#also these are all very surface level things but don't say i didn't warn you

[hychlorions]

I for one would like to hear your telltale thoughts 👀👀

ok!!! i am going to try my hardest to explain what i think. but be warned that a lot of this is going to be speculative. but then again. it's aa4 🥴

putting this under the cut bc it's long. i think. idk i'm typing this on mobile

so! to start us off, aside from the obvious (murder lol /j), there's one really big thing the protagonist and kristoph have in common, which is that no one really knows what their motives are. The story’s protagonist says they loved the old man. The line “I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this!” (lol) uses hedging as well, so they’re not even sure of it themselves. Kristoph’s black psychelocks appear when you ask him why he killed zak gramarye, implying he’s buried the reason so deep in his subconscious he doesn’t even know it’s there in the first place. So that’s another thing they have in common: they’re not sure what their motives are for murder.

They do have something more (and this is where we get into speculative territory). There’s this underlying paranoia in both of the characters, that I like to think is part of their ~mysterious~ motive. More specifically, it’s a fear of being watched. Again, tell-tale’s protagonist with the eye, referenced after the line where they'd speculated it might had been the eye: "One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture — a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees — very gradually — I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever." Then Kristoph’s suspicions that someone had watched him right back all those years after the Gramarye trial. Maybe kristoph killed zak gramarye because he was the most obvious connection to the case that would drag kristoph’s name through the mud. I mean, who knows what trucy’s told zak. She could easily connect kristoph and the diary page she’d given to her dad’s lawyer.

(unrelated but I also think phoenix’s trial could possibly be a step into getting rid of trucy as well. befriend her dad who is conveniently the lawyer you’d gotten disbarred via fake evidence, kill a man (most likely unplanned), pin it on him (most likely planned right after the unplanned thing), get a greenhorn attorney to do the dirty work for you and blame the guilty verdict on incompetence (happened by convenience), then you know. a girl is left vulnerable without a guardian. there’s some mvk-edgeworth shit that could go on here if this worked out. probably)

if we were to assume that it really was the eye that had caused the protagonist to kill the old man in the first place, then another key similarity about them and kristoph is that eyes were their undoing, what caused them to take a life, or in poe's words: rid themselves of the eye forever. In Kristoph's case, this 'eye' was two things. The first is phoenix keeping him close all these years, watching him, knowing all along that kristoph had been behind his disbarment all those years ago (in the drawing, this is represented by the camera, aka the pin on phoenix's beanie, which is why it's pulled over his eye, just to make it more like the old man, with his one big, creepy eye). The second is apollo, his powers that he'd discovered at the advent of kristoph's drawn-out fall, because his bracelet is primarily tied to SEEING those lies (seeing the tension, if we want to be fussy about it. and i will be. because we all know how i am about the bracelet)

sort of unrelated tangent, but my school had this "living museum" held by the theater club every year and let me tell you it was a Hit 😎 (our theater club was popular yeah) anyway. they had a different author every year, and the year they did poe they chose to show telltale heart through the pov of the eye and the heart. and idk. the heart just stuck with me. i'm p sure that the beating heart in the story was the protag's own anxious beating heart that they imagine to be the old man's instead. it's not an exact parallel, but the magatama was used in the investigation into phoenix's disbarment, and the magatama is connected to the heart, blah blah blah, so i used it in the drawing because the heart. because it looked cool B) now that i think about it, it's kind of ironic—it's a tell-tale heart, revealing information, betraying the protagonist's guilt, and ultimately the beating of it caused them to reveal their crimes in the finale. Kristoph's heart held secrets so close he'd buried it even from himself. that's saurrrrr funnay 🥴

the last thing i'd like to point out was that the reveal was done to three officers. and i just thought it was so fitting kristoph was before three people as well when his crimes were implicated. which is why trucy, apollo, and klavier were there in the background. originally, there was a second piece with their reactions to phoenix's dead body but i chose to scrap it because of kristoph's unfortunate angle. i still have the thumbnail, though! you can see it here!

anyway. look at this venn diagram feat the spongebob ep mermaidman and barnacleboy iv. you get it. probably

[stormz369]

The King of Hell and Me: Ch 4 - The Contract

Chapter Guide Ch 1 Ch 2 Ch 3 Ch 4

Summary: A witch summons Lucifer to earth to make a deal. Warnings: none I can think of? This is a generally sweet, fluffy chapter Word Count: 2.3k

Summoning the devil wasn't part of the plan. A demonic creature, yes, but the actual devil? The book didn't say anything about him. I was expecting to be dealing with an imp or some other kind of lower level Hellion. Someone with the power to do what I wanted, but not to completely fuck me over. Someone who'd take something I could spare. Not my soul.

The devil was also far less intimidating than I expected. He was a little on the short side, and far more human than I might have thought. Aside from the six glorious wings at his back, the least human things about him were his teeth and eyes; red and yellow, swirling with confusion and housing an ancient sorrow that seemed buried just below the surface. An unamused, but surprised look finally landed on me, knelt by the edge of the summoning circle. He made to move toward me, but was held in place by the ring of black salt. With a huff, he leaned back against the barrier, crossing his arms and observing me.

“... No one's summoned me to the mortal world in a long time. … You must be desperate.”

“I … I'll be honest, that wasn't supposed to happen, Sir … the book doesn't say anything about …” I fumbled through the book, rereading the spell. There was nothing to indicate who it called upon.

“Sir?” He chuckled, “well, that’s refreshing. Last time I was pulled into a summoning circle, the wretch had the nerve to call me ‘Dark Prince’ the whole time.”

I chuckled a bit awkwardly. “... Well, that's kind of a mouthful. If you don't mind, I think I'll stick with Mr. Morningstar?”

“Lucifer, please … but how did you know?”

“Aside from the snake and apple motifs you've got going on? You have six, very large, feathered wings. I might not be Christian, but I do know what angels are supposed to look like. … Sir.”

After a moment he let out a bark of a laugh, holding his sides. “Oh golly, you're entertaining! Alright, little witch. Whoever you were trying to summon, you've got me. So what deal were you trying to make?”

I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. Now or never, I guess. “My best friend is ill, and the doctors have given up hope. …”

“You want to trade your soul for your friend's life?” He smiled gently.

“... Does it have to be my soul?”

A strange look passed over his beautiful face, and he considered me for a moment. “... Maybe we can come to another arrangement. … There is something I can't get in Hell, and you did bring me here.”

I nodded slowly, curious what Lucifer himself could possibly want from earth. “Yes?”

“... Only sinners end up in hell. I … I gave Eve that apple for her own benefit. To help her, and her children. So they could be better, be more … more. Not just animals, consumed by their instincts. But I’ve never seen any good come of it …”

“Oh … well that's not at all fair …” I frowned, looking up at him. “Especially considering how much good there is …’’

He cleared his throat, nodding a bit. “Right, so … if you show me some of that good, I'll heal your friend. Do we have a deal?”

“Huh? N- no, I don't just want my friend healed. I want a cure.”

“... Same thing?”

“No, Sir,-”

“Lucifer.”

“... Lucifer, … the doctors don't know how to help her. Which means they don't know how to help anyone else with this illness either. I want my friend healed, but I also want there to be a cure for everyone else.”

A small smile slid across his lips. “... That amount of power will cost quite a bit more … but something tells me you're more than capable of paying the price.”

A crisp white scroll unfurled from his hand, gold ink scrawling across it before my eyes. I carefully took the paper in my hands, reading it carefully.

“... This says you decide when I've held up my side of the deal. How do I know you'll ever decide to pay up?”

He smirked a bit, sharp teeth glinting in the light. “You're a clever one. … Alright, as a show of good faith, I will heal your friend up front. … You earned that much at least.”

With a wave of his hand, the text changed. I reread the document and nodded. “... Thank you. Ok, where do I sign?”

A white feather quill appeared, and Lucifer took it. He tapped the end to his finger, and pulled away a trail of … liquid gold? He signed the bottom with a flourish, then offered me the quill.

“Touch it to the ring finger of your non-dominant hand, it will draw up a small amount of your blood to sign with.” He tapped the paper where I was to sign. 

I nodded, taking the quill, and placed it against my finger like he said. There was a brief, sharp, pain and when I pulled the quill away a trail of red followed. My finger appeared uninjured, but hurt like I had pricked it with a sewing needle. I signed where he indicated, and the summoning circle went up in flames, leaving no trace.

Lucifer smiled brightly, rolling up the scroll before he handed it to me. “Your contract, my lady.”

I took it, standing slowly. “... Thank you …”

He snapped his fingers, creating a crackle of energy throughout the room, and grinned. “There’s my side done, for now. So, how shall we start?”

///////////////

It took me all afternoon to think on what to start with. While I made tea and thought about it, he entertained himself by looking through my books and movies. His wings disappeared as he sat on my couch, reading the back cover of a book.

“... Is this for entertainment, or documentation?” He held the book up to show me the cover.

“That’s historical fiction, so entertainment based loosely on fact. It's about the wives of Henry the Eighth. … Do you know about them? How much do you know about human history?”

He chuckled. “I do keep apprised of the major headlines up here, but I don't typically bother with anything more. … You derive entertainment out of the suffering of those women?”

I chuckled a bit, setting a teacup in front of him, and sitting on the other side of the couch. “I think most people who read stories about horrible events do so because they don't understand how such things happen. We have a certain … morbid fascination with cruelty. … But I think it's usually also about honoring the dead. … They suffered so horribly, but we remember them. We don't let the bad things that happened to them get swept under the rug.”

He took the tea, watching me. “... I see …. Well, what good is there in that?”

“Ever heard the phrase ‘those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it'?”

“You think remembering their pain will keep it at bay?”

“Something like that … can't avoid pain if you don't know what you're looking out for. Can't protect your loved ones unless you know what you're defending them against.”

He chuckled, sipping his tea. “I see…” He watched me, a curious look on his face. “So, any ideas yet?”

“Well, I was thinking we could start around town. You said it's been a while since you've been on earth?” He nodded, giving me a curious expression. “Then I think we ought to start with a little tour around town, so you can get acclimated. Maybe something will strike your fancy, yeah?”

“... You don't have to do that, you know.” A small frown slid across his face.

“Do what?”

“The tea, taking me on a tour … it's cute, but unnecessary.”

I set my teacup down, raising an eyebrow. “... Cute?”

“Trying to curry favor.” He frowned more.

A sharp laugh ripped out of me, and I covered my mouth. “... I'm sorry. … I'm not trying to ‘curry favor' with you, Lucifer. You're a guest in my home, you should be able to expect some basic hospitality. My grandma always said we should be hospitable to others, cause you never know when it'll make all the difference in their lives.”

He watched me for a moment and chuckled softly. “I don't think your grandmother meant you to be hospitable to the devil, little witch.”

“If my grandma were here right now, she would ask why I haven't set out any cookies. Sadly, I have none to offer you. But I was thinking we could stop for ice cream on our tour. There's a really cute local ice cream parlor, I'd say it definitely counts as something good people have done with free will.”

He blinked slowly. “... You are … not at all what I expected.”

“I could say the same thing about you.”

After a brief moment he smirked, standing up. “Where's this ice cream parlor?”

//////////////

So I showed Lucifer around my little town. I took him to a playground where he could see happy families together. To a riverbank where my coven picked up litter and people went tubing and swimming. The ice cream parlor, and some other local businesses I liked. I bought him an ice cream cone, and a duck plushie he seemed particularly drawn to. He was hesitant to accept it, but once it was in his hands he held it to his chest, periodically stroking the tuft of fur on its head.

We walked in the sunshine, past schools and libraries. We watched a guitar player in a park, and got tacos from a food truck. And all day, I told him stories of kindness and generosity, big and small. Everything I could think of, from the Christmas truce in World War 1 to my brother's boss giving me free coffees when I pick him up from work. Any act of kindness I had experienced, seen, or heard of became an example of good things that happen because people have free will. 

When it started to get late I took him to my favorite place to watch the sunset. He sat beside me, still hugging the duck plushie, and watched the sun dip lower and lower, the sky turning brilliant shades of purple and red.

“So? Any thoughts?” I watched him think for a minute.

“... They're good stories. But there's one problem.”

“What's that?”

“... Most of it wouldn't be necessary if evil weren't so prevalent in the world.”

“... Well, … you can't have good without bad.”

“What?” He frowned, turning to me.

“Without knowing about bad, you wouldn't know about good either. You'd just have … middle. In order to know you like something you have to be able to compare it to something you don't like. Otherwise it would all just be. … Plus, when everything’s going worst is when we notice good things the most. Smaller kindnesses mean more when we're hurting.”

Lucifer looked back at the sunset, thinking. “... Why did you give me the duck?”

I chuckled softly. “You seemed to like it, and I could afford to get it for you. Everyone should get a souvenir when they take a trip.”

“So you weren't trying to get in good with the boss of Hell?”

“Nope.”

“... Even though, by making a deal with me, you have condemned your soul to my realm when you die?”

“Anyone who thinks a duck plushie is going to buy them preferential treatment in hell is an idiot.” He gave me a skeptical look at that. “Lucifer, I swear, I only bought it for you because you seemed to like it.”

He thought for a minute, petting it absentmindedly again. “... You've held up your end of the bargain…”

“... But?”

“... When I finish my end, I go home. I can only be on earth for the time it takes to complete a deal. … I … I really enjoyed today.” As it got dark, his body started to glow with faint gold light. He looked up at the silver stars, and in that moment he seemed so sad, so delicate.

“... You know, I am asking for quite a lot … a cure for everyone with this disease, and all you get in return is some examples of kindness and an afternoon running around my town? … Maybe we could rework the contract.”

His eyes went wide as he turned to look at me. “... What did you have in mind?”

“... Well, you're not bad company. And I had a good day today too. We could do it again, if you wanted.”

Lucifer slowly grinned, and the contract was suddenly floating in front of me. An addendum was added to the bottom. Lucifer would send the necessary information to a doctor for the cure tonight, and once a month for the rest of my life, Lucifer would visit me wherever I was on earth. I would tell him more stories that showed what good has come of free will, and show him the good parts of life on earth.

I grinned, taking the quill that floated next to the scroll, and held it to my ring finger. A sharp pain later, I was signing at the bottom. Lucifer signed next to my name, his hand slightly shaking. “Alright … I'll see you again in one month then.”

I nodded. “I'm free on the third, if that works for you?”

He nodded. “The third. It's a date.”

With a snap of his fingers he was gone, and I knew some medical researcher somewhere was having the epiphany that would lead to the cure. In the meantime, I had a date with the devil to plan.

[bookshelf-dust]

you wanna talk about it?

billy hargrove x gn!reader

word count: 1,874

warnings: swearing, anxiety, anxious habits (lip picking), mentions of blood, reader has family struggles to work through, insecurities (brief mention of weight/looks), vulnerability, mentions of alcohol drinking, fluff

a/n: hi! this is meant to be some holiday season comfort. i know that spending time with family can be hard, or stressful, or annoying, and i'm struggling with it, so i wanted to *hopefully* provide you with some support if you're feeling any of this!! this was very self-indulgent, but i hope that maybe you'll like it. i love you all. <333 (also please come back to this gif when you're done. i imagine this is how he's looking at you.)

————

"What's the matter?"

Billy's hand slid into yours, palm warm and audibly rough. He was sat on the couch next to you, where you hadn't realized he was paying you any attention.

Your leg was bouncing up a storm, a constant shake. On top of that, your middle finger and thumb were picking at the skin of your bottom lip.

He was sure you'd drawn blood by now, considering the way your eyes fluttered shut when you ran your tongue along the fragile skin.

You were no stranger to these feelings, shit, they'd become all you knew. And Billy wasn't either. He'd been anxious his whole life, so he knew when you were feeling that way too, no matter how much you tried to keep it to yourself.

You looked down at his hand in yours before pulling your fingers away from your lips and sitting on them. Busted.

"Just really don't wanna see them today."

"I know, baby."

He squeezed your hand.

Your home life hadn't been anything like Billy's, and while you were grateful that it hadn't been that hard, that's not to say it wasn't at all. Not to say your parents hadn't made you feel less than sometimes, hadn't listened to you, or hadn't made you feel like a burden.

Billy understood what that felt like. "Shared trauma" and all that.

Outside a few visits with Susan, mainly because he loved Max, and Max did have a present mother (even if she wasn't the best), unlike himself, that was it for Billy's "family" interactions. He didn't see Neil anymore at all. You and Max were the extent of his real family, and he liked it that way.

So when you had to see your family, your parents and aunts and uncles and all that extended bullshit, the few times you couldn't get away with—like during the holidays—he tried to be there for you. He wanted to be there for you.

