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lyrenminth · 9 months ago

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Quiet love 1/?

Hello, this is a mini serie of Justin Herbert. More than whole chapters are like meaningful moments in their relatioship. I hope you like it.

You knew Justin since childhood, both of you were quiet souls that's why you got along. Despite some differences, your friendship was something stable until the last years of highschool when you move to another city. Even though, you still keep in contact with him. He kept you in knowledge of his family in Eugene, as well as your family. You talked to him about your career, you new friend, how cold it was during winter. Until he got drafted you messaged each other every day. Justin's life change a lot, and he was busy most of the time. He just sent you messages saying: "Sorry" "Meeting" "Sorry I'm busy" And you understood. You weren't a priority in his life. You saw him in person a couple of times before finishing your career, and he was bulkier, stronger and leaving the child-face you liked so much. Still, he was a freak clean, and avoided people like a plague. On the other hand, you were so introvert like you used to. He noticed and was happy for you but you could tell he felt uneasy about that. His childhood friend changed, and the woman talking to him was different. During a meeting between the two families because both of you were back in Eugene, you were almost finished with your career and a great job opportunity appeared in LA. So you were stressed out for the living cost, and talking about this with Mark and Holly they suggested to stay in Justin's house until you got on your feet and could afford an apartment. Justin who was listening in silence, gulped his food and raised and eyebrow. "I mean, she's your friend and you are never there" Holly argued, smiling "And you have extra bedrooms" You looked at Justin puzzled. He didn't look happy or mad about the idea, just pensative. Maybe would be uncomfortable for him? What if he has a girlfriend or fwb situation? You didn't want him to stop doing whatever he was doing. It was his house. For sure, you would struggle a little bit like you did in Michigan but you could cope. "I don't think that's..." "...yeah, sure..." you said at the same time. You looked at each other, and you giggled. "I don't want to bother" you replied, looking at Holly. Somehow looking at him was difficult. You were a single girl, you had eyes. You couldn't ignore how fucking big and handsome he was. During highschool he was somehow lanky, during college he started gaining muscle and fat but now? He was a wall. A strong, warm and nerdy wall. The way his back muscles move under that Nike shirt, his waist and pecs. His big calloused hands... You blinked those sinful thoughts away. Thinking that way led to nowhere. "It's going to be temporary" his mother argued. "Yeah, the house has an extra bedroom I don't use" he added, more convinced this time. You looked at your parents who were talking with Mark and his girlfriend on the other side of the table. They trusted Justin more than any other man in your life. "Are you sure?" you asked Justin. His slinted eyes under that light were blue. "Yeah, no problem" he said, but you noticed the way his throat bubbled.

***

The job was yours. And you cried and celebrate and cried again. Leaving your life in Michigan was the most difficult thing. You met wonderful people along the way and couldn't believe that chapter in your life was ending. Of course you cried when you arrived at L.A. According to Justin, it was the preseason so he could skip a meeting to go and pick you up. You refused arguing that you could take a taxi or Uber but he insisted. You were looking for the gate when you saw him. He was outstanding. He dressed casual, with his cap and sunglasses that belonged to a old man. You felt the urge to drop everything and ran into his arms like the movies but this blonde man was you childhood friend. Don't friends hug like that though? He didn't saw you until you were meters apart. Looking down, you saw the corners of his lips lift a little bit. "Hey" he said. "Hey" you smiled at him. And without thinking for a second you hug him tight. "I can't believe I'm here" you explained feeling emotional, you gave two step away to look at him. "I mean, I know I'm here but... it's been a long travel" A long time. A lot of change. A lot of everything. "It's seems. I'm happy you're here" he said, looking at your luggage. Three suitcases and your backpack. "Let's go" said taking your luggage from you. You didn't say anything more than thank you because you really didn't want to carry anything. You went to the parking lot and found his very nice car. He put the bigger suitcases in the back. L.A was sunny, looking like a beautiful day. You saw an airplane in the sky flying to who knows where. Surreal. You caught a glimpse of Justin who was looking at you. With his glasses on he was a mistery, so you just grinned at him. "You ready?" He croaked. "Yes, sir"

*** Justin house wasn't a mansion, but it was big for a man living alone. There was a pool, and the green doors and interior remind you to his parents' house in Oregon. Justin always needed something familiar around him to feel grounded. New places felt uneasy for him, and changed was something he always struggled as a child. You supposed that changed when he entered the league because every year was different. Apparently not. "This is your room" he said opening a door. It was spacious and the bed looked comfy "It has its on bathroom and closet" You nodded. "Thank you so much for letting me stay. I'll try to cause the least trouble possible" he frowned at your last words, but you ignore him. Looking at the window amazed by the sight of the pool and the garden. "The cleaning lady comes twice a week. I tell her you are here" he explained. "Can I use the pool?" You heard a "meow" and flinched. A bengal cat appeared between Justin's legs, purring. "Oh, sorry. This is Nova" he said fondly. The cat looked at you with her big green eyes and walked away, uninterested. "Yes, you can" he answered to your question. You lock eyes for a few seconds. "Thank you again" "No problem" he shrugged. "No, seriously. I'm invading your privacy and eating all your food" he snorted at you. "You're my friend" he replied, running his hand through his hair avoiding your gaze. "I'm happy to see you again" you stated. He didn't say a word. Only look at the floor for a few seconds before nodding. "I let you unpack. I'm going to order some sushi, it's that alright?" "Perfect" "Ok" He left, and you sat on the bed. You came back to live with your childhood friend. You couldn't believe it.

*** It was true that Justin was never in the house. He wake up early in the morning and arrived until seven pm. The season had just begun and he had to fly for the away games. You never noticed how erratic was his life style. Your job on the other hand leave you more time for you and your hobbies. In order to make friends you join a crochet club, and a baking club too. You video call your parents three times a week as well as your friends. You watched every Sunday game to see how the Chargers were doing, and Justin was an excellent quarterback. He succeeded at his position and was such a fun to see him play. You discovered so much about LA in your first month. Kath, a woman you met in your crochet classes was your personal tourist guide. She was very kind and chatty. One day, before going to sleep Justin knocked your door. He was wearing his pijamas, and looked tired. "Hello" you said from your bed. You were reading before going to sleep. "Do you need something?" "I- I want to apologize for being a terrible friend" he said. His eyes were sad, something your attribute to the loss last Sunday. "I haven't asked you anything about your job or how have you been" "Don't worry I know you're busy" you replied in a soft voice. "I never thought the NFL would be so rough" "Yeah, it is" he declared. "So you aren't not mad at me?" You frowned. "No, what makes you think I was?" "I just realized we speak less when we live in the same house" he pointed out. "I started my job, and I join two clubs" He raised his eyebrows, impressed. "Of what?" "Crochet and baking" "Well, I'm glad..." he pressed his lips together, insecure. "I'm going to try to be more in contact" "Don't bother, I know you don't even reply to your family texts during the season" you sighed. "I told you I'm gonna try not to be a burden... enough with you lending me a car" "You're not " he cut you off. "Don't say that" "I don't understand why would you take such efforts, Herbie" He looked at you for a few seconds. His posture was tense. You recognize his expression, he was unsure if tell the truth or not. "I think you believe you are less in my life of what I consider yourself to be..." he started, and sounded sad. He took a few steps until he was at the edge of your bed. And slowly sat down. He had fresh burns on his arms due to the turf. His hair was damp from the shower and he smelled incredibly well. "I realized that it would be alright if I have someone to talk to. Talk about things that are not work related. I know we have dinner some nights and it was great to talk to someone who knows me before all of this" he explained. "I would love to have more nights like that" "Dinner nights" you said, "ok, we can make that" "Yeah?" he said, smiling. "Yes! I can make something even though I'm not a MasterChef" "We can order...or I can cook too" "Not brisket..." He laughed. "Well, that reduces my options drastically" "You can always make a sandwich" He was smiling again. His bad mood disappearing. You stay in a comfortable silence until he looked at you abandoned book and grabbed it. "You still read" he says, reading the cover. "Yes" "It helps you to sleep" it wasn't a question. "Yeah" you said softly. "You can talk to me about your work too. You can talk to me, Justin. It's not good to keep the things for yourself" He didn't say anything. Only looked at you with those beautiful eyes of his and nodded. "I'm going to sleep" he declared "Yeah, I should too" He stood up, and walked to the door. He stopped and lingered a few seconds. "Good night" "Night" The butterflies in your stomach indicated trouble. It wasn't a good sign.

*** Justin: Dinner with the boys. Imma arriving late. There's still spaghetti on the fridge I think

You: Alright Nova and I are having a girls' night

You took a picture of Nova sitting comfortable next to you on the couch. He liked the picture.

Justin: Looks good

That was the last message he sent you. He arrived quite late, stumbling a little bit. He was giggling at his keys because he couldn't put them in the key-holder. You watched the show in silence, holding your laughter. "Mmmm mmm" he started mumbling the Star Wars theme and you completely lost it. He got scared and jumped on his place making you laugh harder. "Shit, what are you doing?" He hissed. "I-I thought..." You sneezed trying to catch your breath. "Nevermind. Are you...drunk?" "No" he replied shortly. "Oh, Justin. I know you, you are all pink" you said. "You are wasted" "I'm not" "Yes, you are" "No, I'm not" "Walk in a straight line then" "Nah" You turned on the lights of the hallway to see him better. You completely forgot about how you were dressing; a big shirt and panties. Nothing else. You caught him staring at your legs and boobs for a few seconds before you help him to get in the kitchen. "Drink lots of water. Why did you get drunk? You have to work tomorrow" you scolded him. He sat and drank a full watter bottle in three gulps. "We can arrive at midday. Since the team is performing well the coach want us to relax a bit" he explained, not sounding so drunk, his eyes wanderer again to your boobs. You felt a little exposed so crossed your arms. "Well, I'm going back to sleep" you said, making sure he was fine "Don't fall on the stairs, please. I can't carry you for dear life" He chuckled. "Okay" You walked pass him, but he held your wrist. That single touch set your skin on fire. You looked up to him, confused. His expression was serious, bright eyes full of determination. You stomach flipped and you were ready to do anything... anything he wanted. If he would look at you like that forever... You waited for him to say something, but he only stared at you. The mood shifted and you could feel the air changing around you. "Justin..." you whispered, one step closer. Then he blinked and all the emotion vanished from his face. He let you go quickly. "Sorry, I'm kinda drunk. Good night " You stared in disbelief for a few seconds. But he wasn't even looking at you. You felt your throat closed, and recognize the sick feeling. "Good night" Sometimes Justin could be so mean. You remembered the times were he would make you cry as kids, but now it's different. You went to your room, feeling sad. Why you were so sad about this? Justin was your friend, not something else. He was being polite. Besides, he was drunk. Maybe he was thinking about other girl. What keep you awake was the painful question: Am I falling in love with my best friend?

#justin herbert x reader #justin herbert #fanfiction #justin herbert fanfiction #justin herbert imagine #nfl

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returquoise · 10 months ago

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ATLALA, aka Avatar the Last Airbender Live Action

Sooooo, I finished the first season and had thoughts (just like everyone else lol). First context, non-spoilery thoughts, and then spoilers under the cut, yadda-yadda.

Why context? Because for a lot of people OG ATLA was their childhood, and they have super strong feelings about it and about any adaptation that exists. I'm not one of those people.

The first time I watched OG ATLA I was over 20 years old, which means I was an adult and had adult viewpoints about the story – worldbuilding, character writing, etc. It was never the hallowed most perfect show ever for me. It was and still is a fucking good show with some amazing writing and worldbuilding but I did have some gripes.

So when ATLALA was announced I remained neutral – I've seen the movie that shall not be named and din't really like it but shitty adaptations have always existed. When we started getting photos and trailers and news pieces, I was feeling pretty positive about the visuals, but neither news pieces or trailers actually tell you shit about what the writing or worldbuilding is like. However, I was about 70% optimistic.

Because what indications I did get about visuals, writing etc, were very reminiscent of another adaptation that had come out recently, about a series that was actually a bit more important to me on an emotional than ATLA. I'm talking about One Piece, and OPLA which came out last August. I've been a fan of that for 10 years longer than ATLA, and while they did a lot of changes, the spirit of the story was there.

So I copied my optimism and good feelings from that, going into ATLALA.

Now, the thoughts.

Visuals are pretty good. There are moments when I can tell they left some visuals out due to trickiness/budget (the "is Zuko's ship real?" review after the premiere). Some things look fake or plasticy, some stuff is too clean. Bending looks a lot better than in the movie that shall not be named.

Writing has issues. Some of it is very expositiony which makes it wooden and the shots uninteresting (there were so many badly framed shots with characters just awkwardly standing and talking). There are some lovely bits of dialogue that gave me feelings, but those moments were in the minority. And some writing choices were also quite childish, even for an adaptation of a kids' cartoon, so I'm a bit confused about the intended age demographic – except there are some really violent bits in there, which leave me even more confused.

Pacing was either frantic or okay-ish. The writers clearly had trouble paring down the OG series, and then ended up cramming stuff together. I could keep up with it (knowing what certain characters roughly meant for the plot, even if they were at a different place and time), but I'm not quite sure if someone uninitiated in the OG series could. The last 2 episodes had probably the best pacing and even then there were some things that made me go "hmmm."

Some actors have issues emoting – main and extras. I agree that the Gaang has lost some of their flaws compared to the OG series. Maybe some of them will make more of an appearance in season two when everyone's more experienced at acting? Especially considering that they'll likely have stuff more spaced out there – there are some episodes I'm pretty sure they'll outright skip, just based on the choices in this season. But we'll see. There were some fun and interesting bonding moments between different characters.

Sokka, Zuko, and Suki were the standouts from the younger cast. Suki is considerably different from the OG but it was acted and written well, and is an interesting choice. Sokka's quips, while not as numerous as in the OG, were fun. Physical comedy is obviously more toned down because real bodies can't do the same shit as cartoons. More about his arc choices later. Zuko was a bit toned down from the OG but IMO also the closest to it. And as someone who's almost finished with a Zuko AU fanfic, I was positively cackling due to the fact that some of the choices made for the character are similar to something I've done in my fic.

As for the rest of the main kids, there'll be more in the spoiler bits, BUT, they're different, and feel less experienced in acting. They're not bad but some choices were definitely different than in the show and they offer interesting opportunities. We'll see how they pan out, but be prepared for some speculation from me.

Fight scenes sometimes had IMO slow moments in the choreo, and they could have been better. Some were excellent, some a bit ehhh.

On the whole, I think this is about 7 out of 10. Some moments were 8 out of 10. It's a passable adaptation

Spoilery thoughts waaaay down.

Whoo boy. Where to start here?

Let's start with the cramming. As far as I can tell from my notes, the episodes are roughly divided like so:

EP1: 3,5 and bits (Boy in the Iceberg, Avatar Returns, Southern Air Temple, half of the Storm, bits of Avatar and the Fire Lord)

EP2: 1 and bits (Warriors of Kyoshi, part of Waterbending Scroll)

EP3: 3 halves (King of Omashu, Jet, Northern Air Temple)

EP4: 1, 4 halves and bits (King of Omashu, Jet, Northern Air Temple, Cave of Two Lovers, half of Winter Solstice P1, bits of the Avatar Day,)

EP5: 2 halves and pieces of 3 (half of Winter Solstice P1, half of Bato of the Water Tribe, part of Southern Raiders, part of the Library, part of Siege of the North) AND timeskip mention of the Great Divide and the pirates from Waterbending Scroll

EP6: 2, two halves and bits (Winter Solstice P2, Blue Spirit, half of Bato of the Water Tribe half of the Storm, part of Siege of the North)

EP7: 2 (Waterbending Master, Siege of the North)

EP8: 2 and pieces (Siege of the North, Return to Omashu, bits of Northern Air Temple, part of the Library)

Waterbending Scroll is a bit of throughline because you see moments of training in pretty much all of the episodes.

Episode 1 was very full, and felt rushed at times. There were a few places where they could have shortened some parts (like the earthbender spy scene at the start) to give more time for other stuff. Biggest gripes are the convenience of timing – Aang going off to clear his head only for everyone to die that very night. HOWEVER, me and my friends talked about it being likely Spirit shenanigans going "fuck, Air Nomads are gonna die now, we need to deepfreeze the Avatar for storage." We also concluded that the sudden current of Sokka and Katara finding Aang was either physics we don't understand, or Spirit shenanigans. Also the thing about all the Air Nomads coming over for the Great Comet festival? And then having so few of them on screen? Sorry, but I ain't buying it. Having such a sparse population in one temple I could have bought (with caveats) but adding in the gathering, nah.

Episode 2, Sokka-Suki was beautiful. I think it works even with the removed downplaying of girls capabilities (this change also brought some other stuff to Sokka I absolutely adored in later episodes but I'll talk about that when I start ranting about the characters). This was pretty close to the OG episode in many ways and I really don't have other problems with it, besides the somewhat childish end discussion about hope and shit with Aang and Suki's mom (Suki having a badass mom is fun). Manifesting Avatars and being able to talk to them only at their shrines will be an interesting take on stuff. Because that will affect some stuff on later seasons and I'm not sure how.

(And considering how scared Aang is of the Avatar State this early on, we might end up skipping the Avatar State in the next season. At least partially. Because we did get a lot of info now.)

