#and in a round about way he DID kinda sorta offer a team up

[mettywiththenotes]

I can't explain it in a way that doesn't make me sound delusional but. I believe in Viktor Jinx interaction part 2 Getting Worse boogaloo

[k-llama-llama]

Going Higher

Stray Kids AU: 9th member

Tori x Stray Kids

Stray Kids during the vault jump on Kingdom.

A/N:Please check out my PATREON (patreon.com/kllamallama) for exclusive posts you can’t get anywhere else, as well as lots of other cool benefits!

Requests are OPEN and your feedback is still greatly appreciated!

Masterlist and other Follow Me links in bio!

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Chan asked her.

“What is that, your catchphrase?” Tori scoffed. “Come on, Chan, you know I’ll be fine.”

Chan gestured wildly at the field. “You’re trying to vault jump something that’s way taller than you are with an injured hand. I feel like this is a bad idea.”

They were at the field day for Kingdom, and Tori was staunchly refusing to sit out despite her injury and the fact that she was the only girl in the competition. This was in spite of the fact that both the managers, the producers, and Chan were trying to convince her to sit out. She’d already beaten the first two groups, and now Chan was the only one standing in her way.

“I danced ballet for years, I can jump high enough to get over that thing.” She stretched out her calf.

“What if you hit your hand?” He continued trying to reason with her.

“I’ll keep my pain to myself.” She grinned. “I’m not sitting out when I’m the only girl. It won’t look good.”

He sighed. “But you’re already injured.”

“And I won’t hold the team back.”

“Do you two feel like you’re having the same argument? Because I feel like you’re both talking about different things.” Minho looked up from where he was tying his shoe.

“We’re not having an argument at all.” Tori nudged him with her foot. “I’m going to jump the vault, set a record and live the rest of my life as a legend.”

“Possible a legend with one hand, but sure.” Minho nodded. “But, sure, give it a shot.”

“I’ll get a hook.”

“Tori!” Someone shouted.

Tori looked away from where she was stretching to see Seonghwa walking over from his own tent. She was sure her cheeks went beet red, as soon as he stepped towards her.

“Hey. You guys ready for this?” She gestured out to the field where the staff were setting up the vault to the first height.

“Probably not.” He gestured to his clothes. Ateez were the only ones who hadn’t turned up in full sporting outfits. “Are you jumping or are you sitting this one out because of your hand?”

“She should be sitting out!” Chan came up beside her.

“But he’s not the boss of me.” Tori grinned. “So I’m jumping anyways.”

“Stray Kids to the field!” The announcement came through the speakers.

“That’s us.” Chan sighed, stepping away.

Tori didn’t follow, still smiling at Seonghwa.

“Good luck.” He offered his hand for a fist bump. “Do it for the team.”

“I’ll win us a medal.” She beamed.

“If you do, smoothies are on me tonight.”

Tori blushed. She’d been out with Seonghwa a few times now, but it still took her by surprise every time she realized that he wanted to spend time with her. Neither of them were rushing to put a label on it, especially with Kingdom breathing down their necks, but they always had an amazing time. They just got each other and it was so easy to be together.

“Tori? Are you coming?” Chan called.

Tori shook out of her thoughts. “Cheer for me?”

“Of course.” Seonghwa coughed. “We all will.”

Tori smiled weakly and turned to hurry after her group.

“What was that about?” Chan asked when she reached him.

“Hm?” Tori asked cluelessly.

“You and Seonghwa. You’re going out for smoothies?”

Tori winced. She hadn’t exactly broached the topic with Chan about her kinda sorta maybe considering dating someone. It wasn’t that she thought he’d have a problem with it, she just didn’t know how he would take it. She certainly wasn’t going to lie to him…but now maybe wasn’t the time to fully explore the topic.

“Yeah.” She nodded. “I promised to show him that place that does boba smoothies.”

“I love that place.” He sighed happily. Tori showed up seemingly every week with smoothies from a new place that she had discovered. It probably didn’t sound that weird for her to be taking their mutual friend out for smoothies.

“It’s great.” She nodded, before trying to quickly change the subject. “So…should I jump first to get it over with?”

“No.” He chuckled. “You should wait until a few of us have jumped so that you have time to change your mind.”

“Not changing my mind.” She winked.

She went to stand beside Jeongin, adjusting the knot in the front of her shirt. She had it tied up to reveal a little bit of her stomach, as the pink sweatpants were not necessarily flattering.

Jeongin was bouncing on his heels. He’d been getting a lot of attention as the maknae of the competition, and he was very pepped-up.

“Careful, or you’ll bounce right out of your shoes.” Tori teased.

“Noona, I was worried they weren’t going to let you jump!” He exclaimed. “How’s your hand?”

Tori held up her bandaged hand. They’d wrapped a few extra layers of gauze around it just to give it some cushioning, so she looked like she was wearing an over mitt on her hand. “Never better.”

The announcement came over that they were beginning, and Tori quickly began to cheer as the vault started.

She had to be honest, she’d been confident about the jump before they started, when they’d watched the other teams go. But now that she was up close, it seemed a lot higher. And as she watched her teammates fail (even if Jeongin did fail on purpose), she grew increasingly nervous for her turn.

“And now we have the final runner for Stray Kids! The only girl competing today, the Princess of Kingdom…Tori!” Changmin shouted over the mic.

Despite her nerves, Tori did a playful curtsy as she walked over to the starting position.

“Let’s go Tori!” She could hear cheers from the rest of the teams.

“Don’t fall!” Felix roared.

“Right.” She rolled her eyes, before waving at the camera. “Tori, ready to go!”

Tori took a deep breath, sizing up the vault, and the sprinted forward. She was athletic enough that speed wasn’t an issue, but she had to focus on making sure she would hit the vault at the right speed.

She stepped onto it, springing up onto the springboard, and vaulting as high as she could. She lifted her legs wide out to the side to clear the vault, and then landed unceremoniously on the ground.

She rolled to a stop, hands still held above her head.

“Did I do it?” She looked around wildly.

She was tackled to the side, and barely had time to suck in a breath before she found herself buried under a Stray Kids dog pile.

“You did so good!” Someone – she thought it might be Seungmin – was shouting.

“And now I’m suffocating!” Her voice was muffled.  She had no idea if their mics would even be picking this up, considering how smothered she was.

“Off before you break her.” Chan started hauling people off of her.

Tori sprung to her feet as soon as she was free, bowing enthusiastically to the other teams and the announcer’s tent.

“She made that look easy.” Changmin announced with a laugh. “That’s another point for Stray Kids.”

Tori practically skipped over to the tent, absolutely beaming.

“Told ya.” She linked arms with Chan. “And you said I couldn’t do it.”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t do it. I said you shouldn’t because you might hurt your hand.” He patted her back. “But fine. You did a good job. Now you just need to get through the next like six rounds.”

“Easy.” She winked at him.

When they reached their tent, Tori purposefully took the seat on the edge, closest to Ateez’s tent. Seonghwa was sitting on the end at their table, and he held out a hand for a fist bump.

“You killed it.” He declared.

“I try not to disappoint.”

“There’s no way you could.” He laughed.

Tori didn’t really know how to respond to that, so she just chuckled awkwardly and looked back out to the field. “So uh…did you guys already do that voting thing for the visual?”

“Yeah, we did it earlier.” Seonghwa nodded. “Took the pictures too.”

“Who’d you vote for?” Tori asked teasingly.

Seonghwa looked down at his feet. “I don’t think we’re supposed to tell.”

Tori laughed. “It was Felix, wasn’t it? I feel like everyone voted for Felix.”

Seonghwa just shrugged. “You’ll see.”

[artobotsrollout]

Transformers: Harbingers

The Pirate Scream AU

Before I talk about it you guys are the best thank you for indulging me and my AU from this post xjdjd. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

@badlydrawntransformers @cosmic0de @warrioroffandoms @measlyfurball13 And a bonus thank you to those encouraging me in the tags as well ❤️

I plan to do art for it as well as accompanying written bits and maybe even an animatic but till then have some general info under the cut.

Also there is transformers: Prime spoilers below so open at your own risk.

TRANSFORMERS: HARBINGERS

So this AU comes from the same place many AUs heavily involving TfP Starscream come from: the unfulfilled potential in our boy Scream. Now deeper discussion of that is not gonna be in this post. It'd be a whole essay.

It also comes from just how salty I was that the Team's kindness never really benefitted them much and they kept getting slapped for it. And OP really wanted to win over a con and Starscream kept wanting a partner. ALSO ALSO Optimus was portrayed as keeping his emotions in check and then never really gets a message that it's okay to be emotional so... I'm doing that here.

And the Starscream Pirate AU was born...

Aka Transformers: Harbingers (maybe idk if it's catchy enough djjsw)

Why Harbingers? ''It's just a SHIP Starscream chills in for awhile in the show' ' I hear you say. WELL HANG ON!! I got two very good reasons!! .

First off: Starscream, with the help of some Cybertronians who he wins over one way or another (Ill get to that), help him essentially use the remains of the Harbinger to put together their own functional ship. It's smaller than the Nemesis and will take some pirate ship inspiration. While it is a hardy beast it's a bit jury rigged.

Second of all:

Imagine being a fictional character living in a ship with a name that basically means 'Foreshadowed bringer of change' and then going back to Megatron and his bullshit. I'm gonna grab this and run all the way with it. Highway to Hell just came on my Spotify so... That may be an omen.

---------

NOW LISTEN

I feel like Starscream and Optimus could really have had such an interesting dynamic but we never really got to see that in TfP and I feel cheated. Also both could have mutually benefitted a great deal.

So what do I do? I shove them together to be sorta begrudging Co-Captains. As a result there's a lot of shenanigans to be had!

How this happens OP has some run ins with cons and, through a way I'm still deciding, has the opportunity to extend a hand to Starscream. Starscream, being kindness starved, doesn't entirely know what to do about Optimus being nice to him one whole time with no sarcasm or ulterior motive and sorta starts trying to get his attention.

Starscream and his crew are a bit of their own team at this point. MEANING sort of new LOGOS!

I'm yoinking the crossed out Decepticon logo from the Dark Energon Starscream and Dark Energon Knockout toys cause I mean... It's right there and also kinda like a skull and crossbones. It fits too well guys.

Starscream essentially manages to win over the autobots enough so they can sorta make a mutually beneficial, if strained, alliance to aid their aligned goal: killing Megatron and revitalizing cyberton. This is aided by some slight changes to the plot of course. It's also a benefit, much to Ratchet's delight, since they finally get some cybertronian tech to work with.

And so they gotta work together to take Megatron out and there's much bonding moments esp later when the autobot base is destroyed. Starscream extends his hand to them and offers them a more permanent position onboard. (rubbing in how unfortunate their situation is and how this is such a big favour but he's paying Optimus back.)

And insert team dynamic stuff!! Like cons teaming up with Bots, Starscream and Optimus trying to stick with it leading their own teams but keep accidently backseat-leadering one another. I will write some other ex-con and bot dynamics cause there's a lot of chaos to be had.

Optimus doesn't open up to his crew for morale sake and masks his emotions well, and Starscream is... well Starscream is Starscream so he masks what he truly feels a lot and doesn't share a lot of personal stuff besides complaints with his team either. So there's a lot of tension.... That is until Starscream has had it at just how good a poker face Prime has.

Because he's absolutely paranoid got a harmless curiosity about Optimus's ulterior motives and wants potential dirty secrets he can use as blackmail to have power over the Prime, he essentially puts cybertronian booze (but kid friendly version of course fbejek) in Optimus's energon heavily expecting him to spill the beans when heavily drunk. What he doesn't expect is that Optimus is just... LIKE THAT to his core. He's smart but very sad and guilty. And maybe a bit weepy and exhausted cause this man has not shown an emotion for eons now. /s. Starscream doesn't know wtf to do but swayed by how earnest Optimus is he sorta softens up and does open up. Might have helped that he took a swig of the tainted energon to get on his level though. But it also helps that neither is the others subordinate so they don't need to maintain their image as badly with the Co-captain as they do their team.

The ex cons sorta accidently absorb some of the autobot's morals over time. The cons help the autobots have some fun. There's a lot of stuff learned both ways. Also the cons realize how cool humans can be and after a lot of argument and forced time spent with the kids, they want to protect earth too.

Starscream, helps Optimus open up a bit more and allow himself to be emotional. He also shows him how to be a little selfish. Optimus in turn helps him with self confidence and making friends. Both help each other with the shit Megatron put em both through and overall boost one another up. (This also does change the start of the war a bit but I'll get to that in another post.)

Miko tries to fight all of the cons at first but quickly changes her tune cause "BOOYAH PIRATE CONS!!"

Other bits about this AU:

Starscream will eventually get a slight design change. It'll be less scrappy and look more confident and put together. It'll be minor

Because they are on a flying ship but have less energon than the Nemesis, everyone gets equipped with mods for flight. There is a jetpack upgrade one can get or Knockout can straight up help change their alt mode surgically.

I'm working up a list of who gets what flight mod but... Ya'll should know that Wheeljack dares Knockout to make him into a flying car. Largely cause I just got the image of Wheeljack flying above vehicons and just turning into a car and dropping on them. That and driving up the side of the Nemesis and confusing the fuck out of Megatron. Out of all the characters you know that would be a Wheeljack thing.

Arcee and Knockout grieve together.

Knockout loves bugging the hell out of Ratchet. It's extra fun for him cause Ratchet often can't do shit about it since they both need the room and tools.

Knockout and Wheeljack become an insufferable duo with the nicknames they have for everyone.

Wheeljack won't leave Starscream alone and keeps coming up with worse and worse nicknames like he did with Ratchet.

Starscream and Ratchet become complaining buddies.

STARSCREAM'S SEEKER SQUAD REJOINS. Well some of them. Skywarp, Thundercracker and maybe other peeps.

Miko manages to befriend Skywarp and Bulkhead now has to watch both Miko AND Skywarp. Wheeljack refuses to help Bulkhead round them up.

Raf hits it off with Thundercracker.

Knockout: "FINALLY a team with fragging MANNERS!"

Instead of Beeftimus Prime from the forge, Optimus actually gets access to a third alt mode and.. Idk something else primely. So he actually gets wings.

Starscream and the other fliers are greatly amused because Optimus, as great as he is at his poker face most of the time, hasn't yet figured out how to not emote with the pair of wings he gets from the forge. Thundercracker is the one who eventually informs him while the rest of the crew are booing loudly in the background.

I actually do have designs of TFP Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Ironhide in the works.

Fowler and Starscream have insult battles. Oddly both grow a weird almost fondness for these verbal sparring sessions

They frequently raid the Nemesis

Miko keeps talking in a pirate voice. Smokescreen has joined her.

AND A LOT OF OTHER STUFF I'LL GET INTO WITH MORE DETAIL AND ART. I'll also talk more in depth about some of these things that isn't a ramble like this post is. xnwjskw.

Feel free to ask about anything you're curious about.

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #239: Late Night of the Super-Stars!

January, 1984

1984! Can’t wait to make a bunch of Orwell jokes that are poorly thought out and land poorly!

But I guess it’ll have to wait since we’re on Late Night with David Letterman in this issue.

This sure is an interesting turn of events. Although the team we see on the cover doesn’t seem to be the actually active roster. They’re over in the corner box turned away - either from shame or because they’re off doing their own thing.

Because its Assistant Editors’ Month!

A fun-sounding non-event. Although, looking it up, very few books that were considered part of the event actually did anything with it beyond a slightly goofy issue box on the cover.

So we’re going to see some Avengers go on a talk show today.

Superheroes as celebrities! What a novel idea.

Anyway, I learned an interesting detail about the cover that would have totally missed me. The checkerboard strip at the top was a hallmark of DC comics around this time. And the round MC logo in the top right is an obvious spoof of the DC logo from this time.

It’s not much more than a goof for this book but the Captain America book released for Assistant Editors’ Month also had the checkerboard and logo and was a style parody of DC comics.

Last times: Vision went into a robo-coma from walking into an invisible dome created by Annihilus and only recently recovered the ability to talk. New Avenger Starfox hooked Vision up to ISAAC the Titan computer and overclocked Vision’s robot brain so now he can project himself as a hologram and has an even faster computer brain. At the end of Avengers #238, the Avengers got a call from Tigra about some nonsense going on in San Francisco involving Spider-Woman.

Meanwhile, Hawkeye got a whole miniseries all to himself where he met Mockingbird, lost his job at Cross Technological, his girlfriend revealed that she was paid to date him and also hated him, he teamed up with Mockingbird to uncover an evil scheme by Crossfire to kill all superheroes, Hawkeye lost his hearing by putting an ultrasonic arrowhead in his mouth but foiled the scheme plot, and married Mockingbird. He’s had a very busy week or so!

This time: Hawkeye comes back to the Avengers Mansion to show off his cool new wife.

Hawkeye: “Hey, everybody -- your wanderin’ boy Hawkeye has come home... And you’ll never guess what I’ve gone and done!”

I can just imagine Mockingbird replying “Me” with the biggest shit-eating grin. She feels the sort to do that.

When Hawkeye and Mockingbird arrive there’s no one to greet them except the floating disembodied hologram head of the Wizard of Vizh.

Hawkeye has also made the decision, for some reason, to not wear the hearing aid that Mockingbird got him so he can’t hear what Vision is saying when he compliments his new costume.

Mockingbird introduces herself for Hawkeye and Vision tells the two to join him in the medical labs so they can catch up.

When they arrive, Vision raises his volume so Hawkeye can hear and recaps everything that’s happened to lead up to him becoming a robot in a tube who can hologram around.

Vision: “[Starfox] set up a direct link between ISAAC, the world-computer of Titan, to better diagnose my condition. But, instead, my brain became overloaded with ISAAC’s energy-information matrix --!”

Hawkeye: “And you became several with the universe, right?”

Vision: “‘Several with the’ --? Oh -- hah-ha! Very witty!”

Overclocking his brain seems to have done wonders for Vision’s sense of humor.

He even finds Hawkeye funny now.

Vision also explains where the dickens everyone else is (because Hawkeye asks him where the dickens they are. Its so weird for Hawkeye to say dickens).

Jarvis was given the day off to visit his mother, Captain America and Thor are both busy with nonsense in their own books, and the rest of the Avengers are off to San Francisco because of that call from Tigra.

Hawkeye offers to fly out and give them a hand, which Vision declines since they’ll call if they need help.

Instead he asks Hawkeye how he met Mockingbird and Hawkeye recaps the miniseries in only five panels.

He’s better at this than I am...

Hawkeye: “Anyway, Mockingbird and I had made a pretty good team -- so when it was all over, we ran off and got married!”

Mockingbird: “What can I say? The big lug needed somebody to keep him out of trouble!”

That’s the task of a lifetime, Bobbi. But good for you two! Cute couple is what I say.

Vision: “Marvelous! I hope you two will be as happy together as Wanda and I have been!"

Vision and Scarlet Witch probably are the healthiest superhero marriage of this time.

Vision asks if Hawkeye and Mockingbird intend to stay in the mansion, which they do. But it’s cool because Mockingbird has security clearance from working with SHIELD so they won’t need to bother Mr. Sikorsky and agitate his hatred of living in the superhero genre.

After Hawkeye takes Mockingbird off on a tour of the mansion, Vision receives a call from his brain brother, Wonder Man.

Who, very reluctantly, is coming to the Avengers with hat in hand. So to speak.

Wonder Man: “Okay. Here’s the situation -- my acting career hasn’t been going anywhere lately! So my agent, without my approval -- used the fact that I’m a reserve Avenger to get me a booking on David Letterman’s show, and now, they want me to bring other Avengers along with me! My agent really put me in a tight spot on this one. I hate to impose, but -- !”

Vision: “It’s no imposition at all, Simon! I’ll personally call the network and confirm the Avengers’ appearance!”

Wonder Man: “You’re sure it’s no trouble?”

Vision: “None whatsoever! After all, we have many Avengers -- !”

You sure do! Not as many as you’ll have by the No Surrender days. But still.

Also, I love this can-do attitude from you, Vision!

This is a pretty low priority in terms of fighting crime and whatnot but Vision is like THIS IS EXTREMELY DOABLE, I AM THE INTERNET.

Although imagine how sad it is from Wonder Man’s perspective. His agent put him on the spot pulling sorta-rank to get Simon some media attention but the media is like ‘ok but do you have something better?’

This man is trying to improve his career and the David Letterman show looked at him and said ‘ok but what else have you got?’

Oof!

Anyway, Vision uses the superpower of being wired into the phone system to call up some extra Avengers who aren’t very busy right now.

He calls Black Panther, Beast, and Black Widow.

Their varied responses are pretty funny.

But Black Panther’s is probably the best. He interrupts a meeting with his advisers to take the call and then he’s like ‘yeah sure I can drop everything I’m doing to appear on David Letterman!’

T’Challa really would rather be doing anything but kinging.

Beast initially protests that he’s too busy with the Defenders to just jump on some Avengers business but...

Beast: “The Letterman show? Hey, why didn’t you say so?”

And Black Widow is unbusy sunbathing at the Waldorf Towers while between missions. She doesn’t really want to make a television appearance (it’s kinda counterproductive for a spy, I would guess) but Vision mentions something that has Natasha agree to be there.

Based on what happens later, I guess Vision mentions that Hawkeye will be there.

A couple hours later, ELSEWHERE, well if it isn’t our ol’ friend and punchline Fabian Stankowicz!

Remember this goofus? He attacked the Avengers right when everyone was feeling bad about Hank Pym? Iron Man easily beat him up while the rest of the Avengers breezed on by. Or when he attacked Wasp’s cool superheroine brunch? Which was a hilariously terrible idea because he got between She-Hulk and breakfast foods. Also, nobody took him very seriously there either.

I guess the Avengers didn’t bother to press charges either time because he’s not in jail. He’s at his home working on some machines while his dad criticizes how he spends his time.

Dads, amirite?

Granted, what he’s criticizing is Fabian’s tendency to pick fights with superheroes. And... granted. Not a great use of his time.

But apparently Fabian can afford all the robot suits he keeps attacking the Avengers with because he won the lottery.

So he has a pretty good position to shoot down his dad’s protests, really.

Dad Stankowicz: “Fabian, I’m glad your poor mother didn’t live to see what’s become of you... It would’ve broken her heart!”

Fabian Stankowicz: “Aw, gimme a break, old man!”

Dad Stankowicz: “‘Old man’? This is the way you talk to your father?”

Fabian Stankowicz: “What do you want, egg in your beer? Was it you who won the state lottery and got us out of the Bronx? No, it was me! I won the money, and I’ll say how it’s spent! And I’m gonna use it to make a name for myself! Me... Fabian Stankowicz!”

And when Fabian sees an ad saying that the Avengers will be on Late Night with David Letterman, he has an idea. A wonderful, awful idea.

Also, who the heck puts egg in beer?

I’ve looked it up and I get that it’s a saying but apparently the saying is based on people actually doing that! Why??

The next afternoon, at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where the show 30 Rock and this issue of Avengers both happen, this issue of Avengers is happening.

A CBS page shows Black Widow to the green room where the other Avengers are already waiting.

Also: I know that it’s all the Avengers who weren’t busy (even though T’Challa really should have been?) but this is a fun roster.

Hawkeye, Wonder Man, Beast, Black Widow and Panther?

Heck, I could imagine this being the Marvel equivalent of the Justice League International team, one more geared for some light-hearted comedy?

Except we’re in 1984 so this predates that.

But you have Beast and Wonder Man, your comedy duo best buds. You have Black Panther and Widow being varying levels of straight man to the nonsense. And you have Hawkeye who can be very serious or very ridiculous depending on how hot-headed he’s being at the time.

This team could be hilarious!

(Avengers International. Think about it, Marvel.)

Outside the green room, our ol’ buddy ol’ punching bag, Fabian Stankowicz is in disguise as a repairman with a mustache as cover for installing some devices in the studio. Then he puts on a beard to disguise himself as Perfectly Normal Bearded Audience Member.

I appreciate his intiative although I doubt any of the present Avengers are gonna recognize this guy on sight even if he wore a t-shirt that said “I’m Fabian Stankowicz.”

Fabian Stankowicz: Boy, this is gonna be so sweet, especially after the way the Avengers made me look like a chump those last two times! This time, it’s gonna be different! This time, I’m going to have a ringside seat for the defeat of the Avengers!

Or at least the Avengers that were available to show up on the Tonight Show with David Letterman.

Y’know, I like Fabian Stankowicz. He’s just smart enough to be dangerous and dumb enough to be entertaining. I think there’s a place for an ineffectual doofus with delusions of grandeur in the foe Rolodex of any superhero team.

Meanwhile, back with said Whoever Was Availables, Black Widow and Mockingbird are meeting for the first time.

And luckily, they’re both mature adults who don’t act like you’d usually see in media when the missus meets the ex.

So with a fight to the death NOT happening in the green room, Hawkeye gets to asking Mockingbird about the errand he sent her on which was why she wasn’t in the room when Black Widow first showed up.

Presumably using every bit of skill in espionage at her disposal, Mockingbird got a copy of the questions Letterman will be asking during the show.

Because Hawkeye will be fielding the questions and he has made the decision not to wear his hearing aid. And has also made the follow-up decision that not only will he not be hearing anything tonight, he’s also definitely going to be fielding all the questions.

Mockingbird: “Why won’t you wear a hearing aid?”

Hawkeye: “No can do, sweetheart! The fewer people who know I’m half-deaf, the safer it’ll be for all of us!”

(I don’t really get this reasoning but okay, man)

Mockingbird: “Then why not let someone else be spokesman? This is supposed to be Wonder Man’s big night!”

