#also i picked up scarlet again this week can you tell

[retquits]

some stupid older pokemon comics i never posted here ft. arven and my trainer peat. like the moss

bonus:

[rebeliz7]

THEAT AT FIRST SIGHT

Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Prompt: “I can make someone disappear on my own, thank you.”

Word Count: 1946

...

Tonight she orders a martini. 

She’s wearing the kind of outfit that doesn’t really go unnoticed, but it’s still lowkey. A black casual dress, knee high black boots and a scarlet leather jacket. Simple. Hot. 

Her hair is down and wavy, in a messy but still put together kind of way. Light make-up and she looks naturally tired, as if she just got out of a very large day at the office.  

“Long day?” You casually ask, as you prepare her chosen drink. 

“Long day.” She agrees, as you pour her drink and slide it towards her. 

She smiles, her green eyes sparkling when she murmurs a soft thank you. You grip the edge of the wooden counter, trying to not make it obvious how incredibly attracted you’ve become to her. 

You clear your throat, hellbent on going back to work. 

She’s been coming to the bar for weeks now, always sits at the same stool and orders a different drink every night while wearing outfits that look ridiculously good on her. 

You know who she is, everyone does, but no one bothers her here and you guess that’s why she continues to come. 

“Nothing that a martini can’t help with, I hope.” You say conversationally as you pick up a few empty glasses from the bar, and she smiles that soft smile of hers that continues to make you feel like happiness might be within your reach. 

“It doesn’t really do anything for me.” She shrugs and when you look at her, an eyebrow raised in a silent question she points at her drink and makes a show of downing it in one go. 

“No.” You softly lament, mostly to not let that little show affect you in any way, but also because you find that incredibly unfortunate. “That’s a shame. No alcohol, ever?”

“I do get slightly tipsy with tequila, but only slightly.” She tells you with a proud smile that you instantly love. She’s actually proud of her inability to get drunk. 

“Then maybe next time I’ll make you a margarita.” You offer and she blushes a delicate pink, her eyes sparkle again as she looks down to her now empty drink and back up to you. 

“I have no plans for the rest of the evening.” She says and you become smitten by the way her eyes look at you expecting an answer. 

She’s so beautiful and you’re once again distracted by the soft twist of her lips. 

“Okay, then.” You accept and when you turn around to make her a margarita you can feel her eyes on you all the while. 

This is a safe place for her, you think, and you’re not sure if you want to take that away from her if you’re reading way too much into her visits. 

But maybe, and only maybe, she likes you back. Maybe she likes you just as much as whatever peace this old bar provides her with. 

“Here you go.” You tell her as you slide another drink towards her and you reach down to grab a beer for yourself. “Cheers.”

“Cheers.” She touches her glass softly with your bottle and then you both drink. You watch her take two tentative zips and then set her glass down. “It’s not bad.”

“Of course not. I made it.” You shrug lightly and she laughs, and you didn’t know that you could find this girl any more attractive until this second, but here you are liking her dorky laughter just as much. 

“I’ve been wondering.” She says next and your heart skips a beat at the sudden nervous energy that she seems to emanate. “For a couple of weeks now, actually.”

You nod, to encourage her to keep going but she’s blushing again and now you think that you know exactly where she’s going with this. Taking pity on her absolute adorableness you round the bar and come to stand right beside her. 

The bar is almost empty now, just two regulars on the back tables and a bashful Avenger right in front of you. 

“I would like to take you out.” You tell her and she covers her mouth with her hand, she’s blushing a deep crimson now. 

“That’s not fair.” She says, embarrased and you smile as you take her hand.

“Why?” You ask as she intertwines your fingers together, as if it were normal, as if she’s been doing that for months, as if this is exactly where you were meant to be.

“I was trying to ask you out and you made it look so effortless and I...” she trails off, and you caress her chin with your thumb. 

“It’s taken me weeks to ask you that.” You tell her and when she smiles you feel a tug on your chest. “It’s not effortless.”

“No.” She says, her hand now on your forearm, gripping as she pulls you a little closer. “It’s not.”

Her lips are full and warm, and she tastes like salt and tequila. You kiss her slowly, taking your time, imprinting this moment in your memory. 

Her hands are on your nape, her thumbs pressing just underneath your earlobes as you press yourself against her in return, sneaking your hands under her jacket and gripping her waist through the thin material of her dress. 

She gasps, and pulls herself even closer to you and when her lips part and yours fill in the gaps it feels like you fit. It makes you believe that maybe, just maybe, you were made to kiss her lips, you were meant to find her. 

“Cool bar.” Someone says right behind you, making you jump back at hearing the voice. 

A guy sits on the stool next to Wanda’s and he’s nodding, an amused expression on his face as he looks at you.

“Sam.” Wanda says and you catch the irritation in her voice. “Sam is a friend.” She tells you, and you immediately stretch out your hand as you untangle yourself from Wanda’s body.

“Nice to meet you.” You shake his hand, noticing how he squeezes yours a little bit too tight before letting go. “I’m--”

“Oh, I know all about you.” He cuts you off, and you smile at him before moving behind the bar again. 

So this is that kind of interaction then. Okay. 

“What can I get you, Sam?” You ask him politely but your eyes are on Wanda and the pretty blush on her cheeks, and her smudged lipstick and you can’t wait until you can kiss her again.

“A beer, thank you.” He says rather loudly, and you think you might be blushing too.

“Make that two.” A woman says as she joins them and you recognize her immediately. Natasha Romanoff, in casual clothes, sits on the stool next to Sam and her eyes lock you in.

You’ve only ever seen her in videos and wearing her Avengers uniform. She’s the kind of woman that no one wants to piss off, you know that much. 

“Please tell me there’s a bathroom in this place.” Another woman says as she rushes in behind her, and you haven’t seen her before but she’s obviously a friend of Wanda’s too because she takes her hand and drags her towards the bathrooms before neither one of you can utter a greeting. 

You know you’re in a trap, but you also know that you have nothing to hide. 

You get the superheros their beers, but when you look at them there is not a friendly trace in their eyes anymore. 

You’re under no pretense here, you know who these people are and even though you never went digging into the Black Widow’s past on the internet like many others have, you still  heard and read things here and there. 

“Wanda seems to like you.” Sam says, attempting to be casual and you take a deep breath.

“I like her too.” You tell him sincerely.

“Do you?” Natasha Romanoff inquires and you meet her stare with foolish bravery.

“Am I being interrogated right now? It feels like I’m being interrogated.” You ask, but she doesn’t give you a verbal answer. 

She does the exact thing that you’d expect from the deadliest assassin in the world to do when they’re trying to protect someone they care about. 

She materializes a knife from -you don’t know where exactly- and holds it in front of her as if to study it, as you wonder where the hell did she have that thing and what she’s planning to do with it.

“Why’s that?” She replies casually, as if she didn’t just pull out a knife on you and you weren’t scared out of your mind.

“You like knives, then?” You ask back and she grins, and a shiver runs down your back because she might not be threatening you directly but that smile might just be the scariest thing you’ve ever seen.

“You have no idea.” She says and you gulp, just as Wanda finally returns. 

“What are you guys doing?” She asks carefully, and when you blink you find that the knife is nowhere to be seen and Sam is smiling again.

“Nothing.” They both say in unison, making Wanda groan in response. Though she doesn’t look put off, maybe a little embarrassed by her friend but suddenly you don’t feel put off either anymore. 

The truth is, Natasha Romanoff can threaten you all she wants if you can kiss Wanda again.  

“Sam can’t sleep without the lights on and Natasha has a blanket that she can’t sleep without.” Wanda tells you, and both of her friends shriek in indignation. “We live together.”

“That’s... good to know.” You tell her, a bit hesitant but also amused by this turn of events.

And that's how you kissed her for the first time and met her friends -and roommates- all in the same night. 

FOUR MONTHS LATER

“Remember when you guys tried to scare me off?” You ask your friends after dinner, while you’re settling in the living to watch a movie together. 

“That was embarrassing.” Sam laughs.

“It was going well until this one decided to divulge our deepest secrets.” Natasha says, and you lean in to kiss your girlfriend’s cheek.

“You did scare me.” You confess and Natasha gives you a look, a look that says that she knows. “But there wasn’t a second where I thought that I’d ever back off.”

“Really?” Sam asks, already wiggling his eyebrows and a smile on his lips. He’s incapable of stopping his teasing. 

“Really.” You answer and you kiss Wanda’s blushing cheek again. “Hear that, babe? Even then I was already thinking about fighting the Black Widow here for you if it came down to it.”

“Well.” Natasha says, and you catch on the tone of her voice immediately. You’ve known her for four months already after all. “Since I couldn’t finish that day, know that I can, and will make you disappear if you ever hurt Wanda here.”

“Natasha!” Wanda reprimands her, scandalized, but Natasha’s eyes stay on you and you nod at her. You get it. 

“I’m just saying.” Natasha says, playing innocent, hands up in the air as she smirks at your direction. 

“I can make someone disappear all on my own, thank you very much.” Your girlfriend declares, finishing her sentence, and your face must transform into the horror and actual fear that washes over you, because Sam and Natasha both erupt in loud laughter at that.

“We’re cool then.” You say and Wanda kisses you, sweet and short. 

“We’re cool.” Natasha says while your girlfriend cuddles against you. 

Date the strongest Avenger they said… you can’t believe this is your life. 

...

[lauronk]

I wish you'd write a fic where ellie was stressed with a job and joel was able to talk her through it and calm her down

this is not because I am stressed with my job hahahaha what

the spinny wheel of destiny picked yours! and boy what a choice because i have also been mad stressed at work lately.

wishing joel comfort upon anyone and everyone stressed at work lately!

what a way to make a livin'

length: ~1.9k words tags: joel & ellie; modern au; father-daughter relationship; shitty customers; retail work; no beta we die like david

All Ellie can think of right now - with this woman hollering in her face - is that gif of Emily Blunt from The Devil Wears Prada. Red eyes, stuffy nose, clicking around on the computer screen and murmuring under her breath “I love my job, I love my job, I love my job.” Like it’s a mantra that she has to remind herself of, like if she says it enough times it’ll be true.

I love my job.

Except Ellie doesn’t really love her job all that much. She likes it, sure. It gives her a great discount on art supplies, helps her save up a little extra pocket money. Her coworkers are pretty cool too, always a bonus.

But she doesn’t exactly wanna be an art store clerk for the rest of her life, and people like this woman are exactly why.

She seems to have finally run out of breath, standing on the other side of the counter with her chest heaving and her cheeks scarlet, fury in her eyes. Ellie’d zoned out somewhere around it’s only missing one page and it’s barely a week past the return window and so now she stares at the woman a little blankly.

“Well?” She demands.

It’s right there, on the tip of Ellie’s tongue - Sorry, ma’am, I haven’t listened to a word of your bullshit, and I’m not doing your fucking return - but Jace had told her she was one more customer complaint from being canned. So she swallows it, pastes on a smile that probably looks more like a grimace, and forces out through gritted teeth, “Let me get a manager for you.”

She doesn’t get paid enough to get yelled at.

Jace, though, does, and more than that she loves getting to tell customers off; her face practically lights up at Ellie’s frustrated “She wants to return a used sketchbook purchased four months ago” and bolts to the register like she’s been told there’s a stack of cash there. Sure enough, after about a minute, the woman’s throaty yelling can be heard once again.

A customer in the paint aisle gives Ellie a commiserating look as she settles down onto the ground to take over Jace’s restocking.

“People can be such assholes, huh?” He says sympathetically, right as he takes a slurping sip of a McDonald’s drink and then sets it on top of a stack of canvases. He leaves it there too, and Ellie’s seized with the urge to pick it up and chuck it at the back of his head as he walks away.

You’re not any fucking better! She wants to scream at him.

Instead, she just scoops up the empty cup and tosses it in the trash, detouring to the bathroom to wash her hands afterwards.

Sketchbook Lady and Cup Man have both left by the time she reemerges, and Jace is strolling towards her with a vaguely triumphant air.

“Got her down to store credit for a quarter the value of the sketchbook,” she says happily, plopping back down onto the ground with the boxes of paint tubes. “And told her that if she abused any member of my staff next time she came in here I’d take her picture from the cameras and put a banned notice on the front windows for everyone to see.”

Ellie sighs tiredly, giving Jace a small smile. At least, if nothing else, she’s got a cool fucking boss.

One who’s watching her now with narrowed eyes, hands moving on autopilot as she labels and shelves the tubes. “Why don’t you go in the back and work on today’s shipment. Think we got nine boxes needing unpacking and inventorying back there.”

Ellie doesn’t even try to argue it - she just turns on her heel and strides off.

—

By the time she leaves three hours later, Ellie’s sweaty and exhausted, her head pounding with pressure behind her eyes. She’s supposed to get dinner with Dina and Jesse tonight, but she shoots them a text in the group begging off. She can’t, she just can’t, she’s too goddamn fried right now to socialize even with her best friends. So she just goes home. No music on the stereo, just a quiet podcast she’s only half paying attention to.

She doesn’t really feel herself relax until she’s pulled into her driveway.

Joel’s not home yet - his truck’s not in his driveway - so Ellie toes off her shoes by the front door and flops facedown onto the couch. Dina and Jesse like to poke fun at her for being almost twenty-one and still living at home with her dad, but Ellie loves it. She always jokingly replies that it’s cheaper that way, or that she doesn’t have to do her own laundry, or that Joel’s a better cook.

But really she just…hasn’t felt ready to move out. She’s been living with Joel since she was just shy of fifteen, the first home that she’s ever wanted to really stay in and had the feeling returned. All her foster homes before that were a mismatch, and then in a last ditch effort she got put with this cranky old fuck who Ellie had been sure was going to turn her out within a month.

He hadn’t though - he’d been the first person to ever really look at Ellie and see her.

Sue her, she wasn’t ready to move away from that yet.

Ellie gives herself ten minutes to decompress on the couch - with a few muffled screams into the cushions for good measure - before dragging herself down the hall to her bathroom and making herself take a scalding shower. Normally she cranks some music while she does it, but her head is still pounding and right now all she wants is some blessed quiet.

Fifteen minutes later she’s clean, in pajamas, and back on the couch with a bottle of water and her feet propped up. There’s a text on her phone from Joel saying he’s picked up takeout from Casa Colombia - Ellie’s stomach rumbles as soon as she reads it - so he’ll probably be home in another twenty minutes.

Hopefully by then she’s feeling less like peeling her skin off.

It’s ridiculous, Ellie knows that, letting herself get so worked up by a couple shitty customers at a retail job. She’s dealt with worse before, but some days it was just more frustrating than others - a constant stream of people who don’t see her as a person, simply a robot to find stuff for them or stand behind a register. And even the nice ones can get overwhelming when there’s so many of them. Just constant, non-stop interaction with people.

Ellie groans, letting her head fall back against the couch. All the stress that she’d managed to melt away with the hot shower and quiet time has come speeding back as she just sits here and wallows in her stupid, useless thoughts. Maybe she should’ve turned the television on to distract her.

The sound of the garage door opening greets her, and it lifts a weight off her chest.

Joel’s home.

“Food’s here!” He calls down the hall, and there’s a few thuds as he shucks his boots. Ellie doesn’t move, instead craning her head around to see him emerge, bags in hand. He’s grayer than he was when she moved in with him, wrinklier too. But he’s still Joel, still emanates that sense of safety she’s never been able to find anywhere else.

Still her favorite person in the world.

His brow furrows when he notices her sitting there, already in her pajamas - plaid pants and a (definitely not stolen from him) overlarge t-shirt adorned with a faded Cowboys star. He stills, head tilting as he looks her over. “‘Y’alright, kiddo?”

“Long day,” is all Ellie replies for now, pushing herself to stand so she can walk over and take the bags of food from his hands. Joel presses a quick kiss to her temple as she does, a gesture that never fails to fill her with warmth, before he heads to the cupboards to pull down plates.

They set the table and eat in silence, other than the occasional remark about the deliciousness of an arepa or the perfect seasoning on the churrasco. Ellie appreciates that about Joel, always has. He’s not one to talk about his own feelings, and so he doesn’t push her on hers. But when she wants to talk, he’ll be all ears. Probably have some good, weird southern wisdom too, something like you’ve got horse sense or just because a chicken has wings don’t mean it can fly.

Both things she’s heard him say in utter seriousness.

They both eat everything Joel’s brought home, and then Ellie handles the clean up and dishes while Joel goes to his room to shower and change. By the time he comes back in his own pajamas - which she definitely didn’t get him just because they matched hers - Ellie’s resumed her position on the couch, though with much less tension in her shoulders.

Amazing how much a good meal and quiet time with her favorite person can make the world seem like a good place again.

Joel lowers himself to the couch next to her with a sigh, a heavy hand patting her knee. “Gonna tell me what’s got you all up in your head?”

Ellie sighs, leaning over until her head is resting on Joel’s shoulder. “Just one of those days.”

She feels him shift, and then his cheek is resting against the crown of her head. “Tell me about it?”

The gentle question - one Ellie knows she could refuse to answer, say she doesn’t feel like talking about it - asked in his rough twang, does the same thing it has since she was a teenager. It makes her open her mouth and the words come flowing out.

She tells Joel about Sketchbook Lady and Cup Man and the person who’d hung up on her and the older man who’d kept staring at her chest and the woman who had practically tossed her payment in Ellie’s face and the perfectly nice lady who wanted to tell Ellie her whole life story while purchasing one pack of coloring pencils and a single tube of red paint.

It’s still draining, reliving all the seemingly trivial interactions she’d had, but this time it’s like unloading a weight from her shoulders. By the time she stops talking, finally done, Ellie feels like she could just pass out right there against his shoulder and sleep dreamlessly.

“‘M sorry you had such a day,” Joel replies quietly, readjusting them so his arm’s around her shoulders, and he squeezes ever so slightly. “I bet you'll probably have more shitty ones though, sorry to tell you. But just remember that you're good at your job and they're lucky as hell to have you, baby. And you can handle some shitty assholes. 'F you can't, just let me at 'em.” Ellie chuckles softly, burrowing a little closer to him.

They're both quiet for a few minutes, and Ellie's just about to suggest popping a movie in and digging into the ice cream in the freezer when Joel speaks. “You’re off the next two days, ain't you?”

“Yeah.”

His hand comes up to cup the back of her head, tilting her so he can press a quick kiss to her forehead. “Why don’t you ‘n me take a little day trip or somethin’? Go down to San Antonio, hang out at the Riverwalk. Or we could go out to Fredericksburg?” He offers the last suggestion a little hopefully, and Ellie grins.

“You just wanna go back to the World War II museum,” she teases.

“...No.”

