#and yes we got in a lovely little OT3 moment there :)

[victorluvsalice]

-->As Harvestfest started in earnest! And, as Victor was already in the greenhouse, I had him kick off the celebrations by offering a pie to one of the happy standing gnomes in the corner by the front door!

The gnome was immediately like “Fuck you and fuck your pie.” XD Poor Victor pleaded for forgiveness, but only got a nasty shock for his efforts. I had him flee the greenhouse in favor of upgrading the dryer in the laundry nook by the stairs to ALSO be “Whisper Quiet” while Smiler busied themselves putting up some holiday-appropriate banners and bunting with the decoration box (not that anyone could really see any of it, given the miserable weather they were having, but it's the thought – and tradition – that counts). By the time they were done, all the gnomes had teleported to the living room to gather around the TV, so I had Smiler approach the “Guardian of the Gnomelaxy” alien gnome and offer it a future cube. It accepted happily, so I decided to have Smiler try pleading for forgiveness from the upset pie gnome –

Aaaand they got electrocuted too. Damn – and they’re the charismatic one! I had them flee back to the first floor hallway, where they hung out with Victor while he finished his upgrades, while Alice (after a quick bathroom break) came down to offer some coffee to one of the pool floatie gnomes. This was also accepted, so SHE tried her luck on the angry pie gnome, begging for mercy –

Aaaand got shocked (which unfortunately I didn’t get a proper picture of). This gnome was just NOT having it! All I could be grateful for was the fact that the happy gnomes seemed to be fixing the TV as much as he kept breaking it!

-->With the gnomes mostly appeased, and the thunderstorm having settled down and become a less-dangerous rain, I had Alice recover from her electrocution by listening to some classical music to fulfill a want while Smiler briefly went out and raked some leaves – and I mean VERY briefly, because I quickly decided they shouldn’t be raking them in the rain, that made no sense. And besides, they wanted to give Victor a hug, which I liked a lot more. Unfortunately, the original interaction ended up timing out by the time Victor was finished with the dryer upgrades – fortunately, this allowed me to make them embrace more romantically. :) And then I had Alice come in and give Victor a cuddle from behind, while Smiler looked on with interest. XD I love when I can do a little OT3 moment with them…

-->Anyway – with Necessary Romance done, I had Alice go back upstairs and finish her book while Victor appreciated the classical music from the living room phonograph before heading down into the basement to experiment with his cauldron and Smiler went upstairs to listen to some New Age tunes and do some yoga in their room. Mostly because I’d switched them over to the Inner Peace aspiration and the former would help them find peaceful surroundings. (Which reminds me, I gotta send them to that spa I built at some point…) Alice finished her book quicker than I anticipated, so I had her take advantage of the break in the weather to clean out the chicken coop and the cow pen – which took a bit longer than anticipated because she started cleaning up all the stinky leaf piles on the lot too, and her first attempt ended a T-pose and her dropping some random garbage on the ground. *shrug* Anyway, I put the garbage in the can for her and had her feed Toothy (who had the old cake tongue out) before sending her to muck out the cow pen – this she did successfully, AND managed to clean up more stinky leaf piles, this time without any T-posing. Yay! It’s nice to see the lot looking a lot cleaner, that’s for sure.

[viridian-house]

Do you have any favorite naruto fics you’d recommend? Any pairing, complete or not, on-hiatus, gen, oneshots, anything is fine lol

I was legitimately just pruning my bookmarks the other day!! thank you so much for asking.

I don't read too much fanfic these days, and I'm picky when I do--only about grammar/punctuation and immersion though. I ship a LOT of stuff (I guess The Youth would call me a proshipper) and although I never read darkfic, I don't shy away from weirder kinks and unhealthy relationship stuff.

categorizing by pairing, if applicable. some of them are smutty, and please note that the first 3 come from FFN which doesn't have a tagging system, but there is some SA CW I'll give in advance.

KAKASAKU | my first OTP! formative fics that totally reshaped my understanding of what fanfiction could be, and how well-written chemistry can make it or break it

HOUSE OF CROWS is the quintessential kakasaku fanfic. it was written during shippuden and so is canon divergent because of that, but also tells a comprehensive story of its own right that is intriguing and well planned. excellent characterization and world building. leaves me gutted in the best way on my yearly reread.

DUTY BEFORE HONOR is another silvershine classic. I don't reread is as often as House of Crows but they are just about equal in quality. again, the chemistry between them is off the charts, and the world feels so alive.

WILL OF FIRE for me is up there with House of Crows in being essential kakasaku reading. cynchick is a multisaku champion and a wonderful storyteller. the stakes in this one are stressful, the romance tense and believable, and we once again get lovely world building and great chemistry.

ITAKISA | a pairing near and dear to me, because men who do everything wrong are so deeply relatable. they both know they don't deserve anything good ever again but they found each other!!!! ARE YOU GUYS SEEING THIS--

A SHARK HIDDEN INN THE LEAVES doesn't have my favorite version of Kisame, but he's plenty close enough. it's a lengthy oneshot that got me into certain *ahem* kinks. it is a very fun and wild fic that is entirely self-aware of how absurd it's being, and manages to have nothing but sincerity at the same time (and I highly recommend the author's other stories as well)

AN ORCHESTRA PLAYING ON, INSANE is a modern AU (extremely rare in my bookmarks) that absolutely tore my heart out. god is it SO much to ask for these losers to be happy?! yes, it is, and I love every moment of it

MADAMITO | a rarepair I am SUCH a sucker for that has some of the most talented authors writing for it. lots of them have ot3 elements between them and hashirama, often angsty, but stuff like that is part of the appeal for me, lol

A HANDFUL OF SKY is an unfinished fic that I genuinely think about like once a week. if it ever updates then I will be over the moon. technically hashimadamito but it hadn't quite gotten there yet

LIKE ALTARS is just such a beautiful piece of writing, mostly on madara. it is everything, that is all

BLOOD AND RIVER WATER is more mito-centric but has one of my favorite madaras of all time

YOURS ARE RATTLED BONES is another short, mito-centric but gut-wrenching piece featuring the opposite type of madara from the last one

OTHER | character-centric stuff that isn't necessarily shippy but also doesn't have a very "gen" vibe either?

A SERPENT IN THE RICE is a little series about orochimaru that makes me feel so so so many things. highly recommended

HERETIC is such a love letter to kushina, and kurama too. cannot stress enough how much I adore this one

there's a few others that I probably won't link on tumblr, mostly unhealthy and/or "problematic" smut hhfhdj but maybe I'll make a public rec list on ao3 for these different categories and stuff like that.

but yeah that's pretty much it!!! I know it's not a huge list with a lot of variety but it's what I've enjoyed over the last 15+ years in the naruto fandom.

[qqueenofhades]

Ask and ye shall receive - how about a prompt around spiced winter drinks? Dealers choice on the fandom, maybe Dreamling or the Ren/Grey/Vargo ot3?

It’s one of the bitterest nights of the dwindling year, the canals glazed with ice and the pale stone warrens of Nadežra filled with eerie curls of mist, and even the altans and altas most dedicated to nocturnal misbehavior are generally inside, bundled up by warm fires or tucked in warm beds, and while Vargo certainly doesn’t have a philosophical objection to either activity (indeed, far from it) it unfortunately happens that he has to fucking work. It seems impossible that the piles of paper on his desk should have sprung to twice their original height in the last three days since he looked at them, but that’s the thing about political independence; it’s decidedly a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you get to arrange your own affairs. On the other, you… have to arrange your own affairs, and since Seterin has sat up and taken sharp notice of all these Vraszenians suddenly running around and exulting in their freedom, it heralds other possible conflicts down the line. That, Vargo supposes, is where sleeping with not just one but two legendary outlaws is likely to come in useful. If nothing else, they do have practice at this sort of thing.

A reluctant smile twitches his lip as he dips his pen and reaches unhappily for the first stack of correspondence. He misses Alsius – well, he always misses Alsius, but more than usual, who would absolutely love the boring nuts and bolts of this stuff, whereas it makes Vargo want to put his own eyes out with a hot stick. He scribbles and mutters and adds up figures, makes note of new requisitions and trade tariffs, ordinances of the freshly expanded Septerat; he doesn’t like it, but of course he didn’t rise to his original position by accident. The candles gutter low into waxy gremlins, and he thinks about drawing a numismata to keep them up, but that would suggest he will in fact be stuck here all night, and that’s a little too depressing to think about. Somebody’s got to do the ordinary grunt work while his dearly beloveds are running around the city in their silly costumes, but by the Lumen, why does it have to be him?

Just then, as he’s massaging the ache in his hand and thinking of some really good curses, Vargo smells a wisp of cinnamon, hears the faint creak of the floor, and turns halfway around, just as Ren leans down and presses a kiss into the side of his head. Voice rich and low with promise, she remarks, “Grey and I both perhaps feel we are being neglected.”

“This is your fault, you know,” Vargo grumbles, without heat. “Making me be the respectable one. And can’t you two entertain each other?”

Ren gives him another slightly wicked smile. “It’s more fun with you.”

Yes, Vargo agrees, it is at that. He vainly attempts to pretend that he will be doing paperwork for a few more moments – then, at Ren’s insistent tug, gets to his feet and lets her lead him down the hall, toward his private quarters at the back of the villa. Halfway there, a terrible thought occurs to him, and he stops short. “Is Arkady here?”

Ren bites a smirk. “She’s asleep. Upstairs. Even formidable knot bosses have to get their beauty sleep.”

“I very much doubt that,” Vargo mutters, since it seems unlikely that the newly-minted Alta Arkady Bones Vargonis has ever thought about beauty sleep in any capacity. But he’s glad to hear that she’s out of the way, after one too many moments when she nearly caught the three of them in flagrante delicto, and if Arkady knows a juicy secret like that, there’s no chance she’ll keep her trap shut instead of gleefully spilling it, if nothing else to see him squirm. It turns out, Vargo reflects sourly, that even without blood relation, his adopted daughter is very much like him in the hellraising department. In fact, far too much so. After all for the Nadežrans, blood is incidental, and secondary to whether an individual is inscribed in the family register. Arkady is, and that makes her as much his own, heir to his means and methods and moods, as if he did sire her in the ordinary fashion. Ažerais help them all.

He feels a sudden warmth on his face as they step into the lowlit sitting room, and gratefully spots the fire – which Grey Serrado is presently stoking, on his knees before the grate like a common scullion, which is possibly one of the less glamorous tasks ever asked of the great Rook. Still, it gives Vargo a certain glow, an inner warmth not just from the fire, and he strides inside. “Well, you two degenerates got my attention. What is it?”

Grey gets to his feet, brushing the soot off, and gives Vargo a ferocious stare that silently remarks he has the hells of a lot of nerve calling anyone else a degenerate. Still, he shrugs, crosses the carpet, and brushes the ghost of a kiss against Vargo’s cheek, while Ren cheerily shoves him onto the settee. Vargo is opening his mouth to ask what exactly they are intending to do to him, now that they’ve lured him here by bribes and trickery, but Grey forces a cup of hot spiced wine into his hand, and Vargo blinks at it. “Ah. What’s this?”

“Drink it,” Grey orders him, with the steely tones of the former Vigil captain, and Vargo fights a traitorous urge to salute. “You’ve been working too hard.”

“I thought you two were going to – ”

“Maybe later.” Ren perches on his other side and gives him another smile – still tinged with dark and wicked promise, the Rose’s thorns, but wistful as well, softer, and just wanting the three of them to have this quiet moment together in the cold winter night. ��Drink.”

Far be it from him to refuse an order from Alta Renata and Grey Serrado at once, Vargo thinks, even without their alter egos. And is that not the reason for all the trouble he’s gotten himself into, either in past, present, or future? But there is nothing else he would rather do, and no one else he would rather be with, in all this city of Faces and Masks. He lifts the cup, grins into the brim with a tenderness that seems impossible for his heart to bear, and drinks.

