#and bloodsport kinda counts too

[ambrosialdesire]

bloodsports

[ PART ONE ] [ PART TWO ]

18+ DARK CONTENT BELOW, MINORS AND BLANK BLOGS DNI

pairing: modern au!reiner x fem!reader word count: 13.6k warnings + tags: general yandere and obsessive themes, explicit sexual content, unhealthy relationships, misogyny, public humiliation mentions, sorta an unbalanced power dynamic, a/b/o dynamics and themes, modern & college/university au, alpha & hockey player jock reiner (will be sorta ooc but ig you can count it as his s1-3 soldier persona), omega reader, enemies to sorta friends to enemies again to lovers (but both reiner and reader are stubborn dumdums and it's sorta one-sided), bertolt x reader implications, heavy jealousy/possessive themes, heavy self-sabotage, alcohol consumption, violence & blood warning, "fated" mates, usage of suppressants, unwarranted scenting, kinda scenting kink?, pheromone-bombing, size difference, size kink, noncon kissing, all characters are 18+ synopsis: trying to get through uni should've been easy, but presenting as an omega made you become a seemingly easy target for the many disgusting alphas that roamed the campus. no matter how much suppressants you took, you unfortunately just had to grab the attention of the most notorious one out there. the university's famed center in ice hockey, reiner braun. to you, he was nothing but a godforsaken, meatheaded annoyance. a/n: i am not one of god's strongest when comes to a/b/o or the omegaverse LMFAOO LIKE I CAN'T DENY IT, SUMN ABOUT IT MAKES ME GO ABSOLUTELY FERAL AND IDC WHAT OTHERS THINK 👺👺 anywaysss, yea it's another hatefuck reiner fic that i decided recently to make a two parter LOL i made reiner a hockey player because i kinda like hockey more (i watched one game irl with my sibling and it was hella cool even tho the team we were cheering for lost 💀 the state pride was crazy, i had no idea how irritating it was hearing the other team fans cheer 😭) but i'm really really new to the sport so forgive me if i make some mistakes about it lol (i did modify it a little so it can be more dramatic and violent lol) happy valentine's day (ik this late AFFFFF LMFAO) and hope you guys enjoy this! the second part will hopefully come not too far behind, maybe in december once i'm freed from school haha note: please keep in mind of the tags above and do not proceed if triggering or uncomfortable, especially if you are a minor!! do not read my or any other writers' dark content if you are underaged. this is a fictional work and does not reflect irl morals, do not believe this is how a real romance works or functions.

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"You're coming to my game, right?"

The sudden weight on the table of someone leaning upon it on the other side caused it to creak, but you didn't have to look up to know who it was. The wafting smell of warm, spiced vanilla with vague, yet noticeable earthy tones wrapped around you like a familiar heated blanket. No matter how nice it smelled, it only bubbled irritation within you. You continued writing your notes, ignoring the looming presence.

"Omega, answer and look at me." A chill ran down your spine and your head felt heavy once he spoke, the demand stern and clear. You didn't want to answer him, but your secondary gender was scratching at your brain like a persistent fly. Answer him, answer your alpha.

You stubbornly pinched your leg once to get yourself out of it before finally looking up at the man himself, narrowing your eyes at him.

"Can't. Have finals tomorrow. Also, don't ever do that shit to me or call me that."

He scoffed and rolled his eyes, already knowing he wasn't going to take that as an answer. "You weren't answering me and c'mon, it's only for a few hours babe. Who wouldn't come to their alpha's big game today?"

"Me because you're not my alpha and I'm not your babe. Go find some other omega that drools over you because this one isn't going." You grumbled as you stood up, beginning to collect your stuff to get back to your dorm. He grabbed your wrist before you got your notebook, pulling you towards him, eyes were gleaming with determination.

"Come to my game and I won't bother you anymore. I promise."

You pulled your arm out of his grasp with a frown, quickly debating in your mind. Could you trust him?

On one hand, it would be nice to not get disturbed by him anymore. But on the other, that means you have to be packed in a stadium with sweaty alphas and a handful of excitable betas and omegas for an hour or two. The smell would be awful and overwhelming, false ruts and heats would get triggered easily from the adrenaline. You didn't even like ice hockey or any sport in general, too many alphas dominated the industry.

You bit back a heavy sigh, finally deciding on your answer.

"Ugh. I'm holding you to that promise then Reiner. No randomly showing up at my dorm, no waiting for me at the end of my classes, don't have your friends try and check up on me for your behalf either. Got it?" His hazel eyes lit up immediately and he nodded, his smile wide.

"You got it babe, I'll pick you up at 6."

You were about to tell him off about the pet name but he ran off, whooping in the quiet library while slamming the doors open. A few of the students' and staffs' glares went over to you, causing you to grimace before finally picking up your notebook. What the fuck have you gotten yourself into?

Life wasn't like this before. For a year and half, you've had an alpha cling onto your every move as if you've claimed one another. It may seem like that to him but you definitely didn't want anything to do with him. All Reiner did was bring a mix of trouble to you, a burden that you never wanted. Your secondary gender was supposed to be a hidden secret for only yourself to know — the prescribed supplements made sure of that — and you were supposed to present as a beta in order to live a peaceful university life. How painfully frustrating it was to be found out from a simple error in your day-to-day routine.

You were in a rush, you're human after all, and forgot to take them before you left your dorm. It wasn't until you entered your class when a brick of strong smells bitterly hit your nose, something that never happened before. One day and that's all it took for everyone's eyes to latch onto your frame, the horrifying hunger glimmering in the darks of their pupils.

You froze, unable to move from the doorway. The vileness of their stench rang alarms in your head, they were all sour and distasteful with every short whiff you took. It was overwhelming, heavy, and nauseating. You knew what they were all thinking, internally debating whether you should run back to your dorm or transfer.

A large arm had made its way around your shoulders, pulling you closer to their body. You panicked at first until a whiff of something sweet in the air stopped you. A spiced vanilla enveloped your senses with every breath you took and like a switch, your body immediately calmed down, unintentionally leaning closer to them to continue feeling this sweet relief.

"Hey." You tilted your head up at the person who was currently holding you by the neck and felt dread quickly fill up your stomach once more.

Reiner Braun, one of the most notorious womanizers on campus and the university's proclaimed players in ice hockey.

Reiner Braun, smelling like a freshly baked pastry, slinging his arm around you while unintentionally managing to bring you back to your senses.

Reiner Braun, whose face is suddenly way too close and you could just barely feel the brush of his lips against yours.

Your face burned up at the realization and you shoved him off you, eyes wide and mouth parted open in shock as you watched him stumble back to reality. What the fuck just happened and why the fuck did he smell so good out of everyone here? He looked like he was appalled by what he did as well but recovered faster than you did, a sly smirk growing on his face.

"Hey omega, just a head's up. The next time you come to class, don't smell like a sweet treat for us alphas alright?"

You thought you couldn't burn up even more than before, your body beginning to tremble in complete rage and mortification as the students began to howl in amusement. All of your emotions were pumping through your system all at once way too quickly and you finally ran out of the class, tears brimming on the edges of your eyes. There was no way you could handle being in there for another second. The boisterous laughter faded away in your eardrums and once you got far enough from prying eyes and ears, you collapsed to the ground and nearly sobbed your heart out.

You knew attending this university would be difficult but never in your life did you think you'd be humiliated in this way, just for one stupid little mistake. To alphas, any mistake that wasn't from their pretentious clique meant your life, your downfall, everything. It becomes a weakness to exploit and use, like a deer with a broken leg completely surrounded by a pack of starving wolves.

All you could think about over and over as you finally made it to your dorm was:

Fuck Reiner Braun.

‘•.¸♡ ♡¸.��’'•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’'•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’

After that day, you made sure to take your supplements on time with an alarm. Regardless of that, you still felt skittish once you stepped foot in that damn class again. Not because of the possibility that the knowing glances of your classmates would come your way, but the fact that Reiner would not leave you alone ever since he embarrassed you.

When you finally went back to that class in the next lecture, you placed yourself all the way in the back corner than your usual spot, trying to hide yourself away until everyone forgot about the incident. It seemed that your humiliating moment had faded away quickly like a passing breeze since no one looked your way as the seats began to fill up one by one. It was not until you heard the familiar laugh of him, only then you started getting nervous.

You stared down in your notebook, trying to look as busy as possible but the shuffle of a heavy bag and a body sitting down next to you in the loudest way possible confirmed your worst suspicions.

"Good thing you saved a seat for me, that’s so nice of you omega." Reiner congratulated you in a false manner and you grimaced, turning your head towards him. He wasn't looking at you but he was smiling as he looked to the front of the room. You had to force yourself not to stare at his body, which was a mental battle in itself when his pheromones were as strong as ever.

He most likely exercised before coming here, a faint sweat stain on the chest of his white cut-off tank top confirming your thoughts. The tank top was hiding little to the imagination, loose enough to where you can see his sculpted muscles from the side but tight enough to where it accentuated his chest. He was manspreading — a common occurrence in those who were considered to be extremely prideful alphas — and wearing dark gray sweatpants.

You didn't mean to but your gaze slightly wandered a little more down, heart nearly stopped in your chest when you just barely spotted the faint outline of his half-hard cock against the fabric. He was... big and if that was him barely aroused, wow. You'd pray for those that let this son-of-a-bitch hit another time.

The usually dormant annoyance in your brain wanted to get down on her knees and suck him off till he got hard in her mouth, but you had to viciously fight her back into the deep crevices of your mind. You don't know why the urge was so strong, the meds you took usually gave you no sexual desires towards anyone. Maybe you need to up the dosage? You'd have to make a doctor's appointment soon because you don't know if you could stand this new disgusting pervert inside you.

It would be the coldest day in Hell if you ever let Reiner fuck you.

"I have a name, use it or fuck off." You turned back to your notebook and he chuckled in amusement.

"You got a bite now omega? Where was she the last time we spoke?"

"Maybe she would've been there if she wasn't on the verge of a breakdown. Fucking asshole." You muttered the last bit, starting to ignore him once the professor finally entered the class. Cracking your knuckles and opening your laptop to the latest powerpoint, you began writing down the important points of what was in the week's module. It took you nearly half of the three hour long lecture to notice that he didn't make any sound, no writing or keyboard clacking or any tapping from his phone. Your peripherals just barely caught the sight of him and your skin ran cold.

Reiner wasn't paying attention to the lecture. You started to practically feel the absolute intensity of his stare, burning two deep holes into the side of your face. The chair lightly squeaked as he suddenly moved closer to you, the audible sound of him sniffing at you came after.

What the fuck was his problem? You quickly inched yourself away from him, backing into the wall but he followed suit almost immediately. His large frame nearly engulfed yours, the sheer heat of his body radiating off as he neared you.

He sniffed once above your head, then again and again as if he was searching for something. Thank God you decided to shower this morning. The tense atmosphere between the two of you grew thicker with each passing second until his hazel eyes narrowed, the corner of his mouth twitched in faint irritation.

"...You don't smell like anything." Reiner sourly muttered before pulling away, giving back the needed space.

"Uh... yeah? I got back on track with my meds." What was up with him? Reiner had never once spoken to you before the incident, in the class and out of it. In this class in particular, you've usually seen him on his phone, napping, or quietly chatting with the nearest poor soul.

He's known to not fool around with your kind, back when you were still portraying yourself as a beta. Why would he? To them, betas were boring and basic. They weren't alpha enough to be considered to be one of them and not omega enough to fuck. His preferences were pretty out there in whispers and giggles too, so it's not like he would need a reason to talk to you unless it was to get his dick wet for the night. That seemed to be the plan in mind since he was continuously interacting with you.

"Why would you?" Reiner nonchalantly questioned, as if he wasn't the one of the reasons why you take such heavy supplements. Your eye twitched, your fingers tightening around your pen.

"Are you seriously asking me that?" You scowled, watching him shrug and lean back onto the chair.

"Yeah, why not? You're the first omega I've met with a scent that's not doused in cheaply made perfume, it's..." He stopped, thinking of the right words before finally settling on one. "Original."

You scrunched your nose, conflicted with what he just described. He is the talk of the campus, most if not all omegas would've loved to be marked by him; no wonder they try to court him with different concoctions. Then again, he could just be saying that to get into your pants. Original, ha! If he liked this so-called originality, he should find it in someone else.

"I'm not interested y'know, not after what you did last time."

After you said that, all the words seemed to die in his mouth. He became quiet for the rest of the lecture and you didn't have the courage to look back up to see his expression. The silence was a simmering awkwardness, and you could only try and listen to the professor as much as you could. His smell was now twisted with a dullness to it, almost bland and distasteful like the rest of the room. When the lesson finally ended, you started to zip your bag close and pull it through your arms, until his hand grabbed the strap and lifted it up onto his own shoulder.

"What do you think you're doing?" Panic bubbled in your chest as you tried to grab it back but he kept maneuvering out of your reach, a playful smile growing on his lips.

"Think of this as an apology to you omega. I'll walk you to your next class." Your heart dropped to your stomach, the last thing you needed was even more people staring at you, especially with the campus fuckboy in tow.

"You really don't have to and don't call me that." Reiner snorted as he walked down the stairs, you having no choice but to follow him.

"What else can I call you if you haven't told me your name yet?" He held the door open for you, readjusting the bags he was holding. You rolled your eyes, crossing your arms.

"Why offer to walk me to my next class when I don't even know your name?" It was a lie, of course everyone knew him just by the simple utter of his name, but he laughed at your simple comeback, genuinely laughed. It didn't sound like it did when he poked fun of you that one day, your face starting to lightly flush warm.

"Fair enough. Name's Reiner, Reiner Braun. One of the University of Marley Warriors centers." You slightly cringed at the title, he just had to add that fact in. Oh well, might as well play along just a little.

"Y/N L/N, one of the many second year students in the University of Marley."

He laughed once more and nudged you on the back with his elbow, letting you take the lead.

"You're a funny girl Y/N."

You had to ignore the way your stomach fluttered from the way he said it, picking up your pace. Remember, you had to remember that he caused you a turmoil of anguish for a near week. All you were going to give him was this moment and that's it.

"Thanks."

Now that you think back on it, how silly it was for you to think that this was the last time he was ever going to talk to you.

‘•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’'•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’'•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’

There wasn't a minute in your day where Reiner wasn't in your presence.

Nearly every day for roughly five or six months since you've started talking to one another, he'd manage to find you and socialize. He'd give you a small snack or drink too, ruffling your hair once you took it from his hand and sitting down in the seat next to you. Every day was a different topic that he asked, ranging from simple questions to a little more personal ones. You knew he was trying to pry whenever you didn’t say much about yourself so you've revealed only a few tidbits, nothing big. Sometimes he needed studying help and you didn't mind tutoring him about the subjects you were sorta knowledgeable in. He always seemed so interested and focused in whatever you say, so hey, at least he was a decent listener.

He started rejecting hang-outs with his friends and teammates, all to simply talk to you. It's crazy how often he did it, a few times occurring in front of you through phone calls. He'd only mentioned his teammates when he tried to invite you to numerous practices, implying that he wanted them to meet you. You turned him down about it for the first few times, creating excuses to not go, until you got tired of him asking and finally begrudgingly agreed.