Hawkeye: “Sure... but I’m the only active Avenger here! Give me a kiss for luck!”

Not for nothing does Mockingbird think that he can be impossible sometimes. And she’s only known him a couple weeks! She’s already come to the correct read on him in that short a time.

David Letterman starts the show with an opening monologue.

David Letterman: “Tonight... What can I say? Tonight is something really special! In fact, it’s probably the most special show we’ve had since our 'camping with Barry White’ program! Yes... hard to believe, isn’t it? But with all due respect to Mr. White -- I think that this show may be our greatest ever. But, as they say, ‘that’s for history to decide!’”

Imagine being a talk show host and getting to introduce the Avengers. Pretty neat.

I like that bandleader Paul Shaffer is wearing a Captain America jersey. Although that makes me wonder once again what merchandising is like for Marvel superheroes. 

Clearly it exists but did Cap sign off on a jersey mimicking his costume? Does he see any money from that? Or at least did he get to say that all profit goes to such and such charity?

Letterman introduces the Avengers for the audience.

(Fun how you can get a sense of their personality just by how they’re sitting. It’s the little touches that make a comic fun.)

Hm, I wonder how well the marvel public follows superhero roster changes.

I know that sometimes new Avengers rosters have gotten attention with press conferences and everything. And sometimes they just swap in and out members as personal business comes up.

Some of the people in the audience may not even recognize Black Widow as an Avenger. Becaaaaause, wait I don’t think she ever was one. She’s assisted on some missions and they were ready to vote her in when she vanished to go do a SHIELD mission.

Okay, better example, does anyone remember that Wonder Man- oh wait, he very publicly burst out of a crate in front of Avengers Mansion during press furor over a roster change. Also, he’s a pre-successful actor.

Black Pan- no, no. He was framed for killing the Avengers his very first day on the team. There was a manhunt.

And of course, everyone knows Beast was on the Avengers. He got around. Romantically.

David Letterman mentions that this group isn’t even all the Avengers because some couldn’t make it (read: were busy with more important things).

Which leads to a funny cut to audience where Beard Fabian is annoyed that this group is who got caught in his revenge scheme.

Fabian Stankowicz: Blast it, where’s Captain America? Where’s that &#%$ She-Hulk?

You better wash your brain out with soap before She-Hulk finds out you thought  that about her. She’s dunked people into the garbage for lesser offenses.

Beast decides that this Late Night interview is the best time to reveal that he’s quitting as a reservist Avenger to focus on his version of the Defenders.

Letterman: “Wow, that was some bombshell the Beast just dropped, Hawkeye! You’re group spokesman... What do you think of that?”

Hawkeye: First question -- ! “Well, David, the Avengers is a non-profit organization, fully sanctioned as a peace-keeping force by just about ever international organization you could think of!”

Letterman: “Eh-heh-heh! You don’t say!”

Oh god, Beast’s bombshell messed up the order of questions and Hawkeye is firmly sticking to script because he can’t hear.

My god, Hawkeye.

Letterman: “You know, I was just about to ask you something along those lines. You wouldn’t be psychic by any chance -- ?”

Hawkeye: “No, of the founding members, only the Wasp and Thor remain as active Avengers.”

Letterman: “You little dickens! You’ve been peeking at my question sheet, haven’t you? All right, I might as well as my next question which is... ‘I hear you were recently married! Is that true?’”

Hawkeye: “Yes, Dave... just a few weeks ago!”

Letterman: “How about that!”

Did Hawkeye just think they were going to blaze through the questions? Even if Beast hadn’t preempted the first question, did Hawkeye think that there would be no follow-up questions? No discussion?

I’ve been on the fence on whether the jokes about Hawkeye not hearing the questions are poking fun at deaf people or at Hawkeye and yeah, Hawkeye is definitely the butt of this joke.

Fabian Stankowicz loses patience for this very dry question and answer session and decides to start his attack nnnnow.

One of the studio cameras is secretly A GIANT LASER. Because. And it blasts the stage.

Mockingbird is watching this on a tiny screen in the Green Room and goes out to help only to run afoul of some kind of mechanized steamrolling dumpster.

Back in the studio, Wonder Man has found his new nemesis.

Move over, Grim Reaper. You’re one-dimensional and everyone especially me hates you. Hello, laser blasting camera.

Wonder Man: “Let me at that thing, Beast! It’s ruining my guest-shot!”

Beast: “You’ll have to wait your turn, Wondy! It just shredded my favorite shirt!”

Priorities!

You know, this was supposed to be about Wonder Man and he only got to say two words during the interview portion.

Dangit, Hawkeye.

Apppppparently, the audience is just assuming that this is all part of the show. A cliche, sure. But it makes sense.

Would you really have the Avengers on a talk show and just have them talk? That’s a waste of perfectly good superheroes.

Also.... apparently? David Letterman used to run things over with a steamroller a lot? So a steamroller looking contraption crashing through the wall to attack the Avengers does seem like something that might happen?

Also, Paul Shaffer decides to just roll with it so as not to panic the audience.

The show must go on, after all.

The steamroller also starts firing missiles at Beast, as ya do.

Beast: “Hunter missiles? I don’t believe this is happening on network tv!”

Wonder Man tries punching the steamroller to no avail but which does give Black Panther a chance to pull out the tried and true “Wonder Man’s fists carry as much bludgeoning power as Thor’s hammer!”

Y’know, originally, that was a flex that set Wonder Man as a threat to the team but after he joined, that never really seemed to actually be the case.

Imagine if Wonder Man always hit as hard as Thor’s hammer? Like, he’s minding his own business and then the Gorr the God Butcher arc happens and Wonder Man is like ‘huh, why do I suddenly feel like my punches could destroy planets light years away? That’s a very specific feeling!’

Fabian Stankowicz takes advantage of the spectacle chaos to walk out of the audience, plunk himself down into one of the interview chairs, remove his entirely convincing beard, and introduce himself to David Letterman as the guy who is definitely to blame for all the action setpieces going on.

Letterman, like Paul Shaffer, just decides to roll with it. Humor the guy. Ask him why he’s doing this.

Fabian Stankowicz: “Why? To prove it could be done! To show what one incredibly gifted individual can accomplish...”

Letterman: “... To get your name in the papers?”

Fabian Stankowicz: “That too! After all, the Avengers have battled Zodiac... the Masters of Evil... Doctor Doom! I want to make as big a name for myself as those guys!”

Letterman: “Seems to me that ‘Stankowicz’ is already a pretty big name!”

Badum pish?

He asks Fabian to explain all of his devices and Fabian is happy too.

I mean, he’s being a supervillain for the notoriety and supervillains already love to hear themselves talk so he’s double dipping into the ‘I will exposit everything at the drop of a hat’ well.

And imagine, Fabian built all this stuff in his garage with lottery winnings.

The steamroller thing isn’t just a steamroller, it’s also got a gravity generator. Which, I guess, makes sense if you’re expecting to go against a She-Hulk or a Thor. A regular steamroller isn’t going to do more than annoy.

Wonder Man fighting so hard against the roller makes it increase gravity so much that Simon and steamroller just fall through the floor.

Hm. I wonder what’s filmed in the studios the floor down. They’re about to have an exciting guest star in that steamroller.

Black Widow (still tangling with the laser camera) points Hawkeye towards Fabian. Although she has to shout and Hawkeye still doesn’t really get it but is happy to shoot an arrow at someone that Black Widow is vigorously gesturing at.

Alas, Fabian is one of those prepared villains we’ve been hearing so much about.

He built a force field too, and the arrow just bounces right off.

(Hey, uh, Hawkeye? What kind of arrow was that? Because it looks technological and you just shot it at this guy’s head)

Truly, can nothing stop this insidious yet not very menacing criminal genius?

Oh, I guess David Letterman can.

Knocks him out with a big knob.

It’s just plain big.

Prop comedy, amirite?

The audience seems to love it anyway. I looked up a clip of the big doorknob and it didn’t meet with this much applause. Maybe its because it was used to do violence this time?

Was the giant door knob a beloved part of Late Show lore?

David Letterman: “I guess that’ll teach you not to mess with David Letterman!”

That’s a line with weird energy to it.

Anyway, it would be a sad day for this random assemblage of backup Avengers if they were upstaged completely by David Letterman and his big knob.

Black Widow and Hawkeye finally manage to blow up the laser camera.

I’m not sure why it took them this long. Sure, the camera could apparently move, based on motion lines in previous panels. But the world’s best marksman couldn’t nail it sooner?

But the important thing is that eventually, they did do it.

The floor starts rumbling as well as Wonder Man flies back up with his belt-jets with the trashed roller and a shit-eating grin.

Wonder Man: “Sorry this took so long -- But I guess I’m a little rusty at tackling big hunks of tin like this!”

Fabian Stankowicz: Rusty? It took me a month to design that, and he totaled it in less than five minutes!

But since everyone’s focus is on Wonder Man (for once), Fabian tries to sneak away.

And runs smack dab into Mockingbird who has a lot of justified anger over almost getting run over by the roller earlier. But she just throws him over to some police that have finally shown up.

Letterman tells the audience not to try any of this at home, just in case any of them have gravity-generator osmium steel steamrollers lying around? And cuts to commercial, presumably so that some basic tidying can happen.

Hours after the filming of the show concludes, the Avengers TV Squad have returned to the mansion, with Vision wishing he could have taken part of this assistant editors month special issue.

Vision: “What became of Stankowicz?”

Black Panther: “Well, with all the charges NBC is leveling against him, the only machinery he’ll be dealing with for some time will be in the New York State Prison library!”

So, he attacked Avengers Mansion. He attacked Wasp’s superheroine brunch at the Van Dyne residence. That’s all well and good. He attacks the Avengers again in the NBC studio and the man is going to jail forever.

I guess the Avengers really haven’t been bothering to press charges on Fabian. But a massive media corporation isn’t so kind.

Since Hawkeye is technically the active Avenger (even though Vision’s hologram head is RIGHT there) he has to follow up on the thing Beast said about quitting the Avengers reservists.

Beast says its not right for him to be an Avengers reservist if he’s also trying to turn “the Defenders into a for-real group!”

Uh, Defenders fans? Wasn’t the appeal of the Defenders them being the not-team team? How did people feel about Beast going ‘ok but what if they were more like other teams instead?’

Meanwhile, Wonder Man is pacing, waiting for the Late Show to come on so he can see how he did when WOMP WOMP the show is interrupted by a special news bulletin.

Wonder Man is aghast that his big break isn’t even airing but when the special news bulletin is about a burning chemical barge, his hero instincts that he has suddenly swell up.

Wonder Man: “This... This is awful! What’re we standing around for? Let’s do something! We’re Avengers, aren’t we?”

Black Panther: “That we are, Simon! Let’s go!”

Beast also decides, hey, one more time won’t hurt and accepts his Avengers ID card back from Hawkeye.

And as they’re headed off to the Quinjet, Beast has a hopeful note for Wonder Man.

Beast: “Hey, Wondy -- remember, there’s a three-hour time difference between the coasts! If we can get this mess cleaned up in time, maybe some folks in California will still see you get your big break!”

Wonder Man: “And if we don’t -- ?”

Beast: “Well, that’s show biz!”

Pretty enjoyable issue! Like, sure, its a good for Assistant Editor’s Month. But if you’re going to do a goof, then you can do worse than bringing back Fabian Stankowicz for a third time’s not the charm.

Speaking of charm, having the Avengers appear on a talk show is a charming concept. Not a whole lot was done with it except the joke about Hawkeye answering the wrong questions but its still a fun idea.

And having the Avengers off busy lets us brush off some Also Avengers that haven’t been in play for a bit. That’s a fun idea that I wouldn’t mind seeing some more.

Have the reservists called in because of a situation happening when the Avengers are already busy.

Heck, I’d like to see a situation where the silliest and least regarded Avengers are the only ones available to respond to an emergency. Have them bounce off each other as a group. Maybe they’re mutually aware of their bad reputations.

Anyway, I expected this issue would be ridiculous but it was also enjoyable. Didn’t mind it at all. And (though by a different writer) the Hawkeye miniseries was very enjoyable too.

This is just feeling like a good era for the Avengers team.

Next time, apparently The Ghost of Jessica Drew. So she’s some kind of ghost spider? Nobody tell Carol Danvers.

Follow @essential-avengers​ because I typed this post partially while a cat was lying on my wrist. That’s dedication. Which you can’t spell without cat. Also, like and reblog if you think its likeable and rebloggable.

[samsonet]

There daily I wander as noon rises high,

This is how Raihan becomes Bede’s brother.

Title from Robert Burns’ “Afton Water”

*

Raihan isn’t used to watching the finals from the sidelines.

He tries to relax in his league-assigned seat, still feeling like any moment now someone will come to ask why he’s not on the pitch.

With every word the commentator says, the sense of wrongness only grows stronger. It should be him out there. It should be him planting his feet into the grass, summoning sandstorms and roaring at his opponent. For the past eight seasons, it has been him in that position, him on the pitch, him and Leon —

“Let's give a round of applause for Galar’s beloved champion, Gloria!”

The earth orbits around a new sun now.

“And on the other side of the pitch, the elite gym leader, the champion’s rival himself—”

Raihan—

“— Bede!”

Raihan sighs, not entirely sure what he’s feeling.

“A bit of sadness,” a voice says, “mixed with some excitement at seeing what these young ones can do. And some pride, too, perhaps.”

Raihan blinks, but he’s had enough experience with Opal to not jump at her sudden appearances.

“Why are you here? I thought you retired.”

“I did!” Opal hums happily. “Now I’m getting to enjoy my retirement — and what grandparent wouldn’t want the chance to see their grandchild battling the champion?”

Bede’s been training under her for what, three months? She jumped into the fairy godmother role pretty quick, didn’t she.

Opal says, “Perhaps it was a bit reckless of me to declare him my successor so quickly… But sometimes you can look at a person and know that you were meant to help them.”

On the pitch, Bede’s Rapidash lands a critical hit. Bede grins. Gloria grins. Raihan is abruptly reminded of his sixth battle against Leon, the first time he’d tried using a weather team. Leon won, of course, but instead of the usual sportsmanlike handshake, he’d given Raihan a full-bodied hug. After all, being the champion’s rival meant he was the champion’s friend, too.

Opal says, “Still, I do worry about whether I can properly care for him. I’m willing to listen to any troubles he has, of course, but he is a young boy, after all. He may not feel comfortable sharing everything with an old woman like me. If he had an older brother, perhaps...”

She looks at him meaningfully.

Raihan knows better than to offer his help; if the fairy queen wants a favor from him, she has to be direct about it.

But Opal doesn’t ask. She seems to feel like she’s said everything that needs to be said, and she merely sits back and watches the match.

The battle ends.

Gloria does not hug Bede.

*

Raihan pays more attention to Bede after that.

He would watch Bede’s matches anyway, because it’s only a matter of time before they’d have to face each other in a ranking tournament, but now Raihan’s observing the kid himself instead of just his battle style.

Bede’s history is no secret. During his challenge, the league milked the scrappy-orphan angle for all it was worth. A kid who came from nothing, fighting to earn a place in the world… It tugs at the heartstrings. Theoretically, anyway. While the PR people tried to spin Bede’s proud demeanor as a defense mechanism, a lot of the fans found challenger Bede unbearably smug.

Raihan grew up in a loving upper-class family with both parents and two sisters, so he doesn’t have family issues as an excuse. As a challenger, he’d been smug because he really thought he was all that. Well. He still is kinda cocky, and he still sorta is all that. Because the fans like it, because there’s nothing quite so satisfying as seeing a cocky bastard get taken down a peg or two.

The fans won’t get to see Raihan taken down a peg anymore. Sure, he’ll still be losing, to Gloria and Melony and who knows, maybe Bede too -- but that mixture of pride and humiliation is reserved for Leon and Leon only.

But Leon isn't the champion anymore.

Gloria seems to like battling Bede. Bede seems to like battling her. Their inexperience is obvious, though. Their battles seem to be fun and challenging for both of them, which is the important thing, but they haven’t quite gotten the hang of the performance part yet.

If he had an older brother, perhaps…

Is it an insult, that Opal would be so transparent in what she wants from Raihan? Or is it a show of respect, a way of saying that she’s not going to try to manipulate him? But even transparent manipulation is manipulation all the same…

Raihan leans back, putting a hand over his mouth in thought. He’s not the champion’s rival anymore. That was his place in Galar, his place in the league. He may still be the strongest gym leader, but the role feels empty now that Leon and Piers are gone.

Would the role be just as fulfilling if he became the big brother to the younger gym leaders?

He can try.

*

The next time Raihan sees Bede, it’s at one of the champion’s invite-only tournaments.

The champion has invited all her rivals, and between the battles the four of them stick together in the same corner. Raihan’s curious what they’re talking about, of course, but he gives them space. None of them are his little siblings, after all.

When the tournament finishes (with the champion victorious, naturally), Raihan walks out with the other participants.

Leon and Piers are waiting in the lobby. Raihan gives them a wave and they wave back, but it’s obvious they’re not there for him.

“Lee!”

Hop gives a running jump into his brother’s arms. Marnie has a more dignified motion as she walks toward Piers, but Raihan sees the way her mouth curls up at the corners. The little champion gives a wave goodbye to her rivals; she probably has some business to attend to in another city.

That leaves Bede as the list of the four, looking vaguely upset but not saying anything about it.

So Raihan does. “Hey, Leon, Piers. Whaddya say we take our little sibs to get something to eat? They fought hard, they deserve it. My treat.”

Piers raised his visible eyebrow, but he nods.

It’s Leon, always perceptive, that asks: “Our siblings?”

“Yep!” Raihan looks to Bede, reaching out a hand in invitation. “Bede, can you do me a favor and be my little bro for the afternoon? Leon’s not in the league anymore, but I still have to beat him in something.”

Bede gives him a look of offended confusion. Then he looks toward Leon and Hop.

Raihan sees Hop’s face, how he wears the same expression Leon does when the sponsors force him to drink chia juice.

Raihan sees Bede’s expression change, how his frown slowly turns into a knife cat smile.

Bede nods, reaching out and holding Raihan by the wrist. “I would love to.”

*

They go to McDucklett’s, one of the few places where people don’t look twice at a bunch of regional celebrities sitting down to eat.

Raihan’s the only one who orders a full meal. Leon and Piers get salads, the tossers. Hop and Marnie both want kids meals, with the potential tiny plush toy of a gym leader’s signature Pokémon. And Bede…

Bede’s staring at the menu, seemingly overwhelmed by all the choices. Has he really never been in a McDucklett’s before?

Oh. No, he probably hasn’t. Between the orphanage and Rose, fast food is probably the last kind of food he’s ever had the chance to try.

“Why don’t I get you some nuggets?” Raihan suggests.

Bede nods vigorously.

Raihan orders him a kids meal as well, and quietly asks the employee for a set of utensils to go with it.

While the grownups are eating their meals, the kids start by opening their toys. Hop has a tiny version of Milo’s Appletun, while Marnie gets Melony’s Lapras. By some coincidence or luck or fairy magic, Bede’s toy is an Alcremie.

He picks it up with something like reverence, lightly tracing its frosting swirls with one finger. He looks around the table, probably trying to find someplace to set it down, then puts it in his lap.

With the toys out of the way, Bede pulls out his box of nuggets. He stares at them as though unsure how they’re supposed to be eaten.

Raihan is torn between laughing at the kid’s hesitation and feeling sorry for him. Eventually, the latter wins out.

He swallows the bite of his burger and says, “There should be a knife and fork in there if you need ‘em. I know they’ve got a weird texture, but they’re pretty good.”

Bede follows his directions, spearing a nugget and taking a delicate bite.

Hop snorts. Raihan glares at him and is gratified to see Leon is giving an identical look. Big brother instincts.

The rest of the meal passes with minimal drama. Bede seems satisfied with nuggets and apple slices. That’s good. Raihan doesn’t want to imagine what would happen if Opal found out he’d sent Bede home hungry.

After the other pairs say their goodbyes and head out, Bede turns to Raihan and asks, “Can you watch Alcremie while I wash my hands?”

“Sure.”

Bede sets the doll on a dry spot on the table. “I know your hands are greasy, so don’t touch her. Just make sure nobody else takes her.”

“I got it, don’t worry.”

Bede heads to the restroom. Raihan examines the toy Alcremie, leaning in close to look in its sewn-on eyes.

“Is this what you wanted, Opal?” he asks. “Am I doing well?”

The Alcremie only stares back. It has a knowing smile on its face.

*

When Bede comes back, he insists that Raihan wash his hands, too. Raihan thought it was a euphemism, but no, apparently the kid really doesn’t like the idea of greasy fingers.

After that, he’s ready to go home. Raihan offers to at least walk him back to the station. Bede accepts without protest.

It’s when they’re halfway there that he says, with forced aloofness, “I know you’re only doing all of this because Opal told you to.”

“What?”

“Don’t lie to me. She told you I needed a big brother, right? She told me the same thing. Well, I don’t need anybody. I’m a gym leader now. I’ll be fine even when Opal… even when she d…”

And, oh shit, that is not something Raihan even thought of when wondering why Opal would ask him for this. He’s stunned speechless for a moment, mouth opening and closing as he tries to say something reassuring but not patronizing.

At last he says, “I mean… even if she did ask me, I asked you along ‘cause I wanted to. You’re going to be around for a while, right? It’s just smart to try to get on your good side.”

Bede doesn’t say anything to that.

Raihan continues: “And if I may — I gotta say, I see a lot of myself in you. The elite gym leader who rivals the champion? That’s been my life since I was sixteen. If there’s anyone who’ll beat Gloria, it’ll be you.”

He knows the counter the moment he says it, already imagining Bede saying the way you beat Leon? with a sneer on his face.

But to his surprise, Bede does not say that. He only tilts his head, his expression somewhere between flattered and confused.

Then he says, “If you want to stay on my ‘good side,’ you should take me to McDucklett’s again sometime.”

*

When they reach Ballonlea, Opal is waiting. She greets them with a smile, one long-nailed finger beckoning them in.

[giovanniis]

what  is  UP  my  pals  ,  mis  amigos  .  my  name  is  dab  and  i’m  ur  new  bff  .  besides  that  ,  i’m  also  twenty  ,  use  she/they  pronouns  ,  and  am  kickin’  in  over  here  in  pst  !  under  the  cut  ,  i’m  gonna  ramble  probably  a  lot  about  my  son  ,  giovanni  .  (  spoiler  alert  :  he’s  a  dumbass  who  only  ever  wants  to  talk  about  hockey  .  )   DMISMDA  anyways  .  pls  give  this  a  LIKE  if  u’d  like  to  plot  and  i  will  come  RUNNING  !  my  d*scord  is  𝒅𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒊_420#1971  if  u  wanna  hmu  there  !  i’m  gonna  shut  up  here  now  so  i  can  start  babbling  more  below  hehe

chicago’s very own GIOVANNI NARCISO has been spotted on madison avenue driving a range rover , welcome ! your resemblance to shawn mendes is unreal . according to tmz , you just had your twenty-second birthday bash  . your chance of surviving new york is uncertain because you’re stubborn , but being ambitious might help you . i think being a leo explains that .  3 things that would paint a better picture of you would be the sharpened blades of a pair of ice skates, hockey memorabilia everywhere, and late night escapades . 

╰  *  MINI STATS  !

