#circuit board to brain╭┈─ [ banter ]

[underworldsarcade]

TAG DUMP ; GENERAL.

[underworldsarcade]

( He pauses for a moment , using his free hand to rub the back of his neck. He's heard of real superheroes before - those who go around saving lives , stopping real threats , and she certainly looks the part. It would be silly to call himself a Superhero. He just chuckles. ) Ah , I'm an influence , not an influencer. I keep kids eating right and out of trouble , that's all. A ... slightly - above - average hero , if you will.

Well, I mean, if it works. ( She just kinda, shrugged and shook his hand. What kind of name was THAT? Well, okay. What kind of name was Shatter. )

Name's Shatter. Good to meet you blue! So what's your shtick? Travelling produce vendor, some kind of superfood fitness influencer ?

[kittttycakes]

(shy anon again)

Oh. Oohhhh. I had not considered all the possibilities that Morpheus having a breeding kink would mean for Hob and his commentary.

Your suggestions just made my brain short circuit a little (a lot).

I am absolutely here for Hob running his mouth in the filthiest of ways.

I didn’t send the ask about the bickering over paternity, but I love the anon who did. Because of the way you’ve built their relationship up I love how Hob and Morpheus are so secure in their commitment to each other and Grace that they could have that playful banter.

I don’t even care who the father would be, but they wouldn’t stop at one right? I mean eventually I’m sure they’d have another.

There is something completely filthy I’m curious about though…. And I’m embarrassed even asking anonymously, but given that Morpheus is not human, and we see that reflected somewhat in the ethereal/otherworldly form(s) he takes in the Dreaming, is there also anything more than human/ethereal/otherworldly about his uhhh.. most intimate essence?

After you mentioned Hob’s dirty mouth I just had pictures Hob laying between Grace’s legs, completely mesmerised watching Morpheus dripping out of her, and pushing it back inside Grace while saying the filthiest of things.

And then I wondered if Hob was completely mesmerised because of his breeding kink, because maybe Morpheus’s seed was, I dunno, not quite human, or if it was a combination of the two.

And with that said I’m going to say thank you for enabling all of us, and go back to my cave of shame.

I have to do my part for the Hob Gadling Will Not Shut Up In Bed agenda!

I definitely think they probably wouldn’t stop at one, either. Grace is an only child, but Hob very much was not, and neither is Morpheus. Despite his rocky relationship with some of his siblings, I think Morpheus would be very on board with his child having at least one sibling eventually (but twins seem to run in his family so…you never know!) They probably take a bit of a break between the first one and a potential second, but I do think it’s something they eventually plan for!

I (of course) love Morpheus and Hob as lovers, but I want them to be friends too, and I think that’s definitely where the banter comes from. Hob absolutely instigates it most of the time, but Morpheus is slowly but surely more and more willing to play along, because they’re friends, that’s what friends do! And even with something intimate…they’re friends first and always, and they get a bit (playfully) competitive when it comes to Grace, once they’re all comfortable with each other. (The real winner in those competitions is always Grace.)

I’m going to put the rest of my answer under the cut here because I am consumed by this (and also nsft). Join me in the dumpster of horny thoughts that I call my home.

I now have so many Thoughts about this that I didn’t have before! So…Morpheus isn’t human. Human shaped, most of the time, but very much not human. And I’ve sort of played a bit with him only really having whatever human attributes he specifically gives himself or that he lets himself have when he gets a bit overwhelmed (actually sweating a bit in the waking world at the end of the last chapter, manifesting a heartbeat in that one shot from last year).

Most of the time, I think this means that he’s functionally not that different than Hob would be, because when he’s manifesting that human body, he’s having human experiences in it…but that absolutely doesn’t mean that they can’t have some fun with that, intentionally, and I think that could absolutely very much be a thing when he’s letting himself go and have a bit of fun in the Dreaming. Nightmare-adjacent Morpheus isn’t exactly fully human shaped anymore, after all, and I think the logical extension of that is that he could, if he wanted, play around a bit with his biology.

This is the point where I out myself as a bit of a monsterfucker because the possibility of this?? Incredible. Vaguely demon-shaped Morpheus (centuries of vaguely Catholic guilt have given Hob a lot to work with here), a bit like we see in the nightmare chapter of AHFH, who maybe runs just a little hotter, everywhere?

Morpheus, king of dreams and nightmares, is at least a little bit fantasy adjacent, and sex dreams are very much still dreams, so let’s also talk about Morpheus letting himself be a bit of an incubus (come on. come on. entity that’s associated with sleeping women? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there’s a lot of overlap that he has with Desire that he just refuses to acknowledge), letting himself take inspiration (and maybe power?) from all of the fantasies that Grace and Hob both have about him…and if we’re going all in on a possible incubus fantasy, I don’t think we can discount the possibility of some, shall we say, aphrodisiac properties of his anatomy.

That mental image of Hob…yeah. Yeah, that’s a VERY good one, 10/10 absolutely no notes, and 100% something he would be into and would do, especially in the above scenario. Eventually, he can’t exactly speak anymore, his mouth is otherwise occupied, but Grace still understands the appreciation. It’s being made very clear.

The possibilities of this scenario…I am consumed by it, this is so good, oh my god. This also feels like a good time to bring up the fact that I think all three of them are very into the…let’s say the very human parts of sex. The sweat on each other’s skin and the taste of each other’s mouths and everything else that goes along with having sex with another person. It’s part of Morpheus’s human kink and part of just something that Grace and Hob like about sex, and the possibility of Morpheus being able to play a bit with that and add in a not quite human element (which is something both Grace and Hob are very into, let’s be honest)? Incredible.

Listen, I am carrying a torch into that cave of shame and illuminating the walls and making it a cave of having a great time instead! Please feel free to drop by my ask box any time, this is phenomenal.

[some-messed-up-writing-for-you]

Hi! I'm the anon that asked for any requests you are comfortable or not with, first of all, thanks for answer my question! And second, would you be so kind to write about a male villain confessing his feelings to a female hero with some sexual tension in the middle and then if you want that the thing ends up in something nsfw, please?^^

Request #24

Warning: nsfw.

Man, this one came out long, but I'm hella happy with it! Also, having the characters have different genders really made the writing easier, so I'm probably gonna be doing that more often, lmao.