Watching him practice made you realize one thing about him: Reiner loved to play dirty.

Of course since you were merely a new bystander of the sport, it might've been one of the core strategies of how to win in hockey. Yet the more you observed, the more you noticed how he treated everyone on the ice, friend or foe. He told you before that centers did a lot for their team and were known to be more on the offense, even when defending. You thought the role was perfect for him, considering how he started this whole "friendship" thing with you. However, the way he treated you was nothing compared to how he treated the sport.

It was like watching an illegal cage fight from the way he quickly sped towards the puck, viciously slamming into others to make way. A frightening sight indeed, maybe even more for the ones on the ice as they were the ones he barreled his shoulders into their chests and sides. You can't remember how many times you flinched watching an unfortunate player get rammed into the plastic barrier by Reiner, the heavy sound echoing throughout the stadium. Everyone on the opposing team was merely his punching bag and though they can get a few hits in, you could tell that they couldn't handle the constant confrontations. He didn't care that they were still his teammates and that this was merely a practice game. To lose is to lose and for an alpha, that could never be an option.

You never told him this, but you never liked the look in his eyes that he gets whenever he played, the darks of his pupils blowing out the once-warm hazel color with a carnal and exhilarated intensity within them.

Regardless of his violent attitude, Reiner genuinely worked well with his team, whomever was on his side at least. He especially got along with whoever jersey number 60 is — the only hint being that his last name is Hoover — and who was noticeably taller than anyone else on the team. The two were extremely compatible, making the smoothest passes that whenever you blinked, it would seem that the other had the puck in the first place.

The strangest part of it all was that he'd make you wear his jersey afterwards, that's also somewhat the reason why you stopped coming over to his practices besides the extreme harshness of the sport. It was way too intimate for him to be sharing a highly scented object to a friend but you've tried refusing, saying that you hated the stink and it was still wet with sweat. Reiner never really cared about what you said about it and pulled it over your head, the fabric hanging loosely mid-thigh. You hated how calm it made you feel and how every time he asked for it back, you'd hesitate.

Even if he did like you, you don't know why he was being overly friendly. Was it because you were an omega that he had to be nice to you? You tried not to think about it like that since you were slowly getting used to his presence, as if he became a part of your routine.

He never pushed anything sexual onto you either like you originally thought he was going to. Sure, he'd make a weird comment or joke here or there but it never really made you uncomfortable or escalated into something else. Your feelings towards him simmered down to a level of neutrality, not quite at peace from what he did but not as angry as before. Did he feel bad for his actions? He never really said an actual apology to you, but is that really why you still find him aggravating to be around with?

"You're such a study bug, don't you know how to have a little fun?" Reiner skimmed his fingers against the already-read pages, your bodies squished side-by-side, one of his arms wrapped loosely around your waist as the two of you read your textbook together. You don't know why or when but you started to not mind the physical contact with him anymore; you chalked it up to it being the winter months and you were cold as hell, he was basically the closest thing to a portable heater. Your physician upped the dosage of your meds as well and there was a noticeable difference, but it didn't seem to deter the thoughts you were having about Reiner. They probably would’ve faded away if not for his constant presence.

"I don't have time for fun, unlike you with your full-ride and sports." You muttered as you flipped the page, eyes skimming over the new paragraphs. He groaned and rested his head on top of yours, taking in a deep breath. You’ve noticed that he was more touchier with you compared to his other friends that you once watched from afar before, but you’ve gotten used to it for the past few months.

He was silent for a few pages until you could feel his fingers trail up against your scent gland, your body immediately freezing up. He shouldn’t be touching you there, a shiver going up your spine as you felt his fingertips rub light circles around it. You couldn’t stop him, not when your brain was currently being scrambled with the feeling.

"Your smell is still not there." He off-handily murmured, finally removing his hand from your neck and letting you collect your thoughts again.

You swallowed thickly, trying to clear your throat. "I think you forget that I take heavy suppressants."

"Why do you? Do you really not want to fuck anyone any time soon?" You cringed at his wording, meeting his eyes.

"Well yeah, pretty much. I want to focus on school, not constantly wonder if I'm going to suddenly go into heat around an alpha. And it's a guaranteed protection, I don't want to get accidentally marked this early in my life." You could feel his hand squeeze and knead at the meat of your hip, knowing that he was in thought.

"I don't know if our class remembers what sub-gender I am but you certainly do, you were literally in trance when you met me," You pointed out, feeling your skin prickle warm as you thought back on the memory. "And it was my mistake, I didn't mean to get off of them and do that to you. I'm pretty much protecting myself and others from doing something... irrational."

What he didn't know is that having no heat at all for months at a time had made you indescribably horny, but you've been managing it so well that you really didn't need any outside assistance at all. Him being the only alpha that hangs around you on a day-to-day basis and consistently touching you has not made the thoughts any better than they were before, but you forced those damn heinous ideas in the back of your mind every time. Bothersome they were and you tried to not let it get to you as much as possible.

Reiner nodded slowly, closing his eyes. "Well if you do get into a heat, I'm available for use."

You gasped, quickly jabbing your elbow into his side, causing him to flinch from the feeling and laugh almost aloud in the quiet library. "God, don't say that here!"

"It's true! There's a line-up of omegas that need help through their heats, I'm not the only one that's getting something out of it. They need a knot and I give it to them." You don't know why but hearing him admit that made you almost freeze and feel your stomach drop. Every time you're reminded of his reputation, something in you twists in an unpleasant way. It's strange. You have no reason to feel this way when you don't even like him in any romantic sense.

"I'd rather not hear about your many conquests, thank you very much." His eyes connected to yours and you tried not to pull away, trying not to feign anything that would give you up.

"Don't tell me... You're jealous, aren't you?" He teased as his grin grew wider and you scoffed, closing the textbook almost a little too hard.

"Please, as if! I'm not the one here insinuating into starting something." You huffed and tried to disconnect your body from his to put the book away but he didn't let you, his arm holding you around the crook of your back firmly.

"I never mark them, if that makes you feel better. No matter how much they beg me to, I don't. I'm pretty good at controlling myself."

You paused, the heavy stone in your stomach still dragging you down. He sounded honest about it and any omega that he marked would've bragged about it for years to come. Hell, you wouldn't even be as close as you were with him right now if that was the case. Yet, the admission didn't make you feel any better and you'd rather not praise him for something so bare minimum.

"...I really, really don't care Reiner. You can fuck anyone you want silly and it's none of my business. I'm not your mate and you're not mine." His eyes softened, looking at you so fondly that you almost wanted to take back every word you had just said.

"We could be."

Time stopped. The way he said it so nonchalantly made you feel absolutely breathless, like you were punched so deeply in the gut. You so desperately wanted to kiss him in that moment — say fuck it, why not be his mate for the rest of your lives — but that was nothing but the godforsaken omega in you talking. This wasn't some cheesy romcom movie, this was real life. Why in the world would he think there was a possibility that he’d be your mate? The two of you barely knew each other besides the light-hearted chats you’ve had together, he only liked your presence because like every other omega, you were easy.

No matter how long you stayed up at night thinking about him or how much you desired pressing your body against his at all times, you would not sacrifice your future for him. You were trying to be more than just your sub-gender and more than solely becoming an alpha’s eventual trophy wife. Being with him would only complicate things. There was nothing he could do or say would change your perspective.

As you stood up with your stuff, you told him as firmly as you were able to make it without your voice wavering.

"No, we couldn't."

It felt like it was you trying to convince yourself otherwise.

You’d do anything to not be the one watching his heart break right in front of your eyes, his mood changing almost immediately. He tried to look away from you but you saw the deep disappointment reflecting in his irises. The softness they once held hardened up once he realized what he was feeling, trying hard to swallow back the pain. The change of his smell washed over you in waves, a cold melancholy hitting the back of your throat while a burning anger bit at the pit of your stomach at the same time. It wasn't like him to be so distraught with a simple rejection, maybe you were the first one that didn't immediately fall for his charms.

Maybe, just maybe... it should've been you that had gotten rejected instead. Perhaps it would've made you feel less awful about it.

"Yeah, sorry. I… I don’t even know why I said that. Why would I even choose yo— No. Wait. Fuck, I—" Reiner cleared his throat quickly and stood up himself, ready to get out of the situation he put himself in. He was backpedaling, you knew he was, but it didn’t make you or him feel any better about the situation. He really was not used to rejection, huh?

"Let's... let's forget all that. There’s a party going on in Delta Kappa Theta tonight. If you want to come, come. I don’t want you to keep preventing yourself from having fun." The way he still cared about you first made you feel like you were the complete piece of shit here. No matter what though, you didn’t owe him a relationship or situationship or whatever you two have.

You partially nodded anyways, a squeak of an ‘okay’ barely escaping you as you watched him walk away. Every step that he took made you feel even less sure about what you just did, but it was for the best… right?

‘•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’'•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’'•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’

It was the first frat party you’ve ever been to and as you approached the house, you knew that it was going to be way out of your comfort zone. You wanted to go back to your safe and warm dorm, make up an excuse to go to bed early, but Reiner was right, you shouldn't be cooping yourself up for so long without any other interaction besides him. You slowly took in a deep breath, tugging at the seams of your jacket before entering the house, music blaring in your ears and bright lights hitting your eyes as soon as you opened the door.

Find Reiner, find him. Your omega begged you as you shuffled through drunk and dancing bodies, but you ignored it. Would he even want to see you after you rejected him?

Someone tapped you on the shoulder and you turned towards the person, eyes wide with shock.

"Sorry! Didn't mean to scare you," Another alpha, his clean rain-like scent faint from the amount of alcohol in the air. He was extremely tall but folded his body within himself while holding a red solo cup, and his black hair was in desperate need of a new haircut, nearly covering the tops of his eyes. The man didn't seem to present himself like an alpha, his demeanor certainly different to the ones you've met and seen before. "You smelled like my friend and the lights are way too bright so I thought you were him, so sorry again."

He looked vaguely familiar but it seemed that he recognized you first, his mouth suddenly agape. "Wait. Aren't you the girl that Reiner keeps talking about? Uh... sorry. What was your name again?"

"Y/N, nice to meet you. Reiner... mentioned me?"

He kindly smiled and nodded, holding out his hand for you to shake. "Bertolt and you have no idea. You're basically all he wants to talk about recently."

It felt like your heart skipped a beat, butterflies fluttering around in your stomach. You really had that much of an effect on him? You felt partially proud that you, a complete nobody, managed to get him head over heels for you. The other part felt horrible, you didn't mean to lead him on like that to the point where he started bringing you up to his friends. It seemed that Bertolt realized what he said was causing you to get upset, pulling you towards the kitchen.

He quickly scooped up some liquid from a punchbowl and poured it into a new cup, handing it over to you. "Here. A drink might make you feel better."

You weren't new to drinking, only having it a few times casually here and there so you took a quick sip, a smooth burn going down your throat. You coughed lightly and shook your head, hearing him chuckle. He leaned against the countertop beside you, swirling around the cup in his hand.

"Bertolt?" You hated how small you sounded, trailing your fingertips against the ridges of the plastic cup.

"Hm?" He started to take another sip out of his drink, raising it up above his head.

"I don't know if he told you this already but I rejected him this afternoon." The sound of him choking and hacking followed suit immediately after you confessed, a spew of apologies running out of your mouth as you patted his back to get it all out. He definitely didn't tell him yet.

Once he managed to finally stop clearing his throat, he wiped his mouth and turned towards you, eyes wide. "Why did you?"

You bit the inside of your cheek and took another quick sip. "I told him that I wasn't looking for a romantic relationship or sex, all I want to do is focus on is passing my classes and graduating. That's the complete and honest truth."

His friend stayed quiet for a bit until he nodded once, as if he understood your reasoning.

"That's fair, you should be able to pursue what you want to do for your life instead of tending to his needs. It's hard out there for omegas and it's great that you're doing more for yourself. I know Reiner really does actually like you, but you don't have to pursue anything with him if you don't want to. You control what you get to do."

You felt flushed from both the alcohol and his words, you've never met an alpha that shared such a considerably controversial opinion before. You quietly thanked him, watching him tilt his head up towards the ceiling, sighing softly.

"Reiner... I've known Reiner since middle school and fuck, he has his moments where he tends to be a shitty guy, even long before he presented as an alpha. He's stubborn as hell and rarely listens to us and he's occasionally a great guy to be teamed up with, but inside, I know he's just trying to figure himself out."

"What do you mean?" He flinched, beginning to sweat bullets as he nervously fidgeted next to you.

"A-ah, sorry. I don't know if I should be telling you this since you're also his friend but," His pale eyes darted side-to-side, as if he was making sure that no one was listening. "Every omega he's been with, he calls all of them 'practice' for his fated mate. Everyone knows that having a fated mate is super, super rare but since he met you, well..."

He nervously tugged at the hem of his shirt but you immediately knew what he was saying.

"No." You awkwardly started laughing, shaking your head quickly. The house immediately felt even more stuffy and overbearing, a nauseating feeling overcoming you all of a sudden. Omegas being used as practice? Were you just another practice target if the relationship didn't work out?

"N-no, he doesn't seriously think that I'm his fated mate?"

Bertolt sharply inhaled through his teeth, eyes locked to the ground. "Reiner was always hopeful he'd find his second half and you've been the only omega he speaks so positively and constantly about. He mentioned the day you guys met, how your pheromones enticed him so much that he nearly kissed you and he wanted nothing more but to have you as his mate after that. Ugh, sorry. Even saying it out loud makes me feel gross."

You felt sick, numb. Were you even friends from the start or was all of his actions just some kind of courting method? You could barely hear yourself tell Bertolt that you had to go, fumbling a goodbye and an apology to him before pushing yourself into the crowd. The sea of people felt like it was getting more impossible to navigate the more you moved in it, a tight feeling building in your chest from being overwhelmed by every little smell and sound all around you.

Get out.

Get out.

GET OUT.

When you finally managed to push through and find the front door, your blood ran cold immediately. Like a deer frozen in front of oncoming headlights, you couldn't believe what you were staring at. Every part of your body screamed in complete anguish and devastation but you couldn't move. You had no right to, but you couldn't stop your tears from rapidly falling down your cheeks.

Reiner Braun, sitting down on the couch with some stranger on his lap, tracing his hands down their back, and pulling them closer to his body.

Reiner Braun, kissing down their neck, the peaks of his canines just barely scraping against their scent gland.

Reiner Braun, basically publicly grinding himself against this willing participant of his.

His eyes opened half-lidded and in some cruel form of fate, locked onto yours. Out of everyone in the room, he managed to find yours. He pulled away from the omega, a strand of drool still connecting between them. His hand still rested comfortably on the curve of their back, his mouth uttering only one name with wide eyes.

"Y/N...?"

All you could think as you finally snapped out of it — running out of the fraternity until your lungs felt like they were being ripped to shreds — was how bad you felt for that omega. How they were only going to be reduced into something so demeaning, a dummy-run to find his perfect mate. They didn't deserve that, being wide-eyed and hopeful that because he decided to choose them for his lustful pursuits, they're finally worthy of being a candidate of his.