That's a very full itinerary and it was hardest to follow at eps 3-4 because there were so many things going on. Jet's and the Mechanist's conflicting storylines made for an interesting drama (though, again, hard to follow) and gave Sokka and Katara something to do – which they didn't really have in the OG Omashu episode, which was what Aang was mostly dealing with here. In my opinion these two episodes didn't get a proper handling, because they're one of the few instances were we get people from the Earth Kingdom doing questionable shit, but we don't really discuss it. And while everyone know marketing is a mistake (it makes no one happy), considering that this series was trying to sell itself as a more mature take, that feeling is left kinda lacking in regards to Jet and the Mechanist. I do appreciate Bumi being fucking bitter, like Yass, you go king, as well as the bit with the Earth Kingdom soldiers speaking of grief and mistreating Iroh. That complexity is what was left lacking with Jet and the Mechanist, and how Katara and Sokka dealt with that emotionally. Also loved Zuko getting hit by a broom and Iroh taking the fall for him. The Zuko-Zhao alliance was an interesting angle to take (after messing it up pfft) and establishing early that Azula is a master infiltrator? I liked that move, also the fact that there are Fire Nation rebels. Although I fucking loved the quick fake marriage.

5 and 6, despite being about as full if not fuller, were weaven together really well in my opinion. My biggest gripe with that two episode storyline was how the Fire Sage Shyu-Aang team-up was done – not that it was any better in the OG to be fair but it is more jarring in live action. I just about died at the 41st twist because holy shit that's an amazing angst take and I appreciate it so much. And while we do get Aang planting an acorn, it feels like a really small moment and I think the Hei Bai issue should have got a bit more attention as the episode was resolved. Koh was fucking terrifying and the appearance of Wan Shi Tong – and in the last two episodes the appearance of the celestial objects calendar machine, as well as the fact that Zhao got his dirt on Tui and La from a Fire Sage – leads me to believe we won't be getting the Library episode next season.

(The only way I can see Return to Omashu happening is if it's remixed with Imprisoned which was totally left out of this season, or we get the important info aka neutral Jing info all from the Swamp, or from a letter Bumi sent. I personally think Return to Omashu-Imprisoned remix is more likely, just so we can prep Teo and the Mechanist for the Day of the Black Sun which we saw flashing by on the celestial objects machine just before we finally got the confirmation that Sozin's Comet is still a thing. Although The Avatar State could also be remixed into this in a sort of "yes, Earth Kingdom needs to free Bumi etc but I can't do it in Avatar State, we need to be smart.")

Episodes 7 and 8 were pretty chill in pacing issues. I thought Yue was a bit too quick in warming up to Sokka but considering how it was explained I can accept it. Also, the fact that Tui and La are intelligent enough to not be fish 24/7/365 is a change that makes sense although the whole Ice Moon (is it the local Halloween?) thing was very out of left field. Women joining the fight was a wild update and definitely more of a modern take than an early 2000s take. Do I have other thoughts? Sure, but I don't want to write bajillion essays and I just want a general overview in one post.

Zuko is, like I said, a standout. Absolutely love his conspiracy board, and as someone who writes a fic with a more scholarly inclined Zuko, I loved him being able to draw, being the foremost Avatar expert in the world (you can't tell me there can be more than one or two people out there who know more than Zuko at this point, look at his research), and having opinions about calligraphy brushes. Ugh, my heart. There's some absolutely wonderful acting happening and he does action really well. Is he a bit less explosive than in the OG? Sure, but one must remember, that adaptations are just licensed fanfics. His abuse background is in the performance, and my biggest question is the Agni Kai. There was a certain desperation in his face, so he must have wanted to make an impression on Ozai, and maybe felt a bit more like he had the right to it – as this show made it clear he had been invited in the War Council and did not needle his way in. Also the 41st twist oh holy smokes I just about screamed. His flaw is still anger and trouble thinking plans through.

Azula (her bangs in the flashback crack me up, was that her emo phase?) is more obviously affected by Ozai's games in this. I know OG Azula has loads of fans and there are loads of deep dives into her character and abuse and etc, but this is actually the first time her writing has made it obvious to me. She's still cold and calculating, but she's affected by more things and that makes her into a more approachable character for me. I know many fans got this from the OG portrayal so I know this is a me thing.

Sokka is another standout. I saw an interview where the actor was like "I tried to interject and ad lib humour where I could" and I appreciate it, because a lot of them made me cackle. There was some really good humour there. As for his arc and conflict; I think it's really interesting that he tries to live up to his dad's image of a warrior, and doing it very much out of duty. It isn't so much that he wants to be a warrior, but he wants to be good enough and I think that came through wonderfully. He can be a warrior, but it ain't his passion. It also offers very interesting bonding possibilities and parallels with Zuko. My heart broke at that ice-dodging scene in episode 5, as well as his heart-to-heart with Katara in episode 4 (fucking SIBLING LOVE TRIUMPHS). Also absolutely loved the fact that he supported Katara being a warrior in the North. His flaws in the OG are self-esteem issues (nailed here), and a certain level of arrogance, that affected his attitude towards girls at times. The latter has been removed but considering it only lasted until episode 4 in the OG series anyway, I don't see it as a terribly big deal. We can still get his "it'll totally work out this way" arrogant moment at pretty much any point in the story in the future.

Katara has trouble emoting. I don't know how much experience her actor has with acting, but I hope she gets better with practice. There are some very nice bonding moments she has with Sokka and Aang that bring emotion out, but she's very stone faced a lot of the time. One could read it as a symptom of seeing her mother being literally burned alive but that depends on how her arc is written in future seasons, and how it's acted. I really like the parallel with Sokka, of him trying to be a warrior out of duty, while Katara wants to be that and has trouble getting the opportunity to do so. This came out really well in episode 4. The fact that she was made a fucking commander of sorts at North was amazing moment of proving to her that she can be, that she is, a warrior. I'm kinda sad her temper has been left out of the writing, because with her being a self-taught water bender (which I'm okay with because we see her practising every fucking episode) there's a threat of her sliding into so-called Mary Sue territory. Hopefully Toph's inclusion brings her temper out next season. She's also missing some of her naiveté, although having a crush on the first good looking outsider (with fucking mirrored shots) just like her brother is hilarious.

Aang is... to mature. He gets a lot of really good and morally and ethically right speeches, and while he expresses that he's scared and doesn't know what he's doing, it still feels too mature. He also doesn't have that many dumbass child moments (what was that episode he just went "oops" in, that was funny and felt childlike, and then there was the water fight he had with Katara). It could be because we're going through stuff so fast but it'll be hard to fix later. I kinda like how his connection with Katara is being the last of their kind and loss – and then the small really good acting in ep7 when Katara says stewed sea prunes taste like home, and you can just see him go "oh, there's still someplace she can belong to, unlike me." I loved his calligraphy brush discussion with Zuko, because there was the beginnings of a bond there. As a friend said, it's nice they removed the Disney princess like love at first sight thing from the OG. If this turns into a romance (I have thoughts on that... later) I feel like it has a better chance to grow organically. No, I never shipped Kataang, please refer to the context part of this post.

Suki had a fun isolated, but curious, and socially awkward vibe to her. She's obviously different from the OG, but it's a fun and interesting difference, as the most characterisation we ever got for her was badass. Yue was interesting, more assertive and playful, which I liked. I also liked the fact that she had obvious duties and was expected to be the next chief. Even if the Northern Water Tribe sexism was kept, this felt like it added some dimension to it. June flirting with Iroh was hilarious, enough said. Mai and Ty Lee are blanks of wood. Their writing, and the direction they were given was horrible, and they're a prime example of that awkward standing and bad framing issue I mentioned way earlier. Ty Lee could have at least been bending herself into a pretzel, and Mai could have been using a knife to dig stuff from under her nails or something. I hope they get better writing and direction in the future.

Iroh was honestly pretty enjoyable. There were some moments of skilled evasive answering, but I was left missing him saying that Zuko was like a son to him. They do have really good chemistry though and you can see the care between the characters. I hated the long monologue at the end of episode 6, that felt very much beneath whatever target audience they were aiming for, and failed show not tell. Not perfect but can improve. Also, that one part where they played Leaves on the Vine, I almost died.

Ozai being a manipulative, abusive game addict is different but offers him some agency and motivation besides megalomania, which I appreciate. He had a peculiar expression when he burned Zuko, and that smells like hidden lore to me.

That's probably every character I feel like addressing at this point. However, I did mention romance in Aang's section, and I have to agree with the other whispers on the net. The fucking scarf scene. At this point, it's more likely for this show to be Zutara than Kataang IMO. BUT before people go and blow up about it, some points; cartoons offer more leeway in visual age differences, I feel like they would need to extend ATLALA plot line to last several years (instead of like, 9 months it's in the OG) to make it visually make sense. The Fortuneteller (as well as Katara's obsession with love?), and Aang's love at first sight have all been written out. Cave of Two Lovers was used for sibling love on the first season, and we ain't visiting that location again, not with how efficiently we did pretty much all of the Omashu stuff this season. Most of the Kataang iconic moments have been left out deliberately. Does this mean we'll get Zutara? Of course not, but due to the scarf scene, as well as that rivals thing they have going (we literally have two fights between Zuko and Katara this season, and the water sprout she used to thwart his fireball in episode one, and if that isn't a traditional beginning of a rivalry, nothing is), it's certainly more likely at this point than Kataang.

But we'll see, just like with everything else. It's an okay start, it's far from perfect, but it does offer new viewpoints that I find fascinating.

What's in the future.

I already explained my Return to Omashu-Imprisoned-Avatar State mash-up idea above, and that we'll likely miss the Library. I also think Avatar Day will be left out. I do however think, that we'll get the Deserter next season. We also need a way for Aang to learn about the Comet coming again and if Library is out (and probably also the Desert), best chances are IMO the Swamp or the Fortuneteller (remixing those two together is also possible). Or maybe Yeong Yeong has spies and they tell him about the Comet and he tells the Gaang. I also think they'll be foreshadowing/setting up White Lotus a bit more than we got in the OG.

I don't quite have my thought together enough to make any other guesses, but we will get Toph, Ba Sing Se, and Azula's Mean Girls Squad, but no clue yet how they'll be remixed. Season 2 has a much clearer timeline structure, whereas season 1 had a lot of episodic stuff that doesn't timeline wise offer too many roadblocks for remixes, as we saw with what they did with Omashu.

I think that's about everything I can think off. If you have comments, please be nice. This was mostly rambling, and tin foil hat baiting.

#avatar the last Airbender live action #avatar the last airbender #atlala #natla #netflix avatar the last airbender #review #thoughts #spoilers #non-spoilers #I'm sad people prefer the term natla to atlala #I'll keep calling it atlala for funsies #season 2 speculation #character analysis

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buckgasms · 1 year ago

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What about

If you were an omega in like 'medieval times', and you were rescued from a pack of alphas who mistreat you and hurt you because your a soft little omega.

It's a miserable night and you are sitting alone by the fire when the camp is attacked by Alpha Bucky's pack? And you are so scared because you had heard stories about how strong and dangerous they were. And the fight was really brutal and you sort of manage to hide in a corner until all the fighting stops and you're just shivering and terrified.

But it turned out they were only dangerous to bad people, and they totally look after omegas and worship the ground they walk on?

And they give you nice clean clothes and tend your injuries, feed you and give you a nice little tent to sleep in, with warm blankets to snuggle up in.

And maybe you spend a bit of time with Peter who is a bouncy omega and he's like really sweet and makes you feel like it's all going to be ok?

And you ask him about Bucky because he smells so damn good and he keeps looking at you but he hasn't spoken to you. And Peter is like, "Oh he's fine, he's just a bit intense, but once you get to know him he's great."

And one night you are all at a tavern and you find yourself sitting next to Bucky somehow (Peter spoke to Natasha and she made it happen) and you are talking with him a bit and it's nice but you feel nervous because now you are next to him it's even more clear how attractive and strong and safe he is and you just want to bury your face in his chest, but you cannot.

And mayyyyybe, you start to doze off on his shoulder because you've been through a lot. And the next thing you know he is carrying you up to your bedroom and you just don't want him to let go, so you whisper to him, "please stay, it's scary in here by myself..."

So after very little persuasion he agrees but doesn't get under the covers because he doesn't want to make you feel pressured or anything. But you have had some mead so you just snuggle up and immediately fall asleep with his scent all around you???

And you wake up and he's accidentally snuggled up to you and buried his nose in your neck and you feel so happy and yet can't stop freaking out because it's so intimate even though you are both fully dressed and nothing even happened.

And what if later that day he comes up to you and tries to suggest that you both should avoid sleeping like that again until he can properly win your affections, but you just pout and say, "but it's scary all alone... Unless you think I should ask another alpha?" And give him your best innocent eyes and bite your lip and he just flares up red at the thought of it.

"Well if you don't want me in your tent and I can't sleep by myself, what am I going to do?" You ask, batting your lashes and ever so slightly pressing your fingers against his chest.

And he just growls and storms off but you just giggle and skip off to tell Peter and Natasha what happened because they are now your number one fans and love seeing Bucky flustered.

So that night over the camp fire you spend time chatting to Natasha, who is an alpha, and you loudly tell her your problem about not wanting to sleep alone and she offers a space in her tent. And Peter is gleeful at the look on Bucky's face as he glares at this exchange.

Especially because he can smell your mischievous delight in your scent and he knows he's being played for a fool. But as Natasha strokes your arm he cannot help himself.

He stomps over and takes your hand in his before pulling you up in the air and over his shoulder, marching away from Natasha as you squeal in surprise.

Finally he puts you down outside his tent and presses a hungry kiss to your lips. "Omega, you pull a stunt like that again and I'll have your ass, now get in this tent and go to sleep before I change my mind."

And you just giggle and kiss him on the cheek before heading inside and making the bed a perfect little nest for when he returns to snuggle up with you?

That might be cool?

#bucky barnes #bucky x reader #alpha bucky #alpha omega #a/b/o bucky #pom musing

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billys-pretty-babe · 2 years ago

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Would It Be Better

Pairing : Billy Hargrove x Fem!Reader

Summary : Billy's girlfriend struggles a lot with her mental health and he feels like he can't do anything for her but just hold her and tell her she'll be okay.

Warnings : Depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, mentions of past self-harm (cutting), brief mention of a failed suicide attempt (overdose), Billy cries a little, swearing, angst, fluff at the end

Word count : 838 words

A/N : This piece is dealing with many heavy topics that I have been dealing with for the past nearly four months. Please, please, please read the warnings because many of them are triggering and I will completely understand if you skip this. Don't be afraid to reach out if you need help. OOC!Billy.

He didn't know what to do. His heart raced, his brain pounded against his skull, his palms began to sweat. He heard the comment she made today in class, she whispered it under her breath but still he heard it.

"Maybe it would be better if I just left forever."

Now he sat in her room, her face looked lifeless, her eyes lost all light and it pained him, he swore his heart was going to stop. "Baby," he quietly said, "I want to help you but you gotta tell me what's going on." She sniffled and wiped her face, her hands covered by the red lifeguard hoodie that she adorned, the red lifeguard hoodie that she stole from him months prior during the summer, claiming he didn't need it.

"B, it's too hot for a hoodie. You don't need it right now."

His closet never saw the hoodie again. the hanger now had no purpose, just like how his girlfriend felt, purposeless, hopeless, worthless. "It h-hurts," she stuttered out, her breath trying not to catch in her throat. "What hurts, baby? Can you tell me?" She patted her chest twice and he wasn't sure if it was because she was crying or if an anxiety attack was going to start.

Billy moved closer to her, sitting on the edge of her bed and she reached for his hand and he let her take it as she squeezed it tightly, trying to reassure herself that he was indeed there with her. "Are you getting bad again," he softly asked and she nodded, not wanting to break down in front of him, she had to be strong, she had to be.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She shrugged, her breath choppy as she tried to inhale. "Didn't want to bu-burden you." He shook his head, "No, there's another reason, tell me what it is." She shook her head, her hands fidgeting and Billy caught it. "Are you cutting again?" She shook her head, "No."

"Can I see?" She nodded, putting her arms out and Billy rolled the sleeves up, her arms clean besides the fading scars that she made months ago, when he first found out about her depression. He fixed the sleeves, kissing her hands gently as he held them. "Tell me what's going on. I'm not gonna get upset, okay? It's not good to keep your stuff bottled up." She nodded and breathed, trying to calm herself down.

"I wanna die," she softly said, trying to make her voice soft enough that he wouldn't hear it but he did and his heart stopped and his stomach dropped. The same feeling he gets on rollercoasters and he hates rollercoasters, seen final destination too many times. "I feel so worthless and so useless, like I shouldn't be here." Billy squeezed her hand, letting her talk. "When did you start thinking like this?" She shrugged, "Last night."

Billy nodded, "Did you plan on," he had to stop himself, his throat was tightening at the thought of burying his girlfriend and he cleared his throat, "did you plan on doing it?" Seconds went by and no response, "I don't know," her voice was weak, ready to give up. "It's just too much, Billy and I don't know if I can keep going." Billy bit his lip, trying not to cry, he couldn't cry in front of her now.

"And I love you, I love you so much, B but it just hurts so fucking badly," she was breaking in front of him, everything crumbling before him. "Do you remember what I told you after you tried to take those pills?" She nodded, not looking at him before speaking, "You go, I go." Billy nodded, "Exactly because goddamnit, I can't fucking do this without you. I know it's hard but baby, I'm here, okay?"