Billy let go of your hand, moved away from you. You watched as he settled against the arm of the couch, stretching his legs out and spreading them wide. He held his arms aloft. "C'mere."

You did, wiggling into the space he'd left for you, back to his chest, arms resting on his thick thighs. He closed his legs a little, trapping you in his space, keeping you safe. That's how it felt when you sat like this. Like nothing bad could happen since he was right there.

Billy's chin came to rest on the top of your head, hands rubbing at your shoulders, gently messing with your hair. "You wanna talk about it? What exactly it is that's buggin' you about seeing them?"

You slid down further in his lap, and Billy wrapped his arms around your waist to keep you from completely escaping him.

"It's just that...they've always got something to say. About my weight, or my hair, or what I'm wearing, or i-if i talk too loud."

That one struck a nerve for Billy. He knew that when you got excited about something, you tended to get a little louder. It was a side effect of you being happy. He loved it and it had never bothered him. Knowing that you'd been shutting those things off because of your family hurt him.

"If I don't talk enough, if I'm too quiet," you continued.

Billy hummed in acknowledgment, signaling to you to keep going. His hands rubbed at the soft skin of your tummy, kneading at the fat there, comforting you.

"And they ask me these surface level questions, you know? Like fucking small talk, like we aren't family and they don't know me. It'd just be nice to have them ask about my real life, especially when I have to listen to them blab about their endeavors all the time."

"What are you studying? How are you feeling? What are you into? Anything would be nice. I just feel like a stranger when I'm there. And half the time it's like they forget I'm even there. Sometimes I think that genuinely no one would notice if I was there or not. I really don't think it makes a difference whether or not I show."

After that, you took a deep breath, and quieted. Billy didn't say anything for a moment, processing.

"Would it be okay if I talked shit about your family for a moment?"

Billy had been around them a good bit after having been with you for so long, enough to know when they said things that upset you, to see how they interacted with each other and then with you.

Your family hadn't always been like that. So standoffish.

It was as you got older, and got to know them as people, grew into your own, that you realized they were kind of assholes sometimes.

And it felt like you didn't fit in anymore. Like maybe you hadn't turned out like they'd wanted. And even if that wasn't the case, that's how they made you feel because you were different.

Quiet. Hardworking. You had dreams and ambitions and didn't want to live in the same place forever like they had, send your kids to the same schools they'd gone to. Hell, you didn't even want children.

And you had Billy. It was the two of you against the world. This boy with long hair and an earring and a growing collection of leather accoutrements.

Billy was determined to make you feel seen as you'd done for him. And recently you were trying to open up about these feelings to your family, slowly, but surely. It was a process.

"Yeah, go ahead," you laughed a little, "I really don't mind."

You snuggled further into Billy's chest, and he squeezed you. He smelled like his woody cologne, of his shampoo, and of cinnamon from the apple pie he'd made earlier. He smelled like home.

"I really fuckin' hate that they've made you feel this way. Like you're an outcast in your own family just because you're not an asshole who likes to talk about everyone else's bullshit. I mean, last time we were there, your cousins talked out of their asses about their friends. What the hell is that about? If they don't like 'em, I really don't know why they're friends at all."

"And I hate that they talk over you, and make jokes when you're loud like the whole neighborhood can't hear them blabbing anyways."

"I just want you to know that I'm here and I see you and I love all the little things about you that they might not." He planted a kiss on your forehead, lips warm and a little chapped because of the weather.

"It kills me that you think no one would notice if you were gone. I know you mean them, obviously, but I can't do this without you, you know."

You could feel his nose rubbing across your scalp, breathing you in.

"And I'll play spoons with you tonight even if no one else wants to and it's not technically supposed to be a two person game. Though I can't promise it won't get violent."

You sat up, and he let you move until you were straddling his legs, both hands firmly settled on his cheeks. You didn't say anything for a little while, squishing his face up with your hands, making him grumpier by the minute.

Though he didn't push you off, because he secretly liked it. You stared at Billy, running the pad of your thumb over the tips of his eyelashes, through the slit in his eyebrow, over the freckles at the tops of his cheeks.

"You are very aggressive at spoons. But it's worth it to see you wrestle over one with my sister. And better when you win."

Billy's cheeks flushed pink and you giggled. He always said you were the only person who'd ever been able to fluster him so easily.

You thought about his other words for a second. "So that means you like it when I squish up your pretty face like this?" He grinned and pried a hand away from his temple to kiss your palm.

"No. I fucking hate it."

You smiled at him, admiring the way he was looking at you. "Thank you for saying all that. Also I'm going to be sincere with you if you need to take a deep breath."

You watched as he dramatically inhaled, and then you dropped your hands to his lap, playing with the buttons on his shirt.

"I really appreciate that you notice all of the little things and that you support me and everything. I can't do this without you either. I love you, Billy."

He lifted your chin up to make you meet his eyes. "I love you too, Y/N."

When Billy kissed you, it wasn't urgent or rough. It was sweet, and he took his time, pressing all of his feelings and admiration for you directly against your mouth. And it took your breath away.

————

That night, your family asked questions about what you wanted to do after college, what you hoped to do. They asked the same of Billy. You blushed at the idea of him being a mechanic, of having his own shop.

You were thinking about Billy written in little red letters on a gray uniform, him having his hair tied up, when the very same boy set apple pie down in front of you. He'd been simultaneously fixing pie and talking, ever the charmer.

He clocked your flustered look, leaning down to whisper in your ear as he sat next to you.

"Proud of you. Being so strong."

You could've melted. Become one with the wooden chair beneath your ass.

Your grandmother, who you'd talked to about your feelings, and you thought maybe Billy had too, noticed when you hadn't said much and would ask you something or just talk to you.

After dessert, a cousin asked if you wanted to play spoons. It ended up being a whole group game, and unnecessarily aggressive.

At the end, it was down to you and Billy. You watched him shuffle the cards, silver rings glinting under the overhead light. He smirked at you while separating out your cards.

"Good luck, baby."

"Fuck you, Hargrove."

Billy laughed loudly, tossing his head back in glee at your competitive streak.

Table strewn with reds and blues, kings and queens, you had three sevens. Your heart was pounding as you watch not only Billy's hands, but the cards he was practically launching across the wooden surface at you. Your family watched from either side of the two of you, biting their nails or taking shots.

Queen, three, three, five, seven.

You almost screamed. You tucked the card in your hand and reached, snatching the metal spoon off of the table and slamming your cards down as you did.

You laughed maniacally. "Suck my dick, Hargrove!"

You'd never won against him before. This was groundbreaking.

Billy stood up. "You fucker. You little shit." There was no venom in his words though, as he was smiling the whole time.

He pulled you into him, smacking a kiss on your lips. "Congratulations, baby. We're going again though."

————

please let me know if you liked this! feedback is always appreciated!! comments and reblogs mean more than you know. <33

[castlebyersafterdark]

hello! I love your blog and the way you have fun here while also speaking eloquently about the dynamics and mechanics of the show. bravo for such a great space!

what do you think of people who don't see will as a main character? i've found my first on tumblr:

'i get he has importance. but also like, he is very much a plot device of Bad Stuff in at least the first 3 seasons, if not the 4th as well. (kidnapped, possessed, ominous Warnings that dont really matter except for building up tension) - we very much do only care about him because other characters do.'

this is less a comment on how they wrote will than his overall meaning in the narrative. even without the whole noah confirmation that will is BACK and BIG in s5, why do you think so many people, including GA, couldnt pick up on will's importance?

i recall first watching the show in s1 2016. even before ship wars existed, even before i knew about 'byeler' as it was called, i felt in my soul that will was important. there was a magic about him! he felt so intriguing and special. i even wrote in my journal that 'will byers is an iconic figure'. i have that old journal somewhere, and there's no elaboration! just that one sentence! haha

will was so mystical and powerful to me. i am not queer and did not pick up on this part of him, at least consciously, until s3. but something about him i adored and he mattered to me. these viewers who don't see will as important... do you think they truly missed the point of the show? if so, its a shame, but theyre very adamant that it's others who are missing the point and that we're not supposed to care for will, and i just can't see how that would ever be something the creators would want for any of their original characters. + will isn't an extra, or even a secondary character despite his lack of screentime because the heart of the story and narrative hinges around him. he is subtextually, implicitly important - this is storytelling 101!

(many of these will-indifferents also want fics of mike where will is only background/not important, even though they see mike as gay. they want a s5 gay mike arc, but where will doesnt figure in it, and i dont understand how that can make sense in this show when mike and will have always been part of each other's lives, even as friends???)

what are your thoughts my friend?

Hello!!! Glad you're here!

I honestly cannot understand Stranger Things fans who don't like Will. Or view him as non-important. Yeah, even though he was in so little season one, he is sooooooo so vital and if you don't care about that little boy, what are you doing here? The show failed you and its purpose. I cared so much from the moment he ran from that monster and disappeared, hooked for life on this silly little show. Will did that! Plot device? Sure, of course. All characters are plot devices to an extent. But to say that's all he is? We learn so much about who he is from little snippets in s1, he's a real character. Sure, we care about the story of finding him, but why do we care? Defined haunting the narrative. That's so sad if people only see him as this afterthought to move the story along.

Did people not watch season 2? I can kiiiiiind of get what people meant if we were thrown back in time to pre-s2 times and we only know what we know and as a casual watcher, maybe you just saw the show and didn't think too deep. (Not me, I loved Will and was looking forward to what else was in store with him after that s1 cliffhanger with the slug, are you kidding??? How interesting!) How can you still view Will this way after season2?

I think these people missed the point of the show. Truly. Surface level watching, I honestly don't know. I can excuse the fandom colloquial and snarky read of the "GA" because these are just people who like the show but with everything they like, it's not deeper thinking. Still goofy how they miss so many points I feel are blatant in the show, but a lot of people barely absorb what they're watching ("omg I love ST, Dustin and Steve are so funny haha I hope they bring Eddie back haha the show is so scary haha") <- like that's honestly how randos sound.

The fandom fandom people who are actively on sites like tumblr and into actual fan shit??? How do you hate Will if you're not a milkvan stan? Why?? What is the reason to care about a Mike sexuality storyline and think it has nothing to do with Will?????? Whose arc thus far has that play a huge role in his character? They are so entwined. Just say you're a FW stan and stop pretending to be anything deeper, that's totally fine, but just admit that. The rest of us aren't crazy for analyzing deeper and understanding the point of the show - that Will has always been and will always be the heart of the storyline. Season 5 gonna be a huge wake up call for a lot of people. But I try not to think about or indulge those people too often. Stay positive, ignore dumbass interpretations and takes. We know what and who are important.

[theerurishipper]

I hate how im not even angry at how Kwamis choice ruined the Ladynoir ending from Hack-San. That little conversation was already bothering me in s4 bc Hack-San was brutally open with how little Marinette ever conciders Cat Noir in anything.

Beats me why she thought he wouldn't have the logical reaction of fcking RED ALERT when he suddenly sees Ladybug's earrings in possession of somebody else, but hey, Marinette told Alya to play with her pet so that makes up for it I guess? And "pet" I find extremely fitting in that episode's context. She literally send in another Ladybug miraculous holder who's lead Cat also had to follow with no saying in the matter. Marinette literally send him a new owner since the Ladybug can do with the Cat whatever she wants as Marinette herself perfectly demonstrates in her leadership and Adrien therefore had to learn in season 4. I don't know what kind of dignity Marinette was supposedly treating Cat Noir with because it definitely wasn't on screen.

Marinette not thinking a single second about Cat was so bad in Hack-San that in the end she was genuinely surprised that she had to talk to him. There had been no intention on her part to have a conversation, she truly thought she had taken care of everything that matters. And from her perspective that meant telling Alya to laugh at his jokes being the only thing she conciders of any importance (something Marinette herself barely does). Honestly, there is not more personhood to him than "Pet".

So no, her words in the Ladynoir end scene have always meant as little as it turned out in Kwamis choice where she immediately left after he rejected her one time in "Elation" and the she didn't even care if it was at least Scarabella again who Cat Noir would met next to find out the awful news.

I always felt so unbelievably bad for Adrien in the Hack-San ending because the episode went out of its way to show that it isn't Marinette who gets the "Their crush barely realizes they exist" treatment, it has always been Cat Noir.

It had to be ALYA to make Marinette even talk to Cat when she comes back and then the only thing Marinette acknowledges as a mistake is that he must have been (negatively) surprised by having met a different Ladybug holder and that she's sorry, if she were to have found out that way that he had revealed himself to someone else she would have been upset too.

Which... man, Ladybug's dialog in that scene is so surface level. Comparing the emotional depth of how Cat talks about what all this meant to him, with how much care he talks and that it was so bad that the thought of her not being there anymore one day hurt the most and that he doesn't think he could bare that...

And Ladybug is besides him and says "she would have sulked too".

The difference between what she means to him and what little he seemingly means to her is so bad that when Marinette says "I will never abandon you, Kitty" and Adrien immediately forgives her for everything as per usual, I look at Marinette and honestly want to ask if she even knows what the words she just said mean. Because the entire rest of the episode characterized her in a way where her line feels almost shallow.

What is Ladybug apologizing for not having warned him and saying "I will never abandon you Kitty" even worth when she was shocked that she had to talk to him at all?

Already back in season 4 I looked at Adrien's heart eyes after that and felt so bad for him bc very clearly this IS a bond be should be able to live without because she's spearing him barely any thoughts of actual significance in season 4.

So yeah, I can't say I'm angry about season 5 then having made that reality and destroyed the Hack-San ending with Kwamis choice. Marinette in part 1 once again proofs why it's even IMPORTANT that Ladybug isn't someone Cat should hold onto in his life and definitely needs to be able to bare possibly not seeing again. He rejected her ONE TIME and next morning she already tells Tikki to give her earrings to literally ANYONE before Plagg goes about his plan.

Already at that point the line "I will never abandon you Kitty" became worthless and she also would have caused yet ANOTHER Ladybug miraculous holder to met Cat Noir instead of Scarabella, when this time around the new Ladybug would have no information or connection to Marinette and was meant to stay for good.

I almost feel bad for saying it but also honestly not, Kwamis choice really reinforced how little Marinette actually learned in season 4. What little Ladybug "learned" in Hack-San was ripped to shreds in the same intensity as it already felt shallow in s4.

It's only thanks to Tikki that the same "new Ladybug" fiasko wouldnt have repeated itself for Cat just this time he would have been faced with every fear he had coming true, right after Elation where Cat admits that he isn't in love with her anymore and asks if she's okay with him only loving her as a friend.

She said yes. And then she left.

As much as I want to be harsh on Adrien's side of Kwamis choice too, I cannot hold it against him that he left to just finally be able to find happiness (and that being Plagg's motivation too for starting all this), especially not when him having stayed would have only resulted in him having to go through Hack-San 2.0 only in WORSE because once again Marinette barely spared Cat any thoughts besides this time him not wanting to date her anymore making her sad.

Hack-san is one of those other episodes in Season 4 in which I was rather defensive of Marinette in the beginning. Like yeah, she is in the wrong and she should apologize, but I understand that it's an honest mistake, you know? She isn't the best at considering how others might feel about situations, and it's understandable that it didn't cross her mind to talk to Chat Noir. She did do it after Alya mentioned it and she took responsibility for her screw-up, and I was fine with it. That scene from Hack-san on its own is still one of my personal favorite Ladynoir scenes.

But that's just it. The scene itself when seen individually is so soft and sweet, but putting it into the context of the whole season, it's not a good look. Marinette says she'll never abandon Chat Noir, and spends the rest of the season pretty much replacing him with Rena Furtive and overall just pushing him away. It just makes her come off as hypocritical and dishonest. She continues to never consider him and his feelings and things just continue to get worse. The way the Ladynoir conflict was handled retroactively makes the scene in Hack-san worse.

And honestly, I don't feel like defending Marinette for what she did anymore, because she didn't really fix her mistake. She just doubled down and continued to do the same thing, and her assurances that she never really backed up really seem shallow in hindsight. She never learns anything, he takes all the blame for it in the end, and they just carry on without her having to fix her mistake. It's just so bad.

Thank you for your ask!

