#and not that he ended up making james' life worse when the reason he left james was bc he was worried about exactly that. dragging him down

[nukacourier]

Mentally calling Arcade a dumbass for this like I'm not the one writing him being a complete fool

[navybrat817]

" Scraping their teeth over your neck to have a shiver of arousal run down your spine. "

With Bucky. 🥺

This probably didn't go the way anyone wants, nonnie, and I'm sorry!

Give Me a Name

Pairing: Mob!Bucky Barnes x Agent!Female Reader Summary: Someone put their hands on you and Bucky can't let it go. Word Count: Over 1.1k Warnings: Tension, threat of violence (not against reader), very minor injury, pet names, possessive behavior, Bucky Barnes (he's a warning, okay?). A/N: Because who doesn't want a mob boss obsessed with them? ❤️ Edit by the talented @nixakimbo. Not beta read and written on my phone, so any and all mistakes are my own. Please follow @navybrat817-sideblog for new fics and notifications. Comments, reblogs, feedback are loved and appreciated!

Today was a not-so-friendly reminder that mistakes in your job weren’t so easy to fix. You had been in pursuit of a target for weeks and finally managed to catch him. The rookie agent, however, didn’t secure the cuffs and the bastard managed to get a hard hit in when he broke free. The dizziness from the blow was enough to let him get away.

The rookie went after him, but you knew he wouldn’t catch him. You’d have to start all over with tracking him and you didn’t even get a chance to go home to lick your wounds. Not when Bucky’s men showed up and put you in a car.

You should’ve known they were close by.

“I can walk!” You argued minutes later when they brought you to the Barnes mansion. The mob boss had a few homes, but this one had been in the family for years. He had invited you here before, but never took you by force.

Until today.

The men carefully arranged you on a leather sofa in the den before one of them went to get their boss. He hadn’t left the room before the door flew open, the very man he went to find standing there with a look thunderous enough to kill. He snatched something out of one of his soldier’s hands before he went to you, no one daring to speak a word.

You held your breath as you glanced at Bucky. He had the sleeves of his black shirt rolled up as he assessed you, the veins in his arms popped out as he clenched his fists. He was built like a soldier with his massive frame, his life story told in the tattoos and scars that adorned his covered skin. The notorious crime lord more than earned his reputation and he promised he’d tell you his story himself one day.

Today wouldn’t be that day.

He brushed some of his long hair from his eyes before crouching down beside you. He didn’t take his eyes off you as he dabbed at your cheek with the cloth. He stopped when you winced, but you gave him a small smile to let him know he could continue. You didn’t expect tenderness from such a rough man, but you were different to him, weren’t you? You had been since the two of you crossed paths some time ago. Why?

What made you so special?

“Who did this to you?” He asked in a low voice. You could hear that he tried to keep the raging storm inside of him, but his icy eyes showed you everything. The growing fury was bound to come out. Who would he destroy in his path to sate the beast?

“Bucky. I’m fine,” you croaked as you tried to sit up more, but he stopped you from moving. “The guy got lucky and it isn’t anything I haven’t faced before. Just let me get back to work,” you said.

You noticed most of the men nearby avoided eye contact when you looked around. They had every reason to be afraid. James Buchanan Barnes was downright terrifying when crossed.

And crossing you was a worse offense in his eyes.

“Give me a name,” Bucky demanded, though he didn't raise his voice. “Tell me his fucking name so I can take care of it.”

“I can’t,” you whispered. If you did, he’d kill him. No, he’d torture him first. Likely for days on end before he begged for death. And you needed him alive.

That was your job.

Yet, you could never find it in yourself to bring Bucky in.

“Don’t make me shoot you.”

You froze at the cold tone before you realized Bucky didn’t direct that statement at you. One of his men standing feet away turned his head to the side because he got caught staring. You should’ve known better. Whatever cat and mouse game you and the mob boss were playing, it was for him to catch you in his trap, but never hurt you.

Not when he wanted to keep you.

“I’m sorry, boss,” the man promised, his tone wavering when Bucky reached for one of his pistols. “I-”

“‘Cause I’ll do it in a heartbeat and never look back if you glance at her again,” he promised. He was a man of his word. “Leave us. All of you. Now.”

“Bucky, it’s okay,” you assured him as they filed out. The men were dangerous, but you weren’t about to let him shoot the poor guy for looking your way.

“It isn't okay. Someone put their hands on you,” he nearly growled, the soft touch to your cheek a stark contrast to his voice. “You think I can let that go? I can’t. I won’t.”

You brought a hand up to tuck a few strands of his hair behind his ear. His eyes shut for a moment and grabbed your wrist before you could pull away. He dragged your fingers through the short beard along his jaw, like he was starved of your touch and needed more. You didn’t want to admit how much you wanted him.

Not when you belonged in different worlds.

“You don’t have to ‘avenge’ me, Bucky, because I’m not yours,” you said carefully. Were you telling him for his sake or yours? “Let it go. Please.”

The storm continued to rage in his eyes when he opened them and you wondered who would win the battle of the wills. You held your breath again when he moved close, the scent of his woodsy cologne making your head spin. Instead of brushing his lips against yours, he brought his mouth to your neck. Scraping his teeth over your pulse, you couldn’t stop the shiver of arousal that moved down your spine.

“You are mine, Kisa,” he whispered, giving your neck another nip as you tried not to whimper. “And I’m going to find out who did this whether you tell me or not. And I’m going to kill him.”

Your heart shouldn’t have raced faster at his declaration. “If I tell you, will you let me go home?”

“You are home,” he replied, pulling away and looking into your eyes so you could see how serious he was. “And I’d feel a lot better if you got some rest in my bedroom.”

You shuddered because you both knew you wouldn’t get a wink of rest if he took you to bed. And if you slept with him, there would be no turning back. “You can’t keep me prisoner here, Winter.”

The cold and ruthless man who only wanted you.

“You’re not my prisoner, Kisa,” he said, pressing his lips softly to your pained cheek. “But I’m never letting you go.”

He’d prove that to you.

I don't know about you lovelies, but I kind of love them. Love and thanks for reading! ❤️

Masterlist ⚓ Bucky Barnes Masterlist ⚓ Ko-Fi

[eufezco]

HOW DID IT END?

How is it that Steve's departure only drove you further apart? How was it possible that the only thing left between you after all was hatred for each other? Maybe these questions could be answered in a therapy session or in a night together.

bucky x fem!reader (angst, smut with plot, lovers to enemies to lovers) + no use of y/n. english isn't my first language (!)

—James, condition of your release, session now.

You looked at Bucky and he looked back at you, pressing his lips together and starting to walk after his therapist, annoyed.

—You too, young lady.

—That's okay, I can wait here with Sam.

—It wasn't a request. Sam, you have front-row seats for the show if you like—. The demanding tone in her voice surprised you and you had no choice but to follow her.

The therapist sat down at the table and opened her notebook. You and Bucky were at the other side of the table, sitting next to each other and in front of the woman. You didn't look at each other, you had not even shared a word. Sam, who was leaning against the wall behind the therapist, looked at both of you and shook his head. Steve was right when he said that you were both equally stubborn.

—So, who would like to start?

—I don't even know what I'm doing here. This is ridiculous.

—Yeah, I agree —. Bucky added.

—See? Making progress already —. She waited a few seconds to see if either of you would like to talk but you and Bucky remained silent. Dr. Raynor sighed, if it was already difficult to deal with him alone, it would be twice as difficult to deal not only with Bucky but also with a copy of him as a woman. —It is my job to make sure you're okay. And yeah, this may be slightly unprofessional but it's the only way that I can see if you're getting over whatever's eating at you.

You huffed a laugh and Bucky rolled his eyes. Whatever's eating at you? What could possibly be eating at you? There was nothing that-

—So, why don't you both start by telling me what kind of relationship you had with Steve Rogers?

Your expression changed completely when you heard his name. Bucky looked at you out of the corner of his eyes, Sam's eyes also went to you as he tensed his back when Dr. Raynow brought Steve up out of nowhere. Bucky decided to start talking but you couldn't hear what he was saying, you could only focus on how tense your jaw was, the knot in your stomach, and all the anger you were feeling.

Just as it was a relief for Bucky to think and talk about Steve, it hurt you. There was never anything romantic about your friendship with Steve, it was purely based on your devotion to him and your mutual admiration and respect.

When you lost Bucky and Steve crashed into the ice, you had no reason to live but before your heart stopped beating, Howard Stark found you and injected you with the serum. And when you woke up there was only Steve, seventy years later and just as confused as you, living in a century that did not belong to you.

You were together during the whole process of readjusting to your new lives. For Steve, you joined a group of people who called themselves the Avengers and fought against the god of mischief in New York. For Steve, you were almost killed by a robot in Sokovia. For Steve, you fought the Winter Soldier. For Steve, you sided against Tony Stark, the son of the man who brought you back to life, and for Steve, you fought, lost, fought again, and won against Thanos.

They say there is no worse heartbreak than that caused by a friend and Steve Rogers stole a piece of your heart when he left.

—Thank you, James. What can you tell us about Steve? —Dr. Raynor asked you.

You shook your head, your eyes fixed on one spot. The feeling of betrayal when Steve didn't return within the five seconds set by Bruce still haunted you. —I will never forgive him.

Bucky shook his head as well, he turned to look at you. —You know, Dr. Raynor? I've met her for more than seventy years now and one thing that hasn't changed about her is how selfish she is.

—James, we are not here to make value judgments about the feelings experienced by the other person.

The condescending tone in Bucky's voice made you close your eyes and take a deep breath before you talked. —You were captured by HYDRA, tried to kill us, then went into cryogenic sleep and disappeared with the snap. I don't expect you to understand what I'm going through since you never lost Steve because you never had him.

—He was my best friend! —Bucky raised his tone and turned in his chair to look at you.

—You don't even remember a single thing of him before he became Captain America!

Sam called your name. That wasn't Bucky's fault.

—He left because that was the life he fought so many years for! That's the life Steve deserved!

—He was my best friend too! We were together all these years while you were killing people and I had to watch him go! —You did the same as him. That was the first time you looked at each other since the session started and you were yelling at each other. Sam didn't miss any part of the argument, he was with his arms crossed and paying attention to everything you were saying to each other. How could two people who had loved each other so much end up like this?

—Okay, that's enough —. The doctor stopped you before it went any further. You and Bucky rested your backs on the chair again, defeated, and your eyes focused on the therapist. —Since this isn't working, we're going to do an exercise. It's something I use with couples when they're trying to figure out what kind of life they wanna built together —. The doctor added. Bucky rolled his eyes and you closed yours while shaking your head.

—You are acting as if you were never a couple —Sam said.

—Back in 1940.

—Yeah, eighty-two years ago.

You both said at the same time.

—Come on, turn around, look at each other.

Both of you hesitated for a few seconds but finally turned to face each other. His blue eyes were fixed on yours, it was difficult to keep eye contact with him.

—The exercise is called Everytime I look at you and consists of saying something that you feel or see in the other person every time you look at them. Why don't you start?

As you looked at Bucky, you could see the young soldier, wearing his new uniform proudly and hanging a copy of his dog tag around your neck. Looking into Bucky's eyes you felt again the last kiss he gave you before falling from the train, you heard his last laugh before he was brainwashed by HYDRA, you could even feel the caress of his fingers on your skin before the vibranium covered one of his hands.

—Every time I look at you, you have that lost puppy look on your face, asking for people's sympathy. I can't even look at you because every time I do, your mere presence reminds me that Steve's no longer here and it makes me want to fucking die, and sometimes I wish-

Sam called your name and you stopped talking before you could finish the sentence. Bucky's eyes never left yours. You were saying all that to his face.

—Let her finish, Sam —. Dr. Raynor said.

There was a silence.

—And sometimes I wish you were gone instead of him.

As Bucky looked at you, he could see the young lady he fell in love with even though everything he remembered about her was gone. The sparkle in that girl's eyes could no longer be found in yours, but he couldn't forget how your eyes shone as he wrapped his arms around your waist to dance. Bucky did not forget the sound of your laughter when he told you that he would marry you after the war, even though he was totally serious.

—Every time I look at you I don't recognize you. You have changed for the worse and I'm not sure if I like this version of you. You are mean, you don't allow people to get close to you and you hide and say that it's Steve's fault for leaving. But let me just say...

Bucky could see how you dealt with sadness by turning it into anger, he knew it because he did the same thing. Your jaw tightened and you closed your fists so hard that your fingernails dug into the palms of your hands. You didn't want him to say it, but at the same time, you couldn't wait to hear it.

—... that being a bitch isn't going to bring him back.

As soon as Bucky finished the sentence, you got up from the chair and left the room slamming the door. He didn't react to you leaving, he just sat in the chair asking himself the same question as Sam. How did you come to this? How could two people who had loved each other so much end up like this? Sam tried to go after you but he could not keep up with your super soldier speed so he went back to the police station with Bucky and gave him the same look of disappointment that Steve would have given him.

That same night someone knocked on your front door.

You thought it would be Sam because he had been calling you nonstop since you left and you had been ignoring him all day long but when you opened the door, you found Bucky instead.

He took a step closer to you to go inside your house and your hand connected firmly with his cheek. The skin on his face burned right where you had hit him and your body was blocking the doorway. He was just as angry as you were so he gave you a strong push on your shoulders. You managed to keep your balance and he managed to get inside the house and close the door behind him.

Bucky towered you with a challenging attitude, keeping eye contact while forcing you to take a few steps backward. You, despite being shorter than him, did not lower your head. Your breathing was heavy, the tension was too much, you wanted to hit him again and you wanted to say worse things to him than what you said in the therapy session.

When you raised your hand to slap him again, he grabbed your arm with his vibranium hand and squeezed hard enough for it to hurt but you did not give him the pleasure of expressing the pain. The tension was overwhelming. There were only two ways to solve this, either he would let go of your arm and start a fight that wouldn't end until both of you were on the floor exhausted and bleeding, or...

Your bodies collided as you pressed your lips together. Bucky held your face with both hands while his lips devoured yours as your hands pulled on the hem of his shirt. He lifted his arms so you could take it off and in that moment you took a few seconds to admire his well-defined abs. He leaned in for another kiss but you pushed him by his shoulder, strong enough for his back to hit against a wall of your house and crack it. Before he could complain, you connected your lips with his again.

