#baby trapping with stephen glass

[lunarnightt]

I have a question for my followers who use my boys

Please vote so I can know what my beautiful people want because I want YOU all to be satisfied with the bots

[cauliflowertree]

sirius black—until i found you. part one.

summary: sirius escapes from azkaban and journeys to find you. -> loosely based on the song ‘until i found you’ by stephen sanchez.

word count: 1.2k

fanfic no. 019

he had waited for this day for twelve excruciatingly insufferable years, had anticipated every response under the sun with which you could have possibly greeted him. from dawn until night he thought of only you: your face, your smile lines, the turn of your neck, how soft your skin felt to his calloused fingertips, and how much softer it would be after all this time.

though he promised himself never to doubt your love, he did find himself occasionally wondering whether you believed in the lie so many had fallen for. the carefully crafted crime peter pettigrew had left him to take the fall for. would his reuniting with you mean nothing but an escaped convict's deranged fantasy? but he could never think that way for too long, or he really would've turned out as insane as the rest of them trapped in the heavily guarded prison. you were the only thing keeping him from surrendering himself to azkaban's guards.

over the treacherous waters, fleeing the dementors and hiding in far away towns just hoping to hear word of someone he once knew, praying he would find you before he was caught again, sirius finally caught news—godrics hollow, you had never left. he should have known, should have expected that with almost everyone gone, you would cling to the last place where you had all been truly happy.

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"rem, i'm just popping to the shops, we're out of milk!" you shouted up the stairs.

"alright!" came his muffled response.

fastening the buttons on your coat and reaching for your bag, you unlocked the front door and stepped onto the narrow, cold path that you and remus were forced to call a garden. you were about to lock the door when remus forced it open again, sticking his head out to ask you for some more tea biscuits.

"yes alright," you laughed. "almost had me screaming in your face then."

"sorry," he smiled sheepishly, shivering slightly before heading back inside the house.

there weren't many shops open this late on a sunday, in fact the only one that was, happened to be at the edge of the village. you'd bought a house on a particular street that meant you rarely ever had to walk past the ruin of the house you'd once shared so many happy memories within, but tonight you'd have to face it again. you never knew whether to stop and look and reminisce, or carry on and pretend it wasn't there.

during the daytime, you tried not to look if you had to walk past, too pained by the memories, by the knowledge of what happened there and the loss it caused you. but also that someone undesirable might catch you looking. however, you were alone tonight, and you couldn't help but stop at its front gate and peer into the broken windows, the shards of glass still faint with yours and your friends’ joyous, ghostly reflections. and yet, the house was now violated with dark magic.

"i miss you," you whispered quietly, tentatively reaching out to touch the gate voldemort himself might have laid hands on once. but instead of thinking of the darkness, you tried to remember all the times you had pushed open that gate, the times lily and james, sirius and remus, and even baby harry had pushed open that little gate.

sirius. perhaps after all this time, that was really the deepest pain you felt so profoundly. though each day you tried to put on a face of stoisicm, you could not neglect to remember that lily and james were dead, at peace, but sirius was alive, suffering, and not knowing whether the only two people he had left in the world believed him, fought for him, or even thought of him.

remus still woke you from nightmares sometimes. the nightmares all started like dreams—you and sirius happy, smiling, innocent as you once had been. and then they became distorted, twisted and warped and there was nothing you could do to stop it, nor was there anything you could have done to have prevented it.

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sirius watched you from afar. he had followed you from your house you shared with remus, wondering if he had come twelve years too late but was so caught up in the relief of finally finding you that it didn't matter. after all this time, torment and pain, having a small part of you was better than having none of you at all.

he wondered now, as you stood before the potter's house, if you still thought of him, if you were thinking of him now. or if he had become obsolete in your life after his years of absence.

it was not out of the norm to see unusual things in godrics hollow, for it was largely a wizards' dwelling, but something felt off the more you stood before the cursed house. someone was watching you.

as your heart began to pound against your chest, you squinted through the darkness, trying to find a hint of a shadow that shouldn't have been there. you clutched your wand in your pocket and began to walk. the sound of your footsteps, your breathing, your heartbeat, it was driving you mad. you could probably apparate without causing much suspicion or outrage, but it was too risky coming up to the church.

and that's when you heard it, claws against the cobbled street, as if a dog was catching up to its owner. turning around, your instincts had been correct, but there was no owner around, nor a collar on the dog as far as you could tell from this distance.

but that dog...

sirius knew his cover was blown. he could tell by the way you were standing, just watching him with that curious expression. the one that people had when they couldn't quite recognise someone, or something, but were sure they knew it from somewhere. now was as good a time as any, he supposed, to expose himself and simply hope you had trusted him enough in your youth to believe him today.

right before your eyes, and perhaps other's, the dog transformed into a sullen, worn, human form, prison clothes dangling from his body and hair just as messy as his animagus'. he had nothing to lose and the promise of everything to gain.

"good godric," you choked, feeling the oxygen in your constricting lungs dissipate.

if it weren't't for the sheer panic that sirius would be caught, you'd have surely fallen to your knees. but your heart was in your throat and your stomach had plummeted and all you could think about was getting away from this public street where anyone could see him.

you began running down the path, holding your breath, clutching your chest. the closer you got, the faster the tears formed in your eyes; he looked so sickly, a phantom of the man he once was.

"y/n," sirius mumbled, a weak smile on his face as he looked down at you. it was as if he was in a dream.

with trembling hands you reached for his face, his sullen cheeks, pressing your palms against his winter-worn skin. your laboured breaths hung in the air around you, the white smoke blending into his complexion. was he a ghost? someone you were imagining?

"y/n," he muttered again, forcing the butterflies in your stomach out of their hibernation.

but your attention was quickly captured by unknown voices down the street, and you snatched sirius' arm, pressed his head to your shoulder, walked a few paces down the road where the street lights didn't illuminate and vanished with a snap!

🏷 @imabee-oralizard @sw34terw34ther @applebittenn @cherrystrees @mad-elia @velvetcloxds @natashxromanovf @masivechaos @ell0ra-br3kk3r @garfieldsladybird @flesh--amnesiac

[bookmaker-untaken]

i have options -

play me like a violin - stephen

nonsense - sabrina carpenter

talk - hozier

whoever calls to u strongest

used all three songs cause i couldn’t help myself

Bodyguard! Nanami Kento x CEO! Reader

Summary: But hey, it's not Nanami Kento's fault he's got so much cake. 

Warnings: Attempted Thirstiness, Likely OOC, Cringe, Drinking, Cursing

Word Count: 1,277

i. Think I only want one number in my phone I might change your contact to "don't leave me alone”

These old cronies disgust you. 

It takes everything in you not to throw up at every word they say, and you still gag a little in the back of your throat.

Every policy these higher ups throw your way is so blatantly self-serving, so clearly made to line their pockets, it's almost comical. 

But it's not funny, it's business. 

You curse your Mom for deciding it would be a good idea to retire early and travel the world while you get to stay here and pick up the damn mess. 

Ugh, this meeting should have been an email.

You’re so bored. 

And when you are bored, your eyes wander to the same spot - your bodyguard, standing with his hands behind his back and his arms on full display looking all scrum-diddly-umptious.

You wish you could grab his ass, but you, unlike the dusty old men your acquainted with, you have some decorum.

Even if it is hanging by a thread.

But hey, it's not Nanami Kento's fault he's got so much cake. 

ii. I don't want no one else (don't want) Baby, I'm in too deep (too deep)

Despite your innate capacity for evil and how down bad you are, you do not make a move on Nanami Kento. 

You do, however, yap his fucking ear off. 

Your therapist says she thinks you where neglected as a child. 

You say you pay him well so you can do whatever the hell you want. 

He carries your shopping bags for you and listens as you discuss fashion and complain about campaign lobbyists in the same sentence. "And then ... Kento?" 

He's quiet for too long, alert. "We're being followed." 

"Ugh, it's probably just the paparazzi," You say with a flick of the wrist and a roll of the eyes.  

"Probably," He says. "But the precautions remain the same. Stay close."

He guides you by the small of your back and inside you are literally internally punching the air.  

"You could have said please,"

He glances down at you. Well, you can't see it because of his glasses, but you know the weight of his gaze. "Please."

Your going to melt on the spot, on god. If he's any more sexy you might just kiss him in the middle of the street. 

"It seems they got the message."

"Damn, I was really hoping to see you fight." You say, mostly just to cause problems. You pay this man, but you don't know really what he's capable of. You’ve never had to see.

"That's unfortunate," He says, pushing up his glasses. "Because I do not wish to fight." 

"That's, like, your job!"

"No," He says. "My job is to protect you."

You blush a little. "Stop flirting with me." 

"Believe me, you would know if I were flirting with you." 

iii . This fire in my head's got me on edge I'm going out tonight

You need this man, biblically.

It's embarrassing.

You're suppose to be an independent woman. And falling for your bodyguard?

That's cliche as hell.

You’re disappointed in yourself.

So what do you do? You work out, you work hard, you focus on therapy.

And when that doesn't work - you party, you spend, you drink. 

The air is moist with the sweat of grinding bodies and the smell of much cologne illuminated in electric blue for a second, then cast in halogenic pink. You can feel the beat in your chest.

"Just you and I," The guy is singing over the remixed trap beat. "Far from the places we can't get away from- "

"Kento!" You call over the pulsing music. "I wanna go home!"

"Alright." Is all he says. 

You put your hands out. "Carry me!" You trying him on purpose now. Will he do it?

He turns around, lowering his broad back toward you. 

Your happy it's a piggyback ride, because he can't see the blush forming on your cheeks.

"That was too loud," You complain. 

 Nanami is silent. 

You move your cheek away from his warmth. "Aren't you going to ask why I went?"

"You don't pay me to be nosy." He says.

"What if I wanted to tell you?"

"Then you would," He says. "And I would listen."

"Because you were payed to, right?" 

"It does come with the job description, yes." 

"That's all I am to you, huh, a job description?" You sigh hard. You should have expected as much.

Nanami, notably, doesn't respond - but your a little too far gone and a little too in your own feelings to process that.

iv. I'd be the last shred of truth In the lost myth of true love (hey ya)

One time, you saw a girl flirting with Nanami. 

You where jealous for all of two seconds. You weren't some unreasonable fanfic CEO, he could talk to people damn it!

But the feeling that quickly washed over you was just as icky. 

She was pretty, naturally so. She pushed her hair behind her ear with a bashful smile. 

You wondered if she was the kind of girl Nanami liked. 

If he was gonna hold her hand and they where going to walk off into the sunset and have normal looking poor people babies.

And you would get some older, gruffer looking bodyguard who liked to hit it from the back and never loved you. 

Nanami seemed like the kind of guy who would hit it from the front. … Not that you'd thought too deeply about that. 

You'd die.

Your therapist told you it was okay to want things.

You thought that hag should mind her own business. 

… Even if you payed her and she was one of the only other people, other than Nanami, that always told you the truth.

Anyway, after his lunch break - promptly at 12 o'clock, Nanami arrived to work with a small box.

He slid it toward you.

You raised an eyebrow. 

"You seemed ... upset after that last meeting," was all he said. He cleared his throat.

You wanted to make him wify. Posthaste.

But you knew you’d probably never get the chance.

v. I won't deny I've got in my mind now all the things I would do

You are not one of god's strongest soldiers. 

You know this because of the barking you hear in the back of your head when you see Nanami's hands on full display. 

(How Victorian maiden of you.)

You watch as he unbuckles your heels, slides them off. 

"Fuck me," You breath. 

His hands and taking care of you? It's too much. 

Your therapist says that we often crave things we don't normally have. 

Nanami doesn't respond. 

This frustrates you.

"Hey!" You bark, reaching to throw a pillow at him. "Didn't you hear me?" 

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you say anything?" 

You don't give him a second. 

"Is it because I'm a bitch?"

"Why would you believe anything that comes out out the mouth of those degenerates," He says, with a bit more force than usual.

You feel it react in you like the Advil disintegrating in commercials. 

"Then why not ... " You say, more quietly, hugging the pillow to your chest. 

He sighs. "Now is not a good time." 

You click your tongue at him. "When is it? I've been trying to jump your bones for years!" 

"You're drunk."

"So you'll fuck me when I'm not? Like ... in the morning?" 

"We'll see."

"Kento?"

"Hmm."

"Will ... " Your cheeks dust with color. "Will you kiss me too?" 

"If your good for me now and go to bed, yes."

You puff out your chest, accepting the challenge. "Goodnight, Kento!"

The corner of his lips jump at this. “Goodnight, princess."

[zoxiqwritesstuff]

This fic is dedicated to the amazingly talented @elisaphoenix13 and her aeesome Mama bear AU that inspired this fic. Go check out her work on here and AO3!!

========

Looped Nightmare

Chapter 1: Was it all a dream?

Tony woke up as he jolted up from his slumber, panting lightly. His forehead was damp with a cold sweat as he ran a hand down his face, trying to calm himself from the nightmare he had just woken up from. He grabbed his glasses on the table next to the bed, sliding them on as the iv tube hit his face. Tony batted the tube away before his chocolate eyes went wide at his surroundings. 

"What the hell…" Tony questioned as he saw he was in the medical bay. " Friday, tell mama bear this is a little extreme for falling out of bed."

Friday was silent for once. 

"Friday? Oh don't tell me he's still mad about the bath bomb…  i said i was sorr…" Tony rambled as he tried to get out of bed, his legs failing him as he crumbled to the floor.

Steve had been passing by just asTony had collapsed to the floor, the super soldier rushing forward and helping the billionaire into a nearby wheelchair. Tony's face grew even more confused at his weakness. He had felt fine just last night when he had crawled into bed with Stephen. He hadn't felt like this since he was rescued from space after…

"You've been out for a week Tony." Steve stated softly. 

"Where are the girls? Stephen? The boys? Is everyone ok?!" Tony asked hurriedly as he looked up at the super soldier. 

"Cassie and Diana are fine… but I'm sorry Tony…" Steve sighed sadly as he walked behind the engineer, pushing the wheelchair. "Stephen, Harley, and Peter were…"

"Were what?! Where's Val? You forgot her! Were we attacked while i was asleep?!" Tony was letting the panic fill him completely at what he was hearing. 

Then things started to click. Space, everyone missing… It was just like after the snap. Was everything he remembered just a dream during his comatose state? 

No.

It couldn't be. This had to still be some sick dream he was stuck in. They defeated Thanos… he snapped again. The engineer was wheeled over to a table with the few remaining Avengers, the pictures of those lost to the snap projected up from the holotable.

Chocolate eyes widen when he sees Peter and Stephen's pictures flash across the screen. He grabbed what he thought was his damaged arm,  his brows furrowing when there was no charred flesh under his touch. 

Had him snapping all been a dream in his coma? 

His eyes focused off into the distance as the other's talked in the background.  Something was wrong.  He could feel it in his gut and would try to prove it.  

*****

Tony sat in the living room of the lake house, staring at the Starkpad in his hand. It was getting harder and harder to tell if what was happening around him was real. He got hungry and needed sleep, which meant it wasn't a dream. Maybe it was an alternate dimension? Or some spatial anomaly?

Either way, he knew he would get his family back. 

Cassie watched from the kitchen where she was feeding Diana some baby food from a jar. The billionaire had her worried. Maybe he was still in shock from the snap? She knew that she hadn't quite gotten a grip on what had happened. At least she didn't have it as bad as Tony, who actually had both Stephen and Peter turn to dust in his arms.  

She finished feeding Diana, wiping her face with a diaper wipe to remove any blueberries that had decided to stay on her cheeks before carrying her back to the living room.  The child set the baby in the swing before climbing up onto the couch next to Tony. 

"Uncle Tony? Can we watch cartoons?" Cassie asked softly, looking up at the distracted man. 

"Huh? Oh yeah… FRI? Put on whatever Miss Sass wants." Tony muttered as he kept scrolling through the articles that littered the screen. 

Each and every one of them was dated 2018, part of Tony wanting to believe that were true even though there was a much louder voice in his head yelling at him to wake up. Even his conscience sounded like his last husband.  He rubs his eyes and sighs as he sets the device in the coffee table before him. Cassie pats his leg gently. 

"It's ok Uncle Tony." Cassie said softly, the billionaire not missing the sorrow that laced her young voice. "I miss my daddy too." 

Tony pulled Cassie into a hug, hoping to soothe the still grieving girl beside him. "Me too Cass… me...too.."

Tony's brain began whirling with ideas.  

Scott. 

Scott…

"SCOTT!" Tony hadn't realized he yelled the man's name as his hands darted for the Starkpad again. 

Scott had solved the answer in how to get everyone back before. If Tony could find him again and bring him back,  maybe then he could prove he wasn't crazy.  Maybe he could get his family back. 

Cassie turned her attention away from the cartoons on the television to watch Tony. She knew the last time she saw her father, he was helping Mr. Pym and Hope to collect some particles or something like that. 

He was one of the victims of the snap.  

"Uncle Tony… daddy is gone too." She muttered softly as she reached to pull his hand away from the Starkpad. 

"Cassie. I promise I'm not crazy but… I've already been through this before. " Tony explained. "Your dad wasn't snapped.  He's trapped in the quantum realm and if I can find him, then he can help get everyone else ba…" 

The man turned and saw the tears filling large hazel eyes just before Cassie got up. The child ran to her room and shut her door behind her.  Tony sighs softly as he holds his head in his hands, looking over at his baby daughter in her swing.  

"I promise daddy isn't crazy." The billionaire mutters to her as he moves to put her pacifier back into her mouth.  "Maybe I should let time take its course. I know Stephen would say it's wrong to mess with a time stream."

He could wait. He had done it before and he could do it again. Tony knew exactly how to fix this,  but he needed everything to happen in the exact order as it did last time. 

That night, Tony lied awake in his bed as he stared at the ceiling with his tired chocolate eyes. He thought it was hard to sleep when Stephen was dimension hopping, but now it was nearly impossible. The billionaire sighed as he rolled over onto his side and stared at the spot where his husband would have been, his heart aching as his fingers reached over and clutched the sheets. 

"I'll get you back tesoro." Tony promised softly. "You and our whole family."

After a few more hours of tossing and turning, the billionaire finally fell asleep. If only it were a peaceful sleep. Tony was caught in a dream. 

Tony looked around the sandy terrain littered with the ruins of the alien civilization that used to occupy Titan. He slowly stood from where he had been seated in the sand, his hand instinctively reaching to tap the nanotech housing unit.  Two weights shot out and attached themselves to his wrist, drawing Tony's immediate attention to what was attacking him. 

He couldn't believe his eyes.  

