now that 6'5" problem is standing in the doorway of this UConn party. She looks down at you. For a brief moment there's something warm in her eyes. And then her face twists into a scowl.

"Who is this?" she asks Sue. Sue introduces you. Lauren doesn't shake your hand or smile. She just looks around the room and sighs. She does not want to be here.

Sue rolls her eyes. "Okay, where's my drink?" You lead Sue and Lauren through the crowded living room into the kitchen and pour some shots. Sue pounds her shot back without flinching. Lauren pours hers in a can of coke. By now, the rest of the UConn basketball players have realized that Sue is here. They all file in to the kitchen to embrace Sue. One-by-one, Sue introduces them to Lauren. Lauren glares and mumbles her way through every introduction until she's left a bad first impression with everyone. When she's content with her work, she turns away from the crowd and sips her vodka coke. A cheeky grin forms on Lauren's face while Sue attempts to clean up after Lauren's rudeness. "Sorry, we're a little jet-lagged!" Sue says as she leads the crowd out of the kitchen, leaving you alone with Lauren.

"Are you jet-lagged?" You ask.

"No, I'm just on the wrong continent." Her Australian accent is thick and musical. Every sentence sounds like a question. You can't tell what's sarcasm and what isn't.

"So, how'd you end up in Storrs?"

"Coach's orders."

"Coach Auriemma?"

"Who? Oh, that's your coach, right? No, I'm here on the Storm coach's orders. Anne Donovan wants me to follow Sue around. You know, they're not even paying me for this. It's charity work."

"So why are you doing it?"

"I have no idea. I could be on a beach in the Gold Coast right now. I'm missing bikini season for this. The waves, the girls, I'm missing it all for Storrs."

She talks about girls openly with no shame in her voice. You've never heard a woman talk like that in your life. This WNBA player is living up to every stereotype and she doesn't seem to care.

"There's girls here, too, you know." The words fall out of your mouth before you even realize what you're saying. "And bikinis."

"Really?" She looks you over and takes a long sip of her vodka coke. You suddenly feel dizzy. Your college team is laughing and dancing in the living room. And you're just a few feet away flirting with a WNBA player. This can't be happening but it is. You're not even drunk. If you were drunk, this would all make a lot more sense. Maybe it's time to get drunk. You walk over to the bowl of Nightmare Punch and fill up your cup. The punch is a deep maroon brown color. It smells terrible and tastes even worse. You choke down half of it and then look enviously at Lauren's vodka coke.

"Wanna trade?" you ask.

"No way!" she laughs. Her laughter feels so good.

Your teammates come find you and pull you and your Nightmare Punch onto the dance floor. Apparently your song is on. Part of you feels grateful that your teammates saved you from whatever it was you were just doing. And another more wicked part of you resents them for it.

Three songs and one bathroom break later, you find your way back to the kitchen. But Lauren is already gone. You feel a pang of crushing disappointment in the pit of your stomach. You retrace your steps back through the house looking for Lauren's sulking 6'5" figure. You don't find her but you do find Sue.

"Hey, have you seen Lauren?" You ask.

"Lauren? No. What time is it?"

You look at your watch. "It's barely ten" you say.

"Ten? Okay. Lauren's gone"

"What do you mean she's gone? We're in the middle of nowhere. Where could she even go?"

"I don't know. She just leaves. Every time I try to do something social with her, she just disappears. It's all part of her, you know, it's all part of her bullshit. She's a problem, remember? And you're supposed to help me solve that problem. That's why I brought her here."

"Lauren said your head coach put you up to this"

"Well, I gave Coach Donovan the idea. Lauren hates me and she hates UConn. So I thought, what the hell, I might as well bring her back here with me."

"To torture her?"

"Exposure therapy. Listen, she'll turn up tomorrow morning. Let's forget about her and have fun tonight." Sue pushes another drink into your hand. There was a time when this used to be enough for you. There was a time when drinking and laughing with a beautiful woman was all you wanted in life. But you're growing up and learning that you want more. You remember when Sue visited back in December and brought a boyfriend to your game. The little crush you once had on her died that day. You want more and you won't get it here.

You hang around the party for a little while longer before grabbing your jacket and slipping out the door. There's nowhere to go in Storrs. But Lauren is 6'5". You should be able to see her from a distance. And the booze in your system gives you confidence that you'll find her.

You walk about 50 yards before reality starts to set in. It's freezing out here and Lauren is long gone. Your drunk mind pictures her leaving the party with one of those Gold Coast bikini girls she was talking about. "Damn it!" You yell out into the night. Now you're really mad. You had a chance, a brief window of opportunity, and you missed it. "God fucking damn it!" Rogue tears spill over your eyelids. You can't go back to the party now. There's only one place in the world where you belong. The gym...

•••

I'm working on writing the next scene. Here's a work in progress that you can read now if you want!

Let me know what you think of it so far. If you like this and want to read more, send me an ask about it so I don't procrastinate lol

[kazuma-asogi-blog]

Shrewd Simon Short sewed shoes. Seventeen summers, speeding storms, spreading sunshine successively, saw Simon’s small, shabby shop, still standing staunch, saw Simon’s selfsame squeaking sign still swinging silently specifying: Simon Short, Smithfield’s sole surviving shoemaker. Shoes sewed soles super finely.

Simon’s spry, sedulous spouse, Sally Short, sewed shirts, stitched sheets, stuffed sofas. Simon’s six stout sons — Seth, Samuel, Stephen, Saul, Silas, Shadrach – sold sundries. Sober Seth sold sugar, spices; simple Sam sold saddles, stirrups, screws; sagacious Stephen sold silks, satins, shawls; sceptical Saul sold silver salvers; selfish Shadrach sold salves, shoestrings, stops, saws, skates; slack Silas sold Sally Short’s stuffed sofas.

Some seven summers since, Simon’s second son Samuel saw Sophia Sophronia Spriggs somewhere. Sweet, smart, sensible Sophia Sophronia Spriggs. Sam soon showed strong symptoms. Sam seldom stayed storing, selling saddles. Sam sighed sorrowfully, sought Sophia Sophronia’s society, sang several serenades slyly. Simon stormed, scolded severely, said Sam seemed so silly singing such shameful, senseless songs. ‘Strange Sam should slight such splendid sales! Strutting spendthrift! Shattered-brained simpleton.’

‘Softly, softly, sire,’ said Sally. ‘Sam’s smitten; Sam’s spied some sweetheart.’

‘Sentimental schoolboy!’ snarled Simon. ‘Smitten! Stop such stuff.’ Simon sent Sally’s snuffbox spinning, seized Sally’s scissors, smashed Sally’s spectacles, scattering several spools. ‘Sneaking scoundrel! Sam’s shocking silliness shall surcease!’ Scowling, Simon stopped speaking, started swiftly shopward.

Sally sighed sadly. Summoning Sam, she spoke sweet sympathy. ‘Sam,’ said she, ‘Sire seems singularly snappy; so, solicit, sue, secure Sophronia speedily, Sam.’

‘So soon? So soon?’ said Sam, standing stock-still.

‘So soon, surely,’ said Sally, smiling, ‘specially since Sire shows such spirits.’

So Sam, somewhat scared, sauntered slowly. Shaking stupendously, Sam soliloquised: ‘Sophia Sophronia Spriggs, Spriggs — Short — Sophia Sophronia Short-Samuel Short’s spouse — sounds splendid! Suppose she should say — she shan’t — she shan’t!’

