#and mind you she is lost by no fault of her own!! but literally because she's doomed to!! she was just chilling!!

[moon11ight]

If I were [FICTIONAL] Vivi and I had spent my whole life trying to break free from the loop and from the limitations of heteronormativity my condition of android, only for one of my treasured friends to get vaporized by the literal EYE OF GOD and disappear AGAIN, recreating the loop I had struggled so hard to free everyone from, I'd be so pissed

[good-chimes]

THE RULES OF BUTTERCUP CAMP

Rule 1: No friendly fire in the camp.

Rule 1a: NO GRAVEL, NO SAND, NO FALLING BLOCKS

Rule 1b: SCAR THIS MEANS YOU

--- I dont know What you’re talking about

--- You know exactly what I’m talking about!

Rule 1c: Grian is not allowed to make Scar strip down to his underwear on the Perimeter edge to ‘find all the sand’; this makes us look bad in front of Doc.

--- He had it in his SHOE

--- counter-rule!! Actually this makes us look GReat in front of doc. my abs intimidate him.

--- There’s no such thing as a ‘counter rule’ and your abs don’t intimidate anyone

--- mumbo agrees with me!!

--- I. Um. I just think Scar’s abs could be good PR. I’d be impressed if I were Doc.

Rule 2: All Buttercups must remember at all times that Doc is the enemy and we are here to TAKE HIM DOWN.

Rule 3: Goateater is not allowed to eat Mumbo’s pillow.

Rule 3a: we should leave GOateater alone because she’s doing her Best

--- Scar, she’s doing her best to eat my pillow!

--- this is proving resorcefullness and initive like a good Buttercup!

Rule 4: Mumbo’s cooking tastes like a camping mat and he’s not allowed on the cooking rota

Rule 5: grian cant cook us eggs for more than 2 meals in one day

Rule 6: I have to say I agree with Rule 5.

--- Mumbo needs to LEARN HOW RULES WORK

--- and also stop being RUDE about my COOKING

Rule 7: Goateater is not allowed in Mumbo’s bed under any circumstances.

--- mumbo is biased against Goateater!!

--- Then make her sleep in your bed, Scar!

Rule 8: Grian is allowed to push Scar into the Perimeter if he does the sand thing one more time

Rule 9: Grian is allowed to push Scar into the Perimeter if he refuses to put a shirt back on and is being really obnoxious about it

Rule 10: Grian is allowed to push Scar into the Perimeter if he keeps snoring at night

--- Mate, we’re getting some expansion of powers here that I’m not entirely comfortable with.

--- yknow its not tJHAT Bad

--- Okay, so, Scar, listen, just because you’ve never minded doesn’t mean Grian should be able to do what he likes. This is setting a precedent. We need to talk about this.

Rule 11: Grian is allowed to push anyone into the Perimeter for any reason necessary

--- I told you! I TOLD you!

--- Cmon Mumbo a man’s gotta have hobbies

--- Not threats-of-immediate-violence-to-his-two-closest-friends hobbies!

--- WAnt some sand?

--- I CAN LITERALLY SEE WHAT YOU TWO WRITE HERE. SCAR I AM COMING FOR YOU.

--- Good LUck :)

Rule 12: Grian is not allowed to keep stealing Mumbo’s HotGuy poster for his own tent then denying it.

Rule 12a: Grian is encouraged to get his own poster or pay Mumbo 16 diamonds.

Rule 13: Buttercups are reminded to focus their efforts on DOC and how everything is DOC’S FAULT, not SPYING ON THEIR FRIENDS about POSTERS.

Rule 14: Goateater is not allowed in Mumbo’s entire tent.

Rule 15: Goateater is allowed whrever she likes, including in MUmbos tent.

Rule 16: Scar is not allowed to write rules that contradict previous rules.

Rule 17: Mumbo is not allowed to do that either!!

Rule 17a: If Mumbo and Scar don’t stop fighting over the rules board and GET US SOME DRINKING WATER LIKE THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO then Grian gets to throw them both in the Perimeter

--- I thought everything was Doc’s fault.

--- Sometimes it’s your fault, Mumbo!

Rule 18: Look, can we have some sort of punishment here that isn’t ‘Grian pushes people in the perimeter?’ Only he’s not pushing himself in the perimeter, and last night he blew up a firework experiment in the campfire and took half my moustache off.

Rule 18a: That was obviously Doc’s fault.

--- I don’t think it’s Doc’s fault if you did it yourself! In fact, you’re the reason we’re here in the first place. There’s sand in my sleeping bag and I’ve lost half my moustache and Goateater keeps eating my shoes!

--- also I gotta pointout G you never paid me for those fireworks

--- Listen, Buttercups, the rules are very clear about who’s to blame. It’s Doc’s fault.

--- That’s pretty rich coming from you, Grian!

--- also goateater is perfect and hasn’t done anything wrong

--- Shut up, Scar, this is Grian’s fault. I’m making a new rule.

Rule 19: I think we should blame Grian for everything

Rule 20: I secnd this rule

Rule 21: Oh, yeah? Well, I think we should blame SCAR for getting me BAD FIREWORKS

Rule 21a: those were top quality scarland fireworks, Mister!

Rule 22: It was Scar who technically broke the tunnel bore so he’s the reason we’re here

Rule 23: I mean, I guess—Scar, mate, you did do that.

Rule 24: I think we should blame Scar for everything

Rule 25: now wait A MINute

Rule 26: Yes, honestly, it’s mainly Scar’s fault.

Rule 27: Its not!

Rule 28: It’s either you or Grian. I think either way we can all agree I’m the innocent victim here.

Rule 29: What – okay, fine, new plan! I think we should blame MUMBO for everything!

Rule 30: yeah!

NEW RULE: MUMBO IS BANISHED FROM THE BUTTERCUP CAMP

NEW RULE: OH I AM, AM I? WELL THEN, GRIAN IS BANISHED FROM THE BUTTERCUP CAMP!

NEW RULE: OKAY! I GUESS THIS IS MY CAMP NOW! IM MOVING JELLIE INTO YOUR TENTS AND SERVS YOU BOTH RIGHT!

Rule 34: Guys?

Rule 35: …guys?

…

…

…

board suspended :(

…

…

…

Rule 36: fine I’m back

Rule 37: strewing my bed with cherry blossom wasn’t actually necessary

Rule 38: Aw, Scar, you shouldn’t have.

--- i missed you guys

--- I missed you guys too!

--- It’s been TWENTY MINUTES

--- admit it G you missed us

--- Fine I did

--- But I think I have time for a second shot

--- GRIAN

--- joking <3

Rule 39: All previous rules are suspended.

Rule 1: It’s Doc’s fault.

Rule 2: Grian is still allowed to push people into the perimeter.

--- mumbo, wheres Goateater?

--- Special mission, mate, don’t worry about it.

WHY HAS SOMETHING **EATEN** ALL MY ***CROCS***!

YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS, BUTTERCUPS!!

– G.O.A.T.

p.s. Also kindly return my hotguy poster, Grian, I know that this was you

[thelov3lybookworm]

Journals

Summary: everyone is happy

•○●⛦●○•

Tw: heavyyyy angst, sad lil fic (literally what i named this before i came up with a title), mental health issues, depression, feeling unworthy of love, panic attack, self harm, self hate. thats all i can think of right now, but let me know if i need to add anything

A/n: based on this and this poetry by @gardenofrunar 🤭 you couldnt tell it was me could you pookie?

also, there is not really a bat boy our reader is supposed to be with, so im tagging this as all three of them. there will most probably not be a second part to this, but still, lemme know hat you all think

AND, im not trying to glorify what reader is going through in this fic. if you are going through something, please talk to someone. you are not alone, my loves ❣️

anyways, enjoyyyy!!

It was happening again.

The breathlessness was starting to creep up again on her.

And the worst part wasn't the fact that she felt like she was dying.

It was that she was alone. Again.

No one was coming. No one cared. No one would even realise she was gone until it was too late, and maybe that was a miracle.

Click.

The haze cleared slightly, and gasping for breath, Y/n stood, somehow making it to the stairs leading to her bedroom before her lungs constricted again.

She had no other option as she crumbled on the stairs, the hard wood digging into her sides and thighs.

She could not breathe.

She could not think.

She could not move.

She could not breathe.

A cruel laugh broke through her consciousness, the sound so familiar yet so foreign, Y/n could not help but sob.

You deserve this.

Azriel. It was him, no doubt. But the longer she sat there, other voices started joining in.

First Cassian. Then Mor, Rhysand. Amren.

Feyre, Nesta. Elain.

"Stop." She whispered, her hands shaking as she rose them to her ears, pressing as hard as she could. But no matter how much she tried to ignore it, the clearer the words became.

You deserve this.

You don't deserve us.

It's your own fault.

In an attempt to get away, to get some peace and quiet, she reached out, clutching the stair. The wood grains whispered against her palm, their sound lost to ears filled with taunts and laughter.

Still, she dug in her fingers, her nails screaming in protest, her heart yelling back in a horrific screech, beating loud enough to almost drown out her family.

Almost.

Pulling herself up, she reached out her hand, ignoring the pain as she did her best to haul her dysfunctional body up the hard terrain, trying to make it to her bed before she lost herself fully to the dark depths of her mind, losing all sense of her being.

Somehow, having no recollection of the climb, Y/n collapsed at the landing, her breathing erratic as she stared at the blurry paintings on the wall, gifted to her by Rhysand's mate.

Had they always been this blurry?

In the back of her mind, she realised that they were never blurry. There were just tears in her eyes, but she didn't think too much about that as she crawled forward, miraculously crossing the threshold to her room, the familiar smell of flowers Elain had gifted her last week pulling her out of her misery for a moment, enough to let her get up and stumble into the plush material of her bed before tears again erupted in her eyes.

They then came back, screaming in her ears about how much of a disappointment she was, how she deserved no happiness.

And she agreed with them.

But still, it hurt her heart to hear the people she cared for voice thoughts she only limited to the darkness of night, under the gentle presence of the moonlight.

You don't deserve happiness.

She knew the inevitable onslaught of her self hatred was about to break over her head, knew it was unavoidable and would probably have her moping for days.

Her mind started wandering, which in itself was alarming because as much as she wanted to stop thinking about her miserable life, she knew that any and all thoughts she had at these times would only work against her.

Rhys's tear stained cheeks, his bloodshot eyes and his quiet sobs as he clutched Y/n's hands between both of his, Y/n's soft cooing as she tried her best to soothe his wounds after his mother and sister's death.

As she held him after his return from under the mountain.

This was going to be a long night, she was sure.

Cassian's grumpy self refusing to eat after one of the Illyrians had again bullied him for not being good enough. Y/n's cheeks aching from how hard she was trying not to smile as she tried to convince the overgrown illyrian to eat something.

Azriel's shaky hands as she held onto him after a particularly bad nightmare that usually started keeping him up around the time his hands were burned, the anniversary o the time where an innocent little boy realised that the world was filled with cruelty.

Y/n being the first one to find out about Mor's liking in women and helping her sneak out to meet her lovers.

Y/n dragging gallons of fresh blood to Amren's apartment under the cover of the night when she knew the ancient being hadn't had the time to feast.

Her hands scrambled to find something to tether herself to, to remind her that this was not real and that it would pass. That her family did love her, and that they would never hurt her or want her to think this way of herself.

They would never hurt her the way she hurt herself.

They just wouldn't... would they?

Rhys's wide smile as he admired his mate while she spoke to a grinning Cassian, who in turn turned to Azriel to tease the blushing Illyrian. Mor, giggling over her glass of wine as she mumbled something to Elain, Nesta and Amren conversing in hushed tones next to the window, happiness shining on both their faces.

And Y/n watched on, huddled in her own little corner as she gulped down another glass of champagne, trying to focus on the burn in her throat as the liquor travelled down. Trying not to think of the way her breathing started coming in shorter pants, her lungs constricting in the too small rib cage that were set on killing her.

Trying to ignore the tang of copper in her mouth as she bit her own tongue, not wanting to speak and draw attention to herself, to ask for help because she was too unused to suffering in silence. Her family had always been there, and she had never had to go even a day without their constant nagging. She always had at least one of them guiding her through the worst of her days.

Trying not to think of how no one even glanced up as she exited the room, tears prickling her eyes, feeling like she was nothing but an intruder, watching from outside the warmth of the house, standing knee deep in the cold snow as she tried her best to keep warm by looking at the happy faces of her family, no matter how much she was freezing on the inside.

Her fingers curled around the lumpy material of her comforter, and she pushed forward, trying to ignore the tears that rolled down her warm cheeks and buried her head in the soft fabric.

And then let out the ear piercing scream she had been holding in, uncaring that she had let down the sound shield around her room.

She knew no one was around to hear.

She knew no one would come.

They were all too happy to worry.

Her stomach was grumbling, and she was glad it was because otherwise it would've been the cause for concern, considering she hadn't eaten in almost a day.

She was still so tired and wanted to do nothing but lay in bed all day and cry, but she needed to eat too.

And so here she was, chopping up some vegetables in a daze, not really paying attention despite wanting to focus on something that took her mind off of her thoughts.

It was not easy to stop thinking, so when suddenly the fog in her mind cleared, she glanced down.

The red of her blood was bright, and the longer she stared, the quicker the pain came, but it was only a tiny sting, nothing more than the bite of an ant in the shape of a knife.

She stared, and stared.

And then, she lifted her eyes, her gaze settling on her dagger, unprompted.

She smiled.

Writing was one of the parts of Y/n's responsibilities. Writing a letter to help the relations between the courts. A report for the high lord.

It was one of the things that broke her out of her own mind's torture, one of the things that made her feel like she wasn't entirely useless.

So here she was, just scribbling away senseless words in her journal, knowing she would hide it away before anyone saw it. Saw the blood stains.

For the first time in weeks, she was smiling, no tears to be found in her eyes as she lay on her stomach on the bed, her legs in the air behind her as she began doodling little flowers in the corner of the page, her inkpot next to her and her dagger in her other hand.

She went to dip in her feather pen in the ink, frowning a little as it created spots of ink on the crumpled paper, mixing with the dark red liquid that still dripped slowly from her fingers, little rivulets running down from her wrist.

As she continued, a tap on her mental walls had her pausing, and after a brief conversation with Rhys, she got up, closing her journal and beginning to clean the cuts on her wrist and around the journal and then donning a flowy, simple white gown.

It wasn't long before a knock sounded at her door, and she hurried to open it to find Cassian standing on her front porch, smiling.

"Hey Y/n, Rhys asked me to pick you up-"

Y/n nodded. "Yes I know, let me just grab my things and then we can go."

He shrugged, leaning against the doorframe.

She ran up the stairs and to her bedroom, grabbing the little bag she had put all her pens and previous reports into, deciding to carry them with her just in case.

She hurried back out within a few moments, but she saw that Cassian had moved, standing near the gates. Which was suspicious, but not too alarming as she stepped onto the porch.

"Let's go."

Before she shut the door Y/n turned and glanced around the house for the last time. Why, she didn't know. But she couldn't shake the feeling in her gut that something was wrong.

And she had known to always trust her gut.

But she turned around, locking the door before leaving.

Not realising her journal was missing from the table.

"I really don't want to pressure you too much Y/n, so if you don't want to be a part of this research, I understand-"

"Rhys, this is no burden. I'm actually honoured you even considered me for this project."

His brows furrowed, his smile turning confused. "What are you talking about Y/n? You're one of the smartest people I know. Of course you are included-" he trailed off, his eyes filling with understanding. "How have you been Y/n?"

Y/n blinked, pretending not to understand what he meant by that. Of course Rhys knew she struggled with feeling worthy of her family, and of course he made that connection.

"I've been good, Rhys." Y/n mumbled, an easy grin on her face as if Rhys's concern was ridiculous.

"Have you had any recent episodes-"

"Guess what I found!"

He paused, both their heads turning to where Cassian's booming voice floated through the cracked door.

Y/n's whole body ran cold, and before she could even question the reaction of her body to something that wouldn't have concerned her before, she was stumbling out the door, following Cassian's voice to the sitting room, where everyone else was gathered.

Cassian was grinning as he explained to them how he had gone to pick Y/n's up from her house, and how he found-

Her secret diary.

Y/n's eyes widened, her legs refusing to move as her gaze locked on the book Cassian held in his hand.

"Oh, look, she's here too!" He turned to her, his expression carefree and inviting. "Never knew you had a diary Y/n. What will I find if I read through it? Your secret lover's name? His-"

"Cass." Y/n warned, finally getting herself to move forward as he danced back, his hands beginning to crack open the book.

"Will I find your secret fantasies-"

He stopped dead in his tracks, all the emotions gone from his face as he stared at the page he had opened, his features hard. Y/n waited with bated breath, her head turning to gauge everyone's reaction.

Mor sat with Nyx in her lap, bouncing him as she glanced between Y/n and Cassian. Feyre and Azriel exchanged confused glances before Azriel stood, stalking towards Cass.

Panicked, Y/n jumped forward, but before her hand could wrap around her journal, he pulled away, face pale.

"What is this?"

"None of your business."

Azriel had stopped, his eyes wide as he stared at Y/n.

That's when Y/n realised he had smelled the blood she left on the pages.

Damn it.

Y/n stepped back towards the exit as she felt all the eyes on her, panic starting to dig its claws in her gut and begin its ascent up her throat as the shadows curled around Azriel's ear and his eyes went to her wrist, covered by the long sleeves of her dress.

Y/n turned to find Rhys standing in the doorway, his eyes filled with tears.

"Why?"

She glanced once at everyone, tears starting to fill her own eyes, her face flushing in embarrassment, mad that she had started crying over nothing, and pushed past Rhys, running towards the front door.

"Y/n!"

They will be mad.

You deserve it.

Y/n fled the river house, ignoring the concerned looks thrown her way by the people on the streets as she ran straight to her house.

They hate you.

The door slammed shut behind her as she leaned against it, gasping for breath as her lungs started contracting painfully, refusing to let her breathe.

The breathlessness was starting to creep up again on her.

It was happening again.

Acotar Taglist: @bubybubsters @eos-princess @nightless @harrystylesfan2686

@cassie6392 @kennedy-brooke @tele86 @miluiel1

@hnyclover @minnieoo @sidrapotter @piceous21

@mybestfriendmademe @saltedcoffeescotch @eve175 @starsinyourseyes

@starswholistenanddreamsanswered @cumuluscranium @byyalady @lilah-asteria

@girlswithimagination @gardenofrunar @girlswithimagination @sunnyspycat

@artists-ally @riddlesb1tch @milswrites @berryzxx

Azriel Taglist: @darthdumbasss @foreverrandomwritings @azrielsmate3 @celestialend

@stqrgirlies-blog @tele86 @bakananya @xyzmeh

@st4r-girl-official @caraaaaugh @nacho-nat @allllium

@fandomarchiveilyd @nickishadow139

Cassian Taglist: @moonlwghts @samslittlespoon @nickishadow139

[dreaminginpastels]

Wow you’re writing is great! If you’re not busy, would you do a Druig request where he’s in love with his fellow Eternal who’s generally neutral in family fights but one Druig manages to bother her enough that he feels guilty and asks for forgiveness because he can handle everyone else being mad at him but not her? Thank you in advance!

wounding me softly

pairing: druig x fem!eternal!reader

summary: in which druig is increasingly distracted in battle and reader has had enough.

warnings: reader says some slightly not very nice things to druig, sliiiightest angst, brief intimacy

reader pronouns: she/her (by request)

word count: 2.1k

*✧ eternals masterlist | main masterlist | ask ✧*

Druig was getting on your last nerve. Literally. 