You sobbed aloud as you washed and scrubbed your body red once you reached your dorm, trying to erase every scent and touch he made for the past couple of months. He was nothing more but absolute filth and you fell for it like a fool, a stupid brainless omega. You thought you were better than that but no, you were just like the rest of them. Even if you were his so-called fated mate, why did he continue to seek out others? Wouldn't he have tried to abstain? Sure, you shouldn't have expected that much out of him considering that you didn't even accept his confession but for some reason, it still hurt.

Fuck Reiner Braun. You should've never forgotten that in the first place.

‘•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’'•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’'•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’

Now you were here, leaving the messy history of the second year behind and now moving onto your third. Always look to the future, as they say. You took a lot of preventatives in avoiding seeing Reiner, the plan nearly as extensive as your studying.

You blocked his number once he started to keep calling over and over again ever since the party, blocking the new ones that came every so often and changing your number once you couldn't take it anymore. There was no reason for you to hear his explanation, it's his business on who he decides to fuck and you shouldn't be mad about it anymore. Part of you was afraid that if you hear him explain himself, you'd run right back to him just like every other omega he had a finger wrapped around.

You stopped frequenting areas you used to hang around in, which was unfortunate since some of those places were your favorites. You moved dorms, avoided places he frequented, and made sure he wasn't in any of your classes. Your majors were luckily too different to be in the same buildings or rooms, and with the help of Bertolt, you were always one step ahead of him.

He was the one that approached you first in one of your classes together at the start of the new semester and taught you the ways in how to avoid meeting up with him. You didn't know why his best friend wanted to help you and once asked him, getting the answer that Reiner hasn't been himself recently and he was afraid that he might do something rash if he managed to find you.

"You have so much ahead of you, I’d hate to see Reiner make you throw it away."

Bertolt made sure that he wasn't seen with you whenever the two of you hung out, and when he was with him, he made sure to steer clear of your direction with a simple text. He had to bathe immediately after just in case your scent got on him, which should be nonexistent but he was afraid that if there was just the vaguest trace on him, Reiner would hound him about it. He basically became your bodyguard whenever it was possible for him to do so, and you didn't even ask. You've never felt so grateful meeting someone like him before.

He also brought up that Reiner's been playing more rougher than usual, and snapping at others even when they're on his side of the team exercises. Even the coach was too afraid to say anything about his behavior, relying on him and a few others that were friends with him to talk to him about it.

"It sounds like he's in a pre-rut." You mentioned, handing over the pickles from your sandwich over to him. He took them with an open palm and threw them into his mouth like chips.

"I hope not, his scent smells the same so far but he rarely gets into ruts for me to really know what he smells like. Plus, he never knows how to handle them well."

"Reiner doesn't choose any of the omegas he messes around with for his ruts?" Bertolt shook his head, swallowing.

"Not at all. It's weird, he may mess around with them during their heats but he never, ever lets them in when he's going through a rut. Think it has something to do with the fated mate mentality he has, but sometimes we don't even know he was ever in one until they're over, he basically disappears for a week or so."

It’s funny in a weird way. The two of you were hiding each other from behind Reiner’s back as if the two of you were dating. Even though the two of you became close, your relationship with him was nothing romantic. Some kind of bro-code would've been broken between Reiner and Bertolt if you started dating him, and you'd be eating your own words from what you've said to Reiner. Then again, you never wanted to date him and tolerated his looming, clingy presence on most days.

Bertolt told you that he liked someone but was too afraid to make any move. She was another alpha and one of his friends, so the pairing itself had its controversies. He kept saying that his confession might ruin what they had for years and he was satisfied being in her shadow. It was sad to hear him put himself in second place for her happiness. So you tried doing a little nudge for him to go for it — 'the worst she can say is no' kind of talk — because it was better for him to say something than nothing at all and still quietly pine for her. Bertolt got too excited and rushed in with the confession after one of his practices without your knowledge, a messy bouquet of roses tightly gripped in his hand.

There was a few word texts that he sent to you after the whole ordeal:

Didn't get accepted.

Heartbroken.

Bar.

You found him standing in front of your dormitory building waiting for you, awkward looks of both omegas and betas glancing at him. As you approached him, he took a few steps towards you and almost collapsed in your arms as you held them outstretched. His tears and snot quickly dampened your jacket, his body wracking out heaves of anguish. There wasn't an alpha in the world that you've seen so vulnerable before, his fists gripping your clothes tightly as he shook in sadness.

He started telling you what had happened once he somewhat composed himself, his voice weak and crackly as the two of you walked to his chosen bar. Unfortunately, she turned him down and told him that she was actually interested in some beta from Paradis Tech named Armin. You could only imagine the bouquet dropping to the floor in dramatic fashion, tears welling up in poor Bertolt's eyes. She apologized and somewhat comforted him by saying that his confession won't change anything between their friendship. That was good, at least on her side.

You started consoling him, rubbing his back in circles as he drunkenly wept on the polished wood after downing one too many tequila shots. The speed in which he drank each one was shocking to say the least, you don't think his glass touched the table since he picked it up.

"We've known each 'ther shince we were kitss." He hiccupped, head resting in-between his arms as he tearfully stared in the distance and dangled the shot cup in his fingers.

"If I shaid sumnthin 'ears ago, would she hab 'ccepted me — or or or — shill reject me because of awer shub-genda?" You pitifully stared at his crumpled form, not knowing what to really say to make him feel better about the situation. The bartender then took his glass from Bertolt and told you to take the poor guy home, shaking his head slowly as he quietly whined about getting cut off.

"C'mon big guy, let's get you back."

The walk was quiet besides the occasional sniffle and you could tell he was trying not to fall on top of you, his feet slowly dragging on the concrete. As the designated sober friend, you were carefully observing him, a hand firmly holding the sleeve of his sweatshirt. He stopped suddenly, the sounds of his sneakers squeaking.

"Y/N."

"Hm?"

You turned your attention towards him, tilting your head to the side.

"If I wazzn'tin love wif Annie, I'd be sooooo in love 'ith—"

Bertolt then jolted to the side of an alleyway before he could finish what he was saying and started throwing up. It prompted you to quickly go by his side and hold him up, patting hard on his back to get it all out. You knew what he was going to say and you hated it. He's drunk and sad, nothing that came out of him was going to be honest.

"Don't say that Bertolt." You mumbled, lifting him back up once he finished and slinging his arm over your shoulders.

"I'm not going to be a replacement for you."

He reached over with his other hand, skin cold around the nape of your neck as he pulled your face towards his. You could smell the alcohol lingering in his breath, face cringing when you saw a bit of spittle still hanging off of his lips. He started saying something even more incoherent, his eyes beginning to close in hints of slumber.

"No, no, no. I... I swer'lve ewtoo."

You laughed softly as you shook your head in amusement, pulling him forwards. He really won't remember this at all. Bertolt finally fell silent, the occasional drunken groans slipping through if you tugged him too roughly.

Maybe in another world, if you had met Bertolt before Reiner...

You made the decision to take him to your dorm. The dormitory building was way closer than the frat house he lived in, and you'd rather not lug around his heavy body another ten blocks to get there. Never in your life you had thought you'd be sneaking in a giant of an alpha into the shared beta-omega dorms, but you wouldn't be the first to do so. It's a good thing his scent was currently dulled with alcohol or you'd be in more trouble trying to hide him. Quickly unlocking your door and taking him over to your loveseat, you watched as his body slowly relaxed into the cushions.

He was simply way too tall for the seating, his legs dangled off of the side of the couch as you adjusted him to a positioning that would prevent any risk of asphyxiation if he started throwing up again. You highly doubted that he had anything left in him, but it was good to be on the safe side. You lightly pinched his cheek, getting a change of clothes and headed towards the bathroom.

You checked on him once more before going to bed, a light snore coming out of him. Seems like he's all tuckered out and okay for now, the hangover is definitely not going to be pretty in the morning. You settled yourself into your sheets and turned the lights off, soon falling asleep.

The sound of your alarm on your phone blared in your ears, arms trying to pull out from underneath the blanket to turn it off but you didn't move an inch. Groggily opening your eyes, you saw an arm wrapped around your body, your mind not registering what was going on until you heard the soft sounds of breathing on top of your head. You turned your head slowly to the couch, the connection finally being put together when you saw his body wasn't lying there.

He started to rouse from his sleep when the alarm kept sounding off, an annoyed hiss slipping through his lip as his head lifted up from yours, reaching over himself to shut it off.

"Good morning big guy." You whispered as he settled back next to you, lightly squeezing you closer to him as if you were his pillow.

Bertolt grumbled quietly. "What time is it?"

"According to my alarm, maybe 8:05 in the morning." You tried to get up to get him water and something for his headache, but he didn't budge an inch. The two of you laid with each other, basking in the morning warmth quietly.

"Sorry for getting in bed with you, I tried finding a blanket but didn't want to wake you up."

"It's fine," You hummed quietly, turning your body towards him. "You okay though?"

He opened his mouth but closed it, falling silent as he slowly began to think. He turned on his back, staring at the white ceiling.

"Not really. Everything still hurts and I'm tempted to cry even more but... I don't know. Some part of me feels... relieved? If I never told her, I'd still be stuck in a loop worrying whether I'd ruin something between us and keep having this twist in my stomach whenever I see her with someone else. I'm glad that she found someone that she's happy with but..."

Bertolt put his forearm over his eyes, letting out a soft laugh.

"But why do I still want her?" His voice cracked, a tremble following the end of his words and once more, you wrapped your arms around his torso. You could smell his sadness, a heavy and misty petrichor filling the room in waves.

"Sometimes there's things that we desperately want to have but can't have. Irrational as it is, it's in our nature." You mumbled, your hands balling up in his sweatshirt.

"Like you with Reiner?" Your blood ran cold as he said that but you merely pushed your face into his body.

"I don't know."

In the end, Reiner managed to find you and ask you to his game. You texted Bertolt, asking how was he able to get your location after being almost MIA for months. Apparently when you and him finally snuck him out of the dormitory, it completely slipped his mind that he had to wash off like usual. When he entered the frat house, Reiner greeted him but stopped midway, quickly approaching him and grabbing his shirt collar roughly.

He demanded me to tell him where you were. I'm so sorry Y/N, I couldn't stop him and our team needs the both of us playing.

You stared at the text, almost throwing your phone in frustration. You should've said no, had firmly stood behind your decision. Yet, the second his pheromones reached your nostrils, you couldn't stop yourself from agreeing, even if you were trying to look angry at him. You've noticed it had gotten stronger than before, was it because you haven't seen him in a while? You couldn't even be mad at Bertolt, you'd be terrified out of your mind too if an alpha was demanding an answer from you like that.

It's only for a few hours, you thought as you took in a slow breath. After that, he'll finally leave you alone.

‘•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’'•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’'•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’

Reiner picked you up earlier than usual. It was about 5:10 when you heard a knock at your door, causing you put down the lip gloss before you even could apply it. Shuffling over and peeking through the peephole, you saw him standing there in a suit and tie. He cleaned himself up, the stubble he once had when he found you was completely shaven away and his blond hair was slight slicked back with gel.

"You're early." You muttered as you opened the door, keeping it barely ajar. He's not even supposed to step foot in the dorm, nervousness crawling up your spine. His pheromones hit you like a train, practically everyone that was walking down the dorm hallway could smell him, heads turning in your room's direction.

"I wanted to see you." He grinned, pushing the door open even more — nearly knocking you over — and handing you a bouquet of morning glories, camellias, and forget-me-nots. As you were staring at the mostly red flowers, almost a complete eyesore with the addition of the light blue petals that peered out from within, he waltzed in your safe haven without your permission.

"Hey! Reiner, you can't just—!"

You groaned as you exasperatedly followed after him, placing the bouquet down on your desk. His form was absolutely massive compared to the entire room, his head constantly turning towards the different decor that you hung up on the walls.

"I've never seen your dorm on the inside before, it's cute. It's... you." He softly mumbled, your face turning warm. You grabbed his sleeve, trying to tug him out of your space so you can get ready, but he stopped in the middle of the room, his attention honed in towards the messed sheets of your bed.

"Reiner," You started, your eyes following to where he was looking at. Your heart nearly stopped in your chest when you smelled a burning anger occupy the space — a smoldering, cindering scent — nearly making you cover your nose from how horrible it was. You gulped, hand slipping out and down to your side in a fist. "Reiner, w-we... we didn't do anything."

He just stood there silently, still focused on your bed. He has every right to be angry, you were literally snuggling with his best friend this morning, but you didn't belong to him. Scummy as it was, you made your bed and laid on it, there was nothing he could change about it.

"I-I'm just going to get ready." You whispered, turning around to go back into the bathroom. Big mistake.

Large hands grabbed your wrist, dragging you around in a speed that you couldn't comprehend. You almost screamed as he threw you on the bed, Reiner following after you and trapping you beneath him, his leg in-between yours. Fear was pouring out of you in waves but he couldn't smell it, no one could.

It took him little time and effort for him to press his lips against yours, your eyes wide as you soon realized what he was doing. You tried moving your mouth away, a scared and little no slipping out but he caught you again, his hand gripping your chin and forcing your head to stay in place. You tried pulling at his suit, squirming and kicking your legs, anything to get this monster off of you, but he didn't budge, seemingly finding enjoyment in your weak attempts as he pressed himself deeper against your lips.

His knee nudged at your cunt, a muffled, surprised gasp coming out of you, letting him enter your mouth even more. A shiver ran up your spine as you felt his tongue run against yours, the wet muscle violating wherever he went in a meticulous fashion. You could barely breathe, the smell of him and the aftershave he had on was so intense that you could feel the tug of your omega side slipping through the cracks of your mind; not even your medication was able to stop you from feeling this way.

Reiner finally pulled away, a mix of each other's saliva connecting the two of you. Strands of his gelled back hair fell over his forehead, your once-brushed out hair tousled into a mess. Both of your breaths were uneven and heavy, his eyes low and dazed as he stared down at you. Tears were running down your face, ruining what you've already put on, your eyebrows scrunched together in absolute horror as you shared the same stare with him. He sniffed the air once, again and again as he neared your neck.

"Stop, stop, stop." You cried out as you pushed against his stubborn head, fearing that he would bite down on your scent gland.

He didn't make any move, only sniffing at you like a curious dog. He then pressed his lips against it, causing you to abruptly stiffen in horrid expectation.

There was no pain as he pulled away from you, your hand immediately shooting to your neck to feel for any welts or marks. Nothing. A simple kiss was all he did on it, and you couldn't help but feel appreciative that he didn't mark you.

"Don't you dare see Bertolt ever again, you understand?" He hissed into your ear, the threat echoing hollowly in your head. No way in hell were you going to listen to him, but the omega in you nodded slowly, his heavy body finally lifting off of you. You tried to ignore the imprint straining against his lower half, your eyes staring up at him in complete shock.

"Go get yourself ready."

Shakily getting up on your feet, you beelined towards the bathroom without a single word, nearly collapsing on the floor once you turned the lock. As you looked at your face in the mirror, dripping dark drops of mascara and eyeliner stained the apples of your cheeks. The lipstick that was once there, was now rubbed away, leaving nothing but your bare lips. Your hand trembled as you reached over for a makeup wipe, a quiver of a sigh coming out of you.

