#and she keeps bugging me about participating… we’ll see…

[letstrywritingmaybe]

September prompts are done! It’s the beginning of duncney week… maybe I can try and do something? I make no promises

Update: I have started on ONE prompt for duncney week and it’s ridiculous. Mostly because I have once again decided to use a made up word by combining two words. I blame it on my rant from my last post, also second personish? I am being influenced, and while I loved it for Marcy idk how I feel about it for me… ah well this is low key a rant fic anyways

[attllhak]

Surface Too Soon .3

@tortilla-of-courage @emenerd hey look it’s chapter 3. Two chapters in a day and I’m on a roll.

General warnings because Ghirahim is in this chapter and he’s, well, he’s Ghirahim. And he’s being creepy.

Anyways, enjoy! (And to Tortilla, sorry for torturing you with vague updates as I wrote. The boy is fine, just shaken up and scared.)

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

Chapter 3: On The Surface

Link did his best to swallow back every pained whimper as the strange woman ran her hands over his body. He still didn’t want to move, because ow, and it wasn’t like he was in a position to complain.

He’d already survived, which was more than he’d expected after he made it past the clouds.

He did end up crying out as she made it to his ankle, jerking it up away from her, sparking more pain along his leg and side.

She sat back, glaring at him slightly.

“Well, you’re not walking,” she huffed, glaring at the offending ankle, which was throbbing quite painfully. “I’ll need to actually be allowed to take a look at that to assess the damage,”

Link frowned at her, shifting his leg a bit further away.

This seemed to frustrate the woman further. “I am trying to help you. I can’t do that unless you let me.”

Link considered this, and considered the pain he was in, and then considered that, ulterior motives aside, he had no idea where he could find help without this woman. Slowly, because ow, he moved his leg back down to her.

He had to grit his teeth as she slid off his boot and sock to inspect his ankle, and then declared it not broken, but still very badly injured.

His ribs, it turned out, were broken in a few places. Which explains the crack he felt.

One of his shoulders had been dislocated, which the woman popped back into place, which was a LOT of ow.

Eventually, with a lot of complaining and pained noises and slow movements, she got Link sitting up against the sand he’d sid down. So he was still kinda laying down.

Which is when he finally got a look at his surroundings. Hard, red rock rose up all around him, the slope above and behind him was all loose sand, and some kind of thick, red liquid sloshed nearby, giving off heat.

“Who are you?” He asked, and filed away quickly that ow, talking hurts.

The woman looked at him, pausing from where she was using the fabric that had been covering her face to wrap his foot. She looked very annoyed for some reason he couldn’t identify.

Link didn’t know why he’d pissed her off by landing here, but he felt a bit bad for it.

“My name is Impa,” she said finally, turning back to his ankle. “I am a servant to the goddess Hylia, meant to protect the Spirit Maiden on her journey to fulfil her destiny,” she finished tying off the fabric and looked up to meet Link’s eyes. “You are not her,”

He lifted his good arm, since the other still hurt to move. “Is that why you’re mad at me?”

She frowned at him, like he wasn’t making sense.

“I’m sorry,” he said, hoping that would help.

This got him a glare.

“You do not need to apologize for not being who I was waiting for,” Impa told him bluntly. “I’m mad, but not at you. I’m mad because you shouldn’t be down here yet. I should be meeting the Spirit Maiden, not the Chosen Hero. Regardless, you are in no shape to fulfil your duty, and I see no sign of Her Grace arriving here. I’ll take you somewhere safer to heal, and we’ll talk more about your destiny then,”

Link had no idea what she meant by most of that, but it was nice to know she wasn’t mad at him.

He did make a few pained noises as she picked him up, balancing him in her arms.

Every movement as she carried him away from the heat and rocks was ow, ow, ow. He really was a giant bruise by now. Also ow.

The green that started popping up was awe inducing. Especially as there came more and more green. Link had never seen so much green before. And the trees! There were so many trees!

He probably should have paid more attention to where they were going, but he was too enthralled with his surroundings to care.

Which was when he noticed the tiny birds.

All thoughts of pain and worry were out the window at this discovery, and he all but begged Impa to stop and let him look at the tiny birds. She said later, and he tried pouting, which didn’t work, and then needled away until she agreed to bring him a tiny bird to hold when they stopped.

That had Link very excited.

Eventually, Link was set down on a very big plant, Impa called it a mushroom when he asked, and was told to stay put. Impa promised to bring him a tiny bird and some healing items.

Link, of course, did not stay put.

His right ankle couldn’t support his weight, so he ended up crawling around instead, doing his best to keep his weight off his left arm.

When Impa got back and finally found him, he was lying on his stomach and chatting with a small creature he met called a kikwi, who was also face down on the ground.

Impa was not pleased in the least.

He drank the potion she brought him, and even got to hold one of the tiny birds after he’d done so. It felt so small and fragile in his hands, and it was so cute. Even his new kikwi friend stood up to also coo over the tiny bird with him.

Machi didn’t understand why Link was so fascinated with the bird, but Machi also was a bit confused by the whole ‘came from the sky thing’, so Link didn’t hold it against him.

Impa just seemed frustrated with him, proceeding to lecture him about why laying on his stomach was bad for his ribs and how he was just going to hurt himself more. Something about pressure on the breaks or whatever.

Link was only about half listening to her. Oh he was trying to pay attention to what she was saying, of course he was. He always got in trouble in class for not focusing, and he knew it was even more important to focus on what she was telling him down here, with so many unknowns.

But, there was just so much happening around him! The trees here were HUGE! And there were so many new kinds of plants! And what even was a mushroom and were they all that big? And the little bird was falling asleep in his hands, which was adorable, and there were more birds flying around. And there was a new bug he’d never seen before on the wall over there.

It was hard to focus on her, was the point. He kept getting distracted by all the new things to look at.

“Are you even listening to me?” She asked, frowning at him.

Link, realizing he’d zoned out and missed most of what she’d said, responded as tactfully as he could think of.

He lifted up the tiny bird to her slightly. “I can feel it’s heartbeat,”

Impa slapped her face.

Link got the slightest hint that maybe, maybe, he was pissing her off a bit.

“I’m sorry,” he said, watching her drag the hand down her face. “There’s just a lot of new things around and I’m having trouble focusing on you. If it helps, I’ve kinda always had trouble paying attention when surrounded by new things,”

She looked very unimpressed.

“Fine,” she sighed. “We’ll talk about all that later. But no more lying on your stomach,”

Link nodded seriously, or as seriously as he could manage. “Yes, ma’am.”

She looked very tired, and while Link didn’t know how much time had passed since he’d fallen that morning (he’d never been good with time and today was not a good day for that) he was still pretty sure it was too early in the day for her to look so exhausted.

He was pretty sure he was at fault for that. Maybe he should apologize?

“Are you hungry?” Impa asked finally, after just looking at him for a while.

Link was about to say no, but then his stomach growled and so he nodded instead. Food never hurt, he figured.

“Stay put. I mean it this time,” Impa pointed at him firmly. “I’ll be right back,”

Link watched her walk off, and figured maybe he should actually listen this time. She had seemed awful annoyed.

“So, what’s it like in the sky?” Machi asked as the silence dragged on.

“Oh, it’s great!” Link grinned. “The stories say the goddess sent us up there a long time ago to protect us. We ride around on big birds called loftwings, and it’s so pretty, and I was supposed to participate in this competition called the Wing Ceremony so I could graduate into the senior class and become a knight. Actually, I wonder who won it. I mean, I know Zelda will be disappointed- HOLY HYLIA ZELDA!”

The bird in his hands startled and flew away, and Machi fell over at Link’s outburst. Link’s hands shot up to fist in his hair, panic and worry constricting his chest.

“Zelda is probably so worried about me! I have to get back to Skyloft, I need to tell her I’m okay!” Link gasped, suddenly remembering that little detail he’d forgotten in his excitement. “I gotta get back to the sky!”

“I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed then, Sky Child,”

Link didn’t like the way that voice slithered along his spine like a snake, making all the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

He slowly turned his head to see someone standing on one of the mushrooms, smiling at him like a remlit that had just caught a butterfly.

This individual, probably a man if Link had to guess, was very pale, skin fitted white clothing stuck tight like a second skin and a deep red cape sat around the man’s shoulders. Sharp, too big eyes watched Link like he was the most fascinating and precious thing in the world, and it made him feel very uncomfortable. He didn’t like the way this man was looking at him, eyes taking in his form and tracking even the rise and fall of his chest as he wrestled to keep his breathing under control.

There was something very wrong about this man, and Link wanted to be as far away from him as possible. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure if his leg could support his weight yet, not that he’d be able to run very far even if it could.

Where was Impa? She said she’d be right back.

“Don’t bother looking for your bodyguard,” the man grinned, noticing Link breaking eye contact to scan the forest where Impa had gone. “She’s a bit, tied up right now,”

The smile on the man’s face made every nerve and muscle in Link’s body scream “RUN!” at him. But he couldn’t run, he’d never make it away in time.

Stall! He thought desperately at himself. Stall so Impa can get back and get you out of here!

“Wh-who are you?” Link asked, fighting his throat and hating how shaky he sounded.

He’d never been in real danger before, though he was pretty sure that’s what this was, and he was terrified. He didn’t know what to do here!

The man grinned wider, and Link felt his stomach twist into uncomfortable knots.

“Oh how rude,” the man cooed. “I hadn’t introduced myself. I am the Demon Lord who presides over the land you look down upon, this world you call the Surface,” he vanished in a cloud of diamonds, then reappeared inches from Link’s face. “You may call me Ghirahim. In truth, I much prefer to be indulged with my full title: Lord Ghirahim. But I’m not fussy,”

Link backpedalled, crawling as fast as he could to put as much distance between himself and the man as he could.

Ghirahim vanished again, this time appearing behind Link to grab his shoulders. Link froze, fear rooting him to the spot. He didn’t dare breathe.

Where was Impa?!

“I’m much more interested in you, however,” the, the demon cooed almost directly into Link’s ear. He suddenly felt nauseous. “Yes, Your Majesty, you are a much more interesting find. I had actually expected your mortal form to be that of a woman, but I’m not complaining about this little surprise. It’s certainly clever, if nothing else,”

Link swallowed down bile, body tense as he felt the man continue to look him over, even from the awkward angle.

Impa, he thought desperately. Please hurry!

“I-I don’t know w-what you’re t-talking about,” Link stammered out, fighting his very uncooperative voice to keep it from shaking too badly. He didn’t really succeed.

Ghirahim chuckled, the sound directly in his ear causing goosebumps to rise up on his skin. It was warm out, but Link shivered.

“No, of course you don’t, not yet. You just got here,” Ghirahim finally vanished again, appearing in front of him, and Link finally let himself breathe, chest heaving and sending him back onto his elbows. “I had thought that goddess-serving dog would have told you, but no matter. Whether you know or not, it doesn’t change my plans. And you, dear boy, are very important to them,”

The sick, pleased smile on Ghirahim's face made Link want to hurl, and scream, and curl up into a ball and cry. He’d never had to deal with someone this, this deranged before, and he was scared. He was scared, and he wanted to go home. He wanted to be back up on Skyloft with Zelda, getting yelled at for not practicing hard enough. He wanted his best friend to smile and tell him this was all a bad dream and hold him tight and tell him it was going to be okay. Hell, he’d even take dealing with Groose over this.

What he wouldn’t give to go back to this morning, and not be here, trapped under the gaze of a demon who seemed so pleased to have caught him.

“Stay away from him!”

Ghirahim turned, dodging sharply as someone moved to attack him.

Impa!

Link gasped in relief. He had never before been so happy to see someone he’d only known for a few hours.

Impa positioned herself between Link and Ghirahim, glaring down the demon lord and turning herself into a barrier.

“Of course, you’re here,” Ghirahim sneered, lips twisting on his face in disgust. “Come to protect your precious Spirit Maiden, hm?”

“Link,” Impa said, ignoring what Ghirahim was saying but never taking her eyes off him. “Run,”

“Imp-” Link tried, voice still shaky and weak sounding.

“GO!” Impa snapped, and Link scrambled around to get moving.

He knew he wouldn’t get far, being as injured as he was, and who knew what other kinds of monsters there were in the woods. He spotted Machi waving to him and scrambled over, ducking behind one of the mushrooms to hide, waved into a small crack in the stone where he curled up to wait, Machi pulling some of the vines to hide him better.

He could hear fighting beyond his hiding spot, and covered his ears with his hands in the hopes of blocking out the sounds of breaking glass and metal on metal. He squeezed his eyes shut too, stomach and chest twisting uncomfortably at every flash of blue and black light.

He had never been so scared or helpless in his life, and he hated it. He hated it, he hated it, he hated it.

He wanted to go home. To where there were no demons out for him or Spirit Maidens or fighting between people to the death. He wanted Zelda to tell him it was okay, like she would when he had nightmares, or when Groose was a bit meaner than usual. He wanted the biggest worry in his life to be whether or not Groose put something in his food or hit him with a spitball during class.

He was done with the Surface, he wanted to go home!

It was far too long before he realized the sound of fighting had stopped. Did, who won? Was Impa okay? Was Ghirahim going to take him away somewhere for some reason he still didn’t understand?

“Link,”

Link slowly opened his eyes and turned his head at the soft voice.

Impa was crouched down next to his hiding spot. She was bleeding in a few places, and her features were creased with worry, but she was okay.

“Are you hurt?” She asked, once she was certain he was looking at her.

Link shook his head, the movement jerky. “Is, is he, is,” he paused to swallow, finding it hard to get his thoughts across and into words. “Gone?” He finally managed.

Impa nodded. “For now, yes, he’s gone,”

Link felt like bursting into tears. He was scared, and mostly alone, and some demon was hunting him and Impa had gotten hurt trying to protect him and-

“I want to go home,” he said quietly, not even really embarrassed by how broken the phrase sounded.

Impa frowned, gently, and offered him her hand. “I know. I can’t get you home right now, though,”

Link sniffed, reaching up to swipe at his eyes. He somehow already knew that.

“Come on, it’s not safe here,” Impa said, offering her hand to him again. “There’s somewhere safe close by where we can at least spend the night, though,”

Link sniffed again, wiping at his face with his sleeve, and accepted her hand, crawling out of the spot he’d hidden in. He felt like a little kid all over again, like he was when his parents had died. Scared and lost and alone, with no idea how anything was going to turn out or if it would even be okay.

Only this time he didn’t have Zelda, or Pipit, or Karane to help him out. There was no Geapora to take him in. Just him, a whole world full of new things and dangers, and Impa.

“Is he going to come back?” Link asked while Impa looked him over for any new injuries.

Impa paused, looking up at him, then turned her eyes back to his arm. “Probably,” she admitted, slowly, like she was trying not to scare him. “Which is why we can’t stay here,”

“What does he even want from me?” Link asked, trying his best not to actually burst into tears. He didn’t want to cry. He could be brave, though he was starting to think he didn’t want to be.

Impa sighed, putting her hands on his shoulders and looking him in the eye. It wasn’t as uncomfortable as he’d feared considering the last time someone held his shoulders.

“He doesn’t want anything from you,” Impa told him seriously. “He wants something from the person he thinks you are. He wants the Spirit Maiden,”

“But I’m not the Spirit Maiden,” Link said, in a way that bordered on a mix of a whine and beg but wasn’t quite either. “Can he leave us alone?”

The sympathetic look Impa gave him did not make him feel better.

“He doesn’t know that, though,” Impa said gently, squeezing his shoulders to try and offer him some comfort. “He thinks you are the Spirit Maiden, which is why he’s targeting you,”

Link could feel himself trembling, and he dropped his eyes away from Impa’s.

“I want to go home,” he repeated, trying his best to blink back scared tears and avoid just curling into a ball.

“I know,” Impa sighed, and he felt a gentle hand brush through his hair. “Come on, let’s head somewhere safe for now. We can work on getting you home once you’re healed,”

Link nodded, sniffling a bit and swiping at his face with his sleeves.

He hated being so helpless. He hated being so scared.

He just hoped Zelda wasn’t hating herself too much for pushing him. It really wasn’t her fault he ended up down here, being hunted by a demon.

He hoped Impa could find him a way home soon, so that he could apologize for worrying her.

He was done being excited by the surface.

[gamergirl929]

The Intervention (Alex Morgan x Reader)

Anonymous Request:  Would you be willing to do a part 3 for THAT WASN'T THE DOOR!? Where teammates swap stories on catching them and stage an intervention for their sex life while roasting them?

Part 1: That Wasn’t The Door

Part 2: Okay, So It Wasn’t The Door  

Mentions of Smut

“This is stupid.” Alex mumbles, Kelley launching a ball at her in response.  

The forward ducks behind you, peeking over your shoulder with a glare.  

“Bitch.” She whispers, Kelley’s eyes narrowing as she sends her a glare.  

“BACK TO WHAT I WAS ABOUT TO SAY.” Kelley yells, surveying the small crowd, made up of each and every one of your teammates.  

“Wait-

You grunt as Emily punches you in the shoulder, your bottom lip jutted out as you rub your bicep.  

“No need to hit.” You mumble.  

“Oh, YOU and Alex have assaulted us enough...” Megan shakes her head, pointing at her eyes.  

“Assaulted?” You scoff, Ashlyn’s eyes narrowing.  

“Our EYES, you assaulted our EYEBALLS.” Tobin hisses and you cringe, yelping when something smacks you in the side of the head.  

“And don’t even ASK what you two did.” Julie shakes her head as you look at Alex, the woman hiding behind you.  

“Al, don’t make me face them alone.” You whisper yell, the forward shaking her head.  

“Sorry, I can’t hear you.” She whispers, and your eyes narrow.  

“You can’t hide from this Morgan!” Julie yells, Alex huffing in response.  

“Now look what you did, they spotted me.” She grumbles and you bark out a laugh.  

“Because you’re such a great hider Al.”  

“BACK ON TOPIC.” Kelley yells, making you and Alex jump, turning to the defender with wide eyes.  

“No need to yell.” You mumble, wrapping your arms around Alex.  

“KEEP YOUR HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM.” Emily yells, Ashlyn placing a tender hand on her back.  

“Shhhh, it’s okay.” Ali coos, as Ashlyn sends you and Alex a glare.  

“This wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t had caught the two of you screwing around.” She growls, your and Alex’s cheeks flushing.  

“That was Alex's fault.” You point at her, Alex’s blue orbs narrowing.  

“It was not.”

“You were acting a dog in heat-

“SHUT UP. THIS IS AN INTERVENTION.” Kelley yells, the two of you turning to find her, and the rest of your teammates glaring your way.  

“An intervention?” Alex asks and Emily growls.  

“Don’t act like you don’t know what you did.” She whispers, Alex cringing as she slides behind you and hides her face in your back.  

“Look at her! GUILTY!” Megan slaps the turf with the palm of her hand.  

“Why do I have to be in front?” You grumble, Alex barely peeking over your shoulder.  

“THIS IS AN INTERVENTION, BECAUSE YOU TWO WON’T STOP BANGING IN PUBLIC.” Kelley yells angrily, your and Alex’s cheeks blood red as you stare at the defender in horror.  

“OH, so NOW you’re embarrassed!” Julie scoffs and Carli mumbles.  

“Though you’re not when we keep walking in on you doing it.”  

“It happens so often I guess I thought it was part of the fourpla- OW!” You’re cut off when a soccer ball smacks you DIRECTILY in the face, though when you see Christen’s glare, you decide to keep your mouth shut.

“You have scarred the children ENOUGH.”  She yells, gently running a hand down Mallory’s back, as well as Rose’s, while Tobin consoles Lindsey and Sam, meanwhile Tierna is being consoled by Julie.  

“They have ALL seen you in... Compromising positions.” Megan whispers the last word under her breath, covering Tierna’s ears.  

“It hasn’t happened THAT many times...” Alex scoffs, over twenty women turning her at the same time, as if she’d grown a second head.  

“You’re kidding right?” Alyssa scoffs, the usually quiet woman making herself known.

“I mean it’s only been-

“In the hotel?” Megan cuts you off, your lips parting before another voice cuts you off.

“In the hot tub.”

“In the arena.”  

“After practice.”

“DURING practice.”  

“In the locker-room.”  

“OKAY! THAT’S ENOUGH!” Alex yells, the two of you equally red-faced.  

You fidget nervously from where you’re sitting on the turf, glancing at Alex out of the corner of your eye, the woman EQUALLY as red faced as you are.

“Wait, DURING practice!?” Tobin’s eyes widen and Christen nods.  

“Yeah, Alex forgot her...” Christen clears her throat, making air quotations. “Pre wrap.’”  

You wince, LOUDLY.  

“Oh, well don’t get me STARETED on when I caught them in the locker room.” Julie snorts.  

“You think THAT’S bad, I caught them in one of the hotel’s hot tubs, TWICE.” Carli grimaces.  

“Dude, they snuck off during team BONDING to bang in the bathroom.” Emily scoffs, everyone’s eyes widening as they turn to the two of you.  

“Are you SERIOUS!?” Kelley gasps.  

“TEAM BONDING IS SACRED!” Ashlyn gasps.  

“FOR SHAME.” Megan throws an empty bottle of water at the two of you.  

“Blame Alex!” You point at the forward whose eyes nearly bug out of her head.  