Soon Sam spied Sophia starching shirts, singing softly. Seeing Sam she stopped starching, saluting Sam smilingly. Sam stammered shockingly. ‘Spl-spl-splendid summer season, Sophia.’

‘Selling saddles still, Sam?’

‘Sar-sar-tin,’ said Sam, starting suddenly. ‘Season’s somewhat sudoriflc,’ said Sam, steadily, staunching streaming sweat, shaking sensibly.

‘Sartin,’ said Sophia, smiling significantly. ‘Sip some sweet sherbet, Sam.’ (Silence: sixty seconds.) ‘Sire shot sixty sheldrakes, Saturday,’ said Sophia.

‘Sixty? Shoot!’ said Sam. (Silence: seventy-seven seconds.)

‘See sister Susan’s sunflowers,’ said Sophia, socially, silencing such stiff silence.

Sophia’s sprightly sauciness stimulated Sam strangely; so Sam suddenly spoke sentimentally: ‘Sophia, Susan’s sunflowers seem saying Samuel Short, Sophia Sophronia Spriggs stroll serenely, seek some sequestered spot, some sylvan shade. Sparkling springs shall sing soul stirring strains; sweet songsters shall silence secret sighings; super-angelic sylphs shall —’

Sophia snickered; so Sam stopped. ‘Sophia,’ said Sam, solemnly. ‘Sam,’ said Sophia.

‘Sophia, stop smiling; Sam Short’s sincere. Sam’s seeking some sweet spouse, Sophia.’

Sophia stood silent.

‘Speak, Sophia, speak; such suspense speculates sorrow.’ ‘Seek, sire, Sam, seek sire.’

So Sam sought sire Spriggs. Sire Spriggs said, ‘Sartin.’

(I did not write this I googled long tongue twisters)

I'm not reading all that. My apologies, I...

Wait a minute, you were the one to sic van Zieks on me the other day, weren't you?

I see. You're making fun of me. Well. What if I were to assert that I just spoke aloud your entire message perfectly? If you want to claim I'm lying, the burden of proof is on you, my learned friend. I'd like to see what sort of evidence you can conjure up to the contrary.

Or you could give up and acknowledge my superior elocution.

[breannastewart]

as an avid aces hater when are we gonna wake it up how a’ja is doing now, what stewie has done for YEARS, all while they discredited and invalidated it when stewie did it because of “seattle being a superteam” and how it didn’t really count because she had sue.. sorry it’s just funny to me

well I have MANY thoughts about this lol. so let's go.

people act like what vegas has done is something unique and special, having all those number one draft picks, growing and building something together, blah blah blah. the seattle storm did it before vegas did, but I watched plenty of people say they didn't like them and it was bad for the game that they were winning. in 2020 someone legit called them a superteam so it's not impressive before the superteam talk really began last year. the seattle storm were never a "superteam" by what we know a superteam to be. sue, jewell and stewie were all number one picks, just like those aces players. sami and AC were players no one gave a shot and only became who they are because seattle gave it to them, and they developed into solid, solid pieces in that system. the only notable player they got in free agency was natasha howard but she was not the player she is now, she became that WHILE in seattle. vegas didn't do it all entirely organically, chelsea gray was not an original piece, they got her in free agency like they got CP3 in free agency. as for the stewie and a'ja part of this, stewie could do a million things right but it would never be enough to impress that side and I'm vice versa it's the same, but I have NEVER seen a fanbase more vicious about their preference than the aces/a'ja/sc side. when it was stewie vs a'ja for MVP in 2022, I distinctly remember people saying stewie can't be MVP because she has a bunch of number one picks around her, but somehow that wasn't a disqualifying factor for a'ja who did as well. and those teammates of a'ja's were ALSO in the MVP convo, whereas stewie's teammates were not. stewie's team record was a disqualifying factor for her MVP case, because her team was 4th. despite the fact that she singlehandedly dragged them to that top 4 finish, without her I don't think they would have gotten there. that seattle team was not as deep or on that year as they were in the past. VALUABLE is in that title, so you tell me what added the most value to their team in that run? they said it should only go to the best player on the number one team. but I'm sure now this year, that somehow will magically not be a factor in a'ja's case given vegas' record halfway through the season. they will be the first to complain about goalposts moving all the time, but no one moves them more than them. and guys, these people couldn't STAND that storm team. I'm serious. when someone said back then it was bad for the league that seattle was so stacked and winning, I remember asking was it bad for the league when the lynx were stacked and winning even MORE, did y'all hate them as much as you do seattle? do they hate vegas that much now? no, clearly they don't. I'm sure they think what vegas has done is just fine. and mind you, seattle was doing all that without being the shady POS vegas has been over the last few years. people conveniently overlook that, too. they hated seattle simply because they were good, they hated sue and stewie, and always wanted to start some campaign that jewell was overlooked and should leave when jewell made it clear REPEATEDLY that was the place she was happy. and there were media who very much played into this whole thing, people who were able to get credentials to interview people like sue or stewie, but then talk shit about them constantly on their little twitter accounts. all seattle ever did was be good and love on each other in their little family bubble and people couldn't stand them. it's funny as much as it's not funny, really.

but anyway. it's fuck all of them and vegas forever until karma finally does it's big one or whatever. side note: at least my MVP hasn't ever been super chummy with a weirdo super fan who is also an abuser, so. I at least can always feel good about that.

[excelsiorfics]

A Day at the Park

Date: 06 Feb 2022 Author: kitausuret Rating: Gen Word Count/Status: 1606, complete Dynamic: Franklin Richards & Sue Storm & Reed Richards, Reed Richards/Sue Storm Characters: Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Franklin Richards, Venom Symbiote Tags: Slice of Life, NYC, Alien Cultural Differences

Summary: Trying to learn something more about the alien symbiote dropped off to them by (or, perhaps ripped off of) their longtime ally Spider-Man, Reed decides to take their guest along on a little trip to the park with his wife and their young son. In giving it a little bit of freedom, he's hoping to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding it... and hopefully, understand it a little bit better, too.

[rubywrites-4]

Such a backstabber🔪🩸

warning: violence, inappropriate language and more ⚠️

Johnny Storm had never been the type to settle down. He was a former playboy, known for his charm and charisma, but all of that changed when he met Y/n. She was different from anyone he had ever met before, and he knew from the moment he laid eyes on her that she was the one for him. They had been dating for a while now, and Johnny was convinced that Y/n was the love of his life. He had even started planning on proposing to her, wanting to spend the rest of his days by her side. But little did he know, his playboy ways were far from behind him.

Y/n had a close friend who she had known since she joined the Fantastic Four team, and unbeknownst to her, this friend had caught Johnny’s eye. Despite his feelings for Y/n, Johnny couldn’t resist the temptation of his friend, and soon enough, he was having an affair behind Y/n’s back. As the day of the pre-wedding party arrived, everyone was in high spirits. Johnny’s side chick was there, mingling with the other guests, and everything seemed perfect. But then, chaos erupted.

Bombs went off, sending guests running in every direction. Johnny was frantically searching for Y/n when he finally spotted her, standing with blood on her white wedding dress, tears streaming down her face. His heart shattered as he realized the extent of his betrayal.