[underoospeterparker]

Hi! I read you're looking for some Peter Sutherland comfort requests and I really liked your last one 🤩 how about this: you're both working as night agents, maybe met already at your FBI training, didn't stay in contact since then, met again when Peter started working as a night agent (you're already doing this since a couple of years), and meanwhile you're working and living together as a couple. In some kind of mission you get shot at (maybe your shoulder is hurt and you're bleeding like hell) and Peter gets all anxious and comforting because he's really scared of losing you 🥹 maybe as an extra finding out you're pregnant when getting stitched up at the hospital?

hi lovely! thank you for your request- i'm not too sure about the pregnancy part but i'll definitely do the rest! (warnings: swearing, guns, bleeding, crying, etc)

this isn't proofread!

being a night agent was definitely a lot of work. it meant late hours, bruises, injuries, putting yourself into crazy situations, and potentially dying. the best thing about your job was you knew that you were saving a lot of people, and that was good enough to keep you motivated.

but on nights like this, where you were out in the field, doing action work, you were scared. it was tiring as hell, and you didn't know what could happen at any moment.

as a night agent, you were briefed very lightly on what the program was about. it went deeper than you could ever imagine, and your job was just skimming the surface to that. although all of your operations were top secret, you could share the burden with peter, and that was okay to you. as long as you had him, you were sure you'd be okay.

at the moment, you had no clue where you were or who you were supposed to be looking for. where were those two criminals, anyway? there were rumours that they worked for gordon wick, carrying out his dirty work.

and the thing was, you weren't sure you trusted diane farr. yes, her and peter had a past, but that didn't mean she was trustworthy. you had warned peter to stay away from her, and he had complied, also saying that he felt something was off.

a quiet "oh, fuck!" interrupted your thoughts and you swung towards the noise.

gun pointed in front of your chest, you said, "who's there?" there was no response, and you sighed. "if you don't come out, i'm going to shoot."

the parking lot was quiet, and you glimpsed a bit of white hair before you heard a loud bang, and it wasn't from your gun. your expression morphed from confusion to shock, and then pain as you registered that you had just been shot.

you kneeled on the floor, hand reaching to cup your shoulder, realising how much blood was coming out of your wound. you had no idea who had shot at you, but you knew they were running. there was no way you could catch up to them, not in your state.

you managed to make it to the wall, collapsing against it and breathing heavily as pain settled around your body. you heard footsteps grow louder and louder, and you shrunk away from the noise, thinking it was your attackers again.

"sweetheart?" a voice called out. peter. it was peter's voice. you sighed in relief at hearing your boyfriend's voice, then winced as the movement caused pain to rush back up to your shoulder.

"here! 'm here," you called back weakly. "hurry, please."

peter rounded the corner, then spotted you against the wall. seeing your state, he came up to you as fast as he could. crouching down to your level, he said, "oh, baby. you're hurt?"

you nodded, gesturing to your shoulder. his eyes were a mixture concern and anger, not to you, but to the person that had done this to you. "it really hurts, pete," you whimpered quietly, trying not to cry.

his hand cupped your cheek, and his eyes grew sympathetic. "i know, sweetie." tearing off a piece of fabric of his shirt, he said, "try to put some pressure on it for me, okay?"

you nodded, pressing your hand down hard on your shoulder. you couldn't help but sob quietly at the overwhelming pain.

"it's okay," your boyfriend cooed. "let me take over." he pressed lightly, then wrapped the makeshift bandage out of fabric tightly over the wound, knotting it with ease. "there we go. good girl," he praised. "you okay?"

nodding, you stood up, leaning your uninjured arm on peter's side. he lightly wrapped an arm around your waist, a soft reminder that he was there for you to lean on.

"gonna get you somewhere safe, and then i'm gonna make sure you're okay." he murmured, so only you could hear.

"'m scared, baby," you mumbled under your breath. "what if they come back again?"

peter sighed lightly, heart breaking at your frightened tone. "it's okay, i promise, there's no need to be scared. 'm gonna protect you." he pressed a kiss to your forehead. "you're safe with me, sweetheart. always will be."

[ihazyourkitty]

Why John Hargrove is full of it p.1

Multiple people have expressed interest in the detailed Blackfish rebuttal I am working on. The plan is to put it in video essay format on Youtube. This not only has the potential to reach a larger audience, but it also gives me more creative/expressive flexibility that would otherwise be difficult to get across in just written text.

This project will not be completed for quite some time, as there are a lot of things to cover. However, I did want to provide a short glimpse into some things I've uncovered thus far.

You see, I plan on not only refuting the movie itself, but also covering the consequences of Blackfish, and major figures like Naomi Rose, Ingrid Visser, etc. So as part of this project, I am listening to the eBook version of John Hargrove's Beneath the Surface for the second time. It's..... so.... much..... fun.....

*sigh* Warning, there's a long rant ahead. TL;DR John Hargrove comes off as very full of himself in this book, and it's annoying.

______

Now, on a purely emotional, literary level I guess, the book is certainly very gripping. It's difficult to put down, even when you know that much of what is alleged therein is utter bullcrap. However, I don't think this is just because the whole "little-guy turns against evil corporation" trope makes for good storytelling across the board. I think it's also because, unlike Mark Simmons' Killing Keiko, or Hazel McBride's I Still Believe, John Hargrove's Beneath the Surface has the luxury of both professional editing, and a co-author (Howard Chia-Eoan).

To be clear, I'm not saying this as dig against Hazel McBride or Mark Simmons. I bring this up merely to illustrate the stark contrast here. As far as I know, their works were self published, or at least lacking the same polish and publicity from big name publishers, or sensationalist documentaries.

However, this contrast wouldn't be so noteworthy to me were it not for these two things I'm increasingly noticing in this reread of Beneath the Surface:

It is never clearly stated which parts were written by Hargrove, and which were ghost written by Chia-Eoan... but the amount of contradictions and shoehorned information in here gives me some serious suspicions.

John Hargrove... seems incredibly full of himself!

I don't have the time to elaborate on #1 right now, so we'll just talk about #2 today. John Hargrove is almost never in the wrong. He is always painted as the hero, the true advocate for these animals. You don't hear much about the other trainers he worked with or learned from. Mostly, it's just about him. He bemoans the allegedly poor conditions SeaWorld's animals are kept in, while simultaneously boasting about all his accomplishments with them. He speaks of differing perspectives between him and some of the other trainers, but seldom elaborates on what exactly those differences were. Instead, he usually just frames it in a sanctimonious "me vs. them" way.

The closest he gets to admitting any mistakes he had to learn from is when he recounted an aggressive incident with Freya at Marineland Antibes, and even then.... the whole reason why that incident (allegedly) happened was because Hargrove overestimated his training/waterworks abilities with a whale he didn't have a relationship with. His admission of that mistake is then overshadowed by the rather self-righteous tone he frames the resolution with. All the success was about him. You don't hear anything about how he worked with the other trainers there, what they brought to the table, and certainly not the stronger, lasting relationships they had with Freya. It's not that he had to mention them by name, but he didn't even mention them at all!

To be fair, this interpretation is partly subjective on my part. Still, as someone who is personally working in animal husbandry right now (albeit not with marine mammals), the gaping holes in this narrative raises some red flags.

Here's some free advice to anyone interested in working in the zoo/aquarium industry: I have been told by multiple hiring managers that they don't want someone who "just wants to work with the animals, and not deal with people." That's not how this works. You still have to work with people in some form or another.

It doesn't matter which animals you are working with. When you're on an animal husbandry/training team, you gotta ask for/provide help, seek/give feedback, communicate with other departments, etc. Complaints, conflict and disagreements will inevitably happen, but you gotta be mature about it.

And yes, in that process... you are going to make mistakes, and you're going to have to own up to them! It's part of how you learn. You're also going to inevitably work with people who don't see things the same way.

The people who can't do this tend to not only get stuck in their own way, but are more likely to start resenting coworkers and/or management whenever disagreements happen. They'll constantly complain about how other people do things, but then can't/won't take constructive feedback themselves. It's worse when it's someone with more experience under their belt because of the massive ego. Let me be clear: this kind of mindset does not help your animals! It only creates a toxic work environment that's resistant to change!

DO. NOT. BE. THIS. PERSON!!!!

No, this does not mean you can't vent frustrations. No this does not mean that you can't take pride in your work. It means that you gotta be able to swallow your pride, and not alienate other people.

So, what does all that have to do with the contrast mentioned earlier?

Like Hargrove, McBride details her career journey, but doesn't just paint it all in glamour. She talks about her setbacks, how she grew, things she learned from other people, the internships she did, the grunt work she was willing to do, etc.

Killing Keiko has less to do with the details of Mark Simmons' career path, but he does give credit to other people where it is due, even at times towards those he fundamentally disagreed with. I can remember one part where he explicitly admitted that he made a mistake too, and tellingly, it was in an instance where he played the "I've been doing this for years" card. In the very next sentence he admitted it was the wrong thing to say in that situation, and highlighted the perspective he was missing in that moment.

These things are conspicuously absent in Beneath the Surface. I don't remember anything of the sort that stood out when I first read the book, and thus far it's certainly not there in my second time around. The first third of the book is dedicated to how he dreamed of becoming a trainer as a kid, and the path he took to get there. Most of this path, though, is painted in glamor, when the reality is.... the path to getting into animal husbandry isn't particularly glamorous. Not only do you have go to college, but you also have to settle for various unpaid internships or volunteer gigs, and then apply for multiple jobs only to get several no's before it works out (to say nothing of how underpaid zookeepers/aquarists/trainers are).

Hargrove, on the other hand, kept pestering lead marine mammal trainers at SeaWorld since he was a kid, practiced his swimming/diving abilities, and started his degree in psychology. Then, as luck would have it, an apprentice trainer position opened up at SW San Antonio, and when he got the job, he jubilantly quit college. Not much is said about what kind of volunteer work he did before that. I think he did some stuff with marine mammal rescue in Texas, but I'll have to go back and reread to be sure... in any event, I wish I'd heard more about the experience he got besides swimming and pestering the SW animal training department.

And like.... great, he got the job, but it seemed more by luck than by the sweat of his brow. Then he balked that he was put in the SeaLion Stadium, and/or that he had to spend a lot of time washing dishes and spotting before even being allowed to work directly with a whale, which like..... yeah? I don't know what you were expecting dude.

(Btw, this part isn't just me being nit-picky, Duncan Versteegh from ML Antibes corroborates Hargrove's resistance to doing grunt work like cleaning)

Whenever mentioning people at SW who didn't want to work at Shamu Stadium, Hargrove couldn't understand how anyone wouldn't want that.... because heaven forbid other people have different preferences? To be fair, from what I've heard of SW work culture in general, Shamu Stadium is kind of painted as the glamorous A-team, but DANG does Hargrove really lean into that attitude!

Later on, he detailed some of the conflicts he had with SW's entertainment department. At one point his manager explicitly told him he needed learn to get along better with other departments. And like... yeah... yeah you do!

Look, I'm not interested in doing blanket apologia for SeaWorld. I'm sure Hargrove was in the right more than once when he'd argue with people, but I'm also not convinced that the whole of the entertainment department, management, et al., were just a bunch of unfeeling jerks who didn't care about the animals.

This part actually ground my gears quite a bit. Before I became an aquarist, I was an educator, and sometimes I would overhear certain husbandry staff gossip about us in a really patronizing way whenever there were miscommunications. Not that they never had valid reasons to complain, they did, but to be treated like you're just a dumb educator/guest services person is not pleasant, and certainly not professional. I don't know how common this is at other places, but I bring this up to illustrate the importance of being able to work with other departments, especially in the face of disagreements or miscommunication.

That Beneath the Surface paints Hargrove's inability to do this as a virtue rather than as the character flaw that it is... well.... it's um... it's a choice. And it's telling.

Again, some of this interpretation is subjective on my part. Ultimately, none of us can know for sure what is in someone else's heart. Hargrove does seem to sincerely care about the animals, despite the narcissism. However, the vast majority of people who are going to be reading his book are not people who have spent much if any time working in the zoo industry, and thus may not pick up on some of these things. I'm not the only one to point these things out either.

So even if one is against keeping orcas in captivity, I think being aware of the egos behind figures like Hargrove is important. When you get to the end of his book, you would think that all his former colleagues are, at best, just timid little clogs in a corporate machine, brainwashed to do as SW says. This is just not true. These people are dedicated to their animals, and have worked very hard to get where they are at. Some have gone on to get their masters, or PhD's, provide expertise to other facilities, or take part in rescues, etc., and they did it without chasing clout.

SW Corporate should absolutely treat their employees better, but their treatment of them pales in comparison to how people like Hargrove basically erase their accomplishments altogether. In this way, he tries to have it both ways... his time at SW proves how much of an expert he is, you know, because he was a senior trainer with two decades of experience after all! Oh, but when someone else from the field speaks up to refute what he says, nope.... their accomplishments don't matter, they're just brainwashed. If that doesn't scream "massive ego", then I don't know what does.

I'm only halfway through the book on this second round, so there is a chance I'll come back to correct some things here. I do encourage people to try to read this book themselves and come to their own conclusions. You don't have to buy it either, check your local library (it's how I got a hold of this eBook).

[raeygina-george]

@knightzp finished reading senpai is an otokonoko!!! here are my thoughts (warning: this has spoilers i guess also i yap a lot so the post is long)

-makoto gives me so much gender envy.... he looks so pretty as both a boy and a girl and he passes as both too 😭😭😭

-i love ryuji so much... i find his character so compelling. from the tough-guy act to the "am i gay quiz" arc to the unrequited love to the internalized homophobia... idk there's something about him that speaks to me

-i didn't ship aoi/makoto very much in the beginning because of her attitude towards makoto (like always saying "i love him" and like getting nosebleeds & such when he's said he's not interested)... i know some people who act kind of like that towards me and while it's not uncomfortable or inherently negative it's just hard for me to root for a romantic relationship that stems from that dynamic

-also i REALLY want aoi to be aromantic. bc the stuff that she says is just So Aromantic Coded. even her saying "i love him" in casual conversation is aro coded to me... if you get it you get it

-HOWEVER i love aoi & i love makoto and i want them both to be happy so as long as they're having fun it's cute

-wait the aoi/makoto confession scene??????? i don't even know what to say about it

-i will admit that i wasn't a huge fan of aoi at the very beginning of the series but. she's proved me wrong many times. i love you aoi

-i like how Resonant the main 3 characters are... i understand their feelings so well even if i haven't experienced them myself. idk how to say exactly what im thinking but like. when makoto stopped crossdressing bc of his mom & then when he finally told her and refused to back down anymore & when aoi was like "i just want someone to love me unconditionally for the person i am and not the People Pleaser i pretend to be" & when ryuji said "you find me disgusting, right? you don't have to pretend to like me anymore" & etc etc 😭😭😭😭 i was expecting this to be a pretty surface-level romance manga with how the beginning was going but im very pleasantly surprised with how deep the characters have turned out to be

-i agree that the ending was kind of sudden, also i still wish aoi was aromantic, but overall i enjoyed this manga! the queer experiences depicted were really realistic imo & the manga had a lot of the things i like about romance media without all of the things that i dislike about it. so yeah i had fun ty for the recommendation :)

[sueske]

Please talk about what other issues you have with Kakashi! the Naruto fandom loves him so much but personally I think he was a terrible leader of team 7. also he was a walking hypocrite when it came to lecturing Sasuke (plus he pretty much ignored Naruto and Sakura as they went off like Sasuke to be trained by the Sannin instead to get stronger and was pretty AWOL in their training days) Plus there was that whole guilt trip of him thinking Sasuke was obligated to return Sakura’s selfish confession to him…..ick

well idk if I wanna do a whole proper analysis on kakashi, those take time to write, and I'd rather devote that time elsewhere.