He paused for a moment, his vision blurred with his tears as a few fell onto their connected hands. "I know it's hard to talk about this stuff but I'm not going to bury my fucking girlfriend all because I couldn't save her, do you understand?" She nodded and fell into his chest, her body shaking as she cried and Billy held her tightly because now he knew that she could slip through his grasp.

"I love you and I need you here with me. We can get you help but you have to be honest, you can't sugarcoat like you usually do." She nodded against his chest and Billy kissed the top of her head, holding her head tightly to his chest so she could listen to his heartbeat, how it beats for her. He rubbed her back with his other hand, letting her cry against him as he put his head on hers and cried with her.

They held each other tightly, too afraid to let go of each other but they knew she would get the help she needed and Billy knew that everything would be okay, whenever she decided that it would be okay.

#billy hargrove x f!reader #female reader #fem!reader #billy-eddie-steve-babygirl angst #billy-eddie-steve-babygirl loves soft!Billy #billy hargrove fanfiction #billy hargrove x female reader #billy antis dni #billy hargrove antis dni

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dragonshoardofworks · 11 months ago

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Danuary24_ Free Day (+ Voyage?)

I'm a bit late because I wanted to clean the sketches digitally, but @crossoverdanuary you can blame @cleanlenins and their birthday present for this idea! (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

In this crossover, when the Portal Incident happened, Danny got Isekai-ed into the One Piece World early in the East Blue saga (still haven't decided exactly when).

It's also (back in Amity) a No One Knows AU, so when the Portal started working "out of nowhere", Danny seemingly disappeared in the same period (no one could actually pinpoint when, though, due to neglect).

Was Danny friends with Tucker and Sam? Did they even exist in this Amity at all? No clue, but the only thing I know for certain is that Danny was a lonely boi...

Until the Strawhats happened, that is.

Like canon, Danny needed a while to start learning how to use his powers, which were such a trial and error thing that he ended getting a slightly different "moveset", so to speak:

Basic common powers + Ghost Form_ ✓

Ice powers_ ✓ (after Drum/Alabasta)

Overshadowing_ X (technically he still could, but has no idea it's a viable option)

Weakness to the Seastone_ ✓ (it has the same properties as the Ectoranium)

Telekinesis_ ✓

Ghostly Wail_ ✓ (post Water 7, if you know what I mean) However, it leaves him so drained that in addition to going back to human form, he's also unable to move for a while (pre-time skip)

Devil Fruit Sense_ ✓ (works like Ghost Sense)

Duplication_ X

(NEW) Spiritual Extraction:

If an object has enough personality/presence, Danny can extract/create a spiritual projection (or even a ghost if the physical object is destroyed) of it. The "blob ghosts" thus created are capable of interacting (minor powers included) with the material world depending on how much of his ectoplasm he feeds them. The Going Merry is the first example of it (AKA the first pic), followed shortly after the Gomu Gomu no Mi and the Hito Hito no Mi (Luffy and Chopper's Devil Fruits). (Oddly enough, the Hana Hana no Mi and the Hono Hono no Mi, Nico Robin's and Ace's fruits respectively, can't be projected, but they dismiss it as Danny's weird biology.) Few other objects that can be affected include the Wado Ichimonji, the Sandai Kitetsu and Luffy's Hat. (Still deciding what else to add.)

More details under the cut (Lenn it will definitely be spoiler-y for you, since you're still at Water 7, so read at your own risk! (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠) )

As you probably have already guessed if you're following the Japanese scans, the reason Luffy's fruit can be projected is because it's a Zoan.

The reason for this is that the manga said that Zoan have their own personality (which could overwhelm the user if their will isn't strong enough) and so I interpreted that this implies also a spirit/soul within!

(Thus, in the second pic, the mini swirly sun over the sleeping Danny, Merry and Sunny is Nika, who's bewildered by the mere concept of staying still and resting. You should move and have fun!!)

Other spoilery plot things include:

Usopp never deflected at Water 7 (there was still angst about the physical death of the Merry, but having her literal spirit hanging out with and scolding you if you were spiraling helped immensely);

Franky's personality (since he's one of his creators) rubbed off Sunny, so he's prone to join him in his dances and screaming "SUUUUUPEEEERRR!";

Danny gives off passive harmless ectoplasm radiations (moreover when he's in ghost form) that the Merry feed on when she's a full ghost and so doesn't need any active recharge;

because of his high metabolism, Danny has to eat either a lot (not Luffy-levels) or food choke-packed of nutrients. They also notice that the rawer the meat, the less Danny needs to eat (since it has higher content of non-degraded ectoplasm);

As I was writing the previous point, a thought occurred to me: could this also be a Ghost Hunger AU where Danny also feeds on emotions? 🤔 Let's keep it on maybe, because with Luffy around it would be like a nuclear reactor to feed on. No, I changed mind again, it's a YES, because there's no Ambient Ectoplasm in the One Piece world (contrary to what I headcanon Amity Park), so the only way for Danny to survive at all would be to stay on Luffy's side almost constantly.

And this leads me to the timeskip separation: because of the battle with Kizaru and the Pacifistas, and consequent use of 1-2 Wails, Danny has to retreat to his Core (first time ever happened), causing panic and forcing Luffy to stash it in the ribbon of his hat due to the heat of the battle (and so be separated along with him).

Danny stays unconscious two whole arcs, until Luffy is about to die of poison on Level 5 of Impel Down. He still hasn't enough energy to manifest outside his Core, but he gives his Captain as much as he could to keep him alive until the Okamas find and save them; he continues to do so even during the Hormone Treatment, having received a boost from Bon Kure and the others' emotional cheering.

After a short rest (he fainted) made during the escape, Danny wakes up again at Luffy's Conqueror Haki shout and given how much death and despair there's in the air, he's able to manifest again and speed up the rescue.

Who lives and who dies? No clue, but given my bleeding heart, Ace Lives, but not without grave injuries for the three of them (maybe so much that Danny ends again into his Core).

I just realized that this could end with Danny adopted officially into the ASL (Luffy had already started the process)... Our boy Danny is so Adoptable™ LMAO

Sabo regains his memories at the news of the close call and hijacks any mode of transportation to reach the trio. Two years timeskip happen with quartet bonding and training, then into the New World We Go!

Nothing else comes to mind at the moment, but I guess that I already said enough, don't I? (≧∇≦)

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pedroscurls · 1 year ago

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Always Been You (Part 5).

Character(s): no-outbreak!Joel Miller x fem!Reader Summary: Sarah is at a sleepover, which gives you and Joel one-on-one time and lines get a bit blurred. Word count: 2,760 Author's Note: Doing a bit of a time jump, hence the Pedro SDCC gif. Joel's now 30 (which makes Sarah 9 and Reader about 27). I wanted to develop more of Joel and Reader's relationship and show how much both of them are head over heels for each other. I hope you enjoy this intimate, "will they, won't they" slow burn of a chapter before we get into the nitty gritty angst...😉 Warning: drinking (two people slightly tipsy, buzzed), light touching, basically the concept of this chapter is a "drunk mind speaks a sober heart". song: Can't Help Falling in Love by Haley Reinhart SERIES MASTERLIST

It had been two years since you and Joel met. There were moments where you weren’t sure how you could keep your feelings for him to yourself, but you had to constantly remind yourself that you didn’t want to ruin such a strong friendship. Joel had seen you at your lowest, always by your side whenever you needed him and you didn’t want your feelings to make it complicated. If the only relationship you could ever have with him was being just friends, then you didn’t want to risk losing him by telling him how you felt.

You didn’t want to take the risk in potentially being more than just a friend because what would happen if it didn’t work out? It was something that occupied your thoughts. You just had to keep reminding yourself that being just a friend was worth it, but as the years passed, Joel started to fill out a bit more; more broad, more rugged, and you always found yourself staring at him for longer than you should have.

In the beginning of your friendship, you thought Joel felt the same way. The way he would look at you, the lingering touches, always helping you clean up your coffee shop… But he never admitted his feelings either; you just assumed it was because he was being a good guy.

But what you didn’t know was how much Joel truly loved you. He knew he loved you months after you met. He loved your kind and welcoming nature, how even when you were grieving your failed relationship, you still had a smile on your face. But it was the moment you met Sarah was when he realized the magnitude of his feelings. Joel hadn’t felt like this in so long: the way seeing you smile made his stomach do flips, or hearing your laugh had a warm sensation settle in the pit of his stomach, or the way you would look at him or Sarah made his heart skip a beat.

Joel was deeply in love with you, but he was too afraid to say anything, too afraid to ruin the friendship you both built together. It wasn’t only you and Joel that was in the picture, it was Sarah too. So instead of taking the risk, Joel was fine at keeping you at a distance, fine with being just friends.

Tonight, Sarah was at a sleepover and you invited Joel over to your apartment for dinner. You made spaghetti and set it on your dining table before you heard your phone ring. You answered it and told Joel that you would be downstairs in a second. Once you hung up, you ran a hand through your hair before descending your stairs to go into your coffee shop. Joel was standing outside with his hands in his pockets and you let your eyes run across his broad back, noticing the white shirt stretch as you observed the muscles beneath the fabric.

When he turned around and your eyes met his, you felt a blush appear on your cheeks. Opening the door, you led him inside and locked the door behind you.

“Hey,” he said, giving you a hug.

“Hey, cowboy,” you smiled, returning his hug. “So, Sarah’s at a sleepover, huh? You finally let her go to one?”

“It took a lot of convincing,” he chuckled, following you past the espresso machine and towards the back door to lead towards the stairs that led to your apartment.

“Miss her already?” you teased.

“Oh, more than you know, darlin’.” Once you unlocked your apartment door, you watched him step inside to remove his boots. He let a smile line his lips at the smell of food wafting in your apartment and he walked towards your dining room, seeing the food on the table.

“Wow, you been holdin’ out on me.”

“What does that mean?” you chuckled, turning the lights on.

“All this time you can cook and this is the first time you ever cooked for me?”

You rolled your eyes, gently slapping his arm. “That’s only because I just started learning to cook, so if it’s not good, don’t blame me.”

“Well, it smells delicious, darlin’.”

You grinned proudly and walked towards your kitchen, barefoot. Joel let his eyes rake across your frame, biting the inside of his cheek as he noticed your exposed legs with the shorts you were wearing paired with an oversized hoodie. You looked so comfy, yet all Joel wanted to do was run his hands across your legs and find out if you were wearing anything underneath your sweater.

“Hello?” you asked, turning to face him. “Did you hear me?”

“M’sorry, what was that, darlin’?”

“Want a drink?” you repeated.

“Sure, I’ll take a beer.”

“I only have tequila.”

“Oh, it’s gonna be one of those nights, huh?” Joel smiled, walking towards you. “Too bad you don’t know how to make a Long Island,” he teased.

You looked up at him and shook your head, sticking your tongue out at him as you let out a quiet laugh. You grabbed two small glasses and poured two shots of tequila in each glass, handing one to Joel. You raised your glass in the air, clinking your glass with his.

“To…”

“To us,” Joel said, bringing his glass to touch yours. “And to you learning how to cook.”

You smiled and brought the glass to your lips, downing the drink almost instantly. Joel followed your movements and set the empty glass down on the counter. You led him back towards the dining room and sat down, grabbing his plate and beginning to place a good portion of spaghetti.

“Thanks, darlin’,” Joel smiled.

You handed Joel his plate and began placing food on your own. Once you looked up at him, Joel twirled the spaghetti around his fork and lifted it to his lips. You watched him with a hopeful look on your features and once he let a quiet groan leave his lips, you let out a relieved sigh.

“Good?”

“Amazing,” Joel replied. “This your first time making it?”

You nodded. “It’s my grandpa’s recipe. I guess I just never found the reason to make it.”

“Until now,” he added.

“Yeah, until now. I guess you’re special,” you teased.

Joel smiled. “Oh, I know I’m special, darlin’.”

—

A couple of hours later, you and Joel were sitting on the couch in your living room. Music filtered your apartment as you both sipped on each of your glasses, the bottle of tequila sitting on your coffee table. You were subconsciously moving closer and closer to him, craving his warmth and his touch.

Joel was generally able to hold his own whenever he drank, but it wasn’t often that he drank hard liquor. Joel was more of a beer-type-of-guy. He noticed you moving closer and closer to him and his mind was swirling with thoughts that were highly inappropriate. His eyes were glassy, staring deeply into your own as he continuously dropped them to look down at your lips.

It was obvious that you were both feeling the effects of alcohol and when you reached out to touch his arm, Joel felt a sudden surge rush through his body. He downed his drink and set it back down on the coffee table. He needed to give himself some distance from you because while he wanted you so badly, he didn’t want you in this way.

You were both buzzed and he didn’t want you making a mistake that you were going to regret the following morning.

When he stood up, you followed and increased the volume of the music. It was a slow song and just as Joel was going to say something, he felt you reach for his hand, tugging him towards you. Joel stumbled, his hands out reaching out to rest on your hips as both of your bodies were now pressed against each other.

“Can we– Can we dance?” You whispered, your eyes lowering to his lips.

“With you? Always, darlin’.” Joel then moved his hands to rest on your lower back, pressing you further against him as he felt your arms snake around his shoulders.

Wise men say

Only fools rush in

But I can't help

Fallin' in love with you

You and Joel swayed back and forth to the song, staring into each other’s eyes. Your eyes kept drifting to Joel’s lips and you found Joel doing the same thing as well. You bit the inside of your cheek and moved your fingers to play with the hair at the nape of his neck.

Joel lowered to gently rest his forehead against yours, moving one hand to rub along your back.

Like a river flows

Surely to the sea

Darling so it goes

Some things

Are meant to be

“Darlin’,” he whispered, lips hovering dangerously over yours.

“Joel,” you replied, feeling his breath against you.

It was hard for Joel to focus with you being so close, with your body pressed against his, and lips so close that all he had to was lean forward.

You wanted this, wanted him, but there was still a part of you (the sober part) that didn’t want to ruin the friendship you built with him. You had fallen in love with Joel while on your own journey of loving yourself again and while he wasn’t something you ever expected, you found that he gave you the space to be who you wanted and empowered you to be you.

Take my hand

Take my whole life too

Oh, for I can't help

Fallin' in love with you

Joel moved his hand to grab yours, gently twirling you and bringing you back against him. You let out a quiet squeak and moved your hands to rest on his chest, stumbling into him as he fell back on the couch with you on top. You bit your lower lip and quietly giggled, burying your face against the crook of his neck. Joel smiled to himself, moving his arms to wrap around your waist as he held you against him.

“You mean everythin’ to me,” Joel whispered.

You looked up at him and moved a hand to his cheek, brushing your fingertips across his jaw, feeling his facial against you. Then, you gently grazed your thumb across his lower lip, seeing him part his lips and hearing him let out a shaky breath.

“You’re my world, Joel. You and Sarah,” you said quietly.

Before Joel could respond, he felt you snuggle against him. He didn’t want to ruin this moment and part of him was still afraid to ask you out on a proper date. Instead, Joel tightened his arms around you and decided that he would rather embrace this moment with you than ruin it with something that you both probably won’t have any recollection of tomorrow morning.

The music continued to play in the background and Joel ran his fingertips along your back, feeling you snuggle closer to him. Joel let out a shaky exhale when he felt your lips brush against the side of his neck, but when he felt you shift, Joel had to tell himself not to get excited.

“I feel like I can just fall asleep like this,” you mumbled against him.

Joel cleared his throat and nodded, turning his head to gently press a soft kiss on your temple hesitantly. “Then let’s go to sleep.”

“Is this okay?” you smiled, your eyes falling shut.

“More than okay with me, darlin’. Good night and thank you for dinner,” he whispered.

You looked up at him and bit your lower lip, leaning in to give him a kiss against his cheek, catching just the corners of his lips. When you pulled back, you felt a blush appear along your neck to your cheeks before you decided to bury your face back against him.

“G’night, Joel.”

Joel focused on the sound of your breaths, slowly turning his head to look down at you. He smiled to himself, bringing his free hand to brush your hair away from your face, gently brushing his thumb across your cheek. You looked so peaceful, so beautiful, and Joel found himself wanting more moments like this. It had been two years of waiting, two years of hoping that you would tell him you were ready to start dating, but still, Joel didn’t know what he would do if you were ready to get into a relationship again.

“I love you so much, darlin’,” Joel whispered, his voice coming out very quietly. “You’re my dream girl.” He felt you shift against him and he sighed, shutting his own eyes as he tried to get some sleep.

The following morning, you awoke to the sound of Joel’s snores. You brought a hand up to rub the sleep from your eyes, smiling to yourself at the sight of Joel. He had been working so much lately that you were sure he didn’t get much sleep, so you tried to quietly climb off of him to allow him to get more rest. However, as you moved, you felt his arms tighten around you.

“Mm, where ya goin’?” he whispered, voice deep and sleepy.

“I’m sure this isn’t comfortable,” you chuckled.

“This is the most comfiest I’ve been in a while,” Joel replied. “Can we just lay here for a few more minutes?”

You smiled, seeing his eyes fall shut once more. You nodded and moved your head to rest back against his shoulder. You felt a slight throbbing headache against your temples and brief flashes of last night’s events came through your mind, remembering the dance you shared with Joel and the song that was playing in the background.