“What?! You’re a WILLING participant!” She yells and you shrug, chuckling.  

“I was coerced.”

Alex punches you, HARD in the shoulder.  

“Bullshit.”  

“WERE STILL NOT OVER THIS WHOLE TEAM BONDING THING.” Ashlyn screeches, the two of you jumping, eyes wide.  

“Sorry, but duty calls.” You grin, earning another punch in the shoulder.  

“Oh, does duty call in the bar’s bathroom?” Alyssa asks.  

Everyone gasps, you and Alex looking at the goalie in horror.  

“You. Did. NOT.” Kelley whispers, a hand on her chest.  

“You know how Alex gets when she’s drunk.” You stick your tongue out.

“Oh, and when she’s SOBER?” Julie asks and you smirk, your smirk splitting into a grin as you shrug.  

“Welllllllll...” You hum, chuckling as you rub the back of your neck. “You got me there.”  

Kelley growls.  

“Does this mean you’re going to stop screwing everywhere?” She asks and you clear your throat, glancing at Alex, the forward’s cheeks blood red.  

“We’ll...” She starts, turning towards you.  

“We’ll take it under consideration.”  

Megan sighs loudly.  

“We didn’t want to have to do this...” She starts and your eyes widen.  

“But you’ve left us with no choice.”  

Suddenly, every single one of them pull tiny spray bottles out of their short's pockets, each and every one of them aimed at not only you, but Alex as well.  

“What are-

Alex’s is cut off, letting out a loud squeal as the two of you are sprayed with cold water by your teammates.  

You pout as the group sprays the both of you down, their attack only ceasing when you’re both entirely soaked.  

“You won’t stop screwing like rabbits...” Ashlyn starts.

“So, every time any of us catches you hooking up...” Ali gives the little spray bottle a shake.

“Just like they hose down cats in heat.” Emily says, spraying you directly in the face.

You huff.  

“This could be considered bullying you know.” Alex pouts as she scoots over, hiding behind you.  

“Oh, put me directly in the line of fire.” You grumble, Julie giggling as Carli sprays you in the side of the head.

“Alright! Alright! We’ll stop!” You yell as water runs down your face.  

“Or just not get caught.” Alex mumbles, getting sprayed in the face the second she peeks over your shoulder.  

“I HEARD THAT MORGAN.” Kelley growls.  

Alex giggles against your back.  

“SO, will you stop screwing in public?” Christen asks, eyes narrowed and Alex smirks.  

“We’ll take it under advisement-

“DAMN IT AL.”  Your screech cuts her off as you’re again sprayed by the remainder of the contents of your teammates spray bottles.  

EVENTUALLY they go empty and you huff, the silence allowing you to hear Alex’s giggling.  

“Laugh it up asshole. Laugh it up.”  

[nerdychatterbox]

Thoughts on Ethersea so far

Overall I am ba-da-ba-ba-ba loving it; these characters are fascinating and diverse, the seeds being planted are exciting, and the world-building has been a blast. Here are some specific questions / predictions / issues / standout moments I want to ramble on about:

(Spoilers through episode 7 of Ethersea )

*The Cern family: Devo mentions the Cern family twice; once when pretending to be Jack Noir (says they hired him as a private investigator) and once to Felix (saying they'll cover his debt, no questions asked, in the event of his passing). The first mention felt like a goof, and a good one, but that second mention felt perhaps more grounded... is that Devo's default name to use when lying, or is this family actually connected to him in some way? I'm excited to find out.

*The Katana: when the crew first boards the corsair ship Emery is said to have a katana behind his back, which Griffin mentions is odd ("He reaches behind his back and pulls out a katana, which is weird? And like, sets it down on the ground..." Ep4 1:14:30). Beck later picks it up for self defense [and takes it with her to the Dreams of Debra. She presumably still has it.] I wonder if this was taken from the gallery when they looted it and it is going to turn out to be some amazing artifact from surface life.

*Ship cost: I fully understand that a DM/Game Leader has full authority to (re)design the world while they're in it, and I fully understand not wanting your PCs to have too much power/access too early in a story. Having said that, in ep 2 Griffin told them a ship would cost about 20 lux; I'm betting that's why the Curator was planning to give them 25 lux (enough for a ship and one or two add-ons from Felix). Then they manage to get 42 lux from the Curator, and suddenly getting a run-down, old ship costs 30 lux... I get it, I do, but it still bugs me a little.

*YumNut(TM) shenanigans: When they discover the YumNut(TM) it is very clear that either Clint knows his son well-enough to sense shenanigans or Zoox has great passive perception about caution in the wild, and yet the dice are ignored. When they're working to get the YumNut(TM) Zoox makes it very clear they're not cutting roots, they're gently prying. They specify that they sense unease in the environment (ignored). They even roll an investigation check and get a 17, which Griffin acknowledges is high, but then he says, "We'll sit on that" and never returns to it. There was every opportunity for Zoox to discover the turtle ahead of time and avoid some/all of their Hurtle-based fate, even from the dice, but it didn't happen. I get that a GM (especially in an actual-play podcast situation) would want to keep the tension and allow for the reveal, but it's a bummer to feel like the story isn't true to the tools. And I know good and GD well that if Travis were helming that moment, he'd be dragged for railroading... I'm assuming that the Hurtle, not the YumNut(TM) was what they rolled on the encounter table, so maybe Griffin felt like it wasn't fair to allow them to escape it, but that's not fair either, because they could have ignored Guthrie's suggestion to acquire The Nut in the first place. I don't know, I never really criticize Griffin's story-leading, this just bugged me, especially after how folks treated Travis in Graduation.

*Dr Shaq: Fantastic bit, could've been forgettable, but they all chipped in to make it hella memorable, and NOW the freakin September Pin Of The Month is none other than Dr Shaq!! It's adorable, it's for a good cause, and it makes it more likely we'll see them again, so heck yes.

*The Parrish: I’m loving the hints of backstory so far. I’m used to the boys dropping hints about their personal experience with (and hesitance about) the church, knowing they grew up in it, but I don’t feel like I have tons of reference for Clint responding to that, and I find I’m very curious to see how he’ll participate. Obviously it’ll all be in character, I’m just curious. And this Hand of Guidance is going to be fascinating to learn more about…

*Ship worms (Phantam Sea Coast Co.): I really love the visual of these ship worms sliding up through the floor or walls to do Felix’s bidding, and I’ma need some animatics immediately. Once Griff stared describing them in job-specific attire (one with glasses, one with a visor, etc) I started picturing Lowly Worm from the Richard Scarry books, and it’s giving me life (did I just age myself with that reference? Probably)

*URCHIN: Y’ALL!!! As soon as Griff started describing that thing I KNEW it was a sea urchin, and it is adorable, and I love it, and I want one, please put a plushie in the next merch drop, athankyou! Having this reaction to it probably means it’ll turn out to be a little shit but I don’t care, I’m picturing a soot sprite with a live bomb and I want one!

*Devo: I loved learning that Devo is short for Devotion, and knowing the bois were church kids I love this bit of “the shine is off the apple” in a way that feels tangible for them

[snowflake-of-destruction]

Matchablossom, 22

The vast majority of onlookers were greatly amused by the five year old screaming, "The cake is plastic!" like it was his burden to warn the entire reception hall that they were about to be poisoned. The real trouble was the passionate declaration of, "I don't want to be here! You have to take me home!" as he pulled away from his mother's grip, throwing his entire body into the gesture so he immediately fell to the floor as soon as he broke her hold on his arm.

Eri Nanjo was thoroughly shamed, not just by Kojiro's behavior and how she knew it reflected on her, but by knowing that not everyone would be easily fooled into thinking the next words her son shouted as he threw his flailing temper tantrum, "You don't want to be here either! We're going to grab the most expensive gift from the catalog and get out!" were just something he'd made up with the wild imagination of youth and not some tasteless, glib comment that had first come from her.

Eri tried to calm Kojiro down, quietly, calmly, not causing more of a scene, wishing Kazuhiku was there to play disciplinarian, but the small boy was having none of it. His shirt was strangling him. His mother had told him there was going to be karaoke later, but he wasn't supposed to participate in the singing. Now, he had discovered the pretty cake in the corner with all the decorations was plastic except for a piece for the bride and groom. He was sure he was oppressed. He'd heard his father use that word before. Oppression was a Very Serious Issue, but when Kojiro talked about it, he wasn't taken seriously.

Finally, Kojiro was picked up around the middle with a deep groan and a frustrated tone of, "If you're going to act like a baby, I suppose I'll have to treat you like a baby. We will talk about your behavior at home, and when your father is back from his trip, there will be consequences."

Kojiro could have twisted around more, kicked, made his mother drop him, even gone completely limp and turned himself into dead weight. He didn't. He tensed at first in shock, but then, perhaps just working on automatic instinct while he regained his bearings and plotted his next move, he helped right himself into an easier hold as his mother balanced him against her hip like he was a baby again, and wrapped his arms around her neck. He didn't even keep screaming, stupefied into silence by the indignity of it all (Lying on the floor hadn't been undignified. That was an organized protest from the oppressed).

"They have a plastic cake," he found the words of his best defense after a long moment, softened voice scratching from the previous wailing, begging his mother to consider the dire circumstances that had led him to madness. It would have been anyone's final straw. He wiped not just his nose but his entire face with the back of his sleeve, creating yet another etiquette error. "My hair is crunchy and it makes my brains crunchy too." Eri had put some gooey stuff in his hair to make it smooth instead of sticking up or curling at the back like it liked to. Kojiro was not the biggest fan. "Sorry, Mommy."

He wasn't sure his apology was enough. His mother was smiling again, but it was the type of smile she usually gave really slow cashiers at the store and people with big dogs they met on walks. That was a problem for future Kojiro though. "Your hair looks pretty, Mommy."

"Thank you." Eri patted it with her free hand to make sure the style really was still all in the right place. She wasn't sure how much of a mess she looked after struggling with Kojiro. Her most pressing worry in the moment was his shoes leaving dark marks on her kimono, however--though it was doubtful anything could embarrass her more. "And the cake is plastic so it can be a fancy centerpiece. We'll be served real cake from the kitchen after the bride and groom cut their piece. There's no reason to be upset."

"You should have said," Kojiro replied, regretful, still not for the tantrum, but for the trouble later that could have been avoided. Poor future Kojiro. And poor present Kojiro who was sat down in an uncomfortable chair at a table full of boring looking adults and not only no cake but no food in sight.

There was one other non-adult at the table. Kojiro hadn't seen him at first because he was slumped down in his chair as low as he could go, making it look empty, but then a pretty lady with flowers in her hair had ordered, "Say hello, Kaoru," and a tuft of bright pink hair and a pair of eyes covered by glasses much larger than should have been allowed on such a small face appeared over the edge of the table.

"Hello, Kaoru," the mumbled defiance came from the general direction of the eyes.

The pretty lady apologized, though to Kojiro's mother rather than to him, which adults were always doing.

"You look like a bug," Kojiro informed the eyes, conversationally.

"You look like a dumb monkey," the eyes shot back.

More rebukes and apologies came from the mothers, though the man seated to the left of the eyes let out a warm, booming laugh and pronounced that, "They're making friends! They're boys!"

"He's not a boy. He's a gorilla," the eyes retorted, beating Kojiro before he could call him a bug again.

"Did you make your hair pink to match the cake?" Kojiro swung his legs out as far as they would go, but couldn't reach to kick pink bug boy under the table.

"Yes," Kaoru said, suddenly serious, though only for a moment before he giggled. He scooted up in his chair a bit--possibly because Kojiro was getting closer to kicking him--revealing a lopsided smile that Kojiro found himself returning, even though he had been ready to swear pink bug boy his enemy not even a moment ago.

"Nuh uh," Kojiro shot back. "I know you. You're in my class. You always had pink hair."

"No way! I dyed it," Kaoru insisted. "I don't even go to kindergarten."

"Do too! You always take the best paint set when we do art."

"I need to practice. I'm going to be a famous artist." Kaoru pushed his giant glasses up his nose. "Or an astronaut. Or a robot."

"You can't be a robot when you grow up," Kojiro scoffed. "You build a robot."

"I'm going to build a robot and make it be my friend so I always have one." Kaoru turned serious once more, though this time it seemed a more serious kind of serious to Kojiro, not the joking, lying straight-faced kind of serious--and that made Kojiro's chest hurt for some reason. Kaoru was just a stupid bug boy with pink gum hair, but he should have a human friend. Kaoru's mom did that pursed lip and watery-eyed look adults did when you said something that made them sad, but she didn't say anything to Kaoru, instead talking to Kojiro's mom about "troubles with the move."

"A robot isn't a friend, dummy," Kojiro explained patiently, continuing before the red blotches that rose on Kaoru's bug face could turn into Kaoru yelling at him, and them both getting in trouble, "I can be a friend though. I'll be your best friend. I have two best friends already, but you can be one too."

"You want to be my friend?" Kaoru blinked incredulously.

"That's what I said. Do you have trouble hearing?" Kojiro tried one last time to kick Kaoru, who tucked his legs up on the chair and stuck his tongue out.

"What if I don't want to be your friend?"

The nerve of some bug-people. "I can do five jumping jacks and almost a cartwheel," Kojiro explained his most praiseworthy qualities. "And I am a really good frog catcher."

Kaoru's eyes lit up behind his glasses. "Do you have a pet frog? I have a pet frog. Her name is Carla."

"You should have brought her to the wedding!" Kojiro gasped, sitting up straighter.

"I tried!" Kaoru waved his hands in animated distress. "I wasn't allowed."

"That's dumb," Kojiro commiserated. He bet it was Kaoru's mom that said no. She wasn't as pretty now that he knew she was racist against frogs.

"You're dumb," Kaoru shot back, smiling through the unnecessary insult.

"No, you're dumb," Kojiro retorted, though it was just for the purposes of completing the conversation. Kaoru was cool for a paint stealer with stupid glasses. He had a pet frog. "Look! They have fire!" Kojiro shouted, all at once distracted as he caught sight of the bride and groom going from table to table, lighting candles all over the reception hall.

Kaoru rose up on his knees to see better, craning his neck and answering in an awed voice, "Fire is my very favorite thing in the world." His mother tried to interrupt with a bid for him to sit back down properly, but he didn't listen.

"No, it's robots," Kojiro volleyed back without a pause. "You want a robot best friend. You want to marry a robot."

"No, I want you for a best friend." Kaoru had another one of his weird, serious moments.

"Do you want to marry me too?" Kojiro tried to counteract his pink haired new friend's gravity.

"Can we have a lot more candles?" Kaoru asked.

Kojiro had expected to be called dumb again or for Kaoru to declare the idea gross, but this was better. He'd rather marry Kaoru and his pet frog than a girl. "Yeah! And a cake that isn't plastic!"

"The cake is plastic?" Kaoru stopped twisting around in his seat in order to scrunch his nose in distaste in Kojiro's direction. "They should go to jail."

And then was when Kojiro really knew they belonged together.

[dragonheart-swtor]

Sith Inquisitor Storyline: Drunk History Version

Y’all, and by y’all I mean one person (@sith-shenanigans thank you very much), asked for it, and I live to repeat this over and over for others’ amusement, so here it is. Have my summary of the pinball machine that is the Sith Inquisitor storyline, from memory, originally drafted a while back in DMs with a friend who’s never played SWTOR. Spoilers for the Sith Inquisitor storyline, obviously.

Without further ado: Let us begin.

- So your story begins as a recently sort-of-freed slave walking off a ship and onto Hell: The Planet. (The nonhuman Inquisitor immediately experiences 2483947 microaggressions.)

- You have to compete with a bunch of other people! Only one of you is not going to die and the overseer has already picked his favorite, seemingly purely because he happens to have red skin. They will both (the overseer and Teacher’s Pet) proceed to be as annoying as possible for the rest of the Korriban story.

- multiple people try to kill you, but you’re the protagonist, so fuck them

- “Teacher’s Pet, you go to the library and translate these texts. Protagonist, you go to this ancient tomb and figure out how to retrieve an artifact from a lock that no one has been able to open in ten thousand years.” “Libraries are boring anyway. Yawn.”

- You finally get to smackdown with Teacher’s Pet, which is satisfying as hell. Unfortunately the overseer gets pissy about it. Fortunately, the Sith you’ve been competing to be the apprentice of decided she liked you early on and has also been playing favorites, so you don’t die immediately.

- your master is great! much more into positive reinforcement than most Sith.

- at some point you semi-accidentally steal someone else's cult on Nar Shaddaa and now they worship you as a nigh-on god. whoops. you just kind of... leave and let them run their own business. you pay them visits later in the storyline.

- you also become part bug so you can go skinny dipping in radioactive waste. it’s fine, we promise.

- your master is trying to steal your body because turns out she's actually really old and kind of dying so she plans on kicking you out of your body, transplanting her own soul in your place, killing her old body, and assuming your identity after "you" "killed" "your master"! that's not great, better not let her do that.

-  you successfully didn't let her do that! wait, now she's sharing a body with one of your companions, an ancient monster who you kind of forced into submission and who serves you rather unwillingly now. there is apparently nothing that can be done about this so sometimes your eight-foot-tall monster not-friend talks in a high, unnervingly smooth feminine voice and tries to convince you she's on your side now that she's forced by this new body to not harm you. this is also not great but what are you gonna do. he is also Not Pleased about this by the way, and really who can blame him.

- some darth on the dark council named Thanaton decides to get pissy with you for reasons I don't remember and now he's trying to kill you. what the fuck.

-  he actually almost does kill you but your old master's other apprentices, who are now your apprentices, save you from the brink of death.

- (the apprentices, by the way, are very sweet and I love them. they’re murdered by thanaton almost immediately.)

-  your solution to "I need more power, fast", for some godforsaken reason, is "I'm going to learn to walk the line between life and death and EAT GHOSTS" and I wish I were exaggerating this

- you go out and eat a bunch of ghosts of old Sith on various planets

- subpoint to this: on one of these planets, you accomplish this by coercing the ghost's descendant, a Jedi padawan named Ashara, to get the ghost to appear so you can eat him. You end up murdering her masters in the process because one way or another they find out about your plan. She is understandably horrified by this turn of events and, feeling she has no chance of returning to the Jedi, reluctantly joins your crew and either (Light Side Quizzy) learns to balance light and dark sides of the Force and becomes ultimately stronger for it, or (Dark Side Quizzy) lives in abject terror of you for the rest of the storyline. I love her dearly as well. fortunately she is not murdered by thanaton.

- congrats! you ate enough ghosts to have enough power to beat thanaton up!

- unfortunately, you have Ate Too Many Ghosts Disease now and need immediate medical attention.

- your mind kind of just Shatters and you may or may not have hallucinations for a while iirc. either way you need help or you're just gonna disintegrate slowly until the ghosts overwhelm you and take over. you go to Voss and participate in some wild Force ritual they've got to take care of that. it's a fun time

- your body is also having a bad time and that also needs fixing; I don't remember where you go for this (Belsavis, I think?) but you end up checking out a machine made by a long-dead alien civilization and the machine turns out to a) be sentient and b) be responsible for CREATING A GOOD PORTION OF THE GALAXY'S NEAR-HUMAN SPECIES, IF NOT ALL OF THEM, AND DISSEMINATING THEM TO THE GALAXY AS PART OF THE RAKATA'S EXPERIMENTS ON CREATING FORCE-SENSITIVE LIFEFORMS IN HOPES OF KEEPING THEIR OWN SPECIES FROM DYING OUT BECAUSE THEY WERE SUPER RACIST AND EVENTUALLY THAT RACISM KICKED THEM IN THE ASS IN THE FORM OF A MASS REVOLUTION THAT WIPED THEM OUT COMPLETELY BUT THE MACHINE IS STILL HERE

- all right I’m calm sorry I derailed for a moment

- I have a lot of thoughts about things

-  anyway the machine bUILDS YOU A NEW FUCKING BODY and you're good to go now

-  (by the way, depending what species you're playing, it's entirely possible you learn at this point that your entire species only exists because of this machine!)

- (anyway.)

- okay, mind fixed, body fixed, ghosts consumed, we're good to go! time to murder a dark councilor!

- "we do that"

- except you don't because you're on corellia and this dipshit challenges you to a kaggath without really ever explaining in detail what a kaggath is or what the rules (if any) are, we just know it seems to be the ancient and very formal Sith way of saying "meet me in the denny's parking lot at 3am if you want an ass-kicking", and then hE RUNS OFF TO DROMUND KAAS WHICH DEPENDING ON WHAT GALAXY MAP YOU BELIEVE IS UP TO FIVE DAYS' TRAVEL AWAY

- YOU'RE CANONICALLY JUST CHASING THIS LITTLE BITCH THROUGH SPACE FOR FIVE DAYS AFTER HE CHALLENGED YOU

-  he then goes to the Dark Council to try to convince them to help him kill you and you literally have to just go to the Dark Council chambers too and kick in the door and go "HEARD YOU WERE TALKIN SHIT" in front of everyone

- (which to be fair is basically Sith philosophy in a nutshell)

-  Ravage and Marr spend this entire council meeting just exchanging tired glances and going "no, fuck you, why can't you kill them, they're your problem. fight for our entertainment now. fuck you"

- (Darth Baras did this exact same shit earlier the same day, by the way, with the Sith Warrior. and by “earlier the same day” I mean “like fifteen minutes prior to this.”)

