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thefirst3chapters · 10 months ago

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There is so much going on with the parallels in this gifset (Rory and Jess's first kiss and Jess's infamous "I love you"). This got long so it's under the cut.

Both of these scenes happen after Rory or Jess's parent(s) announce a new relationship: For Rory, she just talked with Christopher and is happy about the prospect of her parents being together. This family reunion is seconds away from being over, but Rory is hopeful that it will last. For Jess, he just met TJ, was not impressed, and does not want to be a part of the situation at all. He is jaded from seeing Liz repeatedly getting involved in destructive relationships and is frustrated that Luke thinks they can change her mind. It is interesting that both Rory and Jess's history of abandonment is highlighted as they abandon each other. (Similar to how Jimmy showed up and ran out on Jess in the same episode that Jess left.)

Both of these scenes happen at an event that commemorates love: The kiss is at Sookie and Jackson's wedding, and the "I love you" is at the Firelight Festival, which celebrates a star-crossed love story from Stars Hollow's history. The wedding is joyful and marks a beginning while the festival has a more bittersweet undertone. This holiday is when Dean breaks up with Rory in S1 and when Rory is heartbroken by Logan's disinterest in S5, but the scene with Jess is the only one of the three that happens at the festival itself. (Rory really can't catch a break with this holiday.)

Both of these scenes have surrounding events that contrast their aesthetic: The scenery of Rory and Jess's first kiss is of course beautiful and is fit for an Austen-esque drama. It's springtime, and Rory and Jess are both wearing blue. The beauty is undercut by the impending Lorelai/Christopher fallout, Rory’s inner turmoil and disloyalty to Dean, and Jess’s pain as he moved back for Rory only to see her run away; the seeds of communication problems and abandonment that will plague their relationship have been sown among the blossoming flowers. The "I love you" scene happens on a cold, dark winter night. Rory and Jess are both wearing neutral colors, and it's clear from their facial expressions that despite what they both told Lorelai, they are emotionally torn up by their estrangement. The darkness is undercut by the Firelight Festival’s faith that love will eventually conquer its obstacles; among the twinkle lights, Luke and Lorelai find each other (it’s not their time, yet) and Liz tells Luke she is hopeful that Jess will be okay and TJ will be a good partner for her (the rest of the show proves that this faith was well-placed). Rory and Jess's obstacles of failed communication and abandonment remain, but so does hope.

Rory and Jess respectively reveal what they did to their parental figure when they return to town months later. The aesthetic contrast is interesting. Lorelai and Rory have this conversation in public and in broad daylight. Lorelai and Rory's "default setting" is being best friends, but this is something significant that Rory kept from her. Lorelai, who is still upset over what happened with Christopher, tells Rory that the situation isn't fair to Dean but ends up focusing more on Dean's feelings than anything else. Luke and Jess have this conversation alone and in the dark. It's their breakthrough moment where they realize how much they really care about each other, and Jess divulging something so personal is a big deal. Luke just had the revelation that he loves Lorelai, and his advice is more focused on trying to help Jess. The dialogue is so similar:

Lorelai and Rory in S3 E1: "Well, I thought it was over. I mean, you haven't talked with him since..." / "Sookie's wedding." / .... / "Okay, so he crashed Sookie's wedding, and..." / "And nothing. He told me he was back in town, that he'd moved back, and..." / "What, Rory? Come on." / "And we kissed, okay?"

Luke and Jess in S4 E21: "No. Rory, still? That's ancient history. You haven't seen her in a year." / "I saw her when I was here a few months ago." / "I didn't know that. So, what happened?" / "Nothing... I told her, uh..." / "What?" / "I told her I loved her."

Both of these reunions bookend a third Literati reunion (of sorts) at the End of Summer Madness Festival: In S3 E1, Rory just told Lorelai that she is joining her in not speaking with Christopher, which contrasts her talking with him at the wedding. Rory was surprised to find Jess under a tree at the wedding, and here she is surprised to find him under a tree kissing Shane. The setting here is also a stark contrast to the other two scenes. It is late summer, the music is loud and irritating, red is a prominent color, and lots of people are present. The body language of Jess and Rory's first kiss was so affectionate, but Jess and Shane appear far less emotionally invested. These contrasts all enrich the comparison of Rory’s clandestine enchantment at the wedding to her disappointed jealousy at the summer festival.

Looking at all three of these scenes together, there is this poetic sequence of Rory and Jess's relationship from a beautiful spring day to an overbearing summer afternoon to a bleak (but not entirely so) winter night, and it's really compelling.

It is notable that all three of these reunions happen outside, and so do a lot of their other scenes together. The idea that Rory and Jess find freedom to be themselves when they are together is brought up often, and the fact that so many of their scenes are outside could be reflective of that. Being outside gives them space to breathe and grow away from the confines of what other people expect of them, but it also leaves them more exposed to the elements and more at risk of being left out in the cold, which makes vulnerability frightening for both of them. They don't quite have the emotional skills to weather those challenges (yet).

#gilmore girls #rory gilmore #jess mariano #literati #rory x jess #gilmore girls analysis

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alyheartsjess · 9 months ago

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what i would do if i was a gilmore girls writer:

april storyline:

i feel like instead of the april storyline liz could have given birth a bit earlier and and luke and lorelai would have to step in to help raise doula a lot. first of all we’d get to see them with a baby, which is cute. but there’s also a lot of room for conflict in deciding how to handle the situation. aka conflict that makes for good TV (”should we even have kids together if we can’t even do this?”, ”we have to make these decisions together, we’re getting married!” etc.) but isn’t life altering enough to ruin the couple. it also draws parallells to the jess storyline (which was a huge part of the earlier seasons), luke’s established family issues and his earlier disagreements with lorelai which makes luke’s character arc and the show as a whole more cohesive and satisfying. i could see this drama lasting for all of season 6. in the end because these characters have grown, they would actually figure it out somehow. and then they’d have season 7 to settle down and be happy. i actually do love april but they could have made her a young sheldon type of guest character at yale and paris could have developed a soft spot for her or something.

literati in season 3:

so i feel like they wanted to show us that this is rory’s bad boy phase. they made their relationship about dean a lot and most of the episodes centered around them were like ooooh jess did this sucky thing and dean never would have. and i get that maybe they needed to try something new and didn’t want to just recreate the boyfriend storyline with a new guy (aka see how he fits into her grandparents world, saying i love you for the first time etc). they already did the good stuff with dean so they decided to make this rory’s bad decision and only came up conflict to show us. but they didn’t even fully commit bc rory didn’t change with jess the way she did with logan. that was her bad boy phase, literati was always supposed to be something more. so instead of showing how bad of a couple this was compared to dean/rory, they could have drawn different parallels. because dean/rory was not a perfect relationship and they could have shown how in some ways why this is better for rory. what does she want? not her grandparents and not her mom. after all the buildup literati was the audience’s favorite and most anticipated couple, so i really think painting it as an unexpected but positive change of direction in rory’s journey would have been worthwhile.

like show us how when they go on dates they want to do the same things (as opposed to donna reed or rory just watching dean’s games). show us how they both want their alone time and them not calling each other every day because rory wants to study and jess has to work can be an OK thing (as opposed to the infamous 14 calls a day). show us how jess maybe doesn’t fit into lorelai and rory’s flow as well as dean did BUT how that’s also ok because rory is getting older and going off to college so this makes sense. but then also show us some god damn character development and lorelai and jess actually learning to get along (pls make that an entire episode’s storyline actually. have them be funny together and make it emotional). and show us nice scenes with luke, lorelai, rory and jess. where was all of this when they were dating??? nowhere to be seen. although i would have liked for luke not to kick jess out (i will make another post of how i would handle jess and luke’s relationship in season 3) i know it had to happen because milo had to leave. and i wouldn’t change major plot points like that because i like jess’ arc too much. but if they had shown everything i wrote here, literati’s realtionship would have canonically been stronger and jess would have at least told rory about not graduating and his dad showing up and why he felt like he had to go before he went.

dean cheating on lindsay with rory:

actually i would have had lindsay push him in the lake luke pushed jess in but oops plot twist, dean can’t swim

#gilmore girls #jess mariano #rory gilmore #literati #lorelai gilmore #luke danes

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literatikoo · 3 years ago

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Jess Mariano's alleged communication problems

If there is one thing the Gilmore Girls fandom agrees upon, whether you're team Jess or Dean or Logan, it's that Jess isn't great at communicating. There's just a consensus that he's not great at discussing his problems and that's the number 1 reason why his and Rory's relationship blew up in their face in season 3. But... this is a (somewhat) unfounded complaint? Don't get me wrong, I know Jess can be harsh and rude and really knows how to hit the nail on the head sometimes but there are also multiple instances where he talks after being pushed a little. Like every single time he's talked to Luke about Rory problems ("The girls I like don't give a damn about me," "I told her I loved her" and the infamous swan episode) or when he tells Rory, a girl he barely knows, that his mom doesn't want him back for Christmas.

The problem with Jess is that he picks and chooses who to communicate too. He definitely doesn't talk about Liz to Luke because he knows that Luke just doesn't believe that Liz is a bad person and a neglectful mother. And seriously, we've seen Luke enable Liz' terrible behaviour multiple times on the show, do you really think he would've believed whatever Jess had to say about her? He talks to Rory about Liz that one time and she doesn't believe him either and both we and Jess know that she has a right to that because she's never met Liz, but this is still enough for Jess to never bring her up again (at least from what we see) because he's a 17 year old kid with a terrible relationship with his parents. NO 17 year old kid who's been treated bad by their parents would want to open up about it because it's pretty strongly ingrained in us that having negative emotions against your parents is WRONG. On the other hand, Jess knows that Luke sees his and Rory's relationship and may even help because he has his own unique relationship with the Gilmore Girls, which is why he's much more open about Rory and even seeks advice on occasion.

Now, let's talk about Jess' less than stellar communication moments:

1. Lying about school and Walmart: Jess skives off school a LOT to work at Walmart and save up money. He doesn't tell anyone about it. Why? Because for everyone else in Stars Hollow, and for most of us too, school is important and education is a positive thing needed for growth. But who knows how often Jess went to school before SH, we already know he has a bad relationship with the educational system but why? When he goes back to NY in s2 it's obvious he's not going to school and we know Liz moved around a lot so he may be a lot more behind in school than we know. Yes, he's smart and he reads a lot but that's not enough to do well in school; you need to be able to conform a fair amount and I don't think Jess even went enough to know that. Jess already wasn't planning on going to college and he knows that living with Luke is temporary, which is why he puts more importance into saving up money. He was already working for the future, just in a different way from everyone else. It's obvious that he also wasn't planning to flunk out of school, it happened because he wasn't attending enough not because he was failing (which pisses me off so much don't even get me started). He was going to graduate and then he was going to use the money he saved up while looking for a job that suited him. And that's a pretty solid plan honestly, especially since he didn't have the luxury to suddenly decide to go to 4 year college because his girlfriend told him too like Dean. But this is something else he just couldn't talk about to Luke or Rory, who both think he's capable of great things within the academic sphere. Mind you, once Luke found out he was skipping school he didn't deal with things in the best way either. He stole his car, effectively cutting off Jess' last bit of independence. I really feel like Jess was just waiting to graduate before he had THE talk with Rory about their future, and it was obvious he was thinking longterm ("22.8 miles"). That is before everything goes to shit.

2. Keg! Max!: Let me preface this by saying that Jess definitely made irreversible mistakes in this episode... but it wasn't for the lack of trying. This is the episode that he finds out he's not graduating and we can see him struggling with this information, he's tense and angry and his emotions are simmering. His interactions with Rory, which are usually so easygoing, are surrounded by this air of finality. At this moment, he knows he's going to lose her and his home with Luke because that's what the deal was. But he still goes with her to that party and he still does the bare minimum of mingling. Throughout the party he tells Rory that he wants to leave, I'm guessing to talk to her about what happened. But they don't (this is NOT Rory's fault btw, she had no way to know what happened either) and instead Jess' emotions get the better of him. This is the first of the two instances where we really see how non communicative Jess can be. However I still maintain that if Dean hadn't gotten involved, Jess and Rory would've been able to talk. (fuck Dean)

3. Jess leaves: This is the second case where we see him being truly non communicative, and unfortunately I don't have much to say in his defence. Except that he probably was still reeling from losing his home and meeting his Dad and just didn't know how to put that insane amount of emotion into words. He also probably thought that Rory just didn't want to talk to him anymore because of how terribly he treated her, especially since he was just going to give her more bad news. He could see himself self destructing, and didn't want Rory to be collateral damage.

4. Smaller instances (Swan song, Not calling Rory, fighting with Lorelai): Okay, I think the swan incident was Rory's fault, because he was telling her the truth and just didn't want to get into it in front of Emily. But she wasn't ready to hear it until she talked to Dean, which honestly was a sucky move on her part. The not calling her when he said he would while they were dating in that one random episode was also a similar misunderstanding. The thing in common with both of these instances was that he was ready to learn afterwards; he said he was willing to go back to Emily's house and he bought them tickets to the Distillers and from what the show tells us they had a lot more consistent date nights after that. This was Jess' first proper relationship and he was really trying. Now the Lorelai thing... he just didn't want her in his business. They had no relation to each other and she was very condescending to him the first time they met, he wasn't great either but when an adult talks to you the way she did after you've just been uprooted at your mothers whims, you tend to hate them a little. And honestly I always thought that Jess being weirded out by Lorelai's involvement in his and Rory's relationship was more normal 17 year old behaviour than Dean being overly friendly with her.

So, in conclusion, because he made two big fatal communication mistakes, he's labelled as the broody non talking type. When we see most of the characters actually do the same (Rory drops out of Yale and cuts off ties with her mother, Lorelai sleeps with Christopher after months of miscommunication with Luke, Luke doesn't tell Lorelai, his fiance, that he has a daughter), seriously, they've all made mistakes and this doesn't diminish the mistakes that Jess has made and the hurt he has caused, but he also doesn't deserve to have non communicative as a personality trait. If it was seriously that big of a problem, he wouldn't have been able to grow from it that quickly (by the end of s4) and by reading self help books of all things. I also think it comes off like that because he was in the show for so little time, and that's what the writers chose to focus on.

So tldr, Jess isn't as non communicative as the show wants us to believe and he definitely isn't broody.

#gilmore girls #gilmore girls meta #jess mariano #rory gilmore #luke danes #liz danes #lorelai gilmore #literati #character meta #jess mariano meta #anti dean forrester #not really but my entire blog is anti dean forrester so

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tiptapricot · 3 years ago

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bestie help... i can't sleep because i'm being plagued with visions of old gay people (bnt)... ik you've mentioned a few things about them in middle age in another hc post but i would bw delighted to hear any more thoughts if you had some 💖

Ohhh I can try!! I’m placing middle aged BnT post FtM since that’s an area I haven’t explored as much

Life after saving all of time and space is… strange. In a lot of ways it’s not that different, and in others it reaaaally is

One one hand, Bill and Ted still live in the same houses, they still go over to jam with each other every day, they still have their kids and their wives, but on the other, there’s stories of them and their family all over news sites and social media, Wyld Stallyns has rocketed back to worldwide success, and they both have this creeping feeling that maybe their marriage issues weren’t meant to be fixed at all….

