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cryptidmads · 4 years ago

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alright, so i went through the ama with wan hazmer and daim dziauddian on twitch and picked out every little tidbit i could about the megastars bc i knew you guys would want to know. this is a long post and i’m on mobile atm so i can’t put it under a read more — sorry about that! bosses are in chronological order, starting with DJSS and ending with Eve!

DJ SUBATOMIC SUPERNOVA

- djss took the least amount of time to develop out of all the bosses (haz says his fight took about half a year.)

- daim purposely tried to make djss' name as long as he could. he was specifically looking at negasonic teenage warhead from deadpool for inspiration.

- haz and daim do have the briefing/kliffnotes for djss. they discussed sharing them at some point, but idk when that would happen.

- related to the above, daim says that dj is in his mid thirties. EDIT: his kliffnotes were shared on twitter and they say he’s 41. daim must have goofed haha

- when asked if djss actually has a face and how he eats, daim compares it to kenny from south park and how you never see his face. he thinks dj does have a face in there, but that we just never see it. as for the “how does he eat” part, daim says that sometimes they don’t have to show everything.

- daim is a djneon/neonnova shipper, and it’s one his favourite pairings alongside zuke/mayday.

- daim said that uncle ali basically instantly landed the role as djss. he was that good.

SAYU

- sayu was obviously inspired by hatsune miku and other vocaloids, but haz brings up one particular commercial involving miku and google chrome, which involves a bunch of people collborating on songs and concept art for miku, similar to how sayu started as a collab between remi and tila in-universe.

- someone asked about the models for sayu's crew's apartments. there wasn't much on that, but haz mentions that one of his favourite nsr fanfics (yes, he reads them) is "Road to Redemption," and there's a scene that takes place in a studio where the crew works on sayu, and he really likes that.

- the devs wanted sayu's name to sound both malay and japanese at the same time (as well as a nod to miku). haz says it means “warm water” in japanese.

- akusuka is a direct copy of akihabara in terms of locale.

- sayu’s shellfish commercial is a homage to a real snack in malaysia named mamee monster, which is hugely popular with kids. the format of the commercial itself was inspired by a pocky commercial that featured hatsune miku.

YINU

- her game design (for her boss fight) was partially done in ms paint by music director falk (who made the base version of her boss theme)

- yinu's mom doesn't have a name. she's just mother/mama.

- haz confirmed that yinu's father is, in fact, dead.

- daim thought yinu’s name was a nod to yuna (a popular malaysian artist). it’s not.

- natura is daim’s favourite district. he likes how calm it is compared to the others.

- daim said that they wanted a hint of hope in all three of yinu’s backstory photographs, to show that no matter how bad your life gets, there’s always that glimmer of hope and that good things can still happen.

1010

- the members of 1010 do not have any official names.

- the assets for the autographs were made by the artists at one of the partner companies working with metronomik on nsr. haz and daim didn't really have anything to do with making them, and while daim did approve them for the final game, he was sorta skimming through a bunch of assets along with the autographs, and he didn't realize what they really were at the time until later. haz is impressed with how the fans managed to decipher them.

- 1010's fight was purposefully put between yinu's and eve's as a break from the emotional stuff.

- michael jackson was used as a reference for 1010's animations/moves.

- the Bio Tactical Shield that you get for zuke after beating 1010 is a reference to BTS.

- tangibly related, but the collectable figurines are supposed to serve more as a backstory to vinyl city as a whole, rather than 1010 or neon j. daim describes the figures as what events were going on and what people were doing before the events of nsr.

- 1010’s appearance from older trailers (where they all looked the same) were actually placeholders. 1010’s actual designs weren’t finished yet when those trailers were released.

- parts of 1010’s designs (for their bodies/outfits) were inspired by tron uprising, a project that daim worked on.

- somebody asked why 1010 and neon j have sculpted butt plates. daim and haz have no idea, but daim suggested that ellie (who designed 1010) and jan (who did their character models) put them there to up the “sexy robot” factor.

- daim’s favourite member of 1010 is purl-hew/blue, and haz’s favourite is eloni/green.

- the members of 1010 were designed based on popular tropes in boy bands. rin/white is “the main guy,” zimelu/red is the “bad boy,” purl-hew/blue is the “cool guy,” haym/yellow is the “young/innocent one,” and eloni/green is the “weird/funny one.”

- eloni/green not getting fan mail was based on how the “funny guy” of kpop bands/idol groups don’t seem to get as much attention as the rest of the group.

NEON J

- haz and daim didn't expect neon j to become so popular. haz joked about blaming it on ddaddystar, who did that doodle of djss and neon j from the credits.

- when asked about neon j’s age, daim said he’s definitely older than djss, and that he could be in his forties.

- related to the age thing, someone in chat said he should be older if he went to war in the sixties. haz replied by saying they never mentioned what year the game takes place in, so it doesn’t necessarily take place in the present/2020.

- a lot of people asked about the border wars, and daim and haz said they like leaving the bulk of it up to fan interpretation.

- daim said that neon j’s organs were preserved in a robotic shell after the war, and that’s why he’s considered a cyborg.

- as stated above, daim is a djneon/neonnova shipper, and it’s one his favourite pairings alongside zuke/mayday.

- neon j’s monologue was slightly longer, but it was cut down because zul (neon j’s va) didn’t do very many takes for the monologue, and the takes he did do didn’t have the comedic punch that daim was looking for, so it got shortened.

- the singing parts of neon j’s lines were ad-libbed by zul in his audition, and daim liked it so much that it stayed for the final game.

- neon j’s monologue had to be altered in the japanese dub so that the jokes/comedy would make more sense.

EVE

- the color changing paintings from her boss fight were created by accident.

- eve was put as the last boss because of how emotional her relationship with zuke was and how complicated and intricate she is as a whole compared to the rest of the bosses.

- daim considers eve to be the "final boss" for zuke, while tatiana is the final boss for mayday.

- eve took the longest to develop out of all the bosses. she was orignally a lot more complicated, and daim said they had to "filter" a lot of things about her in order to tone her down and fit her into the game.

- eve was almost scrapped from the game. daim said her concept as an eccentric artist wasn't as well known as the other four bosses’ concepts, and combine that with how long it took to finalize her... yeah.

- none of the artists have set in stone heights because of how the gameplay works, but eve is the tallest one. the closest scene in the game that has them at their actual heights is the ending.

- her name was originally eva, but it was changed bc there’s already a popular artist with the same name.

- daim explains that a big part of eve’s concept and theme is her embracing herself. he uses the example of eve’s backstory where she starts out hating herself and trying to cover the pink half of her face, but then starts doing less of that overtime. he also mentions that all the body parts (hands, arms, legs, etc.) from her fight also come from her embracing her body and using it in her artwork.

- dream fever is haz’s favourite district.

- daim didn’t originally think of zuke and eve as being an actual couple until later down the line when the story heavily implied it.

- eve’s younger designs were done by lzbros, who did all the 2d animation for the game.

#long post #no straight roads #nsr #dj subatomic supernova #nsr sayu #yinu nsr #1010 #neon j #eve nsr #madison speaks #this was fun! good stream good facts #nsr ama #1k

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altospaceangel · 3 years ago

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Hey, do you like theme parks?

If you answered “not particularly”, you may not have yet asked a question that I’ve been wondering about for awhile.

Luckily, theme park news breaker and lesbian icon Alecia Stella has been asking the same question and she has the skills to figure out the answer.

This was a serious area of concern for me in the fight to remove her support since Universal’s Wizarding World (henceforth abbreviated to WW) is tied to the rest of the Universal Parks. Does she make money every time somebody goes to Islands of Adventure to ride The Hulk? I needed to know. And on the off chance you do too, let’s break it down.

Disclaimer: this contract was written in 2007 and has for sure been amended since then, so any of this info may be outdated. But it’s the best record we have and is likely still mostly accurate regarding the financial arrangements.

So big news first, JKR and WB do not get a cut at the door. The number of people visiting Universal Parks has no financial benefit to her.

Let’s take a moment to breathe a sigh of relief for that.

(I know this is really insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but I am genuinely glad that The Mummy ride is something she does not have the power to ruin.)

WB and JKR get an annual fee (amount undisclosed) every July 1st. That’s the main way they benefit. But on top of that, they also get a cut of all HP branded food and beverage sales in WW. Every butterbeer sold means money in her pocket. Merchandise is a little more complicated since they both get a direct cut from any WW exclusive merch, but not from merch that already exists and is just also sold at WW. However it’s safe to assume that the branding agreement for those items also involve a cut for JKR, so just don’t buy HP merch.

But you already knew that.

Now, real talk. The contract went into effect in 2009 for a period of 10 years with two options for renewal every five year. That means they renewed it in 2019 and will again in 2024. In 2029, they’ll need a new contract. The article points out that with a FBAWTFT land heavily rumored for their long delayed under construction third Orlando park, they clearly have no plans to slow down. With increasing opposition to JKR, some companies have backed off working with her and her properties citing the “controversy” but often refusing to name it. Notably HBO’s 20 year reunion special is quietly steering clear. But Universal’s stuff is already built.

So here’s where’s my own personal knowledge of theme parks as a business and some heavy speculation have to combine to guess at what’s possible going forward. The easiest change would be canceling the new FBAWTFT land for Epic Universe since they haven’t even officially announced it yet. The only people to know would be us theme park super fans and I’m sure the general public would not miss the FBAWTFT franchise. No one loves those movies as much as the original series. It’s fine. Land grading has already started, but construction hasn’t, so they could abandon it with very little fanfare. The circumstances under which they would do this are if they decide that opening the land would cause a greater stink than canceling it. It’s conceivable that we could make our displeasure loud enough for this to get done. Not easy, but conceivable. And we would have to act fast.

What’s harder to deal with are the existing lands. Realistically, it’s unlikely that these will go away any time soon. Possibly in a few decades once the effects have aged badly and the tech starts to break down. But the absolute soonest it could be done is at the end of the current contract. A truly surprising number of attractions have been destroyed by a breakdown in contract negotiations. 19 years is not unusually short for a theme park land. Shorter than one would expect for a land this popular, but reasonable. So that’s the date to plan for if anybody wants Diagon Alley out of Universal Studios. But an outrage campaign won’t be enough to do it.

The key will be popularity. These parks pay attention to what wait times look like outside their attractions. They measure attraction throughput. They count how many guests ride a coaster in a day. And they won’t ditch these attractions as long as they’re still popular. Honestly, it’s unlikely that they’ll ditch them within the decade, but the only chance of that happening is if these rides cease to be popular. Long term, that’s the play.

Tl;dr: She doesn’t benefit from ticket sales at Universal Parks. But she does benefit from food and drink sales within the themed land, so eat lunch somewhere else. And don’t buy merch or souvenir photos. And as a long term long shot, it’s best to decrease the popularity of WW rides and attractions.

#anti jkr #anti rowling #fuck rowling #jkr is trash #support trans rights

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turtlethon · 3 years ago

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"Return of the Shredder"

Season 2, Episode 1

First US Airdate: November 26, 1988 First UK Airdate (Hero Turtles version): January 3, 1990

Shredder re-emerges from Dimension X with a plan to frame the Turtles.

Turtlethon continues with a look at "Return of the Shredder", the first episode of season 2 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987). A memorable and historic episode in many ways, so apologies in advance if I go on a bit! This one is a story by season one's writers David Wise and Patti Howeth, but with a writing credit for Christy Marx.

"Return of the Shredder" is the first episode to air on the BBC in the UK as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles at the beginning of 1990, opposite Mr Majeika on ITV; The TV scheduling equivalent of being the first jobber to lose to Goldberg.

For most UK kids, this would have been the first piece of Turtles media they'd ever seen. And without any knowledge of S1, it raises a lot of questions. As mentioned in the "Turtle Tracks" recap, things like the comic adaptation and trading cards would do a lot of heavy lifting to fill in the gaps. The other notable thing is there's STILL a lot of ninja content in this episode, and some weapons use. It was largely edited out of the Hero Turtles version but the BBC took it upon themselves to make at least one additional edit.

2021 UPDATE: When I first revisited this episode in January 2020, I only had access to a German dub of the Hero Turtles version for comparison purposes. Since then I’ve been able to acquire multiple English language VHS releases of the TMHT edit of Return of the Shredder, so I’ll discuss the changes made in a separate post.

This episode opens with Michelangelo and Leonardo witnessing a robbery while shopping for groceries. They make short work of the crooks and after making their escape, April interviews the cashier about the incident for the Happy Hour News.

vimeo

The German dubbers took some interesting liberties when they adapted the above interaction between April and Burne Thompson.

USA version

APRIL: They're heroes, I tell you!

