#but that doesn’t seem to be enough to make miles glitch

[mikeisthricedeceased]

I had a whole spider-sona to pair up with Miguel, an arachnologist who brings together a group of fellow scientists to figure out what the fuck is going on with her after she’s bitten by a radioactive spider, and now I only want her to end up with the geneticist lady she’s working with who ends up as a Venom host

They have so much more chemistry and every situation I can think up between her and Miguel is just her taunting him or the two of them disagreeing about spider person stuff after she meets some of the others

As I learn more about Miguel, I’ve decided that he just needs people to roast him and tell him he’s wrong about some stuff

Also, I want them to meet Gabriel and Xina because I think they could have some fun conversations and brainstorm ways to get this guy to slow down and realize that he also doesn’t fit typical spider person plot beats and that being bitten by a spider brought in by the villains and inheriting a mantle is different from knowingly taking over the life of a different version of yourself and trying to obliterate a kid because you lost your extradimensional daughter

This is about ATSV Miguel, not any comic Miguel. It has become very clear to me that they are incredibly different

[bensolosbluesaber]

Nowhere to Run: Part 2 (Miguel O’Hara (Spider-Man 2099) x Spider-Woman!f!reader)

Read Part 1 Here

Pairings: Miguel O’Hara (Spider-Man 2099) x Spider-Woman!f!reader

Warnings: Miguel helps reader through a panic attack (descriptions based on my own experiences but not necessarily perfectly written down), mentions of isolation and isolation-related trauma, references to child loss, scars

Summary: Living in Nueva York and working with the Spider Society is pretty great... except for Miguel O’Hara, the man who injured you, saved your life, and now refuses to speak to you. Luckily, Peter B. Parker loves interfering in Miguel’s life, so when you’re at your lowest, it’s Miguel who is there to help you through it. ~ 2,200 words

Angst, hurt/comfort, happy ending

A/N: This is still dedicated to the Miguel O’Hara editors on TikTok as well as the people leaving the comments. There are light spoilers for AtSV (I made up an ending for BtSV since this is set after that).

--

Two Months Later…

Miguel O’Hara kept his promise. His Spider Society ran all kinds of tests, searching for an explanation for the rapid evolution that provided your the ability to travel the multiverse. Best they could guess, you had been close to the epicenter of your world’s implosion, close enough to absorb some of the energy leaking from what was essentially a black hole devouring the universe.

Another Spider-Woman had given you a more advanced goober - no, gizmo - to keep you from glitching and destabilizing the place they called Nueva York. It was Miguel’s home, she’d explained, and the home base of the Spider Society that kept watch over the multiverse. You’d started volunteering for missions with them, happy to be doing some good. It made you feel like a hero again, like there was a point to all the sacrifices that led you here.

But you hadn't seen Spider-Man 2099 since he dropped you off at a Nueva York hospital and huffed an order to “make sure she gets stitched up, and for god’s sake, get her some food.” That was two months ago.

--

“I can’t believe you bring a kid here.” You waved to Mayday who was sitting on her dad’s lap and trying to steal his food with her webs. For some reason, Peter had given her a web-shooter… as if toddlers weren’t difficult enough.

“Neither can I, honestly. But she loves these guys. Especially Miguel.” He frowned and took a bite of empanada. “She’s borderline obsessed with Miguel actually. I think it’s because he has such climbable shoulders. It’s good for him to see her too.”

“Meaning?”

“Ah nothing.” Peter waved off your question.

An awkward pause filled the space between you and Peter B. Parker. Just ask him, you told yourself.

“Is Miguel avoiding me?” Blunt. Right to the point.

“Ummmmm…” He drug out the word for far too long, looked to his daughter for help, seemed to remember she couldn’t do more than babble random sounds, and then sighed heavily. “Yes. He feels bad about…” Peter gestured broadly to you. “About a year ago we had a little situation with this kid - I mentored him. Good kid. Smart,” Peter added proudly. “This kid, Miles, made Miguel rethink a lot of things. We started handling anomalies... differently, a bit more gently.”

“He calls this gently?” You touched your scarred shoulder.

“Ummmmm… no.” Peter scooped Mayday out of the air where she was now dangling from the ceiling. “You freaked him out pretty bad. I mean you are a huge anomaly. Dangerous. He sort of, uh, how would those kids say it? Oh, yeah, he ‘went off the deep end.’ You should hear him tell the story.”

Mayday babbled incoherently.

“Yes ma’am, it does all seem a bit romantic when he tells it doesn’t it?” Peter cooed to Mayday then grinned at you.

You blinked once. Twice. Romantic?

Mayday went zipping away. Peter stood and sighed.

“Gotta get this kid, but I’m sending him to see you.” He took off after his daughter who was expertly navigating a minefield of other Spider-People (and animals). “Promise!” Peter tossed over his shoulder.

You seriously doubted Peter B. Parker would be able to convince Miguel to talk to you. And that was just as well because by the time you made it back to your room, it was turning into one of your bad nights. It was illogical. How could you could be fine for and suddenly a panic-stricken nightmare-ridden mess one random night? But then, the human mind is an enigma even to itself, the traumatized mind even more so.

It happened when you walked into your room and found yourself suspended in complete darkness. You followed the same routine every night, but today was different. Blackness surrounded you and closed in. You could see nothing, not even the hand in front of your face, and something tightened in your chest, clamped down on your lungs. For a second, you had control of the thing, were reaching for the light switch. Then you were spiraling.

Your mind was no longer in your safe room in Nueva York surrounded by the Spider Society who had taken you in and protected you and even become your friends. No. It was trapped in the silent and endless darkness of a collapsed universe, utterly alone, smothered in deafening silence. Your breath came in rapid, shallow pants, and you stumbled back until your knees hit the edge of the bed. You sat down on the soft mattress, drew up your knees, wrapped your arms around yourself, bowed your head, and tried to breath through it.

Caught in your panic attack, you didn’t even hear two familiar voices arguing, or see the light from the hallway fall across the room as the door was pushed open, or notice the shadows that loomed in the doorway.

“I know what you’re doing, Peter,” Miguel snarled.

“I’m not doing- why’s the door open?”

Miguel noticed you first. The dim room was the perfect environment for his sensitive eyes to make out your hunched form and trembling shoulders. In an instant, he was kneeling in front of you, an act that confirmed every one of Peter B. Parker’s suspicions. He watched for a moment from the doorway before taking a step back and closing the door with a click. Miguel had this under control. He was sure of it.

--

A deep voice, gravelly as if it were being drug over stones whispered your name. It wrapped around you, held you tight, and pulled you above the thrashing waves. That crushing feeling in your chest relaxed ever so slightly, and finally, you managed a deep breath. Then a second. It’s okay now. The worst is over.

After the third breath, you looked up and searched the dark room in a search of the voice’s owner.

Two dimly glowing red orbs shone in the darkness. You knew exactly one person with red eyes. Slowly, your own eyes adjusted, and the broad outline of Miguel O’Hara materialized. He wasn’t wearing his usual vibrant suit, just a dark colored sweater. Even kneeling on the ground he was still tall enough to be eye level with you. The two of you stared at each other for a long second before Miguel slowly raised a hand and... and brushed his thumb across your cheek?

What was happening? All you could do was blink stupidly at him, but when you didn't shy away he brought his other hand to your face. He smoothed his thumbs over your cheeks. He was wiping away your tears so gently and with such concern it seemed impossible. His hands were soft, softer than they had any right to be, and those dangerous claws that had done so much damage to you earlier were nowhere to be seen.

“You’re safe. You’re here with me.” Miguel’s voice was so commanding; he was obviously accustomed to giving order, but that actually made it more reassuring. “I’m here.”

I’m here. For some unexplainable reason those words reassured you more than anything. You didn't even think, just did. You slid forward on the bed and buried your face in the broad muscles of Miguel’s shoulder. His sweater was as soft as anything you could have imagined, and his warmth seeped through the fabric. He smelled like fresh laundry and something more woody and musky.

Miguel haltingly wrapped his arms around you, awkward at first, before he pulled you in closer. He held you like that for several long minutes, running his hands across your back and drawing small circles with fingers until your breathing synced with his. 

Since coming to this place, the most physical contact you had with anyone was the occasional hug or handshake or Mayday crawling up your arm. Before that it was Miguel holding you in the rain while he sucked his venom - you had confirmed that it was venom - from your body. Before that you had been trapped in a collapsed universe or on the run. Before that... well, being Spider-Woman was a lonely job.

To be held like this was the most comforting experience you had in longer than you cared to remember. You didn’t want to let go. Even when you realized that in this position Miguel was kneeling between your legs you didn’t let go.

Eventually, he shifted with a quiet huff. You pulled back immediately. What were you doing? Miguel definitely didn’t want you all over him. What could you have possibly been thinking, using the man who actively avoided you for comfort?

Miguel stood and stretched. You looked away, suddenly self-conscious.

“Thank you. I’m okay now,” you muttered.

That was an obvious lie. The man tilted his head as he gazed down at you. He knew what this loneliness was like, how it felt to have wallowed in solitude for so long that you forget how to feel anything but alone. His eyes shifted to your shoulder where a tank top did nothing to hide the four long scars he had left in your skin. You tracked his gaze and immediately tried to cover them with your hand.

“I’m okay,” you repeated, hinting that he could go even though part of you - an insane, irrational, needy part of you - wanted him to stay.

Miguel ran his fingers through his wavy brown hair with a sigh before sitting down, uninvited, on your bed. Next to you. He sat down next to you. On your bed.

Miguel O’Hara was handsome. You never denied that, especially now while he was inches from you smelling the way he smelled and radiating much needed warmth. The temptation to lean into him was strong, but not strong enough to override your embarrassment that he, of all the Spider-People, had seen you at your lowest point.

“I thought you were jumping through the Arach- the Spider-Verse with bad intentions. I had no idea you were running… from me.” The explanation came out of nowhere. Miguel turned to look down at you. “You had the potential to cause a lot of damage, and I panicked. I forgot you’re one of us, and I hurt you, and I’m sorry.” Another long pause. “My claws have never poisoned anyone before.”

The apology was genuine, you could hear it in his voice. Some invisible barrier between the two of you shattered then.

“Are you saying you didn’t mean to kill me with your venomous talons, you only meant to seriously maim me with your regular talons?” You could feel a smile growing as you tried joking with him.

Miguel looked back at the bed spread. Should you? Was this a good idea? You threw caution to the wind and leaned over to bump your shoulder against Miguel’s.

“Hey, it’s okay. We’ve all made mistakes. Glad I was threatening enough to scare you like that.”

“That’s not what- okay.”

“You can look at them. If you want, I mean.” You nodded to your scarred shoulder.

Slowly, as if afraid to scare you off, Miguel smoothed a finger over the scars. They were deep and jagged, but had healed rather well all things considered. His hand on your neck startled you for a moment before you realized what he was doing. Four tiny scars from his fangs still decorated your skin, and he was tracing his thumb over each one.

Miguel felt you swallow, realized what he was doing, and then froze. A single second stretched into an eternity during which you could confront every thought racing through your head. He’d chased you for months, but he had a good reason. He’d hurt you. Then he saved your life. There was that thing Peter said about Mayday being good for him. And Miguel’s sad eyes and ever-present frown. And how warm he’d felt while he held you. And the ripples of muscle across his entire body.

He’d kept his promise not to send you back. And he was handsome. Handsome and sad. So instead of pulling away and kicking him out and going back to avoiding each other, you leaned into him.

There was nothing awkward about Miguel’s movements this time. He wrapped an arm around you and maneuver you both until you were laying down, curled up against his side, head on his shoulder, his arm around your waist.

“What is going on?” You whispered.

“I’ll stay here until you fall asleep,” Miguel whispered back.

“Okay, but why?”

“Because... because I know how it feels to lose everyone and have no one to hold you.”

You looked up at him then. He was staring at the ceiling, some memory you couldn’t see dancing across his eyes. Peter said Mayday was good for Miguel then refused to answer any more questions. The frown lines. How ferociously he protected the multiverse. Mayday was good for Miguel. Mayday. The kid.

It hit you then, and it should have been the most obvious thing in the world. Miguel had lost his family, probably in circumstances not too different from your own. You wanted to know everything about the Spider-Man with the fangs and venom and the saddest eyes you had ever seen. Not now though.

Already, you felt sleep tugging at the edge of your consciousness, a sense of safety and comfort brought on by Miguel’s presence.

“You could stay until I wake up,” you offered drowsily and splayed a hand across his chest. “If you want.”

Miguel ran his fingers lightly over the back of your hand.

“I think I might.”

--

A/N: There is a teeny tiny potential for an 18+ Part 3. No solid plan yet, but possible. Thanks for all the love on this fic!

My Masterlist

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If you want taken off, just let me know! I’m doing my best with this, but it is starting to get pretty extensive. I am very very sorry if I missed you; please just resubmit!

[purple-plum-petals]

I'm not sure if this breaks your rules, but is it ok of me to request wholesome headcanons of Glamrock Freddy x human female reader being a family with their adopted son Gregory?

—⊱ Family Isn’t Just Blood ⊰ || Freddy X Reader  

╭─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╮       Character(s): Glamrock Freddy (FNaF: Security Breach), Gregory (FNaF: Security Breach)        Reader Type: Human (Gender-Neutral Pronouns)        Warning(s): Spoilers for the Canon Ending of Security Breach, Reader is a Parental Figure for Gregory        Genre: Headcanons/Scenario, Fluff (Slight Hurt/Comfort), Romantic or Platonic Relationship        Word Count: ~800 words        Request: “I'm not sure if this breaks your rules, but is it ok of me to request wholesome headcanons of Glamrock Freddy x human female reader being a family with their adopted son Gregory?”        Author’s Note: Don’t worry, this doesn’t break my rules at all! I don’t know why, but I had a hard time writing this one for some reason? Might be because it’s my first time writing for Freddy since, at least up until now, all of my FNAF writing has been strictly Sun/Moon content haha. Hopefully you like it and I was able to do your request justice! These headcanons ended up being gender-neutral since I write using you/your pronouns and didn’t feel the need to specify the Reader’s gender; I hope you don’t mind!

      → If you enjoyed my work, please reblog it if you can! Exposure on Tumblr is based on reblogging content rather than liking it, so your support would be much appreciated!  ♡ ╰─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╯

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

     🐻: You and Freddy had known each other for quite some time considering you both worked together in the Pizzaplex, him being one of the main attractions while you were just a cashier at El Chip’s. Over the many months of your employment there, the two of you had grown quite close and become very good friends in the process (really, it was hard not being friends with Freddy considering he was one of the sweetest beings you’ve ever met). However, you never expected to open your front door one rainy night and see said animatronic with a small, human boy held tightly in his arms.

     🐻: Freddy apparently knew your address from your employee file in the system which explained how he was able to find your apartment so easily. However, that didn’t stop you from having a mini panic attack at seeing your robotic coworker miles away from the Pizzaplex (that he wasn’t supposed to be able to leave) with a random child alongside him with cuts and bruises. Eventually, after realizing you were making them both stand outside in the rain, you stepped aside and allowed both of your guests to enter your home. Freddy stood next to the couch where he had just set the sleeping young boy, solemnly telling you what had happened that night. He explained to you the glitch that caused his fellow animatronics to try and kill the child sleeping on your sofa, the Pizzaplex being built on top of an old pizzeria, and the fire that caused your prior workplace to burn to the ground. Since he and the boy (Freddy informed you that his name was Gregory) had nowhere else to go, you decided to allow them to stay with you.

     🐻: The first few weeks were a bit… strange. You had lived by yourself for many years at that point, so suddenly having an animatronic and a child living with you was certainly a change you had to get used to (not to mention the fact you were now unemployed). Eventually, you decided to ask Freddy about Gregory’s parents and how they had come to become acquainted. Freddy could only shake his head and tell you regretfully, “he doesn’t have any parents.” After that moment, you found yourself trying harder to connect with Gregory, wanting to make him feel wanted and loved as much as you could as some random person who Freddy trusted enough to rely on.

     🐻: It took Gregory quite some time to warm up to you. While he wasn’t ever directly rude to you, he always seemed to have his guard up. You only ever saw his barriers come down when he was around Freddy. After months of living together with your unexpected roommates, one morning at breakfast as you handed him his plate filled to the brim with his favorites, Gregory called you his parent for the first time. You got a bit more emotional than you expected when the title came out of his mouth, your reaction only causing Gregory to feel embarrassed at his slip-up (you didn’t take any offense, though – he got embarrassed every time he accidentally called Freddy “dad” which happened quite a lot). Freddy just gave the both of you a thumbs-up and the widest smile you’ve ever seen on his face.

     🐻: Freddy is a wonderful roommate and co-parent(?). He frequently helps around the house, whether it be cleaning or attempting to making dinner, and is always able to comfort Gregory. While Gregory has slowly become closer to you, you’ve never been able to help him whenever he wakes up from nightmares that you don’t know the content of. You two were already friends when you both worked at the Pizzaplex but, since living together, you’ve only gotten closer to one another; you went from being strictly workplace-friends to actual best friends. However, sometimes Freddy finds himself in a slump, thinking back to his friends he wasn’t able to save; he never shows any signs of these feelings in front of Gregory, though. When those moments happen, you’re always right there by his side, holding him tightly in a hug as you tell him softly that he did everything he possibly could in that situation.

     🐻♥: If you and Freddy end up finding yourselves in more romantic than platonic-relationship territory, Gregory is going to have to deal with a very lovey-dovey set of parents. Freddy is an affectionate individual; he loves nuzzling his face against yours and giving you the lightest kisses across your cheeks. However, sometimes, Gregory just happens to be there when your PDA goes off the charts. All he’ll do is gag, telling you two to “get a room!” before running off to his own to play with his toys. While Freddy is certainly a very sweet and understanding person, he does have a slight mischievous streak to him and that certainly shows in your relationship, especially if you’re easily flustered by physical affection.

[idontknowreallywhy]

This was not at all the way I thought this fic was going but a certain scene took over my mind, and I literally couldn’t do anything else until I’d got it down… Virgil refused to do as he was told and got carried away and then Scott took me by surprise and got heavily involved also. It needed an external viewpoint so Gordon has now inexplicably shoehorned himself into the action… let’s just say it got very out of control.