Ellie giggles, eyes slipping shut when his dull fingernails start to scratch over her scalp. “Fredericksburg it is, then.”

thanks for reading!

if you sent a prompt to my inbox, i promise i am still planning to do them all. but i also wanna get the next chappy of if you can wait finished and posted soonish too, so it might be a moment before you see another. and i will once again leave it up to the spinny wheel of destiny.

love y'all!

[cheshire-silent-cat]

Uncanny Re-union

Chishiya x fem! Reader

Pairing: chishiya x fem! Reader

Warning: pure smut, cuss words, dramatics and exaggerations.

🔞 minors do not interact

*****************story begins here **************

Just like chishiya, there are intelligent people on the beach who do not fancy the thrill of parties, and until a few weeks ago there were no fun activities available for these people. Fortunately, Keiichi also known as the number 3 on the beach, came up with a solution that made everyone happy, keiichi delivered the idea to hatter and hatter announced it as his own idea. The idea was to give a hall on the ground floor for optional game activities in form of tournaments that changes each week. For a regularly social person who loves parties, these tournaments were boring, it looked boring from a far. It was understandable, very few women were there and the only attractive man present was chishiya.

As for chishiya, he was having the time of his life, he found himself visiting these events frequently, probably because he enjoyed crushing people, giving them hope and toying with them, before crushing them in these games. And since these tournament events happened at night chishiya even went as far as to add alcohol to his night of fun, after all, based on his standards there wasn’t much he’d call competition, his regular drinks were whisky’s and martinis depending on his mood and how much fun he was having. These events also helped chishiya take his mind off his soon to had been fiancé, this was a truth he had only shared with kuina. Chishiya missed his beloved girlfriend and worried about the possibilities of her ending up here, after all, chishiya had only been in Tokyo that day to pick up the custom made ring before appearing in the borderlands.

This week the game chosen was chess and that was a game chishiya had been mastering since he was nine, not having his parents actively present in his life gave him the opportunity to learn and grow independently. So at this point chishiya was a master. So far he had been scaling through the games, but he had heard that the predicted finalist was clearing opponents like it was nothing. He could never take a good look at the person because whenever they played, there was always a crowd around them, watching them intently, even though his games attracted a crowd it didn’t attract a large crowd like this person’s games. Finally the finals came and chishiya had arrived at the chess table 15 minutes earlier, he couldn’t shake off the nervous feeling in his stomach but as a result of that feeling , chishiya was even more excited.

15 minutes passed and his opponent appeared standing before him, wearing a scarlet red scarf hanging loosely around her neck, her fierce eyes piercing into his soul forcing him to look up and when he did, his normal expressionless gaze disappeared along with the unbothered facade he had sown to his personality. He felt dumb for not realising that you were his opponent, he did however notice that you were not a member of the beach and suspected that you had just walked in, found people placing chess and decided to join (that’s actually what happened). You stretched your hand out to shake him and asked playfully giggling “shall I have this dance” still star struck he nodded. The game began and after you both made your first move, the atmosphere was tense, after every move chishiya would raise his said to meet your fierce eyes, it made him warm, it distracted him, weakened his moves and to cope he drank more. You were winning, and chishiya was tipsy but still sober enough to play and understand his surroundings. “So what do we get if we win” chishiya asked, “something from each other” you added capturing his pawn, “well what do you want from me” chishiya interrogated, “you will find out once the game is over” you smirked retrieving your queen, “what do you want tho?” You spoke again, “alas querida I can not tell you yet” he said smugly in a stupid made up accent, which made you laugh, you stretched your hand over the board to brush back the blonde man’s hair, causing his body to be suddenly over taken with warmth, the tip of his ears red and his eyes fixated on you, before he could ask any questions you said “your hair, I want to play you at your best, I thought it might be obstructing your vision… I like the colour, it suit you…. Well you have always had it like that…. Well then I guess I just like your hair” chishiya smiled at your embarrassment and you both resumed the game, 30 minutes later, the game was over, chishiya had resigned and you were victorious.

After the game results had been declared and you had been celebrated, chishiya takes you on a walk towards his room where he hoped you would spend the night before introducing you to hatter and the other beach executives. “Ok ‘champions’ what did you want from me” chishiya said grabbing your hand and kissing it, “I probably shouldn’t ask, you are drunk right now and I might be and yeah we should just sleep” you said, realising you were now infront of chishiya’s room, you tried to get past him but he grabbed you arm, pulling you towards him, before asking “do you still like…. My hair” chishiya said trying to pick his words carefully.

In that moment y/n stood close to him so close she could feel the warmth of his breath as he spoke, her heart racing as their eye met, holding their gaze at each other, his hand wrapped around her waist, overwhelmed by her own need for him, she pulled him into a rough and messy kiss, pulling away from her, his overwhelming desires driving him crazy chishiya struggled with opening the door to his room, once opened, they wasted no time getting into the room, kissing roughly, making her decision on what she wants from this man, y/n pulled away from the kiss, biting down on his neck causing an unusual moan to escape from the lips of the blonde man. y/n planted a trail of kisses on the man as she dropped to her knees. As his soft moans turned into needy and impatient whimpers chishiya quickly took out his shaft, you wrapped your hand around it placing it before your lips, flicking your tongue and taunting the impatient man. Chishiya couldn’t take any more of your teasing, grabbing a handful of your hair the man pushed his length into your mouth, thrusting into your mouth, looking down on you made him even hornier and rougher, he started reaching his limit and he pulled you to him, allowing you to deep throat his cock as thick liquid streamed down your throat. “Fuck, I’ve wanted this for so long”. You looked like a mess, but he wanted more, he instructed you to take off your clothes. You got on all fours, lowering your upper body and raising your ass, spreading apart your legs to provide him an entrance, chishiya enjoyed the control he had over you at this moment, he spanked your ass making your scream out, the man carelessly pushed his cock into you, pulling your hair as he carelessly fucked you, every thrust he made caused you to moan, screaming out as tears rolled down your face, you both began chasing your climax “fuck. You are such a good girl for me” he said, fucking you harder, upon reaching your release, your walls fluttered around his cock, Milking every last drop of his seed. Making your back arch and his muscle tense forcing him to shiver lightly, you both collapse on his bed.

Waking up beside you chishiya reminisced about the night before, he thought of how you both had gone at it again a few more time after the first before taking showers and coding up in bed, y/n was wearing his famous white hoodie leaving him in a T-shirt and his joggers, his eyes fixated on his girlfriend, caressing her cheek as she slept peacefully, his expression quickly turning sad upon the realisation that he had a meeting with hatter and the rest in a few minutes and had to leave you, devastated, he thought of ways he could make you meet the executives as his eyes slowly wondered to the corner of his excessively neat room where her former clothes laid, noticing the red scarf you had on, knowing how attached you were to the scarf he decided to take it with him to his meeting. Getting to the meeting he placed the red scarf on the table. Waiting patiently for you to find him, soon enough, you burst into the room, charging at him, demanding he returned the scarf. “Oh darling you are up” he said all innocently “don’t oh darling me, where is it? I know you took it, you are the only one capable of such” you said placing your hand on the table, staring at him with glares that could kill, “I don’t know what you are talking about it’s right th-” chishiya said, before interrupted “oh cut the crap and hand it over” you said interrupting him, “but darling it’s right there” he said smiling and pointing at the table, your hand was in it this whole time, you instantly calmed down, your thoughts became more rational and your mind clear, you had not noticed that the scarf was under your hands, just like you had not noticed that the leaders of the beach were watching the scene and how you had not noticed that you were standing before them wearing only chishiya’s hoodie, which covered you very well but it made your relations with him apparent, at that moment chishiya realised that he’d probably be kicked out of his own room for a while and during all this hatter had been laughing with aguni, it wasn’t common for someone to handle chishiya like that, however they were more surprised that chishiya got laid consensually before Niragi.

The End

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers West Coast #61: The IMMORTUS IMPERATIVE

August, 1990

AVENGERS West Coast vs IMMORTUS and the LEGION of the UNLIVING!

Well! A Legion of the Unliving! And an Immortus. Vs the Avengers. We've been here before. But not with this specific Legion of the Unliving. Is that Iron Man 2020? He's not even unliving yet! Way to think outside the current year, Immortus.

Anyway.

Last times on Avengers West Coast: John Byrne was building up to something with Scarlet Witch and Immortus. But he had beef with editorial so he took his ball and went home and now Roy and Dann Thomas are going to pick up the plot threads and tie them together as best as they can.

But in plot terms: Scarlet Witch has been having the worst several weeks of her life. Her husband was disassembled and rebuilt except without emotions so he fucked off to the other Avengers team. Wanda went catatonic except when she woke up to be capital E evil and then she went catatonic again.

While she was Evil, she joined up with Magneto for his vague plans and kept suggesting he murder people. But then she went catatonic while he had to fight the Avengers by himself. So he fucked off.

Immortus has been shown spying on the Avengers for Reasons and deleting divergent timelines for Reasons and after Magneto fucks off, Immortus shows up to claim everything has transpired according to his plans. Also, he's going to marry Wanda or something.

Sir. If Wanda takes up polygamy, you are not high on her list.

Honestly.

This era of Avengers has way too much Kang and Kang accessories in it.

Quicksilver (and Lockjaw via growls) tell Immortus to get his creepy self away from Wanda but Hank Pym is like dammit, let the villain monologue!

He says it's for Wanda's sake but I think he just knows we'll never know what the plot is if we don't let Immortus villainsplain at them.

Wasp: "Spoken like a true leader and founding father, Hank!"

God. Get off his dick, Wasp.

I'd hoped that her characterization being reduced to being Hank's cheerleader would go away with Byrne but forecast looks bad.

Hawkeye ignores Hank (because the Avengers West Coast don't have an official leader so Hawkeye thinks it should be him and therefore he can do what he wants) and shoots an arrow at Immortus.

Which bonks off thin air.

Wonder Man: "You know force fields are standard issue with supervillains, Hawk!"

Yeah, Clint. Are you a veteran or not?

Immortus takes issue with being called a villain and asks "do you apply such negative labels to everything you cannot understand?"

Which would hit harder if it were not Immortus and not a situation where he's mind-controlling a woman.

Hawkeye points out that Immortus has been causing trouble for the Avengers since issue #10. I mean, he's right. But how does he know that? Issue #10 got retconned.

And Wonder Man says that his own introduction in issue #9 happened a few weeks after the Immortus fight that didn't happen at all because it was retconned and as Simon describes it the issues would be in the wrong order even if it did happen and...

This way lies madness.

Despite his injured leg, Quicksilver isn't going to stand by letting Immortus talk even if Dr Pym, Wasp, and Iron Man say he should.

He tries to rush Immortus but Immortus has Time Powers.

Immortus: "You would use so pitiful a power as speed -- against one who controls time, without which speed is an inconceivable concept? I could take this single step backward -- or walk to Earth's Moon and return -- while you were merely careening into this other fool who thought to sneak up on his superior!"

So Immortus just steps out of the way of Quicksilver's charge and lets him collide with US Agent. But he describes it as TIME POWERS.

Immortus doesn't actually want to Explain It All and says he's protecting all timelines, source: trust me, bro.

But the Avengers don't trust him, bro.

Wasp tries to get Lockjaw to teleport Wanda away. But she's still in that time-space stasis field thing and that's immune to teleportation. And also, Immortus has Dog Sleepy Powers which he uses to make Lockjaw to sleep.

Supposedly.

Lockjaw continues standing around with his eyes open. So maybe Immortus doesn't know how to get the Dog Sleepy Powers to work.

The Avengers all rush Immortus, since he won't exposition at them.

Immortus sighs and decides okay fine, I'll just take you with me then. And teleports them all to Limbo.

Leaving behind a weird after image of himself in the Avengers' base.

Immortus' throne room has been redecorated to look more... organic, apparently. Immortus says that's because Limbo reflects his moods and he's been in an organic mood lately.

Sure, okay.

I'm not sure what he means because the background just looks like. Rock. Like a rocky cave that someone put a metal floor in and a throne.

Wonder Man thinks it's very impressive and says a set like this would cost the budget for three of the movies he's worked on.

Hawkeye: "Right about now, Simon, your movie career's the last thing I'm worried about!"

Hey, c'mon, Clint.

He's just describing it through his lived life experience. And reminding people that he's an actor who acts in movies.

Remember when Hawkeye showed new maturity by getting married and leading a team of his own? Remember when he and Wonder Man came to an understanding in the sauna that even though he was an actor, being a superhero was still Wonder Man's number one priority?

I can't believe I'm saying it but characterization has gone downhill since Englehart.

Whether on Earth or in Limbo, the Avengers are still ready to kick Immortus' ass. And apparently his TIME POWERS only work on Earth. Because Limbo is timeless. Except for all the passage of time that the people in it experience because duh.

But if there's anything consistent about Immortus from the non-occurring events of Avengers #10 onward it's that Immortus doesn't fight his own battles.

Immortus: "Still, I am disappointed you think me stupid enough -- to face all you overly muscular specimens alone."

And boom. As the cover promised, a new Legion of the Unliving.

Getting a bit ahead of myself but that's Toro, not the Human Torch. The villainous Black Knight. Ugh, Grim Reaper. The Swordsman. Left-Winger and Right-Winger. Iron Man 2020, who I guess is unliving in the sense that he's not even been born. Unless you count sliding timescale because the timescale slid so hard that Arno is now contemporaneous to Tony. And Oort, the Living Comet.

Despite Oort asking if they remember him, this is his first appearance.

Like Arno, Oort is implied to come from the future. Although a more recent future.

Honestly, that's a fun thing to do with Immortus. It's HARD to do, unless you have established some characters from the future like the Iron Man 2020 series. 2099 characters would be a good choice but we're a couple years from that being possible. Or you can just make up a future character like Oort, the Living Comet, and have him mention a personal history that hasn't happened yet.

My point being: despite how stupid this story is looking, I like Immortus getting creative with his Legion of the Unliving choices.

Most everyone dies at some point and Immortus has every point at his disposal so he could throw any given character into his Legion.

Actually, I'm a little sad that the MCU just has Immortus as One of the Kangs and that maybe the Kang plot will get dropped or deemphasized due to so many reasons. Because an MCU Immortus dropping a Legion of the Unliving on someone. Imagine the characters you could bring back for it.

There are so many dead characters in the MCU. So many.

The only limit is imagination and how much Disneymarvel would be willing to pay to get actors to come back and reprise.

Anyway.

Wasp tells the Avengers not to hold back just because these are dead people that they might know. As far as she's concerned, these aren't the real dudes, they're simulcra that Immortus pulled out of time and if the Avengers get too in their head about fighting dead people they might know, they'll wind up dead instead.

She's actually right.

Because Immortus kept using dead characters that actually turned out to be alive - including Wonder Man once - it's had to be retconned that sometimes Legion of the Unliving members are just Space Phantoms.

So many Space Phantoms in Immortus retcons. So many.

Anyway, this Legion of the Unliving seems to have been chosen for personal connections with the heroes. Mostly.

Wonder Man obviously squares up against Grim Reaper, his supervillain brother that keeps harassing him and trying to put him and Vision in a blender.

Iron Man 2020 fights Iron Man because he's always wanted to prove he's better than the original Iron Man, Tony Stark, his great-uncle. Despite Iron Man's protests that he's definitely not the handsome, brilliant Tony Stark.

Hawkeye fights his old mentor and frenemy Swordsman.

Swordsman claims that he taught Hawkeye everything he knows which is why he's totally going to win this fight. Kind of ignoring the fact that he's been dead for years and Hawkeye didn't just stop learning shit. It's just a dumb boast, is all.

Black Knight faces Dr Pym, his old nemesis. Hank is no longer Giant-Man but he unshrinks Rover, the airship with the brain of an ant who loves Hank, so he can have an aerial duel with his old foe.

Right-Winger and Left-Winger fight US Agent. They're dudes he fought during his time as Captain America. He kinda blew them up in to a coma. Because they were involved in his parents' deaths.

Wasp is fighting Toro (who everyone is mistaking for the robot Human Torch). ... Okay, this is the odd one out. Wasp has no connection with this dude.

You couldn't think of a dead villain that has a personal connection to Wasp? I hate to say it but... I mean. She did tell Hank to crush Vibro to paste three issues ago. Maybe she should fight Vibro.

It would kind of make that fill-in issue where the Avengers West Coast take a break from the Wanda is Evil and Crazy arc more relevant to the arc. Wasp sentenced a dude to die because he wouldn't stop earthquaking Los Angeles. And then he pops up again in the Legion of the Unliving.

Feels like it writes itself but it didn't.

Anyway. The most interesting match-up here is actually Quicksilver vs Oort, the Living Comet.

Because Oort knows Quicksilver. And Quicksilver has no idea who Oort is.

Oort: "We never did find out which of us is faster, did we, mutant?" Quicksilver: "What are you talking about, Oort -- or whatever your name is? I never even heard of you befo-- NO! Those comet bursts --- fired at Wanda -- !" Oort: "You haven't changed a bit since we met in the 50th Century, Quicksilver. Even there, you were overly protective of your sister... though she couldn't care less whether you live or die!"

It sucks nobody ever ran with this.

This story is Oort's only appearance. We may never know what the hell Pietro and apparently Wanda were doing in the 50th Century. Or why they started beefing with this Oort dude.

The Thomases introduced Oort in this story as a future foe of Quicksilver because Quicksilver doesn't have a rogues gallery to draw on and everyone (but Wasp) was getting personalized fights.

So they made a whole new guy up to give Quicksilver a personalized fight and they gave Wasp Toro.

Double standard, boo.

Meanwhile, in the Hawkeye vs Swordsman fight, Swordsman does his usual Swordsman thing. You know, slicing or batting Hawkeye's arrows out of the air.

Really showing off his visual acuity and reflexes, the jerk.

He even mocks Hawkeye's gimmick arrows as relying on a "technological care package from Tony Stark" as if Hawkeye didn't invent anti-gravity by himself and then never use it for anything.

Swordsman: "Whether it's the strength of my arm -- or the sharpness of my blade -- I shall always be the teacher, and you merely the pupil!"

Basically Swordsman talks a good game up until the point Hawkeye tricks him into trying to block a 21k volt electro-arrow with his very conductive metal sword.

Props to the story, for a dude that Hawkeye has personal history with, he comes off like he has personal history with Swordsman.

After he... yeah, he basically kills Swordsman. Twenty-one thousand volts will do that. And this is Avengers Don't Kill Hawkeye, having to re-kill his dead mentor because if Hawkeye lost, Swordsman would move onto killing the next Avenger.

Hawkeye: "You -- shouldn't have made that crack -- about what you were gonna do to the others. I knew you best, so that meant I had to be the one to stop you, at any cost. Do me a f-favor, okay? D-don't let Immortus bring you back to life again. I really don't think... I could take that...!"