Rushing to her side, Johnny hugged Y/n tightly, vowing in his heart to be loyal to her from that moment on. But just as he was about to profess his love, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Looking down, he saw a knife protruding from his abdomen, and when he looked up, he saw Y/n standing before him, a devilish smile on her face. “you thought I really do love you huh Storm?” She laughed at Johnny and continue pushing the knife deeper into his stomach

Suddenly Doctor Doom made his appearance while clapping his hand saying “bravo sweetheart” & kissed Y/n on the lips “mhm I missed you baby” Y/n moaned in the kiss and Doctor Doom replied “ I missed you more my baby” while kissing her back more deeper.

Johnny, Sue and everyone looked at Y/n in disbelief and was confuse of what’s going on and then a flashback played where Y/n is actually spy sent by Doom and also his girlfriend as well. Y/n acted as that innocent and sweet girl charisma and won everyone’s heart including Johnny’s and they both started to get to know each other and decided to date. Each and every time Johnny insisted sex, she would drug Johnny and goes to find evidence on the documents Johnny has secretly kept hidden while he’s unconscious and the next day she make him believe that they had sex and he passed out in tiredness. One final day she had found the important details and evidence of the Fantastic Four Team.

Flashback comes back to the reality where Y/n looks at her friend that she acted fake friendly and said“ I don’t have anything against you but no one shall have a friend like you who steal what’s belong to others so you know what you deserve bitch? ” Y/n winked & reloaded the gun to shoot her friend on the chest and forehead. Johnny didn’t even blink his eyes because of the shock and the fear he had for you at the moment

Evil smile presented on Y/n face and then she looked over Sue and smirked “ you would come after me for doing this to you” Y/n sighed and shot sue on the shoulder and apologized “I’m sorry Sue! You’re nice but I have to” luckily the shot didn’t affect Sue badly

Johnny scream and struggled to get out of the grasps Doom’s people had on him. Tears, fears and the pain do betrayal presented on his face and he asked Y/n with pleading eyes “ Y/n you bitch! Such a backstabber!! how could you do this to me ?” Y/n looked at him and laughed “ah little boy you don’t get to say that. You literally had a side chick and did things so you don’t get to talk about betrayal” y/n smiled sarcastically and told “lucky me I didn’t love or date a manwhore like you for real”

Y/n shot Johnny on both legs and he screamed in pain. Doom took his girlfriend’s hand “let’s go baby. I missed you so much” y/n smiled and pulled him for a kiss. Doom smirked and said “ah not here princess… let’s go to our home”. Both of them walked away holding hands and Y/n turned around to see Johnny fighting for his life while tears streaming down his eyes, Y/n smiled devilishly and showed her middle finger “this is how you do it mothafucker” then blow Johnny a kiss before walking away.

[positivelybeastly]

How do you feel about X-Men '97 coming back?

"Quite the meritorious happenstance, don't you think? One might have thought our tale lost to the annals of history, a dusty page in a tome left up on a shelf to be only occasionally perused as a curiosity or in a pique of nostalgia . . .

But it is not to be so!"

"As Tennyson himself said, "Cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them, cannon in front of them, volleyed and thundered; stormed at with shot and shell, boldly they rode and well, the X-Men.'

. . . Paraphrasing, of course."

I am incredibly excited.

Now, that's not to say that there aren't issues already - this is very much a nostalgia driven series, aimed pretty much precisely at me and my generation, and if I'm objective about it, I would have preferred it if X-Men: Evolution had come back instead. In terms of long form storytelling and character development, it was just better than the 90s show.

There's also some iffiness going on with Sunspot, who's joined the main cast - I believe his skin tone is incorrect, which is a common problem with a lot of Latino and Afro-Brazilian characters in comic books to this day, and given that they've made the cool choice to make Morph non-binary, I would've figured they'd want to depict Sunspot as accurately as possible?

That being said.

It just looks fucking good, man. Ray Chase is doing an amazing job of channelling the original Cyclops actor, who is no longer with us; the animation still feels very much in keeping with the original show, while still looking a MILLION TIMES BETTER (I completed a rewatch of the show not long ago, and hoo boy does season 5 especially look really rough); and after so many years of Krakoa comics, there's something to be said for going back to basics.

Is it a reversion? Yeah, a little bit. But I like my X-Men to be warm, and a family, and friends, and to play baseball and basketball, and not to all fucking hate each other, so sue me, I'll accept a step back for the story if it means I get the characterisations I prefer back.

Besides, the comics still exist for people who want the Krakoan stuff, so a bit of more original flavour X-Men for those of us who don't want our mutants to be living in various kinds of dystopia won't hurt anybody.

This also gives the show runners an opportunity to fix some of the issues the original show had, like a much more weakly written Jean and Jubilee than they ever were in the comics, and a chance to adapt some storylines that have NEVER been adapted before, like Inferno. I'm optimistic!

And, selfishly? Between the Marvels, X-Men '97, and what's currently going on in X-Force, I'm just ready for Beast to be written well again. I'm really hoping that he gets some good dialogue, a fun fight scene, maybe even a focus episode this season, but so long as he isn't doing some abominable shit, then I'll happily take it.

Maybe that makes me fickle or easy to please? Guilty as charged, then. I'll happily be easily pleased, because it means I'm fucking happy with what I get. :P

I don't know if I'll have a '97 verse? I can already tell you it'd be verse: hated and feared, but there's not a lot that's substantially different about TAS Hank to how he was in the 90s. That being said, I'm DEFINITELY going to try and get my hands on as many caps as possible - as you can already see, the lad looks so handsome!

[malum-forev]

Game On: Chapter Five

Author's Note: this is a reaaally long one, I hope you guys like it! Please comment and reblog if you do! :)

Chapter Four

Bucky stormed into the lecture hall. “You’re in trouble.” Wanda said in a singsong manner but (Y/N) just calmly closed her laptop and straightened up.

“I imagine this is your doing.” Bucky’s voice boomed as he slammed the safe sex pamphlet on her desk.

She looked up at him and smiled. “Yes, and I am quite proud of my little arts and crafts project.”

“This is all over the fucking campus, and now people thing I’ve had gonorrhea or crabs or something!” 

(Y/N) took the paper and straightened the crumpled-up edges, gazing at her masterpiece. “I believe it’s better for people to know what they’re getting into before it being too late.” 

“I could sue your ass for defamation.” Bucky barked back.

“I don’t think it would be wise for you to get all technical with a lawyer.” She replied, standing up and gathering her things. 

“Oh give me a fucking break, you’re pre-law. Do you understand that term? Pre, as in before.” Bucky said. 

(Y/N) took a step closer to be face to face. “Don’t patronize me. Do you understand that term?” Bucky scoffed and rolled his eyes as she continued. “I know that’s a pretty big word for you, you can look it up later.” 

“Everyone, make way for princess Elle Woods over here.” Bucky told what was left of the class. 

“Aw, what a nice compliment.” (Y/N) turned her head to give him a fake smile. “That wasn’t even a comeback, you’ve lost your touch Barnes.” 

She could hear him huffing as she left the room, which only brought her an even bigger smile. 

“Don’t you think you went a little overboard with this whole thing?” Wanda asked as she looked over the pamphlet. “It was kind of mean.” 

(Y/N) shot her friend a confused look. “Who’s side are you on?”

Wanda shot up her hands in defense. “I’m just an innocent bystander.”

“Okay well, as someone who wants to keep to the sidelines, I suggest you don’t get involved.” (Y/N) spat back.

“Hey! Don’t direct your anger towards me!” Wanda shoved her friend playfully. “I just don’t want this whole feud to get out of hand. Aren’t you worried about what he’s going to do next? Retaliation?”