Bucky's fingers closed around your neck as a response. Your mouth opened against his lips, trying to get the air that he was keeping from reaching your lungs and Bucky's tongue went pass your lips.

You took a big breath of air once he let go of your neck and he began to unbutton your jeans. He would never admit it but he made sure that you were okay and that he had not taken it too far, especially when your hands went to his shoulders to keep your balance due to the dizziness. And when Bucky thought he had control over you, your fingernails slid painfully from his shoulders to his abdomen and he groaned.

Bucky threw his head back against the wall once your finger sneaked into his jeans and wrapped around his cock. You moved your hand cruelly slow, he had his eyes closed as he bit his lower lip to hold back his moans. You ran your tongue along his collarbone until you reached his earlobe. —I fucking despise you —. You whispered in his ear. He let out a moan and immediately clenched his jaw again. You felt his hips thrust into your hand.

—Fucking same, doll —. Bucky muttered through gritted teeth.

He brought his hands to your ass and squeezed it as he helped you to wrap your legs around his body. Your lips met again as he walked you to the big wooden table in your living room where he helped you to lie down. Bucky pulled his jeans down enough to free his hard cock while you opened your legs to him. He noticed the wet spot on your panties and you noticed the red marks that your fingernails had carved on his chest. As he pulled your panties to the side, your fingers ran over those marks and Bucky hissed.

The head of his cock was more than enough to stretch you open. You repositioned yourself at the table, now sitting up on your elbows to watch as he pushed himself inside of you. You thought he would give you a few seconds to get used to the feeling, but he didn't stop until he was balls deep inside you.

—Now you take it. Make it up for that attitude —. You whined at his words and Bucky rested his forehead against yours while his hips thrusted into yours.

You encircled your legs around his waist and hooked your ankles over the swell of his ass while he kept slamming his hips into you. At that point you couldn't even think straight, he was hitting all the right spots to make your mind foggy. His pace remained fast and hard, and you thought about the serum running through your veins and how you both could keep up with that pace all night long.

Bucky tucked his head into your neck and whispered the filthiest words into your ear, his hands were on your thighs, squeezing your flesh lustfully, he pulled his dick all way out and then pushed in again until his balls were against your pussy. Your fingers tugged his brown hair at the root, getting moans from him because of your tight grip as it encouraged him to fuck you even harder. If that was how hating you felt, he wanted to hate you for all eternity.

When he heard you moaning and whimpering uncontrollably, when your legs fought to close and squeezed his body, when he felt your nails digging into the skin of his back, Bucky pushed your legs up, hooking your legs over his shoulders, and kept fucking you in that position until it became harder and harder for him to keep going because of the tightness of your pussy. You came screaming his name and spasming around him, Bucky came a few seconds later, with a deep groan that made his chest vibrate and emptying himself inside you.

The next morning, when his alarm went off, Bucky was alone in your bed. He took his time to take a shower and grab something from your kitchen for breakfast before he left. Bucky walked to his therapist's office, trying not to give much importance to what happened last night and especially trying not to think about all the horrible things you said to each other earlier that day in front of Sam and Dr. Raynor.

When he entered the office, Dr. Raynor was not alone. Bucky almost apologized and closed the door again, thinking he interrupted someone's session, but then you turned around in your chair and looked at him. He looked back at you, surprised, from the doorway.

You were already inside, now it was up to him to decide whether to go in with you. Bucky didn't have to think about it, he closed the door behind him and sat down in the chair next to you. You wanted to give yourselves a chance, for your sake, for Steve's sake, and for trying to get back what you two once had.

—Let's try again, shall we? —Dr. Raynor asked with a smile.

[sour-leminies]

Hi, sorry to brother you I LOVE how you write and I would to make a request for you about Maleficient x reader x Hades.

How come they're in a thresome but reader fels insecure because she think they love each other more than they love you and feels like something momentary, after avoiding them for a couple of days they enter in her room and found her crying, when they start to talk and she starts to explain herself they started to feels bad and explain them how much they love her, at the end they end Up making up to her spending the rest of the day showing her how much they love her.

THANKS SO MUCH 💕

“We love you desperately.”

Paring: Maleficent x F!Reader x Hades

Summary: To find one love of your life is rare, to find two is extraordinary. Hades and Maleficent are your everything, so why would they start to leave you out? Do they even care if you’re in this relationship, you can’t help but ask yourself.

Warnings: Poly relationship established.

Taglist: @herondale-lightworm @snixx2088 Just ask to be added.

Navigation — other works!

You had loved Hades and Maleficent with your entire being. You loved how they would help you get out of your comfort in a good way. How they would encourage you to be the worse/best you can.

When people learned about all three of you being together everyone had decided to judge. People had expected Hades and Maleficent to be together, but you in the mix? It made people question and start rumors.

‘They were with you out of boredom.’ ‘They were playing a prank on you.’ ‘They didn’t actually care about you.’

Hades and Maleficent would always make sure to shut someone up if they dare say that. They had tried their hardest for you not to hear it, but it couldn’t be help.

You would hear them whispering. It had made your confidence dwindle, made you question yourself in a way.

In the beginning you were scared that one of you would be left out, that one of you would feel less loved. You were proven wrong though, when everything went so perfectly despite the rumors.

The three of you would have dates, take turns picking movies, help each other. Always be there for one another. For a while it was amazing.

But slowly your fear was coming true, and it was you who felt left out.

—

The three of you were walking down a path, laughing to yourselves at what happened to Uliana earlier. Turning into a pink flamingo.

You stopped once Hades pulled Maleficent hand back to him, also stopping her.

The god bent down and plucked a purple flower, handing it to the dark fairy.

You couldn’t help the little strike of hurt in your heart. “The purple flower is made for you.” It wasn’t often Hades spoke kinds words, but when he did he was always sure to be kind to the both of you.

So you felt like a fool waiting for the attention you thought he would send your way. However it felt like cold water drenched you as the two started walking again, calling out to you in a small “come on Y/N.”

—

A knock on your door drew you attention, and before you could even say come in, the person walked through. Or well people.

Hook and Morgie walked into the room, and they paused when they saw you.

You took notice of Diaval, Maleficent bird, trying to get out of Morgie’s hands while the boy struggled.

“What are you doing here?” You and Hook asked each other while Morgie continued to fight with the bird.

“This is my room.” You said, as if it was obvious. You and Maleficent had shared a dorm, for obvious reasons.

“Yeah but aren’t you on that date with Mali and Hades?” Clearly not, but what date?

James saw your confusion and felt like Hades was going to scold him, even though it wasn’t his fault the two of them didn’t invite you.

“Don’t you know?”

Is that why Maleficent left without saying anything? You had just thought she went to go hang out with Uliana. Sure you hadn’t really talked to the couple in a few days — you felt to insecure, but would they really okay with ditching you?

You could feel your self start to cry, hating it. The two villain boys also hated it cause they didn’t know what to do in this situation.

All they were doing was trying to put a bird back in its cage or very least its owners room.

James grabbed the bird out Morgie’s arm, to which the boy stuck his tongue out to the crow.

Hook tossed the crow in your direction and Diaval wasted no time in flying to your aid, cuddling up to you.

The two boys walked back out the room, and hook immediately stepped onto Morgie’s foot.

“What was that for?!”

“You started this!” Technically Hook was the one to spill. “You fix it and go tell Mali and Hades on how them leaving out Y/N is affecting them.”

Before Morgie could say no the pirate already walked away. Letting out a big sigh Morgie did as told, rubbing the spot where the crow nipped him.

—

Maleficent looked around the shops in town, sighing when she saw nothing worth getting you. Your birthday was coming up, so your two lovers had decided to go out on the town to try and find you something.

Hands wrapped around the dark fairy faced, and the voice of one of the loves of her life spoke. “Find anything?”

“No…” she sighed out. “Nothings worth it. What if we don’t find her something?”

Hades turned her around and placed a kiss on her forehead, “we’ll find something she’ll love.” He promised.

Though there little moment was interrupted by the son of Morgana.

“Y/N is upset…” he heaved out to the two. Who was now suddenly very alert. “Me and Hook told her about the date…” he heaved out again, out of breath from the running he did all around town to find the two of you. “You two are on without her.”

Hades suddenly felt like punching the two men who put something false in his girls head. It didn’t matter to him if they actually thought that — they should know better.

However Maleficent pulled him away and the two went rushing back to your room. Hoping you would listen and let them explain.

You were already acting weird enough, keeping to yourself and starting to pull away.

—

The two didn’t bother to knock, they just went into the room. Seeing you sniffling with Diaval.

His owner would be sure to give him as many treats as possible for trying to comfort Y/N.

Maleficent was the first one to sit on the bed with you, pulling you to her as you cried. “You two are going to leave me.” Your voice broke, and it ripped out their hearts.

Hades went into action and pulled both his girls to him, he was also rubbing your back as the two immediately denied your claim.

“We could never leave you.” Your beloved fairy said into your ear.

“Do you truly think us fools?” Your handsome god asked you. As if them leaving you would only be in death. And even then they would never leave you.

“Don’t lie. I know you were on a date… without me. And god saying that out loud makes me feel pathetic for caring so much.”

Despite how embarrassed you felt about how much this whole thing affected you, you could help by continue to cry, only this time quieter as you soaked in their affection.

“We weren’t on a date.” Hades was the first one to correct you, and Maleficent carried on. “We were birthday shopping for you.”

You slightly shook your head, that was still rested against Maleficent shoulder.

“Then why have you been leaving me out? Giving each other kind words, and flowers, and attention— without giving me so much as a glance longer than five seconds.”

The two powerful beings felt like such idiots. How could they be oblivious to your feelings?

“Baby, listen.” Hades started, pulling you away from Maleficent and into his lap. Making sure you looked him in the face.

“That flower I gave Maleficent, you may not realize but I’m pretty sure you’re allergic. You started sneezing when I gave them to you two before.” Now you felt like an idiot.

“I’m also sorry for not being fair. I should have realized sooner how you were feeling left out. And I’m sorry.” It was very rare for the god to apologize. To admit he was wrong — but with you it came so easily.

“I’m sorry too,” Maleficent said, turning your gaze to hers. “I don’t show love easily but I do love you. I love the both of you.”

You finally felt at peace as the god kissed your head while the fairy kissed your lips.

Hades leaned down to your ear and whispered, “we love you desperately, and we will make you believe it always.”

—

A/N: I feel like this is short, or it’s missing something so I may edit it in the future, but no matter how long I stare at it I can’t figure it out. So out my drafts it goes. ALSO THANK YOU!!!

[thefiery-phoenix]

yandere dg hcs if u havent yet?? ty❤️

YANDERE JAMES LEE (DG) HEADCANONS

He's an unpredictable ticking time bomb to say the least. It doesn't matter if he's James Lee or DG, they're STILL the same person. As soon as his eyes land on you, that's when your entire life belongs to him now. He's borderline possessive, obsessive, manipulative and not above gaslighting you emotionally to make you stay with him. There are 2 instances when you could have met him, as James Lee or as DG but it doesn't make the situation any better since they're both the same obsessive psychotic person when it comes to you

If you met him as James Lee, it would probably be when you'd be in school with him or something. You were the sort of person who'd never get involved in fights and always kept yourself under the radar. Your only concern was to just pass the freaking math test this week with a decent score. While you were returning home from school, you spotted James hitting a few people like they were nothing and you glared at him disapprovingly. He spotted you glaring at him and he was amused by your pouty glare. "Aww...don't worry princess, you don't need to worry about bad men anymore" he said in a slightly patronizing condescending tone with a smirk on his face. You just grumbled under your breath and walked away as his eyes never left your figure till you vanished from his sight. He couldn't help but softly chuckle to himself, you were quite intriguing

He'd spend time getting to know more about you which will also involve smacking people around to give him the information he needs regarding you. He won't even be discreet about following you or stalking you at this point, he just has this arrogant cocky grin on his face and thinks he's protecting you and comes up with a number of reasons on why you need him to be around you. He despises it when you pay attention to other people though, they're just mere pests in his eyes. Why would you waste your time with them? Why would you waste your time with those silly little annoying pests you call your friends? You're clearly a naive one if you think they don't have ulterior motives towards you, he's certain they have ulterior motives towards you

Or you could either meet him when he's DG. You could be an assistant of his or a dancer, catching his attention as DG would he slightly more difficult compared to him as James Lee because he's so used to people throwing themselves at him and he just doesn't even bother to react to them anymore. Miraculously if you do end up catching his attention at some point, within the next 10 minutes he'll have every single nitty gritty detail about you one way or another and reads about you like you're some kind of fascinating specimen in his free time

As time progresses by, he'll start growing more possessive and obsessive towards you. It'll get even worse if you're going out with him and in a relationship with him. He'll want to know about every single thing going on in your life and who you're with and what sort of pest he'll have to get rid of to ensure you're his. I wouldn't put it past him to not resorting to installing cameras in your house either because he really would do something like that. What? It's just to ensure your safety, that's all. You'll always have someone stalking you from behind the shadows and you'll never have your moment of privacy again. Say goodbye to your much cherished privacy since it'll go out the window and down the drain and he's the reason for it

He likes you for being yourself. He's met plenty of superficial people and people who's personality changes even faster than the colors of a chameleon but your presence is like a breath of fresh air compared to the usual people he interacts with. You could be plain and simple and he'd still love you. In his own twisted manic way. He's drawn to your humble down to earth nature. He loves it when he gifts you something and you start blushing and turn flustered, he's now made it his personal mission in life to see you get flustered more often since he finds you rather adorable and endearing when you do that. Your cheeks puff out slightly whenever you're feeling embarrassed about something so he'll teasingly caress your cheek with his hand to watch you squirm even more. Your reactions are too cute and entertaining for him. Sadistic MF