- you fight Thanaton. to no one's surprise, because you're the protagonist and because he's being a little bitch about it, you kick his ass and slaughter him in front of everyone

- half the Council stands up and you just kind of go "oh shit I'm gonna die"

- but no

- you're being promoted

- congration you done it you're a dark councilor now

- someone complains because wait, they're not even a darth, you can't be a dark councilor if you're not even a darth

- first person responds with "well fuck you then, we'll make them a darth. hey you. your name is Darth Nox (dark side)/Imperius (light side)/Occulus (neutral) now. take a seat"

- "but - what?"

- "take a fuckin seat, babe"

- "o- okay" 

- "you run the entire Ancient Knowledge sector now, by the way, despite the fact that you may or may not be illiterate due to having been raised a slave, because that was what Thanaton ran and we only have the one job opening since the Warrior just killed Baras"

- (the Warrior, freshly coined the Emperor's Wrath officially, waves from their corner where they're cleaning Baras's blood off their boots)

- "I - okay, I guess"

and that’s the Sith Inquisitor storyline. That’s a wrap, folks, roll credits. if this gets enough notes and/or if literally anyone says they’d like to see it I may also post the Imperial Agent and/or do other class stories, I enjoy these way too much

[wordynerdygurl]

The Guy

Author’s Note:  Hello my lovelies!  I have to say, I love writing requests and taking part in Challenges.  It helps me sharpen my skills!  But, with the insane way the world is right now, I offered to participate in one... then lost the details.  So, with my sincere appreciation for @lancsnerd​ ,who kindly sent me a reminder about my missing “assignment”, I present the following! Summary/ Prompt:  A quote of “He’s the guy” and my boy, Loki Pairing:  Female Reader x Loki Warnings:  Swearing, Implied Smut, Fluff, Soft Loki

“Are you gonna tell me what I want to know?  Or… do we have to do this the hard way?”  Gravel filled and low, the Winter Soldier had you pinned against the rough brick wall, his metal arm holding your wrists together.

“Ooph!  Bucky!  Get off!”  “Make me, princess!”  

Kicking your legs free, you swung around Bucky, locking him in a bear hug from behind.  Squeezing him with your thighs, your forearms wrapped around his strong neck, “Tap out, Buck!” Wheezing, staggering back, Bucky tried spinning you around but even his metal arm was unable to grab you, “Never!” Applying more pressure to his windpipe, you grunted, “Give me the win!” “No way”, you felt his hard hand grip your thigh, breaking your hold.  Suddenly you were untethered, above your feet was the ceiling of the gym, and then there was no breath in your lungs.  Bucky had managed to flip you over and slam you down onto the waiting mat with reverberating force.  Gasping loudly, you curved up to meet Bucky’s waiting hand, “You alright, doll?”

Shaking your head, sitting up, “That was a dirty trick, Barnes.  I had you and you know it.” “Yea… but you still haven’t answered my question, so I couldn’t let you win.”  Pulling you to your feet easily, Bucky threw his arms around you, his warm hug an easy way to make sure there would be no lasting damage from your sparring session. “Why do you want to know so bad?”  Lowering yourself to the workout bench, forearms resting on your knees, you kept a close watch on your sparring partner. Tossing you a towel, Bucky grabbed both of your water bottles, sitting down on the mat in front of you.  Wiping the sweat away from your forehead, slugging down the cool water, you kicked at the super soldier sitting criss cross applesauce.  Leaning back, resting his weight on his arms stretched behind him, “Because...  I worry about you.  I want to make sure you’re safe… and I want to believe this guy is good enough for you.” Considering his words, you snapped your bottle shut, nodding, “I get it, Bucky.  I really do.  I’m just… not ready to talk about it.” Sensing your hesitation, Bucky patted your knee, “Just know that I’m here when you are ready.  And if he fucks up, I’ll kill him.” Laughing, you stood up with a groan, “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind!” At dinner that night, Steve knocked into your shoulder, “Hey kiddo.”

“Hey Stevie!  How are you?” “It’s spaghetti night, what more does a guy need?”  It was an easy exchange, making you chuckle as he loaded a plate high with pasta and sauce before settling himself into the chair next to you. Unfolding a napkin to lay over his trousers, “Bucky told me you’ve met someone?” Flicking your eyes to the Winter Soldier, who all of the sudden was very interested in something Tony was saying, you munched on your garlic bread.  Swallowing thickly and patting your mouth clean, you turned to Steve, “Oh, he did huh?” “Yes… but he says you won’t give up this guy’s name?”  Concern was present on your friend’s face.  While you appreciated Steve's sentiment, it wasn't necessary, not entirely.  You knew what you were doing and you didn't want to be talked out of it, even by your well intentioned friends.

"I don't know why everyone cares so much.  He's a guy… I'm a girl… it's traditional and boring."

Swirling a fork through his saucy plate, lifting those dutiful blue eyes to yours, "So why the secrecy?"

Chewing, thoughtful, you considered Steve's question.  It was valid.  You were quick to acknowledge that, answering, "Um… because we're still in that love bubble.  Ya know?"

Chiming in, Bucky curious now, "Love bubble?  I don't know what that is… what does that mean?  Love bubble?"

"It's that time in a new relationship when… um… it's like…" words failing, you desperately tried to give structure to your argument.

Interrupted by Loki, sulking at the end of the long table, "She doesn't want to share her paramore.  Greedily, she wants to keep the pair in a love bubble.  Separate and safe from any interference.  Unpopped, if you will."

"Is that true? You don't want us to bug you?"  Bucky's eyes widened at the thought.

Shrugging, you dug around for another meatball, "Kinda… Look, it's not that I don't love you, Buck.  Or that I don't trust you, Steve.  It's just… all of you can be a lot to deal with.  And-" looking at the faces of each of your Avenger friends, "-my… guy… I really, really like him.  I don't want to scare him away."

Admitting it out loud, that was taking a lot of your courage but you were being completely honest.  This guy, he was just about perfect and you didn't want to blow that by bringing him around your overprotective people so soon.  Natasha, the group's mama bear, smiled.  "Seems reasonable to me.  Give her some time, fellas… if he's half as great as she says, we'll like him well enough."

Steve, smiling a little in your direction, "I don't know who he is… but it seems like he makes you happy!"

Bucky, over protective, kept hounding you, "When will I get to meet him?"

"Soon, Buck.  I promise." 

"I wonder who it is… this man you care about so much that you're protecting him from us, your dearest friends!"  It was Loki, musing from afar that made the observation, his sharp eyes on you.

"I told you-" It was Tony’s turn to interrupt, loudly calling, “FRIDAY?”

“Yes, Mr. Stark?” “Start a pool.  Five dollar buy in, guesses on who this guy is… whoever has the winning answer gets the kitty!” “Tony!  Not cool!  And, not necessary!  You guys don’t really need to do this!”  But your protests went unheard as chatter erupted and a round of bills were flung on the table. Steve, murmuring to Bucky across the table, “What was that guy at the coffee shop?  Cameron?  Carson?” Snapping his fingers, Bucky answered, “Carlton!”

“He’s my guess, Tony.”  “Shit, Steve.  That’s not fair… but, ok.  Ok, my guess is Matt.  That guy from the pizza place who kept bringing extra chicken fingers for you!  You’d never admit to a date with him!”  Bucky, smug and pleased, sat back content with his detective work.

“Natasha?  Thoughts?”  Tony was typing away, his interface with FRIDAY recording all the back and forth, compiling the list of possible boyfriend candidates. Tapping her lip, Nat watched you, “Hmm… Is it Warren?  The kid from China Star who rode the Kawasaki and always wanted to take you for a ride?”

Clint leaned over you, grabbing a breadstick as he threw down a ten, “I want to put Charles, from the IT department on the list… and Juan, the recycling rep.  Both of those guys follow you around like puppies and I could see you taking pity on at least one of them!” “Nope.  No way!  She went out with Charles once already.  He was the guy who ate her french fries at dinner.  Big No-No!”  “Rhodes, how do you remember that shit?  Fine, not Charles then.  What about Frankie?  The dude from the diner?”  Clint asked the assembled team, looking for someone to back him up.

Mortified, hiding behind your hands, you grimaced.  The list, it kept growing, and you could feel icy eyes of judgement lighting you up from across the room.  You knew you’d have to answer questions later.

Jane, having joined Thor at the table, was getting caught up on your situation.  Conspiring with her Norse God of a boyfriend, she chuckled, slapping a bill on the table with the announcement, “Our money is on Loki.”

Silence overtook the room.  Everybody stared at the small, brunette scientist, evaluating if her suggestion was real or a joke.  A guffaw broke out of you and quickly gathered steam, propelling you directly into a hiccup filled giggle fit.  In a flash everyone joined in, the idea of you and Loki being together was at once so hilarious and unbelievable. It was also diverting enough that the talk of your love life died completely.  Grateful and satisfied, you finished dinner without any other questions, even offering to do the dishes.  While you were scraping remnants into the compost bucket, you felt the room’s temperature drop, noticing that Loki had slid into the room, "Love bubble is it?"

Dropping the plates into the sink, plunging your hands into the soapy water, his strong ones glide over your shoulders, "Yes.  I'm really enjoying our little bubble of love."

“Me too.”  Pressing a small kiss to the curve of your neck, Loki pulled your body close, hugging you tightly from behind.  As Loki was nearly a foot taller than you, it was nothing to tip your head up, his welcome mouth finding yours for a soft kiss.  Curving your back, your bottom rubbed against his pelvis, his desire already rising. “Although, they had a lot of suggestions, my innocent little kitten.  Should I be worried?” Shaking your head, “No.  None of those… meatballs compare with you, Loki.” “Good.  That makes me glad… and I’m pleased to know how coveted you are, my pet.”  Roving hands took the liberty of sliding under the hem of your shirt, fingertips just grazing over your bra covered breasts.

Sighing into Loki’s loving touch, “Not that you were much help!"

"What can I say?  I like seeing you squirm"  his lethal voice purred, warm against your ear.

Pirouetting in his arms, your damp hand brushing back a strand of dark curls, "Jane almost gave us away.” A small smile, almost sad, pulled down Loki’s lips, “Is the idea of you loving me so hilarious?”

“Not to me.”

His head dipped, lowering those pink lips to your own, almost colliding… when laughter, drawing near, broke your moment of connection. Effectively ending your private chat, Thor stomped confidently into the room unaware of the way Loki jumped back as if scalded, or the way your hands trembled at the possibility of discovery.  “Brother!  I need to speak with you!” Flicking his desire filled eyes to yours, Loki smirked, “Of course… to what do I owe the honor?” “I have asked Jane to be my bride!” “Brother!  It’s about time Jane made an honest man out of you!”  Loki, more than a little surprised but genuinely pleased for his sibling, hugged Thor close.  “YAY!  That’s so exciting!  Have you guys picked a date yet?”  Wiping your hands dry, leaning against the sink, you were happy to hear all of Thor's big news. Shaking his blonde head excitedly, “We shall be wed in three months time… and I was hoping that Loki would play for our special day?” 

Loki, blushing a deep rosy pink, “Thor… It’s been years.” 

“So?  What of that, God of Mischief?  You always find a way”, wagging a finger at his dark hued brother, Thor’s teasing grin was sweet. Piling on excuses, trying to gently defer his brother’s marital request, Loki added, “I don’t think I have a suitable instrument.”

That was enough for your mouth to hang open, “Wait… you want Loki to perform?  Like play music?  At your wedding?”  “Of course!  He’s the best chamber musician in Asgard.  Possibly the entire Nine Realms.”  Pride filled Thor’s words at Loki’s accomplishments, something you found impossibly charming, even if you couldn’t quite believe what he said was true.  

“Thor, really… I don't think-" Clapping a broad hand onto his younger brother's shoulder, Thor’s tone changed, “Music from home, Loki. It would mean so much, especially since… Mother and Father-”  

Loki held up a hand, stopping Thor from going further into emotional sincerity, unable to bear the rawness in his brother’s words.  Closing his eyes, agreeing, “Fine.  Ok, I’ll… I’ll do it!’  Loki could sense your watchful eyes on him, curious and questioning, as he gave into his older brother.    

With his easy smile spreading, Thor’s joy pushed the cloud of sadness away, “Our special day will be filled with music!  And flowers!  Jane has a whole… Pinterest board?  I don’t know what that is but she’s filled it with ideas-” spinning around to grab you off your feet, Thor continued, “And you’ll be invited too!  All of the team must come, not just my wayward brother!” Getting swept up in Thor’s passionate excitement, you laughed, offering up more congratulations and promises of attending.  As your toes touched the floor, Thor pulled Loki away, “Jane says you will take Darcy as a date for the ceremony.” Tilting his head, Loki shrugged shyly, speaking loud enough for you to hear, “Uh… actually, I already have a date.” Gripping Loki in a rib smashing hug, Thor squeezed his little brother tightly, “That is marvelous news!  Jane will be so pleased!  So, who’s the lucky girl?” Smiling, you watched them go, happy to see the pair so connected.  You didn’t need to hear Loki’s answer.  You knew who he’d be taking to Thor’s wedding.

That night, as you were toweling dry your cropped hair, a pop of green light signaled the arrival of your secret boyfriend.  He was positively electric, grabbing you by the terry robe covered hips, and kissing you swiftly.  Loki's hands rubbed over the soft fabric on your back until they cradled your smiling face, "Hmm… you smell so clean that it makes me think dirty thoughts."

Giggling, you rose up on your toes, curling your hands into his tangle of dark hair.  You bent his waiting mouth to your own, savoring the sensation of shared breath, as your tongue flicked over Loki's lips, “Dirtier than that?” Nodding, his heated look hungry, “Oh yes.” "How dirty are we talking?", you teased, resting your cheek against Loki's chest.  His rich laugh, rumbling through his core, joined your own.  Pressing his forehead to yours, Loki sighed sweetly, "I missed you…"

"I just saw you at dinner!"

"But it's been too long.  I… I need more."

Turning to hang up your towel, over your shoulder, "More what, my prince?"

"More of you."  Having gained on you while your back was turned, Loki was behind you now, wrapping his long arms around your waist.

Squealing, delighted, "LOKI!  Someone will hear!"

Dropping you quickly on the mattress, Loki shimmied up beside you, toying with the open collar on your robe, "So?"

"So… they'll find you here."

Thoughtfully, Loki’s proud look captured your own, "Maybe I don't care.  Not anymore… Maybe I don't want to keep you and me… us, a secret."

Swallowing hard, your gaze trapped by Loki's earnest expression, "Really?  You're ready to pop the love bubble?"

His fingertips brushed over the thin skin between your breasts, "Yes?  I… I think so.  Are you?"

Biting on your bottom lip, scrutinizing his handsome face, "Loki, I…"

Freezing, his hand stalled, and Loki sat back on his heels.  Looking out your window, shoulders slumping in resignation, "You don't want to tell anyone.  You are ashamed to be with me."

Swiftly sitting up, cupping his face with your hands, crooning, "No, no, no, no, no, no!"

Shrugging away from your touch, "You don't care for me, not like you claim to, if you won't declare your feelings for all to hear."

"Loki!  That's not it at all."  

Letting you tug him closer, Loki's tear filled eyes still refused to meet your own, "Loki… I… I love you.  And… I just don't want to share you.  Not yet, anyway.  That is-" putting your arms around his neck until you were nose to nose with the red-rimmed eyes of an emotional Odinson, "-my only reason for keeping our romance quiet."

Whispering, Loki was too shocked to shake you off, "You… love me?"  His voice wavered, as if the idea of being loved by you had never been a real possibility, as if something impossible was occurring right here and now.

On your knees, sighing, you started pressing tiny kisses along those sharp as knives cheekbones, "Yes.  I am crazy in love with you, Loki Odinson."

Loki had held you tightly before; in the night when terrific dreams haunted his sleep, in the night when he claimed your body for his own.  But this embrace, after telling the dark Prince the truth in your heart, had no equal.  

Still taller than you, even though you were both kneeling, Loki's right arm wove around your waist forcing your hips flush with his own.  His left supported your back, his hand cradling the nape of your neck, helping him kiss you soundly.  It was conquering.  

You were his.  Body and soul.  What's more?  He was yours.

Coming up for air, panting from the work of loving you, "My dove, my dearest one… I love you too."

Shucking your robe was easy and Loki savored the lavender soap scented skin he exposed.  If a spot of you wasn’t kissed, it was licked. If not licked, nipped.  If not nipped, it was caressed.  And Loki was very thorough. When you mewled, weak from forced pleasure, “Loki… please.  Make love to me.” he was eager to comply. “Look at me, darling girl.”  Puffing out your pleasure filled breath, skin dewy with perspiration, you met Loki’s eyes with your own.  Resting his hand over your heart, he lifted your own, letting you feel the pattern of his pulse.  “It beats for you and for you alone.” In the afterglow, laying in Loki’s arms, you stifled another giggle.  Groggy from exertion, Loki opened one eye, “What’s so funny?” “You never told me you play a musical instrument.” “You never asked.”

“Are you any good?”

“You’ll find out when you accompany me to Thor’s wedding.” --- With his heavy cello, Loki took a seat on the edge of the dance floor, taking just a moment to get settled.  A beautifully strange combination of concentration and relaxation mingled over the features you loved so dearly.  Fiddling with strings, taking a moment to tune the instrument, you admired his long, talented fingers as they took their place on the frets. The din of conversation was silenced when the first low note of Loki’s song echoed through the ballroom.  Everyone paused, entranced at the melody weaving its way through the throng of well wishers.  Many were surprised, but not you, not entirely. You knew how long Loki had been preparing for this moment.  It wasn’t all about making Thor’s day special, although, that was surely part of it.  No, he planned to seduce every single person with sound.  Giving all of the attendees a taste of what being loved by Loki was like, he hoped The Avengers would see that he was worthy of you in all ways. Mesmerized, the bow danced over the strings, each note perfectly played.  It wasn’t hard to picture those shapely digits dancing over your skin in the dark of night.  Sending a shiver up your back, you sipped at your champagne, unwilling to take your eyes off of Loki. “I didn’t know he was so talented.”  Bucky, stiff in his tuxedo, sidled up to you with Steve in tow. “Me either.  Look at those fingers fly!” “Guys… hush.”  Shooting a silencing glare their way, you let the music transport you, swaying just a bit at the soothing sound. Too soon, in your opinion, the last lingering note of Loki’s song filled the hall.  Rising swiftly, Loki bowed at the applause, then turned to the happy couple.  Thor hugged his brother close, while Loki kissed Jane’s hand with a gentlemanly air.  Conversations started again, quiet at first, then gaining strength as Loki strode across the room.  Snagging a glass of champagne from a passing tray, his eyes trained on you, Loki accepted accolades as he moved ever closer.  Another server took his empty glass as Loki finally made his way to you.

Scooping you up, Loki spun you slowly in a circle, your gown snapping behind you in an emerald wave of chiffon and lace.  “Loki!  Come on, put me down!” “As my lady commands”, when your mouth passed close enough to his own, Loki kissed you as if you had never kissed before.  You pushed your hands through his dark locks, a hand on each side of his face, “You were amazing, babe.  Just amazing!”

“You really think so?” “Absolutely!”  His arm settled on your waist, keeping you tight to his side, as you were handed another glass of bubbly.

Bucky, leaning against Steve, wore a look of wide eyed shock, “Um.  Loki… what the fuck are you doing?"

"Agent Barnes, do I really need to explain?"

Mouth dropping open, Bucky gaped, "He’s the guy?  Really?  You’re telling me Loki is the guy?” “She’s not telling us, Buck… she’s showing us.”

“But Stevie…?  Loki?  You?  You’re the guy who makes her happy?  The one who she’s been covering for?” Pressing a chaste kiss to your forehead, just a touch guilty, “I am.  And, I’m madly in love with her.” “I’m happy Bucky.  Stevie… really.  Loki is… he’s my everything.  I love him, too.”  

As your secret was outed, the group formed a circle around you and Loki.  Questions were shouted, congratulations extolled, Loki was clapped on the back more than once.  Natasha gave you a wink and the "ok", which was really all the approval you needed. 

“So, who won the pool then?”, Clint couldn’t help asking. “Me… and Thor”, the bride stepped right up to Tony with her hand out ready to take the prize money. “No fair!  He’s your brother in law now.  He probably told you!”  Rhodey chimed in, unsatisfied with the final results. Defending her methods, Jane spun in her wedding dress, “No way!  I used my powers of scientific deduction.  I knew she was head over heels for Loki the night we announced our engagement.” Wondering, you looked at Jane, “You did?  How?  I mean, I didn't tell anyone.  We didn't tell anyone ” “You didn't have to!  You two wouldn’t look at each other.  Dead give away.”  Counting her cash, Jane smiled at you. “That may be true, but I promise you this, Odinson… break her heart and I’ll kill you.”  Bucky shook Loki’s hand good naturedly, if a little too long, stopping only when Steve pulled him away. Gazing down at you, adoration evident in his face, Loki husked, “Not to worry, Agent Barnes.  She has my heart you see... and I plan to be her guy as long as she’ll have me.”