“Don’t you worry about that.” (Y/N) smiled. “I’m already one step ahead of him.” 

___

“As you know,” Carol’s voice brought (Y/N) back to reality, she was sitting next to her co-chairman in front of the whole debate club. “Our final debate is tomorrow. And it is time to unveil our opponents.”

(Y/N) was nervously tapping her pen on the papers in front of her. This debate was a key factor to whether she would stay on the debate team. As one of her professors had put it, this was the moment when they would decide who was cut for this field and who wasn’t. She looked down at the mahogany table where she sat and tried to steady her breath. Ever since she was a child, she had dreamt of this moment. Standing in front of her peers and proving to them, and to herself, that she was worthy of it.  

Although she had been preparing for this for weeks, and (Y/N) knew she had every single argument to win, she couldn’t shake the jittery feeling blooming inside of her. 

“So, everyone please welcome our competition.” Carol said with a smile as the giant doors that lead into the debate room opened. (Y/N) couldn’t help her mouth from dropping to the floor.

“What the hell is he doing here.” (Y/N) whispered to Carol, her co-chairman shot her a look that in any spoken language could be translated to: ‘Shut up.’ But that was exactly the opposite of what (Y/N) was going to do.

“This debate cannot be held with opponents that aren’t part of the Pre-Law branch.” (Y/N) said as she shot out of her seat, straightening her dress. 

Bucky kept his pace and walked over to Carol. “Hello darling.” He took her hand and placed a kiss on her knuckles. 

Carol blushed as (Y/N) pushed her to the side. “Stop acting like a goddammed schoolgirl.”

“Don’t get your granny panties in a twist, doll.” Bucky smiled as the room snickered. “I don’t know if you’ve read the requirements for this debate-“

(Y/N) rolled her eyes and interrupted him. “The rules clearly state that majors that do not have a direct relation with prelaw cannot participate. So you, as a finance major, cannot be here. You shouldn’t even be in the building.”

“Well, if you had read correctly, you would have seen that only one of members on the team has to comply with that. And that is why I have accompanied my good friend, who is an English major, to this debate.” Bucky took a step to the side to reveal his teammate. 

(Y/N) felt her heart drop. If that were physically possible, it would have plummeted all the way down her system and into the underground parking lot. Her breath raced as she met his eyes. It was him, Brock Rumlow, the man from that party all those semesters ago. (Y/N) grabbed the back of her chair to steady herself. 

“Are you okay?” Carol asked her but it only registered as a small voice inside (Y/N)’s head. She felt like a heavy mass was weighing on top of her, as if the gravitational pull had magically increased. Her legs started to feel like rubber and her weight suddenly felt too heavy for her frame.  

“I- I need to get out of here.” She blurted before speeding past everyone and out the door. 

“Heavy is the head that holds the crown I guess.” She faintly heard Bucky say from behind her before the whole group erupted in laughter. 

As she got out of the building, the feeling only got worse. She could start to feel her mouth going dry and those awful black splotches had once again appeared in her vision. She was about to drop when suddenly she felt someone pull her up.

“(Y/N) what’s going on?” Peter’s voice started to ground her. When she looked up at him, everything hit her like a ton of bricks. 

“Peter,” She managed to say through sobs. “Get me out of here please.”  Was the last thing she said before everything turned to darkness. 

___

(Y/N) woke up in a strange apartment, laying on a surprisingly comfortable couch.

“Hey, look who came back.” She heard Peter say softly as he brushed some hair out of her face.

“Hi.” She managed to croak as she tried to sit up, only to be faced with the harsh reality that her limbs were still in their previous gelatinous state. 

“Shh, relax some more.” Peter said as he helped her sit and lean back on his couch. “You had a pretty big fall back there.”

(Y/N) smiled as she looked down at the already forming bruises on her arms and knees. “I gathered that.”

“Why don’t I make us some tea and you can tell me what’s on your mind.” He said.

She rubbed the palm of her hand against her face and shook her head. “Don’t worry about that, it’s just cause I’m under so much stress. It’s okay, I should be heading back to my apartment anyways.” 

“Look, I may be a biophysics major but that doesn’t mean I’m a total knob head when it comes to emotions. Something happened back there, and I think you should talk to someone about it.” He stated as he started the kettle. “So, peppermint tea or chamomile.”

“Chamomile please.” She murmured, sinking down into the couch. 

“And so after that happened, I decided to start avoiding him. I stopped going to parties where I knew he would be there, I took a different route to classes, you know just normal healthy behavior.” She said the last part dripping with sarcasm.

Peter started breathing faster, his nostrils flaring more every time. “I’m going to fucking kill Rumlow.” 

(Y/N) tried to calm Peter down as he shot up from the couch. “Pete, this happened a really long time ago. And I truly had everything under control. Really. It’s just seeing him tonight brought back everything.”

“And I’m going after Barnes too.” He spat. 

“Peter, really, it’s fine. It’s just something assholes do.”

“No!” Peter hissed. “It’s something men that are extremely insecure and fucked up do! And it’s something that should have never happened to you.”

“But it did, and I’m fine.” She said calmly.

“Yeah sure, what happened to you today was an indicator that you’re fine.” He said sarcastically. 

 (Y/N) laughed lightly. “What I meant is that I’m going to be fine.”

“Why hadn’t you told me? Do Natasha and Wanda know about this?” Peter questioned but his face fell once he saw her shaking her head. “You should have talked to someone about this.”

“I know, I know. It’s just, I had no one back then. The girls from that party were my only ‘friends’. So when I met Nat and Wanda, I didn’t want to unload my whole trauma on them. I just wanted to forget what had happened.” She explained. 

Peter nodded understandingly. “Look, I just want you to know if you ever need anyone to talk to about this. I’m here, I’m your friend. You don’t need to feel like you’re dumping your trauma on me. I’m always here if you need someone to listen. You’ve got a friend in me.”

She laughed. “Are you seriously quoting Toy Story?”

“Hey! That’s one of the best movies out there. It’s a beautiful story about two people from different worlds coming together and persevering.”

“Wow, I didn’t know I was in the presence of a Disney adult.” She replied as Peter pulled her into a hug. 

“Okay, now let’s go. You have to get a good night’s sleep for tomorrow. You need to kick some ass.” (Y/N) just nodded.

As Peter parked his car and got out to open the door for (Y/N), he saw Bucky. Peter had always been extremely observant so, instead of reacting with his emotions, he decided to do the one thing that would get Bucky’s blood boiling.

“Thanks for the ride, and the tea, and the talk.” (Y/N) smiled and before she could say anything else Peter brought her body forward and gave her a hug. Before letting go he whispered a quick: “Just go with it.” 

He cupped (Y/N)’s face and placed his lips on hers gently. Peter saw Bucky from the corner of his eye looking at them. The kiss only lasted a couple of seconds but (Y/N) felt like it was a lifetime. She would have been lying if she said that kissing him hadn’t crossed her mind. He was extremely handsome and she had managed to catch a glimpse of his abs a couple of times when he reached to grab something off the top shelf. But she had never thought of him as something more than just a friend.

“What was that for?” She asked surprised.

“Just thought you might need a kiss for good luck tomorrow.” Peter said and even though he hadn’t yelled it, he knew Bucky had heard him. He didn’t need to look back to feel Bucky’s eyes piercing through. 