Arishem had gifted you the ability to heal others, but what you hadn’t told the rest of the Eternals was that this “ability” came with a catch - each time, you had to absorb the injury in order to heal it. Early on in your inception, you’d decided it was some punishment, for what you had no clue, but as you became an integral part of the Eternals and learned from each of them, you’d come to see it as your own private gift - a way to develop untapped empathy and care for others. It made you the beautiful person you were. 

Right now, however, Druig was testing your patience. The two of you had spent much time together during the early part of your stay in Babylon, and had grown close enough that Druig had started showboating in battles, leading the two of you to keep a tally of Deviants slain and owing each other various snacks after battle depending on who won. You were happy for the first time in a long, long time. You had even let yourself wonder if there might be more on the horizon between you. Over the last week, however, something had changed. Druig was quieter, withdrawn. You’d find him lost in his thoughts, and, most troublesome was the fact that he seemed to have lost his focus in battle. It was taking its toll. 

It had started with slight delays, Druig got where he needed to be but always just a tad too late. At first, you were concerned, checking in on him even though he’d just brush you off. But then you’d begun to get frustrated with the brooding eternal. The battles were becoming more frequent, and as the demand on your abilities grew, so too it seemed did Druig’s wandering mind. 

…

Drained and exhausted, you slumped against a wall as Ikaris blasted a Deviant ahead of you on your route to a wounded Kingo. 

“Kingo, again?” you sighed as your hands pressed on his abdomen. You felt the deep gash slowly and agonisingly transferring to your own side. 

He winced, “It’s not my fault, y/n, I swear-”

“They’re just targeting the weakest link.” Ikaris stated, matter-of-factly. 

Kingo scoffed. “Okay, rude.” 

Ikaris smirked before responding to Sersi’s summon. 

Kingo turned to you, “But seriously, y/n, if Druig showed up every once and a while, maybe these damn Deviants would go down easier.”

You groaned in frustration at the same moment that Kingo sighed in relief. The injury had finished absorbing, but you were severely lightheaded and could barely move. Druig was going to get more than an earful when you got back. 

“You’re an angel, y/n.” Kingo announced as he brushed your hair out of your face. “Seriously, I appreciate you so much.”

You grimaced, trying to hide the immense pain you were in. “T-thanks Kingo. Be careful out there, okay?”

He nodded before saluting you. “I won’t let you down, boss.”

…

“Rock, paper, scissors for the last twinkie?”

Druig brushed up against your shoulder playfully in the common space of the Domo, earning him a glare from you, and a chuckle out of Kingo. 

“Woah,” Druig began, gesturing to your glare with his twinkie in hand, “Careful with that thing, you could seriously hurt someone!”

You scoffed and walked away, feeling Druig’s confused gaze following your every step. As you walked into your room, you could hear his voice echoing through the walls of the Domo. “Was it something I said?”

“You, my friend, are royally screwed.” Kingo replied, stifling a chuckle.

…

A week had passed since Kingo’s major injury, and you hadn’t spoken a single word to Druig. You knew that the silent treatment was probably a bit immature for an eternal being, but frankly, you couldn’t care less. Being unfocused in battle was one thing, but vanishing when your family needs you the most? That you couldn’t condone.

You knew he’d have an excuse, and part of you was desperate to hear it. You missed him. Of course you did. Your love for him only made your resentment more torturous. 

Carefully positioning your still-recovering body against the wall in the meeting room, you watched as the other Eternals filed in with bated breath, wondering how much longer you could keep your secret. 

…

Druig’s heart rate spiked as Ajak concluded their meeting, the blood coursing through his veins as he prepared for what he was about to do. He hated confrontation as much as the next person, although the next person was Ikaris... 

“Alright, if no one has anything further they wish to present, you’re all dismissed.”

“Actually, Ajak,” Druig began, taking in the eye-rolls from his fellow Eternals as his voice filled the room. “I have something I’d like to discuss.”

Ajak’s patient, loving eyes wandered his face like a warning. “Yes, Druig?”

“Y/n’s been giving me the silent treatment lately, and I’d like to get to the bottom of it.”

“Oh here we go…” muttered Kingo as his eyes met Sprite’s, drawn to the impending drama like a car crash he couldn't tear his eyes from.

“It pains me to bring it up," Druig continued, glaring briefly at Kingo, "but seeing as the Deviants are getting more frequent, I figure we need to gel as a unit, and I don’t feel that we’re doing that.”

“HA,” A voice stirred from the shadowed corner of the meeting room. “You can talk.”

As you emerged from the shadows into the light of the meeting space, Druig took in your appearance - your heavy breathing, the dark bags under your bloodshot eyes, how pale you were. He instinctively moved towards you, resting a featherlight hand on your shoulder. His heart shattered as you winced and pulled away from his usually welcome touch. 

“Y/n, you look like crap! What the hell happened?” Then, softly in your ear, “Are you okay?”

Druig felt you tremble the second before you shoved him away from you. “Of course I do! While you’ve been off doing Arishem knows what, we’ve been protecting the humans, and each other, from Deviants. Who, as you so kindly reminded us, are getting more dangerous and more frequent. This is the time that we can’t afford slip-ups, and you’re off with the fairies!”

Druig’s head fell in shame. You hated conflict, least of all with him, and he had driven you to this. He knew it was entirely his fault - he had been distracted lately, and you deserved to know why. “Y/n, I-”

“You’re careless! And you don’t think about anyone but yourself. We can’t afford that, Druig. We’re a team. A family. Act like it.”

He shrunk into himself, every trace of his usual swagger and confidence shattered like the fragile heart he held within. You were right. He had done this to you, left you exhausted and pained - a shell of yourself. The one person he swore he’d never hurt. He mustered the only words he could, hoping they were at least a bandage over your weak frame. At least enough until he could hold you again. “I’m sorry.”

With a deep sigh, he watched as you limped out of the room - step by pained step. Druig looked at the faces of the other Eternals, taking in their disappointment with panicked eyes before rushing out of the room to follow you. 

…

“Y/n, wait!”

You groaned as he approached. Every noise you made splintered Druig’s heart a little more. He needed to make this right. Now. 

“What, you couldn’t even let me have a badass exit? You’re unbelievable.” You mustered a chuckle to lighten the mood, but Druig saw how it pained you. How you shuddered with each breath. 

“Oh my darlin’, you’re not okay.”

You raised an eyebrow, “Obviously, Druig. But great to know you weren’t even listening to my speech-”

“No, I can see it - something’s really wrong.” He lifted an arm above yours and studied your eyes carefully for permission before gently lifting your arm over his shoulder. “Let’s get you to lay down, we can talk when you’re comfortable.”

You winced as Druig lifted your arm, but hummed gratefully at his concern, lifting his hopes ever so slightly that things might just be okay. That he might win his best friend back, if he could muster the courage to be sincere enough.

Druig guided you to your room, and lay you gently on your bed, relishing in the comfortable sigh that emerged from your lips. You looked up at him, guarded but gentle. “Thank you, Druig.”

“You’re  welcome, my darlin’.” He softened as he took you in. Then, he eyed your bed. “Mind if I lay with you?”

You hesitated for a moment before nodding your permission. 

The silence that followed was full of unspoken emotions. Of feelings too large for the room, but deep enough to create a chasm between you. Until your voice echoed through the dark. 

“What’s been going on with you lately? You’re a formidable warrior, unrelenting in battle. What could possibly have you distracted enough that you’d ignore Kingo’s calls for aid?”

Druig sighed. “Look, y/n. It seems we’ve both been keeping secrets. I’ll tell you mine if you promise to tell me yours?”

You eyed his outstretched pinky. “I cannot believe you’re making me pinky swear like our inception was yesterday.”

He laughed gently, “You know you love it.”

Rolling your eyes, you took his pinky in yours. “Fine, pinky swear.”

While your pinkies were still entwined, Druig quickly added, “but you go first!” before letting go. 

“You are an actual child, Druig.”

“And you have a secret to tell me…” he replied in a sing-song voice. 

The mood was instantly quashed by your serious tone. “I…”

Carefully, Druig took your hand in his. “You know you can tell me anything, my darlin’, I’m not going anywhere.”

You took a deep breath as you looked up at him, meeting his concerned irises. 

“My abilities come with a cost. A condition. I can’t heal anyone without taking on their pain first.” Druig searched your eyes, horrified by your words and connecting the dots as you continued, “So, each time I’ve healed the others in battle recently…”

“...you’ve had to take on their injuries yourself and heal from them.” He finished for you. 

You nodded sombrely. “Each, and every one. Individually.”

“Oh, my beautiful, beautiful, y/n. Why didn’t you tell us?” Druig looked down sheepishly at your entwined hands before quietly adding, “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

Your voice was smaller than Druig had ever heard it as you replied, laced with the worries and insecurities you had held inside for an eternity. “I…I didn’t want to burden anyone, to let anyone down, and…I didn’t want you to look down on me for being the only Eternal whose powers are conditional. I was ashamed for a really long time.”

“I could never look down on you, y/n.” Druig began, turning to face you as he gently cupped your cheek and stared into your eyes. “I…I love you.”

Your eyes widened, “You…you do?”

He chuckled sadly, “Of course I do, you beautiful, oblivious fool. I’ve loved you forever.” Druig looked down bashfully before muttering under his breath. “That’s uh, that’s actually why I’ve been so distracted lately.”

“Wait, WHAT?”

“I know, I know, it’s so dumb. I just, I’ve been wanting to ask you if you would ever consider seeing me as more than just the brooding Eternal that boasts in battle for snacks because he’s too shy to ask the girl he loves to be his. I never thought you would ever see me as more and I…I would daydream about us in battle, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. About us. Then, last week I saw these flowers - daisies, I- I know they’re your favourite - when this Deviant shoved me to the ground deep in the forest and I thought they would be perfect for some grand romantic gesture and then I heard about Kingo and- I’m so sorry y/n, I ruined everything, I hurt you, and-”

Druig’s panicked rambling faded into nothingness the second he felt your lips graze his. Gentle, shy at first, and then more deeply, with a passion that he felt at his core. He moaned against your lips, “Y-y/n, I-”

“That is somehow equally the sweetest and dumbest thing I’ve ever heard come out of that beautiful-” kiss, “-beautiful-” kiss, “-mouth.”

With a lovestruck gaze, and an empty mind, Druig’s eyes moved from your lips to your eyes as he took in the sight before him. “Y-you forgive me?”

You smiled then, cupping his face gently before placing another tentative kiss on his waiting lips. “I’ll do you one better. I love you, you sweet, idiotic Eternal. I’d be honoured to be yours.”

The two of you lay there in contented silence, falling asleep entwined in each other's embrace, knowing that everything would be okay. Knowing that you had each other.  ...

a/n: hi lovely, i’m so very sorry for how long it’s taken me to get around to this request. it was my last druig request for AGES and I was just so nervous that if I wrote my last druig request I wouldn't get any more, so I held onto this baby like my life depended on it. that being said, I tweaked the request a little bit and I ADORED writing this. I hope that it’s everything that you wanted it to be, and please please feel free to request for baby boy again because I love writing for him SO MUCH 🤍 

i’m so excited to get back into writing again, i finally finished my honours degree and I have so much creativity it’s not even funny - hoping to really smash out a bunch of your requests and create a writing schedule so i can keep it up because i miss and love writing for you all! thank you so much for your patience and support, you mean the world to me and i’m thankful for you every day 

[piancqwrites]

Annoying

Synopsis ➸ Ever since you were kids, Kenma Kozume found you annoying. He doesn’t hate you, but he doesn’t particularly like you.

Next Chapter ➸ Part One | Part Two

Tags ➸ Kenma X Reader, the reader is female, Kuroo tries his best

divider by @strangergraphics-archive + @strangergraphics

Kenma's footsteps dragged as he trailed behind Kuroo, the sound of their shoes scraping against the pavement filling the silence between them. The longer they walked, the tighter the tension coiled in his chest, each step pressing down on him like a weight. His mind was stuck on the last time he saw you—the way your shoulders had slumped, how your eyes, usually bright with curiosity or amusement, had been shadowed with sadness. You had barely said a word before pulling away, retreating into yourself. Kenma hadn’t realized then how much it hurt to watch you shut the door, not literally but emotionally.

He hadn’t meant for things to get so tangled, so complicated. He didn’t know how to deal with feelings, not like Kuroo did. Kuroo could read people easily and knew when to crack a joke when to press, and when to pull back. But Kenma? He stayed quiet, keeping his thoughts buried beneath layers of silence, and now it had come back to haunt him. You were shutting him out because of it, and he had no idea how to fix it.

Ahead of him, Kuroo exhaled sharply, his frustration bleeding through his voice. “I don’t get it, man,” he muttered, his hands shoved even deeper into his pockets as if trying to physically contain his growing unease. “She was fine a week ago, and now… she won’t even come out. Did I do something wrong?”

Kenma swallowed hard, guilt gnawing at him. He wanted to say something—anything—to reassure his friend. Kuroo didn’t deserve to shoulder the blame for this, not when the real issue was Kenma’s inability to communicate, his own failures. But how could he explain that? How could he admit that the reason you were avoiding everyone had nothing to do with Kuroo and everything to do with the space Kenma had created between the two of you?

“It’s not you,” Kenma mumbled, his voice so soft it almost got lost in the breeze. He didn’t lift his head, keeping his eyes on the sidewalk as they walked.

Kuroo shot him a glance, one eyebrow raised in skepticism. “What do you mean?” he asked, slowing his pace slightly so that Kenma could catch up.

Kenma hesitated, his mind scrambling for the right words, but emotions weren’t his strong suit. He could tell Kuroo everything about a game, analyze strategies with ease, but talking about feelings? That was different. “She’s… going through something,” he said at last, his words halting and careful. “It’s not your fault. Sometimes people just need time.”

Kuroo frowned, clearly unconvinced. “You sure? Because it feels like she’s pulling away from everyone. It’s like she doesn’t want to see any of us.”

Kenma forced himself to meet Kuroo’s gaze, his heart heavy. He wished he could be as straightforward as Kuroo, but the truth was tangled up inside him. He wanted to tell Kuroo that it wasn’t "everyone" you were pulling away from—it was him. And he didn’t know how to fix it. “Yeah,” he muttered, looking away again. “Just… give her time.”

Kuroo sighed, his frustration evident, but he didn’t push any further. He trusted Kenma, always had, even if he didn’t fully understand him. “I guess,” he said, though there was an edge of disappointment in his voice. “I just hate not knowing what’s going on.”

The silence returned, heavier now.

They walked in tandem, neither speaking, though Kenma could feel the unspoken words hanging between them. Kuroo was upset, that much was clear, but he wasn’t the one suffering under the weight of guilt that gnawed at Kenma.

For Kuroo, it was frustration—an inability to help someone he cared about. But for Kenma, it was something far more complex.

It was guilt.

Guilt for not being able to face you, for letting the space between you grow wider and wider until it became something insurmountable. Guilt for staying quiet when he should have spoken up, for not telling you how much he cared, how much he wanted to close that distance but didn’t know how.

And the worst part? Kenma didn’t know if he could ever fix it. You deserved more than his silence and quiet presence in the background, but he wasn’t sure if he could be the person who bridged the gap.

He wasn’t Kuroo—confident, expressive, capable of making everyone feel at ease. He was just… him. A boy who had trouble with words, who buried everything he felt so deep inside that now, when it mattered most, he couldn’t pull them out.

As they walked, the weight of it all pressed down on him harder. He wanted to go back, to knock on your door, to force the words out if he had to, just to make things right. But he didn’t. He kept walking, silent and unsure, hoping that maybe, just maybe, time would be enough.

It had been years since that summer—since Kenma last saw you. Time had a way of dulling the sharp edges of memories, and as he grew older, he buried them deeper, pushing away the questions he never dared to ask. Volleyball had taken up more of his time, and he convinced himself that life had simply moved on. Whatever had happened between you two, he never really talked about it with Kuroo. Maybe it was easier to forget. Maybe that’s just what people did as they got older.

But some memories have a way of resurfacing when you least expect them.

It was the middle of his first year of high school, a regular afternoon after practice. Kuroo, now in his second year, had been tied up with something and told Kenma to go ahead without him. Kenma didn’t mind—he enjoyed the solitude of the walk, zoning out with his headphones on, the familiar streets passing by in a blur.

As he walked, he absentmindedly glanced at the crosswalk up ahead, his gaze drifting over the small crowd waiting for the light to change. And then, without warning, a memory—one he hadn’t thought about in years—flashed before his eyes.

The way you used to stand at that same spot, waiting with a slight slump to your shoulders, hair blowing lightly in the breeze.

His steps faltered.

He blinked, the memory still clinging to his mind as he looked closer at the figure standing there now. Same posture. Same hair. Same… everything. Could it really be you?

It didn’t make sense, and yet, his heart began to race with a strange kind of hope. For years, he had told himself he didn’t care anymore. But now, standing here, something deep within him stirred. The quiet questions he had shoved aside were suddenly loud and overwhelming.

Why had you pushed everyone away?

Before he knew it, his feet were moving toward you, carrying him across the street. His mind raced, struggling to find the right words—if this really was you, what would he even say? I’m so sorry, where did you go? He hadn’t even realized how badly he needed that answer until now.

“Hey,” he called out, his voice uncertain, almost breathless.

You turned at the sound of his voice, and Kenma’s heart stopped. There you were—or at least, it had to be you. The face staring back at him was the same one he had known as a kid. His breath caught in his throat, and for a moment, he was sure time had folded in on itself.

But as he took in your expression, something felt… off. You looked at him with curiosity, not recognition. There was no flicker of memory in your eyes, no trace of familiarity.

Kenma’s heart sank.

“Um, can I help you?” you asked, your voice polite, but distant. You seemed puzzled, and that only made Kenma’s confusion deepen.

His mind scrambled. This had to be you, didn’t it? Maybe you didn’t remember him, maybe time had changed too much between you. Still, he pressed forward, desperation clawing at him. “It’s me, Kenma,” he said slowly, hoping—no, praying—that something in your mind would click.

But the confusion didn’t leave your face. Instead, you gave him an awkward smile, shaking your head. “Sorry, I don’t know anyone named Kenma.”

Kenma blinked, the shock of your response washing over him like cold water. “But… you used to live here, right?” he asked, his voice faltering as he pointed to the neighborhood behind him. "We were..."

Friends?

The word caught in his throat, heavy with the weight of the years that had passed. Did he even have the right to call you that?

Instead, he forced out something that felt safer and didn’t sting as much. “We would hang out at the park with Kuroo. When we were kids." His voice was softer now, almost as if he was trying to convince himself as much as you. Yeah, that sounded better. Less personal, less loaded with expectations and memories.

You tilted your head slightly, studying him for a moment, but the recognition never came. Your expression remained blank, offering no sign that his words had stirred any buried memories.

“I’m sorry,” you said gently, shaking your head again. “I think you have me confused with someone else.”

Kenma’s heart sank deeper. The more he tried to make sense of the situation, the more it slipped away from him. You weren’t the person he had spent all this time thinking about, the one who had been the source of his silent guilt. But the resemblance—the familiarity—was undeniable. It made no sense.

And then, you said it.

“I think you’re talking about my twin sister.”