It also doesn’t advance the plot in any way at all, adds absolutely nothing to the mystery and no hints for the solution either. So let’s call it a little interlude (chapter 3b-i perhaps) and then forget it ever happened 😂

Apologies if this gives anyone a persistent earworm, but I hope I’ve conveyed the mental image well enough to make it a fun one… and it can’t be all classical all the time, can it?

*cackles*

Release

Gordon had been in the next town over using a dozer-pod to assist with clearing some of the more major roads. The rescue Virgil had dropped him off for turned out to be fairly straightforward once he’d cleared the entrance of the old stadium and everyone had just walked out. Frankly it had been a while since he’d had a non-traumatic mission and so when asked if he could lend a hand with this more mundane task he was more than happy to make it worth the effort of configuring the pod.

The only hitch had been where his comm unit had started glitching out - he’d managed to relay a static-filled message to John with his location and that he was safe and would wait for Two to collect him. John had confirmed receipt but all had gone quiet since.

Becoming increasingly bored, and with nothing better to do Gordon figured he’d start making his way back down the road towards where his brothers were finishing off. The pod should have a few miles’ worth of juice left and it was better just than hanging around waiting in the dark. He attached a storm lantern to the roof of the pod to make sure Virgil wouldn’t miss him when he flew over.

The “make a start on the journey” soon became “make the entire journey”. Finding both One and Two dark and empty in a field outside town, Gordon sighed, left the pod there and started trekking down the road towards civilisation.

Mildly grumpy at being abandoned, he decided the best revenge would be to sneak up on them, whatever they were doing and cause some mischief. Maybe see if he could trigger that rare girlish screech both the bigger bros could emit when unexpectedly jabbed in the side below the ribs. Gordon could be immensely stealthy when required, a fact not commonly recognised by his family due to the more usual clownish strutting style of movement he favoured. He strode along, fuelled by the unique variety of adrenaline released by full scale plotting.

Gordon’s recall of the town centre itself was hazier than his older brothers’ and the pictures he did have were overlaid with the memory of his mother’s hand firmly restraining him from running out into the traffic. But he recognised the jumble of structures that made up the old school. It seemed to be the only building with any sign of life so he jogged towards it. At least someone here might be able to tell him where his family had got to.

In fact, the school appeared to have a whole town’s worth of life… as he neared it he could hear… was that stamping? And… yeah, ok that was definitely singing. All thoughts of stealth and prankage swept from his mind by curiosity he sprinted across the playground and skidded through the front entrance, into reception and was hit by a wall of sound as hundreds of voices were half singing / half yelling a line which felt vaguely familiar but he couldn’t quite place…

WHOA-OH!

He gripped on to the doorframe of the hall entrance with both hands and his jaw dropped so emphatically he faintly wondered if he’d dislocated something as he tried to comprehend the scene in front of him.

The majority of the town seemed to be gathered around the piano, stamping, clapping, banging crutches and, in one notable case, smashing two saucepans together with abandon - all singing and egging on the man at the keys. When Gordon’s eyes fixed on that figure everything else briefly faded out. He’d thought he knew this man well but had never in his life encountered this version:

Jet black hair had fallen out of the carefully constructed fauxhawk, some sticking wildly out to the side, the rest plastered to his forehead. His head thrown back, his eyes wide and wild and the world’s biggest smile on his sweaty dirt-marked face as he hammered out the accompaniment:

JUST ONE LOOK AND I CAN HEAR A BELL RING

ONE MORE LOOK AND I FORGET EVERYTHING

Oh wow, he did know this, it was some Swedish band from the 20th century that his parents had loved. But he hadn’t heard it in… so long.

Grinning, he wormed his way through the crowd only to freeze in absolute astonishment when the man standing next to Virgil came into view.

The poised Field Commander of International Rescue was passionately punching the air as he sang at the top of his voice, tears of laughter streaming down his face:

YES, I’VE BEEN BROKEN HEARTED

BLUE SINCE THE DAY WE PARTED

His other arm was around an elderly gentleman who was waving a walking cane and bouncing enthusiastically.

Virgil’s gauntlets and comm unit had been dropped to the floor at some point and Gordon noticed John’s hologram, arms folded and a smirk on his face, silently observing the proceedings. So that’s why everyone had forgotten him.

The tiny bubble of resentment popped as soon as it arose. Whatever it was that had unlocked this joy and abandon in his brothers, he wanted IN - Gordon threw his arms around a nearby group of teenagers and belted out the lyrics that had been nestled in his brain for over a decade:

MAMMA MIA, HERE I GO AGAIN

MY, MY, HOW CAN I RESIST YOU

…

If you find yourself wanting to learn to play what Virgil is, there’s another one of those cool videos here:

[erimeows]

Feverish

You were surprised to have been called to the med bay a little bit past nine in the evening, woken up by your phone ringing and Ratchet on the other end. You clutched your robe close to your body as you raced through the hallway, sleep in your eyes and worries in your head.

The lead medic had given you no explanation, only telling you to come meet him outside of the med bay as soon as you could before he hung up on you.

You wondered if it was an emergency, if someone was injured or dying, if something had happened during patrol- Wait, no. Their night patrols didn’t start for another hour or so, and if it had been an emergency, someone like Bumblebee or Optimus would’ve called you in a panic.

Still, the whole situation was weird, and you were worried, so when you saw Ratchet outside of the med bay leaning against one of the walls, you immediately approached him with your concern etched in your features. 

Upon seeing you, Ratchet stood up straight, then put a strong servo on your shoulder in a reassuring manner before looking down at you. His pale blue optics burned into your (e/c) eyes, and though you tried your best, you couldn’t read his expression.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the medic spoke.

“Optimus Prime has fallen ill.”

“What?” You immediately sputtered, and your eyes flew to the door of the med bay; closed, you couldn’t even see Optimus. You just prayed that he was okay. In the time that you’d known the Prime and his team, you’d seen him injured or sick plenty, though the former was much more common. He never prioritized his own health and tried to push himself to do things, even when he was unwell, so he took forever to recover... Hopefully it wasn’t something severe. “How bad is it? Is he awake? Have you told the team yet?”

“Hey, hey, slow down. It’s nothing crazy, (y/n), so don’t worry,” Ratchet’s words, said in an uncharacteristically gentle tone, soothed you, if only a little. If it were serious or ‘crazy’ as he put it, he would’ve told you directly instead of lying, so you believed him. “This morning, I was the first to wake and go into the kitchen to make myself an energy booster when I saw him stumble in... As in, he was literally stumbling over himself and I could see steam rolling off of him from overheat. He insisted he was fine, but something was off, so I dragged him to the medbay for testing. He’s low on energon and coolant, he was overheating, and there was a minor glitch in his vents from some battle damage that I had to fix. He’s recovering fine, but my main concern is that his chassis seems to be overheating to kill an infection. I think it’s just your run-of-the-mill space bug based on the labs I did, so I gave him some antibiotics.”

“You didn’t answer some of my questions-” You started, now concerned with whether you could actually go and see Optimus or not.

It wasn’t uncommon for the red and blue bot to ignore his own needs, but for him to have ignored symptoms that could’ve turned into something much worse had Ratchet not caught them... You wondered if there was something bothering Optimus that was making him neglect himself, more than he usually would.

“So demanding, you youngin’s,” Ratchet huffed and rolled his optics at you. “It’s not that bad, he’s awake, and no, I haven’t told the others yet. Our nightly patrol is soon and I have to break the news to them somehow, which is why I called you here. You can’t go with us anyway and they need me since we’re down one bot, so I want you to stay with Prime. He responds the best to you...” You blinked and then blushed at that, (s/c) cheeks burning bright. It was true that you and Optimus were close, but for Ratchet to acknowledge it like that... Well, you were flattered. You’d loved Optimus for as long as you could remember, and even though Ratchet surely meant that in a platonic way, it was nice to know that the effort you put into your relationship with the bot meant something. “His condition isn’t from a decline in his physical health- I had to pry like hell to find out what it was, but Prime finally broke and told me that he couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten an energon cube or ran a self-evaluation to make sure he was functioning properly, which is why he’s energy-depleted and why the damage to his vents went unchecked. He’s so stressed from the leadership that this team needs that he isn’t taking care of himself anymore, and now, it’s led to him falling sick again. I think there’s something else going on in that processor of his, too, but he wouldn’t tell me anything else... I just know it’s more mental than anything.”

You stopped, frowning. What else could Optimus be hiding from everyone? Was he doing something dangerous? Had something happened? Was he breaking down from stress?

“O-Oh.. Okay,” You mumbled and leaned into the servo of Ratchet’s that was on your shoulder, sighing when he ran his thumb over a sore spot on the groove between said shoulder and your collar. The two of you had developed a close bond over the past couple years since they’d been on earth, with you, Sari’s tutor and caretaker, also acting as a second medic for the team with Ratchet’s training. While he’d trained you in how to care for the Autobots, you’d given him the basics of human anatomy and medical care, so with that time spent together, you were close- whether the old grump admitted it or not. “What about his medicine? How often does he take it? Is there anything else I need to do?”

“One pill every six human hours, they’re the white gel capsules that are rationed out on the table by Prime’s med-berth. I just gave him a dose, so don’t get him another one until three in the morning. He also needs to drink plenty of energon, coolant, and lubricant to get better, so make him do it, even if he gets pissy with you- shove it down his throat if you have to... But those are all things that I already told him, and he’s fully capable of taking care of himself. I don’t need you in there to take care of him so much as I need you to stay in there to make sure he doesn’t get up and do anything stupid. You know how he gets when he’s sick.”

“Unfortunately, I do...” You let out a long sigh and crossed your arms over your chest. It was going to be hard dealing with Optimus- hell, you could already imagine how he would be trying to sneak out of the med bay to go on patrol or trying to make you bring paperwork for him to do. You wouldn’t allow either, but considering how much larger he was than you, you’d have to convince him to relax instead of just being able to hold his aft down like Ratchet or Bulkhead could. “I’ll make sure he stays put. I’m assuming you’re taking over leadership until he recovers, Ratchet?”

“As the team medic, I’m second in command, so yeah... I have to. I’d let Prowl do it, but Primus knows he doesn’t want to, and I wouldn’t let Bumblebee or Bulkhead within a ten mile radius of any form of responsibility like this. I’m really the only option.”

“Right...” You imagined what a patrol without Optimus, led by a stressed and grouchy Ratchet would be like, and then cringed. “Good luck.”

“Thanks. I’ll need it.”

With that, Ratchet withdrew his servo from your shoulder and waved at you before turning around and walking down the hallway. You figured that Optimus shouldn’t be left alone for too long, so you quickly entered the med bay and shut the door behind you.

It was dark, with a small night light plugged into the walls that illuminated the room just a bit. You could see Optimus, who looked uncharacteristically pathetic, weakly laying on a med berth with a small side table on the ground next to him. On the table were some energon sticks, a cup of coolant, and the white pills that Ratchet had mentioned. 

“(y/n), is that you?” Optimus asked, trying to sit up, but immediately groaning in what you assumed was pain and flopping back down. His eyes squeezed shut, a strained grimace taking over his face-plates. You pulled one of the stools by a wall-counter to the side of the room where Optimus’s berth was and put it right by his side table so you could sit by him. You were close to his face, so you leaned down to look at it as his optics slowly opened back.

He was sick, and it would take at least a few days if not a week to recover; you could tell just by looking at him. His ocean-hued optics were abnormally dark and foggy, his powder blue faceplates were stained dark with heat, and though he wasn’t steaming like Ratchet had described this morning, there was definitely still heat radiating from his frame.

“Yes, Optimus, it’s me... I’m here to watch over you,” You leaned in to kiss the top of his helm, able to feel just how hot the metal felt against you. When you pulled back, you frowned at the absurd amount of heat- almost hot enough to make your lips sting, while Optimus’s normal temperature was a bit cooler than that of an average human’s by a degree or two. “Ratchet called me down here and told me what’s going on a bit ago. The team’s on patrol right now.”

“Slag, I can’t believe Ratchet told you,” Optimus groaned again, this time in annoyance instead of pain. “I told him not to earlier when he was fixing my vents... He’s probably going to tell the rest of the team, too. I have to get up and go supervise the patrol-” He forced himself to sit up this time, forced back a wince, forced his optics to open fully, but the second you pressed a rushed hand to his chest plates and attempted to push him back, he froze.

“Oh, no you don’t!” You argued, eyebrows furrowing in frustration as a pout formed on your face. 

“Oh, yes I do!” The Autobot argued back without hesitation, but didn’t actually move to push your hand away or leave even though he was fully capable of doing so, only resting one of his servos on the one of yours that was on his chest- stumbling and overheating or not, he was much larger and much stronger than you. Then again, he probably knew that Ratchet would beat him to a pulp the second he recovered if he dared lay a single digit on you to escape the med bay. “As much as I appreciate the concern, I don’t want it nor do I need it, and I certainly don’t want it from my team. It’s bad enough that you know. I know they’ll start asking questions when I don’t go on patrol with them, and if they hear that I got sick from overexerting myself and not getting enough rest and energon, they’ll never let me hear the end of it-”

“Well, maybe that’s what you need, so lay your stubborn ass down! I did not come here with my hair all fucked up and in this stupid robe in the middle of the night when I could’ve been sleeping just to have you run away from me when I’m trying to take care of you! You getting up right now just drives home how bad you are about prioritizing yourself,” Optimus’s plump and normally soft lips, now chapped from dehydration, pulled together into a tight frown- it was the face he made when he knew he was in the wrong. “You’re getting out of your bed when you’re supposed to be resting so you can go lie to your team and tell them you’re fine when you’re not, and for what? Your pride?”

“No, I just don’t want them to worry for me. I’m already stressed out enough and the last thing I need is for that to contribute to their struggles. They’re all dealing with so many of their own problems, and I’m sick of being a burden to everyone around me...”

Optimus huffed, but gave up and laid back down, much to your relief. He still held your hand, though, and you let him- even if he was sick, you didn’t want him to let go.

“You’re not a burden, and just like how they’re dealing with their problems, you’re dealing with yours. You don’t have to be perfect to be loved and respected, and not to insult your acting skills, but... They won’t believe you if you walk out there overheating and struggling to stay standing to tell them that you’re perfectly fine. Ratchet told me how you were stumbling around this morning.”

“I hate that you’re right,” He mumbled, and you wondered why he always had to be so childish when he was sick. 

Then again, as much as you hated Optimus’s stubborn personality, it was a major component of who you’d gone and fallen in love with all that time ago. It was crazy, you thought; just the extent that you loved Optimus Prime to, and how terribly unaware he was of it. You thought it best to keep the fact hidden, as you didn’t know what his feelings were, and he had so much on his plate already... It hurt to think that he didn’t know how loved he was- not just by you, but by everyone around him, who he was always bending over backwards for, completely unaware that they’d do the exact same for him.

“And I hate that you treat yourself like this. Plus, as much as Ratchet threatens us all with consequences for our actions, he’s not going to tell them what’s going on in depth; just that you have a fever and that you’re resting, you know he respects patient confidentiality. He’ll probably even downplay it because he knows that’s what’ll make you happy.”

“No, you’re just trying to reassure me, but...” Optimus paused and let go of your hand, fully settling back into the berth. You took your hand back and looked off to the side, already missing his touch. “I know you want to, and that Ratchet probably told you to spend the night here and take care of me, but I’m alright now. I’ll stay and rest, I promise. You can go to your room to sleep, I know you’re usually not up this late, and I’d hate to keep you up with my problems.”

You didn’t really want to leave him, but you were tired, and you believed his words. His tone was genuine enough.

“Are you sure?” You asked and received a nod in return. So, you stood up and collected yourself. “Okay, if you’re sure... I’ll leave and go get some rest, then come back at three to give you your antibiotics and make sure you’ve got something on your stomach.”

Silence. 

The second you turned around to leave, though, Optimus was grabbing the back of your robe and holding the cloth between his digits, tone low as he spoke again.

“Actually, (y/n), wait... Don’t leave me. I need you.”

You turned back around and looked at him, confused. Hadn’t he just told you seconds before that he was fine and that you should leave to go get some rest so that he could fall into recharge as well? What was with the sudden change of heart? Was there something going on with his physical condition, or was it something else?

“Huh? But Optimus, you said you needed to rest...” You muttered, which earned you a shake of his head in return.

“I will,” Optimus promised. “Please, just stay and don’t question it. I lied to you, I don’t know why, but I can’t be alone right now. Don’t leave me.”

The plead from him was unexpectedly vulnerable, honest, open. You appreciated it, but at the same time, you were concerned about what exactly was going on with him- you felt like there was more to the story than stress and leadership and lack of self-care. While all of that was definitely in character for Optimus Prime, there was something else that he wasn’t telling you about, too. With how close you were to him, it wasn’t abnormal for you to have deeper discussions, but for him to admit that he wanted- no, needed you there with him and couldn’t be alone was something you’d never thought you’d hear in your lifetime.

“Okay, I’ll stay until you tell me to go, then. Thank you for being honest with me.”

With that, you sat back down on the stool and looked at him. A little bit of that light had returned to his optics, but he still seemed like he was in rough shape.

“Thank you.”

Silence again.

Instead of adjusting to get comfortable and slip into recharge, Optimus just sat there with his back against the board of the berth, optics trained on you. It had taken a while to get used to when you’d first met him, but nowadays, you were used to the Prime’s intensity, especially when it came to eye/optic-contact. Still, though, the way he was staring at you now... You couldn’t quite interpret it. Then again, could you usually? Optimus was hard to read sometimes.

“You’re not resting,” You teased, but received a serious response in return.

“I’m thinking, and then I’ll rest.”

“You’re sick, the last thing you need to be doing is overthinking like you always do,” You reached out to him, rested your palm on the side of his face and tenderly ran a thumb over the apex of his cheek. Surprisingly, he leaned into your touch with a smile.

“What if it pertains to you? It’s either I tell you and get my closure, which is daunting, or I sit here overthinking it like I always do.”

You felt your heart drop to the bottom of your stomach and flinched. It had been obvious that something was on his processor, but it had to do with you? What was it? Did it have to do with your feelings? Tense, you talked again.