“O-okay.” She smiled as he placed another kiss on her cheek.” 

“Remember the song!” He said as he headed towards his car.

“The song?” She questioned.

“You’ve got a friend in me! Ohh you’ve got a friend in me.” Peter sang as he closed the door and sped up.

She couldn’t help but smile all the way up the stairs to her apartment. And as she opened the door, she was met with a motherly stare from Natasha and Wanda. “Hey guys.”

“So does this mean I can tell the rescue team to stop looking for you?” Natasha said annoyed.

“Look, I’m sorry for not telling you guys anything. I just met with Peter at the parking lot and I went back to his place.

“So you’re telling me that we were worried to death while you were getting some freshmen dick?” Wanda ranted. 

(Y/N) couldn’t help but let out a loud laugh that only made her roommates even more mad. “I wasn’t getting dick, we were just talking.”

Natasha rolled her eyes. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

“I am sorry to have worried you guys, I’m fine. Everything is fine.” She smiled. “I do need to get some sleep, I have my debate tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I heard that Bucky and Rumlow are the ones you’re going up against.” Wanda said, (Y/N) couldn’t help but cringe at the sound of his name. She just nodded.

The next day at the debate, she couldn’t shake the horrible feeling filling her body and it showed. It was time for closing arguments and she really had to make a good impression. All of the people who were sitting at the judges table were some of the most intelligent she had ever known. But, as she headed towards the stand, she felt a hand on the small of her back. She froze.

“C’mon prude, maybe after this you’ll owe me one and we can get back to what we didn’t finish all that time ago.” Rumlow’s words sent chill down her spine, she gasped. 

“Miss (Y/L/N)? Could you please come forward?” One of the judges snapped her back from her trance. 

As she tried to get the words she had studied during weeks out, she felt her hands clamming up and her body stiffening. She managed to finish her statement and quickly went back to her place. It hadn’t helped that Bucky, even though it didn’t seem like he worked on anything, had delivered an amazing closing argument. It was safe to say that they had won the debate by a landslide. 

“What the hell happened back there!” Carol yelled. “We had everything, and they won! Do you not want to keep your place at the team?”

“Carol, I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened.” She muttered and looked down at her shoes, Carol scoffed and stormed out of the place. (Y/N) went back towards the stage once everyone had left to gather her things.

“I would love to say that you were a worthy opponent but, you just stood there like a year-old frozen piece of meat.” Bucky laughed.

“Not now Barnes.” She barked.

Bucky gathered some of her papers in his hand and extended the other one. “It was lovely to beat you.”

Her lips stiffened as her anger consumed her whole, she ripped the papers out of his hand and started walking the other way.

“Hey! I think you gave me a paper cut.” He said but she just raised her middle finger towards him. “Is it safe to say that you’re not coming to the game this afternoon?”

With that, she left. 

Bucky had a little more pep in his step as he walked into the locker rooms. He felt as if he was bouncing off the walls, it could be because it was the last game of the season but he was sure it was because of his win earlier in the day. 

“Hey guys.” He beamed as he made his way through the packed room.

“Look who’s all nice and bubbly today.” Sam laughed as he tightened his cleats. 

“It’s just a wonderful day to be me.” Bucky beamed and his teammate chuckled. 

“Do you guys know what that’s all about?” Steve asked as he entered, it wasn’t a second after that when the whole team came in and started singing happy birthday.

“Who’s birthday is it?” Bucky asked confused.

“Man! I didn’t know today was the big day!” Thor cheered and patted Bucky on the back. His brows only furrowed even more.

The team brought a cake to Bucky and ended the song. “Dude, open the present!” someone yelled.

“But it’s not even my birth- what the hell?” Bucky asked as he read the frosting on the cake. It had a grey and white fox on it with the words: Happy Birthday Furry Friend. Bucky opened the box that accompanied the cake to reveal a human sized furry costume complete with a fox plug. 

Steve cautiously grabbed the strange tail. “Where the hell are you supposed to- oh I get it.”

The whole locker room erupted in laughter and some of them started chanting: “Fuzzy Bucky.”

Bucky slammed the box down and headed towards the field before being stopped by the coach. 

“Barnes! Get back in there and change, the game starts in 10 minutes!” He yelled.

It was safe to say that even though Bucky had won the debate, they had lost the match 2-0. That evening, he stormed into the bar looking for one person only. 

“Where the fuck is she.” He snarled once he arrived at the table where Nat and Wanda were sitting.

“Good evening to you too.” Wanda said.

“Where. Is. She.” 

“First of all, calm down. Second of all, she’s not here yet. Why?” Nat said trying to calm him down, she was quickly met by a phone being pushed against her face.

Wanda glanced over. “Why are people saying you’re a furry?” 

“Because your lovely roommate had a full fucking furry suit delivered to the locker room.” Bucky grumbled.

Natasha cocked her head to the side. “Oh yeah, I can kind of see it.”

Bucky just rolled his eyes and sat down, trying to control his anger. This didn’t last because a few seconds later, (Y/N) waltzed into the bar.

“Hey girls.” She smiled, ignoring Bucky.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Is this your idea of comedy?” Bucky sneered but she just ignored him.

“Was you sabotaging my debate your idea of comedy?” She hissed.

“Well, I didn’t need to sabotage. You did that all yourself.” He got closer to her. 

“Guys, let’s all relax and unwind.” Natasha said separating the two but even though they weren’t face to face, they were still staring at each other.

“You guys can have a staring match if that means you’ll be quiet.” Wanda said as she sipped her beer. “We need you two to get along because tomorrow we’re all leaving for Steve’s cabin upstate. Remember?”

“I’m not going if that witch is coming.” Bucky said, not letting his gaze leave hers.

“Oh you totally hurt me.” (Y/N) replied to feigning sadness.

“What’s your other option? Stay here in town when everything is closed?” Natasha asked him, Bucky didn’t reply anything but he stood up and left the table.

“I guess it’s going to be another amazing and uneventful Christmas.” Wanda sighed her words dripping with sarcasm. 

___

“Why don’t you just wait for us, and we can leave together?” Wanda whined as she pulled on the sleeves of her pajama. 

“Because, we won’t all fit in Steve’s car. Plus I need to get there earlier to start getting everything ready. Christmas dinners take like three days to prepare.” (Y/N) said as she closed her luggage.

“Whatever you say chef.” The redhead replied through a yawn.

“I’ll see you guys over there in a couple of hours, okay?” She smiled.

“Just be careful on the road. They’re saying it’s starting to snow up there.” (Y/N) simply nodded before heading out the door. 

Christmas at Steve’s family home upstate had become a tradition. Sam, Steve, Wanda, Nat, (Y/N) and unfortunately Bucky, would all drive up and have a friends Christmas. Most of them couldn’t head back home so, this was their solution. 

The drive had been going incredibly smooth, (Y/N) was about thirty minutes away when her car started making a weird noise. At first, she wasn’t concerned until the car stopped responding.

“Oh no.” She muttered. (Y/N) managed to pull off to the side of the road and turned off her car, mentally cursing herself for not wearing her long coat and just a light jacket. As she got off the car she saw her whole tires filled with snow that wasn’t budging. 

“Hey Nat.” (Y/N) said as soon as her friend picked up the phone. “You guys almost here?”

“(Y/N)! Why hadn’t you answered the phone! We’re snowed in.”

“What do you mean snowed in?” she yelled.