Your words hit him like a wave, knocking the air from his lungs. Twin? He hadn’t even known you had a twin. How had he not known? His brain raced, trying to catch up, but nothing made sense.

And yet, you looked so much like her. The same face, the same posture, the same everything—but you weren’t her. The girl he had been chasing all these years wasn’t standing in front of him.

You noticed his silence, a small frown tugging at your lips. “She… she doesn’t really talk about that time much anymore,” you said softly, as if that would somehow explain it all. But it didn’t. Not to Kenma.

Kenma could barely find the strength to speak, the weight of your words pressing down on him. “I didn’t know she had a twin,” he finally managed, his voice sounding distant, like it belonged to someone else.

You gave a small shrug, glancing down at your phone. "I can tell her that you asked for her," you offered the words gently but carrying a note of finality.

The thought of reaching out to her now, after all this time, felt overwhelming. He wasn’t even sure how he could begin to apologize for something that happened years ago. “No. Thank you,” he said.

Your gaze softened with understanding as you nodded. "Alright. If you change your mind, I'll see you around school."

Kenma watched you--her? walk away, feeling a mix of relief and disappointment. He was a coward, he knew that. The fear of reopening old wounds, the uncertainty of facing the girl who had left without a word—it was all too much.

It was so annoying.

tag list ➸ @minkyungseokie @sagejin

[likedovesinthewindd]

Hi I dont know if you are taking requests or not or were to put requests but if you are can you please do the spider verse characters crying in front of you for the first tie in reverse? Like you crying in front of the spider verse characters for the first time. Please and thankyou!

miles' heart practically sinks down to the sole of his feet the moment he sees the tears welling up in your eyes, and when they eventually roll down your cheeks, he almost starts apologizing (even though he didn't do anything wrong). he really doesn't like seeing you this upset; you always manage to make him feel better wherever he's down and he wants to do the same for you. so he's comforting you the way you would him, and once you've calmed down a bit he's taking you to your favorite place for takeout, or you're watching your favorite movie together.

gwen is kinda awkward about it tbh. she doesn't really know what to do when someone cries. she thinks about how they'd do it in the movies, and without much thought she's gently rubbing at your back trying to calm you down. every now and then a few "It's okay"s are timidly escaping her mouth. it's clear to you that she doesn't really know what to do, but you know she's doing it out of love, and that's definitely makes you feel better.

pavitr gets so concerned when you start crying, his first thought's thinking that he did something wrong. he's immediately doing his best to comfort you, asking you if you need anything from him and when you say that you just need him right now, he doesn't waste any time wrapping his arms around you. somewhere along the line he murmurs a small apology, which confuses you a bit, so you make sure to tell him it definitely wasn't his fault.

hobie is so in tune with you that it's a little scary sometimes. even if you were only friends, he still has a way of knowing just what you needed or wanted to say without you having to say anything. so when he sees the tears welling up in your eyes he wastes no time wrapping his arms around you and engulfing you in a warm embrace. he knows you, so he knows you don't him making you feel smaller than you already do, so he sits silently with you, keeping his arms wrapped around you as you gradually calmed down listening to his heartbeat against your cheek.

miguel is confused at what do at first. he is so used to hiding and discrediting his own emotions that he sometimes forgets not everyone does that as well. he's not some unemotional monster though, and after a little lagging knows what you need right now. miguel is a lot of things, but an inconsiderate lover is definitely not one of them. he knows you almost better than you know yourself, so when you start crying, he knows just how to comfort you, even though at first he seems a little lost.

peter's number one priority as your partner and/or friend is to always keep you happy. he's been quite successful in that for as long as you two have known each other, so when he sees your sullen face and teary eyes, he basically loses his mind. his mind is shouting at him to fix this, to try to cheer you up, because as far as he's concerned, you shouldn't be sad, ever really. so he's searching around in his pockets for a tissue, mind running a mile a minute trying to figure out what to say to console you. and when the words exit his mouth it's a mess of "it's okay"s and "don't cry"s all mixed up. if you weren't literally crying, you'd laugh at how hard he was trying to cheer you up. you try to stop his frantic hands, still searching for a tissue he knew he didn't have, and tell him that's it's fine, that him just being here is enough consolation for now. that calms him down considerably, but not before he gets a few more "are you okay?"s in.

[enmi-land]

#OO2. DOWN WITH THE DEMOCRACY !

𝓘. ──── . . . 𝑀𝗂𝗅𝖺 𝖽𝖾𝖼𝗂𝖽𝖾𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗏𝗈𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗌𝗒𝗌𝗍𝖾𝗆 𝗌𝗎𝖼𝗄𝗌.

🥚 𝓲-LAND EPiSODE 2 𓈀 4.8k ꗃ ❛ KOR, ENG, JP, CHi ❜ ✖ NO WARNiNGS! `⎚⩊⎚´ NEXT::PREV

shall we go 𝓲NTO THE NEW WORLD ?

Mila’s first impression of I-Land is that it has a pretty unique concept—and by that, she means it’s pretty frigging weird.

The place itself is actually quite impressive as it reminds her a lot of those mansions in Kdramas where the main male leads typically live, so that’s five stars for accommodation. But she has to take away two-and-a-half stars because the elevator lift in the lobby is a literal egg.

It seems like a pretty random choice of decor at first, and could easily be brushed off as a nouveau riche’s poor attempt at avant-gardism. But Mila makes a very detailed analysis of it, like the certified Overthinker that she is, and starts to see a morbid symbolism in the creative direction of the entire show.

The whole theme of I-Land centres around the egg—and what do people do to eggs?

They break them.

Mila doesn’t want to be an egg! Even thinking about possibly becoming the next Humpty Dumpty—who, mind you, couldn’t be put back together again—would make her arm hairs stand on attention if she had any. (The strongly recommended ‘Idol Package’ at the BigHit-endorsed beauty salon robbed her of any and all body hair.) She does get a whole lot of goosebumps—but those are more so because someone just said that there’s a graveyard a few kilometres away from here.

Shiitake mushrooms.

“Stop thinking so hard and eat.” Kiara’s voice brings Mila back to Earth.

The older female is currently piling her plate with food from the platters that were laid out in a totally non-suspicious manner on the island bench when the I-Land trainees first walked into the kitchen. Mila looks down at her own hands and finds herself holding a plate that she doesn’t even remember grabbing. Weird. But she doesn’t think much about it—mainly because she’s too hungry to—and chomps on a chicken strip as she looks around her.

The other trainees are chowing down like this is a schoolyard potluck, and that would be a pretty wholesome sight aside from a few things: Firstly, most of them are teenage boys who don’t know how to use utensils. Secondly, four of the currently nineteen trainees in the room will be evicted from I-Land in a few hours.

Mila doesn’t really know who thought it was a good idea to let the trainees vote for who gets eliminated, when most of them aren’t even old enough to vote in the presidential elections and this decision seems just as life-changing. But whoever it was, they must not know teenagers that well. Most of the people here are more likely to vote for people they don’t really like, rather than people who don’t have skills.

That’s probably why Seon keeps hovering so much—but hey, no one heard it from Mila.

Mila has nothing against Seon. Everyone is doing what they must in order to survive; she can’t fault him for wanting to get on people’s good sides. The thing is, he has a pretty obvious bias towards Kiara—which is fair, considering she’s one of the strongest in this competition so far, but it forces Mila to awkwardly third-wheel in what was once her conversation with her friend. It gets to the point where Mila decides to just let the adults talk, and wanders around the place aimlessly like a child waiting for her mother to finish gossiping with their neighbours.

And just like a child, she manages to get lost.

Oop—

“Mila-noona!”

The sound of her name being called from behind her and approaching footsteps is the only warning Mila gets before she is attacked by the sight of Yang Jungwon’s lethally cute dimples.

“Ah, you scared me!” she says before she can really think, only to then beam in excitement when the initial shock fades. “Oh—Jungwonie! It’s good to see you!”

Jungwon smiles, fiddling with the hem of his sweatshirt. She notices that he always does it when talking to her—a nervous tick, perhaps? How adorable.

Mila gives two thumbs up. “You did a really good job today with your performance!”

“Thank you,” he replies, “Noona also did a good job.”

Mila giggles bashfully. “Thanks! Anyway, I’m glad I ran into you. We didn’t get to talk much earlier— Ah, but are you heading anywhere in particular?”

Jungwon shakes his head, his fluffy hair following his movement. “I was just walking around. What about you?”

“Same here.” Mila scratches the back of her earlobe bashfully and tilts her head. Her eyes avoid Jungwon’s and land on a random spot on the wall next to her out of embarrassment of her admission: “But then I got lost.”

Jungwon blinks and Mila laughs awkwardly. They don’t get to say anything because they’re interrupted by the sound of voices down the hall which get increasingly rowdy. Mila easily recognises it as the sound of teenage boys egging each other on. It seems like something is going down…

Hm, curiouser and curiouser.

“Some of the Hyungs said they wanted to check out the gym,” Jungwon explains. “That must be them.”

“Oh, really? Did Jay-oppa and Sunghoonie-oppa say they would be there, too?” Mila asks. When Jungwon confirms her assumption (it makes sense that those two would be in the gym), she makes up her mind. “Ah, in that case, I’ll go find one of them to bother. Thanks, Jungwonie! I’ll let you go now.”

She’d hate to pester Jungwon when he’s her dongsaeng—and not a particularly close one, at that. Every time they’ve come across each other, she seems to always be the one chatting his ear off, so she thought he might be glad to see her go. That must not be the case, though, since Jungwon frowns and volunteers to escort Mila to the gym himself.

Mila is surprised, to say the least—but in a good way. It’s a relief he doesn’t secretly hate her guts or something.

The two walk in a comfortable silence that’s eventually broken as they arrive at the gym. Mila isn’t surprised to see Jay and Sunghoon participating in some sort of fitness competition with the other male trainees, however she now feels a bit nervous because she realises she doesn’t know any of them. She may be a social butterfly, but that’s only in settings where everyone is equally as unacquainted as she is, or when she isn’t the only owner of a double-X chromosome in the room. Thankfully, she isn’t alone and Jungwon is right next to her—

Nevermind, he’s walking away…

Mila contemplates leaving and just trying her luck with her nonexistent sense of direction, when Jungwon looks over his shoulder and blinks in confusion after realising she’s not following him. “Noona, aren’t you coming?”

Even though Mila knows that he isn’t trying to put her on the spot, he still kinda does. Everyone in the room hears his voice, so they all turn to face Jungwon and greet him—which causes them to notice her at the door. There is a brief silence where they all just stare at her like she’s the cow that jumped over the moon. But then Jay—thank goodness—pokes his head out from the centre of the boy’s club gathering and locks eyes with her.

Mila blurts out a relieved, “Oppa!”

“Mimi-yah?” She’s never been so glad to hear that nickname before. “Did you come to take a look at the gym?”

Jay walks over to her and she immediately feels better now that she has someone to hide behind. She can still feel some of the looks from the other trainees, so she shuffles closer to Jay. Mila briefly catches sight of Sunghoon in the background, putting a pair of dumbbells down, before she focuses back on Jay’s face.

“Not really—I was just looking for you and Sunghoonie-oppa,” Mila responds to his earlier question. 

“What for?” Sunghoon asks, appearing behind Jay. He stands shoulder to shoulder with his partner, and while it might seem intimidating to anyone else, she’s honestly comforted having them both so close. Not that she’ll admit that—least of all to Sunghoon. “I thought you said you wanted to meet new people.”

Sheesh. Is that pettiness Mila hears? 

…He’s not wrong, though.

Mila pouts. “Yeah, yeah. I know. I just wanted to see what you were up to—I was going to leave, anyway.”

And then she does her best impression of a puppy being left out in the rain—wide eyes, quivering bottom lip, and all—before turning on her heels to leave. Or tries to, anyway.

There’s a slight tug on her ponytail that has her stopping in her tracks. She turns to face Sunghoon with questioning eyes. He has a little smirk on his face, looking way too pleased with himself—like a cat that caught the cream. He totally has her figured out.

“Where are you going? You’ll just get lost.”

Again, he’s not wrong.

“Come on,” Jay says with a smile, before Mila can retort to Sunghoon’s taunt and they start bickering like they always do when they’re around each other. He places a gentle palm on her head. “We’ll introduce you to the others.”

The figurative rain clouds clear from above Mila’s head and she happily latches onto his free arm, earning a chuckle. Sunghoon, not one to be left out, snatches her other wrist and tugs it towards him. She lets him, savouring the warmth of his larger hand as it circles around her smaller one. (She does, however, make a show of keeping her hand in a fist she can’t hold his hand in return—not that he particularly cares.)

It's funny to think about how comfortable she is around them now, compared to when they first met two years ago. At that time, she had always been just a bit more hesitant to get to know the two of them, simply because she was intimidated. But they are softies underneath their tough guy exteriors—a pair of human teddy bears, really. It just took Sunghoon winning a penguin plushie for her at an arcade and Jay walking her to school one day for her to see that.

When they turn to face the other trainees, they all put on their best show of pretending they weren’t peeking at the three of them like curious housewives just moments ago. Jungwon looks the most curious of all of them, though Mila spots some concern—probably because of how she retreated into her shell like a hermit crab not long ago—which makes her want to ‘awww’. But he looks assured enough when she shoots him a genuine smile.

With Jay and Sunghoon acting as her moral support, Mila feels a lot more at ease and introduces herself confidently. The other trainees do the same and the small talk starts from there. It’s obvious that they’re being courteous of her since she’s the only girl in the room right now, as they aren't nearly as rowdy as they were when Mila heard them from down the hall earlier—but honestly, it’s kinda sweet. They’re all kinda sweet, actually.

It doesn’t even take her five minutes to warm up to them, and she finds herself demonstrating a pistol squat to officially inaugurate herself into their group of gym junkees. (It’s a good ego boost when she realises that most of them can’t actually do a pistol squat.)

Mila barely notices the two-hour waiting period pass her by. There’s only five minutes left when Mila finds her way back to Kiara. This time, the older female is with Heeseung and the Crown unit consisting of Hwayoung, Sunoo and Jaeyun. She doesn’t know how to feel about that, though, since Jaeyun hasn’t managed to get any less attractive in the past few hours. And, yeah, that’s a problem.

How long did it take her before she got used to Sunghoon’s visuals again? Ah, right…

She’s so screwed.

“Oppa!” Mila calls as she takes a seat next to Heeseung. “I was looking for you, but I couldn’t find you anywhere.”

She spent around half an hour in the gym with Sunghoon and Jay before she decided to embark on a journey of Finding Heeseung™, only to find everyone except for him. No, really. She managed to bump into literally every other trainee in the place before she finally saw him—and only because she was looking for Kiara, who happened to be with him.

Well, at least she knows her way around I-Land pretty well now.

“Ah, really? Sorry.” Heeseung softly strokes her hair—it’s basically a reflex for him by now—and she relaxes in her chair. “Did you need me for something?”

Mila shakes her head, before resting her cheek on his shoulder. “Not really. I just didn’t get to talk to you earlier…”

(She pointedly makes sure she doesn’t say, ‘I missed you,’ because contrary to popular opinion, she isn’t clingy, thank you very much.)

Heeseung smiles at this and his eyes do that thing that they do, where they look like honey is dripping from them. Before she can say anything, he playfully pinches her cheek. “Cute.”

The Crown unit across from Mila looks a little taken aback by the causal display of affection—which is fair enough. She was the same way at first, too.

When Heeseung first did it, Mila thought that he was possessed by the spirit of someone’s late aunt and almost doused him with a salt shower. But after two years of knowing him, she’s gotten used to the cheek pinches, head pats and his altogether treatment of her like she’s a particularly cute and small animal that he wants to put in his pocket and carry everywhere with him—even if she’s not particularly cute or small. 

Mila just learnt to accept Heeseung’s doting. It definitely has nothing to do with the fact that she’s a lonely, touch-starved only child with parental issues, and soaks up all forms of affection that she receives like a desperate sponge. No siree.

Kiara passes Mila a pillow, which she takes gratefully. She rests her chin on it, her cheek still on Heeseung's shoulder, while her eyes start gazing into the distance. She can smell Heeseung’s cologne really well from here—which isn’t at all a weird thing to say about her guy friend—and it feels oddly comforting. (And, again, not weird at all.)

Sunoo suddenly taps Mila’s foot with his own. “You shouldn’t fall asleep,” he teases with a smile, causing her to giggle.

“Not like I could if I wanted to,” she replies. “I’m still not sure about what I’ll do with the vote.”

“Ah, don’t remind me!” Jaeyun aggressively runs a hand through his hair, and tilts his head back to stare at the ceiling. “I’m nervous!”

“Don’t be, you guys did good,” Heeseung assures kindly.

“Right.” Kiara takes a seat on one of the beds, as the seats are currently occupied by the Mila, Heeseung and the Crown unit. “For people that didn’t have much training or even know each other for long, your performance and chemistry as a group was really solid.”

Sunoo covers his mouth with his hands, eyes crinkling with delight. “Really?” 

Mila nodded vigorously. “Even if anyone votes you out, it will be because they’re threatened by you, or just don’t want to vote out their friends. You all deserve a spot in I-Land as much as anyone else in here!”

Jaeyun tilts his head and looks at Mila like he’s in thought. She ignores him in favour of Hwayoung, who musters a smile, visibly less shaken than before. “Thank you. That means a lot.”

Sunoo puckers his lips and nods. “I guess I won’t feel too bad then if I get voted out.”

Mila doesn’t get the chance to say anything in return. The alarms blare, much like they did for the Entrance Test, and the announcement is made for Niki—who Mila remembers from the SuperM unit—to enter the voting room. Alone.

Well, then…

If the anxiety of the elimination itself wasn’t already stifling enough, the anticipation of waiting for their turn to vote is enough to figuratively choke someone out. By the time it’s Mila’s turn, she can’t even bring herself to have both her eyes open as she presses the screen. Someone would think she murdered someone when she finally walks out of the voting room with a face that screams ‘Guilty, your honour!’ and Kiara even jokingly asks whether she left any evidence behind.

Mila considers making the older girl carry her to the lobby—where the trainees must gather for the announcement of eliminees—since Kiara is so Unbothered by the whole thing. But then Mila remembers that she’s too tall to be carried by her significantly shorter unnie (“You’re only five centimetres taller, you brat!”), and unfortunately has to drag herself there.

Mila finds a random place to sit herself down and resists the urge to cover her eyes and ears like she’s watching a horror movie and awaiting a jumpscare. She’s not sure whether or not she will be the one to leave, or one of her friends; she just hopes it’s neither.

She jinxes it.

The first eliminee is announced. It’s Kim Sunoo.

Mila hasn’t known him for long, but she feels slighted on his behalf. He definitely doesn’t deserve to leave—and not as the trainee with the most votes against him. She already knew that some bias would be present in the voting, but it doesn’t alleviate the disappointment she feels to see him go. Mila actually brings Sunoo into a hug when she says her goodbyes, which is something she doesn’t do much with people she just met—men especially—yet feels oddly comfortable initiating with the boy. He seems to appreciate it, too, and even rubs her back a bit in a comforting manner.

As if Mila is the one who needs it right now.

“Come back again, okay?” Mila says as they separate. “You’re my only 03-liner friend, remember? I’ll be lonely without you.”

“Ay, you’ll probably meet more here anyway.” Sunoo laughs when she protests with the fact that he’s her first, which holds significant importance. And Mila is just grateful that he can be so bright in a situation like this. “Okay. I’ll make sure to come back just for you.”