It's a low bar to clear but nobody in West Coast Avengers but Wanda has had appropriate emotions for the entire Byrne run. So I'll give credit where due that Hawkeye is emotionally impacted by having to kill a dude he has conflicted feelings about.

I'm realizing that I'm liking a lot of the bits in this story. The overall story is still kinda dumb. But it's cleaning up someone else's mess so maybe this bodes well for the Thomases run on this book.

Anyway. Remember how Immortus left behind an after-image when he teleported everyone to Limbo?

Yeah, Agatha Harkness did that.

She "half-sensed" Immortus' hand behind all the shit that's been happening to Wanda and her growing powers and her hard swing into mutant superiority and also the fake made-up children who definitely didn't exist.

Agatha didn't tell anyone though because fuck you nobody tells anyone their suspicions about anything in this book until it's too late to matter. Remember all the times recently that Hank Pym suddenly claimed he knew something all along?

But since Agatha Harkness kept a low-profile, Immortus didn't think to take countermeasures against her and she was able to cast a spell that left behind an after-image of himself.

Why? Eh. Apparently she can do magic on the after-image to learn what he's up to.

Agatha Harkness: "For, as you know full well, Earth's very timelines are in danger of unraveling, like threads in a fallen skein... but I, for one, am far from certain that you are the one to knit them up again!"

That's fair. He retgonned the timeline where Lincoln kicked John Wilkes Booth's ass. What a jerk thing to do, to get rid of that.

Anyway, Agatha does a magic that will make the image of Immortus share all the hot goss about Immortus' schemes. Magic can do that. Why wouldn't it?

In the grand aerial duel of Dr Pym vs the Black Knight, Black Knight's flying horse outmaneuvers Hank Pym's technology. He uses his laser lance to blast Rover but Hank just unshrinks a hover-pack and jumps out at Black Knight.

Who panics and falls off his horse to his re-death.

Hank saves himself with his hover-pack. He realizes that Black Knight must have remembered the last time he fell to his death, while fighting Iron Man, and that's why he panicked and, ironically, caused history to repeat.

Having put this together, Hank feels lousy about helping history to repeat on Black Knight.

He supposedly repented his evil right before he died the first time and then Immortus drags his ghost out of time, or whatever, and throws him into superhero fighting again. Black Knights just got no luck.

... Huh, did Thor ever get Dane out of that time warp he left him in?

Meanwhile, US Agent gets double-teamed by Right-Winger and Left-Winger.

Then US Agent throws his less-mighty-than-Cap's shield and makes Left-Winger trip so both brothers accidentally stab each other with stalagmites.

US Agent: "Welcome back to the dead zone, boys."

It's his favorite DBZ movie.

But, wow, he sure is proud of himself for deading those two guys.

Elsewhere in this big Limbo, Iron Man vs Iron Man. Future technology vs modern technology. A dude who just bought his armor vs the dude that built it.

And Iron Man 2020 is kicking Tony's ass. There's several decades of advancements in Arno's favor, even if Tony is the better engineer.

Iron Man 2020: "Face facts, unc... You're like some primitive stealth bomber up against a star raker from my day!" Also Iron Man 2020: "Whoever you are in there, you're last century's model!"

And then Tony wins via sucker punch.

I guess decades of improvements don't mean a lot if you can't take a punch.

Shrug.

(Feels like there was a more thematically satisfying conclusion to this fight somewhere but this is a team vs team fight issue and each character can only get so much time.)

Over with Wonder Man vs Grim Reaper for the umpteenth time.

Grim Reaper is in full bigger brother bully mode, reminding Simon of when they were kids and Eric would threaten him with a stolen pocketknife.

Grim Reaper cuts Wonder Man up with his scythe (which he lampshades he wasn't able to do when he was alive) but Wonder Man grabs him by the throat and demands he stands down.

Bigger brother bully refuses and shocks Wonder Man with his scythe, Wonder Man determinedly keeps his grip on Grim Reaper's neck and-

KRAK!

Wonder Man: "My grip -- so strong -- I killed him -- broke his neck! Immortus's control over him was so strong -- he wouldn't quit fighting till he was dead again! You're going to pay for this, Immortus! So help me -- you're going to pay!"

Damn. That's dark.

Which seems to be the theme with the fights where the Avengers win their fights.

Hawkeye had to go against his Avengers Do Not Kill principle and re-kill his mentor. Hank Pym (accidentally) put the fear of death in Black Knight so hard he died of it. And Wonder Man squeezes his brother's neck so hard it breaks -- and doesn't even realize he's doing it.

Oh, and US Agent made two brothers kill each other. But he doesn't seem too broken up over it. I guess he's the combo breaker.

And the afterthought fight: Wasp vs Toro.

Who she confuses as Human Torch until he informs her otherwise.

I sincerely believe this fight happens - and Wasp gets screwed out of a personalized fight - to clear up some continuity.

When Toro reveals he's Toro, Wasp realizes that the previous time the Avengers saw the robot Human Torch in a Legion of the Unliving (under Kang) it couldn't have been Jim Hammond because androids can't die because they're not real people!

Oof.

Toro: "Kang the Conqueror once thought I was the Torch, too -- when he gathered the first Legion of the Unliving! I was a man -- so I could -- and the Mad Thinker murdered me! -- Just like Immortus is going to make me kill you -- RIGHT NOW!"

Glad we cleared that up.

And, yeah, Wasp loses her fight because she's too distracted by the Not-Human Torch thing.

This issue kept cutting back and forth between Agatha interrogating Afterimage Immortus and the Avengers vs Legion fights. I just moved most of the fight stuff together in this recap for clarity.

Because we're about to do some big retcons, Agatha Harkness asks Immortus to RECAP HIS ENTIRE BACKSTORY.

Granted, how long has it been since we learned Immortus' complicated deal?

He was born in the 30th Century in a world of peace and plenty and he hated it because it was so boring. His only solace was watching old video tapes of superheroes punching people.

Especially the Fantastic Four. He loved their exploits best because he had learned that he and Reed Richards both traced their ancestry back to Nathaniel Richards.

Little Kid Future Nathaniel Richards (Ie Immortus) found a shrine Reed's dad Nathaniel Richards left behind with a time machine. Young Immortus rebuilt the time machine to look like a Sphinx and time traveled back to Egypt to take over as White Pharaoh Rama-Tut.

Then the Fantastic Four showed up and kicked his ass and he fled Back to the Future.

He went too far, wound up in post-apocalyptic year 4000 and became Kang the Conqueror.

Later, he became ashamed of all the stupid shit he did as Kang and became Rama-Tut again and took over Egypt again (but benevolently?). Then he became Immortus and moved to Limbo.

Afterimage Immortus: "As Immortus, I was a more contemplative type than my Kang counterparts, who were dedicated only to the conquest of historical eras. Sequestering myself in the ageless dimension known as Limbo, I dedicated myself to the study of that ultimate enigma -- time itself."

Then, the Time Keepers came to Immortus in Limbo and taught him all about time and appointed him the custodian of the time stream for the period which he had lived as Kang -- 3000 BC to 4000 AD.

So Immortus became responsible for monitoring time travel during that period. Which mostly meant monitoring himselves.

And if he fulfills his vow to the Time Keepers' purpose, they'll give him total mastery over those seventy centuries.

Kind of seems a downgrade from when Immortus was Master of Time.

Agatha Harkness asks Immortus what the Time Keepers' purpose is and what the heck it has to do with Wanda or with all those divergent timelines Immortus deleted in Byrne's run.

Afterimage Immortus: "You already know the truth, old woman! The Scarlet Witch is a nexus being -- one who belongs equally to all possible timelines -- all realities and divergences -- so that, through her, all futures can be totally safeguarded -- inexorably controlled -- by Immortus, Master of Time!"

Okay. Does that mean anything for Wanda herself or does that just make her a plot device to win?

Remember when Sentinels kidnapped Wanda because they needed to her power to sterilize Earth? And not her hex power, just the fact that she was A Woman?

This shit keeps happening to Wanda.

I'm surprised she didn't go evil and crazy sooner.

Speeeeaking of whiiiiich.

This is where (Afterimage) Immortus explains how he's been behind everything.

EVERY. THING.

Going back to his first appearance in Avengers #10 which was retconned and didn't happen so I don't know what he's talking about.

But, hypothetically, his evil plan in that story that didn't happen was to break up the Avengers so Scarlet Witch could never join them. Without the Avengers as a support network, Immortus could have manipulated Wanda so much more easily.

And why did Immortus show Vision an origin where he was built from the body of the original robot Human Torch? TWAS A RUSE! He wanted Vision and Wanda to marry and only knowing his origins would make Vision comfortable enough in his life to marry!

(The retconned origin that Vision was made out of extra Human Torch parts is close enough that one wonders why Immortus didn't just show him that? This is stupid. God I hate sweeping retcons like this.)

Why did Immortus want Wanda and Vision to marry? Is he just a big ol' shipper actually?

NO!

WANDA MARRYING VISION WAS ACTUALLY A SLOW BURN PLAN TO MANIPULATE WANDA! IMMORTUS PLANNED IT ALLLL!

Immortus knew that Wanda would want children and that she would specifically use her mutant magic to magic them up instead of adoption or surrogacy! He knew it all along!

And having created fake, not-real children, he knew that one day, she would learn they weren't real!

Afterimage Immortus: "Over time, Agatha Harkness, I slyly seduced the Vision into attempting to dominate the Earth by taking over its computers. After he tried that, it was easy to subliminally influence a multi-national security alliance to take him apart-- in such a way that, although his android body could later be more or less reassembled -- the Vision's particular mind and memory -- and thus his love for the Scarlet Witch -- became part of a dead and unrecapturable past! Soon afterward, even while I was subtly increasing her hex power, I made certain she was one of seven brides-to-be of Set, to further undermine her confidence -- by making her fear she was doomed, always, to be a victim of circumstances beyond her control. Perhaps she was, at that. Witness her quite coincidental capture later by the human servants of the micro-organism known as 'That Which Endures'... Although Master Pandemonium, whose kidnapping of her 'twins' caused her pain and terror, was unknowingly obeying my secret suggestions. And when her 'offspring' finally vanished forever -- you, dear lady, did me the service of explaining to her how they never truly existed! This was the final straw that turned her into a hard-hearted human-hater -- and thus perfect for my purposes. Magneto's blundering along just then was an annoying, but quite temporary, nuisance -- one which scarcely delayed the implementation of my plan!"

God this is so much. I hate it also so much.

Saying someone secretly conspired to organize so many events is a hard sell. And roping in Master Pandemonium seems unlikely since Immortus couldn't see into the netherworld where he took Wanda.

Saying Immortus nudged Vision into his takeover the world plan diminishes the original story.

And the writer drawing the line at Immortus being responsible for the That Which Endures story is just kind of funny. It's brought up solely so Immortus can say "that wasn't me" even though it seems like the racism goo turning Wanda into a mutant supremacist would only serve his plan.

There's so much to like about this issue and then there's the big reveals, which are unfathomably stupid.

Sheesh.

With all this exposition, Agatha Harkness has finally pieced together what Immortus' plan for Scarlet Witch is.

Although, she doesn't share it with the class. No doubt wanting to keep up the tension for next issue.

(Also, Immortus sends the Legion of the Unliving back into the void, sparing Quicksilver and Wasp from being finished off by their opponents.)

Next week, switching back over to Avengers East Coast for more airport paperback political thriller action in the Crossing Line arc. And in two weeks, the Immortus slash Wanda is Evil and Crazy arc wraps so the Thomases can start their own plots.

I will not be sad to see Byrne's lingering plot threads go.

Follow @essential-avengers. I'm too tired for a more extravagant pitch. Like and reblog, maybe?

[blushweddinggowns]

part 1

One impromptu makeout session on his bedroom floor later and Steve had done it, he had finally put the moves on Eddie Munson. Well, more like Eddie put the moves on him, but Steve had been an enthusiastic participant, so it still counted.

Things escalated from there. 

It felt like Steve had reverted back to being a horny teenager, and for the last two weeks all the two of them would do in their free time was make out and fool around. And Steve learned a hell of a lot about himself in those past two weeks. 

He kind of thought he would have needed more time to deal with the whole being with a guy thing, but it turned out he was over it by their second kiss. Apparently, he was way more interested in getting on his knees than analyzing his sexuality. 

They were so wrapped up in each other that Steve may have forgotten to ah, inform a certain someone. A certain someone who decided that he had to be reminded of that at four in the morning. 

Steve groaned, blinking into the darkness as the phone loudly rang into the night. How Eddie managed to still sleep like the dead with it blaring, Steve didn’t know. But he couldn’t really blame him, not after what they were up to last night. 

He let it go to voicemail, more than ready to get back to sleep. But then it went off again. And again. 

Steve forced himself out of bed, grumbling all the while. He staggered all the way to the kitchen phone, deciding there was no reason to drag Eddie up and awake with him.

He picked it up, too tired to even be properly annoyed, “Hello?”

“Why aren’t you at Eddie’s?”

If Steve’s eyes weren’t closed he would have rolled them. Of course it was Robin, “Because Eddie’s here? Why does that matter?”

“Because I woke up his uncle! Who probably hates me now by the way-”

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose, the annoyance finally poking through,“Robin, why are you calling?”

She took a deep breath, voice shaking the slightest bit, “I have something to tell you and I really need you to not be mad, okay?”

“Babe, it’s like four in the morning, can’t it wait till tomorrow?”

“Nancy kissed me,” Robin blurted out, “Like two hours ago.”

Steve yawned, forgetting that Robin couldn’t see him nod along. Maybe that should have been more shocking, but it's not like Steve hadn't noticed them eye fucking across the room for months. He had just been waiting for Robin to tell him in her own time, he just didn’t think that time would be four a.m.

His silence just helped to add fuel to her panic, “B-but I didn’t kiss her back! Like I would never do that to you dude, seriously."

"What did you do then?" He asked, confused. 

“I…kinda went out her window when she went to the bathroom?”

“You ran away in the middle of the night?”

“...yes?”

"Jesus Robin. That's…" Incredibly embarrassing, "Really sweet, but you didn’t need to do that."

“...I didn’t?”

He was touched by her overprotective, neurotic nature, he really was. But it was also four a.m. and freezing, and all he wanted to do was crawl back into bed with his boyfriend. It came out blunter than he intended, "No you didn’t. I couldn’t care less who Nancy dates."

Steve paused, cringing a little at Robin’s silence, “Okay, that sounds bad, Nancy’s great! I meant more…like I’m over it?”

"The only girl you've ever loved? And you're just over it? Since when?"

Steve sighed, “Since I made out with Eddie on my bedroom floor two weeks ago.”

Steve had to hold the phone away from how loud that made Robin squeal, “And you didn’t tell me?!”

“I didn’t have the time!”

“Lies! We worked together yesterday!”

Steve rubbed at his neck, embarrassed, “Okay, I had the time, but you don’t get it man. I’m like fucking addicted to him or something, I can barely think straight lately.” 

A deep voice chuckled behind him, “Is that so?”

Steve whipped around, face scarlet when he noticed Eddie watching him from the doorway, grinning ear to ear. He made his way over, not hesitating to pull Steve closer to him by the hips. He nuzzled into his neck, seemingly patient to wait for him to be off the phone. 

“Then elaborate,” Robin insisted, “What happened?”

“Yeah Steve, elaborate,” Eddie laughed into his ear, his innocent facade forgotten. He was kissing his neck, hands wandering further down, “Share with the class.”

Robin paused catching the way Steve’s breath hitched at the touch, “Oh my god, he’s there isn’t he?”

Steve bit his lip, succeeding in stifling a moan, “H-he is, and Robin I gotta go. But I love you okay? And you have my full permission to make out with Nancy as much as you want.”

“You’re telling me everything tonight!”

Eddie's hands were still wandering and despite his best efforts, he wasn’t able to hide the moan that time, accidentally gasping into the receiver. 

“Okay ew, I’m hanging up now. Have fun you perv.”

He managed to rush out a goodbye. He leaned against Eddie’s chest, tilting his head back to glare at him, “You’re not allowed to touch me when I’m on the phone anymore.”

“I’m not? I thought you were addicted to me.”

Steve spun around, face red at the mention. God, why did he have to hear that? He wrapped his arms around his neck, annoyed at how much he liked his shit-eating grin, “Just shut up and kiss me.”

[theretirementstory]

18/08/24. Bonjour et bienvenue, if you are new to this blog, what took you so long finding it 😉. For those that have followed me for the past years, thank you 😊.

The photos this week are from my “archive”. The above is of the front garden after I spent days removing very long grass and (stupidly) laying weed suppressant before I covered it with bark. I was so pleased with the result. Unfortunately now the potager is a cat toilet and the bark has lost it’s colour and the area looks shoddy. I have some more bark and would like to get the germinated seeds taken out and add more bark. Perhaps I will be able to do this very soon.

We are one week closer to the arrival of 2nd son and his girlfriend and I have had a few baking days preparing food for the freezer so that, if, I don’t feel up to cooking a meal we won’t starve 😊.

It’s been a different week with two visits to the hospital in Troyes, for my transfusions. Back to normal next week with a visit to Paris and also Troyes for the transfusions.

Talking of Paris, I messaged Jony, my Syrian friend, on Friday evening and brought him up to speed with my treatment. When I met him his paperwork in France had his name spelt as above, however, he signed off with Johnny. I am pleased he is now using (perhaps) the correct spelling of his name. I know that people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime, Johnny left Bar-sur-Aube in July 2018, although I haven’t seen him since, when we message one another it’s as if I had just seen him last week. I pray to be well enough to go to Paris one day and meet him for coffee as I used to do here in Bar-sur-Aube. Keeping my 🤞 for that one!

Anie and Monique are sharing the shopping duties, with Anie getting the visits to the pharmacy too. It’s so kind of them to do this for me, although I know I couldn’t do it myself.

On Friday, Anie was telling me about the liberation which took place on the coast of Provence on the 15 August 1944. After American, British and Canadian forces landed they were followed by some 250,000 soldiers recruited largely from French colonies in North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. As 15 August is Assumption Day this landing goes largely unremembered. She then mentioned the Résistance and I asked if she had been to the Résistance Museum in a village not too far away. She said she hadn’t and maybe we could go together. Hopefully we will get there before it is only opened to groups from November.

The cleaner came and she is a good worker, however I will have to itemise each task I want doing. I did clean the kitchen myself (apart from the floor) which she did. I want to get her to wash the window and door frames inside and out 😳 plus the glass panes.