Being in the cosmic nexus of a destiny-achieving, existence-saving event with your best friend kind of changes your perspective on a lot of stuff

The paparazzi mellow out after a year or so, but they still have people coming up to ask for autographs and to give thank yous, and news stories are still running mundane updates on them at the end of reports, and all the stores they’re regulars at give them discounted drinks, and it’s strange

The world as a whole has had a shift, too, a good one

Reports after the fact described the event as time and space being twisted and punctured and stretched like putty or rubber, and though most things ended up back to normal, there were still after effects, fingerprints and bumps left in the wake of a near disaster

For a few weeks after The Song That United The World was played, the whole planet was thrumming with leftover energy. It was the most creative humanity had ever been. Artists, singers, painters, writers, sculptors, architects, actors, mathematicians, everyone was spurred on by a bone deep inspiration, and the world created

People became kinder to each other too, gentler and more open and caring, sensors found that the global temperature had miraculously dropped to safe levels, nature started growing back at a faster more vivacious rate, and a scientist discovered that Wyld Stallyns’ music contained an inherent connection to the cosmic vortex, and as a result, made a perfect and sustainable source of green energy when played

So much happened, and yet Bill and Ted… stayed Bill and Ted

They don’t have the same weight and hopelessness as before, they have a stable music career and their kids have been helping produce all the songs they came up with in the Great Creativity Boom, and they don’t feel any different, but that’s the thing

The story that they would unite the world always seemed so distant, and then it became reality in the course of a few days. Even a year after the fact, it’s still a lot to take in

That and… the fact that Bill and Ted can’t stop looking at each other differently

They keep having moments, while hanging out in the garage, where they’ll just find themselves staring at each other, hip to hip on the couch, and there’s something different there than there was before. Or maybe they just didn’t notice it until now

Bill talks to Jo about it, and Ted does the same with Liz. They’re hesitant, because after working to hard to stay together, wouldn’t it make that pointless if they ended things now?

It’s a lot of late night talks, a lot of hugs and snuggling

Jo and Bill have talked about similar stuff before, about Bill’s long standing feelings for Ted, and about Jo’s attraction to women, but they still thought staying in a relationship would be best. But now that Bill’s been seeing how Ted looks at him, he realizes maybe it’s not after all

It’s all new for Ted though, and it’s kind of difficult for him to wrap his head around. Liz sits on the back porch with him and they share drinks and watch the stars and just… talk. Realizing you’re in love is a big thing after all

The divorces are easier than any of them expect, and it’s like a weight is removed from their shoulders afterwards, a new sense of freedom

They decide to have Jo move in with Liz and Ted with Bill, a similar set up to what they did in their early 20s, and start moving their things over

In a lot of ways it does feel the same as moving out after graduation, only this time, when Ted brings his last box of stuff in, when it’s just him and Bill standing in the entryway sweaty and smiling, he takes a step forward, and takes Bill’s face in his hands, and traces a thumb over his cheek as Bill smiles and closes his eyes, and leans in to kiss him

It’s not a movie moment, nothing dramatic and huge, and yet it is the sweetest kiss Ted “Theodore” Logan has ever had

It’s easy to go back to living with each other again, they work together just as well as they always have, only now there’s a new kind of domesticity seeping into the cracks of their life

Casual touches, slow dances in the kitchen and living room, the sleepy weight of the other person’s body against theirs in bed

Bill asks about marriage one night, when it’s just them, when only Ted will feel his breath and the way he shifts to be closer to his chest, and Ted says, “Yeah… I’d like that.”

They don’t invite too many people. They keep it close family and friends. Missy takes Bill suit shopping and Liz helps Ted pick out a dress, and Billie and Thea perform a fantastic song at the reception

The next day they wake up to the news that three thought to be extinct species have been rediscovered

Bill likes to kiss Ted’s wedding ring, and Ted uses the word husband like he’ll never get another chance, and they are so damn happy

Sometimes it can still be rough. They still have sleepless nights where their heads are full of thoughts of other timelines and flashing visions of distant galaxies and the infinite tangle of time, but they have each other when that happens

They can talk about what they see, about the changes. Bill can squeeze Ted’s hand and snuggle into his neck, and they don’t have to think about prison yards or their own cosmic importance

Through it all, with each other they are allowed to be Bill and Ted, nothing else, and that’s the greatest destiny either of them could ask for

Headcanons masterpost

#this was another long one but I had a lot of fun thinking about post ftm stuff #hope this works for u!!#the fruit is headcanoning again #the fruit is talking again #the fruit is answering again #bnt #bill and ted #bill and ted face the music

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daydreamreality · 4 years ago

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So on and off I’ve been writing this super long post on some of my thoughts about Gilmore Girls. And something I wrote made me go, “wow, the evidence against AYITL just being the season ASP didn’t get to do is really stacking up because the two things I can see Jess being around for in season 7 is what he does in the revival except the circumstances with Liz are different.” SO. Hear me out. If the reason we didn’t get a “real” Lorelai/Luke wedding was budget restrictions (I call bullshit, why did we need TWO musical numbers)...well let me take you on a made-up journey of the end of season 7 on the CW with ASP showrunning. Without Netflix freedom and money to throw her unrestricted last hurrah with GG, we get our series finale with a full-on Luke and Lorelai wedding because, well, why wouldn’t this be the ending of the show??

I now realize that getting Luke and Lorelai married in one season after the shitshow that was the end of season 6 might be difficult so let’s just assume this is handled in a mature and healthy way and they’re back and better than ever! Because I honestly didn’t think about that bit when this scene popped in my head and made me go “WHY, it could have happened! And now I need to tell everyone!” And I’m not really in the mood to go about theorizing this AU season 7 in full.

Rory still has to get pregnant but not want to be with the father because ~*fULL cIrcLe*~. The way I can see this happening is Logan goes off to London, their long-distance relationship is a lot rockier, and she eventually finds out that Logan has been cheating on her. OR Logan convinces her they should open the relationship up; Rory is not comfortable with this but is too emotionally invested in him to let him go yet. Either way, the hurt she feels has her breaking up with him for real, is very sad, blahblahblah, and they end up having a “last hurrah” together that gets her pregnant. WHY? Because FULL CIRCLE.

So we’ve seen Rory break up with Logan for good, she’s pregnant but we don’t know that, and we’ve gotten some sort of “window scene” that shows Jess still has feelings for her. WEDDING TIME. For real this time with family and guests and ceremony! Town square or Dragonfly Inn, take your pick.

Maid of honor and best man start the show. Jess is hilariously nervous because that’s my favorite look on him, ngl. While waiting on Rory to meet him, we get a nice little look between him and Luke of familial love and respect across the room. Jess gets distracted by Rory appearing and his whole face goes soft, and the proud smile on Luke’s face quickly devolves into a smirk because Luke has his number and knows he’s still got it good for Rory. Jess glares. I laugh. Rory is unaware of this moment of amazing communication and is nervous as well, but puts on her best brave face and walks arm-in-arm with Jess in all her beautiful grace.

Now for the actual ceremony, I could never even begin to come up with something as heartwarming and beautiful and hilarious as ASP or a talented fic writer. But I’m gonna throw in the detail that for some reason the officiant they booked can’t get there and Kirk has to step in last-minute because of course he’s an ordained minister. He throws in way too many personal stories and exudes his awkward charm (cut to appalled looks between Emily and Richard), but overall it goes surprisingly well (cut to proud, tears in their eyes like in Lorelai’s Graduation, MY HEART). We also get one little Jess and Rory smile at each other all shy and romantic-like because I wanna see it.

Now we’re at the reception. Rory comes up to Jess all cute and happy, “come dance with me.” Jess is like, why would I do that, blank stare. “It’s tradition.” Super cute innocent smile she knows will get anyone to do anything; Jess is not immune and is already going to say yes but he has to be difficult, Rory knows this.

“What tradition? And why would you think that argument is going to work on me?”

“Best man and maid of honor traditionally share a dance.”

“*rolls his eyes* Your mother is not going to care, and frankly would probably prefer not to have a picture of us dancing.”

“*pulls out the big guns* You owe me for prom.” Not unkindly, clearly in a joking manner. (I KNOW THIS IS A TROPE BUT I LOVE IT OKAY)

Fake hurt, clutches his chest “OUCH.”

The dance starts a bit awkward and stilted, but they slowly relax and enjoy themselves. Jess cannot waltz. Neither can Rory. We’re getting served some serious “Reflecting Light” vibes tho with the shots, set design, and another beautiful Sam Phillips number. The parallels are being thrown in our faces. We LOVE IT. We EAT IT UP.

Jess goes to make the slightest move to bring her in closer when a wave of nausea comes over Rory. She backs away quickly, and Jess does a “did I do something wrong” look/line like after the “Then She Appeared” kiss. She’s got her arm covering her mouth, looks panicked, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” runs out of the party. Luke notices and asks what’s going on. “I don’t know, she looked like she was sick?” “I’ll get Lorelai.”

Lorelai searches for Rory and finds her crumpled on the ground crying, sweaty hair, make up ruined, just completely unraveled. She tried so hard to keep this secret to herself for Lorelai’s big day, but she is too overwhelmed and tired. Lorelai settles in next to her, pulling the hair out of her face, “Oh honey, what’s wrong?” Rory cries harder.

After some good Lorelai hugs, Rory calms down slightly, looks at her mother distraught:

“Mom?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m pregnant.”

IF YOU’RE OUT ON THE ROAD

#Gilmore Girls #alt scene #IT COULD HAVE HAPPENED #literati #rory x jess #c'mon I really needed to see Emily and Richard plus the townies at a wedding

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whataboutmyfries · 4 years ago

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Russian roulette

Hello Hello! As promised, the new chapter of Russian roulette! Thank you so very much to @ttylfedora and @asunshinepuff for being my wonderful Betas and giving this chapter some semblance of punctuation.

As always, credits for the cubs goes to @lumosinlove!

Chapter 4

Finn sighed, propping his head on a hand as he drove, the street lights flashing over the car in the dark. Finn looked over at Logan, his small form spread over the passenger seat, his head resting against the cold window while he slept.

Finn’s heart clenched painfully at the sight. The flashing lights made Logan look like an angel fallen from grace; incandescent, gorgeous and utterly unattainable. His breath hitched ever so slightly, gone in an instant as he turned back to the road.

He’d dealt with this for eight years. What’s a few more?

“Tremz, Tremz, we’re here.”

Logan woke to Finn gently shaking his shoulder, quietly calling his name. He slowly blinked his eyes open, “‘M awake, ‘m awake.” he shook his head blearily, trying to shake off some of the sleep.

“C’mon, up you get,” Finn grunted, tugging him out of the car, wrapping an arm around his waist. “Let’s get you in bed.” Logan groaned, leaning heavily on Finn as he muttered something about fishes and bedrooms.

By the time they got to the door, Logan was properly awake; though his arm stayed wrapped around Finn’s shoulder, the heavy warmth sending a shiver of delight down the redhead’s spine.

“Fish, I can walk back to my room myself, y’know.” Logan teased. He turned to look at his friend, his hand slipping off Finn’s body. Finn huffed a laugh, though he felt a strange sense of disappointment at the loss of contact.

“Go home, get some sleep, meet me back here tomorrow. We have to see what we’re going to do about Lizard and Leo .” it’s a little repetitive so i think one tomorrow works

Finn just looked at Logan, melancholy and regret swimming in the hazel irises.

“Go home, Logan. Get back to your own bed, it might help.”

“This is my home.”

“I know.” Finn sighed. “I know it is, but it shouldn’t be. Home should be somewhere you can be safe, somewhere you can call completely your own.”

“Is this not a place I can be safe? A place I can call completely mine?”

“Fuck, Tremz,” Finn shoved a hand through his hair in frustration. “Stop being so difficult, you know what I — you know what? Nevermind. Goodnight.”

Logan’s heart ached to say something, anything, to get that look off of Finn’s face, but he came up empty. He could do little but watch as Finn walked away, his lithe figure disappearing into the night.

Logan hated his flat, the empty space altogether too full of absent reminders of the person he had been, the person who’d let things go so horribly wrong. It had driven him mad; those one cosy, warm rooms once filled with laughter and merriment reduced to bleak snapshots of memories lost to time, black and white mementoes of love and companionship. The keepsakes on his mantle no longer bringing him laughter and happiness but left to rot like relics of a person who had once been.

His lungs grated against his ribcage as he let out a sigh, the breath making his shoulders slump lower, his head dipping as his feet dragged sluggishly on the polished marble floor. One foot after another, he reminded himself; one foot after another.

Finn parked his Maserati in the garage, letting out a deep, slow sigh as he let his head thump back against the headrest. He was so goddamn tired as of late. What with the recent loss of a high-profile asset — and friend— and the stranger-who-wasnt-really-a-stranger dropping by with seemingly perfect timing, it had all been a little much lately.

He ran his hands through his hair, relaxing a little in the star-flecked comfort of the night. His breath shook a little. He leaned forward, resting his head against the cool steering wheel, the light of his phone illuminating his face from his lap.

‘I’m sorry about today, but you know I can’t go back there’ No prizes for guessing who that was from.

Finn closed his eyes, thumping his head against the wheel gently. Ignoring the notification in favour of unlocking his phone, he connected it to the car’s music system, the soft, slow strumming of the guitar soothing his nerves, the heavy weight of being him falling away for a few blessed minutes.

With that, Finn pulled right back out of his garage and drove into the blissful peace of the night.

The tension leached out of Finn under the steady thrum of the engine. The smooth, cold texture of the steering wheel under his hands a comforting presence, the soft movements of the car a balm to his emotions.

Finn barely even noticed when the mechanical edges of buildings and skyscrapers faded to the soft, flat land of the country.

And then he was flying.

His beloved car pushing her limits underneath him, faster, faster, faster, until the world around him was a blur, until the steady thump of his heart, tangled with the rhythm of the soft bass coming from the speakers was the only thing keeping him anchored to his reality. He was soaring, higher, stronger, faster; battling the winds themselves to touch the stars, dancing with the soft moonlight, playing amongst the clouds.

And for a few blissful moments; Finn was nothing and everything all at once; a gust of wind trapped in a cage, a shard of starlight caught in a jar, a famed mob boss looking for freedom.

Finn walked into their shared office feeling infinitely lighter, the rumble of his vehicle a song in his blood and the flash of starlight dancing behind his eyes.

Logan looked up from his laptop, shoving his pencil behind his ear while he leaned back in his chair

“Well, you look like shit,” he grinned, nudging forward the cup of steaming coffee that Finn had just now noticed was sitting on his desk. “Did you get any sleep at all last night?

Finn’s mind flashed with the image of the sunrise on the horizon while he had driven straight to Headquarters and he flashed Logan a winning grin “Like a log, you?” he lied easily, sliding over the desk to sit on his chair.