BURNE: Bushwa!

German dub

APRIL: They're heroes, I tell you!

BURNE: BULLSHIT!

This episode includes the first appearance of Burne's girlfriend Tiffany, whose shtick is that she finds turtles disgusting. She considers anyone that defends them a "lousy turtle lover".

(Tiffany definitely went on to become one of those MAGA blondes that has a selfie of themselves in the car wearing giant shades as their userpic)

We then get a scene where the Turtles explain at length their connections to Splinter and Shredder, no doubt much to the relief of anyone watching the Hero Turtles run.

One of the first major turtle mix-ups here, where Raph is depicted talking at length but has Leo's voice. There's a way better one later on in this ep though.

Splinter has a vision that Shredder is about to return. I'd forgotten about this aspect of his character, where he has some vague mystical sixth sense about things and isn't just a wise old man that got turned into a rat. I kinda hate it to be honest.

Krang teleports Shredder to Central Park(?) where he's approached by two knife-wielding muggers, all of which remains intact in Hero Turtles. Why are nunchucks verboten and knives aren't? Your guess is as good as mine...

Shredder sees off the muggers by chopping a branch off a tree that kinda falls in front of them. They're so impressed that they give all THEIR money to HIM and run away.

This isn't even the only time in this episode that he gets people on-board by just wrecking up the place.

At the Slash-For-Cash Dojo, Shredder encounters Smash, voiced by Peter Cullen in sadly his only TMNT '87 appearance.

Ironically, Smash looks nothing like Smash from famous WWF tag team Demolition (Barry Darsow) but kinda does resemble his partner Ax (Bill Eadie).

Persuasion, the Shredder Way:

1) Walk in to someone's place of business and announce you're in charge now

2) When they object, destroy their property

3) Everyone will be so impressed they'll immediately fall in line

London, Tokyo, Paris, Washington. I'm impressed that Channel 6 is apparently so well-connected, considering we typically only ever see about four people working there

Over an unspecified amount of time Shredder turns Smash's useless students into super ninjas. They're all presented with spiffy turtle shell tunics.

WHO MADE THESE? Was Shredder up all night on the sewing machine meticulously crafting turtle outfits for the entire class?

The fake turtles go on a crime spree that mostly involves Smash karate-chopping cash registers and kicking bank vaults while the others watch, making the time Shredder spent training his pupils seem completely worthless. This soon makes the news, and the Turtles end up being blamed.

Shredder breaks into the asylum where Baxter is being held and they escape. They don't take the guy who thinks he's Napoleon with them, and frankly the rest of the series will be a little worse off as a result.

April's Turtlecom has a tiny satellite sticking out of the side of it.

Not a satellite dish, an actual satellite, the kind that orbits the Earth from space.

Donatello what are you doing

vimeo

I love this scene where the animation just flakes out.

Raphael = Leonardo

Leonardo = Leonardo

"Something strange has happened, now there are TWO Optimus Primes!"

5.1 billion people on Earth in 1988, and only two of them could teach a person this very nuanced method of kicking a door in.

Bizarrely, these lines of dialogue from Burne and April were sampled in Turtle Rhapsody Remix (from the 1990 TMNT movie soundtrack).

A recurring theme of the series later on will be that Shredder doesn’t know where the Turtle Lair is located, but Baxter just found it six episodes in. I guess they had to relocate after this.

Our heroes soundly defeat Smash’s minions and grill him for info. He tells them where Shredder is, and they’re on their way.

The whole thing ends with the Turtles tracking down a kidnapped Splinter, some convoluted hi-jinks involving Baxter's rat-catcher and a battering ram, and the bad guys getting away. Pretty standard stuff.

April exposes the Crooked Turtle Gang as imposters. An infuriated Tiffany demands Burnsie debate her in the free marketplace of ideas.

The show ends with the turtles arguing about who April was winking at in her news report, only for her to break reality by responding from within the TV that it was intended for Splinter.

“Return of the Shredder” is a notable outing in a number of ways, particularly given that it ended up being the de facto first episode of Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. Putting that aside, it also expands on some ideas developed in the first season about the media shaping the public perception of the Turtles, something that we’ll see more of in the future (in “Turtles on Trial” next season, for example). The idea of the team being framed for crimes committed by someone else will pop up again even sooner, in “Invasion of the Punk Frogs”.

Sadly, neither Peter Cullen nor Smash will appear in TMNT after this. Other Transformers alumni will appear in guest roles throughout the series though. One character introduced here who will return is Tiffany, who we’ll see again next season.

As I alluded to previously, this episode was heavily edited to bring it in line with the BBC’s broadcast standards, in fact it might actually be the most censored in the entire run. Some of the changes made are downright ridiculous, and I’ll cover them in a future post.

#TMNT #TMNT 1987 #Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #Turtlethon #ninja turtles #Return of the Shredder #1988

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whetstonefires · 4 years ago

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I think the more time passes the more baffled I am about The Raven Boys.

Like, okay, I called it wrong, it was Not That Deep but. Literally how do you link 'Owain Glyndwr,' '15th century Virginia,' and '21st century Virginia' and not only not be telling a story about being colonized by the English, just totally avoid acknowledging that as a. Thing? That is present in the narrative??

Like! The profundity of Gansey's WASPishness was an important recurring thing! In the 21st century his dad is WASP enough to hold Ronan's Irishness as a (negatively) defining trait. Having a Slavic name stands out at their fancy prep academy!

The congressional party scene is dripping with how much being a handsome WASP makes Adam's ambitions more accessible to him, even rooted in a trailer park. All he needs is the right outfit and the right mannerisms, and he passes.

Virginia is ground zero for English colonization of North America.

And Glyndwr died fighting the English.

I actually was concerned early on for Gansey's expectations, in that he didn't seem aware of the...potential subtext involved in appropriating a Welsh 'king' as his own, when he was such a WASP and kind of an Anglophile to boot. His blindness to his own economic privilege and his struggle with it was foregrounded, so I did at first keep expecting this other part to come up because he was so indifferent to it. When his English old man friend turned up I briefly expected the 'Glyndwr versus the English' thing to finally come up at least. But no.

So the thing is, it's English colonialism specifically that's so omnipresent in the story, but honestly other than acknowledging that link you didn't need to zoom in on the English part much to get the benefit of the thematic depth. You could have gotten away with fairly glancing acknowledgement in the text and made hay in the subtext from it!

It's especially frustrating because while the finale was of course very well-written, it failed to deliver a sense of resolution regarding the overall narrative. It leaned too heavily on the fantasy elements after all that time establishing that, like, 'a cruel man with a gun' was always the most deeply awful thing you were likely to meet, in the end.

And if it had brought together the running story elements of 1) Virginia-as-place nearly amounting to its own character 2) the intricate complexities of (intra-white) status in modern western Virginia 3) imperialism as encroachment and eating-away of identity wrt both Wales and Virginia, it had the potential to be really strong! Without abandoning the demon storyline at all! It could have strengthened it and tied it into the rising action of the whole series at a much less shallow level!

It's stuck with me because it's not like when you finish a book and go 'well that climax was kind of sound and fury, but I guess there wasn't much more there to work with.' There was so much there! Stuff Stiefvater spent a couple of books building up in glowing detail, and stuff she avoided so scrupulously its absence became a presence!

Like, I wasn't shocked or even surprised the finale didn't use those themes, because by the end of book 2 I'd accepted that we just...weren't acknowledging the existence of the Powhatan nation and the fact that they might, you know, have noticed this bizarre funeral procession of weird strangers walking over a hundred miles inland in a rigorously straight line.

The only mention of Native Americans in the whole series is a throwaway remark about burial grounds. That's a choice that got made.

But I do keep coming back and wondering whether the author literally didn't see this looming thematic presence in her own work, or observed the potential but chose to avoid it, because she didn't feel equal to handling it or felt it would lower the fantastic tone or ruin Gansey, or make the book less saleable or something. Or if there was editorial input that motivated the continuous swerve away from tackling the immanent meaty material.

But obviously I cannot ask her because there is no formulation of 'why did you avoid acknowledging colonialism in your books about searching for an anticolonialist leader in a colonized land while deeply examining social dynamics that go back to the colonizing?' that isn't rude.

Like it's one thing to think that someone either missed the glaringly obvious or made some vaguely white-supremacist writing decisions that weakened their work on an artistic level. It's another thing to tell them so.

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snarkwrites · 4 years ago

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14.12, all I want for Christmas is you, tim speedle

Title: all i want for christmas is you

Theme: songs/music.. i swear to god, this relates to it.

Fandom / Character(s):CSI Miami / Tim Speedle x OFC, ‘blondie’ is the nickname.

Warnings: Uhhh... Fluff to the max?

Word Count: uhh.. 1k-ish?, roughly.

NOTE: I think I tried 3 times to make this work. Then it finally did. This wasn’t even remotely close to the original idea I had for it? But like.. It’s cute and I’m happy, although I apologize if it feels rushed. This is meant to be a one shot type thing, but.. Doesn’t mean I didn’t catch the ‘must write more for CSI’ bug whilst writing it, so we shall see. This is my second story for bae @champbucks 12 Days Of Christmas challenge, fyi. I made the graphics thing so do NOT steal it / repost... Do ya’ll know how damn HARD it is to find good ‘beachy christmas’ blue themed christmas photos? because if you didn’t, take me at my word... Anyway. Enough rambling. Enjoy, hopefully?

TAGGING:

@chasingeverybreakingwave is the only person on my CSI Miami tag list at the moment. However.. if you’d like to be tagged in my CSI writings, add yourself to the doc linked below or shoot me a message / dm on my main on here. :)

[ about my writing | masterlist | multifandom tag doc ]

9:00 PM [ Blondie ] Hey, Tim?

9:15 PM [ Blondie ] How would you feel about spending Christmas with me? Well, me spending Christmas with you… because I’m kind of standing in Miami International…

I sent the texts and took a few seconds to stop and pull myself together. To locate some kind of map or information center for the airport while I collected myself because if I were being totally honest with myself, this was a spur of the moment decision brought on by a recent wave of nostalgia and longing. I hadn’t actually… Stopped to consider that Tim might be involved with someone or have plans already. Or any of the thousand other possibilities that chose just that exact moment to actually occur to me.

Taking a few shaky breaths, I tried to shove all these sudden doubts and worries out of my head. If I found out he was happy and with someone else, I’d simply shelve what I came all this way to actually tell him at last. I’d just catch up with my best friend and spend a few days away from the freezing cold of New York.

With an exit strategy in place, I felt better. A little more confident. I spotted a kiosk that had a map of the airport in it’s entirety and I wandered over, locating where I was and where I needed to go and as I did that, my stomach fluttered a little. I was nervous and excited, all in the same time. This was.. Huge for me.

And sadly, this was something I should’ve done before he left New York a few years ago, I just hadn’t been able to bring myself to do it then. I knew Tim too well. If he felt the same, he never would’ve gotten away. He’d have stayed. Kept working hours he didn’t like, in a field he didn’t care for. Or he’d have wound up shelving his own dream entirely and simply done as his father suggested and taken over the family business.

I couldn’t let it happen.

As I wandered down to baggage claim, I walked myself through my half-formed plan. And I glanced at my phone every few seconds. By the time I was standing in the back of a long line at baggage claim, tapping my foot and staring at the baggage carousel impatiently for my bags, I’d sort of started to convince myself that what I was about to do was a dumb idea. And that I shouldn’t have come all this way without making contact first.

And lastly, that Tim Speedle wasn’t going to text me back.

So when my cell phone went off in my hand, I jumped a little and nearly dropped it on the tile flooring. I half expected the text to be from my own mother, the driving force behind my spontaneous decision, but to my surprise, it wasn’t.

XXX

“Hey, Speed?”

Tim Speed looked up from the evidence he’d been looking over for the better part of two hours now. Eric nodded to the desk, where Tim’s phone sat, screen lit up. “You got a text, man.” Eric stepped into the room as he said it, grabbing the phone off the desk, intending to take it over to the part of the lab Tim was standing in.

His eyes caught on the name and he wiggled his brows at his best friend in teasing. “Who’s Blondie, Speed?’

Tim’s head snapped up and he hurried over, practically snatching the phone from Eric’s hand as he answered with a shrug, “A friend from home. I wonder why she’s textin now? We haven’t talked in a long time, it’s been years..” Tim trailed off, unlocking his phone, brown eyes darting over the texts as a soft smirk played at his mouth, tugging the corners upward.

Eric leaned against the wall, arms folded over his chest. “Friends don’t make you smile like a goofball. Start talkin, Speed.”

Tim shrugged and explained the whole thing, adding at the end, “That one time we were talking about missed chances and regrets.. That’s her.”