Stephen and Peter were hanging on his wrists, their fingers clawing at his sleeves. Tony couldn't take his eyes off of the betrayed expression they had on their face. 

"You failed." Stephen's voice rang out as he suddenly vanished. 

"I...I tried… i…" Tony stuttered as he saw Peter vanish as well. 

"You didn't try hard enough." Peter's voice bit out as wind began to whip around Tony.  

He tried to push on through the brewing sandstorm. He had to get to his family. 

"I tried everything!" Tony shouted over the howling wind. 

"You can't… we had one chance… and you ruined it." Stephen's voice hissed in his hair. "You let us die." 

"NO! I DIDN'T!" The billionaire exclaims. 

"I told you to run. We would have been safe on earth." The ghostly form of Stephen and Peter appear before Tony.  "If you had listened to us instead of your ego,our family would be whole. We wouldn't have turned to dust!"

Tony fell to his knees as tears welled up in his eyes,  his hands trembling as he gripped the sand beneath him. He had tried everything to save his family that day. After having Thanos in his head since the Chitauri invasion, he thought the only way to stop Thanos was to take the battle to him. He wished he could undo everything from that dreadful day. 

"...ony...Tony…" Stephen's voice called softly. 

Tony went to answer the gentle voice, but he couldn't as a sudden pain coursed through his chest. He cried out in pain as he fell to the sand, clutching his chest. He tried to breathe, to catch his breath but another pain coursed through his chest. It was like he was being electrocuted by invisible lightning. 

"Tony! Wake up!" Stephen's voice cried out as the ghostly versions of him and Peter faded. "Tony!!" 

Tony jolted awake with a startled gasp, clutching his chest as he panted heavily.  His hair was drenched from sweat as he pushed it away from his forehead.  

What the actual hell was that?

[arancar-no-6]

As much as I love the idea of drpepperony coming together flawlessly, I can’t help but think that there are things that may or may not get in the way of the expected immediate fairy tale ending.

Like consider: Drpepperony just starting to develop after Tony and Pepper have Morgan.

Pepper isn’t threatened by her husband’s interest in Stephen. In fact, she finds it to be really cute, watching Tony trip all over himself trying to woo him. And Stephen? He’s falling for it, turning to mush under Tony’s enthusiastic attentions. Pepper kind of enjoys watching the two; they’re adorable. She wonders if this is what Tony looked like when he was falling all over himself to please her in the beginning of their own relationship, what other people saw.

She likes Stephen too. She likes him so. Much. Pepper thinks he’s brave, intelligent, painfully handsome (she and Tony gripe over glasses of wine about Stephen Strange and how no one has any business looking that hot), and easily one of the most amazing people she has ever met (Tony pretends to look hurt at this, but she knows he thinks this of Stephen too. She knows he thinks the world of him).

They like him. Tony’s definitely head over heels for him.

Pepper feels like she could love him too.

But not yet.

Because for some reason, Stephen makes a point to steer clear of the other important part of Pepper’s life: Morgan.

He shies away from the little girl. She’s still a baby, not yet walking or crawling, so its easy for him to turn away from her grabby hands and come up with some excuse for why he decline’s Pepper’s offers for him to hold her. This breaks Pepper’s heart, because as much as she wants Stephen to be a part of their lives, she doesn’t know how she could allow someone who ignores and disregards her baby in. She doesn’t tell Tony about her doubts, unwilling to tear her husband’s heart in two like that.

Then one early evening, caught up on the phone in last minute details regarding SI, she hears Morgan fussing over the baby monitor. Her baby is just screaming her lungs out as she tries to wrap up as fast as possible without offending their latest investor, and she feels guilt leaving Morgan to her distress for so long.

She kicks off her heels once she’s done, running straight to the nursery after several painful minutes, ready to provide all the cuddles her daughter could ever want.

Turns out she was already getting them.

Because when Pepper nears the nursery, she realizes she can’t hear Morgan crying anymore. In fact, she hears no screaming from the baby’s room, but what she does hear is a very familiar baritone voice and she immediately knows why Morgan has stopped crying.

She finds that Stephen had gotten to her first, having lifted her from her crib and started soothing her with nonsensical humming. But it was the way he was holding her that piqued Pepper’s attention: Stephen was settled on the floor with her, completely ignoring the perfectly comfortable rocking chair in the corner in favor of curling his entire body around the baby. He had her cradled in his forearms, held tight and high against his chest, brushing her downy hair with trembling fingers and occasionally dropping a kiss on the drowsy baby’s forehead.

Pepper let out a quiet gasp, awed and completely enamored by the sight. Stephen stiffened, realizing he’s being watched, and begins stuttering and apologizing immediately.

Turns out it was his hands.

Stephen wasn’t avoiding Morgan because he didn’t like her. He was avoiding holding her and interacting with her because he was afraid of dropping her. He was afraid Pepper would think him unfit to hold her because of his hands. He was afraid that the burgeoning relationship flourishing between the three would be ruined because he was so sure his stupid hands would end up hurting the baby one day, and he cared too much about Morgan to put her at risk on a whim.

Pepper thought he was an idiot. So stupid. Stupider than the time Tony gave his address to terrorists on national television.

She’s never been more in love before.

With Stephen trapped on the floor, too fearful of jostling the baby and Pepper unwilling to help him up, she cups his perfect face in her hands and kisses him for the first time.

[fanfictrashdump]

Universe in a Jar, 3 - Phase 4 fic

Recap: Some days ago, I reblogged this post about the magical trio. And then my brain went off on a monumental tangent and, I wrote Universe in a Jar.

Characters: Stephen Strange, Loki, Wanda Maximoff, Wong, OC

Rating: T?

Warnings: Language! Nightmares, sass, terrible storytelling, and typos prob.

Summary: Baby-sitting beings arguably more powerful than him goes awry for Doctor Strange. He knows one person who can possibly keep them isolated and out of trouble. Well, he knew someone who could… he hasn’t seen them in decades and for stupid reasons.

Previous Chapter

~*~

While tensions had eased in the household, Stephen maintained a respectable distance from Seph, if only to ensure his continued breathing. During the day, he took to reading in familiar spots, comfortably nestled amongst memories or doing chores that felt comforting in their nostalgia. During the night he tossed and turned in a bed he had once known as well as his own, hoping against all hope that his brain could shut up and allow him to rest, if only for a few hours.

The Hale house had six bedrooms, bigger than his own home with four, despite only ever having two occupants. Wanda and Loki had chosen two rooms at the end of the hallway that overlooked part of the farmland surrounding the houses. Persephone had taken over the grand bedroom on the other side of the hallway. Stephen had debated taking one of the guest rooms on the lower floor, but one step into each of them had his skin crawling in an uncomfortable manner. He wasn't meant for those rooms.

You're family, Stephen. Stop ringing the doorbell, Demeter Hale had once announced, exasperated, one chilly winter morning. And she was right. Stephen practically lived there. Hale manor was quieter than his own home and had a plethora of books on odd topics he had never even heard of–it was a wonderland.

Family, as it were, slept on the top floor. The room Wanda currently occupied was where he would typically drop his clothes in when he stayed over. Though, if he were honest, there was seldom a time he slept over that he made it back into the room for the night. It was a bad habit that spread to high school and beyond, ignoring the propriety of what their parents would explain was not OK for friends to do. But Stephen and Persephone had never been interested in each other that way. Well, at least that they would admit. So, he always stayed in her room.

Tonight was no exception.

Wanda turned in first, as usual, taking solace in the quiet and solitude to mourn her family in silence… or figure out how to get them back. Stephen wasn't exactly sure which one she was on, at the moment. Later, he watched an all-too-flirty Loki amble to his quarters, not before getting a long, drawn-out hug from Persephone (likely more, when he wasn't watching… which he wasn't). Then, she would offer him a shy wave before hiding in the grand bedroom.

After a while, he stopped contemplating the closed door and turned into the bedroom across the hall. It looked… exactly the same way it had when he last stepped foot in it–posters, pictures, school banners, strings of lights littering the canopy. Across the desk chair, an old hoodie, that he could clearly tell used to be his, was discarded. He had raised it to his nose when he first entered the bedroom. It still smelled of him, but there was the faint scent of her perfume permeating the fabric. If he were a sentimental man…

He fell into 'his' side of the bed with a groan. As a way to ease his mind, he had spent some time in the garden, picking tomatoes and berries and tilling a bit of stubborn dirt at the far west corner. His back now burned in protest, but it was a welcome distraction from the monotony. Wong had told him in no uncertain terms that Wanda and Loki needed to settle before they dealt with issues with the Multiverse. It would be a moot point to correct some magic when their owner was simply going to re-do the whole mess the second they could. In all fairness, this was mostly an issue with Wanda. Loki, despite being a stubborn mule and refusing to explain his reasoning, had not done too much damage. It would likely be a while before he slept in his own bed again.

Stephen blinked into the darkness, turning on his side and attempting to sleep in that position. Ten minutes, then thirty, an hour later–no sleep. Amid the cricket chirps and frog songs, a small noise broke the trance-like state of his insomnia. It was ridiculous how quickly he recognized it, and even more pathetic how naturally it brought him to a sit. He glanced at his door, deciding if he was really going to cross the hallway this time. He chickened out the first three times he had heard it, but there was something desperate about the sound tonight. It was bound to be a bad one.

"You've died a thousand times in the hands of the Dormammu. You can go check on Seph, you loser," he berated himself, pushing the bedsheets off and wrenching the door open.

He tiptoed across the hall and gently opened the door. Whatever it was he was expecting to see, it certainly was not this. Persephone was tangled in her sheets, her pajamas of plaid shorts and another old sweatshirt of his rumpled across her body. With every pained, nightmarish pant, a universe exploded around her, encompassing her in iridescent light before fading away. It was like she was locking herself in the same box she had trapped him, killing herself every other breath. Reflected in the glass was every ghost and ghoul that haunted her dreams, sadistic grins flashing down at her weary body.

So this was why she was so exhausted.

Carefully, he clambered to her side, grateful to find that he could easily reach past her barriers. His fingers gripped her shoulder and shook her gently. "Come on. Wake up, Seph." She whimpered again and the glass changed in color. Reflected on its surface was his own face, years younger, nary a single grey on his head. He looked terrifying, even to his own eyes; cold, detached. Stephen shook her more firmly; the barriers flickered.

"Stephen–" Her voice trembled and her whole body quivered. "Please."

His other hand pried hers from the bedsheets and twined them together. "Peep, I'm here." He found himself hunching, speaking the words in a decisive tone in her ear. "It's just a dream, Persephone."

Another shudder ran through her before her hand tightened around his. It took a moment longer before she was able to blink awake, though her eyes were wild and disoriented in the darkness.

His other hand pressed into her back in an effort to soothe her when she shot up with a gasp. "I have you, Peep. You're OK." A second, two, twenty–and she broke into a heart wrenching sob.

Stephen wasn't any good with tears, a fact he gently reminded her of, mid-sob.

Her eyes, still spilling tears, bore into his in disbelief.

"You're absolutely right. I'll shut up now," he hastened to add, awkwardly patting her shoulder.

Seph wiped roughly at her eyes. "Just go, Stephen. I'll see you in the morning." She wrapped herself tight, knees braced against her chest and her line of sight lost elsewhere.

"Peep, don't be like that."

Her brows pulled together and her mouth set into a grim line. "Don't call me that, Steve."

A ghost of a smirk tilted his lips at the annoyance radiating off her. "Why not?"

"I'm not a child."

"I know you're not. You're a grown-up doctor. Well, a psychiatrist, at least." He smiled and nudged her side with his elbow to get a rise out of her.

She didn't take the bait. The ball she had molded herself into tightened.

"I don't practice, anymore."

Stephen's head snapped towards her, instantly. "What?"

"I quit."

He sputtered. "What? Why? And, when? I got your information from the hospital–"

With a groan, she clenched her eyes tightly closed, trying to block out the world as if she wasn't just trapped in a murder box of her own (unconscious) design. "Jesus Christ, you talk a lot. The Blip. I quit after the Blip."

"But, the kids you treat–"

"On a personal capacity," she cut in, hoping the conversation stopped there. Of course, she had known Stephen for far too long to expect that.

"You love your job, Seph. I've seen you pass up box tickets to the damn Philharmonic for a counseling session."

A half shrug left her. "I was alone and I wanted to feel it. So I made this whole mess." Seph gestured at their surroundings with a vague wag of her finger.

"I don't understand."

"I know you don't. Work has always been enough for you. It wasn't the same for me."

He sighed. "Maybe then, but now–"

"It's still the same. You're doing farm chores you never even did when you lived here because you need things to do. You try to shake Loki down every other hour for information on whatever the hell he was doing that prompted you to grab him. Wanda's sick of you. You can't just ever settle down!" There was a sharp edge to her voice that was not lost on him.

Stephen blinked, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, how did this become about me?"

Seph growled under her breath, releasing her limbs and narrowly stopping herself from smacking the living daylights out of him. "Because it is about you and your fucking inability to relate to anyone about anything! Not everything is logical! Wanda lost her family! Loki got bounced around fucking realities! And you're annoyed that you can't get back to the Sanctum until you figure the Wonder Twins out."

"I have other responsibilities–"

"Which Wong is taking care of."

"Wong might think… wait, how do you know Wong?" His head tilted like a distracted dog.

"You might have not reached out to me, but others did. He wanted to know who you were; you had just started training. I told him you were an asshole and that I never wanted to see or hear from you ever again. We exchanged numbers."

He sat in silence for a long while before glancing back up at her. "Why didn't you come to Kamar-Taj?"

"I wasn't invited."

"And the Sanctum?"

"I. Wasn't. Invited."

He chewed at the inside of his cheek, ignoring the weight of her gaze on him. "Come back to the Sanctum with me."

"Nope. I'm fine where I am."

"You're on a farm in rural Nebraska in a town where you are the extent of the diversity."

Persephone sighed, reaching up to brush the overgrown stubble on Stephen's cheeks. "But it's home."

"You're alone, though."

"And you're lonely in a city of five million people."

He pretended to ignore the sting of the comment, opting for some sweet-talking, instead. "You'd like it, though. So many books."

"That is a new bar of low. Don't bribe me, Steve." She scoffed unconvincingly, he caught the slip.

"Like, a loooot of books. In all different languages. Would probably keep you occupied several years."

He knew her too well. She hated it.

"I'll think about it." He smiled a little too brightly. "Just think. No promises." More silence came to keep them company.

He hesitated before wincing. "Does this happen every night? The suffocating and exploding?" She nodded. "You should definitely come. We can figure something out, Wong, you, and me." Another nod. He straightened the fabric of her headwrap and tucked a runaway curl underneath with an easy smile. It was an excuse for contact, he knew, but he couldn't bring himself to care and she didn't seem to mind. He retrieved his hand with a sigh. "You're tired. You should get some sleep." He braced on his arms to shuffle out. A hand wrapped around his wrist and held him there.

"Don't go. Please."

Stephen smiled and nodded after a moment. He gestured with his head. "Scoot over, Peep."

"Steve."

"Quiet. You'll get us caught," he whispered, and they both giggled like it was the millionth time those words were said. It probably was. They curled up under the covers and drifted off.

~*~

Stephen was now beyond curious about Persephone's magic.

As the early morning broke over the horizon, he found himself up and about the house, doing little chores that felt like muscle memory. When the coffee was brewed, he took a mug and sat on the stairs to sip, watching as last night's roommate woke and barely acknowledged him as she drifted down the steps, pausing only to ruffle his already messy hair. She stopped at the entry hallway, jumping slightly backward at the floating cloak hovering in place. The words had stuck in her throat, and Stephen watched between the banister poles with a smile on his face.

"Ste–shitshitshit." She inched backward as the garment glided over and stopped in front of her. The cloak lifted a bottom corner to gently glide over her left hand, rubbing itself against her skin before settling around her shoulders in a warm embrace. It urged her forward and to a side table that held some keys and a vase of flowers. Beside the vase, a double-fingered ring sat innocuously. The cloak gestured in its direction and then back at her.

The Sorcerer leaned forward to see what she'd do. With shaking fingers, she picked up the ring and turned it in her hands. The cloak, impatient as ever, grabbed the ring and slipped it over her fingers. All at once, the barriers containing the house inside of the apartment glimmered and symbols etched themselves in brilliant orange light across them. Stephen could barely understand half of them, but the ones he could seemed like they were building blueprints and math that would make the inexplicably large fit into the inexplicably small. It was like staring at the source code on a computer and breaking down the software into its components. He broke out of his reverie by the fourth Stephen being called. He jumped down the remainder of the steps and turned the corner.

Persephone was staring, half fascinated, half horrified at the markings, and was drawing the cloak tight around her shoulders–the cloak was loving it. He stopped beside her and she reached out for his wrist, clasping it as tightly as she did the night before. "Ho–how does it know my magic?"

"You can read this?"

"Yeah, it's in plain… you can't?" Stephen shook his head. "How's it doing this?"

"Not 'it'. You. This is you. The ring's just a conduit. The cloak's just a nuisance." There was a whisper of a huff from the fabric and Seph pulled it tighter, smoothing her hands down the red contours. A rustle like a shiver followed. "Don't get comfortable. This isn't permanent."

"I wasn't assuming…"

"I was telling them." He glared at the cloak. "She's not your new pet. Settle down." His eyes lifted to hers. "They get familiar. Sorry."

"It's OK. They're sweet. After you get over the fact that it's a garment with a mind of its own."

"Are we under attack?" Wanda startled the both of them. They turned to see the witch still in her pajamas, hair mussed up and hands glowing. "Why are we warding?"

"Not warding. Seph put on my sling ring and this happened. It's her magic."

"Oh. She has Chaos magic wards in her repertoire." Wanda pointed at several spots and they lit up red with her magic before fading back to orange.

"I don't know what that means," Seph spoke up meekly, barely breaking through the intense debate the other two were now having, trying to identify the remainder of runes.

Stephen traced a rune with his finger. "Anything dangerous?"

"No. Just protection runes. Over and over and over. Every type under the Chaotic sun. Loki might know about the others, though."

"I still don't know what that means."

"It means you are all sorts of impressive, Peep. I'll pop in on Wong and grab a few books." He offered his open palm for the ring, which she happily gave. However, when the ring came off, the symbols didn't fade. Instead, they crackled like embers and seared themselves into the invisible veil surrounding the space. Stephen frowned. "Maybe I'll take you with me." He turned to Wanda. "Can you and Prince Emo behave while we're gone or do I have to drag you along, too?"