“Lo, I have something important to ask you.”

The man in question turned around in his chair, tipping his head to the side as he looked at his friend. “Sure, what’s up?”

It took an unjust amount of willpower for Finn to ignore the way the light twined through Logan's hair, weaving through the chocolatey curls. He cleared his throat roughly, forcing himself to look anywhere but at him.

“Are we going to help our friendly neighbourhood Houdini?”

Logan scrunched up his nose in confusion, laughing when he finally realised who Finn was talking about.

“Houdini?!?! Of all the brilliant magicians, you went with Houdini?”

Finn crossed his arms, pouting. “Well, who else was I supposed to think of?”

“Literally anybody else, Dynamo, David Blaine, The Horsemen, Robert Angier? I don’t know, maybe his own father? Have you even seen the prestige?”

Finn’s sigh of exasperation was only betrayed by the way his lips twitched up at the ends. “Oh shut up, you know who I’m talking about. Anyway, what do we do?”

Logan’s smile faded into a frown as he chewed his lip thoughtfully.

“I don’t know. He did know Lizard’s name, besides, his father was an asset too. Liz knew him well.”

Finn hummed, a small knife already spinning around his fingers. “You’re not wrong, but how do we know we can trust him?”

Logan shrugged, “I can ask around if you’d like that better, but I think we’re alright. Bliz knows him too. Says he’s a good kid.”

Finn hummed, already lost in thought.

Logan sucked in a deep breath, “I think we should do it.”

Finn’s amber eyes snapped to Logan, and he nodded, a wayward red curl falling into his eyes.

“Yeah….I think so too.”

“Hey! Portami il vecchio mazzo di carte per favore? voglio provare qualcosa.” Leo called, shuffling his deck of cards in increasingly complex ways.

He missed a particularly risky shuffle, and the cards flew out of his fingers, falling to the green grass of Natalie’s backyard.

“Porca puttana” Leo muttered, stooping to pick up the cards for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

“Language!” Natalie called from the kitchen, stirring a pot of something that smelled absolutely divine. “And it’s about time you stopped anyway, dinner’s almost ready.”

Leo sighed, picking up his deck and tapping it on the side of his shoe as he walked into the house. He paused to kiss Natalie on the cheek before dropping his things on the couch to help her in the kitchen.

“Nat, you are a goddess, this smells incredible.” Leo sighed, stirring the pot Nat had put him in charge of. “Dio santo, Nat, could you take over for a sec? I left my phone in the yard. I’ll get Bliz on the way back?”

Natalie rolled her eyes at him fondly, shoving his shoulder as she took the spoon from his hands. “Of course you did. Go get it. And bring Kase too.”

Leo nodded, slipping his shoes on to walk to the yard, whistling as he went.

He was so preoccupied with looking for his phone; he didn’t notice the tall man striding towards him, his gait soft and even.

“Leo Knut?”

Leo could’ve sworn he’d had half a heart attack in the split second it took him to turn around to face the stranger, his heart beating double time as he looked around for something— anything— he could use as a weapon.

But the man just raised his hands, taking a step back.

“O'Hara and Tremblay want to see you.”

Leo’s leg bounced under the table, his eyes glazed over with the look of someone who wasn’t quite present.

“Knut, are you listening? We need the plans.”

“Huh? Oh, um, it’s actually pronounced ‘newt’ not ‘nut’. And how do I know you’re not going to take the plans and sell me out the second I walk out of here?”

Finn and Logan exchanged a look, a silent conversation clearly taking place as they met each other’s eyes.

“Because you’re planning the damn heist right here with us.”

Leo wished he could say he handled the situation like a normal person, casually accepting the information and moving on, but that would be a lie. Instead, it took him a solid 20 seconds to even begin to process the fact that they had said yes.

But in true magician fashion, Leo had his bearings back before anyone could notice.

“Pleasure doing business with you gentlemen,” He said, shaking their hands over the table. “But I hope you know that I have an insurance policy against you should you choose to fuck me over.”

Both Logan and Finn startled, Logan’s hand immediately going to his gun. “What the fuck did you do.”

“Don’t cross me and you won’t have to find out, Mio Signore,”

Leo could feel Finn’s searing stare on the back of his neck as he walked away. “I’ll stop by tomorrow evening with the drive and the laptop.”

Leo’s mind kicked into overdrive the second he entered his apartment. Drive, map, encrypted journal. He wasn’t quite sure what had possessed the two of them to help him with one of the riskiest plans he’d ever heard in his life, but damn him if he wasn’t going to milk it to his advantage.

It always gave Leo an electric sort of thrill to start a new project; dark rooms, hushed arguments, pages and pages of data and plans the heady adrenalin rush of it all. And so Leo flicked the lights off, settled in with a mug of coffee and cracked his knuckles. It was going to be a long night.

Logan stared at Finn as he paced the office, watching as his friend ran his hand through his dishevelled hair.

“Lo, this is going to be the single most dangerous mission we have ever agreed to.”

Logan swiped a bit of sweat off his cheek, going back to cleaning his gun as he replied.

“I know. I know it is Harzy. But we’ll be going in hot, we’ll plot out every possible outcome. You know we will.”

Finn turned to look at him, the corners of his mouth twitching at something he saw.

“What? What is it?”

“Nothing you just…” Finn walked over to Logan’s desk leaning over the table to run his thumb across his friend’s cheek wiping a stripe of black grease off his face.

Logan went so uncomfortably still he wasn’t sure he’d ever move again.

Finn, meanwhile, went right back to his pacing, rambling about men and ammo and whatnot. This mission was going to be a hell of a ride if they kept going on like this.

Logan wasn’t sure he’d survive it.

But damn if it wasn’t a heavenly way to die.

“Lo, you’ll train with me, won't you? I might be a little rusty at hand to hand.” Finn said sheepishly, rubbing at the back of his neck.

Logan winked. “Always, it’s been a while since I kicked your sorry ass.”

Finn’s expression morphed into one of mock hurt. “Next time at target practice, I’m pinning your face to the board”

#russian roulette #oknutzy #lumosinlove #lumosinlove ocs #my writing

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mcu-fan-fics-blog · 4 years ago

Text

The Helping Hand

Summary: Y/N Krast Illegitimate Daughter of Tony Stark. Product of an unwanted teen pregnancy. What would Howard Stark be capable of doing to assure his sons future? What will happen when Tony meets our Beautiful, young, genius, rich philanthropist.

Word Count: 3000 approx

A/N: Sorry for the wait I've been a little busy the last couple of weeks. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Next chapter will be Civil war I hope to upload again soon. In the mean time if you have some ideas or thoughts send them my way.

Tw: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Drug use, Drug addiction, Teen Pregnancy. (If there are any I missed please tell me.)

Ch.7

Chapter 8: Time and Irony Walk Hand in Hand

Ch.9

"Well this is nice…" You say as Natasha drags you along. You see currently you and Natasha are quote on quote shaking a tail. Whatever that means… "Shut up and keep moving." You stop moving and pull your arm away. "Stop Nat we've gone far enough. It was probably just a coincidence we didn't really get that far from the food truck." Finally taking the time to catch your breath. "I think we should get back to the compound. Tony and Bruce must be waiting for me." You say looking around for a cab lucky for you one stopped right before you and you got in.

The ride back to the Compound was quiet. When she's about to make her way in, you stop her. "Nat… I know that didn't go the way either of us wanted it to go but I still had fun. And again what I'm trying to say is that I would like to do things your way, candlelit, waiters, and wine. If you want to of course." You fidget with your fingers waiting for her response. "Y/n I would love to… but I like the way you do things. You're not the Wine and Dine type... I like that." She mentions as she walks back in. You quickly follow suit after she makes a comment about your blatant staring.

Once you stop on the elevator FRIDAY greets you. Telling you that Tony and Bruce are waiting for you in the lab. "Well Nat this is goodbye for now, see you around." You say stepping off of the elevator. Suddenly this weight comes crashing down on you. Remembering what Bruce told you the worry in his eyes. Dread fills your body when you're walking towards the lab. "Guys I'm back… anything good for me?" You state casually trying your hardest not to sound hopeful. "Well yes and no…" Tony states putting the tablet down. "I'm going to be honest with you… your heart is trashed, absolute garbage."

"Way to make a girl feel special." You say with a dry laugh. "But I think we can build something. And with my arc reactor technology we can make it work." He states tapping at his chest. This is where Bruce jumps in "with the help of Dr. Cho we could try and make a new cradle… and use it for its intended purpose this time around. Making a heart powered by the arc reactor." You nod taking all the information in. "Well this is good right? How long would this take." This is where both Tony and Bruce go quiet. "Y/n the process is relatively easy, what's difficult is getting our hands on the Vibranium."

"Which is basically a non existent problem at this point… Bruce is just paranoid, my contact will pan out you'll see." Tony jumps back in clearly annoyed that Bruce was disclosing such trivial issues. "Even if we do get the Vibranium Y/n there's something we don't know… If you'll even survive the transplant." Your eyes meet his and he elaborates. "Your body might not be strong enough to handle it." Suddenly the inevitability of the situation dawns upon you. "Well I'm still doing it… I'm dying anyways. What difference does it make if it's a month from now or five. I'm doing it."

"Well, let not be hasty alright. We can still look for other alternatives." Bruce tries to argue. "Look, this is Y/n's decision. She's old enough to make her own decisions. Plus the more we work on this the higher survival chances are." Tony argues. You clear your throat when you notice some visitors standing by the door. "How long have they been there?" You ask, trying to mask your anger. Pietro and Steve both give you sheepish smiles that don't quite reach their eyes. "Look Y/n we just wanted to make sure you were okay… and by the looks of it you're not."

You stand making your way to stand in front of Steve who had just taken a defensive stance. "Well you're right I'm not okay. Now what are you going to do about it Cap… Other than feeling pity every time you look at me." You say pushing your finger on his chest. "This does not leave this room you understand?" You say looking at both Steve and Pietro. "But, My sister…" You nod "Figure it out pretty boy. Now if you could leave the adults have to talk." They both sigh but take their leave. You turn and notice Tony and Bruce staring, not saying anything. You can only laugh at the sight.

As much as you did want to be mad you couldn't. You were starting to come to terms with the fact that your business was now becoming their business. "I just wanted to watch them squirm." You clarify making Tony laugh. "Well I'd say you achieved that." Bruce mentions. "I'll give them til the end of the day. What do you think?" You say looking at Tony. "How much are you willing to bet, Billionaire to Billionaire?" He asks, challenging you. "50 million dollars." He scoffs. "Don't be a prude, make it Euros." You nod. "Best money there is." You say agreeing with him. "I'll hold you to that Y/n." He says as you leave the lab.

Two days later you were busy. You'd been in contact with Bruce and Pepper. Currently you were looking for someone to mentor. Someone you could leave your legacy with. Logan was an obvious choice but you knew he wouldn't take it. "You wanna give it a break Y/n you're not going to find the perfect candidate in so little time." Logan mentions. When suddenly your secretary enters with more forms. "Ms. Krast these are the applications from Midtown Science High. There's only four. Liz Allan, Ned Leeds, Flash Thompson, and uhh Peter Parker." You sigh with a smile forming on your lips. "They've got to be here my mentee. These kids are geniuses."

You say as you look through the applications. Slowly crossing off the first two, that Flash kid and Liz. Ned and Peter it was a tough choice until you saw some of yourself in Peter's eyes. "It's him." You say under your breath catching Logan's attention. "Peter Parker… I want him, he will be the future of our company. Make arrangements. I want him to feel welcomed." You say as you start to gather your things. "Send out the acceptance letter today." You say to Logan on your way out. "Will do Boss." He says with a smile growing on his face as he reads the file. Peter didn't have it easy on the contrary he lived through a lot but he still managed to be him.

The next week went by in a blur. Your will and testament were drafted and certified. You were set on that end and now on the other front. You were currently parked outside Midtown High waiting for the bell to ring. When it does a couple of minutes pass when a fresh faced kid is knocking on your window. "Y/n Krast nice to meet you kid." You say rolling down the window. He seems a little nervous. "Come on in Peter. We're going to get to know each other a little before we begin working with the internship." He nods enthusiastically, a small smile forming on his lips. "Tell me about your Peter, I mean outside of what I already know."

"Well I'm what most people would call a nerd. My aunt may always say that's not true but it is." You hum in agreement pulling out of the school parking lot. "Well being popular is overrated anyways." You jump in. "And Ned, my best friend, we're huge fans of you and your work." He says his speed increases as he starts to ramble about how he followed your trajectory as soon as he found out who you were. "Well I'm glad you like what I do Peter but in my eyes were equals. I will teach you my ways and hopefully you'll take over once I'm dead. Keeping my legacy alive long after I'm dead." You say seriously making him settle and quiet down.

"Ms. Krast you can't be serious." He says giving you an incredulous look. "I was an orphan… I was given a chance. Someone believed in me. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you remind me of me… and I would like to give you that same chance that I was given." You say sincerely. "Y/n that's too generous… Plus I don't think that I'm what you're looking for. I'm clumsy and…" You stop the car making him look at you. "You may not be ready now or tomorrow but if you let me teach you, you will be." You say reassuringly. "Plus I don't plan on dying anytime soon." You say playfully at the end causing Peter to laugh successfully lightening the mood. "Also another plus for you after this year's audit we'll be working hand in hand with Tony Stark."

At the mention of Tony's name he lit up ten times more than you thought possible. It made you laugh a little but you understood him. "That's amazing. Me working for Y/n Krast and Tony Stark, a literal dream come true." You nod at his statement. The day went by incredibly fast. He was a nice kid, respectful and smart, a little naïve but overall sensible. You went to his favorite pizza place and talked, went to Krast Industries and introduced him to Logan. Showed him his dedicated work space. "So here's your badge, don't lose it. Umm… you'll be here every other day after school, and if you have some special dates tell Margaret the secretary and she'll make a schedule around it." You say as you're walking towards the elevator.

Peter stops abruptly turning to face you. "Thank you really." He then proceeds to rather hastily pull you into a hug. You're shocked initially but hug him back nonetheless. "Don't sweat it kid." You say patting his back. "I'll have one of my drivers give you a lift home alright." He nods. Just before you press the button for the elevator the doors open. Revealing Pepper Potts and Tony Stark. It makes you laugh internally knowing that the young boy beside you just had his world rocked. "Ms. Krast this is real right?" He asks in a high pitched voice. You nod.

"Pepper Tony, I would like you to meet my new mentee Peter Parker." You say nudging him forward. "Hi, you're Tony Stark." He says in a daze. "Yes kid I am Tony stark and you are?" Tony could literally not care less. Until you gave Pepper a look and she nudged Tony. "Alright kid it was nice meeting you." He says overly enthusiastically. Peter takes the compliment either way. "Alright Peter go over to Margaret she'll take you to the driver. We have some urgent business to attend." He nods and waves goodbye shyly and takes his leave. "Right what do you guys need." Pepper clears her throat "Well actually Tony and I wanted to invite you out to lunch."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going." You say walking off with Pepper. "You'll be pleased to know that you won our wager. They know..." Tony mentions at the restaurant. You laugh. "Told you!" Pepper gives you a look. "They're worried about you." You sigh. "Pepper, believe me I'm worried too." Tony quickly steps in. "Which you don't need to worry about too much, everything is in place. Everything panned out Dr. Cho was more than willing to help us. So whenever you want." He says again not meeting your gaze. "I was… ummm. Actually thinking we should hold off on that."