[gratuiciel]

(making a new post so i don't have to scroll for days getting to the bottom of it skjdfh) @ttkinnie

hell yea i've started writing it (⁠人⁠ ⁠•͈⁠ᴗ⁠•͈⁠) except now it's hanma, takemichi AND naoto being dads skfjsh i just HAD to include that guy. i thought it'd make sense (somehow) for all three of them to get transported to the past after a time leap gone wrong. long story short naoto and (unconscious)takemichi got kidnapped shortly after naoto killed mikey, and izana wants to use their power to prevent shin's murder in the past. except izana's been torturing naoto while waiting for takemichi to wake up bc he's not exactly the most stable guy out there, esp after mikey's death. when he sees naoto's state, michi runs to him and tries to shake his hand so he can make sure this future never happens, but hanma (who was tasked with guarding takemichi while he was out cold) tries to stop him, and the moment the three of them come into contact they get sent to the past, in like 1998. now they have nothing left but the clothes on their back, and they'll have to start from scratch in this nostalgic era... and eventually realize their past friends are still there, but they're all baby. i think hanma and naoto would have some nice parallels, each living essentially for one person, giving away everything for them (hanma following kisaki's orders and naoto trying to save his sister) but now that person is gone and their version in this world doesn't even know they exist... the angst. plus naoto really looks like kisaki at times. he's got them cold blue-grey eyes too. i think hanma would like him (he's got a thing for short (average-sized but everyone's short to him) kings with murderous thoughts). naoto would just wanna kill him & kisaki & izana though (even though the last two are still kids. getting tortured really didn't help fix that side of him). takemichi is gonna have to handle these two absolute menaces to society now skfhdf (watch me make this a romantic comedy + found family somehow despite the fucked up setting i started out with)

i understand the need to make your special guy suffer u_u that's just how it is sometimes (my current fave guy to hit with hammers is naoto, i hope i can write some good stuff with him for the server too)

absolutely love these murder plots for kisaki (a normal sentence) especially the part where he makes takemichi watch helplessly *giggles cutely* and him jamming communications is a+ evil mastermind stuff (people being completely at a loss for what to do the moment you take away their usual technology from them is always super fun and scary to think about). mikey being used to lure the others into a trap?? hell yeah B-)

hehehe there's just something about villains being a little good and heroes being a little bad :^) it's unexpected it's exciting and it just freaking rules tbh

wakui writing tr's main antagonist and tr's main love interest: "what if they were both obsessed with takemichi, to the point where we find out that even a dozen years later they still hadn't moved on from him at all? yes perfect." (need to write ot3 fic for them eventually... either this or hina gets a gf. i have GOT to stop making her sit it out in the cuck chair when she could have two utterly dedicated and loving husbands instead)

[lunar-years]

re: “the jamie factor” to the roykeeley resolution in the finale, they really do have to do something about it because they heavily implied that keeley still had feelings for him multiple times at the beginning of the season and that was… never resolved? unless they intended the resolution to just be that she wanted to be friends with him?? but (and maybe this is just my shipping goggles) I don’t feel like that really explains how she was talking about him to shandy and jack

Exactly.

This is one of the few things that will actually hack me off if it's done incorrectly in the finale (read: Roy/Keeley getting back together and Jamie is neither mentioned nor shown. Or, 1000x worse, if they do show him finding out/one of them telling him afterwards and he's just like "Oh I'm so happy for you guys! my two best friends who I absolutely don't also have feelings for! together at last! :)" because WHAT). I'm pretty confident they won't do that because of how little sense it makes but like. It's still an illogical fear of mine.

And look, I'm all for an ambiguous ending in which ot3 isn't defined. I don't really need any further confirmation beyond what we got last week. But the fact that the narrative did start (and subsequently interrupt) an "I don't want to just be friends" conversation between Roy & Keeley makes it an almost certainty that they're going to finish said conversation. In which case, I don't see how Roy and Keeley could make any choice about their relationship without thinking about/including Jamie. The only route to ambiguity I can see is Keeley turning Roy down (maybe after some more glances in Jamie's general direction to suggest to viewers with eyes that he's part of the reason) and then the three of them shown briefly as friends again.

As you say, there's been several moments in the season where it's been made pretty clear Keeley is thinking about Jamie in that way again. And even in the moment where Roy/Keeley are talking and Jamie interrupts them, Keeley 1) does not look like she's about to give a resounding yes to Roy and 2) drops her hand SO fast the moment Jamie walks through the door. How else are we supposed to read this, like ?? We know Roy still loves Keeley, there's been nothing to indicate Jamie isn't still in love with Keeley (as he told her last season) and everything Roy/Jamie this season has not been subtle development... the dots are connecting in a way that the writers absolutely have to not only be aware of but also intentional about at this point.

Not to mention that last week the entire Jamie Roy Keeley plot was however many minutes of "there is no heterosexual or monogamous explanation for this" so uhhh. yeah. I can only conclude that ot3 is going to be addressed.

[goongiveusnothing]

Yeah. I remember in 2015 even before Zayn left the band...harry was always so distant. Even when ot4 took selfies together, harry was always in the back, never smiling. And I remember so well how larries and harries manipulated their followers with “he’s not going solo” mantra every single day. That prick lied to his bandmates with “it’s only a break. We’re overworked. I want to take a break” then on December 30/31st 2015 he was laughing like a clown on that yacht with that baboon jeff signing his first solo contract. How fucking pathetic and embarrassing were those staged pap pics? They really called the paps to take pics of that moment. One of the cringest moments of his career. Seriously

those photos said it all. harry fake kissing jeff to even queerbait over it too. it's all that harry is. this cynical manipulative egotistical scheming guy who genuinely believes he's a generational talent and actor.

that date was the date of the end of the 1D contract. he didn't need to sign with the azoffs then, but he did, and did so publicly and deliberately because he was fucking relieved to be done with them all. remember him talking about crying his little panties about how he couldn't sing about sex and how he signed the contract because he finally could? a full grown babby man who wanted to enlighten us about his choking out women while doing cocaine that it literally made him sob his eye balls out.

yes, the larries were basically just helping the azoffs and harry scheme at that point. they spent the whole time lecturing the fans that harry wasn't going solo, there was no acting career, so that the fans basically let everything slide and didn't get mad about anything we could clearly see was happening. this let harry off the hook over the hiatus and everything else. they made it so much easier for harry to do what he did. no wonder he still panders to them.

i love that one behind the scenes video where louis and harry are sniping at each other, like they couldn't even take ONE video where they were looking like they were getting on, even in the one video which was silent, those two were done with each other. it was always OT3 in the background together, harry alone. even onstage they would ice each other out and harry was always off on his own, because he couldn't stand being near the others and vice versa. i think niall only went on harry's private jet because he didn't smoke, but not because they got on.

i keep saying it, but people really think niall is a low key mediator and friend to harry still, and i honestly don't see it. to me niall has been very curt about him, but if you look at all the videos of their interactions back then, niall was also fucking done with harry. he did not seem charmed or won over by him. it reminded me of the dunkirk guys looking like they just wanted harry to shut the fuck up in interviews. then at that concert they were seen at together a while back, they literally looked like they wanted to ignore each other the whole time, just standing there not even looking close or friendly or jokey. just awkward as fuck. and that's niall! who seems like he's the most chill (though honestly i do not think he's as chill as the fans believe) member of the band.

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

the power of the doctor

  c+p my livetweets

 first note: no one but maybe Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis has gotten the cybermen quite right... sure it's fun to have villains boasting, but cybermen (or ~cybermasters) are scary bc they're not supposed to do That (that being any emotion at all)

do appreciate the continuity of bringing back the ~hybrids~ (tm)... .

still holding out hope that there will be fallout/consequences to the last universe reset / Armageddon and the doctor's "solution" there (1% of hope)

can't tell if Too Dark Scene or Crappy Bandwith  T_TACE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HIDE YOUR WIFE HIDE YOUR PROFESSORS

SHE'S HEEEEEREMOUTH-ON-LEGS-WALLABY-QUEEN SHUT UP NO ONE TLAK TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

im gonna go ahead and say this makes canon one of my favorite short eu stories  - https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Girls%27_Night_In_(short_story)

"it's only been 3 decades for me" rip all the timelord-ace lore lol (in this continuity at least)dan slow down crazy it's only been 10 minutes

lmao i died @ the house still not being there xD

for future analysis: message about the comforts of modernity / technology doing away with regional cultures / identities?

i love my contact-lensed hypnotic trash son

yaz: is yours, isn't it? (...) yours from another time? me, immediately, without breathing: VALEYARD?????? RANI!!!?!?!?! 

i love this nonesense:

u know what would go great with that new UNIT building.. . .. a UNIT. . .. spin off

“are you ready for this?” “no! ””me neither!” me neither!!!!!!!

graphic design is my passion

im screaming chibnall is actually Getting It Right TOT

i love how this is proving the widely held fandom wisdom(tm) that 13 would not get away with her bs if she had been traveling with tegan and / or donna lol

one day it WILL be the valeyard / the rani and then You Will All See

and that was the day 23.342.340.923 university collage professor thoschei AUs were born and then launched into space 

im enjoying this a lot but i do have to give the critique that the emotional grounding of 13's and yaz's arcs feels very thin (as individuals and as a pair) and hasn't been the focus 20 minutes in, better hurry up @ show

I waited 2 years for this omg ot3 dynamicsssss   

HE'S IN T H E S T A I R S I REPEAT. HE'S IN **THE** STAIRS!!!!

gotta love a petty in-character reference

"oh, and ace! or should I say dorothy?" (...) "last time I saw you, you were half-cat" epic burns all around in this sunday night

the cameraperson doing those close af angles in the thasmin bit... i see you cameraperson

waiting for a twist because we've done the One Good Dalek thing like 3 times in new who asdfg 

i think Dhawan's master is forever gonna be my favorite master by far. the guys simply had no bad scenes ever. 

ooo, i liked this moment 

CHIBNALL: RECONCILE A L L  THE MYTHOLOGY!!!!!!

the master in the doctor’s body... i have read that fic

fear you got beaten to the punch there, m8 

fear you got beaten to the punch there, m8

me walking to the local convention w/ my first cosplay

chibnall: can i copy your homework? rtd: yes but change it a little

but,,, my spin off....,,, ):

the noise i just made omg

(screaming this was in the results when i went to re-check the meme's text sdlkjfdlksjf)

chibnall: can i copy your homework? moffat: yes but change it a little

we started the era with a funeral, and ended with support group for grief. bookend storytelling!

(though lol not to brag mates but the 10-era crew has probably have cycled thru a dozen whatsapp - facebook - zoom calls and discord groups by the time this is happening)

CHIBNALL IM GOING TO LET YOU FINISH BUT- 

OK overall takes...

im gonna need time to digest lol yes, lots of very clever things, cool lore, and thematic bookends (esp, re: the fam, unit, cycles, optimism, and the master), some Right choices for classic characters BUT a lot of wasted potential for the current ones (thasmin, 13, yaz, honestly even dan! what a flimsy goodbye...).

i also think this finale fits well  the rest of the era, a lot of excellent set ups for fic writers + fandom to elevate, esp in regards to character stuff and new interpretations of old themes (regeneration as identity, emigration metaphors, companion grief, etc). im always gonna be thankful for this lesson in the 13th era: art is what the interpreter of the art brings to it. a lot of people didn’t bring a lot to this era (for valid reasons, sometimes just for misogyny/racist ones)  so they didn’t get a lot, but those who worked their way thru the subtle stuff and even “added-in” stuff, got a great, if imperfect work w/ a lot of nuances, and def things never before done in dw (one of the major wins: making the doctor mysterious again, and making them a refugee / vulnerable rather than “president of the universe” he’d come to be in 10 season of new who). stray points (things i wasnt as satisfied with) 1- im not sure thirteen learned a lot? i think the reason the master's final point in his arc hit and landed so well, while thirteen's didn't as much (for me) is that it all kind of circled around with not really a "lesson" being learned.  we really pulled back the layers of the master's narcissism and obsession with the doctor, and followed it all the way through its origins in jealousy and self-hatred. meanwhile the doctor's optimist, happy-go-lucky facade-that-falls that the fandom did such excellent meta about... never quite hit it in the end with the show. EVEN when the setup was so clearly there SO MANY TIMES: giving yaz a gun, comitting triple genocide on the daleks/cybermen/sontarans, the tim shaw of it all... etc. 2- related to the point of 13 not growing: in the end she and yaz didn't commit to anything (quite the opposite, they stuck to the denial from the warriors ep, which i thought would be Turned Around here...), the special instead of calling out the older doctors, validated them for abandoning the companions (when tbh i think the True Thing, even if it hurt, would be for 13 to have outright said to ace and tegan [and yaz, even!] "im sorry, i wish i could have given you what you needed, but i couldnt. and probably never will") Let me stress it tho: i did really like the yaz/13, 5/tegan, ace/7 resolutions in isolation, they got those dynamics Right in a lot of ways (the 7/ace thing about the Cost you pay for “doing the right thing” , the doctor/tegan being like That but rlly only bc they care sm about each other (aaa) thing, and even with the yaz/doctor thing i can see the logic of them always being so positive + supportive, of doing all they can to “stay together”) but looking at it as a whole, in the context of "doctor who as one long running story", this felt a bit like a regression for the doctor, and by extension for ace, tegan and yaz. 3- i think there was also just not enough time to let the story breath. or rather, there WAS time but also a lot of nonsense taking that time (like the dalek trairo or the whole train thing i was SO EXCITED thinking it would be a kid from the doctor’s mysterious origins but nope, it was just a diversion to get to Squiggles.... even vinder whom i rlly enjoyed ... idk i have to question how Necessary it was to have a whole thing about him breaking his ship then repairing his ship... etc. ) . the scene at  the veeery end where 13 and yaz eat ice cream was like the first time chibnall slowed the peace *enough* to let the emotions land (and also the only moment i actually started crying asdfg).there were so many more companion / doctor companion interactions to be had, but bc of all the Stuff (tm) there wasn't time to rlly exploit (not having the companions in Somber Silence around the doctor, waiting for her to wake up for days, was almost a writting crime of negligence). but then again, that's been chibnall the whole way through lol he ain't no Aguinaldo Silva and that's fine. "understated emotions" is just not my thing.