Enjoy, dear anon!

~~~~

"Ugh! Why are you like this?!" - Hero exclaimed, frustrated as she threw another punch in the villain's direction. He dodged it with ease and caught her wrist, swiftly bringing her closer and landing a hit on her face.

Disoriented, the hero couldn't do anything as Villain pinned her against the wall, her arms held above her head. They were both panting, gasping for air from the exhausting fight that had led them to this point. She tugged at her wrists, trying to break free, but his grip was unyielding.

"Why am I like what?" - the villain asked, making Hero's blood boil even more.

"Don't play dumb!" - she growled out, snarling angrily. "You've been doing this shit for weeks now!"

Before Villain could question her more, the hero lunged her head forward and bit him on the face, catching him off guard. His grip loosened, and his nemesis was quick to take advantage of it. She freed her arms, grasped onto him, and threw them both to the ground.

They thrashed around, rolling all over the dusty floor of the abandoned warehouse they were in until eventually, Hero found herself on top of her enemy, straddling his hips, pinning down his wrists on either side of his head.

Now, even more tired, they glared at each other. The woman decided to voice her frustrations further. "Every. Fucking. Day." - she started.

"Every fucking day, you've been doing whatever you can to waste my time and force me out into the field."

The villain grit his teeth. "I'm not doing this to waste your time."

"Oh, yeah? Then why-" - the hero was never able to finish talking as Villain jutted his hips and threw her off balance. He rolled them both over, swapping their places so that he was on top.

"BECAUSE I WANTED TO SEE YOU!" - the villain exclaimed without thinking, too frustrated to think twice before speaking.

She gaped at him, trying to understand his words. "You-? W-What?"

He faltered, regret starting to eat away at him. He should not have said that. He should not have said-

They switched places again. Hero was on top of Villain, and- ah, shit- he hadn't realized just how close she was- how- how intimate this felt...

A blush threatened to take over his face, but he fought against it, successfully keeping it at bay. Or at least, he was successful until the hero decided to hover her face right in front of his own.

Suspicious, she questioned, "What do you mean you 'wanted to see me?'"

"I- I uh..." - what the hell was happening?! Since when did he stutter?! He couldn't come up with a reasonable answer, and he refused to tell the truth. So, he just shut his mouth.

She waited a few more seconds, hoping he would answer. But silence and shifty eyes were all that she got.

"Villain, c'mon! What is up with you recently?" - Hero tried again, but the villain still refused to talk. He wasn't even looking at her anymore.

Annoyed, she held down his wrists with one hand while the other grabbed his chin, tilting his head and catching his attention. Their eyes locked, and she swore his pupils were more dilated than usual.

"You've just been acting so weird lately! And, I- I just-" - she stopped, furrowing her eyebrows as she got lost in thought. Was... Was Villain blushing? This was all so- so unlike him!

His pupils are wide, he doesn't want to look at her, and he said he was doing all of this because he 'wanted to see her?' What did any of this mean?! And what the hell is poking her in the-

Oh

A blush assaulted her face as the dots suddenly connected, her lips forming into a thin line as she looked down at their touching crotches.

She looked back at him. His face was even brighter, a look in his eyes.

Oh

Hero's brain scrambled to break the silence, but her words did not want to cooperate. "I- Do- Do you- Are you-"

"I like you!" - Villain blurted out. He could feel the sweat going down the side of his face as the hero above him became stunned.

"I- I really uh- really like you." - he said again.

Breaking out of her daze, she responded, "Uh... Yeah, I- I can tell."

...

Holy shit, this was awkward.

...

The hold on his chin had loosened at some point, and he looked away again. She broke the silence once more. "How long?"

He almost choked on his spit, looking back to her. "H-Huh?"

"How long have you uh... had feelings for me?"

Oooh, right.

"I- I don't know..." - he admitted. "It just... kind of... happened somewhere along the line...?"

She took a deep breath as if steeling herself for something. Oh, God, what will she say? This is the part where she calls him a weirdo and runs away, isn't it?

"It's... nice to know I'm not the only idiot around here then."

...

"What?"

Clearing her throat, Hero shily muttered, "I- I like you too."

Villain was pretty sure his brain had just short-circuited. Did- Did he hear that right?

"I- You- You like me back?"

She nodded in reply. He was still shocked that this was happening. What were they supposed to do now? Fight? He didn't really want to fight. He had some... other activities on the mind.

Sighing internally, Villain did his best to collect his thoughts. Someone had to move this conversation forward, and it seemed like the hero wouldn't be the one to do it.

"Do you... still want to fight?" - he asked. She looked at him a bit puzzled before her equally fried mind caught up. "I mean- I just... don't really feel like it anymore."

"Uh... Y-Yeah, alright." - she responded, releasing her grip and carefully moving off him so that their crotches wouldn't brush against one another. The villain sat up, and they both remained there on the ground, playing with the dust to keep themselves distracted.

...

It was quiet again. Villain almost groaned, angry with himself. He wanted to say something, but- How was he supposed to say this? It's not like he could just-

"Do you wanna fuck?" - Hero suddenly blurted out, and he sputtered, unable to respond like a functioning human being.

She panicked a bit. "S-Sorry! Uh- Too- Too forward?"

"Y-Yes! I- I mean no! I- I mean-" - he buried his face in his hands. Why was this so difficult?! He was an adult! Both of them were!

Wait- An adult, yes! Just- Think, Villain. How would a sensible adult proceed in this situation?

He uncovered his eyes, taking a look around. They were both on the ground, covered in sweat, dirt, and decades-old dust. They had gotten some good hits on each other, so they had some bruises and cuts.

So, if they were to... have sex - he still couldn't believe this was happening - the most responsible thing to do would probably be... going elsewhere...? But where? To one of their houses, perhaps?

Villain sighed audibly, catching the hero's attention. "Do you... want to come over to my place?"

Her eyes widened, and her face burned brighter at his question. He added frantically, "O-Or we could go to your place! Or- Or no place at all! We could just forget this ever happe-!"

He froze as fingers pressed against his lips, silencing him. He looked at her again. She smiled nervously before saying, "W-We can't forget about this. We could try, but..."

Her eyes traveled up and down his body quickly, studying him, and he couldn't help but shiver under her gaze. "...I'm pretty sure we would both fail miserably."

She pulled her hand back, and he already missed her touch.

"So..." - she started. "...Your place...?"

"S-Sure." - Villain managed to answer. He lifted himself off the ground and offered her his hand, which she took. Upon pulling her up, their bodies lightly collided, Hero's hands landing on his chest to steady herself and one of the villain's hands catching her by the waist. They silently stood there for a moment, blushing as if they had never touched another person, before swiftly separating.

With some awkward coughs and clearing of throats, they were on the move again, working together so they wouldn't get seen.

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

"This is your house?" - the hero asked, looking around. The tension between them had eased a bit since they left the warehouse. "I won't lie, I always imagined it to be... a lot less normal than this."

Villain snorted at that. "What, were you expecting red string and cork boards?"

She didn't answer, only biting the inside of her cheek and crossing her arms, making him chuckle a bit before getting back on track. He led her through the house, arriving at a bathroom. "I think it'd be best if we got cleaned up a bit since we've been rolling around in dirt and whatnot all day."

"Why, Villain. Are you being responsible?" - Hero asked playfully. He gave her an "Oh- shush." before showing her where everything was. A smile crept onto his face regardless; he had missed their casual banter.

"Now, I have another bathroom upstairs connected to my bedroom, so once you're done, you can uh... you can join me... I guess..."

"Smooth." - she replied teasingly, getting a blush from him. "I got one more question, though."

"Yes?"

She grinned, looking forward to his reaction. "What am I supposed to wear?"

Villain seemed to freeze for a moment before it registered in his brain that Hero did not, in fact, have any spare clothing to put on. His blush worsened tenfold, and she laughed.

Through her giggles, she asked, "Do you want me to just come upstairs nake-?"

"Bathrobe! Yup! There's uh- There's one right there!" - he blurted out, not letting her finish. She looked to where he was pointing, and there was indeed a bathrobe hanging there, next to some towels.

She gave another small chuckle. "Alright."

Turning back to him, she lightly bit her lip and gave him a look, tracing a finger along his jawline. "But you better wear one too~."

Hero didn't realize a person could blush this badly. For the poor villain's sake, she kept her giggles in this time, letting him respond. "Y-You got it!"

With that, Villain left. He walked out calmly, but a few seconds later, she still heard him sprint down the hall and couldn't keep her laughter to herself.

As he moved up the stairs - way too quickly for it to be normal - he silently cursed himself. Why was he acting like such an idiot?! He had sex before! This was nothing new!

No, no, it's not that this was new or something. It wasn't his fault! It was Hero's!

Hero with her stupid smile that made his knees weak, and her dumb laughter that made his heart flutter, and- and...

...

Has Villain ever felt like this before? Has he ever... fallen for someone like this?

Perhaps before he had become the villain, but... that was a long time ago. He no longer remembered anything from that part of his life. He only remembered the now. He only remembered his fights with Hero.

As he arrived at his bedroom's bathroom, he smiled. The woman really had taken over his mind, hadn't she? She was incredible, no other like her. And amazingly enough, she returned his feelings too.

The villain stripped free of his ruined clothing and hopped into the shower. Rubbing soap onto his dirtied skin, he pondered on that thought. Did she truly feel the same way? What if this was... just some elaborate trick...?

He faltered for a moment, having not considered such an option. What if the hero wanted to catch him off guard...? While he was vulnerable...?

He shook his head. No, that couldn't be the case. He knew her. He knew how her real laughter sounded. He knew how she looked when she was acting, pretending to be happy. And this... this was no act.

Hero loved him back.

Villain knew that. His mind just enjoyed tormenting him sometimes.

As he scrubbed at his scalp and hair, he returned to the present. Hero was here, in his house, and they were basically about to have sex together. His face flushed red again as another thought crossed his mind. Who...

Who would be on top...?

...

Honestly, the villain was fine with being either but... he'd be lying if he said Hero didn't look hot as hell on top of him.

Dear Lord, he was getting turned on just thinking about how she had pinned him down earlier.

...

He really needed to get out of the shower already. Getting back on track, he fully rinsed himself and turned the water off. Hurriedly, he grabbed a towel and dried himself off. Once done with that, he wrapped himself in a bathrobe identical to the one downstairs. It was soft and warm. It helped calm him.

Taking a deep breath, he gripped the door's handle and opened it. Upon doing so, Villain was met with the sight of Hero casually lying on his bed, loosely wrapped in her bathrobe. He could see her cleavage and- shit, he was staring-

Looking away and clearing his throat, he closed the bathroom door.

"Took your sweet time in there, huh?" - she asked with that playful expression back on her face once more. The villain went to respond, but she smirked and continued. "Didn't start the fun without me, did you~?"

"N-No." - he said, and she chuckled at his nervousness. Why was he like this? This was his house and his bed that Hero was lying on! She was just being so confident and... and taking charge and...

She grinned wider, amused as she looked at his crotch. He also looked.

...

Shit.

Well, if that didn't make it obvious he was enjoying this...

...

He looked back up at Hero, and she wiggled her finger at him, beckoning him to come and join her. He silently obliged, crawling onto the bed and sitting in front of her. She was leaning against the headboard, soft pillows arranged so that they would support her back.

The hero scooted forward a bit. Feeling daring, Villain copied her and gasped as he suddenly found himself under her. She had grabbed him and switched their places before he could react, pressing him against the headboard and straddling him.

He stammered, trying to come up with something to say, but grew silent as Hero cradled his cheek. Her thumb rested on his lips as she leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "I hope you weren't planning on being the top~?"