“The blonde from that picture on your fridge? Damn.” Eric let out a low whistle. “Still say I don’t see why you didn’t just come clean and tell her how you really felt before you left town.”

“I tried, Delko. Everybody’s not smooth like you.”

“Literally all you had to do, Speed, was open your damn mouth. It’s bullshit, you just copped out.” Eric shrugged and smirked at Tim as he said it, especially when he saw that his words had actually gotten a rise out of his best friend. He eyed the phone in Tim’s hand and nodded to it. “Well? You answerin?”

“Hell yeah, when you remove your nosy ass from my lab, Delko.”

“Damn grouch. Hey, Tim?. Don’t think. Just act. Do somethin about this, yeah? You should’ve a long time ago. You’re getting a chance here, man.. take it.” Eric advised before finally leaving the lab, chuckling to himself as he went.

Tim shut the door behind his friend and laughed, leaning himself against the closed door as he spent the next five and a half minutes trying to figure out exactly how the hell to respond.

His heart was racing. One, he’d never thought she’d come to Miami and he found himself wondering why she had now. Two, just seeing her name show up on his phone bought it all rushing back. With more urgency.

10:30 PM [ Speed ] You’re in Miami.. Right now?

10:35 PM [ Speed ] I’m on my way. I just came by the lab to look over some stuff. Stay at the airport, okay? I’ll pick you up. We’ll grab some food or something.

He debated heavily on sending a third text, telling her he missed her, among other things, but he put it off. After all, he didn’t even know if she was here alone… Or why she was here to begin with.

,, but she’s here man. That really should be all that matters. Especially when you were just thinking about her, not even two days ago.” he thought to himself as he slipped on the oversized leather jacket he’d discarded upon entering the lab earlier. After shutting off the lights and locking the door behind him, he hurried out to the parking garage to where he’d parked the Ducati hours before. And the entire time, he couldn’t stop the happy smirk that came.

Nothing mattered but getting to her. Seeing her again.

XXX

My cell phone went off again. By this point, I’d had enough time to wrap my head around Tim being on his way to pick me up. Seeing him again after all this time. I was just coming back up the escalator to the waiting area to find a seat. I stopped a few feet away from the escalator and dug around, finding my phone.

11:00 PM [ Speed ] I think I see you.

11:03 PM [ Speed ] Turn around.

I was just finishing the last text as All I Want For Christmas Is You began to play over the speakers throughout the airport terminal and I felt his hand on my shoulder, turning me around to face him.

And seeing him again after all this time, something in me just snapped. As opposed to a friendly hug hello, I was climbing into his arms, my legs wrapping around his waist. Those calloused hands settled on my lower back, squeezing as he chuckled. My fingers carded through his hair and the wrapping around the roses in his hands crinkled. The roses settled on the floor and when my body rubbed against his, a quiet groan escaped in the slim margin of space that remained between our mouths for the moment. “Missed you so damn much.” we both mumbled the words at the same time as his mouth connected with mine, his lips latching onto my lower lip, nipping at it. My tongue slipped past his lips and his fingertips dug into my lower back as he chuckled into the kiss.

The current Christmas song playing, the crowd as it rushed past, everything pretty much fell away as the kiss deepened and one of his hands left it’s resting place against my lower back to tangle in my hair. Neither one of us wanted the kiss to break. Honestly, I think I may have been in a little shock that I’d just… Reacted to seeing him like that, without a seconds thought or hesitation. But the kiss had to break so that we could catch our breaths and when it did, I climbed out of his arms, dragging the back of my hand over kiss swollen lips as Tim bent, retrieving the fallen bouquet of roses off of the tiled floor. “I,uhh..” he held them out and I gave a soft laugh, raising to tiptoe and clutching at the front of his leather jacket as I pressed my lips against his. “They’re beautiful… Any reason?” I questioned, only half in teasing because my breath caught in my throat as I wondered if he’d answer.

“Because I should’ve done.. Something.. About the way I feel a long time ago. Before I left, princess.”

My jaw dropped and he shifted his feet around, staring down at me nervously for a few seconds. “Funny you should mention it, Speed.. That’s kind of what bought me all the way here…” I gave him a soft and slightly teasing smile as I watched his jaw drop.

“Wait.. Just to be clear… you’re saying you feel the same way, yeah?” his voice was husky against my mouth as he leaned down, pulling me against him for another kiss as I mumbled quietly, “Mhm. All I wanted for Christmas was you. So here I am, Tim.”

He scooped me up and started to hurry towards the doors of the airport after grabbing my rolling suitcase and I laughed. “You in a hurry?”

“Yeah, see.. I kind of have this real hot date.” Tim teased as we stepped out into the cool Miami breeze...

#12daysofchristmas #12 days of christmas #tim speedle #tim speedle fanfiction #tim speedle fanfic #tim speedle imagine #tim speedle imagines #tim speedle one shot #my writing; tim speedle #my fics; tim speedle #my one shots; tim speedle #// this is so cornball cheesy but I am here for it and lowkey proud I made it work out the way it did

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thedarkstrangeson · 5 years ago

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When you put one(1) Gay Panic in a laser tag arena

Read on ao3

Pairing: Roceit

In which: Roman, Logan, Patton, and Virgil have met up for laser tag. Roman spots a cute guy. Gayness ensues.

Warnings: Its laser tag so theres lots of fake guns, kissing, remus mention, let me know if there’s anything else I should put in.

Word Count: 1955

Simply put, it was a Friday. One of the best Fridays to date, in Roman’s not-so-humble opinion. This particular Friday was the last one of the month, which meant the big get-together with his friends! They hung out at other times, of course but tried to plan something a bit more exciting every so often. Last month’s was go-kart racing, in which Logan absolutely destroyed all of them, including the other walk-in players. Something about “racing lines”, was his explanation. Roman wasn’t quite sure, but he could respect Logan’s skill nonetheless.

This time around, they were going out for Laser-Tag. Roman was under the impression that he was good with a laser gun (a weapon wielded in the name of good would always bring him fortune), but that would soon be put to the test. Logan would be there to pick him up in only half an hour, and his makeup wasn’t even started yet. Never mind that laser-tag was in the dark, a prince has got to slay! He ended up playing around with his new white eyeliner, hoping the blacklights of the arena would make it pop. Too soon, the doorbell rang and they were on their way.

After picking up Patton, then Virgil, Logan pulled into the parking lot not a moment too soon. Roman was just about to burst from the excitement.

“Ready to defeat whatever foul foes may oppose us?”

“Ooh! Let’s make sure we are all on the same team!”

“Let’s try to get purple. I’ve never lost a game while playing on purple team.”

“Virgil, superstitions like that won’t help us win, it will be stealth and true aim that will lead us to victory. Those laser-blasters...”

Roman rolled his eyes affectionately as Logan continued to explain the best way to hold a blaster and use the mirrors situated throughout the course. This one was sci-fi themed, with everything lit up in neon greens, pinks and purples. As they walked into the lobby, the others still bickering about the pros and cons of various hiding techniques, Roman scanned the room to size up their opponents… and his gaze locked right onto another’s across the room.

He was tall, sandy blond hair just barely obscuring sharp green eyes. He leaned casually on the check-in counter, a friend beside him purchasing tickets. Twirling a quarter across his knuckles, he kept eye contact with Roman for a long moment before offering a sly wink and turning back around.

Roman finally realized he’d been staring, and blushed deeply at having been caught. So much for keeping his cool.

“Roman! Hey, you’d stopped responding whats-” Patton stopped, as Roman had now turned around, face still flushed, “-Oh!” Patton giggled. “Bit of a gay panic there, my friend?”

“-No,” he said, “He’s just. Attractive, is all. Its fine. I'm fine. Its fine.” Patton smiled indulgently at that, but Logan interrupted any further comments.

“We’ve got tickets for the 3:30 game,” he said, “Until then, you’ve each got 10 quarters.” Any laser-tag arena worth its salt had some arcade games to entertain guests before and after. This one had better games than most, so they had to play. Logan quickly passed out everyone’s quarter allotment, and then left to try the claw game. Logically, it was rigged and he wouldn’t win anything. But that made it the most challenging, so it would be fun to try.

Patton nudged Roman in the direction of the handsome stranger from earlier, now starting up one of the classic hunting style games. “Go get ‘em, tiger.”

“Hey!” Roman tried to object, but Patton had already slipped off with Virgil to the opposite end of the arcade, leaving him with seemingly no choice but to try to strike up a conversation. He took a deep breath, trying to even out his frayed nerves before striding quickly over to the man.

“Mind if I join in?”

“Of course, you’re welcome to try to beat me,” his voice was silky smooth, the teasing leaving him just as flustered as before.

“You’re on.”

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

They were interrupted about 5 minutes later with a call for the next game. Roman’s opponent hissed in frustration. Leaving the game like this would waste valuable quarters, but a better game was calling.

“Well done, for an amateur. What’s your name, sweetheart?”

Roman faltered at the compliment. He had been beaten soundly, ending several thousand points behind. But eventually, words started to form again. “Uhh, Roman. And you are?”

“Ethan. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I trust I’ll see more of you inside?”

“Definitely.”

With a quick nod in response, Ethan swept away towards the beckoning attendant.

I’m screwed.

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

Roman rejoined his friends for the safety presentation, finding that Logan had miraculously won himself a unicorn plushie from the claw machine. He seemed absolutely overjoyed at it, even as he tried to contain his excitement. Virgil quickly proclaimed it to be the team’s good luck charm and mascot, and Logan did not even try to object. They all sat as patiently as they could through the presentation, anxious to get into the arena. There was the explanation of the arena layout, the three different goals, power-ups, the colors on the vests, how to fire the laser how to put on the vest how to walk around and not run so you don’t trip… all that useless good stuff.

Roman found it all tremendously boring, and instead opted to sneak glances at the man- Ethan - across the room. He was determined to get the better of Ethan in-game. Call it revenge for being beaten in the Arcade or just really aggressive flirting, either way he was definitely intent on defeating his new sworn enemy.

The attendant led them into the prep room, the walls lined with glowing vests sorted by their color. Virgil made a beeline for the purple rack, waving them all over. Next came one of the arguably most important parts of the game: choosing your nickname. This particular establishment had all of the vests named after various superheroes. So, the best strategy was to check every gun for the best names and go from there. Logan didn’t bother with this irrational ritual, he just went for the first vest he picked up, Doctor Strange (He secretly found this to be absolutely perfect). Virgil ended up on Raven, because everyone needs to be an emo half-demon occasionally. Patton, very much out of the loop on superhero lore, found Mr. Fantastic to be his nickname of choice. Roman chose Captain America, because Superman was already taken and who doesn’t want to have America’s ass.

Across the room, Ethan was doing up the straps on his friend’s vest. The guy was practically vibrating with excitement, saying something about “shooting people’s heads off”, as though that was possible. Ethan just laughed, grabbing another vest from the green rack and buckling it in place on himself.

“Everyone ready? Let’s make a game-plan,” said Logan, always the strategist of the group.

“Spreading out is our best bet, so that not everyone can get tagged at once,” said Roman.

“Yes, but we get a 30 second grace period in the beginning, so I think we should dash to the green base first to take it all together,” said Virgil.

“Sounds good. We can spread out from there to cover the most area,” said Logan.

“How about we do pairs so we can watch each others backs at least?”

“Agreed. Is everyone in accordance with that?”

When everyone had nodded, Patton put his hand in the middle. “We’ve gotta have a team cheer!”

“Umm. Alright. Laser Tag on three?” Logan said.

‘Why not! One, two, three!”

A very much not-in-time chorus of “Laser Tag” rang out, leaving everyone involved vaguely confused but overall enthusiastic about the effort.

“LASERS!” A cry came very belatedly, from the green team’s side of the room.

“Remus, what the heck,” said Ethan, “You can’t just copy the opponents!”

Before the green team could get their act together to create a real team cheer, it was time for the match to begin. The attendants opened the door and 12 screaming adults flooded into the battlefield.

Purple team split off as one, taking a left towards the orange base. Logan took point, leading them purposefully into enemy territory.

“Here.”

They split to opposite sides of the path, concealing themselves behind walls and checking out the area for any other players. The timer on the grace period counted down the last 5 seconds.

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Now!”

“Yeet,” said Virgil quietly, as he stepped out and dashed towards the base, firing continuously. The orange team was lying in wait though, so Virgil went down quickly. He stepped back to let his vest come back online, and his teammates went on the offensive. Trading shots, the purple team soon took over the base. 3 seconds of capturing later, the base went down to Patton’s blaster.

“Yes!” Patton pumped his fist in the air, before exchanging high fives with his teammates. “Time to split up.”

