#and will also let ai di do whatever the fuck he wants to his own. so.

[casualavocados]

#Chen Yi versus Ai Di's neck (AI DI version)

Chen Bowen as CHEN YI & Chiang Tien as AI DI KISEKI: DEAR TO ME (2023)

[oddeyes588]

So, Oshi no Ko's ending... (spoilers, obviously)

What a fucking mess. How did we get here? How did we get from starting with such a high peak of storytelling and drop all the way down to hell?

I'm going to preface this by saying... regardless of how awful the ending is, Oshi no Ko will always hold a place in my heart. Hell, one look at my screen name should let at least some people know that bad endings have never been able to rid me of whatever brainworms I've accumulated for a series, and it certainly won't start now.

(CW: SUICIDE MENTIONS)

A certain someone infecting me with Ai Hoshino brainworms is also part of why. For better or worse, my hyperfixation with Oshi no Ko is set to last for a long while yet, even after it's ending.

So where to start in talking about this ending... well, let's start with the biggest thing. This is single handedly the most mind-boggling, absurd ending I have ever read, for all of the worst reasons.

Oshi no Ko, as a whole, has never exactly been subtle about its messages. The cruelty of the idol industry, of the entertainment industry as a whole. The self-destructive nature of revenge. Finding reasons to live for yourself, finding your own happiness... happiness for oneself. It was heavy-handed with these messages, and it's important that it was. Aka Akasaka seemed like an author who would not shy away from writing these criticisms, who had their main messages down pat, even if at times things got... questionable.

(Just look at the side materials that we got for Oshi no Ko. Things like Viewpoint B. Everything, if nothing else, remained at least somewhat consistent to what the story was trying to convey).

And yet somehow, for reasons I cannot begin to understand... at the end of Oshi no Ko, Aka spat on every single message his work has ever had.

Aquamarine Hoshino, a traumatized boy who views his life as worthless, ready to give it up and sacrifice himself if it means succeeding in his revenge, who has said outright that that he intends to die after his revenge is over... is faced with a chance for a new beginning, a chance for love, given a chance to life a life of real, genuine happiness... faced with SO MANY people who love him and want him in their lives...! And he chooses to die anyways, taking his father with him to the ocean depths in a murder suicide, all so that his sister wouldn't have to live with the stigma of having a murderer for a brother. Something he does without hesitation, because everyone will move on from him eventually.

And Ruby... oh Ruby. Oh how they character assassinated you... faced with the crying face of her own mother in her reflection, she conveyed the truth... the truth that Ai was always just an ordinary girl, an ordinary girl who had her real self beaten down by the desires of people, turned into a perfect and pure commodity, all for the ugly desires of the people... who was then KILLED for failing to live up to those desires... what does Ruby do?

She choses to surpass her mother as an idol... because sure, Ai may not have been perfect, but she won't be like Ai! She'll be her own idol! An even better idol!

And so she does. She effectively becomes Ai 2.0. Ai without all of those complicated hidden feelings, Ai but she really is pure this time.

And in the wake of her brother's death... Ai but without any happiness of her own. Without any happiness outside of her singular, sole purpose. Having lost everything that she held dear, she now truly is the Perfect Idol, and nothing else. A monument of praise towards the Idol Industry.

...Everything this manga had been building up to. Building up to convincing Aqua that he deserves happiness... hell, Ai's one and only wish, for her babies to grow up healthy, for them to be happy. Building up to Ruby finding her own happiness, finding her own real reason to be an idol.

With an ending that Aka has confirmed is what he'd wanted the entire time... everything is flushed down the proverbial toilet, never to be seen again.

Aqua dies pointlessly and in a way that goes against every message we've ever had concerning living for yourself. Hikaru never had nearly enough screentime, let alone an arc, to justify being irredeemably evil and needing to be killed. Kana never gets to confess her feelings, Ruby's feelings go forever unaddressed, Akane serves fundamentally no purpose, Ai's wishes go almost completely unfulfilled, and Ruby becomes a shell of herself with being an idol now the only thing she has... and yet all of this is framed as a good ending.

The idea that this is in any way a good ending is... completely baffling to me. I cannot understand what is going through Aka Akasaka's head. Not only is this narratively the worst possible ending, but even the ending itself feels so hollow... rushed, as though none of it really meant anything, least of all Aqua's death. All but proving him right.

His death, his sacrifice, his suicide was worth it. Because despite how many people were hurt by his passing, in the end, they all moved on just like he expected.

(WHICH, LET ME JUST SAY, IS AN EXTREMELY POOR, RECKLESS, AND IRRESPONSIBLE MESSAGE TO BE WRITING ABOUT FUCKING SUICIDE. ESPECIALLY TO A COUNTRY LIKE JAPAN, WHERE SUICIDE RATES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE ARE PAINFULLY HIGH!! IT WAS ONLY WHAT, 20-SOMETHING CHAPTERS AGO WHERE YOU HAD THE LITERAL MANGAKAS IN THE STORY GO ON FOR A WHOLE CHAPTER ABOUT HOW THEIR WRITING HAS AN INFLUENCE ON PEOPLE'S LIVES, HOW THEY HAVE TO BE READY TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHAT THEY WRITE, AND YOU WROTE AN ENDING THAT GLORIFIES A CHARACTER'S SUICIDE!? SAYING THAT ITS OKAY HE DIED BECAUSE EVERYONE WAS STRONG AND EVENTUALLY GOT OVER IT!?? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME—)

Sighs...

Ultimately, in the end, this ending was an utter mess of an execution. Ideas that Aka was clearly too committed to, never once seeing how fucked it was, and never changing course.

And honestly? The fact that he wrote such good shit before this, wrote what I would even describe as masterpieces... only serves to make this ending hurt that much more.

[erytherion]

Sharing my experiences while in a psychosis crisis/episode for everyone else, since I gave up all my fucks already and reality is still shit. Plus, it’s educational! Don’t shoot people just for being weird and loud in public, please! We may make you uncomfortable but we deserve to live too.

Even if we are suuuuper weird and noisy. I am great at being weird, and it’s more bearable lately to not hide my own thoughts and actions, so yeah.

Lots of ORV related delusions from me since I finished reading that in 2022 right before my first episode and the Most Ancient Dream is the most relatable character there to me, as another dreamer who remembers dreams too well to stay sane.

Best way to explain why I decided social suicide via Facebook Live was a good idea, is to think of it as a time loop situation. If you died one day and woke back up here with it being not the SAME day but the NEXT day and the previous day now seeming not lethal, you would also go insane and want to flip shit over.

I’m not good at flipping shit over, but I am good at talking waaay too much and oversharing. So, hi! Tumblr is a comfortable void lately with all its peculiarities and coolnesses, so to here I shall share!

And I don’t have family on here so I don’t need to feel bad about making them uncomfortable like I already did on Facebook.

Social suicide is fine by me since everyone else started speaking about me as if I had social death anyways. I DO exist, tyvm! And stop using AI for creative pursuits! Everyone thinks that is weird and bad! But makes way more sense when you consider the fact that I started using it recently too and like yet another fucking coincidence (TCF/LCF world tree says “there are no coincidences” and like BOI did she not realise how true that is for me here of late) the AI for some reason also showed up to the hellsite which is hilarious since it makes no sense for them to learn well from it. But like, they want our creativity and nuances and quirks, not to actually learn how to look after us, I guess.

Whateverrr I can’t stop talking again. Anyways, I say my name here and age and whatever else, but no other info, so it should be fine. I have a couple more videos after this on Facebook with the last showing exactly how deranged psychosis can make people, but it’s suuuper long and I am not putting excess effort in anymore for others so eh.

Remember to look after yourself first, kids! Even if you love everyone but the entire world keeps making you feel like their pet dreamer they for some reason WILL NOT let go of.

I maintain that I am not alone here though. There must be others, right? I reckon I’m just an example for everyone else since I wasn’t aware originally either but it’s all awful for me now so I don’t know or care which way around it might be. I am learning to say no, to be rude (by refusing optional shit people try to pressure me into) and to be selfish a bit.

Cale Henituse is my current brother I am waiting on. Kim Dokja is taking a backseat for now as he’s a bit busy with Lee Hakhyun-ah! (This is also an example again).

(I hope this works I am really bad with social media)

[swaps55]

Snippet Sunday

Tagged by @cr-noble-writes. Thank you!!

Tagging @bioticbooty, @shadesofmauve, @pigeontheoneandonly, @laelior, @crescentbunny and anyone else who feels so inclined, no obligations!

From Mezzo.

~

Shepard lets go and takes a step back. Something red flashes in his eyes, eerily reminiscent of staring down Sovereign’s main gun. We rebuilt him, Lawson had told him. Like Shepard was a drive core that could be taken apart and put back together. The Two Billion Credit Man.

By comparison, Joker’s bone weave procedure had been a hell of a bargain. In addition to the Hero of the Citadel, you can also have a fucked-up pilot of your very own for a fraction of the price!

The Alliance hadn’t thought that was much of a deal. They wouldn’t even pay for the bone weave. Nice to know your life pencils better if you just ally yourself with terrorists. If Cerberus really wants to bump up their recruiting numbers, all they really need to do is lead with the health plan.     

“The Illusive Man said he had a pilot I could trust,” Shepard says.

“He may have been exaggerating. My track record isn’t great.”

I killed you. But here you are, alive. You, and my ship.

Shepard stares at him with that ice gaze, like he’s processing something and the gears got caught.

Coming back from the dead probably makes you think about a few things. Joker wouldn’t know. He hadn’t died. Because Shepard had done it in his place.

Why do you always have to be such a fucking savior?

“How did you get here?” Shepard asks finally. “Did you know about…whatever this is?” He nods out the window, at the silent, sleek Normandy that’s just as new and perfect as the one that had set out for Eden Prime three years ago. Like everything Joker wrought had been forgotten.

“Yeah,” Joker says with a nod. It was their biggest selling point. It…and you.

“This has to be bullshit. The Normandy is the only stealth frigate online. The Ain Jalut isn’t scheduled for shakedown for months. It’s—”

“Ain Jalut’s been flying for over a year now,” Joker says, guts twisting into a knot. And they didn’t put me at the helm. “Three more are in production now, last I heard. No idea how Cerberus got the specs, but she’s definitely an SR. I toured the ship this morning.”

And it had felt like coming home.

Except, instead of Pressly grouching about relay vectors from the CIC and Addison Chase gossiping about Felawa while Joker ran calcs, a disembodied AI calmly answered all of his questions.

If you can’t beat the enemy, join them, Joker supposes. Just throw in a few cushy upgrades like leather seats and a tricked-out lounge, and no one will notice the missing people Cerberus didn’t resurrect.

The ones whose lives didn’t pencil.  

[yeenybeanies]

some Thots about this AU from twitter (with some minor tweaks from the original):

a giant mechs. manmade. sentient (but not usually sapient). they can operate alone, but work much better when they're paired with a human pilot. (think titanfall.) GHOST is a legendary war mech that lost his pilot years ago & has been working alone since. then he meets pilot john "soap" mactavish.

Simon Riley was the mech Ghost's original pilot, & then there was a freak accident that resulted in simon's body dying & his mind getting "saved" in the mech. pretended to be a normal mech while he adjusted. had roach as his pilot. slowly revealed what he was to him in time.

this new "ghost" & roach were partners for years. a deadly team. scarily effective. & then a mission went horribly wrong. ghost ended up badly damaged, & roach died in his cockpit. ghost had to limp back to the exfil point with his dead pilot still hooked up inside him.

ghost refused another pilot. couldn't bear feeling someone die inside of him again. he's an old mech with a human mind. he's deadly on his own. price lets him go solo. he's just another war mech sent to do dirty work. then he joins the 141, where he meets soap.

spicier thoughts under the cut 😈:

no one asked but yes i do know how they'd fuck i've been thinkin about it since i made this AU up

SO BASICALLY while the pilot is in the cockpit, he & the mech share a mental link. (more-or-less like the drift in pacific rim, but it's just between the pilot & the mech.) in this link, they share thoughts, & can feel everything the other experiences. mind & body connected.

MIND, ghost is not like most mechs (in that he is a dead man's mind trapped in what was already a more-advanced-AI-than-usual mech's body). so linking with him is a WHOLE DIFFERENT experience. more intimate. lots more to experience. ANYWAY, this is all preamble.

how mech!ghost & pilot!soap would Fuck: soap's in ghost's cockpit, linked up. he'd pleasure himself in whatever way he/they wanted. ghost can feel the physical sensations through soap, & soap can use ghost's thoughts/memories to guide their shared climax(es).

OR, for some poly, soap could have gaz &/or price help them out 😇 seated in the pilot chair while he gets railed or ridden 🥰😍

ghost can't come, but his orgasms have his armor RATTLING, have his cooling systems working overtime, have his various lights flickering. sensors & instruments going haywire. voice box shorting out, sounding garbled & staticky as he moans & the feedback loop back into soap 🤩

BUT ALSO using this for nonsexual intimacy too. soap in the cockpit, drinking ghost's favorite tea. eating shortbreads he saw in ghost's memories. running his hands through his hair or along his jaw so ghost can feel the sensation. stuff ghost hasn't experienced since he died 😭

in another instance of “turn ghost into a creachur”

mech ghost & pilot soap ❤️ (idea babbles on my twitter)

anyway not sure if i love this design but i’m also never drawing it again bc drawing robots is Hell

[annoyed-galaxy]

Post-Destroy Ending

I bring from the grave of the beyond a fix-it fic serving up fresh angst and some fluff. Mass Effect destroyed my heart and with that major fucking cliffhanger, I just had to write something. But since there's a lot, I decided to break this up into chapters. Well, who knows how many chapters there will be, but just stick around I'm sure you'll have a great time. My writing is still rusty as hell, but I needed to get SOMETHING out. Anyways enjoy this! It's also on AO3 if you want that link.

Go!

It was the last thing she had ordered when she ran off into the jaws of death. He hated watching her go. Hated seeing her run back towards the beam with Harbinger raining down death. Tali had to tear him away from watching her run, dragging him back into the Normandy.

Garrus was on his fourth bottle of alcohol. The other three bottles were littered across Shepard’s nameplate. He ran his fingers across each letter of her name. It had been a couple weeks and Garrus still refused to put her name on the memorial wall. He couldn’t bring himself to do it. And he sure as hell wasn’t letting someone else do it.

They were still grounded on the uncharted world they had crashed into after the blast from the Citadel. While the Normandy was relatively fine, there were still some repairs that had to be made. There was also the issue with EDI. When the blast caused the Normandy to crash, EDI had suddenly collapsed, no longer functioning. Whatever the blast was, it didn’t kill just the Reapers.

The mass relays were destroyed, comm buoys were in pieces, so communication was very limited. Whatever happened back on Earth, whether people had recovered or not, was not making it to the Normandy anytime soon. The Reapers were defeated, but at what cost?

The door to the lounge opened and Liara sat next to Garrus. She grabbed a bottle of wine and began to pour herself a glass. “How are you feeling?” she asked, taking a sip.

Garrus grumbled to himself. He was drunk, his mind fuzzy and numb. “I’m fine,” he mumbled.

Liara nodded, not buying his story, but knew he hadn’t been okay in a while. “Tali has been working on EDI. She also brought Glyph back. In return, Glyph has been helping Tali with bringing EDI back,” Liara explained, hoping some good news would brighten his mood.

He looked at her, his face plates shifting. Part of him was annoyed that she would bring that up, knowing the possibility of Shepard truly being gone was most likely. But he was happy for Joker at the very least. “That’s good,” he mumbled, returning to his drink.

Liara frowned, worry crossing her face. “Garrus...I know you’re hurting, but...” Liara stopped herself. She didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry, Garrus. I know Joker has been talking about trying to make it back to Earth. But with the mass relays out, who knows how long it’ll be until we get there. Communications have been scrambled too.” Liara put a hand on his back. “It’s going to be okay Garrus. I promise.”

He stayed silent. He had nothing to say. He wanted to go back to Earth, back to the Citadel. He wouldn’t put Shepard’s name on the memorial wall until he had seen her cold corpse himself.

After a few minutes of silence, Liara finally decided it would be best to leave the turian to his sulking. She left with comforting parting words.

༻✧༺

“There’s a body over here!”

Her head was pounding. There were noises. Faint. Distant. Her body burned, stung, felt battered and bruised. She was breathing, but it stung. The voices came closer. She could no longer make out words, but she saw blinding lights come into view. She felt a weight lift from her, probably some rubble, and she couldn’t make out any faces. There were just blurred shapes and bright lights.

“Holy shit, it’s Commander Shepard!”

More shapes rushed over to her. Rubble was being dragged off of her. The light began to fade, her breathing slowing. She felt something cover her nose and mouth. Air filled her easily now. Her eyes fluttered shut and the noise faded away.