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he answered, breathless, "No... I wouldn't have this any other way..."

She grinned at him, eyes half-lidded as she tangled her hands in his hair. He sighed, relaxing under her touch as she brought their lips together in a soft kiss. Villain's arms wrapped around her waist, bringing her closer.

A moan hummed in his throat as Hero's hands trailed down his chest and landed on his bathrobe's belt. Slowly, teasingly, she untied it, the fabric loosening around him, letting her slip it off him, exposing his body to her.

Shivers coursed through the villain as her hands glided along his bare skin. He wanted to feel her too. His hands traced her curves, sneaking towards her belt. As his fingers brushed against it, she caught his wrists, scolding him lightly. "Ah, ah. Not allowed~."

He opened his mouth to protest, but only a gasp left him as one of her hands went to his cock. The hero's fingers brushed against it, her touch feather-light, experienced. Villain grasped at the bedsheet below them, breath coming out uneven as she slowly stroked him.

Even as she drew pleasured mewls from him, she took a moment to admire his shaft. It was a decent length, not the biggest one out there, but certainly above the average. It was just right for her, and she complimented so, whispering in his ear again, "You're the perfect size~. And it looks so nice too~."

He shuddered at her words, and she moved her face in front of him once more. Their mouths locked again, her free hand grabbing the back of his head, pulling him in. She seized his bottom lip in her teeth, nibbling on it gently. Her tongue asked for entrance, and he let her in, deepening the kiss. She explored the inside of his mouth, memorizing every nook and cranny.

Villain sucked in a sharp breath as Hero's hand stopped, and her thumb began running small circles on the tip of his dick, smearing pre-cum across it. As their lips parted again, they gasped for air. Another smile graced her features as he begged. "F-Fuck! Hero, please, can I touch you? Please."

The woman hummed, considering his plea. She adored the needy look on his face, the way his fingers twitched around the clutched bed sheets, desperate for contact. The hero gave a small chuckle. "Well, since you asked so nicely~."

With the permission given, the villain's hands immediately moved to strip her free of her robe. She laughed some more at his haste before kissing him again. Low moans left them both as they touched and teased each other. His hands trailed down her spine, making her arch into him and raising more pleasured sounds from her.

Showing her approval, Hero stroked Villain a few times, her movements swift and firm, drawing another shudder from him. They separated for air again, her hands moving up to cradle his face as she suggested, "How about we get to the fun part now~?"

His hands trailed to her hips, his mouth opened to reply, but he suddenly pulled back, looking as if he just remembered something. "Oh, hold on."

The hero watched curiously as he leaned to the side of the bed towards a nightstand. The villain opened one of the drawers and pulled something out of it. She gave an amused snort once the two objects entered her vision.

"What?" - he asked as she giggled again, looking between her, the bottle of lube and condom in his hands.

"I don't get to see you being a responsible adult very often. It's cute." - she admitted, making him blush once more without fail.

He grumbled under his breath, but the smile on his face told her there was no bite behind it. She took the small bottle from him and moved back a bit. Villain paid her no mind, focused on getting the condom out of its package and slipping it on. Once he successfully finished his task, he looked up again.

His dick twitched at the sight that greeted him. Hero was sitting on the other end of the bed, her legs spread wide as she poured some lube onto her throbbing sex. She gasped lightly as the cold substance made contact and then used her hand to tease at her folds.

The villain watched as she slipped a finger inside herself, slowly moving in and out. His own hand went to his cock, stroking himself as he grew entranced by the show. He matched her pace, and she groaned quietly as she slipped a second finger in, stretching herself in preparation.

Their eyes locked, and they stayed that way for a little bit, pleasuring themselves and listening to one another's soft gasps and moans. Eventually, Hero's impatience got the best of her. She pulled her fingers out and crawled over to Villain.

Grabbing onto his shoulders, she positioned herself at his dick, and he held her by the waist, giving her some additional support. They inhaled shakily in unison as she took in the tip of his cock. She moved down slowly, letting herself adjust to his size, and he made no complaints, haphazardly leaving small pecks on her face, which got another giggle out of her.

Once he was fully sheathed inside of her, he ran his hands down her thighs, making her shiver and pull him into another kiss. Her touch trailed over his sides to his hips and then back up to cradle his head. His own hands moved up her body, one grasping her breast, squeezing and kneading while the other moved to get tangled in her hair.

Experimentally, the hero moved her hips forward, making them both moan against one another, the sound muffled by their connected lips. Leisurely, she began moving up and down, setting a calm pace, the slight pain of being stretched around him fading into pleasure. Their mouths parted again, and quickly, they got lost in their lust and each other's eyes.

She sped up, their skin beginning to slap together, sounding across the room but still drowning in their moans and mewls. As their pleasure began to build up inside their guts, their hands traveled without a set destination, wanting to feel as much as they could.

A gasp left Hero's lips as Villain's shaft hit the right spot, and she angled herself, focusing on it and moving even faster, her breasts bouncing in rhythm with her rapid pace. Thrust after thrust, their breathing swiftly turned shaky, chaotic. Their minds grew frantic as their orgasms approached them.

The hero's head tilted back, and she tightly held onto the villain's shoulders as release washed over her. His name left her lips in a low moan that echoed in his head, and it didn't take long for him to come as well, Hero's name leaving him in an identical manner.

Coming down from their highs, they slowed down, enjoying the pleasure for a bit longer with some calm thrusts and movements. They locked in a soft, short kiss before eventually parting and coming to a stop. Together they gasped for air and took a moment to rest as sweat dripped down their bodies.

Once she had regained some energy, Hero slid off Villain, making them both shudder at the feeling. She collapsed on the bed beside him, and soon, he copied her, lying down next to her. The two remained like that for a few minutes, calming their racing hearts and basking in the afterglow.

A small chuckle caught the villain's attention, and he turned his head towards the hero. She gave him a lazy smile before explaining her giddiness. "Looks like we'll need another shower."

He gave her a chuckle of his own before an idea crossed his mind. "Well, I do have a jacuzzi tub..."

With a grin that Hero considered too charming for Villain's own good, he offered, "Wanna take a bath together~?"

She giggled fondly. "Sure."

And then, together, off they went to get cleaned up again.

[drabbles-mc]

For the character ask game. For Juice with #1, 11, & 30 please ✨

My Juan Carlos 🥺 Mi amorcito 🥺

1.) First impression of them?: From the JUMP I thought that Juice was a cutie. Like the second I saw him on screen I had little hearts around my head.

11.) What's the first thing you think of when you think about this character?: God what don't I think about?????? Literally my entire brain lights up like a circuit board when I think about him. 😂😍🥰 I think a lot about him in his lil camo cargo pants doing that silly little half-jog that he does 🥰🥰🥰

30.) The funniest scene they had?: Ohhh man. The first 3 seasons of SOA were like prime humor time for Juice. I think for me, it's a tie between his banter with Tig at the scrapyard, and just his awkward humor when he's saving Cameron Hayes from bleeding out 😂

Thank you for these! xo

Send me a character and some numbers!

[underworldsarcade]

Well , that's good ! Since it's been so long , I think we should play some soccer to celebrate. Don't you ?

Good!! I've been keeping out of trouble mostly ! But school just let out, so now there's nothing stopping me from being outside every day!!

[cutiepisenpai]

Gifted Part 2

Spencer Reid x F!Reader Warnings: Angst, Fluff, Awkwardness.

Three weeks later the team is on the jet coming back from a case. “Checkmate in three” says Spencer. Glancing up from the book she is reading Y/N eyes the board before moving her piece. “Checkmate” “Unbelievable” Spencer mutters. Things had gotten better over the past few weeks. Spencer had found a good friend in Y/N but he still had trouble talking to her sometimes. He however didn’t like that she seems to enjoy flaunting how much smarter she is than him at times. “Wanna go again? Or are you finally tired of losing to me?” Y/N says, taunting him. He  wants nothing more than to find a way to remove that adorable smirk from her face. Not that he was keeping count but she was in the lead for current wins and he did not like that. “I think I will pass for now.” “Really are you sure I have been having so much fun kicking your ass.” She laughs out. Oh she was surely trying to get under his skin and he shouldn’t let it get to him. “And to think when I first started everyone talked about how great you were at chess guess it was because they are no real competition.” She mocks him. “Just because you’ve won more times doesn’t mean you’re inherently better, chess is a game of strategy you simply had a better strategy for that match.” “Oh wow did I strike a nerve? Is your ego hurt?” She giggles as Morgan high fives her. She was adorable and infuriating, not wanting to bother bantering back he decided to just ignore her and open a book of his own. Back at the office Y/N has of course finished early again but instead of leaving she decides to stick around and bother Spencer. She was sitting on the edge of his desk she had already asked four times if he wanted help finishing his paperwork. “Why don’t you go bother Morgan or Prentiss? I'm sure either of them would like your help.” He says not looking up from his paperwork. “Why would I want to do that? I'm not actually looking for more work. I just enjoy being a minor annoyance to you. Anyway what are you doing this weekend?” Did he hear that right, she never talked about her life outside of work she was extremely private never before having shared weekend plans beforehand. To his knowledge she didn’t even text or call anyone of the team on their days off. And why would she want to know what he was doing with his weekend anyway. “What just happened did you short circuit?” He hears looking up to meet her eyes. Shit he thinks he thought he had gotten better control over not zoning out when she would speak to him. But now this pause has gone on for entirely too long and it’s starting to become awkward. Clearing his throat, “No plans really, there is a guest lecture at Georgetown I might go to but nothing other than that. What about you? Do you have any plans?” “Not really was thinking of maybe going to see the new exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. Do you wanna come with?” If his brain hadn’t turned to mush before it definitely would have now. Did she actually ask him that? She couldn’t actually want to spend hours wandering through a museum with him. “I’ll take that as a no” He hears as she is walking out the door. Shit, he didn’t intend to ignore the offer he just got lost in his thoughts but before he could decide she was gone.                                                         ��                                          

That night he is at home laying on the couch trying to read a book, he has read the same sentence four times, unable to focus. How is it possible that he messed up something before it was even something. He considered calling Y/N to apologize and say that he would like to join her at the museum but he just couldn’t find the courage. So he tried to distract himself but his thoughts kept coming back to her. Before he knew what he was doing his phone was in his hand ringing. “Hello?” “Y/N” “Yes?” He really should have thought this through. “Sorry…” She doesn’t respond. “Y/N” “Yea” a long pause occurs with neither of them not saying anything. “Spencer, what’s going on.” “I didn’t mean to ignore your question earlier it took me by surprise but if you still want to we can go to the museum.” He rushes out. "Okay" "Okay?" "Yea we can still go. See you there at noon." She says. "Okay… see you at noon." That was strange but at least he knew now that she wasn't mad. 