I have a “to-do” list as long as your arm! The car is in need of a service but as I am not allowed to drive, I haven’t phoned the garage. I messaged the gardener to come and cut the grass. He didn’t respond but I feel sure he will turn up and transform the garden. Maybe I won’t contact him again just yet. I messaged the plumber to come out but again no response. He maybe on holiday and could contact me this week, if not I will call him. I have to ring the man to come and wash the outside walls of the house. Currently, the sand blown from the Sahara has caused red streaks to appear and I would like them cleaned. Finally I need to contact the roofer, I signed the estimate in October last year and he said he would come on a dry day to do the work. We have had a lot of those days but he is more elusive than “The Scarlet Pimpernel”.

“The Trainee Solicitor” now just shares his office with one other person. I hope that means that he can get on with his work without too many distractions. I know from being in a car with a driver for three hours or more, picking the skin on their fingers or picking their nose, plus a little cough which has become a habit all of these get on your nerves.

“The Recovery Coordinator” has had another “garbage” week! They have lost 5 members of staff in 6 weeks so the workload for the remaining staff has increased and it’s stressful. She is glad she has her holidays to look forward to.

“The Photographer” has had an okay week which ended with a high on Friday evening, winning a game of bingo. Yesterday he was at Scarborough AFC’s home game taking photographs. It’s something he enjoys doing and is such a change from his full-time work.

“The Jetsetter” still has clipped wings and is spending her summer going swimming, playing bingo 😂 and working. Some of that working involved a professional exam this week. I would imagine, while waiting for results of the exam, that she will be deciding on places to visit during her next round of holidays 😁.

Talking about holidays, Pauline has been making the most of the Iberian peninsula. She has been to Lisbon and Porto. Then went back into Spain visiting Malaga, Seville, Granada and Madrid. Not quite sure where she is at the moment but she is not due back in Paris until 21 August.

Goodness me, I nearly forgot the music section 😳. The first track is “Loves Me Like A Rock” by Paul Simon this was released in 1973 that makes it over 50 years old but I love it as much today as I did then. The second track is from a lady who, sadly is no longer with us, it’s “This Time I Know It’s For Real” by Donna Summer which was released in 1989. I hope you enjoy listening to these two songs.

The photo below was taken at Chateau de Cirey-sur-Blaise. A place where the writer, Voltaire, lived with Mme Du Châtelet from 1734 to 1749.

Jusqu’à la semaine prochaine.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I think that it all comes down to the fact that they made Gabriel way too serious for a formula show setup to really work. He doesn't consistently read like a cartoon villain even though that's what formula shows need if you want them to work.

While there are lots of episodes that play Gabriel like your standard cartoon villain, there are just way too many big, serious moments that undermine that characterization. He generally feels like a true threat that needs to be stopped and it's this flaw that makes the heroes' lack of action feel lacking, which does tie nicely back into my original response about the serious elements being a bad call.

Contrast Gabriel to true comedy villains like Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb or Dr. Drakken from Kim Possible and you'll hopefully see what I mean. These two are also cartoon villains who come up with evil plans almost every time that they're on screen, but they're so over-the-top and ridiculous that it's hard to take them too seriously. You don't expect them to ever win or even be truly defeated because they don't really feel like major threats. They're more minor nuances, which is what you want for a true formula show and these two examples are absolutely formula shows. You truly can watch the episodes in any order without feeling lost outside of minor character elements like crushes and relationship status changes, which notably change at the season level and not episode to episode because, once again, formula show!

I picked them for that reason and because it's worth noting that the heroes in these shows basically never get an upgrade or try to truly take down the villains once and for all (with the notable exception of optional, one-off movies that don't really count). The TV-show parts of these properties are doing what Miraculous does and making it work, creating two well-loved properties and proving that this setup can lead to quality television. Miraculous didn't need to give the heroes upgrades or make them track down Gabriel for the show to work. It just needed to make Gabriel an absurd human being whose threat level was well below zero. You can even do that and keep him sympathetic if you really want to. Dr. Doofenshmirtz is a pretty sympathetic and well loved character who also really loves his daughter and that works because the writers focused his villainy in a way that didn't directly contradict that love.

This is one of the many reasons why I adored @zoe-oneesama's Scarlet Lady comic. She did an amazing job turning Gabriel into a cartoon villain while still rooting his character in canon. When I read Scarlet Lady, I never got that nagging sense of "why aren't you trying to stop this guy?" because Scarlet Lady maintained the silly tone that you need for a superhero comedy. She never once treated the Adrien-Gabriel conflict as a big deal and that was absolutely the right move on her part. If you want to tell a comedy, that relationship cannot feel like a big deal. If canon had matched her tone and gave up trying to make serious complex villain Gabriel happen, then Miraculous would be fine as-is.

But that's not what canon did. Instead, canon gave us Adrien longing to be close with his father along with things like Chat Blanc, the sentinonsense, or this moment from Queen Wasp:

Gabriel: (guilt-ridden) I don't want to break our promise, but… I can't keep putting our son in danger. Style Queen was supposed to be my masterpiece… but even she failed. I feel like I've done all I possibly could, you know? I'll never be able to fulfill my wish without Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous. (Scene shows Emilie in her coffin) Forgive me, Emilie. I'm giving you up, Nooroo.

While I love this moment and want more of it, it's a terrible thing to include if your goal is to write a low-stakes monster-of-the-week formula show for kids because this scene isn't from that kind of show. It's from a far more serious show that can have things like character arcs where we see the villain slowly descend into madness.

But if you have the villain slowly descend into madness then you can't maintain a status quo and formula shows thrive off of the status quo so Gabriel maintains a consistent level of evil and his abrupt heel-turn at the end of season five comes across as total BS as does this bit from Evolution where Nathalie acts like Gabriel has gotten worse over the seasons:

Nathalie: (on-call) You had the Time Miraculous. You could’ve chosen to save Emilie! You could’ve chosen to save me! (coughs) But instead, you chose your obsession with Ladybug and Cat Noir. You're insane, Gabriel!

What obsession is she talking about? The show never gave Gabriel an obsession! I could play Origins back-to-back with almost any season five episode and you wouldn't notice anything different about Gabriel's writing. Writers, you cannot imply character arcs via lines of dialogue. You actually have to show them on screen!

This scene and basically everything about Nathalie's "redemption" are exactly what I was referring to when I said that the writers picked terrible elements to subtly "hint" at. Everything they pick is something that you need to actually explore if you want it to work. They want to redeem Nathalie, but she never feels truly redeemed because she never does anything to stop Gabriel because she can't because this is a formula show. This means that she comes off as kind of pathetic. Saying one thing while doing nothing other than maintaining the status quo. She should have just stayed Gabriel's evil sidekick.

Disclaimer in advance: I haven't watched season 4 or 5 in their entirety, nor do I intend to, so maybe I'm missing info. Most of my knowledge comes from lurking in the fandom.

Why do you think the show was seemingly allergic to allowing their main characters to make any sort of meaningful progress? At the end of season 1, Ladybug comes into possession of the Miraculous grimoire, a major clue that "Hey, Hawkmoth is probably Gabriel Agreste" and then the Collector immediately ends with her and Adrien placing him completely above suspicion (I actually don't mind this, it makes sense for Gabe to throw the two off the trail, but to the best of my knowledge, this is the only time the protagonists make any headway toward Hawk Moth's identity. I wish they had done more active investigation.)

The power up potions show up during Syren, except... they don't do much in the way of a "power up." They're used exceedingly sparingly, and really only let LB and CN compensate for environmental challenge. Nothing else, no actual evolution. This could've been a way to show LB getting more in sync with her powers, being able to create specific solutions to her problems. You could've had similar moments for Chat Noir, upgrade like the ranged cataclysm Chat Blanc could use, or something to do with bad luck. Instead, it was a cheap gimmick.

The temp heroes start getting called in beginning with Sapotis, except that most of them are called in because... you're here and I need this incredibly specific power, which you just so happen to be perfectly suited for. Shut up and do nothing follow orders. (The episode Party Crasher and King Monkey being the most egregious example, imo. Then again, i havent watched Penalteam, and I'm told that episode is far worse). The temp heroes don't really add anything to the plot (Save Rena suddenly being Ladybug's confidant, but that's a rant for another day.), except to cause conflict with CN, and they're all gone as of the Season 4 finale anyway.

Speaking of season 4, the charms. Finally, concrete progress, a way to limit hawkmoth, to cut him off from potential vic— wait what the hell is a megakuma? Why do this? What was the point? This is what I was talking about with Syren, Ladybug coming further into her powers, finally being able to start pushing Gabriel into a corner, and it's undone that same season. Apparently transmission is more powerful than creation, despite repeated assurances the Ladybug (and Marinette) are special.

And then there's the alliance rings. Why can Tomoe and Gabriel make these? No idea. What it means, though, is that LB and CN have no chance of reclaiming the lost miraculous, and just have to passively react to whatever the hell Monarch is up to... again.

I'm told that for the big finale, Marinette wasn't even the one to discover Gabriel's identity, Felix straight up told her, and then Gabriel won. He made his wish. The hero of the story failed to save the day, after doing practically nothing.

Whats extra annoying is that on the Villain side, Gabriel is absolutely allowed to push the status quo. First we get Scarlet Moth and mass akumatization, then the peacock comes out, then it gets fixed, and then Gabriel straight up steals all the Miraculous (save LB and CN's of course, and then they steal the rabbit back because the writers realized "time travelling villain" was a horrendous idea. And Felix is allowed to keep the Peacock, because ??? Gabriel has to my knowledge not given up any other power, before or since). And he's always held the power, he's never been at risk of losing his own miraculous because he doesn't need to go out in person, so why does he keep getting stronger and raising the stakes while the heroes can't do anything.

Sorry for being so long-winded, just... needed to get my thoughts out.

Put on your tinfoil hats, folks! We're gonna make some educated guesses as to what is going behind the scenes with Miraculous, but remember that these are, ultimately, guesses. I don't know the full story and I probably never well.

I've mentioned before that writing for TV can suck because you're not allowed pure creative freedom. There are a lot of hands in the pot limiting what you can do because TV shows cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to make. Some even cost millions. That means that final product needs to be considered commercially viable unless you're independently wealthy and have money to burn. This doesn't mean that passion projects can't be commercially viable, it just means that they're generally not approached with the idea that commercial viability is the most important thing.

Writing for children's shows can especially suck because you're heavily limited by the intended audience and by what large corporations deem acceptable for that intended audience. If you're not totally on board with keeping things Disney's version of kid-friendly, then you're not going to have a fun time.

This brings us to Miraculous.

I have often assumed that there were some wacky hi-jinks going on behind the scenes that would explain why the show is such a mess because I don't think that Miraculous is anyone's ideal version of the core concept. The wonderful @nixthelapin recently confirmed it for me by sending me a link to a translation of a lecture given by Miraculous' writing director.

In that interview, we get hard confirmation that the core members of the writing staff originally wanted to tell a darker story for adults or teens, which may explain all the random dark stuff that the show will include but totally fail to explore. We also got this:

Sebastien sold the Miraculous series to broadcasters as a formula show. A person gets angry, is akumatized, then marinette transforms into Ladybug then frees the person from the akumatization and… The End. It's also for this reason that Marinette tries to confess her love for Adrien in every episode, but is unable to do so. But he tried to go against what he had planned with TF1, by slipping little extra stories into certain episodes. Audiences were receptive to these slightly hidden stories. The TV channel even asked Sébastien if there really were hidden things in the series, but he denied everything.

So there you go. There's the hard confirmation of my theory. Miraculous was sold as a formula show so it's mostly written like a formula show, but the writers want to do more than a formula show, so they're adding in all these hints of something more, leading to massive fan frustration when those things don't lead to satisfying plots because, if they did, then it wouldn't be a formula show!

I get the temptation to do what they did, I really do, but I don't think that it was a good move. They would have been better off trying to make an awesome formula show or by being a lot more selective in what greater story elements they wanted to include. There are things that you can develop in formula shows while still keeping them formula shows. One thing that comes to mind is subtle character development. For example, they could have set up all of the temp heroes by giving them strong roles in one-off episodes. Roles that established their heroic potential. What you can't do well in formula shows is complex character development like the mess that was everything with Chloe and Lila.

This may also explain why we get baffling statements like this one from that interview that the writers gave at the end of season five:

Mélanie says that he "could become Chat Blanc" and the others add that even though he does not remember and has never lived it, Chat Blanc still has an influence on his actions.

Are they trying to let Chat Blanc effect the plot without breaking the formula element? If so, then dear gods, this is not how you add subtle continuity to your formula show!!! But that may be what they were trying to do here and in many other places. After all, we also get gems like this:

They note that Marinette's nightmare at the beginning is reminiscent of the episode Weredad from season 3. At this point, we can see that Marinette starts to understand who the villain is although she's not fully conscious of it yet. Thomas says that you can read it in two different ways: if you don't take the previous episode into account, she's starting to intuitively link things together but if you did see Representation, you know that she knows who Monarch really is.

I'm seeing a common thread. What about you?

While the writing director interview doesn't say this, I'm assuming stuff like the charms, the powerups, and the additional heroes come from a similar type of issue. My best guess is that these weren't elements that the writers wanted to add. They were things that marketing made them add to sell toys and so the writers shoehorned these items in because they couldn't find a way to organically fit these elements. I'm not blaming either side for that issue, btw. There isn't really a clear right side in the fight of creative freedom vs a show needing to make money to keep being made.

Since we're talking about that interview, I'll point out that we also got confirmation of another wacky writing rule to add to the list of poor writing choices:

The driving force behind the series is that there must always be a secret between Marinette and Adrien. The lovesquare can never be broken, otherwise there's no series.

"Our main couple can never be fully honest with each other or else there's no story" is a pretty awful rule, but it's what they're going with and that's a big part of why the love square is a mess. It's also a rule that I've often assumed was there based on the writing, but it's nice to get official confirmation of it.

None of this is to absolve the writers of blame nor is it to say that everything is their fault. The point here is that Miraculous' problems are a complex mess of everyone trying to make a good final product without being on the same page with what that final product should look like, resulting in a show that will never live up to the full potential of what anyone wanted for it.

[foxcantswim]

Who Are You? Chapter 3 || F!Reader x Wanda Maximoff

Thank you so much for the love and feedback, you lot are making me blush- (Keep smashing and destroying everything, I encourage you)

Y/N is in love with Wanda... But Wanda is in love with Spider Noir. The thing is, Y/N and Spider Noir are the same person - But Wanda doesn't know that. Y/N has a secret identity to uphold. (Everyone lives AU - Set after DS:MoM)

F!Spider!Avenger!Reader x Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

CHAPTER 4

Words: 2.8k

Tags/Warnings: Fluff, Angst, Chaotic Yelena Belova, Wanda is a pouty witchy, SIGNATURE WANDA HEAD-TILT

"That all you got, witchy?" you teased her, "I can take a hit, you know?"

You and Wanda had been 'fighting' on a field behind the compound. Despite Wanda telling you that she wouldn't hold back, you could tell that she definitely was.

Wanda's eyes glowed a bright red as she flashed a smirk, "We're just getting started," she winked before ascending upwards. A shiver ran up your spine at her response, you barely even realised that she was currently throwing a bolt of red magic towards you.

The two of you were testing reflexes today, it was obvious that you would most likely have the better reflexes due to spider sense. But, Wanda still wanted to put that up to the test. She wanted to make sure that you would be one hundred percent ready for anything that happened to come your way out on each and every mission.

As time went on, you were getting a lot better at reacting to her moves and attacks. The pair of you were making jokes and quips here and there, Wanda soon let out a laugh which effectively distracted you. You just couldn't stop yourself from staring, completely in awe. You let out a groan as you took the full force of her magic, "Damn, Wands..." you let out a laugh but quickly keeled over in pain.

Wanda's panic started to rise, "No no no no-" she muttered as she descended down towards you, "I'm sorry, I-"

"Relax, little witch," you gave her a thumbs up as you stood, "I told you not to hold back. I'm fine, see?" you raised your arms slightly as you turned around in a circle, "Not a scratch," you physically ached all over, but you knew that your advanced healing abilities would soon kick in.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Wanda nodded, "Okay... I just... I'm trying to stop myself from hurting people. After what happened..." she trailed off.

"I understand," you assured as you placed a hand on her shoulder, "I'm not gonna blame you for 'hurting me' when I've asked you to train. We can stop if you'd like? Pick this up some other time?"

"If you don't mind," she looked away from you.

You dared to move your hand from her shoulder to her cheek to turn her gaze back towards you, "All good, witchy. We'll do this again same time next week if you're up for it by then?"

Gulping, Wanda nodded slightly. She wished that it was actually your hand against her cheek instead of the material of the suit you wore, "I'll let you know. Thank you." She also wished that she could look into your real eyes at this moment.

You couldn't stop yourself from rubbing her cheek slightly with your thumb, the suit you wore managed to give you the extra confidence to do things like this here and there. It wasn't the first time you and Wanda had been alone together in a quiet moment like this.

"Ready to go back in?" you asked, "We could-"

"Are you ever going to tell me who you are?" Wanda suddenly cut you off, sounding just a little desperate.

In response, you quickly dropped your hand and took a step back, "I..." you turned your head, trying your best to focus on anything but her, "M-Maybe? I don't-" You had actually intended to tell the Avengers who you were a couple weeks ago... The only thing holding you back was Wanda.

Wanda had quickly become one of your closest friends within the Avengers and you really didn't want to lose that. You didn't want to lose the potential chance of actually being with Wanda in the future... That was what you were working towards in the first place. Your feelings for Wanda had grown a lot more quickly than you had expected. What if she hated who you were underneath the mask? What if she realised how weak and vulnerable you were without the suit? Your fears were too great to ignore.

"You don't trust me?" Wanda's voice was quiet, but you could hear the slight anger lacing her words - her glowing red eyes locked onto the ground. A pout found its way onto her face.

"It's got nothing to do with trust, Wanda!" you tried to reassure her, "I'm just..."

She looked up at you with a sad expression, her eyes still red, "You won't ever tell me, will you?" she did that signature head-tilt... the one you knew she did when she was indeed angry.

"I never said that," you sighed, "I just need time, Wanda. Please?" You were still working on trying to become friends with Wanda as your civilian self, it was proving to be quite a challenge.

"Sure, Noir," she grumbled before turning towards the compound, "I'll catch you later, okay?" she said, your heart clenched at the sight of her frown as she walked away.

"Wanda..." you sighed, the woman didn't turn around at your words. An irritated sigh escaped you as you whispered to yourself, "Nice going, Y/N..." you scolded yourself.

"I see you've finished up quickly?"

"Yeah," you smiled, "Tony didn't give me as much paperwork as usual today. I'm starting to think he likes me," your smile turned into a smirk.

Natasha had checked in on you from time to time when Clint wasn't available, it was nice to have a fresh face to talk to. Even a couple of the other Avengers had popped in to say hi here and there. You were glad the Avengers were starting to welcome you more as you had recently decided that it might be best to actually get to know everyone else and not just Wanda... Anything to get your mind off that woman.