"What… why?" They both ask almost immediately. "I'm okay right now." Tony scoffs. "So you rather wait till you have another episode to undergo the procedure." You hum. "Precisely see you get it." Watching their confusion you continue. "I've got things I have to leave ready. Time that I can't take for granted." Before they could argue with you said. "I need time… I-i drafted my will a couple of days ago." You say burying your head into your hands. "It's funny really… how you get things you're willing to live for. And life just comes along and takes it from you." Your mind drifts off to Viv and David. You wipe your tears and excuse yourself. Just as you're about to leave you remember.

"Put the money in a college fund for the kid." You grab Peppers shoulder and nod. "We'll keep in touch." You say leaving the restaurant.

Three weeks later

Pretty early on you noticed Peter's jumpy behavior. It wasn't long till you found out his little secret. Again smart kid heart of gold even, but too naïve for his own good. You'd had one of your AI robots track him after he'd shown up a little dinged up. Telling him you knew took some time. You didn't know the extent of his capabilities, but you'd seen the kid walk on walls and kick some ass.

As cute as he looked in that makeshift costume you had a better one in mind. "Peter I would like to show you something." You call out from your workstation in the lab. "Ward pull up spider schematics please." You call out. "What do you think?" You say as Peter glances at his new suit. "I-i um… It's awesome but who is at for?" He said quickly. You almost burst out in laughter right then and there but you played along. "Well I was in Queens the other day and there was this mugging and some hero came out of nowhere and stopped the mugging." You say as you deconstruct the specks of the suit. Watching as peter gawks at the hologram.

"When I noticed his suit wasn't really a suit, I made him one. You think he'll like it?" Peter nods eagerly, you hum in response. "Alright then try it on, see how it fits spider boy." Peter stands there with his mouth hanging open and you could swear saliva came out. "You aren't that good at keeping secrets kid." You say handing him the suit. "I expect you to be careful, kid." Peter starts to ramble trying to explain himself and begs you to not fire him. You physically had to stop him from pacing. "No ones firing anyone. I'm proud of your kid again, just be careful." Emphasizing the last part. "I will" after all that's out of the way you and Peter spent the day testing out the specks in his new suit. Web slingers and all. Yo I didn't leave until he got the hang of it. It took a while but it was well with the wait.

The next day you wake up to the news seeing a familiar twin on the news. Not good Lagos had gone wrong, the building collapsed and Wanda was to 'blame'. You hurriedly made your way through your morning routine and raced to the compound. As soon as you make it to the common room you can tell something's off. "How is everybody?" You asked Steve who was the first you saw. "I'm assuming you heard about the incident." You don't have the heart to say yes so you just nod. "We're all a little down on morale. Nothing we can't fix." You say, giving you a small smile. You hate that he is down playing this because of your current dilemma. "It wasn't your fault." You say. As you walk off towards Pietro.

"Are you okay?" You ask this time actually worried Pietro doesn't seem like his usual self. "No...It's Wanda. She hasn't talked to anyone she hasn't eaten she hasn't left her room." He says all in one breath. He finally stopped stirring and slid down to the floor and sat. "Its my fault. I-i could've moved faster, I could've saved them." He says defeatedly. "Maybe… Maybe not" You say bluntly sitting in front of him. "You can't go back now. And I know it's a sour experience. You made the right decision." You sigh. "You made the choice that saved the most lives." He nods letting out a deep breath. "I know… I know but Wanda. If I had saved those people Wanda wouldn't be feeling like this right now." You shake your head. "You fail to realize that if you had done that you would've died along with the other victims. Wanda will come around and let me talk to her." He only nods. "She's in her room."

You knock on her door a couple of times… no answer. So you make yourself comfortable and prepare yourself. Your knock every minute or two and you're constantly yelling in your head. Half an hour goes by and nothing. You go back to mentally yelling, when suddenly you're being dragged by the collar of your shirt into the room with the doors shutting behind you. "You're stubborn like a mule." She says not sparring you a look. "Yeah well I'm dying what are you gonna do about it." You quipped smiling at her. She chuckles. Suddenly the light leaves her face. "I killed people… I put people in danger, I put my own brother I'm danger." You nod. "You also saved hundreds of people. God only knows what that gas would have done. So thank you Wanda. You're my hero." You say sending her a smile.

Right when she's about to say something a certain red friend phases through the wall. "You will never cease to amaze me Vision." You say while looking between him and the wall. "You have very good taste in clothes." You mention as you eye him. He smiles. "Vision. We talked about this, there's a door for a reason." Wanda states. "Yes, well the door was open so I assumed…" He says, explaining himself. "What did you need Vision?" Wanda asks cutting him off. "Well Mr. Stark asked me to come and get both you there is a team meeting. With secretary Ross."

#avengers #marvel #natasha x y/n #pietro maximoff #wanda x reader #tony stark #natasha romanoff #reader x avengers #wanda maximoff #fanfic #mcufam #stark reader #captain america #civil war

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bestillmyslashyheart · 4 years ago

Text

your colorful touch

for the amazing and wonderful @iwontbeyourmedicine. Happy Birthday!!!

It was a probably a bad idea, definitely a dick move, but Alex was just drunk enough not to care.

He watched Maria hang off of Michael’s arm, watched her trail her fingers up his bare forearm as she walked away, and he got up from his stool, walked over to Michael, and dragged his fingers along the path Maria had just traced. Michael was too startled to move away and only stared at Alex in surprise and then suspicion. “Alex?” He asked when Alex turned to leave without a word. Alex didn’t say anything, didn’t even look back at him as he walked back over to his stool. The entire encounter had taken less than 30 seconds. Maria came out of the back and walked over to Michael just as he sat down and he drained his glass as he heard her squeal in excitement. “Oh my god!” She half-yelled. “Michael!”

There was a mirror over the bar that showed the rest of the room and Alex stared at Michael and Maria’s reflections in it. Michael hadn’t moved from where Alex left him. Maria was standing in front of him, clutching his hand excitedly as she stared down at his forearm. Bright colorful lines marred his skin in the exact pattern Maria (and then Alex) had traced.

“I’m your soulmate!” Maria realized in a hushed yell. Michael stared at her wide eyed but didn’t say anything as she kissed him and then hugged him. Over her shoulder, Michael glared at Alex across the bar, their eyes meeting in the mirror. Alex offered him a smirk before looking away.

As Maria chattered on happily behind him, he stared down at his finger and the colorful mark on its tip that perfectly matched the colors on Michael’s skin.

“Want another?” Logan, the bartender asked. He glanced over Alex’s shoulder and then back at him. “On the house?”

Alex exhaled heavily and nodded.

---

It’s a bit cruel of him, he knows. But honestly, Maria should know better. If her touch only leaves a mark sometimes, and is only showing up just now after them having known each other for years and been dating for months, then there’s probably some other explanation for it. Everybody knows that the touch of your soulmate leaves a colored mark on your skin. Everybody knows that this happens at the first touch and every touch thereafter.

Everybody knows.

So it’s not Alex’s fault that Maria thinks she’s Michael’s soulmate. Even if he does purposefully leaves marks on Michael’s skin in the exact places he sees her touch him.

In his very terrible defense, he only does it when he’s drunk and pissed off. When he’s in his right mind he knows better.

---

Maria grabbed Michael’s face with both hands and gave him a quick kiss before she disappeared into the back to deal with a problem and left Michael and Alex sitting next to each other in a secluded booth, Liz, Kyle, and Max having already disappeared to get another round of drinks.

Alex was drunk but not drunk enough to fuck with Michael’s marks but Michael turned to him with a heavy amount of suspicion and Alex abruptly changed his mind. “What would you do if I kissed you right now?” He asked first. Touching Michael’s arms or brushing against his hand is one thing, grabbing his face and kissing him is something very different.

“Alex,” Michael replied, a warning in his voice. But he didn’t say no and he didn’t move away. In fact, he leaned closer towards Alex.

Alex ignored the movement and asked again, “what would you do?”

“You’re an asshole,” Michael said but he reached for Alex’s collar and pulled him closer so Alex didn’t take it to heart. He waited for Michael to lean in first before putting his hands right where he’d seen Maria’s and kissed him. It wasn’t a long kiss but neither was it too brief.

The sound of Liz’s voice and three sets of footsteps had Alex pulled back. In an instant, they put enough space between them to fit three people and somehow look convincingly nonchalant when the Liz, Max, and Kyle appeared with drinks in hand. Michael stood up to let them into the booth and they quickly dispersed the drinks. Alex took his with a nod of thanks to Kyle and watched as the color blossomed on Michael’s face. It wasn’t immediate. First, there was a splotch of green on his cheek from where Alex’s palm had held it. From there, it darkened and changed to blue closer to his lips. A few moments later, a purple mark appeared on his opposite cheek, turning pink as the fingers appeared stretching towards his hair.

“Nice one, Mikey,” Liz laughed. She reached out and traced over the edges of the mark as it filled in into a definite hand print, her finger not quite touching his skin. Kyle looked at the marks then over at Alex, his eyes lowering to Alex’s hands with a raised eyebrow. Alex turned them over to lay flat against the table, palms down, without even looking at them.

“Wow,” Maria marveled as she slid into the booth next to Michael. “It’s beautiful.”

Two things happened at once, then. First, Alex realized Maria was going to put her hand over the mark and be forced to acknowledge that the mark did not match her hands at all. And second, Michael’s eyes snapped to Alex’s face and stared at his lips for a heartbeat before meeting Alex’s eyes and pointedly licking his lips.

“I’m heading out,” Alex didn’t stay to mumble any pleasantries. He slid his hands off the table and shoved them in his pockets as he stood up and fled. Liz called after him but he ignored her.

His only hesitation came when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror over the bar and saw that his lips were turning gold. Cursing softly but earnestly he ducked his head and slipped out the door.

“Alex!” Kyle’s shout was loud in dead stillness of the night. Alex froze but didn’t turn around. He listened Kyle’s steps behind him until the man came around to face him. “I want to ask if you just found out but I’m pretty sure that’d be the most latent case of soulmates ever recorded.” Alex didn’t say anything. “Why is with Maria?”

“Ask him.”

“Alex,” Kyle chided softly. “Why are you doing this?”

Alex shrugged. “Usually I’m drunk and drunk me thinks it’s hilarious.” Kyle frowned, his disappointment clear on his face. “Look, it’s not a guarantee or anything. You know that. It’s more of a guideline.”

“Yeah,” Kyle agreed. “But most people who ignore that guideline don’t usually go around leaving marks on the other person for fun to screw with their girlfriend.” Alex looked away. “Alex...” he sighed. “I can’t take you seriously right now. Your lips are glowing.”

Alex glanced at a nearby car and rolled his eyes. His reflection was muddled but his lips stood out like a beacon. “Good night, Kyle.”

---

Alex should have expected it, really. Turnabout’s fair play and all that. But then, Michael could have stayed. He could have been there when Alex was done singing and he could have let Alex kiss him instead. But instead he left. He walked out and Alex kissed Forrest and that should have been the end of it.

Except if Alex was an asshole, so was Michael.

Forrest had gotten up to use the restroom and not even ten seconds later, Michael had taken his seat. “What would you do if I kissed you right now?”

“Guerin,” Alex warned. But he didn’t say no.

Michael took it as the invitation Alex had let it be and kissed him. It was hardly a kiss, the whisper of Michael’s lips on his there and then gone before Alex could savor it. In its wake, Michael got up and disappeared into the shadowy corners of the bar. Alex thought about getting up and going to find him but Forrest sat back down and he couldn’t.

“Hey,” Forrest whispered. His finger traced the back of Alex’s hand. Alex looked down to see a mark blooming on the skin. “Am I your soulmate?” He asked softly. His eyes flickered over to Alex’s other hand, the smile on his face widening when he spotted another mark. Slowly, his eyes lifted to Alex’s face and his eyes crinkled as he beamed. “I am.” He lifted a finger and traced over Alex’s lips. “Wow.”

Alex legitimately did not know what to say, his mind stuck on the fact that Michael had known that Forrest touched his hands and made sure to leave a mark there. He thought back to when he’d finished his song and tried to figure out where Michael had been hiding when he kissed Forrest.

Forrest kissed him, short and hard. He was smiling too widely for it to be any good. “I’m your soulmate!” He laughed and Alex forced a smile in return.

“Did you leave a mark on me?” He twisted his hands to see if he had any marks, his movements stilling when he realized his hands and fingers were bare. He let out a soft, “oh.”

“Forrest,” Alex started.

“It’s okay,” Forrest shook his head. He took Alex’s hands in his own. “I’m your soulmate.” He was still smiling as he leaned in to kiss Alex again.

Alex’s soft ‘fuck’ went unheard between them.

---

Alex had a new kind of sympathy for what he’d put Michael through with Maria. It was very uncomfortable dating someone who thought they were your soulmate when you knew different. Alex had no idea how to even approach the idea of correcting Forrest and Michael wasn’t helping. After three weeks, he was fairly certain Michael might be stalking them. Almost every time Alex and Forrest were together, Michael would show up and orchestrate some scenario that allowed him to leave the precise kind of mark on Alex to perpetuate the lie.

Twice, they had drinks at the Pony with Kyle and Alex was subjected to the worst judgey looks he’d ever been on the receiving of. Kyle never said a word but his disapproval was palpable.

“I’ll get us another round,” Forrest offered one night. He was up and halfway to the bar before anyone could object.

“Alex-” Kyle started. He cut himself off abruptly when Michael slid into Forrest’s seat. Alex didn’t react. Michael had been eyeing them for the last hour, waiting for his opportunity and he didn’t waste it. He slid a hand up and around Alex’s neck and into his hair. Forrest had been playing with it earlier when Kyle got the last round but his touch hadn’t done anything for Alex. Not like now when Michael’s touch sent shivers down his spine and he arched his neck into it. “Really?” Kyle asked.

Alex and Michael ignored him.

Michael had about one minute to replace all of Forrest’s touches with his own and he didn’t waste any time, his fingers trailing everywhere Forrest had even grazed Alex’s skin earlier. His accuracy was uncanny, on par with Alex’s own when he’d kept a careful eye on Michael and Maria in the weeks previous. When he was finished, Michael got up and left without a word and Alex’s skin tingled, aching for more of his touch.

“Alex.”

Forrest sat back down and handed Kyle his beer. “What did I miss?” His only response was an eye roll from Kyle.

---

Alex made it another week before he cracked. He and Forrest hadn’t slept together even though they both wanted to and he was running out of reasons for why they shouldn’t. The honest answer was that he wouldn’t be able to explain why his skin was bare of any marks afterwards. The really honest answer was that he wanted Michael more than he could ever want Forrest.