He loves to spoil you. Whatever you want, just say the word and you'll have it in the blink of an eye with a shiny packaging wrap around it just for you. However a while later his behavior will start getting much worse. He'll slowly start distancing you from your friends since he wants your attention to be only on him. There's a reason he's called one of the 10 geniuses you know. He'll do it in a calculating manner you won't know and realize he's isolating you from people before it's too late. He won't even deny it when you confront him about it, the way he sees it is he's just doing this for your own good. He's fought against gang members and yakuza leaders and whatnot, there's a reason he's one of the feared skilled fighters around. He doesn't want you going through the same thing as him so just be a good little spouse for him and accept his love for you. Will take you out on bike rides on his bike as well. He loves it when you hold him and rest your head on his shoulder. Night bike rides with him are quite romantic, he'll take you out to a place where the stars are visible and he'll hold you in his arms and you both will enjoy the peace and serenity of the night atmosphere, looking at the stars

Oh,you'll report him to the authorities? Darling, you're just making him laugh with your naivety at this point. He has the power and authority to buy the entire police department or whoever he wants. He's an IDOL admired by the people. When the faith in him is strong, no one can bring him down. It's not like someone would even believe you anyway and even if you do find the one sane enough person to believe you, DG will get rid of them quickly. Don't bother trying to escape from him either, he has all the resources and power to locate you and trace your location in mere seconds. You'll be dragged back to 'your home' and he'll just scold you like you're a child. And all escape routes for you will be destroyed, you'll lose your internet privilege for a month and the security system will be more improved and he'll change the locks too. Look, he might be a ruthless fighter but that doesn't mean he's a monster at heart. He genuinely does love you and care for you, he doesn't want to hurt you. He'd never get physical or raise his voice at you even when he's mad

Will control everything you do. Whatever do you need a job for? It's strenuous to work these days, he doesn't want you getting tired and gaining the attention of some random undeserving scumbag who doesn't have the right to look at you. He's more than enough to provide for the two of you. Let him just spoil you and take care of you

Don't even get me started on what he does to people who hurt you. Now it depends on the sort of person who's hurt you. If it's just some random jealous fangirl or fanboy, he'll use his popularity to his advantage and that person's account will get suspended and they'll have an fanbase hurling curses towards them. Fanbases can be quite scary at times. If it's some gang member or some jerk of a gang leader he will not go easy on them. He'll ensure they live, sure but live a painful torturous life. He'll either make them blind in one eye or both, or cut one of their fingers off or something for daring to hurt you. He'll finish the job quickly and he'll do it by himself. If it's Charles Choi trying to hunt you down for some reason....well, it's been long enough since that old man's been in a position of power and he'll bring him down. It's best if you don't ask where the blood is from

He likes holding you in his arms and having you on his lap. It doesn't matter what you say, you're sitting on his lap one way or another. He'll give you soft kisses on your lips every now and then and loves it when you do basic chores around the house even though you don't need to since there are people to take care of that for him. He likes seeing you in that cute little apron of yours, cooking something or doing laundry or whatever. He'll envelope you in a hug from the back and press soft kisses to your neck as his arms will be wrapped around your waist tightly so you won't be able to escape from his grasp

Overall, he's a good guy with a psychotic hidden personality inside. Just don't leave him and things will be all right

[steddieas-shegoes]

Request: Steve has a few younger siblings. He is very protective over them (2 brothers & 1 baby sister) his family is very close. But the party meeting his siblings in the hospital post spring break from hell, Steve's little sister screams tearfully until she is put beside her older brother who is in hospital due to severe injuries. His younger brothers (8yrs old & 5 yrs old) demand for their big brother to be left alone by these strangers. The party demanded to know why he kept his siblings from them???? Also Steve just being loved on by his parents & his siblings and of the party.

DARLING IDK HOW YOU COME UP WITH THIS STUFF BUT THANK GOD YA DO!!! Steve having siblings and good parents and STILL choosing to be the best damn babysitter is kind of giving me LIFE. I am forever here for giving Steve all the love he deserves. A little backstory for this in my brain: Steve's parents got married right out of high school at their own parents' insistence, and they loved each other, but wanted to go to college first. Anne got pregnant during their honeymoon and had to put college on hold. The reason there's such a big age gap between Steve and his siblings is because she finished college, started working as a lawyer, and then went into business with Richard. Once they were comfortable in that for a couple years, they decided to have more kids. We love responsible decisions!!! - Mickala ❤️

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Steve spent 12 hours unconscious, which would be more alarming if he hadn’t had worse before. At least this time he was in a hospital for it.

Or maybe that was worse.

His mom was by his side the moment he woke up, along with a pacing Dustin and half-asleep Robin.

“Mom? Where’s Dad?”

“Oh, honey!” Anne Harrington was a strong woman, a lawyer who didn’t take shit from anyone, only cried when Steve won his basketball championship and graduated high school. But here she was, sobbing against his hand tightly grasped in her own. “He’s with your brothers and sister. I didn’t want them to see you like this, honey. You almost died!”

Maybe that was true. He certainly felt like he almost died.

He felt Robin and Dustin staring at them, realized what his mom had said.

“Brothers?” Dustin asked, barely more than a whisper, from the foot of the hospital bed.

“Sister?” Robin asked, a yawn breaking out before she even finished asking.

There was a commotion outside the door, he could hear his father’s voice trying to stay calm as he spoke, but knew he was frustrated.

Then he heard a loud cry and his heart broke.

“Was that Bethany?” Steve croaked, his eyes watering at the wails his three year old sister was letting out.

Anne looked at the mostly closed door, nodding as she turned back to Steve in the bed.

“They’ve been begging to see you since this morning. They wouldn’t stop begging to come, so your dad compromised and said they could sit in the waiting room until you woke up, but they’ve been sitting there for two hours. You know how they get.”

He did. He knew that any compromise they’d agreed to was going to work to their benefit in the end because they were all much too clever for their ages.

Suddenly, the door shot open and his eight year old brother, James, stood there with wide eyes. His five year old brother, Ryan, stood behind him, bouncing on his feet so he could try to see.

His father appeared behind them, holding Bethany in his arms, and looking like he wished he could be anywhere else.

But that look disappeared when he saw that Steve was awake.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, son,” he said, a choked noise making its way from his throat like he would have sobbed if the kids weren’t there.

He could feel the confusion coming from Robin and Dustin, but now wasn’t the time to explain any of it.

“Hey kiddos. You guys okay?” Steve rasped out, giving a small smile to all his siblings.

James and Ryan ran to his bed, climbing onto it carefully when Anne snapped her fingers at them and told them to go slow so they didn’t hurt their brother.

“Down, daddy! Wanna see Steve!” Bethany was kicking her legs and trying to push away from Richard, who sighed and let her down.

She ran to the bed, ignored the warning to go slow, and piled into Steve’s lap.

It hurt, but she was so small, and Steve could deal with some discomfort if it meant she could see he was okay.

“Steve, you have boo-boos!”

He patted her always messy hair, and gave her the best smile he could muster.

“Just a few. I’m gonna get all better soon, though. The doctors just had to put some bandaids on them.”

“Are they Barbie bandaids?”

“Of course they aren’t, Bethany. They’re big and have to be wrapped,” James said.

Steve gripped James’ hand in his.

James was going through a phase of wanting to seem older than he was, which was normal, but he took a lot of it out on Bethany. Bethany could certainly hold her own, and often did, but they were all emotional and under a lot of stress at this moment, so Steve stepped in.

“Buddy, let’s just take it easy today, okay? It’s okay to be scared, but so is Bethany and she’s little, so we have to be patient. Like we talked about, remember?”

“What is happening right now?” Dustin asked, still standing awkwardly at the end of his bed.

“Um. Dustin, Robin, this is Bethany, James is to my left, and Ryan is to my right. These are my brothers and sister.”

“You have siblings.”

It wasn’t a question, but Steve could hear the disbelief in Dustin’s tone.

“I do.”

“You never mentioned them?” Robin asked as she looked at where Richard and Anne were now whispering in the corner of the room.

“It just never really came up?”

“Uh. Okay.”

“Who are these people?” Ryan asked as he turned his face into Steve’s arm, always more shy than his other siblings.

“That’s my best friend, Robin, and Dustin. I used to babysit him and now he’s like another brother.”

“But we’re your brothers,” James said, crossing his arms against his chest.

“Of course. But there’s plenty of room to have Dustin around, too. He’s awesome. He can teach you D&D!”

Bethany was curling up against his chest, at least being more careful now that she’d seen his injuries up close. Ryan was shuffling closer to his side, burying his head under his arm like he did on their family movie nights when he was getting tired but didn’t want anyone to know. James was still tense, jealous.

“Did he teach you D&D?”

“Nah. I told you it’s too complicated for me.”

“Did I hear someone say D&D?” Eddie peeked his head through the door, grin lighting up the room.

“Eddie!” Dustin exclaimed.

“Looks like Steve’s got a whole party in here! Are we playing or what?”

Eddie walked into the room completely, smiling until he realized that Steve’s parents were here.

They got together during chaos; they didn’t have time to talk about logistics, about what Steve’s parents knew about him, if they would even be okay with him.

He’d briefly mentioned his siblings to Eddie when they were getting weapons ready, but didn’t talk much about anything else.

“Eds, these are my parents, Richard and Anne,” Steve introduced them, winking at his mom when she gave him a questioning look.

He’d been out to his parents for months, accidentally letting slip that he’d gone on a date with a guy on their Christmas vacation. They took it well overall, the shock making it seem like they were upset, but they were just confused about why he’d only ever brought home girls.

“Mom, Dad, this is my boyfriend, Eddie.”

Eddie’s eyes practically bulged out of his head when he realized what Steve was doing.

“Ew, a boyfriend?” James, already back to his previous attitude, curled his lip up in disgust.

He looked so like Steve sometimes, it was alarming. If they were out running errands together, people often assumed he was his son.

“James! Watch your tone!” Anne said as she reached out a hand to shake Eddie’s. “It’s lovely to meet you, Eddie. I assume you’re the one who helped carry Steve to safety?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“So polite. Who would’ve thought Steve found someone so nice?” Richard said with a smirk and a wink at Steve.

“Are you in love?” Bethany asked as she watched Eddie from her spot against Steve’s chest.

Steve could feel his face heat up, watched as Eddie’s face went red and he looked down at the floor.

“We care about each other a lot, B,” Steve replied, hoping she would drop it.

“But he saved you! Like a princess!”

Eddie let out a small laugh as he got closer to the bed and sat down on the edge.

“Well, you look like a princess, too. What’s your name?” He asked, glancing up at Steve for a moment to make sure it was okay he sat there. Steve nodded once.

“Beffany.”

“Princess Bethany? Of Loch Nora?”

Bethany looked at Anne to confirm, nodding as soon as her mom gave her a thumbs up.

Eddie stood back up, bowed, and then sat down again.

“It’s an honor to be in your presence, your highness.”

“Are you a knight?” she asked as she scooted away from Steve’s chest and off his lap, climbing her way into Eddie’s.

Ryan was even pulling away slightly to watch what was going on.

“I wish! I haven’t been through all of my training yet. Maybe you could help me?”

“What kinda trainin’?” Bethany started playing with his hair, but Eddie didn’t stop her, wanted her to feel comfortable while Steve recovered.

“I need to learn my royal etiquette. Do you think you can show me?”

“Yes! We have lessons!”

“Great!” Eddie beamed at her. “Maybe you can give me lessons when your brother goes home?”

“Mommy! Can Eddie come play?”

“Of course. But not today. Steve has to keep resting here for a couple days and I think Eddie probably wants to be here for him.”

“Okay. I stay too?”

“No, baby. We have to let Steve rest some more. We can come back to visit tomorrow.”

Steve felt Ryan and James cling to his arms when they realized that meant they were all leaving.

“But Robin and Dustin are staying!” James was jealous. He loved spending time with Steve, thrived on being considered “mature” enough to run errands with him when their parents were busy, helping him with chores because he was the only one big enough.

Dustin was a threat to his time with Steve, even at eight he could tell.

“Actually, I passed Dustin’s mom on the way here and she was coming to get him soon to go home. He hurt his ankle and shouldn’t even be walking around right now,” Eddie said, eyes squinting in Dustin’s direction like they’d already discussed this once.

“And I have to get home to my parents so they don’t worry. Maybe you can walk me to the bus stop and keep me safe?” Robin asked, somewhat awkwardly.

She didn’t know how to talk to kids, but it was a valiant attempt.

And it seemed to work.

James perked up at the thought of helping in a big kid way.

“Oh, darling, we can drop you off at your house on our way home,” Anne said. “I’ll take you and James can walk with us so we aren’t alone. Right, James?”

James nodded vigorously.

“I’ll protect you. And then we can come back tomorrow to see if Steve’s better.”

Steve leaned down and kissed the top of Ryan’s head, smiling when he realized he fell asleep at some point during the conversation.

“He barely slept last night. I’ll carry him. Hopefully now that he’s seen you’re alive and okay he can rest,” Richard said with a sad smile.

“If you bring them all tomorrow morning, I can help them make character sheets for D&D,” Eddie suggested.

“Yes! Please, dad! Can we?” James bounced in the bed, jostling everyone a bit.

Steve hissed in pain, but tried to cover it with a smile when James looked at him with an apologetic look.

“Sure. If you promise to sleep tonight and eat breakfast in the morning, we can come back.”

“I promise!” James poked Ryan. “Ryan! Promise you’ll sleep tonight and have breakfast in the morning so we can come play D&D!”

Ryan blinked a few times, nodded, then snuggled back into Steve’s side.

As Richard and Anne worked on gathering the kids and Robin and Dustin walked out with them, Steve relaxed in the hospital bed, finally feeling most of his injuries.

He knew they would give him more pain meds if he asked, but he wanted a few minutes with Eddie first.

“Hey.”

“Hey, sweetheart,” Eddie said as he took his hand in his own, gently squeezing as he made himself comfortable on the side of the bed.

“Thanks for being so cool with them,” Steve let his eyes close for a moment as he took in every wound on his body.

He knew this was a close one, could tell by the way Eddie was looking at him a moment ago.

“You never told anyone else about them?”

Steve shook his head.

“Didn’t really need to. I figured they’d all meet eventually. Just never came up before.”

“Want me to get the nurse?” Eddie could tell he didn’t want to talk about it right now, so he changed the subject quickly.

“In a minute. Wanna kiss you.”

“Oh yeah? Come kiss me then.”

Steve opened one eye and started pouting.

“You come kiss me,” Steve said.

“Fine. But only because you’re hurting.”