[fonulyn]

fon's 2021 in fic

so I said I wouldn't and I did, the story of my life :'D I also managed to start this post three separate times and each time tumblr wiped it before I managed to actually post it, so this has been a true major test of strength. but I did post over ~350k of fic this year and I do think it deserves to be celebrated, so here we go!

fics are organized by pairing, roughly in a chronological order from oldest to newest, but so that the ao3 fics are first and the tumblr ficlets after them.

there’s exactly 100 fics (whoo!) (okay some of them are super short but i am counting them all, try and stop me :’D). featuring:

31 Piers/Leon

24 Chris/Leon

18 ot3 (Chris/Leon/Piers)

7 Krauser/Leon

3 Jake/Piers

2 Wesker/Chris

6 “others” (Patrick/Leon, Adam/Leon, Jason/Leon, Claire/Leon, Queen Plaga/Leon, Lickers/Leon)

9 Joe/Nicky

so. here you go. and here’s to hoping that 2022 will be an equally good writing year :3

Piers/Leon

you can have it (you know you've got it) | 3,8k | Leon pushes his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket and spins around to face Piers again. “Nice place, Nivans,” he says, flashing a grin that’s so charming that it alone is enough to make Piers feel a little weak in the knees.

got something to tell you (that I never thought I would) | 2,4k | The one wherein Leon proposes no less than four times. (Spoiler alert: Piers says yes. Eventually.)

memories are made of this | 8,8k | Leon recovers and finally gets his cast off, they celebrate their engagement a couple of different ways, and are sickeningly domestic.

driving deep into your heart | 2,2k | Piers, the newly crowned champion of MotoGP, gets a surprise visit from his boyfriend.

so I confide in you (for nothing compares to you) | 20k | Leon is sent in to rescue the president's son from a cult, and ends up getting more than he bargained for.

all I wanted (all I'll ever need) | 3,3k | This was the best birthday Leon had ever had. At least right at this moment he could’ve sworn to that, as having Piers spread out for him like this was the stuff dreams were made of.

love will always find the way | 15k | Leon meets Piers' family for the first time.

saved my heart for you | 8,2k | In a way, Piers had two first meetings with Leon S. Kennedy. Only for the first one of those he had no idea who he was with was actually Leon S. Kennedy. That is how it started, anyway. The journey itself was much, much longer. And worth every single step.

when the air's too thick to breathe | 1,9k | It was Leon, unmistakably so, lying on the ground half hidden by the undergrowth. His clothes were torn, his hair matted with blood, and he looked so pale that it was almost unreal. Almost as if he was sleeping, not--

maybe he's born with it | 1,7k | The one wherein there's a bet going within the BSAA whether Leon is a natural blond or not.

all that I need is just one moment in your arms | 1,9k | Leon saves Piers' life and gets hurt. It scores him cuddles, though.

fall in love so easy | 1,5k | Piers brings pet names into the equation. Leon kind of loves it.

you're my fantasy (someone I'm made for) | 4k | The one wherein they enjoy the easy access skirts provide.

so much more (than falling in love) | 3,2k | Their holiday plans get disrupted by an amazing bathtub.

will you be by me? | 12k | Piers comes back home infected and mutated. As a cherry on top, he doesn't even remember who Leon is. Leon is determined to stay by him, to help him heal, no matter the cost. In the end, it is a story of love and recovery.  

no boundaries | 2,6k | They hide in a closet from a tyrant. They also get a little carried away.

never too much to ask for | 4k | The one wherein Leon learns how amazing hugs are.

and it takes me over again | 3,6k | They fight a giant snow monster, Piers gets a bad burn and Leon takes care of him.

you're feeding the fire within me | 7,5k | Piers and Leon get dosed with Rebecca's new Super-Viagra. It's fuck-or-die. And, boy, do they fuck.

stay until the end of life | 9,5k | After the plaga did a number on Leon's insides, leaving him slowly dying, there doesn't seem to be much hope left. Somehow, he gets there anyway, even if the road to recovery is a rocky one.

'cause everyone's crazy 'bout a sharp-dressed man | 3,3k | Leon walks in on Piers' private time, but in the end it's a win-win for everyone.

cleanse the wounds and forget the name | 2,7k | A new BSAA recruit just can't shut up, talking shit about everything important. When he starts shit-talking Leon, Piers simply needs to shut him up. With his fist.

nothing else remains | 4,4k | Leon might have a tiny praise kink. Just a little one.

only the courage to continue counts | 26k (ongoing) | RE4 au. Leon isn't sent to Spain alone but with a partner. Too bad he has a tendency to get attached to his partners way too easily.

winter lovin' (there's snow one like you) | 12k | Piers takes Leon on a snowy vacation in Lapland.

delete the ladder | 500w | Leon finds that the Sims has changed from when he last played it. It's gotten worse.

lessons in relaxation | 1,2k | Piers has slept beside his friends before, it's not a big deal. He can sleep anywhere. Except apparently now his big gay crush on Leon is making it A Big Deal. Thankfully Leon knows how to make him relax.

healing | 860w | The mission left Leon broken, bruised and banged up, and he's fully prepared to tough it out alone while Piers is on whatever mission the BSAA has sent him on. Except Piers has other ideas.

favorite uncles | 970w | Piers' niece sometimes gets to stay for a sleepover with them. They all kind of love it.

hot like hell | 755w | Not even a thousand degrees of sweltering summer heat can make Leon keep his hands off Piers.

under the rubble | 1,1k | Leon gets trapped in the basement of a collapsed building, and it takes him a moment to realize he's not alone. Truthfully, the company is the best he's had in ages.

Chris/Leon

kiss your eyes, caress your hair, kill that pain away | 5,9k | Glenn Arias kidnaps Leon because he reminds him of his dead husband. Leon is not having the time of his life.

when you don't look, you find | 3,5k | Childhood friends are reunited in 1999.

it is time to do something right | 2,6k | Being thrown into a wall came as no surprise at all. Leon didn’t even remember a time when he hadn’t been thrown around by these gigantic monsters, it had become more the norm than the exception. And of course Arias did it too, because why the hell wouldn’t he?

dance to the end of love | 1,5k | Chris tries to teach Leon to dance.

no space between | 1k | Leon passes out from exhaustion. But he gets cuddles, at least.

tell me that I'm okay, tell me that you'll stay | 1,8k | Chris finds Leon at the morgue with what's left of his team.

end of the road | 1,8k | The one where a life is lost.

sweet distraction | 2,6k | The one wherein Chris offers Leon an alternative to overworking himself.

change all that's gone before | 3k | For the first time, a mission gone sideways doesn't only earn Leon bruises.

you know I want you and you want me | 1,3k | “If we weren’t in public right now,” Chris says, so low that only Leon can hear. His hot breath hits Leon’s ear, and Leon shudders helplessly already before Chris goes on. “I’d have my head between your legs.”

you give me heart to carry on | 1,9k | Chris is in danger and all Leon can do is wait. It is hell.

take me through the night | 1,8k | Chris comes back home early and they celebrate accordingly.

dressed to kill | 1,8k | Chris enjoys some lace on Leon.

that sweet sensation of living in your love | 1,8k | The one wherein Leon helps Chris relax, in multiple ways.

(tho i am made of glass i am) safe in the palm of your hand | 1,6k | Chris is held captive, but Leon gets him out of there.

time for retirement | 730w | After they both get injured on a mission, Chris and Leon talk retirement. Maybe some feelings, too.

glasses | 511w | Chris likes Leon wearing glasses.

how much i missed you | 1,1k | Chris gets woken up for some sleepy midnight sex.

dance with me | 1,5k | Claire tricks Chris and Leon into taking dancing classes together. They're both going to owe her.

a cheap shot (but whatever works) | 1,2k | Chris learns that the new rookie broke his unbreakable record at the shooting range. He's got to meet the man who managed that.

glasses, take two | 400w | Leon likes Chris wearing glasses.

it's a roadtrip, baby | 890w | Driver picks the music. Everyone else complains.

dirty pirates know the dirtiest tricks | 910 | Chris hates that Claire makes him wear the stupid sailor costume to a Halloween party. After that helps him score a date, though, he might owe her an apology.

aches | 610w | Chris can't sleep.

ot3 (Chris/Leon/Piers)

been crazy for you, so long | 2,2k | The one where they fuck. Again. Fun times is had by all.

so good together | 2,3k | The one wherein Chris gets shown a good time.

here after | 2,6k | Chris is sick and gets taken care of.

so hold on tight | 2,8k | Leon gets himself injured on a mission, but at least he gets a little help from his boyfriends.

put me in a daze | 1,9k | The one wherein Leon gets fucked until he barely knows his own name.

with you by my side | 1k | Leon is sick and gets taken care of.

not giving up yet | 3,9k | Chris and Piers get in trouble. Good thing they have Leon, and his absolutely official obviously approved strike team.

all the things that matter | 3,8k | Piers is sick and gets taken care of.

we'll take on the world and wait | 7,4k | Someone from Chris's past kidnaps Piers and Leon to set him a trap.

and love shall heal the scars | 8k | Even at Leon's funeral, Chris and Piers don't believe that he is really gone. They're going to get him back. No matter the cost.

a little bit of caretaking | 700w | Piers comes home absolutely exhausted. Chris and Leon make it better.

happy accidents | 1k | Piers sends Leon a suggestive picture. Except he picks the wrong number and Chris almost ends up having a heart attack. He certainly ends up getting some, eventually, so he can definitely forgive that.

last chance garage | 830w | Chris, Leon and Piers have that garage. Even if Piers seems to be the only one who ever gets any work done, goddamnit.

it's not that bad | 400w | Chris is afraid of going to the dentist.

i could take you on | 520w | Leon is super sleepy and gets taken to bed.

enjoying the show | 640w | Leon is so effortlessly badass he has half of BSAA drooling after him.

sleep seduction | 1k | Piers and Chris try to trick Leon into sleeping more. It works.

shower shenanigans | 800w | Chris, Leon and Piers enjoy a post mission shower.

Krauser/Leon

slipping on a razor's edge (I hope you'll finally find me) | 4,8k | It's 2013 and Krauser has been dead for almost a decade. Except he hasn't.

hold on to what is never changing | 3,6k | The one wherein Krauser's back. Again.

when the light of the chosen has died | 1k | Every single movement sends a flash of pain through Leon and he grimaces, bringing his hand to his side. But there's no choice but to keep moving. No choice but to try to get away.

so came our time | 1,1k | The one with final goodbyes.

can't help but follow in spite of going insane | 2,6k | Krauser takes too long to kill Leon and Saddler intervenes.

can we pretend (that we end up okay) | 5,1k | Krauser keeps on coming back. Even worse, Leon doesn't want anyone else as much as he wants Krauser.

i'll keep watch | 820w | Leon is tired and overwhelmed but no matter what he does he can't sleep. Not until Krauser helps him.