At noon on the dot Spencer is at the spot she texted him to meet her. He hasn't seen her yet maybe she decided not to come after all, maybe she really was mad at him, maybe… He turns, feeling a tap on his shoulder. Standing there is, Y/N bright smile on her face as always but the closer he looks he begins to think she might just be trying to kill him. She is wearing a sweater with a mini skirt, thigh high stockings, and knee high boots. Spencer's mouth grows dryer by the second, he licks his lips before talking. "Oh you're here." "Of course I'm here I invited you remember." She giggles out. "You ready to go in?" He just nods in response not trusting his voice. "Okay, so we can start at the Garden Lounge and work our way through." An hour later the awkwardness had faded as they got into a small competition as each of them tried to share facts before the other could. Leaving the mummy exhibit up ahead they see a sign for the O. Orkin Insect Zoo and Y/N stops abruptly. "I'm not going in there." "Are you entomophobic?" Spencer asks teasingly. "No I'm not afraid but I'm not going in there. Bugs should be outside making them easier to avoid." She says slowly backing away. "So you are accepting defeat? I didn't take you for a person who would simply give up." She knew what he was doing, she was extremely competitive, loved to win but the last place she wanted to be was surrounded by bugs. Spencer was pulling her by the arm closer to the door and she dug the heels of her boots into the ground. "C’mon or admit that my intelligence exceeds yours since I know there is no reason to fear insects." She despised him at this moment not willing to give in so easily she hesitantly follows behind him. As soon as they walk through the doors she immediately regrets that decision. The incessant chirping, buzzing and fluttering of wings made Y/N want to bolt in the other direction. The hairs on her body stand on end and she immediately feels as though there is something crawling on her. Spencer didn't actually expect her to walk into the room with him he thought she would simply give up and pull away the second he opened the door. But here they were and she looked absolutely frightened and now he didn't know what to do next. Deciding to ease her suffering still holding onto her arm he walks them both back out the door they just came through. "Are you okay?" Spencer asks once they are back outside. She only nods but he can tell she is still bothered by what happened. "We can go check out the Ocean Hall exhibit. There aren't any insects there since technically there aren't any water insects." She snorts as she tries to take a deep breath calming herself but unable to stop the tiny laughter at his comments. "Alright let's go." Hours later they had seen nearly all of the exhibits before deciding to call it a day. Since she lived as she says within walking distance to the museum Spencer did what any gentleman would do and walked her home, even as she insisted that it was not necessary. They step out of the elevator into the foyer leading to her apartment, "It really wasn't necessary for you to walk me all the way home." "I know but I prefer to know you made it back safely." Spencer steps forward leaning in to hug Y/N, catching her off guard as she tenses tucking her arms into her body. Spencer flushes red they had never hugged before but this wasn't the moment to try that. "I'll… um I'll see you work." She says before stepping into her apartment closing the door behind her.

A/N: I’m sorry for this emotional roller coaster there will be redemption in the next part.

[thtdamfangirl4]

Archibald and Eustace (IF you're feeling saucy)

dude i’m so excited I’m just gonna do Archie for now, but I might come back and do Eustace later lol

A: What are/were this character’s best subjects in school?

I think he was probably best at English, after all, he is the world’s greatest poet, and he’s a disaster bisexual so we know it’s not math.

R: What are their hands like?

They’re very soft. His extensive Bath and Body Works moisturizer collection makes sure of that. There’s also chocolate or icing or something else from the bakery stuck under his fingernails (which are always painted fun colors) all the time.

C: Can they swim well?

I feel like he definitely can. He’s like weirdly good at the butterfly stroke too, and it infuriates the other boys who can’t master it. Also, he and Nate teach their kids how to swim in the pool/at their lake house and that idea makes me happy.

H: What is their deadly sin?

If we’re talking seven deadly sins, I feel like it has to be pride for Archie. The man knows what he looks like and he is damn proud of it, as he should be. And he hates to admit that he was wrong. There’s a lot of pride in him. But it manifests in the world’s greatest crop top collection, so it’s fine.

I: On a scale of 1-10, how much do they love themselves?

Oh boy. Archie loves himself a lot, he knows his damn worth. But he calls it a 9 because he says the only person who gets to be a 10 is Nathaniel (and later, their kids, obviously).

B: Do they have any allergies?

Hm. I’ve never thought about this before, but yes. I think he’s allergic to bees and it makes him SO SAD. He loves little boopy bumblebees and shit but he can’t say they’re harmless cause they can kill him. Also, he definitely is one of those people who gets allergies in the fall or spring from pollen or whatever and he is so dramatic about it and demands that Nate take care of him when it’s clear that he’d be fine if he just took a fucking claritin.

A: I already answered the school subject one, but I’ll give y’all a little bonus anyway.

He’s AWFUL at history, and Nathaniel finds this endlessly amusing, while Archie is incredibly frustrated about it. He just can’t remember so much stuff (partially cause he had to catch up on two hundred years and he just couldn’t handle it and partially cause his brain is mostly filled with Taylor Swift lyrics and bad poems about how Nate’s butt). He has a weird proclivity for remembering secret gay history though.

L: What is their favorite board game?

Oh my god. He loves any board game. He’s so competitive. But his favorite... I think it’s The Game of Life. He giggles every time he puts the spouse in the car cause he makes it a man and says “fuck the heteronormative creators of this game” and gets so excited about having kids, he names them all. He wins every time, even though it’s mostly a game of chance.

D: How do they react to being flirted with?

Archibald Quincy Pemberton is quite literally, the world’s biggest flirt. He’s very flattered, and flirts right back. If it’s someone who is genuinely interested, he makes it clear he’s not available, but is still very flirty because he can’t help it. He flirts openly with his friends (especially Octavius and Reginald) and that’s when it’s usually overtly sexual. When Nathaniel flirts with him, though. It started out with mostly Archie flirting with him and Nate would give these slightly-too-sincere comebacks that would make Archie blush and short-circuit for a minute. But once Nate started to truly flirt back, it took Archie a few weeks to get used to it, but before that he would basically go brain dead if Nate made a casual sexual remark or got super flirty with him. But now he flirts right back, SO hard. His goal is always to make Nate blush (spoiler alert: he literally always succeeds). He’s very smooth, always in a back and forth banter with someone as soon as he gets flirted with (that is, unless Nathaniel says something that catches him off guard, in which case he may need medical attention or get Nathaniel alone as soon as humanly possible).

[thekytchensynk]

Choices (Fictober Prompt 11)

Prompt number: 11

Fanfiction Fandom: Ducktales

Rating: G

Warnings: No Warnings

Read this story on AO3

Gyro paced.

When Mr. McDuck, holder of the pursestrings, had determined that “Gizmoduck” was the “hero” that Duckberg needed, Gyro hadn’t agreed, but he had agreed, if you take the difference. The idea itself? Pure madness. The thought that some half-baked intern in a mechanical utility suit would somehow many the city safer rather than in far more danger struck him as the same sort of fairy tale nonsense that led to children staying up late at night enthusiastically waiting for some allegedly benevolent creature to break into their homes and leave free items, as though there would be no strings attached to THAT down the line.

But while Mr. McDuck and Gyro were on the same wavelength regarding the jolly fat man, they were not seeing eye to eye on the superhero thing. And since Gyro didn’t hate the idea of … ugh … Gizmoduck enough to potentially jeopardize access to his benefactor, he’d gritted his beak and tried to sound enthusiastic about it.

He liked to think he’d done a good job.

But the idea of actually managing the day-to-day nonsense of a superhero had turned out more complicated and irritating than he’d even imagined. For instance, despite being an intern with Gyro himself, the pilot of the suit wasn’t really a mechanical sort of thinker -- he could do passably well with wiring or a circuit board, but there was far more of a chemistry and physics bent in that one. Which meant while he could patch up the suit, and even make changes to it, he wasn’t as comfortable in that world as he was wearing the darn thing.

Which left it all to Gyro, of course. And did anyone think about that? Did anyone thank him? No, of course not. That wasn’t the flashy bit, why should anyone care if the suit was working well when Duckburg needed it?

And that was only the beginning.

There were the letters. Because people allegedly didn’t know where Gizmoduck lived (a fact Gyro assumed had to be a lie, the guy couldn’t keep the secret from literal children), they sent letters for him to McDuck Enterprises, since it publicly sponsored him. And the corporation wisely wanted nothing to do with them, so what did it do? It sent them here, to his place of work, where they were nothing more than a processed-pulp annoyance. Thank you for helping me cross the street, Gizmoduck! Thank you for finding my puppy, Gizmoduck! Thank you for swooping in to grab the gunman holding those kids hostage, ending the incident without any injuries Gizmoduck! A parade of saccharine paper waste.

And then there were nights like tonight. When Mr. McDuck and his family had hared off to some obscure corner of the world chasing money or mysticism, and some weather-based villain or something had attacked city hall (Seriously, there were so many weather baddies at this point, Gyro didn’t even bother learning names).

Gyro got notification on his phone whenever the suit started activating its more combat-oriented functions. Because combat functions meant combat. And combat meant the suit getting damaged.

And that meant Gyro up late repairing the darn thing, because if he let the city’s superhero fall into disrepair while Mr. McDuck was away … well, neither he nor his expensive invention ideas wanted to think what would happen after that.

The feed was mostly audio and a series of indicators showing the integrity of various systems -- power, the bigger weapons systems, propulsion, core movement, pie filling levels, etc. Mostly, watching them felt about like watching UV-protective resin coating dry. Sometimes he tinkered while he watched, but sometimes?

Sometimes he paced.

Tonight was one of those nights. The weather guy had attacked after a city council meeting about the curriculum in the Duckburg City Public Schools. Apparently he wanted meteorology to be a full year of study for every class in the fifth grade, and when the city council refused to vote on it (because the school board and not the city council would be the ones voting on a curriculum, Gyro assumed), he had decided to throw a tantrum and was holding the council, two reporters and everyone who’d shown up for the meeting hostage with an overly excited lightning storm.

The reason he’d chosen to pace instead of tinker this evening was that all the lightning was wreaking absolute havoc on the wifi that was beaming all this data back to the lab. He had the readouts on one of the larger displays, and the audio feed piping in through the lab speakers, but every once in a while the inane banter between hero and villain would break up in an absolutely ear-splitting burst of static. The sound invariably made Gyro jump, then he’d hop over, checking the readout and waiting for the feed to stabilize. And each time, it would come up -- power dropping but at an expected rate, pie filling holding steady, movement systems at ninety-five percent with some limited movement in the left shoulder which had been injured, as far as Gyro could tell, when Gizmoduck had dived to save someone from a blast of lightning. Nothing to be worried about. They just had to wait it out because getting hit by lightning was perhaps one of the worst things for the suit to handle.

Gyro paced.

“Professor Gearloose?” came a voice over the comm -- not the loud, self-assured tones of Gizmoduck, but the quieter, more urgent ones Gyro was more familiar with.

“Intern,” Gyro said by way of reply, expecting his word -- and tone -- to be picked up by the mics in the lab.

“I think something’s going on.”

“Things have been going on for almost an hour,” Gyro replied, unimpressed. “You should know, you were there.”

“No, I mean … something else.”

As he said this, Gyro finally picked up on a few facts. First, this marked the first time tonight the comm had been used for communication, not just monitoring the sounds at the scene. Second, it sounded like the intern was trying to keep his voice low.

And third? Well, even underwater, Gyro finally noticed the pickup in lightning activity. Echoes of lightning bolts were even making themselves seen all the way down here. It looked almost like a strobe light going off up there.

“What?” Gyro said, doing his best not to sound irritated or impatient despite being both of those things at the moment.

“He’s building up for something big. I don’t know, it’s looking apocalyptic up here. I think he’s going to try to take out the whole building with some sort of supercharged lightning bolt!”

“What makes you think…” Then Gyro’s mind wandered back over the past hour of ranting he’d half-heard from this weather villain and he answered his own question. “He told you that, didn’t he?”

“He did, but I didn’t think he actually had the power. Take out some of the brickwork, maybe, but he wasn’t showing anything like enough power to bring down a building.”

“What changed?”

“He pulled something out of the storm generator he’s using, and everything started ramping up.