Tagging my Minxes:  @lancsnerd​ @vodka-and-some-sass​ @just-random-obsessions​ @brokenthelovely​ @lots-of-loki​ @thefallenbibliophilequote​ @sammy-jo1977​ @queenofmischief​ @iamverity​ @iluvsumbucky​ @unadulteratedwizardlove​ @wolfsmom1​ @procrastinatinglikeabitch​ @mizfit2​ @shxdowofdarkness​ @nonsensicalobsessions​ @ahintofkiwistrawberry​ @jessiejunebug​ @rorybutnotgilmore​ @crystalizedcaramel​ @lokislittlecorner​ @scrumptious-finicky-illusion​ @capcapcapsicle​ @jamielea81​ @caffiend-queen​ @thenatalie @otakumultimuse-hiddlewhore​ @is-it-madness​ @jenjen8675309​ @alexakeyloveloki​ @poetic-fiasco​ 

[hazza-bear-care]

Bound to Adoration

A/N: I came up with this idea when I was high, so I hope this makes sense in execution. 

Pairings: Steve Rogers x Fem!Reader x Bucky Barnes

Summary: Reader went out for a girl’s night and comes home crossfaded. Steve isn’t happy, Bucky and Reader try to calm him down. 

Warnings: Mentions of drug use and drinking

~~~~

The night was amazing. After months and months of excruciating and time consuming missions, (Y/N) was very happy for the opportunity to go out for a night of fun with a group of her girlfriends. Club hopping was a good idea on paper, but not in execution seeing as all 6 women were stumbling through the streets wearing ridiculous heels. At the third club, the group decided to make that one the end of their clubbing journey, the sticky vinyl booth their home for the rest of the night. 

“(Y/N)! Wanna go smoke a joint really quickly? I promise we’ll be back soon.” Nodding, the girls slipped out of the booth and to the front entrance of the club, the blunt already blazing. The air around them was cold, but that was soon forgotten as the skunky smell surrounded the girls with each inhale, the weed and alcohol mingling nicely. (Y/N)’s head was fuzzy, her already cheery mood boosted even more due to the joint that was rolling through her fingers. A few moments later, the joint was snuffed against the brick wall of the club and the pair decided to head back into the sweaty atmosphere of the building behind them to enjoy the rest of the partying time. 

At 3 a.m., the six girls decided to call it a night after two decided to participate in a vomiting contest. They split up into two Ubers and (Y/N)’s friend sparked up another blunt, of course after confirming that it was okay with the man driving the car. The little sedan was soon hotboxed to the max, a steady cloud of weedy air settling over the group. (Y/N) took one last hit as the Uber pulled up to the gate of the Avenger’s compound. 

“Do you want me to walk up with you?” The driver asked, being the only sober one in the car. 

“No thank you. I appreciate it though! Night, guys!” (Y/N) got out of the car and winced at the sharp gravel under her bare feet, her heels tucked securely under her arm. She started to shiver as she punched in her gate code, the warmth of the compound seeming too far away. With a groan, she pulled out her phone and dialed the only number she could think of for whenever she had a long night. 

“Where are you?” Natasha grumbled, picking up after barely half a ring. 

“Just inside the gate. Took an Uber tonight.” (Y/N) responded as she tried to mask the sound of her chattering teeth. 

“You’re cold. I’ll come grab you in a few.”

“Bring a hoodie!” (Y/N) finished, a light chuckle coming from the other end of the phone before Natasha hung up. Two minutes later, Natasha’s sports car was in front of the crossfaded girl. She stumbled over to the passenger side of the car and was immediately met with warm leather, Natasha’s perfume, and a soft fleece thing thrown at her head. 

“Did you have fun?” Natasha asked, waiting patiently for (Y/N) to put on the jacket before driving up to the compound. 

“Oh yeah, Nat. It was fantastic and very much needed.” (Y/N) slurred, the warmth of the car and the jacket comforting her so much that she almost fell asleep in Natasha’s car. 

“I’m not the only one awake, sweets.” (Y/N) didn’t have to ask what she meant. Bucky and Steve never went to bed on nights their girl decided to go out, needing the assurance that she would come home safe. 

“I know, Nat. Do you have any spray or something? I smell like weed.” Natasha nodded with a laugh, handing the loopy girl a bottle of body splash. After practically bathing in the spray and suffocating Natasha, the two girls exited the car and walked into the compound. Everything was quiet, almost too quiet even for (Y/N)’s crossfaded brain. She made her way to the elevator, the glass room taking her and Natasha to their respective floors and (Y/N) couldn’t have been more excited to see her men. Natasha’s floor came first, the fiery red head bidding her companion goodnight. (Y/N) used the last three minutes of her elevator ride to mentally prepare for the lecture she would get from Steve about how bad drinking and smoking are for your body and blah blah blah. She wouldn’t deny it, but it makes life more fun.   

“Well, I hope you had fun, (Y/N).” Bucky and Steve were waiting for her to get off the elevator before cornering her in their room. 

“I did. It was great. Thank you guys for letting me go out.” Slurring again, she stepped into the room and began discarding her clothes, opting her skin tight party dress for a pair of comfy sweats and a tight tank top.  

“You smell like sweat and weed, (Y/N),” Steve grimaced as he watched her undress, marveling at her dexterity. Whenever she drank at one of Tony’s parties, she drank so much that Steve literally had to carry her back to the room. 

“And what’s wrong with enjoying a little high now and then?” (Y/N) teased, wrapping herself in one of Bucky’s hoodies before fluttering to the bathroom. 

“Well, nothing, but do you have to do it as often as you do?” Steve asked from his place by the bedroom door. (Y/N) froze. 

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, (Y/N) I’m not. Every night you come home and you reek of marijuana. It gets to be too much sometimes.” (Y/N) dropped the wet rage she had just placed to her face in order to remove her makeup, storming back to where Steve was still standing. 

“I can’t believe you! I was expecting a lecture, but not an accusation, Steve!”

“What are you talking about? I know that this is what you’re doing whenever you go out (Y/N)!” Steve’s voice started rising, not caring that the rest of the compound was asleep. 

“Steve, this is the first time she’s been high in front of you,” Bucky chimed in, the brunette spilling one of (Y/N)’s secrets. 

“What? You’ve seen her like this before?” Steve asked, shocked that Bucky had seen their girl in this shape before. 

“Stevie, I’ve been high in front of Bucky twice. He had to come pick me up the last time I hung out with my girlfriends because I knew you’d be worried if I didn’t come home.” Steve was still dumbfounded by what he was hearing. He trusted her with her friends, but she didn’t have to come home if she knew it wouldn’t be smart. 

“And the second time would be tonight,” Bucky finalized. He enjoyed (Y/N) when she was high; she was funny and ridiculously horny, but because she was under the influence neither Steve nor Bucky would act on what she was feeling. 

“But you smell like weed after you hang out with your friends?”

“Because they smoke more than I do and they smoke around me. I never partake as often as I used to before I met you guys. I may call you ‘Daddy’ in bed, but I don’t actually need you to act like a father, Steve.” In a flash Bucky was up off the bed, his metal hand tightening around her neck. 

“Oh no, Doll. You’ve got it mixed up: I’M Daddy. Steve is Captain. Or do we have to remind you?” Bucky teased, his thumb traveling to her mouth and dipping behind her lips, the metal cool on her tongue. The healthy mix of alcohol and weed dancing in her body made (Y/N) shiver at the commanding tone spilling from Bucky’s lips. The soldier smirked and patted her cheek, resuming his position on the bed and leaving (Y/N) pressed up against the wall. 

“I hate you, Bucky. I’m going to take off my makeup now.” Stumbling into the bathroom, (Y/N)’s hazy mind could only flash pictures of her intimate moments with her super soldiers, the projections making her weak in the knees. She knew neither of them would act on their feelings with the state she was in, but she could almost guarantee a frustrating day of teasing coming soon. Once her face was clean and moisturized, she went back into the bedroom where her favorite people were already laying; Steve on the left and Bucky on the right with a warm spot between them just big enough for her to slip into. 

With the excitement of the night now completely worn off, (Y/N) was tired. She crawled quite ungracefully to her place in bed, the neediness and desire for attention settling comfortably in her bones as she snuggled under the duvet. After bugging for five kisses each from Steve and Bucky, and a LOT of fruitlessly convincing them that she was sober enough for a little more fun, (Y/N) snuggled into Bucky’s arms as Steve read A Tale of Two Cities to both of his loves until they fell peacefully asleep. 

As much as he hated the smell of marijuana, Steve honestly couldn’t imagine his life without the little extra flavor (Y/N) added to his life. He was happy that she was happy and he’d do anything to keep her that way, even if it meant buying her a dispensary of her own. With a smile on his face, he kissed her and Bucky softly, wrapping an arm around his loves. 

“Love you, Stevie.” A quiet mumble fell from (Y/N)’s lips as Steve settled into bed. 

“Ditto, princess. Ditto.” 

[fred-george-fic]

In the Middle Pt. 6

Cedric x Reader & George x Reader (Eventually)

A/N: I am so appreciative for all the positive responses and likes that I have been getting for this fic! So thank you, you all are the reason I keep writing!

Summary: It’s the Second Task plus a special moment with Cedric!

Pairing(s): Cedric x Reader & George x Reader (eventually)

Word Count: 1.9k

Masterlist: ~Part 1~Part 2~Part 3~Part 4~Part 5~

Warnings: None!

-------

The Second Task

On February 23rd, you are sitting with Cedric in the Courtyard, chatting with his friends from Hufflepuff about the task tomorrow. Cedric’s arm is lazily wrapped around your waist as you sit on a bench. Over the past few months, Cedric’s friends have grown quite fond of you. You can often be seen talking to them in classes or walking with them, even when Cedric isn’t around. As you’re sitting there, Hermione and Ron walk up to the group.

“Hey, Y/N?” Hermione says as they approach. “Mad-eye told us to find you because Professor McGonagall is looking for us.”

You nod your head and turn to Cedric. “I’ll see you tomorrow? I’ll be the one cheering so loud that even the creatures at the bottom of the lake can hear me.” You smile at him, kissing him quickly.

“I might need more of those before the task.” He grins, kissing you one last time before you walk away.

“See you all later!” You wave as you walk with Hermione and Ron to Professor McGonagall’s office.

“Ah, Welcome students.” She says as you walk in and motions to the three seats in front of her. “Please, take a seat.”

You all sit down and notice Professor Dumbledore is also standing in the room, watching you all. “Good evening. How would you three feel about participating in the second task?” He asks, scanning all three of your faces 

“How would we help?” Hermione questions.

“I am assuming both Harry and Cedric have discussed with you what they heard from the Golden Egg.” You all nod your heads as Dumbledore continues to speak. “The final line is ‘To recover what we took’, which is where you three come in.” 

“You want us to be the taken items?” You ask much quicker than you expected. 

“Yes. Each of you means something to the champions. We have already gotten permission from Fleur’s parents to use her sister as well.” Dumbledore continues to stare at each of you, awaiting your answer.

“Okay, I’ll do it.” You look up meeting Dumbledore’s eyes, as Hermione and Ron also agree.

“You will not be returning to your common rooms today. Nor will you get a chance to speak with the champions before the second ask tomorrow. I promise you will be safe and will awake once you come out of the water.” The last thing you see before falling asleep is a wave of Dumbledore’s wand.

-------

The Morning of the Second Task

Fred and George are walking through the crowd of people, shouting to take anyone’s bets.

“Step up mates, don’t be shy!” Fred begins.

“Three lads…” George continues.

“…One lady.”

“Four go down…”

“But will four come up?”

“Don’t be so mean.” Ginny says as she walks past the boys.

“Wait, Ginny. Have you seen Y/N?” George asks.

“Not since yesterday!” Ginny shouts as she continues walking to the docks. Eventually, George and Fred set up their betting booth on the docks. Cedric walks up to them.

“Ah, Diggory. What can we do for you?” Fred looks at Cedric. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready to get in the lake?”

“Have either of you seen Y/N?” He barley acknowledges the boys as he asks his question. 

“Wait. You haven’t seen her either?” George looks up puzzled, he thought you had already made your way to the docks with Cedric. “Harry hadn’t seen Hermione or Ron either.”

Suddenly, Cedric’s eyes get wide as he realizes what has been taken from him. He looks at the lake and sprints towards the end of the dock where Fleur and Victor are already waiting. Cedric eyes the lake, seeming like he could jump in at any moment. Meanwhile, George and Fred have also caught onto your location. George looks over at Fred with a knowing look, Cedric better pull this task off. Harry runs up, talking to Neville and lines up with the other champions.

“Welcome to the second task. Last night, something was stolen from each of our champions. A treasure of sorts. These four treasures, one for each champion, now lie at the bottom of the Black lake…” Dumbledore continues on giving his announcer speech. Cedric continues to look at the lake with determination as his Hufflepuff friends continue cheering him on. The cannon goes off and the champions jump in the water. 

-------

Your lungs immediately fill with air as you break the surface of the water. You can feel arms around you, and when you look back you see Cedric helping lead you to the bottom platform of the dock. On the platform you can see Fred and George, along with some Hufflepuff students waiting to pull you both up. George and Fred help you up onto the platform, while Cedric’s friends help him. You’re immediately wrapped in a towel and someone places a beanie on your head. When you look up, you notice Fred is wearing his, but George isn’t. “You alright, Y/N?” George asks.

“A little chilly.” You manage a smile while your teeth chatter and begin to head up to a higher platform.

“Only a little? Guess I can have my beanie back?” George laughs following behind you.

“Okay, you got me. I’m bloody freezing.” You reach the top of the ladder and hear a number of cheers around you as another person breaks the surface. You notice Hermione and Victor, followed by Ron and Fleur’s sister Gabrielle. Finally, Harry shoots out of the water and lands on the dock.

As the judges discuss, the placements of the champions you can feel someone putting another towel over your shoulders. When you look over, you notice Cedric offering you a wide smile. “Here, put this on too.” He says handing you his jersey. You slip it over your head and rewrap the towels around you, moving closer to Cedric, who wraps his arms around you and kisses the top of your head. 

“Attention!” You hear Dumbledore shout. “The winner is… Mr. Diggory! Who showed innate command of the bubble-head charm.” Cheers immediately erupt throughout the various platforms. You cheer loudly, wrapping your arms around Cedric’s neck who immediately pulls you in for a kiss. All the cheering faded away for a moment, until Dumbledore continued talking.

“However, seeing as Mr. Potter would have finished first, and rescued not only Mr. Weasley but the others as well, we have agreed to award him with second place.” You could hear George and Fred let out a loud cheer behind you and the Durmstrang boys begin complaining.

“Congrats Harry!” You yell towards him. He smiles at you and gives you a thumbs up, before continuing his conversation with Ron and Hermione.

Everyone began to shuffle out of the stadium, you followed next to Cedric and the rest of his Hufflepuff friends as you moved towards the boats. “You did great out there today, Mr. Diggory.” You laugh and give him a wink. 

“All because of you.” He puts his arm around you and pulls you closer to him. “The moment I realized that it was you in the lake, I knew I needed to get you out of there as quickly as possible.”

“Well, I am glad I can be of some service.” You smile at him and continue on your way back to Hogwarts.

-------

The Day Before the Final Task

On June 23rd, the day before the Final task, you were on your way to the Astronomy Tower to meet Cedric. Hannah had given you a note saying:

Y/N,

           Please meet me at the Astronomy Tower tonight at 9 PM. I want to see you before the final task.

           -Cedric

Since the Second Task, you two have practically been inseparable. Cedric managed to walk you to almost every class, you starting having lunches together, and more often than not, you two would stay out until you absolutely had to head back to the common room. This drove Fred and George mad, you made sure to reserve breakfast times for them but they would constantly bug you about it.

“We never spend any more time together, Y/N!” Fred would say as you went off to spend more time with Cedric.

“I’ll literally be staying at the Burrow with you all summer! I will barely get to see Cedric!” You would protest.

“Let her go, Freddie. She has other priorities now.” George would say coldly, usually walking away. He seemed to be taking it a bit harder than Fred, but you knew once summer hit, you would be spending all your time with the twins. Cedric lived close enough to the Weasley’s, but they were kind enough to let you stay there the last few summers. You weren’t going to impose by leaving the Burrow to spend time with Cedric all summer.

“I’m really sorry. But I promise we’ll spend time together once the school year is over!” You even offered to take them on a trip to Hogsmede last weekend with Cedric, but they declined saying they were busy.

As you reach the bottom of the Astronomy Tower and make your way up the steps, you see Cedric leaning over one of the railings. You walk up next to him. “Enjoying the stars?” You look around and notice how bright the sky is, filled with billions of stars. 

“Yeah, but I’m going to enjoy them a lot more now that you’re here.” He says looking over at you. He doesn’t give you his usual smile, just looks at you. 

“Are you okay?” You grab his hand, meeting his gaze. The light from the sky hit the side of Cedric’s face, causing his eye to glimmer slightly.

“Yes. I’m a little nervous about tomorrow.” He squeezes your hand in reassurance. This time he does give you one of his signature wide smiles. “Nothing to worry about. I’ll make it through.” 

“So, what made you ask me to come up here so late?” You ask, not pulling your eyes away from his.

“I wanted to give you this actually. I usually try not to pay attention to Rita’s gossip, but I saw someone reading it and noticed this.” Cedric pulls out a photo of the two of you from the second task. It shows the moment the two of you kissed once he was announced the winner. 

“Did you cut this out?” You stare at the photo with a wide smile. You really never considered how lovely you two look together.

He rubs the back of his neck and lets out a small grin. “Yeah. Once I saw it, I really wanted to give it to you.”

“I absolutely love it!” You plant a kiss on his lips and go back to looking at the photo.

“I love you.” The words come out of Cedric’s mouth before he actually realized what he was saying. His eyes go wide as you slowly break away from the photo and meet his eyes. 

“Did you just-?” You look at him in shock for a moment, taking in his words. His eyes soften then and he pulls you close to him.

“Yeah. I love you, Y/N. I’ve known for a while now; I just didn’t know when to say it.” He laughs lightly.

“I love you too, Cedric.” You smile and kiss him again, this time more passionately. He holds you close to him and smiles.

“I’m glad that’s all sorted.” He kisses the top of your head and keeps his arms wrapped around you, as the two of you watch the stars before headed back to your common rooms.

-------

Tag List:

@stardewsnail @imheadintothemountains @kastagir​ @lauramaythatdisneyfreak​

@alwaysasadaesthetic​

If you would like to be added/removed from the tag list, comment, ask or message me and let me know!

[sadclearance]

the hand

pairing: setsuna tokage x female! 1-a student! reader

summary: y/n comes to class with a hand. with no body.

category: fluff, crack(?) idrk, incredibly unfunny

warning(s): none

word count: 1367

"y/n... what is that... object you have brought to class?" tenya iida asks nervously.

"what're you talking about?" y/n answers with a question of her own.

"oh my god! what the--!" toru hagakure shrieks, and now everyone's attention is gathered.

"is that real?" denki kaminari grimaces at the sight.

"what're you all looking at?" y/n frowns. "why're you looking at me like that?"

"did you kill someone?" mina ashido whispers totally inconspicuously.

"what? no!" y/n shakes her head. "are you crazy? i could never do that."

"then... why do you have a severed human hand?" mashirao ojiro's face bunches up at his own words.

"and why did you bring it to class?" kyoka jiro shakes her head, unimpressed with her class this early into the day.

"it looks like a girl's hand..." minoru mineta says, his mouth watering at the pretty slender fingers.

y/n narrows her eyes at the short boy and points the severed end of the hand toward him.

"ah! stop! that's scary!" mineta shrieks, no longer drooling.

"remember that the next time you wanna make eyes at my girlfriend, perv!" y/n laughs, satisfied with the punishment.

"girlfriend?!"

the rest of the day went by normally, or as normally as it could when a classmate was holding a severed hand and calling it her girlfriend.

"so, uh..." eijiro kirishima starts his sentence, unsure of whether or not he should continue it.

"how long have you... girls been dating?" kaminari asks for him. they had been talking--not gossiping, because gossiping isn't manly--about it all of class.

"few months now," y/n smiles, happy to answer any and all questions about her love.

"how long have you guys known each other?" hagakure joins in the conversation, her interest in love overpowering her fear of the hand.

"since the beginning of the year," y/n smiles and looks at the hand lovingly.

"i can't tell if i'm supposed to be touched, jealous, or creeped out," ashido sighs out a laugh.

"i hate when class cuts into lunch," kaminari frowns as he stretches his arms behind his back.

"when we're professional heroes, this will be a common occurrence," iida gesticulates.

"that's true, but kaminari's complaints are valid," y/n sighs as she rubs circles into the hand's knuckles. "at least i have her with me."

when she brings it up to her lips to press a gentle kiss, her classmates squeal, some out of joy, some out of horror.

"is that... sanitary?" momo yaoyorozu asks.

"the dead carry many diseases," fumikage tokoyami nods in agreement.

"the dead? c'mon, guys. i wouldn't be dating a corpse," y/n laughs as though their concerns were ridiculous. "my girlfriend is very much alive."

when foundational hero studies rolled around, the students of 1-a had the chance to find out more about the hand.

"young y/n..." all might says with a disturbed but worried look on his face, "you're going to have to leave your..."

"girlfriend," y/n finishes the sentence for him.

"yes! your girlfriend out here when it's your turn to participate. it'll be safer for her."

"okay," y/n says with a sullen expression. "i trust you guys to look after her."

"we'll guard her with our lives," all might promises confidently. "don't you worry."

"see you when i'm done," y/n presses another soft kiss to the hand before leaving it on a counter.

"is that..." all might starts to say when y/n's in the arena, out of earshot.

"that's what we said earlier..." kaminari laughs awkwardly.

with all might's attention on the course, evaluating y/n's score, the class is free to stare at the hand.

"do you... do you think we should touch it?" ochako uraraka asks. while she wasn't normally the type to meddle in other people's business, this situation was just straight up abnormal.

"i'm kinda curious..." tsuyu asui agrees.