Mila can’t help but smile. (Her cheeks feel a little warmer, too, but that’s not the point.) He’s awfully bold to be saying stuff like that to a girl he met not long ago, although she supposes she’s no better in the department of shamelessness.

She steps aside to let the Crown unit walk him to The Egg while she says her well-wishes to Taki, EJ, and Sunghchul. Then they’re on their way.

Ground, huh? Mila hopes it treats them well.

As for her, she’s left in the I-Land lobby with the remaining fifteen trainees, who celebrate their newly gained status as the top dogs in this food chain. But then the events of the day eventually catch up to them and night time doesn’t come soon enough.

Mila unfortunately can’t sleep well in unfamiliar environments (when she first moved to Seoul, it took her a few months to adjust to the BigHit dorms) and ends up tossing and turning until she decides to stumble around in the dark to sneak into Kiara’s bed. Not her idea of a good night's sleep. It doesn’t help when the reason she wakes up the next morning is the buzz of activity that comes from the other rooms down the hall because of everyone who is already up and about.

Mila is hoping this won’t be a regular thing, but knowing her luck, it probably will. And that’s crazy to her—because who on earth wakes up this early in the morning anyway?

Oh— Wait. Is that the time?

Nevermind then, Mila just woke up really late.

“Hey there sleepyhead,” Yumeko—one of the four only female trainees in I-Land—greets as she walks into their shared room. (The girls ended up together since everyone agreed it would be too awkward to share rooms with the opposite sex so early on—which kinda implies it will happen eventually, but that’s a future problem.) “How did you sleep?”

Mila hums, rubbing her eyes. “Not long enough.”

Yumeko laughs.

Mila knew of the older girl (a 00-liner, making her the eldest female in the competition) because, aside from being a fellow BigHit trainee, she also happened to always be the top of the girls’ rankings in dance—a title that Mila always missed out on by one rank in the past. She just never got to meet her properly until yesterday.

Mila wants to consider the Japanese female a rival, but she’s never been particularly competitive (it’s a wonder she did competitive cheerleading, or that she’s even on this show at all) and it’s not really her style. Besides, Yumeko is just that good; Mila knows she probably won’t stand any chance, anyway. Her cover of NCT U’s Cherry Bomb during the Entrance Test yesterday blew any delusions of stealing that number one rank from her out of the water.

“Sorry to disturb your beauty sleep, then,” Yumeko teases. She throws on a hoodie over the tank top she is wearing and Mila can’t help but notice she’s really toned. Damn. “The bathroom should be free if you want to wash your face and brush your teeth.”

Mila nods, feeling as gross she must seem, and also throws a hoodie over her head. She slept with a bra last night because she remembered the cameras in all the bedrooms (which would be pretty weird in any other setting—not that it isn’t still weird, anyway), so she isn’t worried about accidentally flashing anyone. But her hair is probably a bird’s nest right now, so the hood is there to cover her head as she pads towards the bathroom.

Yumeko is right about it being free, thankfully, so she doesn’t worry about taking her time to fix her appearance. She is just leaving when Geonu walks in, and she immediately beams. “Good morning!”

Geonu jolts in surprise. It’s kinda understandable, since Mila did just appear like a wild Pokémon jumping out of a bush. To his credit, though, he doesn’t scream or anything embarrassing like that and returns her greeting rather calmly. “Did you sleep well?”

Mila makes a seesaw motion with her hand. “So-so. I’m not really a morning person, though. And Oppa?”

“Same here,” he replies. “But you’re really energetic for someone who isn’t a morning person.”

Mila tilts her head and scrunches her nose. “Really? I guess that’s just how I am…”

Geonu, for some reason, laughs. It lacks any mockery in it, but has something there that makes Mila wonder if she said something funny. “Has anyone told you that you remind them of a bunny?”

Mila blinks. Because yes, actually, people do. “How did you know?”

Geonu shakes his head with an amused huff. “Just a feeling.”

Mila doesn’t really know what to say to that, so she shrugs instead. Oh well—as long as it’s nothing bad. “Well, I’ll let you wash up in peace. See you around!”

Geonu hums and bids her farewell.

Mila skips towards the kitchen, feeling much better now that she doesn’t look like she came off the set of Train to Busan. She’s in the middle of pouring herself a bowl of cereal when those alarms from hell start blaring and she flinches so strongly that cereal ends up flying out of the box in her hand and onto the floor.

Krabby patties.

Mila curses, bending down behind the counter to pick some of the flakes off the floor. Then a group of trainees bulldoze through the kitchen like a mob of fangirls when they spot their idols, and she decides that she’s not moving fast enough. She unlocks her inner janitor and sweeps up the remaining cereal—or as much as she can, anyway—and tosses them in the bin in record time.

She decides to wisely uses the ten minutes she’s given until she needs to be at the lobby to shovel as many spoonfuls of cereal into her mouth (she doesn’t know what she’s in for or how it will take, so stocking up energy is a priority) and take a quick toilet break. Then she’s going full Naruto ninja-speed and zooms towards the lobby, completely forgetting that she’s wearing slippers—a huge mistake, really, since she stubs her toe on a step. Ouch. But at least she isn’t late for the announcement of the show’s next stage.

The Signal Song Test begins in earnest with the reveal of the show’s theme song, Into the I-Land. Once again, it’s up to the trainees to make the big decisions—including who gets which part.

Well, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal if the number of lines were equal for all parts. But it looks like the producers of the show are aiming to make this whole survival show experience as accurate to the life of a real idol as possible, as there’s a huge disproportionality in the line distribution.

Mila doesn’t have any ambitions of getting the first part, so she naturally agrees with Sunghoon to throw Heeseung’s hat in the ring for it instead. As for the rest of the parts, they will be allocated by—surprise, surprise—a vote.

Mila does some mental gymnastics to come up with a strategy to bag the part she wants, and finally settles with the tried and true approach of Just Do It™. It seems to work pretty well, actually. She manages to get a part that appears in the centre twice, so she has some decent ‘look at me!’ time compared to the other parts.

The same can’t be said for others.

Jay has been rejected for every part so far, and seems like he’s ready to give up, but raises his hand again for the next part—and the part after that, and the part after that…

There’s now only one part left that has more than one line, and Mila knows if he doesn’t get it, it might do some serious damage to his confidence. It’s already taking a toll on him, as he has his head lowered so the bill of his cap covers his expression from her place across from him. And honestly, it hurts her heart to see it.

Jay has always been the epitome of tenacity, and he’s proven it already with his ability to keep raising his hand. Mila would have given up after the second rejection—maybe even the first. She just wishes she could do something to lift his spirits a little, even if it’s just enough so he can raise his head.

Mila ponders it for a moment, before she feels a lightbulb switch on inside her head. She raises her hand just as Heeseung prepares to move onto the auditions for the next part. “Oppa, I have a question!”

“Hm?” Heeseung immediately looks up from his tablet at the sound of her voice. “What is it?”

“I was just thinking…” Heeseung nods encouragingly at Mila. “Even if we give out the parts now, it's only based on vocals. What do we do if we get to dance practice and realise that someone can’t keep up with the choreography for their part?”

There are some nods from the other trainees, so Mila knows she’s not being completely outlandish.

“You’re right,” Heeseung agrees. “That’s why should consider every skill when we’re voting—dance and vocals are equally important. It’s better to vote for someone who you think can do both well.”

Mila nods sagely, pretending to think deeply about Heeseung’s words. “Ah, okay… So, if there's two people and they’re both pretty equal in vocals, but one happens to be much better at dancing, we should vote for that person?”

“Right.”

Mila smiles, satisfied with the answer and it’s intended result, as she notices Jay’s shoulders straighten a bit. “Okay, I get it now! Thanks.”

Everyone knows Jay is one of the best dancers in I-Land at this point, and Mila is more than confident that he’ll be able to sing the next part fairly well. There’s no reason for him not to have the part. It’s just that Mila gave everyone a little bit of a nudge in his direction by reminding them to keep an open mind.

It works like a charm.

“Okay,” Heeseung says after counting the votes, “this part is Jay’s.”

If Mila cheers a little too loudly at the announcement, that’s her business alone. But also, not really. From the smile that Jay sends her before mouthing, “Thank you,” she knows that he figured out her little trick. She can’t seem to feel guilty about it though—well, not right now at least.

But of course, in a survival show like I-Land, nothing good ever lasts forever.

taglist⠀( OPEN ! ) ⦂ @em1ejiee @menichoi @dracoslovergirl @rosas-in-the-garden @blossominghunnie @lovelypham @cornenhapovs @nee-issaire @jwnstars @tommina @queenriki7

© ENMI-LAND, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DO NOT COPY, TRANSLATE, REPOST

[bingwriterxo]

backseat

pairing: vada cavell x reader

summary: in which you accidentally make vada jealous

warnings: smut (character is 18+), 18+ (minors DNI), fingering, strap-on sex

word count: 2200+

author's note: killed multiple birds with one stone on this one. also, never wrote strap-on smut before, so hope this is ok...

"You've got this, Y/N," Mia whispered, her face hovering close to yours, voice barely loud enough to hear over the music blaring through her home. "Just...focus."

"I'm trying," you said, your arm raised, a ping pong ball gripped between your forefinger and thumb. "But someone is breathing over my shoulder."

"Oh." She took a step back. "Is that better?"

"Much." You closed one eye, aimed at the last red solo cup on the opposite end of the table, and took your shot. The ball soared through the air, and you swore that time stopped for a moment. Both you and Mia froze as the ball circled the rim of the cup once, twice, before finally dropping in and declaring you guys the winners.

Mia threw her arms around your shoulders in a tight hug. "Let's go!" she squealed,

You flipped off your opponents. "Suck it, bitches!"

"Oh, real classy!" Nick scoffed, taking a sip of his drink. He reached into the cup, pulled out the ball, and threw it at you. It lamely brushed against your side before falling to the ground, rolling off somewhere.

"I declare a rematch!" Vada yelled. "A rematch is being declared!"

Mia pulled away from you. "Nuh-uh! You guys lost fair and square." She pointed down to the cups that were still on the table--the almost full triangle that Nick and Vada had been unable to get rid of. "It's not our fault you guys suck!"

"Yeah! Losers!" you shouted, joining in on the teasing. "Maybe you guys should actually try to be good at the game. That might help."

Vada frowned, her eyebrows furrowing a little, and you wanted to kiss away the wrinkle that formed between them. "You guys are sore winners."

You grinned, crossing the length of the table to take her in your arms. "Aw, don't be so upset, baby," you cooed, pressing a kiss to the tip of her nose. "S'not our faults you're bad at pong."

She groaned. "I think you cheated. There's literally no other explanation, because Nick and I are beasts at pong. We are the unbeatable pair. We never lose, so you must have cheated. Maybe you rigged the ball, or maybe--"

"Or maybe I'm just good at this game?" you interrupted, raising an eyebrow.

"No, no. That can't be it."

You giggled, pulling back from your girlfriend. She didn't let you get far, her own arms snaking around your waist and tugging you back toward her.

"Thought you wanted a rematch?"

Vada shrugged. "That can wait," she said shortly, her eyes flitting down to your lips. She leaned up and kissed you, deep enough that you could taste the vodka on her breath. You hummed against her, a thought sparking in your alcohol-hazed mind.

"I need another drink," you murmured when she pulled away. When she frowned, you asked, "Do you want to come with me?"

"The kitchen is so far, though," she whined, stomping her feet a little like a child, and you chuckled, glancing behind you; the two of you were, maybe, ten steps away from where all of the liquor was.

"Ever the drama queen, Vads," you said. You untangled yourself from her, taking one of her hands loosely in your fingers. "But I need a drink."

She grumbled in defeat but nodded her head. "I'll wait here 'til you return from your journey."

You shook her head, a soft smile on your lips. "I'll be two minutes." You kissed her again and ventured off to the kitchen, your eyes trained on the tequila that Mia had generously bought for the party.

You grabbed a new cup, poured a healthy amount of tequila into it, and topped it off with the nearest mixer you could find--fruit punch. It was a strange combination, but you decided that it wasn't entirely unwelcome when you tasted the drink.

Spinning on your heel, your mind was fully set on finding Vada again and maybe pulling her into the living room, where all of the furniture had been pushed against the walls to create a dance floor. However, you barely got a step in before you immediately collided with another person, your drink spilling down your front.

"Oh, shit!" the person cursed. "Sorry, dude."

You glanced up, catching sight of Kayden, the self-anointed stoner of your grade and...your ex-boyfriend. He was grinning down at you, pearly-whites on display, and you smiled back, glad for once that you two had ended on good terms, or else the interaction would've been more than awkward.

"S'all good, Kayd," you said, bringing up a hand and swatting at any of the extra liquid that hadn't seeped into your shirt yet. Luckily, you had chosen to wear black, so you could barely see the spill. Unluckily, the top didn't cover much, which meant most of your drink landed on bare skin. "Although I am a little sticky now."

"C'mon." He grabbed your wrist. "Lemme help with that." He tugged you toward the sink, and you followed with a shrug, ignoring the neon-red, flashing sign in your head that screamed Don't!

You squeezed past people until you made it to the sink. Kayden already had it turned on, and there was a paper towel in his hand that he ran beneath the water until it was soaked. He whirled around, immediately pressing the paper towel to your stomach. You squealed at the coldness of it, a shiver running down your spine.

"Fuck," you whined. "You couldn't have used warm water?"

He chuckled. "Sorry, man," he drawled. "Too late for that."

You rolled your eyes. "Yeah, no shit. Gimme that." You took the paper towel from his hand to wipe yourself off, but the damage was already done.

"Y/N." Her voice was loud, her tone short. You whipped around, your eyes wide as they landed on a pissed-looking Vada. She stood a few feet away, her arms crossed over her chest and her lips pulled into a deep frown. "What the fuck?" she seethed.

You ignored the voice in your head that was telling you she looked hot, hot, hot all mad like that, and the stirring in your lower belly, and focused on trying to save yourself. "Vads, baby, it's not--"

She lunged forward and grabbed your forearm, the paper towel slipping from your grasp and landing on the floor. Without a second word, she was yanking you through the party. You passed by your friends--Mia with a smirk on her face and Nick with his eyebrows furrowed--and offered them a shrug, just as confused as Nick seemed.

Your confusion only grew as you were tugged out the front door, down the porch steps, through the maze of cars in the driveway, and out the gate.

"Vada, where--"

Things started to click when your own car loomed in the distance. The two of you were approaching the vehicle quickly, and you fumbled around in your pocket for your keys. When you found them, you pushed the button to unlock the doors, perfectly timing it as Vada pulled on the handle and all but threw you into the backseat. It never failed to surprise you whenever she showed how strong she really was.

She climbed in after you, slammed the door shut, and then her lips were on yours, feverish and hot and mad. You moaned against her, trying to push yourself to sit up, but she didn't let you, one hand pressing down on your hip while the other was holding herself up.

She pulled away for the smallest second, and in the light of the streetlamp, you could see that her eyes were half-lidded, dark, and angry. Her head dipped down to your jaw, planting open-mouthed kisses along your skin, before dropping to your neck, teeth nipping and tongue soothing the bites.

"Vads," you breathed out, your hips bucking up.

"You're mine," she gritted into your neck, her leg coming up and pressing against your center.

You groaned, rolling your hips into her thigh and whining at the little contact you got. "Vads, baby, please."

Her hand flew down, fumbling with the button of your pants, and you giggled a little at her ineptness. She glared at you, all signs of possessiveness diminished. "A little help here?"

"Sure, sweetheart." You reached down, knocking her hand to the side, and undid your own pants. Almost as soon as you were done, Vada's hand was pushing yours out of the way so that she could pull your pants down your thighs and slip beneath your underwear, and you whimpered at the feeling of her brushing through your folds.

"Fuck, you're wet," she groaned, two fingers slipping into you easily as her thumb ran over your clit in tight circles.

You sighed at the feeling, hips careening upward as she curled her fingers. "Always for you, baby."

She nipped at your neck again and then pulled her head up, staring down at you. That dark look was back, the kind that made your knees buckle and had you knowing that Vada would have you seeing stars.

"For me? Yeah? Or for Kayden." There was venom in her voice when she said his name, and she thrusted into you harder, a moan slipping past your lips at the pressure.

"You, Vads." You gasped as her fingers curled into the rough spot in you. "Just--just you."

Her pace quickened, her fingers dragging against your walls and her thumb never ceasing on your clit. Your orgasm was fast approaching, urged on by Vada kissing your chest, your neck, your lips--anything she could reach.

"Fuck," you whimpered. "I'm gonna cum." At your words, Vada swiftly pulled out, and you were left a whining mess beneath her. "Vada!" you cried. "I was so close!"

She didn't spare you a second glance as her hand rushed down to her basketball shorts, pushing them down her legs. You furrowed your eyebrows.

"Yeah, I don't think we have room for scissori--" You were cut short by the feel of silicone pressing against your thigh, and you gulped. "You wore--"

"Was hoping the night would end like this," Vada confessed. "Well, not exactly like this. I didn't wanna see your ex trying to clean you off, or whatever the fuck that was, and I was kinda hoping we would be in a bed and not the backseat of your car, but--"

You rolled your eyes, reaching down and tugging on the fake cock between her legs. She gasped and her hips pushed forward, knocking the head of the toy against your folds. "You gonna ramble or are you gonna fuck me?" you teased, grinning at the furrow of her brows.

"Fuck you," she spat, and you were about to repeat the words right back to her when she sank in, pushing the air straight from your lungs and pulling a high-pitched moan from your lips. "Not so bratty now, huh?"

She drove her hips forward, forcing you to take the entire length. You squealed, pleasure rushing through every vein. Your hands shot up and wrapped around her back, nails digging into her t-shirt. She didn't give you a moment to adjust as she pulled out before pushing right back in, setting a brutal pace.

"Jesus, fuck," you groaned, throwing your head back. "It--You feel so good."

She leaned down, her full body weight on you as she fucked into you, lips pressed against your ear. "Can Kayden fuck you like this?" she grunted, her hips speeding up as she said his name.

You could barely hear her over the feeling of her cock in you, drowning out all of your thoughts as she thrusted harder, faster. Vada pulled back, sat up on her knees, and pushed your thighs up, making her go deeper. You gasped, whined, reached to bring her back to you, but she stayed up, pounding harder.

"I said, can Kayden fuck you like this?" she repeated between groans.

"No," you breathed out. "Just you, Vads."

She smirked, cocky, victorious. "God, you're such a good girl." The praise nearly had you falling off the edge, orgasm just out of reach. "My good girl. Takin' my cock so good."

"Fuck, baby. Gonna cum. So close," you babbled.

Her hips started to stutter, letting you know that she was right there with you. She reached down, thumb circling your clit, and you came with a low groan, the sound scratching itself out of your throat.

Vada kept pumping with half-assed thrusts, and you clenched around her, sensitive. "I'm right there," she grunted. She dropped your legs and all but fell onto you. "Fuck, fuck, gonna--"

She moaned into your ear as her orgasm hit, her hips finally slowing. You shuddered beneath her, walls fluttering around the cock still buried in you.

"Jesus, baby," you panted. "Guess I gotta talk to Kayden more often at parties."

She pushed herself up, glaring at you. "Don't even." She slipped out of you, and you shivered, watching as she pulled her shorts up. "Gonna have to wash these shorts when we get home."

You nodded, pulling her back on top of you even though you were hot and sweaty and still a little sticky from your drink. "Gonna have to wash myself when we get home."