Jake/Piers

(we don't have to fight) if I can take you home tonight | 1,5k | “Fucking hell,” Piers groaned, letting his head fall backwards onto Jake’s shoulder as a full-bodied shudder shook his frame. As an answer Jake tightened his hold of Piers’ hip with one hand, sliding his other palm down to Piers’ thigh.

all the things you are | 10k | Much to his shock (and displeasure), Piers found out the man he'd been falling for was an actual goddamn mercenary.

kiss before the fall | 3,6k | After they're back from the underwater facility, Piers and Jake can no longer ignore the mounting tension between them.

Wesker/Chris

you will feel it when all your love is gone (you will love it when all your love is wrong) | 3,4k | Tonight was the night Wesker’s plans would come to fruition. It was a pity, he thought, that tonight Chris would be walking into his death. Only eight years later, they meet again.

when the Master is slave to his life | 450w | Jill might not be in control of herself but she is still aware. And watching Wesker obsess over Chris is starting to get on her nerves.

others

maybe one day | Patrick/Leon | 725w | Surprisingly, Leon asks Patrick if he'd like to have dinner with him. Patrick eagerly agrees.

just a man | Adam Benford/Leon | 2,5k | If there is one thing that Leon S. Kennedy knows it's loneliness. Sometimes he needs help to cope.

without hope, without fear | Jason/Leon | 4,7k | Leon's eyes slipped shut, and when Jason leaned down and kissed him, he didn't stop him. Then Jason was between his thighs, kissing him again, and Leon let himself imagine it was Krauser instead.

hooked on you | Claire/Leon | 1k | Leon tries to convince Claire to stay home instead of going out for dinner.

on an all time high | Leon/Queen Plaga | 5,9k | The one wherein Leon gets thoroughly monster-fucked.

lost control | Leon/lickers | 3,1k | Leon didn't even know lickers had dicks, not before he found two of them fucking. He could've lived his life without that knowledge, but seems that interrupting the two means they'll now make him their target. And not in the we're-going-to-slash-your-throat kind of way.

Joe/Nicky

someone like you | 3,1k | No powers AU. The one wherein there is only one bed. Maybe not entirely by accident.

here sometimes | 1k | The one wherein they have a sleepy three am dance.

the man and his moon | 1,2k | The one wherein Nicky takes care of Joe after a nightmare.

gone so far already | 1k | The one wherein they kiss for the first time.

the fire within | 1k | The one wherein Yusuf gets his fingers into Nicolò’s long hair.

little wonders | 900w | The team takes a small break and enjoy a day at the market place.

someone to adore | 1,6k | The one wherein Joe is a charming vet and Nicky owns multiple dogs.

patchwork quilt of a life | 27k | A scrapbook of memories through a millennium, and a family adjusting to a new normal.

who likes short shorts | 720w | Nile takes Nicky shopping and they come back with some obscenely short shorts with... questionable things printed on the backside.

[pebblesrus]

i love ur post about how hardison is just good and how it's after the ot3 that he experiences his main change and i wanted to ask if you think that after he leaves to save the world, whether he still gets scared sometimes? what do you think are his rocks in those moments? how does he be brave?

short answer: yes, and it's parker and eliot that get him through it.

long answer: yes, and that's a good thing because parker and eliot taught him that fear is what makes people do the impossible - 

the fear will always be there. but parker who hangs off skyscrapers by her fingertips for fun and eliot who is an enigma wrapped in a punch - they taught him how to use that fear to keep moving forward.

more below.

original post. leverage paints the team to be the good guys, or, at least the side doing the right thing.

in redemption breanna asks:

"are we the bad guys here?"

"oh yeah, never forget that. we're not heroes. we're just necessary."

i think that was what eliot and parker spent the first 5 years reconciling. that they could be themselves and still do the right thing. i do have a rant about that in terms of the ot3 and the long way down job [x].

but back to the point. there's an important distinction between eliot/parker and hardsion. parker may not have been a hitman but she did hard things, selfish things, in a way that hardison never did.

and i think that's what makes is harder for hardison on the jobs where more is at stake (like the rundown job), what makes him the one to get scared.

i think his fear for his personal safety starts to go away - one of my favorite lines in redemption when he's talking to harry about the fake gold bomb - "if that cell phone gets a wrong number, i've got a problem" "yeah, for like, a tenth of a second. then you ain't got no more problems ever again"

because like. hardison used the be the one in harry's position, the most physically vulnerable. but with time (and eliot's help) he's gained the physical know how to protect himself a little more.

but mentally, i'm sure he still gets scared. still questions his abilities. he knows he's good - the best -

but i think one of the most important lessons he's learned through leverage is that sometimes a little fear is exactly what you need. in the gone fishin job eliot tells him "overconfidence will kill you faster than a bullet any day. fear's good."

hardison has been overconfident and almost gotten himself killed (see: the iceman job). but he's also channeled that fear into saving the world (see: the rundown job).

for eliot, who thinks he's going to hell, piecing his soul back together brick by brick through leverage is all he's ever going to ask for. for parker, who never knew love or thought she mattered, this family and seeing that what they do matters is all she's ever gong to ask for.

but i think because of the goodness in his heart, hardison gets to this point of it's better to be afraid of what bad men will do to the world than to be afraid of failing. (take a risk. if you fail, at least that means you tried.) so. he starts to grow. realizes he can be more than just necessary. leverage is his heart, the work they do will always be meaningful to him, but he wants to do more.

the fear will always be there. but parker who hangs off skyscrapers by her fingertips for fun and eliot who is an enigma wrapped in a punch - they taught him how to use that fear to keep moving forward.

as far as parker and eliot being the ones to help him through is fears, well, who else would it be? i like to think that after years of being together, the other two know when hardison needs a swift kick versus when he actually needs to be talked off a ledge of self doubt. plus, there's small mentions in redemption of parker and eliot still being in very close contact with hardison - eliot and harry even go to help him.

anyway if you're reading this, thank you, it was very fun for me.

[lafourmii20]

My favorite pairing is probably DrPepperony if I had to choose one, and I'm a sucker for 30 (the protective one). While I tend to swerve to "people protecting Stephen", please write it however you'd like - if you're interested in this combination. :)

Thank you for the ask, @aelaer 💕

I love drpepperony and I was very happy to write this OT3 with this prompt. It's a bit longer than I thought, and maybe not exactly what you imagined. I hope you like it!

~~~

drpepperony, pre-relationship (could almost be read as gen), hurt stephen, with a bit of blood, protective pepper, protective tony, not clint friendly (sorry i had to find sort of a bad guy), post Endgame but Tony lives and Steve died

~~~

“If you’re so powerful, why couldn’t you save her?!”

Clint’s shout echoed on the lawn, all the way to the cabin. Tony instantly got to his feet.

“Stay with uncle Happy, Maguna.”

He left his drink on a table, and his daughter under Happy’s careful watch, and hurried outside. When he pushed the front door, he frowned, deeply unhappy with the scene.

“I’m sorry,” Stephen whispered in such a thin voice Tony wasn’t sure anyone heard him –not sure the guy even wanted to be heard.

“You’re sorry? Is that what you just mumbled?” Clint answered, his tone getting angrier and angrier with each word.

“I am truly deeply sorry,” Stephen articulated more clearly this time.

It did not seem to appease Clint. At all.

“Well, great! You’re sorry. But Nat is dead because of you. And your sorry ass apologies won’t do shit to bring her back!”

Clint was furious. He was grieving. But he was taking it out on the wrong guy.

“It’s all your fault!”

Stephen didn’t move, didn’t even blink when Clint lurched forward and punched him square in the face. He fell backwards and blood splattered on the ground.

“It’s all your fucking fault!” Clint bellowed as Sam and Bucky restrained him, tried to stop him from attacking again.

He almost tore free, and Tony took a step forward. He was all for letting his fellow Avengers sort things out between themselves the way they wanted to –and if they had to punch some sense into each other from time to time, well it was their business. But no one was getting beaten up, without even trying to resist, on his lawn.

But before Tony could say anything, Pepper stepped into the scene.

“What is going on here?” she asked in her no-nonsense voice. Se didn’t wait for someone to answer –as if there even was a correct way to answer when she used that voice. “No one is fighting in my home! Today, we celebrate those we brought back, and we grieve those we lost. This is not a time for fighting and I will not tolerate it. Is that clear?”

Clint might try to protest, there was no way he would sway Pepper. He was an Avenger. She was even more dangerous, Tony thought with pride. Looked like he could let his wife handle the dirty business.

He crossed the lawn, got to the poor wizard still slumped on the ground, haggard and defeated. His nose was bleeding profusely, and the corner of his eye was starting to turn purple. Tony grabbed him by the shoulder.

“Come on. Let me take care of you.”

Stephen looked up at him. There was a deep sadness, a resigned look in his eyes that broke Tony’s heart. Then Stephen got up and it was gone. They walked silently through the crowd, crossed the lawn and reached the house. Tony pushed him as carefully as he could in a bathroom.

“Here we go,” he said softly, helping Stephen sit on the edge of the tub. “Fri, where’s the first aid kit?”

“Under the sink, boss,” the AI answered immediately and Tony dived under the sink to retrieve the little box, opening it to get some cotton balls and antiseptic, though he wasn’t sure what to do with those. “May I suggest the ice pack, boss?”

“You’re the best, baby girl.”

“Of course,” she answered, and Tony chuckled.

He went back to Stephen with a slightly wet towel to wipe off the blood while he handed him the cold pack. Stephen’s fingers shook wildly when he took it and pressed it on the side of his head, with a painful wince.

“You don’t have to do all this,” the Wizard of Oz finally said. “I’m okay.”

“Yeah, look in the mirror, doc, and tell that to your face,” Tony scoffed.

He got a brief glimpse of a smile before he moved the towel over nose, lips, chin, and all the mess of blood that covered Stephen’s face.

“Why didn’t you send Clint to the Sinister Dimension or whatever the name of that hellish world is?” Tony asked, trying not to wince with Stephen every time the towel stroked over a sensitive area.

“Dark Dimension,” Stephen corrected.

“Sure.”

A moment of silence passed. Tony took the time to rinse the blood out of the towel before applying it again. It seemed like the bleeding had stopped. That only left the big ugly contusion at the corner of Stephen’s eye. Ouch, that looked painful.

“Fri, can you scan our good doctor? Make sure there are no deeper wounds?”

“I’m fine,” Stephen protested with another wince that said otherwise.

“Fri?”

“The good doctor is right, boss. No deeper injury.”

“Great.”

As Tony looked at the slumped and beaten up form in front of him, it seemed that nothing was great. If there were no physical wounds, it seemed that there was a more profound, more painful, psychological one. That man was wounded, burned out, and morally exhausted. And Tony was suddenly filled with the impulse to help him, to fix this, whatever this was.

He wanted to see the powerful and cocky sorcerer he clashed with, when they first met.

He wanted the weirdly flirty wink after great prowess of magic, and butting heads with someone that didn’t take his nonsense but actually listened to him, and compromised.

“So, why didn’t you stop him?” he asked again after a minute of almost comfortable silence.

He threw the bloody towel in the laundry basket and leaned against the sink, watching Stephen intently.

“Because he’s grieving. And he’s right,” Stephen answered in a too small voice.

Defeated.

Tony was not taking any of it. If Pepper had to protect Stephen from Clint, Tony would have to protect Stephen from himself, apparently. It was far from the weirdest thing he had ever done.

“Bullshit. It’s not your fault.”

Stephen arched an eyebrow behind the cold pack, before he winced and dropped it. Tony picked it up for him and, instead of giving it back to the wizard, he brought it up to Stephen’s face and gently hold it up against his temple. Stephen just sighed, closed his eyes for a second, letting Tony take care of him. The situation was slightly more intimate than Tony anticipated but it warmed his heart to see Stephen accept his help. And yeah, he could see himself get closer to the wizard in the near future.

“It’s not your fault,” he repeated.

“It kinda is. I chose this path, the one where Natasha and Steve had to die. Their deaths are on my hands.”