“...Have I done something? I’d rather you tell me.”

“You’ve made me fall in love with you.”

The words were whispered but still felt so loud, filling the room with their impact in a way that made your cheeks hot and your heart beat hard against your chest.

“Your illness must be making you delusional,” You laughed nervously, but Optimus only gave you a sloppy grin and laughed. You moved your hand to the top of his helm to check his temperature, but it hadn’t changed- as much as you wanted to believe it, you were sure he was being serious and not having feverous hallucinations like you’d initially suspected. Still, you thought it proper to ask. “Do you feel hot? Are you overheating again?”

“No, (y/n), I’m just in love with you,” Optimus peered at you, smile falling a bit. “I mean, yes, I am sick, and I’m still overheating, but I’ve been in love with you for- Ah, I’m actually not sure how long it’s been... I just know it’s been too long.”

There was a pause, in which the two of you seemed to be processing what important things were said; in the span of just a minute or two, Optimus had boldly laid his feelings out for you on the table, unabashed and proud, the tension that came with two years worth of pining that you’d been doing solved so... Quickly. You were surprised you hadn’t felt your jaw hit the floor.

Had he really loved you the whole time? Or was this a recent development? Why was he only telling you now? Had his stress over his feelings for you also contributed to his sickness?

“I’m not sure I can talk about this in good conscience when you’re so vulnerable,” You smiled back at him, (e/c) eyes meeting his ocean-hued optics as you removed your hand from his head. Shyly, he reached out to tuck a strand of your hair behind your ear. “It feels selfish, but... I love you, too, and that’s why I want you to rest and get better, maybe not stress out so much.”

You kissed the back of his servo as he pulled it away, earning what you hoped was a blush and not more symptoms of overheating.

“I’d kiss you if I weren’t afraid of getting you sick,” Optimus sighed. You were sure that you probably couldn’t catch whatever he had going on since he was a Cybertronian and you were human, but you didn’t want to test that theory, so you left it alone.

“It’s okay,” You reached out to hold one of his servos in both of your hands, squeezing reassuringly. “I can feel the sentiment. Just focus on getting better, okay? We have all the time in the world.”

“Sometimes I fear we don’t- Have all the time, I mean, and I suppose that’s why I finally broke down and did this- I like to believe I’m impervious to everything around me, but I’ve already died once, and every time I get sick, I always think about what will happen if I go offline without telling everyone around me just how much they mean. I didn’t want to be scared anymore, not when it came to you.”

“I...” You stood and got on top of the berth so you could sit next to Optimus, curling into his side. “Me, too.”

“Will you be here when I wake up?” The Prime asked and wrapped an arm around you. Gentle. Strong. Warm.

“Would you like me to be?” You asked in return with a tilt of your head.

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll be here,” Optimus looked at you, clearly somewhat doubtful, but you only shook your head with a smile. “I promise, I won’t leave you. Just get some rest, okay?”

“...Okay.”

So, you stayed, and when Ratchet walked in the next morning to see you curled up by Optimus’s side on the berth with your (lip/chap)stick smeared on his servos, both of you sleeping peacefully for once, he couldn’t help but think that Optimus getting sick once in a while wasn’t so bad after all.

[finitumgame]

Take control of one of 8 Preset Characters as you navigate the cities on Marth (and possibly beyond).

Finitum is an interactive visual novel that combines elements of text-heavy interactive fiction, comics, and sprites set in a scifi-fantasy world.

[ More About the Game ]

* Character appearance & names may change in the coming weeks. The images and text below will be changed accordingly as the character designs are finalized fully. *

" If they have the credits, you’ll do the job, huh? Fair enough. I may not have the credits, but something tells me you’ll still want in on this. If it sweetens the deal, you can take whatever you want from any Omega warehouse or building we hit. "

Born and raised in Marth's capital, Rune has nearly perfected a number of skills that range from pickpocketing to ventriloquism... Some are more useful than others.

Primary Skills: Close Combat, Stealth, Persuasion

Secondary Skills: Hand-to-Hand Combat, Disguise, Acrobatics

[ Character Sheet ]

" I had assumed ‘petty' was a descriptor for the sort of things you were caught selling to a fence in Carina, not a descriptor of your personality. Still, you would be of help if you’re willing. It isn’t like you have anything better to do, right? “

Eli may not remember the majority of his life’s events, but muscle memory and a few flickers of the past are enough to keep him on his feet. With a flare for dramatics, he'll be sure to keep the rest of the team on their toes as well - A fact some might not be all that pleased with.

Primary Skills: Pick-pocketing, Persuasion, Slight of Hand

" The fact I’ve heard of your family would normally be a point of praise, but...well, no. It’s still very impressive. Horrifying, yes, but also impressive. The Outlands provide no shortage of things you can use your ...talents...on, but how would you like to set fire to something bigger and shiner for once? "

No one knows explosives like Bug. Be that for good or ill.

Their family isn’t blood-related, for the most part, but there isn’t a more tight-knit group in The Outlands and it’s always good to have backup.

Primary Skills: Bomb making, Sewing

" It seems The Outlands are the best place to find skills such as yours. I don’t know what’s so appealing about miles of salt and sand, but if you’d like to take a break and see the magnetic concrete and clogged gutters of Pleiade City, then perhaps you’d consider my offer. "

Vi may have served in a Corp Militia in his past. Maybe not. However they came by their skills, there is no one better to turn to if you need something destroyed in a more....subtle way...that doesn’t lead back to you.

Primary Skills: Sabotage, Subterfuge

" Okay, so first of all, that video of you with the ‘zombie' androids? Horrifying. I loved it. Second, how would you like to utilize some similar things against a certain Corp that has plenty of spare cybernetic body parts lying about... ”

Magic may run rampant alongside technology, but it gets a little weird when the two cross paths. Fusing the two in balance is not the most common, or easiest, thing to accomplice, but Pandora has it down to an art.

Primary Skills: Magitech

" Listen, just because I found you doesn’t mean they will. I’m way better at this stuff than they are. How would you like a chance to do them some serious damage? Sure, it won’t make up for all the years of shit, but it might help a little. "

Hiding in Pleiade’s Undercity, Ion has been doing her best to stay under the radar. It’s a little difficult when you have a habit of frying technology of every sort when you get angry, though. Especially when you have a bit of a temper.

Primary Skills: Telekinetic Technomancy (uncontrolled), Diplomacy

Secondary Skills: Weapons Knowledge, Cybernetics Knowledge, First Aid

[ Character Sheet ]

" You’ve been making quite a lot of noise since you got out of that Celestia facility. Aren’t you concerned Omega is going to find you sooner rather than later? I’ve an excellent way to help you stay one step ahead...and I could use your help. You know better than anyone what they’re up to. "

Primary Skills: Sharpshooter, Glitch 'Ghost'

" I know you’d rather stay tucked away in that little bunker of yours, but somehow I doubt steel and concrete will keep Omega out if they find your location. I’ve got a much better idea - one that’ll help you stay one step ahead of them and help you tell everyone exactly what happened in that Celestia facility. "

Primary Skills: Hand-to-Hand Combat, Nova 'Ghost'

While they come from the same clone primary source, Morrow and Marrow don’t have a great deal in common. True, they look disturbingly alike, but when it comes to their personalities...the two have little common ground.

[avatarvyakara]

See, this? This is why I don’t like their version of Miguel.

Because Miguel O’Hara, in his original run, was, in effect, bitten by a radioactive corporation. Unless he fell in line and kept being unethical (and turning people into living soup), his boss wouldn’t keep up the supply of the super-drug (highly addictive) that he’d roofied Miguel’s drink with to keep him with the company. That’s why Miguel became Spiderman in the first place—it was supposed to cure him of the drug and nothing else, and then a guard who had no idea what Miguel was doing interfered with the process. And since that day, since being transformed into effectively a monster, Miguel has been actively fighting against those corporations and what they do to people, alongside his usual roster of (actually quite dark) villains. Because he doesn’t want it to happen to anyone else.

“With great power,” to Miguel O’Hara, “comes great guilt.”

And look at him now. Injecting himself daily with spider-powers to ward off the damage the Rapture is doing to his brain, that was a nice touch. Defeated and traumatized by destroying a universe, well, that’s one thing. Panicking because the anomalies seem capable of causing reality to be destroyed, that’s another. But maybe I haven’t read the original comics enough, but it seems very much out of character for the man not to try to find the craziest solution possible for such things. To try and assuage the guilt that keeps creeping up with his power instead of sticking to a rut. Guilt drives the man, sure, but guilt that lets him find solutions, ways to bend or break the rules without getting people hurt.

Comics Miguel, methinks, would be more likely to completely ignore Movie Miguel’s attitude and go save Miles’ dad himself. Or work with Gwen to expand the loopholes. (What happens if a police captain is declared dead because he’s on a quick stay in Nueva York, sitting in Spider-Therapist’s room with his son going through the revelation of a couple of things? Why the hell would Miguel not use that as a general loophole?) Or just get his Lyla to systematically prove that the glitch-spots are to do with something far removed from the Canon—something darker.

(Perhaps the life of Peter Parker, whose mere presence in the Collider was able to summon five Spiders, had its whole history spread across the Web as a template. Perhaps it’s influencing events so they appear “canon” by coinciding with what the other five—six—Spiders have had to go through. And to go “beyond” the Spider-Verse means cleaning the influence in the Web from those six first Spiders.)

I’ve never liked The Canon as a concept. There’s too much it leaves unclear as to what the Spiders can actually do, and makes no mention of any good things in their lives. But taking one of the few Spiders who actually actively hates authority, and for damn good reason, and putting him in charge of a hundreds-strong team that isn’t willing to make a difference in the lives of people like them?

“Oh, shock, I’m turning into my father.”

oh miguel o'hara is a corporate metaphor

he's corporations telling people what they can and can't be (big media companies telling artists what they can and can't make)

I can't believe it just hit me hobie literally says fuck capitalism

[hairspraytears]

New to this, sorry for any errors

Indebted Eternally

Chapter 1

Spamton x reader au

It was a humid night, made all the more obvious as Y/n finished her shift and left the grocery store. In truth it shouldn't have been so,but one would only have to look up to know why.

The sky scrapers a couple miles away had a knack of making one feel their oppressiveness even to the other counties. It was known what went down there. The soul-searching, the disputes over light. Oh Y/n knew, it made her soul sink and heart throb. Looking back down, her walk home began. At this point it was routine. The City's colorful lights can only cover the facade of this city, Y/N thought. She has only been here two months and nearly experienced death many times. First was when they were looking for an apartment, Y/n was alone and a darkner tried to kill her for their soul. The only reason why Y/n was saved was because of the mercy of a dealer, jevil. Oddly enough he didn’t want anything in return, and helped Y/N find a decent apartment complex. He was a strange man to be around, just saying he’ll get what he wants when he wants it.

Her thoughts were a soothing lullaby but, the lights of the bars shine into her eyes and faint party music got them to realize you were walking too close to the street. Y/n looked behind her, the only thing seen was a car slowly driving up. It’s easy to get scooped up in these streets. She walks back more towards the middle. Her hand reaches into her pockets, grabbing her keys. Y/n doesn’t live far from work, but the car is making her uneasy. Y/n knows damn well why the car is driving slow, the streets have enough spots for them to go park. With that though she takes a sharp left on the sidewalk, she doesn’t want these people to know where she lives.

For a moment she hoped the car wouldn’t make a turn. As she glanced over her shoulder the car was still following her. Crap. “I could go hide in one of the bars?” Y/n thought. The chances of meeting someone decent is slim at this time of hours. Y/N picked up the pace, only a little bit. She glanced behind her again, her heart pounding. Y/N was thinking of every possible situation that could go wrong, as she goes to look ahead. she bumps into something.

Y/n looked up, taking a step back. It was another darkner. They were tall, skin ghostly white, slick black hair and weirdly tinted glasses. “Sorry-“ Y/n choked out, you didn’t realize how shaken up you were. The man smelled of cheap booze. You swallow the lump of air that was in your mouth. Y/n went to speak but was cut off by the man “You’re [new] around here” he says, his voice having a weird static effect. “It’s not often we get humans in this city”. She frowned, not liking what he was saying. Y/n glance behind her, the car is still in the street. “…Can you help me?” Y/N spoke, ignoring what the man had said. “That car has been following me-“ she was cut off.

“Just [Follow your heart] me” the stranger says, she can’t tell where he’s looking. But he seems to be looking at the car? It’s hard to make out with his..sunglasses. He turns around, grabbing onto Y/n shoulder. This surprised Y/n, she slapped his hand; this caused him to pull his hand away. “[pretend to be] with me, at least. '' he looked down at her. Y/n let out a shaky sigh, following along aside him. “…thank you” Y/n mumbled. Her hand was in her pocket holding on to her keys, ready to be used as a weapon if he decided to attack. “Nothing your old pa pal Spamton [can’t do].” Spamton, that’s an odd name. Not soon enough, the car drives past both of them.

Y/n let out a sigh of relief “..T-Thank you, Spamton” she gave him a nervous smile. Y/n goes to turn, but is held back by spamtons talking. “What’s your [name]?[name]?” spamton voice glitched as he casually followed alongside her. “…Y/N” she says blankly, unnerved by him following her. “Well, Y/N” his permanent smile somehow gets wider “you’re in a little bit of debt after I helped you”. Y/n heart sank

Y/n stayed silent, their walk slowing down each step. “Don’t worry [Cucumber]! It’s easy to pay off” Spamton claps his hands together happily. “I just [need a saver] you to sit with me at this bar tomorrow.” Y/n raises a brow. “…that’s it?..” oddly, this is the strangest request she’s ever gotten. “Yep!” He bends down, being eye level with her, “just come looking good. Meet me here tomorrow night, okay [cucumber]?”. Y/N nods her head again, she’s too scared to reject. “Perfect! I’ll see [you tomorrow].” With that Spamton was gone, walking the other way. Y/n starts to quickly walk, the lights feeling brighter as ever, as if they were burning her skin. The interaction was playing in her mind over and over, it was strange.

Y/N opens the door to her apartment, making sure to lock the door. They stumble to their couch, just collapsing on it. They let out a groan, not wanting to think of tomorrow’s problems. They close their eyes, letting sleep consume them.

[bloody-hearts-lane]

How the Slashers Would: Play Among Us

sorry it has taken me approximately a million years to start writing again! i hope the stuff i have in store might make up for it. but to kick it off, something a little bit goofy. c:

Amanda Young

rating: 9/10, upsettingly good.

she probably mains red or black.

amanda is a menace in this game. shes the kind of player that, no matter how good you or anyone else is, you can NEVER tell if she's the imposter or not.

she's just so good at hiding it! half the time, she absolutely carries her imposter team, and you never even know.

she always kills you last, though, if she has to kill you at all. so thats nice, i guess–

she really enjoys setting up games so every aspect can be exactly the way she wants it. she also prefers playing in one imposter games, because she thinks its more challenging that way.

Billy Loomis

rating: 8/10, so..... suspicious.

for SURE mains black.

he's the kind of player who can pull of the weirdest, most confusing series of kills. probably shockingly good at setting up and executing stack kills. how?? how does he do it so smoothly????

he's usually pretty okay at hiding that he's the imposter.

but he will loudly complain if he doesn't get imposter often enough for his liking. he will also get personally offended if you (or stu, or both) get imposter a lot in one game, and he doesn't.

when you get a round where the imposters are really bad, no matter what the reason could be, he critiques the hell out of them and complains about how they are no fun to play with.

he loves when the two of you are an imposter team. even better, on bigger maps, he loves when you, him, and stu are all imposters. it happens rarely, but its his favorite thing.

you know he's considering killing you when he gets weirdly quiet in the middle of a round. just stay away from the vents, you might be fine.

Stu Macher

rating: 7/10, very fun, very chaotic.

never has a main color. switches it up every round. he also likes to wear the pumpkin on his head, or the fried egg.

stu is a good talker, so a lot of the time, he manages to talk his way out of being voted off. you've even seen him manage to talk his way out of being voted off when someone saw him kill another player in front of them.

he's considerably more chaotic than billy, so his kills aren't as smooth, but he has an unnatural knack for knowing when people are alone and taking them out.

he brings a lot of energy to games.

even when you play with him, you make it your number one goal to never be alone with him in a room, just in case.

he assures you that he would never kill you!! (spoiler alert, he won't, until he cant get anyone else alone and he asks you to come watch him do a visual task, only to kill you and win the game. how rude, stu.)

Bo Sinclair

rating: 3/10, girl..... calm down.

feels like a dark blue main.

have you ever seen someone rage quit among us? you're about to!

has a bad habit of getting aggressive in chat, so people tend to vote him pretty quickly even if he isn't imposter.

he fully exits the game the second his poor little character gets shot into space, and then you get to hear about how stupid everyone is while he watches you play over your shoulder.

to be fair, he was usually correct about who the imposter was, so he is a LITTLE justified about being angry, but. homeboy has some Anger Issues and the rage is very real.

as the imposter, he's usually pretty good at not getting caught.... until someone asks what he's been doing or where he was, and he gets a little too defensive.

you can see it coming from a mile away, and if you don't want to hear about him losing for the next three hours, feel free to tell everyone he's been with you the whole time.

Brahms Heelshire

rating: 5/10, stop hiding!!!

mains dark green or dark blue.

dude. get out of the vents.

everytime he kills someone, he will immediately hide in the vents until someone reports the body and the next round starts.

the only time he breaks this pattern is if someone is standing directly over or in front of the vent, at which point he pops out to kill them and then pops right back in.

i mean it works??? i guess??? but come ON–

he has never killed you when he was the imposter, and he gets mopey if you kill him, so i advise against it.

whenever he isn't imposter, he follows you around for like 90% of the game, just watching you complete all your tasks before he even starts his. and he expects you to stay with him while he does his!