Vada grinned against your neck. "I can help you with that."

bonus: "where do you think they're going?" nick asked as he watched vada drag you out the front door.

"i don't think we want to know," mia said.

"should we go after them?"

"definitely not."

[echantedtoon]

HxH Oneshot

Illumi x Fem reader. It's my literal first ever time trying to write for this guy so he's probably ooc here. Shout-out to @bwabys-scenarios for getting me interested in this guy.

If someone had told him a couple months ago that he would fall in love with the MOST unlikely girl that had ever graced his life...He'd have told you to never speak such nonsense to him again, probably would have scoffed, told them they were insane, and dismissed it from memory bank forever. Him, a driven force, a killer even, with a girl like her?? HA! What nonsense...

Or was it?

Not to him right now it wasn't as she kissed him and held his hands and he found himself not fighting against it. What was wrong with him!?

It felt like a two part problem in his mind. On one hand it was as if he was betraying his loyalty to his duties and everything that it stood for, for falling for such a girl. While on the other hand it was a betrayal of his own emotions for denying his affection for her in the first place. He grew weaker by the day, losing sleep over his inner turmoil. It wasn't long before people started to notice, dark circles appearing under his eyes and his usual scowl deepening as his mood worsened. No one dared to actually ask him what was the matter, but he could feel their concerned stares and worried glances. Even so, he held out, pushing thoughts of her away as he tried to go on with his life. Just ignore her, he told himself. He would feel better once he forgot about her. But no matter what she wouldn't leave his mind or him alone. Oh WHY did he have to be plague his existence. He once tried yelling at her to just GO AWAY!! To leave him alone because she didn't need to be anywhere near him....It ended up with him breaking down in the middle of the hallway crying and all those sleepless nights catching up to him finally. His acts were slipping, he was acting like a baby, and it was ALL her fault. She wouldn't listen and go away like some stalker. After that he had passed out from his yelling fit and woken up in her lap due to exhaustion.....And to her crying and holding his hand. Ironic wasn't it.

And he made a noble effort to ever forget about that incident, but it was all for naught.

He reached his tipping point about a month into his rejection to the monster. He was exhausted, eyes sore and bloodshot, and his work still wavering concerning all their superiors. Lost in his thoughts on the way to lunch, he heard a single word. His name. That made him stop in his tracks. His head snapping up in recognition, eyes widening. No! Not her! Not now! The last thing he wanted was the taller she demon to back him against the wall and talk her pretty little head off. He felt like he was suffocating. He barely slept for days. He couldn't take it- The voices were becoming so much his head was going to explode-

"Illumi? You don't look so good."

That was the last thing he heard before he passed out for a second time that month. She had carried him. CARRIED HIM!! HIM!! All the way back home filled with worry. Don't ask him why she didn't just leave him there. If the assassin was just found passed out against the wall it would've been less humiliating than a girl to carry him all the way to his bed where he remained when he woke up and numbly laid there as she went off chattering again. He didn't know what he was thinking when he suddenly exploded at her letting everything out. Maybe it was his frustration? The stress and strain he was feeling from her relentless presence? Maybe the days of little to no sleep? His mind zoned out as he mindlessly yelled at her but he certainly wasn't expecting it to end up with her kissing him and him being compliant to her affections. Leaning into her warmth and all around easing the stress he was always. Good grief what did he say? At one point she pulled away and he attempted to kiss her again which ended embarrassingly thanks to his lesser height laying down which ended up with himself missing her lips and pecking her jawline which sent her beautiful face into giggles and the soft hands cupping his already crying and red face rubbed away at the stressful tears.

"You shouldn't beat yourself over like a little crush. I would've been happy to know either way.Oh. Please don't cry."

He wasn't sure why he felt so assured or comforted right now, but for now he leaned into those soft hands holding him up with the pretty angelic face of his relief.

[buckysbabygorl]

A Stitch in Time (Part 6)

Part 5

Masterlist

Part 7

Summary: Another memory from the past, another strange development…

1944 was a big year for her boys, what with Stevie officially becoming Captain America. The Howling Commandos had formed; day after day the group took down countless Hydra installations and facilities across the country.

Y/N was beyond proud of them; but she missed them.

Even though they were always on the same base, it felt like she never got enough of them. She had her own duties to tend to, they each had an important role to play. But she missed sitting and laughing with them, she missed them giving her a hard time, she missed the sound of their voices and the stories they told.

On her slower days, they always seemed to be somewhere else. Unfortunately for her that was happening again today, and she was trying not to feel lonely.

She had done well so far, pretending to be angry instead.

Which she had partial good reason for; Bucky was supposed to take her into town today.

The plan had been made during breakfast yesterday, they would leave before dinner and she could get to the post before they closed. But then the boys were called for a strategy meeting just as they were planning to leave.

She understood that wasn’t his fault; that’s not what she was mad about.

She was mad because he promised her they would go this morning, before the boys went down to the docks to receive their weapons replenishment from the cargo ships.

The boys were supposed to leave at 1.

So she waited. 9 am went by, 10 am went by, 11 am went by… they weren’t going to make it.

She went to find him in a last minute effort to get her errands done before day’s end, but then she found Bucky sitting in the mess hall. Happy and smiling, with Lorraine.

Shaking her head, determined to be mad at him for the rest of the day for forgetting his promise, she decided to spend the rest of her day reading a magazine in her tent without saying goodbye or welcoming them back.

Of course Y/N’s anger had nothing to do with jealousy. Bucky sitting with Lorraine when he was supposed to be with her, one of the most beautiful women Y/N had ever seen, had nothing at all to do with that.

A little after 3, the boys returned home. Pulling the trucks in, they let the new boys earn their keep and haul out the inventory on their own.

“I’m just saying--” Steve started as he hopped out of the truck, “--She kissed me, I had no control.”

“Oh, I’m sure.” Bucky said, rolling his eyes.

He scanned the crowd for Y/N, her tiny figure probably lost in the masses of men.

“Peggy shot at me. Don’t you think that makes us even?” Steve asked.

Bucky waved his hand at him, “Yeah, yeah. A man kisses a girl and he gets shot at, that usually balances things out.”

Steve glared at Bucky, “You’re barely listening to me.”

“Yeah, punk. I have more important things on my mind.” He still couldn’t see her, where was she?

“What could be more important than me getting shot at?” Steve asked.

Bucky huffed and started walking to the sleeping tents.

“Y/N’s probably mad at me.” He said.

“Oh.” Steve’s brow shot up, that was more important. “Why, what did you do this time?”

“Me?” Bucky called over his shoulder, walking faster. “You made me miss our town run this morning, having to tell Lorraine you were off limits.”

Resenting that he was still cleaning up Steve’s messes after all these years, Bucky chose to ignore Steve’s complaints as they strode to her tent.

When they arrived, Bucky was mortified.

Y/N refused to look up at her visitors, content with a glamor magazine and shopping bag tucked by her chair. Dugan by her side.

Dugan smirked, ”Well, well. What took you boys so long?”

Bucky snarled as the memory came in; Dugan had been on the first truck out of the docks, quite literally racing Bucky to it.

He must have known Y/N was waiting, and with the shopping bag at her side, it didn’t take much to put 2 and 2 together.

“Duckie, I’m sorry…” Bucky started, “The truck didn’t come back ‘til late--”

She flipped her page swiftly, clearing her throat.

“Oh it’s fine Bucky, Timmy was kind enough to take me into town.”

She trailed off, looking to smile up at Dugan, whom smiled back in return.

The nickname didn’t go unnoticed by Barnes, his skin burning beneath his uniform.

“--Really Y/N, I’m sorry.”

She slapped her book down on her fold out table, enough to shake both Rogers and Dugan alike.

“No,” she drew out the word, “Bucky, truly it’s fine. I imagine you forgot anyways, what with you being so busy with someone important this morning.”

Bucky glared at Steve, knowing full well she was implying Lorraine.

Steve went scarlet, but the attention was taken away from him.

“Yup! We were able to get there before the shops closed,” Dugan stated, “got herself something nice didn’t she?”

Bucky's brow furrowed, but y/n kept reading.

Dugan chuckled, suspecting she was acting coy about her now found pretty things.

“Well go on,” He encouraged, “show ‘em.”

Y/N smiled sweetly, heat laced in her gaze. She turned her head away from the boys, displaying a pretty bow delicately placed in her braided bun.

A simple, darling thing. But it made Bucky shutter, fear creeping up within him as to why she felt the need to get all dressed up.

Seeing Bucky’s intense stare, Steve opted to stay silent.

“What do you need a bow for?” Bucky asked.

She smirked, “They’re back in style now. In fact, I just read a lovely article about how they can show off your love life.”

She handed him the magazine, and Bucky whipped through the pages. How was a damn bow supposed to show off your relationship?

Scrolling through the article, Bucky understood its significance.

“Bow worn in the back means that a lady is not interested in men.”

Not a good sign.

Bucky glared at her, on one hand it meant that she was off limits to the base. On the other… well--

“I think you should start wearing it on top, sweetheart.” Dugan declared.

Bucky ran through the rest of the article, a bow on top meant she’d be “out to get herself a man”.

Heaven forbid the rest of the base saw this magazine, or even worse… she actually would wear it on top.

“We’ll see,” Y/N countered, “No one’s caught my eye yet, but with the second deployment coming from the states, maybe I’ll see something I like.”

Dugan laughed, Bucky did not, and Steve knew he was really gonna get his ass kicked now.

Steve had to fix the situation, any desperate action at this point would equate some form of apology.

“Say, Dugan. Buck messed up his arm at the docks, think you could help the boys and I unload the second truck?”

Reading the room, Dugan knew it was better to avoid this encounter rather than be a witness to it. Even if he did get on the girl’s good side…

“Sure Rogers, after all-- I did catch that first truck.”

He clapped Bucky on the shoulder as he followed Steve out.

Dugan was a good man, but Bucky wasn’t too keen on him with the ‘friendly’ competition that had started between them.

Rationed or not, unofficially, Y/N was Bucky’s girl.

Sure, he hadn’t muscled up the courage to ask her. And there was no confirmation from her that she was willing, but regardless, Dugan didn’t need to mess things up for him.

Bucky stood stewing as Y/N continued to read. Fearing silence over awkwardness, the words blurted out of him--

“Steve got shot at.”

She shot up in a fraction of a second, “Today?!”

He shook his head, “No no, last night. At the strategy meeting.”

Bucky then went on to explain what happened with Lorraine and Peggy; Lorraine kissed Steve and, well, Peggy didn’t take a liking to the fraternizing.

“Oh,” Y/N started, “Then I understand why you had to see her this mornin’. That’s, well that’s more important…

“It was,” Bucky said, “but it wasn’t worth breaking a promise.”

She waved her hand at him, feeling foolish.

“It’s Stevie, that’s more important than some groceries and a… silly bow.”

She should just return the damn thing, what point was there in making some silly statement like that?

Bucky cleared his throat, though jealousy had taken over him before… he quite liked how it enlightened her features.

“I like the bow.” He said.

Bucky leant in close, pulling the bobby pin from her hair and letting her braids fall.

She wasn’t sure if he had ever been that close before. Sure, a hug, a hand on the waist.

But his face, so near to hers… that was something new.

Her breath hitched as he set the pin in her hand, his face inches from hers.

“But having it in the back doesn’t suit you… you should wear it on the side.”

He pulled away, sauntering to the exit of her tent.

Leaving her aghast, she frantically flipped through the pages of her magazine.

One side meant she was deeply in love, the other meant she was going steady.

“Which side?” She called.

He laughed over his shoulder, “The right.”

She stammered, “Your right or my right?”

He smiled, walking out and laughing as she followed him.

“Wait! Your right or my right? Bucky? Bucky!”

~

“Bucky.”

Y/N’s eyes shot open. Light beat brightly into her eyes, a never-ending flash of white. Her head was pounding, ears ringing, vision blurred…

It took her a moment to collect herself, turning into the floor to shield herself from the sun…

The sun. She was outside.

It was then she realized that the lab was gone, cold and damp grass beneath her.

She looked up slowly, attempting to take in her surroundings.

She laid in the open, a cluster of pine trees encompassing her. To her right, a collection of rubble of what once stood the Leigh base.

Where was Peggy? Pym, Stark…

What the hell had happened?

~

Part 7

Copy of the vintage article: here

Master Taglist:

@pigeonmama

@blackhawkfanatic

@dontputyourfckingdrinkonmytable

@dumb-ass-3

@cuddlycalcifer @babyblue-07 @babybluereads @lonewolf471 @niiight-dreamerrrr @fandomsfallnomore @elliee1497 @godspeedlover @sexwithhiddlesbatch @shower-me-with-roses @yougottalovefandoms @rebekahdawkins @gentlybarnes

Bucky tag list

@emmabarnes

Stitch;

@rabbyo

@impala1967666

@justab-eautifulmess

@avengersgirllorianna

@clockblobber

@bluemoon-icecream @themarvelsimp

@ceo-of-daichi

@moistpotatobear

@hommoturttle

@snuggleducky @jesfreedark

@stevessluttylilwife

Thanks for waiting so long for this update! I’m sorry if I missed your username, if you have requested to be part of my tag list and have changed your username, please let me know.

[marciabrady]

it's so funny to me that the princess our culture associates fundamentally with passivity offers credos which are among the most active and powerful of any in the fairytale canon

first and foremost, cinderella communicates that we all are what we contribute.

cinderella saves the mice and fosters an environment of collaboration, harmony, and unity that's harbored by her own industrious nature. mind you, she does all of this against her stepfamily's wishes, actively defying them, and creating a counterculture in the process.

as the story team intended the animals to be a reflection of their human counterpart, notice how cinderella's kindred are uniformly hardworking, intentionally kind, and approach every situation with their best foot forward, adapting a problem-solving mindset that collectively aids them all in their shared progression toward the betterment of themselves and the world around them. take the very first scene in which we see cinderella and the culture she's created, for instance:

everyone has a hand in the first chores of the day and they're all choosing to do it with a smile on their face. key word: choosing. because this isn't an idly happy lot whose joy is an accident of their own nature or something that's easy. their happiness is something they have to be mindful of and, in many cases, fight against themselves to achieve. because, guess what? their life is terrible. they've been reduced to living in a dusty attic room of a decaying house. many of them were saved from death by cinderella, herself, and know that if they venture too far outside of the safe quarters she's provided, or if they allow themselves to be seen in some way, they'll be back at death's doorstep. the danger and stress they live under would cause anyone to snap, or anyone to never want to get out of bed, which is why we see them looking like this in one of the most relatable openings of all time:

i mean, cinderella canonically hits the snooze button:

the birds literally have to force her to wake up, initially:

and once she does wake up, she's playful and pleasant and kind, yes. but that doesn't last long- the clock immediately tries her by reminding her of the daily toil she must face in order to maintain the food and shelter that's tantamount to, not only her own survival, but that of this tiny community that she's the unofficial mayor over and continues to be responsible for. she has to sustain herself and the others she's collected around her by choosing to live life the way she does. this kindness is something she has to pay for, every day. and she physically snarls at being reminded of the hand life's dealt her:

and you know what? that's a very human quality that everyone can identify with in some regard because it's hard, even if you are someone who loves life and the people around you, to keep going in spite of the challenges you face. being positive, plainly put, is something that's difficult and you have to keep reengaging yourself to be because it isn't a natural state for most people, and especially not people that have been treated as unkindly as cinderella. let's not forget that she lost both of her parents at a young, formative age, and from that time in her youth when, like all other children, she deserved to be supported and loved and protected, she was literally "abused, humiliated" and "forced" into being a literal "servant in her own house." she had no security- both of her parents were gone, she had no money to fall back on, no education, no means with which to leave the house, and to try to get a job in that world and environment- as unlikely as it would've been to obtain in the first place (which, again is so relatable- look at the staffing shortages and people struggling to find employment today)- would've been contingent upon references of some sort, and we all know that lady tremaine definitely would've either a) ran a smear campaign against cinderella to absolve herself and the family name of any personal fault or b) prevented cinderella from ever leaving in the first place so that no one would ever know that atrocities the tremaines forced her to endure from the time she was practically an infant.

she wakes up after barely being able to sleep, probably, due to all the daily chores she must, alone, accomplish to keep an entire estate afloat. everyone is depending on her, from the stepfamily to the mice to the grounds of her family's home itself. her body's practically aching from the lack of rest, the physical work she's forced to do every day, from sleeping on such an uncomfortable bed. the only place she feels remotely safe is in this drafty attic, which smells of fraying wood and aging artifacts and is in a constate state of decay, with weeds growing in the sides of the tower. that's not even mentioning the emotional turmoil, the ptsd, the grief, the neglect, the physical abuse she's also processing at any given moment

so, yeah, cinderella snaps. and there are times she snaps later on in the film but she always reels herself in and consciously makes the choice to never succumb to her circumstances. this is what makes cinderella extraordinary. she singlehandedly- and actively- ends the cycle of abuse through the behavior and choices she partakes in every single day.

and, again, this isn't something that's easy for someone who has been in survival mode for a majority of their life. but the conscious choices, active efforts, and mindful decisions cinderella makes is what frees the household from that cycle of abuse continuing. i mentioned earlier that the animals are supposed to be a parallel to their human counterparts. remember how we meet gus? he's just been caught in a trap, doesn't have anything to wear, and is literally recoiling in fear. due to his terror and his own need to defend himself out of instinct, he attempts to make himself come off as threatening as possible and is ready to pop off the minute that jaq approaches him:

but, through cinderella's influence, she's able to give him hope once more. she treats him warmly, pairs him up with a buddy to go through life with, comes up with a name- and even a nickname- for him, gives him a community, a safe haven, and clothes him. in that short time, look at the difference she's made in his mood, his demeanor, even his approach to life:

and it isn't just the mice cinderella's this way with. in the opening slides, we see cinderella holding an adorable puppy dog. but as the film progresses, and the narrator details the despair the family estate has fallen into, that puppy dog turns into an old, starved bloodhound who's secretly sleeping on the floor of the cold kitchen to keep from freezing to death. he has to keep even his dreams to himself so as to not be heard by the stepfamily and potentially kicked out. he openly hates lucifer but cinderella encourages him to think of lucifer's good points too, even if she can't think of any herself, to be able to continue successfully cohabiting this environment with him. and when he pounces on lucifer, deserved or not, she puts an end to this:

because cinderella knows what will ever happen if bruno allows himself to give into his impulses, to treat others as life has treated him, to attempt to retaliate in an impossible environment when the odds are already against you. you'll harm yourself the most and perpetuate that cycle.

but, just as bruno is a reflection of cinderella, notice how gleeful lucifer is in falsely incriminating bruno, so that another being who's never wronged him will be unjustly punished and suffer:

this is what separates cinderella from the tremaines. this is why she is the heroine and they will never be, despite how many people you see empathizing with how unfairly life must've treated them for being the "conventionally unattractive" characters in the film, or for having a single mother which to them denotes less resources, or for being awkward, or for whatever other reason of the month they're being rewritten to be the victims.

if we are the sum of our contributions, the tremaines are nothing and that is definitely a reflection of their reality. they only feel alive when they're making fun of cinderella or humiliating her by continuing that cycle of abuse they passively adhere to and never challenge. remember how we met cinderella and her friends, gathering their spirits and putting on a smile, despite how hard it is with the troubles that face them? how they look past that to work together and try to change life for the better?