Persephone elbowed him in the ribs. "Stephen–"

"Right. Relating." He drew a breath and his shoulders slumped. He tried again. "Could you and Loki stay put while Seph and I go to the Sanctum? I need to show Wong. It's important."

Wanda and Seph exchanged a lengthy conversation in facial expressions alone before the witch smiled. "We'll be fine. I was just going to sit and read on the porch. Loki won't be awake for a couple of hours."

"OK. Good. Thanks." He stood silently ruminating in his head before abruptly snapping out of it and shaking the cobwebs from his mind. "You ready to go?"

"I'm in my pj's, Steve." He blinked blankly at her and she rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Sure. Can I put on shoes, at least?"

He was already opening a portal by the time she finished asking her question. "No need." With little hesitation, he reached for her hand and stepped through the portal with her in tow.

Persephone barely managed to contain the gasp of wonder at the surroundings. Books, artifacts, paintings–it looked like a museum and it was all functional and there for the students. Stephen had been in a hurry a second before, but just watching her undistilled awe made him pause. His thumb brushed the back of the hand he had twined with his; a familiar gesture that barely pulled her attention. Her free hand reached for a tome lodged between jars of off-looking coins. It rippled in a kaleidoscope of colors upon contact.

"Miss Hale?"

Seph glanced over her shoulder to smile at Wong. His brows were pulled together as if he was trying to work out a particularly hard problem in his head. The problem, most likely, was, how are you not murdering him right now? You seemed pretty adamant about it when I last talked to you.

"Master Wong. How are you?"

Wong smiled kindly. "I'm doing well, Persephone." He seemed to sense the withering heat of Stephen's gaze and reluctantly turned to face the Sorcerer Supreme. "I didn't tell you because I doubted you wanted to hear how she hated your guts. In excruciating detail. And after what you did to her, you forfeited the right to know a thing about her. So save me the glaring."

Stephen pointed at himself. "Sorcerer Supreme."

"And an asshole. They're not mutually exclusive." He glanced at Seph. "You didn't even let her get out of her pajamas."

"She has the cloak!"

"Were you raised by wolves or what?"

"Doesn't matter right now. I have to show you something," Stephen declared in exasperation, tugging the sling ring off and handing it off to Seph.

She held the metal tentatively between her fingers before the weight of expecting stares forced her to slip it on. The magic rippled slower than it had in her house as if it were more hesitant to show itself, but soon there wasn't an inch of wall, bookshelf, or display case that wasn't burning bright orange and twinkling in the dimly lit Sanctum.

"How did you teach her that?" Wong had his eyebrows gathered up high, taking in every marking around him with awe.

"I didn't. I thought it only showed her magic but… it's everyones. It's like she can open them up, like a book. Peep, can you read these, too?" Her eyes danced over several objects before lighting on a sword mounted on the wall.

She pointed at it with a grin. "That one was supposed to be a joke but the spell actually worked." Seph tilted her head as she continued searching. "Actually, a lot of them were jokes that actually work. What are you supposed to do with enchanted dice?"

Wong opened his mouth to comment, but Stephen held a finger up to buy himself some extra time. He opened his palm and Seph dropped the sling ring in it. The symbols still didn't fade.

Wong looked, surprisingly, unimpressed.

"Can I talk now?" Seph giggled under her breath and Stephen gestured him along. "She's a psychiatrist. Why are you surprised she can access the root of magics? She probably became one because she could read things so well, naturally."

"Without training?"

For a second Wong looked like he was deciding whether or not Stephen was stupid. "Hence, why I said naturally."

"And the portals?"

"If you understand how the fabric of the Universe works, you can weave it to your will. We do that all the time. You're just astounded that she can do it naturally because it took you forever to understand. Is this really why you dragged her out of her home in pj's?"

"The symbols don't fade without the sling ring."

At this point, Wong was convinced Strange was stupid. "She's never needed the ring. The ring is a conduit, she can do magic on her own. If you distract her a–BOO!"

Persephone shrieked, jumping back as Wong jumped towards her. Sure enough, the symbols fizzled into the ether, though two, in a rainbow of colors, glimmered on the floor before her and an ominous ripple of red fabric fluttered around her.

"I see the Cloak of Levitation has found a new friend. They're even protecting her."

"They like most people more than me."

Seph rolled her eyes. "Why does that not surprise me?" She absently stroked over the fabric covering her arms.

Stephen ignored the jab. "What books would you recommend she start with to learn how to control her abilities?"

Wong was quiet for a long while. "There's a few about the magics of quantum mechanics, but if she's been able to do this her whole life, I doubt she needs them. Why would she need training? Barring an incident–" The two friends glanced shortly at each other out of the corner of the other's eye. "You two had an incident. What did he do?"

Rustling her curls, she scuffed her toe on the concrete floor, eyes downcast. "He was being dumb. I tried to kill him. Well, I blacked out and the power took over. Loki had to break him out of a killing jar."

"Quantum magics, then… and maybe some yoga." He gestured at her with his head. "Come on. I'll show you the library."

Her eyes widened with almost innocent excitement. "This isn't the library?"

With a doe-eyed stare, she followed Wong; Stephen close behind, pretending not to grin. The second Wong opened the doors, Persephone let out a long, disbelieving gasp. She trembled as she walked and the cloak had taken to wrapping itself tightly around her to keep her calm.

Wong smirked. It wasn't often that he received anyone who was this honestly happy to see a room full of books and not think about the bothers of having homework. He began to pull tomes from the shelves, stacking and weighing his options between similar texts. When his pile was nine books deep, he settled them on a table. "This should get you started. When you're done, you can come back and I'll lend you some more. On any topic you like."

"I never got to choose which books I read," Strange defended.

"Because you were annoying and she's not." Seph snickered in her spot, fingers toying with the spines of the stack. "Truly, come back when you're ready, and you're not actively trying to kill the Sorcerer Supreme."

"Tell him not to annoy me and I won't," she defended, though she smiled. "Thank you, Wong." She eagerly hefted the pile and gestured at Stephen. "Hurry up. I have things to read."

"Why don't you just make a portal?"

"Because it's rude to make them in other people's homes without permission," she started pointedly, "and I'm carrying books. Now, please." She smiled brightly at Wong and nodded. Stephen rolled his eyes petulantly. "See you soon, Master Wong." She stepped in the direction where Stephen had made a portal opening straight into her kitchen.

"See you soon, Persephone."

[letmewritemylife]

Like Father, Like Son (Part 2)

My name is revenge and I'm here to save my name. - Shinedown (My Name)

A/N Side note: Sergeant Smith is the guy who was supposed to arrest Lara back in 2017. He took the whole thing quite personally, inclusing and especially Stephen keeping Lara out of jail and Lara constantly fighting terrorism on her own. And yes, he’s an ass

TRIGGER WARNINGS Referenced sexual abuse, referenced abusive parents, referenced murder, implied torture, lots of guns involved, Lara is a precious baby

Sixteen days have passed. Sixteen days in which Lara has tried her best to understand Kevin and to be a decent trainer or acquaintance or whatever she is supposed to be to him and Kevin really can see the effort. He hates to admit it, but he appreciates it. If he has to be honest, he can't think of anyone putting so much effort into treating him well. Yet he still feels guilty, like he's not supposed to be working with S.H.I.E.L.D. after what they've done to his father, the coldest man he had ever met and at the same time his only family.

He still remembers that morning of almost eight years before, the cold breeze blowing in the lonely cemetery. He still sees himself standing by a lonely grave with tears in his eyes as a tall woman with short black hair told him to man up. He still feels the pain in knowing that he was alone because S.H.I.E.L.D. had decided to take his father, his family away from him.

Now he can't say that Lara is a decent substitute, but he's sure there's much worse. And after sixteen days he is sure she is the best person he could have ended up with among agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. What he doesn't understand is why? Why would someone leave Agency X for something like S.H.I.E.L.D, the greatest expression of self-righteousness and arrogance, the only organisation able to never condemn its actions, even when they're proved wrong?

On that day, that sixteenth day, he asks her this question. Lara stands still for a second, her hands gripping the training bench tighter. "That's a trap, Lara. Don't fall for that, it's a f*cking trap." She laughs nervously. "Well, if you put out like that, mine sounds like a pretty dumb decision," she says.

Her gaze turns suddenly darker. "But I'm pretty sure I did the right thing." She straightens up and crosses her arms. "My family. They died. Killed by Agency X to make me work for them. I only found out after I had spent years among their lines."

Kevin nods, well aware that his question has opened a painful wound. "But why did you decide S.H.I.E.L.D. was better?"

She brings her legs to her chest, something that Kevin has noticed she does often when talking about certain sensitive topics. "Because they don't make me feel like a monster." Her voice is completely emotionless and she is looking at the wall in front of her. "Because I can't think of a single moment I felt completely safe after my parents' death and before meeting Strange. Because some of these people have become my family."

Kevin looks down. "Thank you."

She slowly turns to him and attempts a smile. "What for?"

"Because you are to me what S.H.I.E.L.D. is to you."

Kevin really should learn to think things through before speaking, he’d earn nothing but good from it. He clenches his fists, gaze locked on the woman before him, ignoring all the Avengers surrounding them. “You killed him!” he shouts as his eyes start to water.

“I- I can explain-” she stutters and Kevin is sure he never wished to punch someone in the face so much before.

He takes a step forward, pointing a finger to her chest. “Explain what? Why you killed my father?”

She grips the corner of the table, her knuckles turning as pale as the teen’s hair. “How was I supposed to know it was your father? You barely talked to me,” she spits out with a fatal hint of anger. But as soon as these words leave her mouth, she realises she’s doing exactly what Stephen did with her years before, earning nothing but curses.

He shakes his head, using all his strength not to cry. “Man up, Linch.” That voice still lingers in the back of his head and he follows the order, swallowing heavily. “You had the audacity to tell me you were on the right side and everyone else was wrong,” he screams. “But when it’s you to kill, it’s okay!”

Lara sucks in a breath, unable to answer back because, after all, he is right and she, of all the people in the room, should understand his anger. Jonathan takes a step forward, moving his gaze between the furious teen and the motionless woman. “It’s a bit more complex than that, your father-”

“I’m sorry.”

Everyone’s eyes suddenly set on Lara, her arms crossed on her chest in defense. Kevin stands still for a moment with his mouth slightly open, surprised by her unexpected answer, but soon shakes his head and furrows his brows. “I don’t care. Go f*ck yourself.” And before anyone else can even acknowledge it, he’s running away, tears streaming down his face because, indeed, he’s never been able to actually man up.

Jonathan is about to run after him, but Lara stops him, holding his arm with a strength beyond imaginable. When his eyes search for an answer on her face, she’s looking down at the table where the infamous file is still laying.

“Let him go,” she whispers. “If he’s even a little like his father, he won’t listen anyway.” Jonathan nods, not convinced, and Lara curses Kevin’s father one last time for his surprising ability to mess things up even from the other world. “F*ck you, Frank Linch.”

He’s running, running faster than the wind itself, running like his life depended on it, running as if he were still a child and the world were his backyard. Running because he just wants to get out and feel the cold breeze on his face, drying his cheeks. Running because he needs answers. He deserves answers. “Where’s your dad, Kevin? Do you pronounce it ‘dad’ or ‘dead’? And what about your mother, Kevin? Where’s your mother, Kevin?” Few things in his life have been as satisfactory as breaking that child’s nose and kicking him until he was just a bloody mess laying on the floor.

“I thought she was different,” his conscience whines as he rushes down the stairs of the underground. “They’re all the same thing: lying, manipulative motherf*ckers,” replies the lingering voice of his mentor and Kevin lets out a breath, pressed in a crowd of European tourists. One hour, one hour and he’ll finally be back home. And S.H.I.E.L.D. can go f*ck itself.

The pen scribbles on the paper, framing a couple interesting datas, and Lara adjusts her protective glasses on her nose with the back of her hand. Jonathan sighs loudly and steps away from the wall, getting closer to Lara than any security protocol would ever recommend. “I hope you’re not seriously taking the blame for what that assh*le did to you,” he groans.

She throws him a quick glance before returning to her compound. “I am not, but insisting would have done nothing but harm.” Something is telling her that she won’t be able to finish her experiment today.

“There’s a difference between ‘not insisting’ and apologising for something you have not done,” he comments coldly, his arms crossed and jaw locked as he stares at the unknown liquid before her.

She lets out a deep breath, abandoning her hands on the counter. “I did not apologise for that,” she replies. “I scolded him for not trusting me after I had given him a perfect reason not to trust me. That’s what I was apologising for.”

Jonathan follows her with his eyes as she puts the test tubes away and arches a brow. “And how was that supposed to do any better than insisting?”

Lara turns around with a groan. “It was not.” She removes her gloves and throws them away, her brows furrowed. “And thank you for reminding me what a failure of a trainer I am, by the way.”

Jonathan looks down at the floor tiles, sucking in a breath.  “He won’t ever come back here, you know it?”

“I know, Jonathan, I know,” she replies angrily. “But what was I supposed to do? Force him to stay and tell him a bunch of excuses why I set his dad on fire? ‘Murder is my way to solve interpersonal problems, sorry not sorry’?” She clenches her fists, digging her nails deep enough in her skin for her palms to bleed. “I ruined everything and now he hates me and I can’t even blame him for that.”

He gets closer cautiously and lets out a bitter laugh. “Family issues, just like when I first met you.”

“No, it’s not,” she replies promptly, eyes locked on him. “You hated your parents, but he does not. That’s the problem.”

“Lara. If you let him go, only God knows what the hell will happen of him. Frankly, the best outcome would be some human trafficker hiring him for him to follow his father’s steps. And we don’t want that to happen.”

Lara is about to reply, when Natasha slams the door open. “Elle, Jon, we have a situation at Linch’s house.” And these words alone are able to drain all colour from Lara’s face.

Duncan Hunt digs his nails deeper into his assistant’s face. “I told you: call Anderson now.” With unnecessary violence, he pushes him on the floor and takes a step towards the hostage, curled up on the floor. “Johnson should definitely take better care of her puppies,” he comments with a grin, careful not to stain his boots in the blood covering the floor.

A quick glance out of the window allows him to see three cars parking right out of the house, moving with difficulty in the crowd of policemen. He smirks and gestures to the dark-haired woman near him to come closer. “Don’t shoot immediately, I first want to see our friend scared.”

The woman nods and, as she instructs her subjecteds, Duncan walks back to the hostage. He grabs his upper arms and drags him to the window of the small living room, then pushes him on the floor, as to keep his presence a surprise. He lights a cigarette and starts smoking calmly. “Your father had a great taste in cigarettes,” he comments with a smirk, looking down for a moment at the teen on the ground. “As well as in apprentices.”

Outside the building, Lara jumps out of the car, loaded gun in hand, followed by Jonathan. Sergeant Smith throws her a glance and arches his brows. “I’m sorry princess, but we have everything under control.”

A bullet avoiding his foot for an inch proves him wrong. As all guns are promptly set on him, Duncan grins. “How cute of you, visiting me.”

Lara clenches her jaw and tightens her grip around the gun. “Where’s the teen?”

“Wait, they have a hostage?” Smith asks surprised and Jonathan can’t help but roll his eyes, making Duncan laugh.

“Come get him,” he replies sarcastically, before shutting the door.

Kevin looks up at him as he takes again the cigarette he had left on the ashtray by the window. The man smirks at Lara bantering with Jonathan and Smith. “She killed your dad, didn’t she?” he asks at Kevin, without even looking at him. Upon hearing a nod in response, he breathes out a laugh. “Yeah, really mean of her to get rid of her abuser,” he concludes before putting out his cigarette with the toe of his boot and walking away, leaving Kevin with his eyes wide open.

Duncan’s phone rings and he smiles upon hearing Smith’s voice on the other side. The conversation between them goes on for several minutes, but Kevin doesn’t listen, too busy staring intensely at the only known face, that of the silent man sitting not far from him. The teen mutters something against his cloth gag, successfully drawing his attention.

The man approaches him and momentarily frees his mouth. “What do you want?”

“Is it true?” he stutters. “Did my father abuse Miss Johnson?”

He does a grimace, unable to understand his sudden interest. “He also put her parents six feet underground, for what matters. Now shut up,” he cuts short before covering his mouth again and kicking him in the stomach.

In that moment, Kevin realizes that everything he had always believed in was a lie. He had always liked to think his father was a good person, that S.H.I.E.L.D had been wrong for killing him. He for sure didn’t want to believe that behind the mask of a cold but overall decent father was the figure of a terrific monster who didn’t work for a terrorist organization because he was forced to but because he earned something from it. Maybe he should have listened to Miss Johnson when he still could.

Finally Duncan gets up. “Too little money, sergeant. Wish the kid goodbye.” With that said, he marches towards Kevin and lifts him enough for his head to rest on the windowsill. He presses his gun to the teen’s temple and grins, already picturing Lara’s face when he will throw the dead body to her feet.

Unexpectedly to him, the door is kicked open and a bullet pierces his skull before he can pull the trigger, sending them both on the floor, one in a pool of blood and the other really close to it. Kevin’s acquaintance jumps forward, a knife in hand, but is pushed back by a punch to his jaw. From his position, the teen struggles to see  anything but a pair of dark sneakers moving among the increasing number of people on the floor.

Before he can even realize it, he’s being forced to his feet by a woman, specifically the dark-haired one from little before. She presses a pocket knife to his throat and forces his head up, finally allowing him to see Lara and Jonathan standing with their guns pointed. “You may want to put those down, sweeties,” the woman jokes as a man walks beside her.

Jonathan throws Lara a glance and she nods, her eyes set on Kevin as she slowly lowers her gun and places it to her feet. “Now let him go.”

The woman tightens her grip around Kevin and shakes her head. “On your knees. And if I see any of your magic tricks, the kid’s gone.”

And to the teen’s great surprise, Lara falls to her knees, a scared expression on her face, followed by a rather confused Jonathan. The only agent left abandons his leader’s side and walks behind Lara, wrapping a hand around her throat.

Kevin widens his eyes. “Please, don’t. Don’t do that.”

The man grins. “This will teach you not to try and play the hero.”

“No, no, no, no!”

He firmly places his gun to her temple and-

And the man screams in pain, falling on the ground and shaking vigorously under the influence of a sudden electric discharge. The dark-haired woman takes a step back, dragging Kevin with her, but is quite literally struck by lightning and falls on the floor dead.

Lara slowly gets up, throwing Jonathan a confused look and asserting that he’s even more speechless than before. Her brain finally gives up trying to figure out what is going on when Kevin runs to hug her. She silently asks Jonathan for an answer, but he just laughs at her confusion and looks out of the window to Sergeant Smith who finally decided to check if everything’s alright.