I said that and I wrote quite a bit anw but it's very rambly and disorganised so you've been warned:

he did some things all right and other things not so good. personally I just don't get what the hype with him is beyond the surface level stuff. kakashi failed all of his previous teams from becoming genin so he didn't have much experience when it came to teaching 12 year olds. anyways, kakashi taught team 7 how to walk up trees/chakra stuff and taught sasuke the chidori because his battle was coming up. from my pov it's fine he prioritised sasuke, especially to also keep an eye on him at all times considering what with orochimaru and all. he did find ebisu to train naruto and the whole jiraiya thing happened etc. did sakura express any interest in training like naruto did? no lol. once they all went off to their respective sanin though I don't see why he would've butted in. all in all he kept his team alive and taught them some stuff. he later on came up with the shadow clone jutsu training method for naruto which was successful. so he did some things all right. he was flakey as a teacher overall but not everyone can be gai sensei 😔

but more about the emotional aspect of kakashi's 'teaching'. kakashi is a hypocrite about the 'comrades/trash' thing like I talked about in that previous ask. when tobi told them the truth about the massacre kakashi ordered naruto to keep it secret. his rationale was trying to figure out if what he said was the truth or not. and when confronted with sasuke, who said he'd killed danzo and his plans for killing the rest, kakashi just said that he'd stooped so low and that sasuke's just a product of the times they live in. but. comrades. trash. kettle. black? forget trying to talk to sasuke and finding a way around it (like naruto did LOL), his first actions were to kill him. kakashi himself acknowledged it was the times they live in that created sasuke, but why try and fix that when it's easier to just kill Sasuke? If Kakashi's ninja way is to never leave his comrades behind then what does that make him? Non-recyclable trash? As I said before, Kakashi should've clarified:

'leaving ppl behind means u r worse than trash (so you shouldn't) but only if it ultimately still suits konoha's (or my) agenda.'

well, kakashi doesn't really try to understand his students (like with sasuke). sakura is another prime example of that. kakashi also told sakura in part 1 that things between sasuke and naruto were fine to comfort her, and later lamented the fact he told her those words because they actually weren't. because he couldn't see sasuke's intentions. guess playing orphan olympics didn't work out for him too well. and then at the end of vote2, kakashi says things are finally back to how it was. I'm not sure about the Japanese translation, if he means 'they' or 'things', but WHAT? no. things can't go back to the way they were. ever. if by going back he means the trio not actively killing each other than sure lol, but so much has changed, namely naruto and sasuke have changed. there's no going back to the way it was. and of course the way kakashi tries to butter sakura up to sasuke. no one is falling for that but nice try. he did more defending sakura's feelings towards sasuke than validating any of sasuke's own feelings lol.

I also don't particularly like the way he parted with sasuke at the end either. 'NoRmAlLy U ShOuLD bE iN pRiSoN' like BOY. SHUT UP. SHUT UP SHUT UP U PROBS SELF-INSERT INTO JIRAIYA'S INCEL PROTAG PORN BOOKS. BYE.

[dazedpuppydairies]

Content Warning// For Discussion of Transphobia

An aspect of transness I don't see people talking about a lot is when you've really queered your understanding of gender and things that previously made you dysphoric, or roles that are traditionally associated with your assigned gender now make you euphoric. Especially when there's this aspect of reclamation involved. For example when growing up your told you have to do XYZ because of your assigned gender, but then you do proceed to do XYZ, but in a very queer way that would make the people who told you, you have to do XYZ cringe. I think this is like a really interesting conversation, but I don't see a lot of trans people talking about it. Sure I do see conversations about how trans men are allowed to be feminine and trans women are allowed to be masculine, but I feel like that's really surface level. Also even those surface level concepts aren't very mainstream yet. For example I was staying in this shelter for LGBTQIA+ between late 2021 and early 2022. One of the people I was living with there was a cis femme gay guy and he had such a problem with me being a femme trans guy. He constantly misgendered me along with all the nonbinary staff. He also expressed that being trans is when someone medically transitions from one binary gender to the other essentially. He didn't really view it as an identity based thing or even a mental thing at all. He essentially viewed transness as a cosmetic thing. I caught him having a conversation one time with one of the nonbinary staff explaining that the difference between him a drag queen and a trans woman is that a trans woman gets surgeries and if she doesn't get the surgeries she's still technically a man. Overhearing that conversation had me fuming. Anyway despite being a feminine cis guy he couldn't comprehend the validity of a feminine trans guy. That still seems to be a lot of people's understanding of transness unfortunately, even within the LGBTQIA+, even within the trans community. Don't get me wrong things have gotten much better since 2016 when I first came out as nonbinary and I think the online trans community has also done a lot of healing the last couple years. Anyway for me a big part of being queer is about subverting expectations and honestly not making sense. I don't want to make sense within the cisnormative,heteronormative, amatonormative standards which are still very prominent within our community today. Back to the point of this though I think the concept of reclaiming the roles that were forced upon you based off of your assigned gender, but in a way that makes cishet people cringe is very fun.

Also quite off topic, but my grandmother says I should start a podcast. What do you think about that?

[saturnskyline]

"vegasporsche brainrot hours" YES PLEASE

porsche was blind to vegas betraying him (well, it wasn't about vegas betraying porsche but vegas going against his family that porsche didn't expect), but porsche also saw something in vegas that kinn and others didn't. he knew what vegas had done to him and main family, but when pete came back, and porsche did the math of what happened to pete, he didn't freak out or said: "vegas is doing to you what he did to tawan, ken and me". when vegas made the deal in ep13, porsche didn't question why would vegas want to see pete, and he trusted that vegas would do his part of the deal (which he did). when vegas warned him about the coup and said he will take care of pete, porsche knew it was not a lie and sort of gave his blessing. and vegas called him the second time about the coup, even though he didn't have to. ANYWAY, I AM RAMBLING, but what i wanted to say is that porsche saw something in vegas, and i can totally imagine another universe in which porsche would chip away some of vegas's armor, like, look, there is real flesh and blood underneath, you're a human, vegas, how does it feel to have someone see through your tough mafia guy bullshit? (also, unrelated to my ramblings, au where vegas and porsche have hot sex in that alley of hum bar, it's a bit rough, and porsche can feel all the places where he will have bruises and hickeys, so when vegas leaves, porsche texts his bestie pete with 'i think i just fucked your future husband, his name is vegas and here is his number')

*jason mendoza voice* oh nonnie. we're really in it now 🥺🥺

there really is so much to unpack with these two. i definitely agree with you; i think porsche sees vegas in a way that's pretty uncomfortable for both of them. the brainrot for their little meeting in ep 13 is especially strong, since there are so many possible interpretations. is porsche using pete as a bargaining chip, signaling how he's adjusting to mafia life? does he leave the ball in vegas' court, truly believing that vegas won't harm pete? i'm dizzy just thinking about it 🥲

one thing that does strike me as interesting is the "i don't trust you" bit. i believe porsche's statement on a surface level – i don't think what they have could be properly described as trust – but there is a unique kind of camaraderie that they share nonetheless. their dynamic in the last few episodes REALLY gets me... porsche needing to ask vegas for help (working around kinn 🤨), vegas calling porsche about the coup (bc yes! he really did not have to!), vegas threatening porsche to get to kinn!!! (probably wasn't personal, just. the cousin rivalry lol) like. there's LAYERS here and they make me crazyyy

and then there's another question: what next? post-canon, there are even more possibilities. i can't imagine that vegas wouldn't feel any resentment at his birthright being snatched up by his cousin's boyfriend of all people, but i like to imagine they develop a tentative bond again eventually. (personal headcanon: as much as porsche being the minor family head has rocked vegas' world, he can't help but be strangely relieved. it's the life he was trained for, but he doesn't feel the loss as keenly as he expected.) could them getting along just be wishful thinking on my part?? yes, very likely. but hey, i loved that motorcycle scene, what can i say 😭

oh. oh! and the idea of porsche telling vegas that he sees him, the "i know about all the walls you put up, and you're not as heartless as you pretend to be". yeah THAT'S the good stuff right there. i love it when vegas gets Perceived, and aside from pete, the only person that i think could truly pull that off would be porsche. sure, he hasn't seen everything, and the manipulation was no joke. but in order to sell all the lies, vegas has to add truth to an excruciating degree, probably more than he realizes. again, wishful thinking? possibly. but there are so many moments along the way where his concern and affection for porsche seem genuine. and hey, maybe all that means is that the manipulation is working on me. In that case, i will gladly be brainwashed :)

anyway i'm not sure that any of this makes sense, but thanks for fueling my unhinged ted talk! (OUR unhinged ted talk? 👀) and i love the au concept hehe, any scenario that even remotely involves vegas/pete/porsche has me bouncing off the walls 🙏🙏

[thecynicalcinephile]

So, About Avatar: The Way of Water,

Marvel take notes, this is what CGI can do when you actually give your artists time. However, that may be one of the only good things you can say about this film.

Honestly, I don't feel like there's very much to say about this film at all. It is, at the end of the day, exactly what it says on the tin: just another Avatar film, and everything that implies.

Of course, it's an absolute visual spectacle. The CGI is absolutely impeccable, the creatures are beautiful, and the vast vistas of Pandora remain as stunning as ever. You can almost feel the brutality of the human settlements and actions.

That itself, however, is a large part of the issue. There's absolutely no subtlety whatsoever. No nuances, no deeper meanings, just a black-and-white "uwu colonialism bad" story. Now don't get me wrong, I hate colonialism, but the problem is there's just no substance to this. It's the equivalent of looking at a pretty picture while a politician gives a double-talk riddled speech about how sad it was that we were mean to Native Americans.

Now remember when I said that this was "just another Avatar film, and everything that implies"? This is what I meant by that. The first Avatar film was also ultimately hollow, hence its near lack of impact on popular culture. This is very much what I like to call a "Sins of the Father" situation, in that all the problems of the first film carried over in full force. And Avatar 1 had more than a few problems. Just as both films are hollow, both films are also ultimately exploitative when it comes to their treatment of actual Native American culture.

This is, fundamentally, a film where we go in and look at how beautiful and amazing the essentially gentrified version of the Native American lifestyle would be, make ourselves feel bad about the aforementioned colonialism, and then, through our textbook White Savior Jake Sulley, we let ourselves vicariously feel like heroes for defending the poor pretty blue people. It's turning colonialism and Native American culture into cheap feel-good candy for Americans who want to pretend they're good people without actually doing anything.

Now I'm not saying audiences went in with those intentions consciously, I know I certainly didn't, but that's definitely the itch it scratches and is almost certainly on some level what James Cameron was going for.

Oh, and on a slightly lighter note, as long as we're on the topic of White Saviors and whatnot, Jake Sulley's adopted daughter is clearly being set up as a Jesus allegory. She was a virgin birth and her connection to Eywa is stronger for some mysterious & mystical reason. Now, the issue here is that her birth mother is Sigourney Weaver's Avatar, making her arguably yet another White Savior. I can excuse one White Savior every now and then, but two in the same franchise at the same time is where I draw the line.

Ultimately, if you want some cheap fun visual spectacle, go ahead and watch this movie, I can't stop you. Just don't expect any thrilling social commentary beyond the shallowest of surface levels, and try not to get so distracted by the pretty colors that you forget how hollow the whole thing actually is.

Actually, scratch that, don't watch this movie. Just go watch Avatar 1 somewhere on streaming. It'll probably be cheaper. The above warnings still apply, but at least you won't be rewarding James Cameron quite as much.

[gretavanfunk]

Fighting Fire (Series)

Chapter Thirteen

Word Count: 7,380

Summary: Stevie and Sam never seemed to be what people refer to as "two peas in a pod" growing up. He got under her skin more times than she could count and Sam was desperate to be on a level playing field as his older brother and Stevie's best friend, Jake. One summer, Sam is forced to face his demons and in turn, Stevie is too.

Warnings: sexual content 18+, minors DNI, arguing, physical violence, themes of grief, themes of anxiety/depression/heartbreak

This story is written and edited by me and it is my baby so I hope some people out there can enjoy it as much as I enjoy creating it! If there are typos, bear with me lol also sorry for not updating in over a month :/ We are getting close to the end, you guys!

Chapter Thirteen Playlist for the vibes!

Stevie spent the first few days at home laying around and wallowing in her hurt. Her emotions had been flashing from anger to sadness rapidly and she really didn't know how to comprehend what had gone wrong.

When she ended things with Ryan, it didn't take her very long to stop having a physical reaction to the breakup. Especially because during that time, all she could do was see red. This was different. While her anger hung over her like a dark cloud, she was also overwhelmed with sadness. She had been so lost in her daydream-like state with Sam and suddenly he took all of that away from her.

It was troubling for Stevie to even try and reflect on it. Everything with Sam had been so wonderful and so horrible all at once. Stevie felt winded like she couldn't keep up.

During the last week, she filled a lot of her free time with hours of phone calls between Josh and Jake.

"Stevie," Josh sighed, "Are you sure I don't need to come out there?"

"I'm sure," Stevie chuckled sadly, "I promise I'm leaving the house today. I need to go to work and try and get my shifts back."

"Have you had any contact with Sam?"

"No," Stevie said sharply, "I told him to go home. I don't know if he did and I'm not wasting any time caring about whatever he's doing."

"Fair," Josh bit his lip, "I won't bother you about him anymore. But, if you change your mind, I can be there relatively quickly."

"Thank you, Josh," Stevie responded, "I love you."

"Love you too."

The call ended and Stevie laid back on her pillows and took a deep breath, studying the popcorn texture on her ceiling. She had taken a shower and was fully dressed, ready to face the outside world again but she was stalling.

Stevie had never been this angry at Sam before and that was saying something given the events of their relationship of over twenty years. This was an anger she was not very familiar with. Her chest was consistently tight, her skin ran hot, and she was so full of rage that within a matter of seconds, tears could fall from her eyes anytime.

Then the sadness would creep up to the surface. It was more debilitating than anything else. After she got back to her house that first night, Stevie felt like a hollow shell of herself. The way that she had fallen for Sam was so reckless and everything that she felt for him manifested rapidly. Maybe it was always meant to be short-lived.

When she first crossed the line with Sam, she had no time to fully enjoy it. She was immediately riddled with anxiety surrounding the secrets she was keeping from Jake. It wasn't until after all of it was over, until she left the lake house behind, that she began to think about it all.

She thought about everything Sam confessed to her: being jealous of Jake, having feelings for her, and his close relationship with her dad. It made her reflect on what Sam's behavior was like around her before any of this happened.

Stevie thought about when he came over here with food for her and encouraged her to pack. She thought about the muffins and the way her stomach twisted into knots when he said they were his favorite. She thought about the day on the lake when they held each other in the water after he pushed her out of her canoe. It scared her how electrified she felt by the small physical interaction.

When she had finally been out in the open with him after fighting with Jake, she always regretted how previously she would run from that feeling.

Soon enough, Stevie had been going down a rabbit hole in her reflection. She remembered the photo of them in her dad's photo album when they were at that soccer game. There was more context to that photo than Stevie realized while talking about it with Sam.

The background story to that photograph, the events that took place before the game, and how they ended up there in the first place came flooding back to her. That particular soccer game was a night game. It was on a Saturday which wasn't typical for night games, but if Stevie remembered correctly, it was a makeup for a game that had been postponed. Stevie never missed any of Jake's soccer games, even before they were in high school.

That Saturday she had been hanging out at the Kiszka house, working on filming something with Josh. It was just her and the twins that were filming that morning. Sam was preparing for his very first date, something the three of them were teasing him endlessly about.

She laughed as the memory came back clearer for her. Sam had braces then. His hair was an awkward length, trying to catch up with Jake in that department. He had been stressing about it all morning, spending a good chunk of time just deciding what to wear.

They were going to an art exhibit that his date apparently wanted to see and having lunch afterward. Sam was even more stressed over the fact that his dad had to drive them. At the time, it was classic teasing material for her and the twins. Ronnie was a lot more gracious about it, helping Sam get ready and psyching him up.

However, when Sam returned from his date, Stevie was the only one who was in the living room when he walked in. Jake had gone to a team dinner; Josh was in his room editing and Ronnie was on a date of her own. Stevie planned to chill out with Josh until they both headed over to the high school stadium, but things slightly changed after Sam came back, looking completely horrified.

"Jeez," Stevie scoffed when she saw him, red liquid splattered on his t-shirt, "What happened to you?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," Sam huffed and headed towards his room. Kelly looked at Stevie with wide eyes and shook his head.

She sighed, feeling a little sorry for him. She decided to bother him about it anyway, putting her best-friend-of-the-older-brother hat on. She knocked on his door and it swung open rapidly. His eyes were wide, probably expecting one of his parents but his expression dropped when he saw her.

"What?" Sam groaned, "I already said I didn't want to talk about it!"

Stevie rolled her eyes and pushed past him, only needing to shove him lightly for him to move. She plopped on his bed and gave him a knowing look, "What happened, Sam?"

"Like you even care," Sam frowned, sitting beside her.

"I do care," Stevie assured him, "We make fun of you because that's what we do, Sammy. You're just the youngest so it's the worst for you."

Sam narrowed his eyes at her, but slumped his shoulders and sighed, "Fine! The date was horrible. She hated me! I completely screwed all of it up!"

"You're twelve, Sam," Stevie laughed, "It couldn't have been that bad!"

"It was!" Sam sighed, "I didn't even want to go on this stupid date anyway!"

"So, why'd you ask her out, you weirdo?"

Sam shrugged, "I was being teased at school for never kissing a girl before."

"Oh," Stevie sang, "I see. So, you tried to kiss her then?"