Joel was telling the truth. He hadn’t felt this comfortable and rested in so long and he had to wonder if it was because he had fallen asleep with you in his arms. He remembered last night so vividly: the song, the dance, the close calls and his subtle admittance of his love for you while you slept against him.

Just as you and Joel were about to fall back to sleep, his phone started to ring. He let out a groan and opened his eyes, looking down at you and quickly pressing a soft kiss on the crown of your head that took you by surprise. You looked up at him and smiled, sitting up to help him up, hearing him groan as he sat up.

“Not a word,” he teased. Joel grabbed his phone and answered it, hearing Sarah’s voice on the other end.

“Yes, that’s fine, babygirl. I’ll see you later. Have fun. I love you, Sarah.” Joel hung up the phone and looked over at you, running a hand through his hair.

“Everything okay?”

“She’s getting breakfast with her friend and their parents. Won’t be home until later.”

“More rest for you,” you said, gently nudging you. “Which you really need.”

Joel nodded in agreement. “I should probably head home then.”

“Probably a good idea,” you said, standing up from the couch.

Joel looked up at you, his eyes raking over your frame as he thought back to last night and how you had fallen asleep on top of him. Immediately, he felt his lower half stir awake as he cleared his throat.

“Thank you for last night,” he said, standing up carefully and pulling you into a hug. “I needed it.”

“We probably drank too much, but I had fun.” You wrapped your arms around him and let out a quiet sigh, smiling against him. “Let me know when you get home, okay?”

“Of course, darlin’.” Joel pulled back and looked down at you for a moment, bringing a hand to rest on your arm. “Maybe we should fall asleep next to each other more often,” he teased. “I feel more at ease with you next to me.”

You blushed and bit the inside of your cheek, leading him towards your front door as you watched him slip into his boots. “You know, I was thinking the same thing.”

Joel smiled. “Great, next time, we’ll do it at my place.”

“Do what?” you teased, seeing him widen his eyes.

“Sleep together,” Joel said, immediately shaking his head. “I mean, sleep next to each other.”

“I’m just teasing you, Joel. I know what you meant.”

Joel sighed, standing up and pulling you back into his arms. “You’re really my best friend, y’know.”

“And you’re mine,” you replied. “Forever. You’re stuck with me.”

Joel grinned. “Now that I don’t mind.”

—

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sissytobitch10seconds · 1 year ago

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Birdsong: Ribs

Fandom: Grishaverse: Six of Crows and Shadow and Bone (TV) Summary: Wylan is kicking himself in the ass for being as late as he was. He knew that his partners had to be worried, it was almost three hours after he sat that he would be home, after all. It seems as thought the world is determined to make him even later than ever when he hears something in the parking lot near his work. Warnings: Physical assault, mentions of canon-typical grooming/child abuse, and blood Word Count: 10,501 Ship(s): Nina Zenik/Wylan Van Eck/Jesper Fahey/Matthias Helvar/Inej Ghafa/Kaz Brekker

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A/N: At the time of writing this, I had not read the books so a lot of the plot was still pulled from the show. I've now finished the book but I don't want to rewrite the whole series so I'm editing some things as I go. If you notice inconsistencies from here on out that's why! Stay sissy and bitchy everyone <3

Wylan winced as the door to his lab shut harder than he had meant it to. He had gotten so wrapped up in the work that he had been doing, finally hitting the breakthrough that he had been searching for, that he hadn’t noticed how late it had gotten. He tried to make sure that he was home no later than six so that he could eat with his partners before Kaz had to go oversee the opening of the Crow Club. Inej often had a call time around seven as well, so it killed two birds with one stone to be home before they left. That way he knew that he had at least one in person interaction with them each day, since they were usually asleep when he woke.

He had broken the rule that he had made with himself by working over what his normal limit was. He didn’t break the rule often, maybe once or twice a year. A lot of the time when he was working in the lab, he was running the same experiment over and over again, which was so monotonous that he would often skip out on a test or two that he could have run that day in favor of doing it the next day instead. It was worse when he was writing his reports, since he had to speak slowly to his speech-to-text program so that he could get it written up faster than it would take him to try and type everything. Spellcheck was a godsend, but reading and writing were so much harder for him than they were for everyone else that he worked with.

Today he had been so wrapped up in the new breakthrough that they had made, that he had totally forgotten to keep track of the time. He had been mumbling down ideas into the notepad app on his phone the entire day so that none of the ideas would escape him. By the time that he had looked up again, ripped from his thoughts as he realized that he was famished, all of his coworkers were gone and the building had been darkened.

Wylan had finished cleaning up the lab and then locked the building as quickly as he felt he could while still being responsible so that he could go home. He hurried towards the parking lot that he had found a spot in that morning after running a little bit behind. That was the annoying thing about working so close to the university campus when school was in session, it resulted in him having to walk two blocks just to get to his car so that he could go home because all the other spots were taken. Still, it meant that they got a lot of student interns so they didn’t have to spend the extra money they were already strapped for, instead just giving them credit for their classes and real world experience.

He tugged his headphones out of his bag and then connected them to his phone as he picked the audiobook that he had been listening to that week. He and Jesper had a mini book club that they participated in, though it was turning into a playful argument about which audiobook producer was the best. Despite the fact that Jesper listened to more podcasts and music than he did audiobooks, he still had very strong opinions about it. Jesper was able to read physical copies even if it was only in short bursts, but Wylan preferred to keep reading as much as he could even with his learning disability, so he tended to plow through the books that they were allegedly reading together.

The soothing voice of the narrator washed over him as he stuck his hands into his pockets and walked down the street towards his car. He was trying to focus on what was being read to him instead of the plan that he was coming up with for the end of the study. He knew that if they made a big breakthrough and patented or sold something, then they’d be able to continue the work that they had been doing in the lab more than they ever expected to. Wylan didn’t look at science as a way of making money necessarily, he would still experiment by himself even if he wasn’t being paid to do it, but this way he could continue to work with the team that he had grown very attached to.

After about only three minutes and half a block, he decided that trying to pay attention to an audiobook just wasn’t going to happen because he was too invested in what he had been working on. Jesper and Matthias were both going to be very pouty when he got home and all he could talk about was work despite being late. At least Kaz would understand, but he’d be at work until midnight at the earliest.

Wylan let out a little put-upon sigh. It was hard to navigate adult relationships, even if the freedom of adulthood was more than worth it. Sometimes he longed for the simplicity that had come with being a teenager, but he was always quick to remind himself how much happier he was now. Even if he had his partners back then, the abuse that his father had put him through would have made him miserable despite the support of the five wonderful people he had met.

Instead, he hummed the song that had been pestering the back of his mind as he walked. Ever since they had actually started going steady with her, Jesper and Matthias had been playing the music from the band that their new girlfriend was in. The artists were very talented and Wylan had to admit that her voice was soothing, but it was still annoying that they were so good at becoming earworms when he was trying to have other thoughts.

He paused when he got to the edge of the parking lot to the bar that was on the other side of the block to his lab building. The area was mostly deserted now that students weren’t using it to get as close to campus as they could, but a few cars were still parked there. It was one of the least popular bars in town (and Wylan wasn’t biased because the Crow Club was becoming busier every day, he assured himself), so there were only about a half dozen vehicles.

What really caught his attention was the scene that was unfolding. There was a man wearing a red and white varsity-style jacket with the last name ‘Kaminsky’ stitched into the back and a pair of blue jeans with a thick brown belt. He was advancing on a woman while shouting at her, “You think that you’re tough shit because you stole Alina away from Aleksander but you’re nothing but a fucking whore!”

“Ivan, you’re drunk, you need to go home,” the woman replied.

Wylan took a step forward so that he could get a better look at her. She had coiled brown hair that was loose around her face and shoulders, which only served to bring out the pronounced jawline and cheekbones of her face. Her lips were soft and pouty, but that was mostly because of the peach colored lipgloss that she was wearing. She had accented eyeliner in pink under the black and rosy cheeks to match the eyeshadow. She was wearing a blue mini skirt that was tucking into a loose black bodice that had sheer puffy sleeves.

Objectively, she was very pretty. Wylan knew that women who were stereotypically attractive tended to get accosted by drunk men a lot, especially since he had begun his queerplatonic relationship with Inej. She had taught him a lot about women that he had never been able to pick up from his step-mother because of their distance. His own mother had disappeared when he was too young to learn about the kinds of things Inej had taught him and come back into his life after he had gotten together with the aforementioned acrobat.

Still, they seemed to know each other so Wylan hung back to let things play their course. He didn’t want to interrupt something and then get shouted at for it, especially when he was already feeling emotionally frayed from working too much that day. He desperately wanted to go home so that he could cuddle with his partners and eat dinner while watching bad TV, but this was important. It was possible that the situation would turn violent and she would need help, but he didn’t want to assume right away.

“You don’t get to talk to me like you know me!” the man screamed. He smashed the beer bottle that had been hanging loosely from his hand down onto the car behind her, which caused a few shards of glass to cut through her freckled skin. Beads of red blood blossomed on the skin and began to dribble down her cheek. She was pinned up against the car, the only other option for her was to move towards the wall which would result in her being trapped from all sides.

Wylan got out his phone and pointed it towards the fight. He had gotten used to doing that a lot when he was a teenager, but he was glad that something had come from that miserable time in his life. Hopefully if things escalated it could actually help the woman.

The woman had finally regained her voice after the sharp cry of panic that she had let out, “Ivan, you know that I don’t control what Alina does! I have nothing to do with the breakup, I just rejoined the band when she said she wanted to start playing again.”

That only provoked the man further instead of de-escalating it like she had no doubt hoped for. “You are the only person that was still allowed to be in contact with her from the old band. I know that you continued the music too. You really think that I’m stupid enough to believe that lie you made up for everyone else?”

“I expect you to be a rational fucking human, but apparently I set my standards too high!” she shouted back at him. “You really think that I single handedly tried to tear down The Fold?” she snarled.

Wylan could hear the fear in her voice as she did so. He took a step forward, preparing to help her if things got more serious, his phone still recording. He could feel her anxiety in his own veins, heart thrumming, lungs gasping for more air, mind racing.

“I think that you’re a traitorous bitch that would do anything to try and ruin the career of a man you hate,” the other man replied. He kept advancing on her, caging her in with his body more and more. He was svelte, thinner than she was, but he was also a couple of inches taller than her. It was made worse based on the fact that she was cowering back against the car that he had pinned her on.

Wylan envied the confidence that took over her features as she pushed up her chest and stood at her full height despite that mostly closing the space between them. She had a fierce look burning in her eyes, one that Wylan would have never been able to summon up if he had been standing in front of his father during one of their fights. Her mouth twisted into a truly feral smirk as she said, “I had nothing to do with the falling of The Fold. I think that you should talk to your precious Darkling about why he tried to sink all of his money into shit lawsuits to get back the girl that he groomed when she finally dumped his ass and took him for all he was worth. Maybe he should have thought before he decided that he didn’t need a prenup.”

That made Ivan snap.

He had swung his arm back and then brought it forward before Wylan even had the time to process what he was doing. The sickening crack that sounded as his fist collided with the woman’s jaw made him cringe. He shoved his phone in his pocket so that the camera was peaking out over the fabric and still recording their conversation as he rushed over. He may have been several inches shorter than the attacker, but two bodies were better than one so there was a good chance that he would actually be of some use when it came to helping her.

“Leave her alone!”

“Stay out of this,” Ivan replied.

The woman was bent over slightly, slumped against the car. She was supporting herself with one of her hands so that she wouldn’t fall over and holding her cheek with the other. One side was still dripping blood down her forehead so that it streaked the rest of her face and the other side was no doubt going to be blooming with a dark bruise based on the sound alone.

“You know, I don’t think that I will,” Wylan replied. He reached down into his bag for the pepper spray that he brought with him everywhere he went. He was a little less paranoid about people randomly attacking him when he was out on the street than Kaz, but the couple weeks that he had spent homeless had made it so that he never went anywhere without a way to protect himself. Just remembering the fights escalating to the point where he had decided the open streets were safer for him made him furious that the woman was being attacked out in the open like that.

Coming over to help had the effect that he wanted, which was both a good and a bad thing. Ivan had seemingly forgotten about the woman and had turned fully to Wylan, but there was more hate and rage burning in his drunken eyes than before. “This has nothing to do with you,” he snarled, spewing flecks of spit out towards Wylan.

“This has something to do with me because you’re attacking someone less than a block from the place where I work! I may not know who you are or why you’ve decided to be an absolute ass, but it’d be wrong of me to just walk away. That’s the right thing for you to do, though,” he said confidently. He uncapped the pepper spray in his bag and then wrapped his fingers around the small bottle. It would take him less than a second to bring it out, aim, and then incapacitate the man, as long as alcohol was the only thing in his system. He had seen pepper spray being used on another one of the homeless youth from his camp, and because the other had been on PCP it had been basically useless.

“He’s right, Ivan. What would Fedyor think about you doing this? I know that your husband still works for that scum but we were once friends. I don’t think that he’d be very happy about you wailing on me,” the woman said as she righted herself.

“Keep my husband’s name out of your mouth, wench,” he snarled as he turned back around. Apparently mentioning whoever she had was the wrong move, as he wrapped his hand into her dark locks and threw her down to the ground.

Wylan had moved in an instant, before he even knew what his legs were doing. He brought the pepper spray out of his bag as he moved, aiming and spraying just as he had been playing over and over again in his mind. The red liquid dusted through the air until it was covering the eyes and face of the attacker, burning into his skin.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he screamed as he fell down to his knees and began to claw at his eyes. It would do nothing to remove the irritant from where it was sticking, but it was the only thing he could think of in his addled state to get rid of the feeling.

Wylan quickly stepped around him and then offered his hand out to the woman. She had bounced hard against the asphalt of the parking lot but was already beginning to right herself, one hand once again cupping the side of her face. “Do you think that you can stand?” he asked as he offered his hand out to her.

She nodded weakly as she took it and used it to haul herself to her feet. She whimpered as she took a step, her ankle doubling because of the break in her heel. She bent down and removed both of her shoes, looping her fingers around the back so that she could carry them. Wylan took her hand in his again and then began to pull her down the street so that Ivan couldn’t get up and follow them if he somehow overcame the burning that of the pepper spray. It was unlikely that would ever happen because of the potentness of the irritant, but Wylan had learned that sticking around to make sure the monster had been taken down resulted in getting hurt.

They ran over the street, crossing against the red light because there were no other cars on the road. She held onto him like if she let go then she’d drift back to the place of pain and fear that she had been in before, something that he was intimately familiar with.

Wylan was by no means unfit, but he didn’t work out as much as his partners did. He and Kaz tried to do at least a little bit of physical activity, Wylan so that his body didn’t go stiff with how long he spent over a desk and Kaz to help self-regulate his chronic pain issues. Matthias worked out because he enjoyed it, Inej did it because it was part of her job, and Jesper somehow managed to stay fit because of the singing and acting that he threw himself at every chance he got.

Running down two blocks and into the parking lot where his car was left him gasping for air, along with the woman next to him. Her chest was heaving to bring in air even though she was nowhere as winded as he was. He wondered what she did for a living that let her have that much breath control, but now wasn’t exactly the time to ask.

He winced as he realized what he had done, eyeing her shoes where they were still clenched in the hand that wasn’t holding onto his. He dropped her hand then when he remembered that he hadn’t yet let go and said, “I’m sorry for bringing you all the way here, I should have brought you to your car.”

She waved him off dismissively, “I didn’t drive here and this is far enough that I can’t imagine Ivan being able to follow us.” She paused for a moment as her hand drifted up to where she had hit her head through the thick chocolate curls and Wylan remembered another thing that he technically should have done.

“Would you mind if I checked you out? I may not be a medical doctor but I’m still trained in first aid so I should be able to see if you have a concussion or not,” he explained nervously. He reached into his bag and dug out the keys to his car, unlocking it with a fluid motion. He opened up the hatch to the back and then pulled the emergency wool blanket over the dirt and grim covered edge so that she had somewhere to sit that was relatively clean.

It was a bit of odd paranoia that had followed him well into adulthood, even after he had become the legal owner of a home. He knew that it was unlikely that he would ever break up with his partners and even more unlikely that it would be all of them, or that him no longer being in a relationship with them would result in him being back on the streets, but it was a worry that always hung heavy in the back of his mind. He made sure that any vehicles that he owned had enough space for him to sleep in the back comfortably so that he wasn’t quite as exposed as he had been when he was a teenager.

“Right, you probably should,” she nodded. “I think if I said no my friend Tamar would find out and actually come to kill me.”

She let out another one of her pleasant laughs. It made Wylan feel comfortable and happy, settled back into his body instead of pushed out of his skin by adrenaline and bad memories. This woman reminded him a lot of Inej, though she was soft where Inej was sharp and quick where Inej was slow. While Wylan’s queerplatonic partner was a lot more partial to fixing people that bothered her with a silent yet deadly stare that promised untold pain, the woman next to him was the type to face her problems head-on with all the ferocity that she could muster. She didn’t seem jagged and broken afterwards the same way that Inej did, her confidence letting her head stay high instead of crumbling to dust after.

Wylan wanted to get to know her more, but he could do that after he made sure that she was okay. “I’m going to check your pupils with the flashlight on my phone,” he warned her. She had sat down on top of the blanket in front of him so that he could reach her easily, which he was grateful for. Despite the fact that she had already removed her heels, which had made her a few inches taller, she was nearly a head taller than Wylan when he was standing at his full height.