“That’s just pure bullshit! You didn’t push Nat on Vormir, she jumped. You didn’t put the gauntlet on Steve’s hand, he took it and snapped his own fingers knowing he would not survive it. You did not murder them. They chose to sacrifice themselves to save us all, and believe me, I would have done the same thing, without blaming you. You know what you did?”

“Wallow in self-pity, dishonoring their great sacrifice?” he whispered defeated and seemingly disgusted with himself.

“No.” Damn, that man really needed to be protected from himself. Tony knew a thing or two about blaming himself for everything, but Strange was on another level completely. “You put us on the right path, you risked your sanity to view all those possible futures and other timeline. You are a hero.”

That seemed to finally shut Stephen up. He blinked, looked up at Tony, but this time, there was something different in his eyes. A deep emotion Tony couldn’t really name. It made his heart race.

Stephen’s hand rose, lightly touched Tony’s at the side of his head. It was delicate and far more intimate than he expected. But before Tony could say anything else, the bathroom’s door opened, and Pepper stepped in.

Stephen quickly took his hand away, but Tony kept his position. There was nothing he wanted to hide from his wife. Besides, if something ever happened with the wizard, he was pretty sure Pepper would want to be included. Yep, that would be very nice actually, the three of them in the cabin. Tony could almost picture it.

Wait, he was thinking a bit ahead of himself, wasn’t he? Well, who could blame him, he was a futurist, after all.

“Are you okay, Dr. Strange?” Pepper asked.

“You can call me Stephen. And yes, I’m okay. Tony took care of me.”

Pepper looked at her husband. Tony winked, she smirked in return. His hand was still pressed against Stephen’s head –there was a cold pack between them, but did that really matter?

Pepper went to Stephen’s other side, carefully took his chin in her hand to examine him –and there was no cold pack or any medical supply to excuse the proximity. Stephen tensed for a second, then he relaxed in her grip.

“You did well,” Pepper finally concluded, with a small stroke on Stephen’s cheek. The wizard shuddered. Then she stepped back and the fluttering moment was over. “Tony, you stay with him, I’m gonna send everyone home,” she ordered more than asked.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Tony answered immediately.

“And Stephen?”

“Yes?”

“Stay for dinner with us tonight. Please?”

A moment of hesitation, blue-green eyes jumping from Tony to Pepper, a gulp and finally.

“I will.”

Well, well, well, Tony thought. That was a very interesting turn of events. He couldn’t wait to see where all of this would lead them.

~~~

Inspired by this intimacy prompt list

Prompts filled: 3. touching foreheads (ironstrangefrost) 23. wearing someone’s clothing (ironstrange) 29. kissing while mad (ironstrange) 59. height difference (ironstrange)

[tteokdoroki]

#9 for Kiribaku if that's allowed. I know it said one character, but I have never seen hanahaki with an OT3 and am genuinely curious how it'd work out. You can pick who has it since it's a big ask. Fluffy/happy ending would be nice! If it's already been requested or you don't want to do it no worries! You're too nice to us, giving us so much content! 🦊

katsuki bakugou + eijirou kirishima x gn!reader.

tteokdoroki teaparty event masterpost!!

♡ prompt #9  —  reader or the character of choice has hanahaki disease.

♡ genre: everyone, fluff + slight angst, hanahaki disease!au.

♡ word count: 758

♡ warnings:  mentions of illness and blood.

♡ author’s notes: honey lovin!! your support means the absolute world and iits litte asks like this that make me feel so loved and appreciated so thank you :(

kirshima had never meant for this to happen, falling in love with you had never been part of his plan— he had never meant to fall in love with the way  your eyes would meet over coffee during study hour, or how you’d gently twirl his ruby locks between your fingers when he sat between your legs during movie nights. the blossoms in his chest craved so badly for you to be his, each petal that fell from chapped lips tainted with the prayer that someday you’d wake up and fall in love with him too...but none of that could be possible, not when your own heart belongs to his best friend. katsuki bakugou.

the three of you sit together in the living room of yourself  and bakugou’s off-campus apartment, the space is small but the tension in the room makes him feel almost world’s apart from the two closest people in his life. katsuki won't even look at him and you seem torn between comforting the red head and curling back into your boyfriend.

“h-how long have you known?” your voice is quiet, slightly hoarse from the way that you hold back your tears. the thought of losing your best friend to hanahaki disease strikes fear into the very core of your heart  and the jar of withering cherry blossoms that sit between the three of you. the jar is only the evidence of how you’d failed your best friend, how every second that he spends with you is another second that he’s in pain. “about...about the disease.”

“a little over three months…” kirishima smiles despite the grimness to his words, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, although his lungs are squeezing with the poison petals as tears flood your eyes.  

you reach out to touch him, face falling when the red head flinches away—  bakugou notices this too but doesn't linger too much, causing a light pang to reverberate across his chest. “eiji...i’m so sorry— “ you murmur, cutting yourself off in fear of overstepping any boundaries.

you take a moment to gather yourself, but your boyfriend refuses to let you speak. “you’ve got nothing to apologise for, you can't help the way he feels, so if he has the disease then how are you to blame.” two sets of eyes land on the blonde, but yours is the only set that holds an incredulous stare.

shifting away from bakugou, your face falls into a frown and the tension in the air starts to crackle. “how could you even think to say that?” you demand answers from him with a wobbling voice, it hurts you to even think that katsuki would abandon your close friend in his time of  need, eijirou dying would destroy your relationship more than loving you ever could. “are you going to just sit there and watch him lose his life because of feelings he can’t help? blaming kirishima for something he can't control...”

“yn, it’s okay— “ eijirou tries to break through, but the two of you are already at one another’s throats.

bakugou stands, slamming his fists down on the coffee table which makes the jar of cherry blossoms jump to the floor. No one makes an effort to stop the jar from shattering, no one jumps out to catch it before it breaks. instead yourself and the redhead beside you fall silent to allow the other male to figure out his words. “kirishima is not goin’ta die, i wouldn’t fuckin’ let him...not before i tell him i have feelin’s for him too.”

the aforementioned male gasps, eyes shooting between you both. “You have feelings for me?”

your boyfriend shakes his head yes, and you place a warm hand on eijirou’s shoulders. “we both do, eiji…” you confirm for him, easing his anxious mind.

the flowers intertwined with the veins in eijirou’s lungs and the rib cage protecting them, seem to  let up along with the pressure from awaiting petals sitting at the base of his diaphragm. a newfound sense of hope flickers in the air  and you  look between the two boys, taking their hands excitedly. “this could work, right?” you ask, trying to hide your excitement. Whatever it is that you have between the three of you could potentially save someone from the murderous love disease.

katsuki nods, sending a firm grin over to kirshima, who squeezes your hand— feeling the flowers wilt from within. “we’ll make it work, i promise to love you guys whole heartedly.”

“and we’ll promise to love you too.”

[garbria]

Sweet moments, 28 with your ot3? Or CorNyx, of course. ^_^

28.Teaching the other something new

I love you for humoring me with my OT3! I hope you enjoy this, I had so much fun with it!

Cor smiled as he walked into the apartment and smelled the familiar scent of Nyx’s famous curry. Then froze as he saw who was in his kitchen.

“What the fuck, Nyx?” 

Nyx, still wearing the pink frilly apron they had got him as a gag gift, turned around and smirked. “Look who’s home early!”

“Nyx.” Cor crossed his arms. “We talked about this.”

Nyx waved a hand at Cor. “Just because you don’t think Titus can cook, doesn’t mean you’re right.”

“The last time he was in the kitchen, he nearly burned the place down!” Cor stabbed a finger in his general direction.

“He’s also right here,” Titus said, voice dry as he continued to stir the pan on the stove.

“If you’re going to try and teach this disaster to cook, why don’t you do it in your own kitchen?” 

“You know why. My ‘kitchen,’” Nyx made air quotes around the word, “barely counts as such. Why do you think I’m always over here?”

“I thought it was my charming company.” Cor’s lips tilted up as he took off his jacket and placed in on the coat rack, next Titus’ and Nyx’s.

Titus snorted and Cor shot him a glare. “If you’re going to be in the kitchen, pay attention to what you’re doing.”

“I am. Nyx is a surprisingly patient teacher. I should make him teach more of the recruit classes.”

Nyx gave him a sidelong look. “You just want me to do more of your job for you.”

Titus’ lips twitched. “Maybe.” He held out the spoon for Nyx to taste.

Nyx leaned over and hummed approvingly as he tasted the curry. “You’re doing great. Only a few more minutes.”

Cor huffed, and Titus gave him a look. Titus glanced at Nyx, before going back to stirring the pan. “Since your kitchen is so inadequate, you should just move in here, with us. Have a proper kitchen.”

“What?” Nyx’s eyes went wide as he looked between Titus and Cor.

Cor shot Titus a look before smiling at Nyx. “You’re here all the time anyway. Might as well make it official.”

Nyx paused for a minute before smirking widely. “Well, since this is now my kitchen, I guess I can teach Titus to cook whenever I want.”

Cor sighed and Titus hid a laugh in a cough.

“This is gonna be a thing, isn’t it?” Cor asked as he leaned against the kitchen counter.

“Maybe.” Nyx continued smirking as he pointed a spoon at Cor. “Now, make yourself useful and get the plates down.”

“Too tall for you?” Cor smirked as he reached up to take the plates off the top shelf.

Nyx swiped the spoon at Cor but Cor dodged, laughing quietly. 

Titus shook his head as he reached over and turned off the burner. 

Nyx smiled at him. “You did good. Now that Cor’s home, let’s enjoy the fruits of your labor.”

“It’s not going to poison me, is it?” Cor raised his eyebrows as he set the table.

“Oh ye of little faith.” Nyx shook his head as he grabbed the drinks.

Titus smirked as he served the food. “If we wanted to kill you, it wouldn't be by poison.”

Nyx laughed. “Don’t give him ideas.” He shook his head as he sat down. Looking at Cor, Nyx said, “You really think I’d let him fuck it up that much? I thought you knew me better than that. I take my food seriously.” 

“Fair enough.” Cor took a bite and chewed. “Very nice. I’m impressed.”

Nyx and Titus shared a pleased look.

[mysterylover123]

Thoughts on the New OP

Never have I been so disappointed to get exactly what I wanted...

OK so as many have pointed out, Bones is clearly not prioritizing the MVA arc in the OPs or the marketing of season 5. For some reason it feels like a minor B plot instead of the actual main plot it was for 21 chapters.

So we start with Class 1-A:

The Trinity and OchaTsu being the last 5 to appear is not bad. Also I’m just realizing that the only two characters who have permanently changed their costumes as of 318 (not just winter changes) to match this arc are Bakugou and Ochako. Of course the two who have the coolest costumes in the bunch are the only ones who changed em.

Now we get some long, moody shots of the Big OT3 in wreckage. Wreckage of hero society maybe?

“hey brother listen” subtle for the shot of Shoto being here, Bones. Not foreshadowing anything at all there. All they needed was to cut to Dabi right away and this would’ve been a walking spoiler.

More Origin Trio. At this point this feels kinda gratuitous. Like, proportionately, the Internship arc here is less than ten chapters, to the MVA arc’s 20+, but the MVA arc takes up like 5% of the OP, the internship stuff like 90%. We BARELY see the League at all, you could blink and miss them:

Like boom. This (which is just ripped from the Volume 24 cover anyway) is all. A few disconnected shots of individual members later, and that’s it. I was expecting an all out League only opening for this arc! Dissolving the title like Chapter 220, each individual villain getting their own moment, a chance to really play with some Dabi foreshadowing and maybe some cool Toga/Ocha parallels? But nope, nothing.

Yes, I love KiriMina and OchaTSuyu, but they have like two pages of footage in this arc. WHY does every member of Class A get more footage in this OP than the League do?! 

Like, Toga and Shigaraki in a few disconnected shots that summarize nothing are not enough! This was the League’s arc, top to bottom, and now not only have they been postponed, but demoted to extras in their own OP!

More gratuitous OT3 shots. 

OK this shot is pretty good. Endeav replacing All Might. I’m sure Endeav Antis love that.

Deku meets impressionism apparently.

So I’m of two minds about this OP. On the one hand, I do love the trinity, the Winter Internship arc is maybe my third/fourth fave in the entire series (Camino, Sports Fest, and possibly PLF via for the top), and only last week I was whining really loudly about Class 1-A’s lack of screentime in the manga and being really grateful to bones for spoiling us with them. Maybe since the manga has finally decided to put out I’ve been mollified, lol.

But on the other hand, I also love the League, and the MVA arc. That storyline was one of the best put together and most unique in all of MHA. The entire idea behind it - shown so eloquently with Shigaraki destroying the logo in 220 - was to jump into the point of view of the  villains, leaving behind the heroes. The idea was to humanize the villains, explore their motivations and what made them the way they are. This was important, because one of the main thrusts of the PLF arc -the thing that we reached at the climax, the key to the Toga vs Ochako, Dabi backstory ,and Deku realizations - was the idea that the villains were tragically created by the flaws in the hero society that made them, and that some of them maybe worth saving. And we achieved that by letting hte audience jump into their point of view.

The MVA arc framed the villains as protagonists. It let us, the audience, genuinely come to care about them. They were the heroes for the better part of 2019. And that was important. Yes, Bones will still adapt the same material, but look at how they’re framing it in this OP. Rather than giving us the villains as our protagonists, they’re delivering them the exact same way they did in every OP before this: A quick shot or two of the group, framed to make them look sinister, and maybe a few extra shots of Shigaraki walking around (like Odd Future). That’s it. Nothing to put us into their heads.

So combine this OP with both the pacing of this season (taking the joint training arc slowly and leapfrogging over the arc entirely) and the marketing (ignoring the villains almost completely) and it’s clear that Bones does not consider the MVA arc a priority at all. They just don’t seem interested in adapting it. It’s clear that they much prefer TDBKDK at the Internship. Hell, they’re making an entire movie around that. Big clue. 

And I don’t know how to feel about that. Again, I love the trinity. I love their little arc together. The most popular post I ever made was about Chapter 249. I’m excited for their movie. But...I don’t think that Bones should compromise the storytelling to indulge in that. We need the MVA arc. For manga fans, even though 295 was a bit of a mess, the line from Deku about saving Shigaraki - chapter 300′s realization from Shoto about saving his brother - 289′s bit where Ochako sees Toga crying - really hit hard, because of the MVA arc. But how’s that gonna play in the anime if Bones turns this arc into an after thought?

I guess I’ll have to wait and see how Bones actually adapts the arc. I mean, they’ve still got 11 episodes left this season. They could pull it off really well. But man, I’m starting to have some doubts. 

[schrijverr]

Hold Me Together

Chapter 2 out of 4

Eliot gets hurt on a job and then sick. Hardison and Parker waste no time to jump in to care for him and it becomes harder and harder to say no to their care when it’s just so nice. After he has a nightmare, they’re there for him and feelings come to light.

AKA Eliot has a terrible time physically (and partly emotionally), but gets lots of cuddles and two partners in the end.

On AO3.

Ships: Thiefsome OT3

Warnings: Eliot's low self-esteem and the flu