"I guess?" Sam questioned, "I thought it was a good time to try, but she freaked out! Now there's Powerade all over my shirt and I made a fool of myself."

Stevie laughed harder than Sam would've liked her to, but she wrapped her arm around his shoulders, "It's okay, Sam. Kissing is gross anyway!"

Sam rolled his eyes, "Well, I wouldn't know! I still haven't done it!"

"You don't have to be like all of the guys who tease you," Stevie said, "I bet most of them just lie about it anyway and are all in the same boat you are!"

Sam chuckled and shook his head, "Well, not all of them. Some of them kiss girls in the halls."

"Ugh," Stevie made a face, "Gross!"

"Is kissing really that gross?" Sam asked and Stevie shrugged, "I've only been kissed once, and it was weird. Besides, girls want it to be romantic, Sammy. They don't want it to be pressured and forced."

"So, what should I do?"

"First of all, you shouldn't just take a girl out because your friends are teasing you," Stevie laughed, "You should ask a girl out because you really like her and want to hang out with her. Did you even like this girl?"

Sam shook his head, "No, she just sits next to me in English."

"God, Sam," Stevie laughed even more, "You have got to get some better dating advice."

He laughed too but sighed again, falling back onto his bed, "Everyone is gonna ask me about it on Monday."

Stevie rolled her eyes and hit her hand on the bed beside him, "So what if you didn't kiss her? You went out for the wrong reasons anyway! It's not a race, Sam! Plus, when it happens, it'll be way better than it would've been today."

Sam didn't say anything, he just looked gloomily up at his ceiling and Stevie smiled down at him, "Come to the soccer game with me and Josh tonight! It'll be fun!"

"No way," Sam groaned, "I can't show my face in public!"

"Oh my god," Stevie argued, "Sit up!"

He was frightened by her demand, so he did as she said and she turned, sitting cross-legged in front of him.

"Now, turn and look at me," Stevie instructed, and Sam followed suit, sitting across from her, giving her a worried expression.

"When you kiss a girl," Stevie began, "You have to make sure that she's into it. Getting to know her better helps a lot in this sense."

"Okay," Sam said, hesitantly.

"That's kind of what dates are for anyway," Stevie explained, "You'll have to pay attention to body language too. Girls are just as nervous as guys are, we're just a lot better about hiding it."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Stevie."

"I know. So, pay attention!" Stevie smiled, "She'll drop a few hints when she wants you to make a move; bat her eyelashes at you, lean in closer, touch your arm or something."

Stevie acted out what she was saying, giving Sam a few visual tips on what to look for.

"She'll be nervous too and won't ever bring it up or ask you to," Stevie explained, "But, she might even look at your lips for a weird amount of time and that's usually the green light."

Sam was looking at her closely, scared to even breathe.

"You don't want to just plant it on her though," Stevie shook her head, "You want to match what she's doing too. Lean in closer a little bit, maybe reach out and touch her hair, or the classic arm over her shoulder move. Then you just close your eyes and go for it! Closed and puckered lips to start though!"

"Should I be taking notes?" Sam asked and Stevie laughed, "You'll remember! Just don't come at her with your mouth open and immediately try to tongue her down. That's just sloppy and weird!"

"Is that what happened to you?" Sam asked and she shrugged, "Pretty much! It was disgusting and not at all what I had pictured."

Sam nodded slowly, still looking confused and Stevie leaned back and away from him, grabbing his shoulders, "Just don't think about it so much! It's not a big deal, Sam. With time, you'll be fine!"

Sam nodded, "Okay. Should I just lie then? I'm sure she's already told her friends about it."

Stevie shrugged, "Who cares! Just come to the soccer game and forget about it!"

Sam shook his head, "I can't go to the game! Derek's older brother is on Jake's team! He'll probably be there and make me look pathetic!"

"You're not about to let some lame wanna-be ruin your weekend, Sam!" Stevie widened her eyes at him, "None of you are even going to remember this next week!"

"I really don't want to go to the game and be humiliated, Stevie."

Sam's eyes lit up for a brief second and he smiled, "What if I kiss you? Just to get it over with."

"Me?" Stevie laughed and shook her head, "That's not the most romantic thing in the world, Sam."

"Yeah, but you're in high school! Nobody could clown me if I kissed a girl in high school," Sam begged, "Please?"

She looked at him with sympathetic eyes and bit her lip, "Are you sure you want your first kiss to be completely meaningless?"

"Well, it wouldn't be with a girl I don't even know if it's with you," Sam said, "Just a practice."

Stevie crossed her arms over her chest and sighed, "Okay, fine! Only to get you to stop sulking in your room! And Jake and Josh can never know about this, got it?"

Sam sat up straighter and nodded, "Oh my god, thank you! I promise!"

"If you tell them, I will deny it until I die, Sam."

Sam nodded and scooted himself closer to her until their knees were touching. Stevie remembered feeling amused by him thinking very hard about the tips she gave him. His shaky hand reached for her hair, and she smiled, grabbing the back of his hand and leading it to hold her cheek. They both leaned closer to each other, slowly and Stevie was the one who closed the gap, giving him the smallest, quickest peck on the lips that ever existed.

Sam's eyes had widened triple their normal size and his cheeks immediately turned a deep shade of pink when she pulled away from him and clapped her hands together, "There! Now you can tell Derek that you kissed a high school girl."

Stevie got up off of his bed and headed to the door, stopping in his doorway and turning back to look at him with a small smile, "Now get changed! You're going to the soccer game whether you want to or not."

When she left him there, Sam was still sitting cross-legged on his bed, in shock, holding his fingers up to his lips. Stevie laughed at the memory but realized she was also crying at this point. She sat up in her bed and wiped her eyes. Sam and Stevie had successfully kept that a secret from Josh and Jake this entire time and honestly, she forgot it even happened.

That's why that picture of them in the photo album is so rare. It was one special occasion where Stevie was simply trying to make him feel better. Their history was a lot deeper and more complicated than Stevie could ever admit. Sure, it may have been one-sided for most of their friendship, but she knew what Josh told her a few weeks ago was true. She had a soft spot for him. But now, none of that even mattered.

Stevie thought about "Pearly Queen", and the sight of the destruction that Sam had created. That boat was irreplaceable, and she wasn't sure if she could forgive him for being so careless with something that meant so much to her father. Her dad would've been devastated, but she knew he would be quick to forgive Sam.

It was different for Stevie though. The emotion she felt was so heavy and all she really wanted was to hide in her bed covers and never come out again. However, she knew she needed to do something to keep busy. She got up and went downstairs, putting her shoes on and getting into her car before she could convince herself not to.

Things for Sam were only slightly different compared to Stevie after their fight. He had been riddled with guilt and although Stevie wanted him to leave, he couldn't. He began to panic as soon as he watched her get into her car and leave. He couldn't sleep, he couldn't even eat. He had to at least try to fix what he had ruined.

His brothers kept calling him and he kept ignoring them, directing more of his attention to finding someone who could help him repair the boat. Thankfully, he found someone locally who would be able to do it. It cost more than a new boat, but he knew he couldn't replace the Pearly Queen. Besides, he wasn't sure if Stevie would ever forgive him, but he had to do something. So, he paid extra for the guy to get it done as soon as possible and while the boat was getting work done, Sam was in the house, finishing what Stevie and he hadn't gotten to.

She had talked endlessly with him about her plans for making the lake house her own. She didn't want everything her dad had here to be erased, but if it was going to stay her place, she wanted to make it her own. Stevie still wasn't sure if she wanted to sell it or not, but if she was going to sell it to Sam, she thought it would be good to plan the decor changes with him so he wouldn't change it too much if she went in that direction.

He remembered she wanted the music memorabilia to stay, but her dad's old study was her dream study to work on her writing. She wanted the other bedrooms to be cute and comfortable for when any of them would be staying there. She wanted the decor to be light and comforting, opting for vintage rather than modern.

"The house already has such beautiful fixtures," Stevie said one afternoon when they were cleaning after the twins visited, "but I want more silly little wall hangings and throw pillows and rugs. Very 70's chic, ya know?"

"So, burnt oranges and mustard yellows?" Sam laughed.

"I mean not necessarily. The kitchen has that funky avocado color," Stevie pointed to Sam with a smirk, "I'd like it to be more colorful, honestly."

He nodded and smiled, "Of course, that's much more you."

Sam fluffed a blue and orange bohemian-style throw pillow on the couch and sighed as he thought back to the memory. This was a pillow he picked out and he was a little nervous about whether she'd like it or not. But he wouldn't know until he fixed things.

Sam didn't let himself feel his heartbreak unless he took breaks from working, so he barely did. He moved her dad's music memorabilia to the den and worked on painting the study, making it Stevie's writing space. He got a desk, lined the walls with bookshelves and storage space, and even put the bean bag chair in there for a nice spot to read.

The boat mechanic, Mike was his name, had finished the boat yesterday and Sam was impressed at how it almost looked like the accident never even happened. Sam worked endlessly on getting the lake house put together the way that Stevie wanted it. He wasn't sure if she'd come back to do this herself, but if he knew her the way he thought he did, he wasn't betting on it.

However, this morning he heard tires on the gravel outside and he kicked himself for getting excited that it might be her. When he looked out the kitchen window, he was less than thrilled to find Josh's Jeep there. The twins got out of the car and Sam rounded the corner, throwing the front door open.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" Sam asked and Jake glared at him, "This is what happens when you don't answer our calls, Sam."

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Josh asked, "Stevie told you to go home."

"I know," Sam sighed, "But I can't. I had to do something other than hating myself."

Josh crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows at his little brother, "And what exactly have you been doing?"

Sam looked out to the dock and gestured his head to it, "Fixing the boat."

The twins both looked over at the boat and Josh nodded, "Looks completely normal."

"What happened, Sam?" Jake asked, "What did you do?"

Sam took in a sharp breath and sat on the steps of the house abruptly, "I think it's more helpful to ask what I didn't do."

Tears welled in his eyes and Josh frowned, going and sitting beside him, "Sam, Stevie told me what happened. I think you just need to give her some space."

"I fucked it all up," Sam cried, "Just like I knew I would."

"I don't get it," Josh said, "Things were going in the right direction, Sam. Why'd you run away?"

"I was angry," Sam admitted, "And instead of just talking to her about it, I got drunk."

"Why were you mad?"

"Stevie told Ronnie about the lake house plan," Jake chimed in, "he took it out of context."

"Well, I don't know if it was completely out of context," Sam looked at Jake, "You guys still conspired against me."

"None of this was against you, Sam," Josh sighed, "When are you going to understand that? Stevie just wanted to help you."

"And we know you," Jake crossed his arms too, "We knew you wouldn't come down here if it felt like we were making you."

"Jake's right," Josh said, "It was a dire miscommunication and to tell you the truth, you wanted to help Stevie too."

Sam looked at Josh and thought about that day Stevie brought him the pizza. He thought about the night at Electrick and cringed at how much he acted like a douche, trying to kiss her. But then he focused on everything Stevie did for him. She attacked a stranger trying to hit him, she held his hair back while he repeatedly got sick, and she defended him when he didn't think anyone else would.

Sam smiled softly, realizing that she loved him for a lot longer than they were aware of.

"I don't know why," Jake sighed, "But you and Stevie have always been closer than any of us realized."

Sam held his head in his hands and cried and Josh rubbed his back, "Just give her some time, Sam. She'll come around."

Jake sighed dramatically and walked over to them, sitting on the other side of Sam, grabbing his shoulder, "You can't let her get away. Not again. Not ever."

Sam sniffled, wiping his face and looking questioningly at Jake, "What?"

"I'm serious," Jake said, "You have to make this right. You have to fix things with her. Neither of you will ever get over it otherwise."

"What am I supposed to do?" Sam asked, running his hands through his hair.

"Well, first things first," Josh chuckled, "You have to take a shower. Good lord, Sam, you smell awful."

Jake laughed and reached behind Sam to hit Josh on the back of the head, "Yeah, take a shower. But then, you need to talk to her, man. Stevie's in love with you. All she wants is to be with you. So, go and talk to her about it."

"She doesn't want to talk to me," Sam shook his head, "She never wants to see me again."

"Not true," Josh laughed, "She might have said that but that's so not true. She's angry, rightfully so. But you've gotta do more than fix her dad's boat to make this right, Sam."

Sam looked at Josh and nodded, "Okay."

"Don't worry about us," Jake said, "We'll be out of your hair."

"You just came out here to talk to me?" Sam laughed and Josh punched him lightly, "This could have easily been a phone call, Sam. But we're going home and spending time with Mom and Dad."

"Next time we call you," Jake muttered, "pick up your fucking phone."

Jake shoved him and the three of them laughed together. Sam stood up after pulling both his brothers into a hug and headed inside to shower.

Stevie was nervously tapping her fingers against the service counter at the restaurant, "What do you mean you don't have any shifts? There are always shifts!"

"We're fully staffed this summer, Stevie," her boss sighed, "I'd love to give you those shifts back but we hired college kids to cover for you on your time out."

Stevie sighed deeply and nodded, "No, I understand. Sorry, I'm just stressed out."

"If you want," her boss continued, "You could pick up any shifts that are posted until you come back in August."

Stevie nodded, "Okay, yeah. Thank you."

Stevie left the restaurant and hit her hands against her steering wheel when she was in the privacy of her car. She felt her phone buzz in her pocket, and fished it out, grunting in frustration. When she read the name on her screen attached to a new text message, her stress only skyrocketed. It was Ryan.

"Hey, I have some of your stuff I'd like to return to you. Can we meet?"

Stevie tightened her jaw and let out a deep groan before she unlocked her phone and typed back.

"Drop it off at my house. 8 o'clock."

She threw her phone onto the passenger seat and pulled out of the parking lot, speeding on her way home. The last thing she needed right now was to see Ryan, of all people. But she supposed it was as good a time as any. Might as well add salt to her wounds, right?

When she got back to the house, Stevie couldn't help but let her emotions take over. She sat on the floor of the entryway and let her bag fall off of her shoulder, crying hard. She cracked under the weight of her stress. While she and Sam were never labeled or exclusive, she had wished that he was the ex that she would be seeing tonight. It's not that she couldn't handle seeing Ryan, she just didn't think the stuff that had been missing for months was really important enough for him to return to her. Her heart was shattered, and Ryan did not need to be part of this chapter of her life for any reason at all.

She wanted to talk to Sam. She didn't have words to say to him just yet, but she wanted more than anything for this crippling pain to leave. Had she overreacted? Should she have stayed and tried to work through it with him? She wiped her eyes, grunting loudly with frustration. Of course, she didn't overreact. She reacted just the way anyone would. She knew deep down that she did need space from him. But the longer she waited in the silence and utter loneliness of her house, it became increasingly more difficult to rationalize the space she had wedged between them.

Stevie sniffled, wiping her face with the bottom of her shirt and she stood up slowly, setting her bag on the ground and tossing her keys on the entryway table. She walked into her living room and kneeled in front of her record player, pulling out her copy of Rumors. She put it on and laughed at the irony of the lyrics as "Second Hand News" played softly through her living room.

Stevie then went to her kitchen and poured herself a glass of red wine, taking a deep breath before the liquid met her lips, and sipping it lightly. She set the glass down and decided the best thing to do besides cry was to dance around and try to forget about Sam for the time being. She still had a few hours before Ryan was expected to show up at her house so she danced over to her fridge, swaying her lips to the music as she studied what she could possibly make for dinner.

There wasn't much in the fridge, considering she had been gone for a while and the vegetables she left behind looked so sad, wilted in the crisper drawer. She tossed them in the trash and decided to stick to a tried-and-true sadness staple, paying very little mind to the fact that it was one of the only things available to eat in her pantry.

She made a large pot of instant ramen and sang along to Fleetwood Mac between bites. It paired horribly with her merlot, but she didn't have enough energy to care. She continued to dance and sing while she ate her dinner. She continued to dance and sing when she washed the dishes. And she continued to drink her wine. When she reached up to grab the merlot from the top of the fridge where she kept it, she saw a sticky note hung up on the side of her fridge.

"Sammy was here! :)"

Stevie coughed out of surprise, reaching out to touch the note and she felt her lip quiver, tears immediately welling in her eyes. This was getting ridiculous. She couldn't even keep it together just seeing some stupid note he left her. Many thoughts raced in her mind at that moment. She wanted to rip it down, crumble it, and throw it out. But she didn't. She just pressed her hand against it and left it alone, deciding not to reach for the wine anymore.

The doorbell rang before she could have another crying meltdown, and she jumped at the sound. She glanced at the clock and cursed to herself when she saw that it was already a quarter past eight. Stevie wiped her eyes and walked to the door, taking a deep breath before she opened it to Ryan standing before her.