the tremaines can't be bothered to get out of bed. the truly passive, lazy characters, they grog about in dim rooms, turning around in their fine silks and ornate finery, while a being they literally enslaved is being forced to do their bidding. and they refuse to actively participate in their very charmed and privileged life. they can't even find a reason to be happy- but instead are upset when cinderella enters their room. they want to know why she's taken so long, to hurry up, to continue to wait on them, hand and foot. when she asks them how they're doing, they grumble, "as if you care." because they don't care about anyone else, so why would others care about them? and that type of apathy breeds resentment, which- in the wake of such sedentary creatures- seeks manifestation and results in destruction. the stepsisters get out of their comfortable beds only when they have the opportunity to point their finger at cinderella, to get their mother to punish her. again, they feel alive by inflicting pain on others, it's literally what gets them out of bed:

again, as the parallel, this goes for lucifer, too:

as cinderella nears lady tremaine's bed, her stepmother's eyes blaze with fury, hatred plain on her face:

lady tremaine doesn't move, her hand only lifting to stroke lucifer, who has the biggest grin on his face. meanwhile, the desperation is evident in cinderella. she isn't quite defeated, because she does stick up for herself three times in the scene. but she's tired of this. she's tired of being tormented by her only family, of having the odds stacked against her even when she's doing everything in her power to live as peacefully and productively as possible, of being forced to fight a losing battle that will never result in peace but will only further prompt hatred, and division, and anger. in her expression, there's almost a plea for lady tremaine:

it isn't until she sees cinderella's expression, she hears cinderella try to explain what happened, that she livens up. because she has the opportunity to, again, keep that cycle of abuse alive, to actively try to destroy cinderella's quality of life and to profit off the position of power she's in over cinderella. look at the difference in lady tremaine's expression in the previous cap, and in this one, when she believes she's silenced cinderella and is preparing to tear into her:

one of the best instances through which i can further illustrate this ideology (you are what you contribute) is in a later scene, where we see the stepsisters discard their fine wares, labeling it trash and flinging the luxuries life's afforded them to scorn. it's nothing to them.

yet, to the mice and cinderella, it isn't nothing. because, remember, the royal proclamation declared that every eligible maiden should attend. at first, the stepmother refuses to let cinderella go and even the stepsisters brush her aside with classist comments. when cinderella sticks up for herself by reminding them she's still a member of the family, and by trapping them in the language of the royal decree "every eligible maiden," lady tremaine has no choice but to consent- on the grounds that cinderella is able to make herself eligible through producing a suitable dress. because, remember, cinderella isn't seen as a person. she's seen as subhuman, someone who's reduced to wearing tatters and isn't seen as a person in the eyes of their society unless she has social indicators of wealth via her clothing, in this specific instance. drizella and anastasia never have to think about that, because they exist as people of value in their society due to their good fortune that they had no part in creating. they don't know what it's like to be laughed at, to not be considered eligible or even a person in the eyes of society the way that cinderella's lived experience has reflected since her father died. meanwhile, the tremaines are so deep in their own privilege, that they're literally waving it around like it's a rag and carelessly tossing it away. yet, what does cinderella do, with much less?

cinderella makes do with what little she has, always to help someone else. and because of this active kindness, it changes the mindset of those around her. since she's afforded this to so many of the mice, what do they do for her in return?

what a difference in how cinderella and the stepfamily approaches what's, essentially, the same material? and this community that cinderella has established and continually maintained and influenced comes to each other's aid, time and time again. whether it's cinderella freeing the mice from death, or giving them clothing, or allowing bruno to sleep inside unbeknownst to the stepfamily, or the mice turning into a LITERAL army and battleground in cinderella's honor:

again, this community is just as active and vital as cinderella, herself, is. because those values i mentioned earlier, of helping one another and rising above your circumstances and working together, aren't just whimsical morals cinderella sings about. they're constant behaviors she's actively taking part in and impact the household they all share, to the point where when they help each other take action when the time is right. they're constantly conferring with one another on how to best use their community and the resources this offers to get closer to victory. (meanwhile, the stepfamily is only for themselves; anastasia and drizella literally repeatedly hit each other and compete, even to the point of giving conflicting stories to the grand duke that makes their pathetic attempt seem all the more discreditable at alleging they were the princess at the ball the night before) we see it in how cinderella and her friends accomplish their chores together, in how the mice plan to get her dress remade while she's busy, even in how cinderella's quick thinking leads to calling upon bruno, who must be awoken by the birds with an interjecting call from the horse, and how this leads to all of their escape:

because, this community also knows when it to fight and support one another in times of battle and when the goal will bring about a victory that will ultimately reign peace; they know when it's worth it for a shared goal and the benefit of all parties involved. and the difference cinderella brought into that household is what gave them all glory and helped them, not only survive, but succeed. it isn't just the poor scullery maid we see ascend in the closing chapter of the film. we see the same bluebirds who attempted to wake her up in the beginning of the film holding her wedding veil:

we see those same mice that she nursed from death, and clothed, and fed, and loved; the mice that risked their lives in remaking her deceased mother's dress so that cinderella might, too, have a chance to go to the ball; they're still here, cheering her on and throwing rice in blessing at the happy couple, their own clothing being upgraded to reflect that of the royal staff:

we see that starved bloodhound and the old horse leading the royal regiment, as beautiful and shining and proud as their majestic counterparts:

and this is the world that cinderella, as a character, offers. not a world in which multiple parties are at competition with one another over who's the prettiest, or the wealthiest, or where hatred breeds continual hatred. but she presents us a world in which everyone deserves to be seen, heard and valued; where everyone can find a community they can contribute to and have purpose in and be worthy of experiencing love, whatever you determine love to be whether it's romantic or in the form of a found family.

a world in which everyone can go to the ball:

[sunnybyler]

i’ve been sitting on my thoughts for so long but i just have to get this off my chest. i don’t like to yuck ppls yum so if you like e/riel pls scroll away nd keep having your fun it’s not my problem. however some of y’all can get mean as HELL and as an elucien i have to get this off my chest. (also warning for gwynriels i’m with y’all i defend y’all here however i do go in a bit on az in this so fair warning). i truly have no idea why e/riels cling so hard to the azriel bonus chapter in acosf because that chapter, more than literally anything else in the series, proved to me that e/riel is absolutely NOT going to be endgame. let me explain:

1. it is explicitly stated that azriel did not think of his relationship with elain outside of a sexual nature. i think some ppl get kinda annoyingly puritanical when trying to make this point when it’s like 100% certain lucien had sexual thoughts of elain too. the point isn’t the thoughts themselves. the difference here is the explicit mention that he didn’t consider anything with her outside of that.

2. the point above ^ is further exacerbated by the fact that az did not give a flying fuck if he killed elain’s MATE. even if elain hasn’t accepted the bond, it would still be extremely painful for her based on what we’ve seen with rhys, feyre, and even rhys’s parents (who weren’t good for each other, yet we saw how rhys’s dad lost it when she died). now of course us lucien lovers know damn well he would never in a million years call a blood duel to try to claim elain (and fuck u rhys for saying that, i usually have your back but come ON you are not the only male who can respect their mate’s autonomy). but az doesn’t know that!? in fact seems to agree with rhys that he could. ppl argue on who would win that fight — my opinion hinges 100% on if powers are fully unleashed but that’s not the point at all. no matter WHO wins, elain is going to feel responsible for someone’s death. of course it wouldn’t be her fault if men decided to be fucking stupid, but with the little we know about elain shows that she would feel so guilty if that happened. but azriel doesn’t seem to give af that anyone fighting to the death over her is the last thing she would ever want. not only did az not think of elain outside his fantasies and therefore not fully care for her, but he doesn’t seem to even KNOW elain in this chapter. now, i could go in on this in acosf as a whole. but i’m keeping it to this chapter alone.

3. and further on THAT point, az doesn’t really give any reasoning on his interest in elain outside of this insane “three brothers/three sisters” thing he fully pulled out of his ass. tbh i almost thing this is sjm’s way of addressing the fan theories on that. now i get it to some extent from az’s pov — seeing his brothers happy with these sisters must fuck with your head after you’d all been bachelors together for 500 years. especially considering how he’s felt unworthy of love his whole life and this seems to support that insecurity of his. i get that it makes him feel ostracized from them, and that he’s now an outlier not being with an archeron. i get that. i do. i sympathize with him here. however that does not change the fact that he isn’t speaking of elain like she’s her own individual here — hell he fully calls her “the other”. i think part of this conversation was him being frazzled, i give him a bit more grace than some do (tho he pissed me off BAD in this scene), but we were fully in this man’s head. did he give us a full reason why he liked elain besides his brother’s mates and his sexual thoughts?? they would’ve at least crossed his mind when rhys was grilling them if sjm was trying to set up her next romance here. as it is, we have literally nothing to imply azriel actually likes elain herself and not the idea of being closer with his brothers.

4. az has kinda a habit of ignoring the reality of the women he’s attracted to in some way. he has his own version of them in his head that he puts on a pedestal. now i could do a whole psych eval on this man and how he thinks he’s unworthy of love and therefore only allows himself to have feelings for women he knows/thinks he can’t have. but to focus on this chapter alone, my points above ^ about how he doesn’t really think of elain outside his fantasies/bringing him closer to his brothers and not really understanding her pretty much wraps it up there. i mean he even talks about how he thinks his scarred hands don’t belong on her because she’s so perfect in his eyes. that’s not love, that’s obsession and it’s unhealthy. he clearly thinks himself below elain and ignores that she has her own flaws too.

5. aaaand i saved the biggest for (almost) last….. GWYN. this is a genuine GENUINE question. why in the fucking hell. would sjm make half the chapter focusing on az & gwyn if she was teasing e/riel. like that makes no sense. not to be annoying and mention chekhov's gun but that idea applies to relationships too. i’m sorry but she couldn’t be more explicit about her future romances. you could argue “oh well it’s because there’s gonna be a love triangle”. y’all. elain has. elain has a mate. there already IS a love triangle. there was absolutely no reason for her to bring gwyn into this chapter other than her preparing us for a future relationship, literally none. especially with all the romantic subtext (hell not even subtext, just TEXT). gwyn getting him to talk about himself so easily when he’s so quiet usually, him taking the idea of making her happy and he “buried the image down deep, where it GLOWED QUIETLY” (which SCREAMS mating bond to me but even if it’s not it’s clearly something he cherishes deeply), the SHADOWSINGERS SHADOWS SANG FOR HER!?

6. the fucking necklace regifting. oh it’s bad. OHHH ITS BAD. when the girls realize it’s gonna be SO messy but im hoping sjm doesn’t go the stupid cat fight route bc neither of them did anything wrong. az did. i’m sorry i’m dunking on him so much in this post i rlly don’t hate him i just think he needs like decades of therapy (which tbf don’t we all) which i unfortunately don’t think sjm is going to give him before giving him his romance. but even the biggest azriel lovers have to admit that this was insanity. a few points on it here. first, if it’s so easily regiftable then it couldn’t have been that well thought out in regards to elain. say what you will about lucien’s gifts, even argue that he gave her jewelry too. but elain was actually shown wearing pearls. az’s gift seemed shallow to me — it was something pretty, and elain’s pretty, and it had a flower, and elain gardens. it’s clear lucien put SO much more thought into his gifts, whether he succeeded or not (which i need to remind y’all — we still don’t know. maybe she liked the gifts maybe she didn’t, but regardless she acted the way she did bc of her feelings about the bond, not the gift). and azriel has spent so much more time with elain than lucien has. if that necklace really felt like elain to him, he could’ve kept it or returned it. but nope. buddy gave it to a whole other girl bc he could easily associate it with someone else. he clearly felt some special pull towards gwyn too, going out of his way to give it to her. he had ONE meaningful conversation with her. i already discussed the quote earlier that makes me think mating bond personally. but no matter what, him giving her the same gift he gave someone he was pursuing romantically is a clear sign of what’s to come (and probably a setup for some sort of drama that i don’t think im mentally ready for).

so there we have it! why i think that the bonus chapter thoroughly proves that e/riel is not going to be endgame. i honestly think it’s possible they might be a thing for a minute (tho i could also see this being the closing of that chapter), but i don’t think it’s going to last. sjm just gave us too many blatant hints that elain and az would NOT work together long term, and that azriel in particular is more suited for someone else. i might’ve missed some points bc there is SO much that goes down in this tiny chapter so lmk if there’s other stuff you picked up on!

[chaifootsteps]

I used to dislike blitzo back in season 1-early 2 cuz he was a jerk and abusive and the story tried to justify it with "womp womp he has trauma and he only wants to tough moxxie up so it's okay". And i was supposed to feel bad about his ass? After he verbally abused moxxie throughout all his work life and threteaned to rape him and his wife? Used verosika and stole from her when they where together? Disrespected barbie's boundaries and feelings? Dissmissed fizz's feelings and unintentionally said "hey i lost my mom bitch, you aren't the only one who has problems" WHEN FIZZ WAS FUCKING BURNED ALIVE, LOST HIS LIMBS AND HORNS AND WAS TRAUMATIZED FOR LIFE. ALL BECAUSE OF YOU I MIND YOU.

To be clear, i don't hate asshole characters. I hate when asshole characters are being coddled and excused by the narrative, it's insufferable to watch. Blitz was this. An asshole character who was excused by the writers and you are expected to feel bad about his ass when he got humilated in the club. Thanks i hate it. And it sucks because i love the concept of an abusive asshole realizing he is an abuser and trying to do better to people who he wronged. But i couldn't handle the awful execution.

And guess what?

FUCK MY ASS I'VE CHANGED MY MIND. I feel so bad for blitzo now lmao. The 2 times when blitzo isn't at fault THE WRITERS TRY TO PUT ALL THE BLAME ON BLITZO AND EXCUSE PEOPLE WHO ABUSE HIM JUST WHY. Loona physically assaults him when he respecfully asks her to be nicer to their clients because IT'S HER FUCKING JOB BITCH THEY WILL LOSE MONEY IF YOU DON'T AND IT AFFECTS YOU AS WELL YOU LITERALLY LIVE WITH HIM. And then she kicks him in nuts when all he did was apologising and attempting to hug her? What's funny? What's funny about this 22-years-old grown ass woman physically harming her adoptive dad who provides her a linvinghood, job and unconditional love when she is an adult? And saved her from a toxic and dangerous enviorment? Are you trying to say *he* is in the wrong in this situation and *deserves* to be beaten up by a person he has never wronged in his life? Are you kidding me? Why am i supposed to hate stella, who is abusing stolas, but expected to like loona, who is abusing blitz and moxxie, and to find her abuse "funny" and slapstick? You can't have both, pick one vivzie!

And speaking of stolas...i don't even want to talk about it. I feel horrible for blitzo. Yes, he was an asshole and was only using stolas to get the book, but it was stolas who made their relationship transactional. It was stolas who reffered to blitzo as "his impish plaything". It was stolas who only ever asked from blitzo sex and sexually harassed him on daily basis. He even put a cigrette on his horn likw wtf? It was stolas who made the deal when blitzo couldn't even consent because he, you know, WAS ABOUT TO GET MURDERED BY THE CANNIBALS? AND STOLAS WAS FULLY AWARE OF IT? And the list goes on and on...

"You think so low of me?" GO FUCK YOURSELF LMAO THIS IS SO BAD I CAN'T. ARE YOU REALLY THIS DELUSIONAL?

Okay, even we pretend none of the above happened and was retconned, blitzo *owns you nothing* stolas. If he doesn't have feelings for you it's not *his* fault. He shouldn't have his buisness tied to your bird ass to spend time with you (and in case if he doesn't, he will lose his job, how fair) if he doesn't love you. Get a life please, you only known this guy for *less than a day* and it was *25 years ago*. And he was completely disinterested in your hobbies and was literally only there because he was manipulated by his father and *sold to you like an object or a toy*. And you still obsessed over this random dude who doesn't even like you and love him more than your own daugther whom you known for 17 years??? Wow, such victim fel bed for him he so pooor :((((

And it doesn't help how not only the writers, almost an entire fandom thinks blitzo is abusive towards stolas or deserves to be kicked out by stolas or be beaten up by loona ("for comedy*) it's not funny. It makes me sick. It's the same as blitzo beating the shit out of moxxie and people praising *blitzo*. But not it's stolas abusing blitzo and people praising *stolas*

Fuck it.

I used to hate this guy, but now i can't feel anything but pity him. It's tragic how everyone blames him for things HE ISN'T EVEN AT FAULT HE DESERVES BETTER.

You're preaching to the choir, Anon! Blitzo is a tremendous asshole, multiple characters' lives are worse for knowing him, but he's a victim here -- and a chilling reminder of just how far people will go to defend a charming, attractive abuser that knows how to play the sympathy card.

[mdhwrites]

how do you feel about disability rep in the owl house? Anyway it could've been done better? Cause as someone who is neurodivergent (autism) I felt like Luz's arc had unfortunate implications ('shes literally neurodivergent and a Minor' type vibes and mixed in with the whole fantasy vs reality themes and it came off as telling neurodivergent people to reject reality or like we wouldn't be hindered in the slightest by our disabilities in xyz worlds- which feels gross) but I could be reading into this too much. I also don't like how Hunter lost his 'disability' yeah you can compare it to getting a pacemaker or a mobility aid with his problem not being fixed but made better but that 'pacemaker' came at the cost of his best friend and his whole possession situation felt gratuitous to me. I'm really interested in seeing how Hunter could've been done better if you have any ideas

So I am going to try to be as calm and kind on this subject as I can. I feel like I've let a lot of heat come into my blogs lately that I try not to because I've been in distress. I am actually, legally disabled after all. It is the vast majority of my income, not helped by how randomly my brain will just break and I will have no way to get it to work again. I'm on the brink of another who knows how long run of my brain no longer functioning and am clawing to try and keep it together so I can do SOMETHING besides just ramble in these blogs. So I can keep writing or streaming rather than vanish. So this topic is important to me to put it extremely mildly.

To talk about this with The Owl House we kind of have to talk about each angle it takes on this subject one at a time. Eda and Hunter are two sides of the coin for this representation after all. I know you bring up Luz and yes, nuerodivergence can be disabling but if we want to talk about disability, I don't think Luz is actually a part of the conversation. If she is, it's for the theoretical representation of depression in S3 when she is at her worst as a character. People like to claim trauma and depression for why it's okay that she's constantly lying, or why she tries to abandon an entire world despite admitting it's her fault it's in trouble. She is her absolute worse self in that time and... If that is the rep we get for mental illness, I'll wait another five years. I don't want someone who is entirely apathetic to others and makes excuses for their actions to be the one who represents me, not when I hear that shit from assholes on the news too much already.

We'll start positive and head down from there. Eda actually starts out great. With regular medication and self care, she is able to live a fairly normal life. I have admittedly criticized in the past that there is no cure for the curse, that Eda is a slowly ticking time bomb who only through death will not end up harming all of those around her eventually, but I actually want to rescind that. As a dramatization of the anxiety that especially mental disability brings about of that day when everything breaks, even if it never comes, it works. It's within the confines of the fantasy genre and isn't demonized but sympathized that she has to work so hard to hold this back. But she can and she stands strong despite it, stronger than most in her situation in a way that is inspirational.