“Describe it.” And as the intern did, Gyro’s suspicion quickly switched to certainty. Some sort of limiter. He’d put something similar in his own weather changing device before Mr. McDuck shut that avenue of study down. The problem was the limiter also acted as a regulator, and without it, the machine would cycle into ever-higher levels of power until…

“He absolutely can take down city hall with that machine,” Gyro said, urgency building in his chest like a physical pressure. “If that thing is allowed to continue, it might take out the whole surrounding block with it.”

“The whole … oh no, what am I going to do, what am I going to do?” The intern was clearly not talking to him anymore.

Not being directly addressed had never stopped Gyro before. “You need to get out of there,” he said. “Get the people and get out of there.”

“I can’t!” he hissed back. “There are too many. Not just in City Hall, but in most of the buildings around here, people got trapped by the fight. There have to be a hundred that I can see from here, and … I’ll just have to move it”

“What, through the streets?” Gyro asked, trying to emphasize just how terrible an idea this was. “It’s going to follow you. All you’ll be doing is picking a new spot for the guy to destroy.”

“If I fly-”

“You’ll just speed up the process,” Gyro said, frustrated that his intern didn’t understand the workings of a weather machine just because he’d never build or worked on one before. “It’s like magnets, the closer the machine is to the storm, the sooner that mega-bolt is going to come down.”

A pause. Then, “But it’ll stop at the machine, right?”

“Of course it’ll…” Gyro realized what he was unintentionally condoning in the middle and threw the brakes on hard. “Wait, wait, you can’t do that. The suit can’t handle it.”

“The city can’t handle it,” the intern came back quietly. And he was right.

Gyro tried to think. “The body of the suit should be able to take a lot of the load,” he said, voice dropping into a clinical tone, words coming fast. “But this isn’t like a normal lightning bolt. Do you have time to bond anything to it that could work as a static wick of sorts?”

“There’s no time,” he said. “And I don’t have a properly conductive bonding agent anyway.”

“Then how about-”

“There’s no time,” he repeated, and the sounds in the background shifted. He could hear the copter blades in the background, and the weather guy shouting in unintelligible rage.

“That suit is tied into your brain,” Gyro practically shouted. Why wasn’t he listening? “If you throw yourself directly into Thor’s temper tantrum, then-”

“Dr. Gearloose, you worked on this suit dozens of times,” the intern said.

“Yes, so you should listen to me when I say-”

“I think it’s stronger than you think it is. I think you underestimate your work. “I think I’m going to be safe.”

“You idiot intern, you-”

KA-BOOM. The sound of lightning striking the suit and the machine and the intern lanced deafeningly through the lab, so loud that it made Gyro jump, startled, and left his ears ringing.

The volume made the silence that followed all the worse.

“Intern?” Gyro asked into the quiet, even though a strike like that had to have taken out the systems. It might have kicked to auxiliary for a safe landing, but communications would be gone. The readouts from the suit had gone dark.

So Gyro paced.

Two hours later, the elevator started up. Gyro looked up from where he was working over the suit’s blueprints to see the doors pop open and reveal his intern, a little worse for wear and lugging that familiar duffle bag. The guy’s eyes roved over the lab before landing on the invetor.

“Dr. Gearloose!”

He sounded entirely too chipper. Gyro carefully tucked the blueprints into a waterproof sleeve and stood up. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing!” The intern sounded super enthusiastic about that answer. “The cops said I should go to the ambulance, but … hahaha no.” He started giggling, and for a moment, Gyro wondered if he’d spent the last two hours out getting drunk. If that were the case he wouldn’t have to fire the guy, he;d have to make sure he met with an accident before Mr. McDuck came back instead because Gyro was not going to put up with being left here, alone, wonder if-

“I told you so,” Fenton said, grinning at Gyro. “The lightning didn’t get to my brain. The suit handled it fine! Well.” He paused, then corrected himself. “Not fine. Like a blackout, too much light then everything goes dark and whoooosh, down I went.” He simulated the descent with one hand, like a child. When his palm impacted the work table, he almost knocked himself off balance.

Gyro blinked. “The auxiliary didn’t auto-loose the parachute?”

The intern squinted at him, mouthing the word parachute like someone who’d never heard the word before. Then his eyes lit up. “Oh! Yeah, the parachute happened. But then it caught on one of the gargoyles and riiiiiip.” He really drew the sound effect out. “The last bit was fast. Really fast. Bumped my head.” He giggled again, one hand going to the side of his head.

Where, Gyro could now see, a bit of dried blood crusted among the feathers.

“You gave yourself a concussion?” Gyro demanded.

“Teeechnically the ground gave it to me,” The intern corrected him. “But it caught me, so I can’t be too mad.”

“Come on. We need to get you to a hospital. Now.” Gyro said, walking over and turning him back toward the door.

The intern followed him unsteadily but with clear determination. “Right,” he said. “Hey, did you know you build in a breaker? Up there?” He tapped at the air where the Gizmoduck helmet would normally have been.

“I what?”

“It disengaged when the surge came,” the intern told him with the severity of a child explaining a very serious diorama of toys. “Disconnected from my brain. Just as the lightning hit. You don’t remember?”

And now, suddenly, he did. He’d put that in almost as an afterthought -- a clearly forgotten afterthought. But once the intern said the suit had been rewired to use an organic processor … well, all those thoughts of things going wrong had swirled in his head, and he had spent an afternoon putting together a couple different prototypes. Testing. Installing the best. Forgetting about it. Worried about literally nothing.

Well, not worried. He hadn’t been worried. Of course not.

“Let’s go,” he said, ignoring the fact that they were both already in the elevator. He hated that the night was about to become a lot longer while he got the concussed idiot medical care, to make sure his brain wasn’t leaking out the side of his head.

But one thing for sure. He was absolutely done pacing for tonight.

[underworldsarcade]

❛ .. That's diabolical , man. I can't help but respect it. ❜

"Y'know what? Hopin' somethin' terrible happens to my enemies isn't enough."

"I want them to feel real pain. That's why I've been meticulously figurin' out their favorite meals so I can ruin them for the rest of their lives."

[jovishark]

Nash, you pick the number.

i pick All Of Them

full name: Dr. Nashwell Viceroy Krikta DPC

best friend: space currently unoccupied

sexuality: vague. the only people hes dated have been feminine-identifying but its a small sample size

favorite color: hes partial to blue

relationship status: single. hes trying to focus on regaining his humanity

ideal mate: anyone whos empathetic and understands a. what hes gone through and b. that hes trying to change. someone who will help him be a better person and someone he can help be their best self.

turn-ons: a good high quality snappy banter. also, lace.

favorite food: his particular kind of cyborg doesnt need to eat and as a human he had dieted for years because of a heart condition/weight management regimen. decaf coffee

crushes: he dated phoebe, the woman who rebuilt him and brainwashed him, for a while when he was human. while he worked for her he had a kind of respect and admiration for her against his will. does that count?

favorite music: symphonic orchestral arrangements that feature instruments from alien planets.

biggest fear: being brainwashed or forced to hurt someone again.

biggest fantasy: the general public approves of cyborgs again and hes allowed to practice medicine under the government. hes honored as an accomplished surgeon once again and is happy in his own skin, with lots of caring friends and a support network of people who love him. he and his brother atticus would talk regularly and be close like they used to.

bad habits: a bit of an anger issue linked to the changing of neural pathways in his brain. ignoring the overheating circuit boards and general maintenance on his body. putting work before his own health. stutters (uhs, ums) when hes nervous.

biggest regret: the fight he had with atticus shortly before the incident leading to his death. they argued and he told atticus he would never be successful if he continued as an assassin, and that he was embarrassed to know him.

best kept secrets: a lot of what he did with phoebe. kidnapping people and turning them into cyborgs, helping her try to form an army, and multiple counts of cyberterrorism.

last thought (most recent): "ambient temperature 21.1 repeating celsius. make adjustments to prevent overheating coils. doorway at height of 2.5298 meters; ducking is unnecessary for continued forward movement. sharp pain detected in lower left pelvis. set to ignore."

worst romantic experience: phoebe. she dated atticus first and dumped him for nash. slowly convinced nash to look into more dangerous prosthesis experiments. pushed him to fight with atticus. when she rebuilt him, she controlled him to love and revere her. hes still confused about it

biggest insecurity: his body, always. as a human it was flawed and as a cyborg hes shoddily built and constantly judged.

weapon of choice: a lazer revolver that doubles as a blaster and a tazer.

role model: dr. house.

[roseforthethorns]

Royalty AU

Miscellaneous Prompt Table (009)

Word Count: 1432

Full bunny below the Cut

Q is one of the crown princes of Britain, but he is not next in line for the throne. He’s always been a little… wild, from full sleeve tattoos to studying computer sciences and coding (he has a doctorate, one of the youngest doctors in all of England), but his favorite thing to do is dress down and go out. Minimal security detail, usually just one trusted bodyguard named Eve, and go to clubs. He lets his hair curl the way it naturally wants to, he indulges in his favorite punk clothing styles that show off his ink, and with just a hint of eyeliner, he’s virtually unrecognizable as a prince.

James works as a bartender, and he’s damn good at his job. Knee injury took him out of the SAS (as well as killing Lynd, his former partner and lover when she turned traitor), so he spends his nights tending bar and his days working out when he cannot sleep. He enjoys the occasional historical fiction book or biography, and he has his soap operas (tell no one), but everything is just… dull. So when this young man strolls up to the bar and orders a beer, James is stunned because the man is gorgeous. Slim, fit, very well inked in gorgeously designed sleeves. James turns on the charm and flirts shamelessly, delighted when the young man not only flirts back but suggests that if there’s a back room, he would certainly enjoy a rough tumble.

James gets his break at 0030, and he immediately takes the young man, who only gives his name as Q, into the back and shags his brains out. Q is delicious- tight as sin, breathy and bossy, very willing to have his hair pulled and clearly into a bit of subbing. Only James’ willpower keeps him from marking the man visibly with a love bite, and he feels great pride when Q clearly is struggling to walk properly as they leave the office.

Q comes back a few more times before proposing they be fuck buddies, but he makes it sound much classier. He has a flat they can use and offers to take James by there on his day off if he wants, but James counters with his own flat. He has decent security, and there’s a lift up from the garage to afford them privacy, and Q agrees. This starts several months of nights spent together on James’s days off. The sex is phenomenal, and they start talking more and more. Q talks about his hobbies and his love of computers and coding, how much he wants to go into technology but his family is a bit on the traditional side. James doesn’t press for details; his family, had they still been around, would have been stuffy and traditional too. James shares his passion for woodworking and shows a few pieces of furniture he has made, even though it has been months since he last properly focused on a project. Q admires each piece, and later when he is home and thinking back on that day, that is the moment he begins to fall for James.

Six months in, it leaks. Somehow, the word gets out and James arrives at his flat to be accosted by reporters asking how long he has been sleeping with Prince Quentin.

James comes up to the flat to find Q there distressed and pacing. It’s the biggest fight they’ve had. Q lied by omission about his identity and James is more angry that Q does not trust him enough to say he is royalty than he is about reporters swarming his flat.

Eve comes in to escort Q out, taking one of the back ways from the place to avoid further media frenzy.

There’s no contact for weeks. Nothing. With so much time and suddenly nothing and no one to fill that time, James takes up woodworking again. He starts by working to fix up some of the furniture in his flat, then moves on to putting in time at the bar to clean things up, fix some of the larger cracks in the veneer. His boss sees his work and, impressed, encourages James to start selling his pieces.

Nearly a month later, James is summoned to Buckingham Palace, where he arrives to find he has an audience with Prince Quentin. Q is virtually unrecognizable in a well tailored suit, styled hair, shined shoes, everything that it seemed he is not in the club and at James’s yet it fits him perfectly.