“The roads have been blocked off, we’ve been trying to call you for the past hour but I think you didn’t have cell reception.” Natasha answered.

“Great.” (Y/N) said as she kicked her wheel. “Well, I’m on the side of the road, my wheels are covered with snow. 

“Wha- Are you- I’m going to call-“ Was all she heard before the line cut off. (Y/N) looked back at her phone and realized she only had one bar. She sat on the trunk of her car and tried to think of a solution when she heard another car coming towards her. She tried to catch their attention but they sped past her. A few feet later, the car stopped and she rushed towards it.

“Hi, thank you so much for stopping. My car is-“ She stopped her sentence once the window rolled down fully. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“Hey doll, how much for the hour?” Bucky said with a smile as he lowered his sunglasses. 

(Y/N) turned around and headed back to her car. “Where do you think you’re going!” She heard Bucky say. He got off the road and exited the car. 

“I don’t need your help!” She yelled back, trying to balance on the icy ground. She had decided to wear heeled boots that apparently didn’t have enough grip because she suddenly found herself on the snow. 

Bucky’s laugh only stopped once he was towering over her. “I think you do need my help.” He laughed and offered her his hand to help her up. She swatted it and got up.

“There will be another car coming by and I’ll ask them for help.” She muttered as she tried to get the snow off of her body.

“Don’t know if you heard doll, but the roads are closed.” Bucky smiled as he saw how her teeth chattered. “I think your outfit is not cold weather friendly.”

“Well, I thought I would just be driving with the heat on and arriving at the cabin. I obviously didn’t know this was going to happen.”

“Here.” Bucky took off his overcoat and handed it to her.

“I’m fine.” She grumbled looking towards the road, wishing a car would magically appear.

He huffed and put the coat over her shoulders. “You’re not going to be fine in a couple of minutes when you have hypothermia.” 

She ignored him but put her hands through the sleeves and closed the jacket. She took a long breath and was met with the smell of his cologne. If there was one thing she thought Bucky had done right, it was choosing his cologne.

“You should have put on the chains in your wheels about three miles back.” His raspy voice brought her back. 

“Well thank you for stating the obvious.”

“C’mon lets go.” He said turning back to his car.

“What are you talking about! I’m not leaving my car here to be stolen.”

“Look, no one’s coming this way and we don’t have reception. Let’s go to the cabin and there we can call someone. I know a guy.”

“Of course you do.” She muttered.

“You’ve got a better idea? Because I would love nothing more than to leave you here stranded but Steve and Nat would kill me if I did that.” Bucky said. “So, if you don’t want that to happen. Come with me.”

(Y/N) looked back at her car stuck in the snow and sighed. “Fine, let’s go.”

“You need help with your bags?” Bucky asked but he was ignored, she went back to the trunk of her car and started hauling her luggage plus the four bags containing food. He shook his head and headed towards her and held his hands out.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked.

“Why must you make everything so difficult. I’m trying to be nice, I’ll help you with your things.”

“How am I supposed to know divine intervention told you to be nice today?” She replied and passed the things over to him.

Bucky groaned and looked up at the sky. “God, I hope you have at least a dozen models waiting for me when I get to heaven because this whole being nice thing is really a pain in my ass.”

The car ride to the cabin was quiet, only a murmur of the only station available was playing. 

“Does this car seriously not have Bluetooth, or at least an aux?” (Y/N) whined.

“This is a 1980’s Porsche 911. Did you actually think it was going to have modern day technology?” 

“Well my car has it. It’s new and its comfortable.” 

“Well right now you’re car is a huge piece of junk that’s lying on the side of the road. If you would rather we go back and I leave you with your unmovable garbage I can make a u turn. If not, please just keep quiet and thank the man above that I left early too.” Bucky said and (Y/N) replied a small ‘thank you.’

As they arrived at the cabin, Bucky started taking the things out. “Please just go inside and change out of those boots. You’re going to get hurt, again.” 

“I can take these things out and look cute while doing it.” She muttered, seeing Bucky let out a smile.

“I do think they go with your outfit.” Bucky eyed her from head to toe, taking a little longer to stare at her tight-clad legs and skirt. “But, they’re not very useful for snowy weather.”

“I’ll just go inside, call me if you need help.” She said. In the past day, she had calmed herself down from her defeat at the debate, the face Bucky made when he saw the furry suit had also helped. She had been hiding at the entrance just to see her whole plan play out. 

A few hours later, they had settled in for the night. Bucky had only brought a bottle of whiskey but he wasn’t in the mood for that.

“Hey, (Y/N)!” he yelled through the door but found no response, he knocked again but the door opened. 

“(Y/N),” he repeated and took one step into the room. “Did you bring anything to drink?”

Bucky heard the shower running and looked around the room. He had spent most of his Christmases here and he knew the place like the back of his hand. Bucky spotted her open luggage on the bed, he found himself walking towards it and looking inside. On the top of the bag was a red sheer lingerie dress with lace, at the cups of the bra were two fluffy circles mimicking Santa’s hat.

“What are you doing in here!” (Y/N) squealed gripping the towel around her body. Bucky took the dress, that was more the length of a shirt behind his back and stuttered.

“I knocked! But the door opened and I- I just wanted to know if you brought any drinks. It’s just that- um- I whiskey is the only thing and I wanted something else.”

“Give me that!” she snatched the fabric from behind him. 

“Yeah, I’m sorry, it was open and the color caught my attention. And yeah, I’m sorry.” Bucky immediately looked at the ground embarrassed. 

“I should have some bottles of rose down there, or some cabernet in the pink bag.” She said, becoming more and more aware of her current attire.

“Yeah-okay- I’ll go look for them- yeah. Didn’t check there.” Bucky said nervously while still looking down at the floor, he bumped against the bed frame on his way out.

(Y/N) quietly went down the stairs once she was dressed to find Bucky looking at the Rogers’ record collection with a glass of rose in his hand.

“Rose? Really? That’s your drink of choice?” she laughed.

Bucky turned around with a pink hue on his cheeks, she didn’t know if it was due to the fireplace or the embarrassment from before. “Hey, I have weaknesses too.”

He went to the kitchen and poured her a glass before she headed to the living room to look at the fire cracking. Some time and a bottle of rose later, Bucky decided to turn on the record player. 

“Someday, when I’m awfully low. When the world is cold-“ (Y/N) heard Frank Sinatra’s version of ‘The Way You Look Tonight’ start to play. (Y/n) started chucking. “I can’t believe you put that song on.”

“Well, it’s one of the only four records we have for the whole weekend. I would much rather play this than sit with the awkward silence we’ve been having for the past two hours.” 

“That used to be my father’s favorite record.” She said as she started to sway a bit. “He used to tell us that we were wasting our time listening to modern music, that we had the best singer at our disposal and we were burning brain cells by listening to other genres.”

“Frank Sinatra always reminds me of Christmas time.” Bucky said coming closer to her and putting his hand out towards her. “My dad always says that whenever ‘Ol Blue Eyes’ is playing, you must ask a pretty lady to dance.”

“James,” She chuckled. “I’m not really in the dancing mood.”

“C’mon, no one is here. We can postpone our bad blood for some other time.” He said, keeping his hand where it was. “Would you please grant me this dance? I promise we will be up to high school prom standard and leave room for Jesus.”

(Y/N) finally nodded with a smile and took his hand. They started to slowly dance across the room. 