She just hummed in acknowledgement, choosing not to nod her head, which was probably for the best. Wylan grabbed his phone from his pocket and stopped the recording that he had completely forgotten about. He then placed his hand on the edge of her eyelid. He shook the device in his other hand twice to activate the flashlight before he brought it up and shone it directly into her eye. The pupil shrank and revealed more of the beautiful green color in her irises.

He repeated the process on the same eye once and got the same response before he did it to the other. When he was sure that her pupils were dilating and constricting as they should have been, he pressed the light button on the back of his trunk so that they could properly see each other. The overhead streetlights had given them enough that he wasn’t worried about hurting her while he checked her out, but it would be easier for them both to maneuver around.

Wylan fidgeted with his first aide kit as he tried to figure out what he was going to do next. Before he even got the chance to start forming a sentence, she asked, “What’s your name?”

“Huh?”

He winced. He wasn’t very good at meeting new people.

She didn’t seem to mind very much, just laughing again. She slid further back into his car so that her knees were hugging the lip of the trunk. “I think it’s only fair that I get to know your name after everything that I put you through,” she explained easily. She was so warm, like freshly baked bread or pancakes directly off of the griddle. She had just been through something so deeply traumatizing and yet the kindness and compassion that she seemed to carry with her came off of her in waves.

“You didn’t put me through anything,” Wylan shook his head. “I could have just kept walking or gone into the bar to get one of the bouncers to help you if I didn’t want to deal with it. I wanted to help. I know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of some guy’s anger.”

Worry took over her pretty features for a moment before she winced and placed her hand up on her face where she had been struck. “So does that mean that I get to know your name or are you going to be the handsome stranger that saved me for the rest of my life.”

For some reason, he didn’t feel panicky or strange when she called him handsome the way that he had when other woman had done the same thing. It made him feel bashful and excited the same way that he did when Inej called him that, like she was complimenting him objectively instead of seeing someone that she could possibly romance. It was a different feeling than when his boys complimented him, which made fire run through his veins and excitement flip his stomach. “Wylan,” he supplied after he realized that he hadn’t answered her again.

Her face fell and her eyes widened. For a moment he was worried that she was going to puke or that he had missed a pivotal sign of concussion despite her not acting like she was dizzy or nauseous before. Then she asked, “Hendriks?”

He nodded, “How did you know?”

She sighed and slumped against the side of his car, her head resting against the rubber insulation on the side that wasn’t already swelling with injury. “My name is Nina Zenik. You and I were supposed to meet tomorrow so that Jesper and Matthias could introduce me to you.”

“Oh!” he gasped. Relief washed over him as he realized just how much of a good thing it was that he had interrupted the fight instead of minding his own business. Sticking his nose where it didn’t belong had actually resulted in him getting a lot of good things in life, which is why he had made such a massive habit out of it despite the way it had treated him in childhood. “I thought that you looked a little bit familiar.”

She righted herself, squaring her shoulders dramatically before she stuck her hand out in front of her. Wylan took it and gave her a shake like she had been asking for as she said, “It’s good to meet you.”

“You as well,” he laughed. “Now, do you want me to take you back to your apartment?”

Nina deflated again. Her eyes glanced back towards the parking lot that they had come from. She took a moment before she finally, cautiously answered, “I don’t think that I can go home. Ivan and Fedyor both know where I live and where I keep my spare key. I’ve been trying to find a new place to move it but I haven’t quite figured it out yet so there’s a chance…”

“Do you have a friend that you want to stay with?” he asked instead, not judging her in the slightest for not wanting to go home. Wylan himself had struggled with panic attacks for the first week that he had been living in his family estate after he had inherited it. Matthias and Jesper had spent every waking moment that they weren’t working or spending time with their other partners helping him remodel the house so it felt more like his home and less like his prison. If she felt at all unsafe in her apartment then there was no way that he was going to pressure her to go back, especially since he understood that feeling.

A small blush joined the makeup on her cheeks, which only served to highlight the freckles brushed across her nose and ears. “I would suggest that you bring me to Matthias and Jesper if you hadn’t already told me that you were their partner.”

“I can bring you back to the house,” Wylan immediately replied. Just the idea of doing so already soothed a lot of the anxiety that had been brewing in his gut. He was worried that the second she was out of his sight something horrible was going to happen to her, like it had been before he arrived. It was a lot less creepy to suggest that he take her back to his home when he knew that she was already very familiar and comfortable around two of his partners, so he was grateful that they had learned that fact about each other that early into their interaction.

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to intrude or anything, I know that the five of you live together,” she touched the edge of her mascara where it was still smearing with blood.

He offered her a shy smile as he reached into the first aid kit that he kept in the back of his car. “Well I actually own the house, so I’m technically the one that gets to decide who does and does not get to go inside of it. Step mother? Proably not. The woman that two of my boyfriends have been going out with that just got hurt? Absolutely.”

She laughed, more of the tension beginning to melt from her. It was clear that she was beginning to come down from the adrenaline rush that the fight had brought her, the exhaustion hanging off of her. Wylan wanted to get some of her wounds cleaned up in the car before they had the actual first aide expert look her over.

Finally finding what he had been searching for, he handed her a wet wipe and asked, “Do you need to go to the ER or do you feel comfortable coming back to my place?”

“It’s going to sound so silly,” she mumbled as she picked at the edge of the wipe’s packaging.

“I don’t think anything you say when you’re going through shock is going to sound silly,” he assured her. It was a bold move from a very unbold person, but he touched her arm to try and emphasize what he had said with actions.

She leaned easily into the touch as she collected her thoughts. She then said, “All I can think about is seeing Matthias and Jesper. I know we haven’t been together for nearly as long as you have, but they’re the best thing that has happened to me in a long while.”

“Not your band getting back together?” Wylan asked.

She shook her head and then winced. She unwrapped the wet wipe and then tenderly brought it up to her face. Nina was only able to get some of the blood off of her skin, a decent amount of it already congealing and making it monumentally harder to do what she needed to.

Carefully, he pried the item from her hand and then began to patiently rub it over her skin to clear away the blood. She scrunched her nose and took in a sharp inhale when he got closer to the cuts. He couldn’t see any shards of glass so far, but he wasn’t trying to clean out the wounds, but rather make her more comfortable until he could actually tend to them properly.

While he was cleaning she explained, “My band getting back together has been messy, as you saw with my fight with Ivan. I was partially signed to the label owned by a really famous artist and when I started refusing to produce music under the contract I got in a lot of trouble. They stole a shit ton of money from me but I made it work. They didn’t really like that and so now I’m on the shit list for the rest of my life.”

“If that was anything to go by then I can see that,” Wylan murmured. He got the gauze out of the first aid kit and then wound it around his hand until it made a thick pad. He slipped it off of his nimble fingers and pressed it to the cuts on her face before they had the chance to continue bleeding. “Do you want to do the rest of the cleaning and tending back at the house?”

“Yes,” she nodded immediately. “As comfortable as the back of your car is, I would much rather have somewhere that has soap and running water.”

He held his hand out to help her steady herself as she stood back up properly. She was holding the gauze to her face with one hand and moving around the edge of the car with the other. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, the asphalt making up the parking lot had to be painful on her stockinged feet.

While she was moving, he packed up the first aid kit again and then shoved everything properly into his trunk. He clicked the light off and shut the hatch before he went to the driver’s side and got in. He turned the car on so that the heater was running and hopefully helping to warm her up since the night was a little bitter and she didn’t have a coat.

“I’m going to text the others to tell them what happened before we get going, is that okay?” Wylan asked as he motioned to his phone with his other hand.

She nodded her consent and he got to work. He opened up the group chat that he had with his partners and then held the phone up to his mouth. He spoke clearly and deliberately so that the speech-to-text program could actually write down what he wanted to say. “I’m sorry for being home so late from work, but I found Nina in a fight with someone. She’s doing mostly okay but I’m going to bring her back to the house so that we can help her. Be home soon, love you.”

He glanced at her, a bit sheepish as he sent the message off to his partners. He connected his phone to the car’s computer and opened Spotify so that he could pick some music as a social lubricant. He felt comfortable with silences, even relished in them at times, but he had been dating Jesper for long enough to know that other people felt pressured to talk when everything else was quiet. Music usually stamped that down at least a little, made silences between acquaintances more comfortable and soothed anxieties.

He had four pinned playlists other than his liked songs up at the top, each with a combination of his name with one of his partner’s. It was something cute that they had done with each other, making a playlist where they could send messages to the other, give music suggestions, or just generally be sappy. It worked best with Kaz, who loved them very, very, very much but had trouble being able to express that physically on some days.

Wylan had been thinking about Inej a lot since he had gotten Nina back to his car, a lot of the feelings he had for her recurring in his chest. Of course the emotions were nowhere near as strong as they were for Inej since he had known her longer, but they were still there. He had only ever felt the warm giddiness pooling in his chest for one other woman before, and it was the one that he was queerplatonically dating. He was going to have to take a moment to process that when he was no longer feeling quite so sleepy and frazzled.

He finally settled on the one that he and Matthias had made for each other, setting it to shuffle before he deposited it down onto the center console. His phone lit up with a couple of texts from his partners but he was unable to read what they said or who had sent them. The only way that he had been able to parse through his playlists was because the covers had been very unique, for the express purpose of helping him when he was struggling with reading. The combination of him overworking himself earlier that day and the adrenaline made the words swim in front of him whenever he tried.

Once his bag was deposited into the back and Nina was buckled in, he pulled out of the parking lot and began the drive back to his home. He lived on the very outskirts of the city so it was going to take them a while to get there despite the ten o’clock traffic being so light that outside of the center of town, there was no one.

He had been right to start music for the drive. Nina didn’t seem to be up to doing much talking, simply holding the gauze to her forehead and switching hands when one got tired. Wylan made sure to check on her every so often by glancing in her direction, admiring how cinematic she looked when the streetlights were bathing her in soft yellow and red light.

The ride had been going smooth until they got about ten minutes away from the estate. A new song that Matthias had added came onto the radio, and it just so happened to be one of the ones that her band had produced. Wylan had been informed that it was Nina singing since those songs all happened to be Matthias’ and Jesper’s favorites, not that they were biased, but it was also deeply personal to him. He couldn’t relate to every line that was said, but it was so reminiscent of the way that he had grown up and how he would raise children if he and his partners ever decided to have them.

The sultry voice murmured out of the radio as he reached down to change the song. Before he got the chance, Nina’s hand landed on top of his and stopped him from doing so. She gave him a kind smile as she began to sing along, matching the notes perfectly since it was her.

“Marrow made a wife of Eve, but no one gave up a rib for me and mine. My hearts did expose to the elements, calloused and untouched by a man's design. Oh, my ugly organs, how lucky we are. Brick and mortar between my bones, built a kingdom fierce and fortified. My name fading from the yellow page, stones are laid upon the mountainside Oh, my savage empire, ow lucky we are, never to be moved by the words of a liar. The dark doesn't frighten me, I chose to close my eyes. It is mine, it is mine. The night doesn't frighten me, I chose to let it thrive. It is mine, it is mine. Time has changed the metaphor. Now, dust is not the origin of bone Little girl, don't let them sell you any armor, all your ribs are still your own. Oh, my precious child, how lucky you are, handed down a shield for your tender parts.”

By the time that they had reached the end repetition of the chorus, Wylan had joined her in singing the song. It felt cathartic to be able to sing it out loud when usually he was too shy to do so. The song was raw in a way that many things rarely were any more, which was only part of the reason that he adored it so much.

Nina hadn’t removed her hand from where she had stopped him from changing the song. Instead, their hands lay on the center console. Their palms were pressed flush and their fingers slotted together without interweaving. It felt right and gentle, not forward despite them having only known each other for half an hour.

When the song finished, she took a deep breath. “I wrote that song immediately after I left The Fold. So many of my emotions went into it and it was so personal, I wanted to produce it under my other name. It fit better with Shadow and Bone than it did with Heartrender, though, and the band agreed that they’d be okay with producing it.”

“Is it about everything that happened under that label?” Wylan asked, his eyes darting towards her for just a moment. He was worried that he was asking something that was too personal or prying into a wound that hadn’t healed yet.

She didn’t seem to mind as she gave him another affirmative hum. “It was also based off of some of the things that happened when I was young. I knew Alina, one of my bandmates, when we were both fifteen. We went to that huge Catholic school, the one that everyone else calls the Little Palace because the chapel attached to it makes it look kind of like a castle. We were both so sheltered and we had all that religious drivel drilled into us so hard. It made me feel so guilty for being able to love women as well, but it also opened us up to some pretty nasty older men. I was able to avoid it from the romantic side, but when Kirigan approached us and promised us the fame and fortune that we had been dreaming of, there was no way that we could reject it. We signed with him and things got worse for her but they eventually got better for me. We’re both okay now, but that song…”

“I relate to it too,” Wylan gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. “My dad was shit and my mom was always telling me that I had to find armor wherever I could find it. She left when I was eight and then she couldn’t be my armor anymore, so I had to find it in other things. There was no one there to protect me,” he shook his head as the memories all came pouring back.

Nina took in a deep breath and cleared her throat. “That’s enough hard stuff for tonight! We should talk about something else.”

“Yes,” Wylan nodded in agreement. His face then brightened as he turned onto the street that would lead him to his home, “Have you had the chance to meet Trassel yet?”

“I haven’t! Matthias was going to bring him to a date that we were supposed to have in a park but then we got that horrible thunderstorm and had to change to a cafe, which meant no dog,” she pouted.

“Well you’re about to meet him. I want to warn you that in pictures he looks a lot smaller than he actually is because Matthias is massive. He’s absolutely sweet but can be kind of scary if you were expecting a dog closer to the size of a lab,” Wylan informed her. He had a bad reaction when he first met Trassel because of the sheer massive size of the dog, despite Trassel being the sweetest animal that he had ever had the fortune of living with.

They pulled into the driveway and then the garage. He noticed that Kaz’s car was gone, but the one that Matthias and Jesper shared was parked dutifully in the spot on the other side of the garage. “I knew that it had to be a big place for you to all live together but I wasn’t expecting it to be this huge,” Nina commented as she carefully got out of the car.

“We’re not secretly rich or something, this was the only thing that I inherited from my dad when he died,” Wylan explained as he grabbed his bag and phone. He got out and locked the vehicle.

A smile pulled at his lips as he could already hear the deep barking from inside the house where his pet had heard the garage door opening. Trassel was smart enough to know that meant someone was coming home and he adored them all so much that it didn’t matter which one of them it was.

Wylan walked over to Nina and brought her to the steps that led to the backdoor of the house instead of the ones that led to the dog run in the sideyard. It had been a massive undertaking for the rest of his partners to get used to the size of the estate when they had finally moved in. The only reason that Wylan had been an exception to that was because he had grown accustomed to every nook and cranny of the place while hiding from his father and private tutor.

They stepped over the threshold and into the kitchen just as Trassel finished barreling down the stairs that led up to the bedrooms. The space that they were in was massive, but felt more snug than it had in Wylan’s childhood because of the details that his partners had helped him add to the space to make it his own. The tile was white and black diamonds that went halfway up the walls. They had recently painted the kitchen to be a butter yellow color, with red curtains hanging and drawn over the windows. All of the appliances had been updated within the last couple of the years but were also the ugliest stainless steal. The fridge was the best part, now covered in little magnets and sticky note reminders for each of them. Art hung around the cupboards, which were a rainbow set of colors in the most obnoxiously bright yet not neon colors that they could find. Every surface other than the counters was also cluttered with aloe vera and spider plants, which Inej had brought from her apartment when she had moved in.

“Hi puppy!” Wylan beamed as he patted his lap to call the dog over to him. He knew that Nina would likely need a second or two so that she could become accustomed to the new space that she was in.

Trassel barked excitedly as he immediately ran over to Wylan. He was massive even for a utonagan, coming up to the Wylan’s waist with all four paws down on the ground. He was also about a hundred and ten pounds, most of which appeared to be fur as they got closer to the winter months. He was beautiful shade of brown-black with the white clinging to his chest and the underside of his muzzle. It would likely spread as he continued to get older, but at only five years old he had retained all of the luscious color he had been born with.

“Have you been good today?” Wylan asked as he began to run his fingers through the side of the dog’s face. The fur around the top of Trassel’s head was his favorite, soft and already brushed back so it didn’t hang in front of his eyes or nose.

He received another bark as the dog’s excitement rose. When Trassel got so overwhelmed that he placed his hands onto Wylan’s chest to get closer to his face, Wylan reached down and took his hands. It stressed his hips enough that he calmed down, so Wylan let him go as soon as he had calmed.

When he saw Nina he barked again and rushed over to her. She knelt down in front of him as she dug her hands into his fur and began to baby talk him. “Hello there, hello! I bet I smell like all kind of interesting and same things, don’t I? You’re so handsome, so handsome,” she murmured.

The meeting was cut short as they were reminded why they were there in the first place. Matthias walked down the hall with Inej and Jesper hot on his heels. “Nina?” he called out, his voice more accented than it was normally, which just illustrated how stressed out he was.

“Hey,” she breathed as she rose to her feet. Matthias was by her side in an instant, peeling back the gauze that was just barely soaked with enough blood that it was sticking to the wounds on its own.