Q talks, James mostly listens. Q apologizes for how things went down. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt James, yet that’s exactly what ended up happening. So he offers a chance for James to ask whatever he wants. He offers to tell James the entire truth, and James accepts.

They take a walk through the gardens, and Q tells James all about his life. Most of it James already knows, but he now learns the details about the royal life. Q mostly adds to stories James has heard before, but it also makes it easier to understand why Q cannot pursue his dream career and why it took so long for Q to be able to bring James to the palace; he has spent weeks smoothing things over and helping with spin for the media circus.

As they return to the palace, Q offer James the choice. They can stay lovers, or Q can keep his distance. It’s up to James, and Q will respect his choice.

The anger is mostly gone- and James misses their time together. The palace has no privacy, and he prefers his privacy. He tells Q as much.

Q starts to smile. He offers James chances to get away, ways they can continue to see each other, not so much in secret as discreetly in public so that they can continue to be together personally. Q has no interest in the crown, and one of his cousins just married, and he was gay. Their relationship will not be frowned upon nearly so much as it would have been a few years previous.

“I don’t want you to become the darling of the public or be hounded the rest of your life. I don't wish that on you. But I don’t want to lose you either. You’re the first person to truly get to know the real me, the man behind the titles.”

James eventually says yes. He has to think about it for awhile, but it is different than when Vesper betrayed him, got his knee shot out and herself killed. Q truly regrets the deception, but James understands why. Had he known Q was royalty, he would have behaved differently.

Their first time together again, Q spirits them away to a small country cottage. Eve is Q’s main security detail, very discrete and wickedly sharp. James likes her and her obvious care for her charge. She is also wonderful for teasing banter.

It is the first of many trips, and though James never much fancies the publicity (especially once the media figures out he and Q are properly an item), it’s worth it for the smile that crosses Q’s face whenever he things James is not looking.

They start to escape more and more as they can afford. Q has to cancel a few times for palace functions, but Eve helps him slip away to James’ flat on those nights so they do not lose all their time together. Soon enough, the media moves on to his brother Harry’s wedding, and Q and James are no longer the center of media attention.

Q loves the work James does with his carving and woodworking. It turns out Q is a bit hopeless in shaping wood, but he’s a natural at woodburning. In one afternoon he creates a circuit board on a piece of well-worked mahogany. Several of these joint pieces will end up in various rooms of James’s flat and Q’s palace rooms. And, since this particular cottage is Q’s, James’s work ends up furnishing nearly every room there.

Q comes to treasure those trips more than almost anything else. He knows no one else gets to see James like this, and that James is the only person who can see Q at his most relaxed and happy. He is not sure when or how he will tell James that he loves him, but he can see that James loves him in that smirk that quirks the corner of his mouth. And for now, that is enough.

[reyleaux]

because I'm totally ridiculous and this is my new platonic crackship: 18 for Ben Solo and Rose Tico as nerd teamup forced to work together and developing A Rapport.

biTCH ME TOO, THE FUCK.

special shoutout to @futurecatladies, who I know is always down for that good good roselo content. this is technically platonic with shades of background reylo, but i think with just a minor nudge and minimal squinting one could consider it roselo instead (or even ‘also’). 

--

Rose watches him work from behind, half grateful and halfincensed.

On the one hand, they’re barreling away from the Limiter, the First Order’s newestflagship, at high speed. She’s safe – relatively – and on her way home after onlya day in a holding cell that could have easily become an eternity. Things areas good as they’ve been in at least a week, and for Rose that’s saying a lot.

But on the other, the other half of this ‘they’ is Kylo Ren,the one and only Supreme Leader of that same Order from which they’re currentlyrunning.

He opened her cell an hour ago with a serious look on hisface that said he didn’t want to think about what he was doing. She nearlypissed herself in terror but put on a brave face.

“Here to kill me?” She asked him, impressing herself withher defiance.

“Shut up,” Kylo Ren said in a low and slightly nasal voice. “Shesent me. We’re going.”

“I’m not going anywhere,”Rose spat back. “Not with you. Who sent you?”

She could see the tops of his bottom teeth as he sucked in abreath. He closed his eyes. “Rey.”

She scoffed, put off by his dramatics. ��Rey sent you.”

“Don’t sound so incredulous about things you don’t understand.”

If the look on his face hadn’t convinced her of the honestyof this frankly baffling admission, his sharp and perfect recitation of herlast conversation with Rey did. It was like he’d been sitting with them in herroom, taking notes on the strange and meandering argument they had aboutrepairing the new base’s laundry equipment.

It was, in a word, unnerving.

But then again, Rose muses now, watching dumbfounded as Ren’supper half disappears into an access panel on his own personal shuttle to rip out the fusebox that powers the ship’s tracker,what about him isn’t unnerving?

“Literally everything about this is illegal!” She halfyells, half hisses.

Kylo Ren grunts as he knocks against something on his wayout of the panel. He has a sparking fusebox in one hand and a hydrospanner inthe other, slightly charred from where she assumes he used it to pry off the fusebox.

“Appropriate that now would be the time I start living up tothe name.” He sounds almost wistful.

He stands and drops the fusebox onto the nearest surface, abuilt-in bench along the wall. He towers over her, but Rose hardly notices, confusedand on-guard at his cryptic admission. “What?” She asks, chin tilted high.

“What do you care about legality, anyway? You’re a Rebel.”

“What do you mean ‘living up to the name?’”

He looks taken aback. “What do you mean, ‘What do you mean?’”

Rose wrenches the spanner from his hand and brandishes it athim. “Don’t repeat my question back at me!”

“You don’t know who I am?”

“Of course I know whoyou are, Kylo Ren.” She spits the name at him, already tired of whatever gamethis is. “You’re the worst thing that’s ever happened to the galaxy.”

“No,” he says, a little quieter. “Before that.”

Rose grits her teeth. She wants to scream. “Out with it! Wedon’t have time for a dramatic reveal right now!” There’s a following pause andshe’s about to warn him not to bother if it’ll make her hate him any more thanshe already does, when—

“Ben Solo,” Kylo Ren says, voice low, eyes lower. “That wasmy name.”

She can tell he’s expecting a gasp, the gentle cracking of aworld-altering revelation. And maybe three weeks ago – before Finn and Rey andnarrowly escaping death on Crait and the First Order beginning its incomprehensibleand rapid implosion – she would have obliged him.

But Rose Tico is different now. More skeptical, yes, but alsoless afraid.

Which might be why she reaches up to grab his chin and tiltshis face down towards her. Her eyes skim the flaring bridge of his nose, thefeline tilt to his eyes, the unruly, triangular brows. She scrunches up hernose, remembering what she can of Han Solo’s face from the holos she’s seen.

He’s surprisingly calm for someone being manhandled by anenemy, if that’s still what they are.

Fair enough, shethinks, that might as well be true, too.

“Well, Solo, putit to some kriffing use.”

She can tell that the smile he cracks is supposed to becharming – that it would have been on Han’s face, all loose and careless – and shecould have expected it to be menacing, even sad.

But what it is instead is absolutely goofy.

His cheeks wing out and he has a gap between his front andeye teeth on both sides. Even worse, he has dimples. Rose can’t help herself.Her eyes roll back.

They’re flying through First Order-controlled space in aship that is (probably) technically stolen, possibly about to do irreparabledamage to the Order and definitely goingto do irreparable damage to the (probably) stolen ship in the process. Disablingthe tracker will be absolutely necessary to making their escape through hyperspace,but the entrances and exits of the lanes are now fully monitored by the Order,meaning that they’ll be apprehended almost instantly once they emerge out ofFTL.

No matter how much Rose knows they’re doing the right thing,it doesn’t change how kriffing dangerousit is, nor how stupid.

She tells him as much.

“Son of Han Solo or not, you can’t fly a ship that’s, one, ina million pieces or, two, booted by C-Dot.”

“Then let’s not get booted.”

“Uh-uh,” Rose says, actually wagging a finger in the face ofKylo Ren, menace of the galaxy. “Let’s just boot them first.”

“It’s an expensive ship, but there aren’t torpedoes.”

“No, we can be cleverer than that.”

“We?”

“What do you know about electrical interference?”

A distant, slightly horrified look crosses his face. “Some.Biologically speaking.”

“That’s fine,” Rose says. “I know enough. What weapons do we have?”

“There’s a standard short-range IR-73 blast canon mountedunder the hull and a miniature rail gun under the cockpit,” he snaps, havingwritten enough reports on this shuttle to answer Rose’s question withoutreflection.

“Wow,” Rose says, flat and sarcastic, “I’m surprised it’snot an IR-80. And here I thought you liked your guns big.”

She turns towards the cockpit and Kylo huffs something likea laugh and follows without thinking. The IR-80 is the blast generator thatsits inside the surface cannons of a star destroyer. Mount one on a ship thissize and it’d blow you back twenty-thousand clicks every time you fired.

“That’s actually—”

“What General Hux suggested in the armaments meetingyesterday,” she finishes for him, giggling as she goes to tap her handheldsplicer into the cockpit’s consol. “I know.”

Kylo Ren tilts his head, looking for all the world like acurious dog. Rose raises her brows and jiggles the splicer in her hand, a small,satisfied smile dimpling her cheeks.

“Didn’t have a lot else to do. Thought I’d get intel, listeningin on the monitors, got a laugh instead.”

Rose ducks away to focus on her task, muttering and swearingunder her breath as she fights the override protocols coded into the ship.

“Okay, almost there.” She presses a button and swivels as ahatch opens nearby. “Grab us those PPE’s.” She points and Kylo obeys, largebody crossing the cabin’s vertical and horizontal space with little more than astretch. Rose doesn’t bemoan her stature, but she kind of wishes she could dothat.

Kylo Ren tosses her a suit and begins pulling his own on. “Theoscillator, right? From the life support block.”

“Yeah,” Rose says, pleasantly surprised by his deference toher orders. “We’ll vent the ship.”

“Then move it into the charging block of the rail gun.”

“I thought you said you didn’t know much about electricalinterference.”

“I don’t,” he says, zipping up the rubberized collar of thesuit. “But she does.”

This time Rose’s brows and lips scrunch up with her nose. “Youmean Rey again. You can say her name, you know.”

His eyes sweep down. Rose’s brain momentarily short-circuitsas she recognizes the look and color on his face. He’s…bashful? Embarrassed? Maker,she really doesn’t have time for whatever thisis.

“You know what?” She flicks a hand in front of herself, asif shooing a fly. “I’m not gonna worry about it.”

He seems relieved, nodding as he pulls on his helmet.

“For now,” she adds. Butjust try to stop me later.

Once they’re suited up, Rose presses another button and thehum of the shuttle’s engine vibrates just lower than before.

After a quick test of the suits’ comm system and asuspiciously synchronized nod, Rose initiates the depressurizing sequence andthey’re plunged into the echoey silence of the vacuum.

They work with minimal banter this time, careful to avoid jostlingthe oscillator and hooking it into the rail gun’s generator system withcareful, coordinated hands.

Rose explains in a soothing, even rhythm how the oscillatorwill charge the rail gun bolts with ionic energy. At the low-power setting she’sprogrammed into it, that will make the bolts effectively nonlethal, but perfectfor their intentions. The ionic charge will ripple through the systems of thetraffic monitoring stations and reverse the current on board for a fewmicroseconds. They’ll essentially have a small power surge, but won’t gooffline. If they time it right, they won’t even notice the shuttle at all. Ifthey time it wrong, they’ll notice the shuttle but not its missing tracker.They’ll get by on looks. It’s actually…she takes a moment to be proud ofherself. It’s actually a pretty foolproof plan.

To her surprise, Kylo Ren agrees.

What’s more, they manage to pull it off. Even in two layersof gloves and a terribly restricting helmet, Kylo is a damn good pilot,managing to target the nearest waystation within microseconds of their jump outof hyperspace. Doesn’t even use the tracking systems. Is that how the Forceworks? Rose will have to ask Rey.

Or, well, she guesses she could ask Kylo. Once this is over.

Once they’re past the scanning range of the traffic stationsand have returned the oscillator to life support, they hang around in thecockpit, PPE’s half-peeled off with the arms tied at their waists. Just in casethey have to suit up again. Kylo taps on the ship’s cloaking and spools hisbody comfortably into the co-pilot’s chair.