Eddie leaned down to press his lips against Steve’s softly, a comfort as much as a promise for more when he was better.

“You’ll stay?”

“Yeah, sweetheart. Just gonna get the nurse and grab a snack from the machine down the hall and then I’m all yours for the night.”

“Can’t wait to feel better.”

“I know. Maybe next time you won’t try to be a hero, hm?”

“No, I don’t care about the pain or anything.”

“Then…”

“I want you to fuck me.”

“Jesus Christ,” Eddie choked. “Are you always like this or are there still some drugs in your system?”

“Dunno. Never felt like this with anyone else.”

“Stevie…”

“You’re good with them. Especially Bethany. She’s a lot. But you did good. Good for my nuggets.”

Steve was slowly losing consciousness and Eddie couldn’t help the fond smile creeping up on his face.

“They seem like good gremlins. They sure love you a lot,” Eddie whispered.

“Mhm. Love you.”

“Oh. I don’t think they know me well enough to love me yet, sweetheart, but that’s nice of you to say,” Eddie scrambled to get out, his heart flipping over in his chest at the thought that that wasn’t what Steve meant.

“No.” Steve opened his eyes, staring right at Eddie. “I do. I love you.”

It was crazy. Probably a product of his injuries, exhaustion, and drug cocktail in his system. He probably thought he loved him, but they’d only just gotten together officially.

“Eds. It’s okay. I’m just lettin’ you know how I feel. You don’t have to say it back.”

“I just. I. I think I love you too. I just don’t see how you love me.”

“‘S easy.”

Just that easy.

Like Steve would have said it whether he was in the hospital or not.

—------------

The next morning, James, Ryan, and Bethany planted themselves on Steve’s bed while Eddie explained character sheets to them.

Steve watched with a smile as all of his siblings watched Eddie in awe.

His family meant the world to him, and Eddie did too. He wanted things to always be like this.

When Eddie smiled at him over James’ shoulder a while later, he thought that maybe they would be.

[bloodyjuls-blog]

Goodbye my lover

Leah Williamson X Reader (y/n)

I suggest to listen to this song: goodbye my lover by James Blunt.

⚠️Warning ⚠️ Angst, sad. The baby's picture makes sense but it's not related to sadness story with the baby.

"Y/n this can't continue like this, things have changed a lot and I think the best thing for us is to get divorced"... Leah said very seriously while y/n's tears began to form around her eyes.

"If that's what you want, that's fine, but let it be clear that I wanted to fight against everything and be able to make you and the little one happy" I said between sobs. To tell the truth, my mental health was in shit, in the deepest hole, and the fact that I now have to go through a divorce makes it much worse. What worries me most lately is my physical health has also worsened and Leah's anger towards me makes our friends hate me, not to mention my job at the club. It is more than logical that I will not be able to continue there.

Flashback

"Hey y/n, I want to talk to you about something, please come with me to the office," Jonas says calmly, like always. Once in the office "what I wanted to tell you is that as a club we are not going to tolerate any type of bad behavior not only at the level of colleagues and even less tolerate how you emotionally affect Leah and your son, we understand that you are going through hard times but I insist, Your behavior has bothered the management, and much to my regret I have to tell you that we no longer want you to be part of this squad, we wish you luck in everything and you have today to take your things. Regarding your settlement, you will be effective in a couple of weeks with the respective compensation" says Jonas seriously. "But Jonas, my personal things here have nothing to do with it," I said, a little shocked because I didn't feel like there was a logical reason to kick me out. I got ready to pick up my things while the girls were at the gym and I went home.

What a bad taste all that had left in my mouth. Once at home, I sit on the couch and watch any boring series while it's dinner time. I know Leah is having dinner with Lia while I talk to my agent about what happened.

Hours later Leah arrives with the little one and I smiled when I saw him, so beautiful and he is only 3 months old. My little one. I reached out to pick up the child. "Leah, I assume you know what happened today?" I commented to her, a little upset but hiding it because of the baby. "Yes, I made the suggestion and I don't regret it," she says, super annoyed. "But why did you do it?" I say a bit borderline. "Your life is getting out of your hands and you're not doing anything, this can't go on like this, I don't even want to see you in this house anymore. You know what? take your things and leave. Don't come back, eveeeer..."

End of the flashback

And here I am, in a park with the car parked while I think about what I'm going to do considering that she didn't even let me take out a coat or my wallet and my cell phone is about to turn off. While my mind was assimilating what was happening to me, I felt a very strong pain in my chest but I deduced that it was due to the stress of the situation. "When I thought I had it all, I ended up ruining it" "I'm worthless" "I couldn't take care of my family" "I'm sure she has someone else" "Will I ever see my child again?" "Arsenal realized that I was a failure as a footballer and decided to kick me out" "where will I go if I don't have anyone" "the girls at the club surely bow down to the captain" and more thoughts circulated through my mind as I cried and was consumed by the cold. It was clear that Leah's car had the best heating.

I decided to take the reins and go to a hotel and that has been 3 months ago. I can't stop thinking about how everyone is doing, the child, my wife or well, ex-wife, Amanda, Jacob, and all the people I appreciate even though they don't like me right now. I see my name in trashy magazines, that I take drugs, that I'm a slut, a drunk, etc. And the truth is that my behavior is erratic because most times during the day I am overthinking and I am attacked by remorse that leaves me at my lowest and so asleep. As if she were gone. I get a message from Leah...

My all and more <3

Y/n I need you to come home so I can serve you with the divorce papers so we can decide custody of the child.

I read the message with great sadness because that was not what I wanted for my little one. I have always idealized a happy family with everything it implies. How wrong I was.

I head to Leah's house and see a car in the garage that I've never seen before, nor did it belong to any girl at the club.

I rang the bell and a girl comes out with Sage in her arms "hello, good, eh, is Leah here?" "Are you the babysitter?" I ask timidly and softly. "No, you must be y/n her ex-wife?" "My pleasure, I'm Sophie, Leah's new partner, come into the living room and she'll come down," she tells me, between annoyed and angry. I head to the living room of what was once my home. "Hey Sophie, can I hold Sage?" She said calmly. "Of course not, Leah has given me orders not to do it" she tells me a little harshly. "Leah what?" "Girl, I'm the little one's mother and I have the same rights as her, you're crazy, let me take the little one please" "no y/n, you don't understand" and she goes with the baby to the second floor.

Leah comes down and looks quite upset.

"Hello y/n, as I told you in the message, here are the documents, sign them and you are free, what do you think about custody?" She says so calmly and taciturnly that it seems strange to me. I feel dizzy and with the same incessant pain in my chest, I want this to end now "whatever you think is appropriate, in the end you are the one who lives with him, but I want to see the baby" I said seriously. "You're not going to see it, and I think you should give me full custody, since I see that you don't even have a job, there's no point in being the perfect mom when you haven't even been able to maintain that," she tells me angrily. I feel more dizzy than before "You're absolutely right, apparently the baby wants a lot of Sophie and I'm no longer relevant to this family" I said a little hurt by the whole situation. "I'm going to let you see the baby today while you sign everything and then you forget about us," Leah says as she calls Sophie. Once I have Sage in my arms, I pamper him, give him kisses, hugs and gestures of love that will never come back. While I'm with the little one I feel like I'm slowly running out of air but I play dumb so I don't have to leave and raise suspicions about what's happening. The only person who knows is Lucy and Ona for obvious reasons. "Leah, can you bring me a glass of water please?" I said very slowly so she wouldn't notice my body discomfort. When she approaches with the glass I prepare to take it and she tells me in a worried tone "you look a little pale, are you okay?" "Yes, of course, I'm just a little tired, this child is very big and doesn't stop" "It's been a while since he was just born, I can't believe it" I say between nostalgia, sadness, concern for everything that is happening to me. "Oh okay" Leah tells me very calmly.

I feel a very strong puncture on the left side of my body, in my arm exactly. And the most sensible decision I make is to hand the child to Leah and prepare to leave. "Well Leah, it's time to go. I want you to know that you are doing very well as a mother. I know that the child will have a good education and upbringing. I would have liked to be a part of everything a little more but hey, that's life. And I hope you forgive me for not being enough. I know I never was. I hope with all my heart that your plans work out for you and you can be everything you set out to be" I say with labored breathing, tears but mostly because of the pain in the chest and arm that makes it impossible for me to stay upright. "It's a shame that everything ended like this, thank you for signing and for thinking about the little one's well-being," she says happily, as if he had lifted a weight off her shoulders. At that moment I noticed the hindrance I was causing to her. Not even 3 months and she had already found another one. I thought that while I moved my left arm and wrist to see if the pain would go away a little, nothing. I get up and go to the baby, I give him a kiss and wipe the tears from my eyes, I try to appear calm that I don't have inside.

And that's when the puncture makes me double over, but I try to hide it while I get in the car to head to my hotel. Which I can't because once I'm sitting behind the wheel I get more punctures in my heart and my breathing decreases drastically. For me it could have been an hour or five, the truth is I wasn't paying attention. What is true is that when I finally manage to get going, my heart feels strange, I was sweating as if I had played 90 more games, I felt tight, everything was burning. My neck, my back, my head, everything hurt and I was spinning. I felt strange, like I was in another body, my body is generally healthy. What was the purpose of all this, having depression, getting divorced, losing my son, my wife, missing the baby's first months, where he doesn't even consider me his mother. Losing my job, my friends, my club, my football. I couldn't take it anymore. I don't know how but I managed to get to the hotel and I feel like I'm on the verge of something strong, my heart hurts too much and not just because of the losses, physically too. And a lot. I'm starting to notice that my back is falling asleep, my arms feel weak. I decided to call the only person who knows what to do "come on Lucy, answer gal, damn it" I say to myself when I see that she doesn't answer me. I look at the clock and see the time is 3 in the morning. I know I'm having a massive heart attack but I can't do anything, I can't move. I call Leah and she answers me super angry "what do you want y/n?" "I wanted to hear your voice one last time, I'm sorry things ended like this, I wish you the best" I said, choked by pain. "You look strange, are you on drugs or something?" She says upset. "No, no. Forget it, I shouldn't have called you, it might be too late (not referring the hour but the life)" I said in a small voice. And I hung up and turned off the phone. I lay flat on the bed and fell unconscious with the only memory of an angry Leah and a wasted life.

[arzuera]

Once Danny was far enough he broke down crying, he knew he shouldn't, he was expecting this. But in the end it still hurts.

Was it so wrong for him to hope for a different outcome? To be fully loved by the parents that he loved all of his life. That loved HIM for all of his life. Only to be cast out and hunted for fate accidentally turning him into the thing that they despised the most? Was it truly such a sin? Did the universe hate him that much?

Lightning cracked the sky as a thunderous roar followed. Rain poured down in sheets, erasing any traces of his frantic flight away from his hometown. Away from the ones who sought to kill him a second time. Away from the people he loved.

Danny allowed himself to fall fully to the ground of this little field. His parents had long since given up trying to chase him down. He had been too fast for the GAV to keep up with through a densely packed forest. Even then, he had kept going. Minutes turned into yards, hours turned into miles. He had fled as far as his body would allow and it had been a lot farther than he thought it would be. Danny had no idea where he was at this point. Not that he cared.

Anguish gripped his core hard as he let out a cry that would have brought anyone nearby to their knees. It wasn’t quite a wail but it was close. He shoved all of his pain and sorrow for the fact that his entire life had been ripped out by the roots and thrown viciously aside. It wasn’t the Nasty Burger accident but this was just about as bad. They weren’t dead but, in the end, he still ended up alone. So he continued to scream. His cries turned into minor wails at times but since he was screaming to the sky nothing was destroyed.

He didn’t stop until his throat bled and the screams turned into nothing more than strangled sobs. White rings flashed around his midsection as the last of his powers gave out. Leaving Danny with nothing other than his human side. The one that still existed, despite what his parents claimed. With no strength left, he lay in the mud unable to move. Vulnerable. Anyone could walk up and just do what they wanted and he wouldn’t even care. What was the point? There wasn’t any reason to try anymore. If only that portal had finished the job-

“You’ll catch your death laying on the ground like that.” A long trenchcoat came into view with a middle-aged man looking down at him from under his umbrella. “What’s a kid like you hanging out in a park so late at night in Gotham?”

Danny didn’t respond. His eyes were unfocused with his vision blurring around the edges. So he was in Gotham. Wonderful. Somehow he had managed to fly several states away in just a few hours. If he could, he would have excitedly called Sam and Tucker about this new record but he couldn’t. Not anymore.

The man sighed heavily when he realized that he wasn’t going to get an answer. So he sidled up and crouched down closer to the teen’s eye level while holding his umbrella out so it protected them both. “Look, kid. I don’t think I need to tell you how dangerous Gotham is at night. Especially to a kid like yourself. Is there somewhere I can take you to… or-” He stopped when the lights in Danny’s eyes dimmed even further than they were. “Mkay, guess not.” The man looked around the immediate area before settling on Danny again. “All right, bud, can you stand? We’ll get you back to my place until we can figure something out.”

Danny laughed bitterly turning into a coughing fit. Blood leaked out from the corner of his mouth making the man look at him with even more concern. “Isn’t it dangerous to go with a stranger this late at night in Gotham?” he rasped out and it only made the coughing worse but Danny didn’t care.

Instead of taking offense like Danny thought he would, the man smirked at the teen as if this was an everyday occurrence. “Well, we can’t be strangers if you know my name right? Name’s James Gordon, friends call me Jim. Now let’s get you out of this cold and your throat looked at. I doubt you want that getting worse.” With great care, Gordon picked Danny up and held him close. Finagling the teen around so that the umbrella wouldn’t fall out of position. Danny was too surprised by the fact that he was suddenly picked up to notice the frown that briefly crossed the man’s face at how light the boy was.

“Wait… what? What are you doing-” Danny weakly struggled against Gordon and failed since his strength was entirely spent.

“Relax, I’m not going to do anything bad. As Commissioner of this lovely city, the only safer hands you would be in is Batman, himself.” Gordon started to head out of the park towards a vehicle parked nearby. Danny gave up trying to resist, opting to just let things happen. “We’re just going to stop by my place and get you looked at. My daughter might not be a doctor but she’s pretty good with a first aid kit.”