Carrie White

rating: 6/10 so pure. so good.

genuinely dislikes being the imposter. she isn't good at lying to people, so she always gets herself caught, and she usually ends up lowkey freaking out and either self reporting the body or not running away fast enough and getting caught.

mostly, when she's imposter, she will close doors and sabatoge things in the hopes that her partner will do the rest.

she usually mains white, and either has the little flower on her head or the the little sprout. gives off very sweet vibes.

as a crewmate, she is very dutiful in getting her tasks done. she always vouches for people, especially you, and will always volunteer to watch someone do a visual task. (sometimes you go with her just to make sure this doesn't backfire on her...... no murdering carrie on your watch).

she talks to everyone in chat too, both in the lobby, and in deadchat. she makes friends everywhere!

she may not be the best at the game, but she is sO fun to play with. just a good wholesome time.

Jason Vorhees

rating: 2/10....... he tried.

do NOT let him set up the game, he will make the walking speeds so slow.

but, okay, first of all, how did you get him to play??? how did you convince him to agree to this??? are we sure he knows whats going on-

i suppose it doesn't matter, he would probably do anything you asked him to do anyway, and if he thinks you would really have fun playing with him, then heaven forbid he say no!

either way, he is dead. silent. for the whole game. he doesn't even type in chat, except for the very occasional 'yes' or 'no.'

he would probably be the person who just said 'yes' if someone asked if he was the imposter.

he also doesn't have a main color, but mostly because he either doesn't know HOW to change it, or doesn't care enough to do it. if you ask him/do if for him, though, he would like either dark green or brown. (you could even give it the cute little hockey mask!)

The Lost Boys (+Star)

rating: 4/10, children please.

this is a group thing. if you convince one of them to play, then they're ALL playing. hell, you might even manage to convince Star to play.

paul is the single most untrustworthy player you have ever seen. even when he ISNT the imposter, his absolute buckwild energy just makes him seem so suspicious. he sabotages everything, and he probably seeks you out just to kill you first.

marko is probably a yellow main, and he always wears the weirdest shit available. he gives me the vibes of someone who would probably get lost a lot on the bigger maps or be the person who pretends he's lost so he has an alibi

dwayne is the one you have to watch out for. he's so good at faking you out, you never know if he's the imposter until he stabs you in the back. he won't even feel bad about it.

sidenote, dwayne lets laddie co-pilot when he plays. laddie makes the decisions, so if someone dies, it was probably not dwaynes choice. these are the rounds where you probably won't die right away.

star is a very casual player, super noncommittal. she is both good to have on your team, and awful, because she will absolutely turn on you and vote you out to save herself as a last resort. shes the only one who won't immediately seek you out to kill you.

when all of them are crewmates, its a hot mess. no one can communicate with them spamming chat, paul never does his tasks, dwayne camps on cams, and marko ABUSES the emergency call button.

The Man

rating: 8/10, actually really good???

he mains red, with the classic hockey mask.

he gets like.... a little too into planning shit. its just a game, its not that deep, pls sir–

but that makes him a very capable imposter, and hes soo good at keeping up the facade and talking with you like nothing is wrong, and before you know it, he's killed three people in the first round.

its really a toss up on whether or not he'll kill you at all in the game. if he does, he saves you til last.

there are times where he gets a little too heated if someone catches him or his teammate turns on him, and he will be fuming until the game ends and he gets to rant into chat. thats usually when you need to step in–

other than that, he's pretty chill about the whole thing. he likes to experiment with kills, like stack kills and taking advantage of glitches or hiding spots.

hes also a MASTER of sabatoge. he's so good at using those tools.

Vincent Sinclair

rating: 8/10, friendship > everything else.

likes to main white, which is interesting, because he is NOT the typical white main.

as an imposter, he's actually pretty good.

he seems like the kind of person to lead you away from everyone, and vent in front of you to let you know hes an imposter, and then ruthlessly kill everyone except for you.

most of the time he will just follow you around to make sure no one else kills you while you do your tasks.

a lot more talkative in chat than you might think, too.

catch him highkey shit talking people with you

hes also a good teammate to have as a crewmember; he always remembers where everyone was, who he passed, who was in a room with who, etc.

just very cool to play with in general.

[dontmindthefangirling]

The Switch {p.p.}

gif not mine!

Summary: In World 824, you’re the incredibly famous and incredibly obnoxious Peter Parker’s assistant. In World 626, you’re the nerdy and Star Wars loving Peter Parker’s best friend. In both worlds, you manage to fall in love with him, but what happens when there is a glitch in the universe, and they switch places?

Warnings: swearing, alcohol, FLUFF

Pairing: college!Peter x reader, famous!Peter x reader

chapter 1 | series masterlist

This chapter is mostly about famous!Peter, but the switch will be coming soon! 

chapter 2 - uncharted territory

-

World 626

You couldn’t sleep. The only image you had in your mind was of Peter’s arms resting gently on your waist and yours snaking up around his neck to play with the curls at the nape of his neck. 

You knew you were both drunk, but you felt almost pulled towards him. The way he looked down at you with the moon’s light shining on you both and the frat music blasting from the house nearby made you feel a way you never felt before. 

It was like all of the moments you shared suddenly clicked and everything made sense. 

You were laying on your back, staring at the ceiling and thinking about what you were going to do next. You felt an ache in your chest from simply not being with him in that moment. You rolled onto your side and spotted the framed picture you had of both of you at your high school graduation. Peter’s arm was around your shoulders and you were both elated, smiling up at the caps being thrown in the air. 

The memory made you smile. 

You let out a soft sigh. The moment you shared was so minimal, you thought. You hug all the time, why was this any different? 

Was it because you couldn’t stop staring at his lips, or because your heart felt like it was going to explode out of your chest? Was it the way he bit on his chapped lips, never removing his gaze from you? 

You’ve dated other people in the past, and so has Peter, but you two always gravitated back to each other. You were his best friend and he was yours. 

But you couldn’t shake the thoughts of what it would feel like to kiss hi-

Tap tap tap!

You lifted your head in alarm and looked towards your bedroom window. You glanced towards MJ, hearing her soft snores to confirm that she was still asleep. You frowned as you quietly walked towards the window, your heart almost leaping out of your chest when you saw Peter on the fire escape dressed in his Spider-Man suit. 

You cautiously looked back at MJ before lifting the window and crawling out. 

“Peter? What’s wrong?” you asked, hugging your arms around your body as soon as your bare arms hit the chilly air. Usually Peter came to you when he was injured and needed help getting patched up, but he seemed healthy. 

“I was just patrolling and I was swinging by your apartment,” he said, going to pull the mask from his face. His hair was a mess underneath, but you liked how the curls almost fell in front of his doe eyes. 

You laughed lightly. “So you thought you’d just stop by?”

Peter chuckled nervously while looking down at the mask in his hands. 

“Yeah...I uh...was just...I couldn’t-”

“Spit it out,” you giggled, teasing him because you knew it made him laugh. Most of the time. 

He looked up and met your gaze, and the serious expression on his face made you suddenly nervous. Was he mad at you? Did you do something wrong?

“I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” he said, barely above a whisper. 

You felt your stomach lurch as you looked at him while also deciphering what he just said. 

“Oh,” was all you were able to come up with. Was he having the same thoughts that you were having?

Peter swallowed thickly. “I’ve just been thinking a lot about...us.”

“Us?”

“Y-Yeah.”

You were raking your mind, trying to come with something more coherent to say, but your heart was beating a mile a minute, which you were sure Peter could hear considering his senses were heightened. 

“Me too,” you finally managed to say. 

Peter’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Really?”

You nodded. “I don’t...I don’t know what it means, but I can’t stop thinking about you either.”

“You’re my best friend, (Y/N),” Peter said softly. “But I’ve uh...been having these feelings for a while.”

“Me too,” you found yourself saying. And it was true. Every time Peter hugged you or kissed your forehead or came over for cuddles, it made you think it was just him being your best friend, but now...you knew it was more than that. 

“What feelings are you having...exactly?” Peter asked cautiously. 

You rung your hangs together, playing with your fingers as you looked down at them.

“That maybe there’s something more here.”

“Something more?”

You looked up and saw that Peter had stepped closer to you, his eyes bearing into yours. It was like he wanted to hear you say it. 

“Something more than just best friends,” you said, barely above a whisper. “Because, I-”

You paused because you felt like you couldn’t breathe. This was the first time you were admitting these feelings to not only him, but yourself as well. You knew they were always there, but now you were actually acknowledging them.

“Say it,” Peter whispered. “Please.”

“I like you,” you said, your voice shaking along with your hands. You were both entering uncharted territory now, and you didn’t think there was any coming back from this. “Uh...more than a friend.”

Suddenly, Peter’s hands were on either side of your face, cupping your cheeks as his lips crashed down onto yours. It was like upon hearing those words, it gave him the green light to do what he had always wanted to do. You kissed him back, smiling against his lips because kissing him was everything you imagined it to be. His lips were chapped, but he tasted like fresh mint, and you couldn’t get enough of it. The kiss was soft and gentle as you both tested the waters. 

When you finally pulled away from each other, you felt like you were going to pass out because this was all you wanted, and he was perfect, and the moon was once again casting light on your budding relationship.

Peter’s arms fell to wrap around your waist and he pulled you to him. He rested his forehead against yours as you both tried to catch your breaths. 

“What does this mean?” you whispered.

“I hope it means you’ll be my girlfriend,” Peter whispered back, his breath fanning your lips. You played with the curls at the nape of his neck and looked up at him, pulling away slightly so you could actually look at him. 

“What if this ruins us?” you croaked. 

Peter furrowed his eyebrows. “We won’t let it.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“(Y/N),” Peter whispered, brushing a stray hair out of your face. “You’re the most important person to me...I won’t let anything take you away from me.”

You felt a smile pulling at your lips as you rested your forehead back against his. You brought one hand down from his neck to rest on his chest and you could feel the thump of his heart against it.

“By the way,” Peter whispered while capturing your lips in a brief kiss, something that you knew that you would already never get enough of. 

“I like you too.”

-

World 824

You didn’t realize how many drinks you had had until the world around you was spinning and your vision was blurry. The afterparty to Will’s movie was packed with celebrities, paparazzi, producers, and basically anyone who was anyone in Hollywood. You had been hanging out with Will and Peter for a majority of the night, and it was only bearable because Will’s girlfriend, Lexi, was there to keep you company. 

“(Y/N)?” Lexi laughed taking your drink out of your hand. 

“Hey!” you protested, grabbing for it back, but failing miserably. 

“I think that’s enough for one night,” Lexi chuckled. “I’m cutting you off.”

You pouted. “Why?”

You never really got to let loose at events like these. You were always on the lookout for Peter, making sure he wasn’t getting into some dumb fight or drawing any negative publicity to himself. Being his assistant and publicist all in one was the most exhausting job you’ve ever taken on. 

Maybe doing this job for a normal celebrity would have been easier, but of course you had to do it for a superhero.

“Lexi’s right, that’s enough (Y/N),” Peter said as he appeared by your side. You glared at him. 

“You’re one to talk,” you spat. “You’re always getting drunk and making my job ten times harder.”

Peter scoffed. “Oh please, that happened like once.”

You felt your blood boil. “Are you kidding me? It happens like every other night! I’m always there to save the day because Spider-Man can’t use his own fucking head!”

“Then why don’t you quit (Y/N)?!” Peter snapped. 

“Fine! Maybe I will!” you turned on your heel, storming away from Peter while your heart raced a mile a minute. You couldn’t see straight from both the alcohol and the anger that laced your vision. He was never appreciative of what you did for him, and the alcohol just gave you the confidence to say it. 

Peter went to follow you, but Will put his arm in front of him. 

“Let her cool off, man,” he advised. Peter huffed as Lexi jogged after you. He already regretted what he said and he wanted to mend it with you almost immediately. 

Lexi caught up with you and hooked her arm with yours to keep you steady on your feet. Angry tears were racing down your cheeks as Lexi led you into the bathroom. 

“Don’t listen to him,” Lexi said. You angrily wiped away your tears, sniffling and looking at your reflection in the mirror. Your makeup was going to be ruined. 

“He’s such an asshole,” you grumbled. 

Lexi smiled. “I know. But he cares about you. You know he didn’t mean what he said.”

“He doesn’t care about me,” you scoffed. “I’m his employee.”

“(Y/N), you’re more than an employee to him,” Lexi said, placing her hands on your shoulders to get you to look at her. “Don’t you see it?”

Your drunk mind couldn’t comprehend what she was saying so you just shrugged her off.

“No, not really,” you grumbled. You splashed your face lightly with some water and wiped away the streaks of mascara that were under your eyes. 

“Come with me to the bar to get some water?” you asked, turning to look at your friend. Lexi nodded and the two of you left the bathroom. 

Peter’s eyes never left you as he spotted you and Lexi leave the bathroom and head towards the bar. He almost intervened until he noticed that Lexi was just getting you some water. He felt terrible about what he said and he didn’t know how he would survive without you as his assistant. 

He knew you were right. You did everything for him. You saved his ass more times than he could count and he owed so much to you. He didn’t know why he acted out so much, maybe it was because he didn’t know how to handle his emotions after Tony died, but he knew he needed to stop. 

It was obviously taking a toll on you. 

“You good, man?” Will asked, placing a hand on Peter’s shoulder. 

“Yeah,” Peter sighed. “Just need to figure out how to apologize to her.”

“Damn right you do,” Will nodded. Peter rolled his eyes and took a sip of his water. He told himself he wasn’t going to drink tonight the moment he saw you raise a glass to your lips. If you were going to drink, he had to stay sober and make sure you were okay. 

That’s why his eyes narrowed in on the man who approached you and Lexi at the bar. 

“Can I buy you ladies a drink?” a deep voice said, startling you from behind. You turned around to see a man you didn’t recognize. He was handsome with sandy blonde hair and dark eyes.

“It’s an open bar,” Lexi pointed out with a shit-eating grin. 

The man laughed. “So I guess I’ll just have to owe you.”

“No thanks,” Lexi said because you were too focused on sipping your water so you wouldn’t throw up all over your expensive dress. “We’re good.”

“Oh come on,” the guy persisted. “You girls like tequila?”

“I said we’re good,” Lexi said, grabbing your arm and pulling you closer to her. You didn’t realize how close to you the guy had wandered, his breath practically fanning down the back of your dress. 

“I didn’t hear your friend say that,” the guy said, gesturing to you. “Seems like she likes to have fun.”

“I’m good,” you managed to mumble. “No more drinks for me.”

“You sure, sunshine? You don’t have to listen to your friend. You and me can go have a fun time together,” he sneered with a grin that made you want to vomit. 

“She said she’s good,” Peter said angrily appearing behind the man. “Get out of here, man.”

“Nobody asked you, Spidey,” the guy laughed. 

“I said, get out of here,” Peter growled. “Or I’ll do it for you.”

“Oh really? Is the good vigilante Spider-Man going to punch me? That’d look really great for headlines huh? Not really superhero material.”

Peter’s blood began boiling as he sized up the man. He could easily pummel him into the ground. He lunged forward and grabbed the collar of the guy’s shirt and lifted him from the ground. 

“Watch your mouth, tough guy,” Peter hissed. 

“Peter,” your small voice echoed in Peter’s ears and brought him back to reality. “Don’t, he’s not worth it.”

Peter looked at you, the way you were huddled into Lexi’s shoulder while Will stood behind the both of you. He dropped the guy to the ground and huffed before walking towards you. 

Much to Peter’s surprise, you stepped away from Lexi and opened your arms to him. Peter was quick to catch you, wrapping his arms around your waist and burying his face in your shoulder. He couldn’t get enough of your scent as he inhaled the smell of your perfume. 

“Take me home, please,” you whispered. 

“’Course darling,” Peter murmured. “Come on.”

You both said goodnight to Will and Lexi before heading towards the front of the club where a private car was waiting to take you back to the mansion. Your head was pounding and you let out almost a sigh of relief when you sat down and relaxed in the leathery cushion. Peter settled in next to you as he told the driver to take you both home. 

The first five minutes of the drive were silent, the soft music of the radio humming in the background. Your ears were still ringing from the loud music of the club as you looked up at the LA night sky above. You always wished you could see the stars, but the smog made it nearly impossible. 

Peter watched you, his eyes looking at every detail of your face illuminated by the city lights passing by in the windows. He wanted to so badly reach out and brush the stray piece of hair that had escaped your up-do out of your face. 

Slowly, with the hum of the car and the gentle music playing, your eyes began to close. Your eyelids were so heavy and you were beginning to crash from the alcohol. Your head was bobbing as you tried to stay awake, but eventually sleep overcame you and you let it. 

Peter was startled when your head found his shoulder. He froze, scared to move for the fear of waking you up.

He glanced down at you. Your lips were parted slightly and you were breathing softly. He had to fight the urge to place an arm around your sleeping form because he felt like any sudden movements would scare you off. 

You both stayed in that position for the rest of the ride until the car pulled up to the mansion. Peter thanked the driver before he scooped you up in his arms. He carried you towards the house, opening the front door with the eye-scanning technology he had installed. 

His heart almost burst when you snuggled your nose into his chest. Peter inhaled shakily as he carried you towards your bedroom. 

He placed you down on the bed and carefully removed your heels. He winced in doing so, wondering how sore your feet must have been walking around in those all night. 

He gently pulled the covers over your body, sighing when he saw you cuddle into the fluffy blanket. A surge of confidence overtook Peter as he leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to your forehead. 

“Goodnight, darling,” he whispered against your skin. He pulled back, wanting to savor this moment where you didn’t hate him, but eventually decided he had to leave. He went to walk away when suddenly your hand reached out and grabbed his. 

“Stay,” you mumbled. Peter didn’t think he was hearing you right. Did you just ask him to stay with you?

“What?” he croaked.

“Stay,” you whispered, opening one eye to look at him. “Please.”

“(Y/N)-”

“Just sleep,” you murmured, closing your eye. “Don’t wanna be alone.”

Peter’s inhaled sharply as he looked down at your hand in his. 

“Are you sure?” he whispered. 

“Mhm.”

Peter quietly slipped off his shoes and stared at you for a moment, feeling his heart beating a mile a minute before he finally gained the confidence to climb into the bed with you on the other side. He almost laughed. He never got nervous around girls, but he was terrified just sleeping next to you. Sleeping, not even having sex. He felt the heat rise to his cheeks at the thought. 

“Thank you,” you whispered, rolling onto your side to face him. Your eyes were still shut but a small smile danced on your lips. Peter felt like he could barely breathe.