“Virgil, with me?” asked Logan.

“You’re on. See you at the end of the war, you guys!”

They departed quickly, leaving Patton and Roman to head off in the opposite direction. From then on it was a desperate clash of missed shot and curses, hits and cheers, everyone battling for the top. After one particularly hectic exchange, Roman found himself sheltered behind a wall for a moment to catch his breath, Patton nowhere to be found. Then, footsteps approached and Roman readied his blaster. A figure rounded the corner, but they had on purple lights. He lowered his gun, even as the figure solidified into an urgently moving Ethan.

“Wait I thought you were-”

“Shhh, there are people coming.” Ethan silenced him, and crouched close to get in behind the wall. Roman could feel him pressed close to his side, breathing heavily from all the running, and it took him a moment to get back focused on the game.

Some orange team players rounded the bend, but they hadn’t exposed Ethan’s and Roman’s hiding spot yet. The walked past, laughing, until Ethan stepped out behind them and cleanly shot them both in the back.

“What-”

“Let’s go!” Ethan grabbed him and pulled him to his feet, running off away from the now incapacitated orange players. Roman soon found himself dragged into another hiding spot, Ethan standing in front of him.

“Nice makeup. Doesn’t exactly help you hide though, does it?”

“I’d say it helps me slay the opposition.” Roman was quite proud of himself for that one, considering how hard it was to form coherent sentences right this moment.

“Oh, now does it?” Ethan chuckled, “Well, you certainly slay me.”

He leaned in, and Roman felt his breath catch.

“May I?” It was whispered, low enough for only him to hear.

“Oh. Sure.” That’s what he went with? Sure? You just said sure, Roman? Of all the idiotic-

His thoughts didn’t last long, because at that point he was pushed up against the wall and Ethan’s mouth was on his, hot and insistent. In just one moment, he was left breathless, what a surprise and starstruck, before Ethan was already pulling away.

The lights on Ethan’s vest changed, blinking green as his spy power-up timed out.

“Oh-” Roman came to the realization that he was, most definitely, screwed.

In one smooth movement, Ethan stepped back, raised his blaster and shot him, aiming right over his heart. He winked, barely visible in the dark, before turning on his heel and disappearing around the corner.

“I am so fucked.”

Back in the lobby, a new line appeared on the scoreboard.

“Captain America was shot by The Winter Soldier, 25 points.”

#roceit #ts sanders sides #deceit sanders #roman sanders #laser tag #dark strange writing

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saxxxology · 5 years ago

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What Goes Bump in the Night - 8

PAIRING: Alpha!Sam x Omega!Reader WARNINGS: a/b/o dynamics, Victorian social dynamics, allusions to non-consent and dubious consent, dominance/submission, slow burn with eventual smut, suspense/horror/gore themes.

THIS WORK IS 18+ ONLY. DO NOT REPOST MY WORK ON ANY OTHER SITES.

Series Masterlist

Read the entire series on Patreon for just $3

SIX MONTHS LATER…

Life goes on.

You and Sam steadily acclimate to your new bond. It’s rough at first; you never want to stop touching each other and John often raises his voice at the newly mated Alpha for trying to sneak up to bed before whatever study they’ve been working on has concluded for the evening. As the weeks go by, however, you settle into a routine. Now that you’re claimed, Sam can take you into the city without the fear of you being taken. On Saturdays, you get lunch at a little café, and afterwards go for a walk in Central Park before heading back home.

Sam’s grown considerably less irritable and controlling, something you thought might only increase due to his claim over you. Truthfully, he does grow angry after arguments with his father and brother, but he hasn’t thrown an insult your way or mocked you for your weaknesses.

However, nearly half a year into your new lifestyle, Sam’s awoken by the sharp rapping of his brother’s fist on the bedroom door. He carefully slides away from your sleeping form and opens the door.

“What?” he asks, almost irritably. He doesn’t like being pulled away from you longer than necessary.

Dean holds a rumpled copy of the morning newspaper out for Sam to read. “We’ve got a case. It’s bad, there’s at least five other hunters on it.”

Sam rakes his eyes down the short column. A girl’s gone missing from the slums in the city, and bodies are being found completely drained of blood. All from immigrant families that surely won’t be investigated by the police.

“What the hell is it?” Sam wrinkles his nose in confusion. “Vampire?”

“Yep.” Dean stuffs his hands in his pockets. “It’s working fast. People have been reporting bodies for days, but last night…”

Sam scans further down the article. An entire apartment of thirteen people had been found mutilated in the same way. “Who’s on it?”

“Gabe, Cas, almost everyone within two hundred miles.” Dean casts an eye past his brother’s shoulder. “You know how these bastards work, Sam, you need to hide her.”

Sam issues a low growl at the thought of anyone other than him touching his Omega. “I will. Any news on when the others are arriving?”

Dean nods. “Gabe and Cas sent a telegram an hour ago, they should be here within an hour or two. Everyone else is in town, we’re meeting here at noon to plan where this thing might be. They hunt at night, and the body count is rising. We need to take of this as soon as possible.”

Sam turns and casts a worried glance at you. “The last time we had a gathering—”

“She’s claimed,” Dean hisses. “Now is not the time for you to worry about her, you need to worry about the people that are dying. We’re the only ones who can stop this thing.”

Sam’s shoulders dip as he exhales. “Fine. Just… let me talk to her.” He closes the door in his brother’s face before he can reply and strides back to the bed, where you’re stirring beneath the sheets. He dips his head into the crook of your neck, planting a warm kiss there as your eyes flutter open.

“Mmm,” you moan and press your fingers into his bare shoulders. “What was that about?”

“We have a case.” Sam lies down next to you and nuzzles the side of your neck. His tone is stiff, and you rake your fingers through the wispy ends of his hair.

“Bad?”

He sighs heavily, then nods. “We have a lot of hunters coming to the house.” When you stiffen, he quickly moves to console you. “If we had another place to meet, believe me, I would choose there, but we’re closest to the activity and we have room for everyone here.” He strokes a lock of hair away from your neck. “I won’t let them hurt you, but you do need to be involved.”

You frown. “How?”

Sam smirks. “We’ll need someone to serve tea and coffee. And maybe some of those biscuits you make so perfectly.”

You balk. “I’m not a servant—!”

“I never said you were.” Sam hovers over you, watching your eyes flare with indignation. “But it’s a good idea to give the others the impression that you and I live in a way that is to be expected, with you serving me.” He presses a kiss to your lips, stopping you before you can protest. “And before you ask,” he continues, pulling the covers off your body and slowly kissing his way down your bare body until his head is between your thighs, “I’ll make it very worth your while.”

***

After making your way out of bed, you set yourself up in the kitchen, preparing dough for the sugar biscuits Sam’s requested and cleaning the expensive set of china teacups stored away for special occasions. Sam, Dean, and John busy themselves in the basement, apparently cleaning weapons and organizing ammunition. You have no idea what it is they’re going to hunt, but from the preparation and Sam’s earlier tone, you take a good guess that it’s not going to be easy at all.

The hunters trickle in over the course of several hours. When you emerge from the kitchens to set the dining table with cups of tea and coffee, you can hear many voices coming from the library, where they all seem to be gathered. Sam’s scent punches through the noxious cloud of Alpha and Beta, giving a slight comfort to the anxiety that shoots cold bursts of adrenaline through your stomach.

Sam answers almost immediately when you knock on the door, balancing a pot of tea and coffee on a tray. You carefully step inside, keep your eyes on the floor to pretend that Sam’s beaten you into submission. You hear the other Alphas hum with approval as you set the tray on the coffee table and murmur something about being back with the biscuits and cups before scurrying away. After the table is entirely set, Sam waves his fingers dismissively, and you play a small curtsy before leaving.

A couple of hours later, Sam finds you at your dressing table, running a brush through your hair. The sun’s gone down, and the house is quiet. Everyone must have gone to bed. Sam saunters up behind you, placing his hands on your shoulders and staring at your reflection in the mirror.

“You look exhausted,” he murmurs.

You let him pull the brush from your fingers and run it through your already combed locks. “I did spend the afternoon cooking… I suppose I’m just not used to that much work. I feel like I should be.”

“We have a cook for that,” Sam covers, “we just don’t allow her to know what we do.”

“How do you manage that?”

“Very carefully.” Sam chuckles and runs his fingers over your hair. “Come here.”

Obediently, you stand and turn to face him. He looks extremely strained, and you can’t help but allow an urge to comfort him wash over you. “What is it?”

“This thing,” Sam pauses, his eyes closing for a second before fluttering back open, “this thing that we’re going to hunt… it’s dangerous. More dangerous than what we usually hunt, and…” he takes a deep breath, exhaling shakily, “what I am trying to say is that the likelihood of me not coming home is higher than usual.”

At the mere implication that your Alpha could die, you shake your head, face twisting into a grimace as you fight tears. “No,” you say firmly, “Sam, don’t say that—”

Sam interrupts you, ignoring your distress. “I’ve made provisions for you in my will. If I should die, my share of my father’s inheritance will go to you, and my claim over you will place you in Dean’s care. I understand that he is not your ideal mate,” he continues over your near outburst, “but he will keep you safe.”

“He wanted to rape me.”

“Yes, he did.” Sam’s eyes darken. “But my claim mark on you won’t let that happen. He can’t take the guilt of claiming another Alpha’s mate and he knows it. Now…” he brushes his fingers under your eyes, his expression softening, “will you let me take you to bed?”

You nod, letting him lean down to press a soft kiss against your lips. His hands drag your nightdress up, and you lift your arms to let him pull it over your head. His fingers scoop over your ass, and he lifts you up with a soft groan, carrying you swiftly to the bed and laying you down on the mattress. You scoot back, watching him undress. When he’s standing naked, his cock thickening between his legs, he climbs onto the bed, hooking his palms on your thighs and dragging you roughly down underneath him.

“I love you,” he whispers.

You blush even though you’ve heard him say the words several times before. “I love you, too.”

Satisfied, he claims your mouth in a deep, passionate kiss and nudges your thighs apart. You moan when he ruts his cock through your folds, letting the heat and weight of it tease you until you’re slick and ready for him. You shift when he lines up at your entrance, and he reaches for your hands, pinning them by your head as he rolls his hips. Your sighs mingle as he fills you, sinking deeper and deeper until he feels the entrance to your womb pressed against the tip of his cock.

His first thrust is deliciously drawn out and makes your thighs quiver around his hips. He grins against your cheek when you try and pull him back in with your heels against his ass, and only frustrates you further by giving a series of short, slow thrusts that barely push the tip of his dick into your drenched pussy.

“Stop teasing,” you whisper, trying as hard as you can to push your hips up into his.

Sam obliges, planting his knees against the mattress and shoving forward with a brutal thrust. Your eyes roll back in your head as he fills you almost painfully. “Like that?” he asks, smirking down at you as you sink back to the present.

“Yes.” You squeeze his hands and bend your knees back until your knees are at his ribs.

Sam settles into a steady rhythm, grinding his pelvis against your ass in a way that makes you gasp and squirm as warm waves of pleasure crash over you. Pulling his hands from yours, he wraps his arms underneath you, lowering himself until you’re almost entirely wrapped up in him. His thrusts grow more and more passionate, and he reclaims your mouth in a warm, wet kiss. It’s rare that Sam’s ever this gentle with you; when he does crave intimacy, he’s rough and dominant, only slowing when you’re begging him to.

It’s almost like he’s trying to savor it as if he knows he’ll never experience it again.

“Stop.”

Sam pauses mid-thrust, raising his head to look down at you. “What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”

“No.” You swallow thickly. “You’re acting like this won’t happen again.”

Sam closes his eyes. “Omega, please try and understand—”

“Understand what?” You push him off and roll away, tears brimming in your eyes. “That you might die? I can’t just hear you say that and pretend that everything will be okay. If you die I’ll have nothing, Sam, I need you.”

Sam watches you burst into tears, unable to help yourself. All matters of lovemaking forgotten, he sits up and reaches for you, desperate to provide some form of comfort. He curses himself for upsetting you; he knows that he’s still got to work on being more sensitive to your feelings, that you process certain scenarios differently than he does.

“Omega,” he tries again, running a palm over one quivering shoulder, “please, look at me.”

You raise your head, tears streaming down your cheeks. “What?”

“I don’t want you to feel this way,” he explains, picking his words carefully lest he upset you more, “I hate seeing you upset, you know that. But I do need you to understand that my… profession… has certain risks and there is a reason why we have a dozen hunters on this one alone.”