FULL NAME  :  giovanni  noel  narciso  

NICKNAME(S)  :  gio  ,  g

AGE  :  twenty - two

GENDER  +  PRONOUNS   :  cis  male  +  he  /  him

ORIENTATION  :  bisexual   /   biromantic

ZODIAC  :  leo  sun  ,  gemini  rising  ,  pisces  moon  

BIRTHDAY  :  july  26th  ,  1997

PLACE  OF  BIRTH  :  toronto  ,  ontario  ,  canada 

LOVE  LANGUAGE  :  physical  touch  

OCCUPATION(S)  :  professional  hockey  player  for  the  ny  rangers  ,  socialite  

DRINKING  /  DRUGS  /  SMOKING  :  hell  yes  /  no  /  only  weed

TRAITS  :  stubborn  ,  hotheaded  ,  dramatic  ,  standoffish  ,  brash  ,  overemotional  ,  facetious  ,  distant  ,  provocative  ,  inconsistent  ,  unpredictable  ,  gullible  ,  sympathetic  ,  charming  ,  loyal  ,  hypocritical  ,  protective  ,  talented  ,  ambitious  ,  passionate  ,  affectionate  

LIFE  GOAL  :  make  it  to  the  hockey  hall  of  fame  and  be  remembered  as  the  G  O  A  T  

╰  *  BACKGROUND  INFO  !

giovanni narciso was born in toronto, canada on july 26th to a world-renowned hockey player and his socialite wife. needless to say, gio lived his life in the spotlight from the moment he was born, and he’s always had everything he’s ever wanted right at his fingertips.

from a young age, gio was encouraged to be active all the time. he started skating almost as soon as he learned how to stand up by himself. it’s no wonder that he had such a knack for it with his father being a hockey legend and the fact that he got so much practice. when his father realized that gio had a natural affinity, he put him onto a club hockey team as soon as he was old enough, and started making gio work with a private coach to give him a one-up on his teammates and everyone else on the ice ( despite the fact that he was only seven when he started ).

because of this, he always felt a lot of pressure to be the best he could possibly be… how could he not ? there were sports reporters showing up to his games to get the scoop on how he was doing, and how he compared to his father, and if he’d ever actually make it in professional hockey.

his parents divorced when he was eleven, and his mom moved to marry a much older, wealthy man in chicago, illinois. so, much to his despair, gio lived his life switching from toronto to chicago. the only constant in his life was hockey. so even though it stressed him the fuck out, it also made him feel at peace. he knew no matter where he was, he could get on the ice and kick everyone’s ass. he spent most of his time in chicago with his mom, and attended school there too, but during holidays or the summertime, he spent his time back up in toronto with his dad.

this really took a toll on his mental health because his mom ?? sorta just forgot about him :/ like … she fought for custody just to spite his dad ? she didn’t actually want gio. this sounds kinda dumb but like … sorta think about cinderella ( #gioella ) and how he suddenly got thrust into an entire new family that didn’t really like him or know how to connect with him. he felt really alone more often than not.

luckily, at sixteen, he was signed to a minor league hockey team in chicago. because of this development, he stopped going out to visit toronto as often ( especially when it was game season ). this caused a lot of buzz in the hockey community because oh my god giovanni narciso, son of a hockey legend, was breaking onto the scene

and it SHOULD’VE STAYED THAT WAY !!!! BUT NO ! gio’s dad had other things in mind. demon.

you see, pretty much all throughout high school, gio was dating kylie. she is the love of his life. there’s never been an ounce of doubt about that fact. the sky is blue and gio loves kylie. like ???

gio proposed to kylie when they were eighteen. fresh out of high school. this made gio’s dad LIVID. he didn’t like kylie or her family or anything about her. gio’s plan, of course, was to say a big fuck you ! and marry her anyways. but it didn’t end up working out like that.

sadly, giovanni’s father did not approve of her. was he a little salty that gio chose to stay in chicago and not visit anymore (even if it was because he was signed there) ? yes. was he incredibly greedy and wanted to cement the narciso name in history too ? aaaabsolutely.

as soon as he was eligible at eighteen, gio had multiple offers from nhl franchises to come play for their teams. he could pick and choose whoever he wanted, basically. he was a real hot commodity. but suddenly, the offers were being ripped right from his hands. and it was all because of his dad’s influence in the hockey world. he basically gave gio an ultimatum: marry kylie, and there was no more hockey. or do as he said, and he could have it all.

it was rushed, haphazardly chosen decision, but gio chose hockey. it had helped him through every rough patch in his life, and it was the one thing he knew he was good at. it’s not like he was exceptionally smart or good at anything else. if it wasn’t hockey, then he wasn’t worth anything. that’s something he honestly believes to this day.

so instead of TALKING THIS THROUGH WITH HER LIKE ANY RATIONAL PERSON WOULD ! he straight up left. packed his shit and left in the middle of the night when kylie was asleep. completely ghosted her. didn’t answer her texts, her calls, nothing. blocked her on everything.

he did as his father told him to, and started dating carolina graham, a nice girl that his father liked a lot better

their relationship was reminiscent of p*te dav*dson and ariana grande’s. they very quickly got engaged and they were the talk of all the tabloids. there wasn’t a moment where they could step out without cameras being shoved in their face. this sky-rocketed gio to socialite status. everyone that didn’t already know him from hockey wanted to know the handsome young man now engaged to carolina

ok now lightning round

when he was twenty-one , he secured the bag with the ny rangers DJSIOAJDOA and got a multi-year contract — one of the biggest contracts in the nhl history, and became one of the youngest captains ever .

* more fun facts about gio n hockey : he plays first string center and is #2 !

since his career was actually stable, he decided to stop having to pretend to be in love with someone, and immediately just broke up with carolina. he said goodbye wifey JDSAODSA  aaaaand now , a year later , he’s livin it up !

also ? 1000% still in love with kylie but THAT is a completely different story he is a #simp

╰  *  PERSONALITY  !

hockey is a rough-around-the-edges type of sport, and that’s reflected in gio’s personality. he’s very charming, and is typically a pretty nice person ? he doesn’t go out of his way to be kind or anything but he’s not gonna start a fight for no reason DSAIJDSADSjDI

he’s terribly stubborn, and once he’s set his mind on something, it will happen no matter what or who he has to do. this could be good because in a way, it just means he’s very ambitious, but it’s also bad because he will do and say things without a thought about how it makes someone feel

narciso is a fitting last name because he’s incredibly full of himself. how could he not be ? he’s the son of a hockey legend, and he’s made a great name for himself too. he’s an amazing athlete, and he knows he’s good looking too. it’s no secret that he’s a little big-headed sometimes.

he has a very short temper. he blows his lid very easily, and will say things he probably doesn’t mean just because he wants to hurt you.

he just??? doesn’t think. he doesn’t have a filter literally at all. will say the first thing that comes to mind always and it’s usually fucking stupid sdjdjas… he’s also a big jokester and very sarcastic 

also has a problem with being honest ? lies about everything? the type of person to smile in your face while he stabs you in the back? will lie when there’s no reason to? you could be like “gio did u eat breakfast” and he’ll be like “ya.” even if he didn’t like… dumb shit. don’t ever trust him about anything

ok so he comes off as cocky like… externally… but inside, he’s really insecure? like he believes that love exists because he’s felt it but he doesn’t…. think it was meant for him, if that makes sense. because every time he loves someone, he fucks it all up. because of this, he has a really poor vision of love n everything. uhhhh can u say trust issues?

he’s also a wh*re . i’m so sorry. lowkey craves affection and fills that void with meaningless hookups and one night stands 

most people think he lives up to the ‘dumb jock’ stereotype, which is something he’s also really insecure about. it’s not that he didn’t try in school. he did to a point, but then he just flat out stopped caring. school was always really difficult for him. he was diagnosed with dyslexia when he was 7, and it always made him feel really out of place in school… to the point where he just stopped caring because all it did was made him feel frustrated and dumb when all he needed was some extra help?

he’s misunderstood

and also just… a whole mess tbh djsaios….

u can find some wanted connections here 

[longroadstonowhere]

yeah, okay, so what if rwby was still rwby but ruby’s partner was blake and weiss’s partner was yang

(this is ridiculously long and also really just barely touches on what i’ve been thinking about, but it’s been sitting in my drafts without being touched for at least a few days now so i might as well publish now)

obviously everything up to initiation is the same, but when we get into the forest, blake ends up closer to ruby than yang, so she decides to follow the girl whose optimism seems more motivated by grief than naivety, but she’s not able to sneak up on ruby at the end of a fight - instead, a grimm forces her out of hiding and she has to fight alongside ruby for a few monsters

they meet eyes and ruby waffles between rambling and telling herself to shut up, which prompts blake to laugh a little and tell her to relax, she doesn’t bite before walking off all cool-like - ruby just sorta sighs because she feels like she’s already messed up

meanwhile, weiss is facing off against her own group of grimm, who she’s actually doing pretty okay against, only to have her perfect form set off course by a grimm thrown through the woods by yang, who apologizes but calls her princess or ice queen or what have you in the process, which gets weiss mad but the middle of a grimm fight is not the time to argue with someone else so she just blows way too much dust to freeze the remaining enemies

yang’s kinda impressed, but in a ‘i didn’t think you could actually fight’ sorta way, which just pisses weiss off more, so she tries to leave yang behind, only for yang to mention she’s going the wrong way, and they get into a fight about it that gets interrupted by jaune’s scream (because yeah, all the jnpr stuff would still go like normal)

blake and ruby make their way to the temple no problem, but also no talking - ruby tries to start a few conversations but they’re all shallow enough for blake to give single word responses (maybe a short sentence here or there), so when they get to the temple ruby zips ahead excitedly to grab an artifact, only to get beaned by jaune as he falls from the sky

weiss and yang end up meeting pyrrha getting hunted by the death stalker and they try to help her take it out, but their styles keep getting in each other’s way and all three of them just run a fighting retreat in the direction pyrrha saw jaune fly

everyone meets up at the temple, where they’re able to temporarily halt the death stalker long enough for everyone who didn’t have one yet to get an artifact, but weiss and yang are still pissed off at each other and they attract the nevermore

ruby kicks into leader mode, directing jnpr to handle the death stalker while rwby takes down the nevermore, a fight which basically goes the same as canon probably, except i might would have blake give a shocked look at how capable ruby is under pressure, which yang would see and just be like ‘hey, if you’re her partner, you better make sure you appreciate her skills’

anyway, team creation ceremony happens, ruby is named leader, they go through their first day of classes, and weiss is still pissed at how unleaderly she sees ruby being, but instead of complaining to a teacher about it, yang pulls her aside for a sparring session

they have a fight-talk about giving people chances, weiss complains that ruby’s still a child, yang reveals summer’s death and says she’s happy ruby can still be so child-like because everything in the world says she shouldn’t be, she wins the sparring session against weiss and is like ‘don’t think everyone else has had an easy life just because you have’, to which weiss is like ‘that is not true but i understand the point you’re making, i’ll try to be nicer’

meanwhile after her chat with ozpin ruby goes to the library to try and cram knowledge into her brain to be a better leader, where she finds blake, who assumes ruby’s there to find some comics or novels or whatever, but ruby reveals her plan and asks for blake’s help

blake is actually surprised by this request, but she asks what kind of leader ruby wants to be, when ruby’s confused she explains ‘do you want to be someone fearless and strong, who’s followed by those with the utmost faith in your infallibility? do you want to be the wisest, followed because your words can move even stone? or-’

and ruby just says ‘i want to be the kind of leader you can trust to have your back no matter what’, which blake didn’t actually expect to hear because she still thinks ruby would only have immature concepts of leadership, but she rallies herself and says ‘you’re well on your way, then’

i think weiss and ruby still have their nighttime reconciliation as well, just maybe a little different based on the circumstances leading up to it

all the jaune stuff is basically the same, nothing interesting to change there

and you know, i think blake’s identity reveal mostly goes the same as well - pretty much the only difference i can imagine is when penny’s asking about blake, ruby mentions she’s her partner as well as her friend, and maybe blake’s dialogue with sun changes a bit as well

the fight against roman goes as before, but after the fight you get more of a scene between ruby and blake where blake tries to start explaining but ruby just hugs her and is like i don’t care about any of that you are my partner so i am ride or die for you and i’m so glad you’re safe, which blake takes a second to like compute being hugged? but then she accepts it, and that’s when weiss shows up and they get their moment of reconciliation

i think in second season, the only thing i’d really change is burning the candle (as much as it pains me to change it because it’s such a good episode as is)

so while weiss and yang are focusing on the dance, ruby sits by worrying about blake, yang offers to try and talk some sense into her but ruby says ‘she’s my partner, i’ll take care of it’

so instead of the laser pointer bit, ruby just puppy dog eyes blake into a private conversation, and i think we get more of how ruby felt after her mom died - ‘yang thinks i was too young to remember or understand, but i remember dad shutting down for a long time, yang having to take care of me, qrow poking his head in but he never stayed for long’, moral of the story is sometimes people leave your life long before you expect it so do your best to enjoy the time you have? something like that

that hits blake hard because she’s the one who’s done the leaving thus far, she tries to hold onto the outrage but ruby just holds onto her hands and says please, and blake gives in

so yeah, the rest of second season goes as canon, the campfire conversation might have some minor differences but the heart of it is the same - big thing is raven still saves yang, but i don’t think we’d have a conversation with yang before this time where she reveals that raven was her birth mom, so it’s more of a mystery who she is

so we swing into the third season, which again i think would stay mostly the same - like if it was getting animated the fights might be different because the partners are different and so their strategies might change, but the big events still happen as they did in canon mostly

when winter arrives, i think yang might be with weiss instead of ruby because, you know, partners, and besides weren’t they going to talk about their second round strategy.... weiss where are you going

so when qrow and winter’s fight gets stopped, yang greets qrow happily but mentions ‘i have to talk to you when you’re done’, which like he doesn’t understand but oz is still waiting for him so he goes ‘okay firecracker’, weiss rolls up like ‘he explains so much about you two’ and yang is just all ‘you’re just mad cuz he was wiping the floor with your sister’, and they bicker happily

so while ruby and yang are hanging out with qrow playing video games, yang convinces ruby to leave for a second (grab snacks?) and she mentions ‘i think i saw my mom’, so now we get qrow and yang talking about raven (which yang still hasn’t actually told ruby about, so she thinks ruby doesn’t know, whereas qrow suspects she’s aware but isn’t sure and it’s not something ruby needs to know really? there’s something there in that regard at least) (ruby totally knows, she found the same photo yang did and realized just how similar raven and yang look, and she’d picked up on a lot of half-sentences the others had all been using around her, but she didn’t want to pry)

so things continue apace, yang has her fight against mercury that gets sabotaged by emerald, and afterwards blake still says ‘i want to believe you’, but it doesn’t hurt yang as much as canon because this is ruby’s partner, not hers, weiss has her back one thousand percent so yang is more confused than anything else, blake still gets yang to swear to her face what she saw, but before she accepts it she gives ruby a quick glance because blake trusts ruby’s judgment more than her own at this point probably

so then we have the fall of beacon, and i think everything still goes as canon - ruby goes after pyrrha on the roof, yang goes after blake in the cafeteria, but this is more a factor of who is where when locations get reported, because yang hears from weiss that blake disappeared into the school grounds before ruby makes it off the ship, so she tasks weiss with protecting her sister while she collects their lost teammate

so yang loses her arm for her sister’s partner, and ruby’s ascent is aided by a teammate, and she wakes up at home and learns about silver eyes

so here’s where the fun part starts happening - i don’t know if blake would run to menagerie at this point

i think she would feel guilty about causing yang’s injury (because of course she would still blame herself for that), but she would also feel guilty about not having ruby’s back when she needed it, and i don’t know if she could have left while ruby was still comatose

so i think, in this universe, blake secretly follows the family to patch, and the night after ruby wakes up, she sneaks into ruby’s room to make sure she’s okay, she thinks ruby is asleep so she just whispers an apology and turns to leave but ruby stops her, they have a long chat going back and forth about how much of what happened is blake’s fault and how much power they have over the world (blake thinks very little positive power, ruby thinks just enough), ruby ekes a promise out of blake that she’ll stay in touch before blake escapes, now determined to go home and rest

or maybe she wouldn’t - maybe ruby would be able to guilt her into staying, or at least into coming with her when she decides to leave for mistral; i’m really intrigued by the long break between the fall of beacon and the beginning of rnjr’s journey in canon, and it’d be interesting to examine that time period in closer detail

(side note, i just realized rnjr leaves patch in winter and we see them in mistral in spring - is the entire winter season spent in crossing the sanus continent? how have i never thought about this time period before? anyway)

the only other strong thought i have about this is that yang’s attitude toward blake would be way more simplistically antagonistic i think - she would be more likely to blame blake for adam being there in the first place (or at least, she would entertain the thought, as opposed to canon yang who couldn’t even imagine blaming blake for adam’s actions i think), but what would she feel about weiss being kidnapped? i’m not sure, honestly

okay, this is long enough for now i think - we’ll see if i have more specific post volume three thoughts later

[datarevived]

   -- Ⅰ : ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴀsᴛ ᴄɪᴛʏ

The Last City.

The final bastion of humanity.

Surely, it was a sight to behold. 

Mouth parted in a quiet gasp as the ship flew across the staggering city beneath, the Awoken sat eagerly against the window as various colors and sounds ignited to their surroundings. The smells of fuel, surprisingly becoming more and more masked by other scents -- food? Firewood? As ricochet bullets and fireworks cracked beyond that of ones' aircraft jets, a distant training grounds that could be spotted below sporting several teams of Guardians who seemed to be going at it fist to fist. 

Even in the mist of war, it seemed those who strove to survive were none short on their livelihood.

The Tower which sat in the distance, its' mass quickly becoming larger by the moment, had also been decored in life. Ample bodies walking about the perimeter, with armed guards treated at every corner. Guardians -- she knew these for fact, based on the various armor and attire verses that of the civilians, seemed endless. Those presently docking their own crafts, while those who had objectives departed with haste. She could feel her seat shake at each revel of ones' hyperjump, their ships cracking the sounds of wind as they blasted off.

    " Welcome to the Tower, “ a mans' voice greeted. One of the Hunter's from the patrol unit that had helped her out of the sinkhole, his coated frame standing in the doorway of the pilot pit. His features, unknown to her ability as he dawned in thick fabric and armor head to toe - leaving his voice in a set reverb to ones' helmet. " You ready? "

    " Mm..mhm. "

As soon as bay doors began to crack, the suction of air catch her off guard as she stumbled back a moment. The setting sun illuminating the scene in a beautiful glow, the immediate noise of people flooding into her ears. Already, she could count over four discussions going on - automatize tones that belonged to machine, tinier voices that belonged to plenty a Ghost -- inquiries to none in particular, but any who would listen or required the necessary help to do so. 

It was so... alive. 

Almost overwhelming in a sense, the scenic overlay causing her head to dizzy once more. Was it natural for all Guardians to start off so unbalanced? She'd have to ask, once getting more comfortable with the place. 

The Hunter on standby was waiting at the bottom of the airlock, giving the Awoken a moment before he waves a gentle hand for her to follow. Leading her through the open roof of the Tower, stairs downward into more secluded life. At one point, by-passing what could have been used as a garden, all left with a single tree that seem to bloom in the center of the small courtyard. As robot-esq humanoids sat along the floors, tinkering with their own guns and devices - others merely stood in place, sweeping a broom back and forth.

Yet there was one building in particular that caught her attention as they walked. Perhaps due to the scent, or mayhaps the loudness of ones' patrons - a small hole-in-the-wall shop that served hand-crafted noodles by the bowl. Its' stall nearly cramped from occupation as several people sat and stood around the  countertop, laughing about their stories and ringing up another round of beverage. The smells of the broth and multiple spices trapping her nose like some sort of chain, her throat watering in brief nostalgia before picking up her feet to gain ground with the other. 

" I'd recommend it, " the Hunter chuckled, turning a view over his shoulder as panicked footsteps tracked to his backside. " S'good. Even if it is a hobby now n' days. "

This time, he leads her to another set of stairs. Upward and fairly brief -- leading to a balcony in which a woman presently stood. A makeshift bird stand rested next to her arm, with massive hawk perched in view as it turned its' attention to the approaching duo. A click of its' beak in greeting as the woman turned in welcome.

" Back so soon Hunter? Don't tell me you lost the other two already. "

" Nah. They're still on route, but, had to make a relay before we finished, " the man explained, siding an arm toward the other present. " Got ourselves a new Light. Figured you can fill her in. "

At the mention, the Awoken fidgets a bit. A hand raised to her opposing elbow, gripping at the torn cloth of her shirt in nerves. A struggle to rest eye contact with the other woman, attention bouncing between she and the hawk. So much socializing so soon... it was uneasy.

" New Light, huh? Explains the civilian look, almost had me hopeful for more company on my side of the field, " the woman grins, crossing her arms at her chest. " Don't worry, I got it from here. Get back with your team before they get too far ahead. I don't need Cayde breathing at my back because I lost a set of his boys. "

" Eh, he doesn't own us, " the man laughed, waving a hand in farewell. Offering the Awoken a gentle pat on the shoulder before turning his guard, making it half way down the stairs before pausing in a hunch, " Oh - and when you're done giving her the tour, drop her by the shop. Can take the payment out of my share. Call it newbies' welcome. "

An exasperated huff, the woman parts one of her arms from her chest briefly, shooing the man away before turning back to her newly company with a smile. 

" So... the Traveler's still got it. The Vanguard will be pretty happy to hear there's still a chance of new Light's like you. We haven't gotten many since the blackout. How're you feelin'? "

" I feel... fine, I guess, " the Awoken answered hesitantly. Fluttering irises sheepishly making out the details of the others' face and wares now that it was just the two of them. She didn't look like the rest of the Guardians... yet her presentation sat all the same confidence. " Still... kinda grasping everything. "

" It's a lot to take in, " the other nods. " Don't stress yourself too much. It'll all sort itself out in due time. Always affects people a little differently, so I've noticed. You want any water or anything? Something I can help? "

" N-No.. that's not necessary. Thank you, though... uhm... "

" Suraya. Suraya Hawthorne, " the woman grinned. " But most here just call me Hawthorne. "

" Hawthorne... ah... thank you, for.. y'know, " the Light stumbles upon words, self grip upon her arm shuffling in thought. It was so hard to speak. " Are you a Guardian as well...? "

" Me? Nah, " Hawthorne shrugged, uncrossing her arms now as one extends to reach a finger under the Hawk's neck. A satisfied purr ruffling its' feathers in the attention. " I'm just a glorified nobody. Most here consider me the bridge between humanity and the Guardians - sayin' that my leadership is what's helping those without the Traveler get by. But ever since coming to the Tower, I guess I've also become the therapy necessary for transitioning Lights like you. You know, tailoring between both worlds, sorta thing. "

In some matter of speaking, it was relieving to hear, coming from another. That not all Guardians' where up and att'em moment they revived -- that a transition was by all means necessary. Either that, or it was just the others' aura that seemed gentle and honest. The beginning to a long stretch that would be the Awoken's trust in the people of the City and its' Vanguard.

" Speaking of which, where's your little guy? Or gal - no judge, " the woman questioned, a brow quirking at the quick altercation as her finger left the nudge of the Hawk.

" It's... he -- " 

  -- " Here, here! Sorry - sorry, I seemed to have gotten caught up in all the networking since getting close to the city, " blinking into existence, the Ghost rattled its' shell in frantic speak. Its' shell zooming in between the space that lingered between the two women, then hovering particularly aligned with the bird in staring. " It's just so... much! Too much, a lot to take in right away. Did you know there was over ten passcodes to enter the City's network? Over ten! "

" Got yourself a chatty one, didn't you? " Hawthorne laughed, tilting her head some as she examined the Ghost. " Firewalls, pal. Necessary to keep the bad taillights outta the bags of information. I'm sure someone here can catch you up to speed once you pass the Vanguard's evaluation. Then there'll be no more passcodes. "

" The Vanguard? " the Awoken blinked. " Who is...? "

" The Vanguard are the head-honchos' of this place. The gears that keep the City going - one of them being right over there, " she points, directing attention at another woman on the lower floor. " Ikora Rey. One of the best, if not the best, Warlock there is. Definitely one of the more mentally sound of the bunch. Then there's big blue, Zavala - you might've seen him when you flew in if he's at his usual perch. Can usually find him overshadowing the city off the Tower's edge. There's a lot of strong Titan's out there... but powered by his sheer determination to protect the people, he gives' people a run for their money. "

" What about the Hunters...? Or is that where you come in? "

The question leaving little to be answered in the matter, the womans' brows anchor upward in jest as she shakes her head, a laughterous tone to her words, " Nah, not me - no way. I can't keep up with those maniacs. Though it is a wonder if they'd be just as reckless with a different mentor on the field... " a sigh, though not in forfeit. " Cayde-6. Best shot around, but plenty of screws loose. He's a... pretty eccentric guy. "

Well, that didn't sound good.

Between the several named, all in which felt completely out of her league, the Awoken shifted in her step. A secondary glance at the woman below, hands running through several piles of paperwork that were scattered along a hand-crafted table. She was unfamiliar with that of Warlocks and what they inherited... but by the sounds of it, it seemed only reasonable to seek that Vanguard through its' calmest mind.

" And their evaluation.. process.. " she speaks, eyes returning back to Hawthorne. " Some sort of test? "

" A test of character, really. Consider it more an interview than exam. If you haven't realized it yet, most Guardians have this affinity for seeing others' light. The Vanguard are particularly precise in that merit. Can tell a good taillight from bad taillight, " Hawthorne nodded her head side to side as she spoke, declaring the differences between the two. " I can get you and the Misses' downstairs acquainted if you like. "

Gotta start from somewhere, right?

" I.. would like that, yes. "

Another smile, Hawthorne then turns to the hawk at her aide, giving its' neck another tap before walking alongside the other. " Eyes on the sky, Bird. And watch for the turbines, will ya'? "

" Its' name is Bird? " the Light repeated, her tone perplexed.

" I'm not good with names - too many of'em to keep track of, " Hawthorne admitted, leading the way back down the stairs of the small hall. " Just makes things easier, y'know?... What about you? You got a name? "

A name.

How odd -- she hadn't considered her own name til now, even through the mental capacity of trying to learn every other. The Hunter on the ship only addressing her as ' new Light ', and her Ghost -- as well nameless -- a ' Guardian '. Each name sitting upon title and lacking the personalization of character.

What was her name...?

. . . . .

. . .

" ...I'm Selene. "

" Selene? Nice to meet you, Selene. "

[fall-lightning]

Isn’t That Cheating?

This was my first fanfiction I wrote for hxh and it’s... something. I don’t love it, but I don’t exactly hate it.

“Are You cheating or something? I was practically behind you!”

Killua smirked at the short boy who he had just shot. He’d been hoping to find Gon before the game was over, but shooting Zushi was worth the distraction.

“You’re just being a sore loser Sushi roll. Besides, who goes behind their enemy to take them out? That takes all the fun out of the game.” Killua raised an eyebrow at Zushi, who furrowed his own eyebrows. He opened his mouth to respond but Killua winked and ran off before he could speak. He’d already wasted enough time with Zushi, he needed to find Gon quick.

Their grade was playing laser tag as a team building exercise, though the teachers failed to think that maybe putting the kids against each other in a competitive game would only make them realize just how much they disliked each other.

The room the laser tag was held in was dark with only a few green lights, and it had obstacles everywhere to hide behind. There was also ladders leading up to a second floor, which was really just a five foot wide stretch of walkway wrapping around the room. There was no place in the room where you could see everything, which was most of the fun of the game.