“Have I ever told you that my dad is the reason I got into law?” She hummed, closing her eyes for a second. She would never admit it but one of the reasons she had accepted his proposal was to get closer to his smell. It was the perfect combination of amber and wood with a touch of citrus. Bucky hummed for her to continue as he swiftly moved his feet with the music. “When I was younger, my dad used to tell me that he could never get too mad at me because I would always refute his arguments logically.”

“Well that’s a trait that carried on to your adulthood.” Bucky said, his voice had changed from his normal boom into a more relaxed version that made her feel calm,

She smiled as she got closer to him and placed her head on his shoulder. “I really wish he were still here, I think he would have liked to see me all lawyered up. Even if I didn’t win the debate.” She poked fun.

Bucky brought her back to be in front of him. “(Y/N) I really wanted to apologize, for the debate. I thought it was one of those stupid things you prelaw kids do, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. To be completely honest, I didn’t think me being your opponent would actually throw you off your game.”

She smiled at him, not wanting to remember what had happened the day before. “I don’t want to talk about that. I’m actually enjoying the moment, don’t ruin it Barnes.”

She closed the gap between them again and kept dancing as the next song played on. “When my dad passed, it was hard for me to come to terms with it. Just this feeling of total anger. Like why did he leave me, you know?”

Bucky nodded, not being able to do much because her whispers against his neck were making him a little more nervous than he would like. 

“I don’t blame you. In fact, I understand what you’re going through.” He said softly. “It’s hard to change your perspective.”

“You grow up, thinking you’re parents are superheroes. They’re there whenever you get bruised up, inside and out. When I was younger, in little league, I used to turn back and look for my parents in the crowd whenever I scored a goal. It kind of carried through, even now that I’m older and I know they’re not there I always look over at the bleachers to try to find them. Sometimes I can even see my ma sitting there smiling and giving me a thumbs up.” Bucky let out a laugh as he spun her slowly. 

“But, there is a special moment in life where you understand that holding them at such a high standard is impossible. Perfection is unattainable. And in that moment, you take them off the pedestal and see them as equals. Because they’re people too, they make mistakes. Even though they wouldn’t like to admit it. And harboring all that anger in here-“ He said touching the place where her heart lies. “causes more pain. Letting go brings forgiveness and love replaces the agony.” 

She let go of him and turned her head the other way, not wanting him to see the flood of tears rushing through her cheeks and down her neck. She sat back down on the couch taking a long sip of her wine. 

“Hey, c’mon now. Don’t turn your pretty face from me. How will you be able to shoot a snarky comment if you’re looking the other way.” His soft smile revealed a dimple she had never before noticed. 

She smiled back at him and took a deep breath. “I need to calm down, premature wrinkles will not look good on me.”

“When did you become so wise? I feel like I’m face to face with the next Hemingway or something.” She added.

“Hopefully this story ends with less tragedy and more daquiris.”

“I believe his drink of choice was scotch and soda.”

“Agree to disagree, I guess.” He hummed as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brought her closer. “Now, are you going to tell me why you brought that outfit?”

(Y/N) couldn’t help her face turning red. “It’s for the white elephant party you jerk.” She playfully shoved his shoulder. 

“Can’t blame me for imagining you wearing it.” Bucky tried to hide his smile with his glass. 

“You’re so gross.” She laughed.

Bucky stood up from the couch. “You want me to open another bottle?”

(Y/N) closed her eyes for a second, basking in the lovely music accompanied by the sound of the fire cracking. She shook her head. “I think I’m gonna call it a night.”

Bucky nodded and followed her up the stairs. “This is me.” (Y/N) smiled and opened the door, before she could close it Bucky took her hand.

“I had a really nice time tonight, and if you need someone to talk to in the middle of the night I’m just a door away.” He pointed towards the door across the hall. (Y/N)’s breath got caught when he came closer to her and placed a kiss on the edge where her lips met her cheeks. “Good night.”

“Yeah-um- good night to you too.” She stammered before closing the door and plopping herself on the bed. “I really need to stop drinking rose.” She muttered before placing her head on the pillow. 

[docgold13]

Thoughts on the 4F cast?

I think it could work out great.

I've grown a bit distant from the MCU of late and FF could be just what the doctor ordered to draw me back in. I'm psyched for those fans of Deadpool who are pumped for D3, but it isn't a movie I'm particularly excited for; I've had my fill of the 'merc with a mouth.'

Anyways, I'm not hugely familiar with the two actors playing Sue and Johnny Storm. And Pedro has long since earned the benefit of the doubt from me. I thought John K was a pretty solid Reed in the Doc Strange movie, but again I very willing to give Pedro a shot.

The one I'm most excited for is Ben Grimm. Firstly, Ebon Moss-Bachrach is great. I've liked him in everything I've seen him in. Of course in The Bear, but also bit parts here and there were he always stood out. I watched some silly movie where Jennifer Lawrence had to seduce some poor neuroatypical kid and the whole movie was completely forgettable... excepted for Moss-Bachrach who elevated things with his small hand-full of scenes. The guy is just captivating on the screen.

Secondly, and this may seem petty, but I'm glad they've cast an actor for the role who is of Jewish descent. I don't at all think my fellow Jews are under-represented in Hollywood, far from it. But Ben Grimm means something kind of special to me as a Jewish comic book fan and, well that's my feeling on it.

How do you feel about the casting?

[littlemisskookie]

True Story - Need Your Thoughts

——-

Ahem. I have a story that pertains to my fan fictions and real life that I think you all might like to hear. It’s kind of a funny story that I need advice on by like July.

So my family has a time share that has been going on for generations, where every year we spend two weeks around the Fourth of July in some island. We’ve had it since my grandparents. Because we’re always there the same time every year, we see the same people, in this case a family that grew up alongside my own.

I grew up alongside a boy my age (two weeks younger, yikes I’m a cougar) and his younger sister. I’m going to call him Voldemort because fuck him but also fuuuuuck him. I would usually hang out with his younger sister as he and I didn’t not get along that well and I was a girl’s girl from the very start. I did in fact push him into a TV when we were kids, because we were debating over who was better. He did a handstand, something I could never do, and I pushed him. The TV was one of those cheap ones from the early 2000’s, don’t worry. It could handle a lot more of a beating than the TVs today. Needless to say we didn’t get along that well.

Eventually I started bringing friends of my own on vacation with my family and I, as did he and his sister. I think I first became attracted to him when we were still in our teen years. In fact, in my search for inspiration for my fan fictions, often inspired by real life crushes or smutty daydreams I wanted to come true, I wrote a one shot inspired by that. Yes I vented my horny frustrations out into my fanfiction, sue me I’m like the worst female protagonist I know whatever.

It was only the next year though that I actually hung out with him. Due to family circumstances my parents and I (+friend) would spend one week on the Island, and then my aunt and uncle would spend the other week. Usually we’d spend two weeks there, but this year i was supposed to bring a friend. She was unable to make it on the trip last minute, and so we went alone. Not wanting to spend the week alone with my parents and feeling embarrassed to be alone eat my big age, I decided to hang out with you know who. Voldemort, obviously.

His younger sister had brought her own friend that year, but Voldemort had not. So we decided to hang out that week, riding our bikes around the island and being caught in the rain. The first time I ever smoked weed was with him, and I had to scold him for leaving water bottles in the woods from the previous times he smoked there. He was shocked by my low tolerance. The second time we smoked we climbed up a hotel being under construction, climbing up to an empty second floor balcony.