“Why do you even care?” Danny couldn’t help but blurt out. A small pang of guilt crept into his heart from how he said it. From what little he knew, Commissioner Gordon was one of the few upright people in Gotham. One of the few people that was trying to keep the city safe… Just like Danny had tried. Only Gordon didn’t have powers at his disposal. It would be weird if the man didn’t care.

“A lone, possible meta, child screaming until his throat bleeds in the dead of night with no one around? I think you are smart enough to figure that one out.” Gordon positioned the teen in the backseat of his car before getting behind the wheel.

Danny tensed at the implication. If he thought he was a meta then he probably saw him de-transform. “…how much did you see?”

“Enough and don’t you worry about it. Big bad Bat isn’t going to kick you out as you think. If you are worried about me judging then please let me remind you, I’m the Commissioner of Gotham. A kid with powers isn’t anything new.” Gordon started up the engine and they were off. A brief silence descended on the two while Danny struggled to stay awake.

“You aren’t… you won’t turn me in?”

“Did you do something wrong?”

“Well, no but-”

“Then even if there is a law saying you shouldn’t exist, I’m not going to turn you in. If that were the case, the only person I would turn you over to is Batman and that’s because he would have a better chance at protecting you from outside forces than I would.” Gordon stated with full confidence as he pulled into the parking spot next to his building. “Here we are. Now while Barbara is checking you over I’ve got a mean vegetable stew my friend gave me. Want me to warm some up to see if it helps your throat any?”

When the man turned around he was greeted to the watery eyes of his newest charge looking at him with the smallest glimmer of hope that he had seen the entire time. Danny kept his gaze on the Commissioner. “Yes, please.”

[seriousbrat]

you said james changed but did he? no apology in sight... still tricking lily and going behind her back to hex snape.. leaving his wife and newborn alone in their secret hiding spot to mess with muggles..

genuinely lol what is this 'leaving their hiding spot to mess with muggles' thing, I think you're the second anon who has claimed something like that recently and it's like.... where lmao. when did that happen? who r these muggles? 😭

if you're referring to the prequel, that was almost certainly, like 100% certainly, before harry was born when lily and james were fighting for the Order along with the rest of the Marauders and not in hiding. This is what Lily says, years later, in her letter to Sirius:

James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell -- also, Dumbledore's still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance of little excursions. If you could visit, it would cheer him up so much.

doesn't that imply he wasn't sneaking out? and if he had left the hiding spot in the past it was "little excursions" with Lily's full knowledge and approval, with the safety of the cloak. I don't see the big deal, and it's possible that Lily was leaving the house on occasion too when they had the cloak.

people are so determined to see things in the worst possible light it's kind of funny. It's not enough that James was a dickhead and a bully in canon, he has to be this insidious abusive master manipulator guy who somehow conned Lily "you make me SICK" Evans into marrying her and having a kid with him. Like, no offence but it's just not that deep.

We don't see how he changed because the story isn't about him, it's about his son, but there's plenty of evidence that he did, a BIG example being that a girl who couldn't stand the sight of him and was extremely vocal about the fact ended up marrying him. Something changed, and it's just highly unlikely that James, a fictional character, constructed an elaborate ruse behind the scenes that we see no evidence for to trick Lily, and every other character, into thinking he was an entirely different person. If that had been the author's intent for these characters who, btw, do not exist outside the text we're given, there would be proof of it. Rather, we're given evidence he 'deflated his head' and that lily fell in love with him and that they were happy together.

I've already said it but I don't think James not telling her about fighting with Snape (who, let it be said, at that point was also instigating) is a good thing. Obviously. It's dishonest and he should have told her. But I also think a likely reason he didn't tell her was not wanting to hurt her. That doesn't make it okay, but there can be problems and slip-ups and things to work through in a relationship without it being some big evil insidious manipulation.

Sev hid all sorts of things from her too, important things like "I'm thinking about joining the Death Eaters btw lol". People lie and hide things, especially teens. Maybe the simplest explanation here, rather than this weird jamespiracy thing, is that a seventeen year old boy was kind of shit sometimes but ultimately dedicated his life to protecting others, fought bravely in a war, grew tf up, and sacrificed himself to save his wife and child.

idk like to me it's not that deep, and it's continually bonkers to me that some snape fans will have wildly different standards for their innocent baby boy (idk him) than they do for every other character. bro did way worse stuff than not telling his gf he was getting into fights, james did worse stuff, and yet I still love them both and u wont convince me not to

[starchaserwrites]

@jegulus-microfic / february 7: star / word count: 502

The last thing James remembers is walking towards the exit of the burning building, after entering for the last time to make sure no one was still inside, when suddenly a sharp pain in his head leaves him seeing stars and then blacking out. Later he will learn that just as he was about to reach the emergency door, part of the structure of the building collapsed and some of the debris fell on him, and that he probably wouldn't be alive if Remus hadn't gone to his rescue, but the important thing now is that there is too much light preventing him from opening his eyes. 

"Doctor, he's starting to wake up," a nurse (probably) says. He really got hurt this time, didn't he?

A new set of footsteps can be heard moving across the room and stopping near him. As James tries to rub his eyes, he notices the cast on his arm and moans; this is not the first time he has suffered a fracture and he knows how long it takes to recover. He ends up rubbing both his eyes with his left hand.

"Mr Potter, can you hear me?" a clear, deep voice asks him.

"Yes," he replies in a hoarse voice. James slowly opens his eyes and sees the doctor.

Oh, he's fucked.

"Do you know where you are?" the doctor asks without looking up from the file in his hands.

"If how beautiful you are is an indicator of anything, then this must be heaven and you must be an angel," and when their eyes meet, James has no doubt about what he's said.

"Your concussion must be worse than I originally expected." Dr Black (according to his badge) stares at him for a long moment.

"Why? Because I think you're beautiful?" 

And listen, Regulus has had patients flirt with him before, but never in his life has he wanted to flirt back so badly. But he is a professional, so he explains the diagnosis to James with a slight blush on his face.

"So you will definitely be fine, just make sure you take your medication and get plenty of rest and the healing process will go smoothly."

"Thank you, Dr Black."

"I'll need to see you again in a week to check on your progress, so please follow my instructions on how to take care of yourself."

"Yes, of course. Doctor, I know I may be overstepping, but can I have your number? Only for medical reasons, I promise!" Regulus seems to be fighting an internal battle for a minute.

"Sure, but only for medical reasons," he finally answers, emphasising the word medical. 

James clearly ends up using the number for more than just medical reasons, but Regulus knew (wished) that this would happen.

Eventually James learns that Regulus was named after a star, and now he tries to be extra careful at work so that he doesn't end up seeing stars, and can see his star at the end of the day.

[youcouldmakealife]

Hello! How does James’ messy apartment fit in with his neurodivergence? Given that he has a standing to-go bag for road trips, as well as his approach to other things, it would seem that order would be imperative for him.

TL;DR: challenges with executive function, mostly! He's using it on other things and by the time he gets home, exhausted and overwhelmed, he doesn't have the energy to keep things tidy. Would if he could sort of thing.

Seven(!) more paragraphs about this under the cut.

James uses pretty much all of his executive function bandwidth (along with the rest of his energy) on hockey, and then there's all the non-hockey parts of the job, which includes a lot more social interaction than he'd ever willingly deal with otherwise, and that refers to the fans, media, and the twenty-odd other dudes he's in close quarters with every day, and most of the day when they travel. When he gets home he's generally got nothing left in the tank. He 100% crashes. At the end of road trips it's even worse.

He has the money to outsource most household admin tasks, thankfully -- meal delivery to replace shopping, meal-planning and cooking. A cleaner who comes when he's on the road. The place he gets his suits cleaned just started offering wash and fold service and it was the most significant improvement in his day to day life since he set everything to auto-renew on every. Sure, he miscalculated his soap use and has far too much now, but at least he doesn't constantly run out of Kleenex anymore. But the day-to-day things, like dishes, and tidying up, and putting things back? He gets behind and then he gets overwhelmed but all that does is paralyse him.

Every time he returns after a road trip his house will be very neat, which will make him happy, and he'll swear to himself he'll keep it like this. And then by the time he leaves town again it'll be a mess he's frantically pre-cleaned before the cleaner arrives (sometimes there are suspicious blanket piles then too).

The thing is, it isn't his inclination to be messy. He's quite tidy during the offseason and doesn't know why he always slips as soon as the season starts again. (Spoiler: it is because he has a regular schedule and far fewer demands on him during the offseason, so he actually still has energy at the end of the day.)

Add the fact he was ~feuding with Holden, which seemed to involve an exorbitant amount of thinking about him at length to the detriment of any other task, so there were a lot of aborted stabs at paying attention to other things that just became 'toss <book/game/remote/fruit snacks aside to intensely think about Holden Chase for awhile', and his place has gotten messy.

It's a source of a lot of shame for him. Him inviting Holden over not once, but twice is...uncharacteristic behaviour, to say the least (this is pretty much just Finn territory and even then James would really prefer they hang out somewhere else) and James would be a little appalled with himself if he wasn't, you know, busy waiting for Holden to fucking kiss him already.

Okay, a little MORE appalled with himself, the man is very much appalled with himself, he didn't get enough cleaning done in that half hour and then when Holden arrived instead of, oh, kissing him or something, invited Holden to watch a hockey game they played yesterday and have spent hours talking about already and for some reason Holden...agreed? And now they're just watching the game?? And nobody's kissed ANYBODY.

[starsxblazing]

Iridescence

I was listening to Iridescent by Linkin Park and all of the ideas for this AU were impossible to get out of my brain so this is what I pumped out within thirty minutes

Summary: Living in the slums of San Antonio, your train wreck of a life with your abusive boyfriend seems to be never ending. A new neighbor slowly pulls your attention towards him.

Warnings: descriptions of domestic violence, drugs, abuse, violence, description of blood and gore, death, personality disorders, depression, angst. So much angst.

Azriel x Reader

You sat in front of your full-length mirror propped on the floor, flinching when the front door to your trailer slammed shut, before examining the bruises covering your face. It had been a miracle that you had learned how to use makeup enough to cover up the evidence so that no one asked any questions. There were no longer any voiced concerns from anyone that you worked with or the only person that you had left in your life that you could consider a friend and it was a small relief.

Memories and thoughts turned over in your mind as you started the task of covering up the bruises adorning different parts of your face, searching to figure out where things went so wrong. Your relationship with James had been going on since you were sixteen and it had been tumultuous at the very least. He had always been on a downward spiral but you always kept the hope that he would be the person that you knew he had the potential to be.

His attitude had gotten even worse since the move. The small town that you both grew up in had a high crime rate that always made you afraid to do anything and there was a terrible problem with the lack of jobs. The latter was the biggest reason that you had moved to San Antonio once you had been accepted into one of the colleges here. You had been in the top five of your class, more than earning your bachelor’s degree in business. Despite your majors of finance and human resources, you struggled to find a good job in a good company.

Your two minimum wage jobs were barely enough to keep you afloat which resulted in the tiny, rundown trailer park that you now resided in. James refused to find work of his own and when he did, his employment never lasted long. It didn’t take a genius to know that he was purposely sabotaging his opportunities and making a bad name for himself but there wasn’t anything that you could do about it. 

The fight that started as soon as you got off of work had lasted throughout the entire night all of the way up until he finally just left to do whatever it was that he did. You were exhausted and didn’t know how you were going to make it through your eight hours in the factory and then the retail job that you had immediately after. 

Your car was just as bad as your home, nothing but a simple rust bucket that decided on its own some days to not start. Every wrong noise came from it during your commute to work and you couldn’t help but wonder just how long that it would last. The thought spiraled your depression further because you didn’t have the money to make any payments on even the cheapest of cars, unable to even afford to get any repairs that needed to be taken care of. 

You forced the thoughts away while throwing on the simple t-shirt and a pair of jeans before slipping on your steel toed shoes and looking around your room, unable to linger on the many holes in the walls. The entirety of the small area constantly smelled of mildew, the leak in the roof from rain that followed the dense dry heat only making it worse by the day. What you could tell was once white carpet was now brown and littered with black spots that caused the putrid odor. 

The bed, if you could even call it that, wasn’t in much better condition. The mattress, which was second hand, sat on the floor since you weren’t able to afford any form of a bedframe. You had gone without eating for almost a week simply by buying your also second hand couch that was barely usable. The small journal that was now on the floor from James’s violent outburst had been knocked from the tiny dresser and caught your eye just as you were about to leave. 

As you flipped through it, your heart dropped at the list of bills and the ones that were due in just a few days. Your bank account had been drained yet again by your boyfriend and there was no way that you weren’t going to be past due. The thought brought tears to your eyes because it would only cost you even more money that you didn’t have. You cursed the horrible economy and the overpriced hell hole that you lived in.

Making your way into the small living room/kitchen combo area of your trailer, you stopped to look at the thermostat. A snort left you at the irony because it didn’t belong there. It wasn’t like it had worked since you had moved in five years ago. The common sight of a scurrying mouse from the corner of your eye pulled your attention to it just before it ran across your feet and through a hole at the bottom of the wall. A variety of roaches scattered across the walls from your presence but that was also nothing new. 

Dirty dishes were piled in the sink, causing you to sigh because that had been another point of your argument from the night before. James didn’t work or contribute anything to the house. Not even cleaning. You were hardly ever there so it wasn’t like any of it was your mess to begin with. It was a never ending futile battle but it never failed to bug you at the end of the day in your exhaustion.

Your next task was searching for your phone and car keys, which had been thrown somewhere in the process. It had been hard at the time to know what he did with them since your vision had blurred at the time from where James had elbowed you in the nose. To the best of your knowledge, your keys were in the front yard somewhere but your phone was a different story. The broken window that overlooked the backyard told you enough. It was probably somewhere amidst the tall grass that was past due for a cut but your lack of a lawn mower made that impossible to do. It would die soon enough anyway since the cooler air of winter was slowly moving in.

Just as you suspected, your phone was in the damp backyard with the battery completely drained. There was also a new crack on the screen but you couldn’t be bothered to worry about it because it was too close to time for you to leave. Your keys took a bit longer to track down since there were no obvious signs of where they landed.