You stutter through your words, trying to keep from dissolving into sobs. “I just don’t want to have to see you… or know you suffered…”

Sam presses his lips together. That part he can’t argue with—if he does perish on this hunt, you’ll be forced to see his body at one point or another, and the odds are that a Vampire won’t leave him in once piece, much less identifiable.

“I’m sorry,” he apologizes. “Do you want to just go to sleep?”

You shake your head. “I want to finish this… just… please don’t act like this is the last night we’ll be spending together.”

Sam presses a tender kiss to your forehead and pulls you close, issuing a primal growl as he lays you back down on the bed and eagerly situates himself between your thighs. He has to work to get himself hard again, but once he’s ready, he slides himself in easily, watching your tearstained face flush with pleasure.

“That’s it,” he coaxes, “don’t hold back, ‘mega, I want everyone in this goddamn house to know how good I’m makin’ you feel.”

His next thrust is hard enough to make you whimper, and he leans back, placing a hand on your lower belly so he can rub your clit with his thumb. You shudder and let out a desperate moan, and Sam grunts in response, quickening the speed of his hips. Fingers curling into the covers, you toss your head back and allow a high-pitched cry to escape, and Sam matches you in volume with his own groan.

It doesn’t take long to work up a rough yet passionate rhythm. If the bed was less sturdy, you know that the frame would be rocking with the force of Sam’s thrusts. His hips slap against your ass, and you can’t be bothered to hold back the sounds you’re making as fresh tears—this time of pleasure—flow from your eyes.

“You’re gettin’ close,” Sam mutters, “I can feel you squeezing me, you’re gonna cum all over this big cock, aren’t you?”

You nod desperately. “Yes, I’m gonna cum, Alpha…”

Sam’s hips jolt as he nears his own ending. “Me too, shit… yes, ‘mega, keep grippin’ me like that…”

He falls over you, pinning you shuddering body to the mattress as you cum, the heat of your climax spreading through your body hot enough to make your head spin. He doesn’t knot you, just shoves forward with a bestial groan and spills himself into you in several hot, thick spurts that you feel dripping down the cleft of your ass as he thrusts sloppily through the aftershocks of both your orgasms.

Sated, he sinks down over you, pressing a messy kiss to your lips. You shudder against him, wrapping your legs around his waist to keep him inside you.

“God, you’re shaking,” he runs his lips down the column of your throat. “I can feel you, ‘mega…”

You hold him tight, letting him settle over you. “I don’t want you to go,” you whisper, voice still cloudy with emotion.

“I don’t want to go either. But I have to… it’s my duty.” He lies with you, breathing softly into the crook of your neck until he goes soft and has to pull out. You moan when his seed drips between your legs, and he scoops you up before it can ruin the comforter.

“We really should put something down before,” he jokes, attempting to lighten the mood as he sets you in the bathtub and reaches for a washcloth. When you can only offer a small smile, he drops it, cleaning methodically between your legs before turning the taps on. Climbing in and pulling you down into the tub, he holds you against his chest, running his fingers through your hair as the water slowly rises to fill half the tub.

“You do know that I’ll do everything to come home,” he murmurs, looking down as you rest your head on his shoulder.

You nod stiffly. “I know. I just hate the idea of you leaving and… not coming back.”

Sam presses a tender kiss to your cheek. “I promise that I’ll have the others watching my back. They don’t have families or Omegas to go home to, but I do, and they know that.”

Tilting your head back to gaze up at him, you brush wet fingers over the light stubble on his jaw. “I’m sorry for crying earlier… I hated stopping making love with you.”

“Don’t be sorry.” Sam heaves a sigh. “I should know by now that you and I process differently. It’s my fault for pressing it.”

It’s late by the time you finally slip into bed, snuggling together under the warm covers. Sam holds you close, his nose tucked into the crook of your neck.

“Sleep well, Omega,” he whispers, “I’ll wake you in the morning.”

#alpha!sam winchester #alpha!sam x omega!reader #sam winchester x reader #sam winchester x reader smut #sam winchester reader insert

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nitr0glycer1ne · 5 years ago

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Ducktober/Duckvember Day 8 - Ship

Hooooo there it is!!! Some Drakepad!!! Well, some pre-relationship Drakepad, but still! And also I get to write Lena and Gos for the first time! My headcanon is that Gosalyn is a year younger than Webby (HDL's age), and that Lena "is" a year older than Webby. Gos and Violet are the same age, but Violet skipped a grade. Also I mainly took inspiration from the original Gosalyn, though I did make her a bit more done with her dads maybe??? Please enjoy!

“Uuuuugh!” “What’s going on, Gos?”

The redhead let her head slump on the table, while Webby gave her a puzzled look. It was rather unusual to see Gosalyn look so discouraged; the fiery girl was usually the first to motivate other people when they felt down, and was a seemingly endless well of energy. But Gosalyn had seemed a bit distant since the morning. Since they were a year older, Webby and Violet didn’t have classes with her; but when the three of them and Lena had met up before classes, Gosalyn had already seemed a bit down.

“It’s my dad.” she mumbled. “And Launchpad.” “Are they arguing about whether or not you should be allowed to stay up past nine again?” Violet asked, finishing her yogurt. “No, thank God.” Gosalyn answered, her face still again the table. Lena, who was a grade above Violet and Webby, looked at her with a small smile. “Then come on, spill the beans."

Drake had bonded with her and Violet’s dads, and while she considered him a friend, she also loved teasing him, since he was very easy to tick off.

“It’s just that they won’t go out together! It’s annoying!” Gosalyn complained, lifting her head from the table and rolling her eyes. “They look at each other all lovey-dovey, Launchpad basically lives in our guest room and acts like he’s also my dad, and when they argue it’s like seeing an old married couple!”

She almost added that they fought crime together, but she wisely decided to keep quiet about that last fact.

“It’s true that I did hear Launchpad talking to Dewey about the many ways in which your dad is amazing and looks dashing and stuff for half an hour the other day.” Webby remembered as Lena snickered and Violet nodded in understanding. “It was sweet, but also pretty funny to see the exact moment when Dewey’s face lost all expression. He does that a lot when he’s bored.” “See!” Gosalyn roared. “That’s why I’m talking about! There’s nothing not romantic about that! But when I tell dad that he should date Launchpad, he gets super pissed off!” “Hmm…” Violet lost herself in her thoughts for a moment, gathering them. “Maybe you should try a different approach, if direct confrontation was inefficient.” “I’m sure I could make some sort of love potion.” Lena offered, eating the last piece of her fruit salad. “They’re already in love, dummy!” Webby smiled and affectionately ruffled her best friend’s hair. “But I have another idea, and I’m sure you’ll like it!” “You do? Really?”

Webby nodded, offering her friend the brightest smile she could. Gosalyn couldn’t help but be a little bit scared.

“Ahem. Ladies, thank you for being here today!” “You literally dragged us here right after school.” Lena reminded Webby, who coughed a little. “Details, details, my dear Lena. Anyways, let’s kick off Operation Drakepad!” “Drake… pad?” Violet asked, tilting her head. “Is that a portmanteau of my dad and Launchpad’s name?” Gosalyn asked in disbelief. “That’s so… cheesy. Exactly like them. I love it!” “Thank you, Miss Mallard.” Webby bowed, pleased. “But I’m not the one who came up with the name. Meet my associate in romantic cases, Hueeeeey Duck!”

Like a proud mother, Webby pointed her two indexes at the duckling who was standing right next to her.

“Why does he have to be involved?” Gosalyn asked. She didn’t mind the Duck triplets at all; but she was curious as to why Webby had decided Huey would be, in her words, “a precious ally”. “Oh, because he was the other brilliant mind behind Operation Fendra!” “Fendra?” Lena repeated. “Huey, seriously?” “Hey!” Huey replied defensively. “It was a great name! Short, efficient, straight to the point!” “Silence!” Gosalyn yelled. “Was that operation about making two idiots in love realize that they’re in love?”

Huey and Webby looked at each other, suddenly embarrassed.

“… kind of?” the girl answered. “OK, and did it work?” “Weeeell…” Huey hesitated. “Not really, but we didn’t really have a backup plan for the eventuality of one of them being a spy sent by Mark Beaks to infiltrate Gyro’s laboratory, so it… wasn’t a failure either?”

Lena, Violet and Gosalyn looked at each other in disbelief. Gosalyn was starting to look even more disappointed than during lunch, so Webby was quick to do her best to avoid further damage:

“But there’s no reason it shouldn’t work for Drake and Launchpad! I mean, I don’t think either of them own a laboratory? Or that they’re an enemy of Mark Beak?”

Gosalyn thought back to the time her father had investigated a case involving the egotistical and childish owner of Waddle, but she remained silent. After all, Launchpad had been investigating alongside Darkwing Duck, and there was absolutely no way the loyalty the pilot had towards her father was anything but genuine.

“Nah, I don’t think so.” “Then the plan should be an absolute success, I guarantee it!” Webby giddily promised, although Huey looked a bit more skeptic. “And what is than plan?” Violet inquired, curious. “Will you tailor it to the targets’ personalities and interests, or is it something you can apply to every situation and soon-to-be couple?” “A mix of both.” Huey answered. “The idea is to set them up for a date, and to try to make it a date they’ll enjoy.” “So, Gos!” Webby turned her attention to her redhead friend, who seemed a bit lost, somewhere between tempted by the idea and being in utter disbelief at the somewhat surreal scene that was unfolding in Webby’s room. “What do you think your dad would like for an ideal, romantic, sure-to-sweep-Launchpad-off-his-feet date?”

Gosalyn did have an idea, but she wasn’t sure making the date Darkwing Duck theme was going to help set a romantic tone- it would just be like one of their regular Darkwing Duck marathons.

“It’s really nice for your boss to invite us for dinner.”

Launchpad, Drake and Gosalyn were in the pilot’s car, an old thing that had seen better days but that Launchpad lovingly took care of. The trio was headed towards the McDuck manor, the two adults sitting in the front while Gosalyn was in the back, seemingly innocently reading comics. However, her mind was focused on what awaited her father and his almost-boyfriend that night.

“In fact, it’s almost too nice.” Drake continued suspiciously. “I mean, he does owe us for the heroic help I provided when those aliens invaded us, but still, isn’t it a bit weird for Scrooge McDuck to-” “Daaad.” Gosalyn rolled her eyes. “Geez, can’t you enjoy a nice gesture from an old man?” “Gosalyn is right!” Launchpad nodded. “Mr McD is nicer than people think. He took me in when I didn’t have a place to stay, you know!” “Mmmh.” Drake nodded. “Still…” “You worry too much!” Gosalyn scolded, putting her comic aside. “That’s what too much crime fighting will do to you.” “What?! There’s never enough crime fighting, young lady!” “Whatever. Just… let Darkwing in the car for tonight, okay? Be Drake and have fun.” “Yeah, DW! It’s gonna be a fun evening!” “Launchpad, don’t call him that!”

They had been so busy bickering that they barely noticed they had arrived. Launchpad almost crashed the car when parking it in front of the garage, but the three of them arrived in one piece in front of the manor’s entrance. Out of habit, Launchpad was about to open the door, but Drake gently grabbed his wrist and rang instead. A surprised Mrs Beakley opened them.

“Launchpad? What are you doing here? I thought you wouldn’t be coming back here before Sunday.” “What?” it was the pilot’s turn to be puzzled. “We’re here for dinner?” Drake clarified, suspicious. “The one Scrooge McDuck invited us to?” “Dinner? Mr McDuck hasn’t told me-” “Oh hey, hi Launchpad! Hi Mr Mallard! Hi Gos!”

Webby had sled right in front of her grandmother, offering the trio the warmest and most welcoming smile she could. Mrs Beakley looked at her granddaughter, suspicion growing more and more obvious on her face, but the girl ignored the heavy gaze she felt on her back:

“How wonderful of you to join us for a magical evening sure to please your minds and your palate! Please, come inside.”

Launchpad stepped inside the house, oblivious, but Drake kept looking at Webby as if she had grown a second head. He then glanced at his daughter, but she raised her shoulders, the very picture of innocence. Sighing, Drake followed his friend. When Gosalyn entered the manor, she saw Mrs Beakley was talking with Lena in a hushed tone, looking somewhat displeased but mostly perplexed. The redhead understood Webby hadn’t told her grandmother about their plan, probably because she would have done everything in her power to dissuade the kids from putting it to execution.

And, to be honest, Gosalyn couldn’t blame her.

But the plan was now in motion, for better or for worse. Gosalyn had, of course, been heavily helping Webby and Huey with it; but in the end, the last steps were entirely up to them, and she truly hoped it would succeed. She would never forgive herself if her meddling somehow hurt her father and Launchpad’s relationship; but she truly believed neither of them would do the first move, and that someone had to intervene, for their own good.