Trassel was wuffling and barking to be played with, so Jesper grabbed him under the collar and led him to the back door. “Go run,” he instructed with a firm point to the space that they had for him. He listened and rushed outside so that he could complete his course and get a prize. As soon as the dog had been taken care of, Jesper rushed back to his girlfriend to check on her. “What happened?”

“I was attacked by an old friend of mine’s husband. He was drunk,” Nina explained. She winced as Matthias reached up and peeled the gauze away. It broke some of the scabs that had begun to form there and restarted some of the bleeding.

“Here, why don’t we move to the bathroom to get you cleaned up,” Inej said. She swatted Matthias hand so that he would leave the wounds alone until she could take care of them herself. Matthias did know a decent amount of first aid and wouldn’t make anything horrendously worse, but he wasn’t as knowledgeable as her.

The group moved through the house until they were upstairs in the master bath. While they were walking, the shorter of the two women said, “My name is Inej. You probably guessed that since I’m the only feminine presenting person here that could be called girlfriend,” she chuckled.

“Nina Zenik,” the other replied. “You’re about to go on some sort of tour, aren’t you?”

“I have a couple of shows in Vegas that I’m doing this week,” she nodded. “I was cuddling with the boys while waiting for Wylan to get home when we got his message. I’m the one that knows first aid the best so I got up to help you. It’s wonderful to meet you, Nina, even if I wish it was under better circumstances.”

“At least we got to bring it forward?” she offered with a light laugh.

The master bathroom was huge, so it was no trouble for the five of them to get inside. Matthias took up the spot on the edge of the tub where he could see all of his partners. Wylan and Jesper stood near the shower part of the room, leaning heavily against the gray colored glass with their fingers interwoven between them. Nina was sat down on the counter space between the two sinks while Inej spread out the things that she would need to check and clean the wounds around them. “How did you get these?” she asked as she turned Nina’s face to the side to get a better look at them.

“Ivan broke a beer bottle above my head and some of the glass got on me,” she said. “I think that they’re mostly just weeping so much because they’re on my face, they don’t feel all that deep.”

“They’re not,” the other woman answered. She got a wet cloth with some antibiotic soap and then carefully began to drag it across the wounds. Nina winced and let out a little whimper, holding her hand out towards Matthias. He was there in a second, threading their fingers together so that she could focus on something other than the pain of having her wounds checked.

Once they were cleaned, Inej put some cream on them that would help fight any leftover bacteria and numb the area to dull the pain. “Do you have any allergies?” she asked as she fished through the pile of band aides. Kaz had topical allergies, bursting into hives whenever he had an adhesive that less than medical grade on his skin.

“No,” Nina replied. “Nothing that you’d have in that kit, anyway.”

Inej plucked one of the larger plasters from the pile and then opened it up. She set it over the biggest of the cuts and then used two smaller bandaids for the others until everything was covered. “I don’t think that there’s anything I can do for that bruise, other than this,” she supplied a small jar containing a balm. “It will sting really bad and it smells quite strong, but it helps aide the healing process.”

Nina glanced towards Wylan and he gave her a confident, reassuring nod. The balm that Inej had was a godsend for sore muscles, which he and Kaz often got. “Alright,” Nina agreed with a little nod. Matthias brought his hand to the side of her head that wasn’t being tended to, running his long fingers through her thick hair as he pressed a kiss to her temple.

Inej’s skilled, calloused fingers dipped into the balm and then began to carefully and evenly spread it across the darkened area on Nina’s face. When she finished, she wiped her hands off on a baby wipe and offered Nina a makeup remover wipe. “If you’re going to be staying here tonight then I think you’d like to be comfortable.”

“Yes, thank you,” she replied as she took the offered object. Inej cleaned up the rest of the scraps before she ushered the other two boys out of the room. Wylan and Jesper hung in the background long enough to hear them making plans about clothing and where she might sleep.

Eventually, Wylan tugged his boyfriend down to the kitchen so that he could cook something. Eating always settled their nerves and made them feel better, especially since they had both been rather food insecure at one point in their lives. Jesper jumped up onto the island counter in the center of the room, folding his legs underneath him to make balancing easier while watching Wylan working. “So what happened?”

“Well, I got lost in my work, which is why I was late coming home,” he winced. He had forgotten to properly apologize for that and bringing it up had reminded both of them that it had happened in the first place. He set down the tortillas and cheese that he had gotten out of the fridge as he walked over to Jesper. He wrapped his arms around the other man’s waist to bring them closer together, knocking their foreheads together softly. “I’m sorry for not texting you as soon as I realized what time it was and for losing track of time. I know you worry about us when we go silent.”

“Inej had to talk me down like four times. I was a second away from texting Nina to get reassurance that you were alright and she doesn’t know anything about that particular issue yet,” Jesper mumbled. He was pouting slightly but there was real hurt behind his words.

“I’m sorry,” Wylan apologized again. He brushed their lips together in a sweet yet chaste kiss to accent the words with something positive.

It worked and the anger immediately drained from Jesper. “I know. I just worry that something bad has happened to you guys when you don’t respond like that. Like with my mom…”

“I love you,” Wylan whispered as he brought their lips together for another sweet kiss. Jesper’s mom was a sensitive topic that would result in a lot of feelings about his own mother, feelings that Wylan wasn’t quite emotionally prepared to look into that night.

“I love you, too, baby,” he mumbled as he held the side of Wylan’s face.

Neither of them had been able to clock the sound of the garage opening and shutting over Trassel’s barking from the backyard. They lived far enough away from the city that sometimes he found deer and foxes out past the fence that he wanted to talk big game about but could never dream of ever getting to, so they tuned out the sound of his barking at that tempo. They both realized what he had been barking at when the door to the garage shut and Kaz said, “I thought that we had agreed no food was to be left out on the counter.”

Wylan broke away from his boyfriend and then flushed when he realized that he had been caught. They were supposed to make sure that anything that wasn’t actively being eaten or used was put away to make sure that their mischievous puppy didn’t devour it and make himself sick. “I’m sorry, I was supposed to be cooking something for myself since I missed dinner but then Jesper and I got talking and that led to…” he trailed off and felt his face flush harder. “Sorry.”

Clearing his throat loudly to get the attention on himself, Jesper jumped off of the counter and stuffed the food back into the fridge. “That is enough apologizing from Wylan! We don’t want our sweet boy thinking that he has done all the wrong in the world, after all,” he grinned as he wrapped his arms around the aforementioned man’s waist.

“Jesper,” he complained as he was bombarded with kisses. He knew that part of it was actual adoration for him and the other part was the actor trying to make sure that his anxiety didn’t overwhelm him. When it was clear that Jesper wasn’t going to stop anytime soon, Wylan turned to face their boyfriend, “You’re home early. Is everything okay?”

“It was a slow night and I thought that you would all be able to use me here more,” he replied. “Also, I got you all something to eat.”

He placed the bags of food down on the table and Wylan felt his heart sing. It was hard for Kaz to show love in the same way that Jesper did, but his actions meant so much in their relationship. “Thank you,” he breathed as he tried not to cry from how overwhelmed he felt.

“You’re alright,” Kaz reminded him gently as he brought their lips together in a very chaste kiss. That was all that Wylan was going to be able to get from his partner after work. Even if the Crow Club had only a dozen patrons, the amount of strangers that he had to be around when he was working often overwhelmed Kaz to the point where he didn’t feel safe being touched unless he instigated it. He had updated the group chat when he had been in the office for half an hour, which Wylan had seen just before he realized what time it was.

They moved to the living room with the food and an extra set of paper towels. The living room was their biggest work in progress yet since it had been a formal parlor before they had moved in. They were slowly replacing all of the hyper modern furniture with the more vintage pieces that they preferred, which meant that seating was a little bit sparse at the moment. The most modern piece that they had left in the room was the sectional that could transform into a big enough space for all five of them to cuddle together when they wanted to. The TV stand was pulled straight out of the sixties, reshaped by Matthias and Jesper so that it could actually fit their flat screen in the middle of display case. The rug and coffee table had been picked out by Inej, both of them reminiscent of how her house had been decorated before her parents’ accident.

The trio settled in to eat what Kaz had picked up for them, Wylan and Jesper both sitting on the ground with their backs pressed to the couch while Kaz sat in the armchair that he had gotten to help with his pain before they had even moved in. Other than his clothes, it was the only thing from his old apartment above the Crow Club that he had brought with him.

About fifteen minutes later they heard some of their partners coming down the stairs and turned the TV off. Nina was walking hand-in-hand with Matthias, wearing a pair of Jesper’s sweatpants and one of Matthias’ shirts since everyone else had a vastly different body shape compared to her.

“Hey baby,” Jesper said as he moved onto the couch. She smiled, trying to hold back tears as she trekked over to him. She collapsed down onto the couch, her legs pulled up near his chest and her head immediately on his shoulder. He moved his arm around her back and pressed a kiss over the top of the band aids on her forehead. “How are you doing?”

“I’m tired and scared,” she mumbled. “Glad that it was Wylan that helped me, though.”

“Yeah, he is pretty great like that,” Matthias replied. He stooped down and kissed Wylan within an inch of his life. “Thank you for being such an amazing, kindhearted person, min brandstifter.”

“That was one time,” he muttered, his cheeks turning a dark red color with embarrassment.

Inej sat herself down in his lap and stole a couple of his fries. He didn’t mind, since she indulged in processed foods so rarely that she deserved a treat. “It’s fun to tease you.”

He buried his face into her shoulder, which he knew was why she had sat down on him like she had. “Fun for you, maybe.”

Nina laughed, which was a great sound to hear with how clearly worn out she was. The energy in the room got a lot more somber when Jesper asked her once again what had happened. She recounted some elements from her past like she had for Wylan in the car, still refusing to let herself cry. She cuddled in between her boyfriends like they were going to be able to save her from her own bad feelings, something that Wylan remembered doing vividly after he got the news that his father had died.

She finished telling her story and they all agreed to watch something calm to wind down before bed. Wylan finished his food and then gave Inej a sweet kiss on the cheek before he dumped her down onto the couch next to Kaz. He made sure that there was enough space between them that they wouldn’t accidentally crash together. “I’m going to go shower, I know you’ll all probably be in bed by the time I get back,” he sighed. He was both glad and upset that he had gotten off work so late.

“We’ll see you in the morning,” Matthias promised as he tenderly kissed his boyfriend. Jesper mimicked the movement as well before settling in next to Nina.

“I can give you a kiss if you want, but what I really want to do is say thank you,” she replied, witty and sharp-tongued even in her exhaustion.

“I would have done it even if you weren’t dating two of my partners,” he replied as he fought back another blush. The only thing that Kaz was able to do was give his hand a squeeze through the thick leather of his gloves, which Wylan was okay with.

He disappeared up the stairs as exhaustion sunk low into his veins. A lot had happened in one night, but the net effect seemed to be good overall. Nina fit right into their flock like she had been there from the beginning.

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musubiki · 1 year ago

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I'm sort of confused, why does Mochi leave during the time skip???

Also, do you think she'd feel betrayed once learning that Lime joined the m34th?

And do taffy and coco ever get together I need to know-

Your art makes me very happy and gives me a lot of inspiration❤️❤️

AAA TYSM IM GLAD YOU LIKE MY OCS!!!!!!!!!!

the main reason mochi leaves it essentially that her power is growing too strong, beyond what pom even knows how to deal with, and its not safe for her to stay in wessport!! the lore is that in the era in which the witch king is supposed to awaken, the magic in other witches grows stronger to "compensate" and prepare them (so mochi along with the other witches experience their magic growing FAR stronger than that of the witches before them)

up until she leaves, mochi had been in Wessport (the seaside town where she grew up/went to high school/etc) and between pom and tiramisu, they had enough knowledge/magic to help train mochi and clean up any mishaps that might happen during her training to be the cat witch. but when mochis power grows beyond what they expected the then some, the thought was that they need to get her away from people and towns so she doesnt accidentally level a whole city since they dont know what shes capable of anymore.

as for the reason she didnt take her guild with her-- a witch primarily needs a guild during the time period where shes growing into her magic as a means of help and protection (since shes not at full strength, they play the role of bodyguards/extensions/helping hands, essentially). but since mochi is in her full strength, she technically doesnt NEED the guild anymore, and again its safer if shes on her own with just her and pom so she doesnt hurt anyone by accident. so thats the reason why she leaves!!!! (as for WHERE she goes, i imagine its either the mountains or the desert. somewhere far from people and prying eyes where she can just go apeshit with her magic with no consequences)

NOW FOR YOUR OTHER QUESTIONS!!!!!!! yes taffy and coco get together!! after mochi leaves and the guild breaks up, taffy goes with coco since he really has nowhere else to go and shes happy to have him. she wants to get her degree (since its something her parents put on their little bucket list for her), and so taffy offers (insists, really) that he can take care of her while she does her studies. even for the period where she wasnt sure if a relationship was what she wanted at that time, he still stayed with her and supported her (and ofc its hard not to love taffy so eventually shes like "I think we should like. go out. officially." so they get together during the timeskip!!!

and as for limes joining the m34th.......yes, she absolutely feels betrayed. she tries not to, because logically, she did leave them with no mention of where she was going or when (or if) she was coming back, so LOGICALLY they can do whatever they want. and the m34th is a natural choice for a black canvas in the magic community. and he says he only did it to keep busy and do something, but she cant help but wonder if he held some deep-rooted resentment to her thats so bad he would join an organization that exists specifically to suppress magic

#text #lore

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parcequecestnotreprojeeeet · 2 years ago

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Hi, it’s me, Fanfic Anon #2. This is a little different from me, but I figured we could all use something a little different given the ~situation ~ at the moment. Hope you all enjoy!

She couldn’t keep her eyes off him. She kept trying to subtly sneak glances of him sitting in the seat next to her, trying to take in his beautiful profile, his chin, his nose; the way he looked in that suit sitting there next to her, perfectly tailored to his broad shoulders; the way his hand looked holding hers on the middle seat between them, so big, so strong, so gentle, so perfectly encapsulating her own. But she could tell from the smirk she could slowly see spreading across his face he could tell what she was up to.

"See something you like?" He teased, finally turning to look at her, his thumb moving to gently rub circles on the back of her hand.

"Mhmm," she replied non-verbally, beginning to blush slightly.

"Well, that’s good, because I happen to have my eyes set on this beautiful blonde who is way out of my league -"

"Emmanuel," she cut him off in a clear ‘cut-it-out’ tone of voice.

"I’m very serious. It’s taking all the self-control I have right now not to order them to turn this car around. You are so beautiful, chérie."

"You clean up well yourself," she replied, delighting in his free chuckle in response.

"Now, what are your thoughts about after we finish for the night?" He asked teasingly, moving his free hand to her thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Well, I hadn’t thought that far,” she smirked back. “Do you have some ideas you want to share?”

“A couple. Maybe you, me, a couple of glasses of wine, some candles, and a bubble bath?”

“Mhmm,” she made a show of considering the proposal, before countering, “that’s a good start. But I have a couple of suggestions.”

“I’m all ears,” he smiled.

She leaned over to whisper directly in his ear, “let’s just skip to the good part.”

He coughed to clear his throat at the image. “Driver,” he called out from the back seat, “how long do we have before we arrive?”

“About 20 minutes sir,” the driver answered in reply.

“Perfect! Thank you!” He called back before turning to his wife eyes dark and laser focused on the task at hand, “we’re going to need to make this fast.”

“We can take our time later,” she agreed with a wink, before reaching out and linking her hands in his hair, pulling him into her, just as desperate as he was.

Hellooo fanfic Anon #2! ❤️

Oh I like Emmanuel’s plan a lot!

Brigitte, you little sneak! hahaha I’m just imagining the driver trying to focus on the road and them making out in the back seat 🤭

Thank you so much, fanfic Anon #2! ❤️❤️❤️

#fanfic #fanfic anon 2

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lususnatura · 4 months ago

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sensual sex in a secluded meadow during a picnic.

it was a bright, sunny day outside; one that was perfect for a picnic. and since blamore had already set out to hangout with its partner, renfield, that day — it thought 'why not make a suggestion to change their plans to spend some time outside?' blamore almost could never get enough sun anyhow with his transformation making it necessary for him to sunbathe every day. and luckily enough, things seemed to turn out in his favor, because renfield expressed that she would be up for that. which made it hard for blamore to stop smiling even now that they were in the meadow that he imagined the both of them in before.

one of the perks about having a job that was flexible was that you got to explore a lot. and granted that he'd come across the field that they were in now while doing so by accident one day was full of beautiful flora, as well as fawna, as far as the eyes could see made blamore want to keep a mental note of it for the potential future. that future apparently being the present, to be exact, for it was also important to note that it was private. thus — the both of them could feel free to be themselves in a place like it, and with some picnic food to pair along with that, it turned out to be a pretty good date idea so far. blamore let out a content sigh as he had turned his back to renfield for the first time during it to gather up some rocks they could skip across the pond near them.

but blamore would soon come to find out that letting his guard down around a renfield whom he'd just gotten through a conversation with him regarding how it believed she could never sneak up on him, might've been a bad idea. it was pretty much eating its words now as the creature had all but been tackled by renfield as a way to say 'yes, i can actually sneak up on you' nonverbally. though because it'd been done in a playful way... blamore didn't get mad and instead, thought to challenge them by saying she might be able to do that, but she couldn't possibly find a way to win against him in wrestling. 'i'm just too strong for that,' it remembered telling her in a cheeky way, and that's how things ended up escalating between them.

maybe it was the fact that they were just so close to each other, or that blamore thought they looked so stunning that day, or a mix of both of those things. the fact remained that when renfield had managed to pin it down, blamore's lower half revealed itself to be hard. this changed the tone between them rather quickly as he took the plunge to kiss them and clothes were suddenly being thrown to the ground after they'd started to kiss fervently. blamore panted as they had pretty much all but decided to have normal sex, but then blamore spoke up, ❝ hey, i kind of... want to try something we haven't done yet before. would that be alright with you, chérie? ❞

it's length started to get flushed in color just by the thought of how enticing it would be to be able to touch every inch of renfield's skin with his tongue after putting some of the whipped cream he'd packed from a dessert on her body. ❝ i want to spread the cream topping we have in the basket all over your body and lick it off. though i promise that i'd clean you up afterwards, so it wouldn't be sticky. ❞ he sat up and put a hand on her bare hip after a light blush dusted across his cheeks, ❝ would that, uh... possibly be something you're interested in? ❞

#bughoused #tw: suggestive #tw: usfw;#me getting through some of my stuff here finally like: muahaha *evilly rubs hands together* / j ahahhh i'm just kidding but-#them having a picnic and doing something with food just. made sense to me so i felt like i had to do this LMAO though it's fine if ren-#doesn't want to do it OFC as blamore would only ever act with her consent

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dawnlotus1 · 6 months ago

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Okay so this is a mix of my HCs, HCs I’ve seen somewhere and adopted, and straight up canon lmao.