Neither of those reasons were something Alex wanted to admit to the man.

So he showed him.

In the end it came down to an innocent touch. Michael walked up to them on the street and stopped Alex to tell him something and when they parted, Alex held out his hand for Michael to shake. Michael stared at it then over at where Forrest stood next to Alex, then to Alex. He raised an eyebrow and Alex held out his hand a little bit further. Michael shrugged and shook it.

Alex held on for a moment, letting the touch linger, before pulling away.

“See you around,” Forrest told Michael. He took a step forward to continue on their way but froze when Alex turned his hand over, his palm facing up. Michael mirrored his position and the three of them watched as color bloomed on their hands. “...what?”

---

“We’re assholes,” Alex grumbled. Michael hummed in agreement.

After the handshake earlier, Alex had let Forrest yell at him right there on the sidewalk but made his exit before that anger turned to anything else. He’d gone home and was utterly unsurprised to find Michael already in his driveway. They hadn’t spoken as Alex let them into the house, hadn’t said a word as Michael raided his fridge for beer and handed one to Alex, hadn’t made a peep as they drank one and then two and then three beers each on Alex’s couch.

“It’s why we’re good together,” Michael finally said. Alex scoffed softly. Those weren’t words either of them had ever used to describe their relationship. Michael tilted his head and looked up at Alex. “Alex?”

“Yeah Michael?”

“Can I come home now?”

Alex froze. “What?”

“Your song...” was all Michael offered.

“Are you sure?” Alex asked. Michael nodded. “I need you to be absolutely certain.”

Michael sat up and faced him. “I’m positive. I miss you, Alex. All the time, even when you’re right next to me. It’s not enough. Every time I see my mark on you, it’s like a tease of what it could be but right now it’s not enough.” Michael took Alex’s hands in his. “I want to come home. I want to come home to you.”

Alex surged forward and kissed him. The movement knocked Michael off balance and they tumbled off the couch to the floor but they didn’t let that stop them.

(In the morning, every inch of their skin was covered. Kyle stopped by with lunch and promptly declared them both eyesores.)

#malex fic #rnm #my fic #anti maria deluca #anti miluca #anti forrest long #anti forlex #just to cover the bases #happy birthday babe!

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ioverthoughtthiswaytoomuch · 4 years ago

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chapters: 1/1 title: between the lines of fear and blame fandom: none (original work)

This short story was originally written for a class assignment, but it's whump-y enough to pass as a work for Whumptober. Technically, it's still a draft, but the other stories I wrote for Whumptober weren't revised or edited, either.

@whumptober2020

It was all dark. I couldn’t see a thing. My lungs were burning, and my muscles weren’t doing any better. Tears were falling out of my eyes, streaming down my cheeks. I’d run into at least five branches from five different trees, and I could feel blood seeping out of the cuts on my face.

I couldn’t look back. I couldn’t fall behind. I couldn’t trip, I couldn’t falter. If I slowed down, got any slower than the speed I was running at, he’d catch me. And he wasn’t too far behind.

I could hear him advancing on me. I tried to run faster, but there’s only so much a nonathletic, clumsy teenager could do to avoid an infuriated, football-playing teenager with a vengeance. Especially if that nonathletic, clumsy teenager happened to be running through a forest that she wasn’t familiar with. At all. Oh, look: the nonathletic, clumsy teenager that got herself into a huge mess was me. What a surprise.

And then the forest wasn’t a forest any longer. It was a clearing. No, it was a cliff. A dead end. And I was currently falling off of that cliff. Thankfully, there was a fairly large body of water under the cliff that I conveniently landed in. I had successfully survived jumping off of a cliff. The only other problem was that I didn’t know how to swim.

I opened my mouth, searching for air, and I could feel the water invading my aching lungs as I struggled to fight my way back up to the surface. I pulled myself up eventually, gasping and sputtering while coughing out the water in my lungs.

I turned to look at the cliff I had jumped off of. Logan came to a stop at the edge of the rock, scanning the water. I risked a glance at the shore. The gravel beach to my right was too far away for me to attempt to swim toward without drawing attention to myself, not to mention almost drowning. So instead I opted for moving as little as possible in the freezing water and hoping he couldn’t see me.

Luckily for me, it was too dark for Logan to see anything, and my dark hair blended in with the dark water. He gave up after scanning the water two more times, but before he turned and stormed back into the trees, he called out to me in a dark, threatening voice that made chills run down my spine.

“I’m going to kill you for what you did to my little sister!”

I bolted upright with a gasp. My hand found its way to my chest, rising and falling at uneven paces, and I could feel my heartbeat pounding in my ears.

Still alive, I thought, blinking away tears. You’re okay.

It was just over a week ago that I was running through a forest being chased by a girl’s protective older brother, but I remembered it so vividly. Every night since then, I had relived the same experience over and over, each time startling myself awake in my sweat-soaked bed. I could still hear his voice, cutting loud and clear through the windy night, shouting a threat so gravely, I was beginning to think maybe he meant it.

“I’m going to kill you for what you did to my little sister!”

I shivered, though I was anything but cold. I pushed the covers off my body and laid back against the pillows, trying to calm my breathing. As I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep, I could only think one thing.

What did I do to his little sister?

I slept dreamlessly for two hours more after my nightmare, but when I woke up, the question was still etched into my mind. I couldn’t remember doing anything to Lexi Ackerman. I didn’t even know the girl! The last time I interacted with her was when I partnered up with her for a science project in the sixth grade, and I doubted she would remember it, much less Logan; that was four years ago, and the project wasn’t anything special.

So why did Logan blame me for something that happened to a girl I didn’t even know?

I shook my head, clearing it. It was Friday, and I had to go to school.

I tried to keep myself busy during school, but I caught myself wondering if I should confront Lexi or Logan. No, I told myself, that would only make it worse.

I managed to keep my mind mostly on school for the rest of the day, but there was nothing to keep my mind on when I returned home to my empty house, and my thoughts began to wander.

My father left before I was born, as my mother told me, and my mother was always distant. It was almost like she was always hiding something, but I knew that was unrealistic. She was always working, which must’ve been why she was so remote. I didn’t mind much -- I liked being alone -- but sometimes I wished I knew my mother a little better.

The Ackermans probably knew their parents well. As far as I knew, Logan and Lexi’s parents were still married, living a happy life together with their two excelling kids. And they were probably spoiled, too. Logan thought he could just accuse anyone of doing anything and make death threats without consequences, but he was wrong. I would not let him kill me, and I would prove to him that I didn’t do anything wrong.

But as I was planning my detailed, step-by-step process on how to prove my innocence, the lights shut off, breaking my train of thought. Where I lived, it got dark fairly early, so I was relying solely on the lights on the ceiling for brightness, but with the lights off, I couldn’t see anything.

“Power must’ve gone out,” I noted aloud. Normally, when the power goes out, it didn’t take too long to come back, but it was cold, and the heater had stopped working during the outage, so I was shivering and I couldn’t see.

I paced my room to try and warm-up, my arms folded tightly across my chest, but I was having trouble avoiding all the obstacles laid haphazardly across the floor that I never got around to picking up.

“And this, people, is why you clean your room,” I muttered to myself, and then I stepped on another shirt. I wasn’t getting any warmer. I was about to sit down again when I heard a knock on the door. I thought I was just hearing things, because why would someone be at my door, but when I heard another knock, louder the second time, I knew it was real.

I maneuvered my way to the door and looked through the peephole, but I couldn’t see anything. I flicked the light switch on to try to see who was on the other side before remembering that the power was out and trying to turn on the lights was pointless.

I didn’t want to open the door if I didn’t know who was outside because, contrary to popular belief, I was not stupid, but the person on the other side must’ve gotten impatient and started banging on the door rapidly.

“Alright, alright,” I said, frustrated, as I unlocked and opened the door. “What?” I said impatiently. The person, who I assumed was a man, was taller than me, and he was wearing a varsity jacket over a grey hoodie. When I readjusted my gaze to look at his face, I gasped as the man’s cold blue eyes met my dark brown ones.

“L- Logan,” I breathed out. The man, the myth, the legend. “Wh- uh, what are you doing here? It’s late, isn’t…” I faltered when I caught his harsh glare.

“I warned you,” he said in a low voice. “I told you what would happen. And now… now, I’m going to kill you.”

I chuckled nervously. “Uh, there’s been a, um, misunderstanding. Why don’t you… come… in…” I weakly stepped aside and opened the door a little wider, and Logan trudged in, keeping his eyes locked on mine the whole time.

“Look, I just want to make sure you know that I didn’t do anything to Lexi,” I said as I shut the door.

“Lexi?” he roared. “This isn’t about her! This is about what you did to Liz.”

I shrunk back, and before I could stop myself from saying it, I blurted out, “Who the heck is Liz?” I slapped my hand over my mouth right after it came out, but the damage was already done.

“My sister. The one you killed.” His face held no emotion as he drew out a silver knife that gleamed in the dim light.

“Woah, woah, woah, hey!” I stuttered quickly, throwing my hands into the air in surrender. “I- heh, there’s, ah, there’s gotta be a mistake! I didn’t kill anyone, I promise!”

“Then explain to me,” he said as he tightened his grip around the handle of the knife, “why my little sister is dead, and why I saw you kill her.”

“I- what? No, listen, I didn’t even know your sister existed!” I protested, which was admittedly the wrong thing to say. I cringed in fear when I heard the low growl at the back of his throat. “You must’ve, I don’t know, saw it wrong or something! Because I swear, I have never killed anyone in my life. Really!”

All he did was step forward. If looks could kill, I would’ve already been dead, but that wouldn’t’ve made much of a difference now, would it?

“Please,” I whispered pleadingly, but if he could hear it, he didn’t react. He stepped closer and closer, and I retreated farther and farther back until I hit the wall, and I had no place else to go. He was slow, menacingly slow, and I knew I was trapped. Tears began to slide silently down my face, retracing tracks that had formed over the past week. “Please,” I begged again, this time silently.

“This is what you get. What you deserve. If anything, I’m doing you a kindness, putting you out of your miserable life,” he spat.

And he lunged forward, knife in hand, aiming for my neck.

I dodged. His knife had caught a few strands of my hair, pinning them to the wall, but I couldn’t care less as I dashed to the side, effectively ripping out those strands of hair, and ran to my room, locking it.

“Calliope, I know you’re in there!” he shouted aggressively. I winced as he said my name so harshly. He jiggled the doorknob, and he yelled angrily when he realized it was locked. I thought he would call out to me again, telling me to open the door, or maybe, and it was a stretch, but maybe he would leave. But he didn’t say another word. And I relaxed for a second, thinking I was saved, but I jumped when I heard him slam into the door. That wasn’t supposed to happen. And then another time, and another.

And with the next, he came barreling through the door with his quarterback muscles that I really should’ve accounted for. And he did not look happy. He had pried his knife out of the wall, and his fist clenched around the handle so tightly, his knuckles had paled.

I shrieked, and in my panic, I threw whatever was closest to me at him, which happened to be an old sweatshirt. And then I regretted it the moment after because all he got was even more pissed.

If he wasn’t enraged before, he sure was now. He grabbed onto the sweatshirt and threw it angrily at the floor.

“What. The. F-” he began, but I cut him off by throwing the next thing, an empty plastic water bottle. He sputtered, most likely shocked at my stupidity, but I just took it as a chance to continue to chuck all my miscellaneous belongings at the homicidal maniac with a knife.

With my bad aim, I didn’t expect any of the objects to hit him -- I was trying to stall him, keep him distracted while I came up with a probably stupid escape plan -- but he was dodging all my blows, and somehow, as he sidestepped, my school binder from last year filled with all the extensive paperwork my teachers handed out nailed him straight in the middle of the forehead.

He fell onto the pile of clothes on my floor, probably knocked out. I approached him slowly, sticking two fingers of my right hand out, and knelt beside him, trying to find a pulse on his left wrist, the closest one to me.

I guess I should’ve expected it when he opened his eyes.

His right hand, still holding the knife, swung toward me so quickly, I didn’t have time to move, and the sharp blade of his knife embedded itself deep into the side of my neck for all of five seconds, before Logan ripped it out roughly, watching as the thick, crimson liquid spilled out of the wound.

I fell heavily to the ground. I gasped, but I got no air. I screamed, but I made no noise.

“Please,” I choked out softly, clutching my neck, but the rippling current of blood flowing out of my carotid was too strong for me to stop.

Everything was blurry and spinning, and I could hardly make out the abstract shape of a boy standing over me. My eyes searched the hazy field of vision wildly, trying to focus, before my heavy eyelids closed over them and I felt my grip become weaker.

Please.

Logan watched Calliope stumble and fall onto the ground. He watched her claw at her neck and plead for him to save her. And he stood helplessly above her, apathetic to the dying girl in front of him. After all, she did kill his sister. She deserved it.

“Wow,” a voice called from behind Logan. He whipped around and saw a woman in the doorway. “I didn’t think you’d actually do it.”

“Who- I- wh- who are you?” he stuttered. The ceiling light in Calliope’s room lit up, exposing all of Calliope’s possessions she had thrown at Logan. The girl’s limp body lay in the center of the room, the still wet blood seeping into the carpet.

“My name’s Pandora,” the woman said, “and I’ve been wanting to get rid of Calliope for years.”

She stepped into the light, and Logan gasped.

The woman, Pandora, was wearing studded black biker boots that went up past her ankles. Her skinny jeans were black and ripped at various places along her thighs, knees, and shins. The white shirt she had on was tight, and the front of her shirt was tucked into her jeans loosely. Over her shirt was an unzipped motorcycle jacket made of black leather. Her right hand was tucked into the front pocket of her jeans, and her left brushed a strand of her long, wavy, dark brown hair behind her ear, and her face was the exact same as Calliope’s.

“Y-You’re- What?” Logan stammered. “How…”

“It’s a long story.” She brushed Logan’s implicit question off nonchalantly, checking her black acrylic nails.

“I’ve got a whole lot of time,” Logan replied in the same cool tone, seemingly pulling himself together.

“Don’t you have a funeral to get ready for? For… What was her name, Alyssa? Eliana? Oh, that’s right -- it was Elizabeth.”

Logan clenched his fists. “It was you,” he growled. “It wasn’t Callie who killed Liz, it was you!” He drew his knife again, not caring that it was still dripping with blood, and lunged at Pandora, but she sidestepped his attack and used his momentum to push him against the wall. Her left hand bent Logan’s wrist into an awkward position until he dropped his knife, and she swiftly caught the weapon as it fell, keeping her right arm pressed forcibly against the back of Logan’s neck the whole time. She brought the knife up under his chin and pressed slightly -- not enough to cut his skin, but enough to make him feel the pressure of the bloodied knife against his trembling chin.