Walking by you to grab a drink from the fridge, Natasha smiled back, "I knew Tony would go soft on you. You're our head tech girl after all."

"H-Head?" you stuttered, almost choking on your drink.

"Tony didn't tell you? Him and Steve decided to make you the manager of everything tech-related here. Which also means a higher pay," she winked at you before slamming the fridge door shut.

"Wow..." you whispered, "I will try my best not to let you guys down."

"You've done great so far, don't be too hard on yourself," she nudged your shoulder, "We've known about so many more threats because of you. So don't worry."

"Thanks," you said, a slight blush on your cheeks.

"No prob-"

"KATE BISHOP!" a very angry sounding voice could be heard from the hall.

"Great..." you heard Natasha sigh before she quickly downed her drink in one, "They're here way too early for my liking," a frown appeared on her face.

You raised an eyebrow, "If you don't mind me asking. Who?"

"Yelena. My sister. And Kate. Her... Friend? I don't really know where those two stand," she replied. She couldn't stop the smile from appearing as her sister showed her face from around the corner.

"You have a sister?" you muttered as a blonde woman walked in.

"Yelena," Natasha sighed before bringing her sister into a hug, "Why are you and Kate fighting? Again?"

Yelena simply groaned as she pulled away, "She is so infuriating! She thought it would be best if I was her test subject for some of those 'trick arrows' Barton gave her."

You couldn't help but laugh, you had seen what some of those trick arrows could do out on the field.

"And who do we have here?" the blonde approached.

"Leave her alone," Natasha warned.

Yelena rolled her eyes, "I'm simply interested!"

"Er... Y-Y/N, Miss... Romanoff?" you gulped as she eyed you up and down.

"Yelena Belova," she corrected, "And please. What is with the 'Miss'?" she gripped your hand tight before shaking it, she soon pulled you into an unexpected hug, "Pleasure to meet you."

Well... Getting to know everyone else was going surprisingly well.

Her teeth clenched hard. Her eyes were glowing red.

Wanda had been sitting at a table on the far side of the break room watching everyone around her. The thought of you not revealing your identity was sending her into a spiral. Deep down she knew that it wasn't a trust issue... But there was still a nagging feeling in the back of her head saying otherwise.

She would be lying if she said she hadn't tried to read your mind every time you trained together. But it was proving to be extremely difficult, and Wanda was unsure as to why.

"KATE BISHOP!"

An angry voice made her look towards the doorway on the other side of the room, a blonde woman soon came rushing in.

Ah. Yelena. Wanda had met her once before.

She watched as you were crushed by the blonde in a hug with Natasha laughing nearby. Wanda had spoken to you countless times about tech-related stuff, things that she didn't really understand. But she was learning. She had also praised you for helping the Avengers by alerting them regarding certain threats across the city. You were becoming a good asset to the tech team, that's for sure.

"Everything okay over here, wi-?" Witchy. You cleared your throat, quickly stopping yourself from spitting out the nickname, "Miss Maximoff?"

Wanda was too busy deep in her thoughts to even notice you approach, she shook her head before looking at you, "O-Oh? Er... Yes. And for the last time. Call me-"

"Wanda," you rolled your eyes with a smirk. You decided not to comment on her eyes once they finally returned to their normal color.

She simply smiled in response, "I'm sorry if I missed anything, I was just deep in thought. Did you need anything?"

"No, nothing at all. Just checking up on you."

"You wanted to get away from Belova, didn't you?"

Groaning, you replied, "Being in the middle of those two arguing is intense."

"Mm..." Wanda hummed in agreement, "You get used to her rather quickly. The Bishop girl, too."

You were about to say your goodbyes, but you quickly remembered, "Oh, actually. There was something I wanted to tell you. I-I managed to get you on a patrol route with Noir. Tomorrow, 11pm sharp."

"A Saturday night? Well that's not going to be a walk in the park," she bit her lip, her smile seemed to widen, "Thank you, Y/N. This means a lot."

You cleared your throat before quickly turning your head away, wanting to hide your reddened cheeks upon hearing Wanda's soft voice, "Y-Yep! No problem! I-I hope the patrol goes well for the both of you."

Wanda raised an eyebrow at your sudden reaction.

She was going to question you, but you quickly excused yourself.

"Y/N!" Yelena exclaimed, her arms shot straight up in the air, "I missed you!"

"I was gone for less than five minutes, what-?"

"Nonsense! It felt like an eternity!" she pulled you into yet another hug.

You couldn't help but laugh at how Yelena acted.

Natasha laughed slightly, "You're so weird."

Yelena gasped as she pulled away from you, "How dare you..." she glared at her sister.

You were starting to wonder how these two managed to function in a house together when they were younger.

Getting home after work was always easy. All you had to was tap the metallic wrist band and bam: Spider suit. Swinging back home would always be the most efficient and effective way.

You stepped into your office, closing the door behind you. This had become a daily routine for you. Make sure there was no one outside the window and...

You tapped your wrist and quickly opened the window. The coast was clear. You launched yourself out of the window and swung up onto the high roof of the compound. The sun was setting, you took a deep breath of fresh air in as you watched the bright sky slowly turn darker.

"What are you doing here?"

A voice caused you to jump, you almost fell off the roof in the process.

"I-I, what- Huh?" you questioned, trying to compose yourself in the process.

"I said... What are you doing here?" Wanda.

You cleared your throat, "I... I was just admiring the sunset."

"Hmm. It's just, you're not usually here at this time," she said, slight suspicion in her voice.

You needed to make up a lie as to why you were here. You couldn't have her figuring out that someone who worked at the compound was Noir.

That was when your brain dinged, "I wanted to come over and apologise to you!" you quickly blurted out.

"Apologise?" Wanda asked, confusion across her face.

To be honest, you did want to apologise anyways. So now was a better time than any.

"Yeah," you sighed, taking a seat on the edge of the roof. Wanda cautiously joined you. You took a deep breath before continuing on, "I wanted to say sorry for what happened earlier. I know you want to know who I am, and I'm sorry that I can't tell you. Not yet at least."

"Noir..." Wanda sighed, shaking her head, "You have nothing to apologise for."

"It's not that I don't trust you. Hell, you're probably the person I trust most here."

Wanda felt her heart leap at that confession.

"Then what's holding you back?" she wondered, hurt still laced her words.

"It's a couple things, really. First off, it makes me feel so much safer. Having no one know who are you are gives you so much freedom. I'm not ready to give that up, yet."

"Another thing?" Wanda pushed.

You scratched the back of your neck, "W-Well... I'm... Scared."

"Of what?" she asked, she was clearly worried about why.

"There's this voice in the back of my head that keeps on telling me that nobody will like who I am under the mask. I'm afraid to face the disappointment."

That was when Wanda reached over and grabbed your hands, "You know that I wouldn't judge you, right? I would accept you as I do now. Nothing would change."

You could feel your cheeks heat up at the close contact, "I... I don't know," you admitted in full honesty. You soon felt tears within your eyes, "I've finally found people who accept me. I can't lose everyone here. I can't lose you, Wanda. You're the closest person to me."

Wanda frowned at the noise of your slight sob, "I will be here when you're ready, Noir. You have my word. I can assure you I will like you, whoever you are under that mask," her hands caressed her fabric covering yours, she then quickly added, "W-We all will like you. I promise."

"What if I'm never ready?" you turned away with a whisper.

Wanda's heart clenched at the thought of you never revealing who you were. However, she let out a shaky breath and replied, "Then your identity remains a secret indefinitely. And that is your decision."

"But, you wouldn't like that," you muttered. Your brain and your heart were all muddled up with what you should do.

"It doesn't matter what I do or don't like, Noir," she paused, her eyes focusing on your covered hands, "I would like to apologise for acting cold towards you earlier. Deep down, I do respect your decision to keep your identity a secret. Your feelings are what matters in this situation, no one else's."

"Wanda..."

She squeezed your hand gently, "Whatever you decide. I'm with you every step of the way. Okay?"

Without thinking, you lurched forward and wrapped your arms tightly around her, "Thank you, Wanda."

If you hadn't been wearing a mask, you might've actually kissed her then and there. But for now, You were just thankful that Wanda was on your side. A weight had been lifted off your shoulders that night, the thought of revealing who you really are to Wanda was becoming a pleasant one at last.

Perhaps the day you revealed your identity was a lot closer than you originally thought.

I love you all! Old readers, and new!

*Smashes Screen* HAVE A TAG LIST: @screechcat ; @princess-kennys-rats​ ; @lissaaaa145​ ; @maris-astrum​ ; @marvelogic​ ; @moonliqhtszn​ ; @charl-lally​ ; @an-evergreen-rose​ ; @almosttoopizza​ ; @daenerys713​ ; @yenmaximoff​ ; @lezzbehonesturhaught​ 

Hope you all have a lovely day/week~ 

[rhenuvee]

All Weather Beauty [Kazuha x reader]

A/N: Are we all in agreement that drunk Kazuha was the best thing that happened in 2.8? CAN I GET AN AMEN (esp in EN)..you can clearly see how long I’ve been holding onto this draft for 

Warnings: reader has hair, cliche trope(?), drunk(?) Kazu, Kazuha being a simp for you + cheeky (ooc? but then what are you doing here if not for that?)

Genre: Fluff | pining

≿————-　❈　————-≾

“(Y/n), you dropped this.” It was a windy day, also known as not a good day to be out delivering letters and holding a crate full of groceries and ingredients. As if that wasn’t already an inconvenience, the voice happened to come from the wandering samurai Kazuha. 

You remember first meeting Kazuha. You made a delivery to the Crux, and they pulled you aside from your duties and take a break by watching another of her championship-festival things. After watching for a few minutes, you noticed there was a bright scarlet colour in the corner of your eye, almost like it was wanting you to notice it. Then you saw him. His head turning ever so slowly towards your direction as he sat atop a large rock nearby. You stared helplessly as his eyes found yours, and then he smiled- oh you were definitely in trouble.

A while later, during a mini break the boy with Inazuman looking clothes approached you and introduced himself, and you did the same. You both mostly asked about Inazuma since you’ve never been there. He politely asked what you did, and when you told him it wasn’t much compared to him, he chuckled and dismissed it saying he was just a “mere wanderer”. “Mere wanderer” your butt. 

The worst part was, though you made light jokes about your ordinary life, he seemed so genuine in reassuring you that he found you quite interesting. It’s just a compliment, you had to mentally tell yourself... but the gentle tone of voice he used- it made you feel much different. Ever since then, whenever you passed by you’d say hello, but most of that time the “hello” would become a whole hangout day with him.

“Oh! Kazuha hi! Thanks for picking that up!” you say hurriedly. You curse yourself for not fixing your wind-blown self before running into him. 

“No worries. Where are you off to?” he asks.

“Deliveries again. Right now I’m heading to Bubu Pharmacy to pick of some medicine for someone at Qingce Village.” 

“I see.” he says as he hands you back the piece of paper that fell out.

“Sorry I probably look a little silly with how the weather is right now.” you say sweat-dropping as you try using your knee to kick the crate to hold it better.

“No worries, that happens to me when I’m on Beidou’s ship.” he smiles reassuring you. There was a small silence until he gestured to you. “May I?” 

You thought he was going to fix the papers in your satchel for you, but instead his hand went towards your scarf and wrapped it around your neck better. Then he reached to your head and smoothed the bunches of hair that flew the wrong way in the wind. Before you could utter out any words as a result of his unintentional flustering, he makes you short circuit even more.

“If you’re not busy after that, I was wondering if you’d like to accompany me and have a meal together later today? I can also bring my zither, I think I can play that song finally.” he asks. Sometimes you wonder how he can ask these things without a hint of nerves in his expression. You however- yeah...

“Oh! Yeah! Of course!” you say a little too excitedly. You’re more in awe that he asked you that in the first place. 

“Great, I’ll see you then.” he says giving a wave and walking off into the distance. With your heart beating super fast, you suddenly felt like you could make all the deliveries within a minute. 

≿—————≾

“You’ve been playing that zither quite a bit this past week.” Beidou says approaching Kazuha while on the Alcor. Kazuha hums in response, one leg dangling from where he was sitting.

“Yes, I’ve been wanting to show my friend this instrument. They’ve asked me about it, so I want to play a song for them as well.” he says watching himself pluck the strings.

“Hmm. This friend you keep speaking of... you seem to be seeing them a lot.” inquired Beidou. From her perspective, it seemed that every week Kazuha was doing a little show-and-tell for this friend. How to make music by blowing on a leaf, making his special dish he called “All Weather Beauty”, and now the zither.

“They’re a very kind-hearted person. I enjoy their presence, it makes me feel warm, like when I start adventuring to a new place.” Kazuha says almost absentmindedly while still plucking the strings. Beidou immediately smirks when he says this, and it feels as Kazuha could see it from the corner of his eye, as he finally looked up from the instrument.

“So you like them.” she says with emphasis on the “like” in order for him to know exactly what she’s referring to. Kazuha was about to stutter out an answer, but quickly stopped himself and sighed. Nothing gets past Captain Beidou. He’s embarrassed to admit the romantic feelings for the first time in front of someone. Beidou is also older than him, so he does feel a little shy.

“I- yes...” he manages to get out. He says this quietly while closing his eyes, not wanting to look at Beidou in the eye straight away. 

“Well Romeo, armed with your zither, some poetic words and a nice sunset view from a cliff near the harbour, nows your chance!” Beidou says teasingly, though she does mean it seriously. Kazuha chuckles awkwardly, groaning at Beidou’s words.

“I’m not sure if they like me in that way.” he says in a neutral tone, but he felt nervous on the inside. Even Beidou is surprised at this, and her eyes become wide for a second. Kazuha’s personality was always the opposite: calm, collected. She realizes that it’s serious- not that it never was, but she could see in Kazuha’s eyes he was showing his vulnerability, which made her confirm that he truly admires this person. 

Unfortunately, Beidou starts having doubts herself. She usually doesn’t deal with romantic things herself. How do you find out if the other person likes you or not? She hopes he can somehow draw inspiration from her words of encouragement instead.

“Hey, Kazuha you’re a great guy you know?” she says softheartedly while approaching him closer. “I’m sure they’ll appreciate your gestures. And look- the important thing is you have a good time right?” Kazuha smiles, his heart calming down from Beidou’s reassurance. “Besides, if you really wanted to tell them you like them but couldn’t- you could just drink one of those cocktails!” Beidou laughs while Kazuha facepalms... and she’s back, he thinks. 

Xinyan ended up telling Beidou about their journey to the islands, and how she ran into him in the first place... and the fruity cocktail part which made tears roll down her eyes. Kazuha sighs, and stands up to start taking his leave to meet up with you.

“Thank you Beidou.”

≿—————≾

You wait for Kazuha on a beach where you could still see the city. He arrives waving to you with one hand, and carrying his zither in the other. 

“Hi Kazuha!” you say ushering him to sit on the blanket you brought to sit upon the sand and grass. He smiles and sits down. 

“Hi (y/n).” he greets. 

You both continue catching up with each other, describing in great detail of your adventures and interesting stories while sharing a meal. He played the zither as promised. You’ve never heard a song on the zither before, so it was cool hearing something new. And of course, Kazuha never fails to impress you.

“That was beautiful Kazuha.” you say after he finishes the song.

“Thank you. I’m glad you liked it.” he says. There was a brief moment in which you were staring at each other, but then you quickly turned away due to hide your embarrassment. “I’m a little thirsty, but I forgot to bring drinks. Would you like me to get some?” he asks. 

“That’d be nice, thank you.” you replied. He nods and gets up to go get drinks for you both. You exhale- finally being able to breathe after having one flustering moment after the other. But you couldn’t deny that you were having a great time with Kazuha. You loved the times when you bumped into him in Liyue, but now you got to sit down and properly talk and enjoy food and music.

“I’m back.” he announces handing you your drink. “Sorry if I took a long time, but I tried being quick so I took something off from Beidou.” 

“It’s ok, I’m not picky with drinks.” you say. With that, you both quench your thirst by sipping the fruit drink. It was sweet but not overpowering. You put the bottle beside you then looked out into the distance of the sea. 

“(Y-Y/n)...?” Kazuha calls. Except you come to realize that something’s off.

“Kazuha are you oka-” he interrupts your question as his head falls on your shoulder with a thump and you put both your hands on the side of his arms to steady himself. This answered your question well enough. 

“(Y/nnn)...” he slurs as his half-lidded eyes look into your own. He’s drunk, you panic. Wait- but the drinks weren’t alcoholic you thought. At least yours wasn’t. It didn’t have that sting that alcohol usually had. But now that you think about it his could have been different... he did say it was from Beidou after all so it could’ve gotten mixed up. 

“Um Kazuha...” your thoughts are frantic as you think of what to do. You didn’t really have any water to help, so you thought carrying him to the dock near where The Alcor was. Hopefully Beidou or someone you knew would be nearby. “Let’s get you up.” you say grabbing his arm and wrapping it around your shoulder.

“Mmn- moreeee...” he says reaching in the direction of the drink. You had to carry him away as he kept spouting nonsense. You had no idea Kazuha would become this type of drunk. However you couldn’t deny it was kind of cute. “(Y/nnnn)... so prettyyy...” he giggles dragging a figure attempting to boop your nose, but missing and booping your cheek instead. 

“I like you...” Kazuha has been saying just about everything in your book of things you’d never think he’d say. But this in particular made your heart stop. They say drunk words were sober thoughts, but you couldn’t help but think it would be too good to be true. “So so so so so so soooo much...” 

“If you weren’t tipsy I’d probably accept that... because I like you too.” you whisper to yourself getting quieter.

“...really?” Kazuha slurs. You whip your head to Kazuha, surprised that he heard you. However you were relieved that maybe he wasn’t thinking clearly since he was busy admiring a pebble on the ground. You chuckle a little for being able to have a conversation for this long with a drunk person.

“Y-yeah...” you finally sigh. The dock was finally coming into view.

“...” You feel the weight on your shoulder disappear and you stop walking to turn to look Kazuha in the eye. Kazuha’s expression changes, from a once clumsy and doe-eyed to now smiling awkwardly.

“I’m not tipsy.” 

You go wide-eyed, instantly having a million thoughts running through your mind. You could tell that he was not joking and indeed not tipsy, making you get hot from the embarrassment since you basically confessed. “And I like you too.”

“K-Kazuha!” you exclaim flinching a little. He chuckles apologetically, then extending out his hand towards you- a familiar gesture. But this time you don’t misunderstand it. 

“May I?” he whispers cupping your cheek and slowly getting closer towards you. You give a small nod before he finally closes the gap and you both slot your lips together. You were so close to Kazuha, you could smell his faint scent of the breeze. This was your first time kissing someone- and with Kazuha. Each little smooch made your heart race faster and faster.