"but that's y/n's girlfriend," hagakure says warily.

"she won't ever know," hanta sero shrugs.

"would it be like... violating it if we touched it?" kaminari asks.

"i don't... think so?" ashido's response comes out more like a question than an answer.

"it's a normal hand, right?" izuku midoriya asks, delving into overanalyzing the object.

"maybe," asui looks over it. "it looks like it."

"if it's a normal hand, then without the rest of its body, it has no brain, which means that it has no sense of identity or consciousness in general, but also, should this hand be considered a person if that's true? it was probably part of a person at one point, but now that it's on its own, is it more of an object? let's say it doesn't have a brain, but it's still biologically alive--how would a hand be alive on its own? where is the owner of--"

"i'm gonna blast your fucking mouth shut if you don't shut the fuck up," katsuki bakugo glares, but his voice doesn't hold its normal volume, as he too is even the slightest bit curious about the hand.

"midoriya," ashido puts a hand on said boy's shoulder. "there's too many questions to try to figure out a moral answer to this. you're gonna fry your brain if you keep going. stop while you're ahead."

"it is alive," tokoyami says calmly, bringing the attention back to the hand, where he had just poked the top of.

"you're just... touching it?" kaminari makes a face.

"weren't you the one that said dead things have diseases?" sero looks concerned.

"yes, but it's alive. it's warm."

midoriya hesitates. does he want to touch a random hand that he has no idea where it came from, who it belongs--or belonged--to, or--

bakugo pushes him aside and grabs the index finger.

almost immediately, the other fingers grab a hold of his hand and digs their nails into it.

"what the fuck?" bakugo growls and pulls his hand back.

"it... it moves?" mineta shivers.

"were you guys bugging my girlfriend?" y/n shakes her head when she returns.

"nope!" they stand tall, jumping away from the hand.

"i'm sorry, baby," y/n says lovingly as she strokes the hand. she glares at the others as she says, "my classmates really have no manners."

they left it alone for the rest of the day.

"was today weird to anyone else?" jiro asks as she grabs her backpack from her desk, getting ready to leave.

"even for u.a. today was a bit..." uraraka agrees.

"see you guys tomorrow!" y/n waves the hand goodbye as she leaves first.

"did she just--"

"yeah."

"wait! guys! look!" hagakure whisper yells at the window.

they watch as y/n runs to someone in the hallway, the hand in her hand, severed end pointed at the other.

she grabs the back of the head of green locks as she pushes their faces together, lips locking.

the hand goes to a wrist, coming together as though they were magnets.

"how was your day?" setsuna smiles when they pull apart. her hand is still held by y/n, except it's now connected to her body.

"you should've seen their reactions," y/n giggles.

"oh, i heard them. i think the whole school did."

"how was yours?"

"nowhere near as dramatic as yours. two hands that weren't yours touched me, though," setsuna pouts.

"i know, i'm sorry. they're nosy," y/n pouts back.

"but for the most part, i liked it. i like holding hands with you all the time."

the students of 1-a were relieved to see that y/n was neither a psychopathic killer or necrophile.

1-b's reaction that i wanted to include but didn't know how to fit in:

"setsuna... why are you missing a hand?" ibara shiozaki asks with a concerned look on her face.

"did you lose it somewhere?" juzo honenuki stares at the wrist with no hand.

"gave it to my girlfriend" was setsuna's simple answer, eyes staying on her phone but a big grin making its way to her face.

"nice! congrats! who's the lucky lady?" tetsutetsu asks, as supportive as ever.

"girlfriend?!" could be heard from 1-a throughout practically the whole building.

"you're dating a 1-a loser?" neito monoma--who hadn't shown the slightest interest in this conversation until now--scoffs with a roll of his eyes.

"my girlfriend is not a loser. say that again, and i'll kick your ass," setsuna throws her textbook at the blonde, successfully hitting his face.

❥๑━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━๑❥

a/n;

idk what this is

but the lack of content for this beauty named setsuna tokage should be a genuine crime.

i say even though i haven't watched past the sports festival arc or read any of the manga because i can no longer pay attention to anything that's longer than a minute... so probably ooc

[subjectsix]

tagged by @therealtsk !!! <3

1: Why did you choose your Url?

i love Dylan Faden (prime candidate six) and Lucas Grey (subject six) very much (dylan as a brother/relatable character and lucas as maybe in love with him)

2: Any side blogs?

they are all neglected! oops. an old abandoned terminator one and an old defunct botan city aesthetic blog (i just use tags here now).

3: How long have you been on Tumblr?

pffff idk. like. maybe 2014???? but around 2016 i vanished and i came back around... 2019? I’ve never remade so my blog is like. wow!! u can track kip’s phases here!!

4: Do you have a queue tag?

yes! #queue with me if you wanna live (like terminator’s ‘come with me if you wanna live’)

5: Why did you start your blog in the first place?

i saw all the Funny Posts on pinterest back when it wasnt just an aesthetic machine and wanted to participate akjsakjshdfkjh

6: Why did you choose your icon?

its a commission of one of my star wars OCs, lurina! i love her dearly, she’s a zabrak with two prosthetic legs and i did not consider that maul also has two prosthetic legs until after I made her lol

7: Why did you choose your header?

i lov hitman and the 2016 promotional images are pretty

8: What’s your post with the most notes? 

its probably my into the spiderverse post about ihop versus ihob?

9: How many mutuals do you have?

bro idk!!! probs a lot, I’ve been here a long time and a lot of blogs have come and gone

10: How many followers do you have?

see above skjhfkjsdhf ive been here since 2014 so many dead blogs and bots follow me I think

11: How many people are you following?

see above as well

12: Have you ever made a shitpost?

remember when we called it nightposting? i remember when we called it nightposting. I have made funny haha posts and sometimes i throw whatever silly putty comes out of my brain into a post but idk if those count akjsdhfkjsdhf

13: How often do you use Tumblr each day?

I check intermittently! My friends are here and you post cool things

14: Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

Nope! Confrontation terrifies me to my very core and I do not like to fight with people, I tend to just let stuff roll off my back or go “this isn’t my business” and move on

15: How do you feel about “You need to reblog this” posts?

Eh? I like to keep my blog very light since its one of my few places to get respite from the barrage of news and such, but if people want to share important real world things here that’s dope! I find the guilt tripping a bit squicky though I understand what people mean when they do it

16: Do you like tag games?

Yes! I love getting tot know all of you :] even tho tagging people terrifies me, I’m afraid I’m bugging people (even tho I am literally never bugged by being tagged)

17: Do you like ask games?

Yes!! See above

18: Which of your Tumblr mutuals do you think is famous?

housdhffhhhd idk I’m friends with a handful of fanartists on here that probably qualify

19: Do you have a crush on a mutual?

I do not really do crushes honestly asdkjfhasjkdfh Kip Overshares Hours but very rarely have I ever crushed on people in a legit “Im in love with them” way and not just a “wow they’re neat I just wanna be friends” way, and that first version tends to only show up after we’ve been friends for awhile, and even then its more just like my brain going “oh lol!! man that would be neat, we’ll see what unfolds” instead of butterflies in the stomach and planning dates and such. I like being single and I dig the Old Married Couple Vibes if I could just speedrun straight to that

20: Tags

not to be contradictory to my comment abt being terrified to tag people akjshdkf but i am a bit!!! but I will tag @plainrea and @thatfriendlyanon :]

[atlafan]

My Everything - Part Three

A Take it Slow Sequel

What happens with Harry and Y/N after he proposes? How will the two navigate the engaged life while also continuing to juggle their jobs, friends, and families? Let’s find out.

Warnings: Fluff and Smut.

a/n: not proofread fam, I didn’t have the strength.

Masterpost

“Oh!” You pause the TV.

“Y/N! It’s the middle of the second season finale are you fuckin’ kidding?!”

“I forgot to tell you something earlier.” You giggle.

“Alright, what is it?”

“Our new intern goes to my college, my undergrad, and he’s part of the film club, the one I helped create when I was a student, and he asked me to come to a meeting next Thursday. Would you wanna come with me? The meeting itself is at like 8PM, but I thought we could go beforehand, I could give you a little tour…”

“He asked you to come to a meeting?”

“Yeah! He wants me to like explain what I do now, and how being the film club helped me in a professional sense. He’s even going to email the director of alumni relations to see if they’ll do an article on me for the alumni magazine, but I doubt they will.”

“Why not? You’re incredibly successful, and didn’t you say an alum helped you get the job? I bet once you tell them that they’d feature you. You could talk about how important the alumni network is.”

“Harry!” You squeal and tackle him down, kissing him all over his face. He starts laughing underneath you.

“What? What?” He could barely breathe from your sudden affection.

“You’re so cute when you’re being supportive.” You nuzzle into his neck and he rubs your back.

“Well then I must be cute all the time then, huh?”

“Mhm.”

//

You forgot how beautiful your campus could be in the fall. Even though it was in the city, it had some beautiful parks and pathways. After work you had changed into a pair of jeans and a blouse. You didn’t want to look too fancy. You showed Harry different buildings where you had class, and the dorm you lived in freshman year. You both decide to go eat at a pub you used to love.

“Harry, it’s okay, have a beer if you want.”

“But I feel bad…”

“I really don’t mind. I’m fine with the seltzer water.” You smile reassuringly and he order the beer.

Once you’re done with everything you walk him around some more. You show him where you lived sophomore year, and then start walking towards the building where the film club meeting is. You see a group of people walking towards you and you gasp.

“No fucking way.” You groan and hide slightly behind Harry.

“What?”

“Nothing, we just need to walk very fast by-“

“Y/N?” A man says.

“Shit.” You say under your breath. “Um, Chris?”

“What are you doing here?!” He goes to hug you but you clutch at Harry.

“I was invited to a film club meeting…what are you doing here? I thought you graduated…”

“I did! I’m an RD.” He smiles and looks at Harry.

“Sorry, uh, this is my fiancé, Harry.”

“Hey, mate.” They shake hands.

“Wow! Congratulations. Well I won’t keep you. We should catch up sometime.”

“Sure.” You give him a fake smile and keep walking. “Gag me.”

“Who was that?”

“A guy I hooked up with like once, and he wouldn’t leave me alone. It took me going to California for him to stop asking me to come over. It was so annoying. Like take a hint dude.”

“Why didn’t you wanna hook up with him again?” Harry asks with a laugh.

“Oh, like you would always hit it twice.”

“Good point.” He smirks. “Suppose I don’t blame him, I mean, I’ve seen what that ass looks like when it’s bouncing up and down on my cock, I’d probably want you to come over again too.”

“Harry!” You smack him in the arm, making him laugh. “One beer at dinner and you’ve gone all goofy.”

“I’m just teasin’.” He throws his arm around your shoulders as you continue your walk to the building.

“Here it is, let me just text Zach that we’re here.” You both wait a few minutes, and Zach comes out to open the door.

“Hi, Y/N! Thanks again for coming, everyone is really excited. You must be Harry.” He smiles and shakes Harry’s hand. You both walk into the building. “Y/N talks about you all the time, it’s so cool that you have your own photography studio. I bet you could show some of these guys a thing or two.”

Harry liked Zach so far, he seemed polite and genuine.

“All the time, huh?” He nudges you.

“Not all the time, only when it’s relevant.”

Zach leads you into the room you knew very well. It was a computer lab you used to hold your film club meetings in. There was a screen, projector, white boards, all things you and your friends needed to have productive meetings.

“Hey, everyone!” About fifteen or so students turn to look at you and Harry. “This is Y/F/N Y/L/N and her fiancé Harry, Y/N graduated in 2017 and she’s one of my supervisors at my internship. She is one of the founding members of this club!” They all clap for you, and you’re a little surprised. “Come on in, tell them about yourself, what you do.”

You step further into the room so you can see everyone clearly.

“Thanks Zach, um, hi everyone!” You say brightly. “I’m feeling really nostalgic right now since I used to have my meetings in here too. We worked on so many cool projects, and my sophomore year we even made a short film that I stared in.” Harry’s eyebrows raise. He didn’t know you were in front of the camera as well as behind it.

“That’s why you look so familiar! At the beginning of every school year we watch a ton of past projects. You played the girl that went missing right?” A students says.

“Yeah, that was me.” You laugh.

“And you made that one about the purple pencil, that cracks me up.” Another says.

“Yes…that one was like a film challenge that the president at the time had us do. It was a lot of fun. Being in this club really took me out of my comfort zone. I never would’ve learned how to properly use a camera for filming or even taking pictures if it weren’t for film club. I have a job in marketing now where I get to edit video and sound clips, and I even supervise part of our social media department now. I really enjoy what I do.”

“Y/N was able to do well in her interview because another alum was already working there, and gave her some tips.” Zach explains.

“That’s right. It’s really important to know who your alums are, that’s why LinkedIn is so crucial.”

“Could you pull yours up?” A student asks.

“Sure! If that’s something everyone wants to see…”

They all agree and Zach logs onto the computer that’s connected to the projector. Harry takes pictures of you while you’re going over your LinkedIn.

“I think the best advice I could give is just don’t be afraid to try things. If you want to get better at something you need to practice. I went from using Windows Movie Maker, to iMovie, and now I use Adobe Premiere. It’s okay if things take time, and if there is something you want to do and you’re not sure how, don’t be afraid to Google it. I remember I had no idea how to do like a slow zoom, and I just looked it up and it was super easy to get the hang of. Create the content you’d want to watch, and have fun with it.” You smile.

A few students ask you some questions, and you end up giving out some of your business cards, good thing you brought them. Some students wanted to be able to reach out to you for resume help.

“Thanks again for coming. I’m gonna put another bug in the director’s ear. I think this is something that should be in the magazine. Oh! Do you plan to come to Homecoming Weekend?” Zach asks.

“Um.” You blink. “God, I haven’t gone to Homecoming since I was a student myself.” You snort.

“It’s alumni weekend too, you should come. I’ll be working at the alumni table, then I could introduce you.”

“When is it?”

“First weekend of October.” You look up at Harry. He looks at the calendar on his phone.

“Think I’m free…” He says.

“We could certainly try to swing by…that’s like next weekend…I have some friends that might wanna come too.”

“I can send you an email with the registration link and with all the activities for the weekend. It’s a lot of fun, as I’m sure you remember.”

“Yeah, I sort of participated in different activities…” You blush.

“Well either way.” He shrugs.

“I’ll let you know at work if we’ll be able to go. This was a lot of fun though, I’ll come back any time.”

You say goodbye to everyone, and walk out hand in hand with Harry.

“You’re really good at explaining things.” He says to you.

“What do you mean?”

“Like…you never got frustrated, or annoyed. Some of their questions were stupid, I easily would’ve gotten aggravated.”

“They don’t know what they don’t know.”

“All I’m saying is, like, ten years from now I could see you bein’ a professor or somethin’. You’ll have your MEd, you could teach an online class as a TL and see how you like and then go from there. You love learning, Y/N, why not get paid to do it?”

“I think I could see that for myself, but yeah, ten years from now. I’m curious to see how I could keep moving up at work. It would be weird to leave there. I mean, I know people don’t stay at the same place for thirty years anymore…but it would be sad to go. Plus I would miss Niall way too much.”

“Yeah, but he could easily find another job if he wanted. You shouldn’t stay somewhere just because your friends are there.”

“Says the person that persuaded the two friends he made at work to follow him to his studio.” You nudge him playfully.

“Alright you got me there, but seriously, don’t use him as an excuse.”

“I know, you’re right. Let me actually get the Med first, and then I’ll start thinking about things I wanna do years from now, okay?”

“Sounds good to me.”

You both get into your car and head home.

“So I know we like just got engaged, but I was thinking while the weather is still nice it might not be a bad idea to start lookin’ at some potential spots we’d wanna get married at…” You could tell he was slightly nervous to bring it up.

“I think that’s a good idea. I think you and I need to sit down and consider a budget before we hop in the car and start looking. We need to do some research online.”

“That money you wouldn’t let me pay you I was thinking could go towards the wedding.”

“Harry.” You sigh. “Shouldn’t that money go back towards the business? Or couldn’t it be saved for a holiday bonus for Mariah and Isaac.”

“I have money set aside for that already.” He says matter of factly. “You won’t let me pay you, and that’s money you’ve earned. So we should use it towards something.”

“Fine.”

“At least we’ll save money on a photographer. Mariah’s really talented.”

“I know! She’s great at capturing the moment. Did you want her to be the one to take the photos?”

“Considering how Lou’s probably going to be my best man, she’s the only other person I would trust.”

“That’s so cute you both are gonna be each other’s best men.” You giggle. “I sort of had an idea for Niall.”

“I’d really rather him be in my wedding party, he’s been my friend longer, and-“

“Actually, I don’t want him in either of our wedding parties.” You pull into the parking garage and you both get out.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he’s the whole reason we’re together right?”

“Yeah.”

“So…why not let him be the one to make it official?” Harry stops short when you get into the lobby of your building.

“You want him to officiate the wedding?”

“Yeah…it just feels right.” You shrug. You both get into the elevator. “What do you think?”

“I think I need to make sure I’m filming when we tell him because he’s gonna cry.” Harry smiles. “It’s a great idea, Y/N.”

“We should pick up a little gift for him, or like take him to dinner.”

“Ohhh, I like that.” He kisses your cheek as you both enter your apartment.

Buster greets the two of you, he was doing much better. You both sit down on the sofa and flip the TV on.

“Who were you thinkin’ for your wedding party then?”

“Well, it’s going to be really hard to pick a maid of honor…it always supposed to be Kate. I was her, you know? But obviously that’s not happening. I don’t know how I’d be able to choose between Sarah and Rachel.” You sigh. “I’m equally close with them…I’ll have to talk to them about it and see what they think, honestly. I don’t want anyone’s feelings getting hurt.” Harry nods. “Then my sisters would be in the party too, El of course.” You think a bit more. “That might actually be it. I have other girlfriends, but I don’t need a ton of bridesmaids. What about you?”

“Louis, obviously, Mitch…him and Sarah said congrats by the way I completely forgot to tell you. I was thinking of maybe askin’ Isaac…I’d like my sister to be in my party too.”

“Aw, that would be so cute! Oh, and I bet by the time we actually do get married Michael will be able to walk all on his own, he could be like the flower boy or something.”

“That would be really cute. Didn’t you say you wanted it to be kind of Jewish too? Like you wanted someone there to bless us?”

“My cantor from my old temple, yeah…but we don’t have to if that’s too formal.”

“No, I think it would be nice to add in there. I just don’t wanna wear the little hat if that’s okay.”

“Don’t worry.” You laugh. “You don’t have to wear the little hat.” You burst out laughing.

“What?” Harry laughs.

“I was just picturing Gemma walking one of my sisters down the aisle.” You wipe tears from your eyes. “We’ll really have to figure all this out soon.”

“That would be pretty funny.” He puts his arm around you and pulls you close. “It’s nice talkin’ about this without it bein’ hypotheticals, like, this is really happening.” He kisses your forehead.

“I know, I’m really excited, babe.” You give him a quick peck. “We just need to get through Erica’s wedding and Lou and El’s.”

“I know, a lot is gonna happen all at once.” He sighs. “Lou’s is before your sister’s though, June if I’m remembering from the save the date correctly.”

“Yeah, and Erica’s is in July, I could kill her.”

“Why?” He chuckles.

“Because it’s going to be the dead of summer, we’re going to look sweaty and gross. And of course she’s getting married at some farm, so it’s gonna be all humid and blah.” You groan. “Whatever makes her happy I suppose. I’m just glad Mike finally asked her, took him long enough.”

“Everyone does everything in their own time, baby. Weren’t they really young when they first got together?”

“Yeah she was a senior in high school, and he was out of school for a couple of years…it was a pretty cute way they met. She was working at a RiteAid at this outlet mall, and he was working at Game Stop, and I guess he would go to RiteAid like every day for a snack on his lunch break, and he would say hi to everyone but her, so one day she gave him shit for it and they started talking. Turns out his aunt was our neighbor and we had like played with him when we were kids and didn’t even know. And his older sister was best friends with Bridget when they were in high school.”

“Wow, small world.”

“Right?”

“That is a pretty cute story, but I like ours better.”

“Oh, you do?”

“Yeah, I mean, how romantic is it that a mutual friend set us up, and we had this really great dinner date?”

“It’s pretty romantic, doll.” You yawn. “Yikes, I’m tired. I’m glad tomorrow’s Friday.”

“Me too, let’s head to bed.” He stretches as he stands and follows you to the bedroom.

//

It felt so good to sleep in Saturday morning. You stretch as you sit up, and start to get out of bed, but Harry yanks you down to him, making you squeal.

“Why do you always insist on gettin’ right up?” He mumbles as he wraps himself around you to spoon you.

“I don’t want Buster to shit himself.” You giggle.

“He knows to go on the piddle pad if we don’t get right up.” He pushes his morning wood against your ass.

“Jesus.” You groan. “You don’t wanna cuddle, you just wanna having a morning fuck.” His arm slips up under your shirt so he can caress one of your breasts.

“I want both.” He says into your ear. His hand slides down to between your legs and he smirks. “Seems like you do too.” He starts to rub circles on your clit while he grinds against you. You back up against him to really feel how hard he is.

Heavy petting was rare between you two. Usually you would just end up diving into the sex, but this first thing in the morning was like heaven. The way he would really ease you into it. His fingers slowly start to slip inside, and you find yourself turning onto your stomach. Harry gets full on top of you, his chest flush with your back. You your ass up slightly so he can continue to finger and rub you. He gets his fingers in and then drags them out and up to your clit. You moan out in your pillow. He continues to grind against your ass, getting right between your cheeks. He had his boxers on so you weren’t worried about anything slipping into the wrong hole.