The games were a free-for-all, going until there’s only one person who hadn’t been shot in the round. Killua had beaten Gon in two out of the three games they’d played with their classmates, with Gon winning the other one. Their teacher and supervisor of the field trip, Bisky, had said this was the last game, and Killua didn’t want to have a tie with him winning two games and Gon winning the other two games. One of their classmates winning was out of the question, so Killua wanted to make sure it was him who won this last round.

The room was filled with people complaining about being shot and the ridiculous sound the laser guns made when they ‘fired’. It seriously sounded like a light-saber being activated. The sounds were quieter than they had been in the beginning, when there was more people in the round.

Up ahead, about twenty feet away, Killua spotted a head of long blonde hair. Retz. He would enjoy shooting her. Not that she wasn’t his friend, because she kind of was, but he didn’t really appreciate the looks she would sometimes give his best friend. What does she think she’s doing? Trying to date Gon? Killua ground his teeth at the thought. If Gon dated someone he would always be going on dates with them, and holding hands with them, and he would never time to hang out with Killua! Killua kind of had a hunch that Gon spending less time with him wasn’t the only reason he didn’t want Gon to date anyone, but that was a can of worms he didn’t want to open.

“Retz!” He called out. She turned around, gun up. Before she could shoot however, he brought his gun up and fired. She stuck out her tongue at him. He teasingly pretended to blow smoke off the barrel of his gun.

“Why did you call my name? It would’ve been smarter to take me out from behind.” She said in her soft, girly, voice of judgement.

“Didn’t want to take you out from behind. Besides, I took you out anyway so my way was smart enough.” He pointed out cockily. She scrunched her nose up but smiled at him as she walked away nonetheless. Killua didn’t hate Retz at all, she just got under his skin sometimes, so he smiled back. “Good game.” He offered, along with his hand. She shook it, smiling gratefully.

It was only when Retz walked away that Killua noticed the room was silent. That meant that it was probably just him and a Gon left. He didn’t even stop to consider that the other survivor might not be Gon. Gon was way too stubborn to let himself be taken out before he could fight Killua.

Killua put one hand on the large foam obstacle nearest to him, the other hand clutching his laser gun, and slowly turned the corner. He was near the back of the room and could therefore see more of the room than if he was in the middle, though the obstacles made it hard to see the majority of the room. Killua was about to step out from behind the wall when a hand grabbed his shoulder from behind and pushed him into the corner of the room.

He barely had time to look at Gons face, determined as ever, before slightly chapped lips were on his. His eyes widened and he stared incredulously at Gon’s face, closer than it had ever been, but Gons eyes were screwed shut. Killua felt like he should be completely freaking out, after all him and Gon were JUST FRIENDS, but all he could think was; ‘I’ve never noticed his freckles.’

A second later a second thought registered and it was ‘HOLY SHIT!’

Killua didn’t know what the fuck was going on, but Gons lips felt good and warm on his own, and that was enough for him to let his eyes flutter shut.

Gon went into kissing like he went into everything else. Passionately, selfishly, and intensely. His lips pushed against Killuas insistently, demanding all his attention. And boy did it work, because all Killua could focus on was Gons lips and his warm hands now settled on his hips, causing him to feel warm all over. What were they doing before this again? Killua couldn’t even remember, and didn’t really care to.

One of his hands dropped what it had been holding (whatever that had been) as he brought his hands up to cup his best friends face. Why hadn’t they done this sooner again?

Killua felt something wet brush his lips and he let out a gasp, lips parting as he did. He felt Gon probe his mouth with whatever it was. His tongue. Gons. Tongue. Was. In. Killuas. Mouth.

The thought of someone’s tongue going into his mouth had always grossed out Killua but nothing about this made him feel anything but overwhelming need for more. Gon groaned into his mouth, and the vibrations (and the sound itself) made Killua go weak at the knees. He wanted more of this. He wanted to kiss Gon for hours mo-

Gon pulled away. Killua whined at the loss of sensation and begrudgingly willed his eyes open, mouth open and panting. He probably had drool running down his chin. Gon was staring at him, eyes slightly lidded but incredibly happy looking. His lips were bruised and red from the impromptu make out session, though it was hard to tell with the green lighting. Wait. Green lighting? What were they doing here? He let his hands drop to his side.

Killua felt something press into his abdomen, though it was muffled by the bulky vest he was wearing. He heard a lightsaber be drawn and then a long beep. Wait. WAIT! Laser tag! So that must mean...

Gon smiled at him, looking way too pleased. Killua did not want to admit that the look was making him want to kiss Gon again, despite the fact that Gon had just used his soft lips and insanely good looks to cheat. Well, it wasn’t technically cheating, but it was the principle of the matter!

“Looks like I won.” Gon said. Killua could only nod, still out of breath from kinda sorta forgetting to breathe when he made out with his best friend. “That was a good game. We should do it again some time.”

Killua somehow didn’t think that Gon was talking about their game of laser tag. He just nodded again. Gon laughed and winked at him, before turning his back to him and walking away.

His mind was screaming and he could barely think. The only coherent thought Killua had was ‘What the fuck just happened.’

[veridium]

spiderwebs

and WE’RE BACK. 

thanks again to everyone for being patient with this hiatus -- but you know we just couldn’t stay away. and to continue on with our halloween party special is just a non-negotiable. now, without further wait, here is the latest installment in the best worst okayest friendship fic ever!

and I just had to title it with a No Doubt track because, well, you’ll see. 

chapter masterpost // previous episode

--

It’s almost too good to be true. The way the stars have aligned to produce a perfect, movie-scene kind of night. So she had convinced herself for every part right up until they actually enter the house. Slowly but surely everything falls apart from there, though. Can’t have a fantasy kind of night without some flames doing as they do best, and bursting -- such is Olivia and Ellinor’s track record. 

Who can blame her, though, for believing in that fantasy? She’s walking up the carved stone steps with Cassandra. She’s living her baby bisexual dream of showing up somewhere with a woman who makes the world go dewy and sparkly and looks fucking hot in trim black clothes and -- okay, well, enough of that shit. 

Olivia has never entered a party with someone -- she’s the type to encounter, kiss, ditch, and tell. You could count on one hand the number of times she’s left accompanied. Historically what happens at the event, stays at the event. So when she shows up with a tall, dark, and gorgeous woman holding her hand, safe to say the skeletons in the closet she burst out of are all but manic. And oh, do the skulls turn. 

Right off the back the two couples diverge, and with good reason. From the moment Olivia invited Cassandra to this she knew there was something she’d have to do: introduce her to the queer corner. More of an anomaly than an institution, there was one at every party: where all the queer people, predominantly women, congregated to drink, gossip, and relay the code red signal whenever someone’s ex showed up.

The place is covered in people which is exactly what she expects and demands. If Olivia hadn’t been already familiarized with House Pavus she would be hard pressed to locate the spot -- the spot within the spot, so to speak. Back living room couches are all that’s on her mind. Well, sorta. 

“What’s a bitch gotta do to get a drink in her hand?!” she exclaims in the foyer, and her wish is the people’s command. A drink from a trusted passerby -- or at least, from the look on Cassandra’s face, they better be -- solves the problem. 

Olivia exhales and takes a swig, sighing with dramatic relief at the taste of whiskey and whatever else. It’ll do perfectly. She goes to offer some to Cassandra but remembers the way she looked when they discussed debauchery over spaghetti, and curbs herself.  “Okay, well, let’s go!” she guides her into the belly of the beast, Cassandra hand holding onto her from behind for dear life.

Every few seconds Liv turns back to look at her, and she looks unphased but also unimpressed. It’s hard to be when everyone is tugging and calling out to her, kissing cheeks and saying ‘how are you?’ with no intention of actually listening. It’s easy in these moments to believe wholeheartedly in how confident Cassandra is, even as her eyes flicker with every movement, every person they move past. She grins, but she doesn’t say anything, even as people stare her down or give her smiles. She’s new, and she’s shiny -- Olivia can remember such a lion’s den. So, her flingers pulse their grip right back every time she tightens her grip.

“It’s gonna be okay, I promise,” she hangs back to whisper into her shoulder. Immediately after, yet another stranger comes around and grabs Olivia by the waist. 

“Liv!” 

a recognizable, smart twang of tone. Olivia’s head twists quick and she sees a bright, chiseled face. Purple baseball cap on backwards, its strap frayed and curled, and a playful expression. 

“How’s my girl?”

“Char!” Olivia chimes, and reaches her free arm around her neck, pulling in for a hug. “Cassandra,” she says once free, “this is Charter. We met volunteering for a local camp one summer!”

Cassandra stands still even as bodies and music quake around them. Her hand lets go of Olivia’s, and she slips it into her back pocket. Okay, then. But she manages to grin wider. 

“Hi there.”

Char’s brows raise higher than a stoner on a ferris wheel. “Cassandra...wait, shit, you’re the Cassandra on the--oh, fuck,” her wrist goes to her mouth as she stifles a laugh on astonishment. “I knew it!”

Olivia inhales sharp, fending the first cringe of the night as Cassandra shakes her head once.

Cassandra’s head twitches to the side. “Knew what?”

“That you were so g--”

“Weeeerreeee so great! Right?” Olivia steps in and gives Char the most fine-tuned side-eye she’s ever given. “We didn’t really ever get a chance to see, since you don’t go out much.”

Char’s throat catches, and she matches Olivia’s curious glare, before putting her red solo cup to her lips. “Ahah, right. Uh, after all, no one can be not...great, with that kinda haircut.”

“Do you know where the rest of the group is? In the back with the couch, like always?” Olivia nudges her, trying to change the subject. She looks back at Cassandra, who seems a bit lost and uncomfortable, but still holding on. Jesus, this is gonna be harder than I thought, if everyone acts like this. 

Out from the ether as if a blessing from the universe, someone wraps around Char and pulls her along. “Dude, come on, Sarah told me someone’s boyfriend is saying how much he loves lesbians every time he meets one!” 

Well, it’s a party, and it wouldn’t be one if there weren’t some weird shit going down. Char tosses her head back and laughs as she is propelled along. Olivia sighs from having her questioned unanswered, but it quickly is dispelled at the sight of Char placing a hand on Cass’s shoulder. 

“Hey, call me when she’s done with you!” followed by a pat on said shoulder, like a ‘tough luck, buddy’ kind of move. 

Fuck. Olivia can only hear pieces with it, but it’s enough. Enough for her degree of utter mortification to surge. Cassandra’s look falls, but she holds off one of her infamous scowls. What a saint. She shrugs the hand off of her, but Char is too euphoric to notice as she departs with her friend. 

Olivia takes a half-second breath and smiles again. No need to compound the embarrassment by acting like it, right? 

“You okay?” 

Cassandra blinks, her brows rounding. “I’m not sure,” she tries her best to be louder than the music. “This place is...really crowded.”

Olivia smiles and takes hold of her hand. “I know, isn’t it great?! Come on, we’re almost to the spot.”

Nothing and no one will stop her from accomplishing this. Not even the sound of Cassandra asking ‘what did she mean by…’ and the rest of it being drowned out by Fall Out Boy from speakers two rooms over. Not that she would want to stop and answer such a question, anyway. 

At last they find the way into what would be a normal person’s living room, but for Dorian’s family is probably known as ‘place to sit your ass and breathe on Saturday afternoons between 2-8pm.’ A sectional couch and coffee table with portraits on the walls and bottles and cups sprinkled throughout the various shelves of smaller family paintings and pictures. Everything’s about image, here. The strobe lights flickering from the main room provide the main source of light in the otherwise dark room full of skulking faces and bodies dressed in denim and flannel.

But for Olivia, it’s anything but dreary.

“Liv!” hands go up in the air from the couch. It’s Josie, thank goodness, dressed in a black leather jumpsuit and boots, winged eyeliner so sharp they could slice open a can. 

“Cat woman, I presume,” Olivia hops from heel to heel as her beloved friend comes in for a hug. “Does this mean Theia is Batwoman?”

“No! I tried to convince her,” Josie stepped back and folded her arms. “She really wanted to work the ‘too cool for a costume’ angle this year.”

“Didn’t she do that--”

“Last year? And the one before? Yes.” She rolls her eyes and bits her lip playfully, before her attention goes to Olivia’s company. “Cassandra! You are here!” she beams even brighter than when she saw Olivia, which is not offensive in the least. 

Cassandra flinches, and leans in closer to Olivia’s side. “Hi, Josie. It’s...good to see you,” she says, easier. She even adds a slight hand wave.

“Are you enjoying yourself?”

“I...I am.” Polite of a response, though not convincing. That’s worrisome. 

Josephine nods. “Is this a costume, or are you on the same ideological boat as my sweet, stubborn lover?”

Cassandra chuckles lightly. “I...am afraid so. I’m not one for costumes.”

“I see. Well, you’ll find no shortage of like-minded peers here. Olivia, Ellinor, and I carry the team, as we always do. Which reminds me, don’t go anywhere, I need you to go up with me when they play Lip Gloss! You owe me!”

Olivia’s mouth goes agape with playful laughter. It occurs to her to worry about not seeing Ellinor, but, Ellinor can handle herself. Hopefully. In theory. There better not be whiskey in the party punch. 

“There she is!” Josie lurches onto her toes as Theia wraps an arm around her waist, bringing her in as she makes her appearance. Dressed in a dark blue button down tucked into jeans, there’s not one ounce of holiday cheer in her. Well, except for the look on her face -- that is actually quite terrifying. 

“Hey Liv,” she selectively nods with a half-smile. “Thought you weren’t coming. You didn’t answer my texts.”

Oh fuck. Shit. Dammit. Olivia winces and puts her manicured nail to her teeth. “Damn, Theia, I’m sorry. I meant to…”

“Nah, don’t worry,” she shrugs cooly. Ugh, she’s in her fuckboy mood. Her discerning, tipsy stare shifts to Olivia’s company, and the purple in her eyes go icy. “I see you had reason to be distracted.”

Olivia glances and sees Cassandra is taking on the standoff readily, shoulders broad as she slips one hand into her own back-pocket. 

“Hello, Theia,” she says with meticulous manners. “How are you?”

“Fantastic,” Theia says as she leans more possessively against the slightly shorter Josephine, “and you?”

“I--”

“Great, glad to hear it. Liv, uh, can I steal you away for a second?”’

Olivia blushes but not the good way: the kind that comes from embarrassment that the person she called her best friend would be so petty. Yet, nothing can really beat Ellinor screaming her head off in an apartment hallway, right? So, she squeezes Cassandra’s hand, exchanging a lot of apologetic cajoling, before she leaves her with Josephine. Something in the way Cassandra frowns but doesn’t stop her almost makes it worse. 

Theia doesn’t waste time taking a dose of whatever’s in her cup -- probably rum of some cola -- before she brings Olivia to the corner of the entryway, and leans up against the decorative enamel.

“You brought her? Dude!” she says mouth leaning into Olivia’s ear. The music is loud, but not that loud. Theia just wants to add to the veneer of exclusive, hush-hush Fight Club aesthetic.

“What the fuck?” Olivia spits back, drink held close. “It’s fine, she wanted to come, and I wanted to bring her. What’s the issue?”

Theia’s head shakes, her eyes wide with cocky disbelief. “What’s the issue? Liv, has that Blonde shampoo soaked into your brain?” as she asks, she thumps Olivia on the side of her head with her finger. Olivia flinches, just enough to see Cassandra look up from whatever conversation she’s having with Josie, and once again the blush appears.

She runs her fingers through her hair to save face and looks back at Theia, who seems all but sorry for the act. Usually their rough-housing dynamic is welcome trouble, but tonight, it’s anything but. 

“Stop acting like it’s the mafia!” she hisses, and looks off to the side to wander her gaze through the crowd aimlessly.

Theia snorts. “Dude, I’m not acting like it.” She takes another gulp of her drink and swallows stiff, cheeks puffed like a dude-bro. She’s really peacocking. “You know how ya’ll act at these parties. Suddenly you show up with tall, dark, and constipated and--”

“Hey,” Olivia nudges her so swiftly it knocks her off the wall she’s leaning on, “don’t talk about her like that. Got it?” It’s a stern tone that even she doesn’t expect, like she’s possessed all of a sudden and looking to battle for dominance of the gay sofa. 

Theia blinks in return for this bold cut against her, one brow shooting up. “Oh, so she whispers sweet things into your ear for a few days and suddenly all is forgotten?” Her hands fall to her sides, and her head tilts in further. “Just because you can, Liv, doesn’t mean your friends have to. Or maybe Ell can, since she’s all cozied up with that ham bone of hers.”

“You don’t have to do anything but be decent. Or is that too hard?” 

Olivia’s glare grows, and she gets ready to go off on her some more. But, as if via divine intervention, a familiar beat echoes through the walls and across the floor. 

Oh fuck, it’s our song. As in, her and Ellinor’s song. That song. The song that defines their friendship. One of them, anyway. There’s a collaborative discography. 

“Nicks, fuck, I have to find Ellinor. Uh…!” she starts fidgeting and bobbing her head to find Cassandra across the heads and shoulders between them, hopping a bit onto her heels. “Shit!”

Theia places a hand on her forearm and stabilizes her, and when they lock eyes, it’s as if the normal Theia -- the good-natured, helpful one -- is back online. “Hey, don’t worry, I got it.”

“What?” 

“I’ll go tell her you had to go dance with Ellinor.”

“But...but I wanted to--” I want her to come with me. Fuck, though, she probably doesn’t dance…

“Liv, come on,” Theia grins, her signature charm as she holds her drink up to her chest. “Don’t make her work harder for it. Just go, you’ll be back before she notices Josie’s checking her star chart.”

It’s not what her gut is agreeing to. In fact, it’s screaming “go get your woman, you idiot, you know better.” Yet, as she looks across and sees Cassandra talking, her hands across her chest like she does when she’s out on the field with her teammates, it’s almost too good to mess up. She looks the most at ease she’s been all night, and if anyone can be trusted to protect that besides herself, it’s Josephine. Josephine and Theia, of course. 

Theia elbows her in the ribs to knock her out of her staring, and Olivia steps back. Stevie has started singing, time is running out. 

“Okay, okay. Hold my drink?” Olivia grins as she passes her cup to her, sliding her fur off of her shoulders. She waves towards Cassandra’s direction before skiddadling down the hall like a woman on a mission. The last thing she sees is Theia tipping her invisible hat toward her before receding back into the lesbian batcave. That was a quick change in mood. 

Everyone’s tall and it’s annoying, but with courage and dangerously pointy shoes she makes her way back to the main hall by the kitchen where shaking and grinding bodies have conspired to make a dance floor. 

The  drunken seas part uniting her with her right-hand-woman, who is fending off some person who has their wig caught in her pauldrons somehow. When Olivia arrives on the scene, it’s to hear the tail end of a “you should really watch where you point those” comment, to which Ellinor gives a deadly side-glare. 

“These meager mortals,” she reviles, “don’t know how much of a gift I am.”

“Yeah, yeah, Kanye, we get it -- the song!”

“The song!” Ellinor grabs her by the hands and starts hopping up and down. People are incorrectly yelling the lyrics around them, and her vitriol is further vindicated. No matter, they’ll be the showstoppers. 

They push and shove their way to the center of the crowd and begin their deluge. Olivia tries her hardest to turn her brain off. This is the best part, after all. Dancing, losing track of time and space, being with the people she loves most. Only the nagging gut feeling hasn’t vanished, and soon enough Ellinor notices just how out-of-sync she is in their quintessential make-it-up-as-they-drink choreography. 

“What’s gotten in your stockings?” she yells into her ear during the ‘WOO, BABY WOO, WOO bridge.’ Olivia has to blink a few times while her brain synthesizes.

“Ugh, nothing! Nothing!” she waves her hands and starts doing some shoulder-shimmy move, but it’s not striking with the same spectacularity as it usually does. 

“You look like a sad parakeet! What is going on?”

Olivia looks off towards the ceiling corner and does her best to keep the show going. Stevie is still preaching the gospel, and Ellinor wants to have a therapy session? Blasphemy!

“Nothing!”

A poke in her ribs knocks her off beat, and she turns around with the little space she has between goth girl no. 43 and grunge boy no. 10. 

“Noth--”

“Sera and Dagna made things super awkward,” Ellinor gripes, cringing as she shakes her hips around. “I’m worried Cullen’s gonna think I’m some succubus.”

Ah. They take hold of each other and Olivia spins Ellinor around in a picture-perfect change, and they switch spots. Turning back around she finds Ellinor’s scowl has only deepened, and it makes her want to join her on the sinking ship.

“Theia is being super weird about me bringing Cass here,” she adds with another side-shuffling move and shoulder dip. “I dunno if I should have left her there in the sapphic corner.”

“You left her in the queer corner?!”

Damn, it has so many names. “Yes?! Was I bad? Is this bad?!”

“--think that’s bad.”

“--Fuck. Do you think you should have left Cull--”

“Fuck no, I’m an--” 

“We’re idiots. What are we--”

“--doing?!”

The final chorus hits, and the crowd gets even more hyped. They join in with the howling and yelling, but it’s mostly out of the need to scream into the void. Then, as is tradition during some point in these parties, someone grabs Olivia from behind and launches her up. Holding her like some statue of liberty, she would usually bring them home with her particular enthusiastic lip-syncing while Ellinor finds the nearest flat surface to hop on. But, as Olivia mouths along with a face of dread and eyes locked on her best friend who looks equally anxious, no one -- not even the Goddess Stevie -- can save this detour. 

[jojosthetic-boogaloo]

@marysuepatrol says: Hi! I’m sending this in as a submission for length’s sake, don’t want to annoy you by sending in a ton of asks! Anyways, if it’s not too much to ask, may I please get a moodboard matchup from parts 1-5? (they’re so pretty omfg)

I’m a bi 5'2 Asian girl, and I’m an ENTP. I love taking care of plants and cats, along with most other animals! I’m a pretty bold person with something of a sense of justice, and I’m never afraid to speak up against stuff I don’t agree with. I have some trust issues due to a formerly emotionally abusive relationship, mostly relationship-wise and not friendship wise. I’m pretty witty, and I’m a huge believer in fate and supernatural stuff, like fortune telling and the occult. I like reading, drawing and writing! I find world culture very fascinating, especially the languages and music, and I’d love to travel the world one day! I love learning new things, and I really like going to libraries (especially older ones!) on a nice afternoon, especially with my s/o! Usually, I’m pretty laid back and a friendly person in general. I like to tell jokes/bad puns with people I’m really close to, and I love giving to people/helping them out! With a s/o, I’m more attracted to smart people and people who have more life experience than me tbh, since I’d also want someone who can guide me in a relationship!

That was sorta long, but thank you so much!! Please take your time on these matchups, I know they take a while sometimes but you’re doing great! <3

Hi Mary sweetheart!!! I’ll smooch your entire face you’re adorable as heck sashdhf <3 Now before I get rambly and spend this entire matchup just saying how much i love you and thank you, let’s get to the juice. 

Your matchup! You do realize that you’re giving me here a type that I could not pass over, right? The moment I got midway your request I knew exactly who to match you up with. When I finished reading, I also decided to add in a small brochup, for the sake of being soft. So, here ya go! Double the jojo double the fun!

Translation: “It must have been fate, but I’m thankful we met, bella.”

Risotto Nero!

You met because Risotto had to leave the office for something to snack on since the gang had eaten almost everything there was in there. He was terribly hungry, terribly tired and terribly irritated, but he still kept his usual neutral expression.

As he walks, he makes his way to the nearest convenience store, that currently has a construction team working on a platform to fix the building right next to it. When he’d crossed below the platform, you happened to be about to enter the store too, looking at him from a distance due to his peculiar appearance and telling him with a raised eyebrow and half a smile in a friendly tone “That’ll be bad luck for ya, sir.”. He finds your remark amusing and retorts with “I could be back luck for them, miss.” You laughed it off as a casual tough guy comeback, though, you did not know he was serious about it.

Since he barely ever makes the effort to speak to others, he decides to let the conversation be done with as soon as you both enter the store, each making your way and giving a small departing nod to each other as you leave for different aisles.

After a while walking though the aisles and grabbing your items, you notice a common thought cross your mind. “I haven’t crossed him once yet.” And it slightly saddened you. You thought of this as a simple after effect reaction to having interacted with a handsome (and kinda scary) man that gave you three seconds of his day and exchanged some words with you. It had been a notable experience in your day and your brain was just giving it some spotlight, no big deal.

To your pleasant surprise, you notice him step before you into one of the checkup lines, and decide to go to the same one just to try and get the chance to even say a simple goodbye after checkup. When it’s his time to pay, you hear him let out a confused and quite irritated “hah?” for he did not find neither money nor his credit card in his wallet. Formaggio must had taken it without permission; again. All for his stupid gambling habits.

As he clenched his perfectly sharp and strong jaw (you couldn’t help but note this, the man was quite a sight), not knowing how to react; you stepped in tapping him on the back, smiling at him confidently when he turned and announcing to the cashier you’d pay for his items. He was only purchasing a beer and some chips, what harm could it do to your wallet.

He’s indebted to you now, Risotto instantly thought. That’s how it worked in his mind. If he ever gets something from someone, it must not be left as a good action, there has to be some interest behind it. Yet, when he could not pinpoint the reason you’d want him to pay you back for anything, he simply decided on paying it back to you because you seemed just genuinely nice and not mean spirited in the slightest. Just a regular, nice civilian. 

He offers to invite you to some coffee next time you meet as thanks and offers you his number, which you take in gleefully. You didn’t even have to ask and you got this hell of a man’s phone number? Today was worthy of being noted in your calendar. After exchanging numbers, he gives you a nod and the slightest, smallest hint of a cordial smile and leaves his own way, leaving you wondering if you’d just seen the slight hint of a dimple form on his overall solemn looking face.