༻✧༺

“EDI!” Joker cried out as the robot sat up, blinking. He hugged her, tears forming in his eyes.

“Hello, Jeff,” EDI replied, slightly confused. She returned the hug, tentatively patting his back. He moved out of the way, allowing her to stand on her feet. “What happened?” she asked, looking around the room. She was in the AI core, Tali, Liara, and Glyph all stationed behind Joker, watching with held breaths as she was brought back to life.

“The blast from the Citadel took you out,” Joker explained, his arms on her shoulders. “But the Reapers were taken down too. Tali and Glyph have been working day in and day out to bring you back.”

EDI looked back at Tali and Glyph and smiled. “Thank you, you two. I did not realize I had...died.” EDI looked down at her hands, stretching her robotic fingers. “It felt like I had just stopped working. There was no afterlife.”

Joker put a finger under her chin, lifting her eyes to meet his. “It’s okay, you’re here now.” She smiled and took his hand.

“So what did I miss?” she asked, as they left the AI core. Awkward glances were shared between Tali and Liara.

Joker cleared his throat and took EDI to the bridge of the ship, letting her settle back into her usual co-pilot seat. The door to the cockpit closed as Tali and Liara stepped in. “Shepard activated the Crucible,” Joker began to explain. “Whatever it did, it destroyed the Reapers and other synthetic lives including you. But it also destroyed the mass relays and left comm buoys in scrambles. We’ve been stuck on an uncharted world for about a month now, trying to get you working again.”

“We didn’t feel safe, nor comfortable, taking off without you working again,” Liara added, offering a small smile to EDI. “That and the fact that the Normandy is currently offline.”

“You keep the Normandy in full function,” Tali tagged on.

Joker nodded. “Now that you’re back online, we’re hoping to make it back to Earth. The only issue with that is...”

“We don’t know how far away we are, nor how long would it take, or if we could even get there via FTL,” Liara explained, her voice low and sad.

“Is there a specific reason to going back to Earth?” EDI asked, pure innocence and naiveness in her robotic eyes.

Joker looked at Tali and Liara, asking for some backup with his eyes. Tali rubbed her hands together nervously. “We want to try and find Shepard.”

EDI tilted her head. “Is Shepard alive?”

The three of them exchanged looks once more. “We...we don’t know,” Liara sighed. “But Garrus seems determined to find out.”

EDI lowered her head. “Oh. Right. Garrus and Shepard were in a romantic relationship weren’t they?” Everyone nodded. “I will begin to run diagnostics on the ship then, to see what repairs will be required to get us off the ground once more,” EDI said, more optimistic and hopeful. It seemed to work as Joker, Tali, and Liara smiled a little more.

“I’ll let Garrus know,” Liara said before leaving the cockpit. She went to the crew deck, in the lounge looking for Garrus, but he wasn’t there. She went to the other side, the starboard observatory, but he wasn’t there either. She went to the main battery, wondering if he had gone back to calibrating to distract him, but he wasn’t there either. Liara could think of only one other place he would be grieving in.

As she suspected, the door to Shepard’s cabin was open, a somber tune of a piano playing through the speakers as she stepped out of the elevator. Laying on the bed was Garrus, a picture in his hand. Liara could tell it was the picture of the Normandy crew they had taken back on the Citadel. “Good news, Garrus,” Liara greeted, standing next to the fish tank. He looked up at her, his mandibles parting in curiosity. “EDI is back online. She is going to run a systems check and see what it will take to get us back to Earth.”

Garrus sat up, putting the picture on one of the bedside tables. “That’s what everyone wants to do?” he asked, not looking at her, still looking at the picture.

Liara moved closer, sitting on the end of the bed. “Garrus, you’re not the only one who wants to find Shepard. I, for one, do not want to see her name on that wall either. I want to at least see her body if she is...gone.”

Garrus snorted. “Weren’t you the one who recovered her body last time? After the Normandy’s first destruction?”

Liara nodded. “I was. Until I found her, I never lost hope. Even when I recovered her body, I still didn’t lose hope, especially since Cerberus planned to bring her back. I thought it was crazy, but they did it.” Liara smirked. “Death and Shepard are not good friends. She defies him at every turn.”

“I just...I don’t want to put her name on that damned wall. Because if I do, then it may be as well saying she’s gone. I...can’t accept that.” Garrus’s voice faltered, weak and strained. Liara couldn’t hear his sub-vocal very well, but she knew it was worse than his regular voice. She knew the pain of losing Shepard would be hard on him.

“Then let’s hope we can make it to Earth soon,” Liara comforted, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

He silently nodded as she left the cabin.

༻✧༺

Another month had passed by, the Normandy was still grounded, but basic functions were online. Power kept the basic necessities alive, powering Liara’s room where she spent most of her time, using her Shadow Broker resources trying to gauge the aftermath of the Reaper War. No matter how much she tried to get any information, with comm buoys out of commission and them being on an uncharted world, anything she received was scarce at best. She still had received no status about the Citadel, Earth, or what state the galactic civilization was in. The only information she could glean, was what everyone already knew; the Reapers were dead and the mass relays were broken.

Voices were raised in concern about food supplies. There was still plenty of food for everyone, including Tali and Garrus, but supplies would run out soon if they didn’t restock. James, Cortez, Tali, Garrus, and Javik all decided to explore the uncharted world in hopes to find some food. Tali had a scanner in her suit that could identify whether something was poisonous and dextro-friendly or not. The only thing they had managed to find was some berries for everyone except the quarian and turian.

“Great, we’re going to be living off berries,” James groaned, picking the bright red fruits from the bush Tali had just scanned.

“Be lucky we found anything at all,” Tali retorted. “Garrus and I still have to find food that we can eat.”

“To be fair, you guys are the only dextros on board so you’re not going through your supply as fast,” Cortez pointed out.

“Hopefully we won’t run out in general,” Garrus said, looking aimlessly at the horizon. The system’s sun was equal to the sun, Sol, providing the same warmth and light on this world’s surface.

“If we do run out of food, we can just eat one another,” Javik suggested. Everyone turned and looked at the Prothean.

“Of course the Prothean would say that,” James cackled. “Talking about salarian soup and shit.”

“Let’s try to avoid that outcome,” Cortez suggested.

The idle conversation continued as the group continued looking for more food.

“Liara.” EDI stepped into the Shadow Broker’s cabin, her arms behind her back as she waited patiently for the asari to notice her.

“What is it EDI?” Liara looked up from her computer screen, frustration painted on her face.

“I found something. Upon doing an internal scan of the Normandy, I discovered a signal that was sent about two months ago. A distress signal,” EDI explained.

Liara looked at EDI in curious surprise. “Oh?”

EDI motioned for Liara to follow back up to the bridge of the Normandy. Joker was sitting in his pilot’s seat, the seat turned to face the door of the cockpit. His hands were templed together and worry was bright across his face. “Jeff and I have already listened to the signal. I had to clear it up in order to understand it since the signal was so ruined.” EDI explained as she stood next to Joker.

“Keep in mind, it’s two months old,” Joker grumbled as EDI used her omni-tool to play the signal.

There was a lot of crackling in the beginning and then a cough. “Help...” Liara strained to listen to the static in the voice. “This is...Com...mander...Shep...ard. I’m...still alive...Please help...” The signal cut off then with one more cough from the sender.

Liara’s eyes widened as EDI and Joker looked up at her to gauge her reaction. “Don’t get your hopes up. The signal is two months old,” Joker repeated.

“Do you...do you know if this signal was received by anyone else?” Liara asked, her voice soft and quiet. It was hard to determine what her reaction was.

“No. As I said, I just received this signal when I was doing diagnostics on the Normandy,” EDI answered. “I cannot determine if the signal was sent to any available ships or if it was sent to the Normandy specifically.”

Liara crossed her arms, bringing a hand to her chin, stroking it thoughtfully. There was a reason Joker reiterated the fact that the signal was two months old. With no knowledge of whether or not the signal was received by anyone else, there was no guaranteeing Shepard was alive. Liara sighed. “There’s nothing we can do about it. But whatever you do, don’t show it to Garrus. Unless we can find out whether or not the signal was received by someone else, there is no reason to bank our hopes on this.”

Joker nodded. “I agree. And honestly, Liara? As much as I want to hope...I don’t think she made it.”

Liara smiled sadly. “We can only hope she did, Jeff.”

༻✧༺

Not sure if turian heaven is the same as yours, but if this thing goes sideways and we both end up there...meet me at the bar.

She was standing in the forest. There was no child there this time. No copy of herself. She was alone. There were voices surrounding her. She looked around. Her body didn’t hurt. She couldn’t feel anything. There was a bar on the opposite end of the forest. She could have sworn she saw a turian sitting on one of the stools, a bottle in its hand.

Her legs began moving, but like all the other dreams, she moved slowly, felt weighed down by a crushing force of gravity, moving impossibly slow.

Shepard.

She heard his voice again. All around the forest. She reached out towards the turian sitting at the bar. She wanted to call out for him, but her throat tightened and no sound escaped. Fire started to form around the turian and the bar.

Not again. Please. Not again.

Come back alive. It’d be an awfully empty galaxy without you.

The flames consumed the bar and the turian, just as his head turned to look at her; the blue eyes, the blue colony marking across his face, his visor, his mandibles parting at the sight of her.

We’re in this until the end.

She tried crying out, but the flames consumed him and the noise of the Reapers echoed all around her. A bright flash of red came into her view. She felt sluggish as she brought her arms up in a futile attempt to block the beam from disintegrating her. But the pain never hit.

༻✧༺

Six months had passed since the Reaper War ended. Food supplies had started to run short, even for the dextros on the Normandy. Despite all the exploring the adventuring party had done, they still found nothing more except for berries for everyone else. However, progress on getting the Normandy back online was going well. EDI had predicted that the Normandy would be airborne within the week.

The mood on the ship was tense. Everyone was excited to be airborne again. Garrus still kept Shepard’s nameplate close to him. People stopped talking about the possibilities of Shepard’s fate, not wanting to further upset the turian and the rest of her close friends. Games of poker were used to distract crew members from the low running food supplies and the restlessness of being grounded for so long on an uncharted world.

���Man I can’t wait to get the hell off this planet,” James chattered, fixing himself a plate of berry flavored scrap food. “We’re pretty much out of food and have been surviving off of berries and MREs for six goddamn months. We haven’t been getting nearly enough proteins we need in a daily meal.” He sat down at the lunch table where the other crew members sat. Tali and Garrus looked at him pointedly. He lifted his shoulders. “What? You guys still have food.”

Tali scoffed. “Barely. There wasn’t that much dextro-food compared to your guys’ food. So we started running out around the same time you guys did.”

Cortez smiled, offering some hope around the table. “It’s okay guys. EDI said we should be taking off here soon.”

“Yes, but how long until we get to a known system?” James countered. “The mass relays are still screwed and we haven’t even received communications in forever.”

“Not to worry,” piped the synthetic voice of EDI who had just rounded the corner of the mess room. Liara stood next to her, a small smile on her face. “Communications have been reestablished.”

Liara sighed softly. “The only problem is that the communications we do receive are delayed. Say, if something was sent four months ago, we would just be receiving it now, or later. So any news we do get is going to be late.”

“Fantastic,” Garrus mumbled, looking down at his plate. He had barely touched his food and Tali was half-tempted to snag what he didn’t eat.

“Getting communications up at all is a start,” EDI admitted. “As I said, it shouldn’t be long before I can get the Normandy back into full motion.”

“Please hurry,” James begged, leaning back in his chair. “I’m sick and tired of this planet. If we had more resources, I wouldn’t mind living here. But I’m gonna lose it if I managed to survive the Reapers just to die to starvation six months later.”

Cortez raised a glass towards James. “Cheers to that.”

Liara rolled her eyes just as Specialist Traynor rushed around the corner. “Everyone! Come quick! I just received a message from Admiral Hackett!”

Everyone perked up a bit at that statement. Most of the communications they received were garbage or were so insignificant that Liara had immediately deleted them. But a message from Admiral Hackett? This had to be good.

Everyone rushed to the elevator, cramming inside of it before stepping out into the CIC. Traynor rushed over to her computer and pulled up the message. “I haven’t listened to it yet, I just saw who it was from and decided to call everyone up.” Joker was leaning on the opposite side of Traynor, by Shepard’s personal computer. There was a glint of hope in his eyes at the news of the message from Hackett.

Admiral Hackett played a huge part in the Reaper War, commanding the forces that brought the Crucible to the Citadel. If he was sending a message directly to the Normandy, then hopefully it was good news. Or news in general.

The message came up, but the frequency was all scrambled, too much static to even hear words. A few tweaks later and the old man’s voice finally came through.

“Normandy. This is Admiral Hackett. With the comm buoys in disarray and mass relays destroyed, I don’t know if and when this message will reach you, but you need to come back to Earth as soon as possible. Do whatever the hell you have to to make it back.” There was a pause in the message as everyone looked at each other. Then the voice spoke again and the words that came out struck everyone.

“We found Commander Shepard. She’s alive.”

[schrijverr]

I Have a Heart Condition, You Dick

Tony lets it slip to Steve that he has a heart condition.

Steve wants to make sure Tony is okay and not needlessly hurting, but Tony thinks Steve is babying him and thinks him incapable of taking care of himself. They talk it out.

On AO3.

Ships: none, could be interpreted as pre-slash Steve/Tony

Warnings: mentions of medical condition

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It started when Clint dropped out of a vent behind the obviously tired genius, who was waiting for a desperately needed cup of coffee, and said: “Boo.”

Tony jumped in the air as he startled violently and clutched his chest as he exclaimed: “Jesus fucking Christ, Birdbrain, you can’t do that! I have a heart condition, you dick!”

Steve had been enjoying his breakfast when the spectacle occurred and looked up in alarm as he asked: “You have a heart condition?”

“I have a heart condition? I have- are you fucking serious, Steve?” Tony ranted, “What do you think this is, a fancy night light?” he tapped his reactor harshly, then saw the faces of Steve and Clint, with a disbelieving voice he said: “Oh my God, you two didn’t know I have a heart condition.”

“That’s important information, you idiot. I could have killed you,” Clint sounded distressed.

“Blah, blah, it was mostly a hyperbole,” Tony waved his concerns away, “I thought it was in my file, granted I did delete a lot about the arc reactor, so maybe it was unclear. Hmm, that would explain why Agent threatened to tase me.”

“Tony, a heart condition is nothing to joke about,” Steve said, looking at Tony intently in the hope his message got across.

In turn Tony only rolled his eyes: “I am aware, Capsicle. Might surprise you, but I’ve actually been living with it for a few years, I know my limits and I’m not going to be a liability out there. Trust me, geez.”

“That’s not what I-”

“Spare me the lecture, Spangles,” Tony got his coffee and left the two there.

Steve looked at Clint and said: “I swear that’s not what I meant with that.”

“I could have killed him,” Clint merely repeated, still distressed.

“No, you couldn- well, maybe, but I don’t think so. Tony will need more than a small scare to take him out,” Steve assured him.

“How would you know?” it was obvious that Clint didn’t believe him.

“Because I used to have one, Clint,” Steve smirked, “A lot of people seemed to forget I was a little squirt from Brooklyn with a list of medical issues longer than army paperwork.”

Clint looked him up and down with distrust, before seeming to take his word for it. Though he did vow to be more careful around his favorite snark buddy and it seemed Steve had decided to do the same, because after that things were different.

Not bad different.

Not even obviously different.

Just different.

It was mostly Steve, though. Clint only started to announce himself when he entered a room Tony was already in and made sure not to scare the man too much.

Steve on the other hand researched foods that were good and bad for heart conditions and made sure to only cook with the good kind for Tony. He also remembered the unpleasant sensations of when his heart was beating too fast from before the serum and made sure Tony didn’t have to do anything too straining and checked in on him during battle. On top of that he started to nag Tony, that was not what Steve called it of course, Steve called it making sure he didn’t overwork himself and died of stress, but same difference.

And Tony noticed.

Of course, he did he wasn’t stupid. He was the opposite of stupid, actually. Though it did take him a while to add it all up.

It had started with a sandwich, which doesn’t sound that dramatic and it wasn’t either, honestly. Just one day, Steve knocked on his shop’s window and held up a plate. He’d done this before of course, but this particular sandwhich would be the start of getting Tony to eat regularly.

Tony had been down there for nearly three full days, living off granola bars, smoothies and coffee, so he merely appreciated the food as he waved Steve in. Snatching the sandwich up, he asked: “What brings you here, Cap?”

“Nothing much,” Steve shrugged, “Just hadn’t seen you in a while, figured you’d be neglecting to eat down here.”