“Yeah, and what’re you gonna do about it?” Logan’s eyes widened as he stared at the knife used so expertly in Pandora’s grasp. “I killed your sister, and I have no regrets about making you kill mine. She was always the lucky twin, the one who didn’t have to grow up with the alcoholic flake of a father, and she took it for granted. Didn’t even know what she was missing out on. Well, karma’s a real pain, isn’t it?” she hissed bitterly into Logan’s ear.

“So, what, you killed her? No, you made me kill her because you were too much of a coward to kill her yourself,” Logan retaliated. He barked out a sharp laugh, void of any emotion other than annoyance. Pandora tensed beside him, pressing the knife further into his skin. Logan was well aware of the stainless steel up against the artery in his neck, but he continued to provoke the girl anyway. “Coward,” he snarled again.

Pandora’s face scrunched up. “I am not a cowa-”

Logan knocked his head back, successfully hitting Pandora in the forehead and avoiding the blade of the knife in her hand. Pandora stumbled back, raising her right hand to touch her bruised forehead, and Logan took her distraction as an opportunity to tackle her to the ground, wrestling the weapon out of her grip.

Pandora let out a guttural cry in anguish and determination through her clenched teeth as she fought back against Logan, hitting the back of her head against the wall in the process. The two struggled for dominance, pushing each other into the ground and grappling for the single knife. It was a blur -- one second, Logan was punching Pandora repeatedly in the jaw, and the next, Pandora had her hands wrapped tightly around Logan’s neck.

Logan and Pandora battled viciously for what seemed like hours, matching each other’s strengths and weaknesses to make for a fair match. They let out grunts and screams, glaring at each other with the intent to kill. Punches, kicks, and whatever other blows they could land were exchanged, and the only thing on the fighters’ minds was victory, fueled by their tenacity.

And then came the knock at the door. It was loud and singular, but the noise resonated throughout the house. Logan froze from his position hovering over Pandora, but Pandora just smirked. She took his hesitation and flipped him, swiftly grabbing the knife and stabbing it into his chest, and then she pulled it out and inserted it into his abdomen.

As she stood up, she tore the blade out of Logan’s body, shrugging before wiping the blood off on his mangled varsity jacket. She flipped the injured boy onto his back as his breathing became more and more labored, and she promptly dug her boot heel into his neck, satisfied as she heard the brilliant snap of his neck.

She dug her pointer and middle fingers into Logan’s neck, feeling his pulse slow until it stopped altogether.

“And then there was one,” she said, a smirk stretched across her face as she admired her new knife. She stood up, and spun around as she heard a gasp behind her.

“Calliope?” the woman who had walked through the door uttered.

“Mom!” Pandora hastily replied, pleasantly surprised. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

Calliope’s mother peered behind her daughter and spotted the disfigured corpse of Logan Ackerman. She sighed.

“I have much to teach you, Pandora.”

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stormcrawler75 · 6 years ago

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“Aren’t they a little old to be adopted?” Moxiety or analogical? Love ur writing so much ahhh

Logan held his son’s hand tightly as they crossed the street. Yes, at twelve Virgil might not need someone to hold his hand when crossing a street but it was more for his own piece of mind than anything. They got to the other side without trouble but Virgil didn’t pull his hand away. Logan smiled a little and kept walking.

“Why are we doing this?”

Logan glanced down at his son (Logan finally had a son) and cocked an eyebrow. Virgil was staring down at the street with a nervous look on his face. “I’m assuming that you’re asking why the two of us are going to the local library today?” Virgil nodded. “Because I heard they had an excellent reading club for youth your age and I think that you will enjoy it. Would you rather not go?”

Virgil shrugged, his grip on Logan’s hand tightening a little. “No, I want to go. But, why are we going now? You said that the club doesn’t start until school does and that doesn’t start for another week. And I could walk down there by myself to sign up.”

“You don’t know the area that well,” Logan hummed. They entered the library parking lot. “I don’t want you to get lost on your way there or back. And I thought that we could look for some books after we’re done signing you up.” He gave Virgil a small smile. “I was also thinking that perhaps I could show you one of the ice cream places I enjoy going to with my brother afterward.”

Virgil’s face broke out into a wide smile and he perked up. “Really?!”

Logan chuckled and nodded, holding open the library door for Virgil. “Yes, really.” They entered the library and Logan let Virgil’s hand go so the young boy could properly look around the building while he went to sign him in for the program.

The assistant librarian was seated at the desk and when Logan walked up to her, looked up with a bored expression on her face. “Hey, Logan. Can I help you?”

Logan nodded at her and clasped his hands behind his back. He didn’t know the woman that well but well enough to know each other's names. “Yes, I think you can, Karen. I’m here to sign my son up for the library’s reading club.”

Karen cocked her head and gave a puzzled smile. “Son? I didn’t know you had a son.”

“I do,” Logan said, unable to stop the smile on his lips. “I adopted him last month.”

“Oh, that’s great,” Karen smiled, clapping her hands. She opened a drawer and pulled out a piece of paper. “Well, we have a great toddler reading program that I think your son will just love!”

Logan held up a hand to stop her before she could keep going. “While I’m should the toddler program is exceptional, my son is much too old to be with children that age.” He looked around and waved Virgil over once he saw his son perusing the fiction section. Virgil walked over quickly and stopped a little behind Logan. Logan smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. “This is my son, Virgil.”

Virgil gave the woman a shy wave. “Hi.”

Karen stared at Virgil for a few seconds and, in those few seconds, her smile melted off of her face. She looked back over at Logan and said in a stage whisper, “Aren’t they a little old to be adopted? You should’ve adopted a baby or toddler.”

Logan’s brain halted to a stop and his hand tightened a little on Virgil’s shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, Logan could see Virgil tense up and start trembling in horror.

“That is an extremely insensitive to claim,” Logan said quietly. “In fact, how dare you say that?”

“Well,” Karen rushed to say, sounding more condescending by the second, “I just think that you’d probably be happier with a -”

“I am happier than I’ve ever been with Virgil as my son,” Logan cut in. He turned away from her, pulling Virgil with him. “Please, forget what I said about signing Virgil up for the reading club. I think I’d rather not have Virgil coming here alone after this conversation.”

He ignored Karen’s sputtering and left the library, a silent Virgil in tow. As soon as they were outside, Logan stopped and dropped to his knees. He cupped Virgil’s cheeks in his eyes and tilted his head up so that Virgil, barely holding back tears, was looking at him.

“She is a terrible woman, saying that,” Logan said firmly. “And, furthermore, she is wrong. I picked you, Virgil because I love you. Do you understand that?”

Virgil nodded, slow and hesitant. “Yes,” he whispered, voice cracking.

Logan nodded and stood up. He placed a hand on Virgil’s shoulder and squeezed it gently and affectionately. “It’s okay if you don’t right now. I’ve always believed that actions speak much louder than words and you haven’t seen many of mine. We have time for that. For now, why don’t the two of us go and buy some ice cream? We could bring it home with us if you’d prefer.”

“Yeah,” Virgil sniffled, “I’d like that. Thank you, Logan.”

“It is no problem, Virgil. No problem at all.”

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@violetsandpride

@smolautumnchild

@sanderssmosh-n-musicals

@cookiethedevil

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@figurative-falsehood

@crookedlyoptimisticdestiny

@ao-koshka

@onenightjoanly

@alsoyouremischievous

@figurative-falsehood

@mrtacothethird

@analogical-mess

@combine-the-kitchens

@knight-shives

@the-office-cat

@dark-kestrel

@lizziepopanime

@razberrypuck

@kastrefeila

@lilcutekittykat

@ladyonce

@penguinpatty1502

@analogical-mess

@incorrectqueereye

@liz-a-bell

@imjustawibba

@remy-alagaesias-dragon-queen

@fandoms-winkitywonk

@therubyjailcell

@idont-know-what-im-doing

@angels-and-dreams

@europa-bear

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@ravens-rambling

@felicianoromano

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@felicianoromano

@maehemscorpyus

@the-anti-virgil

@georganabanana

@kaileah-kat

@omg-rainbowgalxy-things

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something-tofightfor · 5 years ago

Note

19, 20, 26 (for Wyoming and NL) 41

19) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?

I don’t think I’ve ever truly ENDED a series, because there are a lot of things that I’m constantly working on, but I’d say that the one thing that I’ve wrapped up pretty well (but could always add more to) is Christmas in Wyoming, because we need to find out what happens when you’ve moved to Los Angeles… and why you’re so unhappy.

20) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?

No. I’m happy with the stories that I’ve written - maybe some of the drabbles or shorter one shots? But I’m not unhappy with them to the point that I’d actively go back and change anything. I do, though, sometimes think about going back through and editing the first chapter of HNH to be more consistent with the rest of it. When I wrote that, I didn’t think it was going to become what it did, and so I wrote it differently than I approached the rest.

26) Which part of your xxx fic was the hardest to write?

Wyoming, NL

Wyoming:

So, the hardest thing for me in this was writing Logan opening up in a short time. He’s only there for two weeks, and it’s not just a vacation. He has a specific goal, and so he needs to balance going there for his purpose, and what he finds when he’s landed. Getting Logan’s character right is essential to me, and he needed to see that Reader wasn’t just going to let him walk all over her. He pushed, but she pushed right back. So the hard thing wasn’t his honesty, because we all know is IS honest - it was him forcing himself to be so open with someone that he desperately wanted something - two somethings - from. He knew there was a chance she was going to say no, and he also knew that there was the potential for him to lose a new friend, too - because of what he wanted and needed.

NL:

Writing Ryan breaking his wrist was horrible… but not as horrible as that moment when they leave each other as she’s getting into the cab and he walks back through the casino. That entire last portion was difficult, because they both had places to be and lives to lead, but them knowing that they were leaving each other? That after those few days, they were going to go back to being alone? Both of them trying to keep it together? That was hard. There’s a lot of personal stuff in NL, so there were other things that were really hard too - but that’s for another day.

41) What’s your favourite minor character you’ve written?

Liz and Sara are great. They’re funny, they have good ideas, they care about Reader… and they don’t give a shit that Ben is Ben, which is what everyone in that situation needs. I love bringing them into situations, because I know they’re both going to be a good time - and provide some much needed levity or advice.

I also am a BIG fan of Matt and Jack from Just a Place, because they’re good friends to Ryan, and have a very different perspective on life than Reader does - so they can help her when she’s feeling down.

#ask something-tofightfor #thanks for the asks!!#writing asks #fanfic asks #the-blind-assassin-12

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redrosella · 6 years ago

Text

Passion

Chapter 2 of 2 Part 1 Here

Summary: An old photo in Patton’s room brings up new questions for Virgil. Who was Passion? Why had he never heard of him? Where is he now?

…Can Sides die?

Author’s Note: Here’s the second chapter! The whole thing is under the cut because the first line is a spoiler for the first part. Read part one above if you haven’t seen it! This part has grieving as a main topic, so if that makes you uncomfortable, please skip it. However, it’s all done healthily.

Tags: @whatevertheheckiwantthanks @nbpidgeon @musicwithalex @liz-a-bell @romanasanders @wisepuma23 @fandomsandanythingelse @pipedreamprayer

“You… You were both Passion?” Virgil stuttered out, trying to take in the story.

It was almost impossible to comprehend. Nothing the anxious side had ever heard pointed to the idea that sides could just split apart and become two different people. It wasn’t something he had ever thought of because it sounded just so ridiculous.

“Yes. I was Thomas’ more academic passions, Roman was Thomas’ creative passions. Although of course we were just one back then, there was no separation in our mind. We were just Passion,” Logan explained, like it was all logical and Virgil’s entire worldview wasn’t just shifted five degrees to the left.

“I... “ Virgil ran a hand through his hair. “What changed?”

Roman sighed. “Passion… He was always very conflicted, even before things started to pile up. For a side that emcompasses such a broad range from academic to creative, to everything in between, it can be tough to keep it together,” Roman explained, his usual flair more restrained. “The straw that broke the camel’s back, so to say, was just Thomas trying to figure out whether he wanted to spend more time on school or theatre. We were young, and weren’t really thinking about trying to find an inbetween, so there was a constant flipping back and forth that was too much to handle.”

“It’s a good thing it happened then and not any other time. If Passion was still there when Thomas was deciding between chemical engineering and his vine career, the consequences would have been drastic. Roman and I were already arguing like crazy when that happened; if we were still one side, Thomas’ mental state would have suffered greatly,” Logan said.

Alright. That was starting to make a bit more sense. It was still crazy to think sides could split like a fusion from Steven Universe, but even he could tell that Roman and Logan staying as one side would not be a good idea. They were practically made to be arguing with each other.

While putting this together, Virgil’s eyes darted towards Patton. The fatherly side seemed oddly subdued, his eyes averted and not really paying attention to the situation. Virgil could only imagine what that must have felt like, being there as his boyfriend split apart before his eyes-

And that was another thing. Boyfriend. Patton had been Passion’s partner, even though they were young and weren’t quite sure what that entailed yet. They were still together, and losing a friend like that must have been crushing.

He did still have Roman and Logan, though...

“So are you still dating?” Virgil tentatively asked.

Patton’s head shot up, eyes wide.

“Oh uh...” Logan looked similarly caught off guard. “No. No we aren’t.”

“I was with Pasha, not them, Virgil,” Patton spoke up. “It’s… not the same. I was in love with Passion, not Creativity or Logic.” Virgil could almost see the beginnings of tears in Patton’s eyes. He wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the light or not, but it didn’t really matter. It was clear that Patton was hurting, and there wasn’t much he could do. Virgil was still reeling, and this situation wasn’t really his place. He had just learned about it today, no words he could say would have any meaning.

Both Logan and Roman looked down as well, unsure what exactly to say.

It became abundantly clear to Virgil that this wasn’t something the three of them talked about often- if ever. The anxious side sympathized with that. Conversations about something like this would be nerve wracking and embarrassing and a huge mess, and if it happened to Virgil, he would want to be anywhere but there. But that’s because Virgil was anxiety, and that was kind of his M.O.. These three were supposed to be the more put together sides that didn’t just ignore their problems and hope they’d go away.

But they did, and here Virgil was, opening back up that wound.

Well, maybe that wasn’t the most apt analogy. It was more like a broken bone that had healed incorrectly and everyone was saying was healed, and Virgil had just re-broken it.

Patton stood up abruptly, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. “Sorry kiddos, I… have to go.” He left without another word, walking up the stairs to his room. No one made any attempt to stop him, too caught up in their own worlds and unable to figure out what to do.

Virgil looked back at the other two sides, who both looked taken aback and remorseful.

“I’m sorry for bringing this up.” Virgil rubbed the back of his neck. “And sorry for worrying you. I just didn’t know…”

“It’s okay, Virgil,” Logan started. “Curiosity is perfectly natural. You were just formulating a hypothesis with the data you were given, and it happened to lead to this. It’s not your fault. In all actuality, it’s our own fault for never telling you before.”

“Did you… not want to tell me?” Virgil asked. The idea that they didn’t trust him with that hurt, but...

“No, no,” Roman quickly said. “It’s just a… sensitive topic, as you can see. We never really thought to bring it up,” he clarified.