“For what?” he whispered back. 

“Saving me tonight,” you said while opening your eyes. “It’s almost like you’re a superhero or something.”

Peter laughed and rolled onto his side so he was facing you.

“I kind of am,” he sighed. You smiled and closed your eyes while pulling the blanket up to your chin. 

“Goodnight Peter,” you whispered. 

“Goodnight (Y/N).”

-

World 626

You woke up wrapped in Peter’s arms, the sun starting to shine through your window as New York began to wake up for the day. It took you a moment to remember what had occurred last night and how Peter Parker, your best friend, was now your boyfriend.

You had stayed up talking and laughing on the fire escape until you must have drifted off to sleep. You woke up in your bed and the thought of Peter carrying you to it and falling asleep next to you made your heart want to soar.

You looked up at Peter and took in every detail, every freckle, every eyelash. Your legs were twisted together and one of his legs twitched as he seemed to be deep in his sleep. You wondered what he was dreaming about because you know you had dreamed about him and kissing him again. 

You brought a hand up to his cheek, gently tracing the freckles that lined his cheekbones. He stirred slightly, just nudging his head further into the crook of your neck. 

“Good morning, sleepy head,” you chuckled. Peter groaned softly as he hid his face in your neck. 

“You can’t hide from me,” you laughed, tangling your fingers in his curly hair. 

“Yes I can,” he grumbled, pressing a kiss to your skin. Goosebumps immediately broke out as soon as his lips came in contact with your shoulder and your breath hitched in your throat. You weren’t aware of the effect Peter had on you until you realized he took your breath away with every touch or kiss.

Peter slowly pulled his head back and groggily smiled at you. His eyes were heavy with sleep, but he looked at you with such adoration that you thought your heart may burst. 

“Good morning, beautiful,” he whispered. Your heart skipped a beat and you blushed at his words. 

“How’d you sleep?” you said softly. 

“Best I’ve ever slept,” Peter said with a smile. His voice was laced with sleep, raspy words coming out and it made you want to kiss him until you both ran out of air. 

“Me too,” you whispered. 

Peter looked down at you and brushed the hair out of your face. He smiled at you as he pressed his lips to yours. You smiled against his lips, knowing already that you would want to kiss him everyday for the rest of your life. Your lips fit together like two pieces of the puzzle finally connected. Your hands came up to rest in his curls as you tugged him closer. 

He was everything you could have ever wanted and more. 

You had admitted to him last night that you liked him, as more than a friend, but you knew deep down that you had fallen for him a long time ago. 

“What the fuck is this?” MJ’s voice scolded, causing you and Peter to pull apart quickly in alarm. Your roommate stood by your bed with her hands on her hips. 

“You two better not have sex while I’m in the room,” she scoffed causing you and Peter to both laugh as you turned red. Of course you had thought about having sex with Peter, how could you not when he looked like...that. But now that it was a real possibility, you felt incredibly nervous of the prospect of it. 

“And Parker, if you’re going to stay nights you could at least make me coffee in the morning,” MJ said while turning on her heel and heading towards the bathroom. 

“Fucking finally,” MJ muttered under her breath, causing you and Peter to laugh. “Ned owes me twenty bucks!”

“What do you mean?” you called as MJ slammed the door to the bathroom. “You two had a bet?!”

“Of course we did!” MJ called back as the shower started to run. “You two have been making eyes at each other for the last five years!”

You and Peter looked at each other, blushing in embarrassment. 

“Guess I should have asked you out a long time ago,” Peter whispered. 

You chuckled. “Better late than never.”

Peter hummed in response before cupping your cheek and bringing your lips to his in a sweet blissful kiss that made your head spin. 

-

chapter 3 - do you regret it? [1/25/21]

taglist: @hannahelizabeth-537​

[slowly-writing]

The Blink of an Eye

Natasha Romanoff x Daughter!Reader

Word count: 2532

Requested by anon: Can I request a nat x daughter!reader where r is adopted and discovers she has powers but tries to hide it from nat because she doesn’t think she’d be a good avenger? love your writing ♥️

“Y/n, come on!!! We’re gonna be late!” Peter’s voice startles you as you’re brushing your teeth. You glance at your phone and your eyes go wide. If you don’t leave in the next five minutes you’re totally screwed.

“I’m coming!” you yell back, sprinting out of your bathroom. You stumble a bit and somehow end up halfway down the hall. You pause for a second, looking between the bathroom door and the place you’re now standing. It’s a solid five yards but you don’t have time to try and figure out what the hell just happened. You have to get to school.

“Finally. You’re gonna get us detention,” Peter grabs your hand and tugs you to the door.

“It’s really not that big of a deal, Peter,” Wanda is trying to stifle her laugh as the three of you make your way to the garage.

xxxxx

“Romanoff, that was amazing. It may even be a new school record,” your gym teacher tells you as you finish running the mile.

“Wait what? What was my time?” You’ve never been the fastest kid in class. You probably could be, but you hated running so you never really tried. You normally just keep it to an easy jog, or so you thought as you glance over your shoulder and notice you’ve left Peter in the dust. That shouldn’t have happened.

“5:32. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a high schooler run that fast, what’s your secret?” he asks, leaning closer to you as if you wouldn’t want the class to hear you, but they’re all still trying to finish their run at least a hundred yards behind you.

“It must just be all the training I do with my mom and her team,” you say with a shrug and a fake smile. You don’t train with your mom’s team. This doesn’t make sense.

Over the next few days you have more of what you can only describe as glitches. Random bursts of speed when you run that put you on the opposite side of the room faster than any human should be able to move. Now that you know what to look for you can see the world blur by you as you run. It doesn’t happen all the time and you have no idea how to explain it. People don’t just magically obtain superpowers. In your experience it was usually with the assistance of hydra, and the occasional radioactive spider but you haven’t gotten any bug bites recently and you don’t like the option that leaves you with.

Your memory of life before being adopted is hazy at best, a few flashes of people whose relation to you you can’t place and some doctors offices. A four year old found alone half a mile outside of a recently destroyed hydra base is nothing too suspicious. It was in a crowded community full of individuals who got caught in unfortunate circumstances. It wasn’t rare to find people living on the streets but when Natasha found you all alone she knew she couldn’t just leave you there. It seemed innocent enough at the time, but if you find out you came from within that hydra base? Well they might not see it as a coincidence anymore. Besides in your opinion, you’d be a crappy superhero so it’s better if nobody finds out. Yeah, you’ll just hide it. That’ll work.

xxxxx

It did not work.

Every day that passed you found it harder and harder to keep your secret. It seemed your powers, if you could even call them that, just kept getting stronger. And let’s just say you weren’t getting the hang of them anytime soon.

“Y/n, dinner!” you hear your mom call from down the hall and you jump up from your desk, you’ve been starving recently, maybe it has something to do with the new powers. You run for the kitchen, momentarily forgetting how bad of an idea that is. You see Clint walking in front of you and you panic. The world starts moving in slow motion as you realize you can’t stop. You turn a bit so you’ll miss him, digging your heels into the floor to try and slow down. It isn’t very effective and rather than you stopping yourself, you stop when you slam into Tony’s bookshelf, knocking it and all the books to the floor as you skid across the common room with them.

“Oh my god!” Tony yells, jumping several feet in the air at the noise

“Y/n are you okay?” your mom asks as she quickly makes her way over to you. You pull the books off your chest and sit up, smiling sheepishly at the group of avengers standing in front of you.

“Yeah. I just uh...tripped. Sorry about your books Tony. I’ll clean them up,” you wince as you look at the mess you caused.

“We don’t care about the books-”

“I care about the books!” Tony cuts in and Steve rolls his eyes before continuing.

“We care about you,” he finishes with a pointed look at Tony who nods.

“Oh uh, yeah. We care about you more. But I also like the books…” he trails off quietly.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I guess I’m clumsy,” you say with a shrug, pushing yourself up and stacking the books out of the walkway. Your mom looks at you and you can tell she doesn’t quite believe you, but she lets it go for now.

This isn’t gonna work for much longer.

xxxxx

“Y/n wake up! We have to go!” you wake up to Tony’s screaming and you jolt upright. The first thing you notice is there’s a haze of smoke throughout the room and it’s really warm.

“What’s happening?” you ask, wiping your eyes and trying to make sense of what’s happening.

“There was an explosion in the lab. The fire suppression system is down and the whole place went up, it's spreading and we need to get everyone out now,” he pulls you up from the couch and starts leading you out of the compound. As you’re both hunched under a cloud of smoke you can’t help but think for the hundreth time how stupid the floor plans of this building are. Tony wanted his lab close to the living quarters so he could get there quickly when he got inspiration in the middle of the night. You’ve lost count of how many times his lab accidents have woken you up at 3am and now your room is about to go up in a cloud of smoke.

“Thank God,” you mumble to yourself as you get outside. Glancing around you see Clint, Steve, and Bucky all doubled over on the lawn.

“You guys good?” Clint calls over.

“Yeah, you? Where’s everyone else?” you get nervous seeing less than half of the residents outside.

“Peter’s at home. Wanda, Sam, and Thor are on a mission. Banner’s still out of town, right?” Steve lists off and your blood runs cold.

“Where’s mom?”

“She’s not with you guys?” Bucky asks and you turn to Tony who shakes his head.

“No, I just grabbed the kid and got out. I figured those with military grade training could look out for each other!” Tony yells and you run through your moms schedule. You can hear them arguing about whose responsibility it was to look for her as you realize it’s Wednesday. It’s laundry day meaning she was here, and it’s the afternoon so she’s probably folding it in her room. God, you were ten feet from her and you didn’t notice.

“She’s in her room.”

“Tony suit up and get her!” Clint yells, he sounds almost as desperate as you feel.

“My suit is in the lab, send one of the super soldiers in!” Tony screams back. You can feel the heat from the fire and you don’t even want to think about what it’s like inside the building right now.

“We don’t have time for this! I’ll go,” you step forward but Bucky grabs your arm.

“We’re not letting you go in there. You’ll die!” He yells and you rip your arm out of his grasp.

“If I don’t my mom dies!” With that you take off, at a normal speed at first, but quickly speeding up until you’re a blur. You stumble a few times, running into walls and fallen support beams scattered through the walkway. You haven’t quite got the hang of this yet. Every time you hit something you can feel your clothes start to burn and char, the heat making it all the way down to your skin. You ignore the pain and keep running, you need to get to your mom. After a few more mishaps and no more than three seconds you’ve made it to your moms bedroom. When you look around you see her coughing and trying to pull a fallen dresser off her leg, but she can’t quite get the leverage. Her eyes widen when she sees you.

“What are you doing? Get out of here!” she yells, desperate to keep you safe.

“I’m here to help, push on three,” you tell her, grabbing the dresser and counting down. After struggling for a few seconds you get it off of her. “Is your leg okay?”

“I’m fine, you need to go. I’ll catch up, just run,” she tells you as you help her up but you’re not leaving her.

“This is gonna be really weird, I’ll explain it later. I’m gonna pick you up,” you wrap her arm around your shoulder and reach down to lift her.

“What’s going on. What are you-” you cut her off.

“Mom! Just trust me. And you might want to close your eyes.” you pause for a moment, taking a deep breath before taking off. There’s so much adrenaline surging through you you barely feel like you’re trying. Despite the seeming lack of effort on your part you weave your way out of the building quickly, stumbling towards the assembled group and setting your mom down.

“What the hell just happened?” Tony is the first to break the silence and you cough a few times, trying to get in a breath that no longer wants to enter your lungs.

“Is-is everyone out?” you stutter out. Your vision is starting to tunnel and you're not sure why.

“Yes. Everyone is out. Now tell us what the hell is going on!” To anyone else your mom may sound mad, but you recognize that tone of voice. She’s worried. You want to reassure her but standing is getting harder by the second.

“I’m really fast,” is all you manage to get out before your knees buckle and your vision goes dark.

xxxxx

“You couldn’t have picked another part of the compound to destroy? Our med wing is a lot comfier,” you say as you’re opening your eyes, you can hear Tony whispering to someone so you know he’ll hear you.

“So sorry to inconvenience you, your highness,” he teases back and you smile, pushing yourself and surveying the room of worried gazes.

“By the looks on your faces I’m going to assume my secret’s out?” you ask and they all nod, varying degrees of annoyance, anger, and concern appearing as you try to lighten the mood. “Great. What’s the damage?”

“You have some burns that are healing way faster than they should. You were pretty malnourished. We think whatever your powers are make you require more food. How long have you known?” your mom asks and you look at your hands. She has her face set in an emotionless mask and even after all these years you can’t tell what that look means, and that worries you.

“A month or so,” you tell her and she sighs.

“What’s the first time you remember something happening?” Bruce’s voice is gentle, ever the calm one in the storm and you replay the memories of appearing in different places in your head, trying to remember the first one.

“Five weeks ago. I was late for school and running down the hall and it was like a glitch. I blinked and I was on the opposite end. I just brushed it off as being tired or something,” you explain with a shrug.

“When you crushed everyone in the mile, that was this? Coach has been trying to get us to explain your training routine for weeks. I guess we’ll have to tell him it won’t help,” Peter says and you chuckle.

“I don’t train. Especially after I found this. Running has had some...unfortunate consequences.”

“You mean besides you being in this hospital bed?” your mom asks cooly and you wince.

“I don’t think I’d call saving your life an unfortunate consequence but to each their own I guess. I kinda meant running into book shelves and seeing everything move in slow motion. It’s pretty disorienting,” you explain softly.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Wanda’s voice is gentle. She can feel the stress coming from you and she desperately wants to calm you down.

“How would I even start that conversation? ‘Hey guys remember that random rescue mission where you picked up a civilian? Turns out it wasn’t a civilian. Please don’t arrest me. I swear I’m not trying to infiltrate the top secret government organization you all work for, I was just created in a lab by your enemy whose sole purpose is to destroy you by any means necessary. Haha so fun, anyway what’s for dinner?’ That didn’t seem too appealing.”

“What did you think we were gonna do? We know you y/n,” Steve says and your head snaps up.

“No you don’t! None of us know anything about me anymore! What we do know is what hydra is capable of! Who knows what kind of shit they did. For all I know I have a fail safe set up in my brain to make me do their bidding at the drop of a hat! They’re your greatest enemy, and I’m just some kid you found in an alley. There’s really only one choice here,” you start off yelling but by the end your voice is barely above a whisper.

“You’re right. There is only one choice,” your mom speaks up for the first time in a while and you feel tears collecting in your eyes. “We start running tests. We see what they did to you and we find out if we can reverse it. We find out if you even want to reverse it and then we go from there. Either way you’re not alone. We’ve got you, no matter what.”

As soon as the words are out of her mouth you’re throwing yourself into her arms and holding on for dear life. It feels like the weight of the world has just been lifted off of your shoulders and for the first time in weeks you can finally breathe.

tag list: @rvgrsbrns @rororo06 @prizmix-and-friends @worlds-in-words @im-salt-but-not-salty @5aftermidnight @riotmaximoff

[strutitout]

LARRY FIC REC - recently read

1. I don't want a taste (I want it all) [3K] by  thedaggerrose (blessedfetish)

What Louis really needed was a fat fucking nap.

What Louis got instead was some hipster-looking wannabe arguing with him over the validity of avocado toast.

Or the AU where Harry tells Louis to go fuck himself, Louis tells Harry to fuck him himself, and Harry follows through.

✨ Cute and hot + they bantering over avocado tost.

2. Right Side of the Wrong Bed [10K] by  eyesofshinigami 

There, standing in a pair of ridiculously tiny briefs and wielding a frying pan in one hand, is quite possibly the prettiest boy he's ever seen. Louis scrubs a hand across his face. "I'm in the wrong goddamn flat, aren't I?"

Or, the one where Louis wakes up on the wrong couch only to meet his future husband (even if Harry doesn't know it yet).

✨ This was not the first and won’t be the last time I read this fic. It’s super fun, hot, and even though it’s “just” 10K, their connection is really well-built.

3. When Least Expected [22K] by  Rearviewdreamer

Drowning in a sea of emails and Zoom meetings in the living room, his lonely son falling more and more behind in his kitchen classroom, and crushing weight of the world being on house arrest for the foreseeable future, one fateful online interaction suddenly has everything looking up.

✨Louis’ kid is having a hard time trying to adjust to the new reality brought by COVID, until he starts having music classes with music teacher Harry, and things start looking up for both father and son. Very sweet fic and really interesting to see them falling on love over this hard times.

4. Naked Attraction #2 [29K] by reader_chic_2

“By the way, I checked you out quite a lot before your tube was raised.”

Harry smiled lustrously, “Yeah? More than Leonard? He might have been crazy, but he was sort of cute.”

Louis raised an eyebrow. “Maybe to you, Styles, but I don’t enjoy dominating in the bedroom.”

“Is that so?” Harry licked his lips. “Funnily enough, I do.”

Louis felt like his heart was going to explode out of his chest. “I’m not sure if someone as adorable as you could dish out commands.”

Harry laughed brightly, and in a second flat his hand reached out and gripped his hip so hard it made Louis gasp. His eyes darkened, boring into Louis’ with a burning intensity. “And I’m not sure someone as mouthy as you could take my commands. Want to test it out?”

. . .

Louis Tomlinson is the first openly gay football player in the Premier football League. He was outed by the paps, but he’s had to embrace it since then. To show he doesn’t have shame in it, he goes onto Naked Attraction, and all the money will go to LGBTQ+ support, but he has made some changes to the show. Incidentally, he meets a certain Harry Styles there, and that is when things get interesting...

✨ This was really really fun, loved their dynamic and found it a very original story. Fluff, fun and smut. 

✨ Additional tags: Spanking. Subspace.  

5. Hold Me Closer [36K] by  balanceds

Louis Tomlinson is one of the most promising dancers of the English National Ballet, on track to become the youngest principal dancer in the company's history. That is, until forces conspire to significantly complicate his life, including: a surprise ballet, an unfairly attractive guest choreographer, and being pushed into a rivalry with his best mate. Featuring lots of wine, dancing, pining, and a happy ending.

✨ I’m not an expert but from the comments it seems the writter nailed the “dancing world” characterization (even though you don’t have to know anything about it to enjoy it). There’s some good banter and friendship; hot smut; lots of pining and not that much angst.