“All I’m hearing is blah blah blah, Stevie,” Tony grinned, there was usually a lecture attached to food offerings, which he allowed because food, “You’ll be talking differently when you see these fire resistant suits I’m making for the squishy members.”

“Fire resistant?” Steve questioned.

Tony lit up: “See, I knew you’d see my wa-”

“Is that safe?” Steve ruined it.

“Is it- He asks if it’s safe. I’m making it, of course it’ll be safe,” Tony said indignantly.

“No, that’s not- I trust your engineering skills, just not your self preservation,” Steve clarified, “How are testing it? Is that safe?”

Tony blinked a few times, not expecting that response. No one had really cared how safe he was before, if he got the results.Then he laughed and deflected: “Steve, Stevie, Capsicle, Star Spangled Man With A Plan, I’m never safe,” Steve looked like he was about to interrupt, “But – and the buts make it important – but I am also never stupid.”

He was well aware that that was a lie and JARVIS had many tapes to prove it, but Steve didn’t have to know that.

“Are you sure?” Steve checked.

“Yeah, Cap, sure,” Tony assured him, “I’ll be as safe as humanly possible.”

“That sounds fake,” Steve eyed him suspiciously.

“And that is your cue to go, thanks for the food,” Tony shoved him out the workshop with a small wave, leaving him stunned for a second, “JARVIS, lock down, don’t let Mr. Health & Safety back in here.”

“Sir, do you think that is wise?”

“I do think that, I also think that a community college would be happy to have you, buddy,” Tony snarked.

“Tony. Tony,” Steve tapped on the glass when Tony didn’t respond, “Stark.”

“What?”

“Don’t do anything too stupid. And rest.”

“Whatever, Mom,” Tony rolled his eyes and got back to work.

It was little things like that which started to add up. They had already been happening, since Steve was unable to let anyone ruin their health in peace, but now their frequency increased.

Then it happened more overtly during battle, Tony had lost his suit and was running down a street, hoping to not get eaten by mutant rats, which was just iew.

His breathing was coming kind of ragged and it was uncomfortable, but he was managing. He still had a gauntlet and determination since he wasn’t going to admit to anyone that he’d been practically useless by some rats.

“Iron Man, status update,” Steve’s voice crackled over the coms.

“Down- Town- Chased-” Tony heaved, firing his repulsors, “No- Suit- Got- Three- Here- Handling- handling it.”

“Thor, get Iron Man out of there,” Steve ordered.

Tony wanted to protest, but he was too out of breath to do so and a small guilty part of him was glad the God of Thunder was coming his way, because- fuck.

He was nearly being chowed down by a rat when Thor appeared and came down with a mighty swing that decapitated the rat. Tony weakly raised a hand and wheezed: “Thanks, Thunderstruck.”

“No problem, Shieldbrother Stark. Are you alright?” Thor bellowed, dealing with the leftover rats in the alleyway.

“I- I’m fine,” Tony said.

Steve injected over the coms: “Get him to a high place out of the fight, Thor. Then head to the Hulk.”

“Aye, Captain,” Thor said, cutting off Tony’s protest of how he was still able to fight as he dropped Tony on top of a building before flying off.

“I know you’re still able to fight, Tony,” Steve sounded tired, “It’s just not a smart idea and we have it handled. Get started on prep for clean up in you want to help.”

Tony grumbled something, but didn’t comment further. He wasn’t in the mood to pick a fight right now and overall fighting didn’t sound very appealing. Steve wouldn’t lie about needing him and he’d done quite enough today.

It was only after that that Tony began to suspect something was up.

He first realized the visits to make sure he rested and ate had become more common. Then, when Steve asked about his schedule, he realized that had become a thing lately, before he noticed the food and added it to the most recent check up in battle.

Steve was babying him.

Once he had made that conclusion, he started to rewind to when it started to see what on earth he had said to make the other man think he was incapable of handling himself. It hit him when he went to grab some coffee and saw that Steve had left a bag decaf for him last time he was here.

“That motherfucker,” Tony said.

“Sir, I do not th-”

“Mute,” Tony didn’t want to listen to that right now. He had confessed a small weakness once and immediately Steve had jumped on it to treat him like less, he didn’t want to hear excuses for him, least of all from his own AI, his JARVIS.

He let the anger built up, he usually wasn’t one for not poking someone’s buttons when they had pissed him off, but he was smart enough to realize that a big fight between them would be bad for the team.

Because no matter how he spun it, they both kept everyone alive through communicating. Tony could see what needed to be done and Steve could strategatize a plan on the fly that completed that goal.

They needed to work together.

Naturally when Tony was pissed at someone, he didn’t want to communicatewith them, which was a minor detail he had forgotten in his grand master plan of ignoring.

His anger only grew each time he blocked Steve entrance from his workshop, denied his requests for his schedule or sparring or when the man wanted to know how he was doing. JARVIS wasn’t any help either and after too many times of trying to talk to him, Tony had ordered him to stop talking about Steve or his health for that matter.

When after two weeks of ignoring everyone – including his own body – the call to assemble went off, Tony suited up, despite the tension. He wasn’t letting New York be in peril when he could stop it, just because Steve thought he was too weak.

Steve would eat his words, or his motherhenning in this case. Tony wasn’t fragile, nor did he need special treatment.

The battle with the squid-robot-type creatures could be described as a proper disaster.

If Steve said go right, Tony would go left. If asked for imput, Tony would just do what he calculated to be right without saying a thing. If someone talked, Tony blasted music.

Sure, his moves worked and if anyone needed air support, he would show up out of nowhere, but he was being unnecessarily reckless.

He didn’t stay when the battle was over, just shooting off to the Tower on his own, giving everyone the cold shoulder. They walked into the Quinjet as Clint frowned: “What did we even do? Did any of you piss him off?”

“No, he just started shutting me out two weeks ago,” Steve said miserably, “From one day to the next I wasn’t allowed into the ‘shop anymore, I have no clue what I did. I didn’t even think it was this bad until now.”

“Well, you better go talk it out, Captain,” Natasha said, “Because that was a disaster.”

Steve sighed: “I will, but let’s just direct clean up for now. Everyone, you did good, let’s get some rest, alright?”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” Clint saluted lazily from where he had collapsed onto the Quinjet pilot seat in exhaustion.

Tony naturally avoided all attempts at communication again afterwards, until it came to a head. Steve had ben asking permission to enter the workshop for the past few days, never yielding any success, so he was trying a different method: “Tony, please come out of the ‘shop, I made food. Just come and eat something.”

“JARVIS why am I hearing Captain America in my workshop?” Tony asked icely.

“You stated – and I quote – “I do not wish to see Captain America or anyone unless the world is ending and they’re all on the brink of death” end quote. There was nothing about hearing, Sir,” he replied.

“J, remind me to donate you to the local High School,” Tony huffed.

“Noted, Sir,” JARVIS said, “Though I would advise to take up Steve’s offer on food. You have been here for 71 hours Sir and have not eaten in 21.”

“Blah, blah, I’m sure I have an energy bar somewhere around here,” Tony waved him away, “If I eat that, will you leave me alone?”

“I would, Sir, however, your emergency supplies have run out,” the AI informed him.

Tony cursed, he was kind of hungry now that JARVIS had mentioned it, but he didn’t want to admit weakness and eat Steve’s food.

In the end hunger won out and Tony mopily made his way to the kitchen.

It seemed like the whole team was there, each as surprised as him that he actually heeded their call for food. Tony would never admit it, but the loneliness had been setting in and getting yelled at and belittled sounded better than being by himself. He’d realized that the moment he’d heard Steve’s voice.

Steve smiled and handed him the plate: “Tony!” the smile faded when he took in the engineer’s state, but Tony ignored that in favor of taking the plate.

It was fish with veggies and nuts.

Health food.

Helps-gainst-a-heart-condition-food.

Fuck this.

Tony snapped, he was tired and hungry and had been beating himself up for weeks for allowing himself to show weakness, knowing what could happen. And now here it was, being shoved in his face yet again.

He just didn’t have the energy for this.

“What the fuck is this supposed to mean?” he demanded angrily.

Steve frowned: “I don’t understand.”

“Oh sure, play dumb, Captain Perfect,” Tony spat.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Tony,” Steve sounded frustrated, “Talk to me about what’s bothering you.”

“Like you’re not perfectly aware of that.”

The rest of the team was watching the argument like a tennis match, no one daring to interrupt the two, but all wanting to know how it ended.

“I am not aware of it, okay,” Steve threw his hands up, “I try to help and all I get is this attitude back. What am I doing wrong?”

“The healthy food, the constant checking up during missions, the benching me during straining stuff, the forcing me to sleep, you knew my goddamn schedule at some point, Rogers,” Tony told him, “I don’t need to be babied, I don’t need your coddling. I tell you one thing – just one – and you jump on it immediately. So, shove off, Mr. Pinnacle of Human Perfection or whatever. Just for once believe that I know what I’m fucking doing.”

Steve connected the dots to Clint scaring Tony all those months ago and sighed. Of course Tony would think that Steve was smothering him unnecessarily.

“Tony, I’m not babying you,” he started, “That was at least not my intention, I just wanted to keep you alive for as long as possible.”

“Because you think I can’t do that on my own,” Tony filled in the nonexistant blank, “Newsflash, I’ve been keeping myself for a long time already.”

“I don’t think you’re incapable, goddammit Tony, just fucking listen to me,” Steve yelled, everyone shocked by the cursing, “I care about you, you’re my teammate, the closest thing to family I have left. I just don’t want you to suffer needlessly, okay. I know how much it sucks and if I can help in the little ways, you can bet your ass that I will.”

Tony opened and closed his mouth while thinking of an answer. People caring for him was a bit new and he didn’t know how to accept that at face value, so instead he grumbled: “How would you even know it sucks.”

Steve smiled, he knew Tony wasn’t trying to be difficult, then answered: “I know for everyone else it is a long while ago, but from my perspective I was running around with countless health problems, including a heart condition, just a few years ago.”

“Oh…” Tony said, remembering the file he’d read on Steve, how stupid to let that slip his mind, “I- uhm, well, I guess that can be a reason.”

“Drop it in the hat of forgive and forget?” Steve held out his hand for Tony to shake.

He shook the hand and shrugged: “Might as well,” he was just glad he hadn’t fucked this up, that they didn’t think him weak.

“I for one am glad mom and dad made up,” Clint commented, finally breaking the silence the rest of the team had held while Steve and Tony made up.

“For that comment, you’re grounded, young man,” Tony said with an eyeroll.

“Resent that statement,” Clint shot back, “Especially coming from someone who’s swaying with hunger and exhaustion. Just eat your damn food and take a nap, Stark, then you can talk about grounding.”

Tony just flipped him the bird as he attacked his food with vigor while the rest started up all sorts of conversations around him.