She met with Violet and Lena, who had apparently managed to convince Mrs Beakley to let them handle the situation if the way the housekeeper had gone upstairs while muttering “children…” half annoyed and half affectionately was any indication.

“And now, we wait.”

“Woah! Did you change the decoration? The kitchen didn’t look like that last week!”

While Launchpad looked around the room, amazed, Drake felt like he had stepped into one of those trashy novels oozing with over the top romanticism. Every surface available was covered in rose petals and candles, save for the table at the center of the room, covered with a pink tablecloth. Soft jazz music was playing, and strings of small paper hearts had been taped to the wall.

One of the Duck triplets – Drake still had trouble telling them apart, this one wore a white shirt with a red bow tie – greeted them, a napkin thrown over his arm.

“Ah, welcome, welcome! Your table awaits, gentlemen.”

The duckling guided them to the table, which was around two meters away from them, and let the two adults sit down. Launchpad was still looking around, marvelling at the gentle and cosy atmosphere the candles gave the room, while Drake listened to him, feeling a smile blossom on his beak.

It was when Webby brought them a menu, one that only had a single option available – labelled as “Cupid’s Choice” and whose main dish was a plate of meatball spaghetti – that everything clicked in Drake’s head. Gosalyn’s enthusiasm when she had told them of the dinner, the way she had been looking at him and Launchpad all day long, Beakley’s confusion, the ridiculously romantic decoration of the room-

Gosalyn may not have been his biological child, but she was definitely his clever daughter. She took so much after him, and after Launchpad too, now that he thought about it.

And as a complete understanding of the situation hit him, Drake laughed, taking Launchpad by surprise.

“DW- uh, I mean, Drake, what’s going on?” “Oh, nothing, nothing, don’t worry.” Drake reassured his friend, looking at the emerald eyes he could get lost in, noticing for the first time how close their hands were, resting on the table. “I’m just looking forward to this dinner.”

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And of course the dinner was a success!! Let me know if I should write it! I'm just weak for the Mallard-McQuack family......... and Webby and Huey's matrimonial agency of sorts... and Team Magic befriending Gos.... I hope I did this pairing justice, it's my favorite DT17 ship!!

#drakepad #drake mallard #launchpad mcquack #gosalyn mallard #ducktales #ducktober #violet sabrewing #lena de spell #lena despell #Webby Vanderquack #huey duck #bentina beakley #mrs beakley #dt17 #my writing #my fics #team magic

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awed-frog · 5 years ago

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Hi! I've followed you for a long time, and I know you used to post about the MCU but stopped sometime after Infinity War (I agree with you btw, what a mess 🤦🏾‍♀️). I was kinda curious if you watched Endgame or not. Personally I enjoyed it a lot the first time, but then the more I thought about it the less sense it made and the more frustrated I got. :( I'd love to know your opinions, if you don't mind sharing them.

Hello! Nice to meet you! I saw Endgame but I don’t remember a lot about it, which I feel is what generally happens with these big blockbusters and why Scorses was right in comparing them to theme parks. Plus, one big problem I’m having with fiction these days (you see this in a lot of big productions, both in shows and movies) is that they tend to be a string of cool, high-stakes or well-made scenes with nothing inbetween. Big movies have basically become trailers, and while we all enjoy The Big Battle or The Big Confrontation, imo part of what makes them big is the stuff that comes beforehand. We’re tense about a conflict if we know why it’s happening and what it means for the characters involved; if those things are reduced to sarcastic one-liners and the odd one-minute conversation, the story just doesn’t work as well as it should.

The other big thing I hated about both movies was Thanos. Like, the guy was clearly supposed to be some kind of eco-fascist, only they leaned pretty heavily on the ‘eco’ part, with him acting all worried about resources and living the simple life as soon as his job was done, and it was a chilling reminder of who’s paying for this kind of movies and why we shouldn’t base our entire belief system around them.

And, well, a personal pet peeve but time travel is always problematic and never quite makes sense. I read a couple of articles about the ‘science’ in Endgame and why they couldn’t just kill baby Thanos or do whatever else that was less complicated, but I didn’t find any convincing explanations. The only movie I can think of where I really liked how it was done is Back to the Future, but maybe I was just young and I’m emotionally attached? I haven’t seen it again in a long time, so I don’t know if adult!me would still be happy with it.

#ask #endgame #plus their notion of heroism is all over the place #another pet peeve of mine #:P

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aspiringpolymath · 5 years ago

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My Decade in Books

Kindly tagged by @damecatoe

The rules: Respond to the prompt “My Decade in Books” however you want, then tag some people!

Yes, my goodreads account was supes useful for this exercise, especially as I joined in 2007. I’ve had a wild ride of reading; here we go!

2009: This is the year I finished my MLIS, so the first half of the year was mainly textbooks which I didn’t count. The books listed for that year are very much me continuing to read some of my favorites to that point: Christopher Fry, Barbara Pym, Alain de Botton, etc . . .

2010: I started dating Mark this year, and the ten measly books I apparently read goes to show you I was a little . . . preoccupied, shall we say?

2011: I moved to Maryland to live with Mark and got married in Ohio that September. So, I read a lot more books, being unemployed whilst wedding planning. That was the year I decided to read all the Miss Marple books in order, for some reason. Fair amount of mysteries that year, besides Jane M., and some wedding planning books obvs.

2012: The year we moved again. Some more mysteries and graphic novels, but I was heavily involved in neutralizing the house we sold and getting the new one in order after we moved, so I think it was more of a podcast year.

2013: This was the year I discovered My Mad Fat Diary and Eleanor & Park. I started reading and writing fanfiction for MMFD, and also ordered copies of the source material for the show. I also joined a book club, which started off kind of snobby, but got less so as members started dropping out. So, the number of titles is fairly low, but trust me that I read A LOT of words that year.

2014: Another low year for actual books. Mostly YA and book club titles, because I was a fanfiction FIEND this year. Series 2 of MMFD consumed a lot of my brain that year, and I was voraciously Tumblring rather than reading published stuff.

2015: More YA, as well as a couple of romance-adjacent titles. (Foreshadowing)

2016: Highlights are Uprooted by Naomi Novik (one of my first Kindle purchases) and Simon vs. the Homosapiens Agenda. (Yet more foreshadowing.)

2017: Having read a list of feel-good books on Jasmine Guillory’s twitter in November 2016 that she posted leading up to that year’s cataclysmic election, I decide to read A Week to be Wicked by Tessa Dare. I may have actually read this in December 2016, I can’t be sure now. But, over the course of 2017, I fall headlong into the rabbithole of historical romance fiction, reading most of Tessa Dare, Courtney Milan, and Emily Larkin’s back catalogs. Not only do I read, but I RE-read a lot of them. My title total on goodreads is 163 (not including re-reads).

Notable non-romance reads: Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay, We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu.

2018: I keep rabbitholing! This year I read a larger allowance of contemporary romance, and my first m/m romance books: Introducing Mr. Winterbourne and Mr. Winterbourne’s Christmas by Joanna Chambers. Favorite new authors: Rose Lerner, Cathy Yardley, Mimi Matthews.

Notable non-romance reads: Matt Haig, specifically The Humans and How to Stop Time, Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi, The War that Saved My Life and The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.

2019: Things got a little out of hand. I read over 400 titles and discovered some wonderful authors, including: KJ Charles, Alexis Hall, Roan Parrish, Talia Hibbert, Cat Sebastian, R. Cooper, Olivia Dade, Alyssa Cole, Beverly Jenkins, Lily Morton, and many more. Many of these authors focus on m/m pairings, and while I never expected to read such a large quantity of stories in those genres, I’ve found so many amazing stories there. (I also mentioned in a previous reading post that I started a deep dive into the @shousetsubangbang archives last year, which sort of carries through that theme.)

In a way, it’s hard for me to believe I’ve only just discovered some of these books. KJ Charles, in particular, I’ve reread almost every book of hers that I’ve tried, because they are all so flipping amazing. There were a lot of books I read and then started right back from the beginning as soon as I finished. Some of these include: Think of England by KJ Charles, as well as the whole Sins of the City series, In the Middle of Somewhere by Roan Parrish (that whole series, including Small Change & Introduction to the Blues, really), Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian, Jericho Candelario’s Gay Debut by R. Cooper, Glitterland by Alexis Hall (again, actually, the whole Spires series is just fantastic.)

Since it took me so long to finish this, I don’t want to tag anyone specifically, but if you are moved to take a look at your reading over the last decade as a result of this post, please tag me in your post!

#my decade in books #reading habits #about meme

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atlantathecity · 5 years ago

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Looking at the mixed bag of Atlantic Station’s urbanism, 14 years later

Atlantic Station opened in 2005 as a major mixed-use project in northwest Atlanta, with retail spaces, apartments, office towers, a movie theater, and events space.

The focus of news coverage on the project back then was that 138 acres of brownfield land, where the Atlantic Steel facility once stood, were getting redeveloped. 14 years later, that part of its history seems mostly a footnote, with the project having become accepted as just another part of the city -- though one that feels a bit like a geographic island, bordered on two sides by railways and interstate highways.

My take on it, as of today: despite not being 100% perfect in its urbanism, Atlantic Station is overall a good development.

It has decent access for buses, it has retail necessities (a grocery store that sits on the sidewalk, also clothing stores), it's safe for walking, and the mix of uses leans heavily toward residential.

We could nitpick over private streets, bland architecture, the lack of public-owned spaces, and the horrible piped-in music. But my final analysis is swayed most heavily by the fact that I was able to take MARTA here recently to buy some groceries, and at no point did I curse the walking conditions or transit access. That's something. I remember when it was necessary to go much further out from the city center to find places to buy everyday stuff like underwear and dishes. Newcomers to Atlanta probably don’t have that frame of reference. For long timers like me, this accessibility to basic home supplies near Midtown was welcome.

Despite the convenience of retail stores, many locals complain -- rightly so -- about the center of the development having too much of a theme-park feel, coming across as inauthentic as an urban space. Also, the giant parking facility it rests on top of gives one the sense that this is a major drive-to destination like shopping mall, and not a true neighborhood.

The theme park-ness of it is probably the hardest thing to fix. You'd have to try to retrofit some truly public-owned spaces in there, with a city park and a public library, a post office, a community center -- those kinds of things that are shared in ownership by the community are lacking here and it's a problem.

As for parking, surely there's no place in Atlanta or most any large U.S. city where this amount of retail square footage and event space and hotel square footage happens without a parking deck involved. I think rather than accepting that the parking will forever make it a drive-to destination, Atlantic Station could do more to make alternatives attractive. To reduce driving, maybe the owners could build excellent bus stop accommodations for MARTA and for the shuttle from Arts Center Station. That seems like a natural fit here. Doing that, plus increasing the frequency of the shuttle, could possibly shift some people from car trips to transit ones while increasing access for people who don’t drive. There's probably a lot that could be done to make it less car oriented and more equitable in its accessibility, if the owners prioritized it.

#atlanta #atlantic station #urbanism

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hymn2000 · 5 years ago

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Chiquitita - MCU AU fanfic - C17

Story summary: Something strange is happening. Someone from space has made their way to Earth, armed with a strange weapon. Targeting teenagers, their ray gun, when fired, turns the victim into a toddler. The Avengers set out to stop this, and find a way to reverse the effects. However, they don’t all come out of the battle unscathed.

Previous chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Part of my Frostiron and Spiderson series.

Warnings/themes: de-aging, family stuff, corporal punishment (early chapters only), mental health stuff, hurt/comfort, hospital/medical stuff

Chapter 17 - Dizzy

Loki didn’t like the idea of lying in bed doing nothing, especially with Tony working from home so he could look after Peter. So instead of taking full advantage of his sick bed, Loki dragged himself up and flopped in the living room. That way, he was around his family, and could help out - not that Tony let him do very much.

It was a long, fairly dull week, but the end of it brought Loki very close to full recovery. It was times like this that he was glad he wasn’t human: he couldn’t imagine having to go through the long recoveries they had to go through.

Tony grabbed Peter under the arms from behind, and held him up to Loki. Loki quirked an eyebrow at him.

“What?”

“Three weeks” Tony said. “Exactly three weeks”

“Put me down!” Peter protested, wriggling.

“Yes, put him down, darling” Loki said. “He was busy”

Tony put Peter down, and the boy returned to his game of shop. He’d spent much of the morning setting it up, and trying to sell his Noah’s Ark animals to his toy monkey, with little success. Loki shook his head fondly at him.

“I think he’s been a bit bored this week” he said.

“We took him to the park four times” Tony said. “He loves those ducks”

“Yes, but I think it would be nice to do something different with him”

“Ok” Tony said, sitting down beside him. “Like what?”