“Shouldn’t you be—?” Rose asks, gesturing to the otherchair.

His eyes flicker to hers in confusion, then it clicks. “Iusually don’t, uh—”

“Oh,” she says. Huh.

He stiffens, “I can—”

“No, that’s fine.”

He coughs low in his throat, looking away and running a handthrough his hair. Scrunched up like this, he actually looks capable of feelingself-conscious. Scratch that, he does look self-conscious. Rose recognizes it,feels sympathetic to it, even against her better judgment.

Things have been changing fast, recently. She’s starting togive up on fighting it anymore.

“Also, uh, ‘shut up’? Seriously?”

He shoots her an indignant look.

It doesn’t frighten her at all. And from what she can tellthrough her steely and unwavering gaze, he can tell. His face softens just alittle in response.

“It’s been…” Silence stretches out as his gaze falls out offocus, swimming through the endless mid-distance of space.

“One hell of a week,” she says, “I know.”

He leans back and kicks his feet up on the console. “Ofcourse you do.”

[underworldsarcade]

Oh , it’s really not that bad. Because I focusing on moving so much , I don’t even feel it !

How you can stand that hat over your ears all day stuns me. Is that not uncomfortable ?

[jamfingers]

Fuck it, gotta purge now - Bonkai, slight Sky High AU, untitled.

There's not a lot of free time at Gemini Tower. Being that every prisoner there was superpowered, there wasn't much else to do at the max security pen except exercise or read when you weren't being kept busy by being worked to death. Or you know, pretend to exercise or read while you were really conspiring to escape.

Which is exactly what Kai was doing with Laurence Hales (aka Absolute Zero, the ice king of all the cryokinetic villains) when his number is called.

"Prisoner seventy-two thirteen! To the call room - you have a visitor," the burly guard barks.

Kai pauses, checking the sleek metal cuff on his right wrist. There was a matching one on his left arm. All the prisoners wore cuffs like this, that doubled as power suppressors as well as high tech transportation handcuffs. They were also unique to each inmate's biology, engraved with their identifying number. And sure enough, there it was: 7213, printed right on his wrist. Kai steps back from his co-conspirator to address the guard.

"I have a visitor?" he doesn't bother hiding his bemusement. Who on earth would want to see him? Anyone who might be interested were most likely already within these walls. Or Draconia's. Kai pities the villains that end up at the asylum.

"That's what I said," the guard snaps. He holds up the remote that magnetizes Kai's cuffs together, pressing the button and glaring at Kai.

"Let's go, Red Hand," he sneers. Kai shares a look with Law, nodding. They'll finish the conversation later. Mentally adding Fugly Prison Maid to his blacklist, he walks towards the guard and allows himself to be guided to the call room.

He's never been here before. Never had to be. His cuffs are demagnetized from each other and he's allowed to sit freely at a table. The rest of the room is empty and guards stand at every entrance and checkpoint Kai can see, far enough for privacy, but close enough to shock the hell out of him with their tasers if he steps out of line. Kai counts eight of them and is running scenarios of how he might turn this in his favor when she steps into the room.

'She' being Miss Magnificent, one of the founding members of The Society of Heroes. 'She' being Miss Magnificent, the third and most powerful woman (telekinesis, pyrokinesis, super-strength, and rapid regeneration) to pick up the mantle, the one with the most influence. 'She' being Miss Magnificent, his arch-nemesis and the reason he's imprisoned in the first place. 'She' being Miss Magnificent, who is supposed to be in a rocket somewhere in the cosmos, mediating peace talks with hostile Martians and decidedly not here on Earth, at Gemini Tower, sitting across from him in an empty call room (that he now realizes is empty because of her), looking very much like she's hoarding a small melon under her dress.

He stares at her protruding belly, then her face, raking in her pretty features. She looks tired, but happy and a little wary, not unlike any other young, expecting woman visiting a high security prison for super-powered villains.

Inordinately, he's angry. Kai's hands curl into fists and he sees her eyes dart to them immediately, her combat instincts seemingly as sharp as ever. A guard shifts and Kai schools his face, relaxing back into his seat. Looking once more at her belly, Kai tries to smother the feeling of betrayal that fills him when he greets her.

"Hi, Bonnie," he says amicably. Bitingly. "I'd ask what's new, but..." He trails off, nodding at her stomach. He tilts his chair back, balancing it on its back legs, watching her take him in. She snorts and finally takes the seat across from him.

"Hi, Kai," she banters back. "I'd ask what's new, if the answer wasn't clearly 'not much'." Her face goes serious and she looks him over. Kai hates the tenderness he feels when he sees her face soften in concern. "Are you..." she hesitates. "Are you eating enough? They're not overworking you are they? I've been working with other Society members and policymakers to incite prison reforms to move towards rehabilitation and building up applicable work skills, so that..."

Fuck. Her nervous babble has him charmed and he stops trying to barricade his heart off from her, no matter how angry he is at the prospect of some other man's child growing under her hundreds. Miss Magnificent may be his arch-nemesis, but there's a reason Red Hand, known for his ruthlessness and ability to drain life with a simple touch, quickly stopped turning his power on her with intentions crueler than knocking her out.

She cared, more than most other heroes. She was willing to crawl in the muck and shit to save everybody, even the scum like Red Hand. It was idealistic and naïve, but even if Kai's behavior was never going to reform, his heart might. And besides that, well. Malachai Parker always has a soft spot for Bonnie Bennett.

And wasn't that some shit?

She cuts herself off when Kai's chair slams back to the floor, watching him as he reaches for her hand. She doesn't pull away, doesn't even tense. Kai wonders if it's her faith in the cuffs or her faith in him that keeps her relaxed. Both ignore the huffing of the security guards. They don't like him touching other people.

"Aren't you supposed to be in space? I saw you get on a rocket with Fractal and Honeycomb on the news last week."

She beams at him, and he doesn't get why until he realizes he's inadvertently given away his own concern. His eye twitches, but whatever. He's holding her damn hand.

Still smiling, she answers, "That was one of Psiren's illusions. She's the one who boarded. I'm on leave."

Kai turns her hand over between his, doing the same with her words in his mind. He wishes he had his powers, so he could siphon off some of her strength. Maybe some of her regeneration for when she inevitably guts him. All those times before...he had thought...

But no, his thoughts were just that. The shit in his head. No way would someone like Bonnie be destined for someone like him. Just no way.

"On leave?" he muses in a neutral tone. "Can I take a gander on why?"

Bonnie smiles at him. "It's hard to fight crime growing a human," she teases, something in her easing. Apparently, she'd been expecting a more unpleasant response. "A lot of the other Society members are really upset with me. Others, like Psiren, not so much. It's rough having a tank off-duty, but since Psiren is usually out of the public eye, she came up with the plan for Miss Mag to mediate alien affairs so Bonnie Bennett can get ready for maternity leave from the lab."

"Yeah? And the dad? What's he doing?" Kai inquires, mentally bracing himself. She's not for him, no matter what they might have shared in the past. Clearly, it didn't mean as much to her if she's moved on so completely.

"He's in prison. Not much help at all, to be honest."

Her answer pulls him out of his wallowing abruptly.

"What?"

"Yeah, why did you think so many other heroes are pissed at me? It's because the father is a villain, not because I can't fight." She watches his bewildered face in amusement. "It's bad press for the Society of Heroes if it gets out that one of their founding members is having a baby with her arch-nemesis."

Kai thinks his brain has short-circuited. He drops her hand. Blinks. Looks at her small bump. Does mental math.

Shit. Holy fucking shit.

He wonders briefly why it never even occurred to him why he might be the father.

But then again - Bonnie and Kai. Miss Magnificent and Red Hand. Not exactly what comes to mind when one imagines first-time expecting parents.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he questions quietly. Bonnie makes a face at him.

"I aaaam?"

He scowls. "You know what I mean."

The heroine sighs. "I had to be sure."

That hits Kai like a slap.

"Oh," he sighs. He tries to pull his hands down to his lap, but Bonnie grabs his arm in an unrelenting grip.

"Kai, you have to understand - you're not the only criminal I've fought and you're certainly not one of the ones who wanted to kill me."

"Yes, I did," he grunts, keeping his eyes trained on the hand holding his forearm.

"Oh-kay, not a criminal who still wants me dead."

Kai hums, not in agreement or disagreement. Bonnie huffs, exasperated.

"Malachai Taylor Parker," she growls lowly and Kai can't be blamed for his body's interested twitch. "You can't push this on me. I'm twenty-seven. I fight crime. This is my first child and it's with someone I personally made an effort to get imprisoned." Kai scowls at the reminder. "Can you blame me for being a little scared?" she ends quietly.

"You?" Kai scoffs. "Scared? Yeah, right."

"It's true. But...mostly I'm scared because I want this." She shifts. "Some of the other members are considering starting a school for kids like ours. Ones who might be...uh, exceptionally gifted. Somewhere isolated where they might be safe. I think it might be a good idea for this little guy to be around others like him."

"Why are you telling me this, Bon? I've got a life sentence."

"I know! But like I said, we've been working to reform the prison system and honestly every person you killed was considered a case of self-defense and -"

"You don't have to excuse me, Bonster. I did what I did. It's why you were so gung-ho about getting me incarcerated."

"Because I want you rehabilitated! It's not-"

"Shh," he soothes. He wasn't trying to rile her up, he was just stating the truth. Her hand on his arm is a little tight. "No biggie, Bon. I don't blame you. I'm not trying to fight."

She nods, temper cooling.

"I love you," she says quietly. Kai can't ignore the way those words tighten his chest. "That's what took me so long. I had to wrestle with the truth for a while there."

Kai nods. He can't say it back, of course not. But he can bring her hand to his lips and press a kiss to her palm. Eyes closing, he recalls these hands touching him other ways, the good and the bad of their relationship and all the times they've simultaneously built each other up while ripping each other to shreds.

"What's his name?" he questions, opening his eyes to catch her staring at him longingly.

Bonnie looks away, embarrassed at being caught. "I dunno yet," she answers.

"How about Warren?" he throws out. Bonnie thinks about it.

"Warren. It's nice. I like it - Warren."

He snorts and places her hand back on the table, but doesn't let go. The rest of her visit is pleasant enough, some warm reassurance in his chest as he starts to plan out a future for himself and the woman he loves.

Because honestly? Bonnie might be an idealist with a justice boner, but Kai only deals in reality.

If he wants this, he's going to have to make it work. Eventually (he hopes) Bonnie will come around to his way of thinking. Besides, an early beach retirement with Bonnie? She'll come around or he'll keep her hostage until she does.

Resolute, he let's her kiss him goodbye when she leaves. He holds her tight, because fuck the guards. She was his woman, pregnant with his kid.

When he's back in the rec room, he seeks out Law to resume their conversation.

Can't have that beach retirement with his family if he's doing life in prison, now can he?

[mechagalaxy]

Sten Hugo Hiller - 627184: My Clan war `46 - Second opponents: Black Star Knights

(By Sten Hugo Hiller - 627184)

My Clan war `46

Second opponents: Black Star Knights

Some Commanders prefer the solitude of fighting for themselves. Having none to tell you what to do, or having to follow some underling with the eyes of argus to check that they follow orders is after all quite liberating. You are of course free to play in the lottery, as everyone else. You can fight in the KotM events and the Wave Challenges, and once you get a two-digit licence you can trash others in the Circuits as well. Then there is the sheer mayhem involved in hitting other Commanders to see which one have the strongest formation. If that is the way they prefer to fight, who am I to tell them they are wrong?

Then you have those who form a clan, or join one. As they well understand; If a leader is to bossy you can just leave the clan again, and if some member refuses to follow directions and sound advice he can be removed from the clan. Being part of a clan when it comes to lotto wins will because of the smaller prizes given to the winners clanmates effectively increase your take by 100% for each five other member, up to four times what a single Commander can expect if the clan grows to 16 Commanders. The other things you can do as a solitary Commander is still there to do, but now you have brothers in arms who might give you advice and answer questions. Then comes the Clan Wars.