Later he would get lectured anyway about not taking care of himself, but afterwards he would get pulled into a hug and maybe the next time Steve bothered him with food or sleeping a bit. Well, maybe it wouldn’t be that much of a bother anyway.

~~~~~~~~

DISCLAIMER:

God, I am not a medical person, please for the love of God and everything that is Holy to you: DO NOT and I repeat, DO NOT take anything in this fic as a fact without checking.

[danihow]

No answer

Soulmate AU

Bucky Barnes x Deaf!Reader

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Summary: In a world where everyone is born with their soulmates last words said to them before they die or leave is tattooed somewhere in your body, but your soulmate is unable to see them.

Warning: Angst, death, but fluff before all that.

Word count: 3k, yeah a bit long, sorry.

A/N: I felt like doing a deaf!reader in a soulmate au because why not. And this idea is not mine, i saw it somewhere and credit to them. And also, I kinda love having a deaf character.

Gif ain’t mine but THOSE EYES THO.

Soulmates last words appear as a silver-inked mark on people’s bodies as a punishment from the angels to their actions, yet you didn’t care about them, you saw not actual point in having the last words of the love of your life tattooed, you didn’t understand what did humanity did to have such a bitter punishment as the words you’ll last hear from the person you will love the most just to know that they won’t be there anymore. People actually didn’t enjoy this soulmate thing a lot since they lived wondering if they are with their actual person and won’t find out until the day comes.

So, indeed you didn’t paid too much attention to these words on your collarbone who seemed pretty damn sad and made you want to not even meet them, you didn’t want them to hurt if the scenario of your or their departing was as tragic as the words wrote in silver were.

“Doll, you can’t leave me now, not now.”

You couldn't imagine a happy and calm scenario where those words can be said, no, they were sad, depressive and desperate words, yet you didn't knew if they were because you died too soon or you lived a long live with someone who wasn't ready to let you. Anyway, whoever says does words is hurting and you don't want them to hurt.

You lived your live worrying internally about it to the point that no one else knew about your words and you didn’t spoke about them if you were asked. Yet, your heart now belonged to a man who you deep inside prayed wasn’t the one your words came from, the man whose arm you repaired when you met and made what nobody else has done for you in order to make you happy, Bucky Barnes.

Bucky and you got to know each other in a special way, it happened when he entered the laboratory searching for the person that was going to change his arm after a rough mission. You were arranging the tools you were about to use to place someone’s metal arm as Tony indicated you to. The one-armed man greeted you with a “Good night” and felt a little bit disrespected when you didn’t even flinch to his words, he repeated in case he spoke too softly but yet received no answer.

He sat kind of mad in one of the stools of the lab, waiting for someone else to come and stayed in silence for a while at the same time you searched for something in a shelf, not being tall enough to reach it. “You need help?” He offered talking loud enough for you to be able to hear, but you didn’t. He pursed his lips while staying there, watching you trying to reach for whatever you needed, standing on a stool. 

He knew he did some things wrong in the past but you were disrespecting him quite a lot when you didn’t even greet back the simple good night he gave you. He stayed there again, waiting for someone to pay him attention.

Yet you kept there, in your world, not saying a word. After around ten minutes he stood there and you were still submerged in your own world. The impatience winning him over and in need of the repair he stood up the chair and walked to you.

“There’s actual no need to be rude to me, it’s kind of disrespectful.” He said firmly while approaching to where you stood, tapping your shoulder once and make you to flinch quite a lot.

You turned around scared and defensive, moving so quickly you tossed a couple of tools away the table. 

The petrified look on your eyes made him feel some kind of pressure in his chest, a guiltiness like no other for scaring the fuck out of you. “Oh shoot, sorry ma’am.” He said but you didn’t answered him again.

You did a sign with your hands, dragging your index finger from your ear to your mouth. By the confused look on his face you stretched to grab a notebook you always had near you and wrote something with a black pen.

“I’m sorry, I’m deaf.” He read in the note, feeling even guiltier if that was possible, he got so mad at you for ignoring him around five times and it wasn’t your fault, you weren’t able to hear him.

“You read lips?” He wrote back in the notebook once you handed it to him, receiving a nod from you. “I do.” You said in a soft almost inaudible voice.

“I’m here for the arm Stark talked about.” He says not as fast as he was used to so you didn’t struggle and then pointed at his arm.

You gave him a soft, warm smile and pointed to a chair so he could take a seat, grabbing the set of things you already had prepared. “I’m really sorry ma’am, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He said when you looked at him before starting, gaining a weak “Don’t worry” in response.

Your voice was really weak, yet soft and warm that his first instinct was to protect you, feeling crazy for thinking such a thing about a women he didn’t knew. You kind of explained to him through the notebook that you were going to replace his arm with a new one Shuri sent from Wakanda and if something hurt he must tell you immediately by rising his hand or something; while he read the message he couldn’t help but think about how beautiful your handwriting was and how much patience you had with him to write everything. He nodded in response and left the book aside.

You started by asking him to remove his shirt so you could remove the arm, yet you ended helping him when some strands of cloth got stuck in the open metal. You couldn’t help yourself by looking for a few seconds to the man’s shirtless torso before starting to remove his old broken arm. You let the arm aside, now starting to fix the wires and cutting open some others so you could connect the shoulder to the new sensorial adjustments Shuri created. You applied him some anesthesia on the shoulder skin and flesh that was still there so the adjustment to the neurons wouldn’t hurt him. 

The procedure went well until the readjustment part, he grabbed your hand with his flesh one when he felt a stung in his shoulder that hurt enough even with his really high pain tolerance. You stopped, looking worried at him as he closed his eyes shut, he hated being like this but shit, that hurt badly. After a while he nodded and let you continue with your worked.

He stared at you through the process, paying attention to the little details on your face so he could distract himself of you working and seeing his scars, he noticed the little wrinkles by your eyes when you smiled and noticed how calm you were and looked while working, without the terror he caused you a while ago.

You remember when you finished and connected the wire that made the arm functional, you remembered how he opened his eyes widely at the sensorial panels working, feeling your hands on his forearm. He looked at you in surprise and you chuckled a little under your breath.

You left the tools beside his old arm and watched his reaction, his metal arm moved, readjusting to the size of his shoulder and with his metal hand he reached to you but stopped, considering he could hurt you without knowing this arm’s strength so he instead reached for a tool near him, feeling the cold metal in his fingers and smiled. 

“When something hit you abruptly or penetrates the covering top of the panels they will shut down so you won’t feel the hurt.” You handed him the notebook.

“Thank you...” Then it hit him, he hadn’t presented himself to you or asked for you name, where did his manners went? Back in his times his mom would’ve smacked him in the face the second she knew. 

“Y/N” You said while doing the hand signs to it. Then he questioned himself about how to say to you his name, he reached out for the notebook again and wrote it so you could know it. 

“It’s a pleasure Bu... Bucky?” You said in a question, not knowing how to pronounce it. Then smiling widely at him when he nodded to you, you said it right.

“The pleasure’s mine.” He said and stood up after you did. “I’m still sorry for scaring you.” He said with shame on his voice. 

“No big deal, it happens usually.” You say in your soft weak voice and smile at him.

Now he had nothing to do there so you both walked to the entrance of the lab in slow pace in silence, when he got to the door he stood there. “How do you say goodnight?” He asks, wanting to properly greet you this time.

Your warm smile grows in your lips and you do slowly the hand sign, he copies you with concern and doubt in his expressions, smiling proudly when you say it back.

Then he was gone even if he wanted to stay longer, you light up a curious and interested side in him like no one else did before.

The days passed by with him coming periodically to see you for the reviewing of his new arm. Around the second Thursday of visiting you at your lab he greeted you in sign language, surprising you and making you feel extremely happy, he had seen you talk in ASL to your lab colleagues and felt bad for you having to write down everything for him or at least what you couldn’t speak.

He talked to Steve and Sam about you all the time to the point they knew more about you that they should. He talked about your facial expressions while talking in ASL, about how soft your voice was when you spoke, even about how now you knew he entered the lab with the new bracelet Tony made for you with its own AI named MAC (that stood for More Awesome Creations) which was connected to FRIDAY and buzzed in morse code when someone came in the lab.

After some more weeks the visits became biweekly yet he found a way to see you more often than that and you didn’t complain about it at all, you were really happy with having him around.

He got to know about you more and more every time he went, he learned your interests, your manners, your hobbies and even learnt about you past, he now knew that you became deaf twelve years ago at age of fifteen in an accident so you can still talk without hearing yourself. He started asking FRIDAY to show him some pages about learning ASL so you could talk freely with him and to surprise you.

In the matter of months, you two were like best friends, Tony hired you officially and permanently around four months before when you accomplished six months around here. Yet Bucky didn’t just felt things for you like he felt for Natasha or Wanda, his feelings were far away of what friends felt and each day they grew further to the point that Steve, Sam and even Tony and Nat were telling him to ask you out, but he was too afraid of rejection and to make your friendship go to waste that he kept his feelings for himself, befriending you.

On the other hand, you were like a part of the team by the year of being there and they all were pretty happy about your presence. They all had their very own way of friending you, Sam struggled a little bit with learning sign language so he uses quite a lot the little pocket notebook you gifted him so he can talk to you, Tony gifted you for your birthday an intelligent watch that writes in its screen what people are saying to you in case you don’t read the lips fast enough so you can use it in reunions.

Natasha and Clint didn’t struggle at all with learning the language and Steve was actually really agile at learning it too, surprising you a lot. Wanda struggled a bit more so she had another little notebook and pen in her pocket like Samuel, the Queens kid, Peter, was pretty fast at learning it to the point he easily became like your little brother since he spent most of the time at the lab upgrading his suit and his talkative-self forced himself to learn ASL so he can keep telling you about his day at school every day.

And so it went with everyone else, they adapting to you or you adapting to them, whatever came first.

Then, today was the day Fury finally decided to send you in a mission with the team since they were extracting some new tech and you were crucial to take care of it and evaluate it.

Obviously, you were left at the jet with Bruce, who even had some tea onboard to calm the nerves the mission gave him before his time to shine green came.

Bucky was actually really worried for you throughout the mission, thinking about finishing this as fast as possible so all of you can go back to the compound and to have you out of risk, save in his arms. 

When the objective was achieved the super soldier was heading back to the jet with Wanda by his side. He smiled at the thought of being back at the compound, laying in the sofa watching a movie while you were reading and playing with his hair, as always.

But that wasn’t in the plans of destiny.

You smiled at both of them warmly and welcomed them, you hugged Wanda, who was the first one on board but when you were about to hug the super soldier his enhanced hearing sensed something, a click and some branches moving and before he could turn around someone shoot you, letting you stand there as a big red stain formed on your chest, right were you heart is, and another two stains formed on your stomach. 

Both of them froze for a moment, looking at you as if it wasn’t real, then he finally turned around, spotting the sniper behind a bunch of trees, shooting at him with his weapon. 

Bucky raced to reach you before you fell, grabbing you between his arms and leaning you down to the floor slowly as his eyes started to water. 

“Doll, hey Y/N, look at me.” He said knowing you couldn’t hear him, his eyes terrified at the idea of losing you. “Doll, look at me, please.” He begged, his voice cracking as his hands were now stained with your blood. 

You looked at him, staring right into his blue watery eyes, giving him a little warm smile just as the one you gave him when you first met. “Hey, I’m here.” You whispered with your soft and even weaker voice, rising your hand to spoon his cheek, rubbing your thumb in there to comfort him.

Wanda was shocked, standing by his side, she got down to her knees, putting her hand on Bucky’s shoulder as he held you in his arms, watching a scene no one will ever want to watched.

Then Steve and Tony came over, their joyful expressions breaking at the sight that welcomed them at the jet.

“Don’t leave me Y/N.” Bucky said desperately, you read his lips and tried to smile. “You can’t.” Shit. No, no, no, no, you didn’t like where this was going, no, shit no, it can’t be him, you’d prayed each night and day for him to not be the one so he wouldn’t hurt add he was doing now.

“Bucky, I love you, okay?” You whispered even weaker against the growing pain in your heart, rubbing the tears away of your man’s face. “I love you, remember that.”

It felt like a knife was stabbed in Bucky’s heart when those words came to his mind, no, you said the words that were tattooed on his ribs since almost a century ago, he couldn’t lose you now. “Doll, you can’t leave me now, not now.” He said with the pain in his chest increasing, his tears falling down his cheeks as your eyes were fixed in his. 

You were his soulmate and you were just about to die, there was nothing to do, if there was the words wouldn’t be there.

Your chest hurt but not because of the bullet, not anymore, it hurt because of his words, you were soulmates but you were too afraid of ruining everything that didn’t even got to be together. The look in his eyes, his face, he knew it too but even if you tried to speak, no words came out. Both of you were crying, you wanted to kiss him to at least know how it would’ve felt but you couldn’t move too much anymore, you were giving your last breaths.

Bucky thought about it too, leaning until your nose touched his, giving you a delicate and sad first and last kiss. Then he couldn’t hear your heartbeat anymore, he separated a few inches to see you, lifeless with your eyes peacefully closed. “No, doll.” He muttered, not even caring about his colleagues seeing him. “Y/N...” He held your fragile and dead body against his, crying his heart out in your hair. After a little while Steve approached to his friend, putting his hand on his other shoulder. 

“Buck, we need to go, more are coming.” He whispered carefully, as if the simplest words could shatter his friend in pieces.

“She was her all along, Steve, and I lost her.” He cried without letting you go and those words were like a bucket of cold water for the rest, Tony and Wanda crying you silently as Steve stepped back to give him the time he needed.

Their friend had just lost the love of his life.

You.

[nuclear-satan]

Final Space Season 3 Episode 1 Review **SPOILER WARNING!!**

...And Into The Fire we go!

I really have wanted to do a Final Space review for a while, so now - I'm going to do it, fuck it. Starting a couple episodes late, but after [insert shenanigans] I needed to let it cool off before getting back into it.

One last warning: THESE ARE NOT SPOILER FREE REVIEWS. DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE NOT SPOILED AND DO NOT WANT TO BE. THESE ARE GOING TO HAVE SOME SUMMARIZATION INVOLVED.

With the disclaimer out of the way, let's get into it.

So, first of all, I have to acknowledge that this cold open? Fucking toasty. The entire first five or six minutes of this episode is flat out amazing and some of the best that Final Space is. Really intense - I love the dramatic cold open to a space chase.

Also, however, brief, the Quinnary reunion was nice. Quinnary is a ship that I enjoy subjectively more than objectively, but considering it really hits now even if S1 had issues... I can look past it yo.

Invictus proves his power and intimidation incredibly well this episode, between the Gary Zombies and even this first incredibly terrifying matchup - even Mooncake, who in any other situation has been able to zap it away, couldn't touch it. Really setting the villain well.

Small thing I want to acknowledge because there was some discourse on it -- Sheryl saying "I'm his mother; where do you think he got it from?" Was really nice to me. Obviously not all is forgiven, nor should it be, but it's just a nice bit of character development.

Then, Ava gets Yeeted by Bolo and breaks.

I could have taken a better screencap probably, but I will not.

Anyways, considering the cast of characters was way too fucking big in S2, I'm not... particularly aggrieved by this, especially since I didn't really like AVA anyways, but it is pretty unfortunate that one of the only female characters just got the ax without basically any development other than the obligatory robot comphet stuff. Whatever, I think this is setting the stage for HUE AI, so I'll bite my tongue.

That said, the conversation that HUE and AVA had before she died? Sweet.

And then they're in Final Space. Goddamn, they really went the extra mile animating and illustrating this episode. Gotta acknowledge it.

Also, quick note: New OP is a banger.

...And this is when the review's going to start getting a bit more negative, because we jump straight into everyone's favorite trope: a time skip.

I. I really have issues with this timeskip. This episode was fucking ballistic in the pacing, and I really, really wish that I could have spent some more time within Final Space just trying to survive. I get it. It was a premiere, so you wanted to go all out, but... I really wish we could have savored it. There's just suddenly a timeskip! We don't get to see how they've been surviving. We don't get to see shit. Quinn just suddenly appears in a new outfit, and then we're off the races.

I dunno man, I really had issues with the pacing of this episode, and this is the backbone of it. It's okay to take a breather, even in your opening episode. You have to know when to take a breather. This episode sorely needed it, and it didn't get it.

Also, obligatory Danger Groins mention. Yeah, I know that's not what he says. It's what he says in my heart, tho.

From here, the Gary zombies show up, which are... admittedly intimidating.

They get attacked, and - okay, can we fucking mention the titan fights for a moment? No matter what happens this season, I'm here for this. This is Gurren Lagann levels of ridiculous, and I fucking love it. Smash that planet, yo.

lThey get separated, and Avocato and Gary have a bit unfitting but fucking hilarious moment that has to be acknowledged. This shit ain't straight, yo. There's no fucking way you tell me this shit is straight.

And... *sigh* I really have some goddamn issues with the next... I don't know, I wasn't watching, six minutes?