~~~~~~~~~~

Pull Me Close

When he awoke the next morning, he was pinned down by two warm weights at his sides. He kept his breathing steady, as if he were still asleep while he assessed the situation, before last night came back to him.

He felt a heat rising to his cheeks as he cracked open one eye to look, the other having swollen shut throughout the night. It was indeed Parker and Hardison who were pinning him down and he knew he couldn't sneak out without them noticing right now. He was trapped and sooner or later he would have to face them again.

Quietly he sorted through everything, hoping to come up with a plan to make this less awkward for everyone involved.

If he moved now, they would wake up and know he was awake and he would have to talk to them, but if he pretended to still be asleep maybe they’d leave him alone, however that would be unrealistic, because he would never sleep through them waking up and it was creepy to pretend to sleep just so that you could enjoy laying in the warmth of your two coworkers that you were in love with without having to deal with the mess that made.

But, fuck, he was comfortable. More comfortable that he’d been in years. The pain had dulled a lot and he was warm and cozy under the sheets with Parker and Hardison there. Hardison snored softly and Parker’s fingers skittered over him in her sleep, almost miming a pickpocket.

It was something nice that he would never have, never deserve. And while it was selfish, he didn’t want it to end just yet.

Still, he had no say in that and all his thinking was for naught when his door slammed open and the familiar silhouette of Nate appeared, saying: “Ah, there you all are. It’s eight, we want to leave as soon as we can.”

“We’ll be there,” Parker chirped, having gone from fast asleep to awake in a moment. Nate nodded at her, before leaving.

On Eliot’s other side, Hardison was taking his time, burrowing his face into Eliot’s uninjured shoulder as he whined softly. Eliot couldn't blame him, they’d gotten to the hotel around three in the morning, so they’d had less than five hours if it was eight now. Still, the hot breaths on his neck were not good if he wanted to keep this platonic, so he poked Hardison and grouched: “Get off me, man.”

“Wha?” Hardison looked up, smiling in a way that made Eliot’s heart twist when he saw it, before he said: “Hey, it’s you. How you doin’?”

“I’m fine, slight headache and sore muscles,,” Eliot told him honestly. “I’ll be up and running in no time, now just get off me so that I can get up.��

“Your eye is bruised,” Hardison frowned, noticing the black eye that had been a light bruise a few hours ago.

“Yeah,” Parker agreed poking it and making him wince.

“Don’t touch it, Parker,” he said, leading her hand away from his face. “It’s fine, just a bruise that I forgot to cool, it’s nothing. Now stop pinning me to the mattress.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry, man,” Hardison got off and Eliot could see the other man was just wearing sweatpants nothing else and his face got a bit hot again, so he looked to the other side, only to discover that Parker was in nothing but a shirt and underwear. God either loved or hated him very much.

So, instead of focusing on them, he focused on getting to a sitting position, pleased to find he could do that on his own.

He was still in Hardison’s hoodie and his own sweatpants and he really didn’t want to change. This was comfortable and warm and it would be easy to take off at home when he was by himself again, which twisted something cold in his chest. Besides he could always wash it and give it back later, an excuse to keep it for a little while. He asked: “Hey, man, can I keep this for today?” as he rubbed the sleeves between his fingers, trying not to think how sad it was that he wanted to keep it, just craving a bit of comfort for today. He still felt groggy and generally uncomfortable.

Hardison looked over, a strange look coming over his face when he saw how the sleeves fell over Eliot’s hands, before he nodded: “Yeah, course.”

“Cool, thanks.” Now this was just getting awkward, so Eliot swung his legs over the side of the bed where Parker had been, since she had disappeared a few seconds ago.

Before he could stand up, however, Hardison was crawling after him, nearly toppling off the bed, before he said: “Wait! Stop. You can’t just do that, Eliot. Your ankle is hurt.”

“Me and my ankle will live,” Eliot informed him. It would be slightly painful to walk, but not impossible.

“Just let me help for a moment,” Hardison asked, quickly pulling on a shirt he found on the floor, before offering a hand.

Eliot rolled his eyes at the fussing, but he was also selfish enough to allow it. It was going to be over soon anyway, why not enjoy a bit of contact? Hardison wanted to help, so it wasn’t taking advantage of it, and not putting any weight on his ankle would be a smart move.

So, they made their way downstairs, with Hardison carrying Eliot’s bag and laying his hand on Eliot’s waist again, while Parker met them at the elevator, her and Hardison’s stuff in hand almost as if they’d planned this.

He tried not to think about it as Hardison led him to the table where Sophie was sitting, before telling him he was to stay there and that Hardison would get him a plate from the buffet. Once he was gone, Sophie leaned over and asked: “So, good night?”

“Was fine,” he replied, eyeing her suspiciously after she’d grinned at him and flicked her eyes towards Hardison and Parker. Had she figured out his feelings? Was he being obvious? Did she think something happened between them? Trying to play it cool, he added: “Got more than 90 minutes of sleep for a change.”

“Oh, your productivity out the door like that,” she teased, luckily dropping any suggestiveness and prying.

“I was productive in healing my body,” he shot back, hiding his relief.

Sophie frowned at his face, cocking her head. “I can see that,” she said sarcastically.

“Come on, Soph, this is not my first black eye,” Eliot said. “My stitches are clean, my ankle is wrapped, my shoulder is back. I’m as good as I can be, little swollen eye is nothing. Could be much worse. Has been in the past.”

At that point Hardison came back with a plate of stuff Eliot actually liked, which touched him more than he’d liked to admit. He put the plate down in front of Eliot, inserting himself into the conversation: “Is he trying to tell you he’s fine by telling you everything that’s wrong with him and reminding you that he’s had a shit life?”

“Yes, it’s not really working,” Sophie said, before Eliot could protest that it was useful, because he was reminding them this was his job and it was okay, that he was okay and taken care off, because all his wounds were clean and it wasn’t that bad.

Instead of saying all that, however, he shoved a fork of food into his mouth and glowered: “See if I ever tell you about my injuries again.”

“He’s grouching, that means he’s okay, right?” Parker asked, poking his cheek again.

“Stop that, Parker,” he snapped, not really mad at her, because he was weak and would do anything to make her happy.

“Jup, he’s okay,” Hardison said, smiling and Eliot wanted to smack him, but he was right and cute, so he couldn’t. “And he’s telling us about his injuries next time.”

“Or we’ll force him!” Parker added enthusiastically.

“Was it that bad?” Sophie was immediately worried again and Eliot wanted them to stop fussing, because it felt weird and twisty in his chest when they did and he hated that he didn’t know what to do with the feeling.

“No, it wasn’t, I’m-” he got cut off by Hardison, who said: “He was kinda out of it for a bit, but nothing we couldn't handle. He was a bit grumpy about the whole thing, but he’s always like that. We just need to keep his leg up and as cool as we can during the drive and he should be set. Probably sleep a bit on the way too.”

“And how am going to sleep in that crappy van?” Eliot grouched. He wanted to protest it all, but no one was listening to him, so protesting seemed a bit redundant. Besides it was hard to be mad at them about it when it seemed like they all cared about his well being and the twisty feeling in his chest was only getting twistier.

“Excuse you, Lucille is a beautiful lady and you will treat her as such,” Hardison began. “And second off, you can sleep in the backseat. There’s a storage area between the front seats that you can rest you foot on. Promise me and Parker won’t bother your little nap.”

“I’m not sleeping in the van,” not between the two of you, he added mentally. “And why don’t I get to sit up front? Don’t I have injured rights?”

“No, there’s more space on the backseat and Nate’s driving and you’re horrible when Nate drives,” Hardison explained.

“I’m not horrible when Nate drives, he just sucks at driving,” Eliot frowned.

“He turned on his blinker once and you got annoyed, because it was too early, Eliot,” Sophie pointed out.

“Yeah and what about that time you said he switched lanes wrong,” Parker said. “You were very scary. You’re not even that scary when I drive and everyone hates my driving.”

“I can’t help that Nate can’t drive,” Eliot crossed his arms.

From behind him Nate’s voice said: “I’m glad you think so highly off my driving skills. You’re in the back seat, I don’t need you to grouch at me for hours about holding the steering wheel wrong or whatever you come up with.”

Eliot had registered him coming up behind him, but he didn’t care that Nate heard. He wanted to be mad about being injured and unable to fight, but he wasn’t able to, so he was going to be mad about something else and right now that was Nate’s driving and being in the back seat. He frowned (frowned, not pouted, Hardison): “I’m still gonna yell at you from the back.”

“Sure you are,” Nate said as he started to walk off with a cup of coffee. “Our mark has officially been taken into custody and the victims have been repaid. I want to be home before dinner, so buckle up everyone.”

They grumbled and groaned about it being too earlier to pack up, but no one stayed seated. This time it was Parker steadying him while Hardison carried all their stuff to Lucille.

Getting back into Lucille was another problem and Eliot was glad Nate and Sophie had already gotten into the van, because this was embarrassing enough as it was without onlookers.

Hardison had to support him fully on the left side, where his injured ankle was, but not his ex-dislocated shoulder, while Parker physically put his uninjured foot into Lucille. Then Hardison hoisted them into the van with Parker making sure they wouldn't fall back, until they were in and they could shuffle forwards and get seated.

Eliot was determined not to be visibly injured, so he crossed his arms and planted his feet on the ground, before staring ahead, vowing to keep his one, not swollen eye firmly open for the entire ride.

His plan was ruined by Parker the moment she settled on his other side, because she leaned forwards and put his leg on the little platform and right as he was about to protest, she put a bag of ice cubes on his foot and that actually felt really nice, so he cut himself off with a soft, grumpy thanks. She smiled: “Of course,” before handing him another ice cube bag for his eye.