In a normal War, any clan having enough members (8 minimum) where the discrepancy between licences is not to big, can sign up for the war. In general, Specialists might be assigned to members,-or not. But from time to time it might be one mandatory specialty. The Gaming authorities will then place clans in divisions according to their average piloting licences, and they will over the course of three battle days face a trio of different opponents. If your clan defeats all opponents, good prices will be had by everyone. That is, everyone who managed to get a set number of attack wins Defeating two, or only one opposing clan will get you lesser prizes, but even if you lost to all the opponents you will still get something. (provided you got the mandated wins)

After the war, some villain might appear. If the clan chooses to oppose said villains hordes, and manages to defeat all of them within a given time, prizes will be given to each Commander. Partly by performance and partly by luck. (but no kills equals no prizes. To be lucky, you have to perform first) -----

As for us in the Star League....

We had joined up in the war, and our first opponents had (figuratively) handed us our heads. Mind you, they took them fair and square on the field of battle, and kept them until the fighting was over.

As we returned to what had been our headquarter, Tony`s eyes flickered over the area.

Nothing was left standing. The remains of the ammo bunkers gaped empty toward the cloudy sky, the repair facilities had been burned by fires so hot that not even a trace of POL, spare parts or tools were left and the many wounded lay on the bare earth where a few overworked corpse men ripped pieces from their dirty, tattered uniforms to use as makeshift bandages.

In a dejected tone he muttered "It will take a miracle to get us ready for tomorrow. Right now I would make up to the devil himself if he could get us what we need to get operative in time" I looked at my timepiece. Bruno should be arriving any moment now, bringing the personnel and items I had neglected to bring in the first place. "Well,boss, as to that I have to...." The rest of the sentence was drowned by the roar of descending shuttles.

The Pakothe IV-B shuttles are quite enormous, and if you spend some mega credits at a good yard they can be configured pretty much as you like. These shuttles were mostly mobile repair bays, but a couple of them were fully equipped field hospitals, a trio were ammo carriers and one was a mobile mess.

Tony took in the sight and when he turned toward me what looked suspiciously like a tear was forming in his right eye. "Your work?" I nodded "Good man. Anything I can do for you?" I held out a clipboard and said "just sign here , here and here." After he numbly, still with an expression of wonder on his face had done so, I continued "I did not have the authority to release so much cash from our accounts, so the work was done on credit until you signed." Tony grabbed the clipboard and looked at the numbers. Then, white in the face, he grabbed me and threw me over the farthest shuttle. I noticed the ground getting closer at a breakneck speed and did my best to tuck into a roll. Then, blackness...

I came slowly back to consciousness, and immediately wished I hadn’t. There might have been some parts of my body that did not send pain signals to my brain, but the odds were that was because the nerves from them had been ripped loose.

My AI injected enough painkillers to knock out a tribe of Snavrums, and slowly the world came into focus. My timepiece informed me the second battle day would start in a few minutes. Looking around, I found myself in the cockpit of my ride, and pinned on the battle board was a note. It was from Tony and explained the battle plan and my part in it.

Jorge was covering one of the bridges, rated for no more than 1200 tons, Rob`s 30s was in the broken hills to the north. As for the opponents: Christopher Wallace held the other bridge, a Dual Rainbow one, and Brian Leslie King was supposed to hold the swamps to the south in his 20s. A long winding canyon was another connection between our two clans, My 70s held the eastern part, Joey Goldez 70s held the western part. Then my blood turned cold. "I have placed most of our ammo with you. Guard it with your life, because it is placed in such a way that if it explodes it will bring the whole canyon down on your defeated formation and your opponent" Talk about a do or die mission!!

Then the channels started cracking, the battle was upon us.

The Knights landed the first blows.

Led by Ales Tomasek, Brian Leslie King and Joey Goldez had for the moment brought their main formations along to do some mayhem. Able brought his formation into the fray as fast as he could and went onto the offensive. Despite a couple failed attacks and the appearance of Darryl Proctor in an offensive role, he managed to stabilize the front with us slightly ahead. 10-9 to us.

King returned, this time accompanying Philip Power. They got some unopposed wins, then Mark went on a rampage along their front. Not all his strikes was successful, but it caused them to withdraw, at least for the moment. 15-14 to them.

David Buchanan got a couple wins. In response Mark was once more called into the breach, this time having Jorge as wingman. Again our offensive had mixed success, but at least it pushed the Knights back. 22-17 to them.

It seemed there was only a matter of time before some enterprising Knight would come waltzing down the canyon, so I started to back slowly toward our lines. As the canyon started to widen I drew a deep breath of relief. Really bad idea. The painkillers could only mask so much pain, and the sudden expansion of my chest made my bruised and broken ribs send frantic emergency signals to my brain. After what seemed like an eternity of pain, I finally realized that holding my breath was the worst thing I could do. Letting it out in a wordless scream, slowly reduced the pain level from unbearable to just very unpleasant. When the stars finally stopped dancing in front of my eyes and the monitors once more informed me of my surroundings, I discovered we were surrounded by a superior formation.

"Ah, how good of you to show up. Would you care to join me for a stroll along the front? After some unexpected expidentures we need every commander to earn his keep" Tony`s cold voice belied the bantering tone, so what choice did I have?

"Come along and watch me closely, I will point out a few opponents you might be capable of handling"

I have to say Tony really know how to handle his Mechs. Opponent after opponent fell before him, and under his tutelage I managed to score a few wins as well. When he called off the offensive we had gained quite a bit of ground. 35-22 to us.

Tony escorted me back into the canyon and ordered me to stay there this time. While we were out of the picture, Bob Schlomer made an appearance. Blowing our formations up. Right, front and center. There seemed little we could do to halt his advance. Tony threw himself into the frontline, hoping to make Schlomer break off his one-formation rampage, but to little avail. Then David Buchanan joined Schlomer, and most of the advantage we had held disappeared 36-34 to us.

Rob rushed over to reinforce Tony`s drive, but lady luck was on the Knights side here, and after several fumbled attacks the Knights had the advantage again. 38-37 to them.

As the main action took place elsewhere, Drake Hunter had been left to cover quite a stretch of the front by himself. Now he suddenly found himself face to face with Joey Goldez, and not in a puny 70 ton formation either. Despite being outmassed by a noticable margin, Drake stood his ground, knowing none else was between Goldez and our HQ.

Goldez frontline, a Humbaba, a Reaper, a Cameron and a Boreas, shielded by a Regis met Drakes Cavalier and Guardian, supported by two Nakshi`s and a Drednought.

The first telling blow came from Goldez Cameron. A solid hit on the Cavalier with a Rednose Laser turned into a minor disaster as it both splashed and generated a Wide Fork. The Cavalier weathered the storm, but the Guardians armor disappeared and it was a lifeless husk. Then Goldez Humbaba sent the Nakshi to the scrapyard using a Heartbreaker. Drakes Dreadnought took out first the Humbaba and then the Reaper by crits. The Cameron finally put paid to the Cavalier after lots of hits, and Drakes Dreadnought finished off the Boreas. The Cameron dispatched the shutdown Guardian, and used an overpowered Vadhar to kill off the Dreadnought. Drakes Nakshi fought grimly on, but were killed by the Cameron

Drakes second line, consisting of a Fext, an Anubis and a Boreas supported by an Ignis and a Regis advanced. Drakes Regis blew up Goldez Regis and the Ignis put paid to the Boreas.

Goldez second line consisted of a trio of Onyxes flanked by two Antithesises. One of the Onyxes quickly critted the Ignis, and after a flurry of nontelling blows another Onyx critted the Anubis. Drakes Regis and Boreas took out the two Onyxes, and the Regis took out the third Onyx as well by landing an overpowered blow from its Man Ò War Ray. The two Antithesises was now outnumbered and Drakes Fext and Boreas blew up one each.

Goldez third line consisted of a Frigis surrounded by four Nakshi`s. Amid a flurry of shots the Nakshis were blown up, one each by the Fext and the the Regis while the Boreas blew up the two others. Goldez Frigis managed to land a couple more blows before a Twin Grazer from the Regis ripped it apart.

Goldez fourth line, consisting of a Notos, a Guardian and a Redeemer flanked by a Dreadnought and an Antithesis marched confidently forth. They started by reducing the armor on Drakes Mechs, but when a Tri-Slagger from the Regis critted the Redeemer they understood this was serious business. And when, after another flurry of blows, the Guardian was taken out by a massive blast from the Boreas` Leviathan their confidence seemed to slip. In that tiny moment the Fext landed a massive blow from its Blue Dragon. Enough to blow up the Dreadnought, and the fork it created sent the Antithesis into an emergency shutdown. The Fext quickly put the Antithesis out of its misery, and the now outnumbered Notos was slowed to a crawl before the trio of Mechs slowly blew it into small pieces.

Goldez fifth line, a Dilophos, a Frigis, a Dreadnought and two Torrents charged forth to avenge their brethren. The Dilophos used an overpowered Ursa Strike to blow the Fext apart, and an overpowered Missile tow from one of the Torrents ripped the Boreas apart while the combined Splash/Fork ripped the remaining armor off the Regis. The Frigis gave it a mercy shot.

Drakes third line, a Ballista, a Frigis and an Antithesis flanking a Boreas and a Notos immediately made their presence known. The Ballista opened the ball by letting a Renly`s Revenge crit the Dreadnought. The Boreas followed suit. An Oppenheimer did not pack quite enough punch to take out the Torrent it hit, but the Wide Fork it generated spread lot of mayhem, and the Dilopos shut down to avoid an engine explosion. After quite a few additional shots had been exchanged, the Notos melted the Frigis by an overpowered Chimera, and the spreading cloud of hot plasma shut down one of the Torrents as well. The Boreas took out the last Torrent and the Antithesis put the disconnected Dilophos out of its misery.

Goldez sixt line consisted of a Fext and a Regis flanking a trio of Boreas. Quite a few cold blasts were exchanged, and many a target was frozen for a while. Then Goldez Fext sent an overcharged super explosive missile into the Ballista. The resulting explotion removed all traces of the Mech. In response Drakes Boreas sent another Oppenheimer downrange, killing off one Boreas and shutting down another. Another Oppenheimer blast packed to little punch to take out the Fext, but the Wide Fork shut down the Regis as well. Drakes Notos and Antithesis took out the two crippled Mechs, and the Antithesis managed to take out both the last active Boreas and the Fext as well.

Goldez last line, a Rudy, a Spitfire and a Dilophos stepped gamely forth. If they knew they were outnumbered and probably had scant seconds left, they gave no sign of that. Instead the Dilophos sent an overcharged Chidori into the Frigis, cutting it in two. The Boreas Openheimer arrived less than a heartbeat later, ripping the Dilophos apart and taking the Rudy out of the fight. Goldez last Mech, the Spitfire landed another couple of Ineffectual blows before it too was felled.

The fight was now in the Balance, an even 38 score to both sides.

Mark and Rob tried unsuccessfully to put us in front again and Christopher Wallace got involved as well. Most of the assaults failed here and when the smoke settled, the advantage had shifted to the Knights again. Schlomer put in another appearance and got some more wins. 43-38 to them.

Tony got us another win, and King got a couple. Tony failed on the following attack, but he managed blowing up Ales Tomaseks coffee maker by a stray shot. Infuriated, Tomasek went on a rampage that took a defeat at Ables hands to stop. 52-40 to them.

At this point our ammo stocks was gone, and all we had was what the Mechs carried. Tony disallowed any further offensive operations, and we waited for the light to flash. But while we might be done, the Knights had more fights in them. Michael Beagle drove a wedge deep into our rear, and called Proctor in to help finish us off. Once again Tony provided a critical defense, and in the end they were halted just outside range of the Star League HQ.

The final score stood 64-41 to them.

Yes we had been beaten, but at least we had not been crushed, so there was at least some progress from the first round.