He had never been to her current house before, as this was the place she got when she moved out of the apartment they shared. It was such a shell shock to see him standing in front of her, clutching a box close to his torso. Stevie slipped out of the house and stood on the doorstep with him, shutting the front door behind her and wrapping her arms around herself.

"Ryan," she said, "You're late."

"I got lost," Ryan said, "It's good to see you."

"Is it?" Stevie asked, rolling her eyes, "Just get this over with."

"Seriously, it is," Ryan said, "Are you okay? You look like you've been crying."

"I'm fine."

"Stevie, come on," Ryan frowned, "You can't seriously hate me forever, can you?"

Stevie laughed, "Actually I can, and I intend to."

Ryan scoffed and jutted the box to her, "Here."

Stevie took the box from him and just as she opened her mouth to tell Ryan to go, she heard a car door slam. She looked out past Ryan and saw the Jeep parked on the street. Sam was storming up to the porch and Stevie could tell he was mad, just by the way his hands were balled into fists by his sides and his jaw was clenched.

Part of her was relieved to see him, but the other part was terrified. He had no idea that Ryan would be here and given what Stevie had shared about Ryan, Sam had every intention to do something irrational right now. But he still was here at her house, with intentions that did not involve Ryan in the slightest. "Sam, please," Stevie started, but before she could say anything else, Ryan turned around and Sam reached him quickly, grabbing him by the shirt and punching him square in the nose.

"Sam!" Stevie shouted, dropping her box and pulling Ryan out of Sam's grasp, "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"What the hell is this, Stevie?" Sam spat, "You're already crawling back to this piece of shit?"

Stevie scoffed and shook her head as Ryan was groaning in pain and holding his nose with his hands, "He just came by to give me some stuff that he still had, Sam. Jesus fucking Christ!"

Ryan hissed in pain, turning to Stevie, "I should get going."

"I'm sorry," Stevie sighed, "But you kind of deserve it, prick."

Sam stepped out of Ryan's way as he headed out towards his car and Sam bit his lip, shoving his hands in his pockets as he stood before Stevie, who had shifted her weight to one of her hips and wrapped her arms around herself again.

She tried her best to keep a straight face, not wanting to laugh at the fact that Sam just decked her ex-boyfriend in the nose, reminding herself that even though she was glad she was looking at him again, she was still angry with him.

"What are you doing here, Sam?" she sighed, "I thought I made things pretty clear."

"Okay," Sam frowned, "But I didn't."

"What are you talking about? Why are you driving Josh's car?" Stevie questioned, scoffing at the thought and Sam shook his head, reaching a hand out to her. She dodged his touch, and he took a step back, inhaling deeply.

"Stevie, I know I messed up," Sam said, and she laughed, "Messed up? That's one way to put it."

"I know I royally fucked up and destroyed your dad's boat and broke your heart, Stevie," Sam continued, "But we can't leave it the way we left it."

"We can," Stevie nodded, "And we should."

"No," Sam said sharply, "We shouldn't. We can't. I can't."

"Sam, I can't trust you," Stevie sighed, "I can't just pretend that you didn't do something that is borderline unforgivable."

"I panicked, Steve," Sam whined, and Stevie met his eyes as she heard the break in his voice, "I should have talked to you instead of just taking off and I'm so sorry."

"What did you expect? That I was just going to forgive you, and everything would be okay?" Stevie laughed lightly, "I am pissed as hell, Sam. Do you think I wanted to leave? Of course, I didn't want to leave but my dad's boat is something I can't get back, Sam. What am I supposed to think when you can't have a mature conversation with me before you go off the deep end?"

"You can have a mature conversation with me," Sam counter-argued and Stevie shook her head, "No I can't! You always jump to conclusions! Like you literally just did by assaulting someone!"

"That's not fair, Stevie," Sam shook his head, "I reacted because of what he put you through."

"Yes, and that's the thing," Stevie groaned, "You always react! You never think before you do! You seriously thought I'd go back to Ryan less than two weeks after I was with you? You don't know me at all, Sam!"

"I do know you," Sam grits his teeth, "I know you better than I know anyone."

She rolled her eyes and sighed but before she could rebuttal, Sam continued, "I know that you probably tried to go back to work to not think about it. I know you'd rather find anything to do to take your mind off of your hurt, Stevie. I know that you've been thinking about me just as much as I've been thinking about you."

Stevie bit the inside of her cheek, trying to find an argument but sighing because he was right.

"I know that you've always put me above yourself, even though I've never deserved it," Sam said, "Even when you tried not to. You've always loved me, without even realizing it, you have always loved me. And I've always loved you. That's not something that will change."

"This will never work, Sam," Stevie shook her head, tears pricking her eyes, "I knew it would never work."

"It won't if you give up," Sam's voice was quiet then. He stepped closer to her and she looked away from him, "I can't keep being the only thing that keeps you grounded, Sam. It's too much pressure."

"I know," Sam sighed, grabbing her arm, "You're not."

"I am," Stevie cried, "Whether you have a good or bad day is completely dependent on me. You can't only want to get better for me, you have to do it for yourself."

"I do want to get better for me," Sam argued, "I want to go back on tour. I want to get that passion back. But I want you back just as much."

"Sam," Stevie sniffled, "It's way too complicated for me. It shouldn't be this hard."

"It's not hard!" Sam exclaimed, "I'm the one making it hard, Stevie! But I can't let it go. I won't let you go."

Stevie's tears fell faster, and she shook her head, "You have to let go, Sam. Don't make this harder than it already is."

"Stevie, I'm not walking away," Sam pulled her closer to him and she felt so defeated that she didn't even try to stop him, "I know you can't walk away either."

Stevie finally met his eyes and a shaky breath left her lips. Sam took her face in his hands and moved in fast to kiss her softly. Stevie could sense the nerves radiating from Sam, not entirely sure if he should be kissing her. However, it was exactly what Stevie wanted him to do even if she had been telling him the exact opposite.

Sam went to pull away, trying to gauge her reaction. Stevie stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him back in and kissing him harder. Sam hummed against her and held onto her hips. He kicked the box to the side and pressed Stevie up against the door. She whimpered into his mouth and Sam moved his lips to the crook of her neck as one of Stevie's hands flew behind them, trying to get the front door open.

Sam chuckled and reached past her to open the door for her, pushing her inside. Stevie held onto his shirt, desperately needing them to have more contact. Sam smiled and kicked the door closed behind them. His hands found their way to the back of her thighs, lifting her up and guiding her to wrap her legs around his torso.

Maybe it was the anger building up for over a week, or the intense longing, but Stevie was consumed by the moment when their lips met again. She didn't think about their fight, she didn't think about Ryan, she didn't think about anything other than the feeling of their skin touching, their lips moving against each other roughly, the way his hair was twisted in her fingers.

Sam stumbled through the house, tossing Stevie down on her sofa and she yelped, smiling up at him. Stevie knew they still had plenty of things to figure out, but she didn't want to think about anything other than how badly she wanted him.

Her record had stopped playing and her empty glass was still on the table so there wasn't any other sound in the room. Sam crawled over her and he didn't waste any time nuzzling his hands underneath her t-shirt. Stevie worked just as fast, not letting herself hesitate and change her mind about what she was doing. Within seconds, they were both topless and making out again.

Stevie was very much taking her frustration out on Sam, fighting him with her mouth. They were both just as desperate and eager as they were the first time they had sex, which helped Stevie escape the current reality they were living in. They were racing each other to get one another out of their clothes and thankfully, Sam was wearing athletic shorts and Stevie was wearing jeans, so in this race, she was winning.

Even as Sam was tugging her jeans off of her, Stevie couldn't keep her hands off of him, licking her palm and stroking his dick slowly. Sam hissed at the feeling and shook his head as he tossed her jeans on the floor.

"You're such trouble," Sam smirked and parted her legs with his hands, bringing her ankles up to his shoulders.

Stevie gasped in surprise, "Oh fuck."

Sam bit his lip and stopped wasting time, lifting her hips with his hands and settling on his knees. He lined himself up with her and dragged the tip of his dick through her folds, teasing her clit a few times making her sigh in pleasure. He twitched a little at the way Stevie was watching what he was doing, the way she was admiring the sight and the way her lip was caught between her teeth, anticipating him.

Sam's free hand reached up to Stevie's chest, grabbing a handful of her breasts before driving himself into her. Stevie's eyes fluttered shut, uncontrollably letting herself be louder with him than she had been before. He hugged her legs against his chest and moved his hand from her chest to her neck, squeezing around it a little tighter than he ever had.

They both were buzzing with anticipation, feeling the effects of their time apart. Compared to any other times they had been intimate with each other, Sam was hardly as careful, fucking himself into her much harder and quicker than before. Stevie didn't care much about this as her mind was completely clouded by how euphoric it felt and how much she wanted it to continue.

It was surprisingly hot how little he seemed to care about her finishing before him, chasing his own peak at a rapid pace. Stevie just needed the contact, already feeling herself climb to her climax as she listened to Sam groan with each thrust. She reached out to him, holding his legs and digging her fingers into him.

Usually, Stevie never waivered from talking him through sex and sporting a smug tone, but she was so overwhelmed by him that she could only moan pathetically in response to what he was doing. She was gawking at Sam who was covered in a light sheen of sweat due to his efforts. She hadn't seen him so lustful before and the view made her stomach tie in knots.

"Holy shit, Sam," Stevie sighed, "Keep going."

"Fuck," Sam grunted, "I missed you, baby."

"Use me like you need me, honey," Stevie spoke softly and Sam's grip on her legs tightened, thrusting into her faster.

He bit his lip, groaning deeply, and after a moment of this new pace, he pulled himself away from her, letting his grip on her go and standing up, pumping himself in his hand. He walked over to the edge of the sofa where her face was.

"Open your mouth," Sam instructed, and she smiled, following suit.

A hot stream of Sam's come shot into her mouth and she sucked on his tip playfully, licking him clean and swallowing with a smile. Sam's mouth was parted and his eyes were hooded as she watched her in awe, hissing lightly as she pulled her mouth away from him.

"God," Sam smiled, "You're the most amazing woman I've ever known."

Stevie laughed and sat up, grabbing his shorts and throwing them at him, "Get dressed!"

Sam rolled his eyes, catching his shorts and Stevie stood up too, working on putting her own clothes on. The gloomy and serious feelings of their harsh reality came back to her, but she was shoving it down and still holding onto the joy she felt being in his presence.

"If we're going to do this, Sam," Stevie finally broke their silence as she pulled her shirt on, "Things are going to have to change."

"But we're doing this?" Sam asked with eager eyes and Stevie lifted her head to look at him, "If things change."

He smiled and nodded, "They will, I'll make sure of it." "I'm serious," Stevie sighed, shimmying her way back into her jeans, "I love you but I can't fix you."

"I know, Stevie," Sam tugged his shirt on, "I know I need to make changes, and anything is worth keeping you."

"What changes exactly?" Stevie questioned, raising a brow and sporting a small smile.

Sam pursed his lips together and hummed, "Well, I need to work on communicating with you and being honest about my feelings."

Stevie buttoned her jeans together and nodded, "Go on."

"I also think it's important that I stop drinking," Sam admitted with a shrug and Stevie looked at him hesitantly, "Like quit drinking completely?"

He nodded without another word and Stevie nodded too, "Well, if you seriously want to do that, I'll do it with you."

Sam gave her a knowing look, "You know you don't have to do that."

"I know," Stevie smiled, "But we could do it together."

Sam smiled and came closer to her, taking her hand and intertwining his fingers with hers, "I'll do anything to be with you."

"I think those things are a good start," Stevie said, leaning into him.

"I love you," Sam whispered, kissing the top of her head.

"I love you too," Stevie looked up at him with a smile.

"Does this make us official?"

She bit her lip and smirked, "I mean, I only want to be with you, Sam."

Sam tilted her chin farther up with his hand and sealed their deal with another kiss.

Tag list:

@fleetingjake

[shadowwolfmemes]

you know how your character liana is happy-go-lucky right? Is there anything that hurts her physically or emotionally? or was her life perfect all the time?

That's a good question, Anon. I never thought anyone would ever ask this, though. I'm glad it's you.

⚠Fair warning, there will be a description of self-harm. Be warned.⚠

So you see, Liana appears to be happy and bubbly all the time, but that's only the surface of her life. Her life was never perfect from the very beginning, even after mysteriously turning into a lycanthrope.

During her late teens, Liana had family issues. It mostly revolved around her dad having heated arguments with his mother and sister. Sometimes, it came to the point where it revolved around mild violence.

When Liana turned into a lycanthrope at age 17, she didn't realize how horrible lycans get treated until she willingly got transported to boot camp and got herself a job at the military police force at age 18.

Liana would constantly get dirty looks from strangers every time she walks on the streets, but that wasn't the worst she's experienced. As time passes on, the treatment worsens.

It came to the point where it's harassment. Liana would constantly get death threats or have people come up to her and try to physically hurt her in many ways by humans.

Humans would also say things that aren't entirely true about not only her, but lycanthropes as a whole:

"Lycanthropes are horrible, bloodthirsty beasts that will kill without reason or remorse. They don't have morals like we do."

"Lycans should be locked away in a zoo like the dirty animals they are. They shouldn't roam around in society carefree because they're completely dangerous."

Something like that, but sometimes worse. Whenever Liana vents to a random stranger or tell someone she has gone through these complications, some would simply brush it off like it's nothing serious.

What pisses Liana off the most is when someone puts their life problems above hers like what she's going through isn't as important as theirs. When you say there are bigger problems in the world whenever Liana vents, she'll get pissed off right off the bat and rightfully so.

And what makes it worse is how belittling a few people are.

"You're happy all the time, so there's no way you have problems in life."

"You have people who care about you and you have a perfectly normal life, so how are you depressed?"

Yes, people actually said stuff like that to her. All Liana wanted was to be understood by others and have them sympathize with her when she most definitely needs it. Human or not, she's a sentient being, too.

So you see, Anon, Liana's life isn't all bright and perfect because guess what?

There's no such thing as a perfect life!

The reason why she's so cheerful now is because Liana wants to be one of the positive changes in the world, even if it's just a tiny little speck. That tiny sliver of light in the darkness. It worked for some time, but it can only help her through so much before she reaches her breaking point.

Believe it or not, Liana would have break-downs in the comfort of her own home so that nobody is watching her punch holes in the walls and sob loudly due to the amount of times she's been harassed.

Sometimes, she would harm herself by clawing off only the surface of her skin due to high levels of emotional stress. It happens whenever life is too much for her to handle and Liana feels like nobody is there to tell her that everything will be alright.

Of course, Liana has her moments in life because she's not perfect like Mary Sue. (Mind you, she hates Mary Sues because there needs to be some flaws to balance the character out and Mary Sue is way too perfect for my liking. It'd be mindful if you don't call her one. Not gonna lie, I highly dislike Mary Sues, so I try my very best to avoid creating one. 😓)

With that being said, I hope this satisfies your curiosity of Liana's somewhat hidden angsty side.

[geeky-politics-46]

You Belong To Me - Part 4

Smut - Explicit content - NSFW - 18+ only!

Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3 of "You Belong To Me"

Pairing: Sinister Stephen Strange x Reader, Stephen Strange x Reader

Summary: Sinister makes sure you feel at home in your new universe in very intimate ways & Stephen learns an important revelation as the others make a plan to rescue you.

Warnings: Smut (NSFW) - 18+ ONLY - fingering, dubious consent, deception, manipulation, breeding kink, vaginal sex, unprotected sex, dirty talk, pet names, lactation kink, cum play, jealousy, language, toxic relationship, kinda cheating?, lying, mention of potential pregnancy complications (mild), canon level violence.

In case you didn't hear, there will now be 5 parts to this story so this ends on a cliffhanger! Thanks to a very long filthy opening section. Corrections will be made as I find them.

You stood in one of the arches of the crumbling Sanctum staring out the window across the room. You walked over & ran your hand down the pane of glass. Somehow it wasn't broken. Or perhaps he had fixed it. He had been trying to fix various bits of the Sanctum since you arrived. Making the place more habitable. Warmer & safer for you & the babies when they came. 

He didn't want you to leave the Sanctum, even with him there. At least not for now. The risks of someone coming, trying to take you back to your universe, was too great & he couldn't protect you outside the Sanctum walls. Not that there was much to do in this universe. There were no other people, besides you & Stephen, & many of the buildings & surroundings were in a half destroyed state.