6. Whisper The Wind [36K] by  jacaranda_bloom

Louis’ father has political ambitions and decides it’s time for Louis to step up as the company’s Chief Financial Officer. Louis thinks this is a monumentally stupid idea. After storming off in a rage he has a chance meeting with a tall, dark, curly haired stranger. A technical glitch with their shared elevator finds Louis spending twenty minutes with the most intriguing man he’s ever met. Unfortunately the man is leaving London the very next day and moving to Australia to work at his mates surf school. Timing, as they say, can fuck right off.

Fast forward three years and Louis is miserable, a shadow of the man he once was, working in his father’s company, and hating every moment. At his thirtieth birthday party, surrounded by people he doesn’t know or doesn’t like, he decides to throw it all in and follow the impossible dream. Happiness, a fulfilling life, and someone to love. The question is, will that dream be found ten thousand miles away on a sandy beach, with a curly headed surfer dude?

---

Or the one where Louis rides an elevator that may change his life forever, Harry loves the ocean but is a terrible surfer, Liam proves not all heroes wear capes, and Niall might actually have all the answers.

✨ No angst, this is 36K of pure fluff and hot smut (read tags). They fall in love almost immediately, so they are already together most of the story.

7. King of wishful thinking [38K] by  Star_Henderson

“Don't umm don't get on the bus, come inside.” Louis blurted the words out, speaking quickly.

Harry looked startled.

“Just. Look I don't know if I want..” Louis scrubbed his face with his hand. “I'll pay for your time. Just come in.”

Harry stepped away from the bus stop and the bus sailed straight past.

“What's umm what do you guys make these days?”

Harry shuffled his feet. “Depends. Like two hundred an hour.”

Louis hummed. “Reasonable.” He gestured towards the hotel. “Come up for a drink or some room service or something.”

Harry scraped the toe of his already scuffed boots on the floor. “You don't have to do this, I feel like… like you're a nice person who feels bad but it's fine. I get it. You don't have to make it up to me.”

Louis stared at Harry. It'd been so long since he'd even spoken to a guy let alone hung out with one. He'd enjoyed the banter and the flirting.

“Come up.” Louis’ voice was soft.

Harry’s face bloomed into a smile. “Ok.”

✨This is another one that I’ve read more than once and still love. Sex worker Harry. Really sweet, very well-written and their love is really well constructed. 

8. hush. [41K] by  Wankerville

“I don't like you like that, Harry.”

“See,” Harry starts, Louis can hear the smile in his voice, “that's where I think you're lying.”

---

or an au where small towns suck, louis is losing it, and harry’s just too perfect.

✨ Read the tags! My notes on this one were: SO SO BEAUTIFULLLLL. Loved it, angst (but not a heartbreaking one), SO MUCH FLUFF, great dialogues, great banter and smut. Loved it!!! (lol)

9.  Don't Look Down [91K] by  zarah5

AU. In which Louis is a solicitor at one of London’s most prestigious law firms and Harry happens to apply for the position as his trainee. And everyone else is around, too.

✨I love everything they write and this one wasn’t different. Amazing characterization, great dialogues, great banter! Absolutely loved it! Not much smut. A bit angsty, wanted to punch Louis at times, but all ended well. 

10. Let Me Be Your Star [252K] by  lovelarry10

Harry Styles has always been a singer, but he’s never had much confidence in himself. When his idol is brought on as the new judge on The X-Factor, he figures, what the hell? He’d get to sing and meet his idol. What could go wrong?

~

Louis Tomlinson has always wanted to mentor young musicians. When he’s asked to be a judge on The X-Factor, it’s a dream come true, everything he ever wanted. What he didn’t expect was to meet a curly-headed stranger that would turn his life upside down

✨Hot smut, a lot of fluff and not that much angst. Harry seems a bit immature (which makes sense for his age) but their relatioship is really sweet. (I also enjoy that the writer included pictures of how they imagined H and L on each presentation)

[youngkbf]

Post Breakups With GOT7 ↠ Hyung Line

wc: 1.7k+

hyung line | maknae line

masterlist in bio

Mark still puts out a plate for you. He does it without thinking, and it’s like a stab in the heart each time. He stops in his tracks because he’s not alone this time, so he clears his throat and puts the plate away without a word, aware of Jackson’s attentive gaze. He prays Jackson lets it slide because no one hates the fact that he’s still not used to your absence more than himself. It’s in the little things, the same little things that once made his heart flutter. But now, all he has is an almost empty shower rack with nothing but a half-empty shampoo bottle and a shower gel he hates. An extra plate on the table, an extra cup of coffee in the morning and an half-empty closet. How his mind still hasn’t gotten used to the fact that you’re not there. It’s almost as if doing things for two is the same as doing them for one and his brain can’t cope with the fact that half of him is missing.

Mark is half listening to Jackson rambling until your name comes up. An awkward silence lingers in the air as his friend stops, realizing what he just said. Mark reassures him because your name is not a forbidden topic. God knows how much he just wants to talk about you. About the sound of your laugh, the way that you smiled, the way that you looked beautiful even when you cried, the way you used to tell him that you loved him and that you would never leave. The way you broke that promise, the way that he wasn’t ready to hear you say goodbye and leave him to deal with the aftermath of a broken heart. God knows how much he has to say. Deep down he always knew that holding on to you was the same as holding ice. It hurts until there’s nothing but water in your hands. How pathetic it is to hold on to water and how pathetic Mark is for trying. You can’t lock up an ocean, let alone grasp it, but he hoped he would be different. Now he’s gently being pulled apart by the tide and he just lets himself go, hoping to find a shore to rest, way too many miles away from you.

Jaebeom thinks he’s doing okay until he sees you with someone else. The memory of you floods his brain, and he feels dizzy. Who is he? Is he a friend? His chest tightens because friends definitely don’t kiss each other like that. And why is it that you’re holding his hand, but Jaebeom feels the touch of your fingers? He looks down at his hand hoping this is just some twisted nightmare, a glitch in reality, a peek into an alternative world where you’re not his anymore. Reality is disappointing and this is the moment where Jaebeom realizes that he can bandage the damage but he can’t force the wounds to heal themselves. Pretending everything was fine was perhaps the worst thing he could have done because now he’s being pulled apart at the seams by his own feelings. There’s nothing he can do but watch, see the way you look at him and how much he misses being the reason for the amount of love in your eyes. Does he know? Does he know how sad you get when you watch your favorite movie? Does he know how to kiss you until you forget your name? Does he know you like to be held in your sleep? Does he know where to touch you to make you squirm and beg for more? Does he know you’re not a morning person? Does he know how hard it is to change your mind? Jaebeom hopes he doesn’t, more for his own sake than anything else. He still wants to be the best thing that ever happened to you, even if it had to end. All good things must end, his mother used to say and he holds on to those words to keep his tears from spilling in the middle of a crowded street. What it felt like long painful hours of watching this scene unfold in front of his eyes was nothing but a few seconds, a few seconds he wishes he could unlive. He can’t stand being there anymore and turns around, ready to go back home as he tries to deal with the hurricane of unwanted emotions ripping his chest apart from the inside out. But not without catching one last glimpse of you through the refection of a store window. Because that’s all you really are to him, something he can only see, an image he reaches out to but can never touch. Jaebeom misses the way you turn around, still in time to recognize his broad shoulders in the crowd and the way your smile falters. In a way, it’s better that he’ll never know. Today has been painful enough.

Jackson thinks he can bury himself in work. He thinks if he avoids dealing with his emotions, he’ll eventually forget about them. But everything he writes comes out about you, every lyric, every melody, it’s all you. He hopes time will make things easier, but it’s been months and the wounds are still fresh in his chest. He feels something, although he doesn’t know what it is exactly. There are so many emotions that he doesn’t even know what to call them. Anger? Heartbreak? Guilt? Perhaps a metaphorical three-headed monster that is nothing but a combination of all of these, like the last level in a videogame he can never finish. Something he’ll never be able to tame. It scares him how much power you still hold over him, even when you’re gone.

Jackson realizes he spent another night in the studio when he hears birds chirping outside. He rubs his face in frustration because it was another night spent wide awake thinking about you. And he can’t help but think how much you would’ve nagged him for not getting enough rest. If he closes his eyes hard enough, he can still hear you. His eyes instinctively go up to the wall in front of him where a few pictures of the two of you are still taped on. He hates them, but he can’t find it in him to take them down or look away whenever they catch his eye. He finally knows what he’s feeling, anger, plenty of it and in a fit of rage, he rips one of the pictures of the wall. It tears in half, splitting you and him now on the paper too. He looks down at his hand, the you in the picture is smiling up at him and then he looks up at the other half, the way his own eyes shine with love as he looks down at you in that one moment frozen in time for eternity. Love kept in a photograph that he wishes he could forget about. Maybe this is what hell feels like, living without you knowing that he had you in the palm of his hand and let you slip through the spaces in between his fingers. Oh, if only he could sew them shut.

Jinyoung feels empty. The rational part of him knows this it’s normal after a breakup, but he can’t help but wonder if this is how the rest of his life is going to be. Time passes him by but doesn’t move him forward. He’s stuck on the day you left and it keeps repeating itself in his head over and over. The things you both said, the things he could’ve said, the things he definitely shouldn’t have said, things that could’ve made you stay. Deadlines keep piling up, scripts to be read and memorized, songs to be written, choreographies to be learned but Jinyoung can’t find the motivation to do any of these. For the first time in his life, Jinyoung is the sloppy one that can’t seem to get anything done. It’s hard, he thinks, it’s so hard without them. Not that he ever says it out loud, because that’s the same as admitting weakness and Jinyoung is not weak. All he gives out is a half-hearted apology and an empty promise that he’ll do better. But he doesn’t, because you were the one he used to read the scripts with, the one who always checked his lyrics, the one who cheered him on when he couldn’t get that one step right. And now it seems stupid to hear his own voice echo in the empty apartment, whatever he writes never seems good enough and his feet and his brain don’t seem to want to work together anymore. He keeps telling himself he’ll be okay. All he needs is to reach out and let time pull him forward into the present. A present where the two of you aren’t together anymore, where you’re not his anymore but he’s still yours. It’s so scary to think about that scenario, so scary to imagine himself living in that twisted reality that Jinyoung doesn’t even realize that he’s been living like this for some time.

Denial, his friends call it, but it can’t be that. It may be denial when he’s home alone and no one can see him cry, but it’s not denial when he’s working so hard to make it seem like he’s okay. He’s making a terrible job at it, but no one has the heart to tell him. It’s just that he’s so obsessed with winning the breakup like it’s some sort of game and he needs to feel the taste of victory pouring out of his mouth like ichor. Jinyoung needs you to know that he can live without you. Truth is, that he can’t. And he doesn’t know how to.

[toysoldiers-rwby]

[CS] 5. Solutions

5. Solutions

Cutting Strings

Characters: Penny, Ciel Word Count: 5k

Penny’s first obstacle in the real world.

Read on Ao3

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Conflicts detect. Source: Unknown. Solutions: Debugging.

The General’s office in the Polendina Facility was nothing compared to his office in the Academy, according to Winter and the information Penny was created with. Similarly Xanthic was unimpressed, but that cold impassive face might be from the cuffs pinning her wrist together. Winter was quickly reading the file Ironwood handed her while he sat at his desk, eyes on the hacker.  

The silence ticked by and Xanthic growled. “I already told you, your system locked me out before I could get any real information.” The hacker explained, “You want me, Glade, and an undecided third member to go to play babysitter for Penny at the Vytal Festival.”  

Penny frowned and cast her gaze down. Ciel… was not confirmed? Was Xanthic planning to hack the system to make sure she was chosen for the Vytal Festival?  

“So you don’t know anything about Floating Array?” Winter asked. She handed the confidential information to Penny. The young women hesitated. Only after verification from General Ironwood did Penny take it and look it over.  

“I know it’s an ugly monstrosity.” Xanthic answered once but the words kept repeating in Penny’s processors. Her hands shook. Power output fluxed violently, sending more energy into her hardware. Software quickly adjusted but Penny couldn’t stop the small tremors. Xanthic’s eyes fixed on it. Penny curled up, stepping back as Winter stepped forward to shield her again. “It’s not me you should be protecting her from,” Xanthic’s cybernetic eyes cut to General Ironwood.  

"People of Atlas," Xanthic repeated. The Aura in Penny’s power core twisted again. She tried to remember her father’s words just a few hours before. She was his daughter not a- “Is that why Ironwood twisted her body before making her an official citizen?” What? The shock from Winter was heavy, the worried and guilty eyes Penny looked up into even heavier.  

One of the smartest and biggest threat made her own red herring. Xanthic thought Penny was a human experiment. General Ironwood was calm, a corner of his mouth quirking up in a satisfied smile. Penny’s sharp cybernetic eyes saw it.  

And Xanthic’s older model picked it up as well.“How much of her body is metal!?” Xanthic screamed. Penny’s head snapped up. Rage. The hacker’s face was twisted and red, body ready to lung at the man that could tear her a part with his hands.It wasn’t an emotion Penny was familiar with, wasn’t aware it could be a… a protective emotion. The hacker was angry for Penny.  

“How dare you. This isn’t-”  

“Schnee, enough.” General Ironwood raised his hand. Winter immediately stopped, hand grasping for the hilt of her sword. When she realized her weapon wasn’t on her Winter calmed down a little. Ironwood slowly sat back in his chair, “What do you think you know?”  

“I know Floating Array can only be used by people like you,” Xanthic lifted her bound hands, pointing to her forehead. The spot where Ironwood’s transmitter controlled his cybernetics. “Glade and me,” Next she pointed to the back of her head and neck. Penny had to squint, focusing her artificial eyes. She couldn’t see what Xanthic was referring to but she could faintly make out the cybernetic glow reflecting off her hair. “Unless she’s a telekinetic, those swords are controlled through neural cybernetics and augmentation.”  

She wasn’t wrong… Penny looked down at the file to study what lies General Ironwood tied her too. The goal was to send a team to test a weapon in the Vytal Festival. The weapon’s name was Floating Array, not P.E.N.N.Y- She took a deep breath and focused back on the conversation. Penny wasn’t a weapon. Another SDC orphan. How much of her body is metal!? Did Xan think she was wounded in the fake report that killed her supposed parents?  

Penny gently held Winter’s arm and slowly stepped out from behind her. If Xanthic’s outburst was a result of protectiveness and injustive… then surely Xanthic must be kind too? “He didn’t…” Experiment on the experiment? “I’m-”  

“The level of Penny’s augmentation is classified,” His order was directed to everyone in the room. His eyes and words ended with Penny who flinched. Somehow she managed to resist hiding behind Winter again. She was Dr. Pietro’s daughter. Winter saw her as someone to protect and in her own way so did Xanthic. She had an identity beyond a tool, Penny repeated this over and over even if she nodded to Ironwood.  

Winter gently pulled Penny’s hand off her but she gave a comforting squeeze, eyes lingering on their hands. There was a small knit between her brows, the line of her tight lips curved down so softly. Penny gave a tight and determined squeeze back. She was so tired of seeing that look of concern. Dr. Peitro was her father, he was allowed to worry but Penny was determined never to see Winter or anyone else give her that look again.  

Xanthic watched curiously. Her bright eyes returned to Ironwood who seemed indifferent to the heavy air and accusations of using a little girl for experiments. It irritated the hacker for a moment, “… Me and Glade will figure it out sooner or later.” Xanthic said relaxing as much as she could. “You’re assigning two genius to babysit her after all.”  

“So you agree to take on this mission?” Ironwood asked.  

“Don’t insult me by acting like I have a choice,” Xanthic scowled holding up the gravity cuffs. “Besides, if anything goes wrong with that spliced tech you’ll need me and Glade.”  

… Goes wrong?  

“Which is why I choose you for this mission but… There has been some resistance from Glade and difficulties with your potential partner.”  

“A-Aro?!” Resistance? She doesn’t want-  

Winter quickly set a hand on Penny’s shoulder. Her mind was stretching thing, a thousand thought running a thousand miles a second but somehow Winter’s voice broke through, “She’s probably being difficult to annoy you, sir. I know for a fact that she’s quite attached to Penny.”  

Penny took a deep breath and calmed down, literally pushing the cold Solitas air through her flash heated systems. Her memory wasn’t corrupted but her processors fired up simulations without proper information. Even before they met, Aro jumped in front of a Spider Droid to protect her. Why does her programming assume the worst? Penny opened her eyes at Ironwood’s loud frustrated sigh. He was rubbing his temples, jaw clenched tight.  

“I am well aware. She’s in a position to make demands and is already making them.”  

“… Sir.” Winter’s voice was tired and dry, “What did you expect from a Faunus women who runs one of the few independent Dust shops since she was 18?” Ironwood seemed to wince under that statement. It was all public facts but Penny could barely grasp the weight of that statement. The irony of a successful individual being used as an icon for blatant discrimination- Penny finally recognized that sad smile Aro had on during APCX’s first gathering.  

It was resignation.  

“What’s her demand?” Winter asked.  

Ironwood took a deep breath and sat back in his chair. “She wants Penny to choose the last member. Though to make sure she doesn’t influence Penny’s decision I get to narrow down the list.”  

“Oh!” Xanthic sneered wearing down Ironwood’s patience. His jaw tensed, grinding a little. “So the Iron part of your name stands for irony?”  

The General glared at Xanthic then at Winter. His second-in-command straightened out and awaited her orders. “Take this criminal to her quarters.”  

“Yeah, take me to bed, Mistress.”  

At that Winter’s face turned a little red but it wasn’t a blush. She ripped her tie from her neck and shoved it into Xanthic’s mouth in a near punch. Xanthic groaned but it only turned to a biting laughter. Despite Penny’s concerns Winter shoved the hacker out of the room. She winked… It didn’t make Penny didn’t feel any better. Her protocols told her to intervene, but another told her to stand by as the subject was handled by Military Authority. It didn’t seem right.  

A few seconds after the door hissed closed Ironwood’s stoic image crumbled a little. His elbows rested on the desk. “I’m afraid dealing with her will be your toughest challenge.”  