“I’m sorry, I-” Kevin mutters against Lara’s shoulder, “I didn’t know he… he-”

She shakes her head as she caresses his hair. “It’s alright, it’s alright.” She lets out a breath and is surprised by how glad she is that he is safe. “Are you okay?” she finally asks and he just nods, tucking his face in the crook of her neck.

“Are we almost there?” Kevin asks, redirecting his gaze from the window to Lara.

She smiles. “Five minutes at best, promise,” she replies.

Jonathan smirks. “What’s it? The third time you say that?”

“That’s your fault,” she answers back, slightly turning down the volume of the radio. “You got the road wrong twice!”

“Well, you could pick your own navigator.” He arches an eyebrow as his usual grin covers his mouth. “But that’d mean having less time to fangirl over Maria Brink.”

She rolls her eyes, earning a laugh from Kevin. As soon as Jonathan is about to continue the conversation, she turns the volume of the radio back up just in time for the chorus of Adrenalize to begin.

When they finally arrive at their intended destination, Lara leans back against her seat and smiles, turning to Kevin. “Ready to meet your new family?”

He nods excitedly and jumps out of the car. A smiling woman in a flower dress is already standing by the door waiting for him. “Hey, sorry for being late, my sister sucks at driving,” Jonathan jokes as he gets out of the car.

Lara throws him a look and the woman, Mrs Hudson, laughs before calling her husband inside the house.

Almost two hours have passed and Lara must admit the Hudson’s seem a great family. When Kevin first told her he wanted to move out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility she had met him in, she had felt like she had done something wrong, like he had not forgiven her for everything that had happened. She knew she had no right over him, but considering his luck with families she was seriously concerned. It took her awhile to adjust to the idea, but finally she had come to the conclusion that he deserved to be part of a family as good as the one she had been part of.

Now, as she sits beside Jonathan on a leather couch in a tiny suburban house, she has a feeling that Kevin will like this new start. She really hopes he will.

Jonathan places a hand on her thigh. “Well, time to go Elle.”

They get up and, while Jonathan jokes with Mrs Hudson, proving himself much more talkative than her husband, Kevin wraps his arms around Lara’s shoulders. She hugs him back, patting his back. “Will you call me?” he asks.

She laughs. “Unless I die yes, I will.”

“And how soon do you plan on dying?”

“I’ll call you a couple of times before, don’t worry.”

He parts from her and smiles. “Also, thank you.”

“What for?” she asks, furrowing her brows.

“Everything, just- everything.”

She smiles. “Anytime.” Maybe, contrary to popular belief, not everyone in the Flinch genealogy is the absolute worst. Especially those underage.

[lunarnightt]

Here is the bot!

@demieyesore I hope you have fun

[amostimprobabledream]

My thoughts on Peaky Blinders...

Now I’ve finished Season Five, I wanted to get out my thoughts/ideas/opinions regarding the show. So strap in! - So first of all, the fucking cinematopgraphy in this series is gorgeous. You could take almost any scene and it looks like a painting. The lighting, the way it’s staged, it’s all just so visually pleasing to look at. My inner film student was just sighing dreamily at the shot composition. There’s a shot of John, Arthur and Tommy walking somewhere and you could fucking frame it and put it in your wall. - CILLIAN MURPHY, CILLIAN MURPHY, CILLIAN MURPHY. I mean, I always knew he was a good actor and also a pretty one, I think the role I remember him best in is Batman Begins, but holy shit, I never realised how hot he is until like two months ago. I know he apparently hates his Tommy haircut, but good lord, he can pull it off. The cheekbones! The eyes! The eyelashes! The sexy voice! Needless to say I saw him and immediately developed the biggest fucking crush. Apparently when I talk about Tommy to people my face goes pink. Thank you so much, show, for enlightening me to this human. Tommy is such a fantastic character, and I do wonder if another actor could pull him off quite as well. So much debate over his actions, motives, mindset, etc. I could probably write essays about the complexities of Tommy, but I won’t because this is a long-ass post anyway. He’s such a boss and I would die for him. - I actually really like Arthur??? So the very first clip of PB I ever saw was accidental, when I happened to turn the TV on and the Blinders were taking over the Eden Club and Arthur was glassing a guy in the face. I thought, “Oh, he’s probably like the dangerous thug character everyone is scared of.” (I didn’t know he’s Tommy’s brother at the time.) But actually he’s kind of endearing despite being the Shelby’s pitbull? Idk, the concept of the “failure” elder brother, how Arthur is the character the verbalises PTSD the most out of everyone, how one minute he can be lashing out like a rabid bear and then sobbing like a kid the next... I’m always like, “Oh, Arthur,” because you can see he wants to be a better person, but he just...doesn’t know how. - JOOOHN. I miss him! And it’s weird because in the early parts of the Season John doesn’t DO much but tag around after Tommy and Arthur, but his marriage to Esme is actually So Good and again, he’s actually kind of a softboi under the hard gangster act. (Also his “Do THIS, John, Do THAT, John, KILL YOUR FOOKIN’ TEACHER, JOHN!” is so fucking good.) He kind of provides a lightness when contrasted to Tommy and Arthur that I really do miss, because the last two Seasons have been very grim and I think John’s absence has something to do with it. I liked Esme too, even if she’s a stroppy bitch, her love for John but resentment of her role in the family and also she’s HELLA PRETTY. I’m sad her character has gone for now, but at least she wasn’t killed off. - I also love Ada a lot - I was really shocked when I read that Sophie Rundle hasn’t been acting all that long before she got the part in PB, because honestly she’s very good! And her concept again is a fun one - the only girl in a family of violent gangster boys. (Or as Freddy puts it, “The only princess”, which she is.) Having said that, I’m not sure how I feel about Ada’s character arc over the course of the season. In One she came off as kind of childish and still sort of stuck in her Rebellious Teen phase, then she became a mother and Freddie died, then in Season Two she’s trying to distance herself from the family and go legit, then in Season Four and Five she’s helping run the business and taking money from Tommy. Idk, I wish she’d play a more major role like her brothers because her motivations seem to change based on what the screenwriter wants, not what feels natural for her. Plus it annoys me that Ada blamed Ben Younger’s death on Tommy, but Tommy gets a lot of blame for things that aren’t his fault so I guess he’s used to it. Still, Ada is still a lot of fun when she does get to play a big role and gets some great lines later on. “Tommy Shelby is going to stop a revolution with his cock.” - POLLY, MY QUEEN! Easily the best woman on the show (sorry, Ada) and such a fucking badass. She’s definitely the voice of reason within the family and conflicting loyalty is a really interesting theme that gets explored with her, between her arguing nephews and niece, between her family or whether she wants to marry again and leave, her relationship with Michael, it’s all so great. Helen McRory is such a brilliant addition to the show. Also I love that Polly kinda represents women taking over after all the men went away to war and now they’re back, but the women aren’t just going to creep back into the house - World War One changed the workplace forever for women and I think Polly being the second in command after Tommy reflects that really well. - I think overall my favourite seasons have been Seasons One, Two and Four, I tend to find I get a bit bored in Peaky Blinders whenever it gets especially heavy on politics like in Season Three and Five and I admittedly kind of miss the simplicity of the early days of the show when it was about horse-racing, but the Changretta vs Shelby feud was genuinely really gripping and Adrien Brody was also Very Good. (I mean, I couldn’t take him seriously because of Brodyquest, but I like him a lot.) - I HATE GRACE. There, I said it. And honestly I have SO MUCH to say on why I hate her and also why I think she is the epitome of bad writing that has happened on this show that I might as well save it for a whole nother post, but Tommy and Grace’s relationship always felt so unnatural and forced to me, like they are in love because the screenwriter said so - Grace is the only woman Tommy knows who isn’t related to him and also because it pisses off Campbell. Like, she was tolerable if highly irritating in Season One, but then Two came along and she just got worse and worse. She’s annoyingly convinced she’s better than everyone else, pulls off a LOT of questionable shit that NO-ONE except Polly ever pulls her up on and Tommy repeatedly pining over a woman who lied to him and betrayed him makes no goddamn sense. I wish Stephen Knight would just let him get over her, because her showing up over and over again in the show after the bitch died two Seasons ago is so infuriating I want to throw my remote at the TV. The best bit of Season Three was someone finally putting a bullet in her, honestly. /rant - On that note, I really wish that they’d use May properly. She was introduced in Season Two and honestly her chemistry with Tommy is about a thousand times more believable than anything he had with Guuuhrayce and also May doesn’t consistently talk in that annoying, breathy voice and also she doesn’t shamelessly manipulate Tommy constantly. It’s too bad Stephen Knight couldn’t get Charlotte Riley back for Season Three owing to her pregnancy, because I think the trajectory of the show would have been very different. But her scene where she spoke about her husband and tried to hide that she was crying? So good. The fucking Face Tommy gives her when she asks for a mixer in her gin? Priceless. Agh - May’s been chronically underused in the show but she keeps getting mentioned every now and then, so I’m hoping there are plans for her to come back in Season Six. I really like her and I honestly think Tommy/May has been the best relationship he’s had, because it’s the only one that’s felt A) Natural and B) Equal. - Lizzie Stark. Okay, so I have mixed feelings about Lizzie. I liked her in Seasons One and Two, because she was this down-on-her-luck woman who was treated like crap by everyone, but she wasn’t wholly without her own flaws or personality - she did lie to John and Tommy did act in his brother’s best interests to tell him the truth. The scenes she had with Tommy in Season Two when he promotes her to his secretary were honestly very cute and my heart broke for her when that solider nearly (?) raped her in Season Two and she cried in John’s arms. But over time she’s started to irritate me. I know that people feel bad for her because Tommy honestly does treat her badly at times, though other times she’s also one of the few people he’s nice to, their relationship is complicated. But truthfully I don’t see Tommy/Lizzie every working out properly because Lizzie was a whore. She’s always been Tommy’s inferior and while I do think he cares for her, she never seems to think it’s enough. He doesn’t love her enough and she’s never satisfied with it and she’s always resentful of him. But you can’t FORCE someone to love you and it’s interesting that the minute she learned she was pregnant, you could see her thinking of how to make this work. She pulled the Baby Trap on him just like Grace did and got married like she wanted, but Tommy still doesn’t truly see her as his equal. And honestly, I don’t think she’s smart enough for him. Add that to Lizzie being EXTREMELY petty to other women (including her being really rude to May and slut-shaming her - bit rich from you, isn’t it, Lizzie?), and I don’t think they have a healthy relationship. I do like little Ruby a lot (way more than Charles, who is a spoiled brat because he’s Grace’s son and has a martyred dead mummy), but honestly I don’t see Tommy/Lizzie working out. I just hope that she doesn’t leave and take Ruby, I think it’d break Tommy to have his daughter taken away from him. - Alfie Solomons. So...I have to confess I have mixed feelings about Alfie. I liked him in Season Two because he’s batshit crazy, Tom Hardy is clearly having the time of his life and it’s refreshing to have a rival to Tommy who isn’t cartoonishly evil like Billy Kimber or Sabini. He ties into Season Two very well and yeah, I can see why he’s so popular. Also he’s pretty attractive, so that always helps. But. Alfie is starting to come across a bit like a creator’s pet to me. He consistently betrays Tommy every goddamn Season and while I know the fandom love to joke about this, it’s pretty inexplicable that Tommy would bother to continue to do business with him after being burned so many times and now it turns out he’s alive. Why? Why bring Alfie back? I feel like he was brought back because he’s a fan favourite and to add another suspect to who betrayed Tommy. I don’t hate Alfie at all, but I am starting to wish he’d face actual consequences for his actions, considering every Peaky Blinders character who fucks with the Peaky Blinders tend to suffer horribly for it, but not Alfie...for some reason. - Michael. Okay so Michael’s actor is pretty damn good and I thought it was cute that he and John’s actors are actually brother irl - you can see the resemblance. And honestly bringing back Polly’s missing kids was a really clever idea because there’s a family tie, but one that isn’t so strong you can always be sure of where his loyalties lie. His subplot with Father Hughes in Season Three was both very sad and very well done - I was cheering him on the whole way. But Season Five has made my opinion of Michael take a dramatic nosedive. He’s gone from sorta-sympathetic to an entitled brat almost overnight. I get he’s probably salty about being banished to America by Tommy in Season Four, but where has this sudden desire to rule the company come from? How did he meet Gina? Is he lying about Gina being pregnant because he figured it’d win him sympathy? I don’t know. He’s changed so drastically, and when Polly gave him that slap, I think she was doing what everyone wanted to. It’s too bad they just wrote Anna off as being dead, though, Michael having a sister and Polly a daughter would have been interesting. - The music?? Is so good?? I love it! Especially the themesong, obviously, but so much of it is always ON POINT. It makes me wanna buy the entire soundtrack. - Unpopular opinion, but I think Campbell was the best antagonist of the show, mainly because he was a vile person but still believable and had the best dynamic with Tommy.  - Season Five was honestly kind of hit-and-miss for me, it seemed like a lot of people are pissed at Tommy for fairly silly reasons in the beginning and I just didn’t find the political subplot all that interesting...but I still will definitely tune into Season Six. (Also these are all just opinions, so please don’t send me hate if you don’t like something I’ve said. Ain’t nobody got time for that.)

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Mother dragon (11); Winchester brothers x reader

*Author’s note*

Okay first of all I would like to thank everyone who was patient with me for this next part of Mother Dragon. College has been such a bitch lately with essays, homework, and final projects that needed my attention cause in just a few weeks I’ll be graduating and I want every grade to count. So thos those who have waited patiently, I want to thank you soooooo much :)

And I would like to say I apologize for the shortness that this part maybe I wanted it to be longer but with what I had in mind, it needed to be it’s own chapter so I kinda left you guys on a cliffhanger *Salem’s evil laugh* But here we are finally shown our villian of the pic and boy do I have a special face cast in mind for him and for some (or most) of you you’ll end up screaming in your seats (it’s a goodie :))

Anyways idk when I’ll have pt.12 up it’ll possible be after I’m done with school and done with all my final papers/exam. But when I do, it’ll be nothing but pure updates of the series cause I’ve got the ending done and had it done for awhile, so I hope this satisfies your hunger for Mother Dragon until then :)

Taglist:

@onebigfangirlworld​

@plethora-of-things​

@psychosupernatural​

@ixchel-9275​

@waddles03​

@deanscroissant​

@izzyisavengersupernaturaltrash​

@platawnic​

_________________________________________________________

*3rd Person POV*

In the beautiful and one of the top capitals in all of England, Liverpool.  There along a stretch of 20,000 acres of forests and woodland as well as a river path which lead to the sea stood a mansion as well as a warehouse jointed beside it.

Walking around the perimeter of the house were men and women carrying large guns that looked more like military weapons when suddenly they heard the sounds of three dragons roaring.  They cocked their guns but as soon as they saw through the streetlights guiding the dragons to land safely, they knew better and lay down their weapons.

From inside the mansion a short, stoutly man who appeared to be in his late 50’s, bald and wore a white lab coat raced through the corridors until he reached the double doors that led to what looked like a study room.

Although it looked more like a master bedroom due to the size of it.  Along with old antiques dating back all the way to the Medieval times, there were also dragon bones décor the entire place.  Hanging along the wall like prized game like a hunter would sport an animal head on a mount.

There at the center of the room was a large Victorian desk and leaned forward asleep on said desk that sported dozens of maps was a man with unruly brown curly hair that made him look like a shaggy lion.

He was a well-built man.  Not too buff, but definitely not lean, along his left upper bicep just below his shoulder was a tattoo of the symbol of Saint George slaying the dragon.

“Sir. Sir.” The doctor spoke in what sounded like a German or Swiss accent.  He then entered inside the study room and walked up to the desk toward the sleeping man and said, “Pardon my intrusion sir, but your dragons have returned with the recent capture….”  The man sleeping on the desk took a dagger and slammed it repeatedly on compass that was on the table, smashing it to pieces.

He tiredly raised his head up to reveal that he had a small mustache and beard, had piercing green eyes, and scars all over his face, including one that went down from the crown of his head, over his left eye and stopped to his cheek.  He sleepily glared at the doctor and whispered.

“I was dreaming Doctor Zemo…..of the Alpha.”

“Deacon?” question the doctor now known as Zemo.

“And in my dream; I was—a magnanimous hero.” The man sat up against his tall chair which was engraved gold and red velvet cushions. “To the people of world.” He took a sip of some clear drink probably either vodka or ale.

But the surprise fact was when he lifted his other arm, there was only a stump left down to his mid-forearm.

“I even thanked the head of the Alpha. For his kind taking away my arm.” Which made the doctor cringe because his arm was not only taken away, but also burned to 3rd degree. “And for allowing me to get this fine arm. For gutting, and ripping throats of his own kind. Where one takes a piece of me. I take millions from him.”

The man continued to brag as he now brought out a metal arm with dragon-like claws at the end and as soon as he put it back on, it activated and he wriggled his fingers around testing it.

“So the dragons made you a better trapper sire?” asked Doctor Zemo.

“Made me better?” question the metal armed man.

He walked towards the doctor forcing him to walk backwards as the man continued,

“My bloodline goes all the way back to the first dragon killer Saint George. I never needed such luck such as this arm to make me better. YOU THINK I’M BETTER BECAUSE OF THIS!?!?” He roared in the Doctor’s face, his index claw just barely a centimeter away from piercing Zemo’s eye.

“No, no Lord Percy, no.” Zemo stammered. Percy glared soullessly at the Doctor before pushing up his glasses back from his nose up to the bridge of it. “Thank you.”

“Thank Lucifer his Beta went deaf.” Percy got out of Zemo’s face and went back over to his desk to put his metal arm into a bowling pot of water.  Filled with flour, vinegar and salt to clean up the metal claws and buffer them up a bit as he continued, “If that cousin of yours hadn’t put him in the river, he’d have killed me by now. Why did you wake me doctor?”

“Lord Percy; your dragons have come back. And they brought back the one that killed Dragon 346782.” Percy shot his arm up, his claws now shining under the light of his office dripping with left over vinegar.

“Show me the beast!” he hissed.

Once the dragons fully landed and dragged the unconscious body of (y/n) towards the mansion, Percy as well as some other trappers and hunters gathered around.  The dragon that held (y/n) in it’s grip dropped her down like a piece of meat.

“That is no beast. It’s a girl.” Said Doctor Zemo.

“I can see that it’s a girl you imbecile! Now why did this stupid reptiles bring me a human!?” he yelled at the acid spitters which made them submit fearfully as they backed away.

“Hey boss, you seen the armor she’s wearing?” asked a strongly built hunter who had a crossbow strapped to his back.  Percy knelt down and touched the armor and was in awe.