The weather was the same as it always was in this universe. Dreary. You didn't miss the sunlight or oppressive heat, you did miss the rain though & storms. You missed people watching too. The silence was somewhat refreshing. You didn't miss the horns & the construction at all, nor the sounds of people. You did miss the birds. 

You felt his arms slide around your waist before coming to rest on your pregnant belly & a series of soft kisses landed down your neck before his chin came to rest on your shoulder. It still felt a little different. You had convinced him to trim the goatee a little. Even he admitted it felt better, although according to him having you there he felt like a brand new man altogether. 

He felt... happy. For the first time in years. He couldn't even remember how long. He hated seeing you long for things that you could no longer have though. Things you had left behind for him. He swore he would figure out a way to give you that world back or to fix this one for you. 

"I'm sorry this poor excuse of a world is what I can provide for you my love. I promise I have a plan to give you more. To create the most perfect paradise for us. One where we will be safe for eternity. It will take a little time though. In the meantime I can't say that I don't love having you all to myself else every moment of every day."

"I'm also sorry that now, because of him," the last word coming out as a growl, "I couldn't wait until after the babies were born to bring you here."

You reached up to cradle his face in one hand & put your other hand over his on your belly. For a guy who seemed to strike so much fear into Wanda, Wong, & the other Stephen this man seemed like a teddy bear to you in these moments when he was vulnerable. Like a little lost puppy who had been shown love & compassion for the first time. You turned your face into his & nuzzled your nose into his cheek before placing a few kisses there.

"I love you my darling. All that matters is you are here with me & that our babies are safe. I know you will protect us. We don't need frills & material things as long as we have our little family. I would rather burn that world to the ground than be back there with him, with her. After what they did. Perhaps we can do that together? A little date night before the babies arrive. Besides, I think you like being able to fuck me on any surface of this place at any hour as many times as you want without interruption. Why would you want to go changing that?" 

You started to sway your hips side to side softly rubbing against his groin. He could feel your lips curl into a mischievous smile. Part of what had attracted him to you in the first place was your wicked side. The other Stephen hadn't even realized your devilish potential, both in & out of bed, but he had. All it took was a little corrupting influence & you became quite a little hellcat. His little hellcat, his naughty kitten.

"Sounds like you might like that part of this universe too. My naughty little kitten likes being able to get fucked anywhere at any time. Especially since you are trying to get me hard rubbing against me like that. All you have to do is ask & I will happily make my pretty life wife scream in pleasure. Does my kitten want to play? Hmm? Does mommy want daddy to make her feel good?" 

His voice now getting gravely as held your belly a little firmer & pressed his hips forward into yours. The 2 of you had been practically insatiable for each other since you arrived here. You knew it was partly pregnancy hormones, but it was partly because of how special he made you feel. His devotion to you, to pleasuring you, was almost overwhelming but fuck if it didn't make you feel incredible. 

You knew he had a dark side. In the back of your mind a small voice told you that you should be afraid of him. That you should be afraid of this place. That he had probably used some unsavory methods to lure you to him like a cat to catnip. In these moments though, when he made your skin feel electric & your brain short-circuit, you really couldn't give a flying fuck. You wanted to ask him, to confront him about what tricks he pulled, but the second his lips or tongue were on your skin you got amnesia & it all felt fine again.

You hummed in agreement as you felt him starting to gather the bottom half of your dress up in his hands. The soft fabric tickled as it slid up your legs, stopping just as it crested above your knees. You knew was waiting for you to answer him. He loved hearing you beg for him to do naughty things to you, loved hearing how much you wanted & needed him.

"Yes please, daddy. Make me feel good. Show me you own me Stephen. That I'm your good little wife. Wanna make you feel good too. Use my little pussy baby. Wherever you want. Whenever you want."

"That's my good girl." He purred his praise in your ear as he finished pulling your dress up to your waist. You ass & pussy now bare to since you saw no reason to wear underwear anymore. They just slowed you down & got in the way, whether you two were getting frisky, or one of the babies decided your bladder was a trampoline. 

He started licking behind your ear before placing small kisses on the shell of it. You could hear & feel as his breathing sped up. You tilted your head to the side to grant him better access. He bit your earlobe in approval before sucking on it. Once more he ran his nimble tongue up the outer edge of your entire ear. Following every curve & divet, making a show of following your anatomy. He placed several small kisses from your temple to the tragus of your ear. Barely pulling his lips away from your flesh he whispered directly into your ear, giving you goosebumps.

"I think I should fuck you right here against this window, don't you? Not that there is anyone to watch, but imagine if there were. Imagine if they could see me fucking my pretty perfect wife. See how beautiful you look writhing on my cock. Imagine how jealous they would be. Knowing that I'm the one who put those babies in you. That I'm the only one who gets to fill you all full of my cum".

One hand rubbing circles on your pregnant belly & the other moving down to dip between your legs. Moaning against your neck when he ran his long fingers over your slit, feeling how wet & warm you were, before coming back up to tease your clit. 

Your mouth falling open & you gasped at the feeling of his delicate light touch in contrast to his harsh nipping & sucking at your neck. The hand you had on his cheek now gripping the hair at the nape of his neck. Pulling harder when he found the particular spot on your clit he knew you loved. Your other hand grabbing at your top to pull it down & expose your engorged breasts before starting to tug lightly at one nipple then the other. 

"Of course if they were to see you like that, I'd have to pluck their eyes clean from their skulls. Only I get to see my sweet wife being a dirty little slut. Isn't that right kitten? Let me hear you purr, just for me." 

He suddenly brought his hands up to the top of your dress & ripped the fabric down the middle. It took several tugs to tear all the way through the dress but he did it fairly effortlessly. You let the fabric fall from your body & turned to face him. Sliding your hands up the lapels of his robes letting his eyes rove up & down your body.

You shook your head and tutted at him, teasing him a little as you let your hands trail down to rub at the bulge growing in his robes. You kissed him lightly as you slid your hand into his pants & started stroking his cock. Quite literally purring when you felt his warm member throb under your welcome touch.

"So possessive Stephen. You should let them watch. Let them see how much I want you & only you. You know only you can satisfy me, & fill me. Only you can do this to me." 

You brought one of his hands back & placed it on your bump. Smiling as you gazed at him. The flash of a sweet smirk & pure love showing through that briefly reminded you of the other Stephen. Your heart still aching at the thought of him cheating on you with Christine. To clear the thought from your head you gripped the base of his cock tighter making him growl & the sweetness in his eyes turn back to lust. He could immediately tell where your mind had gone at the change in your touch.

"Don't think about him, my love. Just let me fuck him out of your mind. If he even dares to think about darkening our doorstep I will make him regret the day he even breathed in her direction. No one could ever compare to you. Come let me sit you up on the piano & devour that beautiful pussy. Let me make my wife, my beautiful queen & the mother of my babies, cum all over my face. Let me worship you kitten."

You moaned against his mouth as you slid your hand out of his pants & up around his neck. Letting him lead you backwards toward the grand piano before lifting you up & setting you on the very edge. You leaned back slightly & braced yourself with your hands as you watched him pull back the bench. He had left your legs hanging down over the keys so he could sit on the bench as if he was going to play a brilliant concerto. In his mind he essentially was, only he was playing it on your body not the piano. 

He flipped the bottom of his robes out of the way with an extra flourish as he eyed you. He slid his palms up your shins & put your feet to his chest, admiring every inch of flesh he touched. As his hands hit the tops of your knees you let your index finger trail over the black & purple wedding band that matched the one you wore. Sighing softly at the thought that the man about to take you apart was your husband. You looked in his eyes & mouthed a quiet "I love you Stephen."

He kissed one kneecap & then the other whispering "I love you too. My beautiful wife". He was still in somewhat disbelief that his plan to make you his had worked out so well. Sure he had to fool you into thinking that the other version of him cheated on you, hurting you in the process, but here you were. You loved him too. You really loved him. You had said it yourself, & you didn't just love 'Stephen Strange'. You loved him, & he worshiped the ground you walked on. 

His rough palms moved to slide down the inside of your legs displaying your glistening pussy for him. He placed the arches of your feet over his broad shoulders so you were spread wide for him.  He couldn't refrain from licking his lips at the sight of you. You were his favorite treat. 

He ran his hands up toward your core as he started placing open mouthed kisses on the soft flesh of your inner thighs. Slowly bringing his face closer to your cunt. Taking the time to feel each time the muscles in your legs involuntarily contracted at his touch.

Once his long fingers had settled at the crease of your hips so he could gently massage your pubic mound, he used his thumbs to stroke your flushed pussy lips up & down. Feeling your wetness continue to grow & leak from you  as he toyed with you. He groaned to himself when he stopped to pull your lips apart & open your warm pink walls to him further. 

Watching as you hole clenched at the feel of his breath on you. Your hips starting to rock back & forth as you began  to whine for more contact. He was a little conflicted at the sound of your pleas. On one hand he wanted to tease you more, & hear all the little needy sounds you would make for him. On the other hand, his cock was already so hard it was painful & he needed to taste you before he fucked you.

"Stephen, please. I need you."

With that request he flattened his tongue & licked the entirety of your pussy. From your entrance to your clit. He made sure to get as much of you with that first lick as he possibly could without looking away from your eyes. A wanton ragged moan was pulled from your chest as he punctuated that first lick with a small suck of your clit. Smiling devilishly as he pulled his mouth away. 

He stayed close enough to place light licks & gentle kisses at random on your pussy. Making sure to surprise you by occasionally swirling his tongue over your clit. Each time making you jump & whimper in pleasure.

"Is this what you want, kitten? My mouth on your pussy? She tastes so good. So sweet." 

He moaned as he took another wide long lick up your pussy before you could say anything to answer. Not that you could form words anyway. He was so very good at leaving you speechless when he did the most sinful things to your body.

He licked at you over & over leaving as much saliva on you as he could before he began sucking at your clit. Pulling his mouth away then sucking you back in. The small wet sucking pops his mouth made almost echoing off the walls & vaulted ceiling. 

"What about my fingers darling? Should I stretch your tight little hole open on them? Would you like that?" 

His index finger was already busy stroking the very bottom of your entrance. Again he wasn't planning on waiting for a response. He slid it inside you before quickly adding another to his assault. Once he could hear the wet squelching of his fingers thrusting into your cunt over the sound of his mouth on you he turned his palm upward & added a third finger. Making sure to crook them at the angle he knew would make you cum the hardest. 

By now your legs were no longer sitting on his shoulders, but held in the air as wide as you could manage while still supporting yourself with one arm. It wasn't the most comfortable position but it had him hitting all the right spots & giving him as much access to your tender cunt as possible. A huge mirror that was hung on the wall across the room capturing the debauched image of the two of you. 

As the fire in your belly started to build you grabbed his hair with both hands. You could feel his smile as he moved one arm around your waist to keep you from falling off the piano into his lap. He let you grind his face against your pussy however you wanted. His mouth moved with even more fervor the harder you pulled at his hair. He loved letting you use his mouth like this as he fingerfucked you. 

He loved letting you use him for your pleasure, so he let you set the pace. He matched the speed of his fingers to the speed you set for his mouth. Quickly letting the ball of energy build in the pit of your stomach right up to the point of boiling over. Right as he felt you about to spiral into orgasm he began shaking his head back & forth as he worked his mouth over every part of you he could reach. Sending a vibration rattling through you & pulling the last string needed to unravel you.

You came with a guttural groan that echoed through the whole Sanctum. Bucking hard against his face as he held onto you. Continuing to lick & at suck at you as you slowly came down from your high. He made sure not to waste a drop of your nectar, drinking you in like a man deprived of water. 

Once your movements had settled into shudders & whimpers he began kissing up your body as he started stripping himself of his robes. The sight of him disrobing renewing your hunger for him. 

When he reached your breasts he pulled back & began to study your chest. At some point during his play with you, your breasts had started to leak. It was far enough in your pregnancy you were starting to produce milk & the oxytocin release from your orgasm must have triggered a milk let-down.

He was hypnotized as he watched the liquid slowly trickling from your nipples. A lust heavy moan tore from him at the sight. Stopping his movements just shy of pushing down his pants. His throbbing cock had to wait a moment longer so he could enjoy your body, & it's new reflex, just a little bit more.

"Oh kitten, look at that. Look at your pretty little nipples starting to leak milk. Just when I thought you couldn't make me crave you more. Such a good mommy already." 

He slid his hands up your ribcage to the outer edges of your swollen engorged breasts. Glancing up at you to make sure you weren't too sensitive as he squeezed your breasts together & ran the pads of his thumbs over both nipples. It stimulated a few more drops to pool & drip downward. You could tell by the look on his face exactly what he wanted, & when he looked at your body with such reverence you couldn't say no to him.

"Does daddy want a taste? Does daddy want some of mommy's milk first? Daddy's the one that helped put it there after all. They're Daddy's titties too."

You brought his face up to kiss him & running your fingers through his hair, putting on your biggest doe eyes & saying those words as sweetly as possible. What he wanted was a new incredibly intimate gesture. You wanted to assure him & his desire. 

His eyes were closed & he melted into your lips. He loved that you could read his body. He practically whimpered as you asked him. You knew he secretly hid a very needy side.

You sat up further & let your hands fall down his chest to his undone pants. Passionately kissing him, letting your tongue lick at his lips as you finished pushing his pants down. Smiling as he gasped when his cock finally sprung free. You gripped him in one hand & stroked him a few times, using a firm enough grasp to let a few drops of pre-cum gather at his slit. 

You collected it on your fingers as you cooed against his lips, "Take me to bed daddy & you can have all the milk you want." You then licked & sucked the pre-cum from your fingers moaning at the taste of him. 

With a wave of a single hand you felt the soft bed materialize underneath you, propped up by several pillows, & your lover's body carefully lowered down against yours. Arching your back as you felt his long hard shaft sliding through your soaked folds.

He immediately started lapping at one nipple then the other. Cleaning up what had already leaked from you. Then he wrapped his lips around one of them & began sucking lightly, moaning when the warm liquid started to flow on his tongue. 

After a minute or two of suckling on one breast he switched to the other. Looking thoroughly drunk when he finally had his fill. He buried his face in your neck & began nipping & sucking at your ear letting you hold him close. 

"Kitten, I love you so much. Every inch of you is perfection. Your pussy was fucking made for me. The moment these babies are out of you I'm filling you up full again. Tell me how badly you need my cock kitten. Beg for my cock."

He had positioned himself at your entrance & so the head of his cock pressed right where you needed him but he didn't push into you. He added just enough pressure to tease you, but you could tell by the fact he was frantically starting to rut against you faster that he was getting desperate. So were you, & your hips started to move to meet his. Each thrust letting him start to slip into you little by little.

"Please Stephen. Fuck me, make love to me. You make me feel so good. I can't believe I ever did without you. Fuck me daddy."

He let himself slide into your fully at your plea. Both of you moaning into each other's mouths, before biting at each other's lips. Your foreheads pressed together as he started to frantically thrust into you. 

He fucked you fast but made sure he wasn't too rough with you being as far along as you were. You both watched as his long hard cock sank into your swollen pussy glistening with your arousal as he pulled out only to thrust back. Watching your pregnant body take his cock was quickly pushing him toward climax. 

"Can I cum on your beautiful breasts kitten? Please let me cum on your tits & your belly. Want to see you marked with me inside & out." 

He rambled his request against your lips. Moving down to kiss & suck on your breasts while he waited for your answer. Smiling at the whining noise you made when he flicked his tongue fast against your nipple.

"Yes daddy, however you want. Cum on my belly, my breasts, my face. Wherever you want, baby."

A few more thrusts & he pulled out. He started rubbing your clit with one hand & rapidly fucking into his other fist. Watching your face contort with pleasure from his touch as you pressed your breasts together for him. Presenting your body to him. 

"Cum for me kitten. I wanna cum on you as you cum. I know you're close. Listen to your pretty little purrs. Fuck I'm gonna cum so hard, there's gonna be so much. After I paint you you can lick it up like a good little kitten if you want."

The thought of him marking you like that made you cum hard, writhing underneath him & crying out his name. He growled as he gripped himself hard & cum started streaming from his cock. Streak after streak, stretching from your belly to your breasts. A couple ropes even spurted up to your chin & mouth. You happily licked up any that landed on your lips. 

He milked every drop from himself, letting his cock cum to rest on your swollen belly. He leaned back admiring your form as he used the hand he had used on himself to spread his seed across your chest & belly. He wished he had a camera.

"I think you like seeing me like this. Covered in my husband's cum. I like it too. I like being your little cum covered wife. I love you Stephen."