Dakota Damascus, when he lived with Aunt Alaska, would always keep the space around him clean. He had a specific spot on the couch that was his spot that was spotless. His room was spotless. His spot at the dinner table. His aunts stuff was everywhere, everything from just junk, to her bottles and cigarettes and paraphernalia, to stuff for him, snacks, clothes lots and lots of dirty dishes. She just didn’t go a very good job of cleaning up after herself. It wasn’t her fault. Whenever she saw Dakota trying the clean any of her messes she would start doing it herself to save him the trouble, before giving up again. Eventually Dakota just cleaned up after himself. It was like they shared two parallel spaces within the apartment.

Additionally, Dakota doesn’t have much care for material possessions. Alaska brought him gifts and things, but none of them suited him very well except the comic books. He much preferred when they went out and did things together, like go skydiving or to an amusement park, because it meant a lot more to him that she was happy too and enjoying herself. Something that a “object for him” didn’t guarantee. Actually seeing her smile was worth way more.

Also this one is basically canon, but Dakota was the number one bully control in all of his schools. No anti bullying campaign was as effective as getting the shit beat out of you by Dakota. God forbid he caught you in the act. This got him in a lot of trouble with adults and he got several talking to’s a week. Whenever he told Aunt Alaska the story though she approved and got them ice cream. He was very friendly and made friends quick, but changed schools often and had to leave them before too long.

I’m not 100% sold that Katori just slipped. She said “what if could fly” before it happened. We know she was battling something, whether it was home life stuff or something else entirely. We met her mom, very powerful and exuded perfectionism who seemed to have a lot of expectations for her. After hearing Dakota’s stories about his escapades she joined him in skipping school and climbing around the city. They bonded over their mutual love for super heroes. She called their outings “dates” though Dakota didn’t feel that way, and she may not have either and just wanted to put some kind of importance on their connection -and liked to tease him. Her mother called her Tori, Dakota called her Kat. The possibility that she wanted to someone to remember her in a very specific way before disappearing isn’t lost on me. Now Dakota can’t remember her face. Maybe she wanted to be saved, and maybe she really thought that that fall would finally bring about Dakota’s powers he always said would happen.

In a way it did.

Ironically, for having an artificial heart Dakota’s character is all about the genuine heart, quite literally his heart is too big for his body. He feels too much. This isn’t a new development when he gets the artificial heart nor does it go away after the second transplant, but I find the symbolism so cool. Also his heart literally was going to kill him one day. Just like kindness and empathy so often leads to doom for heroes.

Dakota described himself as really skinny and bony when he was a child. Now especially with the new heart he’s always eating. He said he was physically too weak to pull Kat up. First thing he does out of the hospital is tear himself apart to get stronger. First he runs into the woods because he just can’t take it anymore. He finds people who can make him strong who beat him until the pain is all he can think about and there is nothing more he can do to fix himself. He pushes himself to the very limits and beyond because anything less is not repentance for not being able to do what he needed to do. He cannot accept failure from himself. He does this exact same thing after Ashe is turned. Drops everything. And out of guilt and shame and denial he has to remove himself because in the state he’s in he’s not good enough to be there, he’s not strong enough to deal with it. He’s got to go pay the price for that.

Dakota uses working out as a way to self harm. Training is something that people encourage instead of reproach. Working out, training, it’s always good right? No one worries about it. The pain means you’re growing. His muscles ache and hurt all of the time but he likes it because he knows he’s still moving in the right direction. If it doesn’t hurt he gets restless that he’s wasting time, he must be constantly improving or when he eventually doesn’t measure up it will be his fault. (I could write an entire essay about specifically this but I’ll stop here)

Last thing I’ll mention in this post. Since living with the prime defenders he’s lost the habit of keeping his space neat and tidy. He lets himself relax. He eats as much as he wants because there is no one else who needs the food. He only gives up the mechanical heart because his friends can pick up his supposed slack, and he finally wants to show his younger self that he didn’t need powers to be a hero.

Hi dawn im thinking about dakota cole too hard again and put on the ghostkicks playlist to cope do you have dakota thoughts to share

Hihihihihihihi M!!! Okay so I don’t always like the way tumblr formats answers especially when they get really long and I feel like they get trunkated - so I’m going to reblog this with my answer ^^ thank you for the ask I think about Dakota Cole so much pls help me.

#okay okay literlaly this could be so so long but I’m already pushing it #I can be normal I CAN BE NORMAL #Dakota Cole you will always be famous #THANK YOU FOR THE ASK #COME AGAIN #please #cough #dakota cole #dakota damascus #viv-weylin #dawnanswers #dawnsays

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euphoria--writing · 3 years ago

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Perfectly imperfect | Rue Bennett x Reader

Summary: What if Jules never came back?

Pairing: Rue Bennett x Reader

Word count: 0.7k

Warning: mention of mental health and addiction

Prompt: Rue falling in love again after Jules

Please keep sending requests!!

The love Rue felt for Jules was so strong and beautiful that Rue never thought of the reversed feelings she'd have to go through if their relationship ever ended. Needless to say, it was hell. She thought no one could ever put her heart together again after she watched Jules leave at the train station. She thought it was broken beyond repair.

Seven months later, she was surprised when she found herself falling in love again.

''I love you.''

''I love you more.''

''That's impossible.'' Rue kissed your face, making you giggle as it tickled.

You were a sucker for soft moments like this. Where it was just you and Rue, staying in and cuddling in bed. It might seem boring to most, but you and Rue were perfectly content doing that. Sometimes, you’d pull out Rue’s laptop and watch movies until one of you fell asleep - usually you.

''Do you want to stay the night? Today's Saturday, my parents won't mind.''

Rue looked down. ''I'm not allowed to sleep over at people's houses...'' she explained, skipping the part why she couldn't. ''But you can sleep over.''

You raised an eyebrow. ''Are you sure? Your mom doesn't like me much...''

Although it's not a necessity, it's always nice to be appreciated by your significant other's parents. Leslie Bennett did not like you. Rue had explained to you that it was nothing against you, but you couldn’t help but take it personal and ask yourself what you did to get on her bad side.

''She does now.''

''What made her change her mind?'' you asked, curious to know what Rue could have told her mom that made her change her mind about you.

''Because you put a smile on my face when everyone else failed to.''

The two of you were sitting cross-legged on Rue's bed when she pronounced the dreaded words.

''There's some things I need to tell you.''

Those words rarely lead to anything good.

Since she and you were getting serious, she figured she should come clean about certain things. Be honest, because honesty is a good base for a relationship.

She looked anxious and was fidgeting with the sleeve of her hoodie, which made you nervous.

Rue was a difficult person to love. Not in a 'she isn't a good person' type of way, but more in a 'she has a lot of baggage'.

When she told you about her addiction, generalized anxiety, OCD, ADD and bipolarity, Rue thought you'd run away, deeply believing that she was a lot to handle. Too much to handle. She was scared that you wouldn't want to pursue your relationship with her because of her baggage.

''You can leave me if this is too much for you. I'm not gonna be upset or anything. I-I understand.''

There were tears in her eyes when you told her that none of these were an obstacle, just things you had to learn to work around and with. That meant giving her space when she needed it, listening to her manic rants, holding her hand when needed and being there for her when she needed a crutch to hold onto. She was the type of person who craved emotional support and needed constant validation that she wasn't reading the situation wrong.

''There's this whole part of me, the addict part, you haven't seen yet and I'm afraid you're not going to like it and leave me because I'd leave me too,'' she said, her voice cracking. ''I say mean things and hurt people and-''

''Rue.'' You tilted her chin up, caressing her cheek sweetly while holding her gaze. ''None of this is gonna drive me away. I love you the way you are. Perfectly imperfect.''

She sniffled, wiping traces of tears on her cheek with the back of her sleeve. ''You still love me?''

A smile broke on your face. You nodded and kissed her cheek where tears used to be.

#rue bennett #rue x reader #rue bennett x reader #rue bennett imagine #euphoria #euphoria imagines #euphoria fic #there's not really a plot in this #just a small blurb of rue and reader

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zbeez-outlet · 3 years ago

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Hey Bee! Hope you're well!💖

I saw requests are open, so I thought I might jump in! I've been experiencing a lot of body aches (strong, random cramps) lately, so how about something with Levi taking care of his tired and achy s/o? 💕

Sending you lots of love!💞

— whattheheckmidoriya ♡

Soft End to a Hard Day

Levi x Reader

Established Relationship

Canon Universe

Concept: see request above!

Summary: Levi is nothing if not observant. He's not always the best with his words or the most graceful with his actions, but he watches. He sees. And, as much as you try to hide it, try to work through it silently, he sees you in pain. Grimacing, hunched in a way your normally prim posture would never allow, deeply exhausted. It's unacceptable.

Warnings: descriptions of body aches, non-sexual nudity (I wrote this with a female reader in mind, but there isn't any language that actually indicates female anatomy or gender identity) (If I missed anything, please let me know)

A/N: Sorry this took a little while to get to, but I love the prompt! I've been having some bad cramps too, I hope you're feeling better @whattheheckmidoriya and you enjoy this piece. My asks are open if you want to send in a request or any questions or comments! I'm planning to take a short break from writing Levi for awhile as much as I love him because I want to explore some different content and I still have so many requests to go through for him. Check out my submission guidelines to see what other fandoms I write for. If you don't see one on that list, message me about a fandom you're more interested in and if I'm familiar with it then we can work something out! Thanks for reading!

Levi used to have to knock before entering your office. Out of respect, propriety, professionalism, he had to knock.

Before he took the time to know you through late night debates about tea and politics and cleaning techniques, he had to knock. Before a dinner spent under the stars and the first kiss of his life, he had to knock. Before he knew what it meant to love someone with a weather-beaten heart, Levi had to knock.

He doesn't have to knock anymore.

The hinges on your door are well-oiled and smooth as he nudges the heavy wood with his hip, a tray of tea balanced steadfastly in his hands. You've always been amusingly peculiar about door hinges, once ranting to him for nearly an hour about the grating sound of squeaking metal. It's a small chore added to his list of dozens, oiling the hinges on your door, but he hardly minds. Not when something so simple, so easy to fix, can brighten your smile.

He finds you slumped at your desk, shoulders curving uncomfortably inward as you grumble through a grueling stack of paperwork, not even looking up at him when the tray taps down on the table. Levi sighs, knowing these days, knowing the protective bend of your spine and the gentle shake in your locked fingers as you write. The pain must be bad today.

"You skipped dinner again," Levi grumbles through the clinking of porcelain cups.

You prefer your tea sweeter than his own, one of the many debates that left him both amused and frustrated just before dawn at the beginning of your relationship. Busying his hands with the sugar, he chances a glance at your wilted form, hiding a dissatisfied frown behind his teeth.

Shoulders somehow hunching even further as you seem to curl into yourself on the chair, you barely murmur a half-hearted apology as you pull another blank form in front of you. "Didn't mean to, next time," you promise, but Levi knows you, he sees you, and that promise means little in the face of your furrowed brow and scrunched nose, tears building in your eyes.

Sighing again, Levi rounds your desk to stand by your side, reaching forward to run his fingers through your hair. "When did it start?" He keeps his voice low, as soothing as he can manage while you lean into the gentle caress of his hand.

"Since I woke up this morning." You seem ashamed, face pressing into his stomach as if you want to hide from him. His heart aches at the notion. "It wasn't bad, I thought...I don't know, I thought it'd pass I guess, I wanted it to, but..." you trail, air stuttering through an attempted deep breath. "It never does."

"How bad?"

The choked sob that leaves you shaking in his arms is answer enough. Levi's jaw clenches, wishing he could take this pain for you, wishing he could fix it as easily as the squeaky door hinges. He kneels beside you, cradling your head against the curve of his neck and wrapping his other arm around your trembling shoulders, and he waits. He holds you through the chest cracking sobs, through your mumbled whimpers, through your strength creaking under the weight of a long day. Your jobs don't allow for much reprieve, you both know that, and having body aches - no matter how crippling they may be - cannot get in the way of your responsibilities for the day. With lives on the line, you just can't take that needed time for yourself.

But the day is over, he muses, eyeing the darkened windows and scattering of candles around the room. Reluctantly, he pulls back from your embrace. His palms move up to your cheeks, warm and strong and holding you together the best he can. Your skin shines with tears and pain, eyes red in the glow from the nearest candle. Exhaustion weighs down your eyelids.

"Drink the tea, you need something warm in your stomach. I'll get the bath ready." He presses his lips to your forehead, hoping you can feel his love and patience and devotion through the simple action. He doesn't move until you give him an affirming nod, and he doesn't make his way to the adjoining bathroom until he sees you take your first sip, that familiar contented sigh spurring him on.

He stops at your linen closet to grab towels and some loose pajamas for the night before making his way into the bathroom. Drawing the bath barely takes five minutes, the majority of that time spent picking the right bath salts to hopefully soothe your muscles and aches. It's steaming by the time he's done, the glass of the mirror fogged up, calming soft floral scents puffing into the air.

You're already standing in the doorway when he turns to get you, a sad attempt at a smile pulling at your lips, tears brimming in your eyes. Levi opens his arms, practically catching you when you fall into his waiting embrace. He gives you a few warm silent moments in his arms before gently coaxing you towards the tub.

"Do you want me to stay?"

It's not always a given that you want his help through these aches. Sometimes you're embarrassed - though he never quite understood why when this was all out of your control. Sometimes you worry too much about how the aches make you treat him, sentences short and aggressive only in the way pain pulses in your words. Levi has never blamed you for a second of it, especially not with his own shortcomings in tone and aggression, but he always wants you to know that you have the choice. That you don't have to go through these days alone, not anymore.

"Please," bubbles pitifully from between your lips.

Levi softens the sharp edges of his face as much as he can, stepping forward to help you out of your clothes. Tossing the discarded fabric in the hamper you placed in the corner of the bathroom, he keeps one hand steady at the small of your back and the other bracing your elbow as he helps you lower into the heated water. You groan when you sit, some baffling combination of relief and pain as you try to settle in the steam. Levi encourages you to lean back against the edge of the tub, rolling up his sleeves and reaching for the basket of luxury soaps you usually keep under the sink for special occasions.

"Do you want your hair washed?" You shake your head, eyes closing as you sink further into the comfort of the warm water. Levi quickly ties up your hair to keep it from getting wet - loose so you don't get a headache - because if you're not washing it, why bother with the lengthy drying process afterward? "Tell me if you want me to stop, if anything hurts to much or you're just uncomfortable, okay?" He doesn't move until you nod.

He snags your favorite scented body soap and lathers his hands in it. Levi starts with your feet, digging his thumbs into your aching arches and kneading the calluses on your heels. Your ankles are sharp against his palms and as he moves up your calves with firm but gentles strokes of his hands, you sigh contentedly at the head of the bath. He lathers his hands again after kneading at the tense muscles in your thighs, meeting your eyes again to check on how you're feeling, only continuing when you give him that ever important nod.

Intimacy in nearly any capacity was foreign territory for Levi before this relationship, something so unfamiliar and daunting that haunted him in many ways. But for you, he learned. For you, he ventured into that foreign territory. For you, he made a home there. Touching like this is now as easy and as welcoming as breathing.

Levi is extra gentle as he massages your hips, pelvis, and lower back where he knows most of the pain is localized. You grimace a few times, and every time he asks if you want him to stop, if it's too much, but you always assure him that it's okay, that it's helping even if it's hurting a little bit too. He makes his way up the bend of your spine, rubbing away the thick knots he finds between your shoulder blades and curving his thumbs up the slope of your neck. Each arm takes the longest because he uses so much care and attention on both of your hands and wrists, pressing into your palms and firmly caressing every knuckle.