“Dragon skin?”

“You think she’s a hunter too? Trapper even?”

“Whoever this girl is, she’s valuable. But we can’t have her rushing away so quickly. At least not before I get the chance to talk to her. Take her to the guest quarters and alert me when she wakes up.”

“Yes boss.” He then flung (y/n) over his shoulder and Percy couldn’t help but stare at the unconscious girl with intriguing eyes.

Meanwhile miles away as the sun began to rise, Warren flew back towards the den hoping to find the Winchester brothers and Castiel.

He flew as fast as he could back towards the den hoping to find them and give them the helmet that (y/n) had given them as a warning that something bad had happened to her.

Back at the den, Sam and Dean just woke up and walked out of the den to see Castiel standing out almost as if he were on patrol.

“What’s going on Cas?” asked Sam.

“It’s been a couple of days since (y/n) left the den and I’m beginning to worry about her.”

“Wait you—you mean to tell me (y/n) is gone again!?” Dean snapped.

“Can’t you find her? Use the Enochian tracker you placed on us?”

“I am but—it’s like I’m being blocked from seeing her.” Soon coming over the horizon, Cas saw Warren flying toward them. “But I think I might know someone who might know. Warren’s back, and he was the reason she left the den.”

“I swear if that British blonde-headed dick killed her or even laid a scratch on her, I don’t care what will be his fate, I’ll end it right here, right now.” Sneered Dean.

Soon enough Warren landed panting heavily as his wings tucked back into his back.

“And where the hell have you been?” snapped Dean. Warren looked up and said.

“What?”

“I said where the hell have you been?!”

“You’ll have to speak up Winchester I—I’m a little hard at hearing, especially after long flights.” Before Dean could pop his lid off, Cas held him back before walking towards the dragon.

“Where’s (y/n)? I know she went after you the other day after the rumble with Kisara.”

“She did come after me yes. And she kept trailing me, stubborn girl you have to deal with.”

“She can be that. But where is she Warren?”

“We got caught in one of Percy’s traps. Soon more of his dragons, the acid spitter that invaded the nest shortly after you all found out about her little dragon secret. She sent me back here to you three to give you this.” Taking out of his black leather jacket was (y/n)’s dragon helmet. “She used herself as a decoy allowing me to escape. But I’m afraid she might’ve been kidnapped and taken to Percy.”

“The same Percy that’s been hunting you all?” asked Cas. Warren nodded.  Cas looked down at the helmet and said to Warren. “Stay here, I’ll talk to the brothers.” He then turned away and walked back towards the Winchesters.

“So what’s going on Cas? Did he hurt her?”

“No. In fact it’s worse than her getting injured by a deaf dragon with anger management issues. She’s being taken by those acid spitters to Percy. The dragon hunter that’s been after this nest for years now.”

“Wait you mean the one Deacon and Stephen told us about in that story?” asked Dean.

“Yes. He comes from a long line of dragon hunters, going back to the very first known dragon slayer.”

“Saint George.” Answered Sam.

“Correct.”

“Wait but why would he want (y/n)?” asked Dean. “And just where does this guy live?”

“Do you think Warren might know?” Sam suggested.

“It’s a longshot but maybe.”

“How do we know we can trust him? I mean guys c’mon after all he’s tried to kill (y/n) on several occasions, he almost killed Kisara’s first litter of unborn babies, he’s not exactly on our side.”

“On our side or not, he still came back and told us where (y/n) is at and gave us this.” Cas said as he held up her dragon helmet. “And the more time we waste here, the more time Percy could be doing who knows what to her. If he’s as ruthless as I’ve heard, then there’s no doubt he’ll treat (y/n) like any other dragon he can get his hands on.”

Soon the three hunters were in agreement.

“Hey Warren!” Dean exclaimed. The blonde dragon looked up at them and Dean continued, “You got any idea where Percy’s hideout is?”

“I might know the way. But getting in there won’t be easy. Not only does he have his lackie trappers and hunters guarding the entire perimeter of his home, but he also allows his acid spitters to patrol. You three won’t last long.”

“Well we’ve survived worse. Plus she’s our sister. And we don’t leave family behind.” Said Sam.  Warren exhaled through his nose deeply and muttered.

“I may live to regret this.” He then phased into his dragon form and lowered his right wing for the brothers and the angel. All three of them climbed up onto Warren’s back and he took off flying.

However they were unaware of the snake-like dragon that was listening in from the shadows of the den.

As they flew higher in the sky, Castiel heard Warren’s voice say to him.

‘Give me that helmet. I’ll be able to track her easier if I have something that has her scent.’ Cas then handed the mask to Sam and said to him.

“Give that to Warren.” Sam nodded and as Warren curled his neck inward, Sam lowered the helmet so that Warren could take a deep inhale of (y/n)’s scent.  He extended his neck back outwards and sniffed a couple of times before his pupils sharpened into a snake’s and he let out a roar.

“He’s got her. Hang on!” Cas told the brothers and almost on a dime, Warren flew faster towards Percy’s mansion.

*My POV*

When I finally woke up, I found myself in some sort of prison.  Unlike the prison cell back in the dragon’s den, this felt like I was in an actual prison cell.  There was nothing but metal walls all around me, however instead of being chained up against the wall I was lying on a bed.

“What the hell?” I muttered.  I soon heard locks on the door being unlocked and as soon as it opened, there stood a woman with short black hair, stern cold brown eyes and a tattoo of a raven on the side of her neck.

“You’re awake. That’s good.” She said in an ‘I don’t care’ kind of tone.

“Yeah, and who are you?”

“My name is irrelevant to you. The boss would like to see you.”

“So soon? Whatever will I wear?” I sassed at her and it was at that moment I was slammed against the wall being pinned by her and she sneered.

“Don’t get cute kid!”

“Ah, ah, ah remember what I had said earlier Jane dear.” We both turned and there I saw a man with a messy mane of curly brown hair, I noticed that he only wore one black glove on his right hand.  The woman glared at the man before literally dropping me down to the floor and trudging out of the room in a huff.  “So sorry about her love, Jane can be quite—eccentric at times.”

“I’ve dealt with worse.” I said as I stood back up and rubbed my neck.

“You don’t seem like one whose dealt with worse.” He said.

“Believe me you don’t know the half of it.”

“Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Percy.” He said as he held out his bare hand instead of the gloved one.  I was skeptical about him but I shook his hand.

“Diana Fischer.” I gave him one of my many FBI alias that I came up with along with Sam and Dean.  “Where—exactly am I?”

“In my mansion. 20,000 acres of forests and woodlands that have belonged to my family for generations.”

“Damn, my childhood neighborhood was only an acre.”

“Well when you come from a privileged bloodline it comes with the territory. I never really cared for much of it. It’s just for show if I’m honest.”

“So why am I here? Surely a rich man with a house such as this doesn’t just bring guests like me over? Much less with a dragon welcoming committee.”

“Ahh yes. See they’re really just for security purposes really. Something my team decided was a good idea.” Of course I knew he was lying because I knew the real reason why thanks to my son and his friends.

“Of course. And they just assumed I was a threat.”

“Afraid so, but don’t worry I will deal with them later. Oh silly me where are my manners you must be starving poor girl, please why don’t you join me for dinner? Maybe have a drink. You—are legal to drink right?”

“Yes I’m 23.”

“Marvelous.” He then guided me out of the room and I was now in an elegant dining hall that looked like it belonged in the 15th century with a large chandelier hanging over the table and a gourmet food selection as far as the table reached from each side of the room. “Please take a seat by me and have whatever your heart desires.”

He sat down at the head of the table and I sat to his right and looked at every piece of food imaginable.  I’ll tell you if Sam and Dean were here, they’d go completely gaga over this food, especially Dean when I saw that there was chicken, pork, steaks, turkey, and any other kinds of meat.

Sam would have a field day with the fruits and salads around the table, it was like a farmer’s market shrunk to miniature size and parked itself right onto the table.  There was also dessert trays like Turkish delight, chocolate turtles, Crème brûlée, cakes, ice cream, etc.

“So Diana, since I told you a little bit about me, why not tell me about yourself?”

“Oh I couldn’t possibly. My story is boring compared to yours.”

“No really I insist.” Percy said as he reached out for some of the ham slices and Turkey legs.  Knowing that he probably had an idea to spike or poison whatever food I would go for, I reached for the same foods he did, no matter what he picked. “For one thing I must compliment this suit you’ve got on. I mean it’s absolutely phenomenal. Who designed it?”

“I did.”

“Really? Well then you must be a clever girl. What exactly are it’s mechanisms?”

“Simple pully structures and leather texture.” I gave him a brief synopsis without telling him everything.

“Hmm. Now the scaling patterns you’ve designed into it. Looks almost like real dragon skin. Have a fancy for them?”

“My knowledge of them only exists through Game of Thrones and how to train your dragon. With a bit of Dragon heart mixed in.”

“They are magnificent beasts of mythology aren’t they?” he asked me.

“You could say that.” I said nonchalantly. “What’s your opinion on dragons?”

“Oh well my family has been in ties with dragons since the Medieval ages.” I looked around and saw a painting of Saint George himself hanging proudly just above his head. “You know something Diana. You strike me as the type of young woman who is a fighter.”

“And what makes you say that?”

“Well beyond the self-manufactured suit. You have this look in your eyes that just screams like you’ve seen hell and back.” Oh you have no idea.

Suddenly I felt a little queasy and my head started spinning like a top. What the hell? But he—I was grabbing the same foods he did, why was he not affected by it?

“Seems we’re feeling a bit under the weather, aren’t we Diana? Or should I say (y/n) (l/n).” How the hell did he know my real name? It was then two hulky strong men.  

They roughly picked me up and that’s when I saw Percy take out a needle filled with a purple serum.

“Let’s start over now shall we? Starting with how you were able to take down one of my dragons on your own?” He came right up to me and injected the needle into my neck and I just let out the most agonizing scream.

[jbuffyangel]

A Better Future: Arrow 7x15 Review (Training Day)

Look out for Episode 7x15!!! She came out dancing like, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner!” 

There are so many goodies I don’t know where to start. Well, obviously I know where to start. We’re going to obsess over every detail.  But first, I must ask if anyone survived the 7x16 promo? Cause I didn’t. This is Ghost Jen.

Let’s dig in….

Olicity

This pregnancy is waaaaaaay more fun now that Oliver knows. Seriously this episode is straight out of fanfiction.

Oliver mostly just wants to feed Felicity things I can’t even pronounce. 

What the heck is a tartine and who sautés broccolini? You know what? I don’t even care. Oliver can cook whatever he wants as long as he’s naked. Yes, those are the marital provisions. You may turn to page 21 in the marriage contract if you need proof. It’s in bold.

Source:   olicitygifs

See guys? We’re not the only ones quietly unnerved by fully-realized-Jesus-like-superhero Oliver. He’s giving Felicity the wiggins too. 

When was the last time Oliver took orders from anyone? Nope. You can’t say Felicity. She’s the wifey and pregnant. I feel extremely confident if she asked Oliver to nuke a country he’d do it and then roast her a turkey over the fires of destruction.

Oliver is going the extra mile with the SCPD because he wants the partnership to be legitimate for “our baby.”  

Is there anything sexier than Oliver talking about the incubating human he put in his wife? NOPE THERE IS NOT. 

First time I died. Yes, we’re numbering it.

Immediately, Oliver mentions William and his reasoning for listening to the SCPD’s buffoon orders is understandable. 

Oliver missed out on ten years of William’s life and being a vigilante hasn’t made their present day relationship any easier. Re: William got the hell out of dodge and is living with the most evil grandparents in the world. Come on. We know they are kinda evil. WHO ERASES A FATHER’S PHONE MESSAGE? At the very least they are hyper helicopter grandparents, which is a hop, skip and a jump away from Evil Town.

Oliver is extremely glass half full right now. 

I guess this is what happens when THE PRINCESS THAT WAS PROMISED is about to arrive. I love Felicity’s mildly exasperated expression as Oliver’s waxes poetically about this partnership. Listen girl, you turned him into this big pile of mushy rainbows. Not us.

Source: olicitygifs

Does anyone else scream, “SPOILER ALERT: EVERYTHING IS AWFUL IN THE FUTURE!!!” every time Oliver talks about making the city safe for their children, so they can live in Star City and be happy? No? Just me? The dude deserves a heads up. The writers sure aren’t giving him one. It’s like salt in an open wound whenever Oliver dreams of Star City becoming Disney World 2.0. WRONG SHOW OLIVER. 

This is the show where the writers bludgeon us with misery and only give us joyful moments as a brief respite from our pain and sorrow.  

Too bitter?

Felicity gets on board with the glass half full approach because ain’t nothing cuter than her man being all sunshine and rainbows.

  Source: olicitygifs 

After all, they are a team within and team. Then comes all the smooching and we’re only in the first 5 minutes. Second time I died.

Oliver totally looked at Felicity’s stomach when she said she didn’t want anyone knowing about what’s happening “in here” and his little amused smile was so much I cannot.

Felicity’s right about mum’s the word and not because they are vigilantes, although that is a thing. It’s best to wait until the first trimester is over before making any big announcements.  

Source:  oliverxfelicity

Oliver agrees, Felicity actually says, “Yay,” and then asks him to make her a tartine.

Source: smoakmonster

Starving and nausea sum up my first trimester too, girl. Third time I died.

Felicity pregnant ratchets up her adorable factor by at least 80%. 

Source:  felicitysmoakgifs

This woman breathes and I’m like

I also love how Oliver is the only person who knows why her rambling is so extra and reels her in. Team within a team is damn right.  

The SCPD pours out Oliver’s half full glass because they are annoying and stupid. The team needs to adhere to protocol or else. Ugh why do we have to listen to the cops? They don’t have cool toys.

Felicity convinces Oliver they simply need to show the SCPD the Team Arrow way and they’ll stop with all the red-tape-need-actual-evidence-court-of-law nonsense.

It sounds good, particularly coming from Felicity. I’m at the same point as Oliver. I think this woman could tell me the sky is purple and I’d rock some “Purple Rain.”

If Arrow wants do a show where Oliver cooks for Felicity while she shares all her pregnancy symptoms as they smooch and be adorable in their little incubating love nest I would be completely fine with that because it's Emmy award winning television.

Source: oliverxfelicity

Why does the show have to be over? It’s perfect. Fourth time I died.

Olicity continues with their team within a team approach and decide to bring James Midas in on their own. They do it the old fashioned way. (HAHAHA that sounds dirty. Sorry. I’m a 10 year old trapped in a 37 year old body.) Oliver goes full on growly, burly man in leather and threatens to melt Midas’ face off in a tub of hydrofluoric acid. Stephen Amell’s facial reactions are hysterical. Oliver is almost bored like, “Come on, come on, I have tartines to make and a baby to name.” 

Source: @smoacs

Felicity records the confession while complaining about people like me who don’t click update. I’m perfectly fine with bae owning my ass. Fifth time I died.

But the mayor cuts Midas loose because his confession was coerced. Is that a thing we care about on Arrow now? I guess we’re doing the whole Miranda rights, due process, warrants, evidence, chain of custody thing. Huh. So… how’d they prosecute all the other criminals for the last seven years? 

I’m also willing to venture the mayor is slightly evil if she’s big buddies with a guy like Midas. WHO FUNDED HER CAMPAIGN?

Uncle Diggle is wondering why his OTP is going rogue, so he swings by for a little chat. His Yoda senses are on high alert. 

This is why they had to make Diggle normal again. Pod Diggle would never suss out an Olicity pregnancy. I love how Oliver and Felicity are all, “WE AREN’T TELLING ANYONE,” and then Diggle shows up, asks one question, and they fold. 

You can’t lie to Yoda. Thems the rules.

Diggle ships this ship harder than anybody else. He practically willed this child into existence. 

Source: oliverxfelicity

It’s possible he’s more excited than Oliver when Felicity tells him the news. The “we’re having a baby” absolutely includes John Thomas Diggle too.  Sixth time I died.

We have to go over this moment in particular because @lyricalarrow​ mentioned it in a tweet and I cracked up because it is so true.

Where is the lie? Oliver looks at the ground, crosses his arms, and shuffles his feet whenever he feels shy or bashful.  It’s like he’s a little embarrassed Diggle knows they have sex.

Meanwhile, the hot little mama over there with her hip wiggle is more than comfortable letting Diggle know his boy knocked her up. Hilarious perfection.

Honestly, I understand Oliver’s reaction here because I felt the same telling my parents I was pregnant. They high fived, but I was a little embarrassed there was physical evidence of my sexual activity with my husband. It’s cool. I feel confident they decided my daughter was the Immaculate Conception. Everyone is very comfortable with that story.

This announcement also leads to Diggle’s rapid understanding of why Oliver and Felicity are acting like they are on a clock, because THEY ARE ON A CLOCK. Their child will be born into Disney World come hell or high water. THY NAME IS OLICITY AND THY WILL BE DONE!

Like I said, it sounds good on paper, but Diggle comes prepared with logic. Oliver and Felicity understandably have baby on the brain, but they aren’t thinking their rogue plan through. It’ll work for a little while, but then Oliver will land in Slabside again. Yeah, I don’t want to go back to Slabside. I want to keep doing all the baby stuff. Whatever keeps us doing the baby stuff is the plan I favor.

The truth is if the Team Arrow way worked 100% then Star City would be saved. Same goes for the SCPD. Yes, let us casually ignore the writers will not allow the city to be saved until the final episode because that’s just details. What needs to happen is a combo approach. Ya know like an actual partnership.

Diggle: You have to find a way to make it work. Comprise. Do whatever you have to do because if you want a new future for this baby of yours it won’t come by doing the same thing we used to do. We have to be something else. Something better.

Is this the first time Diggle has said the, “Be something else” line?” I feel like it is. If so, it’s a momentous occasion. Every part of the OTA trio has officially given a “Be Something Else” speech. Jeez, this show really is ending isn’t it?

After saving the day while working in partnership with the SCPD, Team Arrow reconvenes in their home away from home. BUNKER IS BACK BABY!!!!!!!!!!! Thank goodness. I am so sick of the police department. It lacks flair. 

The team wants to grab a beer to celebrate, which feels like the first time this suggestion has ever happened other than Diggle and Oliver tossing back some vodka or scotch. What’s with all the alcohol? Cause Felicity is pregnant, and these writers want to create as many situations as possible where it can be referenced. 

I honestly think Oliver just went to the bar to keep the cover. Cue super sweet winking. 

Source: lucyyh

Seventh time I died.