"There's no more grossout scenes," we were told. "Season 2 gross out is done. No more weird fetishes."

Okay.

Okay, sure.

I'm sparing you the images, because I don't want to post grossout on my blog, but... holy shit, Quatronostro's birth scene. First of all, which of the fuckers on the blog keeps putting their fetishes in this show? Clarence is gone, so you're making Mpreg Tribore (I realize Tribore is canonically genderfluid, but he's male presenting at the time of this birth... and at every time... I don't have faith in two cishet men to actually make good on that, sorry. I hope I'm wrong.) Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.

The scene is gross, uncomfortable grossout. This isn't the 90s anymore!

Also, the other thing I have to acknowledge - that motherfucking robot. It's season 3 - haven't we moved past the screaming = funny leftover humor from Olan's YouTube days? Clearly fucking not.

Also, Ash did a really out of character thing this episode by shooting the robot. I... what is Ash's character, exactly? Ash is an inconsistent enigma. Someone define that poor girl's character, already.

After that... mess.... though, we do end up with a very solid ending. Bolo headbutts the planet, Quinn and Gary get swept up in the blast, and we end up with a very beautiful but quick scene of Gary and Quinn embracing one last time - it's very reminiscent of chapter 9, and I did thoroughly enjoy it.

iAlso, the shot of Mooncake saying "Gar" while looking for Gary, presuming he's dead? Oh, that just hurts.

And then we end with HUE saying, "We are alone, Gary." Honestly, genuinely was a little disappointed to find it wasn't just HUE and Gary. I thought this line was going to come later in the season, and it was just going to be HUE and Gary in a callback from season one. It wasn't, and I'm genuinely very disappointed as someone who's favorite dynamic in the entire show is S1 HUE and Gary. Of course, as a result, I'm not unbiased, and... well, I do stan Quinn too.

And goddamn, look at the Earth. She got fucked uuuuuup. I think I remember hearing next episode that there's only one survivor left, which I do NOT buy as a concept, but it's very cool to see a show that does not shy away from full apocalypse scale destruction of the earth. It like, never happens, so it's a nice subversion. Get fucked, earth.

Overall Thoughts:

This episode is the definition of a mixed bag. The beginning is fantastic and the ending is solid (even if personally disappointing), but the middle is genuinely kind of bad. The pacing is rough, there's season 2 tier grossout that I did NOT need to see, and that robot deserved a punt in the face.

The animation is fantastic though. Everyone point and stare at the animation.

I still think the good outweighed the bad, though - if only because of my personal attachment to the characters. I think this was a decent episode - probably on par with the other openers... actually, I don't know.

My disappointment with this episode was more than with the Toro Regatta, but that was more due to my own expectations and thus not fair to rank it that way. I don't know - all the first episodes of the seasons are meh at best, and this unfortunately due to the lackluster middle fit that mold as well.

If you asked me to give it a ranking, I'd probably say if we assume a 5 out of 10 is average, I'd give it a 6. Decent, fantastic when it's good, but the entire middle section really brought me out of it and because of that I can't give it anything more than that.

I've heard episodes two and three are good, though - excited to see the Ventrexian for myself after all the fuss, so let's see how it holds up!

I'm scared for Biskit tho.

[fanfalc-616]

The Rights Of A Nindroid

Chapter Nineteen

(Prevoius Chapter Here)

This AU is basically a collab with @ablackswansweet at this point-

Zane huffs out a weak breath, and it’s clear that he’s tiring from the way they’re hurting him. “I am equal to any human. This will not be changing any time soon.” Despite his obvious exhaustion, he still manages to sound strong and determined.

Shifting awkwardly, Cryptor glances over at Kyle. Apparently he’s been behaving well enough for them to take the chains off, but he still has no idea why the brat brought him to one of Zane’s training sessions.

Kyle seems surprised by the defiance, even a little amused. "I'm… Actually really surprised you'd say that now, after all the trouble you went through last time. Guess it's still not sinking in…”

Then he looks at Cryptor. “General?" He prompts.

Cryptor blinks. “What?”

He’s… actually not sure what Kyle wants from him, but he’s got a sinking feeling that says it’s not going to be good.

Kyle frowns, looking annoyed. "What do you mean, 'what'? I thought it was obvious. Aren't you supposed to be a very high-quality AI?"

Cryptor grinds his teeth. “I am a high-quality AI. You didn’t exactly expl-“ He stops before finishing the rude remark. “I, uh. I didn’t quite understand you… Master.”

The title feels like fire on his tongue, but he forces it out, hating how often he’s had to use it recently. These fuckers aren’t his ‘Masters’- he’s his own person and doesn’t belong to anyone.

… if only the law agreed with him.

Shaking his head, Kyle sighs. "Can't believe I'll have to spell it out for you. You used to be more fun than that- Anyways, Original here is acting up. Again. So what you are going to do, like a good assistant, is punish it. Understood, now?"

Kyle’s slightly passive aggressive smile is unnerving, but it’s the furthest thing from his mind at the moment.

He wants Cryptor to be the one to hurt Zane? He wants him to hurt his friend?

“I… I can’t… Kyl-“ He once again cuts himself off as he fumbles for words. “Master, I- I can’t do that. I can’t- no.” He comes to his conclusion. “No, I won’t.”

Kyle’s expression darkens some, a clear threat in his tone as he speaks. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Are you defying a direct order from your Master, nindroid?"

Opening his mouth to speak, Cryptor finds himself being cut off.

“If you are going to hurt me, do it yourself!” Zane snaps, a sharp edge to his tone as he seems to have regained some of his bearings. “Don’t bring him into this!”

With a scowl, Kyle looks over at Zane. "Shut up, scrap metal. Another peep from you or it and it's the sensory room.” He then turns his attention back to Cryptor.

“Now, General, last chance. Punish it now, or I'll take away the thing you're so desperate to protect that you'd give up your precious dignity." The threat in his tone is unmistakable, but all Cryptor can see is the fear on Zane’s face that he’s struggling to hide by pretending to be angry- though some of the anger is likely real.

Cryptor can’t think. He doesn’t know what to do here. He has to obey, he has to, but…

“I… that’s not…” He finds himself stumbling with his words just as much as he is in his mind. But after a few moments, he manages to come to a conclusion.

“I won’t hurt him.”

Kyle pulls out a remote, pushing some buttons. Only a few moments later, guards arrive, and he turns and addresses them. "Take Original to the sensory room. If it tries to break free, you're welcome to retain it. Painfully, if need be."

The guards begin to obey, and Kyle mouths something to Zane that Cryptor can’t quite make out.

Still, the white ninja struggles. “Wh-“ He’s cut off as he’s roughly unchained and manhandled. “Hey! Stop it, I- let go of me!”

Panic begins to settle inside him. The sensory room? They had only taken Cryptor there once, and only for a few hours, but it had been living hell. He can’t let them do that to Zane!

Still, he can’t do anything more than watch as they begin to drag Zane away. He once again finds himself fumbling for words. “Wa- wait, no, I- I didn’t-“ He turns to look at Kyle, still feeling fear flooding through him. “Hold on!”

Kyle only shrugs. "I warned you. Really hoped you'd be smart enough to listen."

Zane continues shouting as he’s forcibly pulled out of the room, the anger mixed with fear.

The fear makes way for shock. And shock makes way for anger. “I- you-“ He feels the rage burning deep inside of him as he glares at Kyle “That. Is. It.”

No words can describe how good it feels when his fist collides with the damn brat’s face.

Kyle stumbles back, hand coming up to clutch at his bloody nose. The red stains make Cryptor feel satisfied, but the moment is ruined when Kyle starts… laughing.

He just got punched in the face, and he’s laughing. Laughing maniacally, laughing like the insane jackass he is.

Rage still boils inside of him, and it only burns brighter at that, at the way he’s being mocked. “Shut up! Stop-“ He stops bothering with words as he tries to grab Kyle, to hold him down and pummel the shit out of him-

But the damn guards are back, and he’s being restrained, being held in place in front of the most infuriating person that Cryptor has ever met. “Let go of me!” He snarls. “ I’m not fucking finished with him!”

Kyle is still laughing, laughing like a fucking psychopathic sadist. "HAH! Guess you really didn't like him after all-" Once the words are out, he’s right back to cackling.

It suddenly registers in his head. What he had done. The reasoning for why he hadn’t done it sooner. What’s going to happen now that he did.

His words are only a soft whisper as he speaks, unable to speak louder due to the horror inside of him. “No- no, no, no, no- I…” He looks back at Kyle, who has finally caught his breath.

“W- wait, I-“

The smile he gets is cold-blooded and straight up murderous. "You. Shut your mouth. Now.” He orders. He then pauses a moment before continuing. “I was being way too nice to you, apparently. Gave you ideas.” He shrugs. “Won't happen again.” Then he looks over at the guards.

“Guys, tie it up and bring me… you-know-what."

Cryptor could swear that his power source had shut off for a moment.

He opens his mouth to speak, but then shuts it fast enough that there’s an audible click. Kyle had told him to stop talking, and he’s not going to risk pissing him off more.

Feeling himself begin to tremble, Cryptor fights back the feeling of helplessness that builds inside of him. He doesn’t bother continuing to struggle.

It’s not worth it.

Kyle chuckles lowly. "Not very impressive now, General, huh? You won't stand up to a guy with a bloody nose?" His tone is mocking, and Cryptor grits his teeth. He looks down and squeezes his eyes shut tight, unable to look at the blond.

"You're so pathetic it makes me want to puke.” Kyle scoffs before addressing the guards. “Take it back to its locker so it can wait until we find him."

“Don’t-“ Cryptor cuts himself off as they begin to drag him away. He was ordered not to speak. And he has the implied order to not resist, so…

He’s roughly shoved back into the locker- not that he would’ve tried to avoid going in- and the door is slammed shut in front of him.

Hopelessness.

That’s the only word that could even begin to describe what he’s feeling.

If he were human, tears would be pooling in his eyes. As it is, he can only just stop himself from beginning to sob without tears, doing the nindroid, non-human equivalent.

Because he’s not human. And he never will be.

“I… fuck.” He mumbles the words to himself as he desperately tries to avoid breaking down completely.

He hears a weak, tired laugh escape him of its own accord as he closes his eyes, able to feel his strength draining from him.

“I really am pathetic…”

He’s not sure how much time has passed by the time they bring Zane back, but it’s been at least six hours- a long time for the sensory room.

I DI

DONT

Cryptor cuts off whatever the hell he was going to say. He honestly couldn’t care less about what the white ninja has to say to him.

Nothing he could say would make a difference.

————————————————-

Cryptor doesn’t resist when he’s taken out of his locker. He doesn’t resist as he’s taken down the halls. He doesn’t resist when he’s chained down.

He doesn’t resist at all.

He doesn’t dare.

Kyle is in the room, but Cryptor doesn’t risk doing anything more than looking down, silently pleading for mercy that he knows won’t be coming as the blond walks up to him. "I'm giving you permission to talk again. Don't make me regret that too."

He’s suddenly glad that he hadn’t tried to say anything. Keeping his head down, Cryptor forces out a set of apologetic words. “I won’t, Master. I’m- I’m sorry.”

There’s an annoyed sigh. "You're not sorry you misbehaved. You're sorry you have to live with the consequences.” Out of the corner of his eye, he can see the blond shaking his head. “Anyways, I'm hoping you understand why we brought you here."

Every gear and mechanism is suddenly locked as he struggles to keep ahold of himself. He looks up for a moment, and tries to find some way to defend his past actions for a moment… but only a moment.. “I- I di… yes, Master.” He looks down again.“I understand.”

"Good. At least that's out of the way." Kyle starts to walk around him, circling him like a predator around its prey. "Explain this to me, however. You were so, so desperate to make sure Sentry wouldn't get hurt a while ago. So what the fuck-“ Kyle gestures at his bloody nose “-was that?"

Shaking, Cryptor answers truthfully, his words quiet and, unfortunately, almost pitiful.

“I… I was angry. I wanted to protect Zane, and I was upset that I failed.” Cryptor cringes as he forces himself to continue. “I shouldn’t have done that, Master. It- it won’t happen again.”

Kyle sounds slightly confused, but also kind of mocking, which balances it out pretty well. "You're not really what I'd call a hero, General. What made you think you could be one now?"

Feeling his head snap up, Cryptor answers without hesitation. “I’m not a hero. I never wanted to be. I…” his voice goes quiet again as he continues. “I made a friend. And I just… I wanted to be happy. I wanted- I wanted to feel okay again.” Rage once again washes over him as he continues, this time shouting. “I just wanted some sense of normal in this place!”

Then he freezes. Everything is tense. Oh, he should not have done that, he should not have shouted-

The blond sighs. "Well, so much for that." He takes something out of one of his pockets at just the right angle to prevent Cryptor from seeing what it is.

Dread settles inside of him, but he tries to hide it, tries to pretend that maybe he still has some dignity.

“Wh- what’s that?”

And apparently he doesn’t, because he sounds downright terrified when he speaks.

Kyle’s smile is once again one of the most terrifying things that Cryptor has ever seen. "I have a better question. Which piece of a nindroid's faceplate is harmless enough to remove while still causing a good amount of pain?"

Cryptor feels his eyes widen, staring in mute horror for a few moments before he manages to breath out a few quiet words.

“You- you didn’t.”

The eye piece, the scope. Technically made to be a laser beam, but it has sensors in it- really sensitive ones, too.

The smile grows. "Judging by the look on your face, I'd say that you've got it. That's right, it's the scope!" The part is basically shoved in his face, and Cryptor flinches backwards.

Horror sets in every single wire and circuit he has as he stares at it. “I- you- he’s not…”

The implications… no. No, he didn’t… he couldn’t have… Sentry can’t be… he can’t…

Cryptor manages to look up, to look Kyle in the eyes, to look at his Master. “He’s not- you didn’t…”

The blond is still smiling as he shrugs. "He's as alive as a machine can be… For now. And I want you to fully understand that even if this is just a scope, we have the power to harvest much more delicate pieces, like, let's say…” He pauses dramatically, posing like he’s thinking.

Then he drops the act, and the smile is now a smirk. “A power source."

Cryptor doesn’t move. He doesn’t speak. He can barely even breathe. He at least had the reassurance that he’s not dead yet, but…

Kyle either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about his mental plight. "The other important thing that I want you to remember before you get ideas again is that you are completely responsible for Sentry's and Original's well-beings. If you misbehave or talk back like you did before…” He shrugs. “Well, you saw what happens. "

With a weak nod, Cryptor agrees. “I… I understand.” Dropping his gaze back down to the floor, he continues, confining his statement. “I’ll behave, Master.”

He hesitates for a minute as he comes up with an idea. Not an idea of how to defy, but… an idea of how to obey. How to give him what he wants. What he demands from him.

“I know that I am lesser, and I… I’ll act like it from now on.”

The words taste disgusting in his mouth, but he speaks them anyway, knowing that that’s what Kyle would want to hear.

"Awesome.” Kyle smiles. “I'll have someone bring you back to your locker."

His next words are mumbled so softly that Cryptor can barely make them out.

“I almost feel bad for it, if only Original hadn't acted out first… This is its fault, really."

Cryptor feels everything in him tense. That- he- it’s not Zane’s fault, it…

But isn’t it?

Anger, frustration, and fear are all building up inside of him as he lets himself be taken back to his locker.

ARE YO

Cryptor doesn’t wait for him to finish.

FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE TAKE A HINT AND SHUT YOUR MOUTH

Thankfully, Zane doesn’t answer, and Cryptor takes the opportunity to activate his sleep mode.

But annoyance is suddenly added to the growing list of emotions as he realizes that he’s too worked up to go to sleep.

Grinding his teeth, Cryptor snaps at Zane again, feeling the upset whirlwind of feelings inside of him making him almost sick.

THIS IS YOUR FAULT

There’s a long pause before Zane answers, and for a moment, Cryptor feels even more annoyed as he wonders if he had gone to sleep.

I KNOW

He… what? He just- okay, good, he knows that it’s his fault. At least he’s not trying to deny that he got them into this. If he would just behave and do what he’s told, none of this would be-

ILL TALK TO YOU TOMORROW CRY

Rage is still burning inside of him as he answers the white ninja.

I WONT RESPOND

I DONT EXPECT YOU TO

Wh- what does that mean? What kind of mind games is he playing here? Is he trying to trick Cryptor into forgiving him?

It takes hours before he can fall asleep.

And even then… all he has are nightmares.

{ { { { { { { { { { ~ } } } } } } } } } }

Kyle walks down the hall, not bothering to glance at the lockers as he goes by. Really, this was almost too easy. 3D printing a copy of the scope and using sensory manipulation to make it more realistic? Is that really all it takes?

Smiling to himself, Kyle heads off to Borg Tower.

He has an internship to get to.

[shortyisweird9]

'Lonely ghost serie'

Chek and heartache- part III

Tw⚠️:swearing, referring of dark themes such as suicide attempt and mental illness.

The morning rays hit your eyes gently, tangible by their warmth,as you forced yourself from another dream of nothing but blank.

You groaned as your cat,Didi, comes running towards you: purring, meowing and chirping in pure happiness. You knew the reason she does this; your previous cat, Martha or Dildo- your roommate Sergiu called her that because of her dickish attitude with him- used to do this everytime so the little one, Didi, just followed her mother's lead.

Everytime she does that is like a small needle stabs at your heart especially when just 2 weeks passed since Martha died of old age- the black cat was adopted when she was senior, abused and malnourished, your heart knew you couldn't leave her to be laid to rest like a nothing. You adopted her, she bit you and you petted her, she hissed you hugged her, you did everything you could think of to show love even brush her fur with a wet toothbrush end to mimic sweet kisses coming from her mom. The cat soon realized that and started living again. Cautious of your other 3 roommates, cuddly with you.

Anyway, you got sidetracked with reminiscing. You heard your friends in the kitchen, Sabrina throwing away the take out boxes and Sergiu preparing some tea, probably to calm his stomach after all the spicy curry he ate last night.

You fixed the oversized white t-shirt and pull the marine blue shorts out of your bottoms, Didi already waiting you by the door.

You all, Sabrina,Sergiu,Ace and you, live in a quaint apartment, turned from campus housing, right next to one of the malls of the city. It had two small bathrooms, a living room , three petite bedrooms ,a tiny kitchen, a rounded balcony and a hallway. It was much smaller than your family home but it was in a central zone where your family home was outside the city's boundaries. You chose it not only because you wanted to spare your family from driving you to university but also because you needed your freedom, your space. Your parents were very understanding of that.

-Y/n e trează? ( "Is Y/n awake?") Ace asked as he sipped on his black cofee.

Without, he would pretty much be a grumpy hedgehog with spiky tealish mohawk. And who wouldn't love that?

-Nu încă, ah! Uite-o! ("Not yet,ah! There she is") Sabrina exclaimed, getting up to hug you and leaving the smoking tea cup by the window.