You sigh when he announces he's done, standing up with his help when the water is verging on just a tad too cold for comfort. Carefully, he guides you from the tub so you don't slip and grabs one of the towels he left on the vanity. Levi dries you off rather quickly, one hand steady on your back to keep you balanced throughout the process.

"Sit here." He motions to the lid of the toilet, returning your little amused huff with an equally amused roll of his eyes. "Just do it, brat," he teases between his teeth, grabbing for the jar of lotion he bought for you ages ago from an apothecary in town. The older woman running the shop had assured him the cream would relax muscle pains, and while it probably wouldn't do much for the cramping in your abdomen, it would curb the sharpness of the rest of your aches.

Levi repeats the same motions he did in the bath with the lotion, reveling in the softness of your skin, every dip and curve and bend in your body. He feels blessed, which isn't a word he'd ever say aloud, but he can't find a better one. Blessed you trust him with your body, with your pains. Blessed to see your vulnerabilities, your beauty, the parts of you that no one else could see. Blessed to learn about love from you, through you, for you.

He wishes with every beat of his heart he could take this pain from you, but at the same time...Levi treasures these moments. Sometimes it makes him feel guilty, for how could he treasure something that can leave you breathless and teary-eyed from the hurt of it all? But he knows, and you know, it's not those aching grimaces he treasures, but the contented sighs and softening smiles as he massages your joints and kisses your cheeks.

When he's finished massaging you for the second time, Levi helps you into the loose pajamas he grabbed, just some soft cotton shorts and an oversized shirt that may have been his at one point. He strips down to his briefs, always a bit on the warmer side, and together you slip under the covers of your bed.

Levi has always liked your bed better than his own, which is probably why most of your shared nights are spent there. Somehow your mattress is just a tad bit softer, and you splurged on some less itchy sheets and blankets than the ones provided by the military. Plus, it smells overwhelmingly of you, and he privately relishes in being surrounded by your scent.

Your back is pressed to his chest, and he lets you guide his warm hands down to the dip of your abdomen. He gets the hint and ever so gently rubs at the aches he knows have built up under your skin and deep in your gut. You curl up against him, and he gladly wraps himself around you.

"Thank you." Levi feels the words more than hears them as they puff along his arm, the butterfly touch of your lips following soon after. "I love you."

He closes his eyes, soaking in the weight and wonder of those three little words. "I love you too, always," he whispers reverently against your hair, arms tightening around you as if you'll disappear. "Get some sleep."

#levi x reader #levi ackerman x reader #levi ackerman x you #levi x you #attack on titan #aot fanfiction #fanfic #levi ackerman #aot x reader

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luminnara · 4 years ago

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It’s Been A Long, Long Time | Alpha!Bucky x Omega! reader Part 2

Summary: When HYDRA had their prized asset, the Winter Soldier, they did something no one ever thought was possible: they gave super soldier serum to an omega. With the sole purpose of tending to him during his ruts, she spends decades living in HYDRA facilities, denied her humanity and her life. Now, years later, Bucky Barnes has his mind and his own life back...and the last thing he ever expects is to see a familiar omega again. Bucky/OC, a little angsty but mostly smutty/fluffy/romantic!

Part one | Part two | Part three |

Warnings: NSFW, Knotting, ABO

Tags: @kyrah-williams @oceanmermaidwitch

The soldier’s rut seemed to come around on a perfect schedule. Like clockwork, every few months Amoretta would be pulled out of her usual living space and sent to the rutting cell to wait for him. Sometimes, he came in smelling fresh and clean, like they had just hosed him down. Other times, he was covered in dirt and blood, most of which didn’t seem to be his own. She didn’t care; her heart soared every time she heard his heavy boots stomping towards her, and she always faced him with a confident, even gaze.

They would spend his rut together, the soldier knotting her over and over until it passed. He grew bolder with her, showing her affection she never thought he was capable of. He would carefully lay her down on her side so that he could curl around her, waiting for his knot to go down so that he could start all over again. His hands became increasingly gentle, calloused fingertips brushing over her folds carefully as he tried to pull those beautiful moans out of her throat.

He often succeeded; Amoretta woke up to his touch more times than she could count, her thighs already trembling as he played with her clit. The soldier was good at getting her ready for him, though she was almost always prepared to take his cock anyways. Her body responded to him eagerly, slick always pooling between her legs whenever he was nearby. She couldn’t even imagine what it would feel like if HYDRA didn’t have her on so many heat suppressants.

Even without her hormones raging, she was falling for him. He was big and strong and protective, always putting himself between her and the guards whenever they appeared in the doorway. If it weren’t for his trigger words, Amoretta was positive he would tear them apart before they even got close to her. Did that mean he felt the same way about her, too? Or was she just being a silly omega, stuck in a cold series of tunnels, latching onto the only alpha she was ever permitted contact with?

She couldn’t tell.

She didn’t really care.

All she knew was that she wanted him. She had begun looking forward to his ruts, and by the end of her first year in captivity, her body had begun being able to predict when they were coming without the use of a calendar. It was like waking up on Christmas Day, excitement flooding her while she waited for the guards to come let her out of her cell. It always put her in a good mood, knowing that she was about to see the one person who seemed to care about her in that godforsaken place.

And he did.

He cared.

Whenever he saw her, the soldier felt his chest swelling with happiness. There were no bond marks on either of them, but she was his, and she knew it. His omega knew that he was there to keep her safe. He was driven by a simple urge to take care of her whenever he saw her, his need to protect her always taking over his mind. She was so much smaller than him, but she took him so well and fit so perfectly against his chest when they laid together. He never wanted it to end.

“Alpha?” She asked one night, voice barely louder than a whisper.

His knot had gone down a little while earlier, but he was too exhausted by a full day of fucking to go at it again yet. Instead, he was dozing, an arm draped over her protectively while she snuggled up against his chest.

“Hm?” He grunted, cracking an eye open.

“Do you…” she sighed. “Never mind.”

He was fully awake now, both eyes open as he looked at her. “Do I what?”

She bit her lip, feeling stupid. “Do you think we would be together outside of this place?”

He was silent as he thought about it. He didn’t know anything other than HYDRA. Shit, he had never stopped to wonder if there was anything other than HYDRA. Did he have a life besides killing? He had no memory of it, if he did.

“I’m sorry, it’s dumb.” Amoretta said, burying her face against his chest. “Forget it.”

“‘Mega,” his chest rumbled with the word. “It’s not dumb.”

“Then why didn’t you answer?” She huffed.

He snorted quietly. There it was again. That brazen attitude she always had.

“Because...I don’t remember anything outside of this.” He finally said.

Amoretta looked at him. “Nothing at all?”

“It’s always been HYDRA.” He didn’t sound too concerned.

She frowned. “Well...if it wasn’t. If we were just two normal people.”

“Normal?”

“You know.” She couldn’t help but smile a little. “Just...two people, living in a city—“

“New York.” He interrupted quietly.

She paused. “New York?”

“A city. To live in.” He said. “New York.”

Her brow furrowed slightly. Why would he choose New York? It was a large city, to be sure, but it seemed out of character for him to interrupt with something like that, especially considering that they were currently being kept somewhere under Eastern Europe. They were as far away from the States as they could get, and she had expected to be talking about someplace like Paris, or Moscow, or Berlin.

She knew the soldier was someone HYDRA had captured a while ago, which meant he had to have had some sort of life before they pumped him full of the serum. Could this be part of it? Was he...remembering? If he was, she wanted to know more. All HYDRA used her for was getting their asset through his ruts, so she had plenty of time to think, and plenty more time to be curious. The most interesting thing in the compound with her was him, and she had spent hours just wondering about him. This could be her chance to actually get him talking about something other than rutting, and she wanted to encourage more.

“Okay, New York.” She said, a reassuring hand on his arm. “What part?”

He thought for a moment, trying to concentrate. “Brooklyn.”

“Why Brooklyn?”

The soldier shrugged. “Heard about it. I think.”

“Never been there?”

“...I don’t know.”

“Hmph.” She played with a strand of his dark hair. “If we lived in Brooklyn, what kind of life would we have?”

“A house,” he said.

“We’d have a house?”

He nodded, his nose finding the scent gland on her neck and rubbing against it. “Filled with lots...and lots...of pups…”

Her heart skipped a beat and she immediately felt heat coiling around in her belly. She couldn’t help it; she was pre programmed to get excited at the concept of being bred. Even without her heats, the thought filled her chest with butterflies.

“Wanna breed you…” his voice pulled her back to reality.

Amoretta licked her lips, grinning. “Then breed me, Alpha.”

He let out a playful growl, somehow finding the strength to roll her onto her front and grab her hips. He held onto her tightly enough to leave little red marks, but he never had to worry; she was strong. She was made for him. He knew that she could take whatever he gave her.

“Want my knot?” The soldier asked, toying with her wet folds for a few moments before he shoved his cock inside of her.

“Y-yes, Alpha!” She squealed, pussy immediately tightening around him. She had grown so used to his size by now, she hardly even needed any preparation to take him. Her body accepted his girth eagerly, wanting nothing more than to feel his knot catching on her.

He groaned appreciatively as he began thrusting in and out of her, setting a lazy pace for himself. “‘M gonna fill you up, Omega...gonna fill you up, get you nice and pupped…”

Her cheeks were flushed as she listened to him, skin burning as her alpha fucked her. She loved the sound of his voice. She loved everything about him.

“Please,” she moaned, melting down against the sheets.

“Yeah?” He let go of her hips, moving both hands to hold her ass. He gave it a squeeze, chest rumbling happily at the feeling of so much supple flesh in his grip. “Fuck, omega...my pretty ‘mega…”

She sighed happily, her pussy squeezing his cock as a little orgasm fluttered through her. He was good at that, and giving her those tiny little ones every so often with nothing but his words.

He snarled at the feeling. He wanted more.

A metal hand snaked around her front, finding her clit and rubbing it roughly. She immediately cried out, surprised by the sudden stimulation, and it wasn’t long before her thighs were shaking and she was a moaning, crying mess underneath her soldier. How did he know what to do? Why did he even care if she got off, when she was only there to please him?

He had to be more than just a flesh and bone HYDRA machine. She knew he had to be.

As she tipped over the edge, he followed close behind, his breath hot on the back of her neck as he bit into her shoulder. The pain felt dull, despite his massive fangs tearing into her. It always did; Amoretta was never worried about it, often sporting bruises and bite marks after her soldier mounted her. With the quickened healing abilities her body now had, nothing lasted very long before fading anyways.

She wished they would stick around, though. She wanted to feel claimed.

She felt his knot swelling and she sighed happily, slumping down onto the cot as he pressed his chest against her back. He began lazily licking at her shoulder, swiping his tongue over the bloody wound to soothe it.

“One day,” he grumbled, “One day, ‘m gonna mark you.”

Her breath caught in her throat.

“Wh-what?” She asked, looking back at him.

He nodded, sure of himself. “You’re my omega. An’ one day, I’m gonna make sure everybody knows.”

—

How many years did she spend there, in HYDRA’S compounds? After the first, it was easy to lose track. She was kept on a monotonous schedule that consisted of a few feedings a day, exercise sessions, and the occasional “doctor’s visit.” Those always just meant that her suppressants were being increased, as her body was growing steadily angrier about them. She was building up a tolerance, the doctor said, and they would simply have to keep ramping up her dosage.

She dared to ask why they couldn’t just let her have heats like normal, and the answer was simply that they didn’t have the facilities ready to raise super soldier pups. The thought of being separated from her own offspring mortified her; it was bad enough that she was always so far away from her alpha, and she knew she couldn’t bear to give up her pups for some twisted HYDRA program.

So she shut up, and learned to deal with the side effects of the suppressants. They made her constantly nauseous, not enough to make her vomit, but definitely enough that she was uncomfortable all day. As her dosage increased, so did her headaches, and there were moments she considered begging the doctors to take her off of them so that she could feel at least some relief.

But she knew that would be a bad idea. She had to continue acting like she had absolutely no interest in returning to her normal heat cycle, or else risk HYDRA thinking about how quickly they could get things ready to start a new super soldier program. Amoretta wanted to keep their minds off of it for as long as she possibly could, and it seemed like she was successful; it never came up during her visits to the lab, the doctors seeming much more focused on how to keep her from getting pregnant at all.

It was for the best. She knew that. But part of her whined and yearned to be allowed to start a little family with her alpha, even though he hadn’t given her a bond mark. With every rut she spent with him, she felt herself growing more and more comfortable at his side, wishing more and more that they were normal people. She wanted to live that life in Brooklyn with him, to smell fresh air again instead of the recycled oxygen they pumped through the compound.

Sometimes, Amoretta was moved to different facilities. They were always underground, always just as gray and dingy as all the others. The guards always tranquilized her in order to transport her, and she would wake up in a similar, yet different cell from the last, groggy and even more nauseous than usual. She figured they were moving both her and the soldier around, depending on where they wanted to send him off on missions. She just wished that she could go outside once in a while, too.

One night, she got her chance.

She woke up early, her body fighting off the tranquilizer she had been given. She could tell that she was in a cramped, dark transport crate, moonlight filtering in through the air holes on the top of it. Fresh air was coming in, too, the scent of grass and pine filling her nose. It smelled so delicious that she was gulping in lungfulls, immediately shifting to press her face up against one of the holes.

It was small, barely large enough for her to see out of it, but she could spot a few twinkling stars up above her.

She wanted more.

The crate was heavy, reinforced with metal bars meant to keep her in and the soldier out, but she was determined. She hadn’t seen the outdoors in...shit, decades?

A few good kicks was all it took before she was scrambling out, bare toes digging into the dirt as she stood and looked around. She was in the middle of nowhere, it seemed, a few trucks idling nearby as HYDRA workers moved supplies into the compound.

As soon as they noticed her, she ran, sprinting off into the trees. She could hear shouting behind her, but she didn’t stop, too excited by the feeling of the wind against her bare skin. The night air was cool and refreshing, and as she skidded to a stop at the edge of a field, she could hardly believe she was really outside.

Turning her eyes up to the sky, she let out a happy gasp. The moon was full and bright, an entire galaxy of stars twinkling in the inky blackness of space. Amoretta hadn’t realized how much she missed it.

Heavy footsteps drew her attention away from the stars, but she didn’t turn to look. She could smell her alpha approaching, his scent seeming more curious than angry now that he had found her. He was alone, free of the entourage of guards she had expected to come after her.

“Omega,” he growled, his low voice rumbling.

“Look at them,” she sighed.

He stepped up next to her, his side brushing hers. “At what?” His blue eyes were scanning the treeline, searching for anything that could be threatening his omega. When he found nothing, he tilted his head to look down at her curiously. “What is it?”

“The stars,” she sighed again.

Stars?

He watched her face for a moment, surprised to find her smiling up at the sky. When he finally followed her gaze, he paused to admire the stars. He never really did that, did he? Whenever HYDRA let him out, he was sent with strict orders. There was never any time for stargazing. Though...it was nice, and the look on his omega’s face was even nicer.

“That’s Ursa Major,” she said, pointing up to a collection of stars. “See? It’s a bear.”

The soldier snorted. “I don’t see a bear.”

“Then look harder.”

She glanced over to see him actually squinting, the lower half of his face obscured by the black mask he wore on missions. The sight made her laugh, quiet giggles quickly turning into full, hearty laughter that had her gripping her sides. There he was, a huge, terrifying super soldier, the most dangerous assassin in the world, and he was trying to figure out constellations.

“What?” his head whipped around to look down at her.

“N-nothing,” she giggled.

He gave her an exasperated look. “Are you laughing at me?”

“I might be.” she nudged his side with her shoulder. “You’re just...cute. That’s all.”

She could see him raise an eyebrow. “Cute?”

“Mhm. You know, this is the first time I’ve seen you outside of a rut.” she leaned against him, looking up with big doe eyes. “I like it.”

His chest puffed up a little as he looked down at her. “You do?”

“Of course.”

“Good,” his throat rumbled with a low purr. “I have to take you back now.”

She deflated with a sigh. “Already?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Not safe out here.”

“There’s nothing out here scarier than you, Alpha.”

His purr grew louder, a little more smug. “You’re right. But I have orders.”

“Can we stay for just another minute?” she pleaded. “Then you can drag me back.”

The soldier considered her offer. He really did enjoy watching her gaze up at the stars, and he had no idea when he would get this chance again. “...Fine.”

Amoretta smiled. “Thank you, Alpha.”

His arm found its way around her waist, pulling her up against him. “You like stars, omega?”

“I used to sit outside and look at them every night back home,” she said. “Well, when it was clear.”

“Back home?”

She nodded. “I grew up in this quaint little village, tucked away in the mountains...at the foot of the alps.”

He cocked his head. Something about the alps...it felt like there was a memory nudging at the back of his mind, but he didn’t know why. Maybe he had gone there on a mission? HYDRA was good at always wiping his memory between outings. It was hard to tell where he had been.

“Let’s go.” he said, suddenly uncomfortable.

Amoretta didn’t resist as he scooped her up, instead resting her cheek against his chest and trying to surround herself with his scent while he walked. She could tell that something was bothering him, but with no idea what, and with him nearing the HYDRA base, there was little she could do to try and pry it out of him.

She would just have to wait and try again during his next rut.

#alpha bucky #alpha bucky barnes #abo #omegaverse #it's been a long long time #bucky x reader #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x oc #avengers x reader #avengers x oc

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