Diggle isn’t done being amazing. I MISSED HIM SO MUCH Y’ALL.  He brings Felicity ginger candies to help with the morning sickness. In my fic “Broken Pieces” it was saltine crackers. Seriously, how many of us have written fics where A) Diggle figures out Felicity is pregnant and B) he helps her with the morning sickness because he learned a few things while Lyla was pregnant?

Yeah that’s what I thought. Nobody gets to tell me this episode isn’t straight out Olicity Ficville. I. LOVE. IT. Eighth time I died.

He also stokes the Smoak Tech fires by complimenting Felicity on her technology and generally being a total bad ass while pregnant. 

SEE? SHE CAN DO BOTH PEOPLE. 

Hold up. Rewind. Is that my girl shading Curtis Holt?

HAHAHA! YES IT IS!!!!!!!!!!! THIS EPISODE IS AMAZING!!!!!

We know this DNA security program she’s developed is what eventually becomes the Archer program, so I am very curious to see how it gets up and running. 

Source:  felicitysmoakgifs

I think one word from Diggle is all it’s going to take.

FELICITY ASKED OLIVER IF SHE’S SHOWING. THE WRITERS HAVE KILLED ME DEAD EIGHT TIMES ALREADY? WHAT IF I ONLY HAVE NINE LIVES? MAYBE I’M REALLY A CAT!!!!! 

Source: olicitygifs

Honestly, they’ve nailed the first trimester: nausea, starvation, exhaustion, and wondering if you’re showing when you are absolutely nowhere near showing. Ninth time I died.

And then… Felicity wants to talk baby names. Cue hyperventilation. 

Yeah yeah yeah I know we know the baby’s name BUT THEY ARE GONNA TALK ABOUT IT GUYS. That’s a whole other thing. 

Oliver had names picked out pretty much since this moment. 

This is the face of man naming his babies while staring at his future baby mama.

So, I’m really excited Felicity broached the subject first. She’s been dreaming about little Olivers and Felicities too. She’s just been a little calmer about it instead of My Face Is My Feelings over here. 

I am still a firm believer in triplets because it gives us more name permutations, but whatever the writers didn’t listen to me and I won’t get greedy. So here we go. It isn’t going to be a boy so Felicity can name the boy whatever she wants.

LUCAS? SHE PICKED LUCAS? 

Why not Tommy or Robert or the plethora of other dead male characters on this show? Lucas is a fine name I guess. Makes me think of Lucas from One Tree Hill, which is equally awful and wonderful. (His character was a mess. Don’t blame me for Lucas Scott being a mess.) Or Luke Skywalker who is also equally a mess. My husband’s cousin is named Luke. He’s an awesome guy. Lucas works. Okay. Lucas. Do we call him Luke? I like Luke.

What say you Twitter?

OH MY GOSH I LOVE LUCAS SO MUCH.  Tenth time I died.

P.S.: This is why you don’t tell people your names until after the kid is born and you slapped it on the birth certificate.

Source: olicitygifs

Oliver immediately signs off on Lucas (re: see nuclear bomb analogy). Hell, if Felicity wanted to name the kid Malcolm, Slade, The Demon’s Head, Damien, Adrian or Ricardo I think he’d still sign off.  He might even go for Al Sah-him Jr. The boy is gone okay? Oliver made a baby with his woman and life is amazing. Eleventh time I died.

I love how Oliver tries to pretend like he just thought of a name for a baby girl.

Boy, you’ve been spinning out names in that brain of yours every night while you sharpen your arrows. You fool no one sir.

There’s a significant pause before Oliver says the name. He has given this a lot of thought. When he speaks again it’s in the same sweet, gentle and quiet tone he uses for Felicity. Since the beginning, Oliver has instinctively softened his voice around Felicity. It was a way to reassure her; to show she is always safe with him. 

But his rage and pain are tempered now. The edges have been softened after seven years of loving this one woman.  

Yet, this voice remains almost like a whisper because of how much Oliver feels and the depth he loves. It’s almost overwhelming. 

This voice is Oliver at his most earnest and vulnerable. 

This is the Oliver only Felicity gets to see. 

He’s better at talking about his emotions now. It’s taking a lot of practice and learning, but the voice remains the same. This is how Oliver Queen speaks when the words matter the most.  

His special Felicity’s voice is also his special Mia voice.  Twelfth time I died.

DID I SAY HER NAME WAS MOIRA? .

YES I DID. Thirteenth time I died.

Felicity’s reaction is perfection because Moira is a slightly controversial choice given her relationship with Oliver’s mother and he knows that.  

Sweet and fiery describes all the important women in Oliver’s life- the ones he’s loved the most. These women love deeply and fight fiercely. 

Moira

Thea

Felicity

Mia

It describes Oliver as well. There is a gentle bear 

underneath the raging bull. 

This girl is Smoak, Kuttler, Dearden and Queen. And she’s amazing. 

Oliver and Felicity’s baby girl seems destined to become a hero in her own right. Someday Oliver and Felicity will make a better and safer Star City for their children. Maybe they’ll save the city with their children.

Source: olicitygifs

Fifteenth time I died. We haven’t even gotten to the promo yet. Probably not a cat, so I’m totally screwed.

Flash Forward

QUEEN SIBLING TEAM UP!!! Did anyone get major Bratva vibes during these scenes? I sure did. It’s in the blood kids! 

Mia and William make the perfect team because they are (seemingly) opposites, but underneath the surface have a lot in common. RING ANY BELLS?

It doesn’t hurt they are basically the familial and platonic reverse of Oliver (Mia) and Felicity (William). Mia is the bad ass from the streets and William is the computer wizard with a whole lotta money. But William is a fighter as well and Mia is extremely smart. Time for some sibling bonding.

They are in search of the mini cassette player, so they can listen to Felicity’s messages. Mia tells William to stay put, but of course he doesn’t listen. Pro tip Mia: The elder sibling will never listen to you even when they should listen to you. Curse of being the youngest. Get used to it.

William procures a mini cassette player after haggling over price. Five hundred dollars??? I’m seriously going to look in the garage for one of those things. In twenty years it might make some bank. Unfortunately, William is scammed like Mia warned and he loses the tape. His plan for getting the tape back, however, works and Mia knocks the lights out of the guy who scammed her brother. I love these two so much. They are sibling perfection.

There’s a lot of mutual appreciation. Mia realizes her brother is a genius aka Mini Felicity and William realizes his sister is Mini Oliver. 

It’s a really beautiful moment as William stares at her because it’s been about twenty years since he’s seen his father. She is the closest William has been to Oliver and vice versus.  

But Mia thinking “You have failed this city” is a dumb will never not be funny.

Source:  oliverxfelicity

It’s difficult for William to hit play on the cassette because it’s been 20 years since he’s heard Felicity’s voice and there’s a fair amount of apprehension about what she’s going to say. 

Source:  feilcityqueen

Mia gives William the strength to hit play.  It reminded so much of all the times Oliver and Felicity gently and lovingly supported each other simply by touching hands, particularly in the beginning of the burgeoning partnership and friendship.

Oliver refused to show any feeling while Felicity wore her heart on her sleeve. They took all the best parts of this beloved couple and put them in their children.

Hearing Felicity’s voice in the flash forwards made me cry and I just need her in this timeline already. She spent twenty years avoiding ever saying William and Mia’s names in the same sentence. 

You don’t keep your two precious jewels in the same location. I think it’s safe to say this is the strategy Oliver and Felicity were using.

Are there plot holes with the whole William side of things? Sure. It wasn’t a secret he was Oliver’s son. The kid was photographed. You can easily find out his last name is Clayton and his grandparents aren’t exactly living off the radar. Arrow is either going to have an answer for all these little factoids or they’re gonna blow right past them and leave them in Plot Hole Land.  

Source: felicitysmoakgifs

But the bigger picture is Oliver and Felicity kept their children apart for a reason. I found it very interesting Felicity said this was a decision they made together. So whatever separation is coming, it was as much Oliver’s choice as it was Felicity’s.

She reads off some coordinates and orders the children not to look for her, which they promptly ignore. I loved Oliver and Thea’s relationship, but I am enjoying Mia and William’s even more. There’s a humor and banter that was missing between Oliver and Thea. Sure, there was the occasional teasing, but it was mostly fighting or crying with the original Queen siblings. It’s fine. It’s what the situations called for and Stephen and Willa acted the hell out of those scenes. It feels like the writers are trying to have more fun with William and Thea. They banter really showcases each actors’ comedic talent too, particularly Ben Lewis.  

Mia recognizes the coordinates because it’s inside The Glades. Katherine McNamara tweeted out the perfect reaction because Mia’s tone is very “The North Remembers.”  So winter is here friends and we’re going over the wall!

The mere existence of these children is a promise for a better future.  I am choosing to remain optimistic about what Oliver and Felicity said. A hero’s journey has to start somewhere. William and Mia’s first act of heroism may very well be saving their parents.

Source: olicitygifs

Team Arrow

Team Arrow being bored to tears and wiping the floor with the SCPD is the realest this show has ever been. 

Oliver body slams a fellow officer as a way of “defusing the situation.” Rene puts a gun together at lightning speed and Felicity looks so bored with the tech she’s about to smash her head into a computer.

A significant reason Star City is a crappy place to live is because the police aren’t putting up a strong line of defense. The SCPD’s antiquated procedures hindering the capturing of criminals shocks no one. If things worked at the police department the city wouldn’t need Oliver Queen, his team of bandits, and all their amazing toys. I’ve put up with this Oliver as a police officer for several episodes now, but I draw the line at no suit and no arrows. Screw that. 

Dinah is full speed ahead on being captain and draws a hard line in the sand with the team, which of course proves to be disastrous. The reason she is all in on Captain Drake is because she lost her cry and doesn’t feel she can be Bl*ck C*nary anymore. When did the C*nary Cry become a prerequisite? 

Sara never had one and we were well into Season 3 before Cisco put that choker around L*urel’s neck. Relax Dinah.

Rene gets in Dinah’s face and defends Oliver because she’s being a b-i-t-c-h. 

DID Y’ALL HEAR THAT? RENE DEFENDED OLIVER!!!!! Rene being tolerable, logical and borderline likable is almost as shocking as Zen Oliver.

Oliver apologizes for going rogue. He always apologizes first. We’re taking baby steps with the Newbies. Not everything can get better all at once. Patience. But then DINAH ALSO APOLOGIZES and she acknowledges she was way too hard on Oliver. Umm… hooray! But for real what is happening to this show right now? Everything is amazing.

Oliver FINALLY tells the team to “suit up” and I realized how long it’s been since he’s been the one to say it. The joy of Curtis Holt being gone will never abate. Speaking of Curtis, it feels like a massive difference now that the team is back to four in the field and Felicity in the bunker as Overwatch. God, I missed Overwatch. The trimming of Team Arrow was a smart move for many reasons and I think a five member team is the max capacity this show can handle. Dropping Curtis like the dead weight he is was a fantastic move.

Since Team Arrow is all about the legal now, Felicity hacks whatever SCPD has access to (they aren’t completely in the Stone Age) and it’s all admissible in court. The rest of the team secures evidence and arrests in partnership with the police, which mostly looks like the SCPD rolling in after Team Arrow has done all the work. I don’t really understand how the criminals Team Arrow captured were prosecuted before all this, but whatever. 

I’m just happy the team is back in the bunker with their suits, they are the official black ops of the police department, and the mayor is repealing that stupid anti vigilante law. HELLO MY SHOW I HAVE MISSED YOU.

Bl*ck S*ren and Emiko

The “Training Day” writers didn’t check off everything on my wish list. They were close, but unfortunately BS did not kill Diaz. I still think it would’ve been awesome, but it’s okay. You win some and you lose some. I think it’s safe to say our fandom is winning just plenty.

Ben Turner aka Bronze Tiger witnessed Diaz’s murder while he was in solitary and it was someone wearing the Green Arrow suit, which means Emiko. In exchange for this information BS allows Turner to see his son – Connor, his “little hawk.” 

I already love this backstory so much more than the one Connor had on the Legends of Tomorrow episode. Connor being Lyla and Diggle’s adopted son makes more sense to me than JJ taking on the random name of Connor Hawke. 

BS confronts Emiko and the whole conversation is hysterical hypocrisy.

Bl*ck S*ren:  You’re lying about who you really are. You’re not a hero.  

STEAL ANYONE’S IDENTITY LATELY L*UREL? I can never decide if the writers are blatantly obtuse in regards to L*urel’s character (any version) or if this is somehow a tongue and cheek/wink wink kind of thing. 

It doesn’t really matter. What does matter is I’m fairly certain BS just got Ben Turner killed. 

It’s not going to take Emiko and Dante very long to figure out how L*urel came upon this information. 

Holy hell lady. Keep your trap shut while you investigate someone. Didn’t you learn anything in law school? OH WAIT THAT’S RIGHT YOU DIDN’T GO!

Since Turner saved Lyla’s life once I believe they’ll adopt Connor as a way of paying it forward. They also can’t let a kid that adorable go. I just want to smush his face.

This also makes Felicity pickle in the middle. Oliver will of course believe Emiko over Bl*ck S*ren and Felicity will have to choose between the two. I’m actually way more interested in seeing how Felicity reacts than I am anything else, so once again BS services her storyline. Suits me just fine.

THE PROMO

I was sick on Monday (hence the delayed review), so my husband didn’t wake me up for Arrow. The nerve of him, I know. So, when I started watching I was about 40 minutes behind and @callistawolf​ told me to call her after because she was hyperventilating. I was very careful while tweeting not to read any other  tweets. So, when Mia said they were going over the wall I thought, “Calm down Cal. It’s not that big of a deal – HOLY SHIT IS THAT A LOVE CABIN?”

THE. PROMO. KILLED. ME. The other fifteen times brought me to the edge and the promo shoved me off the cliff.  Don’t mourn for me my friends. I had a good life and it was a good death.

This promo is proof the CW can actually put together great marketing for this show. They just choose not to 99.99% of the time, but at least 7x16 can join the truly great promos of 3x01, 3x20, 4x01 and 5x20.

We hear Felicity screaming as the camera pushes in on the cabin and down the hallway into the bedroom where she is delivering their child. The first image we see of Oliver and Felicity is their hands. Oliver is holding on tight as his wife struggles through labor.

Source: olicitygifs

I remember when I used to hyperventilate over a mere shoulder or hand touch.

Oliver and Felicity’s romance started in the quiet moments. 

Their love was in the details. 

This image of them holding hands, Felicity’s wedding ring brightly shining in the sun, as she brings Mia into this world is a powerful symbol of where their story began and what their love created.

The reason we wear wedding rings is because they are an endless circles. The commitment we are making with our spouse is forever.  We wear our ring on our fourth finger of our left hand because the Romans believed the vein in this finger lead directly to a person’s heart. Love is eternal. The focus on Felicity’s ring, her hand gripping tightly in Oliver’s, symbolizes Mia entering this endless loop of love where she will always be wanted, adored and safe.

Source: sansasnw 

Of course, Oliver and Felicity’s child is born in the bright sunshine of morning. We would expect nothing less. It’s always the light. This child is a new beginning for Oliver and Felicity.  A new life who can harness her parent’s light and shine her own upon all she loves.  I get emotional when I think about where Oliver’s story began. He was a lost soul who believed life was merely about survival and he didn't deserve one worth living for. And now…

Source:  olicitygifs

I’m sobbing at the promo y’all. I won’t make it through the episode. 

As for this moment...

This is my head canon until the show tells me different.

Source: olicitygifs

Stray Thoughts

Why does Bl*ck S*ren think Oliver and Felicity will be mad Emiko killed Diaz? Nobody is crying over that guy cutie. Oliver and Felicity came to my smore party. They brought the chocolate.

Mia couldn’t put the tape in. I’m still laughing. Katherine McNamara’s comedic timing is gold.

“This is private. Loophole.” Felicity being the most irritated she can’t do things illegally is so on brand.

Mini cassettes were around in the nineties too. Can we stop with the super aging of things, show?

I love Face/Off. Classic Travolta vs. Cage.

We haven't done a good old fashion gang war. After 7 years in a crime fighting show that feels a little odd.

Oliver and Felicity have their baby in a love cabin and many believe it is Ravenspure, which is the cabin Felicity was conceived in. I truly do not remember this detail from Season 4, but I know better than to question my peeps.

Disclaimer: Any gifs on the blog are not mine. If you would like a gif removed from my reviews, please message me. 7x15 gifs credited.

If you’d like to support the blog, please buy me a cup of tea!