Then we get our first slip up with her at the end of S1. In order to find reprieve, to come back from the edge... She shares her disability. Her peace of mind, her ability to be a human being, comes at the cost of another person. I say slip up though because one could argue it's dramatization of the communal help that many disabled people need. I worked as a Home Care Aid at one point for someone in a wheelchair. My own family helps me because I am a complete mess of a person. I do my best to be able to function entirely on my own but when you are literally incapable of being a functional human being... Yeah, help is good. Do I like how high of a cost it comes for Lilith? Not really, nor the fact that she becomes disabled in the same way because some people do think disability and mental illness is contagious but I'm willing to let it slide for the sake of dramatization.

Affearances genuinely course corrects to show the small ways in which Eda deals with her illness not just with medication but also understanding of it. Her need to stay calm, the ways she tries to center herself, all so the medication is more of a stabilizer and last resort. That is genuinely good.

Then... A point I'm torn on. In the episode itself, I do not mind the formation of Harpy Eda. The process of coming to not just deal with but accept your disability is big and hard and you can come out the other side feeling like a new person. One could even see the Harpy form like that and even the deals we make with our disability to let ourselves do more like in Eclipse Lake. I'll even retract old heat I gave this for implying your disability can be a superpower because it fits within the genres of fantasy. I will even admit part of this kindness comes from writing this myself and realizing that it's just more fun and exciting to let the disability have upsides to it rather than treat it as purely debilitating.

No, my bigger issue comes from the fact that it is the end of it as a disability. Eda is essentially cured besides some lip service and if they were going to go that route, they should have just said it. In the finale, she loses to the curse in a deeper way than we have EVER seen before... And then freed from it like it's just a snap of her fingers. Harpy Eda is literally just a super form, not her having to genuinely deal with the illness, especially as it just becomes the way she fights. I do approve of the idea of showing that you CAN get better from this stuff, some people do, but it makes me wish they'd just said that. Just admitted that her coming to accept it was the final step. Would that have been realistic? No but I've showcased how many times already how much this rep relies on dramatization? Give us the feel good ending of Eda having mastered it, explicitly, instead of just letting it be up in the air and used for cheap drama in the finale. That makes the whole thing feel almost exploitative because if I lose it like Eda lost it in the finale... I can't just turn that off. I get to be terrified and shaken and have that day firmly implanted into my mind for the rest of my life. For the show, it was shock value instead and I'm not okay with that.

Speaking of things I'm not okay with, let's talk about the other side of this coin: Hunter. Now remember that I was willing to give grace to some elements... Except now they're reinforced by a second character sometimes and that makes it a lot harder to shrug off. We'll get there when we get to Flapjack though.

No, where I actually want to start with for him isn't even that he has a disability, it's actually with Willow. She tries to make it out like being a late bloomer is the same as NEVER being able to do this. Like telling a paraplegic person you understand their pain because you had a cast once. I've had someone go "Yeah, it's hard for me to get out of bed too but I always manage it," while trying to motivate me to just power through anxiety that was LITERALLY CHOKING ME and I wanted to punch them in the face. And this is the start of your ROMANCE PLOT. The core thing that tells the audience that these two are going to get close and get together.

In one scene, it becomes SUPER clear that there is no one on this writing team that actually understands what the fuck it means to be disabled. The nice portion of the blog is over.

Okay, let's actually pull back. I will give Hunter this: In his early scenes, he genuinely comes across as someone who has adapted to his physical disability and the limitations of it. His staff is his aid device and he makes up for lack of magic with increased athleticism. He is by all means, the most dextrous person we see in the entire show and genuinely, the show never takes that away from him. It's also just really easy to forget because the show doesn't exactly give a lot of chances for it to shine, not while it's mostly shitting on him or having the trained soldier lose to others, if he even seems much more physically capable than those around him at all.

But hey, how about first that aid device! We do recognize Luz takes his crutch, right? Like his staff is what takes away his handicap versus the rest of the Isles. That helps him overcome the limitations of his physical disability and an entire episode has the main character steal it from him and blackmail him with it. He is mildly annoyed about this for the entire episode, almost like not having the way that helps him feel normal doesn't mean much to him. It'd be like if in Affearances, Eda didn't get mad at her mom for taking her elixir because her elixir is the equivalent to Hunter's staff. Gwyndolen is demonized for this action while we're supposed to be on Luz's side because Hunter is a bad man who will do bad things if allowed his staff back. That... That isn't okay to me.

Btw, this isn't even the only time this happens in the show. Belos asks Luz to call him Philip. She calls him Belos. The show is really all for just being entirely disrespectful to someone's identity and personhood so long as you are morally better than them. What the fuck?

For the rest of S2, there's a really, REALLY bad flaw with having Huntlow be his ship. EVERY single one of Willow's episodes to some extent features how being a late bloomer, having struggled/struggling with magic, makes her feel like an outcast. That despite the fact that really she just wasn't great at this skill, she gets a lot of dramatic weight to this. Hunter... Doesn't. His disability is almost entirely ignored to prioritize the fact that he's a Grimmwalker or his relationship with Belos. It is just not a part of his character despite the girl he is blushing at explicitly making it clear that this society ABSOLUTELY looks down on Hunter. That not having magic makes you be less than anyone else. Hell, we get more of this from EDA AND LILITH in the first episode of S2 than we ever get from Hunter. The prejudice they are treated with and their struggles to deal with it while Hunter is at best all subtext.

This admittedly starts getting into how this show fucking hates men and how they are almost all at some point a joke, villain or both in their time. So... Yeah, Hunter not being given respect for his disability while the women are is hardly surprising.

The big thing that shatters EVERYTHING is of course Flapjack's sacrifice. You remember how I had to kind of work around how to make Eda making someone else disabled okay? Well now we have a second time where a disabled character is 'cured' to some extent of their disability... By the suffering of someone close to them. This time with literal death.

One of the worst prejudices that disabled people, of any sort but especially mentally disabled/ill people, have to face is that we are burdens and menaces to society. That we are more prone to hurting people than regularly abled people. That there is a price to having us around that everyone would not have to pay otherwise. If there is one thing you CANNOT do with your disability allegory, it is to make the disability cost someone else their life, figuratively or literally, unless you REALLY plan to examine what the fuck that means. TOH does both, once with Flapjack and once with Lilith respectively.

In order to be 'normal', it literally costs Hunter the life of his best friend. In order to be saved from the extremes of her illness, Eda cripples her sister. What the fuck are you supposed to take away from that? And there is no way to square this with it just being a fantastical representation of something. It's not just making the consequences of disability more extreme or reflecting the shared burden that can sometimes be our existence and our need for support. Being cured should be joyous. Instead, it's melancholic, not for the grief of your existence inherently changing, Hunter is meant to purely celebrate that he now has magic, but because it came at extreme cost to other people.

In that one moment, paired with Lilith, I can't approve of TOH as disabled representation. There is no way for me to ever square it, just like how Luz using depression as an excuse to be the worst version of herself makes me not okay with her as nuerodivergent representation. Not when it doesn't explore this stuff and even tries to celebrate and say this is correct, since Luz is never criticized for her awful behavior during her angst arc and Hunter is made out to be better without his disability, no matter the cost.

I am fine if you don't want to show clean or nice representation of these things. Not all disabled people are nice. Not all nuerodivergent people are functional. There is a wide spectrum to our experiences but to take the worst elements of your representation and give them the most narrative weight is BAD. Even Eda suffers from this. Her taking care of herself is mostly in passing. Way more weight is given to Eda not being able to take care of herself. To how missing her medication by even an hour makes her a danger to everyone around her, or even susceptible to manipulation like when King uses her transforming 80% into the Owl Beast. Suddenly, the fact that she manages her condition like many disabled people do feels really overshadowed by the constant reminders, and literal showings, of the danger she poses to those she cares about most. The cost of allowing us to continue to participate in society, the damage we do to others, the harm that comes from a bad day from us, is so much harder to ignore when those are the elements that your work decides to focus on. It especially sucks because it hardly focuses on the pain and incapability of the condition, just the danger. It's all about what it will do to others and not the agony it inflicts on the person who has it.

TOH is bad with almost all of its themes and attempts to be progressive and this is no different. See you next tale.

======+++++======

I am going to assume that it's the same person who sent me essentially a variation of this ask like five times. If you are that worried about me responding, the Discord is where you will get a MUCH faster response, especially since I am kind of trying to pull back from TOH criticism. It has been genuinely kind of nice to talk about other things recently.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[millenialfanfictionaddiction]

Being Inarizaki’s Manager

🚑Miss Manager Breaks Her Hand🚑

Inarizaki x female! manager (she/her)

Warnings: mention of broken hand, pain relievers mentioned, crying, angst(?) to fluff

A/N: this idea stemmed from the 2k headcanon celebration and I loved it so much that I thought I’d indulge myself 💅

This team ranges from “protective dad squad” to “problem children”

It’s giving season 4 Seijoh x Shiratorizawa crossover

Like I’m both excited and scared for you

Now being their precious manager, you were literally worshiped on this team

The third years, Kita, Aran, Omimi and Akagi, absolutely adored you beyond all measures

You were the light of the team, the rock 🪨

The second years, Atsumu, Osamu, Suna and Ginjima, were the guardians of YN

They didn’t think anyone was good enough to breath the air of THEIR YN

And last, but certainly not least, our precious bby first year, Riseki, absolutely had the biggest crush on you

He looked up to you and worshiped every step you took

Needless to say, you were irreplaceable my dear Yn

Unfortunately “irreplaceable” does not equate to “unbreakable” as our lively Inarizaki was about to learn

Because you see, it happened so fast that absolutely nobody knew what to do

You sent the solid team that was slated to win nationals into the biggest frenzy ever

And it all started with a rouge volleyball 😌

You see, it was the end of practice and everyone was packing up the gym

Everyone except for a certain someone 👀

Now I know what you’re thinking ok? This is all Atsumus fault

It’s always Atsumu fault 🙄

And while 99.9% of the time it most definitely is, this 0.1% was not

Because it was someone else who accidentally caused the chaos

“Sumu pack it up! It’s time to go home!” Kita shouted as you picked up the remaining volleyballs

“Just a few more serves, I’m almost at my limit,” Atsumu said as you mindlessly continued your work

You were use to this, Sumu was Sumu and there wasn’t much more you could do

And by now, he had learned to avoid hitting you so you really didn’t mind

You just continued about your merry way, picking up balls and daydreaming

“Come on bro, let’s go I’m starving!” Osamu whined

“If you’d practice your serves as much as you eat, you probably wouldn’t have to worry about missing any!” Atsumu said before slamming a service ace into the opposing court

“What did ya say to me?” Osamu raged

“Oh boy,” Aran said 😐

“Knock it off you two! Let’s just finish up!” Ginjima yells

Suna 👉🏻👀 📱

Meanwhile, you are just lost in your own world, probably daydreaming of peace and quiet

“Give me that ball!” Osamu shouted as he grabbed the ball from Sumu before tossing it and slamming it into the opposite court

It looked like a good serve, a solid one even

It’s course was set to land right on the end line

Which was, coincidentally, right where you were 😃

Akagi, our star Libero, saw it first

“YN LOOK OUT!” He shouted as the rest of the team watched on horror

Thankfully, you manage to get your hand up quickly

The ball hit your hand, smack on and deflected towards the wall

A loud and almost visible sigh flooded the gym as everyone was relieved you didn’t get hit in the head

However the calmness lasted approximately .02 seconds when they heard you whine and grab your hand

“Crap Yn!” Omimi shouted as the team raced towards you

You were grabbing your hand as tears began to flow down your face

“YN I’m so freaking sorry!! I didn’t mean too!” Osamu said, coming beside you as he looked at your hand

Fun fact: a professional volleyball serve can be upwards of 120mph (193kph)

Osamu isn’t a professional but it’s safe to say he can probably reach at least 80mph (128kph)

Needless to say, there’s a lot of force behind a serve

I googled all the facts 💅

N E WAYS

You look at Osamu, tears in your eyes as you respond, “it’s ok Samu, I should have been watching.”

Meanwhile, your hand is beginning to swell and it hurts so bad

“Let me see it YN,” the coach says as he studies your hand

“Is she going to be ok?” Ginjima asks as Coach looks at you

“Riseki, grab an ice pack quick, Kita and Aran, take YN to the nurse now!” Coach barks as the team goes to work

Suna comes next to you, holding your hand gently as Riseski hands him the ice pack

You hiss and whimper as the ice hits your skin

Osamu and Atsumu stand to the side, visibly upset that their arguing lead to you getting hurt

“Come on Yn,” Kita said, putting his hand on your lower back as Aran took over for Suna, bracing your hand

Atsumu and Osamu wordlessly began cleaning up the gym with the rest of the team, feeling awful about what happened

“Hey!” Omimi says as the twins look at him, “it was an accident. She’ll be ok.”

Meanwhile, in the nurses office…

“We need to call your parents Yn, you need to go to the hospital,” she says as you look at her

“She’s ok isn’t she?” Aran says, concerned

The nurse shakes her head, “I think her hand is broken, she needs x-rays to confirm.”

Kita and Aran’s eyes widen as you hold your hand, crying a little as the pain continues to sink in

The team finishes cleaning up and they all run to the nurses office as they see you sitting outside with Aran

“Hey everything’s all right?” Atsumu says as you look at him

“The nurse thinks she broke her hand, her parent is coming to take her to the hospital,” Kita says as he walks out from the nurses office

Osamu immediately deflated, he feels absolutely awful about what happened

He realistically knows it wasn’t really his fault, accidents happen, especially on the court

You notice him looking sad as you stand up and walk to him

“Samu it’s ok! I’ll be ok I promise,” You say, hugging him as he hugs you back

It’s a sweet moment that is unfortunately interrupted 😐

“What about me YN?” I’m sad too!” Atsumu whines as Osamu and the team glare at him

You smile and giggle, hugging Atsumu and then the rest of the team

Your parent arrives and you are taken to the hospital

The guys all go home, worried about what happened to you

They all feel awful, knowing how much pain you are in

Suddenly, their phones all ring, the group chat lighting up as they all simultaneously answer

“YN are you ok?” Osamu shouts from his phone screen

Talk about turn of events 😅

“Will you shut up and let her speak?” Ginjima says

“How about everyone shuts up and let’s YN talk!” Kita finally says as you smile from the hospital room

“Hey guys, I’m ok! My hand is broken but I got a cast on it!” You say, showing the team your favorite color, now wrapped around your hand

They all go silent, feeling awful

Osamu feels the worst as he looks at your wrapped hand

“Damn Yn, I’m so sorry!” He says again, his face expressing immense concern

You laugh, an odd gesture given the situation, “Samu it’s ok! The doctor was super impressed that I managed to deflect a serve like that! It’s not a bad break and they said within a few weeks I should be healed!”

“Are you able to do volleyball practice YN?” Akagi asks as you nods

“No physical activity for a while but I can still write and do everything I normally do! So it means I get out of gym class!” You say, excited you won’t have to participate in running for a while

“Did they give you something for the pain?” Aran asks as you nod

“Yeah they gave me some good pain relievers but I won’t be in school the rest of this week,” you say as the boys all deflate

“I’m really really sorry Yn! I feel awful!” Osamu says again

“Samu it’s ok! It was an accident! I should have been paying more attention anyways!” You say as you smile

Thankfully, a certain someone knows just how to lighten the mood 😏

“Really if you think about it, it’s all Sumu’s fault,” Suna chimes in as Atsumu takes over Osamus phone

“What the hell Suna?!? How is it my fault??” He shouts

“Well if you wouldn’t have kept serving, this never would have happened!” Ginjima adds

“It’s true,” Riseki says

“Atsumu you are going to run so many laps tomorrow!” Kita says as

Atsumu 👉🏻👁️💧👄💧👁️

They are all just glad their precious manager is ok 🥰

[sunshine-on-my-mind]

That wasn’t my plan

Pairing: Pietro Maximoff x Stark!Reader

(reader is tony stark’s adopted daughter)

words: 4.8k

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warnings: 18+ (Minors DNI), Violence (getting hit by a bullet), Mentions of Hulk Attack. Angst, Fluff, Making out (no actual smut/graphic details) Kissing, Crying, Blood. This mostly very very angsty with some fluffy moments

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a/n: Hi!! So this is the first time I wrote for Pietro, but this idea just came into my mind and I had to work on it. some things might not make logical sense but please go with it 👀 I really wanted to focus on how the loss of their parents affected the Maximoffs and how they wanted justice against the wrongs. Also I’m very upset we just got to see so little of Pietro because we deserved MORE!! Anyway, I’m in my Pietro phase now (and Bucky) so expect more stories with them. This might be not very good but I really got emotionally invested in the story. Hope you all like it.COMMENTS AND REBLOGS ARE APPRECIATED.

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taglist for this fic: @tangerinesgf @swiftly-heart

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The Maximoff Twins lost everything, even most of their own identity. After being experimented on by Strucker, they fought for their freedom and succeeded. Now they had only one mission, to get justice against the Avengers, especially Tony Stark.

It would not be easy, they knew that. Even with Wanda’s mind controlling powers, getting close to the Avengers won’t be that easy. But what if they could reach someone very close to the team, especially close to Tony Stark.

They did their research and that’s how they came to know about you, Stark’s adopted daughter. You were always very close to your father, sure he was a complicated man but he always made you his priority.

The New York Attack had left a huge impact on your father, his team and even you. The world had changed. Tony was always over protective of you, and after the attack he preferred to have every little update about you, regarding your safety.

The twins had divided their different targets, and you were Pietro’s. Wanda felt she could use her powers on you but Pietro felt you are not that important and she didn’t need to get involved, she could take care of bigger targets, maybe Banner. And you? Pietro was more than enough for you.

The Maximoff twins knew you were adopted so technically it wasn’t your fault that Tony Stark was so horrible, but you lived a life of luxury, all because of Tony and his money, so yes, you were somewhat at fault, and it wouldn’t even matter in the long run any way.

That is what Pietro reminded himself when he spotted you in your favourite coffee shop. You didn’t have a lot in your everyday schedule so it wasn’t very difficult to track you. Plus he was fast.

You ordered your favourite drink and were about to come out of the coffee shop when felt like you were pushed but you couldn’t really see anyone, you were about to fall down when a stranger caught you.

“Are you alright, miss?“ He had an Eastern European accent, silver blonde hair, and such pretty eyes. Oh you shouldn’t stare at a stranger but how could you not?

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay thank you.” You stood up properly but your drink was spilled. A frown came across your face.

“Can I buy you another?” The man offered.

“Oh no, please. It wasn’t your fault. Just not a good day I guess.”

“Well then how about I make it better? Let me buy you another, I insist.” You probably shouldn’t have accepted. But you did.

Pietro charmed you off your feet, literally. The two of you sat down in the coffee shop and started talking.

“Your accent it’s-“

“It’s Russian” Pietro clarified. You smiled. For such a horrible person’s daughter, you looked quite sweet. Maybe because you were adopted. Still, Pietro thought living the luxurious life you have, you would be some snob. You were sweet.

“Thank you again, you really didn’t have to buy me another drink but I appreciate it.”

“Of course, hope I could make your day better. Wouldn’t be fair if a sweet girl like you doesn’t get to enjoy her day.” Your cheeks heated up and you looked down to hide your flustered expressions. It would be easier than Pietro thought to win your trust.

If they couldn’t attack Tony from the front, they would break him and his team from the inside. It was very simple, Pietro would create problems for you and your dad, and hit Tony hard on his sensitive spot. Stark should get a taste of his own medicine right? See how it feels to lose everything?

“I didn’t get your name by the way, I’m Pietro.” Maybe giving out his name was risky, but nobody knew much about them. After they escaped Strucker’s lab, the twins made sure to erase all data from their files.