The sight of a moving truck at the front of the trailer next door pulled your attention away from your task, the new emotion of curiosity a welcome one. Your neighboring trailer was the nicest one in the park but it was far from being considered homey. It was a one bedroom just as all of them were and extremely overpriced for the condition that it was in. You had looked at it before moving into the one that you now lived in and it was in complete working condition, a far cry from being similar to your own.

Your gaze on the sight next door was enough to have you stumbling over the very item that you had forgotten about, nearly causing you to tumble to the ground right as someone was exiting the home. Heat rose to your cheeks when your eyes connected with the man’s across the small yards that you both had. You weren’t sure if it was because of the fact that he almost saw you fall or because he was the most beautiful man that you had ever seen. 

Shaking your head to clear it, you snatched up your keys and hoped that you would make it to work without any problems.

@amara-moonlight @allygrace74 @sidthedollface2 @historygeekqueen @hnyclover @kalulakunundrum @historygeekqueen @bubybubsters @thisblogisaboutabook @mybestfriendmademe @caroline-books @justvibbinghere @wisdomofthebrain @nighttimemoonlover

[sjsmith56]

Away Mission - Part 1

Summary: Bucky deliberately ends his relationship with the Avengers and his girlfriend in order to undertake a secret undercover mission for Nick Fury.

Length: 2.9 K

Characters: Bucky Barnes, named OFC (not described), Nick Fury, Alphonso Mackenzie, Shuri

Warnings: Bucky deliberately being an asshole for a reason, angst, breakups.

💔 🙋🏻‍♂️

Part 1

Sloan

It was like a scene from a movie, a heartbreaking scene. The main female character, me, Sloan Hunter, respected writer, and once voted most likely to win a journalism award, finally realizes that she can no longer stay with the main male character, the man she loves. In this real-life scenario that wasn’t a movie, that part was played by one James Buchanan Barnes, former Howling Commando, former Winter Soldier, and now former Avenger, and former love of my life. My bags were packed, a friend was on her way to pick me up, and I was waiting for Bucky to say something, anything, to convince me to stay. Instead, he sat sprawled on the chair, his legs splayed out and wearing that look on his face that he often had that was a cross between a smirk and a scowl.

“I don’t know what you expect me to say, Sloan,” he said, his voice sounding like anything other than a man who once said he loved me. “I can’t change who I am. You knew my issues when we first got together, and I still have them.”

“If it was just your issues, I could stay,” I replied. “But it’s not, Bucky, and you know it. You’ve changed in the last few months. You’ve pulled away from me, isolated yourself from everyone who cares for you, and quite frankly I don’t even recognize you anymore. You won’t even talk about it with anyone.”

“Nothin’ to talk about,” he stated. “I quit the Avengers and there’s nothing more to be said.”

“Quit? Is that what you’re calling it?” I shook my head. “If you call deliberately wrecking your relationship with your best friend, then acting like an asshole to people who used to trust you to have their back, quitting, then you’re worse off than I thought. You were fired.”

He shrugged. “Not my circus anymore.” He stood up, poured himself a double scotch and lit a cigarette, even that act showing his disregard for me as I hated the smell. “I just got tired of trying to make people think I was worth their trust. There’s a lot of money to be made as a mercenary and I’m ready to start making money with my unique skill set. They don’t call them soldiers of fortune for nothing.”

My phone’s text alert went off and I checked it to learn my friend was downstairs. With nothing more to be said, I maneuvered my suitcases through the door and took the elevator down to the lobby. My girlfriend helped me load the suitcases in the trunk and I got in. I tried not to cry as she pulled the car away, but I was bawling like a baby by the next stop sign. Bucky didn’t even say goodbye when I left.

I was staying with her for a while but after that I didn’t know what I was going to do. Part of the reason I lived with Bucky was to allow me the opportunity to write my novel, without having to worry about a job, paying bills, and dealing with the little things of life. When Bucky asked me to move in with him, he swore that his Avengers pay would cover everything for both of us. Now we were both discarded like neither were of any consequence. I wasn’t just heartbroken; I was disappointed that the man I loved and admired had turned into someone I didn’t know any more.

Bucky

It was quiet in the apartment after she left and as empty as I felt inside. I took my phone out of my pocket and sent the confirmation text to Fury. Ready for pickup. He texted back within seconds. The crew is coming up to clear out the apartment. Everything will be put into storage. Take nothing with you, including your cellphone. I turned it off and waited for the knock on the door. When it came, I opened the door, receiving the security code from the man waiting there. Handing him my keys I left him and his crew to clear out my apartment. I went down to the lobby then out to the street and directly into the large black SUV waiting at the curb. Fury was in the back seat.

“We’ll keep Sloan under surveillance,” he said. “I already have a job opportunity set up for her with an operative in place there to keep her safe, and another in her friend’s apartment building. The friend’s apartment has been wired and when she moves into her own place it will be wired as well. If they come for her, we’ll have a team there within 30 seconds.”

“You better keep your end of the bargain,” I replied. “She’s the best thing that ever happened to me and doing this to her has been painful for both of us. Not to mention lying to my friends and colleagues. They may never trust me again if this doesn’t work.”

“It will work,” said the former director of SHIELD. “There’s no one else I can trust to do this; no one else who can convince people that he’s turned. Those videos from Madripoor proved that. As soon as they hit the internet, people said they knew it was all an act, that you faked being sorry for what the Soldier did.”

I didn’t react visibly but inside I was seething. Zemo really set me up for this with his suggestion that I pretend I was still the Winter Soldier when we were investigating the Flag Smashers. It was bad enough that the Wakandans were almost apoplectic over that charade. They were going to have a coronary over this scheme.

“Shuri knows the argument we had in public was a set-up, doesn’t she? It seemed awfully real from my perspective.”

“Yes, Shuri and King M’Baku are the only ones who know the truth. No one else does, well, except for my driver.”

He nodded towards the man behind the wheel, Alphonso Mackenzie, the current head of SHIELD, or what it evolved into after it was resurrected two years after I stopped being the Soldier, two years after Natasha Romanoff released all of SHIELD’s dirty laundry on the internet, including the fact it had been completely infiltrated by my former captors, HYDRA.

By the time we arrived at the safe house, I was almost second guessing my decision to take part in this mission. But I owed it to Shuri, and to her late brother, T’Challa to integrate myself with the team of mercenaries that were being assembled to break the Wakandan defences, setting up an attempt at a coup. The team was hired by a private security firm that was supposedly financed by a consortium of industrialists who wanted control of the vibranium in the country. When Fury first contacted me several months ago, alerting me to this attempt at violating Wakandan sovereignty, I was initially reluctant to be involved, not because I didn’t want to protect the country. I had worked hard to get past all that I had done as the Winter Soldier. The thought of giving all that up to successfully infiltrate this mercenary force did not appeal to me. Then Fury reminded me that he did much the same, when he authorized Natasha to reveal everything about SHIELD in order to cleanse it completely of the taint it had by HYDRA’s infestation of the organization he was associated with. We needed to find out who made up that consortium.

“By showing your willingness to do what is necessary to save Wakanda you will prove beyond all doubt and for all time that you are an honourable man,” he argued.

To make it believable that I was willing to turn my back on the Avengers and my life with Sloan, the plan was conceived for me to become increasingly jaded and cynical at remaining with that organization, apparently not a hard thing for me to accomplish. I picked fights with my colleagues, insulted them and their abilities, showed up late, left early, and made it known I was done being a good guy for the measly pay we received in comparison to those on the private payrolls of the corporations that seemed to operate with impunity. There was talk of rescinding my pardon but some of those same corporations had deep pockets and successfully convinced the politicians in those pockets to squash any talk of that. When they came looking for me, a former marine sergeant showed up at a coffee shop where I was, leaving a card with a phone number on it. I called, and the person on the other end of the line offered me a hefty pay check to lead one or more of their “private security teams” employed to look after the interests of a certain conglomerate as part of their international operations. I was in, or I would be once I underwent some enhancements at the SHIELD safe house before my rendezvous with my new employer.

We pulled into the driveway of a ramshackle garage that was part of a rundown house in one of the worst parts of New York City. The door to the garage opened automatically for us and closed behind the vehicle once we were inside. I went to get out, but Fury shook his head.

“Stay inside,” he said, as Mack sent a text from his phone. The garage was actually the top level of an elevator, and the platform we were on slowly moved down through several levels before opening onto a place that rivalled anything I had ever seen in a James Bond movie. When it stopped, Mack drove towards another door; this one slid open and closed behind us. Only then was I allowed to step out of the vehicle, with Fury and Mackenzie joining me. We entered a single door, walked down a long hallway and came to a lab, that equaled those I had seen in Wakanda.

“Sergeant Barnes,” said a familiar voice and I soon saw the smiling face of Shuri. “Welcome to the Wakandan Outreach Centre, or rather our secret lair version. I am going to make some adjustments to your arm and shoulder unit that will allow us to monitor you. There are also some rather innocuous devices that you can use to provide audio and video that will be monitored by one of us at all times.” I smiled weakly at her, as the last time I saw her she threatened to kill me. “We were very convincing to the general public at our last meeting, weren’t we?”

With that greeting and acknowledgement of what we both had to do to provide a convincing story, I was asked to remove my shirt and she disconnected my arm, putting it off to the side while she opened a panel on the back of my shoulder unit. As she worked, she described what she was doing.

“I am taking out a component and replacing it with an almost identical component that has been updated with a secure GPS tracker. It is a component that was manufactured at the same time as your arm and shoulder. The GPS tracker has been camouflaged to appear as a linking component for your arm. If they scan you it will show up as a communications nodule connecting your arm’s function to that of the shoulder unit. It will appear to be configured to work only to keep the two units communicating. I’ll install a similar nodule in the arm.”

“They won’t be able to tell that it’s giving my location?”

“No, it’s one of my inventions that I haven’t patented yet and there is nothing like it in the world,” she replied, as she finished inserting the component and replacing the panel on my shoulder. “It is set at a frequency that shouldn’t be detectable to any sort of sensor except for what I have here.”

She used another device to make it look like the component was soldered in place years ago when it was originally installed. Then she came around to my front, looking kindly at me. Gently, she ran her fingertips over the seam of the chest portion of the shoulder unit. Another access panel opened, and she inserted a slender tool into it coming out with a computer chip.

“This computer chip is a backup chip that reboots your arm in the event of a power surge,” she said, showing me the old chip. “You can see there was some damage to it after the battle you and Sam Wilson had with John Walker, when he still claimed the shield.”

“Did you have eyes on us then?”

She smiled mysteriously. “There are always eyes to hack into,” she said. “Sam’s Red Wing units had a record of the event and we saw the effect the power surge had on you. I’ll put an upgraded chip in that will withstand any surge. It will also have a unique feature that will allow for separate tracking. It’s been made to appear to have been manufactured shortly after that time, and I have created a record of you coming to one of our more visible Outreach Centres for the upgrade shortly after that incident just so that the timeline is consistent.”

She inserted the new chip and closed the access panel. While she worked on the arm, testing its functions and running updates on the systems that she changed the date of, Mack brought out a go bag of tactical gear and weapons for me.

“The tactical suit that you wore during the Flag Smashers has been duplicated,” he said. “The new version, which looks exactly the same visually has been outfitted with sensors that will record your surroundings in both audio and visual format. It will store everything you record and upload its data every time it is near a wifi source. When you are not in or near a wifi signal, or if they have implemented a dampening field it will appear to be a regular part of the uniform, just like something commonly used in military tactical uniforms. It is possible they may insist you wear their gear as part of their mercenary force. If they do, then the same sensors have been inserted into portions of your weapons. Of course, if you’re using the weapons, it will affect the quality of the recordings, but something is better than nothing.”

Shuri finished updating my arm and came over with it to re-insert it into the socket. After it clicked into place, I recalibrated it by swinging it backwards in an arc. Mack came with another bag of clothing for me, casual wear. That and the go bag with my suit and weapons were all I was taking with me.

“If you ever feel that you are in danger or when you have compiled all the evidence and require extraction, all you have to do is say “Reclaim my past,” said Fury. “The recording device will pick it up and we will institute a search and rescue of you immediately upon receipt. Since there is a possibility that your recording doesn’t upload right away you are authorized to use deadly force to protect yourself until extraction. I know you vowed not to kill again but I hope you see the need to stay alive.”

I nodded. It wasn’t something I wanted to do, no matter what, but if I had to kill someone to get away from danger then I would do so. With my arm back in place, I pulled my shirt on and grabbed the two bags. Shuri placed her hand on my forearm, squeezing it before quickly patting my cheek, as a goodbye and good luck. We returned to the vehicle and went back up the elevator to the street. After confirming we weren’t being followed, they dropped me off on a street corner and I walked a couple of blocks before hailing a cab. The driver dropped me off at the rendezvous point that had been agreed upon and I waited.

Two hours later a white panel van pulled up and the passenger window was rolled down. A man pointed a gun at me.

“Get in the back,” he said, as the side panel slid open.

I did as I was told and stepped inside. As the door slid shut a black bag was put over my head and my bags taken from me.

“Sit down, shut up, and relax,” said another voice. “We’ll drive for a while to make sure you weren’t followed then we’ll take you to our transport.”

“You know I could kill all of you without breaking a sweat,” I said.

“We know,” replied the voice. “But you won’t. If you care about her, you’ll do as you’re told.”

With that threat I knew that they already had an upper hand. The “her” was Sloan and they probably knew where she was. If they knew that then it meant they at least had eyes on her and possibly had their own operative near her. So, I said nothing, and settled back against the side of the van, waiting for the next part of this operation to unfold.

Part 2

Short Fiction Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Please support the author by reblogging.

[crumblinggothicarchitecture]

" ... "You drew scars..." felt, to me, like she was saying "you romanticized my flaws then they got worse after you left." so like, accepting your lovers flaws because you love them for them like a real life regular adult relationship. Then she kind of blames the problems she already had, the scars opening up, on the guy leaving as per usual. ... "

Isn't Cardigan supposed to be fictional? I'm not sure it's about her own life. And Cardigan, August and Betty are all linked right? The same story from the 3 people's perspectives; James, Betty and August girl. I think that's why the songs don't stand that well on their own.