It’s been a while. I don’t remember how, but I think somehow we had confirmed we liked each other. I think he thought I was attractive, and I know myself well enough to know I’m absolutely obvious when I’m experiencing attraction to someone. The details are hazy. There was a time when we were caught in a rain storm when on our bikes, trying to make it back to our hotels. We took shelter under a bridge and he would ring out his shirt and I’d see his abs because of fucking course he was a jock. The only light would be from the street lights, the rain illuminated under the orange glow in stark contrast with the night sky. I remembered he even commented it was like a romance movie.

We eventually made it to a gazebo near the entrance. We were already super close and yet we didn’t want to go inside yet, even though we were soaking wet and there was lightning outside. At some point an older gentleman also took shelter under the gazebo, and for some reason we talked about weed with him. He was very chill about it.

The last time I saw Voldemort was the night before I was supposed to leave for the year. We made it to the elevator and I stepped out, calling him an idiot. It was because he didn’t make a move, he didn’t kiss me, and I’m the type of person who is too prideful to give in first. He was confused, and I stepped out. That was the last time I saw him face to face.

At the time I was posting him a bit, of us hanging out over the week, on my Snapchat. Some girls had slid up and said he was cute, with yes he was, that’s why I posted him. He ended up asking me for those girls snapchats, which caused a big fight. I was angry with him and was all like are you serious, and then he started blaming his depression, to which I was like bitch me too. We argued over who had been on antidepressants longer. In the end I blocked him.

My parents were under the impression I hated him. Which I did.

I’m not sure if I still do though?

Last summer was the first summer back. The reason I hadn’t returned the summer after the fight was because of the pandemic. Go figure. Saved my ass, though. The following year after that I went to Mexico. This brings us to 2022.

Again, I had no one able to come with me on this vacation so I was all alone. Most of the time that week it ended up raining, so my family and I weren’t out that often. We didn’t see his family out on the rare occasion we were out. That is, until we first ran into his grandfather. He ran into me and my mother, and seemed all to keen on talking about Voldemort. In fact, he kept calling us lovers. (Please keep in mind we did not even kiss or hold hands.) He said that Voldemort had been looking everywhere for me, and his grandpa had insisted we probably weren’t here because he hadn’t seen us. And so, Voldemort started hanging out with some other chick. His grandpa told him that it wasn’t good for him to have two lovers, and the entire time I’m basically completely red. He also told me that Voldemort was no longer scared of girls (something I teased him that his grandfather told me when we were 15). My mother on the other hand thinks he’s teasing and doesn’t know what he’s talking about, essentially ignoring that part and talking about other things.

Another time I run into his grandmother, and then his mother and father. All of them talk about Voldemort to me, going on about his accomplishments or why he wasn’t there (he was napping) and yada yada. Please keep in mind I had spent most of my childhood with his younger sister and had only spent one week with him when we were teenagers. I did not ask for the additional information. They did not talk about his sister, barely speaking of her despite the fact she was only a year or two younger than us. So wtf.

They also go on and on about how much I’ve matured with my look or something. Like I was a flower that bloomed, which I would hope so since I’m in my early 20s. So at least that’s some confirmation I’m hot. Apparently he had truly “bloomed” too. I’ll admit, my curiosity had peaked.

But alas, we were already at the end of our vacation, as he was leaving that following day to go back to work. I had spent all of the previous days staying inside and purposefully avoiding him. I am not as confrontational as I was in my younger years, and now usually try to avoid conflict. I dread nothing more than an awkward conversation. The last time I saw him my parents were already leaving the parking lot to head out for dinner, and I saw his silhouette, now much taller than I remember. I was in a bad mood for the rest of the day much to my parents’ annoyance. I wanted to see what he looked like now, at least. Or maybe even have him see what I looked like, as my ego was somewhat inflated after the compliments from his family.

I had texted him that I was annoyed he didn’t see me. He sent his apologies, and we haven’t texted since.

Which brings us to this year.

I’m supposed to go again, and I have a friend this time who can (hopefully) go. I do not know what to do. I want to see him, yes. Most of all I want attention. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten that.

Please give me your thoughts and comments.

[abbatoirablaze]

Fire & Ice, Chapter 1

Word Count:  654

“And in other news, the Fantastic Four, led by Dr. Reed Richards, has saved the city again!” the reporter blathered on over the tv.  Johnny’s eyes rolled as he played on his phone.  One of the numerous ‘storm sluts,’ as his loving sister had called them, was starting her normal barrage of text messages to him, undoubtedly after seeing the four plastered all over the news.  

“Next!”

He barely looked up as he ordered his double shot.

“Five twenty!”

“Are you kidding me?” he scoffed, looking up as he pocketed his phone.  But it missed his pocket when he focused on you, “Five twenty for a double shot?  What are you doing?  Harvesting the beans yourself?”

You looked bewildered by his small outburst, shocked at how his voice had seemed to have risen above the thrum of the busy shop. 

“I-I don’t make the prices, sir…” you said slowly, “but if you don’t like the prices, you could always buy the stuff to make it at home.  Plus, I’m pretty sure Starbucks charges more so, maybe it’s just me, but you’re being awfully picky about prices.”  

“Oh my god, that’s Johnny Storm!”

“You’re Johnny Storm!”

“Let me buy your coffee, Mr. Storm!”

Suddenly, the thrum of people seemed to recognize him, all at once.  And normally while he lived for those little moments of extra fame, he found himself slightly annoyed by it.

Why hadn’t you recognized him first?

Why had you chastised his comment instead of falling at his feet?

You were barely looking at him as someone else tossed the cash at you for his drink, and he half-attentively signed some things for the people who wanted it. 

“I’m just like all of you!” he said quickly, smiling as he pushed his way through the small crowd of caffeine addicts, “just here for a morning coffee…”

“Double shot!”

His eyes snapped to yours yet again. 

You hadn’t called him by his name like you had with everyone else.

“It’s Johnny!”

“You never said anything when I asked for your name!  And I don’t have the time to wait while you sign things for your adoring fans,” you replied, passing off the cup and quickly making your way back to the register.  He rotated it in his hand, searching for the number which usually accompanied a coffee any time he stopped for some caffeine, but found himself frowning when it was devoid of writing, sans the order.

“Your number?”

“I don’t give out my number to customers!  Superhero or not!” you said with a shake of your head.  He stood there in his own shock as you continued about your business and fans greeted him with pictures and more things to sign.

Was he losing his touch?

And so, he continued his routine of going to the coffee shop just a few blocks from the Baxter Building over the next few weeks, hoping that you’d change your mind when you saw him.  And every day, someone would pay for his coffee, and you wouldn’t use his name.  And he’d try anything, everything he could think of to get you to smile. 

He’d do little tricks where he’d snap his fingers and light a flame for other baristas to warm their milk for their lattes.

He would offer to instantly roast the coffee beans when you used that as an excuse to get away from him. 

But then he noticed something. 

One day when Sue had asked that he pick up an iced, blended coffee for her.

You didn’t use the blender to make Sue’s blended drink.

And his jaw dropped when he realized that you were a mutant. 

And that you’d handed him the drink, perfectly blended into a slush, by simply shaking it in one of the shakers.

“You-your-“

“I know what I am, double-shot!” you said quickly, handing him the drink for himself, and the drink for Sue, “see you tomorrow…”

Tag List:  @designatednewbie, @elbell20-blog, @lohnes16