You gave Pietro your first name. Somehow your last name often changed people’s perception about you, when the connected the dots about who you actually were.

And when Pietro asked for your number, you hesitated but something in you told him to trust him, and you did.

Pietro texted you. Just a hi at first, but soon it developed in a full conversation. You learnt that he was new in the city, he came from Russia and was currently looking for a job. You thought about suggesting Stark industries but no it was too soon. So you just wished him luck.

He didn’t waste much time to ask you out on a date. He was fast, you thought. You didn’t know what to do, the logical part of you was hesitant, you barely knew him, but then again, that’s what dates are for right? to get to know people, that’s what your heart told you. So you went with that.

“Where are you going?” Your father’s voice pulled you from your thoughts. You lived alone in your own apartment but he visited from time to time to check in, and he couldn’t have had a worse timing.

“Just going out, probably will go to a book shop, get some coffee.”

“Alone?”

“Yes Dad!” You didn’t like lying to your father but, if he got to know about Pietro he would ask too many questions, you wanted to keep things simple. Besides the date might not even be good, so why involve your father in such an early stage?

“Alright, take a car.”

“No I wanna walk.”

“Sweetheart…” He used his fatherly voice.

“Dad…” You mimicked his tone.

“Ugh, fine but be careful okay? and call me-“

“I know I know. Alright then, see you later.” You gave him a hug and went out.

You both met at Central Park, it was a beautiful sunny day.

“You look beautiful.” You smiled.

“Thank you, so do you.”

“I’m so happy you said yes to the date.”

The two of you walked around the park. You asked him about his life in Russia, and he seemed sad.

“Well my parents they- they passed away, and I felt like my life there made no sense any more, so I decided to come here.”

“Oh I’m so sorry to hear about that.” Must have been really hard on him. Pietro looked at you with an expression you couldn’t exactly read.

“Well, that’s why my focus is to now get a job and do something good.”

“That’s great. I’m sure it will all work out.” You smiled. You had such a genuine smile, Pietro thought to himself. You told him about your father and who he was. Pietro maintained a neutral expression at his mention.

The rest of the date went pretty well, you got some food and then walked more, you sat down on a bench to watch the sunset.

“There’s something about you, I can’t help but admire you.” Pietro told you. “From the first moment we met, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.” You felt all warm and flustered listening to his words. “Maybe coming to New York was meant to be, just like meeting you was.”

He gently took your hands in his.

“I had a great time, hope you did too?” Pietro asked.

“I did. It was really good.”

“Would you like to do it some time again?”

“I’d love to.”

After the date, all smiley and giddy you went back home. There was a missed call from your father but you opted to text him back a reply, he might understand the excitement in your voice so it was better to avoid it.

The next few days, you both kept texting about this and that. Few days later he mentioned about getting a job interview.

You: That’s great, good luck

Pietro: Thank you, beautiful ❤️

The heart emoji made your heart flutter a bit.

You really hoped it worked out for Pietro. Later that day, you got another text from him.

Pietro: So, I don’t think I’m going to get this job. The interview didn’t go well

You: I’m sorry Pietro, I’m sure something will turn up soon.

He doesn’t reply, so you text him again.

You: I was thinking, would you like to meet? We can get ice cream?

Pietro: I’d really like that.

You both meet up to get some ice cream, you give him a treat to cheer him up. Mentioning Stark Industries was something you were still hesitant about, but you didn’t like seeing Pietro sad.

“You can try for Stark industries, I can talk to my dad-“

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“But-“

“I appreciate it, but I still have some other interviews lined up. Let’s see what happens.”

You took his hand in yours. Maybe this was a slow plan but it was already working. Pietro could feel it. He tried to ignore how soft your hands felt.

Later he walked you back to your apartment. You thanked him, but before you could go in, Pietro held your waist softly and kissed you.

It had to be done, Pietro told himself, to make sure you got attached to him.

“I um- I’ll see you later then?” You asked him, still giddy about the kiss. “Good luck with your interviews.” You smiled so sweetly at him. “I- I don’t know if this is the right time to say it but, I really like spending time with you. And.. I really like you”

“The feeling is mutual, дорогой” Pietro didn’t realise the nick name would sleep up so easily from his mouth.

“What does that mean?”

“It means- darling” Pietro admitted with a slight blush.

You gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before going inside.

The plan is working. The plan is working. Pietro kept repeating it to himself.

“What happened?” Wanda asked immediately when Pietro returned.

“It’s all going accordingly.” Pietro avoided eye contact, not that it mattered with Wanda, she could see through him.

“You kissed her?”

“Don’t read my thoughts. And yes I did, it had to be done. Now I know she is totally attached to me. She even mentioned Stark Industries today, I think soon I can get to turn on her father if needed.”

“I hope you’re not the one getting attached” Wanda remarked. Pietro scoffed.

“I may not be as talented as you sister but I know what I’m doing, I’ll hurt Stark where it hurts. His precious daughter is now wrapped around my finger.”

Wanda decided to not engage on the topic and let Pietro do his work.

Your father called you up to meet him. You were nervous, you had been avoiding talking to him for a few weeks, just texting.

“What is going on with you?” Tony asked. You tried to be oblivious.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

“I’m not. I was just busy.”

“With what? or with whom should I say?”

“Wha-“

“Look, just be careful, how many times-“

“Hold on a second, are tracking me or something?”

“No I haven’t… yet”

“Are you serious right now? Dad I can take care of myself. I’m not answerable to you for every little thing am I.”

“Look, I don’t want to fight, I trust you, I just don’t trust the world. You’re too nice, for your own good.”

“I’m done with this conversation. See you later, father.”

Tony sighed. You were clearly hiding something, avoiding his questions, you didn’t usually get angry with him.

You were upset, to think Tony literally said he might track your movements if needed. You realised he is concerned about your safety but what about your private life? And to think you actually considered telling him about Pietro. But no, you won’t let you father’s opinions decide how to feel about Pietro, so you decided you weren’t gonna say anything about that.

You: Can you come to my apartment? I- I’m not feeling good.

Pietro: What’s wrong?

You: I don’t want to talk about it via text, Could you please come? Unless you’re busy… I get it.

Pietro: I’m not busy, I’ll come soon.❤️

When Pietro arrived you hugged him. You didn’t know why but his presence always calmed you so much, made you feel everything is gonna be okay. You didn’t even know him that well but you trusted him.

“You want to talk about it now?”

“It’s about my father.” Wheels started turning in his head, this was his chance.

You both sat down on the sofa. Pietro held your hand.

“He- he is always trying to control my life. I know when I say it like that it seems he is a controlling person, I know he is not, he just wants me to be safe. But I can make my own decisions right?”

“Of course you can дорогой”

“I don’t like fighting with him but-“

“I understand.”

“Why are you so nice to me Pietro?” The question took him aback for a second, did you doubt him? No no you didn’t, you were just too nice.

“Because you deserve it, you are so nice so sweet. And because I really like you.” You smile back but Pietro’s expression changed slightly.

“But now- hearing about your father, I’m afraid he might not approve of us being together. You know I’m not rich or anything.”

“That doesn’t matter to me.”

“Well I’m sure it will matter to him. He wants the best for you-“

“I just want you.” You told him earnestly. “And if my dad can’t understand that, then…”

“Then?” Pietro almost had you.

“I- I don’t want to think about that now.. please.”

“It’s okay. I’m really happy to here you care about me so much.”

“I do, and I want you to be happy. I see how much you’re struggling with your current situation. Plus I can’t even imagine what you went through after losing your family.” You hugged Pietro tightly. No- no this wasn’t supposed to happen.

“I’m really so sorry. You are so nice Pietro, I’m sorry life is being unfair to you. I don’t know if it means much but I’m here for you, I promise. You always make me smile and I want to do the same.”

It felt like Pietro’s body was working on its own. You felt so warm. He wrapped his arms around you, pulling you closer. In that moment, he forgot about his rage and the need for revenge, he just let himself feel the loss, and how much it truly affected him.

“I just, I want them to be proud of me, you know?“ Pietro murmured against your neck and you softly pulled away, touching his face softly with your hand.

“Of course they are proud of you Pietro, you’re working so hard to get a better life. I know they are proud of you. And so am I.”

Next what happened wasn’t something you were expecting, Pietro pulled closer with one swift motion, capturing your lips and practically taking your breath away. Things got heated pretty quickly. You both ended up on your bed. No words were exchanged, only looks.

Pietro kissed your neck, as if learning your body. You softly tugged his hair. Pietro simply couldn’t stop himself. He became addicted to your touch, and how you felt against him.

Before things could go any further your phone started buzzing with notifications. And Pietro’s phone rang up as well. It brought him back to reality.

“Um- I should get that.” It was Wanda, he excused himself. You nodded and decided to check your phone. You had received several messages from the Avengers, you quickly opened Clint’s text, which was latest.

Clint: Get to the tower ASAP. There has been a Hulk attack. It’s out of control. Tony and Nat are at the scene. It’s a messy situation. Get here now.

How could it happen? Bruce was much bette at controlling his rage now. You went out to look for Pietro.

On the other hand, Pietro heard from Wanda that she had succeeded to reach Banner.

“The world will now see who the Avengers truly are, as they destroy everything.” Wanda told him over the phone. Too much was going on in Pietro’s mind. He could imagine the destruction, and somehow his rage was subdued by his other emotional instincts.

“Wanda- did we do the right thing?”

“What do you mean? This was the plan. To show the world who the Avengers truly are. To let them destroy each other.”

“But we caused the destruction. Does that- does that make us the same as them?” There was silence at the other end. You came out and Pietro hung up. Quickly shooting Wanda a text that he would talk later.

“I don’t know if you have heard but- there has been a Hulk Attack. I have to go, my dad- I have to go.” Pietro stood there silently as watched you. You were worried.

“You can come with me Pietro. You’ll be safe.”

“I can’t”

“But-“

“I really can’t. I have to go, and seems like you do too. I’ll talk to you later.” And he left, instantly, too quickly you thought, or did you just imagine it?

When you arrived at the Avengers tower, Tony and Nat had already returned, and Bruce was back as himself again.

“I didn’t know how it happened- but the world saw the real Hulk again.” Bruce told everyone. He was shaken.

“No buddy, I’m telling you, I saw your eyes. It was all different. They were red.” Tony argued.

“That’s right Bruce, I’ve become quite good with the lullaby, but nothing worked till Tony knocked you out. Something must have happened.”

“Mind Control.” Clint spoke up. “Happened with me, so I know it.”

“You guys would wanna see this” Agent hill comes in. “The attack left the media all over you guys and I’ve been trying to find out Hydra’s possible involvement but something else came up. Remember that Strucker was killed some time ago? And almost nothing was found about it? Well data has come up regarding the involvement of two of Strucker’s own experiments.”

Hill went on about more details. She said she tried to track down more information about the two.

“The two enhanced have been identified as Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Twins, originating from Sokovia. We don’t know their agenda but they have been seen in the city. The girl has mind controlling powers.” Hearing the name Pietro, made you look up. It was just a common name right?

“Find out about their whereabouts.” Steve told Hill. Just on cue the alarms in the building started going off, Tony’s A.I. informed there had been a breach.

Pietro and Wanda entered the Avengers tower, they realised their identity might be out any moment, so it was better to take matters in their hand. It was now or never. They had to come in light. Pietro knew your were gonna be there. But he had a much bigger goal than thinking about you.

“You stay here, Clint is gonna be with you. We-“

Before Tony could finish, Wanda and Pietro came directly in front. Everyone took their weapons out. Steve got his Shield and Tony called for his suit.

“Easy there, we are unarmed, or is that how you Avengers go on with it? Kill unarmed people?” Wanda asked.

“What is it that you want?”

“Justice” Pietro told with conviction.

You couldn’t believe what was happening, that was him, your Pietro.

“Pietro?” You asked him, still not grasping the reality. It didn’t make any sense. He looked at you but didn’t say anything.

“You know him?” Tony asked.

“He- I- Pietro what- what is this? who is she?” You were hopelessly looking at him for answers.

“We are Pietro and Wanda Maximoff and we are here to get justice for the death of our parents.” Wanda told everyone.

“Either give us justice by taking accountability all of your wrong doings, for the destructions you have caused, or we will do it ourselves. The world doesn’t need fake heroes like you, who kill innocent people.”

“Your father is a murderer” Pietro finally talked to you. “And he will pay.”

“What are you saying? The Avengers help people, they don’t-“

“Shut up. You’re either too stupid or delusional. Your father kept you in this protected world while people like us suffered. I wouldn’t expect you to understand, Miss Stark.” You were taken aback by his harsh tone. Was that really your Pietro?

“Is that what your think of me?” You asked him with tears in your eyes.

“Don’t you get it? It doesn’t fucking matter. You don’t matter. You were just a means to get closer to the Avengers.” Pietro informed you harshly. “But my sister accelerated things and I think that was for the best. My plan was too slow.”

“Was that all I was to you? Just a plan? Everything else, a lie?” You knew the questions were rhetorical but you couldn’t help yourself. It all felt so real? The way Pietro looked at you,. the moments you shared, how could it all be a lie?

Pietro couldn’t look into your teary eyes. Why did it affect him? It didn’t matter if you were hurt. No. He didn’t care about you. That wasn’t the plan.

“Tell me Pietro, look into my eyes and say that not even for a second it was real to you.”

“You are so fucking self obsessed that you can’t even focus on the reality.” Pietro knew it wasn’t true. You were nice and caring, empathetic. “This is so much bigger than you and your feelings. Fuck I should have just killed you instead, that would have taught your monster of a father a true lesson, he would have realised how it feels when you lose someone so close.” Pietro was in the flurry of rage.

“Pietro…” Wanda could feel Pietro was fighting a battle within himself. Things were getting messy.

“Enough!” Tony shouted. “Your fight was with me and the Avengers, you shouldn’t have got my daughter involved.”

“Scares you doesn’t it? Knowing I could have killed your precious daughter? Fucking hurts doesn’t it?”

Tony took out his blasters and Pietro attacked him as fast as he could, Wanda used her powers to throw Steve and Clint away, Thor took up his hammer- It all happened so quickly.

Before you knew what was happening, you felt your body move, Nat shot a bullet towards Pietro who was fighting Tony, and you came in front of him. Taking the bullet yourself. Immediately you fell to the ground.

“No!” Tony yelled. “Take her to the medic, Honey why did you do it? Why?” Everyone rushed to you as Pietro stood their in shock. Did you jump in to save him? Did you take the bullet for him?

“Why?” Pietro asked as he looked at you on the ground, in Tony’s arms.

“Because I know you’re not the bad guy. You’re a victim of an accident.” You were losing too much blood.

“Looks like you’ll get your wish Pietro, I hope you’re happy after this.” You managed to speak out before losing consciousness.

Pietro pushed everyone away and got close to you within a second. Tony was about to push him away when Pietro took you in his arms.

“Where is the medic?” Pietro asked while carrying your unconscious body. “WHERE IS THE MEDIC?” He yelled.

“Third Floor.”

“Call the doctors to be ready.” And in an instant you rushed to the Medic with you in your arms. He put you on the medic bed.

Everyone else came as quickly as they could, Clint and Nat had their eye on Wanda. Tony was too broken to fight with either Pietro were Wanda.

“You both will face the consequences.” Nat told them.

Wanda moved closer to her brother who was intently watching the doctors operate you through the door.

“She took the bullet for me. And I said I should have killed her. I don’t want that Wanda- I don’t her to die. None of this was her fault then why did I get her involved? Did we really become that driven by the need for revenge?”

He couldn’t stop his tears. “She comforted me you know. Listened to me. And for a second it was real. Fuck who am I lying to? You and me both know it was real. I know that wasn’t the plan but it happened. And now she is lying unconscious. Because of me. She protected me.”

After a whole agonising 24 hours, you gained consciousness. Meanwhile Nat and Clint interrogated the Maximoffs. Pietro didn’t speak a word. To lost to say anything. His mind only had one thought. You.

Wanda answered some questions. Told them the details about their parent’s death.

“We only wanted justice. We didn’t want to physically hurt any innocent people. But I guess the Hulk attack changed that. Suddenly the reality set in on us. The consequences of the destruction. We were too driven by rage. But we couldn’t back down.”

“Look Kid, these people who you hate so much, give everyone a chance for redemption. Trust me. You’ve got powers right? Do you know how many people you can help with that?”

They talked to Wanda more and as soon as Pietro heard about you gaining consciousness he was in front of the room you were in. So were the rest of the Avengers, including Tony.

“Don’t even think about going inside.” Tony told him.

“I just want to know she is okay.”

“She is. Now go away before I do something to you.”

“Kid, you should back away.” Steve told Pietro.

One of the doctors came out and informed them you have requested to talk to Pietro. Even against Tony’a wishes, Pietro finally got to go in.

“I-“ Pietro didn’t know what to say.

“I’m sorry you didn’t get to hurt my dad by seeing me dead.”

“Don’t say that please.”

“That’s what you wanted right?”

“I thought it’s what I should do, to give my parents justice. But if they saw what I did, what we did, they would have been so disappointed.”

You kept quiet. Facing away from him.

“Losing someone close always hurts, and I don’t think I can do that again.” Pietro confessed as he sat down beside your bed

“You were right, it was real, what we had. That wasn’t the plan but it just happened. I didn’t want to admit it. Didn’t want to divert from my goal.”

“What matters is what you do now”

“I’m in too deep now, I became what I wanted to protect the world from. It’s too late.”

“It isn’t. You were a victim, consumed by rage you did everything. There is always chance for redemption. You have powers right? You want to protect the world right? The people you hate so much are trying to do the same. Maybe I don’t agree with all of their methods, you don’t have to either. But they are not bad people.”

“Will you- will you give me another chance?”

“I don’t think I can trust you again.”

Pietro deserved that.

“Take care дорогой”

Wanda and Pietro were taken in by the Avengers. The twins realised, they themselves had been manipulated by various people. If they had received the powers, why not use it for good.

You hardly went out anymore. Nothing felt right. You were happy to hear about Wanda and Pietro, but you felt like part of yourself went missing forever.

Few months later, one day you decided to go to your favourite coffee shop again. Maybe you had to start living again. Things were better, even if a little. Ordering your favourite drink, you sat down in a nice spot beside the window.

“Is this seat taken?” Your eyes went up to the silver haired man. You shook your head.

“If you want, you can always throw your drink on my face.” He spoke nervously. “At least that would give me a chance to buy you another.”

You couldn’t help but smile. The memories of your first meeting flashing in your mind, but also a reminder of the beginning of the lies.

“I know you said you can’t trust me. I understand that. Can you at least give me a chance to try to win your trust again? No matter how long it takes. I’ll keep trying.”

“Pietro…”

“I’m an Avenger now.” He said proudly. “I guess they are not too bad. Better than Hydra and the rest of the lot at least.”

“I’m happy to hear that.” You told him with a small smile on your face.

“We stopped a Hydra attack recently, saved some hostages, an old lady thanked me for saving her life. You have no idea how good that felt.” Your smile grew bigger.

“Your parents would be proud.” Pietro looked at you trying to control his tears, and stopping himself from taking you in his arms.

“Please дорогой, please give me one chance.”

“You- you won’t hurt me again.”

“Never. I only want to make you happy.”

You smiled and pushed your cup gently towards him. He took a sip.

“Sweet. Like you.” You smiled again.

“We can go out for Ice Cream, maybe?”

“It would mean the world to me дорогой”