Your noses bumped accidentally and you could feel Kazuha giggle a little from the slight vibrations, making you flustered and detaching yourself from him. You both catch your breath before laughing to ease the tension. 

“I sincerely apologize (y/n). I didn’t mean to startle you but I got nervous and I ended up following a crazy idea Beidou had. But I meant what I said, I do like you a lot.” Kazuha confesses. 

“I like you too!” you blurt out, not knowing how to respond.

“Yes, I figured.” he chuckles as you facepalm immediately coming to realization that you already said that. 

“I’ll see you around (y/n).” he says keeping eye contact with you as he takes your hand and kisses your knuckles. 

He was a mere wanderer, but maybe he could stay in Liyue for a bit longer. Besides, after the stunt he just pulled he does feel like he owes you another date. 

≿————-　❈　————-≾

Alternatively titled: Kazuha challenges Alhaitham for his Oscar fanonically

[notanotherreidgirl]

ok so imagine that u and virgin!baby boy Reid are roommates (you share an apartment and ur rooms are right next to eachother) and he can always hear u moan every night that you play with yourself, but he feels to guilty to do anything about his little ‘problem’. and suddenly one night he’s like super horny and jerks off, not knowing that you’re awake and can hear everything. you try to drown him out until you hear him moan your name, so you go to his room and slowly open the door so he doesn’t hear you and when he feels you on the bed he’s super apologetic but you’re like “it’s okay baby boy😏” and he’s like “please mommy let me make you feel good🥺” and even though its his first time hes so good and when you let him fuck you hes so whiny and needy 😩😩😩😩

We Shouldn't

Warnings: loss of virginity, masturbating, handjob, oral sex (male receiving), perv!spence, sub!spence, mommy kink, penetrative sex, unprotected sex, creampie

Word Count: 1444

A/N: I embellished a bit - apologies

Spencer made life or death decisions nearly every day. He had to carefully craft his words when talking down unsubs and be able to assess dangerous situations in seconds to decide whether or not to shoot someone but now, when faced with a relatively simple choice, he was completely stumped. He had been rooted to the spot for nearly 20 minutes, unable to process the sight before him.

In his defense, Spencer had very little experience with women’s underwear and certainly no experience with something like the lacy little number you had left in the dryer. At this point, he had spent so much time staring at you that he knew without a doubt that they were yours. He also knew that he most definitely should not be picking them up right now or putting them in his pocket or running out of the laundry room and back to his apartment without putting his clothes to dry. And he most definitely should not be stashing your panties in his bedside table. But, alas, should not is not the same as did not.

For example, he should not watch you from his window when you went off on your morning run clad in running shorts and a tank top. He also should not linger behind you in the stairwell, eyes glued to your ass as you bounded up the stairs. And he certainly should not listen to you get yourself off at night but he did, even going as far as to take down his framed map and press his ear up against the wall. Spencer’s only saving grace was that thus far he had managed not to touch himself thinking of you, the overwhelming guilt forcing him to take a cold shower instead. But tonight was different. Tonight the panties in his bedside table were beckoning him as he ate leftover takeout, calling his name as leafed through books he’d already memorized, burning a hole through the wooden drawer as he slipped under the covers and listened for you on the other side of the wall.

There’s no harm in just holding them, he reasoned. The next thing he knew the panties were out of the drawer and in his hand and his pants had somehow slipped to mid-thigh in the process. This could be fine. I’ll find a way to give them back tomorrow and no one will know.

And maybe, just maybe, if Spencer was a man of more restraint he would’ve gotten away with it but he was not. He could hear you getting ready for bed, singing quietly to yourself. It was oddly intoxicating to know that you were going about your business, completely unaware of him and convinced that you were operating within the privacy of your own home.

Except you weren’t ignorant of your next door neighbor. Thin walls worked both ways and you could hear his soft moans reverberating into your own bedroom. You sang a little louder to drown him out, guilt eclipsing your excitement. You had often wondered about the young doctor next door - always coming and going at odd hours, never meeting your eyes or bringing anyone back to his for the night. He was so nervous around you, it made you wonder if he’d ever been with a woman but you shook the thought from your head. I should not be thinking about my neighbor’s sex life or lack thereof.

Just as you resolved to go in the kitchen and leave him in peace you heard it. It was unmistakable. You stilled listening intently, half-convinced your imagination was playing tricks on you as it often did. But there it was again clear as day. “Fuck, Y/N”

You were an overthinker, always going over your options rationally and hardly ever comfortable with making spur of the moment decisions. But you were out of your apartment in seconds, using the spare key he had nervously entrusted you with weeks ago to slip into his place. A little voice in your head tried in vain to talk sense into you. You should not be breaking into an FBI agent’s apartment.

If only should not was the same as did not.

He had his back to you and you took the opportunity to perch yourself on the edge of his bed, the shift in the mattress finally alerting him to your presence. He whirled around in alarm and instinctively tried to hide himself and the stolen underwear, already soaked in precum and wrapped around his erection. You tilted your head slightly, trying your best to hide a smirk. “I thought I heard you calling for me”

“I-no-I can explain,” he flushed a deep scarlet, his futile attempts to conceal his predicament were only making it worse and there was no way he could come up with a plausible explanation with your eyes on him. The panic rising in his chest swelled - the feeling that he had ruined everything starting to trigger an overwhelming urge to cry. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry”

You softened your gaze, reaching out to place a reassuring hand on his thigh. “It’s ok, baby boy”

Just then, something changed. A switch flipped, a light came on, a natural dynamic fell into place. Very gently you took his hand, forcing him to uncover himself.

“Wouldn’t you rather the real thing?” With that you trailed his hand up your thigh and to your soaked core, letting him skim his fingers over the wetness between your legs and take in the notable lack of panties.

“I-uh-yes, but-” he stopped for a moment, searching deep within himself for a shred of courage before blurting out the rest. “I’m a virgin”

Much to his surprise, you didn’t even bat an eye, instead, you sunk down on your knees and ran your hands up his thighs. “Well then, we’d better make this extra special”

You replaced his hands, taking hold of his cock over the panties and setting in with a deliberate pace before running your tongue over his balls. You toyed with the soft flesh until you felt his thighs tremble and the whimpers he had been trying to suppress spilled from his lips. Once you were certain he had abandoned any sense of restraint you started to suck on his balls, relentlessly pulling him into your mouth and teasing him with your tongue. At this point he was incomprehensible, any words he might have said being carried away by the sobs working their way up his throat and the tears streaming down his face. Just when you were sure he’d come you retreated, pressing sloppy kisses down his thighs and removing your hands from his cock.

He whined. “Please, Mommy. Let me make you feel good.”

You pushed yourself up and into his lap, taking your shirt off in the process and cradling his face in your hands. “You think you can make Mommy come?”

He nodded into your chest, capturing a nipple into his mouth and instinctively sucking on it. You guided his hands to your waist and you lined yourself up with his tip, slowly sinking down and adjusting to his size. He gripped your waist tightly, willing himself not to come as he watched himself disappear into you. “All right then, let’s see if you can be a good boy.”

Spencer sprang into action, taking hold and bouncing you on his cock as he rutted into you. Simultaneously he continued to latch onto your breasts, littering your chest with marks. You dug your nails into his shoulders, feeling the tide of your release start to sweep you away. “Yes, just like that, baby. You’re being so good for me. So fucking good. My good boy.”

Just before you reached your peak, you threaded a hand in Spencer's hair and pulled him up to look at you. Those big brown eyes stared up at you, pupils dilated and vision hazy with lust. “I want you to come with me, baby. Right now.”

It was like nothing you had ever felt before, pure euphoria coursing through your veins and only amplifying when Spencer flooded you with his warm release. He gave a few more shallow thrusts, whimpering from the overstimulation before the two of you collapsed back onto the bed. You shifted slightly so you could hold him in your arms without separating, brushing his hair back behind his ear as he buried his face into your neck, now overcome with embarrassment over his actions. “I’m sorry, Mommy. I shouldn’t have taken your panties”

You tightened your embrace and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “It’s ok, darling. I’m glad you did.”

---

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[kyberphilosopher]

Fensterln

“I can’t get up. You’re sitting on top of me.”

Warning(s): some allusions to sex, explicit-ish language, fluff, reader has a whole ‘Black Cat’ thing going on. Word Count: 3273

Notes: This is a requested work. This is a headcanoned canon version of Superboy, meaning he is no version in particular and simply the character I figure as a whole. Reader can be any gender.

“Fensterln is when you have to climb through someone’s window in order to have sex with them, without their parents knowing about it.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

You know, most people think that climbing up the side of a building is easy. Like it’s nothing. They see it on TV, and in the movies, and in cartoons even, and they think, “That doesn’t look so bad!” because it doesn’t. Cartoons and actors don’t have to deal with the wind whipping their hair, constantly pushing their whole body all around, the butterflies of anxiousness making their heart thump, threatening the scenario of falling to their death. It’s terrifying. It takes a lot of skill, a lot of courage, and a lot of luck. 

“Shit.”

Your right hand releases from the glass, arm slowly swinging back until it’s at your side. The same sides foot follows this pattern of rotation, until only your left fingertips and toes are stuck to the wall of the building, suctioning you to life. Below you, hundreds and hundreds of feet, is an island of grass and sand, encompassed by a large body of water. Over the tidal waves chip chopping away, there’s a distance. And in that distance, is the city, just under the inky blackness of the midnight sky. 

Jump City, it’s called. You’re not too familiar with it. Most of your time is spent in Metropolis, or Gotham. Luckily, both of those cities have plenty of skyscrapers to practice scaling. One could say that you’d perfected the art of this sort of thing. The finger pads on your suit are sophisticatedly sticky, seamlessly letting you latch onto anything with grace. Your feet are the same. 

The wind hits your face like sharp needles, amplified by the cold air and the incline. Your hair whips around wildly, also different from how it flows, softly, in the movies. The harsh breeze roars in your ears, louder than the thousands of explosions you’ve heard in your lifetime. Although dangerous, nothing beats the view. Those thousands of lights in the distance, the cars, the buildings, this building that you’re on now. Titan’s Tower is far larger and closer and more important than anything else at the moment. 

“Okay then,” you mutter, twisting your body over to the right twice more, until finally both hands and feet are connecting against the glass in a stealthy, perfect crawling position. 

You work your way up, one foot and hand at the time. You resemble that of a spider, or perhaps a cat. One, two. One, two. 

His room is on one of the top floors, if not the top floor. From the two other times that you’ve done this, you remember the number of steps, the distance, the little cracks in the glass panes to look for so you know you’re close. Even from the outside, hundreds of feet up, hanging above death tantalizingly, you know exactly where you are and where you need to be. And you know, of course, that you are close. 

Your right hand leaves the wall once more and reaches down to the belt on your hips. “Coming, my love,” you mutter as you flip open a small pouch attached. From the inside you pull out a slim switchblade, made specifically to cut through glass walls like this- designed it yourself. 

The knife springs open. In a circle big enough to fit your entire body, you trace the blade in a wide arc from up to down, left to right. Then you flip the blade back inside, place the whole thing back into the pouch on the belt, and shove your left elbow against the middle of the glass in front of you. 

It pops free immediately. The circle of wall falls forward into the room, with you not far behind.

Landing like a gymnast on your toes with your arms overhead, you are immune to the sharp pain in your femurs that comes from a sudden pressure like this. The glass pane is still intact on the floor ahead of you, which is coated with a red carpet that you recognize so well. It’s much warmer inside than it was outside, although you can still feel the night wind from behind you.

“Silent,” a voice remarks from beside you. It’s not an amused tone, really. It’s genuine and full of awe, surrounded by something casual. 

You hum as you stand before throwing a look over your shoulder. Sure enough at your back, splayed casually on a bed against the wall you just broke through, is your favorite boy toy. Dark, curly hair framing his classically handsome face, nose scrunching slightly on instinct. He’s wearing the black and red super shirt he always does, coupled with the plaid pajama bottoms you’d gotten him as a gift in spring.

You want so badly to quip something back, but you both know you can’t right now. Not when you’re so close to the door. And yeah, that’s partially Conner’s fault, if not all. Too much noise would attract the attention of his team mates, the Titans, and then something probably not that great would happen. Maybe they’d throw you out. Maybe they’d fire him. Maybe things would just get weird. It’s not as if you and Connor are an official couple, even after all this time. You could stop sneaking around to see each other at any sense of danger.

You take a step towards the bed he lays on, noting the big, bright smile that lights up Superboy’s face at the motion. “Can you fix the hole?” you whisper, just loud enough for him to hear.

Conner’s eyes go wide and the smile gets bigger.

“In the wall.”

The smile turns into an eye roll. “Yes,” he sighs, almost dramatically, pushing himself up. The boy crosses to the center of the room a few feet from you and begins picking up the perfect circle of cut window- wall while you look around the area.

You’ve snuck into Conner’s room before. Twice, in fact. It’s not clean, not horribly messy. His leather jacket is usually hanging off the dresser or door handle. Sweatshirts of different colors are littering the floor in a collective pile. It looks like a normal teenage boys room, really. It just feels very ‘Conner’.

First, he pushes the glass back into place in the wall, then he takes a few steps back. You throw him a smirk, nudging your head to encourage him to do the thing.

Conner’s eyes heat up. Little at first, as a soft yellow. Then into an all consuming scarlet that hisses out in two beams meeting in the middle between them. They move in a circle around the pane until you can’t even tell it was ever not there, and the wind you once heard no longer exists. The wall is perfectly in tact.

“Thank you, Superboy,” you tell him, tone laced overly sweet. Your hands, freezing from the cold even through the gloves of your costume, wrap around Conner’s upper arm.

“Yeah,” he tosses, back, voice low. His cheeks are turning pink.

You unhook your arms and saunter over to his mattress. As you throw yourself on and relax as you sink into the pillows, you let your eyes close. “You’re lucky I like you so much,” you tease. “Mm, do you know a lot of people who would climb up the Tower for you? I don’t.”

Upon hearing him take a single step forward, one eye pops open. “I know you missed me,” you continue.

Conner lays himself on the bed beside you, hands behind his bed with his arms bent. You turn to face him, propping your head up with your palm.

“You never answer my texts,” Conner says, Adam’s apple bobbing.

“You text me?” you smirk, watching Superboys eyes sink close as he releases a sigh of defeat.

Your left leg slips over Conner’s hips. Then you pull your whole body up and over into a straddle over him, looking down at him. He’s handsome in the way nobody can argue with, so perfect and soft and structured. When you squint, he looks like Superman. But Conner’s not Superman, he’s better. You can’t explain why, or how, but he just is.

You place your palms forward on his chest at first, then backwards, behind your back, on Conner’s thighs. Your chest puffs out at the slight change of position.

Below you, the boy bites his lower lip softly in thought for a second. “What if I got you a phone?” Conner asks you. His light eyes holding yours through thick, dark lashes. “Just so you can text me back sometimes?”

“Us?” you gasp with wide eyes. “Talking? During the daytime?”

Conner glances away. “Message received. Very funny. Forget it.”

“I’m messing with you,” you promise with a smile. “Loosen up Super-Annoy.”

“So you’ll let me get you one?” Conner pushes himself up with a snap, eyes wide with some kind of excitement.

Well… would you? You haven’t had a lot of long term partners, if any. Your time with Conner has been the longest with anyone, and he’s not even really your boyfriend. He’s just… you know… the guy you kissed on a rooftop one night. The guy who once surprised you with a cone of ice cream, again on a night time rooftop, whilst you were sitting on the side of the building to watch the city below. The guy who remembered your birthday, the guy who keeps sending you the many, many texts reminding you that you can watch your favorite show on the TV in the tower. The guy who once lied to get you to ice skate with him.

Something about Conner has been enough to keep you hooked for months and months, always coming back. Sneaking into the Tower, taking more and more trips to Jump City, keeping notes of events throughout your week to tell him about when you see him. 

How silly. Never giving the time of day to any other partner of yours, but for Conner? Conner has gotten at least eight months of it. 

“I’ll think about it,” you roll your eyes. 

“You promise?” Conner urges. 

“Yes. Jeez, I promise. I will think about letting you get me a phone that only you have the number to.”

“Please don’t laugh at me about this.”

“I’m not laughing at you.”

“It feels like it.”

“Connor,” you clasp a hand on his shoulder, pushing back laughter. “Have I ever laughed at you?”

“W- Is that- is that a serious question?” Conner’s eyebrows raise. 

“Get up,” you roll your neck. “I want to change positions.”

The boy below you shifts. For a quick moment, something pokes between your hips from underneath. Your pupils dilate in response, but by the time they finish, the movement has ceased. “Tell me about your day.”

“I want to lay down,” you say as you stretch. “I just scaled up the side of the skyscraper-”

“You love it.”

“-and it was oh, so cold. I’m tired.”

“That’s not your day.”

You just stare at him expectantly, not quite sure what it is you’re waiting for. 

“I can’t get up. You’re sitting on top of me,” Conner concedes. “You chose to be up there.”

“Prove it,” you challenge.

“Yeah, yeah,” the boy below you hisses as if annoyed. “I get it,” he says, but his arms are already snaking around your torso to pull you close and slowly pull you into a new position. 

You lay on your side, back against Conner’s broad chest. His arms stay wrapped around your middle as he curls up against you on instinct, legs quick to tangle with your own. You know he must really be interested in you if he’s not going to mention that your ‘work’ shoes are still on while in bed. 

“You’re an ass,” he mutters into your hair. 

“What was that?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Ha,” you chuckle once. “Douche.”

“Please tell me about your day now?” you hear Conner almost plead. “Please?”

One of your hands, your right one, rests on top of Conner’s against your stomach. “Oh, you know. The usual. I helped out a small jewelry store today, snuck into a big building, currently hiding from Nightwing- you know how it is.”

“There wasn’t much crime today. I mostly just stayed in. You know that big building you snuck into?”

“Such a douche,” you breathe.

“Jealous much?” Superboy rumbles against your ear. 

“I’m gonna tell Dick,” you tell him. “I’ll send an anonymous tip that one of the Titan’s is a big poop face.”

Conner puts his whole face in your hair. “Shiver me timbers.”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s not fair you guys get a whole building to yourselves. What are you even using half these floors for? People in Gotham are struggling.” You frown. “Well, except for Wayne. But you know what? He’s a douche too. You’d get along.”

Conner squeezes you once. Then you feel him still from behind you, not even breathing. And then-

“Move in then.”

At once, your brows furrow. “What?”

Your companion squeezes you once more. “Move in. Move in with me. In the Tower.”