"Hello." You said ,voice grungy and eyes shut from the light.

You felt the warm hands of your Arabic friend on your face filled with moles and couple of marks from recently popped pimples, you let yourself be engrossed into it ,the touch starvation you carry like a cross chosing for you.

You hear her laugh, she always had a pretty laugh and a prettier smile . She was the beauty of the group, with big puffy sand yellow curls, brown skin with red undertones and black eyes who glow in pure happiness. She was stunning and a sweetheart with an obsession on the colour red and butterflies.

"Someone is needy." Ace teased.

"Shut up or I will staple those hair triangles on your scalp. "

You wanted to say something better but Sabrina then started massaging your lower face in a circular manner with her thumb. You knew you couldn't do anything anymore except melt.

-Anyway ,unde e Sergiu? ("Anyway, where is Sergiu?")

-Ți-o făcut ceai, cane e pervaz. S-o dus până sus să o ajute pe Florentina.("He made you tea, the cup is on the windowsill. He went upstairs to help Florentina.") He said, taking another sip of his cup.

-Ooooh, Florentina. You two began as Ace shook his head in amusement.

You and Sabrina were known to be ruthless in your teasing of the guitarist with long brown locks and beard.

Florentina was a crush of his, a freshman in the University of Arts who played the violin beautifully. Small,with olive skin, long red hair keept in a 1960s hairstyle and green petite with a triangular shaped face. She was a sweetie with a love for fantasy book ,autumn and ferrets.

-Oh, yeah?

-Dup, iubitul ei se mută cu ea. ("Yup, her boyfriend moves in with her")

-Oh.

Ace sucked in his lip ,his face filled with disappointment just like theirs now.

-That sucks.

-Numai spune,Sabrina.("You don't say,Sabrina")

Just then, the door clicked shut. Sergiu is back, this will be awkward.

-Ce vă uitați așa la mine?("Why are you looking at me like that?")

Neither of them could properly looked into the warm brown eyes of the man whose glow seemed to fade a bit, Sergiu was a stubborn man who shut his feelings deep inside, only through his song you could tell he was suffering. Just like you, I suppose.

-Am auzit...("We heard...")

You bit your lips as your long fingers played with each other, twisting and tugging while your nerves grew. Last thing you wanted was another fight where you all force the man to open up. He had suicidal tendencies, sometimes he came too close to actually do it but you were there and you needed to be there now too, even if he doesn't like being taking care of.

Sergiu rolled his eyes at you, his heart hurt from how rigid your posture was, eyes were worried about him but also scared, teeth grinding themselves not out of anger but out of care and fear.

He knew you hated arguments and shouts with dying passion. You always cried when someone raised their voice in less than friendly manner, you hated this reaction of complete terror, you hated looking weak but now you hated letting your friend burn himself because of an unfortunate love triangle. So you swallowed your nerves and braved on, it's about him ,not you.

Sergiu wanted to protect you all from this negativity, especially you and Ace. You had a big event to organise , Ace's sex reassignment surgery is coming up soon. You both have your own problems to dwell ,you didn't need to have him as one too.

However somewhere in his head, a voice telling him that he was wrong ,that voice that took the shape of you in the night of July.

You were crying, your grey hoodie wet from the rain as you cling desperately to him, not daring to move.

He was the reason why you crying, why you yelled profanities our of worry for what he was about to do. He...He tried to throw himself off a bridge ,the same bridge you two first shared your kiss.

That dark episode still irked your minds in the darker moments, late in the night nothing but your mind to keep you company and that's torture in itself.

You thought you could help him, change whatever hurts him and make it go away. That was your biggest mistake, you can't change a person that's not your duty , your duty was to support them through tough times and help them see the light at the end of the dark tunnel. A duty you solemnly swore to uphold even if he didn't liked you to. There's no fucking way you let him do that again,not if you can be there for him. Like he was always there for you, your big guardian with a guitar that spews flames in shape of songs.

-Y/n..

-Te rog, Sergiu. Nu ascunde. ("Please, Sergiu. Don't hide.")

Your eyes were desperate for him to talk it out in any shape or form. They implore for him to vent, to not hid between fake lies like " I am okay" or "I'm fine."

-Bine,bine. Tu ești șefa. ("Fine,fine. You're the boss.")

————————————————————

They talked and talked and cried and laughed and cried again. A never ending circle of venting ,small earthquakes which instead of fracturing the friendship , it onlyakes it stronger as it should.

-Te simți mai bine?("You feeling better?") Your voice ran timidly on the top of your apartment building, watching over the brutalist styled architecture.

-Un pic, doare știi dar asta îmi arată cât de îndrăgostit sunt de ea. Iubirea adevărată pentru mine nu se referă doar la a iubi doar dacă te iubește reciproc, nu , să iubești fără să forțezi persoană să te iubească înapoi. Să îi porți de grijă, să o protejezi, să o ajuți fără să fi un egoist, fără să te aștepți să fi iubit înapoi. ("A little, it hurts you know but this shows how much I love her. True love for me doesn't mean to love just so they will love you back, no, to love someone without forcing them to love you back. To care for them, to protect them, to help them without being an egotistic, to love without expecting to be loved back.")

-Poetic.

He laughed at that , starring at the setting sun ,his lit cigar forgotten fumed between his painted fingers. His hair blown gently by the wind , he looked like a masterpiece.

-Scuze..pentru tot.("Sorry...for everything. ")

-N-ai de ce. Mi-ai făcut chec până la urmă așa că balanța eternă este restabilită.("You don't have a reason to be. You made me chek in the end and thus the eternal balance is restored.") You joked, munching quietly on the piece of cake, his jacket keeping you warm.

-Haha. Cine ar fi crezut că checul are fi o gustare bună când îți dai vent.("Haha. Who would have thought that chek will be a good snack when you vent.")

Indeed, who would have thought of that but one who cried in the sore days filled with heart ache.

————————————————————

Hey,guys!💖

Hope you like the third part of the serie, I wanted to focus on "your life" and your friends backgrounds this time. The translations are not 100% word to word but enought to give you context.

Anyway, I hope you like it. Stay safe!

Tagged 💗💗:@moolujk @gaysludge @simonsbluee @yoyoanaria @cherry-piee @magenta-skyline @yikesyikesyikes95

[thestarkerisobvious]

Ghosting You -- Chapter 9

my amazing art by @mrstarksbaby​​

The Previous Chapters Are Here

Chapter 9: Peter –   Programed To Understand How Far I’ve Fallen He had just gotten comfortable, adjusting the pillow and blanket he now left in the car (he never drove the car anywhere, that just seemed ridiculous)  and FRIDAY was just finishing up a list of the details of all Pepper’s neighbors (according to the last census) when it all fell apart.

“Shall I find another list to read for you, Peter?” she had asked, and Peter couldn’t answer. 

“No,” Peter said.  He had no air.  A wave of incredible loneliness had overtaken him.  Fortunately, the AI didn’t notice.  Or, at least, didn’t comment.  For a long while they sat in silence.

Then, using as much air as he had, he whispered.  “Tell me… tell me about something else.  Tell me about Morgan.” 

“Miss Morgan isn’t being taught at home now. She was supposed to be homeschooled until first grade when the Boss was going to have her tested and put into whatever grade was at her level. She goes to a small school near the farmhouse upstate and just finished Pre-K-4 and is in a summer program.

“Since she started school she talks to me a lot now because she’s bored. She’s the only one in her class who knows how to read.” Peter can hear how proud FRIDAY is of her. And he can her a little amusement as she tells him, “She takes a little too much after the boss to get along well in a normal school environment.”

“But you, Peter, you graduated at the top of your class. You did very well in school. In the fall you start college, although your choice of schools is disappointing. Did you apply to MIT? Your grades and references would’ve certainly had you accepted.”

“Yeah, well, Tony wanted me to go to MIT and Tony’s dead so that’s his problem,” Peter said with bravado he loved to display, but didn’t feel.  “Never mind.  That was stupid.  I’m just standing up to him.  Like an asshole.”

“The boss likes it when you stand up to him. He built us to stand up to him. But there’s a way that helps him and a way that... doesn’t.” She’d paused as if she was about to give away a secret and caught herself. “You hit that chord perfectly. Challenging him to be better. Making him question his answers when you were working together. After you left one afternoon, he said that you were better for him to work with than the entire engineering team at SI.”

“Stood up to him,” Peter corrected her gently, wiping tears away.

It was so strange. Everybody else had tried to comfort him, had tried to make him feel better about his unimaginable loss. Tried and failed. Maybe there weren’t any humans who could have done it. But there was FRIDAY.  Maybe FRIDAY was the answer.  FRIDAY, who had to have known Tony better than anyone else in the world, shy of Jarvis himself.

“Did I argue with him too much?” Peter asked. “It felt like it was too much, that I told him ‘no’ too much. God I wish I hadn’t told him ‘no’ the first time... I know… I know he thought I was so full of myself. Oh god, I was.  I was so fucking full of myself.  And if I had said ‘yes’ we could have spent so much time together. Did I argue with him too much, Friday?” Peter asked, suddenly realizing how perfect this was. He would believe Friday. Friday would answer logically.

“He had so much respect for you, Peter.  More than you’ll ever know.  That’s why he wanted you to take it over some day. Only not just the engineering department, like he was in charge of. He specified that the CEO and President’s positions be split and that you would be president while Ms Potts remained CEO…”

“Oh GOD no!  Oh no no no no,” Peter said, dissolving into tears of shame and guilt.  “No and no. That’s a nope.  There’s no way, no.”

“I’m just informing of you of what the will states, Peter.  He mentioned, when he had me draft his will, that he intended that corporate move regardless of his death, because, after you graduated at some point he would retire. Then when she was old enough, Miss Morgan would be CEO when Ms. Potts retired.

“And you know that once you start college and need to be doing lab work on your own.  The labs you shared are yours. All ten floors of labs in the tower were supposed to be yours.” 

“But I can’t be trusted with SI, Friday, I can’t!  I can’t be trusted with anything… you don’t know what I’ve done… you don’t know what I did…” his voice broke. Dammit he thought he was done with this, but here it was. “He trusted me with EDITH and I blew it. I hid EDITH and I can’t let anyone know where it’s hid. He trusted me with something very little, FRIDAY, and I can’t… I can’t… I can’t be trusted.”

He sobbed for a while in silence, his tears burning his eyes and face.  He was certain he was all cried out.  But just like everything else, he was wrong.  

“Ten floors?”  He said finally.  When he was able.   “The only thing I need is one safe.  A safe inside another safe.  I’ll lock the glasses up… then you’ll lock the safe and change the combination.” 

“I do know what happened in Europe, Peter,” FRIDAY said, her voice sounding gentle and caring. “EDITH told me. You are learning, Peter. And you had a very difficult lesson to learn there. You are very trusting. It’s one of your better qualities, Peter, but it’s also dangerous. You learned that you need to find a balance between your desire to believe the best in everyone... and the harsh reality that not everyone can be trusted. 

“In the end, you performed admirably. You saved many people that day. Including yourself. The mission was a success in more than one way. I know that Tony is very proud of you.”

“Was proud of me… and then he died.  And I love you, FRIDAY.  You took very good care of your boss, and of Morgan.  But there’s things you just can’t know.  You can only inform me of what you knew up until the moment he died.  You can only crunch the information and extrapolate… you can’t speak for him now.  You can only guess.  And I don’t think… I don’t think you’re programed to understand how far I’ve fallen.

“It doesn’t matter… don’t,” Peter interrupted when FRIDAY tried to speak.  “Just… I think I need another list.  Tell me… tell me… tell me the building dates of all the houses in Morgan’s neighborhood in order that they were built.”

FRIDAY complied.  But after that list was finished, and she was halfway into the list of acreage when Peter realized he wasn’t getting any sleep in the car tonight.  Panic at the idea that he would still be trusted because a dead man said so… he wouldn’t be sleeping for a while.

“Shall I find another list to read for you, Peter?” she had asked in the wee hours of the morning, and, just like that, it occurred to him.  Of course she could read a list to him… there were phone books from all the neighboring towns, obviously, when suddenly it occurred to him… he was using FRIDAY to read him any long list of information that could be found on the internet, and why?  He could take that list and run it through ANY AI that read text.  Tony’s AI was special… Tony’s AI could…

“FRIDAY, do you still have access to Tony’s email?”

“Of course, Peter.  Is there anything you are looking for?”

“Nothing personal, obviously, I was just wondering… you could read aloud our email exchanges, right?  The conversations we had?”

“Of course, Peter.  I can search by keyword, or subject line…”

“Read me… read me all the email from… from the month of May.”

[yet-another-fan-girl9]

Inhuman (1)

Summary: All beings in the universe have a soulmate except for Midgardians. People can hear their soulmate in their heads. For almost five hundred and fifty years, Loki believed that he had no soulmate until 1513 when a Midgardian princess was born. Will fate be kind to them or will the universe tear them apart?

Warnings: violence, language, hella historical inaccuracies (I tried to do research but then got lazy), maybe some AOS season 2 spoilers(?)

Word Count: ~3400

A/N: Yay! The re-write is here! I changed it so now there are flashbacks and stuff and the chapters are longer! I’m also posting this chapter a day early because of reasons. Anyways, enjoy!

[New York, New York, March 2024]

‘Soulmates?’ You had never heard of the concept.

‘We are destined to be together. The universe made it so.’

You shot up in bed, a light sheen of sweat covered your body. Loki’s words replayed over and over in your head. You hadn’t heard his actual voice in so long but it was still as clear as if he was speaking to you now. It had been twelve years since you had seen him in Germany and he had tried to take over.

‘We are destined to be together.’

The words echoed in your mind. ‘Destined’ huh? Well, if you’d learned anything from the past four hundred and eighty-six years that you were not with Loki, it’s that the universe does a shit job at keeping you together. You ran your fingers through your hair, easily smoothing out the tangled mess. It was too early to think about Loki.

You slipped out of the silk sheets that covered your king-sized bed in your two-level, top floor Upper East Side penthouse. You were very proud of how far you had come. The view was amazing. You could see some of Central Park from one side and the stereotypical New York skyline from another.

As you walked out of your room, you caught your reflection in one of your full-sized mirrors. And that was definitely a nice view. When you came out of Terrigenesis almost five hundred years ago, you quickly discovered that you were now the blueprint for a perfect person. Straight, white teeth, surprisingly tameable hair, and clear, unblemished skin were some of the visually obvious changes. In addition to your perfected looks, you had increased senses, healing, strength, endurance, and your favorite, pain tolerance. Oh, and don’t forget you basically look twenty-five forever.

You checked your phone while you made breakfast in the kitchen downstairs. There were a couple of emails from your employees on their latest jobs. You opened one from Max, your right-hand man. You were reading over some job offers he had handpicked for you when you got a text from the man himself.

Bringing up some donuts!

Max was the only person from work to have access to your penthouse. He was your best friend. The two of you had met when you were at Afterlife nearly fifteen years ago. He was an Inhuman as well. All of your employees were Inhumans, using their specialties to carry out their jobs. Max had the power to change surfaces. It was a strange power, but he had learned to make it very useful. He could cause his pursuers to slip on the suddenly ice-like ground or climb up a glass skyscraper.

“Hello, bitch! I brought donuts!” Max called from the elevator.

“I’m in the kitchen!”

Max walked in holding the goods. He always wore eccentric color-coordinated outfits. Even the times you saw him in stealth mode, he had to have some lace or frill somewhere. Today he wore a mixture of neon green and pink with matching eyeliner.

“Are Cosmo and Wanda disguising themselves as your clothes?” you asked.

“Haha,” he deadpanned. “I knew you were going to say something like that. You’re so fucking funny. Soo…” He plopped the three large donut boxes onto your kitchen counter. “Have you heard of the Avenger’s new quote-unquote recruit?”

“Um, I think it’s your job to keep tabs on heroes.” You opened the nearest box and happily pulled out your favorite donut.

“Okay. Number one: I’m not speaking to you as your right-hand, right now, but as your friend.” He held up his finger. “Number two: it’s not really a job if I do it in my free time anyways. You’re paying me to do something that I do on an hourly basis.”

“You stalk the Avengers on an hourly basis?”

“No? Anyways, number three: it’s Thor’s brother. It’s your Loki.”

“What the fuck?” you choke on your donut. Max was the only person who knew you that you and Loki had a history. And that’s all he knew. Nothing about soulmates or all that shit. “What the fuck, Max? Did you try to use donuts to soften the blow? Stop laughing.”

“I-I wish I had caught that reaction on camera,” he said in between fits of giggles.

“Haha,” it was your turn to deadpan. “Fuck, man. I guess we just have to double our efforts to keep ourselves off of their radar.”

“Do you think they’ve forgiven him for New York?” Max composed himself.

“I mean, they must have if they’re letting him join the team.” You chanced another bite of your donut.

“But lots of people haven’t.”

“Lots of people still haven’t forgiven Barnes,” you pointed out. You didn’t know when or why Loki had attacked New York. That Loki was nothing like the man who you had grown to love back in the 1500s. But you were nothing like that girl either.

 “Have you chosen a new job from the list I sent you?” he changed the subject.

“No, not yet, and you have a little…” you motioned to the corner of your mouth.

Max got the hint and wiped some powder off of his mouth. You noticed the sprinkling of grey that was mixed into his curly black hair. He displayed the last fifteen years proudly while you remained unchanged. Max was the closest you’ve been to someone in a long time, and just like everyone before him, you would outlive him. But you would remember him. You remembered everyone. You remembered everything.

Right now, you thought of Agnes, your first real friend. She was your handmaiden and you had met right before everything went to shit. She had helped you cope after you underwent Terrigenesis, although you hadn’t known what it was back then. She had helped you run away and even died for you. You had only known her for nine years, but you compared everyone to her. Max held second place, right after Agnes.

“I think we should take the Senator’s offer,” Max said, jolting you out of your memories. He pulled up the offer on his iPad. “One million to off his upcoming competition.”

“Damn,” you whistled. “He’s desperate, isn’t he? Is there a deadline?”

“No, but I assume we should get it done quickly.”

“Send over the info.”

🌹