“You’re so wet.” He groans. “Want me to fuck you, baby?”

“Yes.”

He leans up, only for a moment, to get his boxers off. He gets back on you the way he was, nice and close, and slides in.

“Ah, fuck.” You moan out.

Harry keeps his fingers on your clit while he rocks in and out of you. His other hand slides up to the back of your head, and he gets a light grip on your hair. He knows not to pull too hard.

“Feels good, angel?”

“So good, Harry.”

He continues to rock in and out of you, and once you come from him rubbing on your clit, he pulls out to flip you over. He yanks your shirt off so you’re fully exposed to him. He slides back in and wraps his lips around one of your nipples. One of your hands is tugging on his hair while the other is digging into his back.

“Really give it me, babe, come on.”

“Want it hard, Y/N?”

“Hard and fast.”

Harry grins and sits up, grabbing both of your legs to put over his shoulders. He stretches his neck and cracks his knuckles, making you laugh. He loved when you two would laugh when you were intimate. It didn’t always need to be so serious. He pulls out nearly all the way and slams back into you. You gasp at the feeling, but you love it. He does this over and over, picking up the pace each time, making the bed start to shake. He was hitting the right spot over and over. You fist at the blankets with your head slamming far into your pillow. You grit your teeth as you feel your orgasm approaching. He could tell you were close from the way you were clenching around him. He almost wanted to pull out and make you beg him for it, but he also loved seeing how far gone you were and didn’t want to tease you. He knew he was hitting just the right spot, just a few more thrusts…

“Holy shit!” You scream as everything in your vision goes white. Tears well up in your eyes as he fucks you through the orgasm that was making you feel like you were going to collapse from within. “Oh my god, Harry! Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

Your praise was enough to make him lose it, and his come spurts inside you, filling you to the brim. He looks down at you to see your chest still heaving. He pulls out of you slowly and you whimper from the loss of contact. He leans down and gives you a kiss on the forehead.

“Good game.” He shakes your hand.

“Oh, shut up.” You swat at him and laugh.

You both shower quick, and go out to feed Buster. He did, in fact, need to use the piddle pad. After he eats Harry takes him out for a proper walk while you get some breakfast for the two of you going. Just some simple oatmeal.

“So, do you wanna go over a budget today? We could set up at the dining room table, and you could get a spreadsheet goin’ on your laptop.”

“Yeah, we can definitely do that.” You smile.

You and Harry sit down at the dining table, while Buster rests his head in your lap as he sits at your feet.

“Does he do that a lot?”

“Hm?” You look down at Buster. “Yeah, he likes to sit under my desk like that with me at work.” You grin at Harry. “He’s just like his daddy.” You pinch his cheek and he swats your hand away.

“Shut up.” He nudges your shoulder. “Want me to replace him right now, cause I will.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time.”

You pull up excel and name a bunch of rows with what you’ll need money for. Venue, food, drinks, photographer/videographer, DJ, hotel rooms, bachelorette/bachelor party, bridal shower, dress, etc.

“My friend Adam, the guy we got Buster from, is actually a really good DJ…”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, he always used to put playlists together for our parties and stuff. I’m pretty sure he has a DJ business on the side. I could ask him what his rates are.”

“That would be great. So…I don’t want this to be crazy expensive…like it seems silly to drop what could someday be a down payment on a house on a party for one night.”

“I agree. I don’t want it to get out of hand. I feel like the venue will be the most expensive. Let’s try to figure out where we want it so we can compare prices. Some hotels have the food and drinks included and some don’t.”

“I think…like in my wildest dreams, I’d love for it to be at a hotel on the Cape, like have the beach behind us…the ceremony outside, and then the reception would be indoors, but maybe there’s this outside patio area or something?”

“Ohh, I can really picture that. We both love the beach, let’s look and see.”

“I feel like that’s gonna be expensive.”

“We won’t know unless we look.” He grabs your laptop and opens Google. “Maybe we could find an inn or somethin’.”

“True, that would be cute actually.”

The two of you see the different options out there and find two you really like. You book a couple of tours on their websites so you can physically see the spaces.

“Oh, I wanted to ask, are we doin’ like a traditional cake or did you want cupcakes? I’ve seen a lot of people save money on just doin’ cupcakes, and then havin’ a small cake just made for the couple.”

“I think that’s a great idea. Then we could have a variety of cupcakes so everyone could find something they like. There’s a bakery I really like that back home that did my Bat Mitzvah cake, I’d like to go there to maybe do a tasting?”

“Sure.” He smiles. “I’ll let you set that up, and you can just tell me when.”

“Okay.”

“Maybe we could do like a lemon cake since we both like that.”

“Mm, my mouth is already watering. I’ll definitely set that up soon. I guess there’s not much else we can really do until we set a date, and then we can work backwards.”

“Guess you’re right.” He rubs his eyes and rests his chin in his palm. “What were you thinking for a bachelor and bachelorette?”

“God, I have no idea. I’m the sure the girls will think of something.”

“Did you wanna do a combined thing, or be completely separate. S’not like it’ll be the night before the wedding, like it could be a month or so ahead.”

“To be honest, I’d like to have a weekend with just the girls…”

“Alright.”

“Is that okay? I mean, I had a lot of fun for my birthday, but-“

“No, I really don’t mind. I just didn’t know if you wanted a combined trip, but we can have separate things.” He shrugs.

“What do you think you wanna do?”

“I was thinin’ maybe like a trip to Mohegan Sun with the guys. We went years ago, and it was a lot of fun.”

“Oo, do a little gambling, that would be fun.” You sigh. “I’m not gonna be able to drink during any of this.” You groan.

“You’ll still have fun, baby.”

“I know, but I’m gonna have to tell my friends why I’m not drinking…”

“You can just say you’re on a medication that doesn’t allow you to consume alcohol, you don’t have to specify any more than that if you don’t want to. Do you really think they’ll judge you?”

“It’s not the judgement…it’s the look on their faces I know they’ll give me. The medication has helped me a lot, I think.”

“I’m really proud of you for taking it so consistently.”

“I just take it with my birth control…it’s easy to remember.”

“Babe.” He saves the file you were working on and closes your laptop. He turns so his body is facing yours. “Can you take a second and just think about how far you’ve come? In the year that I’ve know you, you’ve made so many great steps. I can remember times you getting so frustrated because you never thought you’d be in a place where we’d be able to just go at it. I mean, think of how we had sex just this morning. You weren’t in a place this time last year to be able to do that, and now you are. I know it’s not just about sex, there’s a lot of mental progress you’ve made too, but I feel like physically, I just feel so close with you, I feel like every time we do it we get closer.” Your eyes were glossy while you listened to him.

You felt overwhelmed by his kind words. He was right about everything. You had made a ton of progress, and you didn’t reflect on it as much as you should. You stand up and he pushes his seat you. You sit down on him and wrap your arms around his shoulders, and nuzzle your face into the crook of his neck. He holds you close and rubs your back. Buster yips at the two of you, clearly upset that his head was no longer comfortably resting in your lap. You both look down at him.

“He really is just like me, huh?”

[slytherinbarnes]

Sub Rosa [35]

vi. bitter harvest

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x reader

Word Count: 4.7k

Warnings: violence, fighting, character death, language. 

Summary: Pike sets his sights on a Grounder village, much to your dismay, and plans to take it over. Octavia, however, has other plans. Someone makes you an offer you weren’t expecting, and you watch one of the 100 die.

a/n: hi no new episode today which is sad :( so please enjoy this sub rosa update instead! also, I think we will be moving to three posts a week NEXT WEEK so stay tuned!!! the taglist for this series is open! I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think!!!

previous chapter // season masterlist // series masterlist

You roll over in bed, reaching out for Bellamy, surprised to find nothing. 

You open your eyes and look around, gaze falling onto a note on the pillow beside you.

Went to talk to Pike about Clarke and Octavia.  Meet us at the Chancellor’s office when you wake up. -Bell

You sigh and dress quickly, mentally preparing yourself for another day of spying. You head straight to the Chancellor’s office, thinking about the breakfast that will have to wait, sure that the two men are already waiting for you. Sure enough, as soon as you appear in the doorway, Pike smiles. “Miss Griffin! Nice of you to finally join us.”

“The first sleep after getting hit with the shock baton is always the hardest.”

He ignores the quip, the allusion to your criminal background, and ushers you inside instead, closing the door behind you. He turns to face you and Bellamy, expression stern. “We need to talk about your sisters.”

“Griffin.” He watches you carefully. “Is Clarke a threat to us?”

You consider this, thinking hard about how much to say and how much to hide. You settle on the truth. “If you’re asking if she’ll sneak back into camp, I suspect not. She knows you’ll be looking for her and she won’t risk it.”

“Not even for you? Your mother?”

“I made it pretty clear to Clarke before she shocked me whose side I was on. Besides, she left us pretty easily after Mount Weather, so this isn’t new. She’ll stay away.”

“Good.” He turns to Bellamy, expression turning hard. “Mr. Blake, your sister, however, is a different story, isn’t she?”

You see the muscle in Bellamy’s jaw twitch, the subject of Octavia always a touchy one. He grinds out, “Yes, sir.”

“Her Grounder boyfriend is locked up, and I’m told the woman we spared, Indra, trained Octavia in the Grounder ways.”

“Yes, sir.”

“She has something to fight for. A reason worth coming back.”

“Yes, sir.”

“She’s your sister, family, and we protect our own. I promise you that if she comes back to this camp, she will understand her place in it, but she’ll be safe with us. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good.” He moves to the door, opening it, motioning for you both to leave. “Dismissed.”

-

Four days after Clarke and Octavia’s escape

Kane checks the halls near his room twice before leading you to his door and ushering you inside. As soon as you’re safe from prying eyes, he turns to you with a smile. “Octavia just radioed. Lexa decided that blood must not have blood. They’ll send riders today to deliver the message to Pike.”

You let out an audible sigh of relief, whispering, “Clarke did it.”

As soon as the words come out, a realization hits you like a ton of bricks. Clarke did it. Clarke convinced Lexa, “blood must have blood” Lexa, to let the massacre of her army slide. And you don’t need to go over the reasons on how she managed it, because you think about the soft way she says Lexa’s name, even when she’s angry, the rapport she must have built with her while in Polis, and you have your answer. Because you know Clarke and you know when she’s acting differently, even if you’ve only seen her once in the last 3 months. Clarke Griffin is in love, and, apparently, Heda Lexa feels the same.

Kane pulls you out of your thoughts, distracting you from the revelation. “We can’t let our guard down yet, because Pike is still in power, and he still hates the Grounders. We’re safe, for now, but the second Pike violates this peace offering, we’ll be in danger again.”

“Then we better make sure he keeps the peace.”

“Easier said than done.”

You let out a scoff, “You’re telling me.”

-

One week after Clarke and Octavia’s escape

You pour over the maps in front of you, checking over the borders that Pike has drawn to represent the New Arkadia. You shake your head, scrubbing a hand over your face, wondering how you’re going to talk him out of this when you hear a knock at the door. Not expecting anyone, you glance towards it in confusion, standing and crossing the room to pull open the door, revealing Nate. “Miller. What are you doing here?”

“I just have a question about the guard schedule.”

“Uh, okay.”

You step aside, making room for him to enter your room. He turns and checks the hallways both ways, before waving someone towards you. Kane comes quickly, sliding into the room behind Nate, both of them turning to face you. “Any news?”

You shake your head. “I’ve got a meeting with Pike and the others today about the village, but I still don’t think we’ll be able to talk him out of it. He seems dead set on kicking them out.”

Kane nods. “Octavia radioed. Gillmer, Hannah, and a few guards are out getting soil and water samples nearby, and they almost killed a kid when he stumbled upon them. Luckily, she was able to save him.”

“Weird. Wonder if it’s connected?”

“That’s what we want to find out.” He pulls out a small black object, holding it out to you. You take it, flipping it over in your hand, and you realize it’s a listening device. You look up at Kane in surprise, “Where did you get this?”

“Not important. Can you get it in Pike’s office? Somewhere out of sight.”

You give him a skeptical look. “I don’t know. His security is tight.”

“I can get you in.” You glance over at Miller, and you shake your head with a smirk. Of course he can. “You said it yourself, he’s expecting you in his office today. It won’t be weird if he catches you.”

You look between the two of them, and then back down to the listening device. “Okay, fine.”

They both nod, and Miller looks at you. “If we’re doing this, we need to do it now. Pike’s on the other side of the camp, checking the armory with Bellamy. We have a small window.”

You grab your guard jacket, heading towards the door. “Then let’s go.”

They both follow you out of your room and towards the Chancellor’s office. Kane is careful to keep his distance from the two of you, but you and Miller walk side by side, keeping up a light conversation, nothing suspicious about two guards together. When you reach the hallway and find it empty, Kane jogs up to you and Miller, walking beside you. “You step aside in case someone answers.”

You turn to Kane, “You should both step aside since I’m the only one that was asked to be here.”

Miller rolls his eyes, “I told you, no one’s home.”

Kane and Miller each step on either side of the door, and you knock, waiting to hear a response. You hear nothing, other than Miller’s quiet laugh, and Kane turns to him in confusion. “What?”

“Bet you didn’t think we’d be breaking the law together when you arrested me on the Ark, huh?”

Kane pushes past you to grab him by the vest. “This isn’t a game, Nate. If we don’t find out what Pike’s up to, more people will die.”

“Then let’s not get caught.”

Miller types in the keycode and opens the door, and as you push it wider, someone down the hall says, “Chancellor Pike, good to see you.”

You all exchange a worried look, and Kane presses the bug into your hand. “You put this somewhere smart, out of sight. I’ll buy you guys some time.”

He turns and leaves quickly, and you slip inside the room and crack the door, while Miller stands guard just outside. You look around the office, considering the best place to put the bug. You quickly decide against the meeting table, because although it’s the closest to the heart of conversations, it's the most likely place it will be discovered. Your eyes scan over the file cabinets, the couch, the bookshelf, rejecting them all. They finally land on Pike’s desk, and you walk over to it, looking it over, deciding that the bottom of the desk is hidden enough to do the trick. 

You get down on your hands and knees, and stick it to the bottom, making sure to flip it on before you stand. You walk around the desk, checking it from every angle, making sure it can’t be seen, before you slip out the door again. Miller glances at you and you nod, which he returns before walking off down the hall. You can hear Kane’s voice down the hall. “Public opinion is a funny thing, Charles.”

“My job is to keep us safe, not to be liked.” Pike’s voice grows closer, so you step to the side of the door, standing and acting casual, waiting. 

As Pike and Bellamy come around the corner, Pike greets you. “Glad you could join us.”

You nod as he steps up to the door, typing in his code and motioning for you and Bellamy to come inside. Bellamy squeezes your hand in greeting as he passes, his face blank and unreadable. Pike leaves the door open behind him, waiting for the others to show up, keeping up a light conversation with Bellamy. You only half participate, worried he’ll find the bug before it even gets used, but he never sees it. Instead, he calls the others inside as they all show up. 

They all file inside the office, coming to stand around the table, and you’re surprised to see Monty and Monroe among them. Bellamy stands to your left, and Bryan on your right. Monroe is on Bryan’s other side, while Hannah, Pike, and Monty stand across from you. Pike’s gaze bounces over each of you. “Okay, let’s get this meeting started. Welcome Farm Station’s own Monty Green, and factory girl, Zoe Monroe, as we begin our next crucial phase: expansion and salvation. And this will lead the way.”

He holds up a vial of dirt, and you remember your conversation with Kane and Miller earlier about Octavia’s discovery. Monroe eyes it with confusion. “Dirt?”

“Soil. Fertile, arable soil. Vastly more rich than anything we’ve found since landing. We’ll clear the trees and plant within the month.”

Hannah smiles at everyone around the table. You know she’s Monty’s mom, but you can’t help but dislike her. “We start with soybeans and corn. They grow the fastest.”

Monty, who has been taking this all in quietly, wanders over to the map behind the table. You turn and watch as he eyes it with suspicion, pointing out the Grounder village. “Is this where we’re going?”

“That’s right.”

“There’s a village here.” He turns, eyes finding yours and Bellamy’s. “What about the people who live here?”

Bellamy turns away from Monty and gazes at Pike. “That’s sector four. We talked about this, the people there are not a threat.”

Pike sighs, “We need that land. With the loss of Mount Weather’s resources, Arkadia will be starving in less than a year.”

Bellamy’s gaze drops as he digests this new information, before he mutters, “With all due respect sir, you still haven’t answered Monty’s question.”

“You know the answer. Every field must be cleared of stones before it’s tilled.”

You glance at Bellamy from the corner of your eye, that haunted look now back in his eye. Monty, who’s now standing behind you, shifts uncomfortably at Pike’s plan. Hannah watches her son and says, “We were spotted by a child, so they’ll be expecting us. But they lost their fighters when we took out the army, so we don’t expect resistance.”

“They’re Grounders. They’ll resist.”

Bellamy shakes his head, “Even if they don’t, the Commander’s message was clear. Blood must not have blood. That doesn’t mean we can start taking-”

You hide your surprise at Bellamy’s resistance to the plan, and his willingness to voice that with Pike. You start to wonder if maybe he isn’t so lost after all. Pike cuts him off mid sentence. “What would you prefer: die fighting for your home or starve to death? Will you do what needs to be done for your people to survive or not?”

Bellamy glances over at you, his eyes landing on the locations of your hidden wounds, before he turns back to Pike, jaw set. “We’ll do what needs to be done.”

-

Pike explains the teams, who is expected to do what, and then he dismisses you.

Bellamy is silent as he leads the group to the rover, meeting up with Gillmer and a few of the guards along the way. You sneak a few glances at him as you walk by his side, watching the muscle in his jaw clench and unclench as he thinks. You can tell he’s lost in his head, in his thoughts, as the conversation ebbs and flows around him, and you wish he would just talk to you, the way he used to. 

Joining Pike made him silent, and you hate it. Hate the wedge Pike drove between you two, whether Bellamy noticed or not.

Once you reach the rover, Bellamy pulls himself back to the present, leading the others and directing them on what to load up and what stays behind. He leaves you at a table with Hannah, loading bullets into magazines, and you hope she can’t feel the annoyance that her presence brings you. 

Bellamy comes over to collect the weapons you’ve finished, grabbing the magazine and the gun off the table and loading it, as Kane wanders over. You only glance at him for a second, avoiding his eye as he focuses on Bellamy. “That’s a lot of firepower.”

Bellamy barely glances his way. “Let’s hope we don’t need it.”

“What’s the mission?”

He pauses, giving Kane a serious look. “Planning for our future.”

“You know, that looks a lot like our past.”

“We are building a life here.” He turns and looks at you, and you can’t tell if he’s trying to convince Kane, or himself. He turns back to Kane. “Not trying to make peace with people who only understand war.”

Hannah nods. “Damn right.”

Your annoyance threatens to break free, but you close your eyes, take a deep breath, and remind yourself to stay calm. No one seems to notice, because Bellamy calls out, “Let’s move out.”

Everyone makes a beeline for the truck, but Kane grabs your arm on the way. “Can you stop it?”

“What? Me vs the rest of the group? Not a chance.” You watch his face fall. “Did Octavia not get them out in time?”

“She’s gone radio silent.”

“Shit.”

Bellamy calls your name, followed by, “Everything okay?”

You turn and look at him, concern written on his features as he takes in Kane’s grip on your arm. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

You look back to Kane. “I’ll do what I can, save who I can.”

“Don’t expose yourself. We still need you.”

“Will do.” And then you raise your voice slightly in case anyone is trying to listen, before you yank your arm free. “Go float yourself, Kane!”

He plays his part well, looking stunned, and you jog over to the truck, taking the hand that Bellamy extends to you, helping to pull you inside. You plop down beside him with a frustrated huff, and his voice drops to a whisper as the truck starts up and pulls away, “What was that about?”

“Nothing. Just another Kane lecture about choosing the right side.”

He hums in acknowledgement, having received his fair share of those lectures. “He’ll understand soon. We don’t want to do this, kick out these Grounders, but we’re building a life for ourselves, a future.”

“I know.” You place a quick peck on his cheek, before leaning back and sitting in silence for the rest of the ride.

The rover comes to a stop in the village sometime after dark, the moon your only light as you all jump from the vehicle in formation, splitting off into two groups. You follow right behind Bellamy, all of you scanning the edge of the village for signs of movement, surprised to find none. The silence is deafening as you scan the empty village, and Monroe’s shaky voice reaches you from somewhere nearby, “I don’t hear anything. Maybe no one’s home.”

In front of you, Bellamy stops, eyes trained on the village as he yells, “Hello? Anyone here?”

When no one answers, he turns to look at you, his eyes asking a silent question, and you understand before he even opens his mouth to voice it. “Maybe they only know Trigedasleng?”

You understand what he’s asking, and turn to the village, projecting your voice. “Osir gada imfou kom Chansla Paik kom Skaikru. Osir gaf chich yu wocha op.”

We have a message from Chancellor Pike of the Sky People. We need to talk to your chieftain. You hear Gillmer scoff as soon as you finish speaking, and you resist the urge to roll your eyes. You all wait and listen again, hoping for an answer, but hearing nothing. 