You sent him a text informing him it’s you, the convenience store girl. He replies with a “Ok” which throws you a bit off balance. He can’t help it, he’s bad with words and even worse with texts. “Is your schedule open on Friday afternoon?” He follows up, making you smile due to his unnecessary formal tone. “For coffee, I mean.” He quickly adds, which makes you giggle. He’s endearingly awkward and stupidly formal, that was interesting, you were curious.

When you meet for coffee that wonderfully awaited Friday, you almost fall off the chair when you see him dressed in what, usually, you’d call casual clothes (because let’s be honest, what he wore to the convenience store made him look like a bdsm gester, not that you minded though). The perfect fit of his V neck white shirt and the lack of his hat made you swallow, quickly composing yourself and placing your hands on your lap under the table. “Hi, you look…” He started, seemingly struggling to find his words as he slid the chair back and sat before you. “Positively beautiful, Y/N.” You felt a knot in your throat when this handsome, intense looking man told you that, giving him a nervous giggle and a smile, looking him in the eye after much effort and adding an almost too quiet. “You too, Risotto.”

He’s the silent listener type, he nods at your statements and gives you the occasional “yes” or “mhm”. You did not expect him to actually end up asking after you mentioned you liked books. “What type of books?” He asked, a curious, most endearing smile on his face while he stirred his coffee in the big black mug he’d ordered. You took a sip off yours and after organizing your thoughts, you told him. When you mentioned you’d love to go to an old library to spend the afternoon, he immediately told you he’d be glad to join you. What a shame he didn’t let you finish the sentence with a “-with my future significant other, that’d be a wonderful date.” You didn’t dare utter those words now, having a rotund “yes” already from the man.

You go to a fancy, old Italian library next weekend (after admittedly sneaking out of the office and leaving Prosciutto in charge for the afternoon). He tells you about his favorite reads, recommending you some books while you quietly admire him from the side and give him the occasional nod and smile when he catches up on you being silent for longer than expected, fearing you’d grown bored of his rambling.

As the afternoon goes by, you stop by at the romantic-drama aisle. The big round glass windows letting the golden hour sun sip through and clash against his herculean features, which you couldn’t help but stare at. Seeing him standing there, the way he calmly stood there with such a mature look in his face whilst skimming through a book he’d surely have read before already… it was silly, but it made your heart thump gingerly on your chest.

He catches you staring, scoffing quite embarrassed thinking its because you think he’s weird looking. After clearing his throat and placing the book back in the bookcase, he turns to you and gives you an intense stare whilst crossing his arms over his chest. Oh god, he was well trained as well. Just by looking at his biceps you felt he’d be able to snap you in half without any problem if he so desired to.

“Yes, I do know I look scary, but I’ve no intention to harm-” you cut him off with something he did not expect to hear. “No, Nero, I just think you’re someone I could look at for hours and never get tired.” You blurted out, tucking a strand of your hair behind your ear and looking down when you thought back on what you’d just told him. 

Before you could apologize, you rose your gaze and noticed he’d just taken his eyes off you and cast them back to the books on his side, the slightest shade of red decorating his cheeks now as he visibly bit the inside of his cheek, clueless on how to react properly to your remark. Sure, he had the emotional intelligence and the self awareness of a log, but even he knew that wasn’t meant as a casual compliment.

“…Anyways, I think you’d like this one.” He kept going, as if nothing happened, which made you smile tenderly at him. You gave him a nod and kept browsing books with him until it got dark. He silently assigned himself to escort you back home, with his hands on his pockets while you occasionally commented on the weather or on the books you’d taken notes off that he mentioned.

One day, you met up to chat about a book he’d lent you, his favorite. You mentioned you liked it, but that you’d like to try something that dealt with more obscure themes, like the occult or the supernatural. He gave you an amused smile, thinking of your taste as interesting and kind of cute. He lent you the perfect book for your request, which you read in record time and spammed his text messages with commentary about it’s ending almost immediately, amusing him through his sleepless working night. Honestly, late working nights had taken a different turn ever since he’d met you, with your occasional messages and even more rare calls. He worried if you got enough sleep, but still, greatly appreciated your figurative company.

One of those late night messaging sessions, you decided to take your relationship a small step forward, aside from talking about books and going for coffee or to the library, you wanted to share a meaningful experience with him. And you’d just gotten a perfect Ad for the situation on your social media. 

“Riz, u up?” You began, smiling mischievously for you knew he’d look at his phone with a raised eyebrow when he read your text. “Did you just shorten my name to address me?” He replied, almost immediately, which caught you a bit off guard. It was 2 am after all. “Yes, ur up. Anyways, could you come with me tmrrow to a special event? I really want to go, but none of my friends are interested and I really need someone I can trust to go with” He’d seen it, he stayed in the chat, but he took slightly longer to reply than usual, he was surely thinking about what you meant with “special event”. “…” He started, earning a quiet victory gesture from you on your end. “You trust me?” Your face fell into a pout. How did just three words from him make you feel so bad all of a sudden? You felt like giving him a hug honestly, but sadly, your relationship hadn’t gotten so far, yet. “I think I established that, yes.” You typed down, and after three painful minutes of wait, he came back with a quick, simple answer. “Hour and location, I’ll be there.” After a short pause, he followed the message up with another. “But, if I may ask, what is the event about?” You smiled, feeling your heartbeat chirp away in your chest upon such a quick, assertive and formal response. “A fortune teller is in town and I really want to get my future read.” You almost added “with you”, but refrained. Quickly beaming a bright smile at your phone at his reply. “Alright, sounds good.”

At the reading, the fortune teller tells you she sees a tall, handsome man coming into your life in an unexpected turn of events and invading your mind with thoughts of him. Eventually invading your heart as well. She gives a side glance to Risotto and then back to you, then back to the cards. “Maybe this has already happened or is about to.”  

You shift in your seat awkwardly and let out a nervous laugh. “Is there anything else about it?” The lady looks back down once more and flips the three remaining cards, a wide smile on her lips as she gives you both a nod. “I see wealth, happiness and great amounts of love in this reading. You’ll enjoy your lover’s input in your life greatly, long-term. Here, it shows just how intensely they care and nurture you with their knowledge and feelings.” Risotto was looking intently at the fortune teller, and you did not know how to react to this, placing your hands tightly in fists on your lap. “That’s wonderful… Thank you miss, now we better be-” She cuts you off and points at Risotto. “I believe I’ve got a reading for this man too, don’t worry, for the price of only your reading.”

You sit back down, patting your thighs nervously while the woman mixes the tarot cards once more. Risotto chooses his cards and the woman begins flipping them. “I see you’re a man who’s suffered a great deal, this is what your past tells me. Immense amounts of pain, of loss and of uncertainty. You did in fact feel a sense of emptiness and unfullfillment in you, until recently.” She stopped. A knowing smile on her face when she flipped the present cards. “Your present tells me there’s been a femenine figure in your life that has completely bewitched you. She’s managed to carve her presence into your heart and you let her do it willingly. Could it be an innocent crush? Or maybe it’s something deeper?” After hoovering her hands over the cards and closing her eyes for a moment, she clicked her tongue with a mischievous smile on her face. “Yes, you’re completely enthralled. You even often dream about this woman, and it’s not always as innocently as you present it in your heart to be.” 

Risotto coughs and looks to the side, you notice he’s nervously playing with his fingers, then he looks back at the woman. Flipping his last cards, she chuckles and claps her hands. “This is a wonderful future ahead of you mister! Nothing but a bright light that you so desperately needed in your life is what occupies your future reading.” She paused, caressing one of the cards with her finger and nodding. “I see a determining turn in your feelings, taking a solid form somewhere soon. During some type of trip maybe? Is it just a date? Or is it you’re going somewhere together?” She questioned for herself, then looked back at you both. “At any rate, I’m very happy for you both.”

You shook your head while waving your hands in front of her, dismissive. “No! It’s not like that! We’re just… friends.” You felt hurt just by uttering the word. And, by what you saw out of the corner of your eye, so was Risotto, who looked at you and back at the fortune teller with a rare, saddened and tense look on his face. “I…” he started, swallowing before getting up from his seat and giving the fortune teller a nod and her money. “I do hope your readings are correct, miss.” He finished in a quiet tone, turning around without looking at you with a slight blush on his cheeks. 

Before he exited the room, the lady spoke once more, shuffling the cards back into the deck once more. “You really do feel for the woman in question, do you not, child?” He stopped in his tracks, not turning around and looking down on the floor. After what felt like forever for you, and feeling your heartbeat on your throat, you heard him mutter. “I do.” Then he left. Why was he so dramatic?! 

You were about to run after him when the lady directed her speech to you once more. “Miss.” She started, tucking the deck back into a very pretty, fancy looking box. “Cherish him, he’s damaged goods and I get a hunch you are too. He’s risking breaking again just to get to you.” 

You gave her an enthusiastic nod and a smile as you ran out to chase after him. “I will, thanks!” You replied after crossing the curtain and stepping outside once more, noticing the subject of your affection standing quite noticeably (why is he so tall??) next to the bus stop’s post, letting the bus leave without him. He was waiting for you even though his embarrassment.

“Riz!” You exclaimed, waving your hand at him and smiling awkwardly as you walked close to him, ending up almost touching his arm with yours when you caught up. He gave you a small smile, and this time you did notice the dimple that formed on his face. Not helping it, you giggled and pointed it out. “You get dimples when you smile, that’s an adorable contrast to your serious look.” He coughed whilst covering his mouth with his fist and pretended to look at the timetable once more. “Don’t say that.” He muttered, and you felt your lips turn down into a confused pout. “Why not?”

He turned to look at you, raising his arm and hoovering his index and middle finger over your lips, not touching but almost, feeling the warmth from them seep into your lower lip. “Because I don’t think I’ll be able to handle it as well next time. And I want to keep being your…” He dragged off, letting the sentence die down in his throat as he stared down at you with half lidded eyes, thinking about something and noticing how his mouth curved slightly down.

You slowly rose your hand and grabbed his wrist, guiding his hand and letting it rest flat on your cheek instead, tilting your head and nuzzling into the touch of his hand. “Riz.” You prodded him, giving him a gentle smile. You swallowed trying to disguise the huge ball of nerves you were right there, with his hand on your face as you’d dreamed all those late nights where you texted and wanted to have him there instead. After a deep breath, you closed your eyes and gave the hand on your face a gentle press against it. “I’m in love with you, I think.” You finally confessed.

Not having the time to even open your eyes, you felt your body lift off the ground, being prompted into strong arms and instinctively wrapping your arms into this person’s neck. As you were being held bridal style in the most stupidly romantic scenario, the sunset bathing both your figures and the delightful summer breeze blowing away your worries, you felt a pair of plump lips press against yours, gently, clearly filled with sentiment but still keeping the sensation as sweet.

You stared at him through half lidded eyes and finally, kissed him back, which earned a pleased grunt on his part and a small tug on your bottom lip. Then he broke off the kiss, seemingly coming back to his senses. Quickly, he dropped you off (careful not to hurt you and placing you with practiced gentleness on the ground), his expression apologetic and extremely distressed, not knowing where to place his hands. 

“Y/N I’m, I’m so immensely sorry, I didn’t mean to- Well I did but I didn’t- I don’t know if I should-” He was stuttering, he didn’t know what to say and was sincerely panicking over the simple thought of you not ever wanting to see him again, or worse, you disliking him. You gave him a small smile, pressing two fingers to your lower lip whilst relishing the sensation to yourself. When you looked back at him, he seemed to be weirdly quiet, staring at your gesture, confused. “Risotto.” You began, tentatively stretching your arm and gently touching his hand with yours with the purpose of holding his in yours. When you did, you felt him take a sharp breath in, looking at you, expectant. “…Then does this mean it was okay to-” He got cut off by himself when he shut his mouth tight after seeing you rise his hand in yours to your lips and giving it a loving kiss. 

“Risotto, please do that as many more times as you’d like. I loved it.” 

The man was over the moon, prompting you into his arms once more, this time holding you by your hips and placing another tender kiss on you, a small triumphant smile lingering on his lips.

When dating, he’d love to laze around his or your place on a couch or in bed, watching horror movies or having you rest on his lap while you let him play with your hair and hum a soft tune. He’ll only do this when you’re alone though, he won’t appear so vulnerable and soft in front of anyone else.

For your birthday, expect him to always gift you the same things. A new tiny plant, a book of his choice and an item that caters to your obscure tastes. Will it be a tarot deck, a creepy doll, an amulet this time? Who knows, only Nero knows.

He knows you love cats, so eventually, he’ll surprise you with a cute big box on Christmas, when you open it, you did not expect the tiniest, cutest kitten to be inside of it. As soon as it saw you both and meowed, you threw yourself into Risotto’s arms and showered him in kisses, which he couldn’t help but chuckle about and hold you tight so you wouldn’t fall from your monkey hug.

“See? I got her a tabby, so you can’t joke about it being bad luck.”

You just love so much this man what did you do to deserve him. 

He actually really likes to cook when he’s got the time to! So get ready for nice fancy dinner nights when you get to meet after work or on weekends!

He’s surprisingly really cuddly once you’re behind closed doors, and, well, if you suggest it, a little bit more than cuddly too.

When one summer he comes back home announcing he got a slight raise in his pay, you can’t do anything but jump from the sofa and run at him for a hug, which he takes advantage of and sweeps you off your feet, giving you a welcome kiss instead and, once you’re back down in the floor, he takes an envelope from his back pocket and gives it to you. The amount of love and pampering the Italian got that night was memorable when you noticed the contents of the envelope were plane tickets to that place you always so dearly wanted to visit.

He’ll read to you in a quiet, murmuring voice when you can’t sleep at night, having you rest against his chest or his side as he lets his reading glasses rest on the tip of his nose, which you laugh about sometimes, but he shushes you with a kiss on your forehead or the tip of your nose telling you to “quiet down and hurry sleep”.

He won’t get your bad puns at first, he’s dense like that. But, eventually, you’ll hear him let out bad puns as well when you’re at home, or whispered into your ear as you wait in line in public. You’d let out a pun and he’d look you dead into your eyes and after cracking half a smile he’ll reply with “That, wasn’t very punny of you, my dear.” Please laugh he looks so happy with his progress he’s aching for your bad pun validation.

Bruno Buccellati!

Bruno just really likes how you have this kind, easygoing nature to yourself, yet never quiet down if you want to speak out about something. Strong and kind, he thought of you very highly!

He does feel quite the scare when you mention your rather unconventional likings, but he can’t help but listen with a tender expression on his face. He can’t help it! You look so happy talking about it he just feels bound to listening.

Bruno will be very nurturing towards you. He’ll surprise you with gifts now and then. Need new art supplies? He’s got you. New books to read? He’ll take you shopping for one. Just need a hug and someone to talk with? He’ll be at your door in negative seconds. 

He gives you very good advise with your plants! He didn’t look it, but he’d read enough books about tending to plants to know his stuff when he told you.

He really likes cuddles, he lives for it. Be it after a long day at work, after an entire day in the house, a date day, even out in public, he won’t mind the stares and he’ll hold you close into a hug from behind, resting his chin on your head.

Will absolutely never let you eat takeout if his life depends on it. You either eat his home-cooking or yours, but if you do anything else, perish. (Not perish, he’d rather die for you instead but like, you get it.)

Sometimes you’ll help him out with his work by sitting next to him on his desk, and he’ll thank you with a smile, a sweet kiss and a promise of a nice dinner date. He’ll do the same for you when he’s free from his work! Though he’ll be the one to thank you for letting him help you, sitting you on his lap and spending the rest of the day into each other’s arms.

Brochup: Prosciutto!

Being his boss’s significant other, he’s bound to interact with you more often than usual. Be it him bringing you flowers or breakfast at his boss’s request or just dropping by to take some papers from the apartment, Prosciutto had gradually opened up to you. Even so much as sometimes excusing himself with a false “Risotto told me to fetch something” and spend some time at your place, sitting on the sofa with you while he rambles about his tedious work and you offer him some snacks as consolation.

He really likes you, he finds you sincere, strong and posed. He admires that on a person, and is very happy his superior had found such a partner for himself. Even sometimes, he found himself wondering what it would be like if he were the one in a relationship like yours. He held your relationship as his ideal in the romantic spectrum.

Though not a big fan of occultism, he could get behind you liking supernatural stuff. He even mentioned once he enjoyed reading about cryptid creatures online on his spare time, it was interesting, for him at least. 

You opened a whole new world to him; writing. He’d never in his life had written anything for pleasure. And there you were, telling him he could write down anything he thought about into a document on his laptop or a notebook and it would be wonderful. Not long after, he’d bring you his drafts for you to read through. You noticed he had a liking for writing poetry and short descriptive stories about his surroundings, experiences and feelings. You realized he was a very deep person, and when you pointed it out, he blushed and snatched the text from you, muttering an embarrassed “thank you”. He wasn’t good with compliments.

[taeguboi]

BTS as Boyfriends [HC]

Request:  ‘bts as boyfriends? ☺’

There’s kind of a story in each? Idk, hope you enjoy!

Warning: some nsfw mentions

Rap Monster

You fall for his intelligence and humour

He falls for your shyness around him

You finally tell a friend out loud about your crush on him

unaware that he’s nearby and within hearing distance

So he asks you out on a date

he doesn’t expect for you to want more than the one date

so you get the impression afterwards that it meant nothing to him

you try to move on

he hates watching someone else being so close to you

Everything changes;

he interrupts your conversation, not caring to be rude

“I can’t stand it anymore”

*intense kiss* *everybody cheers, huzzah!* 

Learning is suddenly more fun

school was a drag back in the day

but his stories capture your attention

You just let him sit talking for hours about a book he just read

Matching jumpers

snuggy snug snug

winter becomes more enjoyable

it’s freezing and miserable outside but

you’re sat by the fire with joonie

well laid on the couch by the fire falling asleep

as he reads you a bedtime story hahaha

you get through books together at the same time and it’s magical

there’s always something to talk about

whether it’s a debate / discussion about a book

or about something really little like 

how you each prefer something and why

and you appreciate the little differences 

but you also appreciate how you change and shape each other into better rounded human beings

excuses to be skinshippy with you

*grabs your butt*

“it looked cold”

okay I didn’t say they were good excuses...

Everyone thinks he’s this confident, outgoing guy

but when you’re around he’s all cutesy and always bumping into things

He gets so distracted by you

and he really does try not to perv on you

like he really tries

but his thoughts just come out in one big list of adjectives 

that progressively get a little nsfw

“How do I look Joonie?”

“Damn, you’re gorgeous, you’re beautiful, you’re sexy...”

*winks*

Sex isn’t limited to the bedroom

just as you think you’re seeing shy squishy joonie

he takes you into a storage cupboard mid-party

and wow

you swear it’s the best you’ve ever had in your life

but then you find you keep saying that yo yourself

he’s so attentive

it’s all about you

he doesn’t mind if you focus on him later but

it’s more fun when you put just as much attention in at the same time

because your boy gets FLUSTERED

he’s so cool until you touch him just right...

but anyway

back to fluffy content

oops

Namjoon shows you the world

all without travelling

he’s so well educated

so cultured

the works

he’s the best teacher you never asked for

everything is fun

everything is interesting

everything is awesome

and all of this is going to last a lifetime

Jin

He only has eyes for you

way before you become an item

Purposely awkward af when you’re in a conversation with someone who could be a threat

to put them off

Always asking about your well being

He’s just happy that you’re happy

getting to talk to you in the first place makes his day

but then when he asks how you are and you respond with a smile

that really hits the feels 

At first he’s so smooth

there’s nothing flawed about him

Then you find out what a dork he is

squeaky laughter

bad jokes

sorta clumsy, even

but he’s still perfect 

and still a gentleman

His friends have never seen him laugh so often in his life

you make him look even more radiant

you’re the funniest person to him

even though you never really had yourself down as ‘comedian’

he loves your type of humour

Making breakfast together

back hugs

it’s one of those little things in life

and one of those things that make you miss him more when you’re apart

One night a week is definitely date night

he never misses it or forgets

He makes everything special

even the really little anniversaries / milestones

ones you didn’t even realises were a cause for celebration

“Chocolates? Whatever for?”

“It’s been half a year since we made us public”

“Aw, Jin... You realize people don’t usually get gifts for things like that?”

“I just... I wanted to”

The most generous man

all he needs is that you return the love

and remind him of everything you love about him

especially in bed

he’s in charge

but it’s only because he likes to take care of you

he may not be as daring as some of the other members

but every inch of the house has been covered

very intimate, passionate lover

the love just makes it more special

as well as more sensual for him 

emotion is everything

and not a day goes by that he doesn’t think of you with adoration

he brings you back things from a normal food shopping trip

because he was thinking of you

he tries not to make his social media all about you

but at least 50% ends up being that

it works to his advantage though

because girls are still after him

and then that selfie he posted yesterday sends them the message 

to back off

he’s so perfect

that none of your estranged school ‘mates’ are having any of it

and after hearing this

he invades your snapchat

selfie after selfie after selfie whilst you’re asleep

and whilst you’re not sure you appreciate that one shot of you being asleep

it shuts all the haters right up

and now they’re probably crying 

oh well

he is proud to show you off

“hey everyone! look at this amazing thing my girlfriend/boyfriend did!”

he’ll do anything to make you laugh

anything

if you’re having a bad day then that just won’t do

he’s taking you out

or he’s treating you for a night in

and he’s definitely treating you to his dad jokes

and then you’re in stitches

Jin makes you forget everything that sucks about life

Suga

Too shy to start talking to you

but somehow you exchange numbers one day

So it becomes a heavily text-based friendship that you form

He has to be sure he won’t make a fool of himself

Actions are louder than words

he might not say much about how he feels about you

but there’s gestures every day

like how he brings you coffee to work

or how he offers to pay for food

you figure it out eventually

and you really like him to

but how to say it?...

so anyway, one day, you kiss

you know, casual

“so does this mean...?...”

yes

bam! you’re a couple!

You complete him

and he can’t imagine life without you

nights without you in his bed are lonely

People think he’s cold and indifferent

but you make him soft soft soft

like he’ll pretend not to be ticklish

oh but hahahahaha you find out he is

“Ah! Jagiyaaaa! Hahahahahah!”

Just hug him all the time

sometimes you complain about how you look

but he just smiles at you and you know what it means

Only you can stop him from over-working

he’s just sat at his laptop, eyebrows furrowed

talk dirty to him so he doesn’t go insane

don’t forget to wear his clothes

he loves watching you roam the house in an over sized shirt

those similarities are what he holds onto

if there’s no common ground, then what would be the point, huh?

sharing is caring

one headphone each on bus journeys

you can have some of his fries at the takeaway

big cocktail for you both to have on a night out

under the same blanket on colder days

he loves it when you unexpectedly touch him

drives him crazy

one minute it’s all innocent and lovey dovey

then your hand is on his dick and fuuuuck

too soon?

nah

the programme you were watching is forgotten about

so is all his sense of surroundings

the curtains are wide open and there you are pumping him up and down

and he doesn’t even notice or care

fuck he loves you

not just because of that obvs

but after your first time initiating something more sexual 

he does not stop thinking about you

like holy shit this is real

yippie

he loves your kisses

he can’t go a day without

well he can but it’s torture

when aren’t his hands on your waist?

and fuck he still can’t stop kissing you

not too much in public of course

but at home in mid conversation

after every sentence

until there’s just like half an hour silence 

and you’re smooching each other’s faces off

you’ll never feel short of love or attention with Yoongi

J-Hope

As soon as he notices you: personality turnaround

Cool, manly, swagger

not a precious easily shook bby at all

He’s kinda distracting

like you’re trying to work here, but

he’s too funny and handsome

and he knows it, even though he’s too modest to admit it

But then one day something moves abruptly

and he gets shook and it’s the cutest thing to you

but he’s so embarrassed 

he could just run away forever 

because he thinks he done fcked up

wrong!

“aw, cute” you respond

*dorky grin emerges on Hobi’s face*

*comes into work next day on a motorbike* 

[think j-dope era]

You make it clear that this doesn’t change your new impression of him

The typical ‘chase’ love story

He likes you but you take a while to give him the time of day to make sure he’s worth it

and he is worth it

there’s like a solid week where he brings you something everyday

and you don’t want this poor boy emptying his wallet so fast

so you give in to how you feel

“okay, okay! I’ll go on a date with you”

but you insist on paying the bill to make up for his troubles

but he won’t have it

you eventually agree to split the bill

and that starts the foundations for

a completely equal relationship

what you give is what you get

a problem shared is a problem halved

and all the other cliches about sharing

excitable cutie pie

“Y/n! Y/n! Y/n!”

Yeah, he’s kind of gathered that he can’t hide his true self from you

He wants to discover the world with you

he takes risks and tries new things for you

he tries to be braver than he really is

“Let’s go on the rollercoaster y/n!”

“Are you sure Hobi? You screamed so much last time...”

“Well, yeah... 

“... That was my first time...