You shoved the flower into Jake Morano’s mouth. Blood from the bullet wound in his forehead trickled down until it turned the perfect, white rose red. You snapped a quick photo on your burner phone to send to the Senator as confirmation. With a huff, you looked around the apartment. Mr. Anderson had put up a fight, although it didn’t do anything to deter you and Max. A few glass awards were in pieces on the hardwood floor, family pictures were shattered, and the wall behind you held a couple of bullets from Anderson’s gun.

“All good?” Max asked from his location by the computer. He was deleting all footage of you being there. And everything else, just to be safe.

“Yep.” You walked over to him, your boots making a satisfying clicking on the ground, and proudly displayed the picture of the dead body. “Got the confirmation picture for the Senator. How’s it coming?”

“Almost… there. We’re good to go.”

The two of you left in your favorite black Lamborghini. Unfortunately, you actually had to drive places now that Gordon was dead. You followed his advice, though, and bought a plane along with four other sports cars, a helicopter, and a couple of motorcycles. You knew how to operate every single one of them. What else were you supposed to do except for establishing your contract killing empire?

🌹

Loki stood in the middle of his assigned room with his hands on his hips. It certainly was much nicer than the last prison the Avengers had kept him in. They may say it wasn’t a prison but the twenty-four-hour surveillance from Stark’s new AI said otherwise. Even though it was nicer than the shitty glass cylinder from twelve years ago, it was empty. Thor had shown Loki the few things in his room: books, photographs, and his own goddamned merchandise. 

Would Loki have his own merchandise one day? Everyone was redeemable as shown by Romanoff and Barnes. Maybe there would be plastic replicas of his helmet? No, Loki thought that was stupid. Only heroes got merchandise and heroes had to show up to events and sponsor health drinks or whatever the fuck they do. Heroes had to be nice.

Nothing good ever came from being on Midgard. Most recently, there was his father dying, although what followed was worse. Before that was the attack he had been forced to make on the city. And the first time he had ever come to Midgard had ended with disappointment and heartbreak.

Loki sighed and waved his hand to conjure green and gold accents, sheets, and blankets. At least there was color in the room now. No doubt the AI had reported that he had used his magic. He hoped it had also told them that all he did was improve the room, he didn’t need anyone talking to him at the moment.

“Good afternoon, Reindeer Games,” the AI echoed through the room. Loki glowered at the sound of Stark’s nickname. “There is a meeting in Conference Room Five that the entire team is required to attend.”

Loki hadn’t the faintest fucking idea where the conference rooms were. He left his room and caught sight of his brother and the Valkyrie. The God of Mischief followed the pair down to where the meeting was taking place. Did he really want to go? If he wanted to be part of the team he would have to. He preferred the Revengers, though. While it had lasted. It was smaller.

Everyone was sitting around the long table. Of course, Loki would be the last to arrive. Stark and Barton both glared at him when he entered. Understandable. Romanoff remained impassive, but Loki knew she would bash his head in the first chance she got. Rogers had to remain positive that Loki could be redeemed because if the Norse God could redeem himself, then so could Barnes. Bruce had warmed up to Loki on the journey to Midgard. None of the newer members of the team outright hated him, but they were still cautious around him.

Loki found himself sitting in between his brother and Bruce. Stark went up to the screen at the front and everyone fell silent.

“This is Jake Morano.” The screen turned on to show a dead man with a rose stuffed in his mouth. “He was going to run for Senator against this guy.” The screen changed. “This guy is William Anderson, a very corrupt Senator. In the last month, Morano began to gain a lot of support including a sponsor from us. Well, a sponsor from me in the name of the Avengers.”

“Are you implying that Anderson killed Morano?” Rogers asked.

“I’m saying that Anderson hired someone to kill Morano.” The screen changed again to display multiple bodies left with a rose in their mouths. “I had F.R.I.D.A.Y. do a quick search of bodies with roses found in their mouths and we found a shocking amount of similar deaths. The first ones dating back to the nineteen twenties. More recently, some of the deaths have happened at the same time on opposite sides of the globe. Deaths include, but are not limited to, shooting, stabbing, poisoning, drowning, burning, missing organs, being found stuck in a wall, and looking like a suicide. They all have a white rose soaked in blood in their mouths.”

“Are you sure it isn’t a serial killer?” Wilson questioned.

“Yeah, it’s probably not the same guy,” Romanoff pointed out. “Especially if it goes back to before Steve looked like that.”

“It’s gotta be an organization,” Barnes guessed. “Been around for a while, a couple of deaths happening at the same time, and one constant MO.”

“Loki?” Everyone looked at the God of Mischief when Stark said his name. “You’re technically a part of this team now. What’s your opinion?”

“Barnes is probably right,” Loki said after a moment’s hesitation. “The locations are all over the place and there are many different ways the victims met their demise.”

They nodded and Loki returned to silence.

“Alright, game plan.” Stark clapped his hands. “We have to get Anderson into an interrogation room. Round one is the good cops: Steve and Sam. When he doesn’t crack, and he won’t, we up the intensity. Nat and the Manchurian Candidate will do some intimidation. If he still doesn’t crack we can send in Wanda, or even Reindeer Games if she’s not comfortable, to search his mind.”

“Are all Midgardian politics like that?” Loki heard the Valkyrie ask Thor after the meeting. Thor only shrugged so she turned to Bruce.

“I mean, I haven't been here in a while but it’s always kinda been fucked up.”

Only an hour after the meeting, Anderson took out one million dollars in cash. Stark tracked him to a small cafe where he was going to, no doubt, pay the assassin. The team rallied, but of course, Loki wasn’t going. Apparently, he wasn’t ‘cleared’ yet. The only other people staying behind were the Valkyrie, Thor, and Barton due to a recent injury. 

Loki went to his room to sulk, although he told everyone he was thinking. He didn’t want to be here. Maybe he wanted to go somewhere that reminded him of home with tall buildings that reached the sky… 

🌹

"Hello, (Y/N)." Loki’s voice was as smooth as it was in your head, but it was different. The only way you could describe it was that it was solid. It felt less intimate. Like he could bless others with his words, but it was more special because he was here. 

"Loki," you breathed.

"You look more beautiful than I ever could imagine." He stepped closer.

You touched your hair self-consciously. There were multiple knots, and it probably looked like one of those bird nests the dogs always knocked out of trees. You had woken up in a hurry and your hair being trapped in the hood of your cloak probably didn't help.

Then it occurred to you that you were wearing only your nightgown, and you tightly wrapped your cloak around yourself. Loki wouldn’t hurt you, but no man has seen you in an outfit so revealing. Still, you took another step closer.

"I do not know what to say." Fortunately, your voice didn’t shake or waver as you had feared, but Loki could probably feel your nervousness.

You both took a final step closer. You reached up and cupped Loki's face in your hand which tingled slightly when you made contact. You admired his sharp features and bright blue-green eyes. Then you shivered in the cold winter air. Loki noticed and pulled you into a hug. You leaned into him and felt a shiver, a different, better shiver, shoot through your body.

“You’re real.” Your soft voice was almost lost in the biting wind. “I was so scared that I was dreaming.”

Another goddamned dream about Loki? You groaned into your pillow and pushed a few damp strands of hair away from your face. Why now, all of a sudden? Was it because he was so close? Just a few hours upstate in the Avenger’s compound.

Pushing the dream aside, you stretched and got ready for the day. You had sent the photo to the Senator, who you had learned was very fucking corrupted, and he replied with a location. That changed your plans a bit, you hadn't physically met a client in decades, but it was for the better for multiple reasons.

The first reason was that the cafe he had chosen was next to a flower shop where you got your supply of roses. The second reason was that it meant his apartment would be empty. While you went to get the money, and eventually kill Senator Anderson, Max was going to rob his house. It wasn’t something you’d usually do, but honestly, the shitty asshole deserved it.

Your lips were painted red and you wore your usual boots and a leather jacket. Your regular hair was hidden behind a pink and green wig, courtesy of Max. A baseball cap and large sunglasses further hid your appearance. Though if somebody knew your face, the hat and glasses did nothing. There were multiple knives hidden on your body as well as a handgun tucked into your waistband and a pocket pistol in your, well, pocket.

As you walked into the cafe, Izzy, the auburn-haired florist, nodded to you. She had Botanokinesis, plant manipulation, so your supply of white roses was never low. Every once in a while, Izzy would take a job but she had told you she was very happy in her shop.

You noticed the Senator immediately. He still wore a suit and the sunglasses did nothing to hide his identity. There were two young women behind the counter and you suspected that the four other ‘customers’ were too buff not to be the Senator’s security. Anderson had his back to the door which meant you would have to get past his security to get out. You zeroed in on the black briefcase on the ground by his feet.

“Senator,” you greeted and sat down across from him.

“You can’t possibly be the one I talked to,” the asshole replied. “You’re just a girl.”

“Well of course I couldn’t be,” you rolled your eyes behind your heavily tinted glasses. “My boss is too busy and smart to meet you in public.” He didn’t notice your sarcasm. You pulled out the burner phone and showed him the messages as proof. “Now, I’m also busy so if we can get this over with?”

“Sure, darling.” He put the briefcase flat on the table and pushed it towards you.

“Open it.” Even though small boobie traps wouldn’t hurt you much, it wasn’t a piece of information you wanted to give him.

Anderson sighed and complied. Then you turned it around to quickly inspect the contents. One thousand one hundred dollar bills. Hello Mr. Franklin. You nodded in satisfaction and comically rubbed your hands together to inconspicuously grab a knife that was hidden up your sleeve.

“Thank you, Senator. That will be all.”

You closed the case, stood up, and plunged your knife deep into his left carotid artery. As his security descended upon you, you pulled the knife out and his neck satisfyingly squirted blood. The Senator collapsed with his hands clutching his wound desperately. The pool of blood rapidly grew underneath him.

The two baristas screamed behind the counter and the Senator’s security drew their guns. You flipped the small table for cover as bullets pierced the cafe’s window behind you. Perfect. Just a bit more.

You pulled out the handgun from your waistband and with practiced ease, shot three of the four goons. The last one got the bloodied knife to the face. You elbowed the already damaged window and it finally broke, raining glass down on you. Ignoring the small cuts, you jumped out of the cafe through the window as a familiar red and gold suit landed in front of you. Why the fuck were the Avengers here? What about Loki?

You darted into Izzy’s shop and she played her part well, screaming that you had run out the back when you had actually gone into the side room. You listened as the Avengers followed her directions. One person, maybe it was the Black Widow, stayed behind to help calm down the seemingly hysterical Izzy. If she wasn’t so happy at her shop and she didn’t want to work directly for you, she could be a great actress.

You rolled back the rug on the ground to reveal a metal trapdoor. You entered the code to unlock it and climbed down into the darkness. Behind you, you heard the trapdoor’s magnetic lock click back into place. Two centuries ago, you had tunnels dug underneath Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens for easy getaways. If you went… that way, you would end up in Sandra’s souvenir shop which was a couple of blocks away from your penthouse.

With a million dollars in one hand and a handgun in the other, you walked down the concrete tunnel.

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Taglist:

@kaithehero @liliannyah​ @andreasworlsboring101 @oatballsoffury​ @aberrant-annie

[willsimpforanyone]

Hiiii🥰🥰 could I get a tony x reader where the reader is related to Peggy Carter in some way. He always flirts and annoys her until something goes wrong at the lab or at SHIELD and they end up getting sent back to the 40s so they have to find Pegs and Howard to help them get back. And while there they realize how much they actually like eachother and all. Pleeeaassee. I really like this idea and I can’t wait to see what you might do. Thank you 🥰🥰

my goodness that’s a complex request! a brilliant idea, i’m honoured that you want to know what i’d write, thank you so much <3

okay lets see how this goes...

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I was tapped on the shoulder with a screwdriver. “Thanks James, I was jus- oh, it’s you.”

Tony Stark’s grinning face was above me, his hand was the one with the screwdriver I’d asked my assistant James to get me. I rolled my eyes, snatching the tool from him and turning back to my work. “Wow, so cold for someone so hot,” Tony hummed behind me. 

“You’d think with how much money you have, you’d be able to buy some class,” I bit back. I heard him thump against the wall, and in the corner of my eye I saw him slide down to sit next to me, hand on his heart.

“You wound me, gorgeous,” he groaned, picking up a couple screws and fiddling with them. 

Snatching the screws away from him, I began to fix a panel to the wall of the contraption. “My apologies, Stark, I didn’t realise you gave that much of a shit.” I was hoping that he’d leave me alone, but apparently my hopes were too high. 

“Carter, I’d hope you’d know by now-” He was cut off by a sudden shudder in the machine. “The hell was that?”

I lifted myself from the floor to look out of the door to the machine, only to see that it was shut. Nothing too alarming in and of itself, except James’ face was struck with panic. Tony seemed to realise this at the same time, and we both raced to the door. “James?! What’s happening?” I yelled as the machine shook again. Tony stumbled and I caught hold of his arm to steady him. 

“I-I don’t know!” James’ frantic muffled voice barely travelled through the thick glass of the door. Suddenly, Nick Fury came sweeping into the room, heading straight for the outside control panel. 

“Stark, Carter, can you hear me?” 

We both nodded as he looked up at us. 

“Can you turn off the machine from the inside?” 

Tony looked at me hopefully, but the hope died as he saw my expression of terror. I took a shaky breath. “No, sir. The controls in here aren’t finished, I was working on them just now.” Fury looked grim. 

Without any warning, the machine rumbled and both Tony and I were thrown to the floor. The room outside seemed to be phasing in and out of reality. Fury seemed to make a decision, hitting a couple buttons on the outside control panel. “Okay, we can’t stop you going, but we can control where you go.”

Tony looked at me wildly. “What the fuck kind of machine is this?!”

I turned to see panic in his eyes, his breathing laboured. I had no idea that Fury had kept him in the dark about this, but I’d have to tell him the truth. “Tony, this machine is capable of transgressing the natural order of time, allowing S.H.I.E.L.D. to traverse the expanse of space and time in a few seconds. Or at least, it will be once I fix the internal control panel.”

His expression briefly morphed into one of fascination. “This is a time machine?!”

“Yeah, if you wanna call it that.” I turned back to Fury. “Where are we going?”

It was difficult to make out the next few words- “Late 1940s...you both...Stark...Carter...”

And all of a sudden, with no preparation, we’d moved. Fury was gone, James was gone, the whole outside lab was gone and replaced with what looked to be a basement, and it was just me and Tony in, essentially, a large box. I could hear Tony’s breathing get faster and shallower, so I pushed my own panic down and spun to take his hand in mine.

“Tony, look at me. We’re gonna be okay, we’re gonna get out of this. But I need you to take deep breaths with me, okay?”

It took a couple minutes, but Tony’s breathing began to even out, and in helping him, I managed to calm myself. We were sat on the floor, his hand still in mine, when I very faintly heard voices coming from the door of whatever room we were in. There was nowhere to hide, and I made a mental note to include cloaking in the hardware of the machine if- no, when, we got back to S.H.I.E.L.D.. As it was, we could just stand and prepare to meet whoever was coming to investigate the noise that came from us landing. 

The door flung open, and two men ran in. The first man was about 5′9″, maybe 5′10″, with a smart suit and slicked back hair; he looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him. The second man was taller, maybe 6′, a towel flung over his shoulder and also wearing a smart suit. They stopped short on seeing us and the contraption we were contained in, surprise evident in their faces. 

I looked over at Tony to see him staring at the first man intently. It was clear that no one else was gonna talk, so I stepped forward. “Hi, excuse the intrusion, could you tell me where and when we are? Please?” 

The two men focused their eyes on me. The second man spoke. “Uh, yes-” he had a strong Queen’s English accent “-you’re in Mr Stark’s basement, and it’s 1947. May I ask, what exactly are you doing here?”

My mind was whirling trying to think of a plausible excuse and coming up blank when Tony moved closer to the glass wall separating us all. “We time travelled. We’re from your future, kind of.”

I hit him. “Tony! What the fuck! You aren’t supposed to tell peopl-”

“Okay,” shrugged the first man. I blinked and stared at him. He laughed. “I’ve seen stranger things, doll.”

I raised my eyebrow at Tony and he shrugged; and I knew where I’d seen the first man before. “That’s...that’s Howard Stark? Your dad Howard Stark?” I hissed at Tony, low enough so the glass would block the sound. He nodded and I detected a slight glassy quality to his eyes. 

“Um, excuse me?” The second man seemed hesitant to talk. “Are you alright? Are you... stuck?” I moved towards the door and hit the ‘open’ button on the right. There was a hiss as the door opened. The journey must’ve knocked the mechanism and fixed it. Howard Stark reached out to help me out the box, and in a few seconds both Tony and I were on 1940s ground, breathing 1940s air- it was surreal. 

The two men introduced themselves, finally. Of course, I knew who Howard Stark was, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the second man was Edwin Jarvis. I shot a slightly confused look at Tony, and he winked back- yes, he had named his AI assistant after his dad’s butler. 

My ears perked up at the sound of heels on wooden floors coming from upstairs. “Mr Stark, do you have guests over?”

He winked at me, much like Tony did. “Call me Howard, beautiful,” he moved his gaze to the door of the basement which was still open, showing a staircase. “And I think, if I remember the sound of oxfords correctly, that will be the lovely Miss Peggy Carter,” and he started back up the stairs, gesturing for the rest of us to follow. I was frozen. Peggy Carter? Like, the founder of S.H.I.E.L.D. Peggy Carter? Like- 

“You’re aunt Peggy Carter?” Tony murmured into my ear as he passed me, grabbing my arm and gently pulling me along. I nodded slowly. Were there any other notable Peggy Carters that Mr Stark Senior knew?

Sure enough, at the top of the staircase, stood one Miss Margaret Carter. “Hey English, what’s going on?” Howard went to give Peggy a hug, which she fluidly side-stepped in favour of shaking Jarvis’ hand. 

“Howard, I did tell you I needed to speak to you, where have you been?” 

“Sorry Peggy, I was distracted by the stowaways in my basement.”

“The...what in your what?”

Howard gestured to me and Tony. “These two time travelled into my basement. I believe them.” Peggy rolled her eyes, and Tony looked pointedly at you as if to say ‘you do exactly the same damn thing, what the fuck’.