Your mouth opens and closes a couple times, eyes looking around. You can’t see Conner, but you can feel him out. His eyes are closed, still inhaling the scent of you shamelessly. It’s hard for people to catch you off guard, not just like this, but at all. You just have that sarcastic, witty, sultry reputation. And for him- Super-Annoy, of all people- to just throw you off so easily?

“I’m not a Titan,” you decide on explaining, almost asking. 

“Become one, then.”

“I don’t have the money to move in. The rent must be crazy.”

“I’ll pay for you.”

“Conner,” you swallow. “This isn’t funny.”

“I’m not joking.” His head pops up. When you turn yours a little, you can look up at him, and he can look down at you. “Move into the Tower.”

Now your eyes are wide, and his are relaxed. No, Conner’s are focused, drilling into your own. “I’m... hardly Titan’s material.”

This was true. You’ve been skirting the gray line far longer than you’ve known Superboy, and he’s been super since the beginning of his creation. The first time you’d met was about ten seconds before you’d robbed a bank and sent him a wink before disappearing. 

“You just told me, not five minutes ago, that you helped a small business. Helping people is what heroes are all about. You can do this, Y/N. You are Titan’s material.”

Shit. He’s right. 

“Why not?” Conner questions. 

“I... um...”

You’ve never lived with another person before. Your family, once upon a time, sure. Not friends. Not Dick Grayson, or Kori, or Rachel fucking Roth. And certainly not Superboy- Super-Annoy. Not someone you have a ‘thing’ with. What would that mean for the two of you? And when things go terribly, terribly wrong, what then?

Gotta’ think fast. 

Your face is wiped clean, replaced by your signature smirk. “Get me a phone first. Then I’ll consider it.”

Conner doesn’t budge though. You wonder if X-Ray vision can see through lies too. “I mean it,” the boy tells you. “I want you here.”

“I have to survive the night in the building with boy prodigy and star flame.”

“Starfire.”

“Whatever. I have to do that first. There’s a reason we sneak me in, you know.”

Your free hand reaches up and cups Conner’s cheek without you telling it to. You ask your brain why, but yet, your palm doesn’t move. It feels over Conner’s cheekbones, encouraging you to look deeper into his somehow soft eyes. Your fingertips can even feel his hair, which is in need of a wash, as they get comfortable. 

“For you,” you finish the sentiment, voice now genuine- also not predicted. “Sneaking in for you.”

“I don’t want you to feel like a secret,” the boy above you whispers, pouring his entire heart into it. 

You answer with a snort. 

If anything, Conner’s the secret. If he had his way, the two of you would probably be on your honeymoon at this moment. Hell, your whole relationship and subsequent marriage would be a honeymoon. You’re the one letting him follow you around. You’re the one never giving him just what he wants. 

But then again, you’re the one who keeps coming back. Conner’s the one that never left. 

“Trust me,” you nod with a humored grin. “I don’t.”

Conner sighs and falls back down to rest behind  you. “Good.”

Besides his breathing, then there is silence. 

Really? Telling you to move in? Of course it doesn’t seem like such a big deal to him. Of course he has the solution to all the reasons why not. Your fairly certain that Conner hasn’t thought about this until mentioning it, but even then, how did he have all the answers so fast? Where would you stay? With him? Sandwiched between Conner and Wally West playing video games for the rest of your life? Dying after Donna Troy catches you accidentally stealing her lunch?

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Conner begins, “but you should really stay the night.”

In response, you practically burst. “You hate being told what to do!” you say as you squirm in his arms. “Now you’re giving me suggestions?”

Conner sits up again so he can look down at you with a little frown. Luckily, it’s too nice of a view to be really scared of anything he could do. “Shh! You’re gonna get caught, Y/N.” Then Superboy’s eyes widen a little. “If you lived here, you wouldn’t have to be so quiet, either. You could just come through the front door.”

“Oh my God,” you squeeze your eyes closed. “Conner...”

One battle at a time. 

“Fine,” you begrudge. “I’ll stay the night.”

Conner tightens his grip around your form happily in response. “Will you need any help in the morning?”

“No. No, I got it.”

Silence. 

Say it. Say it. Say it. 

“Conner? I, uh...”

Say it. 

“I don’t have any sleeping clothes,” you lie. 

“Sleeping?” you hear the boy behind you whisper. “I didn’t think we were going to be sleeping.”

“Now who’s going to get us in trouble?” you smirk. “Seriously though. I’ve been wearing my suit all day.”

“I can get you out of it.”

“You can’t just see through it?” you question. “Don’t you have X-Ray vision?”

Conner groans. “You’re ruining it.”

You smile. Conner’s the only partner of yours you realize you’re actually happy to be around. “I think you just want us to get caught.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Yayyy. Request finished. Next I have a Reverse Flash request, and then I should be good with the DC requests for now. Other than that I have some Jason Todd things, something for Damian and 2 fics for a character I haven’t written for before but are looking pretty good. I hope this satisfied the prompt that I was given in the request. Let me know anything you want or whatever. 

[supervengerslock]

Savior of the Future- Chapter 3

Chapter 3: the Sorcerer

Stephen Strange x Stark!Reader

A/N: Thanks for all the lovely comments! Reply to be added to the taglist (it’s always open)!

You followed Stephen and Wong through the halls of Kamar-taj. You hadn’t been here the first time around, but you knew this part would play out much differently. The Ancient One was waiting when you arrived. The four of you were alone.

“I asked the other masters and students to give us some privacy,” she says. “Before we begin your training, I want you to tell me everything.”

“Do you want me to start the kettle?” Wong asks. “It’s a long story.”

“No need.” She conjures up a low table with cushions on the floor. On the table was a teapot, four teacups, already filled with tea.

“What’s in this?” you ask, picking up your cup.

“Herbal tea with a little honey,” Stephen answers immediately.

“You’re much different than the Strange I was supposed to meet,” the Ancient One observes.

“I could call you a wackjob if you’d like,” Stephen jokes, and the Ancient One chuckles.

She turns to you, taking a sip of her tea.

“Tell me about that moment, right before you awoke here.”

“My brother, he was dead. He had the stones—all six of them—on his left hand. Which I was holding. I thought for a moment, no, I wished for a moment that I could fix everything. And the stones answered.”

“Is the time stone calling to you right now?” she asks. Your gaze shifts to the amulet around her neck.

Your time comes soon, Stone Seeker.

“It warns me,” you say. “Ominous and vague as it is.”

“Where’s Mordo?” Stephen asks, suddenly changing the subject.

“He disappeared about a week ago,” the Ancient One says. “With no warning.”

“And Kaecilius has already stolen the pages from the Book of Cagliostro.”

“Great, so we have to worry about the Dormammu cultists AND Mordo?!”

“Not to mention the Avengers breakup,” you reply.

Wong chuckles. “As long as the Scarlet Witch does not cause an accident in Lagos, that can be avoided.”

“Can we change the timeline this much?” Stephen finally asks, directing his question to the Ancient One. She pauses, taking another sip of her tea.

“The time stone would not allow you to do anything to cause a paradox. Neither would the TVA.”

“What does the Tennessee Valley Authority have to do with this?” you ask.

“The Time Variance Authority,” she explains. “They exist outside our universe and make sure that it stays on the path of the sacred timeline.”

“Time cops,” Stephen says. “Great.. Another thing to worry about.”

“They would have stepped in already if it was not in the plans.”

“So, what do we do?” Wong asks.

“We defeat Dormammu and keep an eye on Mordo. If he knows where we are in the timeline, he might try to stop us,” Stephen says. “Ancient One, are you still gonna die after fighting Kaecilius?”

Your eyes widen as everyone looks to the woman, who wears a somber expression. “I still cannot see past that point in time, Stephen. I wish I could be there to help you on your journey.”

“We should also be worried about Mordo trying to kill us all before that even comes to pass,” Wong suggests, and Stephen and the Ancient One nod.

“Wow, that’s a lot of variables on your end,” you say. “Is there any way you could get us to space in the meantime?”

“Technically you could use a sling ring, but that does not guarantee you’ll end up on a planet with an oxygen-rich atmosphere. You would need to know exactly which planet you’re going to, and of course be able to find a ship just in case.”

“What about Asgard?” you ask. “Could you travel there with the ring?”

“Again, theoretically, yes. But that doesn’t mean they’ll let you into their realm. Especially if your lightning wielding friend is not there.”

“I have one more question,” you say. “If there were a stone that needed a sacrifice, is there another way we could obtain said stone?”

“You’re talking about the soul stone.”

“Yes. I would like my teammate to not die,” you reply.

“Unfortunately, I’m not the guardian of the stone. I cannot say for sure. I can only help you in regards to the time stone and Kamar-taj.”

“Thank you, Ancient One.”

“You may stay as long as you wish,” she says. “Maybe you could train in the mystic arts.”

“It might be a good idea,” you reply. “But I will need to be back in New York in two months.”

“An advanced course, then. I’m sure your boyfriend can help with that.”

-

The two of you were in the middle of training. Sparring was something you were used to, something you had done with Natasha every day in the compound, despite having your own suit made by Tony. But you had never sparred like this. And of course, you kept getting distracted by Stephen, who was wearing a sleeveless tunic.

“So, what is this Mordo guy’s deal? I saw that look you gave Wong.”

“What look?” he asks, feigning ignorance.

“Like you were panicking.”

“In the old timeline, Mordo was the one that brought me here. He helped us defeat Kaecilius, and then, he went rogue. He dedicated his life to ridding the world of sorcerers, to killing me.”

“So you’ve got two crazy guys trying to kill you,” you say.

“Two guys, one cosmic entity. You ready?”

“I think I’m ready,” you reply.

The two of you get into position to spar. “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you,” he says with a smirk.

Stephen goes to strike, but you block his hit and kicks his legs out from under him, sending him to the ground and making him land on his back.

“What?” you say. “I didn’t say I was going easy on you.”

Stephen reaches out and grabs you, pulling you down to the ground with him. You land on top of him, your face inches from his. He pulls you closer for a kiss, and for a moment, you forgot about all your worries, about the impending doom looming on the horizon.

“I love you,” he says as he breaks from the kiss. “I really need to tell you that more often.”

“We need to get back to training, Stephy,” you reply. “And I love you too.”

“Stephen! Y/N!” You both looked up as Wong saw that you weren't, in fact, training. He’d taken on the position of the Ancient One’s right hand, a position you learned had belonged to Mordo.

“Sorry, Wong!” You call back, standing and offering a hand to Stephen, dusting yourself off after he stands as well.

“Ready for round 2?” you ask.

“Depends. Will round 3 be in our room?”

He flashes you that cheeky grin, and you can’t help but laugh.

“No promises, Stephy.”

Stephen steps back, getting into a sparring stance again as Wong and the Ancient One are training other students in the background. You count to three, then run at him with everything you’ve got. You could do this. You were given this chance for a reason. You would beat Thanos.

taglist: @strangesgirl @1hornyforfictionalmen1

[imdoingsortagay]

Last minute commisions - Chapter three

Summary: What was supposed to be a fun time for Wanda planning your dates ends up in chaos for both of you when she gets a last minute order. 

Series: Scarlet Pastries Au

Word count: 2.8k 

A/N: I have been a bit busy the past week or so and so this chapter is short but hey i have a chapter up !!! also big thanks to @inkblot-inc for the chapter title cause my brain is dumb

Enjoy besties ! Happy reading 

Wanda was so excited about this upcoming date with you. She had made a plan of what she wanted to do with you on Saturday, had everything set up, and made sure to get babysitting for the boys and everything. Wanda was determined to make this the best date you’ve ever been on. 

As always the world always loves to fuck her over and she was stuck at work trying her best to finish up the big last-minute order she got from the country club in town. There was so way that she could say no to that, too much money would be on the line for her. Not to mention how this would bring more attention to her bakery, meaning more customers who want to hire her and the bakery becoming well known. And a way to try to get more practice on decorating for big events and not just the usual fundraisers and birthday parties that she’s done so many times. Yeah, small events aren't bad either she just wants to get more practice with those.

Now here the woman was in the kitchen in the Bakery, trying to write out the flavors she was thinking of making for the cupcakes and how many she would need. Rose and Agatha were able to pick up the boys from school today and babysit them so she could finish up the order for the upcoming country club event and all she could think about right now is you. 

Wanda knew you were excited to see what she had in store for Saturday but was too busy at the moment to even send a text to you, assuming that you were just working at the office today and she probably would not see you till the next day. 

Or so she thought. 

Back in her neighborhood, Agatha was having a bit of an issue with her son ( Senor scratchy the bunny) not wanting to eat his food but her wife was working at the moment. Her wife was here with her to help but had gotten called to cover someone's shift and Agatha was left alone with the boys.

You on the other hand were just in your house trying to make one of your regular recipes of the week for dinner. What you didn't expect to happen is a knock on the door and were very much ready to tell Ralph to stop asking for stuff from you.  Though you open the door to find 2 twin boys looking at you with smiles on their faces and your friend who’s holding her pet bunny with concern. 

“ Oh hi boys,” you say as they both make their way to you to hug them, “ I’m happy to see both of you don’t get me wrong but what’s going on?” 

“ Someone is wrong is Agathas Bunny,” Tommy says, pointing to the bunny that is wrapped around in a towel, making your heart hurt a bit. 

“ Wanda asked me to babysit the boys cause she has to finish this big order she got last minute for the big country club gala and this one,” she motions to the white bunny,” hasn't been feeling the best and I need to make my way with him to the vet.” 

“ Oh “ 

“ I wouldn't ask you for favors y/n but my Rosie is still at work and I don’t want to have their mother worrying even more especially with this important order, would you please just watch them for me the rest of the time? It’s only gonna be another 2 hours left,” she says to you with the very much bunny in hand.

 One on hand, you want to help out Agatha because you’re her only hope. Then again on the other hand you don’t want to bore the boys with your house since it’s been a while since you’ve babysat them and they have never come to their house.

“ Yeah I can look over the boy's Aggie,” you say as you let both of them into your house and they make their way into the living room, taking a bit to take in the decor in your house. Agatha gives you a quick hug before speeding away to her car, while you are left trying to figure out what to do with the two young children for the next couple of hours. But before that, you have to text Wanda so she knows the boys are.

You know who: Wanda the boys are with me! Agatha had to go to the vet about Senor Scratchy just now so just informing you !

Right as you send that message you leave your phone on the kitchen counter and attempt to make a kid-friendly dinner for the boys who seem to be interested in the show on the tv. Tommy is paying close attention to how they cook the food while Billy seems to be wondering what you might be thinking of as you look in the fridge and decided to walk into the kitchen. 

“I could make some quick noodles, or maybe make some eggs,” you say to yourself and the lack of food you have in your fridge. Working during the week keeps you busy and you didn’t expect to have many people over. No problem for you since you can work on what you got. 

“ y/n what are you doing?” the boy asks you and you turn around to see him standing behind you so you make some space to let him look at the inside of the fridge with you. Maybe he could also help you decide what to cook while you look over them. 

And it helps you when you find yourself making some chicken for them to eat. 

A good 30 minutes since you sent the text to your friend and she had given herself a bit of a break from tasting some flavors for the Saturday event to check her phone. Only to see the text that was sent by you and she starts to wonder how the heck that even happened Agatha would have at least let her know about leaving the boys at your house and not just leaving them. No texts or calls from her other friend so Wanda gives herself a couple of minutes to give you a call to see what’s up. 

It only takes her a good two minutes before you answer back and she could hear the giggling of her boys in her background and it calms her down a bit for the moment. “ Wanda hey! What’s up?  the boys and I are making some chicken while we watch tv,” you say to her on the phone. 

“ Hey y/n, that’s good but why are the boys with you? I mean I don’t mind if you babysit them but Agatha had been doing that and I don’t want to be a burden to you with the boys-” 

“ Wanda! Remember to take a minute to breathe,” she can hear you pause as she takes a bit to breathe in and out,” as I said in the text, Agatha had an emergency with Senor Scratchy and she came to me asking to look over them and I told her yes. I’m always happy to babysit the boys at my place honey, don’t think you're burdening me by even asking me”. 

“ Oh ok yeah yeah yeah yeah,” Wanda says on the other line, not hearing the rest of what you said and focusing on the little pet name you just called her. It calmed her down after her rambling and now she’s blushing like an idiot over such a simple thing but you can't blame her if it’s been years since she’s been called them. 

“ Wanda ?” You ask her. 

“ Yeah y/n?” 

“ Does that mean that we might have to replan the date for another time? Agatha mentioned something about an important order and it’s a good idea to do it another time,” you say to her. Wanda was too busy working at the bakery to even think of re-planning the date. 

“ NO NO NO” 

“ What do you mean Wanda?” 

“ Do you have free time on Friday by chance? In the afternoon? We can do something by then so we don’t have to wait a couple of more weeks?” Wanda says with a bit of hope in her. She has the free time this week so it’s better to just have the date now before she’s occupied with work and the boys. The universe hasn't failed her in the last couple of weeks.

“ I think yes but are you sure Wanda?” 

“ Yes, “ she says in a firm tone, as to make a point to you. After that Wanda updates on how much longer she’ll be at the bakery, both of you say your goodbyes. Wanda decided that she can use the last hour to just take note of what she plans on making Saturday morning and clean up. She wants to get home to her boys after this long day, maybe take some time to herself with a nice cold bath 

These next couple of days are going to prove to be busy for her that’s for sure. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You and the boys were having a fun time, finding one of your unopened lego sets to put together for the past hour. All of you worked together to build the architecture set of New York until you heard a knock at your door and the disappointed faces of the young kids at the unfinished set in front of them. Even with the circumstances, both of them are determined to finish the lego set before they make their way home and you make your way to the door to find the redhead woman, who looks like she hasn’t slept in ages, still very much messy from being in the past couple of hours baking different things for the big events dessert order. 

“ Wow you look like you’ve seen some things, Wanda,” you joke and she playfully slaps your shoulder and you let her into your house to see that the boys finished the last part of the Lego set. Both of them smile at the completed outcome and then smile even more after seeing that their mom’s there to take them home. It always warms your heart to see how cute the boys are when it comes to their mom. 

“ Did you boys have fun today with Agatha and y/n?” She asks her sons and they nod in response. Wanda feels nothing but gratitude and happiness that she knows you. 

“ Okay how about both of you go collet your things while I talk for a bit with y/n okay,?” and the boys make their way to the living room so the both of you can get some time to talk. 

“ y/n, how about you come over to the bakery Friday at 4 pm? I’ll have it closed by then and I have some fun plans for us,” she says and you take a minute to think it over. 

“ Wanda are you sure? cause I don’t want to stress you out with the date while you have this big order to do and I don’t mind waiting a couple of weeks when you have free time,” you tell her. As much as you would love to spend your Friday with Wanda and are curious as to what she’s planned, it’s better for the both of you if the date happened when she had other things going on. 