“I’m… I’m sure I’ll adapt.” Penny said quietly. She traced the mend on her finger. There was no evidence of it except for her memory. Xanthic was a challenge but… Penny wasn’t sure if she enjoyed it or not. “If Xanthic is such a concern why assign her to my team?”  

“Besides her technical capabilities?” Ironwood asked. He slumped further at his desk, a tired smile on his face. “She fits the average profile for students and competitors attending the Vytal Festival. Ms. Xanthic won’t be able to infiltrate Atlesian property all the way in Vale. The distance and extra security will make it harder for her to hack our systems. Additional her rivalry with Ms. Glade and activities during the Vytal Festival will preoccupy her time.”  

“And what will happen to her after?” Penny asked despite the fear of the answer.  

Ironwood closed his eyes for a moment. “I’d consider this mission a community service and shorten her punishment.” That was not a satisfactory answer but Penny did not have a chance to continue the conversation. Penny’s Scroll pinged. She accepted the file transfers. “Ms. Glade would like you to meet these five candidates and choose one of them when she returns.”  

“Yes, sir.”  

Penny left feeling drained, as if she fought more than a Spider Droid. Was this her equivalent to mental exhaustion? Xanthic had triggered multiple conflicts and she had to constantly suppress some protocols. Then the glitches with her Aura… Penny returned to her room, hand over her power unit. The reasonable thing would be inform her father but the thought of seeing him worry exhausted her further.  

She didn’t want to think about it. Instead Penny focused her processors on the files General Ironwood gave her. All of the candidates are top students at the Police Academy… Ciel was not on the list!  

Penny nearly rushed out of her room but stopped. Xanthic was a criminal, her area would be heavily monitored in every way: visual, audio, and transmitted data if Winter didn’t confiscate her Scroll. Xanthic told them not to contact each other but…  

She bounced in place systems flooded with energy and threatening to overheat her with no action to burn it off. Why isn’t Ciel on the list? Every candidate looked capable but Xanthic was right. Penny didn’t actually have a choice. She already knew Ciel- why isn’t she on the list- and everyone seemed to get along during their first meeting… well enough, after some comparison with Winter and May.  

Suddenly Penny’s recorded memory brought up Ciel’s audio, If the General of our Kingdom has a directive for us we’d best follow it, Did she decline the offer? “Ugh…” Penny found herself sitting on her bed, head in her hands. “What do I do?” She didn’t want Ironwood’s candidates, she wanted Ciel or to at least ask her… “Ask her what?” Penny huffed at herself. Ask Ciel if she declined, if she wants to be a part of a team with two anarchist?  

Penny stood up and walked out of her room. Her aura was causing another glitch in her power unit. Too much energy for her processes to handle, she’d start one simulation and started another in a few seconds after, trying to come up with reasons why Ciel wasn’t on the list. She needed to do something and she needed information…  

Penny found herself sneaking out of the facility and on a transport to Mantle.  

Ciel’s home was vastly different than what Penny was used to. Aro and Xanthic owned a building and house respectively. Ciel lived in an apartment building in a cramped area close to the Police Academy. Penny rang the doorbell and waited a few seconds. She had enough time to wonder if normal humans would be sleeping at this time when the door opened. Ciel didn’t look surprised to see her. If anything she was a little annoyed.  

“Hello!” Penny greeted her with a smile. Her father was right, fresh air did help her systems but now her processors were sluggish. All those ideas she had vanished. It never worked on Xanthic but Ciel did relax a little. That was a good sign, right? “Should I… Should I come back later?” Penny asked tilting her head a little. Penny’s internal clock told her it was almost midnight but Ciel was still dressed. “I’m not sure what time you rest and recharge.”  

“It’s the last month of the semester, I’m constantly running on empty.” Ciel said with a shrug. “Hold on,” Penny’s hopefully-future-teammate disappeared into the dark apartment for a moment. Penny peeked in. It was cramped, optimizing space for multiple people. Switching to night vison her cybernetic eyes saw several photos on the fridge and walls. Ciel was in a few of them at different stages of life, with what appeared to be blood relatives. Penny quickly turned her enhanced vision off and stepped out of the doorway when Ciel returned with a coat around her body. She presented a jacket and box to Penny, “Glade dropped this off with me before she left. Said it was for Xanthic.”  

She wasn’t in Mantle? Penny took the jacket first and carefully put it on. Ciel and Penny were about the same height and built so it was a perfectly snug fit. It felt… odd, being compressed by a soft warmth all around her. It was like a hug. Penny snuggled into it.  

Again her simulations and programming predicted the worse and caused unnecessary stress. There was no immediately solution so Penny adjusted her priotities.  

She gave Ciel a bright smile, “So you do want to join our team?”  

Ciel locked her apartment and lead Penny down the stairs. “Once I calmed down and thought about it… maybe?” She muttered. She was digging herself into her thick coat. They walked in silence for a few minutes. Ciel’s feet dragged a little. It made Penny feel like her processors were burning out. There was so much to adjust too. From near completely solitude to Xanthic’s brash attitude, especially Xanthic’s attitude. An entire day of tension, conflicting code and-  

“Penny, do you have any idea what you’re getting into?” Ciel wondered softly. Almost timid and scared, but Penny didn’t know her well enough to make that assessment. “With Glade, Xanthic, the Vytal Festival?”  

“… No.” The question and realization cause a falter in Penny’s stride.  

Ciel let out a short laugh. Penny stared at her and Ciel quickly tried to hide it with a cough. A tired smile peeked out from her hand, “Sorry. Low energy. A little delirious. And a little relieved.” She clarified. Ciel paused for a moment, then a moment longer before speaking. Human’s didn’t perform well when insufficiently charged. “You and the others seemed so confident. I felt like I was the only one fumbling in the dark.”  

“You were studying.”  

“Got the best marks in class.” Ciel said, some energy returning with pride. They turned another corner and the officer-in-training walked up to a lit up basement entrance. Penny faltered surprised to see some people hang around it. They were all Academy students, most in Police uniform but some from Atlas Academy. They nodded at Ciel with a sense of familiartiy between them.  

Penny jogged, catching up to Ciel as she walked down into the cellar. The width and length was as big as the building above it. It was rather empty with isolated groups scattered around. Half the floor was a lounge with a mini café.  

“May! Drink’s ready!” The barista yelled out to the small number of patreons.  

The other half was cleared with the exception of sparing dummies, weights, or targets against the walls. The students sat in the lounge, studying, chatting some individuals even sleeping. The sparing side was currently in use by officers in uniform and a few without. The only Huntresses were in the far corner. Penny could tell from their Aura, it was far more refined than those from the Police Force. One was even familiar but Penny couldn’t place it.  

“What is this place?”  

Ciel glanced back at her, tired feet still dragging to the barista’s counter. “A gym for Officers and trainees. We don’t have the resources Atlas Academy has but we make do. Most of the Atlas students here are Mantle-born.”  

“You can take the miners out of Mantle but you can’t take the Mantle out of the miners!” The barista was that rainbow semblance Faunus Penny saw a few days ago. She skated to the counter and perched her head atop it with a grin, “Hiya, Ciel! I didn’t expect you to be friends with the mysterious cutie too!”  

“Neon.” Ciel sighed, “Three things. One, that’s a horrible saying and you should stop using it. Two, her name is Penny, don’t be rude. Three, my usual thai latte.”  

“And you Penny?”  

“No thanks-” A heavy hand dropped onto her head and a hand suddenly appeared to reach around her to grab the drink. Penny jumped, gasping out a noise and turning around. May Marigold smiled down at her and ruffled her hair a little. Towering over even May was Joanna Greenleaf and Elm Ederne. All three was in just their mid layer clothing just thick and dark enough to avoid being translucent from their sweat.  

“Chocolate mint. I’ll pay for her friend’s drink too,” May said. Her hand stopped ruffling Penny’s hair and dropped a few lien onto the counter.  

“Sweets for the sweetie! And a blackest latte for bore,” Neon sang sticking her tongue out at Ciel. The trainee didn’t acknowledge it. Instead she slumped in the bar stool and laid her head on the counter, her barrette used as a pillow.  

“So you must be Penny Polendina! Me and Herriet saw you at the Military Tech Show!” Special Operative Elm Ederne yelled. Perhaps Xanthic’s fustrations were not misplaced… Penny found herself needing to lean back a little to look up at her. Then suddenly she was looking down when the women picked her up. Penny gasped, holding down her dress and pressing Aro’s mysterious box to her chest. “A pleasure to meet you! We’re looking forward to what you can do!”  

“Pleasure… Please set me down.” Penny squeaked. Her system was confused, the chances of encountering people who could lift her was very small but everyone who tried did so with ease. Elm laughed, throwing her head back and echoing it off the quiet cellar. Ciel let out a tired groan, eyes still closed while several other students yelled for some silence.  

“Elm,” Huntress Joanna Greenleaf elbowed the fellow giant’s arm. They must have been sparing hard because it caused a small Aura flicker. “Inside voice.”  

“And don’t just pick up people! You and Aro…” May’s scolding drifted off. She angrily huffed, then threw her head back taking large gulps of her drink. “Fuck, now I’m pissed off again!”  

“Maybe you should stand outside and cool off?” Joanna offered.  

“Nonsense, I’m ready for another round!” Elm said, fist slamming into a palm so loud it echoed. Elm winced, her Aura finally flickering out. “Or not…”  

“I don’t understand…” Penny mumbled looking at May. Last she remembered they were happily getting along, the fighting wasn’t a real fight but playing. “Why would you-”  

“No, nope!” Joanna stepped in, physically crossing her arms. "We’re here work out our anger, not to build it up even more," She gave a hard glare at May who scoffed and rolled her eyes.  

“She deserves a good slap to that arrogant, pretty face!”  

Did they have an argument? Close friends can have arguments? Penny wondered. She really wanted to call Aro but Xanthic’s no communications-on-Atlas-owned-servers was becoming more and more reasonable.  

“Then do it when she gets back.” Joanna clasp a hand around May’s shoulder. The weight and power making her flinch and sloshing her drink a little. “Shooting range. Let’s go.”  

“Ugh,” May groaned and grumbled, swearing a storm under her breath and directing it at Aro’s absence. Elm followed, giving the Ciel and Penny a big wave.  

“Death latte and a chocolate mint to warm you two up,” Neon said back to the pair and setting the drinks on the counter. She was about to settle for a chat when two more people entered the ceiler. “Reese! Nadir!” She vaulted over, tackling her friends to the ground. Their laughter helped muffled the yelling Huntresses in the corner and the groaning students trying to sleep or study.  

Penny watched it all from her seat next to an exhausted Ciel. Her potential teammate groaned and finally sat up, unceremoniously dropping her barrette back onto her head. Penny giggled and fixed it.  

“Welcome to Mantle,” Ciel muttered into her drink. “Where everyone is loud and rude, and not even the scholarship students can afford to sleep.”  

“I would add compassionate and strong willed,” Penny added. Ciel stared at her for a moment and quietly agreed, trying to hide a smile behind her cup.  

Neither of them talked for a few minutes. Ciel was slowly waking up, nursing her hot latte with both hands. Penny took small sips of her own drink. The atmosphere and seeing people alive was worth the trials General Ironwood put her through and more. Her recordings and simulations were flat and predictable. Penny at the center of every problem and the solution to every scenario but in Mantle she was just a person, a stranger in someone else’s life.  

“Ciel?”  

“Hm?”  

“You state you were still unsure about accepting General Ironwood’s request. Why is that?” Penny asked softly.  

The answer was nearly immediate, either she was thinking about this for a while or the caffeine was recharging her. “Who’s going to help take care of my family?” Ciel asked. “General Ironwood says the Military will pay for all expenses but my family is losing a source of income, even if it is small.”  

Penny frowned and looked at Ciel. The answer was much more practical than expected. She didn’t have to worry about the daily human needs. Her father was well respected scientist living in a military facility, he didn’t need to spend to survive. Penny did not need to eat. She had other forms of maintenance but that was weekly, monthly if need be. Her robust power unit and Aura mean that Penny needed little rest and Dust could be used in emergencies. Her material consumption was part of the military’s budget.  

“I thought it would be fear and danger,” Penny admitted. It was the only things her father and General Ironwood emphasized.  

“Police Officers may not be fighting Grimm but people can get pretty horrible too. Worse… even,” Ciel added softly. There was another comfortable pause. Ciel enjoying her drink. Penny watched the life around her. “You don’t seem like the Huntress type. So why become one?”  

Penny looked back at Neon playing around with her friends and then at May. Somehow shooting at the practice range dissolved into yelling and wrestling. Penny suppressed the urge to intervene. It wasn’t as playful as she witnessed during her drinks with Winter but it was still between good friends. And Elm was cheering them on with a laugh so it was nothing serious. It was pleasantly lively.  

So different from the quiet of the facility and the calm work with her father, or the stoic order of General Ironwood.  

“I want to protect this.”  

"But why a Huntress?" Ciel pressed. “Glade and your father helps with their inventions.”  

“Because they can’t fight like I can.”  

Ciel only raised a brow. “Again. Don’t look the part.” Penny pouted, lips pressed and a hard look that only made Ciel smile. The officer-in-training nodded to the practice shooting range then to the traiining dummies at the far end of the gym. Penny’s programming told her Ciel was asking her to pick a trial.  

Penny took a deep breath. She passed her Combat Test. She is combat ready. “Shooting range.”  

“Alright,” Ciel said a little relieved. In her state Ciel probably wouldn’t do well in a spar and Penny didn’t want to deal with trying to restrain her robotic strength. “Nadir!” Ciel called over, “Gun. 10 minutes.”  

“Magic words?”  

“Now.” It took a few seconds of staring but Nadir eventually relented with a small whine. Ciel lead Penny to the back, tapping away at her Scroll. The gym had its own app for the range and as a regular she was had one set up before they got there. The hard-light targets were both human and Grimm shape, some popping up others striding left to right. There was even small Nevermores flying about. From the edges of her peripheral, Penny saw Elm focus on them but the other two Huntresses were still yelling at each other.  

“Just talk to her!”  

“It’s not that easy!”  

Penny looked back at Ciel who held up her Scroll as she gave an overview of the information, “3 minutes, best out of three. Smaller targets, more points. Humans are negative. Shoot any target to start.” Ciel said. She handed her Scroll off to Penny and stepped up to the firing line.  

Ciel checked Nadir’s submachine, the magazine and felt the weight. She held it to her shoulder and fired. Penny watched a little fascinated. Most of her pre-installed knowledge was about Huntsmen and Huntresses. She only had the basics about the Police Force. They were trained to deal with humans. They focused on nonviolent take downs and weapon accuracy because they worked in residential areas. Many of their guns weren’t lethal but they were still dangerous if their aim was off.  

But accuracy didn’t add to the points. Still Ciel aimed for lethal areas, the chest and head. She only aimed at targets that she knew would land and did it fast. She manage one last shot milliseconds before Ciel’s phone buzzed, the timer hitting zero.  

“5th place! Not bad!” Neon yelled from behind the counter.  

Ciel stepped away from the firing line and held out Nadir’s gun. Penny gave a wide smile. Her backpack opened, Floating Array sweeping with a motion of her hand. The blades folded back, several barrels pointed down the range. Elm let out a low and impressive whistle.  

“Yooo!!!” Reese screamed from the lounge. “Good thing you’re an officer cuz you got CONNED!” There was a soft chuckling and sounds of agreement from all over the gym. Ciel blinked, taking everything in strides. She took a slow sip of her thai latte.  

“That’s cheating,” The office-in-training said. There was no frustration, just tired resignation and amusement. Maybe relief? Penny tried to stop her smile but it only grew when she noticed May sprawled under Joanna. Both Huntress was in an awkward position, mid grapple and their mouths open in amazement. With a small motion of her other hand, most of Floating Array folded and retreated into her pack, only two were left floating above her.  

“And we’re never mentioning this to Xanthic.” Ciel added.  

“I’m sure Xanthic will discover this eventually,” Penny said innocently. With a flex of her hand Floating Array started firing. After the Combat Trial it was easy, so she pushed herself to focus on the smaller Nevermores. The pattern was predictable, but restraint was a challenge. All shots landed with dead accuracy but there was some damage to the walls. Luckily everyone was too amazed to notice or to even speak. The buzzing was loud to Penny’s augmented hearing.  

“Holy shit,” May muttered softly.  

"Finally! That name has been on top for years!" Neon yelled. Reese and Nadir was also cheering from the lounge. This time the students or trying to sleep didn’t complain and just stared quietly. One even took a picture.  

“On the board for three minutes and 23 seconds. New record for me.” Ciel drawled handing Penny her Scroll. Penny grinned and entered ‘P. Polendina’. It blinked on the top row above the alias Silver Wat.  

Conflicts detected. Source: Stress. Solutions: Fun.

[xxx-cat-xxx]

we’re collecting dust (but our love’s enough)

Have a little bittersweet Pepperony & Ironfam fic. As always, thanks to @whumphoarder for beta reading!

_________________

And here’s the thing about getting old: it’s marked by an ever-rising contrast between the good days and the bad days. On good days, Tony can still spend hours tinkering in the garage or playing ball with Peter’s eight-year-old son, Ben, down by the lake.

But on bad days, when phantom pain is hijacking all of his senses (despite the fact that two decades have passed now since that final battle), putting on the prosthesis is out of the question—as is getting down the stairs from the master bedroom.

And on the really bad days, his joints are so stiff that he’s barely able to lift his one remaining arm high enough to bring his migraine medication up to his lips.

“Pep?” Tony croaks, hating the weakness that’s echoing back at him. He’s not sure if she’s even close enough to hear him, but he trusts FRIDAY to relay the message that his wife is needed.

It takes her longer than it used to, but then Pepper is by his side, putting an arm behind his back in a practiced motion to help him sit up a little more. He bites back a groan when the change in elevation only increases the stabbing pain behind his right eye.

“Open your mouth,” she directs, firmly but warmly, before placing the pills on his tongue and bringing the water glass to his lips so he can take a sip. He loves her for the lack of pity in her eyes, for her focus on the practicalities of caring, for the calmness masking her worry― although none of that is surprising. Hell, they’ve been through far worse than the thunderstorms in his head.