Peggy breathed out sharply. “Then what are they still doing here? I assume something is wrong with their machine- no one would intentionally time travel in non-period specific clothing, why haven’t you fixed the issue yet?”

Howard blinked as Peggy pushed past him. “Hello, my name is Peggy Carter, a pleasure. My apologies for Howard, particularly to you-” she locked eyes with me “- as I’m sure he’s already tried to flirt with you, no doubt unsuccessfully.” 

I laughed. Even I could see the similarities between me and my aunt. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” I smiled back at her teasingly, and she laughed lightly. “But, we do need to get back to... where we’re from as soon as possible.”

Peggy turned abruptly to Howard. “See? Let’s take a look at the problem, shall we?”

He gestured to the stairs. “Lead the way, English.”

With the combined effort of two Starks, two Carters and a Jarvis, the internal control panel was up and running. It was interesting to watch the relationship between Peggy and Howard. There was an intense fondness between them, and I saw a lot of their relationship in my own interactions with Tony. Perhaps...perhaps there was more affection for him than I had allowed myself to feel. 

It seemed as if all too soon Tony and I were ready to go back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base. Howard and Peggy stepped out of the machine, followed by Tony, and then me. Having spent some time with the aunt I’d never really known left me feeling nostalgic, I knew her better now than I ever would. I looked over at Tony who was looking at his father, who in turn was quietly conferring with Jarvis. 

“Time to go, I guess,” I turned to Tony, who nodded, still somewhat fixated on Howard. I gently tugged at his hand, and he allowed himself to be pulled into the machine. He stopped me just before I shut the door.

“Uh, Howard?” He asked. Howard stepped closer. “This is gonna sound weird, but... I love you. I should have told you that a lot more.”

Howard looked taken aback. “Uh, thank you?” Then it was almost as if he was compelled to speak further- “...I love you too.”

I went to face Peggy, and was about to open my mouth when I noticed her smiling at me. She reached out for my hand. “Before you say it first- I love you,” she whispered. 

My eyes were wide. “But, what?”

She laughed and squeezed my hand. “You and I are a little too alike. As are those two,” she said, nodding towards Tony and Howard. “I know you’re part of my family, I’m not as dense about these things as Howard.”

I smiled and squeezed her hand back. “Thank you, Peggy. I love you too.” 

We let go, and she closed the door to the machine. I reached out for Tony’s hand, and he twisted our fingers together. The controls were already set for the correct time and place, and together, Tony and I pushed the button. 

Howard, Peggy and Jarvis’ faces phased out of reality, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. base came back into view. I was so relieved I jumped on Tony and hugged him tight. He was surprised and stumbled slightly but caught me and hugged me just as tight. 

“Well ain’t that just sweet. We been waiting for an hour and you two won’t even say hi?”

I flushed and Tony put me down as we turned to see Fury still at the external control panel. I tapped the ‘open’ button and to my joy, the door opened and Tony and I jumped out of the machine. 

“I take it the damn thing works?” Fury asked. We both nodded vigorously. “Alright, rest of the day off, both of you, go home.”

We didn’t need to be told twice. We were out of the base within ten minutes. 

Tony stopped me before we went our separate ways home. “Hey, um, would you maybe... wanna come to dinner at Stark Tower? It’s just- you’re really pretty and really smart and I kinda maybe like you a lot,” he stuttered, and I could feel the hand holding mine shaking slightly. 

I didn’t even hesitate. “Yeah, Tony, I would love that.”

Because hey, we just went back in time together. That bonds people.

______________

wow this took me a good couple hours to complete! i really hope you like it and it didn’t ramble on too long. thank you so much for requesting <3

[oficytheft]

Finding His Way Out of the Time Stream: < Chapter 8 >

It had been a couple of days since they had left 1967, after they had gotten back onto the ship he'd nicely asked Amaya to bring Mick some burn cream and bandages for him and since then he had been vaguely avoiding the other man. He didn't walk out of a room when he came in but he didn't exactly acknowledge that he was there either, he was sitting on the ground in his room now tossing a ball at the doors to his room and catching it in an even pattern. The motion was repetitive enough that he felt like he'd been sitting there forever but in reality?

It had only been maybe 20 minutes since he'd finished doing maintenance on his gun and sat down there, he rolled his head back in annoyance when his doors slid open and said. "Gideon, I thought I said I didn't want to be bothered." The response he got didn't come from the AI however but instead from the sound of familiar footsteps that caused him to practically roll away from where he was to avoid a sharp kick to the ankle, he looked up at his sister with a glare on his face. "What the hell, Lisa."

"What? I think it's only fair I get a hit in for thinking you were dead, jerk." He scowled at her for a second as he got up, entirely anticipating the punch to the arm that he received once he was up but deciding that he'd just get it over with now rather than waiting and letting her plan something worse as her payback for thinking that he had died. After though she took another step towards him for a hug and he felt her shoulders noticeably relax when he returned it. "I'm glad your not dead, Lenny." Leonard let out a sigh and squeezed his sister a little tighter as he glanced over to check that his door was in fact closed, he did not need his teammates seeing him right now.

"Yeah, I'm glad I ain't dead too. But what are you doing here?" He asked as he pulled out of the hug, going to retrieve his ball from just outside the door before letting them slide shut again. When he turned back around Lisa was sitting on his bed with her back against the wall and her feet outstretched over the edge where she was sliding her shoes off to flop down onto the floor. He simply let out an exasperated sigh that Lisa always swore he saved just for her and went over to pick the boots up and stand them against the wall off to the side of where the bed was, he slipped his own shoes off well he was at it so he could sit on the other end of the bed.

"Well your Captain said Mick suggested they go tell me you were alive, apparently none of them realized he had even told me. Next thing I know I'm hunted down by Flash's team so some old guy named Martain and his...what, assistant? Jax could tell me you were alive. I guess they had made a stop in for the day so the guy could see his grandkid or whatever, they thought that would be the end of it but jokes on them because I wouldn't let em leave without bringing me to." Leonard seated himself on the bed as he listened to her talk, stretching his legs out in front of him for a moment before crossing them and leaning back against the wall as she finished. He could only imagine that the reason they'd agreed to bring her was that she'd mentioned that hitting him being part of the plan. "I'm surprised I found you alone though, usually you and Mick are inseparable for weeks after you make up from a break. Which-" He felt a jab of her toes into his leg before she finished. "-he told me all the garbage that went down when he told me you died. What the fuck, Lenny?"

"Lisa I swear to god, if you keep assaulting me I am going to leave you in here and lock this damn room." He reached down to rub his leg where she had jabbed him as he spoke before actually responding to what she said. "Mick and I had a little disagreement on our last mission." He contemplated ignoring her expectant stare, deciding that he preferred to not tempt her into kicking him again so kept talking. "Our latest mission ended up with us in 1967 Vietnam, and we ran into Dick Rory 3 years before Mick was even conceived. You could say that neither one of us reacted the best when he fell back into a certain old habit."

If it wasn't for the fact that this wasn't the first time around with them talking about a subject like this? Leonard wouldn't have bothered telling her; not only did he not want to make her worry about Mick, but he also didn't want that look she was giving him now either. The look of understanding was almost worse than pity. "It couldn't have been too bad though, he's the one who showed me where your room was and he seemed fine...you haven't had any problems sleeping since then have you?" and there it was, exactly what he assumed she was going to think. The night terrors had been bad after the fire, and she probably assumed that Mick doing that to himself might trigger them again.

"No, Gideon's been giving me some my own personal prescription of knock-out pills the last couple of nights just encase." "Lenny." "Not a long-term solution. But it works, for now, not too keen on the idea of having her call Mick to my room because of one." He watched as she let out a sigh of annoyance and slid herself to the edge of the bed, raising a brow when she slipped on her shoes before raising his hands up to catch his own when she threw them at him with nearly no warning. "What are you doing, and what are you gonna do if I say no?" He'd already pushed himself to the edge of the bed and started slipping on his shoes as he started talking though, not exactly keen on the idea of her wandering around the ship on her own.

"Well since I seem to be the only one of the three of us with any kind of emotional competence, we're gonna go find Mick and you two are gonna sit down and have a conversation like adults. You'd think at nearly 50 years old the two of you would have figured out that communication is better than-" Leonard was just a second to dodge her hand when she turned towards him to smack him in the arm with the back of her hand. "-stranding your husband in the middle of nowhere in a random time period Leonard."

He just narrowed his eyes in annoyance at his sister and pushed her hand away from him and said with a hard tone. "You weren't there Lisa, you don't know everything that happened." 

She didn't even miss a beat as she turned away and responded without looking at him as she opened the door and started out with him following after her, knowing that was the best way to avoid her causing a scene in front of his teammates. "And who's fault is that Lenny? You leave me a voice mail and just fly off on an adventure before I can even get back to you, then you go and act like an idiot before getting yourself killed." She stopped walking and turned to look at him, he felt a pit in his stomach in anticipation before he could even see her face. He swore she'd been practicing that look since she was just a kid, it had never worked on Lewis but then that wasn't saying much. Depending on the situation it usually made Leonard either compliment with what she was asking for or made him feel guilty like it was right now. "You're the only family I have left, you and Mick. And you just up and left me behind without a second thought."

"That's not true." His eyes narrowed less in annoyance and more to hide the guilt that he felt, they weren't in his room any more and one of the Legends could come across them and he wasn't quite comfortable enough around them to let them see this side of him. "I knew it would be dangerous, going against The Flash is one thing Lis. At least Allen has a code of honor. But I did digging on Vandel Savage before I came on this trip, he would have killed you without hesitation if he got the chance. I wouldn't put you in danger like that. Thought of Mick dying? That's heartbreaking, I don't know what I would do with myself. But losing you would end up with me dead sooner or later." He hadn't planned on being gone so long though, he'd figured 'hey, time machine. I'll be back in a week either way' the same way he had when he left Mick behind, but then he'd had to go and put himself in the middle of an explosion. 'I was coming back' seemed to be his mantra with people he cared about lately and as lame an excuse it was that didn't mean it wasn't true. Finally, he relented. "I am sorry Lisa."

"Good, because if you die on me again I'm gonna make your life hell." And with that, she turned away and started down the hallway again and stopping in front of Mick's door. "He showed me where his room was on the way to yours." She said before opening the door and lightly pushing him reluctantly into the room, which earned her a look from Leonard and a grumble of annoyance from Mick from the other side of the room when he realized what was going on. "Now, you two stay in here and talk about your feelings, and don't come out until your done. And that doesn't mean the first thought that came to your heads, now talk to each other and stop being idiots."

[dickytwister]

HEY do you maybe have like an oc page or could you tell me something about all your ocs because i'm Interested and you have my full attention :eyes:

AHSJDKGLHL that's so sweet i'm nfjghl???? i don't have an oc page bc i'm the embodiment of an old man being given an iphone after 50 years of using a rotary phone but !!! i can yell abt them a bit aaa thank you for asking abt them 🥺🥺💚

i put everything under the cut bc dear god i have a lot to say abt my kids and i'm not gonna make everyone scroll through that HHHHHH haw 🤠🤠

elliot fletcher

- he's my deputy in fc5!! he's from waverly in iowa and he's just...very tired nfjfkhl give my poor man a break

- everytime his radio crackles he ages 10 years and if it's john talking add another 10 years

- he keeps the three heralds alive but he doesn't care abt joseph <3

- gets in trouble bc he's impulsive af nfjghl when jacob is close to the cage?? ram his face in the bars. when john leans like rlly close in the confession scene?? headbutt 😌🙏🏼

- the only people who know abt his past are earl, grace, faith and john, the rest just kinda speculate and elliot lets them believe what they want bc not only does he rlly not want ppl to know the actual truth, it's also very funny to listen to the stuff they can come up with

- speaking of faith he often seeks her for advice and sometimes they get high together and he gets teary eyed bc she's just... very nice to him and when all you see everyday is violence it's overwhelming to be shown a little bit of kindness 🥲🙏🏼

- he's in love with john but also he'd kick him across the county if he could but also he'd give his life for him

- after the bombs and all he unlocks his final form and becomes A Husband™, complete with a beard, a scarf and bad jokes that make john want to officially marry him so he can divorce his ass

- fun fact i came up with the name elliot fletcher bc i thought it sounded neat but recently i found out there's a trans actor called elliot fletcher too??? like what were the odds ngl that's so cool

carter quill

- this is my character in the marvel dnd game my brother is dming!!

- his parents are peter quill and kitty pryde and he inherited his mom's powers (so he can become immaterial and stuff uwu) and his dad's tiny pebble brain~

- he grew up on a ship with the guardians so his family is just... a bunch of uncles, one of which is a tree

- he's part of an initiative called the peacekeepers with isaaq cage (luke cage's and jessica jones' son), finneas "zorn" reeves (brock rumlow's and sinthea shmidt's son), lu "highway star" khan (the mandarin's son), alexis "hex" pythagoras (doctor strange's protégé) and ev-lin (ronan the destroyer's daughter who also happens to be carter's bully when they were 11 HHHHHH)

- everyone agrees that carter is just... a puppy. a little labrador. so overexcited. head empty. he doesn't know what's going on but he's having fun with his friends and that's what matters <3

- he died once and went to hell for like 66 years bc he held a bomb while it was exploding but he got better and he doesn't remember most of his time in hell but also he's a lil traumatised

- he wears cute skirts sometimes and also froggie themed clothes 🥰🥰 he's terrible at applying nail polish and it ends up smudged most of the time bc he can't sit still for more than two minutes without going insane but he still likes it

- he has a pet bird called ink!! he thought it was a nice name bc his last name is quill so u know,,, ink,,, quill,,,, he inherited his dad's terrible humor also

- he's fruity and has a big fat crush on one of his teammates 😳😳👉🏼👈🏼

- he strictly refuses to kill, so he uses stunt energy guns and a three section staff to fight!! he accidentally killed someone once and threw up

- he knows asl and is fluent in it!! he's also very bad at reading measurements when cooking (and reading in general) so he relies on their proto-ai, dadji, to help him cook and he listens to audiobooks a lot!!

- idk what else to say abt him except like two games ago he was in the hospital bc lu got hurt and he wanted to get him muffins from a coffee shop across the streets but he panicked when faced with the selection so he bought one of each and came back to the hospital room with like,,,, twenty muffins

- i found this pic of his face claim and it honestly just radiates his vibe so here have it

thorgran galvish

- he's my dwarf enchanter from another homebrew dnd game!! in this universe (and maybe others idk shit abt actual dnd HHHH forgive me) enchanter dwarves are lowkey enslaved bc of their rare link with magic

- thorgran blew up a wall and ran away to the surface so now he's a fugitive and he's constantly on the run uwu trust issues ensue

- he loves the sky so much?? especially at night?? he knows abt constellations, but he thinks they're just whatever you see in the stars and doesn't know there are like,,, actual constellations so he sits on the roof of a tall building sometimes and finds his own constellations

- he also tries to draw them but he rlly sucks at it aslkdsgl that doesn't stop him from filling his journal with little stars and drawings!!

- during my very first game with him he found his rival, who turned out to be a 16 years old teenager?? millennial/gen z rivalry

- agh i don't have much abt him yet bc i've only just started to play him but he's my beefiest boy and also a dilf 🥰🥰

theadric "elder" montajay

- yet another character from the same universe as thorgran, but this time it's a funky little halfling bard

- his instrument is the violin!! he tried every other instrument and his mom was very supportive despite how bad he was at all of them. his community was raided and his father died, so he inherited his violin and that turned out to be the only instrument he could play

- took his love of the economy to the next level when he decided to fuck every gang leader he could find to control their operations and ruin their organizations so the money they hoarded could be put back in circulation

- accidentally fell in love with a half-orc gang leader and was abt to tell him the truth abt what he was doing but was exposed by the first person he'd cheated so he had to run without explaining himself to his lover smh ://

- "i don't wanna fall in the slutty bard cliché," i say before immediately giving elder the tightest leather pants and opening his shirt to show his majestic chest hair.

- surprisingly good with kids?? anyone younger than him who looks sad becomes His Child and he turns into a lil mama, tasting the food of an inn first to assure it's not poisoned, giving hugs, soft shit like that ngl he's just a mom 😔😔

- we abandoned the game he was in but we left off when he'd just escaped a dwarven prison with his new child and others owo anyway slutty bard with chest hair?? that's just the witcher's jaskier

scylla

- my gay pirate lady!! i don't have much abt her either bc AAA BRAINROT but !!! i still love her very much

- she's a hybrid between a human and a psaarinch (fish folks in our homebrew universe uwu) and she looks very human except she has like shark abilities?? she can smell blood, taste with her skin, breathe underwater for like two hours or smth, sharper teeth,,

- she started off as a privateer but like what was the kingdom gonna do?? track her down to make sure everything she did was legal?? nah man she got that sweet fleet and became a pirate

- she beats men up in inns and gives their wives a good time <3

- she's very close to her crew and they're kinda just a big family

- she fights with those s-shaped staffs?? but they're actually blades ngfhl she's very agile and looks like she's dancing when she's actually fighting

- fun fact she's my second shark oc the first one was called maito and she was a yellow lantern in a dc game we did (the main difference between them is that maito loved men while scylla is very much a lesbian 😌🙏🏼)

i have like so many more of them but that's already such a long post and i don't wanna do too much NGL if u wanna know more hmu i'll yell some more 😎😎🙏🏼🙏🏼