You wanted to throw up, get every bit of spit and slobber of his out of your system, but you couldn’t. He’d hear you.

Reiner brought one of his jersey's for you to wear once you came out of the bathroom with fresh casual makeup back on, and you could tell that the article was completely drenched in his scent. You sniffed at it gingerly as you held it in your hands, cringing away from the sweet vanilla smell.

"What? It's clean, I promise."

"Liar." You mumbled under your breath but pulled it over the shirt you wore, the fabric loose against your body. He took a quick minute to admire you in his clothing, placing his hand on your cheek and stroking the skin with his thumb. You could still see the red stain of your lipstick smeared on his lips, trying to fight back tears and a sneer.

"You look so fuckable right now," You bit the inside of your cheek as you watched the tip of his tongue licked across his bottom lip, the darks of his pupils reflecting an unhinged licentiousness that horrified you within every atom in your body. "Maybe tonight, when I win, I'll be getting another trophy."

"Don't forget our deal asshole," You finally spat out, ripping his hand off of your face in disgust. "I'm only going to your stupid game because of the promise you made this morning."

Reiner simply stared down at you, your nerves scrambling even worse than before. He finally scoffed, crossing his arms. "Right. Our deal."

You hated the fact that he basically was acting like he didn't just forcefully kiss you, your nails digging into the palm of your hand. "Can we go now?"

He checked his phone, huffing slightly. "Yeah. Don't worry, we're not that far to the stadium. Just a few traffic lights and we'll be there."

You felt all the color drain from your face. You thought it was close by in walking terms but now you had to be in a small space where it now completely smells like him? Might as well hold your breath the entire ride.

The short drive was quiet, some random old rock station was lowly playing on the radio, but the two of you didn't speak to each other. What would even be exchanged anymore? You didn't want to be associated with him so long as you walked on this planet. Reiner's fingers thrummed on the wheel, red spilling into the car and staining every surface within. He turned towards you as if he wanted to say something and you stared back, a chill running down your spine. No words were said, but you felt every little thing from his smell.

Ravenous, a voracious appetite for the predator in disguise. Right in front of him, a five-course meal just ripe for the picking. All he's doing now was waiting for you to back into an inescapable cliff, the perfect moment to finally strike.

"...You have to go." You whispered and he finally broke eye contact, staring at the traffic light above and accelerating.

"Yeah, right."

The silence once presumed until the two of you approached the stadium, him mentioning that he got you a seat near the rink so you could see the action up close. To be honest, you could care less about the game and who would win overall. Reiner handed you the ticket between his index and middle finger, but when you reached over to grab it, he took it back.

"Need a good luck kiss from you first. If this is the last time I'll get to see you, I want to make it last."

You didn't want to rile him up before he played or make him force his hand upon you in the car, so you planted a quick kiss on his cheek before grabbing the ticket from his hand simultaneously. "Okay. Done. Good luck or whatever."

You scrambled out of his car, making your way to the inside as soon as possible. The arena was louder than you thought once you stepped foot, the joyous chatter and screams echoing throughout the hallways. LED screens hanging from the ceiling flashed the words Marley Warriors vs Paradis Titans, showing the line-ups of each team member.

Reiner came first in the centers, his pose prideful and boasting with stats to match. The other three names that you noticed were Porco Galliard, Colt Grice, and Eren Kruger. You eventually saw Bertolt come up as one of the right wingers but no sign of his usual reserved side showed in his photo, he looked focused and tough more than anything else. One of the goalies was an older looking individual by the name of Zeke Jaeger, confident but not too boasting. Clips of their past games showed afterwards, showing their amazing teamwork and impressive previous goals, then moving on to the other team.

The main centers for the Paradis Titans were composed of four men; Eren Jaeger, Jean Kirschtein, Levi Ackerman, and Miche Zacharius. Was the Eren guy related to the other Jaeger on your university's team? They definitely didn't look alike in your opinion but it could simply be because of a crazy Punnett square. Some wingers and defensemen that you sorta paid attention to were Armin Arlelt, Hange Zoë, Floch Forster, and Connie Springer. The goalie on their team was a massive blond man named Erwin Smith, his photo exuding a powerful stance, maybe even more than your uni's goalie. You felt like Reiner's team might have some trouble facing them, their defense and attack seems pretty threatening.

You finally took a glance at your ticket, walking around trying to find the stairway for your seating. The smells of popcorn, melted cheese, and hotdogs filled your nose, but you didn't feel hungry at all, still sick to your stomach from what had happened earlier. Eventually you finally found where you were supposed to go, and if you thought it was loud in the other shell of the arena, finally stepping in the seating area and the rink was absolutely ear-breaking.

Sirens, music, screaming, loud announcers. Almost every unbearable sound was contained in the structure, you should've bought earplugs prior to this. Not to mention, every scent of maybe hundred alphas and omegas intertwined made you feel even more overwhelmed, a headache beginning to form.

It's only for a few hours, a few hours and you'll never see this place or him ever again.

Your seat was nearby Reiner's team, nearly in-between the other team as well, the other teammates chattering with each other. You've sorta recognized them, occasionally seen around campus and such. Heads and eyes of strangers from school nearby were somewhat turning towards you, even the team started to notice you walking up behind them. Your face burned up at the realization once you sat down. Shit. You had completely forgotten that you were wearing Reiner's heavily scented jersey, you might as well be showing off the mating mark that he could've made a few hours ago.

"Yo Braun's omega is here!" One of the team members called out and you almost hid your head in your hands in embarrassment. Oh God, don't say that.

"Y/N, you made it?" The most recognizable voice cleared your thoughts immediately, head perking back up with a wide smile.

"Bertolt!" You wanted to hug him but he recoiled back as if you were a stranger, his nose scrunching. Your face fell immediately, his gaze sinking down in shame when he noticed your crestfallen expression.

"Sorry, it's not you. It's... y'know. That." He nudged the bottom of the jersey with the end of his stick, a frown forming on your face.

"I know. He made me wear it." You frustratingly tugged at the fabric with one hand and he chuckled, ruffling the top of your head. You'd burn it on the spot if you could.

"I didn't make you wear anything babe, you've always liked wearing my clothes." The sound of his voice made you freeze in place, eyes wide as your head turned in the direction of where he was walking in. Bertolt followed suit, his hand retracting away from you as if you were suddenly a hot stove.

"I don't think I could follow up your end of our deal if you're not respecting my demands, omega." No. That was never part of the agreement. You just gave the okay so he'd get off your back about it. He genuinely couldn't be serious about not seeing Bertolt anymore, right?

"Don't be an asshole Reiner. She's not just an omega."

The blond scowled at his friend, shoving his helmet roughly against his chest. He pushed it off of him, staring the other down in a sneer. You've never seen Bertolt like this before, the usual rain smell he had was turning stormy and bitterly furious.

"Oh, I'm the asshole? I wasn't the one hiding my fucking mate from me for months and sleeping in her bed. Not to mention, what happened to Annie or did you get tired of another alpha that's better than you?" You internally winced for him, that was such a low blow. Bertolt looked stunned for a second, glancing over at you for a quick second, but he pushed his shoulder back roughly in return.

"Don't bring Annie into this Reiner, this is about my friend. Did you really think she'd let you — of all people in this school — mark her when you act like a conceited asshole? She's not your fated mate. You've proven that over and over again that she's going to be like the rest, you knotheaded fuck."

You gasped at the sudden insult, a vein nearly popping out of Reiner's forehead but he didn't say anything more, pushing past Bertolt and shouldering him roughly with a scowl. You didn't mean for them to start an argument with one another, the game hadn't even started and tensions were already high. The Paradis Titans team weren't hiding their amused stares, the Eren Jaeger guy whispering to the short haired, bowl-cut blond next to him; Armin, you think. The murmurs of strangers behind you made you feel sick, hearing the word knottease being tossed around, the horrid word directed towards you.

You started to apologize profusely once Bertolt turned towards you, but he simply held out a hand, patting your shoulder as you stopped.

"Don't be. Someone needed to say it to him, maybe this fight would finally clear his head."

"But the game Bertolt, I—" You started but he interrupted you once more.

"I don't give a shit about the game if you're the one being hurt. You matter more than hitting a puck around, okay?" If you weren't wearing Reiner's jersey, you'd hug him right now. He smiled and put his helmet on, leaning close to you to whisper something in your ear.

"By the way, don't listen to the jerks behind you. You're nothing like that, you're going to be something great." He backed away once the horn started, walking over to the entrance to the ice rink to join his team. Good luck, you wanted to say because if anything, he'll need it when he gets into the arena with a monster in tow.

‘•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’'•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’'•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’

If you thought Reiner was bad in practice, his violent playstyle was nothing compared to when he's in an actual game. How on Earth this sport was approved to play for anyone, you had no idea. All you could hear was men yelling at each other and slamming each other to snatch the slippery little puck, fans behind you hollering just as loudly.

Both Reiner and Bertolt had seemed to forgive each other on the court, winning being the only thing on their minds. Just like in practice, they didn't have to say anything to get the point across, making passes and attempted shots whenever they had the slightest of openings. The two Galliards seemed to be more communicative with one another, defending the goalie whenever they could with short barks of commands. They were good but Eren Jaeger seemed to be the rookie ace of the Titans, managing to push through and score in the most impossible scenarios.

You could tell he was aggravating them, putting them in a corner while constantly taunting them with a one-liner or a smug smile as he scored. An angry alpha was something not to mess with and putting a whole group of them against other alphas who were mocking them for their failures? It's obviously an immediate recipe for disaster.

Intermission came around, the score against the Warriors by two. As the teams were talking to one another to plan out their next attack, you watched the Zambonis slowly smooth out the ice again. You paid no attention to them and their chatter, you wouldn't have made sense of it anyways.

"Hey," You looked around for the source of the voice and finally down, seeing bright turquoise-blue and a mess of brown hair standing below you. He smelled sharply fresh, like the first bite to a mint leaf and drinking cold water afterwards. It wasn't necessarily bad like most in the arena, just made your nose crinkle a little from the suddenness of it. "Eren Jaeger."

"Oh- um... Y/N. Aren't you supposed to be talking to your team?"

He waved his hand dismissively towards your statement, crossing his arms with a smile. "Nah, there's nothing else that's new with the planning. You, however, are the talk of the arena."

Your cheeks flushed warm, the temptation of burying yourself alive later on growing more and more, but you grimaced instead. "So what? You wanted to see if I'm what they say I am?"

Eren shook his head, taking a few steps closer towards you. "I'm not talking about the knottease comments, I'm talking about the Reiner Braun's mate comments. Is it true?"

"No! Of course not!" You exclaimed in shock, but the subtle-not-so-subtle glance downwards towards your attire seemed to make him doubt you otherwise. You tried defending yourself about it without revealing much about the twisted relationship you actually have with Reiner.

"This is just because he thinks he's claimed me and we've made a deal. I have no other choice."

"Is it now? Well then," He pointed towards himself with a thumb, his grin growing even wider. "When I win, wanna go on a date with me after this?"

How many alphas were gunning for you right now?! You knew that you took your suppressants today after Bertolt left your dorm so how come this was happening to you? The absolute balls on this man, especially since he was thinking that his team had already won. You wearily shook your head, you've had your fill of pestering alphas for the rest of your schooling life.

He looked dejected for a second but perked up immediately, the buzzer of the timer echoing throughout the arena. You thought that was that and began to turn your attention towards your college's team, but then he called out a 'head's up', tossing something in your direction. You caught it in surprise, looking in the palm of your hands and finding a keyhole shaped earring.

"Keep it! For the next time we meet!" Eren waved you goodbye and jogged over to his side of the team, high-fiving and chattering with his friends before putting a helmet on. You let a small smile slip out, he may be a little cute but there was definitely no way you were ever going to see him ever again. You safely tucked it into your pocket, finally looking towards the Warriors.

He was watching you. Of course. There was a livid look in his eyes, his brows scrunched even more in irascibility and his teeth were bared, perhaps even grinding together in this current moment. You paled at the thought of them sinking into your neck like some kind of rabid animal. Reiner was barely human anymore, you realize. Any loving gaze that he had before for you was nothing more but a dangerous hunger.

All you could hope was for the Warriors to win so he would be in a decent mood to finalize the goodbyes, and you'd pray for the Titans for the brutality that they're about to endure because of his horrid attachment to you.

The players slid into the ice once more, the deafening cheers of everyone growing louder and louder as the second half of the game was beginning to start. The referee smoothly made his way between the two masses of men, Reiner staring down coldly into the clear mask of Eren. Like a coin flip, the puck was thrown highly into the midst of them, their eyes following it as it made its way down to the icy ground.

Click.

In a snap of a finger, the sound of sticks bashed together once the puck bounced off of the surface. Like a choreographed dance, the rivals whirled with one another, swinging and twisting their bodies around in order to get ahold of the very thing that might as well be the trophy itself. The intensity of the game was now at an all time high that even you started to pay more attention to it, the hairs on your arms raising in anticipation.

The puck swung back and forth like a pinball, but the Warriors managing to catch up to a tie. It was starting to become a standstill again however, taunting chants coming out from the people in the stands, jeering at the anyone that opposed their team. Players were being switched out on both teams during timeouts but few remained on the ice, a tense aura between the three.

Reiner, Bertolt, Eren.

Bertolt took a few glances at his friend, tapping the end of his stick with his and seemingly started to exchange words with him from what you could see. Who knows what it was about; the game, the enemy team, you. He only lifted his fist up, letting the other return it in a similar gesture and that seemed to calm the black-haired male's nerves.

Reiner's eyes were lasered in on Eren for the most part, gripping the handle of his stick tightly and swiping it around on the ice as if he was practicing a shot. He was truly unrecognizable, a shell of the man that once followed you around like the world's most clingiest puppy dog. You knew he wanted to show-off, his pride was at risk to a girl that he believed he owned for months. Disgusting and typical.

Eren seemed the most lax out of all of them, leaning against the plastic border as fans behind him fawned over him. He seemed not to care about Reiner's burning glares at him, waving across the rink to seemingly you. He seemed nice, but it was obvious that he had more intentions than just wanting to befriend you.

The whistle sounded and the game began once more, the men skating themselves back to the middle. You checked how much time was left on the clock, ten minutes. Ten more excruciating minutes and you were going to be finally free.

" 'Round it now!" You could hear Reiner call out to Grice as he suddenly slammed his complete weight into enemy Jaeger, their eyes meeting as the others chased after the puck. They went after it as well once he recovered from the blow, but it looked like they started talking and you managed to spot a furious glint glazing over his hazel eyes.

He suddenly threw his stick out onto the rink, ripping off his gloves and grabbing Jaeger's shirt by the collar in frightening speed. Reiner was undeniably experienced with his punches, uppercutting him from below the mask. It toppled off of his head, falling to the ground with a crack, and Eren was stunned for a second, just for a single second. He was unable to completely process what had happened before the bigger male tackled him to the cold ground, the deafening sounds of heavy bodies slamming into the ice made the arena stand still.