Pepper adds a heating pad to the collection of pillows propping him up and pats it with an inviting gesture. Wincing, he lies back down, then curls onto his side, pulling his legs up to his stomach.

“Here, just in case.” Pepper puts a trash can next to the bed, freshly lined in order to avoid the smell making his nausea any worse. Tony really hopes he won’t throw up the pills he just took, but the possibility is definitely there.

“You’re the best, Miss Potts” he mumbles, and only then realises that this particular nickname is already a few decades too old.

“Get some sleep, Tony.” She brushes a kiss on his forehead and gently shuts his eyes with her palm. He opens them again the moment she’s left the room, unable to find rest just yet.

With difficulty, Tony turns onto his other side so that the photos on the nightstand come into view. Morgan and her girlfriend Riri with their surfboards at Malibu beach, the sunset bathing them in a warm, almost otherworldly light. Peter and Ben, who is sitting on Rhodey’s lap in the wheelchair and laughing at someone behind the camera. Happy and May, arm in arm and a little drunk on the evening of their tenth anniversary.

Tony keeps looking at the photos until the drugs kick in and they turn blurry in front of his eyes while he finally drifts off.

*

It’s early evening when he wakes again, his head still throbbing and his body tired, but feeling miles better than earlier. The house is quiet and Pepper is nowhere to be seen. Tony lies still for a moment, marvelling at the simple fact that he is able to form comprehensive thoughts without feeling like his brain is being eaten alive.

After a while, he’s able to sit up on his own and slowly make his way to the bathroom. He uses the toilet and brushes his teeth to get rid of the stale taste in his mouth. Then he has to hold on to the basin for a while because he starts to feel lightheaded from being on his feet for a phenomenal five full minutes. Finally it passes, and he washes his face with cold water to get his blood pressure back to a more reasonable level.

When he looks up, there’s an old man staring back at him from the mirror, rumpled grey hair and an even greyer beard. He bears a vague resemblance to Howard Stark―Howard Stark if someone had tried to melt away half of his face.

The snap has left a long-term toll, and not just in the gruesome scars all over his body. Tony had a stroke last summer, after which he’d temporarily lost the movement in his one remaining arm and was drooling for weeks, and he’s already on his second pacemaker this year. Not that he’s complaining―better to be old than dead, thank you very much―but some things really just suck. He stares at the mirror image a moment longer and then sticks out his tongue at it, content to see that this makes him stop looking like Howard.

“Tony?” He flinches when he hears Pepper’s voice from downstairs, though she doesn’t sound like Pepper at all. Her tone is scared, almost desperate. “Where are you?”

“Hon-” he stops to clear his scratchy throat and tries again. “Honey, I’m up here!”

Her footsteps run up the staircase and he turns around to see her enter, dressed in her favourite light blue summer dress, the long hair cascading down over her shoulders.

“Tony?” she asks again, breathing hard. Then she takes him in and relief blooms on her face. He registers the tears on her cheek and automatically raises his good hand to wipe them away.

“What happened?” he asks softly. But he already knows.

Closing her eyes, she leans into his touch. “I was in the garden,” she starts. “I was, I think I was watering the sunflowers, and then, for a second, I―I didn’t know. Where I was. Where everyone was.”

“Oh Pep,” he sighs, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close. It’s not the first time this has happened, but all the other times she’s been inside the house where FRIDAY could help her make sense of the situation and get back to reality quickly. “How long were you out there?”

“I don’t know,” Pepper mumbles. “I thought―I thought it was a park, maybe? That I was back at my parents’ place and went out for a walk. But then I saw Morgan’s little house and remembered.” She takes a shaky breath. “God, Tony, it’s all such a mess.”

“You’re alright,” he whispers, and then, knowing it’s not herself she is scared about, he adds, “I’m here. Morgan and Riri are flying around the world somewhere. Peter is in Queens—it’s his weekend with Ben. They might be visiting Happy and May just now. Rhodey is… I don’t actually know where Rhodey is right now, but he’s fine. Everyone’s doing okay.”

“I know,” she mumbles, pulling away. “Now I remember.”

“Good. That’s good, Pep. It was just―a glitch. A tiny glitch in your memory.” He forces a smile and shifts a bit of his weight against the doorframe, his legs suddenly feeling weak.

Pepper, of course, catches on to that. “How's your headache?” She seems to have caught herself, but he wonders whether she remembers his migraine or just guessed it from the situation. “Why are you up?”

“Had to pee. But I’m better, promise.” She looks at him critically, and he adds, “Just won't be up for anything demanding for the rest of the day.”

“That’s fine.” She runs her hands through her hair, combing it with her fingers before tying it up in a bun, her way of reasserting control. “You should go back to bed. I’ll fix us something light to eat.”

Tony doesn’t like the idea of leaving her alone right now, but making it down the stairs to the kitchen seems... challenging. But he’s already got a better idea. “Actually, I was thinking of taking a bath. Getting a little ripe,” he jokes. “Will you help me wash my hair?”

It's always good to give her something easy to do when the dementia is playing tricks on her, something to busy her hands and distract her mind.

“Uh-huh.” She looks right through him, then sighs a little. “Sure. Why not.”

There used to be a time after Afghanistan when Tony couldn’t have set foot in a bathtub if an army had forced him to. He avoided them the same way he avoided caves and, later, endless night skies or Sci-Fi movies with wormholes. It was only Peter’s immense disappointment over not being able to watch the fourth Star Trek movie together that finally pushed him into seeing the counsellor who helped him get a grip on some of this.

(Almost starving in space, Peter’s five-year disappearance and Pepper’s pregnancy might have also played a role, but hey, saying you started therapy to be able to watch Leonard Nimoy in a bathrobe saving whales makes for better dinner table jokes).

Either way, he’s glad that his bath-o-phobia is mostly cured now, because their lakehouse tub is plain amazing, and not having to stand to shower on days like these is a blessing.

The hot water and the essential oils Pepper added to it do wonders for Tony’s aching body. He breathes in the steam that reminds him of expensive spas on New York’s winter days. Pepper has turned her back towards him, organising the already neat collection of tubes and bottles on the counter. Unimpressed with the solemnity of the scene, he playfully splashes some water at her. She turns towards him and smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. Tony could tell from a mile away that she’s still shaken.

Time for plan B.

“Will you join me, honey?” Drawing out the last word, he blinks his eyelashes up at her seductively, which finally makes her laugh for real.

“Well, Mr Stark, if you’re asking like that…” The dress slides down her shoulders and collects around her feet, and her undergarments quickly follow. She glides inside the tub more gracefully than should be legal for anyone over sixty, and, copying him, flicks some water onto his nose.

Ignoring the perfect opportunity for a water fight, Tony extends his arm and pulls her close to his chest, taking in her wrinkled skin and the roots of grey in her ginger hair where the dye has grown out. She intertwines her legs with his and lets her weight, minimised by the water, be borne fully by his body. Her cheek comes to rest on the soft spot between his collarbones. She is moving up and down in rhythm with his breaths, creating tiny ripples on the surface of the water, and he holds her tighter, ever tighter.

Pepper readjusts her position and runs her hand down from his neck, to his stomach, and back up again. He responds with a kiss to the top of her forehead and then starts tracing the outline of her breast with his index finger. She stops to look down at them critically. “Not really what they used to be.”

“Still better than what I have to offer,” he deadpans. At this point, his chest is basically one big scar tissue. “And personally, I’m still a fan of them. It. All of it.”

He can hear her smile in the way she lets her breath out through her nose.

They stay like that for a while, Tony feeling the tension bleed out of his body, the pounding of his temples ease a little, and his eyes slowly falling shut again.

“I was so scared,” Pepper suddenly admits into his collarbones. He feels drops of water trickle down his neck and knows she’s crying even before she sniffles quietly.

“I know,” he says quietly. “But it will be alright, love.”

“Will it, though?” she asks, ever-critically, ever-questioning. Too many of his promises have shattered before her eyes for her to blindly believe him now, so he doesn’t make her any new ones, doesn’t talk about the world-renowned team of scientists he already hired when the first symptoms showed themselves, about the devices he’s working on down in his garage. She already knows all of that. It’s not what she needs to hear right now.

Instead, he swallows hard and says, “Pep, listen. We’ll get through this too. And if… whatever will happen. I'll be there.” What he doesn’t say out loud is what she already knows from how tight he’s holding on to her:

I won’t give you up without a fight.

“I know,” she whispers. Then she takes a deep breath before untangling herself from his embrace. “So, are we going for the anti-dandruff shampoo or can I use something that won’t make you smell like coconut?”

Tony positively purrs while Pepper massages the shampoo into his scalp. “Close your eyes and mouth,” she commands when she tilts his head back before starting the shower. And a laugh bursts out of Tony, because this is the same tone she used to use on Morgan when washing her hair, and in response their daughter would screw her eyes shut and bite her lips so tight in such concentration that her whole face scrunched up with it.

“What’s so funny?” Pepper asks, so Tony, not one to admit to nostalgia, just twists the showerhead out of her grasp to point it back at her, finally getting himself that water fight.

*

After drying off and pulling on a fresh pair of pajamas, Tony is put back to bed with his tablet and a promise that Pepper will join after making pasta. He checks his email, then sets the tablet aside and gets back up to open the window. He lets his eyes wander to the garden and lake that are just visible in the last rays of daylight.

Sometimes, on bad days, he cynically wonders what will give out first: his broken body or Pepper’s battered mind. But on good days, that's not what counts. They might have months, or years; if things go great, they might even have another decade. Tony has long, long ago started to regard every additional day in his life as something he doesn’t have a right to, and sworn to himself to use them to the best of his ability. That’s what it comes down to, in the end. He and Pepper will do what they have always done―simply keep going as long as they can.

“Hey, old man.” Pepper is standing in the doorway, holding out a bowl of blueberries. “I picked them earlier in the garden―forgot all about them. You want some?”

“Sure.” He turns around to fully look at her. “I'd love to.”

_________________

I hope you liked it! Credit for the idea of Riri Williams and Morgan Stark getting together goes to @fuzzydeergirlart‘s wonderful art (or at least that’s where I go the idea from). 

All my fics

[viostormcaller]

Thinking about it, it kinda sucks just how little new horizons has.

Like... I love the game to pieces and maybe this is just bc im in a shitty mood (which i am) but like... god this is gonna be long and ranty and I'm sorry in advance that mobile tumblr doesnt have the read more feature

For starters, holidays are all scheduled on the company's terms, meaning in 7+ years or so there will be no more in-game holidays because by then they'll probably be thinking about/getting ready to release the next installment of the series on whatever console is out at the time and they won't want to update new horizons anymore. And adding onto this, you need the internet to download the updates. What happens to the players who don't have internet?? Can they just never experience the holidays like bunny day and toy day and turkey day? That takes a HUGE part of the fun of the series out right off the bat. Sometimes making everything rely on the internet is a bad idea. Idk if anyone can like tell me if having no internet means you can't take part in the holidays, but like... god if that's true thats really sad.

They recently took out the hybrid flower and big fish islands, which makes no sense whatsoever why they would do that to a game that has so little, but ok?? It's not like that feature was hindering the gameplay any

There's a lot of furniture but Not a Lot of Furniture, you get me? They took out EVERY set except the classic set (renamed "antique") that you can buy for an insanely high price, and the log and wooden block sets that you can craft, but other that that it's all unrelated items that aren't part of any set, aside from the cute set and diner and throwback sets which as far as I can remember are the only other sets you can buy in the game. No alpine, no ranch, no minimalist, no princess or gracie, no modern or sleek, none of that. And 90% of all the buy-only furniture in the game is just the color variants. You can't even customize them! And it's hard as fuck to find the color variants you want, much less for completing a furniture set

And speaking of which, your starting villagers don't get their default house interiors. Your first three + your two starters from the tutorial days have the same generic layouts. You NEVER see what their houses are supposed to look like, and even if you give them the wallpaper and flooring they're supposed to have (if you figure that out online somewhere), their house doesn't change (I tested this with Sherb and was kinda disappointed).

And stuff is so EXPENSIVE. I know it adds a challenge but my final loan was NEVER 1 mil+ bells in New Leaf. And you can't even expand the extra first floor rooms you get. I'm literally getting less for WAY more. The biggest rooms you get are the basement and upstairs rooms. The first floor rooms aside from the main room really don't have a lot of space and with the different furniture they DO offer, I don't have a lot of room to put things in. But it's not like I can even afford it anyway -- just a freaking air conditioner was 63,000 bells. In New Leaf it was 2500. That's a MASSIVE jump. And the kitchen items are so freaking expensive, as well.

And speaking of houses, for someone who was literally in the real estate industry in the last game, tom nook adds very few house exterior options. And the even more shitty thing is that a lot of the colors straight up don't match. They couldn't even add a plain white roof.

God and the fucking DIY recipes. I know I've said this before on my other tumblr but the RNG for this game is the worst I've ever fucking seen. There is no reason why, two months into the game, I can be given a recipe for a simple DIY bench, which EVERYONE LEARNS IN THE TUTORIAL. Who the fuck am I giving it to?! No one, because literally every player knows it already, and you can't gift diy recipes to villagers! And I keep getting repeats of recipes. My villagers give me fruit DIYs all the time, it's so rare for me to get any new ones. And two days in a row I've gotten the recipe for the deer head mount thing from the same villager. New recipes should 100% take the priority before repeats. This game is slow paced, sure, but that's just frustrating. It doesn't make me excited to learn more recipes, it makes me feel like I'm never gonna learn any new ones because I'll get the same fruit DIYs for a week straight.

And speaking of which, you can't put trees, bushes, or flowers in your storage, which to me makes literally no sense. I can fit a giant ass fountain in my storage but I can't put a flower plant? Really? And speaking of storage, for a game that added 300 whole slots for mail instead of the usual 10, I will never understand why they decided to halve the amount of items a player can order a day from the nook shopping, AND make it so that it takes a whole day to get there instead of making deliveries at 9 am and 5 pm like in New Leaf.

And the fact that they made it so hard to get non native fruit and flowers and shit??? Like they at LEAST added Lief so flowers aren't as much of an issue anymore, but you actually have to travel to other people's islands just to get all the fruits?? I know you have to do the same thing in New Leaf but the reason why this is an issue for me is because you have to pay for online access, meaning most of those nook miles for planting all the fruits are locked behind a paywall unless your villagers can gift them to you. And your mom, when you first start the game, has a chance of giving you the one fruit that's on the non-native fruit mystery island, meaning you'll only get ONE new fruit and not two separate ones (for example, my sis got pears from mom but her non native fruit islands have cherries i believe. I got pears from mom and my fruit islands also have pears. Doesnt help that that's the one fruit i hate lmao). They also took OUT a bunch of fruits, like mangoes, durians, lemons, bananas, lychees, persimmons...

And the fact that your nook miles rewards are ISLAND LOCKED. That is the WORST SHIT. Not everyone has the ability to play with others, bc no internet or no money for the subscription every month. Not everyone WANTS to play with others bc maybe they get social anxiety (like me, which is why i havent asked for things that are impossible for me to get even though i want them for my island or house), or maybe they simply just don't want to. But the fact that each island has their own color variants of the same goddamn rewards that CANNOT BE CHANGED makes me so upset. I do not want nor should I have to rely on others to get the items I want because my game doesn't have my preferred color variations. And it's not like I'm far enough in the game to have anything worth trading for said items, nor do I have the bells.

And Isabelle does next to fucking nothing and I'm really irked about how they made her character in this game. Yeah she's cute, but that's ALL she is. She became more ditzy than anything else. She doesn't let you know about visitors in the town or the plaza or if a bridge or incline was built bc of a completed donation goal. Like really useful info to know would be if Flick or CJ is in town or who is selling stuff in the plaza. Flavor text is nice but if that's all you say 24/7 it loses its charm. In New Leaf she was helpful and hardworking and super focused and on top of things. Idk why they changed that aspect of her. I know her role in New Horizons isn't as big as it was in New Leaf, but still.

And then there's glitches that STILL haven't been patched (as far as I know anyway), like the game-breaking villager corruption glitch (which you'd think nintendo would have made a priority but they're too busy removing other features it seems) or the house exterior glitch.

And it's bad enough that your game saves to your fucking system a la Fantasy Life. But even WORSE, no one can have separate islands on one console. It's not enough to own two copies of New Horizons. Each player has to own one copy of the game and a whole new Switch just so they can play on their own islands. Parents can't usually afford that (aka $360 for each kid give or take) so for a game marketed towards kids, I don't know why they thought that was a smart move (well, I DO know, and that's because money, but still). And to top it all off, cloud saves are not supported normally. If you lose your game or your switch and aren't subscribed to nintendo online, well, it looks like all your progress is gone! And there's nothing you can do about it. And they directly claimed that they did this just so people can't manipulate the game because it's supposed to be played in real time. But people can still fucking time travel by setting the system's clock! They achieved nothing except to make the players frustrated!!! If you make a game you need to accept that the player is going to play how THEY want to. You shouldn't try to make everyone conform to the way YOU want them to play. That just makes you a controlling asshole and the game loses a lot of its fun.

This game was 60 bucks and they took so long to make it and we ended up with less than we got in New Leaf. The main thing they gave us was a shit ton more clothing items (which I really like). Like I said, I love this game to pieces and it's actually one of my favorite games right now. There's so much I love about it -- I certainly don't hate it or anything. But this game has SO MANY flaws, a lot of which are needless. And I think the kid in me just misses the days where you can pay for a game and get the whole game right away. No updates in tiny batches, no content locked behind paywalls, no day one patches, no reliance on internet connection and multiplayer... mainstream companies have all gone really downhill with that shit and it just disappoints me to no end. But because Nintendo is kid-oriented, I think that's where it hurts the most. It was supposed to be accessible, family friendly fun like back during the days of the Wii and the DS. But companies get so wrapped up in competing with each other and trying to make the most money that they forget about all that. I dunno. It just sucks.

If you read all this, god damn I'm surprised XD I got super ranty and I apologize. But I'm in a sad mood and I after learning about features they've taken out I just had to get all this off my chest. It's been weighing on me since the game released, especially since for months prior this game was all I could think about and I was really looking forward to it. It just let me down in a lot of ways, I guess.