“... and I didn’t know for sure if it was safe...”

sure hobi, sure

The best team

your respective skills combined are all powerful

you can solve any problem together

you become that couple that are great at creating other couples

so many couples dates come out of it

it’s because you’re good at learning people’s true personalities fast

and he’s the best persuader

oh and he’s great at suggesting places to go

everyone enjoys the company of both of you

if only one of you can attend something

everyone asks about the other

you come as a package

“we” instead of “I” comes out in sentences a lot

but it’s not that either of you are too clingy

you both genuinely enjoy each other’s company for extended periods of time

like one day it’ll be like

“it’s the weekend and a bit rubbish weather to go do anything so d’ya wanna come over for the afternoon to watch some movies?”

and then next thing you know

it’s Friday next week

and you’ve been there all this time

whoops

Tries to hide when he’s in the mood at a bad time

but he talks slow and deep without meaning to

so he can never hide from you

and whilst he doesn’t have to tell you he’s turned on

you have your little methods of making him say it aloud

like when you grab his thigh

and then he’s like

“oh fuck I need you”

y/n at your service hobi...

you’re so good to him

that bless his soul

he always says ‘thank you’ afterwards

“you don’t need to thank me Hobi”

“but that was great”

bless

everything is still special as the relationship progresses

and whilst he’s always loved referring to you as his girlfriend / boyfriend

he loves it even more when he gets to say ‘fiance’

fairy tale wedding

he’s like a prince

honeymoon at disney world

because it’s everything your relationship stands for

the rides where Hobi takes risks for you

the fairy tale like love for each other

you even each go for the makeover package one day

it’s probably cringe to a lot of people

but you’re his wife / husband now so he doesn’t care

Jimin

Admires you from a distance

he hates how his friends can so easily talk to you

he wants to be more like them, so he tries hard

Finally, he plucks up the courage to initiate and engage in a proper conversation

“Hey” with a shy smile

Suddenly you become besties

there’s something about Jimin you trust deeply in

He can’t stop smiling around you

you can’t stop smiling around him

eventually you both figure it out

At first, his jaw is aching from all the smiling

he eventually builds up that stamina though

“You’re so pretty”

random compliments for days

giggly couple

you make each other smile too much

your relationship kind of brings him out of his shell

but he will probably always be shy chimchim

and you’re both low key in public

but everyone can see how you look at each other

You’re surprised at how chatty he gets under the covers

because of how shy he usually is

but the bedroom is a totally different story!

“you like that?”

“am I treating you good honey?”

pure fucking sin

like  w h e r e  d i d  t h i s  s i d e  o f  m y  c h i m c h i m  c o m e  f r o m

you call him out on it after a few times

and he’s just like

“what? I was just really getting into it”

and he somehow says that with such innocence

that you’d think he was talking about just a song or something

his voice is music to your ears

seeing ‘I love you’ in a text just isn’t the same

I mean, of course it still means a lot

but you get goosebumps when he says it face to face

adventures in town for hours

it doesn’t matter if no one has money

it’s the quality time that counts

and there are still some free things to enjoy

window shopping and speculating the future

museums

sightseeing

checking out buskers

he doesn’t even dress up particularly for those days

but you’re still impressed

when he’s running about town 

you just admire his sweater paws

or he’s reaching up for something in a shop 

and a bit of hip shows 

and you admire how beautiful his skin tone is

you end up scrimping together like 50p for a second hand film

and it’s rubbish

but it doesn’t matter

you can make your own fun anyway

I’m not saying no one ever has money

the point is that you don’t need it to have a good time together

He’s so glad he plucked up the courage that day way back when to talk to you

V

Doesn’t beat around the bush

Knows instantly that he has a crush

allows a suitable period of time in which he can get to know you

Asks you out on a date when the time is right

Not afraid to flirt and be a dork

says the most random things

“have you ever thought about what makes a krabby patty?”

I have lots of theories about this but not the right place 

and he’s so random

but it only draws you in more

because he’s intriguing

slightly mysterious even

but there’s one he’s crystal clear on

“I really like you y/n”

“I really like you too”

yes, it’s actually as simple as that

He is the most fun boyfriend EVER

it helps that he learned so much about you at the beginning

surprise day trips 

little games he’s created

as well as existing games

he makes bets that he knows he will lose

because he wants to treat you

“I bet you won’t find me within 5 minutes in a game of hide and seek!”

“You’re on!”

“Loser has to cook dinner!”

and then he chooses a really bad hiding place

like under a glass table 

or behind curtains that don’t reach the ground

and then it turns out the fridge is already choc-a-bloc

sometimes you worry he’s too thoughtful

like that time he skipped something important 

just to see you when you were sick

or when he gives you his jacket when it’s freezing cold

but of course you appreciate it

He’s not afraid to flaunt your relationship

costume party? you have to dress up; 

he insists you’re gonna be the best dressed couple there

Never forget how special you are

he’s saved himself for you

he always wanted to wait for the right person

and he was going to wait til marriage

but realises that is perhaps outdated

and he feels way too much for you for this not to be genuine

and you show it back too, more than enough for reassurance

[you choose whether you’re showing him the way or if it’s new to you too]

it’s extremely intimate

doesn’t forget to tell you at least 5 times he loves you during

remind him he’s the one and he’ll be putty in your hands

loved up

sexed up

the first time quickly leads into the second third and fourth time

as you spend the entire day in your dressing gowns

it’s a true bonding experience

excuse the unintended pun

you will never feel unloved by tae tae

Jungkook

Shy but treats you like a friend

if he’s giving you witty comments and teasing you then

he definitely has a crush on you

Will fite you

Gaming marathon? You’re on!

all of it is a just quest to impress you though

and all of this happens often over time

and you begin to notice him more

and feel that he has the potential to be more than your friend

so yep, another gaming marathon

intense flirting

heck, he’s surprising himself big time

“what are you gonna do about it?” he says with a smirk

yet he isn’t surprised when 

he realises it’s because he’s gotten so comfortable around you

so back to what he said

this is where things get taken up a notch

so what are you gonna do about it?

“depends what you have in mind, kook”

and he knows with your tone that you mean

“either you bust my ass on this game right now or you drop that console and do something about this tension”

that bit is unspoken of course ^

he pauses the game

but he hasn’t let go of the console

he just looks at you 

you’re looking back at him trying not to hyperventilate

and then he goes for it

game forgotten about

“come here”

???

“y/n?”

you follow his instruction

this is new - a demanding jungkook

you like it really though

“now, I could be reading this wrong, but...”

*intense passionate kiss*

but afterwards

Still can’t look you in the eye

“Jungkook, you know you can make eye contact with me after...”

and then you pauses because oops you’re hanging with friends

“After WHAT y/n??”

and you’re both shook

“Jungkook?? What happened?!?”

you hang your heads down

and I think your mates assume you fucked or something

even though there was only a kiss

so no one mentions it 

because of your lack of response on their questioning back there

so you guys get the space you need 

to get your heads around what’s going on here

and actually nothing happens for a good while

the intense friendship continues

until one day

you’re at a party

and he can’t fucking take it anymore

*takes you by the hand to a bedroom*

ooh

then your friends are certain something is going on

when one of them catches you at the party leaving said room

and this is where they bug you both constantly

until you have to ask

“so... what’s going on here?”

“to tell you the truth y/n... I can’t stop thinking about you”

“I can’t stop thinking about you either”

*cutesy kiss*

*less cutesy kiss*

*intense make out*

*low key touching*

yep it’s happening again whoops

so less of the hanky panky talk

til later that is

it’s one of those “they finally got together” things

everyone deep down thought you’d make a good match

it was hard to unsee

once you realise how similar you two are

but not too similar of course

there’d have been no intense banter without those differences

yeah you ‘argue’ a lot

but it’s just part of the passion you have for each other

yeah I’m not going for long without this talk lmao idk what my deal is today

Sensitive lil boy

Whisper in his ear and his boxers tighten

“Problem Jeonggukkie?”

“Yah jagi! That was mean...”

you know because you’re in public

and you know how easy it is to get to him in that way

“guys seriously get a room!”

again, whoops

You still do all those other things you did as mates

you’re basically mates but with a romantic aspect

‘dickhead’ means ‘you’re a loveable idiot’

‘yeah right’ means ‘you’re probably right but I’m not admitting that’

‘fuck’s sake’ means ‘that joke was terrible but really, I find it funny’

it’s like you don’t say what you mean

but you know what each other means

and there’s no overthinking about it

To an outsider, you guys seem extremely casual but this relationship means the world

Hope you guys enjoyed! Headcanon Masterlist

[read-the-reid]

Jean Pockets

Summary: Sam and Dean go out for a hunt while you stay behind since Jody, Donna, and the girls are coming to the bunker for Thanksgiving. You tell him to hurry back because there are some naughty things waiting for him when he returns. Pairing: Dean x Reader Warnings: SMUT, unprotected sex, language, lovey-dovey fluff Word Count: 5,350 A/N - so I ended up in New Orleans this past weekend and took my laptop with me to write while I was there and that was a huge fail. So...sorry about that. Anyways, this fluff mess is sorta kinda partially based off a dream I had the other night. Enjoy. I know I did. 

You hated when Dean left for a hunt without you. You hated staying in the bunker while he and Sam went out and risked their lives every second they were gone. Most hunts you would tag along and stay in the motel and answer a call if some local cop decides they need to talk to the boys’ supervisor. You tried to get Dean to let you come with him but he insisted you stay behind to welcome Jody, Donna, and the girls when they got here. As much as you hated it, he was right.

As you walk into the kitchen to start dinner for yourself you stop. You look around and can’t help but smile. It had been almost four years since you met the Winchester boys. 

“Hello, I’m Agent Green and this here is my partner Agent Darenn, FBI, we are here to look into the string of disappearances starting with Fiona Cox,” the shorter one who identified himself as Agent Green informed you.

“Well Agents sorry to waste your time and money, but we don’t need any help from the feds, we have it covered. So just have your-,” you were cut off before you could tell them to have their supervisor give our office if that was a problem.

“Oh, Y/N, it’s fine. I called them. They are friends of mine, just needed an outside opinion from some familiar faces. Oh boy is it good to see your faces? You two sure are a sight for sore eyes, man I’ve missed the both of ya,” Donna pulled the boys in for a hug and they seemed to gladly accept and reciprocate. “Sam, Dean, this is Y/N, the new girl I got on my team. The one I was telling you about.”

You blushed at the thought of Donna talking about you to two very attractive men and for what reason you had no clue. The one named Dean was quick to throw smirks and glances your way, making your heart melt and your palms sweaty. What in the hell had come over you? He was Donna’s friend and they made him off limits. Even so, every time Dean would look at you or ask you a question your heart rate would speed and you would get nervous for no reason. You knew he was trouble. Any man who was this good at making a girl feel like this with just looks and a couple of questions was bad news period. So when he told you he was in town for a few days and asked if you wanted to go out for coffee you said no. Or at least that is what your brain had wanted to say. Your mouth had other plans.

“Sure. That sounds great.”

“Great, um, meet me at Castle’s at seven?” he let the question linger, letting you seal the deal, giving you the chance to back out if you wanted to.

“Yeah, that uh, that’s perfect. I’ll see you there.”

  Four years. Four years of wild adventures and drunk nights and memories to last a lifetime, and you can only go forward from here. You pull out a pot to boil water for pasta. You were in the mood for homemade alfredo tonight. You were in the middle of preparing the ingredients when you heard footsteps behind you. You turn around to see Dean carrying a duffel bag on his shoulder and his car keys in his hands. He was in his everyday jeans and a red flannel. His boots tied haphazardly with absolutely no precision and his hair a messy tuft of brown.

“Hey babe,” you set down the box of pasta and make your way over to him. You wrap your arms around his waist and look up at him. “you guys headed out?”

He set his duffel bag down and put his keys in his pocket. His hands slowly make it up your sides and to your face. “Yes, and know you hate when we leave without you, but I need you here and I need you safe. Plus, the girls will be coming to town tomorrow and I don’t think Sammy and I will be back in time. So, you, my very lovely, very beautiful girlfriend will have to be here to greet them and welcome them to our humble underground abode.” He flashes you a smile that still makes you weak in the knees. 

He kisses your forehead and unwraps your arms around his waist. He makes his way to the fridge and rummages through it looking for something to snack on. He finds a leftover chicken finger and sticks it in his mouth. You laugh at him and turn around to continue cooking. He walks up behind you and wraps his arms around you and places a kiss on your cheek. Your movements still and you catch your breath. Moments like this are your favorite. Domestic moments. Small kisses in the kitchen as you cook, or doing laundry together, or even sitting down and getting cuddled up to watch a random re-run of Friends. No Lucifer, no demons, no apocalypse, nothing evil.

You turn around and look into his green eyes. “I love you so much. You know that right?” You know he knows, but you like to make sure he hears it.

“Yes, and I hope you realize I love you more than you could ever know.” He places his hands on your cheeks and presses his lips to yours. The kiss is gentle but it is full of meaning and full of love. You reach up and tangle your fingers in his already unruly hair. He pulls your body closer to his and you know if you don’t put a stop to this now, he will not be leaving this bunker any time soon. You disconnect yourself from his lips and softly run your fingers down his face. he closes his eyes and leans into your touch and lets out a breath. “Woman, I swear you will be the death of me.”

“Yeah well, I hope that is many many years down the road. I’m not yet finished with you just yet.” You slide your hands behind him and reach for his back pockets and laugh when Dean mumbles a ‘not again’. You slide your hands into his back pockets and give the slightest squeeze to his butt and plant a kiss on his lips.

“You know I have never understood your need to do this to my butt every time I leave.” His rolls his eyes as dramatically as he possibly can and plants a kiss on your nose. 

“Because I really love your butt.”

“Well, my butt really has to leave now. I love you. I will see you in a few days. Tell the girls I say hello when they get here.” He grabs his bag off the floor and makes his way out of the kitchen and shouts one last ‘I love you’ before making his way to the garage. 

You get an idea that may give Dean a little pep in his step to get back as soon as possible. You jog through the bunker and into the garage just in time. Dean stops the car, rolls his window down and raises an eyebrow at you. You lean into the car and give him one last kiss then lean in closer to his ear so you know that Sammy can’t hear, “I know you have this case and all, but hurry back because there is a lot of dirty sex waiting for you when you get back.” You move away from him before you can get a reaction and shout to Sam to keep him safe and alive as you walk back into the bunker. You smile to yourself as you make your way to the kitchen again. These next few days were going to be hell, but it will definitely be worth it.

The first night by yourself went by pretty easy. You cleaned a lot of the bunker to get ready for all the girls to show up.The second night was a little lonely but bearable. It was now nearing noon on Monday and you had just gotten a call from Jody to tell you that everybody was about ten minutes out. You thanked the evil angels above because you felt as if you were slowly going mad sitting in the bunker all alone with nothing to do and no one to talk to. You needed human contact. You finally hear the bunker door open and hear the laughter of all the girls bounce off of the war room walls. You grab a few beers from the fridge and make your way to the bottom of the stairs to greet them. 

“Hey! Come on in your guys. Feel free to throw your stuff anywhere for now. You had to carry it down those windy stairs, take a load off. Have a beer.” You step over bags to hug Donna trying not to drop any of the beers you are holding. It has been way too long since you have seen her.

“Don’t mind if I do,” Claire reaches for one of the beers. You move them out of her reach as you, Donna, and Jody all say a chorus of ‘nice try.’ Claire shrugs her shoulders and laughs. She leans in and wraps her arms around you for a hug. “Was worth a shot. How you been Y/N?”

“Been good. Really good actually,” you smile to yourself. “Been going a little stir crazy all alone in here since the boys left Friday evening. You guys arrived just in time to prevent a full-on manic episode.”

Alex laughs and takes one of the beers you had in your hands. You hand the others to Jody and Donna as you finish your round of hugs. 

“You must be Patience. It’s nice to finally meet you. My name is Y/N, I’m Dean’s girlfriend.” You offer a hug and she is slow to accept but after a few seconds, she wraps her arms around you. 

Everybody makes their way to the bunkers library as you grab a few more beers from the fridge. You sit down in a chair as Donna starts talking.

“So, tell us all the good Winchester gossip.”

You smile wide. Man have you missed this bunch of girls. You all sit in the library and swap stories ranging from all the different hunts we have all been on lately to the current standing of the angel predicament. You were in the middle of teasing Claire for having a crush on a hunter she had come by named Mitchell when the bunker door opens. Your smile widens and you get out of your chair to rush into Dean’s arms.

“Hey, there babe. Miss me?” He wraps you in his arms and kisses the top of your head before tilting your head up and planting a quick kiss on your lips. 

You hug him tighter and kiss the corner of his mouth. “More than you will ever know.” Sam clears his throat next to the two of you. “I missed you too, Sam. Just maybe a little less,” you shot a wink at Dean and the three of you laugh.

Sam pulls you in for a hug and kisses the side of your head. “As much as I hate to admit I missed having you on this hunt.”

You separate from Sam and press your self into Dean’s side as you all walk towards the library. Sam and Dean do their rounds of hugs and hellos and as if they were never missing, you all sat down, you now cuddled on Dean’s lap, asking how the hunt was. They informed you it was just a cut and dry vamp nest. Small. No more than ten. After about forty-five minutes Deans speaks up.

“Well girls, as much as I have loved catching up, I am exhausted. I am gonna turn in for the night. I will see you all in the morning. You all have your pick of rooms, there are plenty here.” Dean pats your hips signaling for you to get up. You stand with him and give him a kiss as he goes off to bed.

“Rooms are down these two halls here,” you point to the two hallways branching off of the library. “Bathrooms are spaced sporadically between all the rooms. So if you just look hard enough and you will find them, I am going to go lay with my boyfriend. Love you guys, I will see you in the morning.” Sam and the girls say their goodnights to you and continue talking among themselves. 

You walk the hallway and make your way to Dean’s room. You turn the corner and Dean’s movements catch your eye. You lean yourself up against his door frame and admire what you get to call yours. He reaches over his head and removes his shirt and throws it on the floor. You ogle his back muscles as they contract and ripple. You have always loved his back, there was just something about it that drove you crazy. The way his shoulder blades would move or the way it looked in a tight shirt. You silently get into the room and close the door. As he reaches down to undo his belt you walk up behind him and snake your arms around his hips. You get on your tiptoes and press your lips to his neck.

“Here, let me,” you grab the buckle and undo his belt for him. You slide it out of the loops and throw it on the floor to be found at a later time. You unbutton his pants and run your fingers along the hem of his boxers.

“I am fully capable of undressing myself, you know. I am a grown man,” he turns his head and kisses your lips forcefully. He turns his body to face you as you kiss down his neck.

“I’m well aware of how grown you are, Winchester, I just enjoy taking your clothes off,” you pause. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll let you take my clothes off.”

He smiles. “Works for me.”

Dean grabs your ass and lifts you off of the ground. You wrap your legs around his waist and your arms around his neck. He kisses his way down your neck, biting down softly every few inches or so. You let out a moan as you tangle your fingers in his hair. You feel your body hit the bed, Dean’s body pressing you into the mattress, his face still buried in your neck. His hands wander your body until they find their way to the hem of your shirt. He lifts your shirt over your head and tosses it onto the floor. He reaches behind you and unhooks your bra, you hold the cups to your chest and let the straps slide down your shoulders. You drop your bra onto the floor along with your guys’ clothes. Dean runs his hands up and down your body, sending chills up your spine.

“God, you are so beautiful.” He looks at you with admiration in his eyes that you have never seen before. His lips are parted and his breathing begins to pick up the longer he looks at you. His eyes flicker to meet yours and he flashes you a smile that makes the heat between your legs almost unbearable.

You push his jeans down and off of his legs along with his boxers. You hear his jeans hit the floor as you roll the two of you over so you are on top. You take in every detail of him, locking it into memory. The way his lips part as he breathes, the way his eyes hood and his head rolls back when you grind into him. Every line and every muscle in his chest. The way his hips thrust up unintentionally when you press your cloth covered center onto him. He doesn't make a move to take control just yet.

“Y/N, I love you, I really do, but if you don’t do something right now I am going to go insane. Please,” the words are strained and he hisses when you rake your fingernails along his stomach.

“But, baby, I like seeing you beg.”

“Y/N,” he warns, or at least the best he could. You knew he was trying to sound intimidating but it came out a grunt. Another jolt of his hips and you end the torture.

“Do your worst, Winchester.” You lean down and whisper. You press your lips to his, letting him take control. 

The second the words leave your mouth, you are flipped over and pinned to the bed. He reaches between the two of you and drags your panties down your legs, pushing them off the sheets. He runs his fingers up your thigh stopping at your wet folds. He spreads your legs and places himself between your knees, lowering himself on top of you.

“It’s a good thing you can’t hear anything through these walls,” and with that sentence, he thrusts into you. Your back arches and a loud moan leaves your mouth. Your arms wrap around his neck and you pull him close to you. His movements still and he wraps an arm around you back. He doesn’t make a move to continue and every attempt you make to move he holds you still.

“Dean, please, fucking move,” you move your hips trying to get any friction possible but he holds your hips still. Dean huffs a small laugh and rolls you around so that you are sitting on top of him. 

You lean forward and grab onto the headboard. His hands grip you hard enough to leave bruises; you moan knowing you will have marks of him in the morning. You grind your hips into him, causing him to grunt. “Stop moving.”

He lifts your body up by your hips and pushes into you at a speed that makes your head swirl. You find his pace and start bouncing back down onto him. You throw your head back letting out noises that are somewhere in between screams and moans. The feeling of him inside you sends pleasure to every single one of your nerve endings. You place a hand on his chest to steady yourself on top of him. His thrusts become irregular and the sounds that are coming from him send your stomach in a whirl. 

“Dean, I-I’m close. Don’t stop.” The words coming out in a whine.

Dean grunts, slamming into you. He pushes himself all the way into you and stills. His hips stutter as he cums inside of you. The feeling pushing you over the edge. You press your lips to his and your moans are muffled through the kiss. Your body shakes through your orgasm, your toes curl and your back arches. Your breathing slows and you roll onto the bed, covering yourself with the blanket.

“Y/N I have no idea why you’re covering up, we’re both a mess.”

“Just give me second to catch my breath and we’ll go take a shower.” No more than ten seconds later your naked body is hoisted into his arms. You yelp as he carries you toward the bathroom bridal style. You lock eyes with him and you smile. Your heart skips a beat; you have never been so in love.

**

“Guys, you honestly don’t need to help me with the food.” Jody and Donna had woken up shortly after you and insisted they help with the food. 

The turkey was already in the oven and pies were baked. You had made sure to make more than enough knowing Dean will probably eat one all by himself. You were currently setting the table while Jody and Donna peeled potatoes.

“We insisted. So we will help. Plus we won’t leave you to cook this much food alone. The boys eat massive amounts to begin with, and now you are adding five people. We are helping.” Jody laughs.

The three of you get into a rhythm and finish everything within a reasonable amount of time. Dean had woken up about two hours after you and made his way into the kitchen to say good morning. You then promptly shooed him out of the kitchen. Sam poked in to say hello and hug everybody and escorted himself out. The girls never can to say good morning but every once in a while you could hear them argue about something so you knew they were all awake. Once all the food was finished and ready to serve you made your way into the library where everybody was to tell them food is ready.

“Hey guys, the food’s ready.” Everybody gets up and rushes past you toward the kitchen muttering their thanks.

Dean gets up and walks towards you, “I love you. Thank you.”

You furrow your eyebrows. “For what?”

“Well for starters, the food. I would have been good with takeout.”

“It’s Thanksgiving. It’s a special day. I wanted to do this for you guys, and I wanted everybody here. I wanted our family here.”

Dean smiles at you. He presses a kiss to your lips and pulls you into his arms. “How did I get so lucky for you to fall in love with me?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” you rest your head on his chest and hug him closer. 

You look up and into Dean’s eyes and you felt as if you could cry. If someone had told you two years ago that you would be where you are right now you would have laughed in their face and probably stabbed them or something. You never thought yourself capable of loving someone with everything in you and truly never believed you deserved for someone to love you the way Dean does.

Your mind filled with memories of you and Dean Winchester from the past couple years. 

The first time you two had kissed. It was about three months after the two of you had met. He was in town for another case and you had run into him at a bar. You had a few too many drinks, thanks to him ever so generously buying more and more for you, that you had just kissed him. In the middle of his sentence. Then ran away. He told you a year later that that had been the moment he knew he would do anything to be with you.

The time he (awkwardly) asked you to be his girlfriend. It was about a year after you had learned the truth about what was really out there, and about six months after you had left the police department, much to Donna’s dismay, to commit to hunting full time. You loved it. You didn’t hunt now nearly as much because of a bad vamp nest about a year ago. But back then it was exhilarating. You had found a case in Kansas and told the boys you would be in town. You and the boys had stayed in contact after you learned the truth and teamed up on some cases if you were both there. The case had been easy. Werewolf. The job was down after a few days. You had all gone out for drinks and Dean stopped you as you were leaving and asked you if you wanted to “like date permanently or whatever” you laughed at him saying yes you would “date him permanently”.

So many memories are running through your head when Dean catches your attention. “What’s going on up there Y/N?” he smiles at you.

“I was just thinking about the time you asked me to date you permanently. I was terrified, but I’m glad I said yes.” you smile at him, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

He chuckles. “You were terrified then, I’m terrified now, I guess that makes right now the perfect time, huh?” He backs up from you and backs up. He looks at you with a hint of fear in his eyes.

“What are you talking about?” He says nothing. “Dean?”

“The day I met you, you basically told me to fuck off of a case. It took everything in me to not start laughing at you. You were so cute,” he moves you and sits you down in a chair. “you had this fire in you that I loved. I knew I needed to see you again. I did everything to see you again. I-”

“Dean, what is going on? Why are you saying this?” You cut him off, confused.

“Fine, I’ll skip to the end. Y/N you have been apart of our lives for almost four years, and it has been the absolute best four years of my life. It has been full of love and light and home-cooked meals,” you both laugh. “You used to tell me that you didn’t deserve to be loved, but that is the furthest thing from the truth. You deserve all the love in the world plus a little more. You deserve a big house with a white fence with a businessman husband and three kids. You deserve a life that I cannot give you.”