The referee was too afraid to intervene but blew the whistle immediately, and hundreds of people watched the Reiner Braun brutally dig his knuckles into his face. Fresh crimson spilt down on the ice in splatters and you were forced to witness him weakly trying to stop him, protecting his face as much as possible to no avail. Bertolt immediately tried pulling him off of him, shouting at him that he needed to stop but it was like he was in a trance, almost attacking him in the process.

He finally was pulled off of Eren by the goalie of Warriors — furiously throwing his own punch into his face — and the poor boy having to be quickly removed from the rink on a stretcher. Reiner was pinned to the ground by multiple individuals and given a tranquilizer, his body soon relaxing and slumping over. They put him on a stretcher as well, his hands and legs bounded together and his mouth wrapped with a cloth rag. He was still slightly conscious, his calm and woozy stare meeting your horrified one.

The game had to continue without them but you had already left, not knowing the result. You felt too nauseous from smelling the sheer fear and panic that was coming of Eren, pungent and potent as it filled the air. But Reiner's...

All you could smell was that sickening warmth, a burning sensation in your nares. The same scent from your dorm but that's not at all what made you leave immediately. The sick fuck was happy he was beating into the defenseless guy, exhilarated that his blood was running down his skin and staining the floor, joyful. The nose doesn't lie and you wonder if everyone else caught it too.

Bertolt texted you when he visited Reiner in the hospital, but you didn't respond, busy trying to scrub the remnants of him out of your dorm while tears ran down your cheeks.

He did it for you.

[tcfactory]

Shameless Self Promotion Saturday Sunday Monday!

We make a post and show off what cool stuff we created over the past week. Art, Screenshots, writing (anything from a questionnaire about your OC to the 100K epos...) anything we do is worth to be seen and to be promoted. And by tagging people, commenting, and reblogging, we share the love and boost ourselves and other's confidence.

tagged by @flushwithdarlings

tagging: @mysteryteacup and anyone who might want to do this

I'm cheating a little bit, because I have finished Sky Ballet last week, but it's a pretty heavy two-shot that's technically a companion fic to a (currently) much lighter fic I have been working on, so I'll pretend that it counts.

minor shoutout to @decepticonsensual, because I found the beginnings of this story in a dream last year when I was in writing burnout and, not having any Transformers friends, I sent a kinda random ask to the coolest TF person I know of with the cliffnotes of the basic premise and they were really nice about it, so. Here's to you, for having been an Inspiration with your stories and meta posts and analyses ever since I found this fandom. Keep being awesome!

It's my personal continuity soup where Orion Pax (who is a Good Person and a Decent Cop) gets a gruesome look at the systemic Horrors that plague his world, but due to his position in said system he can't see how deep it all goes and doesn't have the tools to make things better even when he tries.

Or: Cybertron's society is built on pain and suffering from the lowest bloodsport to the pinnacle of performing arts. It takes Optimus too long to realize that this is by design.

(Warning for canon typical violence, background character death, slavery, implied nonconsensual body modification... if you've read anything from the IDW run this is the standard issue Horrors)

----------

Sky Ballet

Pax considers himself a good mech and a decent cop. An honest worker (he never shuns responsibility, even when it means drudging through boring patrols on an overcast day), someone looking out for the vulnerable (even when that means looking the other way while a hungry mech swipes a cube) and doing his best for the less fortunate (he can’t reject the shanix the crooked senators slip into his hands, not if he wants to still be a cop tomorrow or the day after, but money likes moving and it’s easy enough to let it slip into a donation box here and a grasping hand there). He can’t show support to Megatron’s revolutionaries, not openly, but when another demand comes by to investigate them he can do things by the book, which might as well be the same thing. He’s not sure that they are utilizing only peaceful means to protest as Megatron claims, but if there is violence happening then they are doing a very good job of making it happen somewhere Orion can’t see, hear, or connect it back to them through wild conjuncture, which is good enough.

After the three-ring circus that was Zeta Prime’s sentencing (long, drawn out and completely pointless, considering the mech was already dead), he thinks that the oppressed underclass deserves to be a little angry and break a building or three.

Still, being friendly with the Iacon elite allows Orion to occasionally overhear a few rumors that don’t make it out of the highest circles of society and one of those rumors is very relevant to Megatron and his mechs. Relevant enough that for the first time ever, Orion braves visiting the gladiator in the heart of his realm, the infamous Pits of Kaon.

The arena is situated in the best part of Kaon, the high rise where the air is cleanest, the noxious fumes drifting from the lower city dispersed by the heavy turbines that keep the skybound city of Vos hovering just a little to the east. What could illustrate better the benefits of the place than the fact that Vos’ sacred national performing venue, the venerated Vosian Sky Ballet was situated right above the bloodied sands of the arena? Indeed it’s not uncommon for the wealthiest patrons of the Pits to take to the sky in gilded private transports and rise right up to the lavishly decorated venue of the ballet after the gladiatorial matches are concluded for the day, to feed their intellect after slaking their thirst for blood.

Orion Pax has, naturally, known this already. He's good at his job when he wants to be, so he even had the privilege of watching the Sky Ballet once or twice, although he only ever arrived strictly from the direction of Vos. It’s considered improper to make upstanding Iaconi folk approach from the direction of Kaon, even if the upper city isn't that much worse than the part of Iacon Orion lives in.

He still isn’t prepared to see the glittering dots of gem-colored jets dance high up in the sky as he walks down the aisles towards the arena floor. Afternoon is the time for practice, both above and below, and he finds Megatron going through a series of stretches near the front of the fighting floor. This time slot is clearly reserved for the champions, as the only other mechs occupying the chalky sands are Soundwave and his minicons, but unlike Megatron, the lanky gladiator doesn’t seem to take training too seriously. He moves his data cables as if they were slithering snakes, wiggling and snapping at Rumble and Frenzy, tickling them until they dissolve into staticky laughter when he catches them.

Orion watches them play for a while until Megatron finishes his warmups, notices him loitering in the stands and waves him down to their own level.

“Officer Pax. What do we owe the pleasure of your presence?” Megatron is cordial as ever when they are out in public, never cold enough to be inhospitable and never warm enough that an ambitious snoop could misconstrue their interaction as friendly. It takes Orion by surprise to be treated so distantly, but before he can start feeling upset over it he realizes that Megatron has no way to know that he comes as a friend today and not as a cop haranguing them.

“I come as just Orion today.” Megatron inclines his head slightly, accepting this claim for now. “I didn't mean to intrude on your time, but I have heard something that might be important.”

The jets on high do a maneuver so close to the ground that Orion can see their glittering cockpits, their engines drowning out all sound. When they pass Megatron gestures for him to continue.

“Go on. I don't have all day.”

“Is it true that you made it impossible for Senator Ratbat to buy a ticket to the arena?” It’s becoming something of a circus, if it is indeed true. Apparently Senator Ratbat has been fruitlessly trying to get a ticket to the showmatches for vorns now, but no matter how much shanix he offers, what channels he goes through or which swindler he threatens, the ticket refuses to materialize. If someone tries to gift him one, it gets deleted during transfer. If he shows up in person, every ticket is already sold out for that event, even for the standing spots where you can’t really see anything anyway, and no mech is willing to give up their spot no matter how he threatens or bribes them. Just last orn he tried to sneak into a match in disguise, only to be mistaken for a criminal and taken away in handcuffs right from the entrance. It has become so ridiculous that the crowds are starting to think it’s just part of the kayfabe, some staged event to drive up interest.

Orion, in the privacy of his processor, thinks that it must be one of Soundwave’s more obscure hobbies to bully the Senator. Some of the incidents - like the one where Ratbat paid an exorbitant amount of money to buy out every seat in the arena for a whole week, only for the purchase to turn into one ticket to the cheapest seat in a grindcore concert - are too much like his sense of humor to be coincidental.

Megatron answers something, but his voice is drowned out by the shriek of jet engines. What tips Orion off that this isn’t just the usual aerial stunt is when the minicons run to seek shelter under Soundwave’s broad wing-arms, just a moment before a seeker comes crashing into the sands in a jumbled heap of limbs, their vents belching smoke.

Orion jumps and twitches towards the mech, his crisis protocols urging him to help, but he runs straight into Megatron’s upheld arm. “Don’t bother, it’s already dead.”

“How can you know that?! We need to check! There might still be a way to-” He falls silent when a claw is held up in front of his face in the common gesture asking him to wait a moment.

“Is it Starscream?” Megatron doesn’t even look back, his voice bored as he calls out to the minicons.

“Nah, this one’s green.” Rumble transforms one arm into a piledriver and with an ingenious move knocks a whole bunch of sand over the seeker to stop its engines from burning. “Do you want it?”

“Frag no. Get rid of it like usual. I don’t want any trash in my arena tonight.” Megatron waits for their cheerful confirmation before he turns his attention back to Orion. “As I was saying…”

Orion can hear Megatron’s words, but they don’t compute. His eyes are still glued to the dead seeker, now held up in Soundwave’s cables as he examines it - her - for parts that are not too burnt to be repurposed. As he watches in horror, the gladiator very deliberately rips off the head and hands it to Frenzy. After a moment, he does the same with the left arm and hands it off to Ravage, who comes slinking out of the shadows. After longer consideration, he cuts open the partially melted abdominal glass and pulls out the slightly scorched t-cog and a mostly intact fuel pump and carefully places them in Rumble’s arms. Following a silent command, the minicons go running off to take their bounty to Hook and whatever other hacksaw is on medic duty this cycle and Soundwave starts dragging the greying cadaver towards the incinerator they use to dispose of dead gladiators that are too damaged to be worth salvaging. It’s an old thing, possibly as old as the Pits themselves, and it whines and gurgles like a dying turbofox when it’s in operation.

Orion realizes with a start that Megatron is clicking his claws at him again when the ringing of the incinerator clears from his audials. “Get yourself together, Pax. One would think this is the first time you see a dead mech.”

“Does this happen often?” Orion asks weakly. Megatron, coming to the conclusion that he won’t be useful to him until he rallies himself a bit, starts dragging him off to the edge of the stands.

“All the damn time. It’s a quiet orn where we only get a dozen of the stupid things dropping on our heads.” Megatron presses Orion to sit on a low bench, produces a badly dented cup from somewhere and pours him a generous helping of industrial grade from his internal refinery, which is possibly the only source of energon in the entire complex that’s guaranteed not to be contaminated.

Orion, still feeling numb, drinks up when the cup is shoved into his hand. It tastes vaguely like chalk. “Your internal filters need to be changed,” he notes absently.

“A lot of my components need to be changed. Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Ratbat plans to sneak into the audience tonight as Chief Justice Subparhelion’s plus one,” Orion says, because there’s no way Megatron knew that. He came here specifically to tell him about it. He figured that whatever the reason why Soundwave goes to such lengths to keep Ratbat out, it must be at least a little important.

“Wonderful. Heard that, Soundwave?” Megatron calls over his shoulder. Soundwave keeps standing at the incinerator where he disposed of the dead seeker, showing no outward sign that he heard, but that’s just how the mech is. Megatron turns back to Orion, so whatever Soundwave told him was satisfying as an answer. “So much for not having any trash in my arena tonight. We will need to redo the entire schedu-”

His words are drowned out by the loud whine of the incinerator and Orion looks up just in time to see Soundwave pull one of his arms - melted and flattened, its servos and circuitry completely fused together - from the machine. “Megatron, Soundwave has- !”

Megatron, clearly done with his wandering attention, grabs Orion’s face and turns it back towards himself, just as calm as he was a klik before.

“Well, what else was he supposed to do? He can’t be seen up here or Ratbat will repossess him and the only way he can sit out the circus tonight is if he’s too damaged to fight or perform.”

Orion Pax watches in horror as Soundwave stiffly walks towards the barracks, flashing his visor at them in acknowledgment as he passes by. “Ratbat is the representative Senator of Iacon; the citystate doesn’t allow for slaves. He can’t take Soundwave.”

Megatron huffs, coincidentally displacing a fine cloud of chalk dust from his vents.“Soundwave isn’t a slave. You need to be considered a sentient mech by Iaconi standards to be considered a slave, which he is not. He’s ‘specialized equipment’.”

Orion stares at him, uncomprehending. The only three things required to be considered a sentient mech in Iacon are a spark (which he knows Soundwave has), a t-cog (he has seen Soundwave transform before) and- “Megatron. Are you telling me that Soundwave doesn’t have a brain module?!”

Megatron winces at the sudden audial-splitting volume and catches the cup as it falls from Orion’s numb fingers. “Not so loud… the law stipulates that sentience requires at least 68% of one intact brain module capable of emotional processing. Soundwave has seventeen partial brain modules split along his nervous core, all of them butchered the exact amount to maximize processing power without fulfilling the criteria for sentience and none of which are independently capable of processing emotions. When he’s not being lazy and piggybacking off somebody else’s hardware, he simulates a virtual copy of the standard emotional processing framework and filters his emotional experiences through that.” Megatron shrugs, like this entire thing isn’t complete madness. Like it’s a normal thing that his Amica’s self is made up of seventeen mangled brain modules stapled together. “He falls so far outside of the measurement criteria that even Swindle couldn’t get him an exemption. If he was a slave, at least he could be the official property of the Pits and I wouldn’t have to worry about Ratbat snatching him away.”

Orion thinks he makes a sound of distress as his processors struggle to comprehend that Soundwave is in such a precarious position that he would be safer as a slave. Megatron misunderstands his distress and pats him over the shoulder.

“We are grateful for this information, Pax. We owe you one.”

Orion doesn’t want their gratitude. He doesn’t want them to owe him. He wants the world to go back to the way it was the day before, when it still made sense.

He’s still so hung up on Soundwave by the time he leaves that he forgets to ask about the dead seekers falling from the sky.

----------

Senator Ratbat makes headlines the next day because the overworked transport he shares with the Chief Justice falls asleep on the highway and crashes into the river at full speed just outside Velocitron. Orion listens to his colleagues gossip about the Senator being cursed as he files away the new revolutionary pamphlets demanding the right to unionize to prevent more accidents like this, and thinks about how many contingencies one must need to protect someone who’s not recognized as a person. It’s a shame, he can’t help but think, that only the Senator survived. He liked Chief Justice Subparhelion.

---------

The next time Orion visits the arena Megatron is absent, but he finds Soundwave basking in the sun, his solar panels spread out all around him. His arm is brand new, the paint a shade off from the rest of his plating. Perhaps a little grateful for that tip about Senator Ratbat, Soundwave tolerantly throws him around for a bit under the guise of sparring (as opposed to intolerantly ripping his limbs off or hacking his brain) before he opens up a quadruple-encrypted comm channel and sends over one lonely ‘?’.

This, at least, is something Orion is already familiar with and doesn’t hesitate to ask. “Can you tell me what that was about last time? The thing with the seeker.” He knows better than to ask about Soundwave himself. He feels much too attached to his limbs to risk it.

Soundwave tilts his head to the side, as if considering the question, then proceeds to throw Orion around for another 20 kliks just for fun before he sends over an encrypted file.

This is how he really learns about the Vosian Sky Ballet.