[sanguinarius-archive]

(sal)ly face headcanons bc why not

sal actually loves bright/jarring colors, but claims he doesnt look good when wearing them (he does tho, just ask the artists ash and larry)

he loves loves loves space!!! he knows the names of random stars and planets. he doesnt talk about it much bc its hard for him to word it correctly but he just.. FOCUSES on it for HOURS

when people ask him “comics or novels” he literally cannot decide. he’ll read stephen king’s “it” but then a second later he’s reading a fuckin archie comic or garfield comic

he actually loves sci fi films more than horror!

horror movies tend to freak him out because hes more psychologically affected by them (bc of his trauma), so he’d rather avoid that and go with something like sci fi

this is canon but- he loves to paint his nails! one time he painted each nail with the bi flag. it actually took a lot of precision but it was worth it

sal loves small dogs. he also loves rottweilers and chihuahuas bc they look so silly and cute with those big bulging eyes and that waggy tail

he thinks bunnies are AWESOME and one time larry put one on his head and he felt like an angel was above him

“sal how does it feel?” “it feels like… like god has sent her top guardian down to protect my mind…” “from what?” “from negative energy”

it is utter chaos when hes forced to go to school with a cold

poor boy sneezes but he cant take off his prosthetic bc he’ll feel naked af

dont worry tho, ash and larry to the rescue! they take him to larry’s apartment and hide him there and take care of him for a bit before going back to school themselves. they also bring sal any work he misses

sal gets emotional very easily over happy things!

like literally if he thinks abt his friends for one (1) second he’ll start to tear up because he just appreciates them so much

he hates strawberries. they are always too weirdly cold for him and that hurts his teeth and he also just doesn’t like the way they taste

he also stims!!!! he tends to blink a lot and grind his teeth. other stims are more visible ones like flexing his fingers or drumming them on tables, and flapping his hands as well. also kicks his legs a lot

sal loves all animals, this is canon, but like

imagine if he frickin got like.. a snake

larry is SUPER terrified of snakes, he thinks theyre cool from a distance but he hates seeing them

so when sal is like “i got something to show u” larry isnt expecting it and he sees the snake that is very clearly in its container but he just BOLTS

and sal is like “noo… babey snek is nice…”

he… has a weird relationship with bugs like all of us. but he baby talks all of them from time to time

he literally will pick up a centipede and be like “what are you doing here mister?? just crawlin around? how delightful!! i wonder what it’s like to see the world in your eyes… with that many legs…”

sal will obviously wear whatever he wants

but traditionally “masculine” clothes? no thanks. he hates it. thats why he wears dresses to formal stuff. he feels trapped or suffocated if he wears a suit or anything like that

he just prefers really baggy/loose clothing

if given a meal with different portions he’ll eat it one by one

so like… if he has fries and chicken strips. if he starts on the fries, he finishes the fries. he doesn’t switch back and forth

he also loves sweets but only if they’re small

big candy bars? no thank you

also going back to the stim thing- ash stims as well so she and sal share stim toys!!! things like squishies or weighted stuff or spinner rings or chewie jewelery, they’ll share those with each other

okay but one day he’s in art class just goofing off with larry

and larry puts glitter in his own hair as like a joke

but sal is just FASCINATED

because… oh my god… sparkl…………. shinyy…

and so he practically pours the entire tub of glitter on his hair

and he gets in so much trouble for it but he’s like “no miss listen i am a goddess. this is who i am. i am a teen figuring my life out”

and for the rest of the day he doesn’t bother to get any of it out so he walks around the school with a terribly large amount of glitter in his hair

larry cries of laughter whenever he sees him

ash thinks he’s a QUEEN and insists that he comes over and lets her fiddle with his hair and actually make it v pretty and sparkly

so he accepts!!!!!

sal also loves little kids and is super good with them. sometimes kids get scared of his mask, but it’s easy for him to reassure them

when soda is born, sal declares he’s going to be her favorite uncle

and he’s right!

larry’s not jealous though cause yeah, sal is pretty great

and honestly? sal is super protective of soda. he shields her from seeing or hearing any bad things

i also headcanon sal’s voice is a bit like kurt cobain’s- so he kind of sings like him too? but doesn’t scream or anything. his singing voice very soft like kurt’s in the beginning of lithium

sal doesn’t really like to sing though. in front of people, at least

he loves music box versions of songs, they’re just so relaxing and they help him fall asleep a lot of the time

also when he sleeps it’s usually on his back, so gizmo lays on his stomach through the night. sal doesn’t move a lot during his sleep

he has sleepwalked though, to larry’s place

and larry woke up and saw sal (this is after he first saw him without his mask) and he saw him without his glass eye For The First Time

larry TRIES not to wake him up but pretty much fails and sal kind of has a panic attack

he’s like “that- i- i’m sorry- my eye-” and covers it but larry pulls his hand down back to his side and is like “it’s ok you look super cool without it”

prom is honestly one of the best nights of sal’s life

he’s got his hair up in a bun and wears a rainbow-striped t-shirt with a high-waisted black skirt and a long-sleeved black shirt underneath the t-shirt and tall dark leather boots

his nails are painted blue, red, purple, orange to represent him, larry, ash and todd (tho his nails on his thumbs are painted black)

because he secretly loves dancing when no one is around, he just kind of rocks it at prom and his friends are blown away bc… holy shit?? sal fisher can Dance????

but he’s more playful with it

he and larry scream the lyrics to the songs that play

they all end up ditching the prom and going outside to the back of the school and just kinda goof off

larry and ash share a cigarette and todd drives all of them out beyond city limits to an open field

they just kinda lay down in the grass there and stargaze for nearly the entire night

they talk about stupid stuff and serious stuff

honestly sal just goes back to his apartment very later and happy cries

cause again, he gets so emotional over happy stuff

and he loves his friends very much

and no there is no bad ending to this or bad ending that i won’t talk about

they all grow up together and are happy

EDIT: ANOTHER ONE I FORGOT TO ADD... sal LOVES deadpool. hes only into marvel for deadpool. he relates to him bc hey they both have deformed faces (except for dp its his whole body too i think) but ya!!!! he loves wade frickin wilson

[hollymartinswrites]

Chapters: 10/? Fandom: IT - Stephen King, IT (Movies - Muschietti) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh Characters: Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier, Ben Hanscom, Beverly Marsh, Bill Denbrough, Mike Hanlon, Original Child Character(s) Additional Tags: Fix-It, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-IT Chapter Two (2019), Domestic, Light Angst, Family Feels, Childhood Trauma, Adoption, Kid Fic, Adopted Children, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Marriage, Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier Are Parents, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Minor Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Beverly Marsh & Richie Tozier Are Best Friends, Catholicism, Richie Tozier Has Issues, Extended Tozier Family, Medical Examinations, Stephen King References, The Shining References, Doctor Sleep References, References to Depression, Depression, Mentioned Sonia Kaspbrak

Summary:

Eddie and Richie embark on the most terrifying experience of all—parenthood. Or, the author desperately needed a domestic, family fix-it for Richie and Eddie and it turned into a much longer, angstier exploration than I expected.

Chapter XI: Eddie realizes that the past doesn't always stay in the past.

Eddie looked up at his childhood home and wondered if it had always been this dreary. The paint was peeling and darkness seemed to permeate from the dirty windows. The collar of his shirt seemed to tighten around his neck as sweat began to bead along his forehead. A movement from the front window caught his attention, and he squinted against the sunlight to see two little faces gazing out at him. His heart fell as cold fear rushed through his body.

“Tess, Lydia,” he gasped. He ran towards the front door—or, at least, he tried to run. Every step was like sinking deeper and deeper into quicksand. He stumbled, crawled, and dragged himself up to the front door, frantic at the idea of his daughters trapped in the house he had tried so often to escape. It seemed to take hours but he was finally reaching the doorknob when the door suddenly swung open.

“Eddie, sweetie, what are you doing out here?” his mother asked, a surprised look on her face.

He gasped for breath, his heart pounding and sweat dripping into his eyes. From his position on his knees, she seemed even bigger and more intimidating than he ever remembered, filling the entire doorway. She reached down and, grasping him by the scruff of his neck, dragged him into his childhood home. It stank of stale air and moth balls. His mother released him, and he collapsed face first onto the carpet. He gagged as he tried to stand.

“I’m disappointed in you, Eddie,” his mother continued. “You’re not doing a good job. I taught you better.”

Eddie managed to get onto his hands and knees, coughing violently as he looked up. His daughters, or wan, listless imitations of his daughters, were sitting at the kitchen table, an assortment of pills spread out before them.

“Tess, Lydia,” he repeated but his mother’s hand gripped the back of his neck again and wrenched his head up.

“Look at these poor girls,” she said. “You’re not taking care of them at all.”

With more strength than he ever thought she possessed, his mother flung him back down to the floor and headed towards his daughters. He tried to shout but his throat seized up.

“Don’t worry, dears, Granny is here and will take care of you from now on,” she said in a sickly sweet sing-song voice. “You just need your vitamins and proper nutrition.”

“No, wait…” Eddie managed to choke out.

He watched, horrified, as his mother poured them juice that looked eerily like blood into two large glasses. She placed the glasses before them and insisted they use them to wash down their vitamins.

“No, girls, don’t,” he gasped. “Don’t listen to her.”

“It’s horrible when a grandmother doesn’t get to see her grandchildren, isn’t it?” his mother asked his daughters. They nodded. She grinned, and Eddie realized it was more frightening than the clown’s smile had ever been. “I made mistakes with you, Eddie-Bear, but I’ll do better with them. I have always dreamed of having little girls of my own.”

Eddie gasped awake, swatting at the feeling of fingers on his arm.

“Daddy?”

He blinked and pressed his hand against his wildly beating heart. Tess was standing at his bedside, a concerned look on her young face. He shuddered and took a deep breath.

“Tess, wha—what are you doing here?” he asked.

“You were having a bad dream,” she replied.

Eddie closed his eyes and ran a hand over his face, trying desperately not to give way to tears. He counted his breaths and then, when he was ready, dropped his hand and opened his eyes. He glanced to his side. Richie was still asleep, snoring gently. He sighed.

“What time is it?” he mumbled.

“I dunno,” Tess shrugged.

He leaned over, grabbed his phone, saw that it was nearly five in the morning, and sighed once again.

“Sweetheart, you need to be in bed,” he said gently.

“But you were having a bad dream,” she repeated.

Eddie smiled reassuringly before pulling back the covers and stepping out of bed.

“Well, I’m not having a bad dream now,” he said, “so let’s get you back to bed.”

“But I’m not sleepy,” Tess answered as she took her father’s hand and followed him out of the bedroom.

“But it’s far too early to be awake,” he explained. “And you’ll just be cranky later.”

“No, I won’t,” she insisted but didn’t argue when he opened her door and led her to her unmade bed.

“Come on, I bet you’ll fall asleep in no time,” he said, tucking her in and bringing her favorite stuffed unicorn to her arms. He smiled down at her as she snuggled under the blankets. “How’d you know I was having a bad dream?”

“I saw it,” she yawned.

“You saw my dream?”

“Kinda,” she said, rubbing at her eyes.

Eddie tried not to panic. He merely swallowed and smiled.

“Well, it wasn’t real,” he said quickly.

“I know,” Tess replied, yawning again. “You’re okay now.”

“Yep, I’m okay, baby.”

“But you were sad and scared.”

“A little bit,” Eddie admitted. “But it’s okay to feel sad and scared sometimes. It never lasts forever.”

Tess peered up at her father, a doubtful look on her face.

“I don’t like it when you’re sad,” she said quietly.

Eddie nodded.

“I understand,” he said gently. “I don’t like it when you’re sad, either.”

“You get sad a lot,” she pointed out.

Eddie frowned and shook his head.

“No, sweetheart, I’m not sad a lot,” he insisted. “I’m happy.”

Tess yawned again and her eyes slowly closed before she responded, “But your eyes are sad, Daddy.”

“Richie, Richie.”

“Huh?” Richie mumbled, slowly blinking awake. He brushed his hair out of his face and squinted at the foot of his bed, where his husband was standing. “Wha’s going on?”

“Am I depressed?” Eddie asked.

“What?” Richie yawned. “What the fuck are you...what time is it?”

“A little after five,” Eddie answered, “but seriously, do you think I’m depressed? Like really?”

“Jesus, Eds,” Richie moaned, collapsing against his pillows. “Why are you awake? Why am I awake? Come back to bed.”

Eddie climbed in but instead of settling down beside his husband, he sat up and grasped Richie’s hand.

“Come on, I need to talk to you,” he implored, nervous energy thrumming through his body.

Richie sighed and rubbed at his eyes before opening them fully.

“What’s going on with you?” he asked, yawning.

“Do you think I have depression?”

Richie stared at him, clearly still not firing on all cylinders.

“Babe, what brought this on? Are you okay?” he asked.

Eddie sighed as his shoulders slumped.

“Something Tess said,” he mumbled quickly, suddenly embarrassed.

“What’s that?”

Eddie shook his head.

“Nevermind, I’m just…” he trailed off.

“Eds,” Richie repeated, reaching his arm up to rest his hand along Eddie’s face, “talk to me. I mean, you did wake me up at the ass crack of dawn so you better make it worth my while.”

Eddie laughed and shook his head before clearing his throat.

“She said I have sad eyes,” he admitted.

Richie cocked his head to the side as he gazed at Eddie, his face softening.

“Oh, babe,” he said gently, caressing the side of Eddie’s face, “you have gorgeous eyes. I love them.”

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about,” Eddie said, frowning.

“I know, it’s just…” Richie sighed. “Alright, she’s right. Sometimes. Sometimes your eyes get a bit sad but not all the time.”

“I can’t even remember the last time I went to therapy,” Eddie admitted. “I mean, between work and the kids and everything with Tess…”

Richie sat up and wrapped an arm around his husband.

“Well, okay, maybe it is time to get back into therapy,” he offered. “I mean, it can’t hurt. And you do have a shit ton of plates up in the air. A little bit of guidance could only help.”

Eddie sighed again before shaking his head.

“You still didn’t answer my question,” he mumbled.

“What question?”

“Do you think I’m depressed?”

Richie paused as he considered his answer. Eddie tensed, somehow dreading his response.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I mean, I’m not unfamiliar with depression, you know that, but it’s different for everyone.” Eddie closed his eyes. Richie tightened his arm around him. “Baby, it’s okay if you are. We’ll get it under control.”

“But I don’t have a fucking reason to be depressed,” Eddie whispered. “I mean, I have fucking everything I could want, right? I got you and the girls and I just...I don’t…”

“Eds, Eddie,” Richie said, rubbing his back in gentle circles, “we both know depression doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t care that on the surface, we’re really fucking happy. It just...is.”

Eddie nodded, trying to swallow down the feeling of guilt.

“What kind of an idiot am I though,” he asked, “that it took a four-year-old to diagnose me?”

“You’re not an idiot,” Richie said. “If you are depressed, which we don’t know if you are, it’s hard to realize when you’re in the thick of it. Trust me.”

Eddie nodded and leaned his head down onto Richie’s shoulder, exhaling a shaking breath and closing his eyes.

“When did Tess say this to you, anyway?” Richie asked.

“Just now.”

“Now?” Richie asked, raising an eyebrow. “She’s awake?”

“I put her back to bed,” Eddie whispered. “She woke me up. Saved me from a bad dream.”

“Oh.”

“She said she saw it.”

Richie’s hand stilled on his back.

“She saw your dream?” he repeated quietly.

“Yeah,” Eddie said. He straightened suddenly. “My mother was in my dream. She was trying to take the girls from me.”

“Oh, Eddie…”

“If she saw it, then she saw my mother,” Eddie gasped, fresh fear in his heart. “I can’t have that. I can’t have her...Jesus, Richie, if she can see our past than that means she can see fucking everything. I mean, I thought Pennywise was the worst of it but I can’t have the girls knowing about...fuck, Richie.”

Without a word, Richie took Eddie into his arms and pressed him against his chest, kissing the top of his head repeatedly. Eddie clenched his eyes shut and tried to will the tears away.

“Fuck,” he whispered, “I don’t want them to know about my mother. About Myra. I know it’s fucking selfish and cowardly of me but—”

“You need to stop talking, Eddie Tozier,” Richie insisted against his hair. “You couldn’t be selfish or cowardly even if you tried.”

“You’re full of shit,” he muttered.

“I am but not about this,” Richie replied, running his fingers through Eddie’s hair. “You don’t have to tell the kids anything you’re not comfortable with.”

“And if I hide things from them, I’m just as bad as—”

“If you’re about to compare yourself to your mom, I swear to God, Eddie...”

“Okay, okay,” Eddie sighed, rubbing his forehead. He allowed himself several long moments of being gently rocked by his husband, relishing the feeling of being taken care of and not smothered. He yawned. “God, I’m tired.”

“Course you are, it’s the middle of the night.”

“Not quite, Richie,” Eddie smiled. “I’d be getting up for work in another hour and a half.”

“So,” Richie said, placing his hand gently on Eddie’s leg, “plenty of time to mess around?”

Eddie laughed before he turned towards Richie’s sheepish face and kissed him deeply.

“Yeah,” he said, “we got time for that.”

Eddie groaned, rolled over, and reached for his alarm, quickly switching it off. The arms around him tightened.

“Rich, I gotta get up,” he muttered.

“No,” Richie mumbled against his neck.

“I got to go to work.”

“Stay home.”

Eddie huffed a laugh and turned in Richie’s arms, leaning down to kiss him on the side of his face.

“I can’t believe we fell asleep again,” he muttered. “We’re getting old.”

Richie yawned, stretched, and rolled over onto his side. Eddie shook his head, still smiling, and stood from the bed. He headed towards their closet when he noticed Richie’s phone still sitting on their bureau.

“I think I heard your phone go off a couple times last night,” Eddie said, picking it up.

“Mm,” Richie yawned, still half-asleep. “Who?”

Eddie picked up his husband’s phone, tapped in his passcode, and clicked on the missed calls. They were all from a New Hampshire number. Something Richie had said earlier floated through his mind.

“Rich,” he said. When he didn’t respond, Eddie stepped towards the bed and gently grasped Richie’s foot from under the covers, shaking it. “Wake up.”

“Wha?” he groaned, blinking up at his husband. “What is it?”

“The guy you contacted,” Eddie said carefully, “about Tess’s shine, where’s he from?”

Richie paused as he tried to remember.

“New Hampshire,” he replied.

Eddie lifted his phone.

“Well, he called a bunch last night,” he said, offering it to his husband. “What the hell?”

Richie took the phone from Eddie and looked down at the screen.

“Hmm,” he said. “I don’t know. I don’t know why he’d want to talk to me so bad. He was kinda standoffish when I last spoke to him.”

Eddie frowned.

“You think it’s something bad?” he asked slowly.

Richie hesitated before shaking his head.

“I’m sure it’s fine,” he said firmly.

Eddie hesitated, biting his lip before asking, “Do you think it’s too early to call back?”

Richie blinked up at him.

“You...you wanna...are you sure?” he asked.

Eddie ran a hand through his hair and thought of his little daughter witnessing just a simulacrum of his childhood and his mother and that was enough to turn his stomach.

“Yeah,” Eddie insisted. “Call him. We need to know how to get this under control and keep her safe.”

“You don’t think Tess is safe?” Richie asked, raising an eyebrow.

Eddie wanted to say that even with his mother long dead, her malignant grip could still reach his daughters but he bit his tongue. Instead, he simply took his husband’s hand and said, “Call him. I want answers. Tess deserves that much, at least.”

Richie nodded and called Dan Torrance’s number.

[carrottheluvmachine]

Not happy with this one but I tried...smut under the cut.

Their kiss was turning heated and Stephen decided to make a split second decision, throwing up the Mirror Dimension around them.  He backed up, pulling Tony with him through the barrier between dimensions, all the while keeping their lips locked.  Shaking hands balled into fists at the front of Tony's shirt as keening moans were muffled by Tony's mouth on his own.  His behind hit into Tony's office desk and Stephen gasped was he was spun around, their kiss breaking off.

“I've put us in the Mirror Dimension,” Stephen explained as Tony worked at his pants.  He pushed them down until they were around his ankles, joined by his underwear.  “No one will be able to see us.”

That was a good thing, considering the amount of windows the office had.  In fact, they were right in front of many floor to ceiling glass panes.  If Stephen hadn't put them in the Mirror Dimension than many, many people would have a chance of seeing Tony Stark in action with his long time boyfriend, Doctor Stephen Strange.

“Lube.” Was Tony's only answer. Well, that and a bite to his shoulder.

Stephen opened up a pocket dimension and passed a small bottle back to Tony.  The first time he had done this there was much teasing on Tony's part (“You keep lube in a pocket dimension?”) but now Tony had come to realize just how useful Stephen's little trick could be.