Still, he could be awake and grumpy about everything, even when they were treating him like he was terribly injured, which he could understand after the fucking spectacle he made of himself last night. So he just told Nate that he shouldn’t pull up so fast, which earned him a glare from the man through the rear view mirror that he ignored.

Parker was on his right fiddling with one of her locks while she gazed out the window. Hardison was on his left and tapping away on a screen that was moving too fast for Eliot to follow. It was peaceful and they talked with each other softly, though Eliot didn’t have the energy to add his own commentary.

He felt bad about being in the middle of them again when they had already missed each other last night because of him. They hadn’t even seen each other during the job either with Hardison on tech support and Parker running between stealing and grifting.

He didn’t know how to bring it up that he wouldn’t mind switching with Hardison so that they could be next to each other and he could lean against the window. It wasn’t that he was tired and wanted to lean against something, he just wanted to have a clear line of sight, that was all.

The ice was slowly melting, until he had two bags of water and they were nearing their first stop, where Nate pulled over. Sophie would be driving the next stretch, because car-safety and all that jazz.

“Want me to get you anything?” Hardison asked when it became clear that Eliot wasn’t leaving the van.

“Nah, I’m good,” he said. “Maybe switch places with me? I can’t lean against anything in the middle.” He didn’t add: ‘and I’m sure you missed Parker,’ partially because he knew it would have come out sounding bitter and that was something he did not need to deal with, both mentally and in real life.

Hardison raised a brow. “And where are you going to rest you foot if you’re on the left? And I know you ain’t going to be on the right, I heard your shoulder that shit was just wrong.”

“I’ll be fine without resting my foot anywhere. Dammit, Hardison,” Eliot frowned, not sure why the hacker was even fighting him on this.

“You can lean against me, promise I won’t draw on your face,” Hardison said, before walking away so that Eliot couldn't reply. Parker skipped up next to him and asked about the drawing on the face with a bit too much glee.

The words caught up with Eliot and he could feel his cheeks getting warmer, which he pushed down immediately. Hardison had offered it so casually, like it wasn’t weird at all that he was turning down the offer of sitting next to his girlfriend so that Eliot could lean against his shoulder. But maybe Eliot was seeing things where there was nothing, he was injured (minor injuries but that didn’t seem to stop Hardison from worrying), so it could just be a normal offer. It wasn’t as if Hardison hadn’t fallen asleep on his shoulder from time to time.

It wouldn't be weird, he didn’t need to make it weird. Besides, he didn’t needto take him up on the offer and lean on Hardison. He could just not sleep and keep on looking forwards. Yeah, that was a plan.

Soon the others came back, piling into the van once more, with Parker shoving two cold things in his hands as she proudly proclaimed: “They sold ice packs!”

“Oh, thank you, Parker,” he smiled at her, starting to lean forward with a grunt only to find one of the ice packs stolen and being placed on his foot again. He nodded his thanks to Parker, before settling down against the backseat and putting the other ice pack against his eye.

The swelling had gone down already with the ice cubes from the hotel, but the fresh coolness of the ice pack was still welcome.

On his other side, Hardison said: “I managed to convince her not to take the markers, so you’re welcome.”

“And who gave her the idea in the first place,” Eliot shot back, getting an idea. “I’m not risking it by sleeping. You never know if she doesn’t have them anyway.”

“Come on, man, you need the rest,” Hardison tried to argue.

“I already had more sleep than normal, Hardison. I’m fine,” Eliot replied. He did feel tired, but he wasn’t admitting that.

“But I promise I don’t have the markers,” Parker inserted herself into the conversation as well, showing that she only had some hundred dollar bills in her pockets along with some earrings that weren’t hers and a small stuffed mushroom.

“You literally just asked me if we could switch places so that you could lean against something,” it was clear that Hardison wasn’t believing him.

“I thought that you would want to sit next to Parker, sorry for trying to be nice,” he huffed out the truth, hoping it would get them off his back. They stayed silent, so he called out to the front: “Soph, can we please listen to something else, I am so not in the mood for opera.”

Sophie did change the station to something more generic with less high notes that made his head hurt, even if she grumbled: “Someone’s in a mood today.”

He snapped back: “You try getting beat up on a regular basis, see if you’re still sunshine and rainbows after.”

“No, for real, man, you’re never this grouchy,” Hardison frowned, trying to subtly check him over and failing on the subtle part. “Is something wrong? What’s going on?”

“Is there an alien in your stomach controlling you?” Parker asked with wide eyes.

“Dammit, Hardison, I told you not to watch those stupid alien movies with her,” Eliot focused on something other than the uncomfortable questions Hardison had asked.

Because yeah, he was more grouchy than normal and something was wrong, but the something that was wrong was the fact that he had discovered that he was in love with his two best friends and now he was stuck on an eight hour car ride between them after they had seen him vulnerable and he feared that they would catch on or that he was coming between them and it was all the confusing twisty things he had tried to avoid and didn’t want to talk about.

Grouchy didn’t entirely cover that.

“Uhm, excuse you, alien movies are a staple of American culture that everyone should get to experience, so don’t even start there, also you didn’t answer my question,” Hardison told him, leveling him with a stare.

Eliot now had a choice. And it was easily made. “I have a huge headache, Hardison,” he sighed a partially lie, before going on with a whole lie, “I have a headache, I barely slept on the last con and you’re all very loud. I don’t need anyone’s fussing, I just wanted to sit quietly and everyone is making it really hard.”

“Thank you for being honest with us,” Parker said and it was obviously something she’d learned from Sophie and Eliot felt guilty about pretending to be open about his injuries a bit, just so they would get off his back.

“Yeah, man, we’ll be quiet,” Hardison added.

Hardison turned back to his screen and Parker to her locks and Eliot tried not to miss their soft chatter as he closed his eyes and tried to find his zen place.

After how much he’d insisted he wasn’t going to sleep, he was slightly embarrassed that the next moment he was waking up, having been asleep for some time. He could tell Sophie was behind the wheel, which meant he either hadn’t been asleep for long or they were on the last two hour stretch home.

He now registered that the ice pack on his foot had was cool again and the one on his cheek was held in place by someone – Parker his mind supplied – but he was leaning against something, someone, else with his other cheek. He was kind of groggy and he struggled to wake up, blinking bleary until he heard Hardison’s voice near his left ear: “Hey there, finally joining us in the land of the living again, huh?”

“Wha?” he was still feeling disorientated, the headache was much worse than when he’d drifted off and his muscles were sore, he was also cold and his throat ached slightly in the background. He levered himself into a sitting position and tried to take a deep breath to wake up, only to find his nose stuffy.

No.

Fuck no.

It all clicked into place after a second. The confusion, the chills, the headache, sore muscles and throat and then also a stuffy nose. He was sick. He had managed to get himself sick.

“You okay?” Hardison asked, obviously concerned and Eliot felt guilty about having been asleep on his shoulder after everything, as well as guilt because that couldn't have been comfortable and Eliot just cozied up to him again, even when he knew Hardison had a girlfriend. A girlfriend who had been holding his ice pack for him.

He owed those two so much in just the last 24 hours alone, not to mention the past few years. That was something he couldn't pay back and he had treated them like shit and had caught weird feelings for them and gotten in between them.

Tears came to his eyes and he blinked them away as a hole started to eat away at his heart and he couldn't fully push that down, even if he tried.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that his too emotional state of being was due to his lower defenses since he was sick. He felt too exhausted to fight it, but did it after a moment anyway, replacing it with enough grumpiness to be believable.

“‘m fine,” he mumbled, trying not to make his sore throat obvious as he rubbed his eyes in an attempt to wake up. They didn’t need to know he was sick, they would only worry. He would disappear when they got home and come back when he felt better again. “Are we near the brewpub yet?”

“Yes, you slept for so long, it was a bit boring, but your nose whistled and that was funny,” Parker informed him. “Hardison was trapped under you the entire ride.”

Now at that he did blush and avoided Hardison’s eyes as he softly apologized.

“No worries, man, you obviously needed the sleep,” Hardison assured him. “And I wasn’t trapped under you the entire ride, we managed to lever you over to Parker’s shoulder when Nate took Sophie’s place again. We only switched you back last stop.”

“I didn’t wake up?” Eliot asked, frowning, he must be sicker than he thought.

“Slept like a baby,” Hardison said. “Are you sure you’re okay, man?”

“‘m fine, I already said that,” Eliot grouched, trying not to let show how much he wanted to not be okay and wrapped up in a hug or a blanket or something. He was the tough one, he couldn't be weak, because his job was being strong. Just hold on, Eliot, he thought, then you can crash on your bed.

“Your voice sounds off,” Parker observed, “more gravelly than normal. And you didn’t wake up in a second and your eyes are still drooping.” She cocked her head, before her eyes got a knowing gleam in them. He was made. “Do you feel hungry? Or are you nauseous? Are you in any discomfort? Cold, perhaps? How’s your headache?”

“Hey, mama, why don’t you give the man a rest,” Hardison came to his defense. “You’re kinda overwhelming him with questions right now.”

“When has Eliot ever been overwhelmed?” Parker shot back and Eliot cursed her observation skills, there went his plan to hide until he was better.

“What are you getting at, baby?” Hardison frowned.

“She figured out I’m sick,” Eliot snapped, before Parker could tell him. “And I’m right here. No need to talk about me like I’m not.”

“You’re sick?” Nate asked. “How long has that been going on?”

“I only noticed it when I woke up,” Eliot replied, remembering one of Nate’s rules. “I would have told you if I was sick on the con. I wouldn’t have put you all in danger over me being sick, you know that.”

“Is his wound infected?” Sophie asked and before Eliot could tell them that no it was not, because he would have noticed that, two small calloused thief hands crawled under his shirt, feeling at the bandage, before lifting his shirt to inspect it. Parker reported: “The wound is fine.”

“Do we have supplies for soup at home?” Hardison asked.

“I think we have a blanket for him somewhere under the chairs,” Nate said.

“Oehh, we can build a pillow fort!” Parker exclaimed.

“I’m right here,” Eliot grouched, he didn’t need their care. Craved it? Yes. But he didn’t need it and he wasn’t going to let them. He was supposed to be invincible and while they were long past believing that, he couldn't let them see how pathetic he was. “And I don’t need a damn blanket or soup, or a pillow fort. I’m just a bit under the weather and I am fine on my own. I’ll take a few days and then I’m good to go, don’t be so dramatic.”

Hardison looked him over, then looked at Parker and raised his brow in an ‘are you hearing this guy’ manner, before he said: “I can be as dramatic as I want to be.”

“What? No,” Eliot said. “I’m the sick one and if I say I’m fine and you gotta stop being dramatic about it, then you stop being dramatic about it. Simple.”

“Sure, simple,” Hardison said, pulling out the blanket and teamworking with Parker to get it around his shoulders. “Except I worried my ass off last night because you could hardly walk, or even stand on your own and you dazed out constantly while trying to tell us you were fine. So when it comes to you telling me you’re fine, I’m not really trusting you, alright.”

The blanket around his shoulders was warm and he wanted to burrow into it, but he wasn’t giving in so easily.

“Dammit, Hardison, I said I was fine. I don’t need any of your fussing near me, alright. I’m not incompetent. It’s not even that bad,” he yelled, snapping because he had no energy to do anything but snapping or giving in at this point. And giving in wasn’t an option.

“I know you’re not incompetent, Eliot, we all do,” Hardison said, Parker agreeing: “Of course we don’t think that, you’re skilled.”

He crossed his arms and looked away. He knew they didn’t think he was incompetent, they wouldn't trust him with their lives otherwise, but that could change at any moment. He’d seen it happen before, so he wasn’t risking it.

“And I’m also hearing a lot about you don’t needing anything, which I also believe,” Hardison went on in a tone that had Eliot’s guard up. “But I ain’t hearing nothing about wanting. And we care about you, man, how many times have I got to tell you that? We want to take care of you, even if we know you don’t need it.”

“I don’t need anyone playing nurse,” he protested again. It was weak and he knew it, but he had to protest, he had to warn them without explicitly warning them, because that would also be a weakness and- His head hurt and the thoughts in it were swirling and confusing him.

“That kinda looks like a lie to me,” Hardison said, looking him over with concern in his eyes. “And you’re again talking about needing not wanting.”