“I’m not sure. Something... He’s always liked swimming”

“Normal Peter likes swimming” Tony corrected.

“That doesn’t mean little Peter doesn’t. I know he’s too small for the pool here, but... Maybe we should look into it”

“Ok, but you’re missing one important detail here”

“And what would that be?”

“You hate swimming”

“He’s a toddler” Loki said. “So he’ll still be in the shallow end and the baby pool. I can cope with that”

“...Where were you thinking?”

“Well” Loki said. “There’s an outdoor paddling pool in one of the other parks not too far from here. Or there’s the big leisure pool. They’re bound to have a baby pool”

“Peter?”

Peter looked up from his game.

“Do you wanna go swimming some time?”

“I wanna play shop”

“I’m not stopping you. I’m just asking if you wanna go swimming”

Peter shrugged and went back to playing. Tony looked at Loki and shrugged.

“He’d enjoy it” Loki said. “We should take him. Maybe tomorrow?”

“Sure. But we’d need to go out and get him a swim costume, and probably some arm bands too. He’s not gonna know how to swim, is he?”

“I doubt it” Loki said. “We’ll be able to find those easily enough”

“We could go now, if you wanted? Quick trip round the shops. We could have lunch while we’re out?” Tony suggested.

“I don’t have much of an appetite right now” Loki said.

“Ok. So, is that a no to the shopping?”

“I’m not sure I feel up to battling the high street on a Saturday. You could go though, if you wanted to”

“I think I will. I’ll take the kid. Do we need anything else while I’m out?”

“I don’t know. I’ll have a think and text you if I think of anything. I think we’re rather well stocked at the moment”

“Good to hear. I might still take the kid for something to eat though, depending how we go”

“That’s fine” Loki said.

Tony nodded. “Peter? Go and get your shoes, chick. We’re going out”

“But I wanna play!” Peter pouted.

“We’re going out” Tony said firmly. “Go and get your shoes on, now”

“I don’t want to!”

“Do as you’re told, or there’ll be trouble. You can bring your rocket with you if you’re a good boy”

Peter threw down the scanner from his plastic till, heaved himself to his feet, and stalked off.

“Ooh, someone’s not happy” Tony chuckled.

“He doesn’t half get cross sometimes” Loki said. “Where abouts are you going to go?”

“I’m not gonna bother with the car. Walk’ll do us good. That boys got enough pent up energy to stroll down to the nearby high street. There’s that sports shop there, so I’ll get his swim stuff from there”

“Ok, but don’t get him anything ugly”

Tony laughed. “I’ll get him the most tasteful toddler trunks they have, promise”

Peter came back into the room and sat down heavily, pulling his shoes on. Tony slapped his knees and stood up.

“Right. Grab your rocket, kiddo, and let’s get going”

Peter scowled at him, but grabbed his rocket anyway.

“Stop with the face. If you’re good, we’ll get ice cream too, ok?”

Peter didn’t look happy, but he nodded. He liked ice cream.

Peter held Tony’s hand until they reached the main shopping street, and then pulled away.

“Hey, don’t you go running off now” Tony said. “It’s busy, so you need to stay close. Ok?”

Peter nodded, hugging his rocket to his chest and humming to himself. There was a lot to see here, and a lot of people around. He trotted along at Tony’s side, not really paying much attention to him. He swerved round him, going to walk at his other side, closer to the road. There seemed to be even more going on over the road; stalls and more interesting shops.

“Teddy bear!” he said, pointing.

“I’m not taking you to Build-A-Bear” Tony said. “Come on, keep walking”

Peter did, until Tony looked away. He liked the look of this Build-A-Bear shop. He wasn’t sure what it was, but there were teddies involved, so that was good enough for him. He wanted a closer look.

“Hey, Peter?” Tony looked down, only to find the little boy wasn’t there. “Peter?!”

There was a sudden loud beeping and the screeching of car tyres, and he spun round quickly. There was more beeping, more screeching - and a scream.

“PETER!!!”

Tony started crying as Peter was put into his arms.

“Peter! Peter, oh my god! Oh sweetheart, sweetheart, sweetheart..!”

He held Peter like he would never let go, kissing him hard on the cheek, trembling like mad, still trying to comprehend what had happened. He pressed his head against Peter’s, clutching him close, sobbing, while at the same time desperately trying to stop. Peter was shaking, crying, but he was safe. By some miracle, he’d been snatched up out of the road with hardly a second to spare. He was safe, but scared, and upset.

“My rocket!” Peter cried. “My rocket!”

“Damn your rocket!” Tony kissed Peter hard, and then adjusted his hold and looked at him properly. “Don’t you ever run away from me again, do you hear me?! You don’t ever run away like that, do you understand?!”

Peter looked at him, and then started crying harder, holding a hand out desperately.

“Five years off your life, that’s what they say”

Tony looked up at the man who spoke. “I- I don’t know what to say-”

“I think you need to sit down” the man handed Peter his rocket, which he’d picked up off the ground, and then put an arm round Tony’s shoulders and lead him to a nearby bench. “There we go”

Tony sat down heavily, clinging to Peter and trying to focus on breathing, still crying from the fear and shock of it all. The man kept his arm round Tony’s shoulders.

“You’re ok, don’t worry. I’ve got you. He’s ok too” he said gently. “Shaken, but he’s ok”

“Yeah...” Tony held Peter tighter. “You saved him. He could’ve been hit, he could’ve-”

“Don’t think about all that. He didn’t get hurt. Focus on that. He’s fine”

Tony looked at the man. “I don’t know how to thank you. You saved his life. You just- you ran in and grabbed him and-”

“Anyone would’ve done the same thing” he said. “I’ve been in the same kinda situation before. Kids’ll do that to you. You just gotta breathe"

Tony loosened his grip on Peter. “Shh, darling. I’ve got you”

Peter wiped his eyes on his rocket, sniffling. Tony shouting had scared him, and his chest hurt a bit from being grabbed so roughly when he was pulled out of the road.

“You naughty little thing. I told you to stay close” he said, taking a deep shaky breath. “You could’ve been hurt”

Peter whimpered and buried his face in Tony’s chest. Tony closed his eyes, trying to calm down. He felt sick, and he was still shaking quite violently. He was grateful of the hero strangers arm round his shoulders.

“My heart’s pounding... I thought- I don’t really know what I thought. It was just... fear”

“I know. I get it” the man squeezed his shoulder, and then took his arm from round his shoulders. “Is he just like other kids?”

Tony looked at him. “...What?”

“I saw the news. I know he’s a toddler because of Kindsprengen”

“Ah. Uh... Yeah, he’s just like any other toddler. Physically, anyway. He’s still... he’s my son” Tony sighed. “You saved him. There’s gotta be something I can do to repay you”

“Hey, think nothing of it. Anyone would have done the same. I’m sure if the roles were reversed, you would’ve done the same for my kid” he said. “I’ve always said it’s important to rely on the kindness of strangers”

Tony nodded, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. “...Thank you”

The man’s phone beeped, and he checked it. “I’m late for a meeting. I’m going to have to head off”

“Yeah, yeah, of course” Tony stood up at the same time as the man. “What’s your name? I’ll look you up some time”

“Henry. Henry Albert. You take care, alright?” he stroked Peter’s cheek gently. “Don’t go running into any more roads, kiddo”

Peter nodded, half-hiding behind his rocket. Henry smiled, and shook Tony’s hand.

“We had baby reins for my three” he said. “Maybe look into that”

Tony took a few more minutes to compose himself. He gave Peter a little telling off, but then hugged him close and kept him in his arms as he continued down the street, trying to act like he was ok. He still felt nauseous and shaky, but not so much. Peter seemed fine too. He was quiet, but he seemed comforted by his rocket and being in Tony’s arms. Tony kissed him on the cheek, thinking about what the man had said. He saw a woman strolling along with two toddlers in a double buggy, and he stopped her.

“Hey, ‘scuse me, sorry” he said, voice still a little shaky. “Can I ask you something?”

The woman smiled at him. “Sure, if I can get a selfie”

Tony swallowed, and smiled at her. “Sure”

They did the photo, and the lady was happy with that.

“What can I do for you, Tony?”

“Do you know if there’s a kids shop somewhere round here? I need to get something for this one”

“He’s so cute, you know” the lady smiled. “If you go down this street, and turn right just before that Starbucks, and then take a left, there’s a big one down there. It’s independent, but it’s good”

“That’s great, thank you”

“No problem. It was good to meet you”

“Nice to meet you too”

Peter started squeaking, insisting that he wanted to walk.

“No, you’re not walking. You can’t be trusted not to run off” Tony said firmly. “You can walk if and when we’ve got you some reins”

Peter whined, but he stopped wriggling.

They soon reached the shop the woman had directed Tony to. Despite having a toddler in his arms, Tony still felt a bit out of place walking through the door. It was a big shop, and it wasn’t very busy at all.

“Excuse me?” A sales assistant came up to him. “You’re Tony Stark, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I am. Hi”

“I can’t believe it’s you!” she giggled. “I’ve never met a celebrity before”

Tony couldn’t help smiling. “Well, you’ve met one now! What’s your name?”

“Julie” she smiled. “So this little one must be Peter. Hello there, little darling! Aren’t you a cutie?”

Peter smiled sweetly at her, giggling when she tickled him under the chin, and talking to her when she complimented his rocket. She pinched his cheek gently and straightened up.

“Is there anything I can help you with today?”

“Yeah, actually. Uh, we’ve had a bit of a close call today, haven’t we, chick?” he said, glancing at Peter. “I’m looking to get some, uh, baby reins?”

“I see. We have a good collection. Did you know what type you wanted?”

“Uh, not really. I just need something to stop him running off really. I didn’t know there were different types”

“There’s a few. If you’d like to follow me” Julie said, leading the way. “Backpack reins are very popular right now. They’re basically little backpacks which double up as a harness with reins. They work basically the same, and they can be good for children who don’t like traditional harnesses”

“Oh yeah, now I think about it, I think I’ve seen these before” Tony said, looking at the big shelf of them they’d stopped in front of. “Oh yeah, I’ve definitely seen these. Loki said they were stupid”

Julie giggled. “They’re not for everyone. If you didn’t want to go for the backpacks, traditional harness reins will probably be your go-to. As you can see, we have quite a selection”

“Yeah, there’s way more than a thought” Tony said. “These padded ones, are they better than the ones that are like, just the straps?”

“It’s largely down to personal preference. The padded harness ones are designed to be more comfortable, and I’ve had parents tell me they’re good for toddlers who pull a lot”

“That makes them sound like dogs”

Julie smiled. “That’s exactly what I thought. Still, I understand where they’re coming from”

“Yeah, me too”

“Can I walk now?” Peter asked.

“I need you to stay with me, little boy” Tony said, looking at all the basic harnesses. He knew Loki probably wouldn’t like him getting anything garish or novelty. “How do these work, anyway? I’m a bit clueless on all this baby and little kid stuff”

“That’s understandable, given the circumstances. If you’ve seen anything you like the look of, I can help show you how they go on and how to adjust them”

“Yeah, thanks... Loki’s a bit of a one; he hates all the novelty kids-style-graphic-designs stuff, thinks they’re tacky. So I’ll probably just go for a basic one. Like, that black one”

“This one?” Julie said, taking one off the rack.

“Daddy, I wanna walk!”

“Shh, Peter. Yeah, that one’s fine”

“Ok, so these are quite simple”

She explained everything to him, and then suggested they try it on Peter. Peter was happy to be put down, and immediately made a run for it. Tony grabbed his arm.

“Hey, get back here! We’ve talked about this, naughty” Tony knelt down, keeping him still. “We’re gonna try this harness on you, chick”

“Why?”

“Don’t ask questions; just be good”

Julie knelt down too. “We’re just going to make sure it fits nicely. Are you going to put your rocket down for a minute?”

Peter wrinkled his nose and held his rocket tighter.

“Just put it down for a few minutes, chick” Tony said, taking it from him and setting it aside.

“Hey!”

“Don’t ‘hey’ me, kiddo” Tony said, tapping him on the nose.

“It’s ok sweetie; it’ll only take a couple of minutes to try this on” Julie said.

Peter folded his arms over his chest, pouting. Tony had a bit of a challenge getting him to loosen up and let them slip the harness onto him.

“There, that wasn’t so bad after all, was it, darling?” Julie said. “Ok, so if you want to do the clips up at the front, and then we’ll adjust the straps”

“I feel a bit thick now” Tony said after a couple of minutes. “It’s actually pretty easy. Or, it would be, if this little kid would keep still”

“You are a wiggly little thing, aren’t you?” Julie smiled at Peter. “Reins are pretty simple, but they’re very effective for keeping little ones safe”

“Yeah, I don’t want to have any repeats of what happened today” Tony said. “Peter, stop wriggling!”