A hand was placed between Stephen's shoulder blades, forcing him to bend forward and give Tony more space to work with.  He felt a finger press against his puckered entrance before pushing inside.  Spreading his legs further, Stephen helped matters by leaning forward some more and giving Tony a wonderful view of his ass.  Tony hummed appreciatively and added a second finger to the mix, scissoring the two apart to stretch Stephen out further.

It was only when he could hear Stephen moaning that Tony removed the digits all together and lubed up his cock.  Stephen whimpered at the loss, a shiver coming over him as he waited anxiously for Tony to press back inside, moaning loudly when he did.  His voice echoed, bouncing off the walls of the small, glass dimension they were trapped inside of.

Tony seated himself fully, chest pressed to Stephen's back, mouth on his neck.  He licked a stripe up to Stephen's ear, teeth biting into flesh, hips snapping on the first thrust.  Stephen's mouth fell open and he breathed out a moan that would likely have been heard in the next room had they not been trapped in an alternate dimension.  Tony's hips pulled back and thrust back in, one hand covering Stephen's own on the desk, his other seeking out his cock.

“Fuck, you're beautiful.” Tony purred, breath tickling the wet spot that his mouth had left behind on the sorcerer's neck.  Tony was pleased to find that his remark had earned a full body blush—one that traveled all the way to the tips of Stephen's ears.  He gave him a comforting pump with his hand.

They had to freeze when a secretary came into the room for a file that had been left on the desk. Stephen watched as the women phased through him momentarily before she turned on her heels and headed out of the room as if she hadn't just interfered in some heated sex.  Tony just threw his head back and cackled with laughter which was cut short when Stephen thrust his hips backward.

“Okay, okay.  My attention is on you, Steph.”

Stephen grinned at that and met Tony's forward thrusts with backward ones of his own.  Meanwhile, Tony's hand kept sliding up and down his cock, thumb swirling around the tip and dipping into the slit just the way Stephen liked it.  Stephen's neck and shoulders were starting to feel sore from the way Tony was constantly biting at them and he was sure to be covered in hickeys within the hour.

The hand that had been holding his own was trailing up his chest, experimentally tweaking a nipple.  Stephen stuck his chest out and cried out loud, thrusting harder back into Tony.  Tony responded with by angling himself to strike Stephen's prostate, having had months to get used to the way the sorcerer's body was built.  Stephen threw his head back, nearly hitting Tony in the face with it, but the mechanic dodged beautifully and bit down on the junction between Stephen's neck and shoulder once more.

Their hips were making erratic motions now, but luckily the desk and all its contents remained perfectly untouched.  The Mirror Dimension was a bless, truly.  There was no mess to clean up in the room around them.  There was only them.

Tony gave several more thrusts before burying himself deep inside Stephen, thrilled when he felt Stephen cum along with him.  “That's it.  Cum for me, baby.” he panted out, somehow able to speak while riding out his orgasm.

Stephen collapsed bonelessly against the desk that he wasn't really leaning on, panting and laughing softly.  “I love you.”  He waited for Tony to pull out before waving his hands, cleaning both of them up with a quick spell. Pulling up his pants and helping Tony with his own, he stepped into Tony's space and kissed him full on the lips.

“I love you too, Steph.”  Around them, the Mirror Dimension was fading as they stepped back through with the help of Stephen's sling ring.

[blog-of-a-multitude-of-fandoms]

Do you have a list of upcoming stuff?

Hannah and I are trying to get through requests, so if you have any questions about them feel free to ask. Aaron on the other hand is just trying to write.

However currently in the queue there is 229 one shots. A list is below the cut:

Bilbo Baggins- Protect

Podrick Payne- Injury

Angel-Angelus

Neville Longbottom- Father

Cordelia Chase- Trapped

Tony Stark- Pregnant

Draco Malfoy- Book

Gary Preston- Movie Marathon

Arya Stark- King’s Landing

Aaron Hotchner- Pregnant

Sansa Stark- Joffrey

Matthew Crawley- Rattle

Samwell Tarly- Home

Alexander Hamilton- Black Eye

Jon Snow- Spar

Clint Barton- Jealous

Piper Wright- Camp

Robb Stark- Pregnant

Spike- Wedding

Reed Richards- Secret

Spike- Blood Van

Scott Lang- Baby

Thomas Jefferson- Coffees (Modern AU)

John Mitchell- Blood Lust

Missandei- Leave

Remus Lupin- Fictional Characters

Amelie LaCroix- Doomfist

Tony Stark- Bubbles

Jesse McCree- New Life (1)

Jake Peralta- Kiss

Preton Garvey- Settlements

Jon Snow- Ghost

Nick Valentine- Restrained

Ron Weasley- Doubt

Nick Valentine- Apprentice

Robb Stark- Labour

Buffy Summers- Care

Samwell Tarly- Gilly

Raymond Holt- Short Notice

Savos Seaworth- Shireen

Draco Malfoy- Crush (2)

Jefferson- Reunited

Ginny Weasley- Library

Robb Stark- Status

Cordelia Chase- Friends

Jake Peralta- Bullet

Tyrion Lannister- Joffrey

Jim Pomatter- Pregnant

Peter Parker- Bathroom

Khal Drogo- Husband

Aela The Huntress- Wolf

Scott Lang- Monday

Sansa Stark- Moon Door

Clint Barton- Ronin

Brienne of Tarth- Opening Up

Loki Laufeyson- Worthy

Brook Soso- Shower

Sirius Black- Bet (1)

Piper Chapman- Alex

Sirius Black- Bet (2)

Cersei Lannister- Joffrey

Tony Stark- Daughter

Arya Stark- Sword

Steve Rogers- Grief

Jon Snow- Fire

Peter Parker- Suit

Oberyn Martell- Revenge

Bucky Barnes- Friends

Buffy Summers- Alley

Bucky Barnes- Set Up

Molly Weasley- Egg

Podrick Payne- Pregnant (1)

Astrid- Recruit

Podrick Payne- Pregnant (2)

Ysolda- House

Podrick Payne- Pregnant (3)

Thor Odinson- Gym

Kate Austen- Exercise

Tyrion Lannister- Wedding

Natasha Romanoff- Old Friends

Molly Weasley- Pie

Peggy Schuyler- Heat

Gamora- Father

Olivia Colomar- Hacker

Okoye- Recruit

Heather McNamara- Loss

Stephen Strange- Five Years

Willow Rosenberg- Anxiety

Tormund Giantsbane- Woman

Rosa Diaz- Tech Monkey

Jesse McCree- New Life (2)

Valkyrie- Nightmare

Han Solo- Job

Ginny Weasley- Secret (2)

Thor Odinson- Let Myself Go

Artesian McCullough- Riot

Lorna Dane- Pregnant

Mimi Marquez- Fidget

Veronica Sawyer- Dead Girl Walking

Kara Danvers- Role Model

Lena Luthor- Kidnapped

Emily Prentiss- Wedding (1)

Alex Danvers- Training (2)

Natasha Romanoff- Leave (1)

Jenny Calendar- Think

Buffy Summers- Cupboard

Lorna Dane- High School

Wanda Maximoff- Mutation

Diana Prince- Beautiful

Willow Rosenberg- Witch

Lena Luthor- Fall

Jemma Simmons- Hospital

Kara Danvers- Distraction

Kara Danvers- Cat Grant

Wanda Maximoff- Love

Wanda Maximoff- Trust

Lena Luthor- Bullet

Daenerys Targaryen- Hope

Hermione Granger- Yule Ball

Rosa Diaz- Jake

Queenie Goldstein- Walk

Veronica Sawyer- One Of The Heathers

Alex Danvers- Anger

Maria Hill- Fury

Diana Prince- Hope

Wanda Maximoff- Birthday

Lena Luthor- Bar

Daenerys Targaryen- Viserys’ Burden

Carol Danvers- Change

Anna Smith- Injury

Cait- Lunch

Juliet Burke- Protect

Kate Austen- Alternate Universes

Edith Crawley- Jobs

Marisol Gonzales- Work

Hana Song- WiFi

Alana Dwight- Snoring

Nymphadora Tonks- Fluffy Socks

Rowena Ravenclaw- Training

Brigitte Lindholm- Worry

Olivia Colomar- Proposal

Brook Soso- Kindness

Stacy Hinojosa- Molly

Thea Queen- Truth Or Dare

Jennifer Jareau- Proposal

Elle Greenaway- Doing Well

Ginny Weasley- Study

Tara Chambler- Shower

Peggy Carter- Assistant

Valkyrie- Defeat

Ana Amari- Fareeha

Faith Lehane- Distraction

Aela The Huntress- Dragon

Eponine Thenardier- Letter

Imra Ardeen- Centuries

Dorcas Meadows- Bullies

Angie Martinelli- Keys

Angelica Schuyler- Forbidden Love

Eliza Schuyler- Love

Peggy Schuyler- Arranged Marriage

Beca Mitchell- Comfort

Paige Dineen- Idiot

Happy Quinn- Fire

Amy Madison- Spell

Angel Dumott Schunard- Visitation

Joanne Jefferson- Cheesy

Narciss Black- Auntie

Bonnie Bennett- Hoodies

Samantha Arias- Date

Ofelia Salazar- Injury

Maggie Sawyer- Morning

Ruby Lucas- Clean Up

Kelly Booth- Dancing

Heather McNamara- Confusion

Megan O’Brien- Walter

Jenny Calendar- Computer

Penelope Garcia- Coming Out

Artesian McCullough- Going Out

Lorna Morello- Glasses

Mimi Marquez- Good And Bad

Poussey Washington- Release Date

Maria Ruiz- Pregnant

Helena Bertinelli- Best Friend

Natasha Romanoff- Leave (2)

Emily Prentiss- Wedding (2)

Kate Beckett- Worry

Hope Van Dyne- Concern

Buffy Summers- Accident

Willow Rosenberg- Optimist

Lorna Dane- The Hellfire Club

Luna Lovegood- Mudblood

Quinn Fabray- Wheelchair

Belle French- Dagger

Medusalith Amaquelin-Boltagon- Strength

Daisy Johnson- Good

Jemma Simmons- Accident

Bellatrix Black- Pregnant

Michell Jones- Pride

Tahani Al-Jamil- Height

Kara Danvers- Coffee

Nia Nal- Cafe (1)

Nia Nal- Cafe (2)

Nell Crain- Phone Call

Sansa Stark- Comfort

Harley Quinn- Arkham Asylum

Mary Crawley- Sybil

Spencer Hastings- Video Games

Cersei Lannister- Pleasure

Shuri- Genius

Stephanie Hapakuka- Riot

Gamora- Decision

Rosa Diaz- Parents

Hermione Granger- Dinner

Daenerys Targaryen- Meereen

Elizabeth Swann- Dress

Queenie Goldstein- Sick

Veronica Sawyer- Mythic Bitch

Maria Reynolds- Affair

Maria Rambeau- Carol

Lena Luthor- Dinner

Carol Danvers- Fiancee

Jenna Hunterson- Sofa

Theo Crain- Hangover

Elena Gilbert- Bite

Alex Danvers- Road Rage

Wanda Maximoff- Tour

Diana Prince- Destiny

Maria Hill- Lesbian

Yara Greyjoy- My Queen

[tonystarktogo]

The Victory Stark prompt gave me a wildly and completely AU idea for Infinity War:

“It’s mercy,” Thanos declares as half the universe crumbles at his hands.

Victory doesn’t.

*

Nobody truly knows what the infinity stones are capable of. They are beyond the understanding of a single being. A chosen may wield an infinity stone, but no one ever owns them.

Each infinity stone only serves one master, one purpose; themselves.

*

“I blame you for naming me Victory,” Vic pouts from where she has burrowed her burning face in her arms.

Her mother pats her comfortingly on the arm, but she doesn’t quite manage to suppress the humour in her voice. Vic’s pout deepens.

“Blame your father, sweetheart,” her mom says with a smirk. “He’s the one you’ve got to thank for that masterpiece.”

Victory blinks, surprised by the revelation as much as the lack of bitterness in her mother’s voice.

“Dad?” she asks, puzzled. “But how did he pick my name? I thought he didn’t know I existed until I was four?”

There’s a furrow between her mother’s eyebrows that Vic isn’t sure how to interpret. Then she smoothes her expression over, confirms it with a soft, “Yes, that’s true,” that ends the conversation before it truly started. Their conversations about her father often end that way.

Vic can’t put a finger on when it stopped bothering her.

*

Now what? Tony wants to ask, but doesn’t. The words refuse to form, get lost somewhere between mind and lips, just another loss joining an endless list.

He is standing on a dead planet, the last remains of a resistance that wasn’t good enough, and Tony would laugh because shouldn’t he have grown used to failure by now? if he could remember how. 

But he doesn’t.

All Tony remembers is that damn fight that was doomed from the moment Quill asked about that girlfriend of his. Is Peter, eyes wide and voice shaking, trembling in his arms, clinging, desperately but not strong enough. Is the boy he doesn’t want to care for crumbling until nothing but dust and dirt remain.

Tony’s fist closes around the last remains of a child caught up in a war he shouldn’t have been in, a tiny stone smaller than his fingernail, and he wishes it would be a blade sharp enough to draw blood, an outlet for a pain he can’t voice, can’t name, can’t even hope to fully comprehend.

All Tony can think of is dreaming of a baby until he had convinced himself that it could be true, had believed, and waking up to a reality made of dust and grief.

He should work out a way to undo this, Tony knows. He should start decoding Strange’s message, should figure out a way home, find out what is left. But there is losing and then there is losing. 

And Tony can’t figure out how to open his fists again. Doesn’t even know if he wants to.

*

Annie Croy is twenty four when she meets a man with demons in his eyes that even the copious amounts of alcohol he drinks can’t drown and trembling hands that only calm when handling a gun.

His name is Tony and Annie doesn’t mean to fall because this is a man with wounds love can’t heal, but fall she does and the landing is softer than she imagined it would be.

She doesn’t ask and he doesn’t answer, and five years later, when they meet again, he is a stranger with a smile she doesn’t recognise.

*

Stephen Strange coughs, blood trickling down his lip and fierce determination burning in his eyes. It’s not the look of a man defeated, a failure to the one position he had sworn to uphold.

“Stark,” he rasps, willing the man to understand. “It was-- the only way...” 

*

“Daddy? Daddy, what’s wrong?” five year old Victory asks worriedly.

Because Daddy came back like he promised, like he always does. But this time he came back wrong. He’s looking at her, but his eyes aren’t laughing like they usually do, and his forehead is bruised badly, like that one time Victory hit her head on her mom’s desk because she was spinning the chair too fast.

Daddy asks silly questions like where is your Mom and what’s your name and shouldn’t she be in bed at this hour.

Victory tries not to scowl because she’s a big girl and her bedtime isn’t until forever, but he looks sad and hurt, and Victory wants to fix it. Daddy caresses her cheek like he sometimes does when he’s thinking bad thoughts. He looks like he’ll start crying, so Victory hugs him because that’s what Mom and Daddy always do when she cries.

“It’s okay, Daddy,” she says firmly. “It’s okay. I’m here and Mom still has some chocolate chip cookies left, and maybe if you fold your legs real tight together, you can fit into my fort.”

Daddy gives her a necklace before he has to go home. It’s not as pretty as the golden cross her friend Melissa has and the stone doesn’t glitter like Josephine’s bracelet, but it’s a gift from her dad and way cooler than those girly things.

Mom isn’t happy about the cookies that have magically disappeared though.

*

“I don’t wanna go, Mister Stark!” Peter chokes out, helpless and terrified and desperate. Because he doesn��t, and this isn’t how it was supposed to go, and everything about this is wrong.

He shudders, and clings tighter to Mister Stark even though he knows it won’t change anything. But it doesn’t make sense--

Peter gasps, even though there’s nothing obstructing his airways, because his neck is prickling, and his spider senses tingle, and he knows.

“I’m sorry!” he whispers and accepts.

*

Tony’s smile twists then, into something bitter and broken she isn’t entirely comfortable seeing. Something private, not meant for anyone’s eyes, not even hers. There’s a shattered dream in that smile, and she swallows down a question she isn’t sure how to pose.

“Victory.” There is no mistaking the bitterness in the ironic curl of his lips, an inside joke he isn’t willing to share. “I was thinking Victory.”

*

“How convenient, is it not?” a man wearing a long, black robe whispers absently. His face is tilted towards the vast lands before him. “That it should be, that none who arrive on these lands do so alone. That the terrible price to be payed is so close at hand, a temptation standing right by their side.”

The man’s face is cast in shadows, but the lightness in his voice sounds almost like a smile. “Do you remember what you asked me on our way up there? How we should have expected this, for what could be more powerful, more cruel than the loss of a loved one?”

A raspy chuckle sounds, even as spidery thin hands curl into tight fists at the man’s side. “You always did know just what question to ask,” he murmurs lovingly into the abyss.

“I can not help but wonder, will anyone find the answer to this question most do not even think to ask, do you think?”

Many minutes later, the man hums in response to an unknown question. 

“We shall see whether He will learn of this as well... Though it does seem rather obvious, doesn’t it? I am most embarrassed that I had not thought of it myself, I must admit. After all, what is more powerful, more cruel than a willing sacrifice?”

The man does not turn around. He doesn’t need to. 

There is no one there.

*

Victory feels the exact moment they lose. She knows it with a certainty that scares her, deep within her heart, long before the world around her falls to pieces. Long before classmates and strangers crumble and fall, long before panic breaks out, long before her mother disappears before her eyes.

She clings to the necklace she has worn every day since her dad first gave it to her until her fingers are numb and her palm is bloodied, tears falling down her cheeks, because they lost and they aren’t meant to lose.

She is Victory Stark. She can’t lose.

Ripping the chain off her neck hurts, but not enough to stop her from throwing the stupid thing against the wall, again, and again, and again, until it breaks.

The pieces are sharp like glass, are almost see-through except for a soft, orange hue, almost a glow. They are beautiful.

*

Tony Stark is trapped on a planet, tired and broken and lost. Slowly he opens his clenched hands.

They are empty.

*

“What could you even do with the soul gem?”

“What-- Are you serious? What are time and reality but the perception of living beings? What does power do but amplify something that’s already there, something that can always be overcome, if only there are enough armies around to counter it? What can you hope to achieve through space and mind save for manipulating what has already been made and how it is perceived?

But the soul gem? The soul gem is creation. What couldn’t you do with the soul gem?”

*

Thanos wields the infinity gauntlet and the universe crumbles at his feet.

Victory's hand closes around splinters the colour of the setting sun and she doesn’t.