----------

Imagine a highly specialized frame, streamlined to the smallest component. Balanced down to the most insignificant bolt, manufactured only from the purest alloys. Now mass produce seventeen thousand of them each vorn to maintain undisputed aerial supremacy over Praxus, forcing the latter to halt its production of flight frames altogether, because they could simply not keep up with the competition.

These are the seekers, the elite guard patrolling Cybertron’s skies. Vos’ pride and joy.

And they are not allowed to be anything but perfect.

Those that fail to live up to perfection are disposable.

And disposable seekers have only one place to go: the Sky Ballet.

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[If you enjoyed this far, you can read the rest of it HERE on AO3.]

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #655

Top Ten MCU Actors Who Could Join the New DCU

It feels like it’s been a big moment for superhero TV recently. Two new shows have just started based on both DC and Marvel characters – The Penguin and Agatha All Along, respectively – and there’s increased jibber-jabber about upcoming programmes too. Creature Commandos – the first proper, official, for-realsies production from James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DCU – starts in December. And there’s been some interesting casting tittle-tattle about what’s probably the biggest show they’ve got on the docket, Green Lantern series Lanterns, which is going to feature both Hal Jordan and John Stewart.

We already know what one Green Lantern looks like, at least, thanks to paparazzi shots of Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner on the set of next year’s Superman. But Gardner is always, really, the other Lantern; too much of a dickhead, and possessed of too terrible a hairdo, to really be considered the main event. Hal and John, on the other hand, could both be considered the “proper” Lantern, and so it’s going to be really interesting to see them share the screen in what appears to be a sort of buddy-space-cop crime drama.

Anyway the really interesting thing about all of this is the names apparently in the mix to play Hal. I think we already knew (or assumed) that Hal was going to be the older character, more of a mentor-type figure to a younger John, and this has been borne out in some of the actors they’ve either been looking at, talking to, or who’ve already turned the role down. These include Ewan McGregor, Chris Pine, Timothy Olyphant (who, of these names, would be my choice), and Josh Brolin. Now, three of these have already played comic book characters before; both McGregor and Pine are in prior DC films. But Brolin was, of course, an absolutely huge part of Avengers, playing interstellar bad guy Thanos across a number of films (if Brolin had taken the role, he’d have been not one but four characters in Marvel and DC: Thanos, Cable, Hal Jordan, and Jonah Hex – so maybe he thought it was a bit much).

If Thanos can cross the floor, so to speak, to take a major role in a DC show, then – of course – nothing’s off the table. Heimdall himself, Idris Elba, is also DC’s Bloodsport; and there have been a number of smaller-scale roles cast with actors who’ve had a foot in both ponds. I think Thanos being Green Lantern might have been the biggest deal, however; we may have to contend with everyone’s favourite emerald space cop being a major Star Wars character instead.

This has inspired my list this weekend, which is all about actors who’ve had (moderately) significant roles in the MCU, who could now jump ship and appear in a DCU production. I’ve done a few casting suggestion lists over the years, so I’ve tried not to repeat myself – as such I’ve avoided even speculating on truly major JLA-type roles, so there’s no “Chris Pratt for Batman!”-type stuff. Some of these I think would be truly excellent suggestions; others would just be amusing.

Have at it, Jim and Pete! Take your pick!

Pom Klementieff as Zatanna: Klementieff brings a certain other-worldliness to her roles; she always feels at a remove, can project a kind of oddness that’s either adorable and endearing (Mantis) or strange and threatening (Paris). I think this, plus her great comic timing and natural ability, would be perfect for backwards-talking magic-user Zatanna. And – hey – I kinda feel like magicians should be French, I don’t know why.

Edward Norton as Clayface: Norton is, I guess, only technically part of the MCU, but he still counts! He’s got a reputation as a super-serious actor; this would make him perfect to play Basil Karlo, a vain and fading actor who ends up becoming a shape-shifting goo man. He could play him like his character from Birdman, but, y’know, in clay. And he’s got form with CGI characters! Sort of! Anyway, it’d be funny.

Frank Grillo as Slade Wilson: Grillo was great as the super-gruff Crossbones in Winter Soldier and Civil War; he was tough but charismatic, and held his own against Captain America. He’s been public about wanting to carry on the role, despite being killed off, so perhaps jumping into DC waters would be cool. He looks the part for Slade, and can do the action stuff, and as the character is meant to be a bit older and more experienced, I think he’d bring a good sense of hard-earned wisdom to the role.

Dave Bautista as Dr. Will Magnus: I definitely think Bautista will pop up in the DCU. I’d like to see him in a role that was less physical; he’s a terrific actor, capable of bringing out humour, tragedy, and pathos. So it’d be good to see him as a scientist; there are plenty to choose from. Magnus is great because I guess he’s essentially a good guy, but also a bit morally dubious, and has a history of both mental health issues and slightly dodgy relationships with some of the robots he builds. So there’s lots there for Bautista to get his teeth into.

Sylvester Stallone as Wildcat: I don’t know what the plans are for the Justice Society, and obviously casting a guy in his seventies isn’t really going to allow you to make a decade’s worth of intense action movies. But Wildcat was a boxer before becoming a crimefighter; he’s tough, he’s a fighter, and (depending on continuity) trained Batman. The Society are usually presented as older anyway, the previous generation of heroes. Do I need to explain why Stallone is perfect for this role?

Benicio del Toro as Sinestro: Sinestro is, basically, a corrupt cop who really breaks bad – I wouldn’t be surprised if he cropped up Lanterns, as he’s really the big Green Lantern bad guy. Rather than making him a moustache-twirling British guy, I think having del Toro bring both a bit of the grit and strength he has in films such as Traffic, as well as the charm and humour he naturally possesses, would really make the character stand out.

Sam Rockwell as Ralph Dibney: I don’t know what their plans are for these characters, and maybe Rockwell’s too old if The Elongated Man is supposed to be a contemporary of a (presumably mid-thirties) Flash. But come on: a light-hearted, wisecracking detective who can also stretch his body? Don’t tell me his wouldn’t be a fantastic role for Rockwell. I’d want him front and centre of every Justic League film, though. Maybe they could also bring across Rachel Weisz as his wife Sue?

Jenny Agutter as Granny Goodness: Agutter has been really underused in the MCU; after Winter Soldier, I was hoping she’d keep popping up as a sort of British version of Nick Fury. So casting her entirely against type as an evil, cruel, vicious general and leader of the Female Furies, working for ultimate big-bad Darkseid, would be really cool. The only downside is Goodness is usually presented as a plus-sized woman, and it’d be a shame to lose some of that representation (Amanda Waller, for instance, has had a significant weight loss in recent years).

Jeff Goldblum as The Riddler: I’ve tried to limit both the number of former Guardians cast members and also the number of specifically Batman-related characters (sorry, Karen Gillan as Poison Ivy). But we’re back in Gotham for this utterly perfect casting. Goldblum is great at three things: appearing smart, projecting hidden darkness, and a wild eccentric charisma. Making the Riddler an older guy looking for a legacy – a would-be genius out to prove he’s smarter than everyone else one last time – would make him really different from both Jim Carrey’s utterly manic turn, and also Paul Dano’s weird serial killer (who, I’m sorry, is great, but is not the Riddler).

Samuel L. Jackson as Darkseid: is this on-the-nose? First base? I was basically thinking about the voice; who has the best voice for this? Well, to be honest, the answer is the sadly departed James Earl Jones, but Jackson also has a fantastic baritone. Also, if he were to appear in a more human guise, I like he image of a taciturn Jackson randomly appearing in someone’s front room to threaten or tempt them. Jackson is excellent at projecting menace, but also great at delivering elaborate soliloquies. And he’s very funny.

[coffeelouis]

one of my resolutions for 2019 was to post monthly fic lists of every fic i’ve read that month! i’m really excited about it, as it’s driven me to read more and catalog my fic reading more intently. i also have been really enjoying the fics i’ve read in the past few months, as i’m reading so much more by taking the tube so often, so it’s a perfect fit! and without further ado: 

here’s every fic i’ve read in january 2019, in order of reading: 

Take Your Time by @laynefaire

When Harry finds himself in the middle of a messy break-up with no place to live, Louis offers a spare room in his flat. Unbeknownst to Harry, Louis has been infatuated for years. Over the objections of their friends, who know the truth, Harry accepts. Can Louis survive Harry moving into his home…and closer to his heart? Will Harry see what's right in front of him?

Whirlwind by @darlou

“Noisy boys over at that table there, yes, you two, would you like to share something with us?”

...

“I was just saying that you’re probably the only person who’s ever literally taken my breath away"

-

AU inspired by Phoebe and David from Friends.

⭐ to the brim with fright by @hereforlou​

The only reason he’s here is because it’s tradition. And also, Harry said it’d be fun to make Liam wet himself in fear and Louis agreed. It’ll be hilarious. He’s not an insecure new transfer anymore, thank you very much. It took him no more than a week to insert himself into a group, to get invited to his first party, and to start crushing on someone—he’s not what anyone would call socially impaired. He doesn’t need validation.

(Or, the one where Louis’ high and scared and Harry’s...also high and scared.)

caught up in your love affair by @disgruntledkittenface​

“And the corgis took to you straightaway,” Harry remarks.

“That’s true,” Louis chuckles.

“I’ve spent the last 29 years being barked at,” Harry deadpans, jerking his hand toward Louis, “this one walks in, absolutely nothing.”

Louis outright giggles at that, saying, “They were just lying on my feet during tea.”

“Wagging tails,” Harry says, shaking his head.

“It’s because they don’t understand flirting,” Louis tells him, “you can’t charm them the way you do everyone else.”

Royal AU. Prince Harry announces his engagement to Louis Tomlinson in an interview with longtime friend and BBC host Nick Grimshaw. Inspired by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

There’s Nothing I Can Do (I Only Wanna Be With You) by @chaoticallyyours​

Roommates Harry and Louis both consider themselves matchmakers. Louis' latest crusade is finding the perfect match for Harry, despite the admittedly disastrous results. With just a little bit of help from their friends and a lot of whining, Louis realizes that the best match for Harry might just be the person already sharing his flat.

OR: Louis is a dumb gay who doesn't realize he's in love with his best friend. Until he does.

a fire in us by @hereforlou​

Louis had always thought it wouldn’t catch him off-guard. If he ever got his Time, he would be ready, and he would be calm, and he would make his way to wherever his soulmate waited for him and blow them away with how ready and calm he was.

When he got his Time on that Monday, years after he had stopped fantasizing about meeting his soulmate, Louis was not ready, and he was not calm. What he was was late.

(Or, the one where Harry waits and Louis worries.)

Wild Love by purpledaisy

“Good,” Julia says, clearly pleased to have them both uncomfortable and unable to look at each other. “Now, I only have one more question before you can go. What are you planning to do when this experiment ruins your friendship?”

“We said we’d stay friends no matter what,” Harry says smoothly, his chin lifting in defense.

“That was our one thing going into it,” Louis agrees. “Stay friends no matter what.”

Julia raises a perfectly manicured brow, “That’s all fine and good. But I hope you realize your emotions aren’t going to realize this is an experiment in the end. If one of you falls for the other and finds out those feelings are not reciprocated, you’re not going to be able to laugh it off as a social experiment. I’m not saying you shouldn’t do this, I’m just hoping you’ve considered all of the possible outcomes.”

- AU: Two best friends try to date each other for forty days. It's supposed to be fun until emotions make it complicated.

gonna dream of how you (tasted) by @hereforlou​

It was clear that they were not going to talk about how they knew each other. Harry was relieved, he didn’t need Louis to spell out how fast he’d wanted to get out of the house back then, but it also made him anxious. The fact that they had seen each other naked and they were pretending it had never happened was hanging between them.

I had your dick in my mouth, Harry thought loudly at Louis, and then remembered there was a baby in the room and felt a little dirty. He decided to stop thinking about it altogether - Louis seemed to be managing just fine.

(Or, the one where Harry needs a handyman and it turns out they have a bit of a history.)

⭐ bloodsport by @tofiveohfive​

“You know how our next game is against the Cardinals, right? You remember how vicious those guys can get. I wanted us to come up with some plays, maybe work on a block from the left—”

Louis stops when he hears a chuckle.

He doesn’t think he’s said anything particularly funny, so he turns to Harry, waiting for an explanation.

“‘S funny, ‘s all.” Harry throws his finished bottle somewhere near the other discarded ones. “This is the first time you’re talking to me in eight months, and it’s still about football.”

i’ll take your pain by @suspendrs

It’s kind of romantic when Harry thinks about it, feeling all the pain of the person he’s supposed to love for the rest of his life. Sure, it’s rather inconvenient when he’s in class and his soulmate gets kicked in the balls, or when he’s sleeping and his soulmate knocks his head or his knee off something. It’d be nice if the function helped them to find each other, but Harry supposes he can live with knowing that they’re destined to run into each other someday.

Or, soulmates have the ability to feel each other's pain, and Harry finds his after getting his arse waxed. (Or, the soulmate au crack fic I can't believe I actually wrote.)

A Few Good Mistakes by @louisandthealien

He almost wishes there were a better story.

"Fucked up pop star ends five day bender by wandering into a dive bar alone and passing out in public."

That would've generated press, he thinks, and if there's one thing that's constantly on his mind (or more accurately, on the mind of everyone else around him) it's that all press is good press, and good press is good press but bad press is great press.

Besides, he's 25 and trying to do the whole transition from boyband to solo pop star. He's pretty sure a press-fueled meltdown is, like, a right of passage.

The truth, alas, is a whole lot more boring.

---

Louis falls asleep in Harry's bar. Harry takes him home to hang out.

No Place Without You by @fackinglouis

Harry's in love with life and he's in love with the world.

Louis' in love with Harry and he doesn't think there's any way he can possibly compete.

A Wanderlust AU in which Harry doesn't have a permanent home and stays with Louis when he visits NYC.

Fortify Me by @louisandthealien

“I’m just so happy I have you, Lou,” Harry says softly, prodding his toes against Louis’ ankle. “I feel like I’m going to get Simon’s little talking-to any day now…I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here.” Louis very much doubts that, but stays quiet. “It’s just, like, it’s so good to have someone here who’s going through the same thing, I guess?”

Louis tries not to smile too wryly when he nods. “Yeah, yeah it is, I suppose.”

“And…and— ” Harry starts again, voice sounding a little braver, a bit more jokey, “and how much better could this be?” he gestures with one hand at the bed around them. “Two very gay, very fit mates having a very platonic cuddle during their very exciting boy band adventure?” He kicks Louis again. “That’s the stuff of movies, right?”