“I don’t like it!” Peter whined, pulling at the harness.

“Well that’s just tough” Tony said. “I’m only going to let you walk if you’ve got the reins on. Ok?”

“No”

Tony and Julie laughed.

“He’s such a sweetheart” Julie said.

“He’s too stubborn for his own good. Just like his daddy” Tony smiled. “You’re just like your daddy, aren’t you?”

Peter just looked at him, wrinkling his nose. Tony ruffled his hair.

“I think you’re nicely kitted out with that one”

“Don’t like it” Peter said, reaching behind him and grabbing the reins. “What’s this?”

“That’s the bit I hold so you can’t go running off”

Peter pouted, and Tony laughed. He gave Peter his rocket back, stood up, and lifted the boy into his arms. Julie stood up too.

“I think we’ll stick with these ones” Tony said.

“It’s a good choice” Julie smiled. “Is there anything else I can help you with today?”

“Uhh, no, no, just these is fine. Should I take them off him?”

“No, it’s ok. The bar code is on here” she said, holding up the cardboard packaging the harness and reins had been on.

“Oh good. Well, better get these paid for then” he said. “Maybe afterwards we’ll actually get to do what we left the house for”

Julie giggled. “One of those days, is it? Well, if you’d like to come over to the tills with me. Just this way. Let’s get you checked out”

Tony liked Julie, and was happy to have a little talk with her and take pictures with her, as well as give her an autograph, and a big tip for her help. After that, they were on their way.

“Let’s go to the sports shop now” Tony said. “Maybe grab a drink on the way. I’m bloody exhausted already”

“Can I walk?”

“Yeah, you can walk” Tony said, holding onto Peter’s reins and setting him down on his feet on the pavement.

Peter went to run, but was quickly halted by the reins. He pulled against it, and then let his legs go limp and flopped to the ground. Tony laughed.

“What are you doing, chick?”

“I don’t like it”

“Hey, I said you could walk if you wore your little harness and reins. Up you get”

Peter just whined. Tony grabbed hold of him and tried to put him back on his feet.

“No, don’t make your legs go floppy! Support yourself, kiddo”

“I don’t wanna”

“Peter, do as you’re told. I need you to be a good boy” Tony said. “Or I’ll tell daddy, and then you’ll be in trouble”

Peter looked up at him, and then relented and stood firm on his feet. Tony nodded.

“Good boy”

Peter walked along quietly for a few minutes. Once they were back on the main street, he whimpered and reached a hand up to Tony.

“Aww, you want to hold hands?” Tony smiled, hooking the reins over his wrist and taking the boys hand. “You’re so sweet”

“Where are we going?”

“We’re going to the sports shop, remember?”

“Why?”

“So we can get you some swim stuff”

“Oh” Peter said. “Ice cream?”

“I said you could have ice cream if you were good”

“Yes”

“Do you think you’ve been good?”

“Umm...” Peter looked up at him. “Yes”

“Really? Because I think you were very bad, running off into the road and putting yourself in danger like you did”

Peter opened his mouth, and then closed it again. He looked down, and then up again.

“Ice cream?”

Tony sighed. “We’ll see”

Loki met Tony and Peter at the top of the stairs when they got home.

“You’ve been gone ages” he said. “I was starting to worry”

“Sorry, darling” Tony said tiredly.

“Is everything ok?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute. I’m gonna put Peter down for a nap”

“I don’t need a nap!” Peter shouted, starting to cry.

“Yes you do. Keep your voice down”

Tony picked Peter up and pushed past Loki.

“Oh... Uh, ok. I’ll talk to you in a minute then” Loki said.

He frowned. He hoped everything was ok.

Tony joined Loki in the kitchen after he’d put Peter down in the back room.

“You should be resting”

“I’m fine, darling” Loki said, sitting down at the breakfast bar and motioning for Tony to join him.

“I need a lie down”

“Ok” Loki said. “We could go to my room, if you like”

Tony nodded. “Yeah...”

They went through to Loki’s room, and Tony flopped down on his bed.

“I like your bed”

“So do I” Loki said, lying on his side beside him.

Tony turned onto his side, facing him but keeping his eyes cast down. Loki took his hand. They were both quiet for a few minutes.

“...I still feel a bit sick. And shaken. Like I can’t properly calm down”

Loki squeezed his hand.

“I should’ve been holding his hand. I shouldn’t’ve taken my eye off him... I saw him run out. Those cars were so close to him. They were going so fast. If that man hadn’t’ve been there...” a tear fell from Tony’s eye. “I just froze. I think I might have screamed at some point; I don’t know... I just... It all happened so fast, and then so slow”

He held Loki’s hand tight, closing his eyes for a moment.

“That man saved his life. I couldn’t’ve move at first, and then I did, and this man had just grabbed him. Literally just, yanked him out of the road, and... He put him in my arms, and I just cried. I don’t know how I managed to calm down”

“Was the man still with you?”

Tony nodded. “For a bit... I calmed down when I was with him, mostly”

“When did this happen? Was it on your way back?”

Tony shook his head. “On our way there”

“Oh Tony” Loki sighed. “You should’ve come straight back”

“I said I’d go get the swim stuff” Tony said, swallowing hard. “I got him some reins too”

“Ok” Loki said gently. “Well, that’s good. Those reins will help keep him safe. But you still went to the shops after having a shock like that? How did you manage?”

“...I don’t know. I just did the brave face thing, I think... I think he’s feeling a bit weird”

“Did he cry?”

“He seemed most concerned with his rocket. He calmed before I did, but he went a bit clingy for a while. After that he just went quiet. And then he went whiny. It was weird; he was quiet, but when he wasn’t, he was whiny. He whined in the kids shop... He started crying just before we got to the sports shop. I had to pick him up and he wouldn’t let me put him down until after we’d finished in there. He seemed upset after that... I had to come back. He got even more upset when I said we were going home. I’d said he could get ice cream if he was good”

“We’ve got some in the freezer. Let him have that when he wakes up”

“Yeah... He walked all the way back. He stopped crying but he went so quiet. He seemed tired. His little legs were shaking when we got to the door. Do you think... do you think I should call Bruce?”

“He’s bound to be a little surprised after having a close call like that” Loki said carefully. “Let him have his nap, and I’ll have a look at him and talk to him when he wakes up”

Tony swallowed hard, and nodded. “I’ve told FRIDAY to watch over him and let us know when he wakes up”

“Ok. We’ll look after him later” Loki said. “Let’s look after you now”

Tony didn’t say anything.

“What do you need, my love?”

Tony turned onto his back. “Can you... Can you lie on top of me?”

“If you’d like me to”

Loki shifted closer, pressing up against his side, resting his head on his shoulder and putting an arm round his chest, rubbing his other shoulder with his thumb.

“I’m here, darling. You know I’m here for you”

Tony pulled Loki on top of him properly, so that they were chest-to-chest, and wrapped his arms round him.

“I still would have taken Peter in, no matter what” he said. “But without you here... I’m a much better parent with you than I ever would have been alone. I don’t know what I’d do without you”

“You don’t have to think about that. I don’t think about what I’d do if I didn’t have you” Loki said. “Because I have got you. By some miracle. I’ve got you, and you’ve got me, and Peter has got both of us. No matter what happens, that’s always going to be the case”

“I miss teenage Peter”

“I know, darling. I do too” Loki said. “We’ve got little Peter now, though. Just for a bit”

“We’ll get through this, won’t we?”

“Of course we will. Look at everything we’ve been through as a trio, right from that first summer when he came to stay. We’ve been through so much together, good and bad, and we’ve always got through everything. You know that”

“I love him so much. I hate being scared, especially when it’s because of him. I hate making mistakes, especially where he’s concerned” Tony held Loki tighter. “I love him more than anything else in the world”

“I know. I do too”

“I was so scared today”

“He’s always been very good at scaring us”

Tony smiled slightly. “Yeah, he has... I know we haven’t been perfect, but we’re doing ok, aren’t we? With the toddler?”

“He’s clean, he’s clothed, he’s fed and watered, he’s warm, he’s sheltered, he’s loved... He’s got loads of toys. He’s happy, Tony. When you look at that little boy, you can tell he’s happy. He... he’s got a good life. This whole thing, him being turned into a toddler, it might only be temporary, but it’s still a life. He’s enjoying the one we’re giving him. Especially given the circumstances, I’d say we’re doing wonderfully”

Tony squeezed Loki tight, pressing his cheek against Loki’s head.

“...We made it, didn’t we? We got what we wanted”

“Very almost” Loki said. “We’ve just got to have our IVF baby, and we’ll be set”

“Three person babies... Boy or girl, what do you think?”

“I think it’ll be a girl” Loki said. “But I think the odds will think it’ll be a boy”

“We’ll get right on it and get tested as soon as that reversal gun has been sorted” Tony said. “What do you think normal Peter’s gonna be like?”

“What do you mean?”

“As a brother” Tony said. “Do you think he’ll be good?”

“He was very excited when we talked about it with him. I think he’ll want to help as much as possible. I can imagine him insisting on doing feeds and reading the baby little stories and giving them cuddles... I think he’s on board with the idea of expanding our family”

“...We need to think about names”

“What did we say, darling? We decided to wait until conception before we started brainstorming the name possibilities”

Tony swallowed. “We’ll be ok with a baby, won’t we?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t we be?”

“I’m just nervous, I guess. We could always say this stuff with Kindsprengen is giving us a bit of a trial run?”

Loki laughed slightly. “It’s a bit different. But I see where you’re coming from”

“Isn’t it funny to think about it? Next time we’re quiet, we’ll get it sorted, and then we’ll go in for the main bit, and then nine months later, there’ll be another little creature for us to look after. And it’ll be both of ours” he gave Loki a gentle push, moving him off him. “They said we were perfect candidates. They’ve always kept it open for us, despite all the setbacks. Maybe it’s fate. Maybe it’s meant to be?”

“Maybe” Loki propped himself up on his elbow, looking at Tony. “You said no about having a baby for so long. I’m always worried that all the setbacks are going to put you off again”

“They’re not” Tony said. “I want a baby now. I know I didn’t for the first few years of our relationship, but I’ve wanted one for so long now. I want one enough to wait for it. We want to give that little baby the best possible start. Which, right now, means waiting until our little boy is turned back into a teenager. Could be next week, for all we know. We’ll get there”

Loki nodded. “I know we will”

“There’ll be four of us. Four Stark’s”

“Maybe more. You know the probability of multiple pregnancies increases with any type of IVF”

Tony sat up, so Loki did too. Tony looked at him.

“Being a parent is terrifying. Peter’s been very good at teaching us that. But despite that... I want this baby. I really do. I even have dream about it sometimes”

“I do too” Loki said. “My life doesn’t feel empty... But having a baby would be such a fulfilling blessing. We’re so lucky to be given that chance”

Tony looked away. He stayed quiet for a minute, and then turned back.

“Let’s focus on Peter for now. We’ve spent hours talking about the IVF baby. Let’s... Let’s focus on toddler Peter”

“Yes, let’s” Loki said. “We’re going swimming tomorrow”

Tony smiled. “Yeah, we are”

“I had a little look at the main pool online while you were out. He’ll enjoy it”

“I got him some trunks, just plain black ones. Got him some armbands too. They didn’t have plain black ones, so he’s got orange ones. He didn’t like the character ones”

“Well, just as long as they do the trick” Loki said.

“Are you sure you’re up for it? You’re still pretty bruised”

“I’m fine, Tony. I told you I’d be fine in a few days, and I am. Mostly”

“Well, if you’re sure” Tony put an arm round his shoulders. “Love you”

“Love you too... I was thinking we could go and see Thor after we’ve been swimming. I know he’s going to be in, and Peter would like to see him”

“Yeah, ok. If you like” Tony said. “Do you know if there’s been any progress with the reversal?”

“None that I’ve been made aware of. We could always ask tomorrow, but if I’m honest, it just makes it feel like clock-watching”

“Yeah, I get that” Tony rested his head against Loki’s.

“I’ve got something else I need to talk to you about”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah... We need to work out what we’re doing with Peter on Thursday”

“Thursday? Why, what’s Thursday?”

“It’s the seventh”

Tony stopped for a moment. “Ah”

“Mm”

“He doesn’t remember her, does he?”

Loki shook his head. Tony held him tighter.

“Can we talk about this later?”

Loki nodded. “...I still miss her”

“I know” Tony sighed. “I do too”

#my writing #fanfiction #mcu fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #frostiron #irondad and spiderson

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