The anxious side nodded. “Alright. I’ll… talk to you guys later.” He was ready to slink back into his room and not think about this embarrassing misunderstanding of a situation for a long time, and readjust his entire concept of how sides worked in peace.

Maybe take a nice long nap and try not to think about death for a long, long time. Maybe try to figure out what he could possibly say to the side that was so much like a father to him, without it feeling worthless.

----

The next day, things were tense in the mindscape. Logan took to spending time in his own room away from the cacophony of emotions plaguing everyone, but of course he was once again dragged back out and into the fray.

“Roman?” Logan poked his head into the side’s room. He had gotten an odd text message from him asking to join him in his room- confusing because he could have just walked down and asked Logan to join him like usual- but he still obliged, because as sides communication was of the utmost importance.

Immediately he was taken aback as he came face to face with what wasn’t Roman’s room, but what looked like a miniature ballroom. Logan knew that Roman could change his room to look however he wanted it to, but he was not expecting… this sight to greet him.

In the middle of the room, Roman stood, looking incredibly extra. He was wearing what looked like a tuxedo and a dress combo, completely impractical and yet completely Roman.

“Logan.” The creative side smirked. “Would you care for a dance?”

Logan stayed put outside the door, blinking like it would change what was in front of him. “Are you trying to court me?” He raised an eyebrow. “Because I’m not sure this is the right way to go about it.”

Roman rolled his eyes with an exaggerated huff. “No! Ugh, just come here Logan.” He held out his hand. “Just dance with me. I want to test something.”

Logan finally walked into the room, taking an extra look around. “And this is how you chose to do it? Wouldn’t a normal room and normal clothes have sufficed?”

Roman scoffed. “I needed to set the mood! There’s a certain finesse to dance that must be achieved. Now dance with me, no more questions asked! There’s time for questions later.” He shook his hand out again, and Logan carefully took it.

“Alright. But-” There was no time for him to finished as the wind was taken out of him by a quick spin by Roman, who apparently couldn’t wait another second to dance.

They were swept into a quick dance that almost felt like a combination between ballroom dancing and tango, Roman taking the lead and deciding that, yeah, picking up Logan was a completely reasonable idea.

Logan was no novice at dancing, however. He could keep up with Princey’s footsteps quite accurately, owing the knowledge to Thomas’ own proclivities for theatrics and learning how to step in time. He was not prepared to being swept off his feet and dipped to the ground, however, and when Roman attempted to execute the last move, his center of gravity was set off and they ended up falling into a pile on the floor together.

“Ow,” Logan said blandly, rubbing his head and adjusting his skewed glasses. Thankfully they didn’t seem broken despite Roman elbowing them sideways in an effort to gain ahold of him before toppling down. “Well, that was a massive failure. I’m not sure what you were expecting there.”

Roman huffed. “Well maybe if you tried to actually dip with me rather than staying stiff as a board, we would have gotten somewhere. Do you have two left feet or something?”

“What are you trying to achieve, Roman?” Logan asked, deciding to ignore his provocative question.

The creative side looked away, his arms crossed and a blush dusting his cheeks. “I was just trying to test a theory…” He mumbled, trailing off.

“What kind of a theory involves dancing ourselves into a pile? And why could you have not asked Virgil or Patton?”

Roman mumbled something under his breath that Logan couldn’t catch.

“What?” Logan asked.

“I was… trying to fuse.”

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

It was a stupid idea. A really, really, stupid idea. Roman knew it from the beginning. But a small part of his mind still thought that maybe, just maybe, because they weren’t real people, fusing like the gems in Steven Universe could work.

He knew it wouldn’t, and he knew Logan would have told him exactly that if he brought it up to him, but he just had to try it… He couldn’t keep going on without at least trying something.

“You’re… trying to bring back Passion?” Logan asked, looking caught completely off guard for once.

“No, I… Yes, but… I…” Roman stuttered out, running a hand through his hair haphazardly. “I don’t know. I just thought maybe if Passion was back even for a little bit, Patton would be happy. I don’t like seeing him so down.”

Logan sighed. “If Passion came back, Patton wouldn’t be happy, Roman. He’d have lost two of his close friends.”

“I know that! But… I don’t know- do you ever think that we would be better? If we were still Passion? If Thomas would be better?”

His voice cracked at the end. Ever since this whole problem was brought back up again, all he could think about was whether splitting up was the best thing. He thought it was, but these little doubts wouldn’t let go.

“Roman…” Logan sighed sadly. “Passion was never meant to stay forever. A passion is… not always stable. Usually they dry up after a time. Concert pianists tire of playing the same songs day and in and day out. Mathematicians get bored of doing the same calculations. Their passion is lessened. It can be rekindled, but there is no guarantee. Passion may seem like the most important thing in the world, but without substance it will never stay. It needs a strong foundation. WE are that foundation. Together we are passion. But we don’t have to be one to be it.

“In all honesty, Passion shouldn’t have even existed in the first place. He was too specific, and too broad at the same time. There are such a wide variety of passions one can take up, trying to fit them all into one side would just be pointless. But because passions have multiple facets to them, different ideas that fuel them, just passion alone was too specific. Roman, Passion was always going to split. It was inevitable.”

Roman hummed half heartedly in acknowledgement. He remembered the feeling of not being whole all too well. Passion always felt one second away from breaking in those later years. It was impossible to forget. But still...

“Did you enjoy it?” Roman asked. “Because I did. At least, I think I did. You probably did too, since we were the same. I don’t know, this probably doesn’t make sense.”

“The concept of one mind becoming two is incredibly complex, I doubt it makes sense to most,” Logan comforted him. “Even I have trouble sometimes with remembering that Passion wasn’t just me. And yes, I did enjoy it. Why wouldn’t I have?”

“I dunno. I guess I’m just feeling a little… less than confident right now.” Roman traced a line on the ground absentmindedly, not willing to look up at the other side.

“We did pretty much ignore it since it happened. This is the first real talk we’ve had about it in years. I thought we were just going to ignore it for the rest of our life.” Logan shrugged.

“Do you still love Patton?” Roman whispered under his breath, like it was forbidden to say. “I do, in a way. I still have memories of loving him, and I know that love didn’t just go away, even if it did for Patton since…” Roman trailed off.

“Patton loved Passion, but we’re not Passion,” Logan finished. “I don’t think I love him anymore- I see him as a close friend, and I would never want to risk losing that- but I know I did in the past, just like Pasha did. His feelings didn’t just instantly disappear. It’s tough to say, really.”

The hurtful truth was that even if Roman wanted something with Patton again, he’d always feel like he was trying to measure up to Pasha. He’d never be able to feel like his own side, rather just a byproduct of Passion. Not that he wanted to pursue anything- despite being the personification of romance, he couldn’t see Patton as much else than a dad anymore, but the feelings were still always there like an unforgotten memory. A memory that didn’t feel like his.

A lot of Pasha’s memories felt like that. Like slices of a life he lived, but also didn’t. It was weird to think about, and that’s why he often just pushed the memories away, deciding not to dwell on them. If he thought too much about it, he’d become like… this. Laying on a ballroom floor because of a stupid idea he thought might fix things but ended up failing. Thinking back on Passion would always bring out the worst- maybe that was indicative of the kind of side Passion was at the end, maybe it was just how Roman was as a side, too proactive and nitpicky, but it never led to anything good.

He really wished Virgil had never brought this up again. He hadn’t thought about the whole situation in a while, too busy with his creative endeavours, and he was doing just fine. He didn’t have to think about these complicated questions that inevitably sprung up whenever it was brought up. But he also didn’t blame Virgil. It was a big part of their lives, and Virgil was a part of their group. He deserved to know about the past- it wasn’t like it was a big secret or anything, there was nothing wrong with him knowing.

He just wished it didn’t end up hurting Patton so badly.

Because really, that’s what it all came down to. Roman could deal with some existential questions and memories that didn’t feel like memories any day. But seeing Patton so hurt because of something they did in the past, even if they didn’t have control of it, it was upsetting. There was such a large part of him- and Logan as well- that cared so much about Patton, Something that the disappearance of Passion couldn’t ever take away. And it felt horrible knowing there wasn’t anything he could do, other than a few experiments that were never going to work.

Logan seemed to pick up on his train of thought and sighed, readjusting his glasses.

“Would you like to try one more time, Roman?” He held out his hand.

“Really?” Roman propped himself up on an elbow, looking up to the logical side for the first time since they fell.

“Really. I think it’s completely illogical and will never work, but there’s no harm in trying.”

Roman gave a soft smile, grabbing his hand and letting him pull him up.

They repeated the same steps once again, this time even more in sync as both knew exactly where the other was going to go, stepping in time together and not missing a beat. Logan even made an effort to fall into the swings and dips more, not freezing up as he had done before. The finally dip was executed perfectly as Roman held his forehead close to Logan’s, and they both waited with baited breath…

But nothing happened.

“I figured…” Roman breathed out.

Logan laughed. “Yeah, it was a stupid idea. But you wouldn’t be Roman if you didn’t have stupid ideas now and again.”

Roman let out a fake indignant scoff. “How dare? I’ll have you know that all my ideas are perfectly reasonable.”

Yeah, there was a reason Passion broke up. But damn if Logan and Roman didn’t still have a natural sync with each other that allowed them to flow so seamlessly together, and yet work so differently.

-----

Patton held the picture of Pasha close, memorising the details of his face. It had been so long since he had last seen him, he’d almost forgotten the way his eyes shown with knowledge, the way he seemed to snuggle into his scarf at every moment, and the way he blushed when caught off guard.

The picture didn’t bring back the feelings that it used to. He used to feel a burst of love and happiness whenever he saw Pasha, enamored with him in every way. Now, when he was older and Pasha was still just a ten year old kid in his mind, he didn’t feel the same way, but man did it still hurt. He still felt the loss he did all those years ago, that grieving that he wondered if he was even allowed to feel because technically Pasha was still there- he was just two people now.

He knew he was allowed to grieve now, learning to embrace all of his feelings and not just the happy ones, but there were still years and years where he was never sure if mourning his loss was appropriate. Now, though, all he really wanted to do was just feel. Even the bad feelings. They’d tell him that Pasha was still there in his memory, and his spirit was still here in the mindscape, just in two seperate places.

He loved Roman and Logan. They were his close friends, his family, and even if he missed Pasha, he could never regret having them. They were what Pasha was always meant to be, and their existence meant that Pasha wasn’t hurting anymore.

There was a knock on the door that snapped Patton out of his musings, a head popping into his room without preamble.

“Hey Pat,” Virgil said, walking into the room with his hands stuffed into his pockets.

“Hey Virge.” Patton wiped away a few quick tears from his eyes.

“Are you doing okay?”

The fatherly side nodded. “Yeah. Just thinking. Y’know, I hadn’t thought about Pasha in a while until I found the picture. I could never forget him, but things have just been so busy I barely had any time.” He laughed. “I know you guys worry about me, but really, I’m fine. Just embracing my emotions, and remembering the good times. It’s been… nice.”

“But isn’t it also sad?” Virgil asked.

“Of course it is. But sadness just make the times when you’re happy all the sweeter. If I wasn’t sad about Pasha being gone, then I wouldn’t be happy about all the memories I shared with him. Besides, he’s not completely gone, just two seperate people. I have Logan and Roman- and you! You’re all my family.”

Virgil gave a soft smile, interrupted by Logan knocking on the door, obviously him by the precise way he knocked and waited for a reply rather than barging in like the other two sides.

“Come in, Lo!” Patton called.

The door opened, letting Logan and Roman spill into the room.

“Hello, Daddy-o! We are here to spend some quality time! We’ve been severely lacking lately, and that needs to be rectified immediately!” Roman said boisterously.

“We noticed you’ve been spending some time in your room alone, and worried you were feeling lonely,” Logan added. “I know you are simply remembering Passion, but perhaps if we all talked about it together, the healing process might move along faster, and will be less arduous.”

It really was a healing process. It should have been done years ago, really, but with being sides who are constantly busy, and the uncomfortableness of the situation that no one wanted to address, it never really happened. Better late than never, however.

“Well, sure, that sounds nice.” Patton flashed a smile. “Come join us on the bed, kiddos.” He patted the spot next to him, grabbing a pillow to hug. The two sides both took up residence on the large bed, Roman sprawling out and Logan sitting criss crossed taking up as little space as he could. “So what’d you want to talk about kiddos?”

“Sharing memories about a loved one is a vital part of the healing process, so I believe doing so might do us all some good,” Logan explained.

Roman jolted up. “Plus, Virgil never got to know Passion! Just think of all the funny stories we never got to tell him! Like remember that one time we tried to make brownies for Patton’s birthday and ended up mixing up the baking soda and baking powder?”

“That might be why Thomas never got into baking,” Logan quipped.

Patton let out a large belly laugh. He had completely forgotten the day that happened. It was just one of the complete and utter mishaps that occured in the mindscape back when they were kids, so common and yet so out of left field.

The rest of the night was filled with stories of days long forgotten, and memories that Patton could never forget. Roman and Logan seemed to be in perfect sync, both recalling the same memories with accuracy, and yet each having their own take on them. It reminded Patton that Pasha’s spirit was never truly gone.

Yeah, it hurt to know he couldn’t cuddle him or give him a chaste kiss in the night, but it didn’t matter when he had a family that cared so much about him right here.

And besides, remembering Pasha just reminded him to cherish the family he had.

#Sanders Sides #Thomas Sanders #sanders sides fanfiction #roman sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders #redrosellawriting

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purplepatton · 6 years ago

Text

heading straight for the castle - one

summary: logan sanders is a prince who wants nothing to do with the responsibilities the throne gives him. roman prince is a civilian who would give anything to be royalty. when an odd twist of fate leads them to meet, the pair realize something remarkable: they look exactly alike. from there they decide to switch places, wanting to see how the other lives. but a simple switch quickly becomes something more as things spiral out of control in the kingdom

trigger warnings: none for this chapter, but if you need something tagged let me know!

artist: the stellar @keuwibird (find her amazing art here if you haven’t seen it yet,,, trust me it’s amazing)

beta: the amazing @logically-sided!! i want a give her a big shoutout because she helped me so much with this fic,, without her this fic would be shoved somewhere in the back of my wip folder lol. she was such a big help with everything, from fixing my grammer and giving me suggestions when i got stuck. she’s the real mvp,,, thank you again liz!!!

notes: so this is my big bang fic! i know i’m a little late posting (sorry about that) but better late than never! i’ve decided that instead of posting the story all at once, i’m just going to post a chapter every day (or every couple of days) because with school starting and work i don’t have much time to sit down and format everything properly lol (plus this gives me more time to make sure everything is ok lol) but, yeah! hope you enjoy it, because i had so much fun writing this story :))))

If there is one thing that Logan hates more than anything in the world, it would have to be sitting in on the council meetings.

Maybe it’s the way the members drone in pompous tones about issues that rarely hold value. Maybe it’s the way the members take ages to decide the proper course of action, when in reality it should only take them a few days. Or maybe it’s just because the meetings always seemed to happen when Logan was doing something he enjoyed, therefore taking away the precious moments he had to himself, which were few and far between these days.