[loveoaths]

No they aren't like the bloodlines being highly revered and feared simultaneoulsy thing is kinda universal. Uzumaki was eliminated out of fear. Same for Uchihas. Konoha is no better. They even quarantined their most powerful bloodline. Here in this panel he is comparing his exps w sasuke's. Kishi dropped this plotpoint later on tho.

literally all of part one is kishi sucking uchiha and hyūga dick, my dude. it’s all about bloodlines. and i’m not referring to danzo and what not, i am referring to how this new generation — naruto’s generation — reacts in part one to bloodlines. 

one of the first things we learn in part one is how much academy kids put sasuke on a pedestal due to being an uchiha and eventually awakening the sharingan. later in the chunin exams, everyone and their mom gets hype over sasuke’s eyes. and since the bloodline storyline was dropped after part one, i am not taking into account the retcons kishi made years later. additionally, the uzumaki slaughter ( which, if i remember correctly, they were killed because they were deemed too powerful and not because people feared their abilities themselves ? also do the uzumaki actually count as a bloodline if it’s just their jutsus? i don’t remember, i was skimming by that point ) has nothing to do with the political climate in konoha, and my tags were only referring to haku’s shock upon entering konoha and fire country.

the reality of the situation — that the uchiha were killed off and the hyūga have Big Fucking Issues — is not public information. everyone continues thinking highly of their abilities. and, like you said, the bloodline issue is something kishimoto failed to follow through on, which means that yes, bloodlines WERE solidified as “super dope powerful cool shit” powers. people who were afraid of what they could do were deemed the bad guys, ie danzo.

additionally, the point i was making in my tags was in relation to my blog’s interpretation of haku after they wind up in konoha. in that panel i reblogged, haku is unaware of the cultural differences in konoha, BECAUSE CANONICALLY THE PUBLIC KEKKEI GENKAI PURGES WERE A PHENOMENA UNIQUE TO WATER COUNTRY AND KIRIGAKURE. there is NO canonical information in part one that mentions anything remotely similar occurring in fire country or konoha proper. so actually ??? konoha IS better, numbers wise. they didn’t slaughter huge portions of their population after using them like fighting dogs in wars they had no business fighting in. they weren’t used for bloodsports, which is another thing kirigakure did with captured bloodline users.

haku compares their experiences to sasuke’s under the assumption that persecution must be the same everywhere, because haku has only ever known persecution in water country.

part one is about perceiving the difference between belief and reality, what something looks like and how it is. examples: naruto’s idea of what being a ninja means before and after the wave mission; the perspective on sasuke as an entitled super cool ninja teen to a deeply hurt, lonely, and revenge consumed child; sakura’s concepts of what’s important, aka her learning to set aside her desire for beauty in exchange for her need to become stronger, to pull her weight, to support and protect her friends. the bloodline plotline supported this dichotomy. it’s a shame kishimoto dropped the ball there. naruto might’ve actually made sense as a manga, then ! 🤪

i’m open to chatting more if you like, but please send an IM. anon feels weird and confrontational, especially considering you ( accidentally ?) spammed my inbox with five asks.

[stayingforeverinmydreams]

85 Questions!

Yay! Another tag! Thank you, @rekaszabo​ !!!

Rules: Answer these 85 statements about yourself, then tag 20 people.

Last…?

1. Drink ─  Water

2. Phone call ─ my dad

3. Text message ─ my mom

4. Song you listened to ─ Bloodsport ‘15 by Raleigh Ritchie (it’s a personal favorite of mine. u should probs go have a listen)

5. Time you cried ─ hmmmm i think it was yesterday bc i was feeling so emo after seeing clips of exo cbx being emo at their concert

Ever…?

6. Dated someone twice ─ i have yet to date someone so

7. Kissed someone and regretted it ─ i’ve never even had a first kiss

8. Been cheated on ─ can’t be cheated on if i’m not in a relationship

9. Lost someone special ─ hmmm i don’t think so. there was an almost tho

10. Been depressed ─ yeah but not anymore, thankfully

11. Gotten drunk and thrown up ─ i have never drunk any alcoholic drink before and i probably never will so

3 Favourite Colors

ohmaigad i love pretty much every color there is but i guess i’ll go with these three rn

12. Pastel Pink

13. Pastel Blue

14. White

In the last year have you…

15. Made new friends ─ yeah, i have~

16. Fallen out of love ─ nope

17. Laughed until you cried ─ oh totally. way too many times than i could count

18. Found out someone was talking about you ─ thankfully, no

19. Met someone who changed you ─ hmmm i don’t think so

20. Found out who your friends are ─ i’m not sure what this means so um yeah

21. Kissed someone on your Facebook friends list ─  nope

General

22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know irl ─ i think i know about 2/3 of them but don’t talk to more than half of them so

23. Do you have any pets ─ i guess the koi fish in the fish pond count as pets since we named them and stuff hahaah

24. Do you want to change your name ─ i used to but now, not anymore

25. What did you do for your last birthday ─  i turned 18 during my last birthday so we had this small event with my immediate family and my other family, which is like my junior high school classmates, and a few other very close friends. it was a humble celebration with cute and memorable moments

26. What time did you wake up today ─ i think it was around 9 am

27. What were you doing at midnight last night ─  going thru Tumblr, just before i was about to sleep

28. What is something you can’t wait for ─ atm, i can’t wait to meet up with the friends in my squad and do something productive like learning a dance or filming a video or something

30. What are you listening to right now ─ Playdate by EXO-CBX

31. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom ─ nope

32. Something that’s getting on your nerves ─ hm nothing comes to mind rn

33. Most visited website ─  YouTube and Tumblr

34. Hair colour ─ brown yo

35. Long or short hair ─ hmm i’m more of a medium length hair person but i guess rn i’ll go with long hair

36. Do you have a crush on someone ─  noooo unless you count Jaemin from NCT (... or Jaehyun. Sehun’s my boyfriend tho so um wait)

37. What do you like about yourself ─  physically, i love my collarbones. something that’s non-physical... i’ll go with the drive i have when i’m motivated to do something

38. Want any piercings? ─ any more than my ear piercings? nah

39. Blood type ─ O

40. Nicknames ─ people usually just call me “Raina” but i guess a nickname they call me is “Rain”

41. Relationship status ─ single (... but really, in a relationship with oh sehun)

42. Zodiac ─  aquarius

43. Pronouns ─ she/her

44. Fave TV shows ─ Sherlock, Doctor Who, Busted, Weekly Idol

45. Tattoos ─ i currently have none and i don’t plan on getting any in the future either

46. Right or left handed ─ right

47. Ever had surgery ─ noooooo

48. Piercings ─ just my ears

49. Sport ─ volleyball, soccer/football, badminton, swimming

50. Vacation ─  i’m not sure if this means which places i’ve vacationed at or places i want to go to for vacation so yeah

          Places I’ve Been To: a couple of places here in the philippines

          Places I WANT To Go To: inside the philippines, i want to visit palawan. outside of the country, i currently want to go to japan and south korea. although, in the future, i really just want to travel everywhere. most of asia and europe tbh

51. Trainers ─ hmm i currently don’t have any trainers and i don’t really prefer any brand so uh yeah

More general

52. Eating ─ just ate some piattos cheese

53. Drinking ─ water

54. I’m about to watch ─  NCT’s i love you game again

55. Waiting for ─ june 13 so i can ask about available slots for my course

56. Want ─ to actually execute and do all the plans i have for the next two months, before college starts for me

57. Get married ─ lol maybe in like a decade or so

58. Career ─ i wanna be a doctor while i am a fashion designer altho i still lowkey have this dream of being an idol

Which is better

59. Hugs or kisses ─ i’m very much a hugger so huGS

60. Lips or eyes ─ i’m into both bc i mean, eyes glisten and shine and show you all these emotions. it’s like legitimately a window to someone’s soul. but i’m inlove with how lips curve when someone smiles or laughs srsly i’m all up for that

61. Shorter or taller ─ idk if this is for myself or for my s/o. if for myself, i wanna be a bit taller. if for my s/o, then i don’t really mind whatever their height would be but i guess taller is cute

62. Older or younger ─ i’m good with either but for younger, preferably not someone who’s more than a year younger than me

63. Nice arms or stomach ─ i don’t really prefer anything so i guess either is good??

64. Hookup or relationship ─ relationship. preferably with sehun oh. or jaemin na. or jaehyun jung

65. Troublemaker or hesitant ─ a balance between the two sounds pretty good

Have you ever

66. Kissed a stranger ─ nope

67. Drank hard liquor ─ nope

68. Lost glasses ─ ohmaigad yes ugh why

69. Turned someone down ─ just once

70. Sex on first date ─ lol the first time i’ll probably ever even think about actually doing it is when i’m married

71. Broken someone’s heart ─ idk??? maybe?? maybe not??

72. Had your heart broken ─ yeah, kinda

73. Been arrested ─ i only turned 18 so nah and hopefully, i never will

74. Cried when someone died ─ i don’t think anyone that affected me significantly died so no

75. Fallen for a friend ─ i guess you could say that

Do you believe in…?

76. Yourself ─ yeah. if i don’t, then who else will

77. Miracles ─ yeah totally

78. Love at first sight ─ nah

79. Santa Claus ─ i used to at some point but not anymore

80. Kiss on a first date ─ hmmm not really

81. Angels ─ yeah

Other

82. Best friend’s name ─ i have a couple of best friends actually but two of my absolute bestest friends are Chloe and Kyla

83. Eye colour ─ broooooown

84. Favourite Movie ─ i know i have a lot but atm, i gotta say it’s The Little Prince

85. Favourite Actor  ─ i don’t have only one particular favorite actor and fangirl over them hard or anything but i guess i love the following people: Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Anne Hathaway, Park Hae Jin, and Park Shin Hye

so that’s another tag done! i can’t really tag 20 people so um yeah. i’m tagging @warmhugsnowflakes @jaemin-my-shinee-world @lovelynajaemin @exclusivejably and pretty much anybody else who wants to do this. of course, for the ones that i did tag, you don’t have to do it~

so yeah, thanks!

[aion-rsa]

The Suicide Squad Character Guide, Easter Eggs, and DCEU References

https://ift.tt/3ywaJGW

This article contains major spoilers for The Suicide Squad. We have a spoiler free review here.

The DCEU is alive and well and dividing its time between Corto Maltese and Belle Reve prison. James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad gives us the most DC characters in live action in any one movie ever assembled!

OK, fine, the vast majority of them die. And a fair portion of them most folks have never even heard of. But it still counts!

And yes, there are DC Comics Easter eggs in the movie, but perhaps not as many as you might expect. So we’ve decided to split the difference. We’re gonna give you the lowdown on all the characters, especially the obscure ones, and talk about what their existence in this movie means (or could mean) for the wider DCEU. And we’ll still give you all the DC Easter eggs we were able to spot. A real bargain, even though this article didn’t cost you anything! 

Let’s take it from the top (cue the Jim Carroll Band’s “People Who Died”)

HARLEY QUINN

What else can be said about Harley Quinn that we haven’t already said a thousand times? You know who she is, you know where she’s from, and you know all about Margot Robbie’s iconic, for-the-ages performance. 

And while the DCEU is pretty loosely connected these days, this is definitely the same Harley from the 2016 movie, although somewhat less male gaze-y in her attire, and one who has definitely moved on from her relationship with the Joker (who doesn’t even get mentioned in this film!). Harley already knowing Rick Flag, Captain Boomerang, and Amanda Waller is all the proof you need that this is a sequel to that film, however loose it may be.

Harley’s relationship status and attitude means that the events of 2020’s Birds of Prey movie also definitely happened, and they’re even referenced (albeit in passing). Hell, you could even say that Harley’s grand escape and the “Harley-vision” that accompanies it comes right out of some of the weirder moments of Birds of Prey. But that’s basically it. We’d like more of Robbie as Harley on our screens, though.

Read more

Movies

The Suicide Squad: Margot Robbie On the Enduring Appeal of Harley Quinn

By Kayti Burt

Movies

Margot Robbie Wants Poison Ivy to Join Harley Quinn in the DCEU

By Kayti Burt

What does Harley Quinn mean for the DCEU? Harley’s intro in 2016’s Suicide Squad helped establish that of all the characters kicking around the DCEU, Batman was the most experienced, as she, Joker, and Bats shared a history dating back several years. At this point, Harley is practically the linchpin of old DCEU continuity, and one of the last remaining cinematic ties to Ben Affleck’s portrayal of the Dark Knight.

BLOODSPORT

The version of Bloodsport we meet in this film bears very little resemblance to his comic book incarnation. The comics version of Bloodsport first appeared in 1987’s Superman #4 by John Byrne, and while elements of the comics character made it to the film, the guy Idris Elba is playing is quite different from his comics counterpart. Let’s start with the similarities…

The name, both the codename and his real name of Robert Du Bois? Check. The thing about him shooting Superman with a Kryptonite bullet? Also check. The rest? Ummm…it’s a loose interpretation.

Read more

Movies

The Suicide Squad: How Idris Elba Brings Bloodsport to Life

By Stephanie Williams

Movies

How The Suicide Squad is Different from Guardians of the Galaxy

By Mike Cecchini

Here, Bloodsport has a seemingly never ending arsenal of high tech weapons, which fold and collapse out of each other, meaning he’s seemingly always got the exact tool for the job. But in the comics, Bloodsport was equipped with a tiny teleporter (thanks Lex Luthor!) which allowed him to seemingly “materialize” whatever weapon he needed at any given moment. The comics version of Bloodsport was much less of a “purely competent badass” and much more of a tragic, traumatized, and deluded figure…and a mass shooter, to boot.

This isn’t quite a comics thing, but when Bloodsport throws his earpiece in disgust near the end of the film after having enough of taking orders from Waller and company, it’s vaguely reminiscent of the final shot in the first (and by far the best) Dirty Harry movie, when Clint Eastwood’s Harry Callahan, disillusioned with the constraints of the system, flings his badge and walks away.

What does Bloodsport mean for the DCEU? It’s a little frustrating to know that Henry Cavill’s DCEU Superman is still out there having adventures that we’ll probably never get to see. Cavill deserves another chance in the cape, damn it! Alas, Warner Bros. seems to have different (and very cool) plans for Superman on the big screen these days.

PEACEMAKER

Peacemaker is a weird character, folks. The character first appeared back in 1966, and wasn’t a DC character…he was published by the now defunct Charlton Comics, whose characters like the Question, Blue Beetle, and Captain Atom were later acquired by DC and folded into their own continuity. And you know what else those characters have in common? They became the inspirations for the main characters in Watchmen, with Watchmen’s Comedian functioning as a kind of adaptation of Peacemaker.

Comics Peacemaker is pretty different (except in looks) to the guy we meet in this film, though. Initially a pacifist using non-lethal weapons, he was reinvented by DC in the ‘80s as a bloodthirsty character with some serious mental issues. Namely, he believed that the souls of the people he killed were then trapped in his distinctive helmet and talking to him. Uhhhh…

Read more

Movies

The Suicide Squad: John Cena and the Secrets of Peacemaker

By Nick Harley

Movies

The Suicide Squad: Inside James Gunn’s DCEU Supervillain War Movie

By Mike Cecchini

He’s popped up a handful of times in DC continuity over the last 35 years, but there’s no version of the character you could safely consider definitive. He’s appearing in the current (and very good) run of DC’s Suicide Squad comics, as well. Like Bloodsport, the origin explained for him onscreen here has nothing to do with his comics counterpart.

What does Peacemaker mean for the DCEU? Well, he’s still alive (as we see in that post-credits scene) for starters. He’s also getting his own HBO Max series, which James Gunn is showrunning, writing, and directing quite a bit of. And since he’s still loyal to Amanda Waller, it would seem that any future Suicide Squad sequels will rest firmly on John Cena’s broad shoulders. 