“Are you okay, Eliot?” Parker was also not happy with his face it seemed, but he knew he must look like a confused, sweating, hurt mess, with a swollen eye and a shivering frame. He had even pitifully burrowed into the blanket without even realizing.

“I’m- I’m- I don’t know,” he finally admitted. He was just tired and upset about feelings he couldn't place. He wanted to crash someplace warm and not have to think for a moment. “I don’t know,” he said again, voice unsteady. “It’s- I- I can never want something. ‘s a weakness.”

If he was paying attention, he could have pinpointed when Hardison’s heart broke by the look in his eye, but instead he was distracted by Parker pulling him into a hug as she said: “I get it, but Hardison taught me how to feel stuff and you taught me how to like stuff, we can teach you how to be taken care of.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Sophie’s voice was slightly fake in her enthusiasm as it came from the front seat, cutting off any half-formed protests from Eliot.

“Me too,” Hardison quickly agreed, throwing an arm over Eliot’s shoulder and pulling him close, until he was leaning against his chest, Parker on his lap like a pretzel. “We’ll teach you how to be taken care off and then you can work on your verbal explanations by teaching me how to make soup for you from the comforts of a bed.”

“Wha- I don’t-” Eliot’s mind was too confused to properly fight the argument, he somewhere knew needed to be fought, while also not wanting to fight it.

“It’s been a lot of don’ts from you, just accept it, alright?” Hardison said, pulling him closer and he wanted to protest again. Really, he did. But he was also very comfortable and warm and he was tired and they’d be home soon. He could fight them again when they were home.

In the end, it turned out that fighting them when they got home was a terrible plan. The sleeping had left him groggy and Nate and Sophie had already disappeared, leaving him with just Hardison’s comforting chattering and Parker’s puppy eyes. He couldn't drive home in this state and both had refused to drive him and he already had a room above the brewpub, so he could go home tomorrow if he felt like it and-

And he gave in, the great Eliot Spencer, defeated by cute little eyes and too many arguments about a comfortable bed nearby. What had his life come to?

His life had come to waking up in a soft bed, that Hardison had managed to get exactly right before he’d even arrived in Portland all those months ago, with a sore throat and muscles, while being nicely warm on his right side where a bony elbow was wedged into his side, while on the other side there was a consistent, comfortingly familiar tapping noise.

He blinked blearily and groaned when a wave of nausea rolled over him, before a coughing fit overtook him. Parker’s warmth disappeared, but Hardison’s voice came: “Hey, hey, you’re alright, you’re alright.”

A glass of water appeared and he took it gratefully, sipping it slowly and letting it sooth his throat and wash away the itch at the back of it.

“You’ve been clonked out for the past few hours, about sixteen. How you feeling?” And Eliot was grateful that Hardison knew him well enough to first tell him how much time he’d lost before asking him about his state.

“I’m fine,” he replied, but his voice was barely a whisper.

“That response is really ingrained, isn’t it, huh?” Hardison said, but there was no judgment in his voice.

“Oehh, is that one of the things we’re teaching him to stop with? Like how I had to look further than the alarms in a museum?” Parker piped up.

“Yeah, exactly, mama,” Hardison’s smile was obvious when he talked. “He can start by telling us how he really feels.”

And Eliot was honestly too tired to follow the conversation, so he gave up on trying and just answered honestly: “Like I’ve been hit by a motorcycle.”

“Not a truck?” Hardison asked.

“No, motorcycle hit is very distinctive.”

“You and your distinctive,” the mutter was more for Hardison himself than him, so he ignored it. “Parker, baby, if I go get the soup, can you make sure he doesn’t drop off again. He needs to eat if he wants to recover.”

“Of course, I’ll keep watch!” Parker saluted and Hardison left the room.

Eliot let his eyes close, content to just lie there, but Parker obviously thought he was falling asleep again, because she poked his right cheek where the bruise was. It was less tender than last time, but still sore, so he hissed: “The fuck, Parker.”

“I need to keep you awake,” she said with wide eyes and he wanted to roll his, but that would make her sad, so he just sighed and leaned back into his pillow, this time with his eyes open.

“What happened?” he asked, trying to put together the little bit of information his brain was willing to give him.

“Well, you were out beating people up in the rain,” she launched into an explanation, “and Hardison says you don’t actually get sick from the rain, but you did get sick and me and Hardison are taking care of you, but you were really grumpy on the drive back, but then you fell asleep. And your nose whistled.”

He let her voice wash over him as she went on.

“But then you woke up and you were really sad about something, but also grouchy and then Hardison did his thing, where he gets people and has like the voice that tells him what you need to hear. He and Sophie both do it, it’s fascinating, he’s teaching me how to do it too. And you gave in, because you wanted to, but you didn’t want to tell us, so we had to crack your emotion safe with our words and now we’re going to teach you how to be taken care of,” she finished.

Wait what? He had put most of the pieces together and part of him had only partially questioned why they were in his bed, but he hadn’t remembered this. He thought they were just here to see if he woke up again and now that he had, he could throw them out of his room (going to his apartment seemed too hard at this point), but not this.

Before the freak out could fully set in, Hardison entered with a bowl of steaming soup. “Here you go, chicken noodle soup, the best for when you’re sick and homemade,” Hardison grinned. “I really want to say by us, but we set a pan on fire and then asked the kitchen staff to make it.”

He wordlessly accepted the soup, still trying to figure out what was going on exactly, how he felt about it and how he would get out of it.

Yeah, okay, what the fuck had his life come to?

~~

A/N:

I really like the idea of Eliot being fine with the insane driving off Sophie and Parker, because it’s at least functional in a getaway situation, but he can’t stand Nate’s just below average driving (personal headcanon) in an everyday situation. It tickles me.

Also I know that Lucille doesn’t have a backseat bench, but the vibes were too good so just go with it

[sister-dear]

For the ask game, Sky? :3

Sky! Doing this one on mobile apologies if the formatting goes odd.

Do I like them: Yesssssss omg yes. One of my very top favs. I love his combination of genuine kindness paired with the absolute badass fighting skills.

5 good qualities: He’s kind and he shows it openly. Gentle too. Highly protective of those he cares about. Generally even tempered. Very good swordsman.

3 bad qualities: When that temper does get tripped he can get very sharp and hurtful. Slow to stand up for himself; he’d rather let things slide than make waves, when that might not always be for the best. Mister head in the clouds, at least in early game: daydreams even when he should focus or study.

Favorite episode: Ok ok ok. Um. That scene where they’re walking through a first and Sky sends that massive sword beam back down the trail. Or the spar with Twilight. Or him loving the Cuccos at Lon Lon. Those little moments where it’s obvious he’s starting to put the pieces together about Ganon and how he might relate to Demise’s curse.

Otp: Sky/Zelda. Skyward Sword is the only game that’s really managed to sell me on this ship in the canon itself. They’ve got a fun dynamic at the start of the story, it’s obvious they care for each other in a romantic way.

Brotp: I really really really love Sky and Four. They’re both so level-headed, and Four’s his successor so if the downfall duo can have that as a point of connection they can too. But also! Sky and Legend, as mentioned when I did Legend’s. Sky and Warriors because of their shared experiences with being knights. (And they actually spend a fair amount of time together in the comic!)

OT3: Sky/Zelda/Groose. I love how the relationship between Sky and Groose develops and we already know both boys have it bad for Zelda in their own ways.

notp: none for Sky!

Best quote: “I love these tiny birds.”

Head canon: I write him with a combination of Crohn’s, asthma, and a thyroid imbalance. The fatigue from those is why he sleeps all the time. Has experienced cold but things like seasons and weather are newer to him. Also headcanon he cannot sew worth a damn.

[discotreque]

LwD 2.10: First First Contact

I haven’t been able to do notes for the past few weeks, but that’s not much of a loss: I’ve been having too much fun to get analytical even if I could. All you “missed” would’ve been a lot of yelling about how much I love these characters and this show, and a list of jokes I thought were funny, which is pretty close to “all of them.”

Nor do I have much analysis of the finale. Yelling, though? I’ve got yelling. And a list of jokes I especially liked? Absolutely. Right behind this spoiler cut:

SONJA GOMEZ MY BELOVED 😍😍😍😍😍

Hmmm, we haven’t checked in on Mariner’s abandonment issues in a little while, how’s that g-OH MY GOD NO

Okay I knew Mariner had a crush on Jennifer, I KNEW IT, I even started writing a fic about it a few weeks ago and just left it 90% done like an IDIOT

Huge fan of Rutherford and Tendi having an intimate moment where they confess their love for… the ship. Tendiforritos OT3!!!

Mike McMahan, if you kill Sonja Gomez I will revoke at least three of the beers I owe you, I swear to god

Characters blurting out the (obvious) emotional subtext of a scene always gets a laugh from me, and Rutherford chirping, “We have to drop our defenses, like Mariner has to do with people!” got a BIG laugh.

Removing the ship’s hull is exactly the wild shit you can only do—and therefore must do, imho—in a Star Trek cartoon. Even Disco doesn’t have the VFX budget for that kind of ridiculousness.

The thing with Rutherford saving all his memories of Tendi in triplicate, just in case he forgot her again? Hit me right in the feels 😭️

“Nothing explodes around here unless I’m blowing it up!” I’m so glad Shaxs can never, ever die. Ever.

“But in seven hours, we’ll be dea—oh, I see what you did there.”

This was a great episode for Billups! Hilariously losing his shit at even implied criticism of the warp core; has a sweet fatherly moment with Rutherford and gives him legitimately good advice; totally saves a lady’s life out of nowhere; says “dragon’s blood!” as a curse. What a legend.

Ransom finally gets his hands on the Riker joystick (not like that)

HEY UH WHAT THE FUCK WAS UP WITH RUTHERFORD’S WEIRD MEMORY THERE??

CETACEAN OPS, these mad bastards finally delivered, and of COURSE the beluga whales are wearing little Starfleet uniforms, and of course they’re sex pests omg

Wait uh didn’t Barnes and her pals invite Rutherford to “go swimming in Cetacean Ops” earlier this season? In retrospect that’s starting to sound kind of kinky for a first date…

Get you a friend like Tendi who can eventually have ENOUGH of your shit and tell you to shape up, tbh.

God, those exteriors of the thrusters firing are sexy as hell

This entire episode is gorgeous as FUCK, actually????

J E N N I F E R 💙️ 💙️ 💙️ 💙️ 💙️ Saving Mariner!! (And I think Mariner’s into it?)

Didn’t catch the name of Capt. Gomez’s first officer, but I really liked him.

Cerritos to the rescue!!! HELL yes!!!!

Are they going to just completely fuck up the ship in every season finale?

Promotion for Tendi, which she absolutely deserves, hell yeah

“Who the fuck is that? I don’t know who that is. I mean like Spock!” We don’t see that much of Dr. T’Ana, but Gillian Vigman crushes it in every scene she gets.

Tipsy Captain Freeman is adorable omg MORE OF THIS PLEASE

Carol Freeman is absolutely one of my favourite Trek captains ever and I will be devastated if/when Dawnn Lewis actually leaves the show, even though she probably has to at some point. (Not yet, though...!)

MARINER AND JENNIFER FOR REAL??????

Sooooo when Boimler “almost drowned in whale pee,” was that during the mission or the celebratory skinny-dipping…?

That episode was so good I forgot they hadn’t paid off Chekhov’s Varuvian Bomb until they REALLY paid it off, like holy shit, Pakled Planet (heh) is just gone

…holy SHIT, what??? They’re arresting Captain Freeman????

My full-body CHILLS when “To be continued” came up in the TNG font, though...

What an excellent episode of Star Trek. What an excellent season of Star Trek. I’m honestly kind of emotional about how many things this show has given me that I’ve wanted for like 30 years, since I was a feral little nerd sitting way too close to the TV before dinner, or even 10 years, since I started dipping a toe back into online Trek fandom.

Only two (short) seasons is still too soon for me to definitively say that Lower Decks is my favourite Star Trek series ever—but the facts are, I’ve ended both of those seasons with tears in my eyes because I love Star Trek so fucking much (as you maybe have noticed)… and so, obviously, does Lower Decks.

See you in a couple of weeks for Prodigy! I’m sure this fandom won’t be intolerably weird about a kids’ show...