Whatever the reason, Logan can feel his attention slipping as two of the council members begin an argument about taxes and the possibilities of raising them. It’s been the same argument all week; although this time the two decided to add insulting each other into the mix.

Logan can feel the disgust curling up in his stomach. He clenches his fist, and tries his best not to scowl outwardly because these people are supposed to be professionals. Yet here they are arguing like children. No wonder nothing ever gets done around here; everyone is too busy focusing on their own petty differences to make any significant changes.

Pushing himself to his feet, Logan storms out of the room and leaves the council to argue among themselves. Once he’s outside the doors, he leans against the wall and tries to bring his emotions under control. He needs to think clearly, and his emotions are only clouding his thoughts. He breathes out slowly and forces himself to relax.

“Wow.” A voice next to him says, sounding amused. “You lasted forty minutes in there. That’s got to be a new record or something.”

Logan has long gotten used to Joan’s habit of popping up out of nowhere, so this new appearance does little to phase him. Instead he turns towards his aide standing beside him and raises an eyebrow. “Only forty? I could have sworn it was longer.”

“Well, you know what they say,” Joan says, falling into step alongside of Logan. They head down the hall and away from the muffled voices of the council room. “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

Logan snorts, catching the sarcasm in their voice. Joan grins widely at Logan’s slip in composure, and Logan has to resist the urge to blame the council for his lapse in control. Instead, he rolls his shoulders back and asks, “Where to now?” Because even he can’t keep his schedule straight in his head; not when there is so much to do and so much is changed at least five times a day.

“It’s one in the afternoon.” Joan says in reply, not answering Logan’s question at all.

That means that whatever is on Logan’s schedule next is something he should remember, and is probably something he’s been looking forward to. He furrows his brow and tries to think.

It hits him a few moments later, as they’re walking down the hall that eventually makes its way to the back of the castle. “Oh!” He says a bit too loudly, drawing the attention of a maid who happens to be hurrying past. He flashes her his smile usually reserved for the reporters before lowering his voice and addressing Joan. “I nearly forgot. I guess I really do need a break.”

“The great Logan forgetting something? Looks like it’s the beginning of the end.” Joan says with a faux expression of pity. “Best get your affairs in order because it’s all downhill from here.”

This time Logan manages to school his expression into something more neutral, although his lip twitches and betrays his amusement.

The pair follows the hallway until they stop in front of a rather plain door. It’s nothing special, just wood with a simple design carved into it. It’s rather out of the way from the other places in the castle, in a region that’s only really used by servants. Which makes it the ideal location for Logan and Joan.

Logan knocks on the door while Joan keeps an eye out for anybody who might happen to walk by. There is a slight pause before the door is swung open by a women with long brown hair and sparkling eyes.

She’s happy to see them, if not impatient. “It’s about time!” She huffs, dragging both Logan and Joan into the room and closing the door firmly behind them. “I was beginning to think the two of you would never show up!”

It is quite possible that Valerie Torres is an actual goddess.

She had worked in the palace as the head seamstress for many years, and had been with Logan for a good number of them. She was kind, hardworking and a rather good listener. Logan had spent so much time with her - what with all the suits and fittings he needed for the meetings and parties and interviews he needed to attend - that she quickly became one of the few people Logan actually trusted.

And when Logan had approached her with a half formed plan to gain some freedom, she had immediately offered her help.

Now she shoves a bundle of clothes into Logan’s arms and instructs him to change into them. He takes them and dutifully walks to the small corner of the room that’s sectioned off by a hanging sheet to change. He quickly swaps out his lavish clothes for the more ordinary polo shirt and jeans. He finishes adjusting his tie around his neck (an accessory he insisted on despite of Valerie's protests, because he is a serious person and serious people wear neckties) and steps back into the main section of the room where Joan and Valerie are waiting.

He stretches out his arms. “Well?” He asks. “How do I look?”

“Completely ordinary.” Joan drawls from where they are lounging on a chair.

Valerie frowns, walks over and musses up his hair out of it’s carefully styled position into a more casual and relaxed style. It’s not a complete change, but Logan knows from past experience that it’s enough of a change that people will need a second look to identify him. And the time it takes them to take a second look is just the amount of time he needs to slip away.

“There you go.” Valerie says, content with her work. She crosses her arms and narrows her eyes. “Are you sure you don’t want Joan come? I’d feel a lot better if they were with you.”

Logan rolls his eyes. Every time he goes out of the castle it’s the same song and dance. He’s had this exact conversation with Valerie many times, and each time it goes the same way. He doesn’t understand why Valerie expects his answer to change.

“I just want an hour to myself.” He says, frustration creeping into his voice. “I understand your concerns, but I’ve been doing this for so long now that the odds of something going wrong are infinitesimal.”

Valerie frowns because it’s not the answer she wants to hear, but there’s really nothing she can do to stop him. “Fine. Be careful.”

“You know me.” Logan says with another one of his faked smiles. “I’m always careful.”

The afternoon rush was in full swing, but Logan doesn’t mind the way people are swarming around him and pushing to get to where they want to go. He lets the flow of traffic push him along with the crowd, not caring where he ends up.

It’s a nice sort of feeling, just wandering around and not worrying about where he has to be.

He’s visited this part of the city so many times that he could probably walk it blindfolded. As he rounds a corner in the crowd, he spies a small bookshop that’s a favorite of his. It looks rather empty, but Logan can’t remember a time when it had actually been full. It’s always half empty like this, which Logan likes because it means the store is quiet enough for him to focus on whatever he happens to be reading.

With his eyes locked onto the store’s sign Logan starts towards the store, not paying attention to where he’s actually walking.

Logan immediately regrets this decision as he proceeds to run headfirst into someone. It’s a painful collision, and Logan falls back onto the ground with a grunt. His glasses had fallen off in the process, and the world around him has melted into a blur of color and movement. He reaches around him, trying to find his glasses so he could see what was going on.

Someone is standing over him, and even though Logan can’t see a foot in front of his face, he assumes that this is the person he ran into because a steady stream of apologies is being directed at him.

“-wasn’t looking where I was going, are you okay?” A hand grabs his and hauls Logan to his feet. Logan was not ready for the sudden change of position and he wobbles slightly before regaining his balance.

Logan tries to assure the person that he’s fine, but he can’t get a word in edgewise as the person babbles on. “You don’t look hurt, that’s good. I swear I didn’t mean to run into you, I was just in a hurry and you just sort of appeared and I-”

The voice cuts off for a reason Logan isn’t exactly sure of and he takes the opportunity to say, “I’m fine, thank you. I just need my glasses. You wouldn’t happen to see them lying around, would you? I’m afraid I can’t see anything.”

His glasses are shoved into his hand rather roughly and he pushes them onto his nose, feeling the tension that had been building up in his shoulders relax as soon as he was able to see. He looks at the person in front of him and the first thing he notices is the person’s expression.

He’s looking at Logan in shock and alarm. For a moment Logan doesn’t understand what could possibly be so worrying to this boy (who on a second glance looked around Logan’s age). Then he sees what the boy sees and his jaw drops.

The boy looks exactly like him.

Taglist (let me know if you want to be added/taken off): @basilstorm@artistfromthestars@storytellerofuntoldlegends@romananalogicality@verymuchanidiot @istolelittleredshoodie @dont-cry-croft @speechless-angel@thefamouszombiebouquet @wolfwalker100 @datonerougecookeh@virgilient @virgil-is-verge@impatentpending@zaisling@trixie85592 @sillysandersides @hamster-corn @adventurousplatypus @unring-this-bell @mymiddlenameisunderscore

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davidmann95 · 7 years ago

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Well, that was unexpected.

I know we’ve all had over a year to get used to this kid’s take on the character, and two to wrap our heads around the concept of Homecoming in the first place, but it really is worth reflecting again for a moment on how this movie is impossible. This movie can not be. Spider-Man’s over there, and the X-Men are over there, and the Avengers are over here, and we all knew from day one of Feige & companies’ grand experiment that never the twain would meet. Hell, it wasn’t even just box office failure or negotiations that led to this, but the franchises’ sheer freak incidental connection to The Interview via Sony and therefore the North Korean hack a few years back, with the humiliating scope of how little Sony knew what they were doing with Spidey spilling out into the public eye and forcing them into a corner where they had to take the only realistic way out that everyone was also now yelling at them to do.

But, well, it happened, and in getting the biggest character they could under their umbrella, Marvel Studios had to take on what must have been an almost unthinkable degree of pressure with this flick. Because with this, they had to:

1. Do a movie with an exponentially more popular character than they’d ever handled before.

2. Do the sixth movie in this characters’ series and make it distinct, without moving him into wildly new narrative territory because they want to bank on the preexisting affection for him.

3. Handle this characters’ second reboot in a decade, when the last one was already getting reboot fatigue complaints.

4. Establish this character not just as a successful new franchise like Doctor Strange or Ant-Man, but as the guy who they’ve all but publicly announced they’ll be positioning as the central figure of their $11 billion and counting cinematic universe once Evans and Downey leave.

5. Do all this knowing that if they fuck it up out of the gate they might not necessarily have a second chance to get it right, Sony might just take their ball and go home.

So...it’s fair that I wasn’t expecting too much here, right? Not that I thought it would be bad by any means, but the trailers weren’t exactly blowing me away, they weren’t going to address Uncle Ben which meant the arguable biggest underlying idea of Spider-Man - his overwhelming guilt - wasn’t going to be in here, they were shortchanged a lot of Spider-Man’s biggest stories between wanting to avoid the previous ones and Sony wanting to play hardball with the villains (whether in the hopes of prodding Marvel to fork over a billion or two to buy Spider-Man back outright, or because they’re genuinely dumb enough to think that after all this they can really make a successful solo Venom/Kraven/Mysterio/Black Cat/Silver Sable movie series), and it had an untested director and like six writers. By all indications, this was going to be a very conservative, standard-issue, focus-tested-to-hell-and-back MCU flick where they’d play it fairly safe while integrating him into the larger universe and giving Tom Holland a chance to charm audiences into accepting him, and hopefully all involved would try something a little ballsier for the sequel. No crime, understandable given the circumstances, but they’d have a lot of work to do later on.

This is the first great Spider-Man movie.

Some obvious caveats there: yes, the first two Raimi films are great superhero movies, but as far as I’m concerned that the dude in there is named Peter Parker and wears Spider-Man’s costume is a complete coincidence. They’re the endpoint of a very particular, masochistic strain of thought on the character as defined by pain and isolation - rather than being a dumb teen who thinks the world is constantly shitting on him, because he’s a dumb teen and of course he thinks that - losing in the process most of his charm and energy in favor of framing him as sainted, suffering martyr to New York’s sins. The Amazing movies on the other hand had a basically perfect Spidey in Andrew Garfield, the embodiment of the frustrated, funny, cocky, eventually decent Parker of the original Lee/Ditko years, but he and Emma Watson’s great Gwen Stacy were embedded in some overall crappy movies, which had the unfortunate side-effect of rendering that interpretation of the character radioactive for the time being.

This, on the other hand?

Not to too dramatically oversell what happened here - this isn’t an all-timer hall of fame entry to stand alongside your Dark Knights or Logans. They didn’t take any bold, outlandish risks with it either; this isn’t any more of a deviation from the tonal norm for these movies than, say, Winter Soldier. It’s got flaws to be sure: a couple characters don’t get the time and development they probably deserve (especially Zendaya’s Michelle, who it feels like the writers wanted to invest with a little more of a sense of character development by the end than she’d been given), the plot definitely isn’t as tight as it could be, and the music’s nowhere near as good as the trailers and early parts of the movie would have you think. But it’s a damn fun and funny movie with a lot of heart and palpable stakes, anchored by a take on its hero that, rather than going for a more generic “goofy savior” cartoon-style version I was expecting, ends up pretty heavily and thankfully indebted to Brian Bendis’ original run on Ultimate Spider-Man. It’s a Spider-Man who really does always want to do the right thing and doesn’t want to hurt anyone, but at the same time he’s shortsighted as hell and driven by a boundless need to prove himself for the sake of both spite and a hope of acceptance, mixed with low-grade resentment of his circumstances that gives him just enough of an edge to feel like an actual teenager. Left without the option of talking about his sense of responsibility in terms of guilt, the filmmakers wisely chose to instead blur the line between where his sense of heroism ends and his self-interest begins and ask how far he’s really willing to go in favor of the former, and what kind of strength there actually is in him when it truly comes down to it after a whole movie’s worth of him essentially treating superheroism as an after-school gig.

Speaking of him as a teenager, boy all the high school stuff was great in this one. Maguire and Garfield both paid lip-service to that material as a necessary component of his youth, but speaking as someone only a few years out of those days, this absolutely felt authentic. The crappy announcements, the deliberately weird kids who clearly think they’re better than everyone else, the assholes, no one really knowing yet how to keep themselves in check emotionally, the low stakes that are still at that point the most important thing in your world - even the physical classrooms felt real (I got some serious nostalgia seeing those stacked chairs in the visibly repurposed music room, or the gigantic hall pass). It’s as petty and small-scale as Peter’s time as Spider-Man largely is, and therefore can integrate into the plot as an important part of what’s going on far more easily than ever before, even aside from being the source of a ton of excellent bit players like the teacher in charge of the debate team. The larger characters by and large do just fine too; Tomei’s warm and funny as May, Harrier does a solid job as Liz Allen (especially considering that while she’s the love interest and ends up pretty important plot-wise, they never cheap out try and position her as some true love figure when she and Peter barely know each other), Batalon is fun as hell as Not Technically Ganke, Zendaya steals her scenes even if I get the impression there might have been some meatier work left on the cutting-room floor, Downey is Downey, Favreau as Happy Hogan does a great job essentially taking Jolly Jonah Jameson’s place as the dickish, unreasonable authority figure in Peter’s life, and Keaton is scary as hell with just enough screwed-over “how dare you take what I’ve earned” resentment in the vein of many of USM’s better villains to make him feel like a real guy. And you saw Civil War, you already know Holland’s basically perfect.

There’s a dozen other bits I’d love to go into - like how much mileage they pull out of him not operating in Manhattan proper, or how well the seemingly out-of-place tech actually ends up working, or any number of great moments - but I’d prefer to keep this largely spoiler-free. Suffice it to say that the trailers, which already indicated a pretty decent time at the theater, were misleading: as much as they showed they really did leave a lot of the best out, and what they kept generally works far better in context. To be sure there’s room for improvement in the next one, but this was a far better reintroduction and recontextualization of the character than anyone had any right to expect, and it absolutely does the heavy legwork of setting him up as an engaging figure for the MCU to believably end up pivoting around in years and movies to come. Upper-tier Marvel to be sure; somehow they did the impossible and managed to actually earn a title that brazenly cheeky as hell. Sony, for once you made the right call with Spider-Man: stop thinking you have good ideas and let the grown-ups handle things from here.

#Spider Man: Homecoming #Spider Man #Peter Parker #MCU #Review #Opinion

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