James cheats on Betty with August. August genuinely liked james, but he just used her for the summer. Then he goes back to Betty with the excuse of "I'm only seventeen" and "slept next to her, but dreamt of you all summer long".

In that folklore long pond thing Taylor said that in her mind James and Betty end up together, which says a lot about her and her views on love.

Yeah- I realize it's fictional. Perhaps I worded my last response poorly, (Sorry guys I am running on very little sleep and heat exhaustion rn) but I'm just saying without a deep understanding of the Swift Lore- people will not get the thematic point of the song. Also, really nothing in the song interconnects the three "summer fling" characters- like the only reason we know it's all connected is because Swift said it was- later. It's not self-evident in the song.

This is what I mean when I say without all the extra information- no one would understand her music because it's just not self-contained. It's not strong enough writing by itself- she has to go back in later, with her interviews, and further explain everything. It would be better if the narratives of the songs interconnected just within the songs themselves- but it's all just vague allusions wherein we, audience members, are supposed to guess that it's all connected.

If she wanted a three song-narrative-arc, she should have made it self-evident within the music itself.

It's like when book authors give interviews later and explain that a character is doing something for some plot reason- it shows weak writing skills. People should just be able to enjoy the music (or book) and be able to understand the full plot from the work itself.

Tbfr I didn't understand it was all connected until after hearing her interview about it. Even then, there are like three more songs I could argue are tied into this "plot-mess" she's got going on, only because she revisits the same boring-vaugly late-teen-to-early-college characters over and over.

Everything I said though- about how it's a self-victiminzing song in which we're supposed to root for the narrator as the boy returns to her despite being a cheater- and how fucking weird that premise is, I still stand by. Yes- it's a weird way to view love and a weird way to talk about teenagers making mistakes in relationships. I think it does say something about how Swift views love.

Edit - Sorry, omg, I feel like my tone in this response is really short and negative. I'm not trying to sound like that :S I wrote this too quickly- I appreciate your perspective though! Thank you!

[hattywatch]

J. Vesey - July for the Whole Year Ch6.

A/N: Hoo boy, this was a long time coming. 80% of this has been written for months, but I just couldn't make it happen. It's citrus-y, but we're not quite at a lemon there. This chapter is about 15 pages, so grab a snack and settle in. Thank you to the 5 people who care about this little passion project :) #LGR?

<< Chapter 5

November 2021

After Jimmy leaves, you make the bed and wash the mug that you left in the sink, busying your shaking hands. 

We kissed. We kissed. We kissed.

Your brain loops the last 15 minutes over and over in your mind, simultaneously elated and panicked at the same time. 

This is Jimmy, though. 

There’s no reason to run, there’s no reason to be nervous, and there’s certainly no reason to not call Gracia right now and dissect second by second like you’re back in high school. 

Shutting the water, you dry your hands and head back to the phone, still forgotten on the couch. You have 1 notification. The one that made you turn your head and caused the slip-up that ended with Jimmy’s hands on your hips and tongue in your mouth. 

It’s Kevin. 

Of course it is. 

Kev: I’m both sorry for being pushy last night and praying that it was the push you morons needed lmk if you’re naming the first-born Kevin after me obviously ;)

The laugh that escapes you is crazed. After all the pushing he did last night, Kevin helped in a way he couldn’t even anticipate. You scroll to Gracia and start a video call first though, letting Kevin wait it out after his crass comments from the previous night. 

She answers after half a ring. 

“Before you start, please tell me this is the call I’ve been waiting years for,” she’s brushing her teeth. 

“Jimmy already called Brady, didn't he?” You sit back down on the couch and pull the blanket over your legs. 

She spits a mouthful of toothpaste into the sink, “Oh my god, you know it. I can hear him giggling like a 5-year old in the bedroom.” She closes the door behind her to drown out Brady’s voice. Sitting on the edge of the tub, she props the phone on the sink and says, “Spill it.”

So you do, and regale her with the entire evening, from heading to the game and aching for your early 20s, to dinner- where Kevin ran his mouth too much for his own good. She laughs loudly at his antics, head thrown back and mouth open wide, “He’s so dumb. I love him.”  

When you get to the part about Jimmy’s TV being back-ordered and you two reconvening in his bedroom, she gasps. “Oh how fucking convenient, James.” Your face turns red before you can even answer her, “Stop!! It was an innocent mistake. We just wanted to watch some HGTV before bed.” 

“I swear, he has zero game; no wonder this took 5 years. He lures you into his bed with HGTV, of all things. I don’t know if he’s a genius or an idiot.” She’s been talking to Kevin too much and it shows. 

“Anyway!!!” She mimes zipping her lips and throwing away the key and you continue, stumbling through your emotions that went berserk when you woke up the next morning, and how worried you were that Jimmy was being evasive. 

When you get to the main event, she’s practically biting her nails, “Andddd, then we kissed.”

“I am not late to work for you to end the story like that,” she raises one eyebrow. 

Your ears feel hot, but you push through, she has been waiting 5 years after all. “It was the best of my life. I can’t wait for him to come back from this away stretch.” Her smile is genuine and your heart breaks that all of your closest friends are stretched out to all corners of the country. Especially now, when you’d rather her be sitting across from you, nudging her shoe against your shin in the coffee shop you like down on 5th. 

“So who was on the phone?! Who do we owe our undying gratitude to? Tell me it was someone calling about your car's extended warranty. I’ll die.”

You can’t hold in your laugh, “Worse,” you confirm. “It was Kevin.” 

She laughs so hard, she knocks the phone off the sink and the call disconnects.

____________

Kevin calls you before you can get to him. Calling Gracia clearly set off the unofficial phone tree. “Hey,” he doesn’t sound at all like you thought he would, smug and prideful. He's almost contrite when he continues, “I’m really sorry, you know I’m just kidding, but that wasn’t cool of me.”

“Woah,” you stop him, “what are you on about?” He clearly did not receive the same call Brady did. 

“Grac text me and told me to call you, and I just feel so bad,” you cut him off. 

“He kissed me. We kissed, because you text me  and my phone rang and I- I turned my head to see the caller ID and it just, just… happened? I don't know.” you sprint through the sentence. Feeling bad that Kevin’s been sweating this. 

He flips the script real quick once his brain catches up. “Are you fucking kidding me? I was freaking out all morning that I pushed it too far last night and you hated me, but you were too busy putting the moves on Jimmy to text me back? You’re joking.” 

“Serious as a heart attack,” your cheeks hurt from smiling and you can almost hear the gears in his head turning. 

“So are you going to name it Kevin?” He barely starts laughing at his own joke before you hang up on him and send him the middle finger emoji, but you send it with confetti, so he knows there’s no hard feelings. 

____________

Jimmy: You told Kevin?

I can’t believe you didn’t, tbh.

Jimmy: I was going to let him sweat it out… but I guess you just want to shout it from the rooftops, huh?

You know it ;) Fly safe.

Jimmy: 6 days. 

____________

Your day goes quicker than you thought it would, commuting back to your apartment and texting furiously with Gracia, who just keeps sending you littly kissy face emojis, what feels like every hour, on the hour. 

After you shower and crawl into your bed, you open your phone and look through the last few days of text messages with Jimmy. You look at them in a new light, reviewing each one with a fine toothed comb for any signs you missed, but you can’t see any. He’s the same Jimmy he’s been, and you scroll further and further back trying to find the shift in tone, the moment he wanted you, any indication of pining, a flirtatious winky face, even. How long has it been, why did him whispering finally against your lips feel like it was a breath released after years of holding it in too tightly. 

He’s still your best friend, and he’s definitely back at the hotel after practice, so you text him.

Hey there

Jimmy: Hey

The message comes instantly, and you smile, because you know Jimmy has no chill and you love it, especially when it’s directed at you. 

When you said "finally," this morning, was this something you thought about before or…

Jimmy: Are you kidding right now?

You're typing out a response to the tune of, shut up, never mind, when his image pops up on your screen and a facetime comes through. 

"I'm not doing this through texts," he has this put-upon, frowny face, but his hair looks soft and fluffy after the shower you know he just hopped out of, his shoulders pink, because he likes the water far too hot. 

You flip on your side, propping your phone up against the pillow, "You don't want me to have receipts of this conversation?" 

He smiles, it's wide and rare, showing his pointy canines while his eyes shine in the dim lamplight of the hotel room. 

"Yeah right. I just want to see your face," the eye roll he gives you does nothing to calm your heart skittering in your ribcage. "I bet you're all embarrassed, thinking about undsending it. Couldn't let that happen." He tucks one arm behind his head and stares at you through the phone, daring you to deny it. 

You give him your own eye roll, "Please, you answered so fast, I didn't even have time to second guess it." 

The look he gives you turns your insides hot, "The first time I thought about kissing you was over your kitchen table, the morning after you woke me up, banging on my door in the middle of the night, and I haven't stopped thinking about it since."

"Oh," you're honestly shocked. You came around to the idea that he reciprocated your feelings about 3 seconds after his mouth was on yours, but that long? It warms you to your bones thinking of how you'd steal glances to appraise him when he wasn't looking or would take any chance to touch him; the thought that he may have been doing the same is heady.

"Yeah, oh," he teases. You chew on the inside of your cheek, willing your face to cool down. He's smirky and smug that he shut you up. "What about you?"

You haven't really thought about it at length, it's felt like a slow pull over the years, magnets inevitably drawn together. "Do you remember when you helped me take my skates off at that first family skate? I think it was right around then."

He nods sagely, "Yeah, you've always struck me as an acts of service type. What else can I do for you, hm?" He's kidding and you know it, because he punctuates his sentence with a lascivious eyebrow raise and a flex of the arm that's behind his head. But at the same time, knowing he's kidding doesn't stop the arousal from pumping through your body.

"Are you flirting with me, James?" You can't help but tease him back, especially now that everything's out in the open. 

"Jesus Christ," he laughs. "Yeah, I am. Took you long enough to notice." 

It's not worth fighting, so you let your smile spread across your face and lift your cheeks. 

"You're so embarrassed, look at you!" His replying smile matches yours and you push your face into your pillow and whine out a stop itttt that should be more embarrassing in and of itself, but just makes your heart race and palms sweat. 

"This feels good, I wish I knew sooner. I love teasing you about this." He looks like the cat that got the canary, and predatory suits him immensely. 

"I still can't believe you didn't know," you start in a whisper. "Kevin was so obvious about it. Giving me your jersey. Being a big oaf at your parents house that summer I visited." He laughs at the memory and you continue, "Asking me 'who's giving it to me' last night." You shake your head, you were so sure Jimmy was politely ignoring your feelings in favor of your friendship.

His eyes scrunch closed at the last point you make, "I thought he was doing it because he wanted me to make a move. I didn't realize he was doing it to torment you, too." He runs his hands through his hair, "God I was so scared he knew something I didn't when he asked you that."

"So ridiculous," you squawk. "We've been practically living in each other's pockets since you came to Jersey. When would I have even had time to sleep with anyone else?" He opens his mouth to interject, but you quickly add, "And who would even want me when I'm clearly hung up on you." 

You see him go pink then red. "Now who's embarrassed, Vesey?"

"Not me," he shakes his head and sighs heavily, running his hand through his hair. "I just want to hear more about how hung up on me you are, but it's late and I gotta get to bed." He's right but you hate it, "6 days," he confirms.

"6 days," you echo. 

____________

Knowing Jimmy actual-facts likes you is amazing for your ego. Your clothes seem to fit better, your skin is glowing, and you cannot stop smiling. If you knew everything would feel like this after spilling your guts, you would have done it ages ago. 

He can’t return soon enough. Your whole body is on high alert, waiting impatiently until you can see  him again. And if you thought you were co-dependent before, it’s nothing compared to how you're feeling now. You’ve opened the floodgates and it’s apparent you’ve both been reigning in your feelings and faking chill for a while. 

Jimmy calls you every morning, just to check in and say good morning and that he misses you and can’t wait to come home. It seems ever since your mutual confession, he’s suddenly turned his charm up to 11. 

Obviously, you find him charming in general, you’ve been friends for years, but there’s something different now that you've come clean. An extra swagger in his demeanor and you’re simultaneously sorry and delighted to find that you feel a little woozy when he seemingly turns it on for your benefit.

“I'm coming straight to your place from the plane. You gonna greet me when I get there?”  He murmurs across the phone lines on day 3 of the count down. You’re getting ready for bed, putting on cute pajamas, because you’re feeling so special these days. 

“Do you want me to be there?” You know the answer, but you just want to hear him say it out loud. It's been two days, but you bask in his affection any chance you can get.

He changes the call to a facetime, and you answer, “You know I always want you there, right?” His face is open and honest, and especially easy to read. You’re beyond giddy, unable to stammer out a sentence after the highest praise of your life.  

“I’ll take that as a yes, you’re aware,” he responds as you try to string together a coherent sentence that isn't composed of the words, Love, I, or You, in any particular order. Your skin prickles, excited and nervous under the attention. 

He loves it, you can see it in his face, his eyes getting that sharpness to them. You don’t know how much more your heart can handle. You feel like it might explode into sparkling confetti when you finally get him back in person and have that gaze turned on you.

“So 3 more days then?” He nods, confirming what you know. 

“Can’t wait to see you,” his eyes go half lidded and his voice drops, “touch you.” You instantly break a sweat. 

“I- I have to go now!” He laughs and hangs up after getting the reaction that he wanted, and you disrupt your night-time routine in favor of hopping in a cold shower. 

____________

“I mean, it’s tomorrow,” you chomp through your toast, sitting at the kitchen table in your apartment. The same one that Jimmy said he first wanted to kiss you over a handful of years ago. Gracia shrieked her way through that story, and you’ve moved on to planning what you were going to wear for his big return tomorrow, “it’s not like I have a lot of time to shop.”

“Ugh, I’ve been waiting for this day for like, ever. And I’m not even there to help you find something that will knock him on his ass,” you gently place your dish in the sink and walk back into your closet. Solemnly she declares, “It’s a tragedy.”

“What does he like you in? Have you noticed his gaze…” she pauses to place the right word. “Lingering?” She's been reading too many romance novels.

You scoff and clink through your closet hanger by hanger, “Yeah, you know Jimmy, very open and vocal about everything,” she hums in agreement. “No, I didn’t even know he even looked at me like that until a few days ago.”