Had it not been for the smile on Dean’s face, that last line would have made you begin to panic.

“You kept telling me that you don’t want that life, that you want a life here with me, with monsters, and fake badges, and takeout food, and it took me a really long time to believe that. Not because I thought you were lying, but because I thought you were too good to be true. I thought you would realize one day that you were way too good for me and leave me. I finally got my head out of my ass, thank god, and realized you weren’t going anywhere. I love you more and more everyday Y/N, and you give me a reason to come home every night and a reason to wake up every morning. I don’t ever want there to be a day in time where you aren’t mine. I want you to be my partner in life and in the fake FBI forever. I had plans for this later and in front of everybody but right now felt like a perfect time. So,”

Dean’s words had tears spilling out of your eyes and your cheeks hurt from smiling so hard. He grabs your hand and lowers himself down onto one knee. Your heart skips a beat. He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a small wooden box. You feel the air leave your lungs and you grab Dean’s hand.

“Dean Winchester, what are you doing?” Your eyes widen as he takes the top of the box off and pulls out a ring. Tears are nonstop at this point, refusing to not leave your eyes. 

“Y/N Y/L/N, I love you, I love you more than I have ever loved anyone in this world. Please, marry me?”

You are sobbing at this point. Ugly crying like no other. 

“YES! Yes, you big loser. Oh, my god! Yes, yes, yes, yes. Come here!” You pull his face to yours and kiss him. You are interrupted by a chorus of applause. The two of you break apart to see everyone standing in the doorway of the library.

You wipe the tears from your face and get up from the chair, Dean following from the floor. Dean slips the ring onto your left hand and kisses you one last time. You walk towards everybody with Dean by your side. Alex and Claire meet you halfway and crash into the two of you with a hug. 

“Oh my god! Let me see the ring!” You hold your hand out for the girls to look at. They are congratulating you and asking about wedding details you when everybody else approaches.

 Jody has tears in her eyes as she envelops the both of you. 

“Congratulations you two. I’m so very happy for you two,” Jody wipes the tears from her eyes. Donna doing the same.

You excuse yourself and make your way around the two women towards Sam. “It’s official, you’re going to have an annoying little sister.” You wave the ring in his face, laughing. He hugs you, laughing. 

“You know he bought that ring two years ago?” 

“What?”

“Yeah, came home with it one day during that week you were up north with Donna. I was shocked. I didn’t know what to say to him. I asked him when he was going to ask you and he said and I quote ‘No time soon, but I am sure about her, I just need to be prepared in the moment presents itself’. He has carried that little box in his pocket for two years now. I was beginning to think he was never going to do it.”

“Well, I am very glad that he did.”

You feel Dean wrap his arm around you and press a kiss to the side of your forehead. You lean into him and wrap yourself into his arms. Sam walks around the two of you to join everybody behind you. You look at Dean with a look he knows in your eyes.

“Go ahead and tell them,” he laughs, getting everyone's attention. 

“Tell us what?” Claire asks.

“Well, we might as well at this point. Much longer and you’ll figure it out themselves. I’m pregnant.” You are greeted with another round of hugs and tears. 

“How far along are you?” the question coming from Alex.

“Four months. Due sometime in April,” Dean answers.

Sam’s eyebrows shoot up. “Four months? You kept this a secret for four months?” his smile betrays any hint of being upset. 

We had debated telling Sam, but wanted to tell everyone together and once you told him that, he understood. 

“When in April are you due? I want to take some time off and come visit when the baby arrives.” Donna asks.

“She will be arriving April 27th,” you answer, rubbing your hand over your stomach.

Sam, Donna, and Patience all shout “She?” together.

“Yes, she. Baby Scarlett.” Dean puts his hand over your still flat stomach. 

“That is a beautiful name.” Jody wipes a tear from her cheek.

“Scarlett Jody Winchester,” you look at Jody and her eyes well up with even more tears. “Scarlett after Y/N’s grandmother and Jody after the strongest, most supportive woman we know.”

Jody moves to hug you. You hug her as she cries into you, tears welling up in your own eyes at this point. “You guys, I swear you are trying to make me cry at this point.”

“I hope they are happy tears!” you chuckle.

“Oh, of course, they are!” she hugs you once again.

Once everything calms down and everybody has dried their happy tears you all make your way back towards the kitchen to eat the dinner that had been cooked. You sat down at the table surrounded by the people you love most. The people who would do anything for you, people you would do anything for. Your heart beat full of love and full of promise. A promise of a good and happy life. You were bringing a life into the world. A life that was half you and half Dean. This child was going to be a handful, but you were looking forward to every single moment of it. 

You look around you and see smiles and happiness, you hear laughter and excitement, you feel love and acceptance and friendship. When you had first found out you were pregnant, both you and Dean had been worried raising a child in a hunting life given how he grew up, but looking around you knew this child would never know loneliness, she would never know abandonment, she would feel support, and warmth, and endless amounts of love. 

She will have a home. She will have a family. She will know love.

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[survivor-ingary]

Episode 2 - "I DON'T WANT THE MYSTERY MOUSE-CA-TOOL BESTIE" - Ellie

At the tribal, Ping was voted out of the Pendragon Tribe nearly unamimously. Tribal immunity for this round is Pictionary.

I bet all these bitches know i voted for Keith and now they are going to come kill me in my sleep if i die i blame dylan

yass round 2 i either think im in the best position on this tribe or theyre all secretly coming for me thats all

Tribal went as well as I expected it to go. No major drama. It seems like Keith is in real trouble if we do go to tribal again though which would put me in a very tricky spot. For now, though, I will be trying my best in the upcoming challenge. The problem is, however, timezones and schedules. Jon is going to be our drawer, but he can only do it tonight or in the early afternoon tomorrow which I will not be there for. Additionally, Keith is asleep so we have no idea what his schedule is going to be so we basically had to schedule the challenge without him. And Nya could only do right before the deadline tomorrow which Jon cannot do. I hate this for us, truly. I just hope that Moth and I can rub our brain cells together for this one so that we can pull out a win. OR somehow the other tribes fail horribly. On the bright side, I am finally starting to catch up on Duolingo exercises. They're a lot easier than I thought, but it is still going to be tedious af to save up enough coins for some of the higher end products at the shop. As a final note, I am going to work with Nya in the long term as we promised each other to. Hopefully that actually works out. Time to actually be loyal and be a hero this time around. Need to try something different.

If we lose this challenge, I will be very upset. We went so hard on this challenge!!! I believe that we can at least get second place, but I don't know how crazy the other tribes are. So, let's see what goes on

Ayyyyy soooooooo looks like the four, Colin, me, Ava, and Brayden are officially in an alliance!? I’m really hyped to be working with everybody and already have sights on who should go if we have to go to tribal 👀 but like I’m gonna feel so bad if we go to tribal and I orchestrate a whole plan to take someone out I gotta do it when I’m not in my feels and the planets aren’t fucking with my emotions too heavy. But go alliance ! This means I’ll be able to stay safe until hopefully a merge and hopefully we can avoid a tribe swap till then which I get those vibe from it !! But I’ll be here to survive two more tribals just in case which is pretty rad. Other then that hopefully me offering to draw doesn’t end us up in the bottom and we can keep killing ! But anyways that is it as off know hopefully I have a lot more coins tomorrow morning and I get hit the hat shop bright and motherfucking early.

Just got asked to be apart of an alliance <33333 the besties in the group trust me which maybe ain't the right move but for now we gotta love the bonding. exciting!!!

YAY FOR ROUND 2! Okay, so I meet once again with the Hat Shop and... third times the charm! Except,,, the charm is getting nothing AGAIN lmao I'm not complaining though, still got that extra vote :P I stayed up at 1 AM for this challenge, and I honestly think our team popped off. Anastasia was guessing a ton, and Riley was amazing at drawing real quick! I have a relatively good feeling about our performance, so I hope I wake up to the news of our tribe being immune :D

so yesterday I set myself on a mission to get an alliance. I wanted Ava + Brayden + Toph + me as a majority alliance. it was our day off from tribal so I thought it was the perfect day to do it!! I talked to Brayden about it first because he's the person I feel the most comfortable with, and then after a lot of coordination and careful communication I was able to pull it together!! I think the most important thing when making alliances is making everyone feel like they're a big part in it. So I was careful to ask each person how they feel about the others, about the game, and made a point to say that I wanted to work with them specifically. Some may call that a little manipulative, but I wanna make sure that I'm an essential part of the alliance!! i need everyone to feel like they need/want me there.

all of this happening so soon into the game is a testament to how aggressive I'm playing this time around. I usually like to lay low and just rely solely on my social game in the start, but I'm trying this out to establish myself early on! I wanted to play the tribe leader and I think I'm doing that in a smart and subtle way!!

so yes now we have a 4 person majority alliance named "duolingo owl hate club" because fuck that guy. I think we're the 4 most active and present people on the tribe so it's only natural for us to work together, but I think it's definitely worth noting that I was the one that was pulling the strings here.

We just did the pictionary challenge, I have a good feeling about it!! Toph was an amazing artist, and if we win, all credit rightfully goes to him!! I think the guessers also did great of course, but like come on, the artist has to be the mvp. I'm really hoping we pull through!! I don't mind going to tribal, but I genuinely don't wanna vote anyone out yet. I'm fine just playing the game in a precautionary way. I know I'm in a great position if we do go to tribal, but it's always preferred that we don't go.

Everyone else on my tribe: doing the challenge and kicking ass

Me: I’m sleep

Riley (Tumblr has once again chosen violence so only the first 10 get banners 🥲)

I think our challenge went pretty well! My team were good guessers. Feeling like I've established some Integrity now. Hope it keeps me safe later!

Toph Soooooo we finished the challenge with 32 points and like wig !! I was a quick as drawer for 32pts expect when my internet lagged, but still ! I think we whooped some ass and if we do go to tribal I know it won’t be me going, thanks to Duolingo owl hate club but I’m also worried same could have and advantage because they seem pretty kean on learning a lot in like 3 hours and then tried to cover that statement to not seem so threatening but like babs s a huge threat too apparently they love Duolingo and know 5 laugnes ? This is from brayden but If so go babs ! That’s absolutely iconic for real Life but fucking scary in this game ! I gotta be buddy buddy with them so hopefully if they do have something it won’t be them going home first and it will be Ava. But I’m thinking we might get second place again unless someone is a fucking wizard at this.

Dennis hmm i think we did well enough in the challenge to not see tribal tomorrow but who knows i guess we shall find out tn

the way ellie was so on top of stuff yesterday only to oversleep the challenge makes me giggle maybe shes freaking out about it which makes me also giggle but i dont think its really a big deal

anastasia asked me to call yesterday and i was like sure lets talk but it is damn near impossible to hold a conversation with her idk i tried BUT she did tell me “yeah i just got off a call with ellie” im like i see. she says shes down to work with ellie but that quickly switched from ellie being ~experienced~ but good to know ellie is also playing hard. anastasia also mentioned that she talks to riley a fair amount who i still have yet to connect to well. but dat makes me think ellie is def talking to riley too miss debate team is definitely a talker. but good on her for the social game i guess

kenneth keeps being like haha we’re the same person and im like yeah👁 i bet we are👁

i just wanna win and not think about tribal just keep it slow and chill for now keep learnin my welsh i guess

Ava Second challenge was Pictionary and I had a ton of fun playing. The tea is: toph did a great job. He was pretty vocal about not being a great artist but really I think he did great. However, Babs was super inactive yesterday and ~too late~ said they were a great artist and should've been picked to draw. It was kind of like.... k babs thanks for the belated "help". They did do great guessing which scored a point in my book. Brayden was supposed to play but last minute logged off without saying anything so we did the challenge without him :/ sorta a bummer. Anyway the lack of participation from Sam is kind of popping off so we'll see where that leads them... Overall a fun game and fingers crossed we did well!

Moth I think we did okay at the challenge. Today I am dying from the heatwave so I’m not thinking too straight! Stay cool everyone

Ellie So yesterday Anastasia and I called for about an hour!!! I’d say we’re definitely way closer, she’s someone I really wanna work with although the idea of her and Brayden eventually being on the same tribe is kinda scary cause I know how close they are. Still she’s so fun to talk to and I just love her energy so much!

Pictionary challenge results: Jenkins Tribe wins with Penadragon second, Hatter Tribe has to go to tribal council on the following day.

Ava Well well well seems our bob ross, toph, didn't pull through (y'all think babs would've pulled it out for us or slept through our challenge like they said they almost did?) I can't wait for tribal. I'm in it for the drama. I'm hashtag voting Sam off - didn't even bother to be apart of our challenge and not too sure they've even been online for a full 24 hours. Weed out the weak.....

Anastasia

Brayden https://imgur.com/n60Lz0c

guys i dont know what to do someone help me out

Dennis i hope damn brayden gets the boot

Raffy Woo! We don't have to go to tribal again! We stan!

Ellie So I figured I’d go idol hunting today cause the shop was about to close and I just wanted to see what had been bought and what possible hats there were, I see that there’s a hat I have enough for that hasn’t been bought and I decide fuck it let’s get it

APPARENTLY ITS SOMETHING THAT IM NOT ALLOWED TO KNOW WHAT IT IS OR HOW TO USE IT YET???? THEY SAID ILL FIND OUT ABOUT IT LATER

I DONT WANT THE MYSTERY MOUSE-CA-TOOL BESTIE

Sam Well you see. I like all my tribe people. And I think we did real good on that music video! So, I think rather than voting anyone else off, I think I should just vote myself off if that is possible! Ahhh

Babs So sad to see Sam not only go but go through what they're going through :( same w Toph :( they all seem so lovely

Keith Not sure if i submitted a confession after the last tribal. But if I didnt here it is.

Happy I made it out of that tribal. I had raffy backing me with whom I played. Last time we played. We were at odds. We didnt work together but whats worse that we were against each other. It was either him or me goin out. Hopefully thats the past n we can work together. I jus need to keep things calm n show that Im not here itching to make big moves. So they dont feel threatened by me. N its easy cause right now. I havnt made that kind og bond with anyone on my tribe. To even think of such moves. Lets see what round two holds for me.

Colin so uh

we lost! :(

I was really bummed tbh. Like I thought we did well but circumstances with the challenge were just really unfortunate, from conflict about who wanted to be the artist to people disappearing the moment the challenge started, I think we did well despite all of that. Except we did kinda get stomped anyway. Oh well!! The game moves on. Tribal has to happen.

Initially I was gonna push for Babs, just because I feel like I don't wanna attach myself to them too early on. I've seen how much of a bitter player they can be, and lets just say I'm not the most loyal ally to have. however! 9 minutes after we lost, Ava announces to our alliance that she's voting Sam. I wasn't surprised, Sam has been the one not really pulling their weight. But I had some good connections with her!! we both did colorguard and shes so sweet and easy to talk to. I was really conflicted for a little bit, debating on whether or not to actually push for Babs. I think brayden sensed my hesitance but we both knew there was nothing really I could do to stop Sam from being the vote. At first tribal, the initial name always spreads like wildfire.

However, my mess was stopped abruptly by Sam asking to be voted out. welp!! okay then!! babs stays i guess!! i'm not too bothered. I'll never turn down an easy vote hehe.

Pretty sure there's a swap tonight. I'm kinda scared of that

uwu

Brayden

i almost forgot to upload this but dont worry i just remembered

Colin screams

Toph So we’re going to tribal in 20 and all I have to say right now is if there is a tribe swap after I’m gonna so scared but I ducking called I had a vibe and it was right that’s what is gonna win me this game trusting my intuition. I’m holding on now and gonna be the biggest comp beast next challenge in case I get fucked on this swap !!!! Or at least if it is a swap 🤔

Riley I don't know what this announcement's gonna be I'm worriedddd... Ginny said it probably means we're swapping teams but I don't wannaaaa I like our team.

Toph Sam self sacrificing made this the easiest vote ever and me being safe is a plus I guess 😎

[cow5secondchance]

Episode 2 - Why Did People Flip - Xavier

Format: Sequester

Eliminated: Wyatt (9-3-1-1-1) || Daisy (Battle Match)

BLAKE

so! week 2 and my plan honestly is to just really still focus on my social relationships. so far, i feel very confident in my ability to connect with people on a 1 to 1 level, and at least hopefully skate through these first few weeks. consistently my problem in the game is missing out on a key group or alliance that is running more than I know. without being too chaotic and paranoid, i would really really like to try to sit here and just scope out the relationships. as for my groups! i really want to work with jennet. she's like iconic? her art is so cute and i do feel like i made a genuine connection with her early on, and i think pointing out we're some of the only award winners in the cast could bring us closer together ! plus 4th place legends... beyond jennet, i have a group with isaac and nicole, and honestly, im feeling suprisingly good about both. i think these first 6 people i mention are the ones im going to focus on most, and focus on really forming game connection wheras the rest im just socially going to really force myself into their LIVES and hope they like me! Daisy and Jarod... loves them and swifties who ive played with in the past both in a way that i feel we were unfinished. jarod got taken out in the doubles round just as we kinda connected on a game level, and then daisy and i were working together in bb netflix before it got canceled. this is really the group i want to strategize with and im really putting myself on a limb being loyal to them because i know they have options, but its a risk im willing to take because if i can be the number 1, their connections can just offer more safety and information for myself. and the final people who i kinda want to work with is captain and wiliam xavier s up there, we just havent spoken tons dont really have much of an opinion on the others? if i had to nominate right now it might be mario just because we havent spoken yet.

XAVIER

It's annoying to be nominated, especially by Jennet. Literally two minutes before we were talking and I was explaining how this round is played. And then Jennet nominates me. I feel betrayed. Getting my G4ce together (Greenhouse 4) so we can vote as a team. And well, well, well, I just found out that the Sequester 4 are also voting together. It is weird that they are all nominated during the Sequester round. They are targeting either Wyatt or Kaleigh. Knowing they are a team, I want one of them out, if I can swing it quietly.

NICOLE

HI I’m back and already went through a ton! Last round a misunderstanding / Lanie throwing me under the bus just because I said I hadn’t spoken to Nyx and Captain really set me up in a weird spot so I had to get rid of Lanie and then she said we all suck (imagine being almost 30 and telling someone who is your students age that they suck! I get it really is terrible to be blindsided but it was her fault, she played too fast! Like yell at me for not communicating properly or whatever she believed I did at that point but don’t take it out on everyone especially like the youngest player in the game!) Anyway, this round is sequester so we are all back together! I finally get to play with Daisy! I love her so much so I’m super glad we got to play, I’m very glad I get to reunite with Lindsay, I’m glad William isn’t mad at me for the whole Lanie situation and now I’m safe for the first vote! It is a very good feeling but I also feel like I should be learning from Lanie’s mistake and playing not fast so I’m trying to take a step back from talking in the house chat. I’m just so excited to see everyone but I will try to contain myself so I don’t annoy anyone. Check back in later in the round!!!

BLAKE

I forget the questions omg but I had a call with Jarod where he kinda threw out wyatts name as an option to go, and honestly I’m completely fine with that because even though they seem super sweet, I feel like I’m juggling enough balls and I don’t need to add them into my mix, whereas I feel a lot better about every other nominee other than Kaleigh, who I don’t think anybody would do this early My strategy is to just campaign for myself to stay to everybody and avoid throwing out names. I’m hoping that comes from Jarod or one of the safe people because they literally have the safety to get away with it 

XAVIER

I like video confessionals. The only alliance of 4 should be Greenhouse

CAPTAIN

hello dr.. so i'm glad i got saved by jarod :pleading_face: he rlly said i'm gonna make captain safe no matter what happens. and thats exactly what he did :100: for ppl who are vulnerable, i want autumn, jarod and xavier to be safe the most like idc i just want 3 of them to be safe. xavier might be in a bit of trouble tho since the totem pole ppl are voting together for sure hmmm so i need to try to talk to them to sway them from voting xavier. for the plans to avoid battle match? idk i just want them to feel safe around me no matter what. so that if i end up voting them, they're not gonna be bitter at me that much. and i lowkey saved myself with wyatt since wyatt said they wanted to work with me so prays.

__________

also, i secured an alliance with jarod, autumn and jennet. and a greenhouse alliance with mario, nyx and xavier. the latter hasn't been in the talk like with every greenhouse yet but xavier brought it up to me and i think that it should be great. so fingers crossed!

WILLIAM

SOOOOOOOOOOOOO, going into Round 2 im having a really big struggle..... im seeing  THAT I DONT DISLIKE A SINGLE PERSON ON THIS CAST, USUALLY THERE IS AT LEAST ONE BUT NOPE    Also we are moving into a Sequester sorta semi safety chain with half vulnerable and half safe cast and lucky me I think Lanie either hated me the most or the least from our Survivor team and decided to give me the Karma twist which gave me safety for the round but made me have to pick the first unsafe out of the whole cast. I think my strategy was to pick someone who didn't talk to me yet (so i had a reason) as well as someone who was sorta loved by most if not all and wasn't a target for it, because I'm thinking if I just fade into the background this round no one would have a need or want to pick me for the Battlematch, i think its safe to assume whoever goes home will pick the person who made them unsafe plus like one other person, so i just have to avoid being that other 1/13 people. As for the vote i have no clue at all, I think maybe Isaac cause i haven't said much to him at all, or maybe Jarod cause i know he is hella busy and prob wont pick me to go into battle..... just not Wyatt or Blake or Kaleigh rn.  So like yeah, just gonna pray, not talk around too too much, let people come to me so it doesnt seem like im pushing anyones name and hopefully vote someone i dont love out. yeah so much fun xoxo William F

NYX

So, this round is pretty confusing and difficult to navigate cause not only do we have to vote someone out we have to vote someone out and hope they don't drag us into the battleback. I'm very happy to be safe for the vote since at least then i'll have a chance to battleback in a comp. So, for this vote I can't vote Autumn since she gave me safety, I can't vote Jarod since he took one for the team, I can't vote Xavier cause of the gh alliance, I can't vote Blake due to our bonding on tau ceti, so my only real options for this vote are Isaac, Wyatt, and Kaleigh. If I had my way i'd just pile the votes on wyatt and get them out now but it's not that easy because i haven't talked as much and they could see that as incentive to drag me in. Of course all the people I just mentioned I don't wanna vote for I wanna save because that means they'll be willing to work with me to some capacity. To avoid the battle match is the hardest part cause people can be very impulsive with their decisions and heat of the moment always catches people off guard. My best bet is just not to make too many promises and to just tell the truth and hopefully that'll be enough to gain their respect. 

CAPTAIN

besties.. i don't know what i'm doing. its between wyatt and kaleigh methinks but wyatt keeps dropping my name everywhere and i don't really like it. idk if they get eliminated, if they would put me in the battle or not. but like if they're this messy, i'm voting them for sure. also sobs kaleigh is so cute.

__________

prays for me DR! sign: captain.

LINDSAY

bro no one wants to throw out a name because of the battle drag twist so it's three hours to tribal and i dont know who the fuck to vote my gut is telling me jarod but i am absolutely not letting jarod drag that shit back to me definitely not autumn i dont know like. i'm working the tightest with william, daisy and wyatt weirdly enough and none of us have heard anything so i just. ?????

MARIO

I AM SAFE!!! I AM NOT SECOND BOOT AGAIN

AUTUMN

IT WONT LET ME PUT AUDIO FILES IN!!! But when Monty puts them all together later this season I hope yall enjoy haha

XAVIER

Ok this vote is messy. It started out with Jarod and the Sequester group wanting to vote Kaleigh. They got people on board, and it looked good. Until Wyatt made that alliance chat. And of course the vote shifted to Isaac. But the Sequester group won't vote Isaac. Mario voted Autumn. Captain voted Wyatt. I am voting Kaleigh because I haven't spoken to her much. But I want the vote to go Isaac's way - it breaks up Sequester, and he won't think it was me, so safe from the battle. So it may be 5 on Kaleigh, unless the other people in that Alliance chat are not being honest as well. Ha ha. As long as it's not me, right?!

LINDSAY

wyatt made a voting block?? and didn't include me?? the person with no connection to isaac who they kept safe and would have probably voted with them???? wh ok i guess my vote is on wyatt tonight tf 

NYX

So, this round is a clusterfuck of scrambling cause no one wants to get pulled into the battleback and potentially lose there. I just don't wanna go home even earlier than last time because my game has just been so much better and to lose it this way would be fucking devastating. i just want to win so badly so im just hoping i can maneuver this right

LINDSAY

"you know that this is anonymous right" DAISY HELP NO I DIDNT FUCK OK I DONT KNOW WHAT IM DOING WHAT IS HAPPENING WHERE AM I

XAVIER

WHAT JUST HAPPENED. I know Captain voted for Wyatt. Maybe Captain is more influential than I thought? Why did people flip? Because of the alliance chat? It was too much? And why wasn't I included in the flip vote? Agh. Time to make my own rules here.

__________

I am still shookt 

DAISY

[prettyfunkyunorganized]

Daughter Series - McCree

Part three of the ‘Daughter Series’ I’ve created in response to the lovely @i-am-not-daredevil ‘s Overwatch headcanons that I requested - they can be found here.

IT’S THE COWBOY’S TURN! This one made my little heart hurt. McCree is a sweet little baby and now he has one of his own. Anywho, it’s long again. Has a break in the middle. Is over 5,000 words. But it’s McCree, so who can blame me?