“Maybe they saw our lights and left,” Hannah muses. 

Bellamy waves you all forward, and your two formations continue towards the village, one on each side. As you move deeper and deeper into the village, you come across no one, the living space seemingly abandoned. Rain starts to fall from above, running down your face and clothes, chilling you to the bone, but you ignore it as you stop at one of the fire pits in the middle of the camp, eyeing it. Logs are held together at the top with a rope, which is dripping with a bright yellow goo. Curious, you reach out to touch it, stopping when you hear a horse whinny in the distance. Bellamy yells, “Contact. Two o’clock.”

You take off running behind him, watching his back as you run towards the sound. As you come to a stop near the edge of the village, Hannah and Monty right behind you, you hear Octavia’s voice yelling down to you, “Bellamy, get them out of there! It’s a trap!”

Before he can say a word, you hear someone in the distance yell, “Fire!”

Seconds later, flaming arrows rain down from the ridge towards you, and you yell out, “Incoming! Take cover!”

Bellamy wraps his arms around you and you both duck, watching as all of the arrows miss your group and land on the fire pits lined up in the middle of the camp. They light quickly, a small fireball bursting from each one, and Octavia’s voice yells down to you once again, “The smoke is poison!”

You and Bellamy exchange a worried glance before he yells to the others, “Fall back, fall back! Stay away from the smoke! Get back to the rover!”

As you all start to run back towards the rover, avoiding the smoke, you hear Monroe let out a pained cry, screaming your name, then Monty’s, then Bellamy’s. Monty turns immediately, heading back towards her, and you turn and follow him. Bellamy yells your name, voice panicked, and you feel him reach out for you, but you slip from his grasp. You follow Monty into the smoke, both of you yelling Monroe’s name, coughing as the smoke enters your lungs. 

You can still hear Bellamy yelling your name from the other side of the smoke, held back by the others as you move deeper and deeper into the toxic cloud. You hold your breath, trying to avoid breathing as much as you can, the smoke irritating your lungs each time it enters your body. Finally, you and Monty find Monroe, laid out near one of the fires. You both reach down and grab her, throwing her arms around your shoulders and dragging her out of the smoke and into fresh air. 

As soon as you’re out of the toxic haze, you take in a long breath, your lungs still burning with irritation, but feeling better with fresher air. Bellamy runs forward and grabs Monroe’s legs as she starts to collapse, helping you and Monty carry her far away from the smoke and onto a patch of grass near the rover. You put her down gently, before dropping to your knees at her side, looking her over. 

Her breaths come out as tight wheezes, the air struggling through her lungs the best it can. You can do nothing but watch her hopelessly, unsure how to treat lung issues without a tank of oxygen to help. Her wheezes turn to gasps as she struggles to breathe, and you glance over at Bellamy, his expression distraught. Behind you, Bryan mutters, “How the hell did they know?”

Monroe’s gasps grow louder and quicker until they stop completely, and she grows still. Bellamy’s voice is panicked as he gazes down at her, “Monroe? Monroe!”

You reach up and check for a pulse, head dropping to your chest when you find none. You look up at Bellamy, tears in your eyes as you shake your head. His head drops, tears filling his eyes, and Hannah turns to Bellamy, tone accusatory. “Your sister did this!”

Unable to contain it any longer, your annoyance from earlier boils over and you snap, “Shut up, Hannah! Just shut the hell up for once!”

No one says anything, now frozen in place as they look down at Monroe’s dead body, and you can see the haunted look in Bellamy’s eyes, the weight of the world dropping onto his shoulders again, and you know that someone has to be strong, take charge.

You turn to Bryan, wiping your tears away as you do. “Find me something for Monroe. A tarp, a blanket, anything. And some rope.”

He nods, before turning away. You look over at Monty, Hannah, and Gillmer. “Get up to that ridge, and tell me what you see.”

They stand frozen, looking at you, and you yell, “Now!”

They jump in surprise but do what you say, running off to search the ridge. You look up at the two guards left. “They have a well at the edge of camp. Put out those fires.”

As they turn to leave, you look back at Bellamy, still frozen in place, staring down at Monroe. You reach out for him, grabbing his hand, and he looks up in surprise, like he forgot you were even there. “She’s only here because of me.”

You think of Roma, speared to a tree, and of Bellamy turning to you, telling you the same thing then. You shake your head. “Monroe was here because she wanted to do better, be better. She believed in building a better life.”

You reach up, put a hand on his cheek, and he leans into it. “We can’t let Monroe’s death, or those that died before her, be in vain. It has to stop, Bellamy. The killing has to stop.”

You know you’re toeing a dangerous line, letting your true feelings get this close. Feelings that are in direct opposition to Pike and what he seems to stand for. But Bellamy’s conflict is palpable, his disagreement with Pike and his methods growing everyday. So you say enough to get into his head, but not expose yourself. “Do you understand what I’m saying? Peace. We need to work for peace.”

He nods his head, mulling over your words, and you pull away from him when you hear someone approaching. You turn and see Bryan, holding up a blanket and some rope. “This is all I could find.”

“This is perfect, thank you.” You look around, surveying the two groups. “Can you go check the ridge with the others?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks.”

He leaves you and Bellamy alone again, and you lay out the blanket. Bellamy stands and helps you move Monroe’s body on top of it, both of you pulling the blanket over her body and tucking it underneath her. As you pull it over her face, you whisper, “May we meet again.”

You hear Bellamy echo the words before he helps you secure the sheet with the rope, the way the Grounder’s taught you after Finn massacred the village, and once you're done, you both silently carry her body back to the rover and set it inside. As you finish, the radio at Bellamy’s side crackles to life with Hannah’s voice. “The Grounders are gone now, there’s no one up here. We’re coming back down.”

“Copy that.”

You and Bellamy lean against the truck, waiting for the others to return. The two guards that you put on firefighting duty return first, letting you know the fires are out, before the second group arrives a few minutes later. Everyone is silent, defeated, and Bellamy takes one look at them before muttering, “Let’s go home.”

-

Hannah runs to Pike as soon as you’re back and tells him everything, and he calls you and Bellamy in for a meeting before you’ve even finished unpacking the rover.

You both walk to the office together, silent, neither of you looking forward to the impending lecture. You knock once you arrive, and Pike opens the door and ushers you both inside. He leans against the table, watching you both, and Bellamy shifts on his feet, uncomfortable. You glance over at him from the corner of your eye, and you can see him working his jaw, trying to keep his emotions at bay. Pike’s gaze bounces between you. “How are you two holding up?”

“Fine.”

“I’ve been better.”

He turns to Bellamy, focusing on his response. “Yeah, we all have.” 

He takes in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “We need to talk about your sister. One of our people died today because of her. Not to mention, the ash poisoned the soil, making the land useless.”

“The Grounders did that. Octavia tried to warn us.”

“Yes, after she warned them. Someone in this camp is giving her information. I need to know who.”

Bellamy gives him a knowing look. “We all know who.”

You feel your stomach drop, worried they’re onto you, and Pike states, “Kane.”

Despite not being your name, the answer doesn’t leave you feeling better. Pike looks between you and Bellamy again. “We have no proof. You two need to find me some.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Bellamy, you’re dismissed.”

Bellamy looks at Pike in surprise, and you feel anxiety prickle across your skin. This is it. He knows the truth and he’s going to take you down. Alone. 

Pike looks over at Bellamy, who is still beside you, hesitant, and he nods at your boyfriend, letting him know he heard right. Bellamy gives you a worried look and you give him a small smile, letting him know you’ll be okay. You hope.

He turns and leaves, closing the door behind him, and you glance at Pike, watching him watch you. You’re sure that he’s going to give you an earful for snapping at Hannah, or he’s going to expose you for being a two faced spy, but he surprises you by saying, “Hannah says you showed true leadership out there.”

Caught off guard, you shrug and offer, “Not really. Just offered my assistance to Bellamy when he needed it.”

“That’s not what she told me.” You shrug again, not sure what to say, and he pushes on, “Are you interested in leadership, Miss Griffin?”

“Not really. Being the leader was always Clarke’s thing. I’m more than happy to follow, and offer my support when needed.”

He hums. “I’m looking to form a team. One that will go out and search for more villages like this one, with rich soil and a good water source. You’re strong, you know how to fight, and you speak the language. You’d be a good fit. A good leader.”

The offer surprises you, which you forget to hide. “Sir, I’m not sure-”

He cuts you off, “Just think about it. You wouldn’t need to decide right now.”

“Thank you, Chancellor.”

He nods. “We’ll meet in the morning, discuss next steps. Let Bellamy know.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You’re dismissed.”

With that, you turn and walk out the door, eager to search for Kane.

-

next chapter

[slowly-writing]

Part of the Family: Part 6

Avengers x Kid!Reader

Part 1   Part 7

Word Count: 2274

a/n: Hey y’all! Here’s part 6! I wanted to let y’all know I have a few pretty important tests this week so I’m not sure how active I’ll be, but I’ll try to still get some stuff out for you guys. Have a great day!

After that day you started hanging out with Peter more at school, you and MJ merging in with him and Ned to form one friend group. You even stayed with Peter and his aunt when the whole team had to go to Sokovia. You had begged them to let you come but they refused. It was too high profile of a mission with too much room for injury. Your parents were still just a little too protective for your liking, so for now you had to watch the news and wait for them to come back.

You shake yourself out of your thoughts as you hear people yelling down the hall.

“Hey! It’s Penis Parker!” Flash yells as Peter walks into school.

You walk up behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder, “hey buddy. Leave him alone, alright?”

You tower over him but Flash doesn’t know how to be intimidated apparently, and he refuses to back down, “why do you hang out with that loser anyway?”

“Because unlike you, he has a personality outside of being a dick. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to be anywhere but here,” you smirk as Flash’s friends laugh and walk back towards MJ.

“Hey, thanks y/n,” Peter says as he and Ned walk over, “I’m trying to keep the whole, uh, internship on the downlow.” You nod, acknowledging that he doesn’t want to say the truth with so many people around.

“I get it. That ship sailed for me a while ago, but you’re a part of the team now. We’ve got each other’s backs. If he keeps bugging you, let me know, yeah?”

Peter nods before walking off to class, you smile after him, he’s kind of turning into the brother you never had. He’s part of the family now, and you always take care of your family.

“You’re a good person, you know that?” MJ asks and you blush.

“It’s uh...the serum. I can’t help it,” you try to brush it off but she grabs your hand looking up at you.

“No it’s not. You and I both know that serum just brings out what’s already inside you. You’re a good person, and that’s all you.” She says and you smile down at her, “now c’mon. Let’s get to class, loser.”

You laugh, “you’re incapable of showing feelings for more than 30 seconds at a time, huh?”

“Shut up, Jr,” she teases and you roll your eyes.

xxxxx

“Thank you for dinner Miss Parker. And thank you again for letting me stay here while my parents are out of town,” you say and Peter’s aunt smiles at you.

“How many times do I have to tell you to call me May? And of course, you’re welcome here anytime, y/n.”

“Thank you, May.”

“So what did you say your parents do?” She asks and you look to Peter who shrugs.

“You can tell her if you want.”

“Tell me what?” She asks and you smile.

“They’re, um…they’re Avengers. Black Widow and Captain America. I kinda am too. They had to leave on a mission. Normally I’d stay in the tower with whoever was left, but this was kind of a whole team sort of situation,” you explain and her eyes get wide.

“Wow, I knew I recognized your last name from somewhere. If it was a whole team thing why aren’t you with them?” she says and you smile.

“Yeah I get that a lot. They’re a bit protective. They don’t like to admit that I can help. I’ve been training with them since I was twelve and I think sometimes they still see me as a little kid,” you say with a laugh.

“That makes sense. I don’t know how I’d handle it if Peter was off doing what you do. That’s very admirable of you,” she says and you and Peter exchange a look.

“Um...yeah. Thank you,” you say softly.

xxxxx

“Come on Parker, one more rep!” You encourage Peter as he finishes his workout. You had come to the tower to use the training room. People looked at you funny when you bench pressed hundreds of pounds at the gym.

“Man, I may have the strength, but you definitely have the stamina y/n.” Peter says and you groan.

“Please don’t start that whole strongest Avenger fight right now. It never ends. My dad and I have been arguing about it since before he was my dad,” you say rolling your eyes. MJ laughs from her spot next to you. She’s sitting criss cross on an empty bench reading a book. You’ve long since stopped trying to get her to participate in your workouts but she always comes to keep you company.

“You were raised around way too much testosterone, y/n,” MJ stays and you roll your eyes.

“Don’t I know it. I swear heightened testosterone levels were a requirement to live here. I don’t know how mom and I survived.”

“By being the smartest people here,” your mom says from the door and you grin.

“Hell yeah we are!” You say, running over to hug her. “How was the mission?”

“The mission went fine. It was a tough one but we made it out, we always do,” she says and you smile at her. “Also, don’t let your dad hear you talk like that, he’ll yell ‘language’ at you,” she jokes and you laugh.

“I know he’s from the 40s but he really needs to get with the times.”

“Who needs to get with the times?” Steve walks through the door and you shake your head.

“Oh great, it’s a family affair. Did you guys need something?” You tease, but really you’re glad that they’re both home safe. You always get a little stressed when they’re gone. Your dad puts a hand over his heart.

“Our little girl is all grown up, she doesn’t need us anymore,” your mom says, wiping fake tears from under her eyes.

“They grow up so fast. It feels like just yesterday she was taking her first steps,” your dad joins in and you can hear Peter and MJ laughing behind you.

“You do realize you didn’t meet me until I was twelve, right? Is the old age finally getting to you dad?” You tease and he laughs.

“Very funny. Anyway, we were coming to tell you guys that we’re all home and dinner's almost ready, unless of course you don’t want food,” your dad goes to leave and both you and Peter jump to stop him.

“No!” You yell in unison cause the other three to laugh.

“We just gotta hit the showers real fast, we’ll be down in a minute!” You say and Peter looks at you.

“Race you!” He yells before taking off toward the locker room.

“You’re going down, Parker!” You yell, running after him.

“Miss Romanoff, I really think all that testosterone is getting to her,” MJ says with a laugh and your mom places a hand on her shoulder.

“You’ve got no idea, kid.”

xxxxxxx

“Hey guys!” Clint walks in to dinner a few minutes late, “I come bearing our newest recruit! She helped us out in Sokovia.” He says as a girl with brown hair and a shy smile step out from behind him.

“Hello, everyone. I didn’t really have time to introduce myself in all the chaos. I’m Wanda,” the girl says, with a thick accent.

“What is this, teenager recruitment week? Can MJ join up, too?” You tease and Clint rolls his eyes.

“We’re not making your girlfriend an Avenger because you think it’d be cute.” Tony says and you blush looking away.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” you grumble and MJ laughs.

“Only cause you won’t ask me out,” she says with a smirk and your jaw drops .

“Wait, what?” You look at her with wide eyes.

“Y/n, flirt later. Introduce yourself now,” your mom cuts in, snapping you out of your stupor.

“Huh? Oh yeah. Hey Wanda, I’m y/n. I’m the resident teenager around here. This is Peter, he’s on the team with us, and this is my friend MJ.”

“Your potential girlfriend if I heard correctly,” Wanda cuts you off and you glare.

“Yeah she’s gonna fit in fine,” you say rolling your eyes as she laughs. “Anyway! Neither of them live here, but they’re here all the time.  Everyone else stays here and they’re all members of the team. My parents Natasha and Steve, and that is Tony and Bruce. You’ve obviously met Clint.”

“That’s a lot of names,” Wanda laughs nervously and you smile.

“Don’t worry, I’ve had years to get this down. You’ll get there. Are you moving in?” You ask and she nods, “cool! Well, how about you join us for dinner and then Peter, MJ, and I can give you the tour. You three are lucky by the way! I only had all the old guys to show me around. They didn’t tell me that you could play video games on the screens in the lab or about the secret passageway to the roof.”

“Secret what now?”

“Nothing, mom!” You say, avoiding eye contact, causing everyone else to laugh.

xxxxx

“Hey, now that there’s more teenagers here can I drop out of school again?” You ask the next morning at breakfast and your dad laughs.

“Nice try, kid” Tony says and you sigh.

“Again?” Wanda asks and you nod.

“I dropped out when I first got here. I didn’t quite have control of my strength and they were trying this whole joint parenting thing. With 5 parents I could pretty much always convince one of them to give me my way. Then they adopted me and dad went on a power trip and put me back in school,” you tease and your dad rolls his eyes.

“Since when is making sure you get an education a power trip?” Steve asks.

“Since I could’ve been training and making sure I was ready for any danger that could arise.”

“Like wrenches?” Your mom teases as she walks in and you groan.

“When are you gonna let that go? I was a little kid!”

“Wrenches?” Wanda asks and you sigh.

“There was an accident in the lab when I first moved in. Long story short, I was helping Tony and he wasn’t paying enough attention leading to me getting hit in the face with a wrench and needing stitches,” you explain and she tries to hide her laugh.

“They won’t let me live it down,” you groan.

“Are you complaining about the wrench again?” Tony asks and you throw your hands in the air.

“Mom brought it up again. It wasn’t me!”

“Sure, y/n. Whatever you say,” he teases and you roll your eyes.

“You know what? I take it back. I don’t want to drop out. I’m going to school to get away from you crazy people!” You yell, grabbing your bag and heading for the door.

“Wait!” Your dad calls, “Wanda is going to start at your school today. Show her around, okay?”

“Yeah sure, welcome to the American education system kid,” you say leading her out the door.

“It surely can’t be as weird as they say it is, can it?” She asks and you laugh.

“It’s worse, there’s videos of my dad for almost every subject. You’ll hate it, let’s go.”

xxxxxx

“So how do you wanna play this?” You ask as you climb off your dirt bike, since you had turned 16 your mom finally let you drive it to school. Luckily she was a little groggy this morning and didn’t have time to put together that you don’t have a spare helmet. It’s not like you really need one anyway, you always give it to MJ when you sneak out to take her on rides.

“What do you mean?” Wanda asks as you lead her into school.

“Do you want to tell people you’re joining the Avengers? Everyone knows about me, but Peter keeps it a secret,” you explain and she nods.

“They’ll all find out eventually, right?” she says and you nod. “Then we can tell them. It’s okay.”

“It’ll hopefully help you get made fun of less,” you say and her eyes get wide, “Don’t worry. Most of them are scared of me. Stick with me and you’ll be good.”

“Hey, Captain Widow!” Somebody yells as you walk in and you nod in their general direction. That had become your sort of unofficial superhero name, but you kind of enjoyed it.

“Who’s the new kid?” Flash says stepping in front of you.

“This is Wanda, she’s joining the Avengers with me,” you say and he smirks.

“New teenager kick, I like it. Can I join?” he asks and you roll your eyes.

“You have to have some actual talent for that one, now, if you don’t mind, I’m pretty sure being in your presence is killing my brain cells,” you say stepping around him.

“Flash bugging you again?” Peter asks as you walk up and you shrug.

“He just wants to seem cool, he doesn’t do a very good job of it though.”

��You can say that again,” Ned says and you laugh.

“Oh, right! Wanda this is Ned, Ned this is Wanda, she just moved into the tower,” you introduce.

“Nice to meet you!” Ned says and Wanda smiles at him.

“Are you coming over today?” you ask MJ softly and before she can respond Peter cuts in.

“When does she not? She’s there more than I am and I’m on the team!”

“Watch it spiderboy,” you say and he raises his hands in surrender.

Tag list: @rvgrsbrns

Series Tag list: @hannahsairwave

[littlebitoffanfic]

Celebration

Fandom: The Collector/The Collection Character: Asa Emory – the collector Relationship: Asa Emory/reader Request: Since I have seen you do some slashers, can I request Asa from The Collector? Something sweet where the reader works with him and is an alibi and then saves him when Arkin comes for him in the collection?

  You knew him from your work although you didn’t know him well. Asa was a private man, reserved to his office and displays for the museum. You were tour guide with a hand in some of the office work. After all, the museum didn’t get an awful amount of funding to be able to employee more office workers. Today, you were happy. It was a sunny day, which meant people were less likely to come to the museum for an indoor activity. Your tours still ran ever 2 hours, but a smaller group had less questions and you could normally be done within an hour, leaving an hour free. You all but skipped down the halls like a school girl, your project held tightly in your arms as you stopped outside Dr Emory office. knocking three time, you waited for him. He towered over you, and had such a demanding presences that made you weak at the knees. Your crush on his was not unnoticed by your co-workers. 