As she begins chastising you for being unobservant and oblivious, you remember something. “Blue,” it suddenly comes to you.

“I can work with that.” Before you know it, she's sent links to a dozen items from 10 stores, all within a mile of your apartment. 

____________

"I feel ridiculous," you mutter into your headphones in the dressing room of a lingerie store while you sweat through bra after bra. "I look ridiculous," you amend 

"Shut up, send me a photo," you comply but you're not happy about it.

The long screech Gracia emits confirms that she's received the photo, "This is the one! Buy it in every color." You sigh, but start changing back into your clothes. 

"You're sure? This seems like a lot," you repeat for the 6th time in as many minutes.

It's her turn to sigh, "I am so positive. He's going to die." You agree and hop into line to pay. 

____________

Jimmy: I heard you have a surprise for me.

I hate our friends

Jimmy: 😂

Jimmy: So no surprise?

No comment

____________

The plan was for Jimmy to meet you at your apartment. He could be there an hour after landing and, "It'll be a nice full circle moment. Knocking on your door, bringing you breakfast."

You're grinning ear to ear when you remind him, "You have a key."

He implores you to,"Give a guy a break," before reminding you of his flight itinerary and hanging up to go to dinner with the team. 

____________

Your alarm doesn't go off and you wake up to loud knocking on your door and quickly tumble out of bed, all sweaty palms and racing heart. Jimmy!

There's no time to change into your sexy last-minute lingerie you spent so much time picking out. There's not even any time to brush your hair or teeth. You glare at your phone, dead on the pillow beside you, useless.

"Hey? You in there?" You hear Jimmy call though through the door, as you're trying to make yourself as presentable as possible in the mirror next to your front door. 

Hastily turning the locks, you pull the door open and your heart kicks up erratically. Jimmy!

"You didn't change your mind did you? I brought some bagels, a bacon egg and cheese," he starts, holding out a bag and taking in your disheveled appearance with a small smile on his face. 

You recognize it immediately as how he first came to your door all those years ago, apologizing for Kevin's antics the previous evening. 

"Never. My phone died because someone insisted on FaceTiming at 1am. Let me put on some coffee, have a seat." You can't help but smile and lead him into your apartment, nerves lighting up in your belly. 

As you prep a coffee filter and scoop grinds into your ancient machine, Jimmy drops the bag on the table and sidles up behind you. "Missed you so much," he whispers into the nape of your neck, "This okay?" he questions as he squeezes the flesh of your hips and kisses gently down the side of your neck. 

"Yep! More than," you manage to squeak out, hands shaking a little with the distraction as they struggle through memorized motions. "I would like a minute though. I want to brush my hair and teeth and change and-"

"You're fine how you are," he cuts you off with a small suck to your skin that almost buckles your knees, but lets you go anyway, "but I'll finish this, go do whatever you need. You're spilling all over the counter anyway," he winks as you walk away with your mouth pinched to convey how unimpressed you are with his smarm. 

____________

Having Jimmy in the apartment while you're tugging and tying lingerie onto your body makes your blood pump louder in your ears, even if a few walls and doors separate you. It's been 6 days since you've confessed, six days since you've kissed, and you've been on high alert ever since. The skin of your neck that he dragged his lips over tingles and your body is flushed hot with anticipation. 

You're glad it's Jimmy, your best friend, standing in the kitchen, because you'd feel nervous about wearing this for anyone else. You flatten down the lingerie and shrug into a short, thin robe before brushing your teeth and hair and making your way back into the kitchen. 

There's already a mug of coffee waiting for you, steam curling out of the cup as Jimmy scrolls through his phone, bagel untouched in front of him, clearly waiting for your return. When he hears your footsteps he looks up and his eyes widen a little, despite the sharp smile that splits his face. 

"Oh, so we're doing this, huh?" You roll your eyes, but despite that, your core clenches at the thought. You tug the robe up where it's slipped down and exposed your shoulder and Jimmy's eyes track the motion; he wets his lips.

Feigning unimpressed, you sip your coffee, "I haven't decided, but now I'm leaning towards no." You bite into the bagel he plated for you and maintain your glare until he drags his chair closer to yours. 

"Well, we don't have to," he swirls his coffee around his mug. "I'm happy just to be able to look at you and not worry about getting caught."

You don't mean to, but a lovesick noise makes its way out of your mouth without your permission, and your cover is blown. "Stop it," you whine, glowing with the compliment and wanting him to do anything but stop. 

Because he knows you well, he loops his hand around the back of your chair and continues, "Remember when you said you were hung up on me?"

Leaning into his hold, you nod, "I have regretted it ever since." He laughs, but goes back to eating his plain bagel, ignoring your outright lie and moves his hand to rest on the back of your neck, tangled in your hair.

You make small talk, about his games, the roadie, your work, Mr. Callahan, until your plates and cups are empty and he starts tidying the table and dropping everything into the sink. 

It's your turn to walk up behind him as he rinses cups and plates. You snake one arm around his front, but the other wanders, tucks into his back pocket, giving a silly squeeze that makes him turn and glare, before sliding around to the front and peeling up the hem of his shirt and resting on his low belly, taut from hard work and covered in goosebumps that make you confident enough to start dragging your hands lower. 

He tosses the dish towel he's drying his hands with down and grabs your wrist, spinning in your arms so you're chest to chest. 

"Hi," you lay your chin on his chest and beam up at him, anticipation in your veins, grin on your face, and both of your hands now tucked into his back pockets. 

Jimmy gazes down at you and you can only wonder how you've never noticed before, if this is how he's been looking at you these past five years. 

"Can I kiss you," you raise up to your toes, "on purpose this time?" You gently lean in before he can answer you, confident he'll agree because of the soft look in his eyes and the way you can feel him starting to harden against you. 

He turns so you're stuck between him and the counter and lifts you up, setting you on top of it, much closer to his height. 

"Stop, you'll make me blush," he speaks directly into your collar bone, where his lips are kissing their way along the neck of your robe. "Never had a girl ask like that before." The way his lips skim over your skin as he speaks gives you goosebumps. 

Making space for him between your knees, you tug him into the gap you've created. "That's nothing, wait until you hear what I ask for after we get this robe off." You're half teasing, half serious, and fully sick of waiting to have his mouth on you.

Fisting the chest of his t-shirt, you tug him down, neither of you daring to even blink, maintaining eye contact until the moment your lips touch. The twin sounds of relief that you share almost make you giggle.

It's heaven. Jimmy is still for a moment, only until you lick his bottom lip and he opens his mouth for you. The way his lips slide against yours gives you goosebumps; you want his mouth and hands everywhere all at once. 

The wait has been worth it, you finally have him here, biting his way into your mouth harshly while his hands trail over your body gently, like you're delicate and fragile. 

Breathing heavily, you pull away a little to compose yourself but he leans back into you, sucking at the skin under your ear. "Please?" He grabs the tie of your robe, softly pulling at one tail of the bow that cinches the silky fabric at your waist. 

Speaking is becoming difficult with the way his lips make their way up to the shell of your ear, and murmur please again, so sweetly you almost moan. You nod furiously and squeeze your hands where they're settled on his upper biceps. He pulls slowly, inch by inch. As much as you want to close your eyes, you're vain and you bought what's underneath entirely with him in mind, so you keep them open to catalog his reaction. 

The harsh intake of breath is worth the small fortune you spent on useless underclothes. "Holyyy -," he's still gentle when he slides the robe down your shoulders to pool around where you're sitting on the counter, but your palms can feel the shake in his muscles and you know he's keeping precarious control of his strength. 

"Stop, now I'm blushing," you throw his earlier words back at him, albeit more breathless than he had been. 

Your wish to have his hands and mouth all over you comes to fruition. "Yeah?" He whispers out against your chest, hot with the blush in question, "Good." His mouth covers the new territory that removing your robe revealed while his hands do their best to chart all the skin and lace. 

Practically whimpering, you struggle to maintain your higher brain faculties, softly chanting a combination of his name and whispered prayers, although for what, you're not sure of. 

He's had his hands all over you, and you're elated but jealous, so your hands make their way to the hem of his shirt, which proves to be more difficult than you'd imagine with how wrapped up he has you. Timid fingers find a path to tuck underneath, and you've seen Jimmy's body before, have looked at and appreciated it in a less than respectful manner. Touching is different, though.

At the first brush of skin on skin, Jimmy sucks in a breath through his teeth, you can feel it against the tops of your breasts, where he's gently pulled the cups of your lingerie down, not enough to reveal anything but enough to tease you into insanity at the thought of how soon that might happen. 

Turnabout is fair play, so the fingers on your left hand tuck into the waistband of his sweats and still, while the right takes the path up the split in the middle of his stomach muscles and rests on his right pec. You curl your fingers just enough to barely bite your nails into the flesh of his chest, when you feel that harsh breath against your breast again, you move your hands back to the hem of his shirt and tug upwards. 

He obliges and steps back infinitesimally to reach behind his neck and ruck his shirt up and over his head. As he tries to lean back in, you stiff arm him, keeping him far enough so your eyes can take their fill, gaze heavy on his bare torso before you. 

Jimmy's always been pretty shy about any level of undress between the two of you. Over the years of your friendship of course it's happened. You've been to the pool, the beach, barged into the apartment unannounced to find him in his boxers and nothing else, but he's never sauntered around shirtless like Kevin is keen to do the second the temperature rises above 60. Now that you have carte blanche, mapping every freckle and scar is at the top of your list. 

After a handful of seconds under your stare, Jimmy clears his throat, and you look up to his face, "Stop looking like that, making me self conscious." He moves a hand to cover himself in what could be mock or serious modesty. You catch his wrist and place his hand high on your thigh.

"I've been waiting years for this, you know that right?" He doesn't immediately nod, so you feel the need to assure him, "Never had a chance to look at the body on you before. I didn't want to know I was so gone for you," you can barely speak through the grin on your face.

He smiles a little, but it's self deprecating and that wont do. You want him to feel loved, worshiped- a surge of power, like you felt when he peeled your robe off and couldn't keep his hands or mouth to himself.

Dropping your voice to make it a little more seductive, "Look at you," he's not meeting your eyes so you flick yours back down to his chest and continue, "wanna run my tongue over every muscle on your body. Is this what you do all summer? Hit the gym and figure out ways to make me drool?" 

He finally, blessedly laughs and tilts your face up, thumb under your chin, to slide his mouth over yours. It's hot and sweet and you can feel his smile. Pulling away, you place one index finger on the crevice between his pecs in the dip where his collar bones meet and drag it slowly down, down, down, until you tangle in the drawstring of his sweats. 

When you finally look up to his face, Jimmy's eyes are slightly hazy, his face erring more towards pink than usual. You plant a soft kiss in the middle of his chest, letting your tongue flick out for just a second to taste skin and sweat.

"Take me to bed, Jimmy," begging, you let go of the drawstring in your hands and press lower, finding him hard and ready for you. 

He hisses, eyes fluttering shut before groaning out "Finally." He picks you up and crosses the short distance from your kitchen to the lone bedroom in your apartment.

[davekat-sucks]

Wow amazing art but this is strike one. Yiffy was the inevitable failure of postcanon, even with the new union and art team, her very existence ruins Rosemary, ruins Jade, ruins the setting and pisses off the fanbase no matter what you do.

Remove Yiffany and you retcon a major plot point of postcanon and the 4th kid for the new kids for the Candy timeline, keep her in and Jade is still a futanari who imposed herself on Rose to ruin the fanbase’s favorite lesbian couple and raise the kid with a fascist because… people on Earth C are too nosy.

Yiffany destroyed all hype for the original Homestuck^2 when she was revealed, even for as mediocre as the comic started out as, there were fans and speculation, which turned to spite for being so poorly handled. Even now with the new team, r/homestuck at least seems to enjoy the new content (excluding a few voices and r/englishpumpkinparty) but clearly any content with yiffany is gonna piss someone off.

Literally if Hussie just stopped at the epilogues the fandom would like postcanon more. It would have its detractor but it’s easier to defend the epilogues than Beyond Canon.

I can actually understand and connect why Jade and Jane became the way they are in the epilogues. Jane’s encounters with trolls were awful and the mothergrub does lay thousands of eggs to deal with such a low rate of successful brooding grubs. Jade was alone on her island and in a ship for 3 years (post retcon) and needs human connection desperately. My issue was the epilogues do a very one-dimensional and extreme version of these characters and justifies this by saying “no one checked in on them or helped” over the course of a 7 year timeskip and even after the characters did a whole webcomic where the point was friendship and connection is healthy for a human to develop emotionally to maturity, are we seriously doing this theme again?!

But Jane in Beyond Canon is a villain with barely any screen time or dialogue to ramble about why she’s “doing the right thing” and Jade is stripped of any nuance to this invasive and careless brat who tries to gain sympathy by whining about how much her life sucked/still sucks

I swear, this comic will go on hiatus again by the end of 2024 (if everything goes right) or on 4/13 (if it all goes wrong)

At least Jade was justified because 1. She didn't know how Grandpa English died and only came to the shocking realization she accidentally killed him (Tavros had also intervened too during this). 2. She had to grow up alone on an ISLAND and has no social cues how to properly act. Sure she would have Internet, movies, games, and books to read. But they aren't the true basis of human connection. 3. Neither Hussie, James, or anyone in WhatPumpkin/HICU had given a reason why Bec couldn't just teleport her to meet with the others since he still had Space Powers. Some could say because it would ruin the plot and Sburb wouldn't happen that it only took the meddling of MSPA READER in Pesterquest to do it. Her situation is just as shit like Jake English. And look how the series, writers, and nu-fandom shit on Jake despite his conditions is just the same, if not WORSE because of the lusus animals trying to attack him that he had always be training to survive for his life. At this point, drop any faith you have in James Roach and Beyond Canon. Apologize. And hope that this will fail hard that James and Hussie will just let the fandom make up their own ending. Even say DO NOT GIVE James Roach any money if they do go through with the Homestuck merch and vinyl. You are better off supporting the fandom itself. Pay for commissions, buy fan merch on places like Etsy, etc. Do not give shitty people like James or Hussie any cash. Go give Toby Fox some love too. Because he is one of the few sane people left and is successful outside of Homestuck.