“ y/n,” she says

“ I mean it, Wanda,” you say holding her hand,” I think your focus should be on this big order you have this Saturday and I don’t mind waiting for you”. It would be a big lie to say Wanda was disappointed in your answer. Both of you have the time on Friday to have the date, it’s possible too. But as she begins to think about it more she sees that you do have a point in waiting when both of you have free time. 

“ I see your point honey, I can wait for the date but please and I mean please tell me when you have free time,” she says when the boys make their way to Wanda and you give the usual goodbyes to the family. Not before leaving Wanda with a hug and a kiss on the cheeks and you make your way back inside to display the completed Lego set in your home so you can get started with your night routine. 

Right after the hug and kiss on the cheek, the redhead walks across the street to her house blushing and getting weird looks from her boys, probably curious as to why their mom is as red as a tomato. Tommy and Billy decided that it was a problem for another day and leave their mom in the kitchen while she frantically texted her 2 friends about what just happened now. 

Red wiggly woos: she kissed me on the cheek and hugged me 

Aggie: a hug ? and a kiss on the cheek? Oh wow how romantic

Rosie: Honey stop with the sarcasm!!! Wanda dear that so great? 

Red wiggly woos: y/n also said she’d wait for me to have the date when I have the free time 

Aggie: Not this week? 

Red wiggly woos: How can I if I have to focus on a big order for the country club, Agatha? She understood it too even with the sad little face I saw

Rosie: Puppy, y/n is a puppy 

Red wiggly woos: DO NOT MAKE ME FEEL BAD ABOUT IT ROSE PLS 

Rosie: I'm just joking honey, calm down but y/n is a keeper if she’s willing to wait when you have the free time and aren’t focusing on other things

Aggie: God Rosie this is why I love you, you have such a way with words 

Rosie: that’s because I know how to interact with people honey 

Aggie: wow the heartbreak

Red wiggly woos: she’s right but anyways, thanks for texting, good night to both of you <3

For some a simple hug followed up by kisses might mean nothing to them but Wanda can’t say the same in her opinion. It’s been so many years of nobody showing her any sort of romantic interest that something so simple to many others is the highlight of her day that she doesn’t mind gushing about to her friends. Wanda checks the time on her phone and makes her way to the boys' shared bedroom to find both of them reading their books. 

“ Are my babies ready to hear a bedtime story and to be tucked in?” she asks both of them ready to tell them a bedtime story and tuck them in when she gets an unexpected question from Tommy. 

“ Why were you blushing after we left y/n’s house mommy ?” Tommy asks his mom with curiosity.

At that moment, she had no idea without making it confusing for both of them, she has no way to really navigate this at all. Wanda was hoping that once your relationship got more serious then maybe she would tell her sons about what’s happening between the two of you but that was out the table when they saw how red their mom got after leaving your house and coming home. 

“ She gave me a kiss on the cheek and a hug Tommy, like friends do of course,” she says while tucking him into bed and making sure he’s snug in his bed. It might not be the best answer that she can give to her kids but it’s the one that they’ll get for now. 

“ Can we do that with our friends Mommy?” Billy asks his mom after answering her brother's question and regrets her actions now.  She could have saved this for later. 

“ Both of you,” she begins,” are too young to be kissing your friends on the cheek but you can give as many hugs as you want to friends but as long as you ask beforehand. Always asks so they don’t get uncomfortable got it?” she says to billy who is also now tucked into his bed and he nods at the question. Once Wanda read them a bedtime story, she kissed both of them goodnight and made her way to her room for some much-needed sleep after a long day and tries to get more sleep for the next busy couple of days she has ahead of her. 

Right as she gets into bed she hears her phone go off with a message. 

A message from you that reads : 

You know who: Hope you have a goodnight Wanda honey <3 have sweet dreams 

Wanda sends back a quick text to you before setting her phone on her nightstand and heading off to get some well-deserved rest. 

[thescarletwitchsapprentice]

Moya mriya (My dream) (Yandere!Tetyana “Anya” Malinovsky/Yandere!Iridescence x autistic!ADHD!reader) Part 1?

*Not my GIF, this is currently kinda my face/voice canon for her, but maybe a bit softer.

Summary: You never thought anyone would fall in love with you, let alone in such a deep way. But a certain Ukrainian witch plans to prove you wrong.

(CW: Ableism, loss of a job)

Author’s Note: Anya’s a shy bean, but don’t underestimate her. Should I continue this?

It’s been several weeks since everything went downhill. You were fired from your job after your autism and ADHD kept getting in the way of you meeting deadlines, your parents had lectured you on how you just need to “try harder.” Your depression and anxiety are worsening, just to name a few things. The only thing that keeps you going is your favorite book store.

The day after you get the lecture from your parents, you decide to treat yourself to a new book from there to make you feel better. After picking one out, you go over to your quiet corner and read. You’re so absorbed in your book that you don’t notice that you’re being watched.

A woman who looks to be no older than her early-mid twenties with brown/reddish hair and soft brown doe eyes spots you as she reads her favorite fairytale for the billionth time. She sees how absorbed you are in your book, visibly reacting to what’s going on, laughing with the funny bits and crying during the sad parts. It endears her so much and she wants to speak to you, but she feels butterflies in her stomach whenever she tries to. 

She eventually figures out your daily routine after work; go to the bookstore, pick out a book, sit in the quiet corner and read for a few hours, then leave. And she's always there. She also entertains herself mentally through your thoughts. What does that mean, you ask? We’ll get to that.

Finally she decides to pluck up the courage and write a note. When you go to the bathroom, she takes out a slip of paper and a pen and writes down:

“Hello,

“I’ve seen you in the quiet corner a lot, and I would like to get to know you better.

“Sincerely, the girl with the fairytale book.”

and places it in your book over your bookmark. When you return and sit down, you read the note and look to your right. There she is. Her cheeks flush a bright scarlet. You smile at her and her heart flutters. 

“Hey there....” you begin.

She mutters back a shy “hi” and glances down at the floor. You move a little closer to her.

“So....you come here everyday as well?” you ask her.

She nods. 

"You have a name?"

She nods again and pulls out a piece of paper before writing down her answer and showing it to you.

"Tetyana, but people usually just call me Anya."

"That's a pretty name. I'm (Y/N).....you okay? You seem pretty nervous."

She nods and writes down something else.

“I’m just.....you know....”

“Shy?”

She nods.

The two of you open up a bit more, and slowly you begin to fall in love with her. And she can tell; one of her powers is telepathy, kind of. Her autism makes it difficult to distinguish certain thoughts. But because you two share diagnoses, she can tell.

You love her sweet, soft, and dreamy demeanor, it makes you feel safe around her. And she doesn’t judge you when you stim like several neurotypicals have. You slowly feel comfortable with her touch upon your hand, your arm, and eventually hugs.

She begins to share more of herself with you; in particular, her favorite fairytale. The Golden Slipper from her homeland of Ukraine. She gets you interested in knowing more about Ukraine and its culture. She teaches you some Ukrainian and even gives you a petname in Ukrainian.

“Moya mriya,” she says.

“What does that mean?” you ask.

She gives a shy smile and blushes a little.

“It means ‘my dream,’ because you make everyday feel like one come true.” 

This makes you blush. She’s so sweet and affectionate, so curious as she asks you about your interests.

What you don’t know is just how deeply and intensely she feels this love and affection for you. 

One day, you’re back in the quiet corner with her, reading your new favorite book.

“Moya mriya?” You hear Anya’s soft and musical voice enter your ears. “Have I ever actually told you the story of The Golden Slipper?”

You give this some thought and shake your head.

“I don’t think so. I’d love to hear it some time, though.”

“Why not right now?”

You blink, giving it some thought before deciding.

“Yeah, that’d be lovely.”

“Can....can I please play with your hair while I tell you the story, moya mriya?”

You smile and nod. She’s always so careful when she does this. You lay down in her lap and she begins.

“There was once upon a time an old man and an old woman, and the old man had a daughter, and the old woman had a daughter.” 

Her voice is so soft and gentle.

“And the old woman said to the old man, ‘Go and buy a heifer, that thy daughter may have something to look after!’ So the old man went to the fair and bought a heifer.” 

Like an angel whispering in your ear.

“Now the old woman spoiled her own daughter, but was always snapping at the old man’s daughter. Yet the old man’s daughter was a good, hard-working girl, while as for the old woman’s daughter, she was but an idle slut. She did nothing but sit down all day with her hands in her lap.”

It begins to lull you to sleep.

“One day the old woman said to the old man’s daughter, ‘Look now, thou daughter of a dog, go and drive out the heifer to graze! Here thou hast two bundles of flax. See that thou unravel it, and reel it, and bleach it, and bring it home all ready in the evening!’ Then the girl took the flax and drove the heifer out to graze.”

Your eyes begin to flutter and her voice seems to echo against your ears. 

“So the heifer began to graze, but the girl sat down and began to weep. And the heifer said to her, ‘Tell me, dear little maiden, wherefore dost thou weep?’ ’Alas! why should I not weep? My stepmother has given me this flax and bidden me unravel it, and reel it, and bleach it, and bring it back as cloth in the evening.’”

You swear you can see a bit of an iridescent glow.

“Grieve not, maiden!” said the heifer, “it will all turn out well. Lie down to sleep!”

You’re nearly out like a light when she whispers right into your ear.

“So moya mriya lay down to sleep.....”

And after she says that, you’re fast asleep....

[lavendermin]

from sea of flowers, garden of eternity | xiao

pairing | xiao/reader

word count | 2k

genre | pwp, fluff, light angst, brief smut

note | glaze lily spirit reader, you are also in perpetual pain I’m sorry

“Xiao…” he hears your voice meekly call.

The adeptus is already on his feet before you can fully enter the room, his eyes quickly focused on you. He scans your body language diligently, looking for signs of pain or discomfort. It’s become a routine by now.

“Are you…?” His voice trails off when you shake your head apologetically. The slight strain in your smile doesn’t go unnoticed by him.

“I’m alright for now. The pains haven’t started yet. I think I’m set for another few hours, a day if I’m lucky,” you reassure him. “I just— wanted to check on you.”

Xiao gives you a blank look, one you recognize as confusion. “Check… on me…?”

“Just to see how you’re doing,” you clarify with a shy smile. As you make your way to sit on the bed, you gently pat the space next to you.

There’s a slight red upon his cheeks as he chooses to take up your invitation. The bed dips under his weight, and words do not need to be spoken to know both your minds drift briefly to past trysts that took place where you sit.

“I’m heading out to patrol the area in an hour. If you need anything at all, speak my name,” Xiao announces quietly. It’s a brief awkward silence as he rigidly sits next to you—tense almost. You answer him with a simple nod, hands absentmindedly rubbing little circles on your legs to ease the tingles of pain that slowly resurfaced.

Conversation was scarce the past few months you were placed into his watchful guard. The relationship you both harbored was a blurred line you tried not to think about too much for fear of over-complicating it.

And with your entire being, you could say you came to the unfortunate doom of falling in love with him. The emotional distance he kept oftentimes only confused you as much as your own emotions left him puzzled and a little flustered.

He kept you alive. That was the simplicity of the details Xiao was given. Perhaps it was a favor he was doing you, but he diligently carried it out with all the steadfastness of a contract bestowed onto him by the former Lord of Geo.

—

“I’m sure you are aware of the situation near Qingce Village,” Zhongli had brought up upon summoning Xiao several moons after the stirrings of a slumbering god.

Though the situation was previously dire, all was settled—Xiao knew this as a fact, for he was the one that swiftly took care of the aftermath of a dormant god’s power seeping through the earth. So, the battle hadn’t ended then…

“I was careless—“

Zhongli cut him off, carefully setting down his cup in its saucer. “On the contrary, this was in no way able to be foreseen by you. The world has a way of ending and raising new questions, just as easily as it provides answers to those who seek them.”

On the small garden table, Zhongli’s eyes trail to the glaze lily that sits in a small decorative vase. Unlike most, this lone flower is fully bloomed despite the time of day. It glows ever so slightly—weakly almost.

“You are aware that glaze lilies grow in the Qingce area, and there are a few wild outcroppings that shy away from prying eyes,” Zhongli starts.

His gloved finger reaches out to tenderly graze the petals, and at once the flower closes up. The petals take on a dullness, and visibly they start to wilt in small patches.

“The reasons are uncertain, but rumor spread around the village of a wandering ghost that followed the moon aimlessly. A spirit born of glaze lilies appeared after the battle that took place near there. It seems the power seeped deep into cracked earth among the flowerbeds.”

The young adeptus remained quiet, taking in the information. What exactly did this have to do with him, he wondered?

With a hint of apprehension, Xiao asks, “This spirit—has it taken on a malevolent nature?”

Instead of answering straight away, Zhongli wordlessly stands and makes his way back indoors. Xiao obediently follows, curious of the nature of this spirit.

“Nothing of the sort. However, these glaze lilies fell victim to the corruption of your karmic debt and at the same time were nurtured by immense adeptal power. There is a wavering balance that must be kept, for her body is as fragile as a flower’s and cannot withstand the depletion and shifts of adeptal energy.” With graceful steps, Zhongli stops before a door. “No other adeptus has successfully remained compatible with the energy she needs. So far it has only brought excruciating pain for her, and I fear she may die at this rate.”

With a silent nod, Xiao processes this information. His gloved hand is unmoving on the door handle.

“What are the terms of this contract,” Xiao silently asks, amber eyes trained on the door in front of him.

“My time has long passed to give you a new contract, Adeptus Xiao.” Zhongli chuckles fondly at the serious habits of the adeptus before him. “This is a choice I am giving you. It may take centuries for her body to adjust to the adeptal power she now harbors. If she is compatible with you, it is up to you to decide whether you supply her with your adeptal energy, otherwise she may not make it past next week.”

Xiao remains quiet for a brief moment before speaking softly, “Her body is tearing itself apart…”

“Correct.”

There’s something in that fact that stirs feelings Xiao isn’t used to in his chest. He accepts, and the first memory of you that adorns his mind is one that clenches his heart in a way he rarely experiences. The pain that twists and contorts your face as you desperately heave, body seemingly tearing itself apart in a way the naked eye cannot see.

You’re a beautiful tragedy born of moonlight and sweet soil. And in that moment when your eyes meet his, a single tear rolls down your cheek. He cannot fathom the thought of letting your life end as quickly as it began.

The door behind him clicks shut, and he takes your fragile life into his hands.

—

The lights of the house are dim—a subtle golden glow against a comforting darkness in the blanket of night. A meadow of glaze lilies surrounds the little cottage in a sea of fragrance. A prominent mark of your abode.

The little house defended by mountains is secluded, one which Zhongli sent to be made for you while your body stabilizes.

And though the exterior is tranquil, within its walls come soft pants and gasps. Xiao’s brows are knit together in concentration as he ruts against you.

“Please—Ah…nnh a–again,” you beg against your trembling body’s protests.

And he wordlessly complies, folding your legs until your knees are practically at the sides of your head. His hips pick up the pace and his thrusts become desperate, bodies covered in a sheen of sweat. The moans you let out are loud—obscene as he fills you up until you’re overflowing. The pains have long subsided, and you choose to let him overcompensate in giving you the energy that will get you by another few days.

In the serene calm of night, the tranquility is drowned out by the squelching sounds of your bodies meeting each other through desperate thrusts as both of you are sent over the edge. His name falls from your lips in a melody Xiao has grown addicted to. For the nth time that night you come undone beneath him, your essence stabilized.

There’s a swelling warmth in your chest that blooms like spring meadows as Xiao buries his face in the crook of your neck. The tips of his ears are a bright scarlet and though he tries to control it, he is still left a breathless mess as he rides out his orgasm.

“Is it…enough?” Xiao asks between pants, his cock still buried deep within you.

He’s still twitching within you and your entire body shudders with delight at the feeling.

“You… haah—can keep… going if you want,” you offer weakly. There’s a dazed look in your half-lidded eyes that makes Xiao’s chest squeeze. “‘M full but you’re still…”

Hard.

You glance down to where you two are still joined together, the view of his come leaking out of you shamelessly sending heat between your legs again. The tips of Xiao’s ears turn bright red though he tries to remain composed.

“I’ll be fine. You should get some rest to preserve the energy longer.”

He pulls out and ignores the way your eyes look away dejectedly. Before he can stand to go, your hand gently tugs him back down. Xiao allows himself to be pulled against you, his head resting in the valley of your naked chest.

“Stay with me for a bit?”

Xiao doesn’t answer right away, and your heart leaps when he lets out a little sigh and agrees.

“Alright.”

The minutes tick by in tranquil silence. Both tired bodies ignore the sticky feeling of sweat and sex. It’s a feeling you’re both quite used to by now.

“Xiao?” you start quietly after a while. He hums in response, your fingers running through his dark hair soothingly. “Can I kiss you?”

The question is soft, self-conscious almost with the fear of rejection. But you were beyond a breaking point. The feelings were welling up in your chest like a high tide as you felt him tense up at your question.

Sex was common—quite often as a means of easily transferring adeptal energy to you. And because it was a painful process to take in, you found that this method dulled the pain through the twisted pleasures and mixed sensations.

But that’s all it was— a means to keep you alive. You could never say there was a time Xiao kissed you and he always showed restraint in touching your body more than necessary. His bodily needs were never foremost on his mind and he would never tell you how his hands ached to roam your body, how this arrangement became an illusion of a different reality he couldn’t have. And so he locked away his emotions for his own sake.

Xiao lifted his face from your chest, his golden eyes wide with momentary confusion—perhaps even shock. And your face… those wonderful sparkling eyes that glistened with glossy tears on the brink of rolling down your face. He wished he wasn’t the reason you were crying.

In an instant he propped himself up on his forearms, feeling you lightly tremble beneath him from holding back the urge to cry. A quiet hiccup left you as you were overwhelmed by bottled up feelings all at once, his thumb gently brushing your tears away.

“Why?” was all he asked.

Though it was a genuine question, his actions remained tender and calmed the anxiety that gripped your naive heart.

“Because I love you—because I think I love you.”

Quietly you hiccuped beneath him and Xiao gently rested his forehead against yours, eyes closed.

“Then love me if it makes you happy,” he responds softly. The tears that twinkle down your face like falling stars are gently kissed away by his soft lips. “I’m with you until the day I die, and if loving me makes living less painful for you then use me as an anchor to reality.”

Your soft crying is hushed as Xiao presses a tender kiss to your lips. It’s short and just enough to bloom your heart with newfound emotions you had yet to experience. Perhaps you reminded the adeptus of himself in a simpler time—naive, innocent. For that, he took pity on you, and also fell deeply in love with you though he would not know it for a long time.

Simply put, he wouldn’t allow himself to know it.

The flowers that surround the small house glow and dance in the night breeze. They bloom with your newfound knowledge—heartache.