He leaned down to kiss you as you rambled in blissed out exhaustion. He marveled at how enraptured he was with his sweet dirty wife. The object of his every desire. Perfect in every way. Your eyelids were growing heavy & you were starting to drift in & out. He conjured a warm wet cloth & cleaned both of you up before tucking you under the covers with a pillow supporting your belly & him cuddled in behind you. 

"I hope you know I will do anything for you my love. I would kill, I would steal. Anything. Anything to make you happy. Anything to keep you safe my darling wife. I will take that universe for us. Let him live in this crumbling place, we deserve that world. That future. The 4 of us."

--------------------------------

Stephen sat up bolt upright in his bed. He had been dreaming of you again. Of the two of you in the throes of passion. Of his hands & lips on you. Of him inside you. He despised those dreams. 

There were no words for how much he despised those dreams, because now he had learned that they weren't just dreams. They were a look through the eyes of a variant of himself. More often than not it was the variant that had taken you from him, & he missed you so much his heart actually hurt. 

Sometimes when he woke he swore he could still taste you on his tongue & feel your legs wrapped around his waist. He could still hear the little noises you made each time he thrust into you, warm & wet, & it tore him apart all over again. Especially as he watched your pregnant belly grow bigger. Even if he wasn't the biological father, he desperately wanted to be. Wanted to raise them with you. Anger & heartbreak hitting him like a tsunami.

He picked up the glass on the nightstand next to his bed & downed its contents. It looked like water, but a quick whiff of the substance would reveal the glasses' true contents. He winced at the burn in his throat & threw the now empty glass against the wall shattering it to pieces. It made him feel better seeing the fragile crystal shattering as it hit the rich dark wood, even if it was only marginally & momentarily. 

The Cloak of Levitation came running in, if it could even be called running, at the sound to make sure its master was unharmed. It's collar dropped in sadness when it realized the reason for the crash. 

Strange buried his face in his hands, the shaking in them had gotten worse again since you had been gone. He let out a few tears & muffled sobs before sniffling & moving to get up from the bed. Shaking his head to clear the emotion visible on his face. Snapping at the sentient garment, "I'm fine."

He went to the bathroom & the dark aura that he now bore followed him as he moved. The cloak sagged at the new attitude the sorcerer carried. Even it knew that he was treading on tenuous ground at what he would do to get you back.

In the library Wanda, Wong, & America had been working non-stop trying to formulate a plan. What Stephen was unaware of was that during the daily walks she had made you take, Wanda had planted a small failsafe mechanism in your mind in the event you fell prey to the variant's manipulation.

It allowed her to mentally keep tabs on your location, even once you had moved universes. She knew exactly where you were, & whether or not you & the babies were safe. She had kept Wong in the loop since you disappeared, but until they knew how exactly to get you back they didn't want to tell Stephen & have him go on multiversal breaking rampage.

They also shared in the knowledge that one of the babies you carried did in fact belong to this Stephen. They were saving that fact for a key moment. To give him something extra to fight for. They knew the knowledge of the true origin of your pregnancy was what shattered him. They were hoping that this knowledge would help put him back together. 

They would go to the Sanctum in the universe with that sinister version of Strange, they knew that was where you would both be. It was where he would be the most powerful & in control. As Wanda worked to pull your mind free of his manipulation, Wong & Stephen would fight the variant of Strange. America's job was to get the book & destroy it. Without it his hold on you would be easier to break.

America was the one who would get them to you since she was the one who could open the multiversal portal. The question was could it be done with just the 4 of them? Bruce & Tony weren't comfortable with any of the non-magical Avengers going. So that ruled out the 2 of them, Steve, Bucky, Nat, Clint, Rhodey, & Sam. Scott wasn't sure how the multiverse would compare to the quantum realm or affect the power in the Pym particles. So that took him out too. They decided it would be too dangerous for Peter to help either.

Vision & Thor were the only 2 left who could serve as backup. Since Vision had the mind stone & was an android they figured he was safe, & he had some knowledge of the multiverse. As a god who was used to traveling by the Bifrost they figured he had a hearty enough constitution to handle it. America would only bring them if they were out of other options. 

As Stephen came storming out of his bedroom he strode right past them without casting a glance. America turned to greet him as he walked right past leaving her mouth hanging open & a hurt look in her eyes.

Wanda reached out to console her, rubbing her back with one hand & using the other to steer her back to where Wong was still standing.

"Leave him be. He dreamed of her again, I can sense it." 

Wong grimaced & hummed in agreement with Wanda before voicing the obvious. It wasn't worth a fight right now. They were close to having their plan ready. They would need him later & they should save his patience.

"The dreams seem to be what's upsetting him the most. He's always the worst in the morning."

Wanda pursed her lips together. She couldn't exactly blame Stephen. God only knows what she would do if she found herself in the same situation. She imagined the hurt & anger would be unbearable.

"If you saw the kind of dreams he's having, the things he's seeing, you wouldn't blame him. Trust me."

By the end of the day they had set the rest of their plan. It would be up to Wanda to untangle your mind, but first they had to get that ring off of you. Wong had determined that it was what had acted as a shield against her magic. What would happen to your captor would be decided by his own actions. Now they had to rally Stephen. 

They found him where he practically lived now, in the library. Going book by book, he was leaving no page unturned. No spell unconsidered. Even the ones he knew he was treading dangerously to entertain. Every painful dream of his other self's hands on you & cock inside you driving him closer to using them. 

He rounded a corner & found the 3 of them waiting for him around a table covered in books & empty bottles. 

"What? I'm busy."

"We have a plan & we need you." Wanda made an appeal to his emotion. "She needs you, & they need you." 

"In case you forgot, they aren't mine." His eyes flashed in hurt & anger. His voice caught in his throat as he spoke. 

It was Wong's turn to take over the conversation. That way if Stephen started yelling it was at him, not America or Wanda. Especially now that they had to tell him the part that would really hurt.

"Strange, we learned something else, we were wrong. One of the babies is his, but one of them is yours. That's why they were growing unevenly. Only one of them was, is, being aided by his dark magic."

"What? You're lying. She said… that's not what she told me, when she… when he took her." 

He wasn't so much accusing Wong of lying so much as praying that you were. If one of the babies was his then that meant maybe he could still get to you, maybe he could still get you to come home willingly. It would mean he still had a tether to you. You still had a tether to this universe. It would be much easier for them to undo whatever he did.

"We think, we're pretty sure, she just said that to hurt you. Whatever thoughts he has been planting in her head to get her to leave willingly, he was also trying to turn her against you. To break her trust in you. It would only make sense she would lash out if he made her believe… that." 

Wong knew better than to mention the thing you accused him of, what you were sure he had done. He & Wanda had come in just to hear you scream at him that he had slept with Christine in your shared bed. They both knew he hadn't & he never would, but you were under the influence of dark magic. 

Stephen began pacing back & forth as he ran his hands down his face. He felt half hysterical. He didn't know what emotion to feel. If he got you back he would have loved the babies even if they weren't really his, but the idea that he was really the biological father of at least one of them lit a new fire in him. One way or another he had to get you back here. 

"Stephen? Are you okay?" America questioned unable to read his expression.

Using his magic he pulled 4 chairs out from the table.

"What's the plan?"

--------------------------------

He purposely had America drop him somewhere in the city well away from the Sanctum. If the other Strange saw the portal it would give away any element of surprise they may have had. He would find his way there & try to reason with the variant. They all knew there was little hope in that, but it would be the best way to ensure your safety. They would wait until Stephen called for them to join, keeping an eye on his success from their universe. Using Wanda's powers to channel his in order to keep a visual & mental line of communication open to him.

He entered the building without any trouble & made his way up the staircase. Hearing his footsteps echo he knew his presence had now been detected, but his variant made no attempt to slow or stop him. He made his way to the center of the room to stand in front of the large window bearing the seal of Vishanti. Turning in a circle he surveyed the room, watching for any hint of a moving shadow or glow of magic. If he got lucky maybe you would find him or he could find you without interference. 

"Well well, hello Stephen." A voice boomed through the hall & encased the entire room around him. Purposely attempting to startle him with the volume.

He rolled his eyes as his variant strode forward from the shadows & leaned against a pillar with his hands casually held behind his back. Of course he found himself before he found you. His own ego now on display to him through his doppelganger.

"Did you come looking for something? I don't think there's anything of yours here. I think everything here has pretty thoroughly been marked as mine. Speaking of, any interesting dreams lately?"

A taunting grin playing on his lips. He knew that your former Stephen had been an unwilling voyeur to some of your naughty escapades since arriving. If he had the ability the sinister Strange would have ensured that Stephen had to watch every single one the way he had watched every time your former lover touched you when he couldn't. It would only be fair to make him watch. 

Maybe if your former lover begged nice enough, he would let him watch you both in person before he killed him. Now that you belonged to the man who truly deserved you. 

"What is he doing here?" 

You emerged from the shadows of the adjacent room. Your melodic voice pierced through the thoughts of both men & they immediately turned to look at you. The two pairs of matching icy blue eyes moving over your body with two very different emotions.

Stephen's eyes immediately clouded with tears when he saw you. You looked like a poison flower, beautiful but deadly. Your skin less flushed & vibrant, the inky black dress you wore made the contrast even more sharp. Your whole aura had shifted to a deep smokey purple that matched the magic Sinister Strange used. You were without a doubt under some sort of magical hold. 

"What did he do to you? Are you okay? Are they okay?" 

His voice cracked slightly as he reached his hand out as if to touch you. His gaze pleading for you to answer him.

You placed your hands over your pregnant belly assuming a protective posture as Stephen took a step toward you. The ring on your finger was glittering & glowing seemingly to tease him. 

His dark copy cast a snide laugh as he strode up behind you & placed an open mouthed kiss on your neck. Making the gesture as lewd as he possibly could. Leaving his eyes on Stephen as he placed his left hand over yours on your stomach to show off his matching wedding band. 

"Oh come now Strange. I know that you know what I've been doing to her, & how much she has been enjoying it."

He trailed his right hand up your arm & teasingly across your breast to tilt your jaw so could nip at your ear. Enjoying every second he could of getting to play with his stolen toy in front of the other man.

You snapped a quick, "I'm fine. We're fine." Hoping it would move the conversation forward.  Tilting your chin down to glance at your belly, pursing your lips to keep your emotions in check.

Your patience with their pissing match was already running thin. You still loved the man across from you. He may have broken your heart but you didn't want to watch him physically suffer. The longer he stayed the more danger he was in. You knew that as well as he did.

Stephen's lips curled up slightly when he immediately you were referring you yourself & the babies. Not the other version of him. He swallowed hard & nodded in acknowledgment of your response. He decided to take a chance & address you again.

"I don't know what he showed you, but I would never cheat on you. Please believe me. Please just come with me & we'll figure everything out. I know one of the babies is really mine. Even if you never forgive me, none of you are safe here with him." 

"Stephen, stop! I've made my decision. The other baby is his regardless. I'm not going with you." Your right hand clasped the bicep of the man whose arm was wrapped around you, trying to feel as steady of yourself as you sounded.

"Why don't you go run home to your little Christine, Doctor. While you still can." Your husband gritted the threat through his teeth & pulled you tighter to his chest Turning his gaze down to you he started to paw at your neck & chest again. 

"We have much more… stimulating things to do, isn't that right kitten?"

Your former lover huffed in irritation at him, turning his attention back to his copy.

"Let's ignore the fact that you have her under some form of control, but you know that you can't keep her here. This universe has suffered an incursion already, bringing her from another universe is risking the collapse of both universes. If you love her & your child, both children, like you say you do you'll let her leave."

Sinister Strange was starting to get beyond irritated with him. He had given him a chance to leave unscathed, for the time being anyway, but he chose to stay & continue to run his mouth. He shouldn't be surprised, it's exactly what he would have done.

"Well before you manage to harass & upset my lovely little wife even more, shall we get this over with? Or would you & your friends like to put up a fight first? Makes no difference by me, as I planned on taking your Sanctum from their cold dead hands after I finished with you anyway. Of course you could just give it to us willingly. Call it a wedding present perhaps?" 

That was the moment a blue star opened behind Stephen. Wong, Wanda, & America stepped through to stand behind. Wong immediately put up his shields as Wanda & America moved to flank the 2 men but neither took a defensive stance.

Sinister Strange kissed the back of your hand & moved his hands away from you before starting to slowly walk toward them. You instinctively backed up to the wall & started stepping toward the corner. Your hands cradling your belly even tighter. You knew his magic was protecting you somehow, but you didn't know to what extent or for how long if he was fighting both Wong & your other Stephen.

You made eye contact with Wanda & she made clear she was heading to help shield you from any stray bursts of magic. Your gaze told her not to press her luck & anger the dark sorcerer instead by doing anything stupid like trying to take you. You could see her grudgingly agree by holding her hands up by her face. As long as her crimson colored magic didn't appear she wouldn't warrant any magical retaliation for now. America slowly began approaching you from the other direction, the evil variants gaze boring into her a warning that would only let one of them within arms reach of you without intervention.

Once she had made it within running distance of you Stephen finally answered. He glanced back at Wong who made eye contact with him signalling that they were all ready. It was now or never.

"Looks like the Sorcerer Supreme isn't gonna go for that idea." 

A purple ball of energy materialized between Sinister Strange's hands as he grinned menacingly at the 2 men. He chuckled darkly to himself.

"Yeah, didn't think so." 

--------------------------------

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Let me know if you want to be tagged in stories for everything or for a specific charector. It's currently a lot of Strange & Bucky. ❤

[writingforatwistedworld]

Reader is in their world/not separated by screen

Dear Azul,

Jack thought it was despicable of you to trick all of those students, I thought it was ingenious! Nobody will call you a saint for it, but you have the charisma, brains, and tenacity to achieve whatever you want in life. Those kind of traits are worth infinitely more than any magic someone could be born with! Undoubtably, you are someone truly gifted. I hope to see you one day having everything you ever wished for! (Also I hope to see your tentacles and ink pot too)

Self-aware au

I do not take any responsibility for you reading this no matter which age group you are from!

WARNINGS: Yandere themes, obsessive behavior, bullying, unhealthy relationship, mutilation, poison, unhealthy mindset

Azul Ashengrotto-Benevolence

Cleaning the last table of the lounge you were finally done with work for the day. Azul had been kind enough to let you work here to earn some money. He also said that he would love to just give you money without you even lifting a finger but that didn't sit right with you. Just when you were about to leave the octopus came out of the VIP room, also being done for the day. Upon seeing you he rummaged through a pocket of his jacked out of which he pulled a letter. Coming up to you he gave you it before saying goodnight and left. How unexpected.

Dear Prefect,

never in my life have I heard such kind words with that kind of context. It was always just “Be careful of Azul he is no good.” or “He will just use you for his own benefit.”. I do not deny that my actions aren't the nicest and that one or two students may or may not have suffered because of that but at the same time, these contracts are the product of hard work. All my life I studied hard and tried my best to prove that an octopus could also be someone great and yet when they realized that there was also loss whenever they wanted something from me they just blamed me. I told them what I would give and take from them. The decision was up to them. If they wanted to get what they wanted they should have learned as much as I did. Fools, always taking without even thinking of giving!

But my benevolence, the benevolence of the sea witch, only exists because of you. We both were inspired by your wisdom which you obtained by not minding whether the knowledge originated from the sea or the land. Such a soul like you is very rare to find. The mermen in the sea don't look further than the surface of the water, only some leave the sea to see the land. I am blessed to be able to witness your glory, to have left the sea at the right time. If I think about the fact that those small fish are also able to witness your glory makes me want to gauge their eyes out and turn them into anemones. Maybe then they would learn their lesson. Spoiled brats. But I shall forgive them, for a price.

My magic is yours, you are the one that led me on its path. If you ever feel in need of it just tell me, and I shall do everything you ask me for.

However, what I did not expect was you liking my true form. I am honored and to be honest also flustered. It's another thing I never got a compliment for. Ink spitting, chubby Azul. I never what to return for that. How pathetic I was and if I'm honest, I still am. As long as I haven't reached the level of perfection needed to be your loyal servant I shall not dare to be satisfied with myself. How could I? Your knowledge is said to be so great that you even know what this worlds true colors are. I would never be able to reach such greatness but please, allow me to watch you. I feel like I'm sinking into darkness the second I imagine you abandoning me. Don't leave me alone! I am yours and your alone! Do you wish for a certain potion? I will make it for you! Even poison! Just don't throw me away!

Please allow this octopus to be in your presence. I will suffocate in my pot if not.

Yours faithfully

Azul Ashengrotto