RICK FLAG

Ah, Rick Flag, we hardly knew ye. Joel Kinnnaman gives Flag a much more likeable makeover in this film, and the character is even rocking a yellow t-shirt in honor of the John Ostrander-written Suicide Squad comics of the 1980s that influenced so much of this film.

In the comics, Rick was a career military man, like his father before him (we assume this is also Rick Flag, Jr. just like in the comics). Screen Rick’s sense of duty and honor would seem to indicate that’s the case here, too. 

What does Rick Flag mean for the DCEU? Well…unfortunately, he’s dead, so not much. Unless it turns out that Task Force X has been cloning Rick Flags for use on Suicide Squad missions for years or something, we don’t expect to see him again. In any case, that sure was an epic way for him to go out!

KING SHARK

Whoever thought that a ‘90s Superboy villain would become one of the most beloved characters of the blockbuster season? The Suicide Squad isn’t King Shark’s first foray into live action (that would be The Flash TV series) but this is easily his biggest stage yet.

Since his first appearance in 1994, King Shark has been a Superboy baddie, an Aquaman villain, has fought for the bad guys in assorted Crises, a kinda ally to a different version of Aquaman, and our personal favorite, a member of the Squad-adjacent team of antiheroes and mercenaries known as the Secret Six, where writer Gail Simone delivered some of the character’s most memorable and delightful moments.

Read more

Movies

The Suicide Squad: How King Shark and Starro Were Brought to Life

By Don Kaye

Oh, and when we first meet him he’s trying to read William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience. But it’s upside down.

What does King Shark mean for the DCEU? Well…we would very much like to see him show up in Aquaman 2, known as Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. It would be a tremendous missed opportunity if not, even if it’s just for a cameo. Don’t those weird/adorable/scary Clyrax just look like they were designed for James Wan’s Aquaman world?

 And c’mon, James Gunn’s next DC movie should absolutely be Secret Six, where King Shark is really most at home!

AMANDA WALLER

Viola Davis is a national treasure, and her Amanda Waller performance makes the character perhaps the most malevolent of all these kind of not-quite-good guys. Sure, we’ve had other live action Amanda Waller performances, but nobody captures the no-nonsense, morally gray Waller like Davis has here. 

What does Amanda Waller mean for the DCEU? At the end of the first Suicide Squad movie, we had that little tease of Amanda dealing with Bruce Wayne and General Wade Eiling. While the DCEU as a whole isn’t terribly connected these days, it would be great if we could see more of Davis’ Waller lurking in the shadows, pulling the strings, and maybe even putting events in motion that ultimately lead to the formation of that aforementioned Secret Six team…

That being said, we’re not holding our breath for it, either. Then again, it’s quite easy to imagine a world where Waller is taking a pronounced interest in someone like Black Adam coming out of hiding. 

STARRO

The villain of The Suicide Squad actually began life as…a Justice League villain! And not just any Justice League villain, the FIRST Justice League villain! Yes, Starro has been kicking around DC Comics since 1960 and the very first appearance of the JLA.

While kaiju-sized from the start, Starro’s very creepy ability to spawn spores that are essentially facehuggers didn’t come around until a post-Alien world. This suddenly made Starro a much cooler, and more in-demand threat, and despite there being 17 years between their first and second appearance, since then, Starro has become a regular pain-in-the-face for the entire DC Universe.

Thinker naming the creature “Starro the Conqueror” as a derisive nickname is a reference to how the character is referred to in the comics…and it was literally the text on the cover of its first appearance.

We get lots of imagery of group shots of “Starro zombies,” folks wearing the ol’ Starro facehugger. That’s a recurring image in the comics, and one that comes to mind is the cover of Justice League Europe #26.

Oh, and that’s Taika Waititi voicing Starro, in his second role in the film! (more on the other one in a moment)

What does Starro mean for the DCEU? Well, aside from the fact that we’ve been robbed of a Justice League vs. Starro movie now, there’s no reason to believe that we couldn’t potentially have Starro back. A spore could have escaped. Starro themself could be a giant spore of its own hivemind. 

And while it’s unlikely that we’ll get Starro as a primary antagonist ever again in a DCEU film, it would be pretty cool to see the creature or the species referenced in something like the upcoming HBO Max Green Lantern Corps TV series.  

CAPTAIN BOOMERANG

One of the few returning characters from the first film, Jai Courtney’s Captain Boomerang…dies pretty early in the movie. He’s even more gleefully over the top here than he was in 2016, which is pretty appropriate. Boomer was a founding member of the comic book version of the Squad (reluctantly of course) where he was always portrayed as the most dislikeable and abrasive of all the characters.

What does Captain Boomerang mean for the DCEU? His death here is a genuine surprise, though. Captain Boomerang has always been a pretty high profile Flash villain. And yes, we had that little cameo of him and Ezra Miller’s Flash in the theatrical version of Justice League, Courtney seemed destined to appear one day in at least a small role in some version of The Flash movie for WB. Alas, that now appears to be off the table. Ah, well…

THE THINKER

There have been so many different versions of Thinker in DC Comics history and…Peter Capaldi is playing none of them. Not a one. 

This is a brand-new (sorta) version of the character named Gaius Greeves. He looks like an unnamed version of Thinker who appeared in DC’s post-New 52 continuity in 2014, though, and that character definitely had a Squad connection.

What does Thinker mean for the DCEU? Historically, Thinker in various incarnations has been a Flash villain. Hell, a version of the character was the primary baddie on an entire season of The Flash! But like our pal Captain Boomerang, any hope of seeing Thinker match wits with the DCEU Flash are now over.

Although wouldn’t it be kinda cool if the DCEU gets around to introducing Jay Garrick and we learn that ol’ Gaius once had a beef with him? OK, fine, we’re not counting on it, either.

POLKA-DOT MAN

Poor Abner Krill couldn’t be more different than his comic book version…despite his remarkably accurate costume. Polka-Dot Man is a Batman villain dating all the way back to 1962, except there, he wasn’t the unfortunate recipient of an alien virus with grotesque polka-dot mutations and vomiting and…oh you get the picture.

Comics Abner Krill just had a costume full of trick, high-tech polka-dots. He um…he was not a major villain.

What does Polka-Dot Man mean for the DCEU? Other than the STAR Labs connection, and we believe this is the first mention of STAR Labs since the “Snyderverse” collapsed, not a hell of a lot. Abner is dead, and he ain’t coming back. Although it’d be pretty awesome if it turns out that it was Batman who put Abner away, since we know that in DCEU continuity Bats has been punching bad guys longer than anyone else.

RATCATCHER

Daniela Melchior’s Ratcatcher 2 is a brand new character created for this movie. We think she rules. However, if you’re looking for a comic book connection, we need to go back to her “dad” played in that cool Taika Waititi cameo.

Ratcatcher first appeared in a 1988 issue of Detective Comics, where he was a disgruntled former murderer who was kidnapping everyone responsible for putting him in prison, and holding them prisoner in the sewers. Oh, and he controlled rats. He was far less sweet and charming than either of our DCEU Ratcatchers. Oh, and that story has a panel where Batman vomits sewage because he nearly drowns in it. Good times.

But even that pretty malevolent comics Ratcatcher probably isn’t quite the Ratcatcher of the DCEU. After all, Ratcatcher 2 is named Cleo Cazo, and comics Ratcatcher was Otis Flanagan, and Otis didn’t seem nearly as sympathetic as Taika’s performance here.

What does Ratcatcher mean for the DCEU? Other than the possibility that this was someone else Batman put in Belle Reve? Not a lot. Although since Ratcatcher 2 lives on, we’d love to see her in another Suicide Squad movie, or make her a cornerstone of a live action Secret Six or something.

SAVANT

In the comics, as in this film, there isn’t a heckuva lot to say about Savant. What’s interesting is that he was a key player in one of Gail Simone’s earliest Birds of Prey storylines. Michael Rooker looks remarkably like his DC Comics counterpart in that wig, though.

What does Savant mean for the DCEU? Going forward? He’s dead, so not much. But in the past? Is it possible he ran afoul of Birds of Prey’s Huntress or Black Canary and that’s how he ended up in the Squad? We’d like to think so.

Also, one interesting bit about ol’ Savant. He started off as a guy who thought he could be a costumed vigilante. Of course, he was in it for all the wrong reasons and got a stern talking to from Batman and that set him on his life of crime. We’d like to imagine Ben Affleck’s Batman telling Michael Rooker’s Savant “you’re not morally equipped for this job,” just like he did in the comics!

TDK

“The Detachable Kid” is actually a riff on an obscure Legion of Super-Heroes and Legion of Substitute Heroes character named…Arm-Fall-Off Boy. I couldn’t make that one up if I tried, folks. His powers are identical, although his comics look is pretty different.

What does TDK mean for the DCEU? OK, so bear with me for a moment…what if TDK is actually from the 31st Century and ended up back here somehow before he found himself stuck with the Squad? Until they say otherwise, this is my headcanon. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go write up a headline called “How The Suicide Squad Confirms the Legion of Super-Heroes in the DCEU” which will get me hate mail for the rest of the summer.

BLACKGUARD

Blackguard is a pretty minor DC villain, mostly notable for being the baddie in the very first Booster Gold comic! He’s a much beefier, more heavily armored character than the guy we get on screen here, but honestly…not much more interesting. And yes, his name really is Dick Hertz.

What does Blackguard mean for the DCEU? Look, if Blackguard exists, Booster Gold exists. I’ve been waiting for a Booster Gold movie forever now, and it’s long overdue. It’s time. Come to think of it, this would also be perfect for James Gunn to direct.

WEASEL

Weasel was a Firestorm villain from the 1980s who…was actually a dude in a weasel suit. A disgruntled college loser who took revenge on people later in years for uh, calling him a weasel back in their younger days. The character was later revamped as a more kind of, well, traditionally animalistic/weaselly figure, but the version we meet in this film has more in common with Bloom County’s Bill the Cat than any of his DC Comics incarnations.

What does Weasel mean for the rest of the DCEU? He’s still alive! Count your children! Bring on Firestorm! OK, but in all seriousness, Firestorm would look pretty cool on a big screen budget.

JAVELIN

Javelin was a Green Lantern villain, believe it or not. See, back in the day, Green Lantern was powerless against the color yellow, hence this guy’s color scheme. Flula Borg has a remarkably accurate translation of Javelin’s comics costume in this film, and the character is pretty much exactly as he was portrayed in his early comics appearances, cool accent and all. 

Amazingly, this is the second Watchmen connection of this piece (wait, what?). You see, Javelin was created by Len Wein (editor of Watchmen) and Dave Gibbons (co-creator and artist of Watchmen). So, not quite as direct a connection as Peacemaker, but a connection nonetheless.

What does Javelin mean for the DCEU? As far as I’m concerned, this is proof that Earth has a Green Lantern, despite the fact that we haven’t seen a modern day, human Green Lantern Corps member in official DCEU continuity yet. But someone had to put him in Belle Reve, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s Hal Jordan.

MONGAL

Mongal is a member of a warlike, and immensely powerful alien race. She’s also the daughter of Mongul, the ruler of Warworld and the villain of one of the greatest Superman stories ever told, “For the Man Who Has Everything” by the Watchmen creative team of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Mongal um…didn’t live long in the comics, either.

What does Mongal mean for the DCEU? If Mongal exists, then this is proof that Mongul and Warworld exists. And once again, I am annoyed that Henry Cavill isn’t getting another shot as Superman. An adaptation of “For the Man Who Has Everything” would actually be a brilliant move for the DCEU, albeit a weird one. 

If Warner Bros. wanted to do something more traditional with the character, the Superman “Exile” story would also make for great big screen fodder, taking Superman offworld and into Mongul’s gladiatorial contests. Anyway…there’s two more DCEU Superman movies that should have happened for ya!

CALENDAR MAN

That’s Sean Gunn in a cameo as Calendar Man (yep) shouting “You fucking pussy” in Belle Reve.

What does Calendar Man mean for the DCEU? Hey, maybe we’ll get a live action adaptation of Batman: The Long Halloween one day! On second thought, maybe that’s not such a great idea.

DOUBLE DOWN

And right behind him? That would be Double Down, a playing card themed villain perhaps “best” known as a minor Flash villain.

What does Double Down mean for the DCEU? Pretty much exactly what you’d expect. Feel free to imagine he was locked up by Ezra Miller’s Flash, though.

JOTUNHEIM

The fortress known as Jotunheim here does indeed have a comics connection. It was the site of the comic book Squad’s very first mission in 1987’s Suicide Squad #1. That being said, the nature of the mission itself and even the location couldn’t have been more different than what we got in the movie, but it’s a nice little callback. 

It isn’t the only reference to that famed first issue, either! The yellow shirt Rick Flag wears throughout this movie (minus the logo) was also pioneered in that comic, and there’s also…

JOHN ECONOMOS

Steve Agee’s non-King Shark motion capture performance is as John Economos, one of Waller’s flunkys. In the comics, Economos is the warden of Belle Reve, and he also first appeared in Suicide Squad #1 which was written by…

JOHN OSTRANDER

Wait, John Ostrander isn’t a DC character! No, but he IS the person most responsible for the Suicide Squad as we know them. He has a cameo in the film as “Dr. Fitzgibbon.” This isn’t a DC Comics character, but it IS the second time Gunn has snuck a “Dr. Fitzgibbon” into his films…the other was in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie when a Dr. Fitzgibbon was treating Meredith Quill as she was dying.

SENATOR CRAY

A throwaway line in the film refers to “Senator Cray,” and this is no accident either. Senator Joseph Cray was indeed a minor Suicide Squad character, who only appeared in three stories. He was corrupt, so the idea that anyone is playing golf with him in the DCEU doesn’t say great things about them.

CORTO MALTESE

DC fans will recognize the fictional nation of Corto Maltese from its central role in Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, and Lynn Varley’s incredible The Dark Knight Returns. From there, you’ll know it from its mentions in Tim Burton’s Batman movie and various namedrops on assorted Arrowverse TV shows. The Suicide Squad marks the first time we’ve spent significant time there on the big screen.

But the Corto Maltese name goes back further than The Dark Knight Returns. Miller named the fictional country after Hugo Pratt’s beloved comic book series featuring a sailor of the same name.

It doesn’t appear that Silvio Luna, Matteo Suarez, or the Herrera family depicted in the movie have any additional comics connections, though.

What does Corto Maltese mean for the DCEU? Well, if we ever get that live action Dark Knight Returns adaptation with Ben Affleck, this place will be a movie hotspot once again!

GBS

It’s always a nice touch when we see a TV broadcast coming from a GBS network. GBS is the Galaxy Broadcasting System, one of the biggest fictional news conglomerates in the DC Universe. It’s owned by Morgan Edge, who depending on what version of the character you’re looking at has connections to Darkseid and Apokolips (paging fans of Zack Snyder’s Justice League) or Krypton (hello Superman & Lois!).

What does GBS mean for the DCEU? Not much, but it’s popped up in several movies now, and it’s one of the few pieces of worldbuilding connective tissue still holding the DCEU together. 

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