More Daughter Series: Hanzo, Roadhog, Reaper, Soldier 76, Genji

McCree installments: pt 1, pt 2

masterlist

               The Overwatch recall could not have come at a better time for McCree. In the years since the organization’s downfall, the gunslinger hadn’t done anything too terribly bad, but there were a few times Jesse had started to wander down the wrong path. A few whiskey-fueled fights and unnecessary pistol draws had made him worry that he was regressing, falling back into patterns that caused more harm than good. Sure, he’d done his best to stick to warning shots, and he’d always stopped before beating anyone into the grave, but his grip had been slipping. Being a drifter meant there was no one around to smack sense into him or hold him back. The longer he was away from the grounding force of his former companions, the worse his mind and temper seemed to get. Seeing Winston’s call had brought a broad smile to his face. He’d gone to Gibraltar as fast as he could while still dodging the authorities. 

               During his meandering trip, McCree often daydreamed about his upcoming reunion: Reinhardt would greet him with a booming laugh and overly forceful slap on the back. Mercy would put a comforting hand on his arm and make a comment about his fraying hat. Winston would adjust his glasses while saying something warm and welcoming. Torbjorn would frown up at him, grumbling something about still smelling like cheap smokes. Of all the scenarios he had pictured, walking into an empty room on a silent base was not one of them. The gunslinger was instantly suspicious.

               He wandered through the halls, calling out names at random, flashing skeptical looks at the emergency lights. Nothing. “The hell,” McCree asked quietly, scratching the back of his head. Now he was flat worried. “I swear if I came all the way down ‘ere just for a setup . . .” he grumbled. There was a sudden bang that made him whip Peacemaker out of its holster. It came from above. With his gun still at the ready, McCree headed back outside and toward the direction of the communications tower. Sure enough, the outline of five figures were milling about on a small landing far above him. The cowboy beamed and began shuffling up the long ladder.

               McCree could hear everyone’s disgruntled voices before he was even halfway up the structure. “Of course they’re arguing,” he muttered with a smirk, “we always had a knack for that.” As he clambered up the last few rungs, no one looked back to him. Too busy snapping at each other.

               “How did this happen,” Winston groaned.

               “If anyone knows what happened here, it would be you,” Reinhardt huffed.

               “There’s nothing wrong in the diagnostics,” the scientist defended himself.

               “Well clearly there is yet another issue within your diagnostics then,” the thin blonde quipped.

               “I know, Angela,” Winston mumbled.

               “You should have stayed on top of the upkeep more,” Torbjorn hissed, elbow deep in an opened electrical panel.

               “I was the only person here! There’s a lot of base to cover!”

               “Yeah, cut the big guy some slack,” Tracer defended her friend.

               “I’ve never had this problem happen before . . .” Winston sighed.

               McCree chuckled and everyone twisted around to look at him, surprised. “And I’ve never had such a lousy ‘welcome back’ party before,” he drawled.

               Smiles crossed each of the faces in front of him as Jesse opened his arms and grinned smugly. Just as he expected, Reinhardt burst out laughing and gripped McCree’s shoulder, giving it a violent shake.

               “Jesse,” Dr. Ziegler cooed, “look at you, just as wild as ever – costume and all.”

               “Just because it ain’t a pair of slacks or a pencil skirt don’t mean it’s not proper clothing, doc.”

               “I, for one, am glad you haven’t changed,” Lena said wrapping her arms around the cowboy.

               “At least someone appreciates me.” He squeezed her back. His smile could no longer grow any wider.

               “Perfect,” Torbjorn growled, “someone else to stand here and be useless.”

               “Missed you too, old man,” McCree laughed at him. A crash pulled them all from their tender reconnections. It was quickly followed by another, louder this time. Or maybe closer. Then a third. And a whimper.

               “Juniper!” Winston darted over to the far side of the tower and craned down to peer in a small hole. “Juniper? Are you alright?”

               “Who,” McCree asked quietly.

               “New girl,” Rinehardt whispered back.

               “Only one small enough to fit in the service shaft,” Torbjorn explained while moving to Winston’s side.

               Another pained sound came from behind the metal paneling of the base. “Well, I don’t think anything’s broken,” came a small voice, “but that hurt like hell.” The scientist and engineer both moved back, letting a young woman army crawl out into the open. She immediately flopped onto the ground with a groan.

               Lena took a step closer to her, “What was all that noise?”

               “I may have sorta fallen a few times,” the girl mumbled into the ground.

               “A few times,” Torbjorn scoffed.

               “It ain’t exactly roomy in there,” she said sitting up. Angela knelt down next to her with a frown. “But I’m fine! Fell on all my metal limbs, mostly.”

               “That does not mean damage hasn’t been done,” the doctor said looking her over.

               “I know, I know,” the young woman said with a soft smile, “but I promise, I’d tell you if anything was hurting too much.”

               Mercy chuckled at her, gently taking the girl’s chin and examining her head, “If you say so, but please, do be careful.”

               “Doin’ my best.” She was a cute little thing, but looked rather young, McCree realized. Then again, he had been little more than a sprout when he joined up as well.

               “See, the girl’s fine,” Torbjorn said waving the medic off, “now, what did you find out?”

               Back to business. “I found the issue,” the young woman said, “Give me some reinforced replacement wiring, a mid-sized blowtorch, a can of molecular lock, and twenty minutes – this place’ll be purring!”

               “Was it the -” Winston started, one glare from the team’s newest member stopped him dead.

               “Winston, honeydew, I love ya, but if you say ‘hydraulic compensator’ one more time we’re gonna have a problem,” she scowled.

               McCree let out a loud laugh, “Oh, I like her!”

               The girl’s eyes met his and her face instantly fell. She looked scared. His stomach churned. He wasn’t sure why those dark eyes were making him feel so . . . unsteady, but Jesse’s blood suddenly felt cold.

               “Oh, uh right,” Winston said awkwardly, “McCree, there’s someone I would like you to meet.” The massive scientist offered a hand to the girl, and she gave him a hesitant look back. After receiving a reassuring nod, she pulled herself to her feet.

              Now that there weren’t so many bodies in the way of Jesse’s view of the girl, he could see a massive scar sprawling from the middle of her chest to the tip of her right shoulder and grazing the base of her neck. It was a pair of wings framing a simple skull hanging above a padlock. Deadlock’s symbol. He sighed regretfully. ‘Poor kid,’ he thought.

              McCree cleared his throat and took a few slow steps toward her. He flashed a crooked smile, trying to be as non-threatening as possible. “It’s Juniper right?”

              “Yes,” she said timidly.

              He held his hand out to her, “A pleasure, little miss.”

              It took her a moment longer than it should have, but she shook his hand while biting her lower lip, just barely smiling.

              “So how did you end up joinin’ us,” McCree asked.

              “I brought her,” Torbjorn butted in, “and now I’m taking her so we can get this base going again.” With a quick wave, the short man beckoned Juniper to the ladder. She gave McCree a quick shrug before slipping over the edge of the landing.

              “That was kinda weird,” Lena mumbled from behind Jesse.

              “Torbjorn is always focused on the task at hand,” Angela mused, “but Juniper is usually much more friendly.”

              Winston moved to McCree’s side. “She’ll be okay,” he reassured everyone. Jesse couldn’t help but notice the scientist’s strained smile. “But you, old friend, must be tired from your journey. Let me show you to your room.”

              McCree was skeptical, but also in desperate need of a place to kick up his feet. “I could go for a nap, but who are you callin’ old?”

               The lumbering scientist eased up a bit. “My mistake. Come on, let’s head in.”

               “McCree,” Reinhardt interjected, “how’s about I brew up some coffee and you join Lena and I for a round of cards, like old times?”

               Before the gunslinger could get a word out Winston answered for him. “I think some rest is more what McCree needs.” The new head of Overwatch was suddenly nudging a baffled McCree away from his compatriots. Winston continued to shush and drag the man all the way to the base’s kitchen.

               “Now, hold on,” snapped McCree digging his heels into the floor and ripping his arm from Winston’s grip. “What the hell is goin’ on here?!”

               Winston glanced behind them before turning back to a severely confused cowboy. “Ugh, I’m sorry about all that,” he said sheepishly. It was strange to see such a large figure trying to make himself small. “I wasn’t sure how to handle all this.”

               “All what,” McCree huffed, still aggravated.

               “There is something you need to know,” Winston said slowly, mulling over his words, “but I can’t quite tell you what it is.”

               Jesse sighed, “So you dragged me all the way over here to tell me nothin’?”

               “I – no! Well, maybe.” He groaned again. “Look, this is really complicated.”

               “Then tell me!”

               “I promised I wouldn’t tell you.”

               “Then why are we here?!”

               “Because I told Juniper I’d help her talk to you.”

               McCree sighed heavily, “So it is about the girl.” Winston nodded. “She did seem real frightened when she saw me,” the gunslinger said rubbing the bridge of his nose, leaning against a counter.

               “I don’t know if ‘frightened’ is the right word, but she is worried, despite my telling her not to be,” Winston replied.

               “Is this about that brand on her chest, the Deadlock symbol?”

               “That’s a part of it, but honestly, it’s something much more than that.” The gunslinger gave him a doubtful look, making his friend let out a small chuckle. “Why don’t you just head to my lab and wait for Juniper. She’ll clear things up.”

               A warry sigh rippled from McCree. “Big guy, you’re makin’ my gut knot up.”

               Winston gave the cowboy a pat on the arm, “I have no doubt, but do us all a favor and just try to go in there with an open mind. I know that you’re a good man, you’ll be fine.”

               “What the hell is that supposed to mean,” McCree reeled. The look in Winston’s eye made Jesse shiver.

               “Just go,” Winston prodded. “It’ll make sense after you talk to her.”

               McCree felt rooted in place, unable to move. He had come back to Overwatch to make sense of his life again, not to have it thrown into more chaos.

               “Go,” Winston insisted softly. “I don’t think this is going to be as bad as I’m making it out to be.”

               “Sure hope so,” McCree muttered, heading to the door.

               He had been standing in the lab for ages – or more like half an hour – but the power had finally been restored, so McCree figured it was only a matter of time. But another five minutes passed. “How much longer am I going to stand here and stew,” he moaned, shuffling his feet and listening to his spurs jungle.

               “Sorry,” came a small voice from behind him. He spun around, serape whipping wildly. “I didn’t mean to keep you waiting.” Juniper stood in the doorway with Torbjorn behind her. The short engineer gave her a firm nod before heading down the hall, leaving them alone.  

               “That’s alright,” he said toying with his collar nervously as the girl approached him. “Sounded like a hell of a job.”

               She flushed, “It was. This place has some rather confusing sub-systems.”

               McCree let out a small snort, “I can’t even imagine – I used to have a hard enough time getting the AC to work last time I was here.” 

              Juniper laughed, making the gunslinger relax a bit. He always felt a better about a stressful situation after a shared smile, but the ensuing silence was still powerfully awkward. The girl finally sighed, “I’m still keeping you waiting, ain’t I? Why don’t we sit down.” She took a seat at one of the lab’s workbenches and placed a well-worn envelope next to her. McCree down next to it.

              “Winston said this had a little somethin’ to do with the Deadlocks,” he questioned gently.

               Her forehead pinched, “Did he?”

               “Yeah, but that’s ‘bout all he’d say.”

               “Don’t hold it against him, he was only trying to do what I asked. But this isn’t really about the Deadlock gang, it's more about your time in Overwatch,” Juniper explained.

               He frowned down at her – she was short, couldn’t be much over 5 five foot. “Overwatch?”

               “Well, Blackwatch.”

               “Oh,” he muttered thinning his lips.

               “Yeah . . . ” Her body wavered to the side as if trying to squirm away from the conversation.

               “What did I do,” McCree asked exasperatedly, leaning his head against the wall behind them, staring at the ceiling tiredly.

               “What?”

               “If this is about a frightened looking little girl, and me, and Blackwatch, I musta screwed something up. So, what did I do?”

               Juniper nodded slowly, “Well, do you remember a mission that took you to a little town in Wyoming?”

               McCree’s face scrunched. “Yeah, a radical group of anti-omnic folks were planning some real nasty stuff.”

               “Yep, that one. Do you remember the hotel you and the rest of Blackwatch stayed in, or the run-down little bar next to it?”

               The gunslinger looked back to Juniper who was staring at him expectantly – those big brown eyes were making his blood run cold again. “How do ya know about all that?”

               She shrugged, “People talk. Especially in a small town.”

He bobbed his head understandingly. “True enough. You from there?” She nodded. “Figures,” he sighed.

              “But, uh,” she continued, “most importantly, do you remember the bartender you met back then?”

              McCree blinked a few times, brow fully furrowed. “Yeah, I remember. There was a grumpy old man and a real cute red-head.”

              Juniper smiled, but still had an anxious look to her. “I meant the red-head.” She cleared her throat after a moment, “So, about that bartender – she was my mom.”

              An unfamiliar sense of dread swept up his back. “What now,” he sputtered dryly.

              The girl let out a low groan and ran her fingers through her unruly chocolate brown hair. ‘Ah shit,’ ran through his mind as he realized how much it looked like his own. Jesse’s heart stopped, and his chest seized. His one flesh palm was instantly clammy, and his stomach flopped a dozen times within the next second.

              “I didn’t mind to, uhm, bombard you, but I didn’t really know how else to tell you,” Juniper all but whispered after a few minutes of McCree staring at the opposite wall with his hand over his face – numb to everything but his own frantic thoughts. All of a sudden nothing made sense. There was too much to take in. Nothing stuck. Until her tiny voice rang in his ear again. It was kinda pretty – would be prettier if she didn’t sound so damn sad. “Sorry,” she shrugged softly at him when he turned back to her.

                “Ah, kiddo,” he crooned, “you ain’t got to apologize. Don’t think you could’a said that any softer.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. “You, uh, you are saying you’re my kid, right?”

              A light laugh escaped from the girl, bringing a bashful smile with it. “Yes, yes I am. At least, I’m relatively sure that’s the case.” She twisted and grabbed the envelope she’d set by her side, pulling a photo from it. “Here,” Juniper said offering it to him.

              The edges of the picture were somewhat ragged, but the image was still clear and sweet. Painfully sweet. McCree recognized the young woman he’d taken a liking to all those years ago instantly – frizzy ponytail and a smattering of big freckles dotted around her face. She looked wildly happy, happier than he’d ever seen her, and who could blame the woman? That squishy bundle in her arms was beautiful. Stunning. All pudgy and scrunched and perfect. He chuckled and grinned. “That’s you?”

              “Yep.” Juniper’s teeth were firmly planted in her lower lip. She was staring at her mother over his shoulder.

              “You had a hell of a head of hair!”

              She went bright red and closed her eyes tightly. “Everyone says that.”

              “You were adorable,” he said softly as his heart swelled almost painfully.

              “Thanks.”

              “Where’s your mom now?”

              Her face fell. “She died, not long after that was taken.”

              “What,” he grimaced.

              “She got very, very sick not long before having me, but she still wanted to try. She was hopeful, but . . . well,” Juniper trailed off, tears welling in her eyes.

              “I’m so sorry,” McCree murmured through a pang of guilt.

              “It’s not something you have to say sorry for. It’s just something that happened. It isn’t anyone’s fault.” Her voice was firm, like she’d said this before – maybe to herself – a thousand times before. The way she said it made him feel twice as shitty.

              “Wait,” McCree began to stammer,” w-were you alone?”

              Juniper wiped her eyes briefly before shaking her head, “No. There’s was a woman who looked after me until I saw about three then she passed me off to the man who raised me – Harris.”

              He could tell from the fond look on her face there was a lot of love there. He was glad. “Good guy?”

              “Yes,” she replied, voice dripping with nostalgia, “Gruff and a bit demanding at times, but in a supportive way. Usually. He was the one who taught me to work on omnics and integrated prosthetics – trained me in my livelihood.” She looked proud. It was cute.

              “I’m glad you had somebody lookin’ out for ya.”

              “Me too. He was a good man.”

              “Was?”

              “He’s gone, too.”

              McCree’s head dropped. “Ah Christ,” he moaned dismally.

              “Mmhmm. Everything went to hell after that.”

              “Whatdaya mean?”

              She gave him a sad smile, “It’s a long story, you don’t have to listen to it if you don’t want. I’m just glad I got to –”

              “No, no, no,” he butt in shaking his head wildly, “I want to hear it. All of it.”

              One of her brows flew up, “Really?”

              “Of course,” he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

              “A lot of it in’t a pretty story.”

              He shrugged, “But it’s your story.”

              A wide smile blossomed on Juniper face that made McCree feel warm. “Alright,” she agreed, “but I warned you.” She shifted into a more comfortable position, toying with her hair as she spoke.

               “I was fifteen when the anti-omnic, ‘purity’ promoting extremists blew up our shop.”

               “Um, blew up?!”

               “Yep,” she continued staring into the distance, “they didn’t like that we helped omnics and people who had augmented their bodies with machinery. It had just been broken windows and threats until that night. Dunno what set them off or how they pulled it off, but there was a blast and next thing I knew it was all fire and pain and screaming and draggin’ myself to the exit. Thankfully I don’t remember much of it now, but I do remember waking up in the hospital with no legs and Harris nowhere to be found.”

               “No – no legs,” McCree basically whimpered. Juniper grabbed each of her pant legs and pulled them up a little to reveal the metal underneath. Both legs and her left arm. All prosthetics. “Oh, ho, ho, ho,” he said rubbing his chin. “Damn.”

               “Three out of four’s not bad, right,” she quipped jokingly.

               “I mean -” he said choking out a rough laugh. He’d never minded a dark sense of humor, but it was a little harder to swallow when it came from her.

               “Hey,” she said tenderly, “I’m alright.”

               “You got blown up and lost the man who raised you – that’s not ‘alright.’”

               “True,” she nodded, “but I’ve come a long way since then.” McCree smiled, assuming her story was about to get better. Foolish assumption. “Especially since as soon as I was able to walk again the Deadlocks found me,” she huffed.

               “Aw, for the love of -” McCree growled smacking his head into his hands.

               “Yeah,” she said slowly.

               “They came to you,” the gunslinger questioned with a scowl once he felt prepared enough to hear the next dreadful thing that had happened to Juniper.

               “They sure did. The Deadlocks had somehow heard there was a young, grieving teen with a knack for tweaking prosthetics in a ‘chop-shop’ sort of way. They wanted to coerce me into joining.”

               “Wait,” he said mulling over her words, “A bunch of Deadlock recruits came all the way to Wyoming just for you? No offense! I’m sure you’re real good at what you do,” McCree back-peddled.

               She laughed and waved him off, “You’re fine. And you’re right – it was a long way to go for one kid, but somehow the gang knew I was your kid. That convinced them. The, ah, the Deadlocks never really forgave what you did to them – the betrayal and all. They had some real nasty revenge plans in mind for you with me right in the center.” Juniper ran her fingers along the burns on her chest – the wings around the skull.

               “You joined ‘em though,” McCree asked worriedly.

               “Yes I did,” she sighed. But then she jumped in surprise, giving Jesse an apologetic look, “But I didn’t know about all the revenge stuff when I joined – I swear! I have never had any plan to come after you or anything, honest!”

               McCree let out a hearty laugh, “Gotta admit, I’m glad to hear it.”

               “Sorry,” she giggled, “I probably should’ve led with that. Vengeance isn’t why I went off and joined the gun-running game.”

               “Then why did you?”

               Her hands went back into her locks as she shrugged. “I was alone. And scared. Angry, too, if I’m honest. My whole life had been torn apart and these guys had just wandered up to me offering a chance to be a part of something. They called it ‘a family,’ ‘a way to make things better.’ I know now that it was a carefully crafted sales pitch, but I fell for it. Wholeheartedly.” She rolled her neck and stared at the floor. “I was stupid and weak. Walked out of the hospital with a smile on my face and vipers at my sides.”

               “It ain’t all your fault,” McCree said firmly, “the Deadlock’s are manipulative bastards. They know exactly what to say and exactly where to press to rope people in. An’ you were fifteen!” He huffed out a wary noise, “Believe me, I know what  . . . all of that is like.”

              “But you got out,” Juniper said leaning toward him just a hair, “and I did too, after a few months.”

              “Just a few months,” McCree repeated, “damn, you did a hell of a lot better than I did.”

              “It felt like a lot longer when I was there. Everything felt wrong – I was not cut out for life in a distrustful criminal enterprise. I ran as soon as they started pushing me to weaponize people limbs and mass produce explosive rounds.”

              “Good for you,” McCree said proudly.

              “Well, I had to try to run a few times, but yeah, I got it eventually.” Her hand ran along the scar again, pressing into it as if trying to relieve some lingering pain.

              “Is that when they gave you the brand?”

              She nodded slowly, “So I could never get away from them. Not really.”

              McCree hissed out an infuriated noise, unable to find the words to accurately describe how much he wanted to strangle every last Deadlock he could find.

              “But it healed,” Juniper insisted, “I managed to keep it cleaned up while I was on the road.”

              “Where did you go?”

              “As far away as I could for a while. I just booked it at first,” she laughed. “I wasn’t very good at being a drifter, but I made it work. Most of the towns I passed through had repair work I could do for food or shelter, so I got by.”

              “You’re a tough little thing,” McCree chuckled impressed, “aren’t ya?”

              She shrugged, “I try. And, to be honest, I’m good at putting on a brave face.” Her head bowed a bit. “It was rough a lot of the time.”

              A sudden, almost overwhelming urge to slide across the bench and hold the girl came over McCree, but he held back. Every time she glanced over at him, it was just a peek, a fraction of a second before she pulled away again. If she needed space, he could understand, but he couldn’t stop his arms from twitching toward her, just barely.

              “Have things been any better now that you’re here,” he pressed after a thick silence.

              “Yes,” she beamed. “Absolutely! Everyone has been wonderful to me and not having to look for a dry place to sleep has been so nice. Man did I take that for granted growing up!”

              “Good, good,” he smirked leaning back, “I gotta say, I’ve never seen Torbjorn take to anyone so well.”

              A warm, comforting laugh burst from Juniper’s chest. McCree instantly wanted to hear it again. “That’s what all the others said, too! I guess he sees something in me. When I met him, he had busted into an old omnic research facility that I was camping out in. I helped him with the corrupted bots in there and then he up and asked me if I wanted to join Overwatch.”

              “Just like that,” McCree asked with a raised brow.

              “Just like that!”

              Her smile was broad and beautiful, it lit up her eyes this time. She was such a beautiful little thing.

              “Although,” she began again, “Winston said it would better if we wait until after my birthday.” McCree frowned at her confusedly. “Until after I’m 18.”

              The cowboy rocked back, flabbergasted, desperately doing some mental arithmetic. “Oh shit,” he scoffed, “You’re only 17 now, aren’t you?”

              “Yep.”

              “Damn,” he hissed again. “All that, before ya even turned 18.”

              “’Fraid so.” Juniper didn’t look particularly distraught as she bobbed her shoulders nonchalantly, which mystified McCree.

              ‘Resilient lil’ sweetpea,’ he thought lightheartedly.

              “Anywho,” Juniper breathed slowly, “I know that was probably a lot to hear, a lot to take in, but there’s one more thing I wanted to tell you.”

              Her tone of voice made the gunslinger’s gut knot up. “Alright,” he said nervously.

              “I- I just want you to know that -” She faltered, gnawing her lip and looking more nervous than he’d seen her since they began speaking – as if now she had something truly troubling to say.

              ‘What more could there be,’ McCree thought desperately.

              Juniper steadied herself before speaking again, staring at the ground. “I want you to know that I understand that you are your own person with your own life, so if you don’t want to – I guess, be my -” She sounded choked up, but laughed through the sob McCree could tell was welling in her throat. “What I’m saying is, I know I would be a lot to take on, and I know you already got a lot going on, so if you don’t want . . . me, I get it.”

              McCree sat motionless, face twisted into a baffled look, slightly hunched over. “What now,” he asked breathlessly.

              “I said that I -” Juniper repeated slowly, her body curling in on itself.

              “I – I heard ya,” McCree said shaking his head and shifting into a more natural stance, “I was just surprised you said it is all.” She looked beyond worried, more frightened – like the next word out of his mouth could cut her in half. With a jolt, McCree realized all the endearing little things he had been thinking about Juniper hadn’t gone any further than his own mind. “Kiddo,” he chuckled tossing his caution to the wind and scooting closer to her, “what on Earth makes you think I’d want that?”

              She went bright red, a wild smile springing onto her cheeks. “I dunno,” she said with a timid shrug, “You heard everything I just said – I’m sort of a giant mess.”

              “Juniper,” he drawled, the name feeling perfect when he said it, “I know I’ve only known you all of ten minutes, but I don’t think you sound like a mess at all.” He slowly reached over and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. Her muscles tensed for a split second, but her smile grew. He’d never smiled so hard in his life. “Sounds to me like you’re strong, and thoughtful, and resourceful, and smart – real damn smart.”

              She giggled – a light, bright noise that made the cowboy’s heart swell. “I try my best,” Juniper murmured.

              “I can tell,” McCree smirked, “and – if you’ll give me the chance –  I’d like to do my best to do right by you.”

              “You don’t have to do that,” she assured him softly, “I don’t blame you or anything.”

              “But I want to,” he insisted with a grin. “Kid, you’re the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen! I can’t think of anything I want more than just to have you around. I only wish I could have met you a little sooner.”

              Juniper laughed again, the sound tumbling from her as tears welled in her big brown eyes. “Really?”

              “Yes, Juniper, of course,” he said shaking her gently, “but if I’m, uh, being too much -”

              “No,” she squeaked, grabbing McCree’s hand as he began to move it away from her. “You’re fine – better than fine! This is more than I had ever dared to hope for,” she said sniffling and smirking.

              “Aw, kiddo,” he smiled, definitely tearing up as well, “I think I know exactly how you feel.”