“Good morning.” You smile, trying your best to work through the flutters in your chest. “Its 1.30.” he stated, his eyes unreadable. “Oh, well, good afternoon. Could I steal a few minutes of your time?” You ask, nearly slapping yourself in the face for your mistake. His eyes darted to the folder in your arms and he stepped aside, allowing you to enter. This was a privilege in itself. Barely anyone was allowed within his office. But Asa seemed to tolerate you more than the others. Perhaps because you were his neighbour. Now that had truly been a happy accident. His previous neighbour was selling and you were looking for somewhere when you moved here. It just so happened that your neighbour to your left was also a co-worker. Entering his office was like entering a new world. The walls were decorated with various bugs throughout different ages in their lives. Butterfly’s, beetles and roaches but the most prominent member of his displays were spiders. Your attention was drawn to a particular specimen. Pinned in a shadow box was a blue spider. The sign under called it a Cobalt Blue Tarantula. “Wow, those markings are fascinating.” You mumble aloud, more to yourself that to the mans whos office you were in. “Truly. The Cyriopagopus lividum.. native to the borders of Thailand.” Asa speaks so fondly of the dead creature that it makes you smile slightly. There was no denying his love for his work. “Are they venomous?” You ask, purely out of curiosity. “Yes, but the venom not strong enough to kill an adult human. Although its not pleasant.” Asa walks past you to his desk and drawing you from your thoughts. “Now, you wanted something?” “Yes, I was wondering if you might help me with an exhibition.” You hold out the folder to him as you sit at the other side of his desk. He takes it and opens it, showing a sort of mood board you had put together ranging from other exhibitions to enclosures to photo life-spans of certain creatures. “an exhibition?” His eyes flick up to meet your own with curiosity. In truth, you hated how under appreciated he was at the museum and his knowledge should be put to good use. “Yes, for insects. Of course, I’d do most of the work, but I’d really apricate someone who I can fact check with and can offer some insight.” You smile sweetly, and the small smile that pulled at Asa’s lips told you that he was in.

-------------time skip ------------------

Your time spend with the entomologist was one of the most pleasant and interesting interactions you had had in a while. Walking to his office, you held your papers in your hands. You were about to knock when you heard voices inside. Pressing your ear against the door, you listened. “Dr Emory, unless you can provide an alibi for your whereabouts on Saturday evening, we will have enough to arrest you under suspicious of connection with the collector killings.” A voice spoke with authority. Your heart stopped. The collector killings had fascinated you ever since they had come to light. And Asa, well, he was a private man. If they were threatening such a thing, there must be something behind it. And you wanted to know. The two men that seemed to cloud your thoughts could be one. Your mind thought quickly as you came up with a plan. Knocking on the door, you walked in without waiting – something you never really did. Once inside, you acted like a deer in headlights. Two men sat opposite Asa’s desk  in suits. “oh, sorry. Are you from the board?” You asked sincerely but you didn’t let them answer before quickly adding. “Look, Dr Emory and I are neighbours. Its perfectly reasonable for us to spend our evenings and weekends in each others company. Besides, if Tiffany told you about us, she has been having an affair with the janitor.” You could tell Asa was just as stunned as you were. One of the men smiled and stood. “You don’t need to be alarmed, miss. We are from the investigations team.” He then presented his ID badge to you. “Oh, gosh. I am so sorry.” You looked stunned, despite already knowing. “Its okay. But I am interested in what you said. Do you know where Dr Emory was on Saturday evening between 5pm and 11pm?” The man leaned back on Asa’s desk while the other twisted to fully look at you. “He was with me.” You said, talking to the two detectives. “At my house.” “with you? He said he was home alone.” The one with the strong jaw line narrowed his eyes at you. “Yes, well, its not against any policies, our director has been known to fire people for having… interpersonal relationships with colleagues. We’d agreed to keep it a secret. He would have been trying to protect me, in case this got out to the others.” You explain to them, not daring to look at Asa. You knew you were playing with fire here. But what you said wasn’t a stretch. The director had fired a member of the geology department… for sleeping with his wife in astrology. He really cared what staff did as long as they did their job. And didn’t fuck his wife.   “Is this true?” He asked Asa, who gave a single nod. “And is there anyone who can corroborate this?” The detective asked you, more kindly than the others. “Not really. As I said, it was a secret so I’d appreciate it if you kept this between us. Although, you can ask half the staff in this building and they’ll tell you that ive had a crush on the man since I moved here, and they know we have been spending more time together. They are so fond of teasing me for it anyway.” You manage to draw a chuckle from one as he jabbed the other detective in the shoulder which earned a smile. Apparently, there was a similar situation going on where they were. “Right, well, we’d better be on our way. We’ll be back in touch soon.” The one sitting rose to his feet, nodding to both you and Asa before he and his partner left. They left and the door had closed for a brief moment before you felt someone grab your arm and you were twisted to meet Asa. He didn’t say anything and his cheeks were slightly red, but his ears were bright red. “So, you are the collector?” You breathe, looking up at him with a small smile tugging on your lips. “What do you want?” He growled, his voice low and menacing. Oh, he wasn’t happy. “I want to know.” You breath, stepping closer to him. “You take parts, right? What do you do with them? Keep mementos? Are you making something?” His nostrils flares out, obviously angry. You understood. You had let yourself into his world, and he couldn’t do a thing about it. He couldn’t kill you because it would point the fingers back to him. No, it was smart to keep you close. He let out an exasperated sigh, reaching up and pinching his brow. “look, once this has blown over for you, I wont say a word. I don’t expect anything for it. If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to.” You reassured him. “Why?” His eyes narrow at you, but you shrug. “honestly, you fascinate me.” You confess to the man, even more intrigued than before. You saw the smirk that twitched at the side of his mouth.

----------------- time skip ------------

The world of the collector was one you never dreamed you would see inside, and you loved it. It took trust to get him to let you see. First you saw the inside of the hotels lobby, then some traps, then some of the beautiful creations he made, then his prize possession. you never participated, but you provided a bit more support for him, offering help from the side lines in exchange for information and his time. If he was suspicious of you, he couldn’t deny the genuine interest in your eyes as he spoke, or how you hung on every word of his. He seemed to love how you marvelled at everything with a child-like innocents. Wide eyes and a curious mind. He kept you very close, at work and in your personal lives. It took 5 months in total for the cops to ease up off of Asa, but they still occasionally found their way to his house, watching it. He would come to yours in those situations, still keeping the façade up that you were in some kind of relationship.   Not that you cared. You found that the two of you had a lot in common which made the time easily spent. Of course, his dogs loved you. When you came round to his, they were pawing at the floor to get to you but waited for their master to give them the signal to move. They really were puppies at heart. Also, sometimes you thought Asa just said they were there to spend time with you. Either way, you didn’t mind. Tonight, you were buried in a book when a harsh knock at your door made you jump but you hurried to answer it, finding a slightly wet Asa. You smiled, stepping aside and allowing him to step in. “You’d think the police budget within the millions by how much they come around.” You giggle, helping his jacket off his shoulders to hang up to dry. He hummed in response, wiping his face with a hand to try get the stray rain droplet off. “So, how was your recent game?” you asked as he followed you into the living room, where you had been reading. You collapsed back into the couch and held your book on your lap. “Uneventful. No one worthy to take.” He mused as he walked over to your book shelf and pulled out the book he had been reading last time. As he returned to your sofa to sit beside you – a show for the police outside – the book fell open to the page he had been reading. But instead of the paperclip he had been using to keep his place, it was a book mark. A novelty bookmark that you had swiped from the gift shop. It was one of those fake 3D ones, with spiders moving on green leaf’s. You raised your book over your mouth to hide your grin. “very amusing.” He soft chuckle left his lips as he placed it to the side. You giggled, moving to reposition yourself. Your sofa faced the TV which was to the right of the window. Meaning anyone who walked by outside could see in. but it was a quiet neighbourhood. Apart from the undercover police. You lay on the sofa, your legs draped over Asa’ lap which you rested your head on some pillows propped up against the arm rest. Asa rose the book without tearing his eyes away from it to allow your legs to move before lowering to rest his forearms on your knee and thighs. Despite being a bit of a play for the police, it began to feel a little more real. You would engage him in conversation through out the evening, and he would tear his attention away from the book to ask you about your day. In fact, you had started to think that Asa had missed this. With the police’s interest dwindling, so had his trips. Even your encounters in work were now limited as you had finished your exhibition. Or many it was just the part of you that had fallen so madly in love with the man that wished he wanted your company. Your eyes left the page to glance at his face. mature features with intelligent eyes. You hated how he could make your heart stop. Maybe this was fake to him, but it was so real to you. Turning your attention back to your book, you didn’t look up until the sun had fully set. Glancing at the clock, you were surprised to see it was nearly 10pm. “Gosh, I swear I’ll never get use to these changing sunsets. Every year it takes me by surprise.” You sit up, stretching as Asa chuckles. Leaning forward, you press a kiss to his cheek before lifting your legs off his lap to stand up. Asa followed, and you smiled when he marked his page with the bookmark you had gotten him. “You’re nearly finished. I told you it’s a page turner.” You nodded to the book, which he was nearly finished save for 50 pages. “Yes, all the more reason to come back.” He shot a look over his shoulder that made you smirk. Playful teasing had become something you adored in the man. It was another reason that made you doubt this was fake. They couldn’t hear what was happening, so why play around. Sliding the book back into the slot, he picked up the remote which had been forgotten on the sofa to go to the window and place it on the stand. A ploy for him to see if they were still watching the house. “I think you’re right. They get far too much funding. It could be going to the museum.” He mused as he turned back to you. Maybe they needed to see more. Or maybe you wanted more. Just to test the waters. Walking up to him, you reach up and placed your hands on his shoulders. “Kiss me?” You whisper to him, pressing your body against his own. Wide eyes met your own and you couldn’t help but giggle. “They can see through the window.” That was enough to encourage the man to duck down, pressing a kiss to your lips. he could have lightly kissed your lips and pulled away after a few moment, but he didn’t. In fact, you were sure he had forgotten all about the car outside. His arms wrapped around your waist and you were pulled tight against his strong chest as his lips fought your own for dominance which you quickly surrendered. His tongue slipped inside your mouth, making you moan as reach up and place your hand on the back of his head near his neck to keep his mouth to your own. Not like he was pulling away any time soon. you felt him push you backwards and you allowed him to push you till your back hit the wall and he pinned you to it. they couldn’t see you anymore, but you didn’t care. Raising your right leg, you hooked it around his hip as his hand trailed down your side and followed the curve to your thigh, holding you in that position. He was driving you crazy, his touch was like fire as you cling to him. When he does pull back, you are left a panting mess with rosy cheek. But his tell was his red ears despite the smirk on his lips. “So, tell me, where does the line between fake and real stop?” he asks, keeping his face close to your own. “With a kiss like that.” You bite your lower lip, completely aware of how his hand had kept your leg hooked on his hip. “The police aren’t outside. They left over an hour ago.” Asa’s voice was low, barely about a whisper. “They did?” You raise your eye brows at him. A nod answers your question and you were left pondering your next move. “Good.” As leans down, sealing his lips over your own.

 -----time skip ------

 You were sitting in your living room, half heartedly flicking through the channel when you notice Asa’ car drive past your window. Smiling, you turn off the TV and grab your small bag. It was a Friday, which meant that Asa worked late. But it also meant you would be staying over with him. A few weeks ago, shit had really hit the fan. You really didn’t know what happened, expect that the hotel was burned to the ground, and Asa only just escaped with his life. He was badly hurt, and you were thankful that he had taken a week off for holidays. It had been holidays he was going to spend with you in his cabin up north, but plans changed. You stayed by his side during his recovery. Asa had lost nearly everything that night. His creations, his sanctuary, his dogs, his prizes. But he had been thankful to come home to you. He had extended his own holiday but you returned to work the next week. He said he had fallen while on a hike so no one questioned his cuts and bruising when he did go back. You took your bag and left your home for the evening, locking it up as you set to go to Asa. He had regained most of his energy and health back, which you were hoping he might be up for something a little more… activity related tonight. The lingerie in your bag certainly hoped so. he was already out the car and into the house as you walked up. But something caught your eye. In his living room, there was someone hiding in the corner. Your breath caught in your throat as you recognised the man. His name was Arkin. He had been the one who had escaped Asa, the one who caused his injuries. You only recognised him because Asa had pointed him out when the new came on one evening. And you highly doubted that he was here to say a friendly hello. Running around the back, you ducked under the window so as not to be seen. You ditched your bag in a bush as you made your way to the back door just as you heard heavy metal music blare through the house. You wanted to scream to Asa, but the glint you had seen in Arkins hands wasn’t enough to tell you if it was a gun or a knife. Slipping into his kitchen, you heard the music being turned off and then silence. You took a large knife from the knife block on the counter and held it as if to stab. And you were willing to. Then you slowly opened the bottom draw, which had some duct tape in it. You round the edge, only slightly pulling it off. If you were going to hurt someone, they cant make a lot of sound. You moved into the hallway which connected to the living room and dinning room. “All those insects. You’re quite the collector.” A voice, Arkins voice spoke, making you pause as you made sure no one knew you were here. “In a 200 mile radios from where we last saw each other, there are 14 licensed entomologists. You were number 12.” As Arkin spoke, you moved slowly down the hallway, looking behind you ever second in case someone else was here. “Your daddy ran a museum, didn’t he? Fucked you up real good.” His words made you feel sick. Asa never spoke of his father. His mother was held with high regard, and he said he wanted you to meet her when she was next in town. But he had shut off when you asked about his father. Arkin was right. “Turn around.” You pressed your back against the wall as you inched closer to the doorway. Tape in your left hand, the edge taped to your finger, and the knife in the other. You could see from the glass display cabinet that Asa and Arkin were standing face to face near the entrance to the dinning room. Arking had his back to you. And a gun raised at Asa’ face. Fear rushed through you as the analogy of ‘don’t bring a knife to a gun fight’ flooded your mind. “Are you here to kill me?” Asa spoke with a calmness you couldn’t fathom. “No. that would be too nice. First im gonna make sure feel everything that I felt. Then im gonna kill you.” You could hear the smugness in his voice. “So that you can never hurt anyone-“ He was cut off as Asa lunged at him. But Arkin gave a swift jab to the face, causing him to tumble back. Into a red box. Your gasp was covered as Arkin flipped the box and started slamming the lid shut again and again, growling “fuck you.”  Before the lack closed. he stepped back, gasping for air. He thought he was alone. Darting into the room, you raise the knie and bought it down into his right shoulder and an angle. He instantly dropped the gun. Letting go of the knife for a moment, you grabbed the roll of tape and started wrapping it round and round his mouth. He had only just managed to let out a cry of pain as his legs gave way under him. He reached up, struggling so you grabbed the knife and pulled it from the flesh. Using the sharp, bloodstained blade, you cut the tape and he collapsed to the ground moaning. You gave him a quick kick in the face before kicked the gun that had fallen out of reach. The last thing you needed was neighbours calling the police for gunfire at the house. You raced over to the box. “Asa, its me.” You reassured him through the small walls in case he tried to attack whoever opened the box. When you pulled the lid open, he scrambled to his feet, the anger in his eyes blazing as he found his attacker on the floor. Arkin was groaning, unable to move just yet but you were sure he’d be up and about soon enough. “Your hands.” You whispered, reaching out and taking his right hand which was covered in blood from Arkin slamming the box down. Your heart broke. He had not long healed. Arkin began to come around, his eyes darting between the two of you as he realized what had happened. He looked at you with an unimaginable about of rage and anger in his eyes as he tried to scream. Asa darted forward, twisting him around and pinning him to the ground, a knee in his back and his hand pressing on the new wound. “The tape.” He commanded of you, and you immediately grabbed the duct tape which had rolled away slightly. Finding the end, you saw Asa grabbing Arkins left hand and you mirrored with his right. Bringing them forcefully behind his back, you taped them in place, then went to tape his ankles together. Once satisfied, Asa hauled the man off the ground and threw him into the box, the lid closing over with the force. Asa flipped the latch. Looking him inside. You didn’t realise you were panting and shaking until Asa was looking at you. Racing forward, you wrap your arms around his torso and bury your face in his chest. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?” He ask, holding him as tightly as you could. A bloody hand stroked your cheek as another rubbed your back to sooth you. “No, you got here right on time.” There was a softness to his voice that made you melt as you looked up at him and smiled. “I’m too late to be a guard dog. Ludwig or Vivaldi wouldn’t have let him get close enough to hurt you.” You shake your head as you pull back, taking his hands in your own once again to inspect the damage. But he turned his hands over and took your own. “How about we go up to the cabin this weekend?” Asa askes, his question not very well fitted for the currant moment. “huh?” Your eyes glanced to the box which was moving slightly as Arkin struggled. “Oh, we’ll take him. And, since I am out of commission right now, perhaps I can show you some tricks.” Asa smirked as your eyes light up at his words. “Yes!” You bounce on the balls of your feet. You went up on your tiptoes to kiss him, resisting every urge not to pull him upstairs to his bedroom right now. Pulling back, you dart down and pick up the gun, offering it to Asa. “I’ll go get some stuff to see to your hands. And I’ll run back and pack a quick bag and then come and pack your things. I think I should drive, though. You’ll have to give me instructions.” You rattle off, the excitement obvious in your voice. “Oh, you’ll get use to taking instruction this weekend.” Asa whispered in your ear, making you blush and bite your lip with a smirk. Arkin seemed to get a burst of energy and started flaying around in the box, which only moved slightly. “He truly is annoying, isn’t he?” you huffed, hating the moment was ruined by him. Asa simply chuckled and walked up to the box, sitting on it and stopping it from shifting. As you flitted around, gathering supplies and seeing to his hands and then packing his things, Asa watched with a soft eyes. He would be lying if he said he trusted you from the start. And even more so if he admitted there had still been a small part of him that thought you were with the police. but that doubt was well gone. And this weekend, he wanted to celebrate this strange relationship. And oh, what a celebration it would be.

[a-master-procrastinator]

6.2 reactions, part 4

Or ‘yes, gimme more Mandalorians. And you better not forget Akaavi this time”

Spoilers ahead!

I’m trying to imagine how many times has Commander heard this. They defeated Tenebrae just a few days (weeks?) before. Let them rest.

So, we don’t know from the start who has attacked the Spirit of Vengeance II. Hm.

(spoiler: they were Mandalorians. well, some of them. plus Dar’manda, but no Indigo)

Translation: stop getting your ass captured. I already saved you a lot of times and it’s getting boring. Come up with something new.

But actually, sweet.

please don’t crash the ship please don’t crash the ship please don’t crash the ship please don’t crash the ship

What did I just say?

Yes, thank you very much for the commentary, Rass. I know she’s a dumbass.

So one of the enemies here is clan Varad, the one we already faced (if you did the Mandalorian Raiders flashpoint ofc). It’s not mentioned nor your participation in that flashpoint changes anything, just wanted to remind that if anyone says “You’re good. But you’re no Mandalorians”, I’m gonna scream.

When will people stop bragging in front of the fucking Commander? Look buddy. She killed creatures far beyond your comprehension. (wait i don’t like how i sound) You’re not gonna have fun, you’re about to die. Bless major Anri.

Apparently, that rancor is a boss. Tbh I was expecting this since PTS, but it seems to be bugged. I didn’t discover a way to bring this shied down, but the boss still attacked me. I simply walked out, but keep your eyes open.

Uh, what is that thing? 

And we used it to move in space! Have I mentioned I love SWTOR for small silly things?

“Don’t fall into the trap, you should remember it from PTS”

“Haar’chak!”

“But of course I won’t elaborate on this.”

They remembered the Bounty Hunter can be a Mando too! 

But now I’m intrigued. Revenge? What for?

(and can we admit she looks badass?)

Wait what?

Why would you need Cadera’s banner? Things are getting even more intriguing

Oh.

OH

Are we getting a civil war here?

And about personal reasons... why do I get a feeling it has something to do with Jicoln and his desire to not support the Sith Empire? I mean, it’s obvious, but there must be more to it.

Translation: we’ll be getting more Mandalorians content. Well, I can only say “I’m looking forward to this”.

“I’ll need everyone to stay committed to each other” *stabs an ally* “Mandalorians have lost their ways” *stabs an ally again* “For honor!”

(did not mean she’s  bad, but this made me laugh. yeah, that’s how you keep your allies, i see no flaw in such tactic)

An actual translation: “A Mandalorian never forgets”. So, now I’m hyped. Who she is? What does she have personally against Shae? Why clan Cadera? What is going on? Gimme the answers. Now. Gimme!

This whole story makes me question whether Shae or her opponent is more honorable and following the ways of Mandalore. The conflict is set up, and I’m looking forward to seeing what is going to happen.

My biggest complain is that the flashpoint is fucking long and every mob feels like a mini-boss. In story mode. Ugh. And the bugs. And they forgot Akaavi.